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Bullous haemorrhagic dermatosis (BHD), a distinctive non-immune cutaneous eruption, manifests as the formation of haemorrhagic bullae on the skin. While it is an uncommon dermatologic entity, its clinical significance is underscored by its association with various medications, including anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents, as well as chemotherapeutic drugs. Clinical or pathological signs of inflammation are usually absent. The pathophysiology of BHD involves the disruption of normal skin integrity, leading to the development of bullae containing blood. These bullae typically appear at sites distant from the initial lesion or injection site, posing challenges in diagnosis and management. Here we discuss three such cases and their presenting features. Keywords: Bullous Haemorrhagic Dermatosis, Cutaneous Adverse Drug Reactions, Histopathology

Background: Optic neuritis (ON) is an acute and often immune-mediated inflammatory condition of the optic nerve. Vitamin D acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and may confer neuroprotection. Visual evoked potential (VEP) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are emerging tools for demyelinating diseases. Aims and Objectives: We tried to correlate between Vitamin D insufficiency and acute demyelinating ON using different parameters such as VEP, ganglion cell layer (GCL) thickness, and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness. Materials and Methods: This observational longitudinal analytical study included thirty non-consecutive patients with primary ON and 30 healthy controls. All patients with ON underwent detailed clinical and ophthalmological examination, and detailed blood workup, including serum 25 (OH) Vitamin D. VEP P100 latency, amplitude, OCT, RNFL thickness, and GCL thickness at presentation and after 3 months from May 2019 to November 2020. Results: Vitamin D insufficiency (below 30 ng/mL) was present in 60% of cases of ON. The baseline VEP showed significantly prolonged P100 latency in affected eyes in the Vitamin D insufficient group (mean 129.78±7.97 ms vs. 121.0±4.99 ms) whereas the P100 amplitude was not significantly altered between the two groups (5.5±3.13 μV vs. 7.08±3.01 μV). The baseline RNFL thickness (132.21±10.69 μm vs. 118.01±10.4 μm) and GCL thickness (76.82±2.04 μm vs. 73.06±3.2 μm) were greater in affected eyes of vitamin D insufficiency ON. There was greater RNFL thinning (79.93±3.42 μm vs. 74.80±3.5 μm) and GCL thinning (64.78±1.9μm vs. 69.02±2.22 μm) in affected eyes of ON with Vitamin D insufficiency at 3 months. Conclusion: Vitamin D insufficiency was found in most cases of ON. Insufficient Vitamin D positively correlated with optic nerve affection severity as evidenced by significantly increased baseline thickness of RNFL and GCL and more thinning of RNFL and GCL at the end of 3 months of follow-up.

Identification of disease and therapeutic biomarkers remains a significant challenge in the early diagnosis and effective treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). In this study, plasma metabolomic profiling was conducted to identify disease-related metabolic biomarkers associated with JIA. Plasma samples from treatment-naïve JIA patients and non-JIA reference patients underwent global metabolomic profiling across discovery (60 JIA, 60 non-JIA) and replication (49 JIA, 38 non-JIA) cohorts. Univariate analysis identified significant metabolites (q-value ≤ 0.05), followed by enrichment analysis using ChemRICH and metabolic network mapping with MetaMapp and Cytoscape. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis determined the top discriminating biomarkers based on area under the curve (AUC) values. A total of over 800 metabolites were measured, consisting of 714 known and 155 unknown compounds. In the discovery cohort, 587 metabolites were significantly altered in JIA patients compared with the reference population (q < 0.05). In the replication cohort, 288 metabolites were significantly altered, with 78 overlapping metabolites demonstrating the same directional change in both cohorts. JIA was associated with a notable increase in plasma levels of sphingosine metabolites and fatty acid ethanolamides and decreased plasma levels of sarcosine, iminodiacetate, and the unknown metabolite X-12462. Chemical enrichment analysis identified cycloparaffins in the form of naproxen and its metabolites, unsaturated lysophospholipids, saturated phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelins, ethanolamines, and saturated ceramides as the top discriminating biochemical clusters. ROC curve analysis identified 11 metabolites classified as highly discriminatory based on an AUC > 0.90, with the top discriminating metabolite being sphinganine-1-phosphate (AUC = 0.98). This study identifies specific metabolic changes in JIA, particularly within sphingosine metabolism, through both discovery and replication cohorts. Plasma metabolomic profiling shows promise in pinpointing JIA-specific biomarkers, differentiating them from those in healthy controls and Crohn’s disease, which may improve diagnosis and treatment.

Lipaphis erysimi is a specialist aphid of the Indian subcontinent that causes significant yield losses in oilseed Brassicas. Several aphid genes have been used as preferred targets in RNAi-based transgenic plants for aphid resistance. In order to enhance the repertoire of potential target genes for aphid control and to identify the genes associated with aphid feeding and development, we performed a two-way comparative study of differential gene expression profiles between (i) feeding and non-feeding adults and (ii) adult and nymph developmental stages of L. erysimi. De novo RNA-seq of aphids using Illumina technology generated a final transcriptome comprising 52,652 transcripts. Potential transcripts for host selection, detoxification, salivary proteins and effectors, molecular chaperones and developmental genes were identified. Differential gene expression studies identified variations in the expression of 1502 transcripts between feeding and non-feeding adults and 906 transcripts between nymphs and adults. These data were used to identify novel target genes for RNAi-based aphid control and facilitate further studies on the molecular basis of aphid feeding and development.

Methotrexate (MTX) is the cornerstone of therapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, its efficacy and toxicity are variable and remain unpredictable. Interindividual variation in the metabolism of MTX by the enzyme folyl polyglutamate synthetase (FPGS) has been associated with response variability in RA. In this work, we propose the development of a FPGS phenotyping assay that can be evaluated as a tool for the prediction of efficacy and toxicity in patients with RA prior to initiating MTX therapy. FPGS activity was measured in erythrocyte lysate by monitoring methotrexate polyglutamate (MTX + Glun) formation using ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem–mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS). Erythrocyte FPGS activity was measured in newly diagnosed RA (n = 35) and osteoarthritis (n = 7) patients. The enzymatic assay was optimized for measuring FPGS activity in 25 µL of packed erythrocytes over two hours. The coefficient of variation for intra- and inter-day analysis was found to be 5% and 12%, respectively. The method was used to measure FPGS enzyme kinetics, resulting in a mean (SD) Km of 30.3 (4.8) µM and a Vmax of 612 (193) pmol MTX + Glu2/h/mL of packed erythrocytes. Mean (SD) erythrocyte FPGS activity in patients with RA was found to be 445.93 (344.50) pmol MTX + Glu2/h/mL and with a 26-fold difference in the range (range: 83–2179 pmol MTX + Glu2/h/mL) whereas for patients with OA, it was found to be 409.80 (157.66) pmol MTX + Glu2/h/mL with a 3.5-fold difference in the range (range: 200.95–683.93 pmol MTX + Glu2/h/mL). Monitoring erythrocyte FPGS activity may be a feasible strategy of phenotyping for methotrexate efficacy and toxicity in patients with RA.

Background: The prevalence of sleep problems is approximately 40% among the general and health-care populations. Post-covid-19 sleep disturbances may persist for a long time and are often precursors of psychiatric disorders and expeditors of many systemic diseases. Studies on sleep quality in COVID-19 patients are considerable but in post-COVID-recovered subjects are scanty. There is no study on sleep quality of such patients in Eastern India. Aims and Objectives: We hypothesize that both sleep disturbances and sleep quality may be affected in subjects in their post-COVID state. Therefore, we planned to study the prevalence of sleep disturbances, sleep quality, severity of insomnia, and the relationship of different parameters with respect to sleep quality. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and fifty COVID-19-recovered patients were administered a pre-structured questionnaire including Pittsburgh sleep quality index and insomnia severity index containing various sleep parameters. Results: Majority of the study participants had sleep disturbances in the form of change in sleep pattern (59.6%), poor sleep quality (77.6%), reduced sleep duration (29.6%), daytime sleepiness (20%), difficulty in sleep initiation (29.6%), and subthreshold insomnia (53.6%). Poor sleep quality was strongly associated with reinfection, change in sleep pattern after infection, sleep pattern alteration during pandemic, and those who felt tired during daytime. Conclusion: This study concludes that a significant number of COVID-19-recovered subjects experienced sleep disturbances including poor sleep quality.

We report a case of Crohn’s disease (CD) presenting as a thromboembolic middle cerebral artery stroke due to a left ventricular (LV) thrombus in a 50-year-old lady. The proinflammatory and procoagulant state reported in CD seems responsible for this. The patient was managed with conservative treatment, but she died quickly. The findings highlight the rare occurrence of LV thrombus in a patient of CD as well as the need for aggressive control of disease activity with disease-modifying drugs at an earlier phase of treatment.

As there is an urgent need to address the global problem of increasing plastic waste and decreasing petroleum-based fuels, it is possible to convert waste plastic and unused biomass seeds into fuels that can be utilized in transportation sector. The current study deals with blending pure diesel (D100) with the liquid fuel (PB2) obtained from the co-pyrolysis of Pongamia pinnata seeds and waste low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with Calcium oxide (CaO) as the catalyst. Three blends of D100, namely, PB2@10 (with 10 % blend), PB2@20 (with 20 % blend) and PB2@30 (with 30 % blend) were tested for performance, emission and combustion in an unmodified CI engine for an analytical comparative analysis using standard methods. The results showed that the BSFC was almost same (0.3 kg/kWh) at higher loads for all three blends, while the BTE was found to be equal or increased compared to D100 in the range of 27–30 % at higher loads for higher blends. NOx formation was found to decrease by 19.4 % and 13 % at the highest load for PB2@30 andPB2@30. The smoke formation also decreased for all blends (maximum 22.5 %) while the maximum difference of lambda was determined to have decreased in comparison to D100, close to 1 at higher loads. The maximum cylinder pressure and temperature were also found to have increased during combustion by approximately 1 % for PB2@10 while that of PB2@20 and PB2@30 remained quite close to D100. The obtained renewable liquid fuel could certainly be utilized in blends with pure diesel for use in vehicles.

Purpose: The retinal involvement of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a novel idea about a possible correlation between retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in different spectra of ALS patients. Finding the association of RNFL with disease duration and severity will help identify a novel noninvasive biomarker. Methods: The study was designed as a cross-sectional study and was conducted with a suitable proforma. We included the ALS cases based on the revised El Escorial criteria. Healthy controls were age and gender matched. We used the revised ALS functional rating scale (ALSFRS-R) to assess the operational status of the patients. We measured RNFL thickness in the four quadrants with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) and analyzed it. Results: We included 30 cases (60 eyes) and 10 healthy controls (20 eyes) having a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 49.5 (11.1) years with a median of 50 years, and a majority of them (65%) were middle aged (between 41 and 60 years). We found statistically significant differences in RNFL thicknesses between ALS patients and healthy controls. On segmental analysis, the right eye superior and nasal quadrants and the left eye superior, inferior, and nasal quadrants were significantly affected, along with a gross asymmetry found between the left and right eyes among ALS patients. There was a significant decrease in average RNFL thickness in definite ALS patients than probable ALS patients, with significantly reduced average RNFL thickness in moderate to severe ALS patients. On correlation analysis, disease duration showed a good negative correlation with bilateral average RNFL thickness, and the ALSFRS-R score demonstrated a good positive correlation with bilateral average RNFL thickness, which was statistically significant. Thus, a reduced bilateral RNFL thickness is associated with a decreased ALSFRS-R score. Conclusion: The retinal changes can serve as a marker for diagnosing and monitoring patients with ALS.

Purpose – This research study aims to design a novel risk-managed time-series momentum approach. The present study also examines the time-series momentum effect in the Indian equity market. Apart from this, the study also proposes a novel risk-managed time-series momentum approach. Design/methodology/approach – The study considers the adjusted monthly closing prices of the stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange from January 1996 to December 2020 to formulate long-short portfolios. Newey–West t statistics were used to test the significance of momentum returns. The present research has considered standard risk factors, i.e. market, size and value, to evaluate the risk-adjusted performance of time-series momentum portfolios. Findings – The present research reports a substantial absolute momentum effect in the Indian equity market. However, absolute momentum strategies are exposed to occasional severe losses. The proposed time-series momentum approach not only yields 2.5 times higher return than the standard time-series momentum approach but also causes substantial enhancement in downside risks and higher-order moments. Practical implications – The study's outcomes offer valuable insights for professional investors, capital market regulators and asset management companies. Originality/value – This study is one of the pioneers attempting to test the time-series momentum effect in emerging economies. Besides, current research contributes to the escalating literature on risk-managed momentum by suggesting a novel revised time-series momentum approach.

The generation of energy from renewable sources is dependent mostly on weather conditions because of which instabilities in the hybrid microgrid system may arise. To tackle the same in such a system, coordinated frequency and voltage control with appropriate control strategy have been investigated in this work considering a single area independent hybrid system. A combined solar gas turbine, solar chimney, and biodiesel-operated generator along with hybrid electric vehicles and refrigerators as the thermostatic load are used to model the hybrid system. Constraints of the proposed cascaded PI-TID controller are finely tuned with the recently developed DBOA. Coordinated frequency and voltage control of a combined solar gas turbine-solar chimney with thermostatic loads in an isolated hybrid microgrid system have not been reported earlier. Furthermore, the application of DBOA to tune a cascaded PI-TID controller for coordinated control of voltage and frequency is a novel approach. Extensive simulation studies of the model is carried out to obtain the dynamic response by considering various uncertain conditions. Values of maximum overshoot (0.002194), undershoot (0.006042), and setting time (1.781sec) of frequency deviation and peak overshoot (0.002296), undershoot (0.004511), and setting time (1.709 sec) of voltage deviation proved the effectiveness of the proposed system.

Background: In view of the rapidly growing number of aged population with dementia in India, widespread hypovitaminosis D in the elderly individual, high frequency of dementia of unknown etiology, many studies showing a definite role of Vitamin D in dementia as well as some of the literature showing inconsistent results and reverse causality of hypovitaminosis D in dementia, we planned to investigate the relation between low vitamin D and risk of dementia. Aims and Objective: The aim of the current study was to find out any relationship of Vitamin D with dementia. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was performed at a neurology-teaching hospital, Kolkata, India. Ethical clearance was obtained from the hospital ethics committee. A total of fifty adults completed interviews on a semi-structured questionnaire. In addition, general medical and neurological examination and detailed cognitive assessment, including MMSE, were carried out after taking written consent. All individuals with dementia, and age-gender-matched healthy volunteers provided blood samples for routine and relevant biochemical examination, including the estimation of serum 25(OH) Vitamin D by Chemiluminescence Immuno Assay (CLIA). In addition, appropriate statistical methods were applied to analyse the results. Results: Overall, ninety percent of participants had low serum 25(OH)Vitamin D, defined as 25(OH)D < 20mg/ml. Hypovitaminosis D was associated with early and late-stage dementia and was statistically significant. Only five individuals were found to have sufficient 25 (OH) Vitamin D. Conclusion: The mean vitamin D level of demented patients was significantly lower compared to the control population. Our observations provide an association between Vitamin D deficiency and dementia and provides a background of longitudinal prospective study in future to show cause and effect relationship between dementia and hypovitaminosis D.

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare subacute-onset fatal demyelinating disease of the central nervous system caused by the John Cunningham (JC) virus. It usually occurs in impaired cell-mediated immunity settings such as lymphoproliferative disorders, chronic infective or granulomatous conditions on immunosuppressive medications, and human immunodeficiency virus infection. It also appears very rarely with idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia. We present a case of PML with visual field defect, progressive motor impairment, behavioral alteration, and dementia. Magnetic resonance imaging had features of asymmetric non-enhancing hyperintense subcortical white matter lesions in the background of chronic active hepatitis B infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of CD4 lymphocytopenia associated PML following chronic hepatitis B infection.

The main object of this paper is to study the concept of weak $I^K$-convergence, a generalization of weak $I^*$-convergence of sequences in a normed space, introducing the idea of weak* $I^K$-convergence of sequences of functionals where $I,K$ are two ideals on $\mathbb{N}$, the set of all positive integers. Also we have studied the ideas of weak $I^K$ and weak* $I^K$-limit points to investigate the properties in the same space.

Background: Knowledge of contraceptive methods is nearly universal in Nepal, with almost all women and men knowing at least one method of contraception. The contraceptive prevalence rate among currently married women age 15-49 is 53%, with 43% using modern methods. This implies that Nepal needs to strengthen its family planning program to achieve the country’s commitments to global family planning goals and to reach a modern contraceptive prevalence rate of 52% by 2020. Materials and Methods: The study was descriptive cross sectional community based conducted in kharji, biratnagar municipality ward number 4, semi urban area or Eastern zone of Nepal. Total female of reproductive age 15 -49 married women 473 taken as a sample size. The data were collected by interview by predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Analysis of the data was done by SPSS. Results: Among all the respondents, 453 (95.77%) had the knowledge about the family planning. The majority of the study population 430 (90.90%) had positive attitude towards contraceptives. Among the all respondents, 210 (44.39%) were practice the different types of contraceptives methods. Most of the respondents 75(35.71%) practiced condom. Conclusion: The study concludes that the married women of reproductive age group had good knowledge and positive attitude towards family planning even though the practiced of family planning were low (44.39%).

The advent of nanotechnology has helped in several invention in science & technology. Contamination of surface water, ground and soil by various industrial dyes causes several ecological problems. Zinc oxide nanoparticles as photocatalysts and semiconductor materials show unique physical properties at the nanoscale and can be used to solve these problems to some extent. In this paper, we synthesized ZnO NPs and calcium-coated ZnO nanoparticles using extract of beetroot and then, for industrial point of view, we studied the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine B using sun as a natural light source (sunlight). We have synthesized calcium-coated ZnO nanocomposites with 20–50 nm particle size. Synthesized nanomaterials were characterized by using the different physio-chemical techniques such as - FT-IR, XRD, TEM, SEM, EDX and UV-spectrophotometer do their photocatalytic degradation.

The world energy requirement has skyrocketed radically in the past two decades raising concern over energy security and adequacy. Energy resource planning plays a substantial role in the global economy and geopolitics of clean energy to achieve global commitment towards sustainable development. It includes strategic management, control and storage of energy supply. Microgrids contribute another layer to the apparent advantages of renewables by boosting system performance and mitigating energy losses. The prospects of energy resource management with the benefits of a hybrid microgrid are discussed here with a brief review of past research works on challenges encountered in voltage and frequency regulations with low-inertia issues, demand response, renewable system integration with transition conditions, and tuning controllers with metaheuristic optimisation techniques.

Background: Death in diabetes mellitus occurs mostly due to co-morbidities and complications resulting from diabetes. To reduce morbidity and mortality, awareness regarding diabetes and its complications is necessary. The aim of the study is to assess the health care practices and co-morbidities associated with the disease. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at community level (Kharji ward number 4) at Biratnagar. All diagnosed patients of type II diabetes mellitus ≥ 18 years of age were enrolled for the study. Data for socio-demographic factors and clinical status were collected by pretested semi structured Questionnaire. Random blood sugar was measured using a portable glucometer. Anthropometric measurements were done by measuring height and weight of participants and body mass index was calculated by standard formula. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. Results: Out of the total 205 participants, 55.7% were found to be within the age group of 45-64 years i.e. middle aged (55.6%). Almost equal participants of the male and female were found, 50.7% and 49.3% respectively. More participants were found of below poverty line 67.31%. More than half 47.8% of the participants were suffering from the diabetes for less than 5 years of duration. All most all participants 98.5% knew about diabetes and its complications. Majority of the respondents 62.4% were having co-morbidity, among them 34.6% of participants were having hypertension. Majority of the participants were utilizing private health care service 79%. Conclusion: The diabetic participants were mostly of middle age with almost equal number of male and female having adequate knowledge about diabetes. Hypertension was the most common co morbidity among participants and they preferred private health care service mostly.

Abstract Black gram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper var. mungo] is a warm‐season legume highly prized for its protein content along with significant folate and iron proportions. To expedite the genetic enhancement of black gram, a high‐quality draft genome from the center of origin of the crop is indispensable. Here, we established a draft genome sequence of an Indian black gram cultivar, ‘Uttara’ (IPU 94‐1), known for its high resistance to mungbean yellow mosaic virus. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PacBio) single‐molecule real‐time (SMRT) and Illumina sequencing assembled a draft reference‐guided assembly with a cumulative size of ∼454.4 Mb, of which, 444.4 Mb was anchored on 11 pseudomolecules corresponding to 11 chromosomes. Uttara assembly denotes features of a high‐quality draft genome illustrated through high N50 value (42.88 Mb), gene completeness (benchmarking universal single‐copy ortholog [BUSCO] score 94.17%) and low levels of ambiguous nucleotides (N) percent (0.0005%). Gene discovery using transcript evidence predicted 28,881 protein‐coding genes, from which, ∼95% were functionally annotated. A global survey of genes associated with disease resistance revealed 119 nucleotide binding site–leucine rich repeat (NBS‐LRR) proteins, while 23 genes encoding seed storage proteins (SSPs) were discovered in black gram. A large set of microsatellite loci were discovered for marker development in the crop. Our draft genome of an Indian black gram provides the foundational genomic resources for the improvement of important agronomic traits and ultimately will help in accelerating black gram breeding programs.

Monitoring water resources globally is crucial for forecasting future geo-hydro disasters across the Earth. In the present study, an attempt was made to assess the functional dimensionality of multi-satellite precipitation products, retrieved from CHIRPS, NASA POWER, ERA-5, and PERSIANN-CDR with respect to the gridded India Meteorological Department (IMD) precipitation dataset over a period of 30+ years (1990–2021) on monthly and yearly time scales at regional, sub regional, and pixel levels. The study findings showed that the performance of the PERSIANN-CDR dataset was significantly better in Central India, Northeast India, and Northwest India, whereas the NASA-POWER precipitation product performed better in Central India and South Peninsular of India. The other two precipitation products (CHIRPS and ERA-5) showed the intermediate performance over various sub regions of India. The CHIRPS and NASA POWER precipitation products underperformed from the mean value (3.05 mm/day) of the IMD gridded precipitation product, while the other two products ERA-5 and PERSIANN-CDR are over performed across all India. In addition, PERSIANN-CDR performed better in Central India, Northeast India, Northwest India, and the South Peninsula, when the yearly mean rainfall was between 0 and 7 mm/day, while ERA-5 performed better in Central India and the South Peninsula region for a yearly mean rainfall above 0–7 mm/day. Moreover, a peculiar observation was made from the investigation that the respective datasets were able to characterize the precipitation amount during the monsoon in Western Ghats. However, those products needed a regular calibration with the gauge-based datasets in order to improve the future applications and predictions of upcoming hydro-disasters for longer time periods with the very dense rain gauge data. The present study findings are expected to offer a valuable contribution toward assisting in the selection of an appropriate and significant datasets for various studies at regional and zonal scales.

Background: Low-income countries like Nepal experience a double disease burden infectious diseases risk as well as rising incidence of non-communicable diseases .The present cross sectional study assesses the prevalence of overweight and associated factors in ward no. 1 and 3 of Tankisinuwari VDC, Morang. Materials and Methods: A Community based cross sectional study was conducted in ward no. 1 and 3 of Tankisinuwari VDC, Morang. Total 152 (10%) households were selected by systematic random sampling technique and then 590 individuals (male 323 and female 267), with the age ranging from 10 to 70 years were included in the study. Measurement of weight and height was done by calibrated standard weighing scale and measuring tape. Results: The prevalence of overweight was 16.1% which was significantly more among male (11.5%) than in female ( 4.6%) while prevalence of obesity was 2.5% , which was significantly more among female (2.2%), than male (0.3)%, P

Introduction: Biopsy is the gold standard for Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD) diagnosis. Chemiluminescence provides promising complementary alternative diagnostic adjunct for its simple non invasive collection and technique and to screen large populations. Aim: To summarise and compare the existing evidence on diagnostic accuracy of chemiluminescence in detecting OPMD. Materials and Methods: The systematic review and meta-analysis protocol was registered at the international prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO- CRD42022306061) and performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis-Diagnostic Test Accuracy (PRISMA-DTA) checklist. PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost were searched from 2000 to 2021 to identify the screening potential of chemiluminescence for OPMD. True positive, false positive, true negative, false negative, sensitivity, and specificity values were extracted or calculated if not present for each study. Quality of selected studies was evaluated based on Quality Assessment for Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) tool. Meta-analysis was performed in Meta-Disc 1.4 software and Review Manager 5.3 using a bivariate model parameter for the sensitivity and specificity and summary points. Summary Receiver Operating Curve (SROC), confidence region, and prediction region were calculated. Results: Twenty-four studies were included for qualitative synthesis and out of that, 14 were included for meta-analysis. Sufficient data for meta-analysis was available only for leukoplakia, oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF). Sensitivity and specificity were calculated with Area Under Curve (AUC). For leukoplakia, chemiluminescence had sensitivity and specificity of 75% and 98% with 0.74 AUC. For OLP, it was 78% and 60% with 0.70 AUC. For oral submucous fibrosis it was 89% and 76% with 0.69 AUC. Conclusion: Chemiluminescence overall had good sensitivity and specificity values along with good AUC. This strongly supports the fact that it can be used as an alternative diagnostic adjunct to biopsy for various OPMD.

Punica granatum leaf extracts have been used since time immemorial in traditional medicines. It is used for its antioxidant properties. Green nanoparticle synthesis is an emerging field which has opened an entirely different scope for medicinal formulations. It has been reported by many users that the green nanoparticles are more effective medicines as compared with their simple extracts. Thus, in order to evaluate these speculations, the present work was undertaken to assess the hepatoprotective activity of silver nanoparticles synthesized using aqueous leaf extract of Punica granatum in comparison with the aqueous extract. After CCl4 intoxication the serum bilirubin total increased significantly (p

This work reports the thermo-catalytic conversion of medical plastic wastes to fuel oil using the detergent grade Zeolite A as the catalyst. The effect of catalyst on the pyrolysis is ascertained from the kinetic data obtained from thermogravimetric analysis assuming it to be a first-order reaction. A significant reduction in activation energy of the thermal degradation reaction is found in presence of the Zeolite A catalyst. The pyrolysis runs were performed at different temperatures from 400–550 °C in a stainless-steel batch reactor system to obtain an optimum condition for suitable waste to energy process. The highest oil yield of 79% was obtained at 500 °C with 10% catalyst concentration. The thermogravimetric analysis and the batch pyrolysis experimental result indicated a promising effect of the catalyst in terms of the enhanced rate of reaction and conversion. The oil fraction obtained in the optimum condition of catalytic pyrolysis was analysed for its composition and fuel properties. It confirmed the presence of branched alkane and alkene with composition C10–C18. Again, the fuel properties of the oil such as specific gravity (0.793), viscosity (3.75Cst@ 30 °C), and flash point (

Introduction: Diarrhoea is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among young children. It is reported that a large number of under five-year children still die of diarrhoea in Nepal. Nepal is striving for reducing childhood mortality by two thirds. The aim of this study is to find out the prevalence of diarrhoea among children under five years of age in a village development committee. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study performed among 356 children below 5 years of age residing in the Village Development Committee between January, 2018 and December, 2018 after getting ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 209/2017). A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the demographic data and other pertinent information. Convenience sampling was done. The data were entered into Microsoft Excel version 16.0 and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23.0. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data and mean with standard deviation for continuous data. Results: Out of 356 children less than five years of age, diarrhoea was prevalent in 156 (43.82%) (38.67-48.97 at 95% Confidence Interval). Eighty-six (55.12%) were males and 70 (44.87%) were females. Conclusions: The prevalence of diarrhoea in our study was higher when compared to similar studies conducted in similar settings.

This work presents an independent interconnected hybrid microgrid system that consists of sea wave generator, biodiesel generator, and battery energy storage system in microgrid 1 whereas, organic Rankine cycle based solar thermal power plant, biodiesel generator and superconducting magnetic energy storage in microgrid 2. DC link is used in both the microgrids to maintain faster sharing of power and address transient issues. A comparison of the system with and without DC link is done to establish its superiority. Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers are used for load frequency control of the system. The use of an algorithm to optimise the controller parameters is decided by a comparative analysis between Genetic algorithm (GA), Particle swarm optimization (PSO), sine-cosine algorithm (SCA), salp swarm algorithm (SSA) and Grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA) which revealed the superiority of GOA over other algorithms. Different real-time scenarios are considered to study the frequency response of the system.

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) suffer from birefringence due to high‐index contrast. Polarisation handling devices improve the performance of the PICs by reducing the polarisation‐dependent dispersion and loss. Furthermore, there is a growing interest in building polarisation division multiplexed transceivers using PICs, which require polarisation management. The authors provide an overview of the recent work on developing polarisation handling devices such as polarisation beam splitters and polarisers in indium phosphide and silicon‐on‐insulator platforms for optical communications and sensing applications. These devices expand the PICs library of polarisation handling devices and can be used to design more complex circuits with advanced or new functionalities.

Previously, a total of 57 species of Odonata were reported from the Asansol-Durgapur Industrial Area, India. In this present attempt the author reports an additional six species occurring from the same region. Among six of the species were found between January 2016 and September 2019, with one of them belonging to the Aeshnidae family, two to the Gomphidae family, two to the Libellulidae family, and only one damselfly from the Lestidae family. The species Gomphidia leonorae Mitra, 1994 has been reported in this paper for the second time from West Bengal, India, after a gap of 23 years, from Durgapur Barrage, which is situated at the end point of the study area.

As the world moves towards being increasingly dependent on computers and automation, building secure applications, systems and networks are some of the main challenges faced in the current decade. The number of threats that individuals and businesses face is rising exponentially due to the increasing complexity of networks and services of modern networks. To alleviate the impact of these threats, researchers have proposed numerous solutions for anomaly detection; however, current tools often fail to adapt to ever-changing architectures, associated threats and zero-day attacks. This manuscript aims to pinpoint research gaps and shortcomings of current datasets, their impact on building Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) and the growing number of sophisticated threats. To this end, this manuscript provides researchers with two key pieces of information; a survey of prominent datasets, analyzing their use and impact on the development of the past decade's Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and a taxonomy of network threats and associated tools to carry out these attacks. The manuscript highlights that current IDS research covers only 33.3% of our threat taxonomy. Current datasets demonstrate a clear lack of real-network threats, attack representation and include a large number of deprecated threats, which together limit the detection accuracy of current machine learning IDS approaches. The unique combination of the taxonomy and the analysis of the datasets provided in this manuscript aims to improve the creation of datasets and the collection of real-world data. As a result, this will improve the efficiency of the next generation IDS and reflect network threats more accurately within new datasets.

Background : Poor Housing condition, sanitation and hygiene is associated with adverse health conditions. This study is done to assess the housing conditions, sanitation coverage and hygiene practices among rural community in Bhaudaha VDC, eastern Nepal. Material &Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from 22nd May 2016 to 22nd November 2016 in Bhaudaha VDC of eastern Nepal with appropriated sample size of 525 participants. A direct interview was taken with structured questionnaire. Chi square test was used to find out association of the variables. Results: Out of 525 respondents, adequate ventilation was present among 54.9% literates followed by 44.2% illiterates (p=0.01) and separate kitchen was also found among 77.2% of literates and 64.6% of illiterates (p=0.002). Among Dalit castes 74.4% had separate kitchen in their house followed by 50.7% janajatis (p

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a broadband polarization beam splitter on the silicon-on-insulator platform using the concept of multimode interference. The angle between the input waveguide and the multimode interferometer (MMI) was optimized in order to extract the images corresponding to the fundamental transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations from a single, compact MMI. By changing the direction of propagation, the input angle enabled the addition of a parallelepiped to facilitate exclusively TM collection above the MMI, therefore eliminating the need to cascade successive MMIs. The MMI was tapered to improve coupling at the ports. The design allowed for a compact geometry with a length of 67.5 μm and width of 4 μm, while maintaining a feature size comparable to the waveguide width. The design was experimentally characterized over 72 parameter variations, including input angle, output TM and TE port positions, and bend radius of the output TE waveguide. The performance was consistent over the 100 nm wavelength range of 1500-1600 nm, with an average insertion loss of 2 dB. The device maintained an extinction ratio of at least 13.96 and 11.45 dB in the C-band for the TE and TM polarizations, respectively.

We demonstrate a polarization-independent mode-evolution-based coupler for the silicon-on-insulator platform. The measured coupler has negligible insertion loss over a bandwidth of about 100 nm, i.e., from 1500 to 1600 nm. The measured maximum power imbalances for the polarization-independent coupler are 1.2 and 0.2 dB for the fundamental transverse electric (TE00) mode and the fundamental transverse magnetic (TM00) mode, respectively. Our coupler also has a compact design footprint with mode-evolution region not more than 75-μm long.

In a time when climate change increases desertification and drought globally, novel and effective solutions are required in order to continue food production for the world’s increasing population. Synthetic fertilizers have been long used to improve the productivity of agricultural soils, part of which leaches into the environment and emits greenhouse gasses (GHG). Some fundamental challenges within agricultural practices include the improvement of water retention and microbiota in soils, as well as boosting the efficiency of fertilizers. Biochar is a nutrient rich material produced from biomass, gaining attention for soil amendment purposes, improving crop yields as well as for carbon sequestration. This study summarizes the potential benefits of biochar applications, placing emphasis on its application in the agricultural sector. It seems biochar used for soil amendment improves nutrient density of soils, water holding capacity, reduces fertilizer requirements, enhances soil microbiota, and increases crop yields. Additionally, biochar usage has many environmental benefits, economic benefits, and a potential role to play in carbon credit systems. Biochar (also known as biocarbon) may hold the answer to these fundamental requirements.

Background : Mosquito borne diseases are endemic in most part of the country. While public health efforts are placed towards the elimination of major vector borne diseases like malaria and filariasis, climatic and manmade environmental changes has led to threats of reemergence of mosquito borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya in new regions. There are needs of studies among community people regarding knowledge and perception of vector borne diseases to change the attitudes of people towards vector control and avoid risky behavior by application of behavior change communication tools. Material & Methods: A cross sectional study was done among households from 2 wards of Tankisinwari VDC in semi-urban region near Biratnagar sub-metropolitan city. The study duration was of 3 months from November 27 2014 to February 27 2015. Study population was 566 and 654 households from 2 wards. Among them, 57 from one ward and 65 from other ward, a total of 122 households were taken proportionately from both wards. Data was entered into excel sheet and analysis was done using SPSS 16. Results: People who heard of filariasis as disease transmitted by mosquito bite were 23.8% and malaria (89.3%), Dengue (19.6%). Among the participants, 85% responded that mosquito borne disease can be prevented in their area while 4.9% and 6.6% only heard of indoor residual spraying and insecticide treated bed nets respectively. Among those who did not know about breeding places of mosquito, 29.2% were illiterates, who were significantly more than literates 5.1% (p

Moringa leaves and spinach used as vegetables containing cyanogens and polyphenols having suspected antithyroidal activity; however, detailed studies in this aspect found unavailable. Goitrogenic/antithyroid potentiality of those plant foods of Indian origin was evaluated. To explore the goitrogenic/antithyroid effect of those plant foods cyanogenic glucosides, glucosinolates, thiocyanate and polyphenol content were measured. These plant foods were fed with diet regularly to adult male albino rats for 30 and 60 days respectively, followed by evaluation of morphological and functional status of thyroid,as thyroid gland weight, the activity status of thyroid hormone synthesizing enzymes viz. TPO, Na+-K+-ATPase, deiodinase I, thyroid hormone profiles, thyroid histoarchitecture as well as urinary iodine and thiocyanate. In moringa leaves and spinach fed diet, there was a significant increase in urinary excretion of thiocyanate and iodine, enlargement of thyroid gland along with hypertrophy of thyroid follicles and altered in the activities of thyroid hormone synthesizing enzymes with concomitant changes of thyroid hormone profiles. Effects were more severe in moringa leaves treated group than that of spinach. Biochemical analysis moringa leaves and spinach reveal that those are rich sources of goitrogens and their prolonged consumption gradually developed a relative state of biochemical and morphological hypothyroidism.

This work is the earliest attempt to propose an integrated resource planning for distributed hybrid microgrids considering virtual-inertia support (VIS) and demand-response support (DRS) systems. Initially, three-distributed sustainable energy-based unequal hybrid microgrids are envisioned with the availability of solar/wind/bioenergy resources. In order to overcome the effects of intermittency in renewable resources and low inertia, each microgrid is incorporated with DRS and VIS units for demand- and supply-side management, respectively. The proposed system is simulated in MATLAB considering real-time recorded solar/wind data with realistic loading for 12 months. A novel quasi-oppositional chaotic selfish-herd optimization (QCSHO) algorithm is proposed by hybridizing quasi-opposition-based learning and chaotic linear search techniques into the selfish-herd optimization, for optimal regulation of voltage and frequency in microgrids. Then, the system responses are compared with 7 algorithms and 5 error functions to tune PID controllers’ gains, which confirmed the superiority of QCSHO over others. Then, the study proceeds to investigate the voltage, frequency, and tie-line power coordination in 5 extreme scenarios of source and load variations in the proposed system without retuning the controllers. Finally, the system responses are analyzed for 10 different possible allocation of VIS and DRS units in different microgrids to find the most suitable combinations, and the results are recorded.