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Background: Due to high prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in India, Diabetic nephropathy is on the rise. Diabetic Nephropathy is the leading cause of End stage renal disease and the major factor responsible for renal transplantation. Grey scale ultrasound can detect morphologic renal parenchymal changes late in the disease but the functional haemodynamic changes can be detected early on, by the means of doppler indices such as Resistive Index (RI) and Pulsatility Index (PI). Hence, application of renal doppler can aid in the diagnosis of early nephropathic changes to allow early medical intervention, therefore improving disease prognosis. Methods: Renal doppler ultrasonography was performed in 64 diabetic individuals, in the main renal artery and at the interlobar arteries of both kidneys in the upper pole, interpolar region, and lower pole. RI and PI were obtained for each artery and averaged. The correlation between the Mean RI and Mean PI, each with HbA1c and serum creatinine was checked for every patient using relevant statistical tests. Results: Mean RI and PI in study participants were above the normal range. RI and PI both showed a statistically significant positive correlation with serum creatinine, HbA1c as well as the age of the patient and duration of diabetes mellitus (p

Background: Hypochondrial attitude is a cognitive and thought process in which person lives with the fear that they have some kind of serious illness but undiagnosed condition. The aim of this study was to examine the sample of students in order to assess and compare the degree of hypochondrial attitude among nursing and other department student. Methods: Total sample size was 310, among them 155 nursing student and 155 other department students were recruited through a convenient sampling technique. Online survey was employed using socio-demographical questionnaire and Whiteley index. Results: Among all participants, hypochondrial attitude prevalence is higher among nursing students then other department students. In the present study, mild (55% in nursing students while 65% in other department students), moderate (43% in nursing students while 34% in other department students) and severe (2% in nursing student and 1% in other department students) hypochondrial attitude was assessed. Furthermore, nursing students are significantly associated with hypochondrial attitude. The highly significant association was assessed among age (0.000), academic year (0.000), diagnose with serious illness (0.000) and the significant once was the number of sibling (0.13), personality (0.015), visit to physician (0.005) and fear of getting covid 19 during pandemic (0.002), there was no significant association between demographic variable and hypochondrial attitude in other department students i.e., p

Term small for gestational age (SGA) babies are at risk for developing iron deficiency anemia. The association between maternal and infant iron stores is not clear.To assess proportion of term SGA neonates developing iron deficiency anemia by 10 weeks of age, and measure correlation between iron profile and hepcidin of babies at birth and at 10 weeks of age with maternal iron profile.Prospective cohort study conducted from November, 2018 to April, 2020.120 term SGA babies and their mothers.Hemogram, iron profile and serum hepcidin (every fourth case) estimated in mother, cord blood and baby at 10 weeks. Babies developing anemia at 6 weeks detected by hemogram and ferritin were started on iron supplementation and excluded from the study.Proportion of babies developing iron deficiency anemia at 10 weeks of age.35 (29.2%) of 120 term SGA babies developed anemia(hemoglobin9 g/dL) at 6 weeks. Proportion of infants who developed iron deficiency anemia (hemoglobin9 g/dL and serum ferritin40 μ/dL) at 6 and 10 weeks of age was 14.2% and 23.3%, respectively. No significant correlation was found between hemoglobin, iron and hepcidin of the baby in cord blood and at 10 weeks of age with that of mothers. Serum hepcidin in babies at birth (137.5 ng/mL) were higher than maternal values (128 ng/mL).A significant proportion of term SGA infants developed anemia during early infancy, irrespective of maternal iron status.

Androgen insensitivity syndrome is a rare disorder of sex development that results from genetic mutations affecting the androgen receptor. Recently, we encountered a case of a 13-year-old individual who had been raised as female and sought medical attention for primary amenorrhea, which led to the discovery of partial androgen insensitivity syndrome. Early detection and gonad removal are necessary to mitigate the risk of cancer. Additional management steps such as corrective surgery and psychological support can also be valuable.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition in which the ovaries produce an abnormal amount of androgens. PCOS causes an imbalance of androgen hormones and causes many of the symptoms of the disorder. It affects about 8-10% of all women of reproductive age and 22% in India. If lifestyle changes are not successful in controlling the symptoms of PCOS, then women may be advised to consider weight loss surgery.In some cases, the weight loss surgery may be combined with hormonal therapy.This treatment aims to achieve even greater weight loss, which may lead to the reduction of excessive facial and body hair. Too much testosterone can also interfere with the development of the follicles (the sacs in the ovaries where eggs develop) and prevents normal ovulation (the release of a mature egg). Hypothyroidism (low thyroid function) is common in women with PCOS. Excess androgens can be induced by insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, as they cause a reduction in sex hormone binding globulin levels, which lead to a subsequent increase in free androgens and unfavourable metabolic profiles. The ovarian PCOS morphological traits of enlarged, multi-cystic ovaries and theca interstitial hyperplasia are reported in women who are subjected to high levels of androgens as a result of endogenous adrenal androgen hyper secretion in congenital adrenal hyperplasia treatment in female-to-male transsexuals. Even if an egg is released, the uterus lining or the endometrial may not be ready for pregnancy Symptoms of PCOS The following symptoms will help you understand PCOS occurrence: Irregularity in menstrual cycles or lack of cycles Excessive body or facial hair is seen in teens and females in their 20s The condition worsens over the years with an increase in hair growth It is due to the surplus testosterone and androstenedione that results in high male hormone production in females in their blood. Reproductive age, approx 10% of women are affected by this syndrome, with common symptoms including weight gain, irregular periods, acne, an increase in body hair, and infertility due to ovulation failure. &nbsp

Mutations in the epigenetic regulator and global transcriptional activator, E1A binding protein (EP300), is being increasingly reported in aggressive hematological malignancies including adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL). However, the mechanistic contribution of EP300 dysregulation to cancer initiation and progression are currently unknown. Independent inhibition of EP300 in human cells results in the differential expression of genes involved in regulating the cell cycle, DNA replication and DNA damage response. Nevertheless, specific function played by EP300 in DNA replication initiation, progression and replication fork integrity has not been studied. Here, using ATLL cells as a model to study EP300 deficiency and an p300-selective PROTAC degrader, degrader as a pharmacologic tool, we reveal that EP300-mutated cells display prolonged cell cycle kinetics, due to pronounced dysregulations in DNA replication dynamics leading to persistent genomic instability. Aberrant DNA replication in EP300-mutated cells is characterized by elevated replication origin firing due to increased replisome pausing genome-wide. We demonstrate that EP300 deficiency results in nucleolytic degradation of nascently synthesized DNA at stalled forks due to a prominent defect in fork stabilization and protection. This in turn results in the accumulation of single stranded DNA gaps at collapsed replication forks, in EP300-deficient cells. Inhibition of Mre11 nuclease rescues the ssDNA accumulation indicating a dysregulation in downstream mechanisms that restrain nuclease activity at stalled forks. Importantly, we find that the absence of EP300 results in decreased expression of BRCA2 protein expression and a dependency on POLD3-mediated error-prone replication restart mechanisms. The overall S-phase abnormalities observed lead to under-replicated DNA in G2/M that instigates mitotic DNA synthesis. This in turn is associated with mitotic segregation defects characterized by elevated micronuclei formation, accumulation of cytosolic DNA and transmission of unrepaired inherited DNA lesions in the subsequent G1-phase in EP300-deficient cells. We demonstrate that the DNA replication dynamics of EP300-mutated cells ATLL cells recapitulate features of BRCA-deficient cancers. Altogether these results suggest that mutations in EP300 cause chronic DNA replication stress and defective replication fork restart results in persistent genomic instability that underlie aggressive chemo-resistant tumorigenesis in humans.

The purpose of this study aims at investigating the major sources of information which drives the investor’s behaviour in investment decisions in Indian Financial Markets. Diverse sources are classified into three categories, that is, financial advice, word-of-mouth communication and specialised press to investigate their effects on the investment behaviour of investors. A total of 258 investors filled a survey on a questionnaire in the National Capital Region of India by using the purposive sampling method. For analysis of data, PLS-SEM was applied on the software version 3.2.9. The key outcome of the study revealed that financial advice was considered as first choice (β = 0.265, p

Huntington's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by CAG expansions in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. Modelling Huntington's disease is challenging, as rodent and cellular models poorly recapitulate the disease as seen in ageing humans. To address this, we generated induced neurons through direct reprogramming of human skin fibroblasts, which retain age-dependent epigenetic characteristics. Huntington's disease induced neurons (HD-iNs) displayed profound deficits in autophagy, characterized by reduced transport of late autophagic structures from the neurites to the soma. These neurite-specific alterations in autophagy resulted in shorter, thinner and fewer neurites specifically in HD-iNs. CRISPRi-mediated silencing of HTT did not rescue this phenotype but rather resulted in additional autophagy alterations in control induced neurons, highlighting the importance of wild-type HTT in normal neuronal autophagy. In summary, our work identifies a distinct subcellular autophagy impairment in adult patient derived Huntington's disease neurons and provides a new rationale for future development of autophagy activation therapies.

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a commercially important natural sweetener plant and a boon to the diabetics. Unfortunately, its cultivation faces several abiotic and biotic constraints. Among the biotic ones, the most important is its poor competition with the weeds which culminates in 2-25% yield penalty and further raises the cultivation and production cost. Hence, weed management for successful Stevia cultivation is a major challenge faced by Stevia-farmers. Present study aimed at assessing the effects of mulching (organic and synthetic) and herbicides treatments for efficient weed control and improving the yield of Stevia. Maximum weed control was recorded with herbicides spray while significant improvement in plant growth characteristics like, plant height (98.2 cm average), branch number (5.1 plant−1), leaf number (415 plant−1) and dry weight were recorded in plots treated with rice straw (organic mulch: @ 15t. h−1). Maximum leaf biomass was recorded in plots treated with eucalyptus leaves (organic mulch: @ 15t. h−1) during the year 2017. It is concluded that herbicide spray controlled the weed growth while the crop yield and growth parameters were successfully enhanced by the use of mulche(s), in both the years (2017–18). Meticulous use of mulches or mulch plus limited herbicide(s) application for weed control, may ensure sustainable agriculture and shall ultimately decrease the dependability on synthetic herbicides.

Spontaneous and optogenetically evoked activities of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neurons can be assessed by patch clamp and multi-electrode array (MEA) electrophysiology. Optogenetic activation of these human neurons facilitates the characterization of their functional properties at the single neuron and circuit level. Here we showcase the preparation of hiPSC-derived neurons expressing optogenetic actuators, in vitro optogenetic stimulation and simultaneous functional recordings using patch clamp and MEA electrophysiology.

Extraction of various distinct features from speech, Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) have been employed as classifiers. Age estimation performance has been inferred by employing excitation source features (LPCCs). The detected age of a speaker is deemed to belong to any of the 9 age groups of 5–10, 10–15, 15–20, 20–25, 25–30, 30–35, 35–40, 40–45 and 45–50. An age group speech corpus has been collected in this work by recording voice of speakers of Hindi language of different age groups and dialects using ten text prompts in neutral speech. Textually neutral Hindi words have been used to construct text prompts which have been recorded in neutral emotion. Different age group has been characterized by using these texts prompt. The average age performance of multispeaker (male + female) is around 94%. In this research, classification of different group of speakers has been done on the basis of excitation source in human speech.

Polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs) are biodegradable polymers synthesised and stored as cytoplasmic inclusions in various bacteria. They have a wide variety of applications in various fields such as Biomedical, food, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries and used as a vehicle for controlled-release drug delivery system. The PHB producing microorganisms were isolated from the dump soil, screened by fluorescence microscope at 490 nm and characterised by 16sRNA sequencing. Process parameters optimisation is performed for maximum PHB production by changing the parameters, viz., temperature, pH, different carbon, and nitrogen source. The isolate showed maximum PHB accumulation in the concentration of 0.07 mg/mL after 72 hours incubation at 35⁰C and in pH 7 showed the maximum concentration of 0.055 mg/mL. FT-IR characterised PHB shows the bands at 3426 cm-1 are due to the presence of C–H methylene and methyl groups and retention time of the peak at 12.39 min was determined HPLC. D- Glucose was found to be the best carbon source for the maximum production of PHB in the concentration of 0.0319 mg/mL and the media supplemented with peptone as the nitrogen source showed the 0.0723 mg/mL is the maximum accumulation of PHB in the cells; thus, the isolate shows the potential of PHB production for further exploitation.

The present study responds to calls from global agencies, regulators and activist groups to understand the impacts of religion on purchase decisions. The study reveals the purchase preferences and behaviour of consumers on occasions of a religious festival, that is, Eid-al-Fitr in an emerging market. The study aims to explore consumption patterns along with the specific reasons and factors influencing the purchasing behaviour of Muslim consumers during Eid-al-Fitr . The study is conducted as an ethnographic research in Bangladesh. Observations and interviews (on 100 event actors) were conducted between July 2014 and June 2018. The results reveal that Muslims undergo a shopping spree during their biggest religious festival Eid-al-Fitr. Purchase behaviour among Muslim society in Bangladesh is influenced by the head of family or senior citizens of the society. The study also tries to address the link among market, goods, services and consumers during the Eid-al-Fitr. Finally, the study identifies several key factors such as biological, neighbouring countries and issues of affiliation which may affect the purchasing behaviour of consumers during the religious occasions.

This article analyses the relationship between the International Criminal Court (icc) and its international judicial governance institution, the Assembly of States Parties (asp). It does this in particular respect to the legislative function of the asp in relation to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. With this objective, the article focuses on the provisional amendment to Rule 165 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence by the Court, as well as the asp’s response to this. This article analyses the process through which the asp assesses this provisional amendment and determines whether, in practice, the present legal and institutional framework allows for an overlap of mandates between the asp and icc.

Targeted therapy is receiving considerable attention from the researchers around the globe owing to the increased drug-resistance and incidences of cancer recurrences. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) exhibits tremendous potential as a candidate for molecular targeted therapy in cancer. Unfortunately, majority of research related to microRNAs are focussed on either a particular miRNA or a set of unrelated miRNAs. There is lack of holistic knowledge on differential co-expression of miRNA clusters in regulating the gene expression under physiological conditions. Previously, we reported the cooperative effect of hsa-miR-23a~27a~24-2 cluster in inducing ER (Endoplasmic Reticulum) stress-mediated apoptotic cell death of HEK cells. In the present study, we have investigated the common anti-cancer effects of individual members of this cluster. Our in silico analysis identified twelve common target genes distributed across three independent clusters. Furthermore, we found NCOA1, NLK, and RAP1B to fall in a single cluster with NCOA1 as a central hub molecule. Prognostic analysis showed profound involvement of these three genes in the breast cancer progression and metastasis. We further demonstrated that alteration in the levels of individual members of miR-23a~27a~24-2 cluster commonly regulates the invasive migration of breast cancer cells by modulating EMT and cytoskeletal pathway proteins. Our results reveal a new insight into the therapeutic potential of individual members of the pro-apoptotic hsa-miR-23a~27a~24-2 cluster family against metastatic breast cancer.

Visually impaired people are often subjugated under extreme circumstances even in their day-to-day life. The daily requirements of a common man appear to be an impediment in their routine life. Simplest of tasks like walking, eating, bathing, conversing and even eating is of utmost difficulty to them. Moreover, with such difficulties their only way-out seems to be dependency on the privileged lot, which further diminishes their confidence in themselves and gradually makes them even more dependent. The conventional devices that are used by visually impaired people include basic walking sticks which fail at the job in hand by not providing adequate stabilisation on rough surfaces and misguiding the users into unfavourable conditions. There is no way for the person to know what the object in front of them is without hitting it with the stick, which could also lead to accidents. To solve these problems, a smart walking stick is developed which not only recognises the object in front of it using Machine Learning (ML) models, but also gives a voice output to alert its user about the particular object thereby limiting the chance of any and all accidents. The concept is realised in hardware and integrated to the walking stick. This helps in stabilisation of phone and to produce better results in object identification. Further an application is developed to alert the user by converting the obtained image into a voice messages.