We have documented evidence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in four individuals including a blood donor and three members of a family (husband, wife, and a child) in Karachi, Pakistan. Our data indicate that HIV has been transmitted to the wife of the seropositive male, a drug abuser, in the recent past and that she has passed the virus to her newborn child perinatally/transplacentally. The two seropositive males (blood donor and drug abuser) were diagnosed clinically as having persistent generalized lymphadenopathy, an AIDS-related condition (ARC), and the child presented with developmental disorders and neurologic manifestations. This is the first report of AIDS/ARC cases from Pakistan that can be directly related to HIV infection and its heterosexual transmission.

Abstract. The kinetics of photolysis of riboflavin (RF) in water (pH 7.0) and in organic solvents (acetonitrile, methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 1-butanol, ethyl acetate) has been studied using a multicomponent spectrometric method for the assay of RF and its major photoproducts, formylmethylflavin and lumichrome. The apparent first-order rate constants (k obs ) for the reaction range from 3.19 (ethyl acetate) to 4.61×10

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BackgroundDespite the wide use of the neck disability index (NDI) for assessing disability in patients with neck pain, the NDI has not yet been translated and validated in Urdu. The first purpose of the present study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the NDI into the Urdu language (NDI-U). The second purpose was to investigate the reliability, validity and responsiveness of the NDI-U in Urdu-speaking patients experiencing chronic mechanical neck pain (CMNP).MethodsTranslation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original version of the NDI were carried out using previously described procedures. Seventy-six patients with CMNP and thirty healthy participants were recruited for the study. NDI-U and visual analogue scales for pain intensity (VASpain) and disability (VASdisability) were administered to all the participants at baseline and to the patients 3 weeks after receiving physiotherapy intervention. The global rating of change scale (GROC) was also administered at this time. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were carried out on forty-six randomly selected patients two days after they completed the NDI-U. The NDI-U was evaluated for factor analysis, content validity, construct validity (discriminative and convergent validity) and responsiveness.ResultsAn intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC2,1) revealed excellent test-retest reliability for all items (ICC2,1 = 0.86–0.98) and total scores (ICC2,1 = 0.99) of the NDI-U. The NDI-U was found internally consistent with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.90 and a fair to good correlation between single items and the NDI-U total scores (r = 0.34 to 0.89). Factor analysis of the NDI-U produced two factors explaining 66.71% of the variance. Content validity was good, as no floor or ceiling effects were detected for the NDI-U total score. To determine discriminative validity, an independent t-test revealed a significant difference in the NDI-U total scores between the patients and healthy controls (P < 0.001). For convergent validity, Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed a strong correlation between NDI-U and VASdisability (r = 0.83, P < 0.001) and a moderate correlation between NDI-U and VASpain (r = 0.62, P < 0.001). To measure responsiveness, an independent t-test showed a significant difference in the NDI-U change scores between the stable and the improved groups (P < 0.001). Furthermore, moderate correlations were found between the NDI-U change scores and the GROC (r = 0.50, P < 0.001), VASdisability change scores (r = 0.58, P < 0.001) and VASpain change scores (r = 0.55, P < 0.001).ConclusionThe results showed that the NDI-U is a reliable, valid and responsive questionnaire to measure disability in Urdu-speaking patients with CMNP.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12891-017-1469-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cobalamins are the largest and structurally complex cofactors found in biological systems and have attracted considerable attention due to their participation in the metabolic reactions taking place in humans, animals, and microorganisms. Riboflavin (vitamin B2) is a micronutrient and is the precursor of coenzymes, FMN and FAD, required for a wide variety of cellular processes with a key role in energy-based metabolic reactions. As coenzymes of both vitamins are the part of enzyme systems, the possibility of their mutual interaction in the body cannot be overruled. A molecular docking study was conducted on riboflavin molecule with B12coenzymes present in the enzymes glutamate mutase, diol dehydratase, and methionine synthase by using ArgusLab 4.0.1 software to understand the possible mode of interaction between these vitamins. The results from ArgusLab showed the best binding affinity of riboflavin with the enzyme glutamate mutase for which the calculated least binding energy has been found to be −7.13 kcal/mol. The results indicate a significant inhibitory effect of riboflavin on the catalysis of B12-dependent enzymes. This information can be utilized to design potent therapeutic drugs having structural similarity to that of riboflavin.