Seropositivity of Human Brucellosis among Patients with Pyrexia of Unknown Origin on Both Risk and Non-Risk Group of Individuals and Molecular Detection by Real-time PCR.

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease that is one of the important infectious causes of Pyrexia of Unknown Origin (PUO). The objective of the present study was to determine the seropositivity and molecular detection of human brucellosis among the patients with pyrexia of unknown origin on both risk and non-risk group of individuals in greater Mymensingh. A total of 400 blood samples were randomly collected from pyretic patients started from September 2018 to August 2019. Questionnaires were used to collect data on both risk and non-risk group of individuals. All samples were initially screened for anti-Brucella antibodies using the Brucella-specific latex agglutination test. For accurate investigation, seropositive as well as seronegative serum samples were tested by BCSP31 Brucella genus-specific TaqMan real-time PCR. Overall 32(8%) cases were positive out of 400 samples by Brucella-specific latex agglutination test and/or BCSP31 Brucella genus-specific real-time PCR. Brucella-specific latex agglutination test documented 7% (28/400) positivity for brucellosis. 22(5.5%) samples found Brucella genus-specific real-time PCR positive out of 400 samples. Most real-time PCR positive cases were found from sero-positive samples of risk group population (15/32). Sero-negative but real-time PCR positive cases also found only from risk group population (4/32). There were 10 seropositive cases where real-time PCR was negative. In addition to Brucella-specific latex agglutination test as a screening test, Brucella genus-specific real-time PCR was performed for confirmation and also to avoid unjustified costs, drug toxicity, and masking of other potentially dangerous diseases.

Molecular characterization of Orientia tsutsugamushi causing scrub typhus among febrile patients in north-central Bangladesh.

Scrub typhus is a mite-borne rickettsial disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, which is endemic in Asia Pacific region. In this study, infection rate and molecular epidemiologic traits of O. tsutsugamushi was investigated in Mymensingh, located in north-central Bangladesh. Among the blood samples from 453 febrile patients who visited Mymensingh medical college hospital in 2018, the 47 kDa protein gene of O. tsutsugamushi was detected in 78 samples (17.2%) by nested PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of the O. tsutsugamushi 56 kDa protein gene (18 samples) revealed a predominance of Karp-related genotype (89%), while the remaining belonged to Gilliam genotype. Samples of the Karp-related genotype mostly clustered with those of China, Taiwan, Thailand and India, etc., in emergent subgroups clades 2 and 4, which were distinct from clade 1, including prototype Karp strains. Among the 18 samples, three variable domains (VD) of 56 kDa type-specific antigen had different types of sequence diversity; VDI contained two or three repeats of eight amino acid units, while VDII and VDIII had amino acid substitution, deletion or insertion. The present study documented a potentially high prevalence of genetically diverse O. tsutsugamushi in north-central Bangladesh.

Content specificity of attentional bias to threat in post-traumatic stress disorder.

BACKGROUND: Attentional bias to affective information and reduced cognitive control may maintain the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and impair cognitive functioning. However, the role of content specificity of affective stimuli (e.g., trauma-related, emotional trauma-unrelated) in the observed attentional bias and cognitive control is less clear, as this has not been tested simultaneously before. Therefore, we examined the content specificity of attentional bias to threat in PTSD. METHODS: PTSD participants (survivors of a multistory factory collapse, n=30) and matched controls (n=30) performed an Eriksen Flanker task. They identified the direction of a centrally presented target arrow, which was flanked by several task-irrelevant distractor arrows pointed to the same (congruent) or opposite direction (incongruent). Additionally, participants were presented with a picture of a face (neutral, emotional) or building (neutral=normal, emotional=collapsed multistory factory) as a task-irrelevant background image. RESULTS: We found that PTSD participants produced overall larger conflict effects and longer reaction times (RT) to emotional than to neutral stimuli relative to their healthy counterparts. Moreover, PTSD, but not healthy participants showed a stimulus specific dissociation in processing emotional stimuli. Emotional faces elicited longer RTs compared to neutral faces, while emotional buildings elicited faster responses, compared to neutral buildings. CONCLUSIONS: PTSD patients show a content-sensitive attentional bias to emotional information and impaired cognitive control.

Prenatal maternal lipopolysaccharide administration leads to age- and region-specific oxidative stress in the early developmental stage in offspring.

Prenatal exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been exploited to simulate brain disorder in animal model. Prenatal LPS-exposure has shown elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the early stages of the postnatal period. This study determines the effect of prenatal LPS-exposure on oxidative stress (OS) in the distinct brain regions in the early postnatal stages. LPS (50 µg/kg, i.p.) and water for injection (100 µl, i.p.) were given to the experimental (n=5) and control (n=5) group of pregnant Swiss albino mice respectively on gestational day (GD)-16 and 17. Animals were decapitated on postnatal day (PnD) - 1, 7, 14 and 21 to assay levels of oxidative markers from 6 distinct brain regions. When compared with the control, prenatal LPS-exposure alters levels of OS markers: (i) on PnD-1, glutathione (GSH) level is raised and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity is dropped, (ii) on PnD-7, advanced oxidation of protein product (AOPP) level is elevated, (iii) on PnD-14, lipid peroxidation (MDA) and activity of catalase (CAT) are enhanced, (iv) on PnD-21, increased MDA continued. The hippocampus (HC) and cerebellum (CB) were mostly susceptible to OS in the early postnatal development. Levels of MDA and activity of CAT enzyme were increased on PnD-14 in the cortex, HC and CB. Except MDA, all OS markers recovered and returned to the level of control animals on PnD-21. Taken together, these results suggest that prenatal LPS-exposure induces age- and region-specific OS in the early postnatal stage.

Phytochemical Screening and Evaluation of Analgesic Activity of Oroxylum indicum.

We aimed to study phytochemical screening and analgesic activity of ethanol extract of Oroxylum indicum. The dried powder of the barks of the plant was extracted with 95% ethanol and was subjected to various phytochemical tests to ascertain the principle constituents contained in the extract. The result revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides in the ethanol extract of Oroxylum indicum. The extract was screened for analgesic activity by using hot plate, acetic acid-induced writhing and formalin test. The ethanol extract of the plant at two different doses (250 and 500 mg/kg) showed significant (P<0.05) analgesic effect in all test methods (hot plate, acetic acid-induced writhing and formalin). The analgesic activity was compared with a standard drug (ketorolac at 10 mg/kg). Based on the present findings and previous literature review it can be concluded that flavonoids and tannins might be responsible for the analgesic activity. We suggest that ethanol extract of Oroxylum indicum might have potential chemical constituents that could be used in the future for the development of novel analgesic agent.