Clinico-epidemiological Trends of Leprosy in 21st Century and During COVID-19 Pandemic

Leprosy is the oldest disease affecting humankind since ancient times. Despite MDT’s availability for disease curability, vast pockets of multi-bacillary (MB) cases persist in the community. We conducted this study to know the clinico-epidemiological trends of leprosy over four years and five months in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic (C19P). A total of 90 cases were registered; 59 (65.5%) were males, and 31 (34.5%) were females. The majority (69%) of cases were in the 15-45 age groups. Childhood leprosy was detected in 3(3.3%) cases. A history of contact with leprosy patients could be established in 16 (17.8%) cases. The cases comprised 54.5% local inhabitants and 45.5% were migrants. The MB cases 77 out of 90 (85.6%) were in higher proportion than pauci-bacillary (PB) cases. In the clinical spectrum, BL leprosy was most common in 39% of cases, followed by LL and BT leprosy. Thirty-seven (41%) patients were suffering from lepra reactions (LR), and out of them, 59.4% had type 2 reactions (T2R), and the rest had type 1 reactions (T1R). Disabilities were found in a total of 56 (62.2%) cases, and grade 2 disabilities (G2D) were recorded in 25 (44.6%) patients. Ulnar nerve (UN) was most commonly affected nerve in 64.4% of cases, followed by lateral peroneal (LPN) and posterior tibial nerve (PTN). We observed the impact of Covid 19 infection peak C19P in two ways; firstly, during the C19P peak in 2020, there was a drastic fall in total registered cases (TRC) to 4/year against 22/year in pre-C19P with a relative increase in LRs and disabilities. In post-C19P peak periods, not only was there a marked rise in TRC (20/5 months), but LR (50%) and disabilities (75%) also showed a significant rise. A high proportion of MB cases, LRs and disability rates indicate the need for population-based studies and subsequent public health measures for early diagnosis and treatment. Further large sample-sized, in-depth studies can tell the exact impact of C19P on leprosy.

RECURRENT PREGNANCY LOSS AND ASSOCIATION OF MTHFR, PAI-1 AND ACE GENE POLYMORPHISMS IN WOMEN

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a significant clinical problem that may occur before the 20th week of gestation. There is no general consensus on how many consecutive abortions are considered as RPL. The goal of this study is to investigate the correlation between recurrent miscarriage (RM) and common polymorphisms in angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) and Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) genes among women experiencing RM. The literature existing in different population was searched and based on these finding we conclude that polymorphism in either one of these genes may increase chances of miscarriage.

Seasonal variations in abundance of nitrifying bacteria in fish pond ecosystem.

Seasonal changes in abundance of nitrifiers (ammonia-oxidizing and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria) in surface and bottom water of freshwater ponds were examined with respect to temperature, DO, pH as well as concentration of ammonia and nitrite. The most probable number (MPN) of ammonia-oxidizers in different ponds varied from 1297±3.6 to 1673.23±0.36 ml-l in bottom and 720.5±8.1 to 955.3±10.8 ml-l in surface water during the rainy season while the MPN ranged from 1074±1.07 to 1372.17±4.6 ml-l in bottom and 515±10.1 to 678±11.8 ml-l in surface water in winter. However, the MPN were greatly reduced in summer and ranged from 435.05±15.7 to 547.54±2.12 ml-l in bottom and 218.7±7.3 to 368.4±9.32 ml-l in surface water. Similar seasonal trends were also observed in MPN of nitrite-oxidizers. Among all the physico-chemical parameters, abundance of nitrifiers was more positively correlated with ammonia and nitrite concentration in all the seasons. The abundance of nitrifiers in surface and bottom water was highest in rainy season followed by winter and modest in summer. The potential nitrification activities and oxidation rates were shown to be linear and activity of ammonia-oxidizing and nitriteoxidizing bacteria was highest during rainy season.

The NQO1 allelic frequency in hindu population of central India varies from that of other Asian populations.

CONTEXT: The enzymes encoded by the polymorphic genes NAD (P) H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) play an important role in the activation and inactivation of xenobiotics. This enzyme has been associated with xenobiotic related diseases, such as cancer, therapeutic failure and abnormal effects of drugs. AIM: The aim of the present study was to determine the allelic and genotypic frequencies of NQO Hinf I polymorphisms in a Hindu population of Central India. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Polymorphisms of NQO1 were determined in 311 unrelated Hindu individuals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction- Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis in peripheral blood DNA for NQO1 Hinf I polymorphism was used in 311 unrelated Hindu individuals. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Allele frequencies were calculated by direct counting. Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium was evaluated using a Chi-square goodness of fit test. RESULTS: The observed allelic frequency was 81% for C (wild) and 19% for T (mutant) in the total sample. CONCLUSIONS: The allelic frequency of “C” was higher than in other Asians (57%), but similar to Caucasians (81%). The genotype distributions for Hinf I polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

A study of hyperinsulinaemia in Indian hypertensive subjects.

Fasting and 2 hours post-prandial serum insulin levels were estimated in 100 hypertensive subjects and 25 matched, healthy controls, by radio-immuno assay (RIA). Seventy four of the 100 hypertensives exhibited fasting hyperinsulinaemia. Post-prandial hyperinsulinaemia was present in 85 hypertensives. None of the healthy individuals demonstrated hyperinsulinaemia. Although, most hyperinsulinaemic patients exhibited an abnormal lipo-protein profile, there was no statistical correlation between absolute values of lipo-protein and insulin.

Glutathione as an inhibitor of trypsin induced proteolysis.

Glutathione has been shown to inhibit trypsin induced proteolytic activity. A concentration of 6 mM of glutathione was found to completely inhibit proteolysis of 3H-proline labelled underhydroxylated procollagen as a substrate, whereas a concentration of 2.1 mM of glutathione caused 50% inhibition of proteolysis. When azocoll was used as a substrate for trypsin 50% inhibition of proteolysis was achieved with 1.4 mM of glutathione, though a complete proteolytic inhibition was attained at 4 mM glutathione. The results suggest that glutathione may be playing an important role in protein metabolism in a variety of disease and stress states.