Indian J Med Res
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Clinically silicosis is diagnosed by chest X-ray showing specific opacities along with history of silica dust exposure. Diagnosis is invariably made at an advanced or end stage when it is irreversible. Moreover, silicosis patients are susceptible to develop tuberculosis. Therefore, a suitable biomarker for early detection of silicosis is needed. This study evaluated the suitability of club cell protein (CC16) as a biomarker for early detection of silicosis. ⋯ Because of high sensitivity and specificity, serum CC16 could be used as predictive biomarker for suspicion and early detection of silicosis, which would help in reducing/delaying premature deaths caused by silicosis. It would also control silicotuberculosis additionally.
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There is limited data on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among Indian women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and there are no data on the utility of fibroscan in its assessment. The objective of this study was thus to investigate the frequency of hepatic steatosis in young women with PCOS and evaluate the utility of transient elastography (TE) in its assessment. ⋯ NAFLD is common in young women with PCOS, and fibroscan using TE may be considered as a promising non-invasive diagnostic modality in its early detection.
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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a small positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus, the causal organism for chronic hepatitis. Chronic hepatitis leads to inflammation of liver, causing cirrhosis, fibrosis and steatosis, which may ultimately lead to liver cancer in a few cases. Innate and adaptive immune responses play an important role in the pathogenesis of HCV infection, thus acting as an important component in deciding the fate of the disease. ⋯ It has been reported that HCV impairs the immune system by functional modulation of the cells of innate as well as adaptive immune responses, resulting in chronic state of the disease, influencing the response to antiviral therapy in these patients. These defects in the immune system lead to suboptimal immune responses and therefore, impaired effector functions. This review highlights the involvement or association of different immune cells such as natural killer cells, B cells, dendritic cells and T cells in HCV infection and how the virus plays a role in manipulating certain regulatory mechanisms to make these cells dysfunctional for its own persistence and survival.
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Iron supplementation is widely used public health measure to manage iron deficiency anaemia. In India, enteric-coated iron tablets are administered to adolescent boys and girls to avoid adverse effects such as gastritis, which reduces compliance, but this may result in poor iron absorption. Data on the absorption of iron from enteric-coated ferrous sulphate tablets are lacking. The present study using stable isotopic approach was aimed to measure iron absorption in iron deficient women. ⋯ Our study showed poor iron bioavailability from ECFS, and supplementation programmes may consider UCFS tablets for better haematological outcomes.