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Abstract Background Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Objective The aim of study was to evaluate the efficacy of Zinc supplementation in treatment of severe pneumonia in hospitalized children. Design/Methods A double blind randomized, placebo- controlled clinical trial conducted at a tertiary care centre of a teaching hospital. Children with diagnosis of severe pneumonia were randomly assigned to receive supplementation with either elemental zinc or placebo by mouth at the time of enrollment. From day 2, they received 10 mg of their assigned treatment by mouth twice a day for 7 days along with standard antimicrobial therapy. Results The baseline characteristics like age, sex, weight, weight Z score, height, height Z score, weight for height Z score and hemoglobin were comparable in both study groups. The respiratory rate, chest indrawing, cyanosis, stridor, nasal flaring, wheeze and fever in both groups recorded at enrollment and parameters did not differ significantly between the two groups. The outcome measures like time taken for resolution of severe pneumonia, pneumonia, duration of hospital stay, nil per oral, intravenous fluid, oxygen use, treatment requiring 2nd line of drug and 3rd line drug were evaluated and found to be same. Conclusion The present study did not show a statistically significant reduction in duration of severe pneumonia, or reduction in hospital stay for children given daily zinc supplementation along with standard antimicrobial therapy. Therefore, zinc supplementation given during the acute episode does not help in short term clinical recovery from severe pneumonia.

Natural killer (NK) cells provide the first line of defense against malaria parasite infection. However, the molecular mechanisms through which NK cells are activated by parasites are largely unknown, so is the molecular basis underlying the variation in NK cell responses to malaria infection in the human population. Here, we compared transcriptional profiles of responding and non-responding NK cells following exposure to Plasmodium-infected red blood cells (iRBCs) and identified MDA5, a RIG-I-like receptor involved in sensing cytosolic RNAs, to be differentially expressed. Knockout of MDA5 in responding human NK cells by CRISPR/cas9 abolished NK cell activation, IFN-γ secretion, lysis of iRBCs. Similarly, inhibition of TBK1/IKKε, an effector molecule downstream of MDA5, also inhibited activation of responding NK cells. Conversely, activation of MDA5 by liposome-packaged poly I:C restored non-responding NK cells to lyse iRBCs. We further show that microvesicles containing large parasite RNAs from iRBCs activated NK cells by fusing with NK cells. These findings suggest that NK cells are activated through the MDA5 pathway by parasite RNAs that are delivered to the cytoplasm of NK cells by microvesicles from iRBCs. The difference in MDA5 expression between responding and non-responding NK cells following exposure to iRBCs likely contributes to the variation in NK cell responses to malaria infection in the human population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonatal mortality in developing countries is one of the most important problems that need immediate attention in order to achieve Millennium Development Goals. About 4 million newborns die in the world every year, 90% of them in the developing world. Most of these deaths are preventable by simple interventions in the community. However, in most of the target countries, the implementation of essential newborn care has been very poor. The home based or community care packages include maternal care, essential newborn care, improving the behavior change communication of the community, resuscitation of newborn babies at the time of home delivery, and management of sick newborns with antibiotics at home. Studies have reported one-third to two-third reduction of mortality among newborns after home based care interventions. However, when translated into scaling up of home based newborn care in the worst affected districts of the country, the results are not very rewarding. Identification of limiting factors and effective up scaling of the home-based packages will prove to be of enormous benefit in reducing neonatal mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]