Ahmed, M. E. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2021

Blood-based untargeted metabolomics in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis revealed the testable therapeutic target

Metabolic aberrations impact the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and possibly can provide clues for new treatment strategies. Using untargeted metabolomics, we measured serum metabolites from 35 relapsing-remitting patients and 14 healthy age-matched controls. Out of 632 known metabolites detected, 60 were significantly altered in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). Bioinformatics analysis identified an altered "metabotype" in RRMS patients, represented by 4 changed metabolic pathways of glycerophospholipid, citrate cycle, sphingolipid, and pyruvate metabolism. Interestingly, the common upstream metabolic pathway feeding these 4 pathways is the glycolysis pathway. Real-time bioenergetic analysis of the patient derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells, showed enhanced glycolysis, supporting the altered metabolic state of immune cells. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mice treated with the glycolytic inhibitor, 2-deoxy-D-glucose ameliorated the disease progression and inhibited the disease pathology significantly by promoting the anti-inflammatory phenotype of monocytes/macrophage in the central nervous system. Our study suggests that targeting glycolysis offers a potential target for MS.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Determinants of Nutritional Status among Children Under five age in Ethiopia: A Further Analysis of the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) 2016 Data

Child malnutrition is an underlying cause for almost half (45%) of child deaths, particularly in low socioeconomic communities of developing countries like Ethiopia. Globally, in 2018, 149 million children under five were stunted and over 49 million children were wasted. In Ethiopia, from the year 2005 to 2016, there is a decrease in stunting from 47% to 39%, but the prevalence of wasting changed little over the same time period (11% to 10%). Despite efforts made by the Ethiopian government and improvements in reducing malnutrition, the current rate of progress is not fast enough to have reached the global target by 2025.The aim of this study was to examine the determinants of nutritional status among children under five in Ethiopia. This study used data from 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Heath Survey (EDHS) to examine determinants of nutritional status among children under five (0-59 months). This study used stunting and wasting as dependent variables for the analysis. Childrens, mothers, households, and environmental characteristics were used as determinant variables. Children not alive, and other missing values were considered as missing and was not included in the analyses. Sample weights were applied in all analysis due to the two stage cluster sampling design in the EDHS datasets. Multicollinearity among independent variables were checked. Logistic regression was used to analyse the determinants of nutritional status among under five age children. Bivariate analysis was also used to analyse the association between the dependent and independent variables. The chi-square test used to see the significance of association. The level of significance for the analysis was p<0.05. Age, and sex of child, educational status and body mass index, and short stature of mothers, residence, region, wealth quintile, toilet facilities and fuel types of households have significant association with stunting and wasting. However, mothers short stature has significant association with only stunting. The study found child, maternal, household and environmental characteristics were significantly associated with stunting and wasting among of children under five. This implies a multi-sectorial and multidimensional approach is important to address malnutrition in Ethiopia.

scientific communication and education↗