There is an increasing interest in single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing in the forensic field.SNPs are very useful for deftning Y chromosome or mtDNA haplotypes and DNA phenotyping.We focus on comparative advantages of SNP typing over length variations and expected number of loci required to gain probabilities equal to sTR loci in use.This review also offers to the reader a state of the art of SNP genotyping technologies with the advantages and disadvantages of the different techniques and platforms for different forensic requirements.

INTRODUCTIONAn investigation was carried out to determine the morphological characteristics of fibroblasts in two portions of the vocal fold (VF) mucosa, the macula flava (MF) and Reinke's space (RS), of three different age groups: newborns, adults and geriatrics.

METHODSNormal human VF obtained from autopsy cases were included in this study: four from mature newborns; four from middle-aged adults; and four from geriatric cases. Fibroblasts in RS and MF were investigated by transmission electron microscopy.

RESULTSThe fibroblasts of the MF in both adults and newborns tended to be stellate in shape, with a small nucleus/cytoplasm (N/C) ratio and a well-developed rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) and Golgi apparatus (GA). Most of the fibroblasts present in RS were oval in newborns and spindle-shaped in adults, with a large N/C ratio and less developed rER and GA. The majority of fibroblasts of the geriatric MF were stellate in shape; while in geriatric RS, the majority of fibroblasts were spindle-shaped with an N/C ratio of 0.5 to 2.0 as in the case of adults. However, the development of rER and GA was less marked in geriatrics than in adults.

CONCLUSIONHistological changes of fibroblasts in the VF mucosa are one of the important causes of the change in voice quality with ageing. Furthermore, geriatric changes in the vocal ligament can be attributed to the activities and the presence of ageing processes in fibroblasts of geriatric VF mucosa.

Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Cell Nucleus ; ultrastructure ; Cytoplasm ; ultrastructure ; Endoplasmic Reticulum ; ultrastructure ; Female ; Fibroblasts ; ultrastructure ; Golgi Apparatus ; ultrastructure ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Laryngeal Mucosa ; ultrastructure ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; methods ; Vocal Cords ; ultrastructure

Poultry farming not only provides high nutritious food but also creates employment opportunity for rural masses. Documented evidences elaborates that helminth parasitism is most deciduous problem of chickens especially in developing world. Ascaridia (A.) galli, a nematode of small intestine, has been considered as the most common and important parasite of chicken. The present study was carried out to investigate prevalence and severity of A. galli in White Leghorn layers (housing type: battery cage and deep litter, 50 each) and Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red crossbred (male and female: 50 each) flock rearing at Government Poultry Farm, Dina, Punjab, Pakistan. Two hundred faecal samples were examined by using standard parasitological and McMaster egg counting technique. The overall prevalence was 24.5% at farm, 13% in White leghorn layer (battery cage=2%, deep litter=24%) and 36% in Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red (male=34%, female=38%). It was also observed that White leghorn layer rearing in deep litter had more severe infection (EPG=1920) of A. galli compare with battery cages birds (EPG=500). Parasite prevalence was significantly related with sex (P<0.05) in Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red and male birds had less number of average parasites (0.34±0.47) as compared to females (0.38±0.490). Additionally, female birds were under serious threat of infection (EPG=2270) compared with its counterpart (EPG=1250). Given the high infection rates, particular attention should be paid to management and provision of feed supplement to White leghorn layer housing in deep litter and female bird of Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red crossbred.

Aims: The aim of this study was to isolate the endophytic fungi from Catharanthus roseus and screen the cytotoxicity and antimicrobial activity of alkaloids extracted from these fungi. Methodology and results: A total of 56 endophytic fungal isolates were screened from C. roseus plant parts. Aspergillus fumigatus and Fusarium oxysporum were the most frequent species. Determinations of alkaloids extracted from the most dominant endophytic fungal species were done. The highest significant total alkaloids productions were by A. fumigatus and Aspergillus niger, while the least significant one was by Botrytis cinera. Antimicrobial assay of endophytic fungal extracts indicated that both A. niger and F. oxysporum exhibited significant antimicrobial activities, while A. fumigatus exerted the least activity. In vitro cytotoxicity assay of the endophytic fungal extracts was done against human breast cancer (MCF-7) and liver cancer (HEPG-2) cell lines using SRB assay method. A. niger extract showed potential cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 cell line with IC50 value of 42.1 μg/mL, while the least cytotoxic effect was exhibited by F. oxysporum on MCF-7 cell line with IC50 value of 66.9 μg/mL. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used for analysis of alkaloids in mycelial and filtrate extracts of A. niger, where eleven compounds were detected. Conclusion, significance and impact of study Alkaloids extracted from Catharanthus roseus associated endophytic fungi had cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess nursing staff's work-related problems as perceived bytheir managers and thereafter develop strategies that would serve as a guide for nurse managers tomanage these problems. Methods: A descriptive research design was used. The participants included in the study consisted of thefollowing two groups: Group 1-a convenience sample of 150 first-line managers working at threedifferent hospitals; and Group 2-a panel of experts for the Delphi technique, selected using theSnowball sampling technique. Tools for data collection included the following: Tool 1-questionnaireabout nursing staff's problems; Tool 2-Delphi technique to develop strategies for managing nursingstaff's problems; and Tool 3-opinionnaire format. Results: The recruited first nurse managers were of the opinion that job stress, work overload, conflict,workplace violence, poor performance, staff turnover, demotivation, lack of empowerment, and staffabsenteeism were among the common problems faced by staff nurses at work. Conclusion From the expert panelists’ perspectives, the newly developed strategy in this study wasconsidered valid; the researchers recommend the strategy developed in this study to be universalized indifferent health care settings and used as a guide for nurse managers.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess nursing staff's work-related problems as perceived bytheir managers and thereafter develop strategies that would serve as a guide for nurse managers tomanage these problems. Methods: A descriptive research design was used. The participants included in the study consisted of thefollowing two groups: Group 1-a convenience sample of 150 first-line managers working at threedifferent hospitals; and Group 2-a panel of experts for the Delphi technique, selected using theSnowball sampling technique. Tools for data collection included the following: Tool 1-questionnaireabout nursing staff's problems; Tool 2-Delphi technique to develop strategies for managing nursingstaff's problems; and Tool 3-opinionnaire format. Results: The recruited first nurse managers were of the opinion that job stress, work overload, conflict,workplace violence, poor performance, staff turnover, demotivation, lack of empowerment, and staffabsenteeism were among the common problems faced by staff nurses at work. Conclusion From the expert panelists’ perspectives, the newly developed strategy in this study wasconsidered valid; the researchers recommend the strategy developed in this study to be universalized indifferent health care settings and used as a guide for nurse managers.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that has strained health care systems worldwide and resulted in high mortality. The current COVID-19 treatment is based on supportive and symptomatic care. Therefore, convalescent plasma (CP), which provides passive immunization against many infectious diseases, has been studied for COVID-19 management. To date, a large number of randomized and non-randomized clinical trials as well as many systematic reviews have revealed conflicting results. This article summarizes the basic principles of passive immunization, particularly addressing CP in COVID-19. It also evaluates the effectiveness of CP as a therapy in patients with COVID-19, clinical trial reports and systematic reviews, regulatory considerations and different protocols that are authorized in different countries to use it safely and effectively.An advanced search was carried out in major databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, and MEDLINE) and Google Scholar using the following key words: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, convalescent plasma, and the applied query was “convalescent plasma” AND “COVID-19 OR SARS-CoV-2”. The results were filtered and duplicate data were removed.Collective evidence indicates that two cardinal players determine the effectiveness of CP use, time of infusion, and quality of CP. Early administration of CP with high neutralizing anti-spike IgG titer is hypothesized to be effective in improving clinical outcome, prevent progression, decrease the length of hospital stay, and reduce mortality. However, more reliable, high quality, well-controlled, double-blinded, randomized, international and multicenter collaborative trials are still needed.

There is an increasing interest in single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing in the forensic field. SNPs are very useful for defining Y chromosome or mtDNA haplotypes and DNA phenotyping. We focus on comparative advantages of SNP typing over length variations and expected number of loci required to gain probabilities equal to STR loci in use. This review also offers to the reader a state of the art of SNP genotyping technologies with the advantages and disadvantages of the different techniques and platforms for different forensic requirements.
Alleles ; Chromosomes, Human, Y ; DNA Fingerprinting/methods* ; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics* ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Phenotype ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Tandem Repeat Sequences

Purpose::To investigate the orthopedic injuries sustained while driving and using social media on cellular phones from an orthopedic resident's perspective.Methods::A total of 118 patients who presented with a history of road traffic accident secondary to social media usage and suffered from fractures were included in this cross-sectional study. These patients were reported from October 2018 to April 2019. We collected the data including the type of collision, type of social media usage during driving, location of injury, wearing of safety equipment's such as helmet and seat belt during driving.Results::The mean age of patients was (34.86 ± 12.73) (range 15-71) years. The common types of accident on the basis of collision of vehicles were: car versus motorbike 45 (38.1%), motorbike versus motorbike 28 (23.7%), and motorbike versus pedestrian 22 (18.6%). Most of the accidents (61, 51.7%) occurred due to mistake of motor-bikers. Out of them, 44 (37.3%) occurred on traffic signals, followed by 29 (24.6%) while driving on main roads. The common timing of accident was normal hours with frequency of 44 (37.3%), followed by 39 (33.1%) at late night. According to fracture type, closed injuries were 98 (83.1%) and open fractures were 20 (16.9%). The most common fracture was clavicular fracture (21, 22.5%) followed by soft tissue injury in 19 (16.1%) patients. The most common social media application usage during driving was Facebook 43 (36.4%), followed by Whatsapp 24 (20.3%), Google 19 (16.1%), and Instagram 15 (12.7%).Conclusion::This study provides evidence that social media usage while driving put the drivers and other road users' lives at high risk. The most common social media addiction while driving is Facebook and Whatsapp. So there is a need to make strict rules and penalties for using cell phone during driving so as to save the lives of drivers and other people using road.

The beta2 integrins are expressed exclusively on leukocytes and participate in many immune and inflammatory processes. This subfamily comprises four heterodimeric glycoproteins with a common beta-subunit, designated beta2 (CD18). Spontaneous mutations of the CD18 gene result in leukocyte adhesion deficiency type I (LAD-I). Low level of CD18 expression has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. We here describe a child with recurrent skin infections without pus formation, persistent gingivitis and periodontitis. His blood counts showed persistent leukocytosis (neutrophilia). CD11b expression was defective on neutrophils, while that of CD18 was normal. So, our patient represents a mild variant of LAD-I with possible dysfunctional CD18. Moreover, he developed psoriasis with reduced CD18 expression on CD4+ T-cells. Psoriasiform dermatitis has been described before in association with LAD-I, however, clinically and histologically confirmed psoriasis in association with LAD-I has been described only in CD18 hypomorphic mice. Therefore, our patient represents the first clinically and histopathologically documented association between LAD-I and psoriasis in humans. It lends support to the role of beta2 integrins in the etiopathogenesis of psoriasis.
Animals ; Antigens, CD18 ; Child ; Dermatitis ; Gingivitis ; Glycoproteins ; Humans ; Leukocytes ; Leukocytosis ; Mice ; Neutrophils ; Periodontitis ; Psoriasis ; Skin ; Suppuration ; T-Lymphocytes