Sputum Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin as a Biomarker in Asthma-COPD Overlap.

BACKGROUND: Asthma COPD overlap (ACO) is a consensus-based phenotype having characteristics of both COPD and asthma. Distinguishing ACO from other diseases is even more important as it is related to low health-related quality of life, augmented exacerbation rate and hospital admission, a rapid deterioration in lung function, and increased morbidity and mortality. But it cannot be diagnosed explicitly based on spirometry tests, patient demographics, radiology, or by-sputum cytology. There is an unmet need to develop biomarkers. OBJECTIVES: To assess the role of sputum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) as a biomarker of ACO. To find the correlation between sputum NGAL levels with forced expiratory volume 1 (FEV1) and exacerbation rate in ACO. To find the correlation between sputum NGAL level with sputum neutrophils and eosinophils in ACO. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this comparative correlational study, 180 subjects were enrolled into four groups with 45 patients each with asthma, COPD, ACO, and healthy nonsmokers respectively, respectively. After taking detailed history and demographics, sputum was analyzed for the differential count and NGAL. RESULTS: Asthma COPD overlap (ACO) cases had high sputum NGAL levels; the second was the COPD group, and the last in the case asthma group. Nonsmokers had notably lower readings than the diseased. Out of three, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) figures, the validity of NGAL was best in selecting patients of ACO than COPD and asthma. The area under curve (AUC) was highest for ACO and less than the acceptable limit for the remaining two. NGAL cut-off value of 2473 pg/mL had 80% sensitivity and 50% specificity for ACO. CONCLUSION: The present study investigated the sputum NGAL levels as a biomarker in ACO identified by the syndromic approach. Sputum NGAL, a biomarker associated with airway inflammation in airway diseases, was supportive of clinically differentiating ACO from asthma to COPD. How to cite this article: Babu A, Narayanswamy H, Baburao A. Sputum Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin as a Biomarker in Asthma-COPD Overlap. J Assoc Physicians India 2023;71(9):34-38.

A comparison of conventional and accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy in definitive chemoradiation for locally advanced head and neck carcinoma: a retrospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: The study evaluates accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy (AHRT) compared to conventional fractionation radiotherapy (CFRT) in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer (LAHNC) receiving definitive chemoradiation therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study includes a retrospective cohort analysis of 120 patients. CFRT arm (n = 65) received 2 Gy per fraction to a dose of 70 Gy over 7 weeks in a three-volume approach, whereas the AHRT arm (n = 55) received 2.2 Gy per fraction to a dose of 66 Gy in 6 weeks with a two-volume approach. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS). RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 18.9 months, 23 patients died in the AHRT arm, and 45 deaths in the CFRT arm. The median OS was 23.4 and 37.63 months in the CFRT and AHRT arms, respectively (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.709; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.425-1.18; p = 0.189). The median time to loco-regional control was 33.3 months in the CFRT arm and was not reached in the patient group receiving AHRT (HR = 0.558; 95% CI, 0.30-1.03; p = 0.065). The median progression-free survival was 15.9 months in the CFRT arm and 26.9 months in the AFRT arm (HR = 0.801; 95% CI, 0.49-1.28; p = 0.357). Out of 11 acute toxic deaths, eight were in the CFRT arm. CONCLUSION: The study showed a trend towards benefit in terms of locoregional control in the AHRT arm and similar OS. A longer follow-up of patients receiving AHRT is required to assess the benefit.

May-Thurner Syndrome: A Forgotten Cause of Venous Thromboembolism.

The annual incidence rates of venous thromboembolism are approximately 1 per 1,000 persons per year in adult population. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) most frequently occurs in the setting of underlying illness, and anatomical abnormalities are rarely considered as an etiology for it. A well-described anatomical cause for DVT is "May-Thurner syndrome" (MTS), which occurs as a result of compression of the left common iliac vein by the overlying right common iliac artery. This syndrome most often affects young to middle-aged women. Pulmonary embolism (PE) occurs very rarely in these patients. Anticoagulation therapy alone is not enough in these patients. We report a case of 27-year-old male who had both left DVT and PE caused by MTS and was treated with endovascular management along with long-term anticoagulation. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Baburao A, Singh A, Babu A, Pandey A. May-Thurner Syndrome: A Forgotten Cause of Venous Thromboembolism. Indian J Crit Care Med 2020;24(1):66-68.

QSAR studies on peptide alpha-ketoamides and alpha-ketohydroxamate derivatives as calpain I inhibitors.

Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) studies were conducted on 34 peptide alpha-ketoamide and alpha-ketohydroxamate derivatives of Calpain I using multiple linear regression (MLR) procedure. The activity contributions of these compounds were determined from regression equation and the validation procedures that analyze the predictive ability of QSAR models were described. Among forty six descriptors that were considered in generating the QSAR model, three descriptors such as LogP, Heat of formation and HOMO resulted in a statistically significant model with 0.877 r(2) and 0.937 q(2) respectively. The inter-correlation between descriptors was 0.42. The proposed QSAR model indicates an increase in logP value increases hydrophobicity in order to achieve cellular permeability and an increase in heat of formation as well as decrease in HOMO energy favors better binding and activity towards development of potent calpain I inhibitors.