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Aims and Objectives: To determine utilization of spot urinary albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR) to predict subsequent development of preeclampsia, measured between 17 and 24 weeks of gestational age in asymptomatic antenatal woman and determine their maternal and neonatal outcomes. Introduction: In preeclampsia the basic pathology is generalized endothelial dysfunction. It causes glomerular endotheliosis which leads to proteinuria, decreased glomerular filtration rate and renal blood flow. Thus microalbuminuria is an early marker which can measured to predict preeclampsia. Materials and Methods: It is a prospective observational study, carried out for one year in a cohort of asymptomatic antenatal women at 17-24 weeks of gestational age, attending hospital for routine antenatal check-up with a singleton pregnancy and no associated complications. Urine albumin and creatinine ratio (UACR) is measured at first visit, and women were followed till delivery and the maternal and foetal outcomes were recorded. Results: Out of 81 pregnant women enrolled in the study, 58% belonged to 18-25 years, 54.3% belonged to lower middle class. There was a significant difference in mean UACR among women who developed preeclampsia (PE) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with p value < 0.05. In the study there was significant association between severe PE, PE and GDM with UACR at 22 as cut-off, with p value < 0.05. In the study among those with UACR > 22, 2.5% had IUFD, 12.5% had LBW, and 7.5% were admitted to NICU. Conclusion: With the measurement of spot UACR in mid-trimester we can predict the development of preeclampsia before the onset of clinical manifestations. UACR > = 171 mg/g predicted preeclampsia well before the onset of clinical manifestations with high sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 98.6%. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13224-023-01862-9.

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p62 is a scaffolding adaptor implicated in the clearance of protein aggregates by autophagy. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can either stimulate or inhibit NFκB-mediated gene expression influencing cellular fate. We studied the effect of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated oxidative stress and NFκB signaling on p62 expression in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and investigated its role in regulation of autophagy and RPE survival against oxidative damage. Cultured human RPE cell line ARPE-19 and primary human adult and fetal RPE cells were exposed to H2O2-induced oxidative stress. The human apolipoprotein E4 targeted-replacement (APOE4) mouse model of AMD was used to study expression of p62 and other autophagy proteins in the retina. p62, NFκB p65 (total, phosphorylated, nuclear and cytoplasmic) and ATG10 expression was assessed by mRNA and protein analyses. Cellular ROS and mitochondrial superoxide were measured by CM-H2DCFDA and MitoSOX staining respectively. Mitochondrial viability was determined using MTT activity. qPCR-array system was used to investigate autophagic genes affected by p62. Nuclear and cytoplasmic levels of NFκB p65 were evaluated after cellular fractionation by Western blotting. We report that p62 is up-regulated in RPE cells under H2O2-induced oxidative stress and promotes autophagic activity. Depletion of endogenous p62 reduces autophagy by downregulation of ATG10 rendering RPE more susceptible to oxidative damage. NFκB p65 phosphorylation at Ser-536 was found to be critical for p62 upregulation in response to oxidative stress. Proteasome inhibition by H2O2 causes p62-NFκB signaling as antioxidant pre-treatment reversed p62 expression and p65 phosphorylation when RPE was challenged by H2O2 but not when by Lactacystin. p62 protein but not RNA levels are elevated in APOE4-HFC AMD mouse model, suggesting reduction of autophagic flux in disease conditions. Our findings suggest that p62 is necessary for RPE cytoprotection under oxidative stress and functions, in part, by modulating ATG10 expression. NFκB p65 activity may be a critical upstream initiator of p62 expression in RPE cells under oxidative stress.

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The efficacy of microbiological diagnosis in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) has been evaluated in comparison with the clinical diagnosis. Amongst the clinical diagnoses of single STDs, syphilis, genital warts, gonorrhoea and herpes genitalis were the predominant ones. Syphilis was the most predominant infection in both the single and mixed STD infections in Chennai. Clinical diagnoses of trichomoniasis, genital chlamydiasis and genital herpes were more accurate and correlated well with laboratory investigations. On the other hand, clinical diagnoses of gonorrhoea, candidiasis and syphilis were less accurate. More over many of these cases, clinically diagnosed as single, infection, were also positive for other STDs in the laboratory investigations. Double infections were clinically diagnosed only in 7 cases as against 11 cases in microbiological tests and one triple infection diagnosed in microbiological tests was diagnosed only as single disease clinically. Therefore, the laboratory/microbiological investigations have been emphasised to have better accuracy of diagnosis of STDs.

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