International Biological and Biomedical Journal
Volume:7 Issue: 3, Summer 2021

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most common autoimmune disease. It is characterized by the presence of hundreds of autoantibodies against many organs and tissues, including the presence of a large number of autoantibodies, which are specific to self-antigens mainly of nuclear origin such as Smith antigen, double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), anti-Sjögren’s syndrome-related antigen A and B (SSA/Ro and SSB/La, respectively) and ribonucleoproteins, which are the hallmarks of the disease. Type I and II interferons, interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and immunomodulatory cytokines such as IL-10 and TGF-β are essential players in SLE. Additionally, T-cell-derived cytokines such as IL-17, IL-21, and IL-2 are dysregulated in SLE. In this study among cohorts of 60 individuals attending the hospital clinics in Trinidad and Tobago, blood samples were analyzed and the levels of the essential cytokines were measured using SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) 2000 score. The results confirmed that serum IL-17 and IL-23 levels were positively correlated with the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) 2000 score in these patients. These findings have diagnostic and therapeutic implications. However, more work must be done targeting other cytokines relevant to autoimmunity and SLE in particular. Interleulin-33 is not an SLE marker, as has been noted in other populations.

Sardinia populations experienced continuous shortage of water resources for thousands of years. To solve this problem, during 1950-1980, the main rivers were dammed creating 45 reservoirs which rapidly became eutrophic or hypertrophic, with toxic cyanobacterial blooms and a generally poor water quality.
In order to investigate relations between some cancers occurrence and drinking water consumption from eutrophic reservoirs an ecological study was performed in two Sardinia provinces between 2002-2011 comparing cancer incidence between an exposed area and a reference area. Indications on the actions to be pursued in the future to protect human health from cyanobacterial blooms exposure are suggested.

The provinces of Sassari and Olbia Tempio are the study area and the Ragusa Province (Sicily) the reference area since its water sources are just groundwaters and springs. Cancer incidence rates were calculated for the study area and compared to those of the reference area.

Results and conclusions:

Among Sardinian men, for the entire study period risk excesses for cancer of esophagus (SRR=3.50), colon-rectum (SRR=1.04), liver (SRR=1.21) and pancreas (SRR=1.24) are observed. Between 2002 and 2011, women showed risk excesses for cancer of esophagus (SRR=3.44) and pancreas during the first (SRR=1.44) and third (SRR=1.67) sub-periods and risk defects for stomach (SRR=0.79) and colon-rectum (SRR=0.92) cancer during the whole study period.
Exposure from cyanobacterial blooms can be considered a risk factor for the onset of cancers of the digestive organs. Further studies on individual exposure, effective daily intake and chlorination by-product presence are therefore needed, as well as prevention and water body remediation measures.

Neoplastic adenomatous polyps generating from the epithelial cells are considered benign tumors. Adenomatous polyps are common in western countries and it can take seven to 10 or more years for an adenoma to evolve into cancer.  The Hippo signaling pathway, also known as the Salvador-Warts-Hippo (SWH) pathway, is a signaling pathway that controls organ size in animals through the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis, although, Hippo pathway genes have been investigated in multiple types of cancer, the role of this pathway and the manifestation of adenoma polyps are not still fully discovered. Although the molecular events occurring during the CRC development have been widely studied, the molecular events among different types of intestinal polyps remain unclear. Our study aims to evaluate the mRNA expression of three Hippo pathway components including YAP, TAZ, and TEAD1 in the progression of adenoma polyps.

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to examine the mRNA expression levels of, YAP, TAZ, TEAD1in 30 pairs of human adenomas polyps’ tissues, and adjacent nontumorous tissues from CRC patients. Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was used as the housekeeping gene in qRT-PCR, in addition, we investigated the correlation between clinicopathologic features and the candidate genes expression in patients with adenoma polyps.

The mRNA expression levels of YAP and TAZ, TEAD was found to be overexpressed from adenoma polyps’ tissues to adjacent nontumorous tissues (P < 0.001). Furthermore, statistical analysis showed that the expression levels of Hippo signal pathway selected components were associated with lymph node metastasis and only TAZ was associated with TNM stage (I-II) among other genes.

Upregulation of three candidate genes within the Hippo pathway was observed, this upregulation can affect the progression of adenomas to colorectal cancer (CRC). In short, the Hippo pathway can be a crucial target for further investigation for patients with adenoma polyps.

Post natal depression (PND)is a psychological interruption caused after childbirth. It is considered as a threat to women and the new born that can even haul to fatality. The prevalence and its impact were surveyed in a rustic set up at Kodiyalam village (Tiruchirappalli district).It is aspired to assay the incidence of postnatal depression in a rustic system and detect the causes along with its deleterious out comes.Survey method was adopted for the study by using purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by semi- structured interview schedulewith 80 females as respondents. The survey reported that 16% of the women were affected with the symptoms of social withdrawal and lack of family intimacy. The poor socio economic status is the main reason for the onset of this discomfort and there is a need of intensive counseling and medications to attest this condition. Though there are numerous antidepressants to combat against this psychological condition the severity of its adverse effects are more than its symptoms. PND is an essential clinical condition that requires advance research and therapeutic competence to strengthen the health of mother and child. This work suggests the implementation alternative strategy of smart herbal nanocomposites which can fortify the delivery of ayurvedic formulations encased with polymers under nanoscale. This can target the therapeutics with unique distribution that reduces its deleterious adverse effects.