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Drought tolerance is a complex trait in plants that involves different biochemical mechanisms. During two years of study (2019–2020), the responses of 64 arugula genotypes to drought stress were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications under field conditions. Several metabolic traits were evaluated, i.e. relative water content, photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoids), proline, malondialdehyde, enzymatic antioxidants (catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, and peroxidase), total phenolic and flavonoid contents and seed yield. On average, the drought stress significantly increased the proline content (24%), catalase (42%), peroxidase (60%) and malondialdehyde activities (116%) over the two years of study. As a result of the drought stress, the seed yield (18%), relative water content (19.5%) and amount of photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoids) dropped significantly. However, the total phenolic and flavonoid contents showed no significant changes. Under drought stress, the highest seed yields were seen in the G50, G57, G54, G55 and G60 genotypes, while the lowest value was observed in the G16 genotype (94 g plant−1). According to the findings, when compared to the drought-sensitive genotypes, the drought-tolerant arugula genotypes were marked with higher levels of proline accumulation and antioxidant enzyme activity. Correlation analysis indicated the positive effects of peroxidase, catalase and proline on seed yield under drought conditions. These traits can be considered for the selection of drought-tolerant genotypes in breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times Gallbladder cancer (GBC) incidences increased many folds in India and are being reported from arsenic hotspots identified in Bihar. The study aims to establish association between arsenic exposure and gallbladder carcinogenesis. In the present study, n = 200 were control volunteers and n = 152 confirmed gallbladder cancer cases. The studied GBC patient's biological samples-gallbladder tissue, gallbladder stone, bile, blood and hair samples were collected for arsenic estimation. Moreover, n = 512 gallbladder cancer patients blood samples were also evaluated for the presence of arsenic to understand exposure level in the population. A significantly high arsenic concentration (p < 0.05) was detected in the blood samples with maximum concentration 389 µg/L in GBC cases in comparison to control. Similarly, in the gallbladder cancer patients, there was significantly high arsenic concentration observed in gallbladder tissue with highest concentration of 2166 µg/kg, in gallbladder stones 635 µg/kg, in bile samples 483 µg/L and in hair samples 6980 µg/kg respectively. Moreover, the n = 512 gallbladder cancer patient's blood samples study revealed very significant arsenic concentration in the population of Bihar with maximum arsenic concentration as 746 µg/L. The raised arsenic concentration in the gallbladder cancer patients' biological samples—gallbladder tissue, gallbladder stone, bile, blood, and hair samples was significantly very high in the arsenic exposed area. The study denotes that the gallbladder disease burden is very high in the arsenic exposed area of Bihar. The findings do provide a strong link between arsenic contamination and increased gallbladder carcinogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a growing empirical approach to improve athletic performance. Some recent studies have investigated the effects of transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) on the motor performance such as reaction time. TDCS and tsDCS can lead to alteration of the spontaneous neural activity, and the membrane potentials of motor neurons in cerebral cortex and spinal interneurons, respectively. Given the paucity of experimental studies on the non-invasive brain stimulation in the field of sports neuroscience, especially martial sports, the present study aimed at investigating the effects of neurostimulation in potentiating the motor and cognitive functions in experienced taekwondo practitioners. The study sample included 15 experienced male taekwondo players who received real or sham direct current stimulation on the primary motor cortex (M1) and the lumbar spinal segment (T12-L2) over two sessions, 72 h apart. Next, the performance of the participants was evaluated through a simulation of taekwondo exercise directly after the sham and real sessions. Moreover, a cognitive platform (CBS: Cambridge Brain Science) was used to investigate the participants' cognitive profile in each instance. Unlike sham stimulation, real tDCS was associated with improved selective attention and reaction time in both in the simulated task performance and cognitive examination. The concurrent cortical and trans-spinal tDCS was found to improve selective attention (31% performance improvement) (P < 0.0001) [EFFECT SIZE; 1.84]. and reduce reaction time (4.7% performance improvement) (P < 0.0001) [EFFECT SIZE; 0.02]. Meanwhile, the intervention failed to leave a significant change in cognitive functions evaluated through CBS (P > 0.05). As informed by our results, the present dual-mode neurostimulation could improve motor functions potentially through the effect of tsDCS over the spinal interneurons and tDCS over the primary motor cortex. Likewise, our findings suggested an improved performance in simulated taekwondo task after real- but not sham-stimulation. This study paves the way for designing neurostimulation protocols to improve the performance of professional athletes, namely martial art practitioners, including their accuracy and velocity of reactions. Such positive effects of neuostimulation in athletic performance as demonstrated in this research and similar reports are expected to enhance the athletes' success in professional competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a growing empirical approach to improve athletic performance. Some recent studies have investigated the effects of transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) on the motor performance such as reaction time. TDCS and tsDCS can lead to alteration of the spontaneous neural activity, and the membrane potentials of motor neurons in cerebral cortex and spinal interneurons, respectively. Given the paucity of experimental studies on the non-invasive brain stimulation in the field of sports neuroscience, especially martial sports, the present study aimed at investigating the effects of neurostimulation in potentiating the motor and cognitive functions in experienced taekwondo practitioners. The study sample included 15 experienced male taekwondo players who received real or sham direct current stimulation on the primary motor cortex (M1) and the lumbar spinal segment (T12-L2) over two sessions, 72 h apart. Next, the performance of the participants was evaluated through a simulation of taekwondo exercise directly after the sham and real sessions. Moreover, a cognitive platform (CBS: Cambridge Brain Science) was used to investigate the participants' cognitive profile in each instance. Unlike sham stimulation, real tDCS was associated with improved selective attention and reaction time in both in the simulated task performance and cognitive examination. The concurrent cortical and trans-spinal tDCS was found to improve selective attention (31% performance improvement) (P < 0.0001) [EFFECT SIZE; 1.84]. and reduce reaction time (4.7% performance improvement) (P < 0.0001) [EFFECT SIZE; 0.02]. Meanwhile, the intervention failed to leave a significant change in cognitive functions evaluated through CBS (P > 0.05). As informed by our results, the present dual-mode neurostimulation could improve motor functions potentially through the effect of tsDCS over the spinal interneurons and tDCS over the primary motor cortex. Likewise, our findings suggested an improved performance in simulated taekwondo task after real- but not sham-stimulation. This study paves the way for designing neurostimulation protocols to improve the performance of professional athletes, namely martial art practitioners, including their accuracy and velocity of reactions. Such positive effects of neuostimulation in athletic performance as demonstrated in this research and similar reports are expected to enhance the athletes' success in professional competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a prominent cause of death globally. The introduction of medical big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology encouraged the effort to develop and deploy deep learning models for distinguishing heart sound abnormalities. These systems employ phonocardiogram (PCG) signals because of their lack of sophistication and cost-effectiveness. Automated and early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) helps alleviate deadly complications. In this research, a cardiac diagnostic system that combined CNN and LSTM components was developed, it uses phonocardiogram (PCG) signals, and utilizes either augmented or non-augmented datasets. The proposed model discriminates five heart valvular conditions, namely normal, Aortic Stenosis (AS), Mitral Regurgitation (MR), Mitral Stenosis (MS), and Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP). The findings demonstrate that the suggested end-to-end architecture yields outstanding performance concerning all important evaluation metrics. For the five classes problem using the open heart sound dataset, accuracy was 98.5%, F1-score was 98.501%, and Area Under the Curve (AUC) was 0.9978 for the non-augmented dataset and accuracy was 99.87%, F1-score was 99.87%, and AUC was 0.9985 for the augmented dataset. Model performance was further evaluated using the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology 2016 challenge dataset, for the two classes problem, accuracy was 93.76%, F1-score was 85.59%, and AUC was 0.9505. The achieved results show that the proposed system outperforms all previous works that use the same audio signal databases. In the future, the findings will help build a multimodal structure that uses both PCG and ECG signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the effects of foliar application of putrescine (distilled water (0), 0.75, 1.5, and 2.25 mM) and water deficit stress (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% available soil water depletion (ASWD)) on the physiological, biochemical, and molecular attributes of Salvia officinalis L., a factorial experiment was performed in a completely randomized design with three replications in the growth chamber. The results of Real-Time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that putrescine concentration, irrigation regime, and the two-way interaction between irrigation regime and putrescine concentration significantly influenced cineole synthase (CS), sabinene synthase (SS), and bornyl diphosphate synthase (BPPS) relative expression. The highest concentration of 1,8-cineole, camphor, α-thujone, β-thujone, CS, SS, and BPPS were obtained in the irrigation regime of 80% ASWD with the application of 0.75 mM putrescine. There was high correlation between expression levels of the main monoterpenes synthase and the concentration of main monoterpenes. The observed correlation between the two enzyme activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) strongly suggests they have coordinated action. On the other hand, the highest peroxidase (PO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) concentrations were obtained with the application of 0.75 mM putrescine under the irrigation regime of 40% ASWD. Putrescine showed a significant increase in LAI and RWC under water deficit stress. There was an increasing trend in endogenous putrescine when putrescine concentration was increased in all irrigation regimes. Overall, the results suggest that putrescine may act directly as a stress-protecting compound and reduced H2O2 to moderate the capacity of the antioxidative system, maintain the membrane stability, and increase secondary metabolites under water deficit stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is among the rapidly growing experimental approaches to enhance athletic performance. Likewise, novel investigations have recently addressed the effects of transcutaneous spinal Direct Current Stimulation (tsDCS) on motor functions such as reduced reaction time. The impact of tDCS, and tsDCS might be attributed to altered spontaneous neural activity and membrane potentials of cortical and corticomotoneuronal cells, respectively. Given the paucity of empirical research in non-invasive brain stimulation in sports neuroscience, especially in boxing, the present investigation studied the effects of neuromodulation on motor and cognitive functions of professional boxers. The study sample comprised 14 experienced male boxers who received random sequential real or sham direct current stimulation over the primary motor cortex (M1) and paraspinal region (corresponding to the hand area) in two sessions with a 72-h interval. Unlike sham stimulation, real stimulation improved selective attention and reaction time of the experienced boxers [enhanced selective attention (p < 0.0003), diminished right hand (p < 0.0001) and left hand reaction time (p < 0.0006)]. Meanwhile, the intervention left no impact on the participants' cognitive functions (p > 0.05). We demonstrated that simultaneous stimulation of the spinal cord and M1 can improve the performance of experienced boxers through neuromodulation. The present study design may be extended to examine the role of neurostimulation in other sport fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reportedly, 300 million people worldwide are affected by the consumption of arsenic contaminated groundwater. India prominently figures amongst them and the state of Bihar has shown an upsurge in cases affected by arsenic poisoning. Escalated arsenic content in blood, leaves 1 in every 100 human being highly vulnerable to being affected by the disease. Uncontrolled intake may lead to skin, kidney, liver, bladder, or lung related cancer but even indirect forms of cancer are showing up on a regular basis with abnormal arsenic levels as the probable cause. But despite the apparent relation, the etiology has not been understood clearly. Blood samples of 2000 confirmed cancer patients were collected from pathology department of our institute. For cross-sectional design, 200 blood samples of subjects free from cancer from arsenic free pockets of Patna urban agglomeration, were collected. Blood arsenic levels in carcinoma patients as compared to sarcomas, lymphomas and leukemia were found to be higher. The geospatial map correlates the blood arsenic with cancer types and the demographic area of Gangetic plains. Most of the cancer patients with high blood arsenic concentration were from the districts near the river Ganges. The raised blood arsenic concentration in the 2000 cancer patients strongly correlates the relationship of arsenic with cancer especially the carcinoma type which is more vulnerable. The average arsenic concentration in blood of the cancer patients in the Gangetic plains denotes the significant role of arsenic which is present in endemic proportions. Thus, the study significantly correlates and advocates a strong relation of the deleterious element with the disease. It also underlines the need to address the problem by deciphering the root cause of the elevated cancer incidences in the Gangetic basin of Bihar and its association with arsenic poisoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antifungal efficacy and cytotoxicity of a novel nano-antifungal agent, the Fe3O4@SiO2/Schiff-base complex of Cu(II) magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), have been assessed for targeting drug-resistant Candida species. Due to the rising issue of fungal infections, especially candidiasis, and resistance to traditional antifungals, there is an urgent need for new therapeutic strategies. Utilizing Schiff-base ligands known for their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, the Fe3O4@SiO2/Schiff-base/Cu(II) MNPs have been synthesized. The Fe3O4@SiO2/Schiff-base/Cu(II) MNPs was characterized by Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), demonstrating successful synthesis. The antifungal potential was evaluated against six Candida species (C. dubliniensis, C. krusei, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, and C. albicans) using the broth microdilution method. The results indicated strong antifungal activity in the range of 8–64 μg/mL with the lowest MIC (8 μg/mL) observed against C. parapsilosis. The result showed the MIC of 32 μg/mL against C. albicans as the most common infection source. The antifungal mechanism is likely due to the disruption of the fungal cell wall and membrane, along with increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation leading to cell death. The MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay for cytotoxicity on mouse L929 fibroblastic cells suggested low toxicity and even enhanced cell proliferation at certain concentrations. This study demonstrates the promise of Fe3O4@SiO2/Schiff-base/Cu(II) MNPs as a potent antifungal agent with potential applications in the treatment of life-threatening fungal infections, healthcare-associated infections, and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran. Behnam Keshtkarhesamabadi was incorrectly affiliated with 'Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran'. [Extracted from the article]

A multiferroic nanostructure of manganese ferrite barium-titanate called magneto-electric nanoparticles (MENs) was synthesized by a co-precipitation method. FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, TEM, and X-ray diffraction confirmed the presence of spinel core and perovskite shell phases with average crystallite sizes of 70–90 nm. Magnetic, optical, and magnetoelectrical properties of MENs were investigated using VSM, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, DLS, and EIS spectroscopy techniques. After pre-activation by low-pressure argon (Ar) plasma, the MENs were functionalized by a highly hydrophilic acrylic acid and Oxygen (AAc+O2) mixture to produce COOH and C=O-rich surfaces. The loading and release of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) on MENs were investigated using UV-vis and fluorescence spectrophotometry under alternating low-frequency magnetic fields. Plasma treatment enabled drug-loading control by changing the particles' roughness as physical adsorption and creating functional groups for chemical absorption. This led to reduced metabolic activity and cell adherences associated with elevated expression of pro-apoptotic genes (BCL-2, caspase 3) in 4T1 breast cancer cells in vitro exposed to alternating current magnetic field (ACMF) compared to MENs-DOX without field exposure. ACMF-potentiated anticancer effects of MENs were validated in vivo in tumor-bearing Balb/C mice. Altogether, our results suggest potentiated drug loading of MENs showing superior anticancer activity in vitro and in vivo when combined with ACMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the multifaceted nature of Multiple Chronic Conditions (MCCs), setting a diet for these patients is complicated and time-consuming. In this study, a clinical decision support system based on fuzzy logic was modeled and evaluated to aid dietitians in adjusting the diet for patients with MCCs. Mamdani fuzzy logic with 1144 rules was applied to design the model for MCCs patients over 18 years who suffer from one or more chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and kidney disease. One hundred nutrition records from three nutrition clinics were employed to measure the system's performance. The findings showed that the diet set by nutritionists had no statistically significant difference from the diet recommended by the fuzzy model (p > 0.05), and there was a strong correlation close to one between them. In addition, the results indicated a suitable model performance with an accuracy of about 97%. This system could adjust the diet with high accuracy as well as humans. In addition, it could increase dietitians' confidence, precision, and speed in setting the diet for MCCs patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endogenous miR22 is associated with a diverse range of biological processes through post-translational modification of gene expression and its deregulation results in various diseases including cancer. Its expression is usually tissue or cell-specific, however, the reasons behind this tissue or cell specificity are not clearly outlined till-date. Therefore, our keen interest was to investigate the mechanisms of tissue or cell-specific expression of miR22. In the current study, miR22 expression showed a tissues-specific difference in the poly(I:C) induced inflammatory mouse lung and brain tissues. The cell-specific different expression of miR22 was also observed in inflammatory glial cells and endothelial cells. The pattern of RPL29 expression was also similar to miR22 in these tissues and cells under the same treatment. Interestingly, the knockdown of RPL29 exerted an inhibitory effect on miR22 and its known transcription factors including Fos-B and c-Fos. Fos-B and c-Fos were also differentially expressed in the two cell lines transfected with poly(I:C). The knockdown of c-Fos also exerted its negative effects on miR22 expression in both cells. These findings suggest that RPL29 might have regulatory roles on tissue or cell-specific expression of miR22 through the transcription activities of c-Fos and also possibly through Fos-B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has found auditory spatial processing deficits in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ), but no study has examined SCZ patients' auditory spatial processing at both pre-attentional and attentional stages. To address this gap, we investigated schizophrenics' brain responses to sounds originating from different locations (right, left, and bilateral sources). The event-related potentials (ERPs) of 25 chronic schizophrenic patients and 25 healthy subjects were compared. Mismatch negativity (MMN) in response to frequency and duration deviants was assessed. Two P3 components (P3a and P3b) were elicited via a frequency discrimination task, and MMN and P3 were recorded through separate monaural and dichotic stimulation paradigms. Our results corroborated the previously published finding that MMN, P3a, and P3b amplitudes are reduced in SCZ patients, but they showed no significant effect of stimulus location on either MMN or P3. These results indicated similarity between the SCZ patients and healthy individuals as regards patterns of ERP responses to stimuli that come from different directions. No evidence of auditory hemispatial bias in the SCZ patients was found, supporting the existence of non-lateralized spatial processing deficits in such patients and suggesting compensatory changes in the hemispheric laterality of patients' brains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diffraction gratings are important optical components and are used in many areas of optics such as in spectroscopy. A diffraction grating is a periodic structure that splits and diffracts the impinging light beam into several beams travelling in different directions. The diffracted beams from a grating are commonly called diffraction orders. The directions of the diffraction orders depend on the grating period and the wavelength of the impinging light beam so that a grating can be used as a dispersive element. In the diffraction of a plane wave from a conventional grating, the intensities of diffracted beams decrease with increasing order of diffraction. Here, we introduce a new type of grating where in the diffraction of a plane wave, the intensity of a given higher order diffracted beam can be higher than the intensity of the lower orders. We construct these gratings by adding an azimuthal periodic dependency to the argument of the transmission function of a linear phase grating that has a sinusoidal profile and we call them azimuthally-modified linear phase gratings (AMLPGs). In this work, in addition to introducing AMLPGs, we present the generation of varied radial carpet beams over different diffraction orders of an AMLPG with controlled intensity sharing among the generated beams. A radial carpet beam is generated in the diffraction of a plane wave from a radial phase grating. We show that for a given value of the phase amplitude over the host linear phase grating, one of the diffraction orders is predominant and by increasing the value of the phase amplitude, the intensity sharing changes in favor of the higher orders. The theory of the work and experimental results are presented. In comparison with the diffraction of a plane wave from radial phase gratings, the use of AMLPGs provides high contrast diffraction patterns and presents varied radial carpet beams over the different diffraction orders of the host linear phase grating. The resulting patterns over different diffraction orders are specified and their differences are determined. The diffraction grating introduced with controlled intensity sharing among different diffraction orders might find wide applications in many areas of optics such as optical switches. We show that AMLPG-based radial carpet beams can be engineered in which they acquire sheet-like spokes. This feature nominates them for potential applications in light sheet microscopy. In addition, a detailed analysis of the multiplication of the diffraction pattern of an AMLPG by the 2D structure of a spatial light modulator is presented. The presented theory is confirmed by respective experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe rare neuromuscular disorder caused by mutations in the X-linked dystrophin gene. Several mutations have been identified, yet the full mutational spectrum, and their phenotypic consequences, will require genotyping across different populations. To this end, we undertook the first detailed genotype and phenotype characterization of DMD in the Bangladeshi population. We investigated the rare mutational and phenotypic spectrum of the DMD gene in 36 DMD-suspected Bangladeshi participants using an economically affordable diagnostic strategy involving initial screening for exonic deletions in the DMD gene via multiplex PCR, followed by testing PCR-negative patients for mutations using whole exome sequencing. The deletion mapping identified two critical DMD gene hotspot regions (near proximal and distal ends, spanning exons 8–17 and exons 45–53, respectively) that comprised 95% (21/22) of the deletions for this population cohort. From our exome analysis, we detected two novel pathogenic hemizygous mutations in exons 21 and 42 of the DMD gene, and novel pathogenic recessive and loss of function variants in four additional genes: SGCD, DYSF, COL6A3, and DOK7. Our phenotypic analysis showed that DMD suspected participants presented diverse phenotypes according to the location of the mutation and which gene was impacted. Our study provides ethnicity specific new insights into both clinical and genetic aspects of DMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite remote sensing is widely being used by the researchers and geospatial scientists due to its free data access for land observation and agricultural activities monitoring. The world is suffering from food shortages due to the dramatic increase in population and climate change. Various crop genotypes can survive in harsh climatic conditions and give more production with less disease infection. Remote sensing can play an essential role in crop genotype identification using computer vision. In many studies, different objects, crops, and land cover classification is done successfully, while crop genotypes classification is still a gray area. Despite the importance of genotype identification for production planning, a significant method has yet to be developed to detect the genotypes varieties of crop yield using multispectral radiometer data. In this study, three genotypes of wheat crop (Aas-'2011', 'Miraj-'08', and 'Punjnad-1) fields are prepared for the investigation of multispectral radio meter band properties. Temporal data (every 15 days from the height of 10 feet covering 5 feet in the circle in one scan) is collected using an efficient multispectral Radio Meter (MSR5 five bands). Two hundred yield samples of each wheat genotype are acquired and manually labeled accordingly for the training of supervised machine learning models. To find the strength of features (five bands), Principle Component Analysis (PCA), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and Nonlinear Discernment Analysis (NDA) are performed besides the machine learning models of the Extra Tree Classifier (ETC), Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), Logistic Regression (LR), k Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with detailed of configuration settings. ANN and random forest algorithm have achieved approximately maximum accuracy of 97% and 96% on the test dataset. It is recommended that digital policymakers from the agriculture department can use ANN and RF to identify the different genotypes at farmer's fields and research centers. These findings can be used for precision identification and management of the crop specific genotypes for optimized resource use efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a pressing need for further studies to categorize and validate circulating microRNAs (miRs) in breast cancer patients that can be one of the novel strategies for cancer screening and monitoring. The present study is aimed to investigate the expression of the circulating candidate microRNAs after the operation, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy in the non-metastatic breast cancer patients. Tumor tissue and plasma samples were collected from the 30 patients with recently diagnosed Luminal A breast cancer. Control plasma samples were collected from the 10 healthy subjects. A panel of four miRs including miR-21, miR-55, miR-10b, and Let-7a were selected and their expression levels were measured before and after the operation, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy by using Real-Time PCR technique. The plasma expression of the miR-21, miR-155, and miR-10b was significantly increased and the Let-7a plasma expression decreased in the breast cancer patients compromised to the control ones. There was a similar expression pattern of the miRs between the tissue and plasma samples. The plasma levels of the miR-21, miR-155, and miR-10b were significantly down-regulated and the Let-7a plasma level was up-regulated after the operation, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy compromised to the pre-treatment. There was a significant difference in the miR-155 plasma level after the operation, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy compromised with each other. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the plasma levels of the miRs after the radiotherapy compromised to the control cases. The operation, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy led to a more reduction in the oncomiRs and an increase in the tumor suppressor-miRs. It seems that monitoring miRs during treatment might be considered as a respectable diagnostic tool for monitoring of breast cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is the leading bacterial killer disease worldwide and new anti-TB drugs are urgently needed. Natural remedies have long played an important role in medicine and continue to provide some inspiring templates for drug design. Propolis, a substance naturally-produced by bees upon collection of plant resins, is used in folk medicine for its beneficial anti-TB activity. In this study, we used a molecular docking approach to investigate the interactions between selected propolis constituents and four ‘druggable’ proteins involved in vital physiological functions in M. tuberculosis, namely MtPanK, MtDprE1, MtPknB and MtKasA. The docking score for ligands towards each protein was calculated to estimate the binding free energy, with the best docking score (lowest energy value) indicating the highest predicted ligand/protein affinity. Specific interactions were also explored to understand the nature of intermolecular bonds between the most active ligands and the protein binding site residues. The lignan (+)-sesamin displayed the best docking score towards MtDprE1 (−10.7 kcal/mol) while the prenylated flavonoid isonymphaeol D docked strongly with MtKasA (−9.7 kcal/mol). Both compounds showed docking scores superior to the control inhibitors and represent potentially interesting scaffolds for further in vitro biological evaluation and anti-TB drug design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma treatment is recognized as a suitable technology to improve germination efficiency of numerous seeds. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate whether cold air plasma can change the quality and quantity of wheat yield. Effects of cold plasma treatment on wheat (Pishgam variety) yield were studied by a randomized complete block design experiment at the Faculty of Agriculture of Tarbiat Modarres University, Iran, during 2015-17. Seeds were pre-treated with 80 W of cold plasma at four levels of time, 60, 120, 180 and 240 seconds. Plasma effects on yield and quality of wheat were determined by measuring plant photosynthesis, grain yield, biological yield, 1000-grain weight, total chlorophyll, carotenoid, anthocyanin, protein and starch content. Results showed that plasma treatments had positive effects on wheat characteristics, and treatment of 180 s had the highest stimulatory effect. In both years, cold plasma increased grain yield at 180 s, but decreased it at 240 s compared with control. The rate of plant photosynthesis, grain yield, 1000-grain weight, carotenoid and anthocyanin were enhanced at 180 s. The starch content and grain protein were enhanced at 120 s cold plasma application compared with control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful cancer treatment using magnetic hyperthermia therapy (MHT) strongly depends on biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles (NPs). They can effectively accumulate in tumor tissues after systemic injection and generate heat in the therapeutic temperature range (42–48 °C) by exposure to an AC magnetic field (AMF). For this purpose, folic acid-conjugated dextran-coated Zn0.6Mn0.4Fe2O4 (FA-Dex-ZMF) NPs were synthesized as smart nano heaters with self-regulating temperatures for MHT of liver tumors. Animal studies on BALB/c mice showed that the prepared NPs did not cause acute toxicity upon administration up to 100 mg kg−1. Likewise, no significant changes in hematological and biochemical factors were observed. FA-Dex-ZMF NPs were studied by exposing them to different safe AC magnetic fields (f = 150 kHz, H = 6, 8, and 10 kA m−1). Calorimetric experiments revealed that the NPs reached the desired temperature range (42–48 °C), which was suitable for MHT. Moreover, the efficacy of FA-Dex-ZMF NPs in MHT of liver tumors was investigated in vivo in liver-tumor-bearing mice. The obtained results revealed that the average volume of tumors in the control group increased 2.2 times during the study period. In contrast, the tumor volume remained almost constant during treatment in the MHT group. The results indicated that folic acid-conjugated dextran-coated Zn0.6Mn0.4Fe2O4 NPs with self-regulating temperature could be a promising tool for systemically delivered MHT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical tweezers have become a powerful tool in the fields of biology, soft condensed matter physics, and nanotechnology. Here, we report the use of recently introduced radial carpet beams (RCBs) in the optical tweezers setup to trap multiple particles. An RCB is produced by diffraction of a plane or Gaussian beam from an amplitude radial grating. Because of the radial symmetry of the grating, all the diffraction orders are propagated along the optical axis and are used for trapping. Based on the number of grating spokes, the produced RCB has a definite number of high-intensity spots on the transverse plane located over a circular ring. These high-intensity spots of the beam provide multi-traps when it passes through an objective lens and have enough gradient force to trap polystyrene and silica particles. Moreover, the diffracted light from the grating has this property to transfer the angular momentum. We show that the multi-trapped birefringent particles could rotate in their own traps when polarization of the trapping RCB to be circular. In addition, the orbital rotation of the particles is simply executable by manually rotating the grating in its plane around the optical axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroserpin (NS) mediated inhibition of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is important for brain development, synapse formation and memory. Aberrations in helix F and β-sheet A movement during inhibition can directly lead to epilepsy or dementia. Conserved W154 residue in a hydrophobic patch between helix F and β-sheet A is ideally placed to control their movement during inhibition. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation on wild type (WT) NS and its two variants (W154A and W154P) demonstrated partial deformation in helix F and conformational differences in strands 1A and 2A only in W154P. A fluorescence and Circular Dichroism (CD) analysis with purified W154 variants revealed a significant red-shift and an increase in α-helical content in W154P as compared to W154A and WT NS. Kinetics of tPA inhibition showed a decline in association rates (ka) for W154A as compared to WT NS with indication of complex formation. Appearance of cleaved without complex formation in W154P indicates that the variant acts as substrate due to conformational misfolding around helix F. Both the variants however showed increased rate of aggregation as compared to WT NS. The hydrophobic patch identified in this study may have importance in helix F dynamics of NS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been applied in various biomedicine fields like bioimaging, drug delivery, and antibacterial alternatives. MSNs could be manufactured through green synthetic methods as environmentally friendly and sustainable synthesis approaches, to improve physiochemical characteristics for biomedical applications. In the present research, we used Rutin (Ru) extract, a biocompatible flavonoid, as the reducing agent and nonsurfactant template for the green synthesis of Ag-decorated MSNs. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), zeta-potential, x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), brunauer–emmett–teller (BET) analysis, and energy-dispersive system (EDS) spectroscopy were used to evaluate the Ag-decorated MSNs physical characteristics. The antimicrobial properties were evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and also different types of candida. The cytotoxicity test was performed by using the MTT assay. Based on the findings, the significant antimicrobial efficacy of Ru-Ag-decorated MSNs against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria and different types of fungi was detected as well as acceptable safety and low cytotoxicity even at lower concentrations. Our results have given a straightforward and cost-effective method for fabricating biodegradable Ag-decorated MSNs. The applications of these MSNs in the domains of biomedicine appear to be promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In semi-arid and arid regions, the selection of suitable grass species with high-yield production, tolerance to drought stress, and potential for recovery from drought is of special importance. Despite extensive research in cool-season grasses, inter-species differences in post-drought recovery, persistence, survival, and summer dormancy and their relationship with drought tolerance need more investigation. In the present study, 28 diverse genotypes belonged to seven cool-season grass species, including Festuca arundinacea (tall fescue), Festuca pratensis (meadow fescue), Festuca ovina (sheep fescue), Festuca rubra (red fescue), Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass), Lolium multiflorum (Italian ryegrass) and Lolium × hybridum were evaluated during 2016–2019 under three irrigation regimes (normal, mild, and intense drought stress). Then in the fourth year (on August 2019), irrigation was withheld at all previous irrigation regimes for two months during summer, and then species were re-irrigated to study the effect of prolonged drought conditions. A wide range of genetic diversity was detected in all the measured traits among and within species in response to different irrigation levels. Recurrent drought stress decreased forage productivity, post-drought recovery, and survival in all grass species. Among the studied species, tall fescue had higher forage production, drought tolerance, survival, recovery rate, and persistence. Sheep fescue had low forage production and recovery after drought. Drought tolerance (based on stress tolerance score, STS) was highly associated with forage yield and post-drought recovery and partially with summer dormancy under both mild and intense drought stress conditions. This indicated that selection based on higher STS would lead to choosing genotypes with better recovery after prolonged drought. Superior species and preferable genotypes for forage use from species Festuca arundinacea and for turf application from species Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne and Lolium × hybridum were identified across different water environments for future programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) is abundant plasma protein with various effects on angiogenesis, coagulation, and immune responses. Previously, we identified the base and amino acid sequences of equine HRG (eHRG) and revealed that eHRG regulates neutrophil functions. In this study, we first conducted a large-scale gene analysis with DNA samples extracted from 1700 Thoroughbred horses and identified unique insertion/deletion polymorphisms in the histidine-rich region (HRR) of eHRG. Here we report two types of polymorphisms (deletion type 1 [D1] and deletion type 2 [D2]) containing either a 45 bp or 90 bp deletion in the HRR of eHRG, and five genotypes of eHRG (insertion/insertion [II], ID1, ID2, D1D1, and D1D2) in Thoroughbred horses. Allele frequency of I, D1, and D2, was 0.483, 0.480, and 0.037 and the incidence of each genotype was II: 23.4%, ID1: 46.2%, ID2: 3.6%, D1D1: 23.1%, and D1D2: 3.7%, respectively. The molecular weights of each plasma eHRG protein collected from horses with each genotype was detected as bands of different molecular size, which corresponded to the estimated amino acid sequence. The nickel-binding affinity of the D1 or D2 deletion eHRG was reduced, indicating a loss of function at the site. eHRG proteins show a variety of biological and immunological activities in vivo, and HRR is its active center, suggesting that genetic polymorphisms in eHRG may be involved in the performance in athletic ability, productivity, and susceptibility to infectious diseases in Thoroughbred horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adhering to a healthy diet plays an essential role in preventing many nutrition-related diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to predict adherence to the prescribed diets using a hybrid model of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and the genetic algorithm (GA). In this study, 26 factors affecting diet adherence were modeled using ANN and GA(ANGA). A dataset of 1528 patients, including 1116 females and 412 males, referred to a private clinic was applied. SPSS Ver.25 and MATLAB toolbox 2017 were employed to make the model and analyze the data. The results showed that the accuracy of the proposed ANN and ANGA models for predicting diet adherence was 93.22% and 93.51%, respectively. Also, the Pearson coefficient showed a significant relationship among the factors. The developed model showed the proper performance for predicting adherence to the diet. Moreover, the most effective factors were selected using GA. Some important factors that affect diet adherence include the duration of the marriage, the reason for referring to the clinic, weight, body mass index (BMI), weight satisfaction, lunch and dinner times, and sleep time. Therefore, applying the proposed model can help dietitians identify people who need more support to adhere to the diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate innovative targets in breast cancer patients by considering the interaction of the lncRNA-miR-mRNA network in response to low-dose aspirin. The candidate miRs were first taken from the GEO and TCGA databases. Then, the candidate network was constructed using the high-throughput sequencing data. The expression levels of candidate targets were finally measured using Real-Time PCR in luminal A breast cancer patients undergoing aspirin (80 mg daily for three months) and non-aspirin groups during chemotherapy after surgery. The expression levels of TGFβ, IL-17, IFNγ, and IL-β proteins were measured using the ELISA technique. 5 lncRNAs, 12 miRs, and 10 genes were obtained in the bioinformatic phase. A significant expression increase of the candidate tumor suppressor lncRNAs, miRs, and genes and a substantial expression decrease of the candidate onco-lncRNAs, oncomiRs, and oncogenes were achieved after the aspirin consumption. Unlike the non-aspirin group, the expression levels of TGFβ, IL-17, IFNγ, and IL-β proteins were significantly decreased following aspirin consumption. The Kaplan–Meier analysis indicated a longer overall survival rate in the patients after aspirin consumption. Our results showed that the lncRNA-miR-mRNA network might be a significant target for aspirin; their expression changes may be a new strategy with potential efficacy for cancer therapy or prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to explore the lncRNA–miR–mRNA network in response to Lactobacillusacidophilus (L. acidophilus) consumption in rectal cancer patients. The candidate miRs were first taken from the GEO and TCGA databases. We constructed the lncRNA–miR–mRNA network using the high-throughput sequencing data. At last, we created a heatmap based on the experimental data to show the possible correlation of the selected targets. The expression levels of selected targets were measured in the samples of 107 rectal cancer patients undergoing placebo and probiotic consumption and 10 noncancerous subjects using Real-Time PCR. Our analysis revealed a group of differentially expressed 12 miRs and 11 lncRNAs, and 12 genes in rectal cancer patients. A significant expression increase of the selected tumor suppressor miRs, lncRNAs, and genes and a substantial expression decrease of the selected oncomiRs, onco-lncRNAs, and oncogenes were obtained after the probiotic consumption compared to the placebo group. There is a strong correlation between some network components, including miR-133b and IGF1 gene, miR-548ac and MSH2 gene, and miR-21 and SMAD4 gene. In rectal cancer patients, L.acidophilus consumption was associated with improved expression of the lncRNA–miR–mRNA network, which may provide novel monitoring and therapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ovarian chronic inflammation has been created and extended in the laying hen mainly via increasing laying frequency and microbial infection, especially during the late stage of production period. This study was aimed to evaluate glucocorticoid (GC) Fluticasone as an anti-inflammatory agent on the gene expression of the ovarian pro-and anti-inflammatory mediators (follicular cyclooxygenases COX 1, 2, and cytokines), inflammatory responses of the immune system, ovarian functions (ovulation rate and follicular growths), and hormones in the commercial-aged laying hens. White Leghorn hens aged 92-weeks were used for four weeks to be supplemented by 2 ppm Fluticasone as an optimum dose obtained in a pre-trial base on ovulation rate. As compared to control, Fluticasone resulted in a significant decrease in the mRNA expression of COX-1 and pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and increase in COX-2 mRNA expression and heterophil to lymphocyte ratio (P < 0.001). A significant reduction was observed in the ovulation rate, follicular size (P < 0.001), ovarian hormones, immunoglobulins, body weight, and food consummation (P ≤ 0.05) by administering GC Fluticasone. Although a relative anti-inflammatory improvement was created by Fluticasone in the ovarian condition, the administration of this glucocorticoid resulted in a considerable reduction in ovarian hormones and functions of commercial aged laying hens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differentiation therapy is attracting increasing interest in cancer as it can be more specific than conventional chemotherapy approaches, and it has offered new treatment options for some cancer types, such as treating acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) by retinoic acid. However, there is a pressing need to identify additional molecules which act in this way, both in leukaemia and other cancer types. In this work, we hence developed a novel transcriptional drug repositioning approach, based on both bioinformatics and cheminformatics components, that enables selecting such compounds in a more informed manner. We have validated the approach for leukaemia cells, and retrospectively retinoic acid was successfully identified using our method. Prospectively, the anti-parasitic compound fenbendazole was tested in leukaemia cells, and we were able to show that it can induce the differentiation of leukaemia cells to granulocytes in low concentrations of 0.1 μM and within as short a time period as 3 days. This work hence provides a systematic and validated approach for identifying small molecules for differentiation therapy in cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a retraction note from the journal Scientific Reports. The article titled "Gamma-radiated immunosuppressed tumor xenograft mice can be a new ideal model in cancer research" has been retracted due to concerns about several figures in the article. The editors found that there were issues with overlapping panels in Figure 1c and errors in the error bars in Figures 1, 3, and 4. As a result, the editors no longer have confidence in the results and conclusions of the article. One of the authors does not agree with the retraction, and the other authors have not responded to correspondence from the publisher. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a retraction note from the journal Scientific Reports regarding an article titled "The toxicity and therapeutic effects of single-and multi-wall carbon nanotubes on mice breast cancer." The editors have retracted the article due to the discovery that several panels in Figure 10 were identical to panels in Figure 1 of another article that was simultaneously under consideration at a different journal. Additionally, it was found that the error bars in all figures were incorrectly labeled as standard deviation instead of ± 5%. The editors no longer have confidence in the results and conclusions of the article. One author disagrees with the retraction, another author has not stated their agreement, and the publisher has been unable to contact another author. [Extracted from the article]

The metabolic impact of circulating fatty acids (FAs) in patients requiring hemodialysis (HD) is unknown. We investigated the associations between plasma triglyceride (TG) FAs and markers of inflammation, insulin resistance, nutritional status and body composition. Plasma TG-FAs were measured using gas chromatography in 341 patients on HD (age = 55.2 ± 14.0 years and 54.3% males). Cross-sectional associations of TG-FAs with 13 markers were examined using multivariate linear regression adjusted for potential confounders. Higher levels of TG saturated fatty acids were associated with greater body mass index (BMI, r = 0.230), waist circumference (r = 0.203), triceps skinfold (r = 0.197), fat tissue index (r = 0.150), serum insulin (r = 0.280), and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (r = 0.276), but lower malnutrition inflammation score (MIS, r = − 0.160). Greater TG monounsaturated fatty acid levels were associated with lower lean tissue index (r = − 0.197) and serum albumin (r = − 0.188), but higher MIS (r = 0.176). Higher levels of TG n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were associated with lower MIS (r = − 0.168) and interleukin-6 concentrations (r = − 0.115). Higher levels of TG n-6 PUFAs were associated with lower BMI (r = − 0.149) but greater serum albumin (r = 0.112). In conclusion, TG monounsaturated fatty acids were associated with poor nutritional status, while TG n-3 PUFAs were associated with good nutritional status. On the other hand, TG saturated fatty acids and TG n-6 PUFAs had both favorable and unfavorable associations with nutritional parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor xenograft models can create a high capacity to study human tumors and discover efficient therapeutic approaches. Here, we aimed to develop the gamma-radiated immunosuppressed (GIS) mice as a new kind of tumor xenograft model for biomedical studies. First, 144 mice were divided into the control and treated groups exposed by a medical Cobalt-60 apparatus in 3, 4, and 5 Gy based on the system outputs. Then, 144 BALB/c mice were divided into four groups; healthy, xenograft, radiation, and radiation + xenograft groups. The animals in the xenograft and radiation + xenograft groups have subcutaneously received 3 × 106 MCF-7 cells 24 h post-radiation. On 3, 7, 14, and 21 days after cell injection, the animals were sacrificed. Then, the blood samples and the spleen and tumor tissues were removed for the cellular and molecular analyses. The whole-body gamma radiation had a high immunosuppressive effect on the BALB/c mice from 1 to 21 days post-radiation. The macroscopic and histopathological observations have proved that the created clusters' tumor structure resulted in the xenograft breast tumor. There was a significant increase in tumor size after cell injection until the end of the study. Except for Treg, the spleen level of CD4, CD8, CD19, and Ly6G was significantly decreased in Xen + Rad compared to the Xen alone group on 3 and 7 days. Unlike IL-4 and IL-10, the spleen level of TGF-β, INF-γ, IL-12, and IL-17 was considerably decreased in the Xen + Rad than the Xen alone group on 3 and 7 days. The spleen expressions of the VEGF, Ki67, and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio were dramatically increased in the Xen + Rad group compared to the Xen alone on 3, 7, 14, and 21 days. Our results could confirm a new tumor xenograft model via an efficient immune-suppressive potential of the whole-body gamma radiation in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined association between selected child health indicators- anaemia, stunting and no/incomplete immunization by inter-linking maternal characteristics at district level and parental characteristics at individual level. A spatial analysis and a binary logit model estimation were employed to draw inferences using the data from the fourth round of National Family Health Survey, 2015–16 of India. Significant spatial clustering of the selected child health outcomes was observed in the country. Mother's educational attainment explained significant district level differential in the selected child health outcomes. At the individual level, parents who are very young, not-educated, socially excluded, belong to poor class were found to be significantly associated with the poor child health outcomes. This study indicates that parental characteristics, such as age, educational attainment and employment substantially determine child health in India, suggesting that an intervention by targeting the households where children are vulnerable is important to improve child health in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folate-targeted iron oxide nanoparticles (FA@Fe3O4 NPs) were prepared by a one-pot hydrothermal method and then used as cancer theranostic agents by combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic hyperthermia therapy (MHT). Crystal structure, morphology, magnetic properties, surface functional group, and heating efficacy of the synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, TEM, VSM, FTIR, and hyperthermia analyses. The results indicated that the crystal structure, magnetic properties, and heating efficacy of the magnetite nanoparticles were improved by hydrothermal treatment. Toxicity of the prepared NPs was assessed in vitro and in vivo on the mammary cells and BALB/c mice, respectively. The results of the in vitro toxicity analysis showed that the FA@Fe3O4 NPs are relatively safe even at high concentrations of the NPs up to 1000 µg mL−1. Also, the targetability of the FA@Fe3O4 NPs for the detection of folate over-expressed cancer cells was evaluated in an animal model of breast tumor using MRI analysis. It was observed that T2-weighted magnetic resonance signal intensity was decreased with the three-time injection of the FA@Fe3O4 NPs with 24 h interval at a safe dose (50 mg kg−1), indicating the accumulation and retention of the NPs within the tumor tissues. Moreover, the therapeutic efficacy of the MHT using the FA@Fe3O4 NPs was evaluated in vivo in breast tumor-bearing mice. Hyperthermia treatment was carried out under a safe alternating magnetic field permissible for magnetic hyperthermia treatment (f = 150 kHz, H = 12.5 mT). The therapeutic effects of the MHT were evaluated by monitoring the tumor volume during the treatment period. The results showed that the mice in the control group experienced an almost 3.5-fold increase in the tumor volume during 15 days, while, the mice in the MHT group had a mild increase in the tumor volume (1.8-fold) within the same period (P < 0.05). These outcomes give promise that FA@Fe3O4 NPs can be used as theranostic agents for the MRI and MHT applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this retrospective study, we compared the efficacy and safety of mechanical adjuvants in mucosal-sparing, mechanical endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (MMED) for primary acquired nasolacrimal duct obstruction (PANDO). 116 adult patients (90 female) aged 61 ± 11 received one of the following after MMED without topical mitomycin: no stenting or packing (group 1, n = 25), 1-week ostium packing by ribbon gauze (group 2, n = 29) or non-medicated absorbable gelatin sponge (group 3, n = 25), 8-week bicanalicular stenting (group 4, n = 28). 104 patients(92%) provided 12-month outcomes. Number of patients, age, gender, surgeon, and osteotomy size were comparable among groups (p = 0.4–0.9). Marginal significance was found in anatomical (group 1:80%, group 2:96.6%, group 3:96%, group 4:96.4%, p = 0.05) but not functional success (group 1:85%, group 2:85.7%, group 3:83.3%, group 4:88.9%, p = 0.75) at postoperative 12-month. Patients receiving any packing or stenting achieved better anatomical (96% versus 80%, p = 0.015) but not functional success (85% versus 86%, p = 0.90) compared to those receiving none. More patients receiving stenting developed postoperative granuloma than those who did not (87% versus 63%, p = 0.04). 1-week ostium packing was found to be as effective as 8-week bicanalicular intubation in improving anatomical outcome after MMED for PANDO. Functional outcome, however, did not differ among patients receiving mechanical adjuvant or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes associated complications, including diabetic retinopathy and loss of vision, are major health concerns. Detecting early retinal vascular changes during diabetes is not well documented, and only few studies have addressed this domain. The purpose of this study was to noninvasively evaluate temporal changes in retinal vasculature at very early stages of diabetes using fundus images from preclinical models of diabetes. Non-diabetic and Akita/+ male mice with different duration of diabetes were subjected to fundus imaging using a Micron III imaging system. The images were obtained from 4 weeks- (onset of diabetes), 8 weeks-, 16 weeks-, and 24 weeks-old male Akita/+ and non-diabetic mice. In total 104 fundus images were subjected to analysis for various feature extractions. A combination of Canny Edge Detector and Angiogenesis Analyzer plug-ins in ImageJ were utilized to quantify various retinal vascular changes in fundus images. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine significant differences in the various extracted features from fundus images of diabetic and non-diabetic animals. Our novel image analysis method led to extraction of over 20 features. These results indicated that some of these features were significantly changed with a short duration of diabetes, and others remained the same but changed after longer duration of diabetes. These patterns likely distinguish acute (protective) and chronic (damaging) associated changes with diabetes. We show that with a combination of various plugging one can extract over 20 features from retinal vasculature fundus images. These features change during diabetes, thus allowing the quantification of quality of retinal vascular architecture as biomarkers for disease progression. In addition, our method was able to identify unique differences among diabetic mice with different duration of diabetes. The ability to noninvasively detect temporal retinal vascular changes during diabetes could lead to identification of specific markers important in the development and progression of diabetes mediated-microvascular changes, evaluation of therapeutic interventions, and eventual reversal of these changes in order to stop or delay disease progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]