High Degree Of Positive Correlation Research Articles

The diagnostic accuracy of acute phase proteins and proinflammatory cytokines in sheep with pneumonic pasteurellosis.

The goal of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of acute phase proteins and proinflammatory cytokines in sheep with pneumonic pasteurellosis. Blood samples were collected from 56 sheep (36 naturally infected with Pasteurella multocida and 20 healthy controls) belonging to one farm in Eastern region, Saudi Arabia. Serum samples were evaluated for acute phase proteins (Haptoglobin (Hp), serum amyloid A (SAA) and fibrinogen (Fb)), and the proinflammatory cytokines (interleukins (IL-1α, IL-1β, and IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interferon-gamma (IFN-ϒ)). Additionally, nasopharyngeal swabs and bronchoalveolar lavages were collected from all animals for bacteriological examinations. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to assess the diagnostic performance of each parameter. All parameters showed moderate to high degree of positive correlation with case-control status. There was no significant difference in the area under the curve (AUC) among acute phase proteins; however, both Hp and SAA showed better sensitivity and specificity than Fb. The proinflammatory cytokines (IL1-α, IL1-β, and IL6) showed similar and highly accurate diagnostic performance (AUC > 0.9), whereas IFN-ϒ was moderately accurate (AUC = 0.79). In conclusion, this study confirms the value of acute phase proteins and cytokines as diagnostic biomarkers of naturally occuring pneumonic pasteurellosis in sheep.

Job Satisfaction in College Teachers: A Survey Based Study of Government Colleges of Hyderabad, Pakistan

Background and Objective: The profession of teaching is one of most stressful profession in all over the world. The aim of current study was to examine the job satisfaction of teachers of Government Colleges. Methodology: The descriptive type of research was adopted and the data was collected using questionnaire and face-to-face interviews. 231 teachers out of 576 teachers were randomly selected and were given predesigned questionnaire. Meanwhile, face-to-face interviews were conducted from few teachers of each College in-order to assess the level of job satisfaction and root causes of dissatisfaction among the college teachers. Results and Conclusion: The results of the study indicates that due to stumpy salary and lack of various facilities in colleges, 52.38% of teachers were dissatisfied whereas only 29.78% senior teachers were found satisfied with job. During interviews, some new factors were observed to be affecting the job satisfaction in college teaching staff. Job satisfaction among male and female teachers have a high degree of positive correlation and there is also a positive correlation between job satisfaction and length of service. Based on the findings of the results, the present study suggests some modification in the existing policies leading to improvement of satisfaction level.

Length-Weight Relationship of Some Fish Species in a Tropical Rainforest River in South-East Nigeria

Abstract The Length-Weight relationship of some fish species from Oramiri-Ukwa River, was studied from January to December, 2014. The slope (b) values obtained in the nine species ranged from 1.830 to 5.670 with most of the fishes indicating a negative allometric growth pattern except for Papyrocranus afer, with b value of 3.04, thus showing a positive isometric growth pattern. The following fish species showed a high degree of positive correlation at (P > 0.05); Ctenopoma kingselyae, Alestes imberi, Channa obscura, Oreochromis niloticus, Tilapia mariae, Tilapia zillii, Synodontis omais, and Papyrocranus afer. Chrysichthys auratus did not show this positive correlation. The condition factor (K) of the fish species ranged from 0.99 to 4.54, indicating that most of the fish were in good condition except for Chrysichthys auratus with 0.99.

Work Life Balance of Working Parents: A study of IT Industry

Managing the competing demands of work, family and social life is an issue that affects almost every organization. Work life balance is a challenging issue for IT professionals whether male or female as increasing working hours and monitoring the hours worked are far more rigorous than ever before. This paper explores the gender wise perception of work life balance among working parents of I.T. Industry and also examines the impact of work life balance on working parents’ personal and professional life. The Data was thus collected from 200 working parents of IT industry through questionnaire by adopting random sampling technique. The statistical techniques used were ttest, Correlation and Regression Analysis. Findings depicted no significance differences in the perception of male and female towards work life balance. It also revealed high degree of positive correlation of 0.909 and 0.742 between work life balance and working parent’s personal and professional life respectively. And high impact of work life balance on working parent’s personal and professional life.

Correlation between the homestay experience and brand equity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation between customer experience and brand equity for a homestay establishment in Eastern Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach – Visitors staying at Yuehetang Rural Residence (YRR) during the month of January 2013 were surveyed, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, reliability analysis and typical correlation. Findings – Visitors demonstrated a very high level of overall satisfaction with their homestay experience (4.43-4.84), especially in terms of YRR’s ability to evoke feelings of being moved or touched, and of pleasure, excitement and satisfaction. Similarly, YRR’s brand equity was rated very high (3.98-4.67). Responders particularly felt that YRR’s image of prioritizing environmental protection and the quality of its lodgings were unique sources of added value and, therefore, factors in creating its healthy brand equity, despite the fact that it was rated low in terms of visibility to homestay-hunting customers. The correlation coefficient between experience and brand equity was 0.742, indicating a high degree of positive correlation. The correlation between customer loyalty and brand equity was also quite high, followed by, in decreasing order of strength, the correlations between brand equity and the environment-friendly image, the quality of lodging, organic farming and visibility. Practical implications – YRR’s core business value is environmental protection, a factor which, in today’s increasingly environment-conscious world, has unsurprisingly contributed heavily to its brand equity and customer loyalty. YRR and other homestay operators can utilize the findings of this paper to enhance visitor experience and their own brand equity. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first articles in the homestay experience field that offers content that environmental protection is an important factor to brand equity. It also offers numerous theoretical and practical implications.

Length-weight relationship and condition factor of brown trout (Salmo trutta fario L.) from River Asiganga, Uttarakhand (India)

The present study was performed to describe length-weight relationship of ecological and commercial important exotic fish brown trout (Salmo trutta fario L.) inhabited in River Asiganga, a tributary of River Bhagirathi. The knowing of length-weight relationship is important because it provides information on the life history of species and an input to the assessment of fishery resource of the region. The length-weight relationship was estimated as: Log W = 0.310 + 3.096 Log L for males, Log W = 0.291 + 3.040 Log L for females and Log W = 0.302 + 3.073 Log L for overall. The coefficient of correlation (r) for the length-weight relationship was estimated 0.985 which showed a high degree of positive correlation between the length and weight of the fish. The condition factor (K) value was estimated highest 1.473±0.694 for the male and 1.357±0.210 for the female sex during winter.

English

The rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), introduced in Kashmir in 1912, has thrived well since then and is now established in almost all the cold water streams, lakes and rivers of the valley. This study was aimed to describe the length-weight relationship and ponderal index (condition factor) of the fish from Dachigam stream in Kashmir. The investigation was carried out between April and December, 2005 and the data were recorded from anaesthetized fish, which ranged from 110 to 488 mm in length and 20 to 1425 g in weight. The length-weight relationship was estimated as LogW = - 4.9216 + 2.9618LogL and the b value (2.9618) did not differ significantly from 3. The coefficient of correlation (r) for the length-weight relationship was estimated at 0.9968 which showed a high degree of positive correlation between the length and weight of the fish. The condition factor (K) value was estimated as 1.15 ± 0.013. Key words: Oncorhynchus mykiss, rainbow trout, length weight relationship, ponderal index, Dachigam stream, Kashmir.

The Role of the Total Cholesterol Level in the Assessment of the Severity of Myocardial Infarction

Cardiovascular diseases are the emerging causes of the mortality which is looming large in India also. Particularly, the Indian populations are genetically more susceptible to them [1]. Dyslipidaemia (especially high LDL-C levels) is the promoter of atherosclerosis, whereas the HDL-C fraction is protective [2]. The oxidatively modified LDL associated conversion of macrophages to foam cells is reportedly atherogenic [3]. The pro-inflammatory oxidative milieu favours this process [4]. The dyslipidaemia associated acute phase response was shown to develop a pro-inflammatory state which promoted atherosclerosis [5, 6]. The usual practice of assaying the entire lipid profile may not be cost effective for predicting the cardiovascular risk burden. Oxidized-LDL and/or malondialdehyde modified-LDL, appear as informative markers [7]. However, technically, they do not appear to be suitable for a routine clinical laboratory setting. Hence, there is an ardent need of reasonably effective and affordable tests. In this study, the plasma lipid profile parameters, namely HDL-C (high density lipoprotein), LDL-C (low density lipoprotein), TG (triglyceride) and TC (total cholesterol) were assessed in both myocardial infarction (MI) cases and in healthy controls; each parameter was correlated with the lipid peroxidative parameter, MDA to find out any possible single parameter which was most closely associated with its oxidative pathology, so as to draw any meaningful association for prognostic purposes. A case cohort was formed by selecting 42 clinically as well as electrocardiographically confirmed and previously untreated cases of MI (median age 58 years). Diabetes Mellitus, or any other major diseases and a past history of smoking were ruled out. Similarly, an age and sex matched cohort was formed by selecting 38 healthy volunteers from among the hospital staff (median age 54 years). Plasma samples were collected from all the individuals of both the groups after taking informed consents from them. The patients’ samples were collected within 12 hours of their admissions. Their lipid profiles, along with the direct LDL measurements, were assessed by using commercial kits as per the manufacturer’s protocol. The MDA estimation was done by a spectrophotometric method [8]. Except for HDL-C which was found to be significantly low in the cases, the mean levels of the lipid profile parameters in the cases were significantly high as compared to those in the corresponding control group; the MDA levels were also found to be significantly high among the cases [Table/Fig-1]. This showed a marked dyslipidaemia in the patient populace. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed a high degree of positive correlation between MDA and TC and also with LDL cholesterol (r = 0.79 and 0.72 respectively) in the MI cases. The positive correlation between MDA and the TG level was not comparably high. Similarly, the negative correlation between HDL-C and the MDA level was also not very significant. The control group parameters did not show any significant correlations. This result conformed to the view of the oxidative pathology being associated with such metabolic abnormalities. Total cholesterol and LDL-C, being significantly associated with lipid peroxidation in the cases, suggested a direct contribution of these fractions in the pathogenesis. However, in the general practice, LDL-C is calculated from the Friedwald’s formula and it may thus incorporate considerable error [9]. Moreover, the highest correlation value was observed between total cholesterol and MDA. This finding corroborated with that of an earlier study which reported a relative risk predictive efficacy of TC, which showed its direct association with the mortality in coronary heart disease [10, 11]. Hence, with the perspective of this small scale pilot type study (considering the huge prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the general population), total cholesterol alone, as a single parameter, demands a large-scale multi-centric trial for being considered as an effective and an economic option for the prediction of the severity of cardiovascular health hazards in the MI cases. [Table/Fig-1]: Comparative display of lipid Profile parameters and malondialdehyde (MDA) in MI patients and control groups

Volatility and Returns Analysis of U.S. PE Index

This research examines the trends in the U.S. PE Total Return Index and the market, as represented by the S&P 500 Index, over the last five years. The study shows that there was high degree of positive correlation between returns on the PE index and the S&P 500.The study suggests that the PE index was far more sensitive than the S&P 500. The study also shows that the PE index outperformed the S&P 500 when total risk is taken into consideration but fails to perform better if only systematic risk is taken into consideration. When it comes to the future trends in their movements, the authors predict that in the first two years S&P 500 will perform better than the PE index, but in the next three years after that, the PE index will outperform the S&P 500. All in all, the study suggests that the PE index is more sensitive, more volatile, and more rewarding than the S&P 500.

Detoxification and accumulation of chromium from tannery effluent and spent chrome effluent by Paecilomyces lilacinus fungi

The tannery industry process involves chromium (Cr) salts as a main constituent of the process. The Cr recovery is a part of the process where other salts are used to achieve separation and recovery for using Cr back in the process. The process steps may contain both forms of Cr [Cr(VI): hexavalent and Cr(III): trivalent]. The recovery of Cr from tannery industry effluent through biological systems is much needed. The diverse physicochemical characteristics of these effluents may limit the growth of microorganisms and hence the limitation towards possible practical application of microorganisms in real industrial effluent conditions. The present study attempted the ability of the Cr-resistant fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus [isolated through an enrichment culture technique at 25 000 mg l−1 of Cr(III)] to grow and remove Cr [Cr(VI) and Cr(III)] from two physicochemically different undiluted tannery industry effluents (tannery effluent and spent chrome effluent) in the presence of cane sugar as a carbon source. Such attempts are made keeping in view the potential integration of biological processes in the overall Cr removal and recovery processes to improve its efficiency and environmental sustainability. The fungus has broad pH tolerance range and can reduce Cr(VI) both in acidic (pH 5.5) and alkaline (pH 8.0) conditions. The fungus showed the ability to remove Cr(VI) (1.24 mg l−1) and total Cr (7.91 mg l−1) from tannery effluent below the detection level within 18 h and 36 h of incubation, respectively, and ability to accumulate 189.13 mg Cr g−1 of dry biomass within 600 h of incubation from spent chrome effluent [containing 3731.4 mg l−1 of initial Cr(III) concentration].At 200 mg l−1 of Cr(VI) in growth media, with 100% detoxification and with only 10.54% of total Cr accumulation in the biomass, P. lilacinus showed Cr(VI) reduction as a major mechanism of Cr(VI) detoxification. The time-course study revealed the log phase of the growth for the maximum specific reduction of Cr(VI) and stationary phase of the growth for its maximum specific accumulation of both the forms of Cr [Cr(III) and Cr(VI)] in its biomass. In growth media at 50 mg l−1 and 200 mg l−1 of Cr(VI), P. lilacinus showed 100% reduction within 36 h and 120 h of incubation, respectively. The high degree of positive correlation and statistically high degree of relationship (r2 = 0.941) between the fungal growth and % Cr(VI) reduction by the fungus support the role of metabolically active cellular growth in Cr(VI) reduction by the fungus. Results indicate that expanded solid (sludge) retention times (SRTs) (stationary phase) can be recommended for the removal of Cr(III) through accumulation. In case of Cr(VI), reduction needs a priority; therefore, a non-expanded SRT is recommended for designing a continuous-flow completely stirred bioreactor so that a log phase of cellular growth can be maintained during the reduction process. This study reveals the strong potential of P. lilacinus fungi for the removal of Cr from tannery effluent and spent chrome effluent.

Socioeconomic and demographic analysis of occupational patterns in Delhi slums, India

Slums are a major concern for the contemporary urban planners, especially in the developing world. They typically represent an imbalance between migration into cities and economic growth of the city. For a long time, governments have tried to improve the quality of life for the slum dwellers, with varying degree of success. Such efforts understate the need to continually understand various aspects of the slum economics. This article is an attempt to comprehend the socio-demographic and economic patterns of the population in slums of Delhi, India. The study employs the use of field survey technique comprising of questions that tapped the education level, income, gender and occupational status of the respondents. The sample consisted of 5053 participants and further classified as working and non-working population. On the basis of the survey, the occupational patterns are analyzed and classified at three different levels (macro, meso and micro). The study reveals high degree of positive correlation between the education level, economic status and gender parity in the slums.

Expression of TEIF protein in colorectal tumors and its correlation with centrosome abnormality

Telomerase transcriptional elements-interacting factor (TEIF) gene found recently by our research group is a transcription factor of a kind of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene, and expresses in many kinds of tumor tissues. This study was to evaluate the expression of TEIF protein in human colorectal tumors and to explore its correlation with centrosome abnormality. The expression of TEIF in 10 specimens of normal intestinal mucosa tissue, 30 specimens of colorectal cancer, and 54 specimens of colorectal adenoma was detected by immunohistochemistry. The expression of gamma-tubulin was detected by immunofluorescence. Immunohistochemistry results showed that the differences of TEIF protein expression between the normal group and each tumor groups were statistically significant (P<0.01), and the difference of TEIF protein expression between the malignant tumor group and the benign group was not significant (P>0.05). TEIF strong positive rate (> or =++) was significantly higher in the carcinoma group than in the adenoma group or normal group (all P<0.001); the differences of TEIF strong positive rate between Grade I adenoma and Grade II or III adenoma were statistically significant (P<0.05), and the difference of TEIF strong positive rate between Grade II adenoma and Grade III adenoma was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Immunofluorescence results showed that centrosome amplification-positive rate was significantly higher in the colorectal cancer group than in the normal group or the adenoma group (both P<0.01); the difference of the centrosome amplification positive rate between Grade I adenoma and Grade III adenoma was statistically significant (P<0.05), and the differences of the centrosome amplification positive rate between Grade II adenoma and Grade I or III adenoma were statistically significant (P>0.05). TEIF protein and centrosome amplification is commonly found in colorectal tumors. The expression level of TEIF is related to tumor histological grade and malignant degree. TEIF protein expression and centrosome amplification showed a high degree of positive correlation.

Food web diagnostics and functional diversity of soil inhabiting nematodes in a natural woodland

Abstract Functional diversity and detritus soil food web of soil inhabiting nematodes in natural woodland dominated by Acacia nilotica L. was studied. Functional diversity was studied in terms of trophic groups assessed by Trophic diversity index (TDI) and Shannon-Weaver index (H′), while food web was diagnosed by channel index (CI). The plant parasitic channel was determined by plant parasitic index (PPI). The stability of the soil ecosystem was measured in terms of maturity index (MI), structure index (SI) and enrichment index (EI). Shannon-Weaver index of the area was recorded as 2.1 ± 0.3 while trophic diversity index 2.6 ± 0.7, maturity index (MI) 3.1 ± 0.2, channel index 62.4 ± 28.1 and structure and enrichment indices 68.1 ± 18.5 and 15.4 ± 13.7 respectively. A high degree of positive correlation was recorded between population of dorylaims and MI while some degree of negative correlation existed between population of plant parasitic nematodes and MI. Population of other nematodes showed a positive correlation with SI and EI. The faunal profile was found to be tilted towards quadrat C giving the idea of relatively undisturbed ecosystem with moderate enrichment and fungal decomposition channel.

Systematic review of response evaluation in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

e21500 Background: Our purpose was to conduct an evidence-based systematic review of the literature on the accuracy of 18FDG PET - CT(PET) and contrast enhanced computer tomography (CT) in assessment of response to imatinib therapy in advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) Methods: A systematic review of the literature between January 2000 and December 2008 was performed on Medline and EMBASE. Inclusion criteria included prognostic studies or diagnostic studies using CT or PET to determine response to imatinib. Only articles with Level 1B or higher were included. The following variables were extracted: imaging modality (PET, In-line PET/CT, CT), response criteria used EORTC,RECIST criteria, or novel criteria), and the clinical outcome (time-to-treatment failure (TTF), time to progression (TTP), progression free survival (PFS), disease specific survival (DSS), and/or overall survival). The number of responders and non-responders was extracted from the data, and the reported log rank statistics for the Kaplan Meier curves were used to determine the strength of correlation between the responders and the clinical outcomes. Results: Five articles met the strict criteria for Level 1B evidence. Four articles met the inclusion criteria for In-line PET/CT. In these four articles the log rank correlation between In-line PET/CT response criteria described by the EORTC and the outcome measure of TTF ranged between. p=0.002 -0.04, a very high degree of positive correlation. A subset of four articles met the strict methodological inclusion criteria for CT using RECIST criteria. The log rank correlation for RECIST ranged from p=0.100 - 0.74, no significant correlation. Only one of the articles met the criteria for prospectively applying novel CHOI criteria with CT in a validating cohort. The log rank correlation with the TTF was p=0.0002, a very high degree of positive correlation. Conclusions: In-line PET/CT using EORTC criteria accurately predicts the response to imatinib in terms of TTF or PFS across four Level 1B studies. CT using RECIST criteria has a poor correlation with TTF in well designed studies and is not a useful predictor of response; consistently poor across four Level 1B studies. CT using CHOI criteria shows promise in a single Level 1B study No significant financial relationships to disclose.

DOC budgets of drained peat catchments: implications for DOC production in peat soils

AbstractThe blocking of drainage ditches in peat has been proposed as a possible mitigation strategy for the widely observed increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations from northern peatlands. This study tested the hypothesis that drain‐blocking could lead to lower DOC concentrations by measuring the DOC export from a series of small peat‐covered catchments over a period of 2 years. Six catchments were chosen: two were pristine that had never been drained; three where drains had been blocked (one in 1995, and two in 2003); and a control peat drain catchment where the drain was left unblocked throughout the study. In the case where drains were blocked as part of thus study, the drains were observed for 2 months before blocking and 2 years after blocking. The results show that: (i) high concentrations of DOC can come from water ponded in the drain; (ii) the DOC export (flux of DOC per area of catchment) from the six study catchments shows a high degree of positive correlation with both catchment size and water yield; (iii) distinctly lower DOC export with water yield was observed for the catchments containing higher‐order channels (&gt;27 500 m2) as opposed to single drain catchments (&gt;7500 m2); (iv) drain‐blocking resulted in a statistically significant decrease in DOC export (average was 39%) but the effect upon DOC concentration explained only 1% of the variance in the data. The results suggest that drain blocking works by decreasing the flow from the drain, not by changing the production of DOC in the peat. The change in export with catchment size implies a considerable removal of DOC from large catchments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Continuous 2-keto-l-gulonic acid fermentation from l-sorbose by Ketogulonigenium vulgare DSM 4025

A single-stage continuous fermentation process for the production of 2-keto-L-gulonic acid (2KGA) from L-sorbose using Ketogulonigenium vulgare DSM 4025 was developed. The chemostat culture with the dilution rate that was calculated based on the relationship between the 2KGA production rate and the 2KGA concentration was feasible for production with high concentration of 2KGA. In this system, 112.2 g/L of 2KGA on the average was continuously produced from 114 g/L of L-sorbose. A steady state of the fermentation was maintained for the duration of more than 110 h. The dilution rate was kept in the range of 0.035 and 0.043 h(-1), and the 2KGA productivity was 3.90 to 4.80 g/L/h. The average molar conversion yield of 2KGA from L-sorbose was 91.3%. Under the optimal conditions, L-sorbose concentration was kept at 0 g/L. Meanwhile, the dissolved oxygen level was changing in response to the dilution rate and 2KGA concentration. In the dissolved oxygen (DO) range of 16% to 58%, it was revealed that the relationship between DO and D possessed high degree of positive correlation under the L-sorbose limiting condition (complete consumption of L-sorbose). Increasing D closer to the critical value for washing out point of the continuous fermentation, DO value tended to be gradually increased up to 58%. In conclusion, an efficient and reproducible continuous fermentation process for 2KGA production by K. vulgare DSM 4025 could be developed using a medium containing baker's yeast without using a second helper microorganism.

Futures Trading in Agricultural Commodities

On 7 May, 2008, the Indian Government announced the ban futures trading in four agricultural commodities - chickpea, potato, rubber and soy oil. The purpose of this paper is to examine the rationale behind the ban and study how logical the decision to impose it is. The stated purpose of the ban was to control inflation. However, of the four banned commodities, only the price of potato declined after the ban due to the bumper crop. The rising inflation rate, pegged at 11.42% for the week ended 14 June, 2008, has been attributed to a number of factors, including the 56% increase in global food prices over the past year, record crude oil prices (over $140 a barrel), the diversion of land for bio-fuel production, loose monetary policy in emerging economies, and the adoption of an expansionary fiscal policy by the Government. An analysis of spot and futures prices of the four banned commodities shows a high degree of positive correlation in the prices of the two markets. The prices are interdependent: the futures markets give signals to the spot markets on the direction in which prices will move in the future and the futures prices are determined on the basis of the conditions in the spot markets. Speculation may drive prices further up, but a speculator expects prices to rise due to the market conditions, and doesn't arbitrarily bet on a price rise. The extent to which two markets influence each other depends on the level of integration of the two markets. Developing the spot markets along with the futures markets and ensuring higher participation from the farmers is essential to integrate the futures and spot markets. When the participation by consumers and producers of agricultural commodities in the futures market is low, the debate over the futures ban becomes irrelevant.

Performance of the Indian Mutual Funds: A Study with Special Reference to Growth Schemes

The financial sector reforms, role of regulatory authorities and increase in savings attracted investors towards mutual funds. Stock market developments created popularity for equity oriented schemes. In the face of availability of multitudinous schemes, growth schemes introduced in the year 1993 has been studied. Sharpe, Treynor, Jensen and Fama's measures reveals that all the seven schemes showed negative risk premium, scheme's performance was in line with that of market performance, existence of a high degree of positive correlation in weekly time lag while the impact gets reduced as the time lag increases.

Standardization and validation of a new atomic absorption spectroscopy technique for determination and quantitation of Aluminium adjuvant in immunobiologicals

In the present study, Aluminium quantification in immunobiologicals has been described using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) technique. The assay was found to be linear in 25–125 μg/ml Aluminium range. The procedure was found to be accurate for different vaccines with recoveries of external additions ranging between 93.26 and 103.41%. The mean Limit of Variation (L.V.) for both intra- and inter-assay precision was calculated to be 1.62 and 2.22%, respectively. Further the procedure was found to be robust in relation to digestion temperature, alteration in acid (HNO 3 and H 2SO 4) ratio used for sample digestion and storage of digested vaccine samples up to a period of 15 days. After validation, AAS method was compared for its equivalency with routinely used complexometric titration method. On simultaneously applying on seven different groups of both bacterial and viral vaccines, viz., DPT, DT, TT, Hepatitis-A and B, Antirabies vaccine (cell culture) and tetravalent DPT-Hib, a high degree of positive correlation (+0.85–0.998) among AAS and titration methods was observed. Further AAS method was found to have an edge over complexometric titration method that a group of vaccines, viz., ARV (cell culture, adsorbed) and Hepatitis-A, in which Aluminium estimation is not feasible by pharmacoepial approved complexometric titration method (possibly due to some interference in the sample matrix), this newly described and validated AAS assay procedure delivered accurate and reproducible results.

Application of biomarkers in evaluation of fetal lung maturity

Summary: In the process of maturation, alveolar epithelial cells produce surface-active material (surfactant) which consists mainly of phospholipids and, although to a significantly lesser degree, neutral lipids, proteins and carbohydrate. Pulmonary surfactant is synthesized in alveolar type-II granular pneumocytes and »packed« as lamellar bodies. Before delivery, the lamellar bodies diffuse through the bronchial tree into the amniotic fluid. Parameters which indicate the maturity of lungs, except the concentration of lamellar bodies, also are observed in the ratio against the quantity of surfactant with other components of the amniotic fluid (sphingomyelin and albumin). The study concerns the determination of the surfactant-to-albumin ratio and the lamellar body count in the amniotic fluid as predictors of fetal lung maturity. The research involved 90 pregnant women with gestational age from 32 to 40 weeks. The samples of the amniotic fluid were obtained by amniocentesis and they were filtrated through special filters. The surfactant-to-albumin ratio was measured by the Fetal Lung Maturity II (FLM) test, on a TDX instrument (ABBOTT). The concentration of lamellar body count was measured on a hematology cell counter by the platelet channel, on the Cell Dyn 3700 instrument (ABBOTT). The average value of S/A ratio was 55.11 mg/g (min=6.96 mg/g, max=112.00 mg/g). The surfactant-to-albumin ratio of less than 39.00 mg/g predicts respiratory distress syndrome with the probability of 92%. The average value of LB was 69.4 × 109/L (min=4.2 × 109/L, max=199.0 × 109/L). Lamellar body concentration of 34.0 × 109/L or less predicts respiratory distress syndrome with the probability of 93%. The surfactant to albumin ratio increased with gestation (r=0.373, p<0.005), as did lamellar body concentration (r=0.934, p<0.001). The two tests correlated with each other, r=0.341, p<0.005. In 90 patients delivered within 72 hours the surfactant-to-albumin ratio and concentration of the lamellar body correctly predicted six cases of the respiratory distress syndrome. There was a high degree of positive correlation between gestational age and surfactant-to-albumin ratio, as to lamellar body concentration.