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  1. Morphological and genetic variations of the freshwater leech, Hirudinaria spp., in Peninsular Malaysia
    Chong LK, Ong AH, Tan SG, Taranjeet KA, Peris MM, Sana AM, et al.
    Biochem Genet, 2014 Jun;52(5-6):283-95.
    PMID: 24535156 DOI: 10.1007/s10528-014-9647-8
    In this study the genetic diversity of local freshwater leeches (Hirudinaria spp.) was inferred using mtDNA COI gene analysis and compared with the gross external variations of 26 freshwater leech specimens obtained from the wild and leech farms. Based on a neighbor-joining tree generated from 516 COI base sequences, four distinct clades of Hirudinaria were seen with interspecific genetic divergence in the range of 7.6-14.5%. The external morphological variations based on the presence of stripes, location of gonopores, and anus separated the samples into four morphologically distinct groups matching the four clades obtained from the molecular data. Two black stripes at the ventral region were observed only in specimens found clustered with clades that contained the GenBank-reported H. manillensis, whereas the brown or dark green coloration without stripes on the ventral region was seen in samples that clustered with H. javanica and H. bpling clades.
  2. The Effect of Obesity on Severity of Asthma: An Observational Prospective Study from Pakistan
    Shahid S, Alqahtani SS, Bajwa M, Rashid M, Sana A, Bajwa A, et al.
    J Pharm Bioallied Sci, 2024;16(1):38-43.
    PMID: 38694965 DOI: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_238_23
    OBJECTIVE: The current research study aimed to access the relationship between obesity and asthma exacerbations and severity among adult patients at the outpatient section of a federal hospital (PIMS) in Islamabad, Pakistan.

    METHODS: A cross-sectional research study was carried out on 207 asthma adult patients belonging to different areas and ethnic groups from the country. The study setting was the PIMS hospital, which attracts patients from all over the country due to its facilities and cost-effective treatments. The body mass index (BMI) of asthma patients was calculated using the heights and weights of the study subjects. However, the pulmonary functions were calculated using a computerized spirometer i-e Spirolab III S/N 303681 in line with Winspiro PRO 7.1.version software. It presents the patient's forced vital capacity that expires in the first second of expiration to full (FEV1) in comparison to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio, that is, Tiffeneau-Pinelli index was also recorded to determine the asthma severity.

    RESULTS: According to recent surveys, the overall prevalence of patients with overweight and obesity was 29.0% and 23.7%, respectively. A Chi-square test was used, and a statistically significant relationship was observed between BMI and asthma severity (P < 0.001). The adult obese female patients presented poor pulmonary functions. The average FEV1/FVC ratio presented significant variance among four different categories of BMI with P < 0.05. This difference was due to the normal BMI category as the Tiffeneau-Pinelli index, that is, FEV1/FVC in the normal BMI group was significantly lower as compared to that in underweight and obese patients.

    CONCLUSION: The study subjects presented raised asthma severity in accordance with the raised BMI. Obese patients presented comparatively raised asthma exacerbations. Moreover, a statistically significant association of gender difference was observed between obesity and asthma severity. It was concluded that adult asthmatic women with obesity presented raised asthma severity as compared to adult asthmatic males.

  3. Fulltext A Comprehensive Review on the Current Vaccines and Their Efficacies to Combat SARS-CoV-2 Variants
    Rabaan AA, Mutair AA, Hajissa K, Alfaraj AH, Al-Jishi JM, Alhajri M, et al.
    Vaccines (Basel), 2022 Oct 02;10(10).
    PMID: 36298520 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines10101655
    Since the first case of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 2019, SARS-CoV-2 infection has affected many individuals worldwide. Eventually, some highly infectious mutants-caused by frequent genetic recombination-have been reported for SARS-CoV-2 that can potentially escape from the immune responses and induce long-term immunity, linked with a high mortality rate. In addition, several reports stated that vaccines designed for the SARS-CoV-2 wild-type variant have mixed responses against the variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs) in the human population. These results advocate the designing and development of a panvaccine with the potential to neutralize all the possible emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2. In this context, recent discoveries suggest the design of SARS-CoV-2 panvaccines using nanotechnology, siRNA, antibodies or CRISPR-Cas platforms. Thereof, the present comprehensive review summarizes the current vaccine design approaches against SARS-CoV-2 infection, the role of genetic mutations in the emergence of new viral variants, the efficacy of existing vaccines in limiting the infection of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, and efforts or challenges in designing SARS panvaccines.
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