It is a site for general information and I want to use my knowledge to help life science students. I am here to help students in finding research topics, assignment and thesis writing. I can provide subject related notes to Medical laboratory technology (MLT), Molecular biology and Biotechnology students. I can help students in solving problems related to Molecular biology and diagnostics techniques.
Cholera is an infectious disorder that triggers severe watery diahrrea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated. It is produced by the consuming food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium known as Vibrio cholerae.
This infectious disease is very common in the regions of poor sanitation, crowding, war, and famine. Common areas comprise some parts of Africa, Latin America and south Asia.
Causes of Cholera
Cholera is caused by bacterium Vibrio choleraewhich is commonly found in water or food contaminated by feces from an infected person. Following are the most common sources of the Cholera infection:
Municipal water supplies
Foods and drinks sold by street sellers
Vegetables grown with water comprising human wastes
Raw or undercooked fish and seafood caught in waters contaminated with sewage
By consuming the contaminated food or water, the bacteria release a toxin in the intestines that causes severe diahrrea.
Cholera Symptoms
Symptoms of cholera can start as soon as a few hours or as long as five days after infection. Often, symptoms are mild. But sometimes they are very serious. The infected person having severe watery diarrhea and vomiting, which can cause dehydration. In some cases, the infected people may have less or no symptoms but still spread the infection.
Signs and symptoms of due to dehydration include:
Fast heartrate
Loss the elasticity of skin
Dry mucous membranes (insidemouth, throat, nose, and eyelids)
Thirst
Low blood pressure
Muscle cramps
Cholera Treatment and Prevention
Cholera vaccines are present. A person can be kept himself and his family away from cholera by drinking boiled, bottled or chemically disinfected water. Used the bottled, boiled, or chemically disinfected water for the following purposes:
Drinking
Cooking food or drinks
Preparing ice
Washing your face and hands
Washing utensils that you use to eat or cook food
Washing vegetables and fruits
Avoid the following raw foods:
Unpeeled vegetables and fruits
Unpasteurized milk and milk products
Raw or undercooked meat or shellfish
Hydration is the strength of treatment for cholera. The cholera treatment comprises of oral or intravenous solutions to substitute lost fluids and antibiotics.
Dengue is a viral infection, of an endemic-epidemic nature, spread by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, particularly by Aedes aegypti. Dengue virus (DENV) is a member of the Flaviviridae family, which consist of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV) and yellow fever virus. Dengue virus infection may be asymptomatic, may cause a self-limited febrile disease identified as dengue fever (DF), or in a small ratio of cases, may affect in a life-threatening syndrome, the so-called dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS). In South- East Asia, dengue disease remains to be a major challenge to public health which is an arthropod-borne viral hemorrhagic fever.
Serotypes of dengue virus
DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4 are four serotypes of dengue fever virus. Entirely four strains can cause the full illness. Infection with one of the four serotypes can produce enduring protection to that serotype but only short period defense against the other. On secondary infection the severe difficulty may happen particularly when someone before visible to serotype DENV-1 then exposed to serotype DENV-2 or serotype DENV-3, or if someone formerly exposed to type DENV-3 then gets DENV-2.
Infection
The course of infection can be separated into three phases:
Febrile,
Critical
Recovery
Frequently high fever occurs in the febrile phase associated with generalized pain, headache and fever often over 40 °C (104 °F); this generally continues 2 to 7 days. Throughout this phase, a rash arises in about 50-80% of the patients with indications. It occurs in the first or second day of symptoms as flushed skin, or later in the development of infection (days 4-7), it may seem as a measles-like rash. In some causes at this stage petechiae may also appear caused by broken capillaries, particular mild bleeding from nose and mucous membrane of mouth can also happen. In nature the illness itself is classically breaking, biphasic and then recurring for one or two days though there is wide difference in this pattern.
In certain patients, the infection may continue to a critical stage, in which there is determination of the high fever and characteristically continues for 1 to 2 days. In this stage there may be increased capillary permeability and leakage, which may cause substantial accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity and chest. This disorder may lead to reduction of fluid from the circulation and decreased blood supply to vital organs. Through this stage, severe bleeding, particularly from the gastrointestinal tract and organ dysfunction can also occur. In all cases of dengue, dengue shock syndrome and dengue hemorrhagic fever happen in less than 5%, but those patients are at high risk who have formerly been ill with other serotypes of dengue virus.
In the recovery phase restoration of those fluid occur which had leaked into the bloodstream. This frequently last 2 to 3 days. The upgrading in dengue fever is often remarkable, but there may be a slow heart rate and severe itching. Fluid overload condition may occur at this point, if it disturbs the brain, a reduced level of consciousness or seizures may occur.
Symptoms
DF is an acute illness of sudden onset with symptoms such a headache, fever, fatigue, sever muscle and joint pain, enlarged glands (lymphadenopathy), and rash. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a separate disease, caused by dengue virus but much more severe symptoms than DF, so DF should not be confused with DHF.
Diagnosis
Different laboratory tests are used to diagnose dengue fever. Detection can do by viral antigen detection or specific antibodies, nucleic acid detection by PCR, virus isolation in cell cultures. More exact methods are virus isolation in cell cultures and nucleic acid detection than antigen detection, but because of their cost these tests are not generally used. In the early phases of the infection all tests may be negative.
Virus definite serum immunoglobulin, IgM, is developed within 5 days of onset of infection while IgG consequently developed within 14 to 17 days. IgM, IgG assays are diagnosis tests while CBC is a good monitoring test. It is very significant that CBC should be performed every day. If lymphocytosis with increase in atypical lymphocytes and platelets less than 100,000/cμmm are seen, then it means that within next 24 hours patient is upcoming in critical state and he should be taken care of. Platelet transfusion is suggested for only those with severe bleeding. There are no definite treatments for dengue fever.
Well-recognized features of DF are thrombocytopenia, Leukocytopenia and elevation of AST or LDH. Common difficulty of dengue virus infection is liver damage with increased of aminotransferases and reactive hepatitis. Patients have higher levels of AST and ALT with dengue than those patients with non-dengue febrile disorders.
Dengue infection treatment
Dengue infection have no specific treatment. In dengue infection it is important to take pain killers such as acetaminophen (such as Panadol, Tylenol), take plenty of juices, rest and contact the doctor as soon as possible. It is important to avoid aspirin.
Epidemiology
Every year it is expected that 2.5 billion individuals are at risk of evolving DF, and that 50 million people actually become ill. About 100 cases of DF are stated per year, according the Infectious Disease Law, this number is increasing.
Around 975 million of whom living in urban zones in tropical and sub-tropical countries in Southeast Asia, the pacific and Americas. Transmission similarly arises in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, and rural populations are progressively being affected. Every year more than 50 million infections are assessed, including 500,000 hospitalizations for dengue hemorrhagic fever, mostly among children, with the incident death rate above 5% in some areas.
Incidence of Dengue in Pakistan is growing since 1994 and is flattering a significant public health problem. Its occurrence is growing quickly and mainly affecting the old age group. Approximately 700 cases of definite Dengue fever have been described across Pakistan this year. The Dengue investigation cell of Pakistan government has established that 696 people have been ill since August of the last year. Fumigation and dengue consciousness campaigns are in action in earlier years, but it is clear that not sufficient has been completed in Pakistan to control and eliminate this disease.
The signs in children are frequently related to common cold and gastroenteritis, but more vulnerable to severe problems. Unexpected beginning with rash, high fever, and headache, backbone, muscle and joint pains are the characteristics symptoms of dengue fever. Hemorrhagic indications are also common and may range from mild to severe. The break-bone fever name of dengue fever is occupied from the accompanying muscle and joint pains.
Vitamins are organic compounds (have carbon atom) and are essential micronutrients that are needed in small amount to sustain life. It is important to normal metabolism and certain medical conditions can result in the deficiency of any kind of vitamin. Most of the vitamins obtain from food because the human body either does not synthesize at all or not in adequate amount.
The requirement of the vitamins depends upon the organism because some organism synthesized a vitamin which other cannot. For example, human needs to take vitamin C while dog can produce sufficient amount of vitamin C for their own needs.
Vitamin D is not present in sufficient amount in food. The human body synthesized a sufficient amount of Vitamin D by exposure to sunlight.
The 13 different vitamins are required for normal human metabolism are classified into fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins.
Fat-soluble vitamins Liver and fatty tissue are used to stored fat-soluble vitamins. The fat-soluble vitamins are vitamin A, D, E and F.
Water-soluble vitamins The water-soluble vitamins are excreted in urine and cannot stored in the body. The water soluble vitamins are all form of vitamin B and vitamin C.
Here, I am going to discuss different types of vitamins, their daily intake, good food sources and disorders causes by their deficiency.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is fat soluble including retinol, retinal, retinyl esters, retinoic acid and beta carotene.
Important functions
It is important for the proper function of immune system, keep skin healthy and helping vision in dim light.
Deficiency
Vitamin A deficiency leads to keratomalacia, eye problem like dry cornea and night-blindness.
Recommended daily intake
Daily recommendation of vitamin A for (age 19 – 70) male is 900 μg and female 700 μg.
Food sources
Good food sources of vitamin A are: beef liver, fish, eggs, milk, soy milk, butter, cheese, leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes, squash, spinach, carrots, pumpkins, orange and yellow fruit (apricots, mango and papaya).
Vitamin B1
Vitamin B1 is water soluble and chemically known as thiamin.
Important functions
The important function of the vitamin B1 in the body is release energy from the food. It required for the healthy nervous system, healthy hair, nail, brain and skin.
Deficiency
The disorder causes by deficiency of vitamin B1 are beriberi and Wernicke-korsakoff syndrome.
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin B1 for (age 19 – 70) male is 1.2 mg and for female is 1.1 mg.
Food sources
Good food sources for vitamin B1 are yeast, brown rice, cereal grains, whole-grain rye, liver, egg, oranges, watermelon, kale, potatoes, cauliflowers and asparagus.
Vitamin B2
Vitamin B2 is water soluble vitamin which is chemically known as Riboflavin.
Important functions
Vitamin B2 play an important role in releasing energy from food and in keeping healthy nervous system, skin and eyes.
Deficiency
Ariboflavinosis, angular stomatitis and glossitis are disorders which occurs due to the deficiency of vitamin B2.
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin B2 for (age 19 – 70) male is 1.3 mg and for female is 1.1 mg.
Food sources
Good food sources for vitamin B2 are fish, meat, cheese, milk, yogurt, whole and enriched grain, cereal, green leafy vegetables and bananas.
Vitamin B3
Vitamin B3 is a water soluble and known as niacin.
Important functions
Its play an important part in healthy skin, brain, blood cells and nervous system. In the body it is important for the proper function of more than 200 enzyme. Vitamin B3 is the combination of nicotinamide and nicotinic acid. When these chemical break down it produces NAD and NADP. These two chemicals play a key role in a variety of reaction and support cell metabolism.
Deficiency
The deficiency of vitamin B3 causes a disorder known as pellagra. Pellagra can affect digestive system, nervous system, skin and mucous membrane.
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin B3 for (age 19 – 70) male is 16 mg and for female is 14 mg.
Food sources
Good food sources of vitamin B3 included; poultry, meat, fish, butter, milk, leaf vegetables, mushrooms, potatoes, tree nuts and eggs.
Vitamin B5
Vitamin B5 is another water-soluble vitamin and chemically known as pantothenic acid.
Important functions
The body required vitamin B5 for converting food into energy and to synthesize lipids (fats), neurotransmitters, steroid hormones and hemoglobin.
Deficiency
The vitamin B5 deficiency may leads to paraesthesia (an abnormal sensation, typically ‘pins and needles`)
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin B5 for (age 19 – 70) male is 5 mg and for female is 5 mg.
Food sources
Good food sources of vitamin B5 included; chicken, eggs yolk, broccoli, mushrooms, avocado, whole grains and tomato products.
Vitamin B6
The chemical names for vitamin B6 are pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxine and this vitamin is also water-soluble.
Important functions
The important function of this vitamin is lowering the level of homocysteine and may lower the risk of heart diseases. It plays an important role to convert tryptophan to niacin and in producing neurotransmitter serotonin (plays key roles in sleep, mood and appetite). It helps red blood cells production and effects immune function and cognitive abilities.
Deficiency
The vitamin B6deficiency may leads to peripheral neuropathy and anaemia.
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin B6 for (age 19 – 70) male is 1.3 – 1.7 mg and for female is 1.2 – 1.5 mg.
Food sources
Good food sources of vitamin B6 included; beef liver, tuna fish, chicken, tofu, chick peas, whole grains, fruits such as watermelons and bananas, vegetables and tree nuts.
Vitamin B7
It a water-soluble vitamin and known as biotin or vitamin H.
Important function
This vitamin involved in the metabolism of fatty acids, leucine and gluconeogenesis (synthesize of glucose from amino and fatty acids).
Deficiency
The disease which may occurs due to deficiency of vitamin B7 are; dermatitis or enteritis.
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin B7 for (age 19 – 70) male is 30 μg and for female is 30 μg
Food sources
Human body cannot synthesize biotin but the bacteria which is naturally live in our bowel are able to synthesize biotin. Other good source of biotin are egg yolk, liver, peanuts, leafy green vegetables, sunflowers and peanuts.
Vitamin B9
It is also known as folate or folic acid. As it belongs to the group of vitamin B, so it is also water soluble.
Important functions
It is an important part in nuclei acid synthesis. It is important for new red blood cells production, helps in preventing hair loss and preserving brain and spin health in infants.
Deficiency
The disease related to deficiency of vitamin B9 is megaloblastic anaemia and congenital deformities (birth defects).
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin B9 for (age 19 – 70) male is 400 μg and for female is 400 μg.
Food sources
Rich food sources are; liver, leafy green vegetables, broccoli, peas, brussels sprouts, fortified grains products, sunflowers seeds, asparagus, legumes (like black-eyed peas and chickpeas) and orange juice.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is water-soluble member of the vitamin B family and chemically known as cobalamin, cyanocobalamin, hydroxocobalamin, methyl-cobalamin and adenosyl-cobalamin.
Important functions
This vitamin plays a key role in neural metabolism, DNA and RNA production, hematopoiesis and fat, carbohydrate and protein metabolism.
Deficiency
The deficiency of vitamin B12 causes pernicious anemia.
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin B12 for (age 19 – 70) male is 2.4 μg and for female is 2.4 μg.
Food sources
Good food sources of vitamin B12 are poultry, eggs, meat, fish (especially haddock and tuna), fortified cereals, soy products, milk and dairy products.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid and water-soluble.
Important functions
It is important for healthy skin, blood vessels, cartilage and bone vessels. it is playing a key role in wound healing and helping to protect cells and keeps them healthy.
Deficiency
The deficiency of vitamin C causes scurvy
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin C for (age 19 – 70) male is 90 mg and for female is 75 mg.
Food sources
Good food sources of vitamin C are oranges, strawberries, blackcurrants, red and green peppers, potatoes, brussels and broccoli. The highest content of vitamin c in all foods are Kakadu palm and camu camu fruits.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and chemically known as ergocalciferol and cholecalciferol.
Important functions
It is important for healthy bones and teeth and give protection to body against certain condition such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and cancer. It is also important in supporting cardiovascular health and lung function. It plays a key role in regulating insulin level.
Deficiency
The disorders such as rickets (childhood bone condition in which bones become soften and prone to breaks and deformity)and osteomalacia (softening of bones).
The long-term deficiency of vitamin D can result in hypertension, obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis.
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin D for (age 19 – 70) male is 15 μg and for female is 15 μg.
Food sources
The body synthesized their own vitamin D by exposure to sunlight. But the fish oil and fatty fish are the richest sources of vitamin D. Other good food sources of vitamin D are eggs, mushrooms, beef liver and fortified milk.
Vitamin E
It belongs to the group of fat-soluble vitamins and known as tocopherols, tocotrienols.
Important functions
Vitamin E play a key role in neutralizing unstable substances which can damage cells and also acts as an antioxidant. It also important role in protecting vitamin A and lipids from damage. Vitamin E rich food may prevent Alzheimer´s disease.
Deficiency
The deficiency of vitamin E is rare but may trigger hemolytic anemia (a disorder in which blood cells are breakdown and removed from blood stream to early) in newborn infants.
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin E for (age 19 – 70) male is 15 mg and for female is 15 mg.
Food sources
Richest sources of vitamin E included a variety of food such as Avocado, kiwi, almonds, leafy green vegetables, whole grains, wheat germs, milk, eggs, nut and unheated vegetable oil.
Vitamin K
It is another fat-soluble vitamin and chemical names for vitamin E are phylloquinone and menaquinones.
Important functions
Human body vitamin K is important for regulating blood calcium level, blood clotting and bone metabolism.
Deficiency
The deficiency of vitamin K is rare but sever deficiency may cause to clotting diathesis (unusual bleeding).
Recommended daily intake
The daily recommendation of vitamin K for (age 19 – 70) male is 110 μg and for female is 120 μg.
Food sources
Milk, egg yolk, kiwi, liver and leafy green vegetables are the richest sources of vitamin K.
Diabetes is a chronic disease which is characterized by high blood sugar level due to defects in insulin action, insulin secretion or both. Insulin is a hormone secreted by pancreas and helps in the regulation of body blood sugar. A person become diabetic either when the pancreas does not produce sufficient amount of insulin or when the body cells not responding properly to insulin. The increase level of blood sugar can cause many serious health problems.
Types
Diabetes are classified into three main types;
Type 1 diabetes (formerly referred as insulin dependent diabetes mellitus/juvenile diabetes) is a type of diabetes in which very little or no insulin produced by pancreas due to pancreatic beta cells destruction. This type of diabetes affects people at any age but mostly appears during childhood and adolescence.
Type 2 diabetes (formerly called insulin independent diabetes mellitus) is occur when the body cells not responding properly to insulin secreted by pancreas. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes and it is estimated about 90% of all diabetes cases worldwide. Among many causes of type 2 diabetes the most important ones are genetics and life style (like lack of exercise, unhealthy diet and obesity) The combine effect of these two factors can trigger insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is another type in which hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) occurs in pregnant without previous history of diabetes. The hormone secreted by placenta during pregnancy causes body cells resistance to insulin.
Symptoms
The symptoms of diabetes are differed and depending on how much your blood sugar is raised. In the beginning of the prediabetes and type 2 diabetes some people may not experience any diabetes symptom. The people affected by type 1 diabetes shows the symptoms very quickly and be more severe. The following sign and symptoms are occurred in type 1 and 2 diabetes:
Polydipsia (increase thirst)
Polyuria (frequent urination)
Increase in appetite
Fatigue
Irritability
Unexplained weight loss
Blurred vision
Slow-healing sores
Presence of ketones in urine
Gums and skin infections
Risk factors
The diabetes risk factors depend on the type of diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes risk factors
The exact reason of type 1 diabetes is unknown, but some factors may signal a high risk including;
Family history
Environmental factors
Autoantibodies
Geography
Type 2 diabetes
It is difficult to understand for the researcher that why some people develop diabetes and other don´t but following factors high the risk of type 2 diabetes:
Excessive body weight
Physical inactivity
Family history
Polycystic ovary syndrome
Abnormal level of triglyceride and cholesterol
Older age
Race (like blacks, American Indian, Hispanics and Asian-Americans.
Gestational diabetes
Risk factor are:
Family history
Age
Weight (overweight before pregnancy)
Race (the reason is unknown but gestational diabetes develop in black, Asian and Hispanic women are more likely to)
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of diabetes is based on patient symptoms along with laboratory investigation which consists on;
Glucose measurement
Fasting (a person is considered diabetic if fasting blood sugar is 7 mmol/L (126mg/dl) or higher)
Random (when blood sugar level is 11.1 mmol/L (200mg/dl) or higher indicate diabetes)
Oral glucose tolerance test (in this test a patient drinking sugary liquid and then measuring of sugar levels periodically for next 2 hours. When the blood sugar level is higher than 11.1mmol/L (200mg /dl) after 2 hours suggest diabetes)
Hb1Ac (when the values of HbA1c test is 6.5 % or higher indicated diabetes)
Other laboratory tests including
Insulin measurement
Fructosamine
Glycated albumin
Microalbumin
C-peptide.
Treatment and management
Healthy diet (fresh fruits, vegetables, food with more fiber, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and legumes (lentils, peas and beans)
Regular physical activity (everyone needs to do at least 30 – 60 minutes of moderate (15 to 30 minutes of energetic) aerobic exercise. It is good to move around a bit every 30 minutes)
Weight loss
Monitoring blood sugar level
Insulin therapy (type 1 diabetes and many type 2 and gestational diabetic patient need insulin for survive)
Oral or other medication (such as Metformin, sulfonylureas, Meglitinides, DPP-4 inhibitors, GAL-1receptor agonists, GLP-1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors)
Bariatric surgery (people with BMI more than 35 may get benefit from this kind of surgery)
Complications
With over time the uncontrol diabetes causes many serious complications such as cardiovascular disease (atherosclerosis, stroke, heart attack and coronary artery disease with angina), Neuropathy (the nerve damage occur because of the increase amount of sugar in the blood can damage the walls of capillaries that nourish nerves). Nephropathy (kidney damage), retinopathy (eye damage), skin problems (susceptible to fungal and bacterial infections), foot damage, depression and increase risk of dementia (like Alzheimer´s disease), vitiligo, edema and limited joint mobility.
Prevention
By changing lifestyle may help in diabetes prevention. Some of the following tips are given by American diabetes association
More physical activity
Take plenty of fiber
Go for whole grains
Loss of extra weight
Avoid fad diets and make healthier choices
Avoid tobacco use (smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular and diabetes disease)
Anaemia is a condition in which the haemoglobin level decreases or the total amount of healthy red blood cells decreases in the blood or decrease in the oxygen carrying ability of the red blood cells. The main part of the red blood cells is haemoglobin which binds to oxygen and carry it to the cells.
Symptoms
When the level of haemoglobin or red blood cells decrease or become abnormal so, the body cells will not get enough oxygen and develop the anaemia symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, increase heart beat particularly with exercise, pale skin, insomnia, dizziness, frequent headache and leg cramps. The symptoms related with severe anaemia are fainting, chest pain, angina and heart attack. Additional symptoms are related with a particular form of anaemia.
Types and causes of Anaemia
A- Anaemia classified in to main three types such as anaemia due to decrease in the production of red blood cells, blood loss or increase in the breakdown of red blood cells.
1-Causes of the decrease production of red blood cells:
Iron deficiency
Lacks vitamin B12
Neoplasms of the bone morrow
Thalassaemia
2-Causes of blood loss:
Gastrointestinal bleeding
Trauma
3-Increased breakdown causes by:
Sickle cell anaemia
Infections such as septicaemia and malaria
Autoimmune disorders for example; autoimmune haemolytic anaemia
B-On the bases of red blood cell size and haemoglobin level in each cell anaemia is classified into;
Microcytic anaemia (small sized cells)
Macrocytic anaemia (large sized cells)
Normocytic anaemia (normal sized cells)
C-Classification of anaemia on the basis of severity;
Mild (when the haemoglobin level is 11 g/dl)
Moderate (Haemoglobin level is 8 g/dl to 11 g/dl)
Severe (Haemoglobin level is less than 8 g/dl)
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of the anaemia depending on the causes and required a number of
tests involving:
Medical history of the patient such as physical examination,
any chronic illnesses and regular medications an
Blood tests such as full blood count (including the number,
haemoglobin content, size, volume and red blood cells)
Measured the levels of vitamins required for red
blood cells production, vitamins B12 and folate.
Measured the level of the serum ferritin and blood level
of the iron.
To investigate the rare causes of anaemia special
tests are required such as red blood cell fragility, clotting, defects of
enzyme, immune attack on red blood cells and haemoglobin.
Urine and faecal occult blood test (to detect blood)
To measure the level bilirubin and reticulocyte count.
Gastroscopy, colonoscopy and in rare cases the bone
marrow biopsy is required to investigate the cause of anaemia.
Treatment for Anaemia
The treatment
of anaemia depends on the severity and cause, but may consist on:
Oral and injectable iron (when the amount of
iron is low)
Vitamins and mineral supplements
Vitamin B12
Blood transfusion (if required)
Oxygen therapy
Antibiotics (in case of infection)
Erythropoiesis-stimulating
agent
Splenectomy
How to prevent anaemia
The types of anaemia can´t be prevented because that cause by a breakdown in the cell-making process. The anaemia which is due to dietary deficiency can be prevented by taking dairy foods, fresh vegetables, legumes, lean, nuts and meats and fresh vegetables. The vitamins and mineral supplements should be taken by vegan on a regular basis. It is important to talk to a doctor and dietitian about your diet.
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Case; Leo is 23 years old. He is well-behaved and is a motorcycle enthusiast. During the summer, he works as a plattsetter in Sweden. In the second part of the year he goes motorcycle, preferably in Asia. During a motorcycle holiday in Thailand, Kenny is in a serious traffic accident and arrives at a hospital. He is lucky to survive, but gets serious injuries, with multiple fractures and internal injuries. After five days at the hospital, he gets high fever and suspects a catheter-related sepsis. For this reason, samples are taken for microbiological analysis; from catheterspets, instillation and blood cultures. In addition, basic blood and electrolyte status tests and CRP are taken. In the microbiological analysis, Staphlococci are isolated, which are further typed using MALDI- ToF to Staphylococcus epidermidis. For this reason, a resistance determination is also made (see results below). The following results are obtained from the laboratory, among other things: Weight: 85 kg Length: 183 cm
Answers of the following questions related to the above case.
1-Is it likely that Kenny has a sepsis?
Answer: Yes, Kenny has sepsis.
2-What does the resistance pattern look like for the Staphylococcus that has been isolated? (SIR)?
Answer: I think this is look like staphylococcus epidermidis with methicillin sensitive pattern. But as this case missing beta-lactamase drugs then it seems to methicillin resistant staphylococcus epidermidis.
3-What can be the cause of the disease?
Answer:
The cause of the disease is nosocomial infection of staphylococcus epidermidis
which is resulted by catheterization.
The principle, advantages, dis-advantages, pre-analytical. analytical and post-analytical errors of the following methods which help in solving the above case.
MALDI-ToF (Matrix assisted laser
desorption ionization-time of flight)
Principle: The sample is mixed with matrix (energy absorbent) and then sample crystallizes together with matrix by drying. When the laser bean is passes through causes the ionization of trapped sample in the matrix and generated singly protonated ions of the analytes in the sample. These ions are accelerated at a fixed potential and separated according to mass to charge ratio (m/z). the charge analytes detected by TOF analyzer.
Advantages:
It
is a rapid and have good accuracy at species level, correct and faster
method. It not very expensive and no
fragmentation is formed because of low internal energy. It is also very useful
in subspecies level identification. It is good in taxonomical and
epidemiological studies.
Limitations
This
method having low analytical sensitivity. It is not suitable in the
identification of low amount bacterial in sterile sample such CSF. For such a
sample needed more optimization and standardization.
Preanalytical phase
it
is important to perform MALDI-ToF is a very sterile condition. It is important
to use biological safety cabinets in pre-analytical phase. It is important to record the bacterial
growth medium. It is important to note the patient record. It is important to
use lab coat, gloves and glasses. It is important to select the bacterial colony
which has to be test. the preparation of the sample for MALDI-ToF is very
simple but it need attention that a proper amount of sample is applied by
touching the surface of the selected colony. It the direct identification is
perform from blood culture the sample preparation step involved the use of
lysis solution or lysis filtration.
Analytical phase
It
is important to perform the test with quality practice to ensure accurate
result. It is important to check the external and internal quality control. The
laboratory must calibrate the MALDI-ToF system with the specific calibration
standard (extract of E. coli or specific E. coli calibration strain). It is
important to use specific positive and negative control for external control.
It is important to maintain spectral quality for accurate result.
Postanalytical phase
The
result report is also a consideration of the quality control. Different
spectral databases are used for the MALDI-ToF reporting. The reporting of the
result is also depended on the type of specimen. If the report is not correlate
the conventional identification the procedure should be repeat because increase
amount of the sample decreases the quality of the result. If there is no peak formation its means that
MALDI-ToF is insufficient in identification while the second sample correctly
identified.
Immunoturbidimetry Principle:The immunoturbidimetric assay is quantitative determination of protein is done by the formation of agglutination of antigen antibody complex. The agglutination causes the turbidity. The light when passes through the mixture some of the light is absorbed by the mixture and change in the intensity of the transmitted light is measured photometrically. Advantages
It has
high reaction analyzer speed, ease of automation and having good precision and
accuracy. It is a sensitive, rapid method and blank interference is reduced by
using low concentration of PEG (polyethylene glycol).
Disadvantages It is an expensive, inflexible reagents and inflexible protocol.
Preanalytical phase
The sample for
C-reactive protein is collected by standard procedure and in a sterile tube.
The reagents for the test should be stored at 2-10 oC. It is important to rejected
contaminated, lipemic and hemolyzed sample for CRP. If the sample is not using
on the same collecting day so it is important to store at 2-10 oC for 2
months and at -20 oC for longer than a year. The blood sample collected in EDT or
sodium heparin anticoagulant tube for plasma and for serum in a tube without
anticoagulant.
Analytical phase
It is important to use
appropriate immunoassay and specific antibody or antigen for the assay. It is
important to check the function and quality control of the equipment. The
correct pipetting is important. It is important to used standard laboratory
procedure. It is important to maintained regularly of the equipment. The
reagent should be properly handled. To check the turbidimeter for wavelength
calibration, accuracy, linearity of detector and light should be performed at
regular intervals.
Postanalytical phase
The normal level of CRP is less
than 3mg/L. The interpretation of CRP result is very important because it is measure
in a number of conditions. It is increases in limit from 10-40mg/l in mild
inflammatory condition or in viral infection. The serum CRP level increases up
to 200mg/l in bacterial infection and severe inflammation. For the sepsis
50mg/l is consider a cut-off value by Pedro Póvoa. IF the level of the CRP is not
correlated to clinical feature or have doubt of interference substance so the
test should be repeated.
My name is Qazi Muhammad Tauseef and I did my bachelor’s degree in Medical laboratory technology and master’s degree in Molecular biology from Pakistan. I did my master’s degree in molecular life sciences from Stockholm University. My education gives me basic knowledge of Molecular Biology and teaches me how to work in research lab. I gained good lab experience from working in different pathology laboratories and taught me how to handle and process patient samples. In Stockholm University, I used various molecular biology techniques in my projects. Now, I want to use my knowledge to help life science students. I am here to help students in finding research topics, assignment and thesis writing. I can provide subject related notes to Medical laboratory technology (MLT), Molecular biology and Biotechnology students. I can help students in solving problems related to Molecular biology and diagnostics techniques. Feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Qazi Muhammad Tauseef