Sir, We here are highlighting the scenario of presentation of renal dysfunction in developing countries like India where a large number of patients present clinically as acute renal failure (ARF) but on thorough evaluation found to have advanced stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD stages 4 and 5)1 . Historically these patients are symptomatic for few days prior to presenting. Preceding slight unwell-ness is ignored either by patient or his family physician. They are often being treated with non-specific medications like analgesics and multivitamins which act as placebo. Iron deficiency anemia is unevaluated for a renal cause. Non-standardized laboratories under diagnose early CKD. Ultrasound imaging too is of poor quality. All the more there are no nationalized health screening programmes. To add to the dismal scenario, at the tertiary care centres they are initially admitted as ARF, with a hope of significant recovery. But later on they turn out to be CKD 5.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) emerged as a nosocomial pathogen in early 1960s, causing Increasing number of outbreaks in 19708, first reported in a teaching hospital in Malaysia in 1972, causing increased mortality, morbidity, and healthcare costs. Aim of this study is to screen out MRSA from various clinical samples and to see their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. From May 2008 to May 2009, 204 S aureus strains were isolated, out of which 114 (55.8%) were MRSA, and rest methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). Most of the MRSA strains were obtained from pus (45%) followed by urine (20.5%). Frequency of isolating MRSA were maximum in catheter tip (80%) followed by blood (66.7%) and pus (58.7%). MRSA strains were showing 100% sensitivity to vancomycin and Iinezolid, whereas 92.9% to teicoplanin. Therefore it is concluded that antibiotics other than vancomycin can be used as anti-MRSA agents after sensitivity test, as well as irrational and indiscriminate use of antibiotics can be avoided.
Photothermal therapy (PTT) is a minimally invasive procedure for treating cancer. The two significant prerequisites of PTT are the photothermal therapeutic agent (PTA) and near-infrared radiation (NIR). The PTA absorbs NIR, causing hyperthermia in the malignant cells. This increased temperature at the tumor microenvironment finally results in tumor cell damage. Nanoparticles play a crucial role in PTT, aiding in the passive and active targeting of the PTA to the tumor microenvironment. Through enhanced permeation and retention effect and surface-engineering, specific targeting could be achieved. This novel delivery tool provides the advantages of changing the shape, size, and surface attributes of the carriers containing PTAs, which might facilitate tumor regression significantly. Further, inclusion of surface engineering of nanoparticles is facilitated through ligating ligands specific to overexpressed receptors on the cancer cell surface. Thus, transforming nanoparticles grants the ability to combine different treatment strategies with PTT to enhance cancer treatment. This review emphasizes properties of PTAs, conjugated biomolecules of PTAs, and the combinatorial techniques for a better therapeutic effect of PTT using the nanoparticle platform.
A tumor serves as a major avenue in drug development owing to its complexity. Conventional therapies against tumors possess limitations such as suboptimal therapeutic efficacy and extreme side effects. These display poor pharmacokinetics and lack specific targeting, with non-specific distribution resulting in systemic toxicity. Therefore, nanocarriers targeted against cancers are increasingly being explored. Nanomedicine aids in maintaining a balance between efficacy and toxicity by specifically accumulating in tumors. Nanotherapeutics possess advantages such as increased solubility of chemotherapeutics, encapsulation of multiple drugs and improved biodistribution, and can ensure tumor-directed drug delivery and release via the approaches of passive targeting and active targeting. This review aims to offer a general overview of the current advances in tumor-targeting nanocarriers for clinical and diagnostic use.
This study aims to investigate the relationship between renewable energy and ecological footprint during the period of 1994-2018 from selected developing countries in Europe (Czechia, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Romania, and Turkey). In this context, the ecological footprint (EF), which has recently been the most widely used environmental indicator in the literature and is known as the most comprehensive because it includes many environmental factors, has been determined as the dependent variable. As independent variables, renewable energy consumption (REC), energy-related tax revenue (ETR), and energy productivity (EP) are included in the model. GDP and development of environment-related technologies (DET), which affect the ecological footprint in the model, are determined as control variables. As a result of the panel data analysis, according to the Durbin-Hausman cointegration test result, a long-term relationship between the variables was determined. According to the CCE estimator analysis, it can be said that there is a positive relationship between ETR and GDP variables and EF. For the AMG estimator analysis, it can be said that there is a positive relationship between GDP and EP variables and EF. Finally, according to the results of the Konya Causality test, a unidirectional causality relationship is detected from environmental technologies to the ecological footprint in Turkey, and a unidirectional causality relationship from the ecological footprint to GDP in Czechia, Romania, and Turkey. Furthermore, no causality relationship is detected between other variables. Based on the results, several policy implications are suggested.