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The study is conducted to examine the climate change impact on rice Crop Water Requirement (CWR) and Net Irrigation Requirement (NIR) using the NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projection (NEX-GDDP) coupled with the CROPWAT 8.0 model. The maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin), and rainfall projections for the baseline (years 1981–2015) and future (years 2030 and 2040) under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 were derived from NEX-GDDP. To reduce the bias, linear scaling (LS) and the modified difference approach (MDA) were employed. Results show that LS performed better than the MDA along with improved statistical measures such as mean (μ), standard deviation (σ), and percent bias (Pbias), in the case of Tmax and Tmin (μ = 31.14 and 19.63 °C, σ = 5.75 and 6.78 °C, Pbias = 1.43 and 0.33%), followed by rainfall (μ = 2.67 mm, σ = 4.94 mm, and Pbias = 2.4%). The future climatic projections showed an increasing trend in both Tmax and Tmin, which are expected to increase by 1.7 °C by 2040. This would cause an increased range of 1.2 and 2% in 2030 and 2040, respectively. Due to a wide variation in effective rainfall (Peff), NIR could increase by 4 and 9% in 2030 and 2040, respectively. The above results may help formulate adaptation measures to alleviate the impacts of climate change on rice production.

BackgroundMultiple trials have compared reconstruction techniques used following the resection of distal rectal cancers, including straight colorectal anastomosis (SCA), colonic J pouch (CJP), side-to-end anastomosis (SEA), and transverse coloplasty (TCP). The latest meta-analysis on the subject concluded that all the reservoir techniques produce equally good surgical and functional outcomes compared with SCA. Numerous trials have been published in this regard subsequently. Hence, a network analysis (NMA) was performed to rank these techniques.MethodsA literature search of MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from their inception until April 2021 was conducted to identify randomized trials. Functional and surgical outcome data were pooled. ORs and standardized mean differences (MDs) were used as pooled effect size measures. A frequentist NMA model was used.ResultsThirty-two trials met the eligibility criteria comprising 3072 patients. CJP showed better functional outcomes, such as low stool frequency and better incontinence score, both in the short term (stool frequency, MD −2.06, P < 0.001; incontinence, MD −1.17, P = 0.007) and intermediate term (stool frequency, MD −0.81, P = 0.021; incontinence MD −0.56, P = 0.083). Patients with an SEA (long-term OR 4.37; P = 0.030) or TCP (long-term OR 5.79; P < 0.001) used more antidiarrheal medications constantly. The urgency and sensation of incomplete evacuation favoured CJP in the short term. TCP was associated with a higher risk of anastomotic leakage (OR 12.85; P < 0.001) and stricture (OR 3.21; P = 0.012).ConclusionBecause of its better functional outcomes, CJP should be the reconstruction technique of choice. TCP showed increased anastomotic leak and stricture rates, warranting judicious use.

Morphological parameters are linked with the hydrological behaviour of the watershed. It helps to understand different basin characteristics. Characterization of quantitative morphology and river basin analysis is the way to implement proper river basin planning and management of soil and water conservation measures. In the present study, Cartosat-1 Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment to determine the morphometric parameters (stream length, stream order, stream frequency, bifurcation ratio, form factor, drainage density, circulatory ratio, etc.) of the Ranikhola watershed of Sikkim state, India. The slope of a major portion of the watershed area was found to be less than 30% (42 km2) and has a drainage density of 0.585 km-1. The lower value of drainage density in the watershed indicates a relatively lower streams frequency over the watershed. The elongation ratio, form factor, and circulatory ratio were estimated as 0.665, 0.347, and 0.510, respectively, which indicate that the watershed is elongated in shape, having gentle slopes and long flow paths. The relief ratio for the watershed was estimated to be 0.187, which indicates the watershed has a low elevation difference, low runoff, and high groundwater potential. This kind of morphometric analysis is required for the watershed characterization and helps to understand the hydrogeological behavior of the watershed.

Introduction : Tooth wear has recognized a major problem in both children and adults for many years, which includes the triad of erosion, attrition, and abrasion, but the contribution of erosion to tooth wear is increasing. There is a limited literature with regard to the prevalence of dental erosion in school going children. Hence, this study was undertaken to assess the prevalence and severity of erosive tooth wear in local school going children. The present Cross Se Methods: ctional analytical study is carried out on 100 subjects. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was designed to estimate the prevalence and severity of dental erosion in one year duration in 10- 12-year old local school children of the city. The schoolchildren were clinically examined as per the American Dental Association Type 3 criteria using mouth mirrors while seated on the chair under natural light. The four upper incisors were examined A total of 32 children had Results: dental erosion. A signicant association was recorded between the intake of fruit juice & Consumption of Carbonated Drinks (P < 0.05*) and occurrence of dental erosion. The frequency of erosion (35.5%) observed in maxillary central incisors was high when compared to maxillary lateral incisors (7%). The predominance of erosion sites on the labial surfaces was noted for both the maxillary central and lateral incisors.Matt appearance of the enamel was the most prevalent type of dental erosion (23.4% for central incisors and 7.9% for lateral incisors) The surface area affected by erosion was 26.25% for central incisors and 4.83% for lateral incisors. Dent Conclusions : al erosion among 10-12-year old children was found to be 32%. It provides evidence that dental erosion is becoming a signicant problem in schoolchildren. In this study, labial surfaces were the most affected and matt appearance of the enamel was the most prevalent type of dental erosion. In most of the involved cases, more than half of their surfaces were diagnosed as affected by erosion, which is frequently associated with the increased consumption of fruit juices and carbonated beverages.

Objectives: With increasing numbers of various periodontal problems one of the most frequently encountered is chronic periodontitis. Although the benchmark for treatment is always scaling and root planing, non-invasive adjuncts to Scaling and Root Planing (SRP) in the form of various irrigations have shown promising results. Ozone, a potent oxygen scavenger, is used in this study as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal therapy. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 patients with 186 sites were selected with PPD >5 mm, PI >2, GI >2. Scaling and root planing was performed meticulously and on the same day ozonated olive oil irrigation was performed and the healing of gingiva was checked by clinical parameters after 1 month. Results: Statistically significant reduction in PPD, plaque index has been seen at the end of period of 1 month. Conclusion: Use of ozonated olive oil irrigation as an adjunct to scaling and root planning showed good results in reduction of clinical parameters, in patients with chronic periodontitis.

Anatomy of abdominal wall encountered changes with the site of approach. Clearly understanding the anatomy of the abdominal wall is crucial to the art of making the incision for access to the abdomen and has been briefly outlined. The location and type of incision depends on the urgency of surgery, target organ, habitus, cosmesis, and previous scars. The usage of laparoscopic access has increased dramatically and modes of access have been outlined. It is imperative to have safe peritoneal access and achieve requisite closure. The principle of closure rests mostly on the musculoaponeurotic layer. Common complications include haematoma or seroma, surgical site Infections and wound dehiscence.

Planning and learning are two primary approaches to intelligent decision making at the edge when the well is constructed. Planning enables us to take immediate actions far into the future, but it requires accurate well engineering models, which are often difficult to acquire in practice. The models are built on engineering assumptions which may not be valid all the time. But the data will provide additional support to suppress the assumption and improve the models. This paper presents the results that can be used under uncertainty through planning, through learning, most importantly by integrating planning and learning. Planning and learning are two primary approaches to intelligent decisions. When it comes to the edge decision whether it is manual or semi-automated or fully automated (Dupre, 2013) it requires tighter coupling of engineering models through microservices and reinforced learning from the data and feedback from the driller. Five major types of uncertainties are considered in calculating the drilling operational parameters are measurement uncertainty, data uncertainty, engineering model uncertainty, computational or algorithmic uncertainty and decision uncertainty. Several examples are presented as the well is steered and navigated with interactive tasks. Surface hookload and torque values serve as good indicators for some undesirable scenarios or anomalies during drilling, such as stuck pipe, buckling, and inadequate hole cleaning. However, to detect these risks, it requires drilling engineers to perform engineering model calibration manually and regularly, which costs more efforts and poses significant uncertainties on the detection. This paper describes how these problems are circumvented in addition by providing project ahead paths based on various constraints in real-time with predicted uncertainty zone. This option at the edge makes it possible for drilling engineers to monitor live drilling wells anywhere and anytime while enabling the rig personnel to make significant improvement to operations. Hence, the optimization is no longer static and becomes a dynamic function of depth. These conditions result in constantly varying constraints and, thereby, constantly varying optimized operating parameters to maximize the rate of penetration or minimize specific energy or well cost. This study presents a real-time optimization technique for rate of penetration with energy-based models. Based on the place and position of the bit, the updated data has been used to modify the proposed well design on the fly. The above underpinning methodology have been supported with practical field examples.

A new method was established for simultaneous estimation of Canagliflozin by RP-HPLC method. The chromatographic conditions were successfully developed for the separation of Canagliflozin by using INERTSIL column, C18 (150x4.6)5µm column, flow rate was 1ml/min, mobile phase ratio was Water: Acetonitrile (70:30), detection wavelength was 264nm. The instrument used was Hitachi HPLC Auto Sampler, Separation module 1575. The analytical method was validated according to ICH guidelines (ICH, Q2 (R1)). The linearity study for Canagliflozin was found in concentration range of 1μg-5μg and 100μg-500μg and correlation coefficient (r2) was found to be 0.999 and 0.999, %mean recovery was found to be 100% and 100.5%, %RSD for repeatability was 0.2 and 0.4, %RSD for intermediate precision was 0.5 and 0.1 respectively.

Energy storage is an effective approach to bridging the gap between energy supply and demand created due to the sporadic nature of solar energy. Thermal performance enhancement is a key research subject for effective energy storage using latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems. This paper focuses on the analysis-based design of suitable LHTES system components for solar absorption-based cooling applications with a working temperature of up to 200 °C. Initially, the medium-temperature range (80 °C to 200 °C) phase change material (PCM) is selected using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Further, a suitable heat transfer fluid (HTF) is selected along with the design of a geometrical assessment and an appropriate LHTES system. Finally, the effect of the stirrer on the thermal performance of the LHTES system has been discussed. The melting time of PCM reduces by 58% while input energy increases by 20 kJ with an increase in HTF inlet temperature from 180 °C to 190 °C. However, input energy increases faster with a further increase in HTF inlet temperature while melt time does not reduce significantly. Therefore, selecting optimum HTF inlet temperature is an important criterion for efficient LHTES system design. Implanting a rotating stirrer at 200 RPM inside a PCM tube decreases the net-input energy by 73 kJ. Using back-of-the-envelope calculations, the analysis-based selection of key components of the LHTES system will pave the way forward to designing an application-specific LHTES system. Further, this study can be instrumental in theoretically scrutinizing the stirring effect on PCM charging before experimental analysis.

BackgroundSevere Corona virus disease (COVID-19) is associated with high mortality. Although single centre intensive care units (ICU) have reported clinical characteristics and outcomes, no large scale multicentric study from India has been published. The present retrospective, multi-centre study was aimed to describe the predictors and outcomes of COVID-19 patients requiring ICU admission from COVID-19 Registry of Indian council of Medical Research (ICMR), India.MethodsProspectively collected data from multiple participating institutions was entered in the electronic National Clinical Registry of COVID 19. We enrolled patients aged>18 years with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring ICU admission between March 2020 and August 2021. Exclusion criteria were negative RT PCR, death within 24 hours of ICU admission, or patients with incomplete data in the registry Their demographic characteristics, laboratory variables, ICU severity indices, treatment strategies and outcomes were analysed.ResultsA total of 5865 patients, with mean age 56±15 years, with 3840/5865 (65.4%) men, were enrolled in the ICMR registry.. Overall mortality was 2535/5865 (43.5%). Non-survivors were older than survivors (58.2±15.4 years vs 53.6 ±14.7 years; P=0.001). Non-survivors had multiple comorbidities (n=1951, 52.9%) with hypertension (47.2%) and diabetes (45.6%) being the most common, higher creatinine (1.6 ± P=0.001, high D-dimer (1.56 vs 1.37, P=0.001), higher CT severity index (16.8±5.2 vs 13.5 ±5.47 ) compared to survivors. Non survivors had longer hospital and ICU stay (P=0.001). On multivariate regression analysis, high NLR (HR 1.017, 95% CI 1.005- 1.029, P=0.001), high CRP (HR 1.008, 95% CI 1.006- 1.010, P=0.001), high D dimer ((HR 1.089, 95% CI 1.065- 1.113, P=0.001) were associated with mechanical ventilation while younger age, (HR 0.974, CI 0.965-0.983, p=0.001), high D dimer (HR-1.014, CI 1.001-1.027, P=0.035) and use of prophylactic LMWH (HR 0.647, CI 0.527-0.794, p=0.001) were independently associated with mortality. ConclusionIn this large retrospective study of 5865 critically ill COVID 19 patients admitted to ICU, overall mortality was 2535/5865 (43.5%). Age, high D dimer, CT Severity score and use of prophylactic LMWH were independently associated with mortality.

Fragmented spectrum allocations at RF and mm-Wave, increased use of carrier aggregation/MIMO and dense spectrum-reuse in wireless links has led to interest in the design of integrated wideband, high-linearity MIMO RX that provide low noise, blocker tolerance and reconfigurability across signal domains. In this paper, receive architectures for wide operating range and blocker tolerance are presented with a focus on recent developments in reconfigurable N-path receivers. Generalized sequence-mixing architectures that support reconfigurable frequency/spatial/code-domain rejection and filtering are described along with directions of research extending operation to wider bandwidths and higher frequencies.

Energy storage using latent heat of solid–liquid phase change material (PCM) is an efficient option due to high energy density and low volume variation during phase change. Such type of storage is suitable to exploit untapped solar energy and waste heat energy. The present work explores the analytical approach to study the unsteady charging behavior of PCM inside latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system. The radial, axial as well as temporal effects on the melting of PCM are investigated analytically. Relation between time, temperature, radius, and axial distance of storage system is developed using energy equation in cylindrical coordinates. The 49% reduction in melting time of PCM was noted with an increase in heat transfer fluid inlet temperature from 185 °C to 200 °C. It was also observed that melt front moves 1.28 times faster when axial position changes from 100 mm to 200 mm. Convection heat transfer plays a vital role during the charging process, and it is found that the melt front moves radially outward and axially upward during the melting of PCM. It can also be concluded that analytical tools like the one presented in this study can be instrumental in analyzing the thermal performance of storage units.

RP-HPLC method was developed for the determination for the validation of Nitazoxanide and Ofloxacin in pharmaceutical dosage form. Chromatographic separation was performed on Develosil ODS HG-5 RP C18, 15x4.6mm, 5µm column, with mobile phase comprising of mixture of ACN: Methanol: Citric acid in the ratio of 50:45:5 v/v, at the flow rate 1.0ml/min and the detection was carried out at 296nm. The comprehensive forced stress testing has been carried out as per USP guidelines. The drug Nitazoxanide is subjected to synthetic Benzamide, and the drug Ofloxacin is subject to synthetic Fluoroquinolone. RP- HPLC method was developed to separate analyte from all other degradation peaks. The method was successfully validated as per ICH guidelines for the purpose of conducting studies of the analyte in quality control laboratory. The drug was subjected to different degradation conditions; it was found to be stable in all degradation conditions. The purposed HPLC method was found to be precise, specific, accurate, rapid and economical for the determination of Nitazoxanide and Ofloxacin in pharmaceutical dosage form. The sample recoveries in all formulations were in good agreement with their respective label claims and this method can be used for routine analysis. The linearity range was found to be 0-50 (µg/ml) for Nitazoxanide and 0-50 (µg/ml) for Ofloxacin. Calibration curve was plotted and correlation co-efficient for the drugs found to be 0.999 and 0.997. Hence the results obtained were within the limits.

Background: Pap smear examination has been universally used as an effective screening tool for early detection of cervical carcinoma. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of Cervical Acid Phosphatase staining as an adjunct to routine Pap smear testing to improvethe sensitivity and specificity of routine Pap smear examination for cervical cancer detection. Materials and Methods: Cervical smears were taken from patients attending the gynecology department and a few cervical cancer screening programmes. One set of slides were alcohol fixed and stained with rapid pap stain and another set of slides were fixed in a special fixative and stained with Cervical Acid Phosphatase -Pap stain. The nuclear features of these Cervical Acid Phosphatase stained dysplastic cells was studied on Pap stain to diagnose cervical intraepithelial lesion/ malignancy. Results: Out of 489 cases included in the study 6 cases were diagnosed with intraepithelial lesion/ malignancy. On Cervical Acid Phosphatase -Pap stain 2 of the cases diagnosed as inflammatory smears on pap stain showed Cervical Acid Phosphatase positivity and thus were re evaluated. Mild nuclear atypia was observed in the Cervical Acid Phosphatase positive cells and these cases were diagnosed as Low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and later biopsy proven to be Cervical intraepithelial Neoplasia I. Therefore Cervical Acid Phosphatase -Pap test was 100% sensitive and specific for cervical cancer detection. Conclusions: With 100% sensitivity Cervical Acid Phosphatase -Pap test satisfies the criteria of an efficient screening test.

The fossil fuel-based energy supply represents dominant role in the developing countries like India. The extensive utilization of fuel in the industrial sector and transportation sector brings down the available fuel resources and also ensues environmental and health issues. Biodiesel is one of the major replacements for fossil fuel since it is renewable and green fuel. The current study perceives from futuristic notion and that has resulted in a mixture of nonedible oil feedstock in the use of biodiesel production by mixing castor oil (CO), mahua oil (MO), processed dairy waste (PWD) in equal volume. Five-level three-parameter design of experiment is proposed to optimize transesterification reaction parameters to achieve higher biodiesel yield (fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) conversion). The response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD) was used to predict optimal transesterification reaction parameters such as percentage of catalyst utilization, reaction temperature, and methanol-to-oil molar ratio. Based on the RSM-CCD result, the optimum transesterification reaction parameters of the proposed mixed oil were found to be 2.82 wt% of catalyst utilization, 63.93°C reaction temperature, and 7.86:1 methanol-to-oil molar ratio with maximum yield of 95.9135% and experimentally 94.0%. The fuel properties were measured as per ASTM D6751 standards and results disclosed that the prepared nonedible mixed oil is an effective feedstock for biodiesel production. This research work aimed to dwindle the dependency on crude oil and thereby ameliorating the energy security in a constructive and eco-friendly method. Hence, this work also reports the biodiesel production cost from the proposed novel mixed nonedible oil.

The growing production and usage of autonomous, cooperative mobile robots are going to be an integral part of our daily lives in the upcoming years. In this paper, a two agent master slave system has been explored wherein the slave imitates the master. Master slave robot communication form an important segment of swarm robotics and intelligence. Slaves generally follow the commands of the master. We particularly explore a domain wherein the slave imitates the motion of the master. We approach to demonstrate the master slave communication and eventual demonstration of imitation while keeping the whole arrangement and system’s cost low. We use low cost alternatives of other communication methodologies while essentially maintaining the reliability.

Background: Malaria is a major national health problem with considerable morbidity & mortality & has long been eluding our efforts for an effective control. The clinical features of malaria vary from mild to severe & complicated acceding to species of parasite present & patient’s immunity. Malaria continues to pose major public health threat in India, particularly due to plasmodium falciparum which is prone to complications.Objectives•To know whether there is a correlation between A, B, O blood groups and malaria, also to study the particular blood group frequencies in malaria patients.•To determine if any particular blood group confers some degree of protection against malaria or its complications and also to look for any sex predilection.Materials and Methods: 150 patients admitted to MVJ Medical College and Research Hospital, Bangelore, clinically suspected to have malaria were confirmed with relevant investigations, fulfilling the study criteria were analysed. statistically. the duration of the study was from October 2017 to September 2018.Results: Out of 150 patients, 92 (61.3%) were males and 55 (38.7%) were females with maximum incidence 15-34 years 'B' (39 patients 26%) was commonest blood group in all types of malaria. Vivax malaria was common in all blood groups. Falciparum eases were more in blood group 'O' (21.4%). Blood group A had maximum number of complicated cases (45.5%). Blood group 'B' had maximum number of recurrent attacks.Interpretation and conclusion: Malaria was more common in middle aged males, maximum complications were seen in blood group A'. Vivax malaria was the commonest in all blood groups. Maximum number of malaria patients were in blood group B.

Effective communication is vital for developing a positive physician–patient. The parents often serve as a proxy to report the quality of life and healthcare after surgery in children with neurological diseases. The lack of communication, miscommunication, and loss of information in transition commonly affects the parent counseling, expectations and satisfaction. The ability of parents to serve as a proxy depends on their understanding of the disease process, treatment strategies, associated morbidities and outcomes following surgery. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the parent expectations and bridge communication gaps to optimize each step of healthcare throughout a child’s journey following the diagnosis of neurological disorder, and hence increase the parent and patient satisfaction and quality of care in pediatric neurosurgery.

Today's Indian situation is facing an unprecedented energy crisis as India's mainstream sources of energy continue to deteriorate with the limited stock of natural minerals posing a serious threat to the Indian economy. Out of available renewable sources of energy, biomass proves to be in satisfactory position for compensating voids for these natural resources. The present study deals with the performance analysis of throat less downdraft gasifier using pine needle as a feedstock material. The study investigates the various design modifications to allow efficient gasification of low-density fuel such as pine needle to eliminate the problem of agglomeration and channeling associated with it. In the present study, a comparison has been made between the performances of two type of grate design, i.e., flat plate and conical grate coupled with agitator rod and their combined effect on the flow rate of gases. The experiments and characterization of pine needle have been carried out at TERI Gram, New Delhi. It has been experimentally observed that by replacing flat grate with conical grate combined with agitator rod, the results got significantly improved. The results show 99.18% and 154.64% reduction in tar and dust, respectively. On the other hand, the gas flow rate and overall combustion efficiency improved by 59.07% and 62.5%, respectively.

At present, India imports around 86% of total petroleum products to cater its energy demand. However, in a single hour, the amount of power from the sun that strikes the Earth is more than the entire world consumes in a year. Despite of this, globe uses only 0.023% of the solar energy through photosynthesis that reaches the earth (https://www.world-builders.org/lessons/less/biomes/SunEnergy.html). Therefore, there is an urgent need to focus on research related to the energy storage and energy saving (through waste heat recovery) to curb the usage of natural resources. This paper presents the comprehensive review of latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) using phase change materials (PCMs) for solar and waste heat recovery (WHR) applications in the temperature range of 40–200 °C. The main reason to choose this temperature range is because general conventional heating and cooling applications in the domestic, commercial, and public administration sectors lie in this temperature range. The review focuses on study of different PCMs suitable for solar air and water heating, solar stills, solar absorption cooling, waste heat recovery, and solar thermal electricity generation. Energy storage for longer duration and curtailing thermal losses is quite challenging. Therefore, there is a lucrative scope of research on efficient thermal energy storage. Keeping this in cognizance, this study also lays emphasis on thermal conductivity enhancement techniques of PCMs, selection of suitable heat exchangers to store maximum thermal energy of PCM for longer duration, and effect of various heat exchange design parameters on thermal performance of PCM.

The electrical power distribution network (PDN) is in the transition phase due to the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs). Therefore, an accurate and efficient modeling and simulation platform is the need of the hour to determine the dynamic behavior of the PDN. The recent computational hardware, such as GPU, FPGA, etc. enables new simulation paradigm and develop a more realistic platform in the form of system emulators. In this paper, an FPGA based electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulation framework for the PDN is presented. Conjugate-gradient (CG) based electrical network solver is implemented in the proposed framework, and a test case is analyzed for Jail substation of Guwahati city, India, to validate the simulation environment. It has been compared with the MATLAB based implementation for verifying its accuracy. The proposed EMT simulator is approximately 12.5 times faster as compared to its MATLAB implementation and exhibits good accuracy as well.

In approximately 25% of peripheral neuropathy cases, diagnosis remains obscure. In India, leprosy continues to remain one of the most frequent causes of peripheral neuropathy. We, in this prospective evaluation, performed nerve biopsies in patients with peripheral neuropathy for early confirmation of the diagnosis.A total of 55 consecutive cases of peripheral neuropathy were included in this study. All patients were subjected to clinical and electrophysiological evaluation. Sural nerve biopsies were performed in all the patients.After a nerve biopsy in 29 cases, we were able to identify the underlying cause of peripheral neuropathy. In 26 cases, the diagnosis remained obscure. The most frequent histopathological diagnosis was leprosy, which was seen in 20 cases. Other diagnoses were chronic demyelinating neuropathy (four cases), vasculitis (two cases), and amyloidosis in one case. In two biopsies, the findings were consistent with hereditary neuropathies. The demonstration of lepra bacilli was the most distinctive feature. In addition, foamy macrophages (100%) and granuloma (100%) formation, epineurial (83.3%) and endoneurial infiltration (69%) along with epineurial (87.5%) and perineurial thickening (77.3%) were also noted more frequently in leprosy-associated neuropathy.The nerve biopsies revealed that leprosy was the most common etiology in patients with peripheral neuropathy. In approximately 47% of the cases, even nerve biopsies failed to establish a confirmed diagnosis.

With the ever-expanding social net, the use cases of irony detection and classification is also exponentially increasing. With this work, we take Task3 of SemEva1-2018 as our problem statement which further has two tasks. We intend to first determine if a given tweet is ironic or not (Task A) and then classify the tweets into four classes viz. non-ironic, verbal irony with contrast, verbal irony without contrast and situational irony (Task B). Existing papers have mainly exploited the lexical features of tweets using supervised machine learning. Here, we have proposed two NLP Transformer models viz. BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) and XLNets to classify tweets and have also compared our results to that of past papers. Using BERT, we have achieved F1 scores of 0.70 and 0.75 and using XLNets 0.74 and 0.59 for Task A and Task B respectively.

Aim: Research suggests that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is heterogeneous with numerous subtypes. Through a proprietary interactive ML system, several underlying biological mechanisms associated with AD pathology were uncovered. This paper is an introduction to emerging analytic efforts that can more precisely elucidate the heterogeneity of AD. Methods: A public AD data set (GSE84422) consisting of transcriptomic data of postmortem brain samples from healthy controls (n = 121) and AD (n = 380) subjects was analyzed. Data were processed by an artificial intelligence platform designed to discover potential drug repurposing candidates, followed by an interactive augmented intelligence program. Results: Using perspective analytics, six perspective classes were identified: Class I is defined by TUBB1, ASB4, and PDE5A; Class II by NRG2 and ZNF3; Class III by IGF1, ASB4, and GTSE1; Class IV is defined by cDNA FLJ39269, ITGA1, and CPM; Class V is defined by PDE5A, PSEN1, and NDUFS8; and Class VI is defined by DCAF17, cDNA FLJ75819, and SLC33A1. It is hypothesized that these classes represent biological mechanisms that may act alone or in any combination to manifest an Alzheimer’s pathology. Conclusions: Using a limited transcriptomic public database, six different classes that drive AD were uncovered, supporting the premise that AD is a heterogeneously complex disorder. The perspective classes highlighted genetic pathways associated with vasculogenesis, cellular signaling and differentiation, metabolic function, mitochondrial function, nitric oxide, and metal ion metabolism. The interplay among these genetic factors reveals a more profound underlying complexity of AD that may be responsible for the confluence of several biological factors. These results are not exhaustive; instead, they demonstrate that even within a relatively small study sample, next-generation machine intelligence can uncover multiple genetically driven subtypes. The models and the underlying hypotheses generated using novel analytic methods may translate into potential treatment pathways.

The present study was undertaken to investigate epidemiological distribution, clinical manifestation, co morbid status, treatment strategy and case fatality index of emerging COVID-19 infection at SMS Medical College Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan. It also evaluated efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in treatment of patients and risk of serious adverse outcomes in patients with COVID-19 in relation to their co morbid status.In an attempt to provide extensive information pertaining to epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19, the present study was undertaken on 522 patients. The patients were COVID-19 confirmed positive by genomic analysis through Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) at SMS Medical College and Attached Hospitals, Jaipur. The indoor admitted patient's information inclusive of demographic profile (age, sex, nationality, residence), date of confirmation for positive COVID-19 case, travel/ exposure history, date of recovery/ death, clinical features, co morbidities and treatment plan was recorded. A serial follow-up of recovered patients to evaluate infective period of the disease was also part of the study.A total of 522 patients of laboratory confirmed COVID-19 test by RT-PCR at SMS Hospitals, Jaipur were assessed. Among the confirmed cases, most of patients were young adult in the age group with mean age of 35.42 years. 22.41% patients were below 20 years of age, majority of patients (58.80%) were in the age range of 21 to 50 years and only 18.79% patient population was in the age range of above 50 years. Females (39.08%) were affected less than males (60.91%) with an average sex ratio of female: male being 0.64. Out of the total analyzed patients, only 24.32% patients were symptomatic, among them fever (55.90%), cough (52.75%), sore throat (49.60%) and shortness of breath (46.45%) were the most common presenting clinical manifestations while a few patients also had symptoms of headache (26.77%), chest pain (6.29%) and other symptoms (7.87%) like pain abdomen, fatigue, joints pain, altered sensorium etc. Most of symptomatic patients belonging to older age group. An average of 40.40% patient population of above 50 years of age, were symptomatic while none of the patients below 10 years of age were symptomatic. 13.98% patients had some or the other underlying co morbid disease. The most prevalent co morbidity was hypertension (42.46%) followed by Diabetes mellitus (39.72%), Old k-chest (20.54%), COPD/ Bronchial Asthma (16.43%), Coronary artery disease (13.69%), Chronic kidney disease (13.69%) and Valvular heart disease (6.84%) distributed in co morbid patients of COVID-19. 60.27% of patient population with underlying co morbid conditions were more prone to develop symptomatology complex as compared to that observed in patients with no co morbidity (18.42%). 116 patients had recovered with effective treatment till the date of data analysis. Time of recovery was counted from the date of positive report to 1st negative report of oropharyngeal sample by RT-PCR for COVID-19 with an average recovery time of 8.15 days. 23.27% patients recovered within 5 days, while 52.58% patients took about 6-10 days, 23.27% patients took 11-15 days and remaining 0.86% took more than 16 days to recover. In the present study 15 patients had died till analysis of data, among the deceased, 73.33% were above 50 year of age with a male preponderance (66.6%). Interestingly, all deceased (100%) had presented with clinical manifestations of COVID-19 and all had underlying multiple co morbid conditions. Majority of patients had early mortality after admission to hospital with two third death account in initial three days. Asymptomatic patients (cases) treated with HCQ recovered early (average recovery time =5.4 days) compared to asymptomatic patients who did not receive any treatment (control group) and had longer recovery time (average recovery time =7.6 days).The varied spectra of COVID-19 mostly affects young adult age group (third to fifth decades of life). Interestingly, early age group was also affected in significant proportion when compared with similar data from other countries. It was observed that male population seemed to be was more prone to getting infected. Majority of COVID-19 positive patients (nearly three-fourth) were asymptomatic (mostly in young age range) at the time of diagnosis, which poses a major challenge for health care workers. Fever, cough, sore throat and shortness of breath were major symptoms that could be detected in such COVID-19 patients. Symptomatic clinical manifestations were more common in old age population. Infectivity was higher in patients that had underlying co morbid disease, especially in patients with multiple co morbid conditions. Symptomatic presentation of COVID-19 was observed to be higher in patients with co morbid disease. Average recovery time from COVID-19 was 8 days with effective treatment. Mortality in COVID-19 was higher in old age population, male gender, symptomatic and co morbid patients as compared to other similarly matched group. Most of mortality was noted within first few days of admission, suggestive of early mortality due to the primary disease process. Treatment with HCQ had early recovery without effectively influencing the overall mortality.

We analyzed the data of 102 confirmed patients with novel Coronavirus 2 infection (COVID-19) during the early period of nationwide lockdown announced in India after the declaration of pandemic. We analyzed epidemiological, clinical characteristics and outcome of hospitalization in 102 patients with positive results for novel corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) RNA testing which were traced on the basis of history of travel, contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case, resident of hotspot areas or presence of symptoms, thus providing an accurate estimate of the proportion of asymptomatic cases in the initial population. Of 102 patients enrolled in the study, 83.3% (85/102) were asymptomatic and 16.67% (17/102) were symptomatic. Seventy-seven (75.49%) were males and 24.50% (25/102) were females. Eighteen (17.6%) patients had associated comorbidities, the most prevalent of which were diabetes mellitus 10.8% (11/102), hypertension 7.8% (8/102), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 3.92% (4/102), chronic kidney Disease (CKD) 0.98% (1/102), coronary artery Disease (CAD) 0.98% (1/102) and cerebro-vascular disease (CVD) 0.98% (1/102). The clinical spectrum among symptomatic COVID-19 patients varied from dry cough and fever to respiratory failure and multi-organ failure. Twelve (11.76%) patients were kept in intensive care unit (ICU). Ninety-nine (97.05%) patients recovered while three (2.94%) died during hospital stay. With majority of COVID-19 cases in India being asymptomatic, changes in biochemical and inflammatory profile were small and insignificant in asymptomatic patients when compared to symptomatic patients. Elevated NLR, lymphopenia, age and presence of comorbidities were associated with increased severity and poor outcome.

This is a review of technology developed at the labs of NetraMark Corp. The technology advances the promise of precision medicine by providing explainable AI through an augmented intelligence interactive platform. The system described herein has the ability to accurately discover unknown patient sub-types so that a powerful new taxonomy of complex disorders can be discovered. Further, each subtype is clearly explained. This advancement means that clinical trials can be optimized and drug discovery clearly focused around precise etiologies.