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Background: Thousands of Rohingya refugee mothers at the world's largest refugee camp located in Bangladesh are at risk of poor mental health. Accordingly, their children are also vulnerable to delayed cognitive and physical development., Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated care package in reducing the prevalence of developmental delays among children aged 1 year and improving their mothers' mental health status., Methods: This is a parallel, two-arm, single-blind, cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT). A total of 704 mother-child dyads residing at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, will be recruited from 22 clusters with 32 mother-child dyads per cluster. In the intervention arm, an integrated early childhood development and maternal mental health package will be delivered every quarter to mothers of newborns by trained community health workers until the child is 1 year old. Our primary outcome is a reduction in the prevalence of two or more childhood developmental delays of infants aged 1 year compared to the usual treatment. The secondary outcomes include reduced stunting among children and the prevalence of maternal depression. We will also assess the cost-effectiveness of the integrated intervention, and will further explore the intervention's acceptability and feasibility., Results: At the time of submission, the study was at the stage of endpoint assessment. The data analysis started in December 2020, and the results are expected to be published after the first quarter of 2021., Conclusions: This study will address the burden of childhood developmental delays and poor maternal mental health in a low-resource setting. If proven effective, the delivery of the intervention through community health workers will ensure the proposed intervention's sustainability., Trial Registration: ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN10892553; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN10892553., International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/25047., (©Zunayed Al Azdi, Khaleda Islam, Muhammad Amir Khan, Nida Khan, Amna Ejaz, Muhammad Ahmar Khan, Azza Warraitch, Ishrat Jahan, Rumana Huque. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 04.05.2021.)

Background: The exact mechanism for the pathophysiology of seborrheic dermatitis (SD) remains unknown. According to past knowledge, neuropsychiatric disorders, weak immune responses, fungal infections, antioxidants deficiencies, and inadequate nutrition might involve in SD. Here we evaluated serum trace elements, micronutrients, antioxidants, malondialdehyde (MDA), and immunoglobulins in SD patients., Methods: This case-control study recruited 75 SD patients and 76 age-and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). We measured serum micronutrients using atomic absorption spectroscopic methods. Similarly, we assessed serum antioxidants applying the RP-HPLC techniques. Also, serum MDA and immunoglobulins levels were evaluated by UV-spectrophotometric and turbidimetric methods, respectively., Results: We observed higher serum levels of copper, manganese, iron, calcium, magnesium, and MDA in SD patients than HCs. Together with vitamin E, we noticed lower serum concentrations of immunoglobulin A, G, and M in SD patients than HCs. The present study detected a positive correlation between serum zinc and calcium levels (r = 0.365, p = 0.009) in SD patients. However, we identified a negative correlation between serum copper and calcium levels (r = -0.298, p = 0.035)., Conclusion: The present study suggests that the altered levels of micronutrients, antioxidants, MDA, and immunoglobulins are associated with the pathophysiology of SD. These changes may not be the cause but the consequences of the disease. These findings might help to understand the etiopathology and management of SD., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2021 The Author(s).)

Pancreatic β cells couple nutrient metabolism with appropriate insulin secretion. Here, we show that pyruvate kinase (PK), which converts ADP and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) into ATP and pyruvate, underlies β cell sensing of both glycolytic and mitochondrial fuels. Plasma membrane-localized PK is sufficient to close K ATP channels and initiate calcium influx. Small-molecule PK activators increase the frequency of ATP/ADP and calcium oscillations and potently amplify insulin secretion. PK restricts respiration by cyclically depriving mitochondria of ADP, which accelerates PEP cycling until membrane depolarization restores ADP and oxidative phosphorylation. Our findings support a compartmentalized model of β cell metabolism in which PK locally generates the ATP/ADP required for insulin secretion. Oscillatory PK activity allows mitochondria to perform synthetic and oxidative functions without any net impact on glucose oxidation. These findings suggest a potential therapeutic route for diabetes based on PK activation that would not be predicted by the current consensus single-state model of β cell function., Competing Interests: Declaration of Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Understanding protein aggregation is of utmost importance as it is responsible for causing several neurodegenerative diseases and one of the serious impediments in large-scale biopharmaceutical production. The prion protein is responsible for pathological states in fatal transmissible spongiform conditions, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The peptide fragment 178-191 of Syrian hamster prion protein is known to be amyloidogenic. Here, we identified the fragment 179 CVNITV 184 as an aggregation-prone fragment in sheep prion protein. This fragment is conserved sequence among sheep and Syrian hamster prion protein and also falls in the previously identified amyloidogenic sequence. The mechanistic details of the aggregation behavior are analyzed in three different concentrations of urea, arginine, and ethanol. Urea and arginine are found to be aggregation suppressors, but ethanol enhances the protein aggregation through β-sheet formation. We have also analyzed the influence of these osmolyte on water dynamics in the presence of the octamer of this aggregation-prone fragment and correlated this water dynamics with the aggregation behavior of the octamer., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.