Stem cell therapy comprises a modern technology aimed to replace damaged cells with healthy new ones. Cells are rendered dysfunctional due to any number of reasons such aging, disease, genetic modification, injury. Nowadays, Stem cell therapies are providing substantial benefit to patients suffering a wide range of diseases such as cancer, non-cancer, neuronal disease, diabetes and injuries such as brain trauma and spinal cord injuries. It is well established and rapidly growing in developed country however in developing country, there are several challenges which is shielding the booming of this therapy. Therefore we do expect to eventually remove these challenges to create the fresh environment of modern stem cell therapeutic medicine.

Introduction: Thyroid dysfunction is one of the most common endocrine disorders in people living with HIV (PLHIV). The abnormality in thyroid function has been linked with the adverse effects of prolonged antiretroviral therapy (ART) in PLHIV, but its prevalence remains obscure. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of impaired thyroid function and its relationship to ART duration in Nepalese people living with HIV. Methods: This cross-sectional clinical laboratory based study was conducted at SRL Diagnostics Nepal, Pvt. Ltd. from October 2021 to May 2022. Two hundred and three HIV-seropositive patients enrolled at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in Kathmandu, Nepal were examined for their thyroid function test (TFT) by analyzing the serum T3, T4, and TSH concentrations using a fully automated COBAS e411 analyzer (Roche Diagnostics, USA) based on the electrochemiluminescence assay (ECLIA). Results: Out of 203 PLHIV, 22 (10.83%) had a thyroid disorder, with subclinical hypothyroidism ( n = 16, 72.73%) being the most common, followed by subclinical hyperthyroidism ( n = 3, 13.63%). Thyroid dysfunction had no significant correlation with HIV/ART duration ( p = 0.304) and sex ( p = 0.419), whereas, the risk of thyroid dysfunction was induced with the rise in the age of the PLHIV ( p = 0.002, ϕ = 0.274). There were no significant differences in the mean serum T3, T4 and TSH values among different sexes and the HIV/ART duration, however a significant difference in the mean values of TSH (F (3, 199) = 3.231, p = 0.023) and T3 (F (3, 199) = 4.587, p = 0.004) among the different age-groups were shown. The mean T3 values also indicated a gradual decrease with increasing age. Conclusion: The study revealed subclinical hypothyroidism as the prevailing thyroid disorder associated with PLHIV. The risk of thyroid dysfunction in PLHIV was neither gender specific nor being attributed by the ART duration in Nepalese population; however, elderly PLHIV were highly susceptible to the risk of thyroid disorder.

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) co-infection and its genotypic distribution in people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) show global inconsistency. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and genotypic distribution patterns of HCV, along with viral load, in people living with HIV. This cross-sectional study was conducted at SRL Diagnostics Nepal, Pvt. Ltd. in 203 HIV-seropositive patients attending the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal from October 2021 to May 2022. The viral load and HCV genotypes were estimated from RNA extracted from the blood sample (plasma) of PLHIV by using a standard Q-PCR protocol. HCV infection was considered as a core variable, whereas covariates used for this study were duration of HIV infection, age, sex, and ART regimen. Out of total 203 PLHIV, the estimated prevalence of HCV co-infection was 115 (56.6%). Male gender was a unique characteristic associated with a high prevalence of HCV co-infection compared to females. The HCV viral load among PLHIV ranged from 34 to 3,000,000 IU/mL. Among HCV co-infected PLHIV, 56 (48.69%) had a low level of HCV viral load. Interestingly, only 3 (2.6%) patients had an HCV viral load higher than 3,000,000 IU/mL. Diverse HCV genotypes were found in the population, including genotypes 1, 1a, 3a, 5a, and 6. However, genotype 3 was the most prevalent HCV variant among HCV-co-infected PLHIV, with a distribution of 36 (61.1%) and viral load ranging from 34 to 3000 IU/mL. HCV co-infection is frequent in the Nepalese population of people living with HIV, particularly due to HCV genotypic variant 3. The findings of this study could be useful for the management and clearance of the HCV co-infection in PLHIV, aiming to provide a good quality of life.

Klebsiella pneumonia is the second most causing agent of urinary tract bacterial infection among human beings. Its ability to grow and to produce siderophores is dependent on the iron content and the type of carbon sources in the culture medium. This study has aimed to find out the unique properties of siderophore production by Klebsiella species in fluctuating iron concentrations. The study was carried out on 252 urine samples collected from UTI patients at Doon (PG) Paramedical College and Teaching Hospital, Dehradun, India. All urine samples were tested microbiologically using standard procedure and biochemical panel tests were performed to identify and to isolate Klebsiella pneumonia from colonies obtained on differential media plate used for urine culture and the result was interpreted according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) guide line to confirm the Klebsiella pneumonia. Then CAS siderophore detection method was applied to quantify the siderophore production in various iron concentration supplied to culture medium. A total of 47 patients out of 252 UTI patients were found to be infected by Klebsiella pneumonia. Women were more prone to be UTI infected by Klebsiella pneumonia in comparison to men (14.89% men, 85.1% women). Most of the UTI patients infected by Klebsiella pneumonia were in the age group of 50-79 years (53.19%) which was followed by 20-49 years (23.40%) and 80-99 years (14.89%) respectively. Least people having age below 19 years old were prone to be urinary tract infected by Klebsiella pneumonia. In the same way, siderophore production was found to be increased significantly when there was no iron in the culture medium and its production was decreased gradually with increase in iron concentration up to 200mg/L in the culture medium. Siderophore is an important metabolite product for pathogenic Klebsiella pneumonia to survive and cause pathogenicity in low iron concentration medium.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2015, 1(1): 130-138

The descriptive study conducted to assess the knowledge on tuberculosis among students of higher secondary school, Lalitpur, Nepal was carried out utilizing non-probability purposive sampling technique among +2 students. The analysis of the data revealed that all the respondents had little knowledge about tuberculosis. Among those, 92% respondents got information from media and teachers, 90% respondents received from newspaper and health-worker. Majority of the respondents (80%) said that tuberculosis is the communicable bacterial diseases whereas 12% said that it is hereditary diseases, majority of the respondents (80%) said that bacteria are the causative organism of the tuberculosis. The entire respondent knew that TB is curable disease but they lack knowledge about diagnostic feature of TB and DOTS treatment therapy and its duration. In regard to the detection of the tuberculosis, majority (94%) of the respondents said sputum test and chest X-ray help to detect tuberculosis, 90% said on the basis of sign and symptoms. Only 10% respondents had heard about mountex test. Among them, 40% said skin is taken as the sample unit for mountex test as well as 20 (40%) said that blood as sample. More than two third (78%) knew that the patients should not be admitted in hospital to receive treatment. More than half (56%) had heard about DOTS for the treatment of tuberculosis. Among those, 28% knew that DOTS is taken for 6-8 months. In the nut shell, knowledge on TB among students of higher secondary school should be promoted through enhancement of relevant health education. The knowledge should be raised through media, various awareness programs through involvement of parents, teachers and health personnel. Proper knowledge about tuberculosis will provoke a way to prevent the spread and management of TB through proper treatment in this developing world.

Patients with continuous-flow ventricular assist devices (CF-VADs) face an elevated risk of nonsurgical bleeding. One hypothetical cause is that the loss of pulsatility promotes unraveling and enzymatic degradation of von Willebrand factor (VWF), a key clotting protein. Artificial pulsatility has been proposed to counter this effect, but the role of pulse frequency in VWF unraveling remains unclear. This study investigates VWF conformational changes in response to varying pulse frequencies. Membrane-bound VWF on human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) exposed to pulsatile in vitro conditions exhibited significantly less unraveling than under continuous flow ( p < 0.005). To enable real-time observation of VWF conformation, VWF was immobilized in a microfluidic device and exposed to continuous or pulsatile flows (20, 40, or 60 pulses/min) to model HAEC-bound unraveling. Results showed that frequencies greater than or equal to 40 pulses/min significantly reduced maximum extension compared with continuous flow and low-frequency conditions (≤ 20 pulses/min), whereas minimum extension was greatest under continuous flow and declined as frequency increased. Step-change flow experiments revealed a time constant of 0.19 ± 0.04 seconds for extension and ~1 second for recoiling. These findings support optimizing pulsatile flow frequency as a strategy to minimize VWF unfolding and mitigate nonsurgical bleeding in CF-VAD patients.