Impact of Structured Teaching Programme to Enhance the Knowledge Regarding Menstruation and Menstrual Hygiene among Adolescent Girls

The researcher conducted a quasi-experimental study on menstruation and menstrual hygiene among the adolescent girls at primary girls’ school (ajarpura kanyasala) under Anand district Gujarat. The study was intended to see the impact of a structured teaching programme in improving the knowledge of adolescent girls specific to rural areas. The objectives of the study were to assess the existing knowledge, to develop a structured teaching program on menstruation and menstrual hygiene, to assess the knowledge after implementation of structured teaching programmes and to find out the association between the knowledge score of the respondent with the selected demographic variables. The quantitative research approach was used with one group pre-test post-test- quasi experimental research design. The sample of 50 was drawn using probability sampling technique. The tool used was structured knowledge questionnaire. The result shows that majority of the respondents were (92%) in the age group of 12-13 years, most of the respondents (90%) were Hindu religion, the family income for most of the respondent (64%) falls in between Rs. 2000-3000, almost half of the respondents were having an elder female sibling (52%), and initial assessment reveals most of the respondents were (82%) having some knowledge about menstruation and menstrual hygiene. The finding shows significant difference between mean pre-test score (15.56) and post test score (27.80) which also reveals the importance of right information is needed to this group to discard any irrelevant practices. The association with certain demographic variables (age, family income, elder female sibling, information about menstruation) also established at 0.05 level of significance.

Siblings with Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy

A 2 years 3 months male toddler with motor delay and his female sibling with history of marked global developmental regression following an intercurrent febrile illness were both noted to have phospholipase A2G6 (PLA2G6) mutation, confirming the diagnosis of infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy (INAD). This case report attempts to familiarize readers with the pleomorphic presentation of INAD and the role of early clinical identification, examination, and prompt genetic testing in establishing a diagnosis.

A new family with a homozygous nonsense variant in NTHL1 further delineated the clinical phenotype of NTHL1-associated polyposis

A new family with NTHL1-associated polyposis (NAP) is described, involving a 58-year-old male affected with >100 colorectal polyps and a 55-year-old female sibling with nine colorectal polyps. The female was also diagnosed with a thyroid adenoma at age 40. Significantly, no malignant neoplasms have been detected in this family, which is important to further delineate the clinical phenotype related to NAP. A review of previously reported obligate heterozygous carriers of NTHL1 variants showed two patients affected with neoplasms at <55 years of age, generating a study to outline the phenotypic spectrum in patients with heterozygous pathogenic NTHL1 variants relevant.

Graft-versus-host disease in recipients of male unrelated donor compared with parous female sibling donor transplants

Key Points Compared with parous female sibling donors, male URDs confer more aGVHD in all patients and more cGVHD in females. There was no difference in survival, relapse, or transplant mortality between recipients of parous female sibling or male URD grafts.

Enrolment pattern and Profile of Scheduled Caste Girl Students

<div><p><em>Half of the scheduled caste (SC) girl students were in the age group of 16-18 years followed by 33.0 per cent who were above 18 years of age and the age of remaining 17.0 per cent students was between 13-15 years. Maximum number of students were Haijans (34.0%) followed by dhanak (27.0%), balmiki (13.0%), odd (11.0%) and khatik (10.0%); and majbhi sikh &amp; bajigar caste respondents were less than five percent (3.0% and 2.0%, respectively). Majority of them were from joint families (78.0 %) with family size between 6-8 members (71.0%) and aspired to be graduate ( 52.0 %) and be in teaching profession (37%). Average number of siblings of the respondents was 2.48 wherein girls outnumbered boys. Illiteracy rate among their female sibling (6.9%) was more than two times higher than male siblings (2.8 %).<strong> </strong>Their mothers were home makers (48.0%) and fathers were labour (53.0%) in maximum number of cases. Majority (69.0%) of the SC girl students were from landless families. </em></p></div>

Naive CD4+ T Cells Exert Superior Alloreactive Capacity Than Central Memory CD4+ T Cells in Fully HLA-Matched Setting

Abstract 4702 Background: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation provides donor-derived mature T cells which are involved in post-transplant immune reactions including engraftment, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) activity, and thus play a major role in determining clinical outcome. In a prior clinical study, we showed that receiving a high percentage of CD4+CCR7+ T cells that includes naive and central memory (CM) subsets, was correlated with increased incidence and severity of acute GVHD. In a recent update of our results on 126 patients, we confirmed our previous results with a particular impact of CD4+ naive subset on acute GVHD development. The aim of the present study was to investigate in vitro the alloreactive response of CD4+CCR7+CD45RA+ naïve T cells and CD4+CCR7+CD45RAneg central memory T cells in HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1 and -DQB1 allele matched setting (so called 10/10 match) Materials and methods: The alloreactivity was investigated by mixed lymphocyte dendritic cell reaction using five HLA-identical healthy male and female sibling pairs to include at least a H-Y mismatch. Stimulators were mature dendritic cells (derived from monocytes of the male sibling) co-cultured with each one of the three highly purified CD4+ T cell subsets (naive, central memory and effector memory) from the female sibling. Alloreactive response was assessed by 3H thymidine incorporation at day 5, and functionally at day 4, 6 and 10 by IFN-gamma ELISpot and measurement of Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines in co-culture supernatants. Results: Four out of five sibling pairs developed an alloreactive response to mHAs. Maximal proliferation was supported by the CCR7+CD45RA+ naive CD4+ T cells with proliferation indices from 1.75 to 3.85. This proliferation was accompanied by a functional differentiation: only naive CD4+ T cells were able to produce significant amounts of IL-6, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma at day 6 and day 10 (120 to 174 IFN-gamma spots at day 10). Conclusion: This study demonstrates the superior capacity of naive CD4+ T cells to mount a primary alloreactive response as compared to central memory T cells. Their proliferative response associated with a pro-inflammatory differentiation makes naive CD4+ T cells potential acute GVHD inducers. These in vitro results confirm what we have observed in clinical studies and may also lend support to approaches of selective T cell depletion for GVHD prevention. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

First Use of Allogeneic Stem Cells in the Treatment of Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa: Demonstration of Biochemical and Clinical Improvement.

Abstract 660 Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) is an incurable, often fatal mucocutaneous blistering skin disease caused by mutations in the type VII collagen (C7) gene, COL7A1. These pathogenic mutations result in severely diminished expression of C7, a collagen localized at the dermal-epidermal junction (DEJ), and absence of anchoring fibrils (AFs) which are C7 containing structures that tether the epidermal basement membrane to the dermal matrix. From birth on, children with RDEB develop painful erosions and blisters on mucosal membranes and skin often resulting in esophageal strictures, mutilating scarring, joint contractures, fusion of fingers and toes and, aggressive squamous cell carcinomas. After first demonstrating that a stem cell enriched fraction of bone marrow (BM) rescued a proportion of RDEB mice from lethality and resulted in a) expression of C7 in skin and mucosal membranes, b) formation of new AFs, and c) resistance to blistering, a ‘first-in-human' phase I-II clinical trial was initiated in October 2007. To date, 7 patients have been treated with stem cells from BM from an HLA matched sibling donor (n=6) or unrelated cord blood (CB) donor (n=1). Follow-up data are reported through August 18, 2009. Conditioning consisted of busulfan 0.8 mg/kg per dose every 6 hours on days–9 to–6, fludarabine 25 mg/m2/day on days–5 to–3, and cyclophosphamide 50 mg/kg/day on days–5 to–2. After infusion of stem cells on day 0, immunoprophylaxis consisted of cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil. Patient and graft characteristics are shown in Table 1. Of the 4 patients with adequate follow-up, a progressive increase in C7 deposition by immunofluorescence (IF) at the DEJ, AFs or AF-like structures by electron microscopy, and wound healing with marked reduction in blister formation were documented. Unexpectedly, all patients had substantial chimerism in the skin (11-93%) that persisted over time. In 2 patients with a sex mismatched donor, perivascular localization of the donor cells in the dermis could be discerned using probes to the centromere regions of chromosomes X and Y. In summary, this is the first demonstration that the infusion of BM can ameliorate the severe systemic mucocutaneous manifestations of RDEB and sets the stage for using marrow stem cells in the treatment of a broad spectrum of extracellular matrix disorders. PtDonor (cell dose: NC × 108/kg)Transplant Related ToxicitiesC7 AssessmentAnchoring Fibril AssessmentClinical OutcomeSurvival Days1 15 mo maleHLA 8/8 male sibling BM/CB (3.04; 0.66)NoneIncreased by IF↑ Rudimentary AFsImproved but no change in use of dressingsAlive day 6592 9 mo femaleHLA 8/8 male sibling BMCardiomyo-pathyNot evaluableNot evaluableNot evaluableDied day 03 5.9 maleHLA 5/6 female unrelated CB (0.55)Graft rejectionIncreased by IF and Western↑ Rudimentary AFsNot evaluableDied day 1834 6.3 yo maleHLA 8/8 female sibling BM (3.76)Transient Dialysis ARDSNo change by IF° but WesternNormal AFs observedMarked reduction in blisters and dressingsAlive day 2475 6.2 yo femaleHLA 8/8 male sibling BM (3.07)Transient DialysisIncreased by IF and Western↑ Rudimentary AFsMarked reduction in blisters and dressingsAlive day 1286 6.0 yo femaleHLA 8/8 female sibling BM (3.11)EpistaxispendingpendingEarly reduction in blisteringAlive day 567 14.5 yo femaleHLA 8/8 female sibling BMToo early to evaluatependingpendingToo early to evaluateAlive day -9 Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Sand Floor for Farmed Blue Foxes: Effects on Claws, Adrenal Cortex Function, Growth and Fur Properties

Farmed blue foxes (Vulpes lagopus) are traditionally housed on mesh floors where they are unable to perform certain species-specific behaviours, such as digging, which may compromise the animals' welfare. This study describes how a possibility to use in-cage sand floor affects welfare-related variables like growth of the claws, adrenal cortex function, and fur properties in juvenile blue foxes. The foxes (N=32) were housed in male-female sibling pairs in an outdoor fur animal shed in cage systems consisting of two traditional fox cages. For the eight male-female sibling pairs of the Control group, there was a mesh floor in both cages of each cage system, whereas for the eight pairs of the Sand group there was a mesh floor in one cage and a 30–40 cm deep earth floor in the other cage. The results show that sand floor is beneficial for the wearing of the claws of foxes. Furthermore, an early experience of sand floor may have positive effects on the foxes' fur development. The results, however, also suggest that there might appear welfare problems observed as disturbed claw growth and increased adrenal cortex activation if foxes that are once provided with clean and unfrozen sand floor are not allowed to enjoy this floor all the time.