Journal of Bioanalysis & Biomedicine

According to our previous studies, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF) autoantibodies (GMAbs) are normally present in healthy people. To date, antigen-antibody capture assay has measured the concentrations. However, nonspecific IgG other than GMAbs and immune complex formation with intrinsic GM-CSF prevents us from measuring the accurate concentrations. To solve these problems, we developed a liquid phase high-sensitivity assay using biotinylated GM-CSF (bGM-CSF) and streptavidin coated plate, which could measure the concentration of GMAbs over 0.02 ng/ml. Using this method, the true GMAbs concentration in 30 normal subjects was estimated to be 52.6 ng/ml for the median value, ranging 10.6 to 799.5 ng/ml. Thus, we propose a novel method that enables us to estimate the true concentration of GMAbs in the sera of healthy subjects.

Background: Population ageing is a result of high life expectancy and declining fertility. Medication use in older people is a particular public health concern since the older population has a higher prevalence of multiple drug use referred to as ‘poly-pharmacy’. This study aimed to determine poly-pharmacy and the contributing factors among elderly patients at Shashemene Referral Hospital.

Materials and methods: A Health facility based prospective cross sectional study was conducted. Elders of 65 and above years old were enrolled. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 16.0 software. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess association of variables with poly-pharmacy. Statistical significance was conducted at p-value<0.05.

Results: The total number of population enrolled in the study was 116 elders (60 yrs old and above). Among this, 59.5% were males. The primary diagnosis of most patients was infection (50% (n=58)) and followed by cardiovascular disorders (18.1% (n=21)). The widely used drug group was antimicrobials (58.7%), followed by cardiovascular (25%) and GIT drugs (13.8%). Almost half, (48.3%), of population were taking 1-2 drugs. The maximum total number of drug per patient was seven drugs of the same or different classes. Poly-pharmacy was observed among almost one-third (32.75%) of study subjects with highest prevalence among younger elders (65yrs-69 yrs old). The polypharmacy that has been seen in elderly in highest prevalence was appropriate poly-pharmacy, 79%. Co-morbidity (AOR=7.427) and occupation, employee, (AOR=8.840) were the contributing factors of poly-pharmacy.

Conclusion and recommendations: In this study, a total of 116 elderly patients, 69 males and 47 females, were involved. The primary diagnosis of most patients was infection. Co-morbidity has been seen in over one-third of the study subjects. The widely used drug group was antimicrobials, followed by cardiovascular. The study also shows that poly-pharmacy was prevalent in almost one third of the elderly patients in SRH. The multivariate logistic regression showed that co-morbidity and occupation, employee, were the factors independently associated with poly-pharmacy. The health care system should improve the prescribing process among elderly patients.

Digitization is not an end in itself, but rather a means to an end. Ultimately, the point is to continue improving care provision in Europe, creating more efficient medical processes and achieving additional benefits for health care system. Medicine represents the next frontier for the Internet of Things: Four digital evolutions. Doodle is a famous process and database and works best for coordinating teams of people. Doodle radically simplifies the process of collecting data for scheduling events, meetings, appointments. However, the need to collect and share available scientific data on single PC or server from multiple project partners is a challenging process. This manuscript presents Medical 4.0, a doodle alternative for scientific data, presenting how radically the platform contributes to the four digital evolutions in medicine.

The objective of the present study was to develop orally disintegrating tablets of dry ginger powder with sugar free ingredients. In the present research work, orally disintegrating tablets of ginger were prepared by wet granulation method. A total of eight formulations were prepared with different compositions. The formulated tablets were evaluated for post-compression parameters. FTIR spectroscopic studies revealed that there was no interaction between the dry ginger powder and other excipients used in the formulations. The disintegration time of the optimized formulation was less than 30 sec. The in vitro release study of optimized formulation showed more than 90% drug release at the end of 10 min. The optimized formulation B8 showed good in vitro and in vivo antimicrobial activity against Gram positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Streptococcus pyogenes and Gram-negative bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae. The formulation B8 was found to be stable for one month under accelerated stability condition.

Biochemical parameters are greatly influenced by genetic, physiological and environmental factors. Regional data is essential to establish a relationship between End stage renal disease (ESRD) and biochemical parameters. In Bangladesh, there is not any established research data on biochemical parameters of ESRD patient. The present study was a case control study with 500 ESRD patients and equal number of healthy volunteers (controls). Sociodemographic, anthropometric and clinical data of both patients and controls were collected. Serum biochemical parameters were analyzed by laboratory test. Statistical software package SPSS were used for independent sample t-test and Pearson’s correlation test. Our study found that serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum uric acid were significantly higher (p<0.05) and serum potassium were significantly lower in ESRD patient as compared to control subjects (p<0.05). But serum chloride, serum sodium and serum calcium level were in the normal range. Pearson correlation analysis reveals that serum creatinine and serum chloride was inversely correlated with GFR (glomerular filtration rate) in both patient and control groups. This study explored that ESRD patients have higher level of serum creatinine, BUN and serum uric acid but lower level of serum potassium than normal patient. Routine investigation of serum biochemical parameters may help to prevent ESRD complication.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are used increasingly in medical and agricultural sectors for disease management, due to their antimicrobial activity. In the current study, Biosynthesized AgNPs produced from a previous study (AgNPs1, AgNPs2 and AgNPs3) were used to test their toxicity on gram negative (E. coli) and gram positive (B. subtilis) bacteria. These nanoparticles (NPs) were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). SEM micrographs show that AgNPs1 were almost spherical monodispersed while AgNPs2 were aggregated. More aggregations appeared in AgNPs3. Peaks of AgNPs are obvious in the EDS which were confirmed further by XRD peaks ascertaining the precipitation of AgNPs. Toxicity effect of AgNPs was tested by exposing E. coli and B. subtilis to AgNPs1, AgNPs2 and AgNPs3 during their growth. Bacterial growth was followed by OD at 600 nm. Unexpectedly, an enhancement effect was proven in the presence of AgNPs1 for both bacterial strains, whereas an inhibition effect of bacterial growth was proven in the presence of AgNPs2 and AgNPs3. AgNPs3 were selected to test their minimum toxicity effect against E. coli and B. subtilis which shown to be 10 mg.L-1. To our knowledge, this study was the first study to show bacterial growth enhancement effect for AgNPs. The reasons for this enhancement need further investigation.