Search

Pakistan has the second highest hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence with seroprevalence of 4.5-8.2%, with genotype 3a being most frequently circulating HCV genotype. Current treatment strategies for HCV are based on direct acting antivirals (DAAs), despite high efficacy of antivirals, still therapy failure has been reported in 5-10% cases due to resistance mutations of amino acids. This study was aimed to analyze clinically important resistance associated mutations (RAMs) to daclatasvir (DCV) in HCV GT- 3a NS5A region in treatment naive and DAA treatment experienced patients, to understand their role in treatment failure. Patients samples and data was collected on prescribed questionnaire. Viral nucleic acid was isolated and amplified by gene specific primers followed by sequencing of NS5A region by Sanger method. Amino acid substitutions were identified by using Geno2Pheno tool. Hepatitis c virus genotype 3a was most prevalent genotype in the study group. Successfully sequenced patients were divided into two group based on their treatment history, as treatment naive and experienced groups. Both groups were analyzed for detection of amino acid mutations at positions 28, 30, 31, 58 and 93. A30T was detected in 7.6%, Y93H in 15.6% P58T as 7.6% while S98G was found in 23% treated patients. However, these mutations were not detected in any of treatment naive patients. Some mutations were identified in both treatment naive and experienced groups i.e., A21T, T64A, H85Y, S103P, D172E, H180N, T183A/V, and E137G. Mutations at position 62 was most commonly detected found at the frequency of 83.8% and 84.6% in treatment naive and experienced patients respectively. While mutations at position M28 and L31 were not identified in both groups of current study. Mutations present in both treatment naive as well as in treatment experienced groups suggesting they have no role in DCV resistance, while identification of A30T, Y93H, P58T and S98G in treated patients suggests that DCV RAMs are circulating in Pakistani HCV GT-3a DAAs treated patients, leading to resistance development and treatment failure. Identification of these mutations is important especially in treatment failure patients to design re-treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioactive molecules gain significance in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries for showcasing various beneficial biological properties including but not limited to anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, anti‐inflammatory, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, and antidiabetic. However, the practice of using traditional approaches to produce bioactive molecules is gradually declining due to various limitations such as low product quality, high toxicity, low product yield, low efficiency, and product degradation. Thus, with the escalating demand for these bioactive molecules and active agents in food and other food‐related industries, it has become a dire need for the scientific world to come up with novel approaches and strategies that cannot just improve the quality of these bioactives but also prepare them in a comparatively shorter time span. This review includes the latest approaches and techniques used either independently or in combinations for the extraction, purification, processing, and stability improvement of general bioactive molecules. Different parameters of these versatile techniques have been discussed with their effectiveness and work principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To the Editor: The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is high (8% of the population) in Pakistan (1). HCV is an RNA virus that has a high mutation [...]

Abstract Background Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection is well known to induce a spectrum of acute and chronic liver diseases which further advance to cirrhosis, fulminant hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Aim The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis D virus super-infection among hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive individuals in the highly populated province of Pakistan which is not well known. Methods Sera samples were subjected to HBsAg and anti-HDV screening and finally anti-HDV and HBsAg positive coinfected samples were used for HDV active RNA confirmation using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results Out of total 200 HBsAg positive samples by rapid device, 96 (48%) were also found reactive for HBsAg using enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). Out of these HBsAg ELISA positive samples, 80 (88.8%) were anti-HDV ELISA positive which were then subjected to PCR. The amplification results further confirmed 24 (30%) samples to be HDV RNA positive. HDV super-infection was more common in male patients than female patients (81% VS 19%). Conclusion The current study shows a high prevalence rate of HDV-HBV co-infection in Pakistan that tends to increase over time.

Dengue virus infections and typhoid fever are among the endemic diseases in tropical and sub tropical regions of world. Bacteraemia with dengue co-infection is rare. Present study was designed to detect dengue virus RNA and then to test those samples for the detection of S typhi to check the co infection rate of these two infectious agents in Pakistani population. A total of 365 subjects were included in this study, out of which 224 (61.7%) were males and 141(38.2%) were females. The median age of patients was 40±32, percentage of dengue positive samples was found to be higher in age group 31y-40y and 41y-50y.75 % of total samples included in the study were positive for dengue virus RNA where as 24.6% were those in which dengue virus RNA was not detected. DENV-2 was found to be the most prevalent serotype while DENV-1, DENV-3 and DENV-4 were not detected in any of the sample. Of the 274 samples with DENV-2, only 4 samples were positive for S typhi. S. typhi was also detected in 3 patients who were negative for dengue virus PCR. The presence of S. typhi in dengue positive samples was further confirmed by sequencing PCR products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]