Production of low value and eco-friendly bio-preservatives from Lactobacillus plantarumgrown on dairy whey

Aim: The current study aimed to evaluate the potential of milk whey medium to produce low value bio-preservatives. Methodology: Lactobacillus plantarum NZ7100 was obtained from NIZO Food Research, Netherlands. To analyze optimal biomass, desired product and precursor production under whey/whey permeate supplemented with various yeast extract concentration (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 g l-1) and other economical media, batch fermentation was conducted and metabolites were analyzed using HPLC. Results: The study showed that whey permeate containing 15 g l-1 yeast extract supported maximum biomass formation of 1.7 g l-1 with significant production of total lactic acid and D-lactic acid of about 9.78 g l-1 and 4.41 g l-1. The kinetic parameters evaluated with commercial growth medium such as MRS-glucose and MRS-lactose demonstrated relatively lesser growth and lactate yield in whey permeate medium than in MRS medium. Interpretation: The study demonstrated the prospective of utilizing whey permeate medium to co-produce effective, eco- friendly, low cost natural preservatives using L. plantarum for usage in food and feed industry.

ESTABLISHING FREEZE DRYING PROCESS FOR CORTICAL AND CANCELLOUS BONE ALLOGRAFT CUBES

@#Freeze drying is a dehydration method to dry bone under freezing environment, enabling removal of water with no or minimial effects on bone strength and durability. Larger size bones obviously require longer freeze drying time to reduce water content to the required level for long term storage at room temperature. For small size bone cubes or chips, it is a normal practice to pool cortical and cancellous bones for freeze drying. The study was aimed at determining if different type of bones of the same size influence the drying time. Human bone cubes of 10 mm x 10 mm x 10 mm were prepared from cortical bone of tibiae and cancellous bone from femoral heads. The bone cubes were freeze dried to reduce water content to less than 6%. Moisture content was monitored using gravimetric method.Weight and density of cortical bone were significantly higher than cancellous bone despite of having similar small size (p<0.05). Cortical bones (density 2.05 ± 0.35 g/cm3) with initial water content of 10.93% required 5 hours to freeze dry, while cancellous bone cubes (density 0.72 ± 0.44 g/cm3) with initial water content of 78.95% required only 1.87 hours. This study confirmed that the structure hence density of human bone cubes determine the freeze drying time. Therefore in the standard operating procedure for freeze drying of bone allograft cubes, high density cortical bone cubes and low density cancellous bone cubes must be freeze dried separately despite being of similar small size

Comparison of Occipital Condyle Morphometry in Various Populations with Respect to Skull Base Surgery

Background: The craniovertebral junction is made up of the occiput, upper two cervical vertebrae. Occipital condyle is one the landmarks on the skull base. Morphometric values of these condyles in a specific population is to be known by surgeons to deal with pathologies affecting the cranial base without disturbing the neurovascular structures by doing appropriate condylectomy and to ensure occipito-cervical fusion in case of instability. Methods: The study was performed by comparing the morphometric values of occipital condyles with other populations (Greek, Turkish, Korean, Chinese, American, European and Indian). The data regarding the morphometric values of occipital condyles was taken from our previously published article with a sample of hundred occipital condyles of unsexed dry human skulls of unknown age and compared with the studies of other population. The measurements compared were the length, breadth and thickness of the occipital condyle, intercondylar distance in anterior, middle and posterior parts of the occipital condyles, the angle of the occipital condyle to the sagittal plane and coronal planes and shape of the occipital condyles. Results: Most of the morphometric values of OC in South Indian were lesser than the other populations like breadth, thickness,anterior intercondylar distance, posterior intercondylar distance, angle of the occipital condyle to the sagittal plane. Conclusion: This information has to borne in mind while performing surgical procedures like occipito-cervical screw fixation, condylar drilling in cranial base surgery in South Indian population.

Knowledge on Bone Banking among Participants in an Orthopaedic Conference: A Preliminary Survey

Despite increasing use of bone graft in Malaysia, there was still lack of data to quantify knowledge level on bone banking among orthopaedic community who are involved in transplantation related work. Therefore, a survey on awareness in tissue banking specifically bone banking, usage and choice of bone grafts was conducted. From 80 respondents, 82.5% were aware about tissue banking however only 12.5% knew of the existence of tissue banks in Malaysia. Femoral head was the bone allograft most often used as a substitute to autograft. Only 34.8% respondents preferred irradiated bone grafts whilst 46.9% preferred nonirradiated, indicating the need to educate the importance of radiation for sterilising tissues. Exhibition was the most preferred medium for awareness programme to disseminate information about bone banking in the orthopaedic community. The professional awareness is necessary to increase the knowledge on the use of bone graft, hence to increase bone transplantation for musculoskeletal surgeries in the country.

Innovations in monitoring of adverse drug reactions: the role of a technical advisor.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have ethical implications. These include assessment of the risk–benefit ratio and re-administering informed consent based on the new ADRs identified. The Indian Council of Medical Research ethical guidelines mandate the scrutiny of ADR; and the standard operating procedures of the ethics committee of the authors’ medical school endorse this line.

Subtype & cytokine profiles of HIV infected individuals from south India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The global surveillance of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) subtypes (clades) helps understand the global distribution and incidence of different HIV subtypes. As knowledge about subtypes circulating in an area is needed for developing a candidate vaccine, prevalence of the subtypes HIV-1 and HIV-2 were studied in south India. The profile of cytokines interleukin 10 (IL10) and interferon gamma (IFNgamma) in both types of infection were also analysed as these are considered indicators of disease progression. METHODS: Patients who belonged to the 4 south Indian States i.e. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were included. HIV-1 subtyping was carried out by the heteroduplex mobility analysis (HMA) while that of HIV-2 was done by direct sequencing. The quantitation of IFNgamma and IL-10 was carried out using commercial ELISA kits. RESULTS: Among the 82 HIV-1 infected individuals subtyped, 78 (95.1%) were subtype C while all 12 HIV-2 strains were subtype A. IL-10 concentration was significantly higher among HIV infected individuals compared to normal healthy controls. IFNgamma was significantly higher among symptomatic and AIDS groups compared to asymptomatic HIV-1 infected individuals. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: HIV-1 subtype C and the HIV-2 subtype A are the major subtypes circulating in south India. The study showed a trend towards a shifting of the cytokine profile from Th1 to Th2/Th0 in HIV-1, HIV-2 infections, and HIV-1 and HIV-2 dual infected individuals as the disease progresses. This trend observed is not unlike that reported from the West, despite the difference in subtype profile.

Molecular epidemiology of HIV.

The phylogenic analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the env gene has enabled classification of HIV-1 into three groups. The group M of HIV-1 infection has been classified into 9 different genetic subtypes A-K, with E and I being classified as circulating recombinants forms (CRFs). The groups O and N are less frequently encountered in human infections. Presently group M of HIV-1 globally causes 99.6 per cent of all human infections. The epidemiological trends suggest that subtype C strains would dominate the HIV pandemic in the coming years. The geographic spread of subtype C strains is also very diverse with prevalence in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Data from India show a high prevalence of subtype C. In north and western India, 78.4 and 96 per cent of HIV-1 strains respectively were shown to be subtype C. Among female sex workers in Kolkata 95 per cent of the HIV-1 strains were subtype C. The south Indian subtype data are very similar to the data from the rest of India. The HIV-2 groups (subtypes) recognized are A-H. Unlike HIV-1, HIV-2 strains are predominantly found in Africa. The Indian HIV-2 strains identified till date are subtype A. This is also the predominant strain circulating in western African countries. This group (subtype) is estimated to cause 0.11 per cent of all HIV infections in humans.

The immunological and virological response in human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infected Indian individuals on haart therapy: A one-year follow up study.

Currently, antiretroviral therapy has become more affordable even in developing countries and it is being used in India. Fifteen HIV-1 infected individuals, who were on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), were followed up for an average period of one year. The plasma viral load and CD4+ T cell estimation done at mean intervals of 5 months and 11 months after initiation of therapy showed a good response to therapy in 14 (93%) individuals.

CD4 counts of normal and HIV-infected south Indian adults: do we need a new staging system?

BACKGROUND: The normal range of CD4 lymphocyte count varies among different ethnic groups. In populations with CD4 counts inherently lower than in the West, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classification system of HIV-infected individuals may not be appropriate. No such criterion is currently available for ethnic south Indian HIV-infected individuals. We undertook this study to assess the applicability of the western case definition to south Indian HIV patients. METHODS: The CD4 counts of 104 normal and 79 HIV-infected south Indian adults were estimated by flowcytometry. The mean CD4 counts were estimated and compared between CDC groups A, B and C and controls. Receiver operator characteristics curves were generated to determine the cut-off that correlated best with clinical staging for this population. RESULTS: The mean CD4 and CD8 cell counts/microl and the CD4/CD8 ratio of the control group were 799.0, 919.6 and 0.94, respectively. For CDC groups A, B and C, the mean CD4 counts/microl were 454.4, 254.4 and 168; mean CD8 counts/microl were 1156, 1070.9 and 1191.3; and mean CD4/CD8 ratios were 0.44, 0.25 and 0.15, respectively. CONCLUSION: The mean CD4 count among normal south Indians is significantly lower than that in the western population and parallels that of the Chinese. When categorized based on the CDC classification system, the mean CD4 count of HIV-infected individuals was lower. Categories of CD4 counts > 300, 81-300 and < or =80 cells/microl and CD4% > 14, 7-14 and < or = 6 correlate better with disease progression among HIV-infected individuals. A longitudinal study is required before guidelines for the Indian population can be devised.

A pilot study of HTLV-I infection in high-risk individuals & their family members from India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Human T lymphotropic virus-I (HTLV-I) has been associated with adult T cell lymphoma/leukemia (ATLL). There are Indian studies on HTLV-I infection among people with sexually transmitted infection, but no large study has been conducted on individuals with haematological malignancies. In this group of individuals, serology is known to under-diagnose HTLV-I infection. This study was carried out to identify serologically and where possible with molecular techniques, HTLV-I infection in individuals with haematological malignancies. To understand the modes of transmission, family members of individuals with proven HTLV-I infection were also studied. Individuals with sexually transmitted infection (STI), blood donors and pregnant women were also studied. METHODS: Particle agglutination test was used to detect antibody to HTLV-I. HTLV genome was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and detected with probes by digoxiginin (Dig) ELISA. RESULTS: There was no serological evidence of HTLV-I infection among the healthy blood donors and pregnant women studied. High prevalence of anti-HTLV-I antibody was identified in the patients with haematological malignancies (8 of 86 patients, 9.3%) and a lower prevalence in individuals with STI (8 of 670 individuals, 1.2%). In the STI group, all 8 individuals seroreactive to HTLV-I were coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the group with haematological malignancies, three of 22 (13.6%) patients with leukemia, 3 of 11 (27.3%) with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and 2 of 53 (3.8%) with lymphoma were reactive for anti-HTLV-I antibody. In this group, PCR identified all the seroreactive individuals tested. There were also seronegative infected individuals who were only identified by PCR. There was also a large number of seronegative family members who were only positive by PCR. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: The study revealed a strong disease association of HTLV-I with haematological malignancies and evidence for both horizontal and vertical transmission of the infection in the Indian population. HTLV-I infection appears to be common among family members of individuals with HTLV-I associated haematological malignancies.

Importance of RT-PCR for detection of hepatitis C virus among different patient groups.

A pilot study was undertaken to evaluate a sensitive single step reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in plasma samples as an adjunct to antibody detection. In this study, digoxiginin labelling of the amplicon was carried out during the PCR and the product was detected by an ELISA format (DIG-ELISA) as well as ethidium bromide stained gel detection. DIG-ELISA detection of PCR product compared favourably with gel detection. We tested 42 individuals with either parenteral risk factors or chronic liver disease and found the RT-PCR enhanced the detection rate by 19 per cent. Considering either plasma RNA or antibody positivity, HCV infection was detected in 64.3 per cent of patients.

Development of vaccines against falciparum malaria.

Falciparum malaria is a leading cause of death in many countries. Drug resistance has emerged as a major cause for concern, increasing the pathogenic potential of the parasite. So far vaccines have been an elusive option. We discuss here some of the antigens and vaccines that show promise and on which studies are in progress.

Urogenital myiasis caused by Chrysomya bezziana (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in peninsular Malaysia.

A case of urogenital myiasis caused by Chrysomya bezziana (Diptera: Calliphoridae) was diagnosed in a 76-year old patient who had carcinoma of the rectum. A total of 35 larvae were obtained from ulcers near the external genitalia and urethra opening. Larvae pupated within 1 to 2 days and 6 days later emerged as adult males. These were identified as Chrysomya bezziana. Female flies possibly attracted by the fetid odour, laid eggs in the existing lesions in the urogenital area, the larvae invading and feeding on living tissue. Lack of personal hygiene was the contributing factor for the cause of urogenital myiasis in this patient.