Prevalence Of Allergic Rhinitis and Its Perceived Effect on Academic Activity Among College Students � A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a widespread and under diagnosed upper airway disease. It has significant social and economic burden. Symptoms may cause fatigue, mood changes and difficult sleep that may have deleterious effect on student抯 academic activity. Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study among 1337 college students in Vadodara city of Gujarat, selected by cluster sampling method. Response was recorded using SFAR (Score for allergic rhinitis) scale and a semi structured questionnaire. Results: Prevalence of AR using SFAR was 19.22% among college students, out of them 65.4% were girls and 34.6% boys. The prevalence of two major variant of AR, perennial and seasonal was 38.91% and 51.75% respectively. 81.32% were aware about their allergy, 20.23% had gone for allergy test and 73.08% among them resulted positive. 82.49% students had perceived that AR is affecting their academic activity among SFAR?7 group. Conclusion: The results of this survey showed elevated prevalence of AR among college students in Vadodara city; however, allergy tests and physician visits for AR conditions were less. Major proportion that had self-reported AR has shown associated comorbidity. Students with AR, perceive a negative effect on their academic activity that equally affects girls and boys.

Proteomics analysis of human brain glial cell proteome by 2D gel.

INTRODUCTION: Proteomics is increasingly employed in both neurological and oncological research, and applied widely in every area of neuroscience research including brain cancer. Astrocytomas are the most common glioma and can occur in most parts of the brain and occasionally in the spinal cord. Patients with high‑grade astrocytomas have a life expectancy of <1 year even after surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We extracted proteins from tumors and normal brain tissues and then evaluated the protein purity by Bradford test and spectrophotometry method. In this study, we separated proteins by the two‑dimensional (2DG) gel electrophoresis method, and the spots were analyzed and compared using statistical data. RESULTS: On each analytical 2D gel, an average of 800 spots was observed. In this study, 164 spots exhibited up‑regulation of expression level, whereas the remaining 179 spots decreased in astrocytoma tumor relative to normal tissue. Results demonstrate that functional clustering and principal component analysis (PCA) has considerable merits in aiding the interpretation of proteomic data. Proteomics is a powerful tool in identifying multiple proteins that are altered following a neuropharmacological intervention in a disease of the central nervous system (CNS). CONCLUSION: 2‑D gel and cluster analysis have important roles in the diagnostic management of astrocytoma patients, providing insight into tumor biology. The application of proteomics to CNS research has invariably been very successful in yielding large amounts of data.

In vitro evaluation of the cytotoxic and trypanocidal activities of Ampelozizyphus amazonicus (Rhamnaceae)

Ampelozizyphus amazonicus Ducke is a tree commonly found in the Amazon region and an extract of its stem bark is popularly used as an antimalarial and anti-inflammatory agent and as an antidote to snake venom. Ursolic acid; five lupane type triterpenes: betulin, betulinic acid, lupenone, 3ß-hydroxylup-20(29)-ene-27,28-dioic acid, and 2a,3ß-dihydroxylup-20(29)-ene-27,28-dioic acid, and three phytosteroids: stigmasterol, sitosterol and campesterol, have been isolated from stem extracts of A. amazonicus Ducke. Their structures were characterized by spectral data including COSY and HMQC. In an in vitro biological screening of the isolated compounds, 3ß-hydroxylup-20(29)-ene-27,28-dioic acid was cytotoxic against the SKBR-3 human adenocarcinoma cell line (1 to 10 mg/mL), while 2a,3ß-dihydroxylup-20(29)-ene-27,28-dioic acid exhibited cytotoxicity against both SKBR-3 human adenocarcinoma and C-8161 human melanoma tumor cell lines (>0.1 mg/mL). In the present study, different extracts and some fractions of this plant were also investigated for trypanocidal activity due to the presence of pentacyclic triterpenes. The triterpene classes are potent against Trypanosoma cruzi. The bioassays were carried out using blood collected from Swiss albino mice by cardiac puncture during the parasitemic peak (7th day) after infection with the Y strain of T. cruzi. The results obtained showed that A. amazonicus is a potential source of bioactive compounds since its extracts and fractions isolated from it exhibited in vitro parasite lysis against trypomastigote forms of T. cruzi at concentrations >100 æg/mL. Fractions containing mainly betulin, lupenone, 3ß-hydroxylup-20(29)-ene-27,28-dioic acid, and 2a,3ß-dihydroxylup-20(29)-ene-27,28-dioic acid showed more activity than crude extracts.