ORCID Profile
0000-0001-7136-1848
Current Organisations
Monash University
,
University of Adelaide
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-08-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S15010-016-0935-6
Abstract: The massive pandemic of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is spreading through South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and possibly the USA. It is the most recent of four surprising appearances of imperative arthropod-borne viral illnesses in the Western Hemisphere over the preceding 20 years. The objective of this narrative review is to summarize the existing knowledge about the epidemiology, transmission, clinical manifestations, complications, replication, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment and prevention of ZIKV infection. We used electronic databases to identify relevant published data regarding ZIKV in BOOLEAN and MeSH searches. This review concludes that the ZIKV predominantly circulates in arboreal mosquitoes (e.g., Aedes africanus) and wild primates. It rarely causes severe infection in humans, even in extremely enzootic regions. Currently, we do not have any efficacious drugs against ZIKV infection. However, there are virus-specific therapeutic targets, which may lead to the development of targeted anti-ZIKV drugs.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2016
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.BBR.2014.01.036
Abstract: Alterations in immune function of various humoral and cellular factors, including chemokines, secondary to early stress may play a role in the enhanced vulnerability to psychiatric conditions in those with a history of childhood adversity. C57BL/6 (WT) mice and mice deficient for the chemokine receptor type 7 (CCR7(-/-)) were used to determine the effects of maternal separation on a range of behaviours and the biological stress response. Unpredictable maternal separation (MS) was conducted for 3h daily from postnatal day 1 to 14, with subsequent behavioural testing at 10 weeks of age. Corticosterone was quantified in 11-week-old mice. Maternally separated (MS) CCR7(-/-), but not WT mice, displayed reduced interest in social novelty compared to CCR7(-/-) naïve mice. Separated CCR7(-/-) mice also exhibited significantly lower serum corticosterone concentrations compared to non-separated mice. CCR7(-/-) mice spent less time in the centre during an open field test and more time in the closed arm of the elevated zero maze compared to their wild-type (WT) controls suggesting they were more anxious, however, no difference was observed between MS and control mice in either strain or test. Together these findings suggest that CCR7 is involved in mediating social behaviour and stress response following maternal separation, whereas other behaviours such as anxiety appear to be modified by CCR7 independent of maternal separation. The observed altered cell-mediated immune function possibly underlying the behavioural and neuroendocrine differences in CCR7(-/-) mice following maternal separation requires further investigation.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-05-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S10571-020-00862-X
Abstract: Physical exercise (PE) and environmental enrichment (EE) can modulate immunity. However, the differential effects of short-term PE, EE, and PE + EE on neuroimmune mechanisms during normal aging has not been elucidated. Hence, a cohort of 3-, 8-, and 13-month-old immunologically unchallenged C57BL/6 wild-type mice were randomly assigned to either Control, PE, EE, or PE + EE groups and provided with either no treatment, a running wheel, a variety of plastic and wooden objects alone or in combination with a running wheel for seven weeks, respectively. Immunohistochemistry and 8-color flow cytometry were used to determine the numbers of dentate gyrus glial cells, and the proportions of CD4 + and CD8 + T cell numbers and their subsets from cervical lymph nodes, respectively. An increase in the number of IBA1 + microglia in the dentate gyrus at 5 and 10 months was observed after EE, while PE and PE + EE increased it only at 10 months. No change in astroglia number in comparison to controls were observed in any of the treatment groups. Also, all treatments induced significant differences in the proportion of specific T cell subsets, i.e., CD4 + and CD8 + T naïve (T N ), central memory (T CM ), and effector memory (T EM ) cells. Our results suggest that in the short-term, EE is a stronger modulator of microglial and peripheral T cell subset numbers than PE and PE + EE, and the combination of short-term PE and EE has no additive effects.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 18-11-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-09-2016
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 21-03-2016
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 07-09-2018
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-08-2018
Abstract: Objective: To evaluate influence of education level of older patients on polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) listed in Beer’s Criteria, and unplanned hospitalization. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among older people aged ≥65 years between 1 December 2017 and 28 February 2018. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were employed. Results: Among 385 older patients, 88.8% were prescribed PIMs and 56.4% underwent PIMs associated unplanned hospitalization. Older people were less exposed to polypharmacy or excessive polypharmacy as their education levels increased (no formal education vs. primary vs. secondary vs. tertiary, 74% vs. 69.8% vs. 60.5% vs. 58.1%). Patients having higher education were also accompanied by significantly lower prescription of PIMs (no formal education vs. primary vs. secondary vs. tertiary, 96% vs. 87.3% vs. 84.5% vs. 79.1%) as well as unplanned hospitalization (no formal education vs. primary vs. secondary vs. tertiary, 64.7% vs. 76.2% vs. 40.3% vs. 46.5%). Results of regression analysis revealed that no formal education (OR = 1.202, 95% CI = 1.032–2.146, p-value = 0.003) and primary education level (OR = 1.175, 95% CI = 1.014–1.538, p-value = 0.039) were significantly associated with the use of polypharmacy among older people. On the other hand, no formal education was significantly associated with the prescription of PIMs (OR = 1.898, 95% CI = 1.151–2.786, p-value = 0.007). Furthermore, older people with no formal education (OR = 1.402, 95% CI = 1.123–1.994, p-value = 0.010) and primary education level (OR = 1.775, 95% CI = 1.281–3.018, p-value = .001) were significantly more likely to undergo unplanned hospitalization. Conclusions: Patients having low literacy level are more likely to receive PIMs, polypharmacy, and undergo unplanned hospitalization in comparison to highly educated patients. Hence, promotion of health literacy for patients is crucial to overcome these problems.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-10-2017
DOI: 10.1038/MP.2016.174
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 10-01-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYNEUEN.2016.07.205
Abstract: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a stress-related psychiatric disorder. A subgroup of MDD patients is characterized by increased inflammatory activation. We aimed to investigate whether increased inflammation particularly occurs in MDD patients with a history of stressful early or later life experiences. Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 were determined in N=214 MDD patients and N=180 healthy controls (HC). Childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire - CTQ), adverse life events of the past 12 months (List of Threatening Experiences Questionnaire - LTE-Q), and perceived stress in the past month (Perceived Stress Scale - PSS) were analyzed with regard to cytokine levels. Pro-inflammatory cytokine levels were not related to global scores of adverse events or perceived stress covering different time points ranging from childhood to the past month. However, in the subgroup of traumatized MDD patients, higher severity of childhood sexual abuse was associated with higher levels of both IL-6 and TNF-α in a linear fashion. Our data suggest a linear relationship between childhood sexual abuse and increased pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in MDD patients, while more recent stressful life events were not related to these inflammatory markers.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-11-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-01-2018
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 06-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-11-2015
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-03-2017
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.2147/IDR.S148102
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-2018
DOI: 10.2147/CIA.S173942
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2016
Publisher: European Respiratory Society (ERS)
Date: 18-02-2021
DOI: 10.1183/23120541.00934-2020
Abstract: “Treatable traits (TTs)” is a precision medicine approach for facilitating multidimensional assessment of every patient with chronic airway disease, in order to determine the core traits associated with disease outcomes where targeted treatments may be applied. To determine the prevalence of TTs in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and which traits predict future decline in lung function and quality of life (QoL). A 4-year longitudinal evaluation was conducted using data from 3726 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). TTs were identified based on published recommendations. Traits that predicted decline in lung function and QoL were analysed using generalised estimating equations. Overall, 21 TTs, including pulmonary (n=5), extra-pulmonary (n=13) and behavioural/lifestyle risk-factors (n=3) were identified. In multivariate analyses, the traits of chronic bronchitis (β −0.186, 95% CI −0.290 to −0.082), breathlessness (β −0.093, 95% CI −0.164 to −0.022), underweight (β −0.216, 95% CI −0.373 to −0.058), sarcopenia (β −0.162, 95% CI −0.262 to −0.061) and current smoking (β −0.228, 95% CI −0.304 to −0.153) predicted decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ). Of the seven traits that predicted decline in QoL, depression (β −7.19, 95% CI −8.81 to −5.57) and poor family and social support (β −5.12, 95% CI −6.65 to −3.59) were the strongest. The core TTs of COPD associated with a decline in lung function and QoL were identified. Targeting these impactful traits with in idualised treatment using a precision medicine approach may improve outcomes in people with COPD.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.PBB.2015.05.021
Abstract: The atypical antipsychotic drug, quetiapine, has recently been suggested to not only show efficacy in schizophrenia, bipolar, major depressive and general anxiety disorders, but to also have a possible anti-inflammatory effect, which could be important in the treatment of the inflammatory aspects of psychiatric diseases. Male C57BL/6 mice were given either quetiapine (i.p. 10mg/kg), its main active metabolite norquetiapine (i.p. 10mg/kg), or saline as a vehicle control, once a day for 14days. On the 14th day, this dose was followed by a single dose of either LPS (i.p. 1mg/kg) or saline. 24h post LPS short-term recognition memory and anhedonia behaviour were measured using the Y-maze and saccharin preference test respectively. Immediately following behavioural testing, mice were culled before serum, prefrontal cortex and hippoc al analysis of cytokine levels was conducted. It was found that LPS challenge led to increased serum and brain cytokine levels as well as anhedonia, with no significant effect on recognition memory. Quetiapine and norquetiapine both increased levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and decreased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IFN-γ in serum 4h post LPS. Within the brain, a similar pattern was seen in gene expression in the hippoc us at 4h for Il-10 and Ifn-γ, however norquetiapine led to an increase in Il-1β expression in the PFC at 4h, while both drugs attenuated the increased Il-10 in different regions of the brain at 24h. These effects in the serum and brain, however, had no effect on the observed LPS induced changes in behaviour. Both quetiapine and its metabolite norquetiapine appear to have a partial anti-inflammatory effect on IL-10 and IFN-γ following acute LPS challenge in serum and brain, however these effects did not translate into behavioural changes.
Publisher: Briefland
Date: 24-06-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.BBR.2015.04.040
Abstract: Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a vital component of the immune system and CNS. We previously showed that 3-month-old TNF-α and TNF-α receptor knockout mice had impaired cognition, whilst at 12-months-old mice had better cognition. To extend these findings on possible age-dependent TNF-α effects in the brain, we investigated the behaviour of 6-month-old TNF-α knockout mice and their neurobiological correlates. 6-month-old TNF(-/-), TNF-R1(-/-) and TNF-R2(-/-) mice were compared to age-matched WT mice and tested for various behaviours. ELISA hippoc al levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and qPCR mRNA levels of Tnfa, Tnfr1, Tnfr2, Il10 and Il1β were measured. TNF-R1(-/-) and TNF(-/-) mice were found to have lesser exploratory behaviour than WT mice, while TNF-R1(-/-) mice displayed better memory than WT and TNF-R2(-/-) mice. Both TNF(-/-) and TNF-R2(-/-) mice exhibited significantly lower immobility on the depression test than WT mice. Additionally, TNF(-/-) mice expressed significantly lower levels of BDNF than WT mice in the hippoc us while TNF-R1(-/-) mice displayed significantly lower BDNF levels compared to both WT and TNF-R2(-/-) mice. TNF-R2(-/-) mice also displayed significantly higher levels of NGF compared to TNF-R1(-/-) mice. These results illustrate that TNF-α and its receptors mediate several behavioural phenotypes. Finally, BDNF and NGF levels appear to be regulated by TNF-α and its receptors even under immunologically unchallenged conditions.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-06-2018
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 11-02-2019
Abstract: Background and objective: The noncompliance of treatment guidelines by healthcare professionals, along with physiological variations, makes the pediatric population more prone to antibiotic prescribing errors. The present study aims to evaluate the prescribing practices and errors of the most frequently prescribed antibiotics among pediatric patients suffering from acute respiratory tract infections who had different lengths of stay (LOS) in public hospitals. Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted in five tertiary-care public hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan, between 1 January 2017 and 30 June 2017. The study population consisted of pediatric inpatients aged 0 to 9 years. Results: Among the 11,892 pediatric inpatients, 82.8% were suffering from lower acute respiratory tract infections and had long LOS (53.1%) in hospital. Penicillins (52.4%), cephalosporins (16.8%), and macrolides (8.9%) were the most frequently prescribed antibiotics. Overall, 40.8% of the cases had antibiotic prescribing errors related to wrong dose (19.9%), wrong frequency (18.9%), and duplicate therapy (18.1%). Most of these errors were found in the records of patients who had long LOS in hospital (53.1%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds of prescribing errors were lower in female patients (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.1–0.9, p-value = 0.012). Patients who were prescribed with ≥3 antibiotics per prescription (OR = 1.724, 95% CI = 1.1–2.1, p-value = 0.020), had long LOS (OR = 12.5, 95% CI = 10.1–17.6, p-value 0.001), and were suffering from upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) (OR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.7–3.9, p-value 0.001) were more likely to experience prescribing errors. Conclusion: Antibiotics were commonly prescribed to patients who had long LOS. Prescribing errors (wrong dose, wrong frequency, and duplicate therapy) were commonly found in cases of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), especially among those who had prolonged stay in hospital.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 27-06-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-09-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-08-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-02-2016
No related grants have been discovered for Magdalene Catharine Jawahar.