A Virus-Spike Tumor-Activatable Pyroptotic Agent.

Invoking the occurrence of pyroptosis is an emerging strategy for the treatment of cancer. However, the practical applications of pyroptosis for cancer therapy are currently hindered due to the lack of tumor-specific and efficient pyroptotic agents in vivo. Herein, a virus-spike tumor-activatable pyroptotic agent (VTPA) for cancer-specific therapy is reported. The VTPA is composed of an organosilica coated iron oxide nanoparticle core and spiky manganese dioxide protrusions, which can readily accumulate in tumor after systemic administration, facilitate the tumor intracellular lysosomal rupture, and be degraded by tumor over-expressed intracellular glutathione (GSH) to release Mn ions and iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) for the synergetic activation of nucleotide binding oligomerization domain-like receptors protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasomes. Consequently, the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes and the release of lactate dehydrogenase of tumor cells are observed after the treatment of VTPA, resulting in a specific pyroptotic cell death. To our best knowledge, the structure-dependent and tumor intracellular GSH activatable pyroptotic agents represent the first demonstration of cancer-specific pyroptosis in vivo, providing a novel paradigm for the development of next-generation cancer-specific pyroptotic nanomedicine.

Birth Preparedness Among Women Coming To Pof Ospital Wah; A Cross Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: High women deaths due to pregnancy, child birth and postpartum complications were the hallmarks of the end of last century especially in Asia. Strategy adopted to achieve this is called birth preparedness whose main aim is to empower the community. This study was planned to determine the frequency of awareness about birth preparedness and the association of birth preparedness with the educational and employment status of the women. METHODS: It was a cross sectional study carried out in Pakistan Ordinance Factories Hospital Wah Cantt. A sample of 385 women was calculated by WHO sample size calculator. The sample was selected by purposive sampling. The study was carried out from September 2015 to March 2016. A structured questionnaire was filled regarding awareness about birth preparedness among women after taking informed consent from each of them. Demographic characteristics were recorded. Birth preparedness awareness was assessed by questionnaire containing 10 items. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 19. Pearson correlation was applied to find the association of birth preparedness with the educational and employment status of the women at p-value of 0.05. RESULTS: In a sample of 385 women, 131 (34.1%) were prepared. Statistically significant p value of 0.000 was found between birth preparedness and educational status while a p-value of 0.153 was found between birth preparedness and employment status of the women. CONCLUSIONS: The study concluded that despite having education and availability of free medical facility the women were not aware of birth preparedness.

DENGUE EPIDEMICS: KNOWLEDGE PERHAPS IS THE ONLY KEY TO SUCCESS.

BACKGROUND: Dengue fever/dengue haemorrhagic fever is a re-emerging vector-borne viral illness that is endemic in Tropics and poses a major public health burden in many countries of South East Asia, The objectives of the study were to correlate the dengue fever knowledge and preventive practices with age, gender, education, occupation and marital status of people of Wah Cantt. and to determine the association between knowledge level and preventive practices. METHODS: This cross-sectional Survey was done in Wah Cantt from July to Dec 2011. Three hundred and sixty-three participants were selected through Stratified Random Sampling. Data on the knowledge and practice of the participants was collected by using structured questionnaire by the researcher. Knowledge and preventive practices were given scores on each correct response and participants were categorized into different groups according to their scores, i.e., excellent, good, poor and negligible. Associations were computed using Chi-square and Bivariate Correlation. p-value < 0.05 was taken significant. RESULTS: Mean age was 35.7 +/- 12.1 years. More participants were male (64.5%). Male sex, old age, employment without specific qualification and being parents had significant associations with both levels of knowledge and preventive practices. Level of knowledge was highly associated with levels of practice X2=79.1, df=9, p=0.000 and r=0.464 and p=0.000. CONCLUSION: The knowledge and preventive practices of people are related to their gender, marital status, age and occupation. Unexpectedly education has no association with knowledge or better preventive behaviour. Preventive practices get better where knowledge levels are more, emphasizing the need of community education programmes.