<p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study evaluated the toxic effect of simultaneously injected normal doses of caffeine and nicotine in diabetic lab animals.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A study was conducted for three weeks in seven rat groups (n=6); viz. first non-diabetic group treated with caffeine (20 mg/kg, ip) twice daily, second with nicotine (0.4 mg/kg, ip) twice daily and third with both treatments simultaneously; whereas other three groups treated in the same way but inducing diabetes; and employing the seventh group as diabetic control. Type 2 diabetes was induced by high fatty diet prior for two weeks and a single streptozotocin injection on 1^th day of study in all diabetic groups. Blood and urine samples were collected weekly to estimate blood parameters. Animals were sacrificed, and organs were collected for histopathology analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Most blood parameters showed a rapid increase in diabetes in co-addiction group compared with their single addiction or non-addiction control groups. Caffeine-nicotine co-addiction group showed about 60-80 mg/dl (p&lt;0.05) rise in serum glucose, 15-20 U/l in AST (p&lt;0.01), 80-100 U/l in ALT (p&lt;0.01), 20-30 mg/dl in Urea (p&lt;0.01), 02 mg/dl in creatinine (p&lt;0.05), 12-15 mg/dl (p&lt;0.01) in LDL-C, 6-9 mg/dl in VLDL-C (p&lt;0.01) and 60-90 mg/dl in TC levels (p&lt;0.01) when compared with non-addicted diabetic control. There was a significant reduction in HDL-C (p&lt;0.01) while the less significant rise in triglycerides in the case of co-addiction as compared to non-addiction diabetic control group. Histopathology results exhibited moderate to severe tissue damage in agreement with clinical biochemistry results.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Nicotine-caffeine co-addiction harms exceptionally more in type 2 diabetes greater than their single addiction or non-addiction.</p>

BackgroundPrimary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disease, characterized by mononuclear cell infiltrates in the salivary and lacrimal glands, leading to glandular atrophy and dryness. Patient heterogeneity and lack of knowledge regarding its pathogenesis makes pSS a difficult disease to manage.MethodsAn exploratory analysis using mass cytometry was conducted of MAPK/ERK and JAK/STAT signaling pathways in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 16 female medication free pSS patients (8 anti-Sjögren’s syndrome-related antigen A negative/SSA- and 8 SSA+) and 8 female age-matched healthy donors after stimulation with interferons (IFNs).ResultsWe found significant differences in the frequencies of memory B cells, CD8+ T central and effector memory cells and terminally differentiated CD4+ T cells among the healthy donors and patient subgroups. In addition, we observed an upregulation of HLA-DR and CD38 in many cell subsets in the patients. Upon IFNα2b stimulation, slightly increased signaling through pSTAT1 Y701 was observed in most cell types in pSS patients compared to controls, while phosphorylation of STAT3 Y705 and STAT5 Y694 were slightly reduced. IFNγ stimulation resulted in significantly increased pSTAT1 Y701 induction in conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and classical and non-classical monocytes in the patients. Most of the observed differences were more prominent in the SSA+ subgroup, indicating greater disease severity in them.ConclusionsAugmented activation status of certain cell types along with potentiated pSTAT1 Y701 signaling and reduced pSTAT3 Y705 and pSTAT5 Y694 induction may predispose pSS patients, especially the SSA+ subgroup, to upregulated expression of IFN-induced genes and production of autoantibodies. These patients may benefit from therapies targeting these pathways.

'Development evaluations in Uganda 2000–2018: A Country Evaluation Map' is a CEDIL Synthesis Working Paper. It is a report on the first of its kind country evaluation map for a single country. The map identifies 617 evaluations in multiple sectors. Nearly 60 per cent of the studies contain process evaluation evidence and over 40 per cent are impact evaluations. The map helps make visible recent development evaluations from the country, identifies potential gaps in knowledge and opportunities for evidence synthesis. Users can submit studies for inclusion in the map, thus giving the map a repository function.

Abstract. Pinus roxburghii is one of the important and most widely planted tree species in Nepal. Despite its large abundance and high economic values, limited studies on its AGB have been conducted in Nepal, especially using in situ non-destructive method. There are different methods to study the AGB. Regression equation based on the correlation between VI and AGB is cost effective method, and replicable in another sites of similar environment by just acquiring satellite images. Numerous methods have been developed to calculate VIs and each calculated VI shows different relation with AGB in different environments for same species. Therefore, there is a need to identify a most appropriate VI that has the highest correlation with AGB of P. roxburghii. The current study was carried out in Hattiban and Dollu community forests of Kathmandu district, using ResourceSat-2 imagery. In this study, Slope based VIs were used. Regression analysis between slope based VIs and AGB showed that relation between all VIs and AGB were significant. However, NDVI had the highest relation with AGB compared to others. Therefore, it was concluded that NDVI was the most appropriate VI to estimate AGB of P. roxburghii, and the regression equation with NDVI was used to estimate the AGB of P. roxburghii in the study area.

Objective: HPTLC Method for Simultaneous quantification of co-enzyme Q10 and α-tocopherol in bulk and capsule dosage form was developed and validated as per International Conference on Harmonization [(ICH) Q2 (R1)] guideline.Methods: The chromatograms were developed using a mobile phase of Toluene: ethyl acetate: chloroform (10:1:2 v/v/v) on Pre-coated silica 60F 254 plates and quantified by densitometric absorbance mode at 280 nm.Results: The Rf values were 0.77 and 0.87 for co-enzyme Q10 and α-tocopherol, respectively. The linearity of the method was found to be in the concentration range of 0.6µg-1.8 µg/band for α-tocopherol and 2 µg-6 µg/band for co-enzyme Q10. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.3154 and 0.9559 µg/band for α-tocopherol and 3.441 and 10.42 µg/band for co-enzyme Q10.Conclusion: Developed densitometric method was found to be robust, precise, accurate, and rapid and can be used to analyse fixed-dose capsule samples of co-enzyme Q10 and α-tocopherol.