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Polyps and papillomas encompass the most common benign tumors of the urethra.Leiomyoma of urethra is a rare clinical entity which can be diagnosed only with histopathological examination and only around 35 such cases have been reported worldwide.

The effects of free convective Arrhenius-controlled heat transfer fluid in a microchannel encased by two parallel vertical plates has been examined in the current work. A new functional integration matrix has been developed by implementing Fibonacci Wavelet Frame known as Fibonacci wavelet Frame operational matrix. Primary goal of this study is to provide a unified method via FWF to compute an approximate solution to a non-linear differential equation systems for the fluid flowing in a microchannel. The leading nonlinear coupled differential equations has been tackled by this novel approach. The derived results are discussed visually and displayed with the help of various plots. Additionally, thermophysical parameters of engineering interest, such as the nusselt number and sheer stress are estimated and depicted in the graphs. It is worthwhile to note that fluid velocity and fluid temperature rises as the chemical reaction parameter value enhances. A remarkable agreement comes to light when the numerical data generated through the current method is compared with the findings from the previous work.

Background and Objective: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic disease characterized by widespread, persistent musculoskeletal pain in association with impaired health-related quality of life. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an emerging tool for the management of fibromyalgia. There is no standardized protocol of rTMS for the treatment of FMS, and both low- and high-frequency stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) are described in the literature with variable efficacy. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of rTMS in people with fibromyalgia and compare the response of low- and high-frequency stimulation with sham stimulation. Materials and Methods: This study was a single-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Ninety patients with the diagnosis of FMS were randomly allocated into one of the following three groups: low-frequency (1 Hz) group, high-frequency (10 Hz) group, and sham group. Pain, depression, anxiety, and quality of life were measured using the Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), and Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR) immediately following treatment as well as at 1 and 3 months after treatment. The data was statistically analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23 software. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Intergroup analysis revealed a significant improvement in NPRS, HAM-A, HDRS, and FIQR scores in both low- and high- frequency groups immediately following treatment and for 3 months after treatment. No significant difference in the efficacy of low- and high-frequency stimulation was noticed. Conclusions: rTMS is an effective mode of treatment in people with FMS. Both low and high frequencies of stimulation at DLPFC are equally effective in reducing pain and associated symptoms.

Plant diseases are a primary hazard to the productiveness of crops, which impacts food protection and decreases the profitability of farmers. Consequently, identification of plant diseases becomes a crucial task. By taking the right nurturing measures to remediate these diseases in the early stages can drastically help in fending off the reduction in productivity/profit. Providing an intelligent and automated solution becomes a necessity. This can be achieved with the help of machine learning techniques. It involves a number of steps like image acquisition, image pre-processing using filtering and contrast enhancement techniques. Image segmentation, which is a crucial part in disease detection system, is done by applying genetic algorithm and the colour, texture features extracted using a local binary pattern. The novelty of this approach is applying the genetic algorithm for image segmentation and combining a set of propositions from all the learning classifiers with an ensemble method and calculating the results. This obeys the optimistic features of all the learning classifiers. System accuracy is evaluated using precision, recall, and accuracy measures. After analysing the results, it clearly shows that the ensemble models deliver very good accuracy of over 92 % as compared to an individual SVM, Naïve Bayes, and KNN classifiers.

Background: Adolescence, which lasts from the ages of 10-19, is the stage of life between childhood and adulthood. Health issues like alcohol and drug use, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity are widespread among adolescents. Notably, mental health stands out as one of the most prevalent and significant concerns in this age group. Schools are beneficial in recognizing the mental health care needs of adolescents, given that a substantial amount of their time is spent at school. Hence the study was conducted in school to investigate prevalence of depression and anxiety among adolescent students. Objective: To assess the prevalence of depression and anxiety among high school adolescents and to know the determinants associated with it. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out among high school adolescent students of schools in urban area of Belagavi. After getting approval from IEC, the data was collected from 100 students using pre-designed, pretested questionnaire. And Depression and Anxiety were assessed using the Becks Depression Inventory (BDI) scale and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) respectively. Results: Depression prevalence was 45% among students, categorized as mild (23%), borderline (9%), moderate (8%), and severe (5%) based on Becks Depression Inventory. Mean BDI score was 11.31±8.40. Surprisingly, 97% had anxiety with 76% mild, 17% moderate,4% severe anxiety as per Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, with mean HAM-A score of 10.72±8.18. Most affected students were 16 years old, Class-2 socioeconomic status, Hindus, from nuclear families, residing in pucca houses, consuming mixed diet, facing learning difficulties and lacking relationship affairs. A statistically significant association existed between depression and house type, as well as history of child abuse (p

The current work focus on a novel biomaterial extracted from Indian origin Deccani-Big sheep horn/scapula bone for exhaustive thermal property study using Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and statistical analysis study using log normal to determine the failure rate of brittle material. The TGA shows four regions, first region in the water reduction range, second region is plateau with no change in weight, third regionfor decomposition and last plateau showing stable final product. Broido, Coats-Redfern, Chang and Horowitz-Metzger approximations are employed to compute the activation energy (Ea) of samples during decomposition. The observed average mean tensile strength is 63.38MPa whereas with the help of Weibull distribution shows 64.55MPa with R2 as 0.94.

The current work provides a theoretical investigation of permeability effects on channel walls. The entropy generation in an incompressible Casson fluid flowing through an inclined penetrable channel which is under the magnetic action is numerically investigated by transforming the governing equations into a system of ODEs using non-dimensional parameters. The Hermite wavelet method is used to solve the achieved nonlinear coupled equations. Velocity, temperature, and entropy generation profiles are analyzed graphically and in addition, graphs are employed to assess the Bejan number, Nusselt number, and skin friction coefficient for a scale of various values of physical parameters. The results are evident that for increasing the Biot number, Grashof number, and Casson parameter entropy generation increases. The entropy production is suppressed when the Eckert number is enhanced. The dual nature of entropy generation is observed due to varying magnetic values. Our findings obtained from the present method are compared with other results available in the literature and is found that it is in good correlation with the existing one.

This research focuses on the decomposition temperature of a large sheep horn from Haveri District, Karnataka, India, which is 302.9°C. It also demonstrates the possible use of large sheep horn in the aerospace industry. It can be utilised as a Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) in high-pressure compressor blades of jet engines. Because of its poor thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity, it is a superb insulator, and temperatures throughout the TBC take around 10 minutes to match.

Background/Aim: Myths related to oral diseases and oral health-related practices are very common among the population. Inadequate knowledge along with the persisting myths regarding the etiology, course and outcome of oral diseases makes it difficult to initiate health behavioural changes. Present study scrutinizes various myths and misconceptions regarding oral health among the outpatients. The aim of this study was to assess myths and misconceptions about oral health and imparting education regarding the same.

Flow over a conventional delta wing has been studied experimentally at a subsonic flow of 20 m/sec and the flow field developed at higher angle of attack varying from 10° to 20° has been captured. A vortex generator is mounted on the leeward surface of the delta wing and its effect on the flow field is studied. The set of wing tip vortices generated over the delta wing is captured by the oil flow visualization and the streamline over the delta wing surface captured with and without a vortex generator are compared. Based on the qualitative results, the effect of the vortex generator on the lift coefficient is anticipated. Further, force measurement is carried out to quantitatively analyze the effect of vortex generator on the lift and drag coefficient experienced by the delta wing and justify the anticipation made out of the qualitative oil flow visualization tests. In the present study, the effect of mounting of a vortex generator is found to be minimal on the lift coefficient experienced by the delta wing. However, a significant reduction in the drag coefficient with increase in angle of attack was observed by mounting a typical vortex generator.

In this present analysis we investigated the steady-state magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer flow of tangent hyperbolic fluid over an exponentially stretching surface in the presence of heat source and chemical reaction. The chemical reaction with combination of exponential surface has significance in many industrial and manufacturing systems. The partial nonlinear differential equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations by using the similarity conversion and the accomplished boundary layer ordinary differential equations are elucidated numerically by using Shooting technique. The effects of numerous non-dimensional governing factors on velocity, temperature and concentration profiles were depicted graphically and analyzed in detail. The numerically computed results of Skin friction factor, Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are presented in tabular form for suction and injection cases separately.Heat transfer rate at the surface increases with increasing values of power law of index and whereas it declines with the magnetic field, heat source and chemical reaction parameters. It observed that Biot number enhances the skin friction, Nusselt number and decrease the Sherwood number.Heat transfer rate and mass transfer rate increases and skin friction decreases with increasing Eckert number.

Seven parents in five cross combinations were studied for heterosis in F1 and inbreeding depression in F2 populations fornumber of bolls per plant, boll weight, halo length, ginning outturn and seed cotton yield per plant. In F1 hybrids, maximumheterosis was observed for seed cotton yield per plant followed by bolls per plant. Majority of the F2 population displayedinbreeding depression and it was high for seed cotton yield per plant followed by bolls per plant. Inbreeding depression washigher in Blach-1 x DLSA-17 cross followed by the hybrid DD-8NLE x MDL 2582 and in remaining hybrids it was lower.In F1 generation, heterosis over better parent ranged from 172.82 to 127.94 % for seed cotton yield per plant. The inbreedingdepression was lower when RDC 88 and 9749 was used as male parents in combination with MDL 2582 and MDL 2601 asmale parents.

A new ligand 5-[6-(5-mercapto-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-yl]-1,3,4-oxadiazole- 2-thiol (L) and its Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) complexes were synthesized. The authenticity of the ligand and its transition metal complexes were established by elemental analyses, conductance and magnetic susceptibility measurements, as well as spectroscopic (IR, 1H- and 13C-NMR, electronic, mass, ESR) and thermal studies. The IR and 1H-NMR spectral studies revealed the existence of the ligand in the thiol form in the solid state, whereas in the thione form in the dissolved state. The magnetic and electronic spectral studies suggest an octahedral geometry for all the complexes. The ligand acts as a tridentate ligand coordinating through the pyridine nitrogen and the nitrogen atoms (N-3' and N-3'') of the two oxadiazole rings. Antimicrobial screening of the ligand and its metal complexes were determined against the bacteria Escherichia coli and Bacillus cirroflagellosus, as well as against the fungi, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. .

A new macroacyclic amide ligand N,N’-bis(2-benzothiazolyl)-2,6-pyridinedicarboxamide (BPD), formed by the condensation of 2,6-pyridinedicarbonyldichloride with 2-aminobenzothiazole and its Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Mn(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes were synthesized. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of elemental analyses, conductance measurements, magnetic moments, spectral (IR, NMR UV-Visible, EPR and FAB) and thermal studies. The complexes exhibit an octahedral geometry around the metal center. Conductance data of the complexes suggested them to be 1:1 electrolytes. The pentadentate behavior of the ligand was proposed on the basis of spectral studies. The X-band EPR spectra of the Cu(II) and Mn(II) complexes in the polycrystalline state at room (300 K) and liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K) were recorded and their salient features are reported.

Idiopathic gingival enlargement is a proliferative fibrous lesion of the gingival tissue that causes esthetic and functional problems. Both genetically and pharmacologically induced forms of gingival enlargement exist. This case report addresses the diagnosis and treatment of a case of idiopathic gingival enlargement in a 13-year-old female. The patient presented with generalized diffuse gingival enlargement involving the maxillary and mandibular arches extending on buccal and lingual/palatal surfaces and covering incisal / occlusal third of the tooth resulting in difficulty in speech and mastication since last three years. Patient also gave a history of surgical treatment being carried out four years back in upper anterior region suggesting of recurrence. Biopsy report confirmed the diagnosis of gingival hyperplasia. Gingivectomy was carried out in all four quadrants by using four different methods.

Turner′s syndrome is a form of gonadal dysgenesis, which occurs due to abnormalities in the X chromosome during gametogenesis. The diagnosis may be made at birth due to various associated abnormalities or at puberty due to primary ammenarrhoea and delayed sexual development Abnormalities of the skeleton and connective tissue in Turner′s syndrome has been frequently reported. We present a case of bilateral bronchiectasis in a patient with Turner′s syndrome, of which only 2 cases have been reported so far in literature. Further studies are required to know the true incidence and the etiology of this association.

Motivated by the pivotal role of routing in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and the prevalent security vulnerabilities arising from existing protocols, this research tackles the inherent challenges of securing WSNs. Many current WSN routing protocols prioritize computational efficiency but lack robust security measures, making them susceptible to exploitation by malicious actors. The prevalence of reactive protocols, chosen for their lower bandwidth consumption, exacerbates security concerns, as proactive alternatives require more resources for maintaining network routes. Additionally, the ad hoc nature and energy constraints of WSNs render conventional security models designed for wired and wireless networks unsuitable. In response to these limitations, this paper introduces the Secured Energy-Efficient Opportunistic Routing Scheme for Sustainable WSNs (EDSSR). EDSSR is designed to enhance security in WSNs by continuously updating neighbor information and validating the legitimacy of standard routing parameters. Critically, the protocol is power-aware, recognizing the vital importance of energy considerations in the constrained environment of WSNs. To assess the efficacy of EDSSR in mitigating WSN vulnerabilities, simulation experiments were conducted, evaluating the protocol's performance on key metrics such as throughput, average End-to-End delay ([Formula: see text] delay), energy consumption (EC), network lifetime (alive nodes), and malware detection rate. The results demonstrate that the EDSSR protocol significantly improves performance. It shows substantial gains in sum goodput relative to throughput, average [Formula: see text] delay, EC, and alive nodes. Specifically, the EDSSR protocol is 2-3% faster than DLAMD and 10-13% faster than EEFCR. Additionally, the malware detection rate increases by 23%., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The BACT/ALERT® MP Reagent System is a broth culture medium for optimal detection and recovery of mycobacteria from clinical samples. The MP formulation was recently modified to improve detection and recovery times. A multicenter prospective matched pair study design was conducted to validate the performance of improved MP (MP-I) versus current MP (MP-C) bottles utilizing nonsterile and normally sterile samples, except blood, from patients suspected of having mycobacterial infections. A total of 1488 clinical samples were collected to obtain 212 mycobacteria samples by either or both MP culture bottles. MP-I and MP-C sensitivities were 86.6% and 81.4%, respectively, but the difference was not significant (P = 0.163) while specificities were 96.8% and 93.8%, respectively, and that difference was significant (P = 0.002). Overall recovery was 94.34% for MP-I and 88.68% for MP-C (recovery was 100% for both bottles with 52 seeded samples). Overall performance of MP-I was better than MP-C for sensitivity, specificity, and recovery., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest HPD, KM, JK, CDG, and DHP are employees of bioMérieux, Inc. SG was an employee of bioMérieux, Inc and has since relocated to another institution. As this was a Clinical Trial, bioMérieux employees were involved in study design and data analysis. Study sites were responsible for testing and data collection. This study was funded by bioMérieux, Inc. BACT/ALERT® MP Reagent Systems are FDA 510(k) cleared., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this study was to determine corneal permeability and uptake in rabbit, porcine, and bovine corneas for twenty-five drugs using an N-in-1 (cassette) approach and relate these parameters to drug physicochemical properties and tissue thickness through quantitative structure permeability relationships (QSPRs). A twenty-five-drug cassette containing β-blockers, NSAIDs, and corticosteroids in solution at a micro-dose was exposed to the epithelial side of rabbit, porcine, or bovine corneas mounted in a diffusion chamber, and the corneal drug permeability and tissue uptake were monitored using an LC-MS/MS method. Data obtained were used to construct and evaluate over 46,000 quantitative structure-permeability (QSPR) models using multiple linear regression, and the best-fit models were cross-validated by Y-randomization. Drug permeability was generally higher in rabbit cornea and comparable between bovine and porcine corneas. Permeability differences between species could be explained in part by differences in corneal thickness. Corneal uptake between species correlated with a slope close to 1, indicating generally similar drug uptake per unit weight of tissue. A high correlation was observed between bovine, porcine, and rabbit corneas for permeability and between bovine and porcine corneas for uptake (R 2 ≥ 0.94). MLR models indicated that drug characteristics such as lipophilicity (LogD), heteroatom ratio (HR), nitrogen ratio (NR), hydrogen bond acceptors (HBA), rotatable bonds (RB), index of refraction (IR), and tissue thickness (TT) are of great influence on drug permeability and uptake. When data for all species along with thickness as a parameter was used in MLR, the best fit equation for permeability was Log (% transport/cm 2 ·s) = 0.441 LogD - 8.29 IR + 8.357 NR - 0.279 HBA - 3.833 TT + 10.432 (R 2 = 0.826), and the best-fit equation for uptake was Log (%/g) = 0.387 LogD + 4.442 HR + 0.105 RB - 0.303 HBA - 2.235 TT + 1.422 (R 2 = 0.750). Thus, it is feasible to explain corneal drug delivery in three species using a single equation., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background: Nontuberculosis mycobacterium (NTM) is the emerging group of organisms being recognized as etiological agents for diverse clinical conditions such as lymphadenitis, cutaneous, and pulmonary or disseminated lesions. Diverse background patients can acquire these infections such as immunocompetent, immunocompromised patients, or postoperative settings. Rapid addition of newer strains to this group necessitates heightened suspicion in the clinical settings. Specific requirements for cultures, biochemical testing, and molecular methods are needed to diagnose these organisms., Methods: The prospective study conducted at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences from January 2019 to December 2021 using various clinical samples using molecular techniques such as line probe assay and hsp-65 gene sequencing to discover new NTM species. The management is challenging since it requires prolonged treatment, multiple drugs, drug resistance, and individualization of treatment in the combination of surgery if needed. In this article, we describe three different NTM species which were not reported in India and highlight to consider these organisms in adequate clinical situation., Results: Mycobacterium iranicum is a rare strain with quick growth and scotochromogenic colonies that are orange-colored. Eight distinct strains were discovered in clinical samples from six different countries: Two each from Iran, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. Two of the strains were recovered from cerebrospinal fluid, which is unusual. Mycobacterium species AW6 is an unidentified and unclassified Mycobacterium according to NCBI taxonomy. Mycobacteria malmoense has been linked to lymphadenitis, notably cervical adenitis in children, and pulmonary infection in the majority of cases. Using Line Probe Assay and hsp-65 gene sequencing, novel and uncommon species of NTM were detected from a clinical samples, including sputum and tissue., Conclusion: We report three unusual species of NTMs: M. iranicum, M. species-AW6, and M. malmoense for the first time in India. Novel and rare emerging species of NTMs need to be considered in diverse clinical situations for appropriate therapy and good clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: None

There is an increase in the incidence and prevalence of type-2 diabetes and obesity which leads to the structural and functional changes in myocardium leading to a lethal complication called diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). In the present study, we investigated the preventive effect of cinnamon (3% of Cinnamomum zeylanicum bark powder in AIN-93 diet for 3 months) feeding on DCM and the concerned mechanisms in a rodent model. Experimental diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of 40 mg/kg b.w streptozotocin (STZ), 15 min after the ip administration of 60 mg/kg b.w of nicotinamide (NA) in Wistar-NIN (WNIN) male rats. The oxidative stress parameters were investigated by assessing superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione-s-transferase (GST) enzyme activity, protein carbonyls and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. The histopathology of myocardium was analyzed by H&E and Masson's trichrome staining, and scanning electron microscopy. The changes in diabetic rat heart involved the altered left ventricular parietal pericardium, structural changes in myocardial cells, enhanced oxidative stress. Masson's trichrome and H&E staining have shown increased fibrosis, and perinuclear vacuolization in NA-STZ induced diabetic rat myocardium. Cinnamon feeding prevented the oxidative stress and myocardial alterations in the heart of diabetic rats. Taken together, these results suggest that cinnamon can effectively prevent the metabolic and structural changes in NA-STZ induced diabetic cardiomyopathy., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest/Competing interestsNo conflict of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.)

To address the need for noninvasive monitoring of injectable preformed drug delivery implants in the eye, we developed noninvasive methods to monitor such implants in different locations within the eye. Cylindrical polymeric poly(lactide-co-glycolide) or metal implants were injected into isolated bovine eyes at suprachoroidal, subretinal, and intravitreal locations and imaged noninvasively using the cSLO and OCT modes of a Heidelberg Spectralis HRA + OCT instrument after adjusting for the corneal curvature. Length and diameter of implants were obtained using cSLO images for all three locations, and the volume was calculated. Additionally, implant volume for suprachoroidal and subretinal location was estimated by integrating the cross-sectional bleb area over the implant length in multiple OCT images or using the maximum thickness of the implant based on thickness map along with length in cSLO image. Simultaneous cSLO and OCT imaging identified implants in different regions of the eye. Image-based measurements of implant dimensions mostly correlated well with the values prior to injection using blade micrometer. The accuracy (82-112%) and precision (1-19%) for noninvasive measurement of length was better than the diameter (accuracy 69-130%; precision 3-38%) using cSLO image for both types of implants. The accuracy for the measurement of volume of both types of implants from all three intraocular locations was better with cSLO imaging (42-152%) compared to those obtained using OCT cross-sectional bleb area integration (117-556%) or cSLO and thickness map (32-279%) methods. Suprachoroidal, subretinal, and intravitreal implants can be monitored for length, diameter, and volume using cSLO and OCT imaging. Such measurements may be useful in noninvasively monitoring implant degradation and drug release in the eye., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Although once daily anti-glaucoma drug therapy is a current clinical reality, most therapies require multiple dosing and there is an unmet need to develop convenient, safe, and effective sustained release drug delivery systems for long-term treatment to improve patient adherence and outcomes. One of the first sustained release drug delivery systems was approved for the reduction of intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients. It is a polymeric reservoir-type insert delivery system, Ocusert™, placed under the eyelid and on the ocular surface for zero-order drug release over one week. The insert, marketed in two strengths, released pilocarpine on the eye surface. While many clinicians appreciated this drug product, it was eventually discontinued. No similar sustained release non-invasive drug delivery system has made it to the market to date for treating glaucoma. Drug delivery systems under development include punctal plugs, ring-type systems, contact lenses, implants, microspheres, nanospheres, gels, and other depot systems placed in the extraocular, periocular, or intraocular regions including intracameral, supraciliary, and intravitreal spaces. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the various routes of administration and delivery systems for sustained glaucoma therapy. It also provides the reader with some examples and discussion of drug delivery systems that could potentially be applied for glaucoma treatment. Interestingly, one intracamerally injected implant, Durysta™, was approved recently for sustained intraocular pressure reduction. However, long-term acceptance of such devices has yet to be established. The ultimate success of the delivery system will depend on efficacy relative to eye drop dosing, safety, reimbursement options, and patient acceptance. Cautious development efforts are warranted considering prior failed approaches for sustained glaucoma drug delivery. Neuroprotective approaches for glaucoma therapy including cell, gene, protein, and drug-combination therapies, mostly administered intravitreally, are also rapidly progressing towards assessment in humans., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To determine the baseline choroid-retina fluorescence signal in Royal College of Surgeon (RCS) rats of various ages with different degrees of retinal degeneration and assess the persistence of intravitreal nanoparticles. Methods: In RCS rats of age 6, 12, and 20 weeks and Sprague Dawley (SD) rats of age 6 and 20 weeks, baseline eye tissue fluorescence and retinal thickness were recorded noninvasively using fluorophotometry and optical coherence tomography (OCT), respectively. Further, 20-nm carboxylate-modified fluorescent particles were injected intravitreally in the above groups of rats, and the depth-wise fluorescence signal was monitored over 7 days using fluorophotometry and confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscopy (cSLO). Additionally, 200 nm particles of the same material were injected intravitreally into about 7-week-old RCS rats and the fluorescence signal was monitored up to 35 days using fluorophotometry. Results: Reduction in retinal thickness and an increase in choroid-retina and lens baseline fluorescence was observed with increasing age of RCS and SD rats. The 20 nm particles persisted in the vitreous of animals from all age groups for at least 7 days postadministration, irrespective of the differences in retinal thickness. cSLO confirmed nanoparticle persistence in the eye. The fluorescence signal from 200 nm particles persisted for 35 days in the vitreous humor. Conclusions: Choroid-retina and lens autofluorescence monitored using fluorophotometry increase with age. Intravitreally injected nanoparticles can be monitored noninvasively in rats using fluorophotometry and cSLO imaging. Both 20 and 200 nm particles persist in the back of the eye tissues, for several days following intravitreal injection.

Prematurity is one of the main causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality. The association between periodontitis and premature delivery and low weight at birth has been suggested in many literature. Pregnancy totally depends on physiological immune tolerance of a women. During pregnancy shifts in the microbial composition of the subgingival dental plaque biofilm promotes the formation of more hazardous and destructive microbial community. In women suffering with periodontitis, the infected periodontal tissues may act as source of bacteria and their products can reach to the foetus-placenta unit through circulation. This helps the bacterial agents and their products to activate inflammatory signalling pathways locally and in extra-oral sites, including the placenta-foetal unit, which may not only induce preterm labor but also restrict the intrauterine growth. Number of literature has shown about the effectiveness of providing periodontal treatment in preventing gestational complications by controlling the infection and inflammation in periodontitis patients during pregnancy. In this review we aimed to throw the light on the current data of association between pregnancy and periodontitis, pathogenic mechanisms underlying this association, evidence of this association and effect of providing periodontal treatment as a safety precaution to the mothers., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors do not have any potential or actual personal, political, or financial interest in the material, information, or techniques described in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Flupirtine, a nonopioid analgesic drug, is effective in treating neonatal seizures. However, its brain delivery and pharmacokinetics are unknown in neonatal mammals. The purpose of this study was to determine the pharmacokinetics of flupirtine and the formation of its active metabolite D-13223 in various tissues such as brain in neonate animals. On postnatal day 7, rat pups received 25 mg/kg of flupirtine intraperitoneally. Liver; heart; kidney; lung; spleen; retina; serum; and brain regions hippocampus, cortex, and the remaining brain (devoid of cerebellum) were harvested up to 24-h postdosing. An LC-MS/MS assay was developed to quantify flupirtine and D-13223. Flupirtine was delivered to all tissues assessed, with the highest area under the concentration vs. time curve (AUC 0⁻24h ) in liver (488 µg·h/g tissue) and the lowest in spleen (82 µg·h/g tissue). Flupirtine reached the brain, including the hippocampus and cortex, within 1 h of dosing and persisted at 24 h. Flupirtine AUC in various brain regions was approximately 195 µg·h/g tissue. The half-life of flupirtine in various tissues ranged from 3.1 to 5.2 h. D-13223 was formed in vivo and detected in all tissues assessed, with the concentrations being the highest in the liver. Incubation of isolated neonatal rat liver, heart, kidney, lung, spleen, whole eye, serum, or whole brain with flupirtine for 3 h at 37 °C formed D-13223 in all tissues, except serum. D-13223 formation was the highest in isolated liver tissue. Tissue partition coefficients based on isolated tissue uptake correlated well with in vivo tissue:serum drug exposure ratios. Thus, flupirtine reaches the target brain tissues from the systemic route in neonatal rats, and brain tissue forms the active metabolite D-13223.

Early detection of karyotype abnormalities, including aneuploidy, could aid producers in identifying animals which, for example, would not be suitable candidate parents. Genome-wide genetic marker data in the form of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are now being routinely generated on animals. The objective of the present study was to describe the statistics that could be generated from the allele intensity values from such SNP data to diagnose karyotype abnormalities; of particular interest was whether detection of aneuploidy was possible with both commonly used genotyping platforms in agricultural species, namely the Applied BiosystemsTM AxiomTM and the Illumina platform. The hypothesis was tested using a case study of a set of dizygotic X-chromosome monosomy 53,X sheep twins. Genome-wide SNP data were available from the Illumina platform (11 082 autosomal and 191 X-chromosome SNPs) on 1848 male and 8954 female sheep and available from the AxiomTM platform (11 128 autosomal and 68 X-chromosome SNPs) on 383 female sheep. Genotype allele intensity values, either as their original raw values or transformed to logarithm intensity ratio (LRR), were used to accurately diagnose two dizygotic (i.e. fraternal) twin 53,X sheep, both of which received their single X chromosome from their sire. This is the first reported case of 53,X dizygotic twins in any species. Relative to the X-chromosome SNP genotype mean allele intensity values of normal females, the mean allele intensity value of SNP genotypes on the X chromosome of the two females monosomic for the X chromosome was 7.45 to 12.4 standard deviations less, and were easily detectable using either the AxiomTM or Illumina genotype platform; the next lowest mean allele intensity value of a female was 4.71 or 3.3 standard deviations less than the population mean depending on the platform used. Both 53,X females could also be detected based on the genotype LRR although this was more easily detectable when comparing the mean LRR of the X chromosome of each female to the mean LRR of their respective autosomes. On autopsy, the ovaries of the two sheep were small for their age and evidence of prior ovulation was not appreciated. In both sheep, the density of primordial follicles in the ovarian cortex was lower than normally found in ovine ovaries and primary follicle development was not observed. Mammary gland development was very limited. Results substantiate previous studies in other species that aneuploidy can be readily detected using SNP genotype allele intensity values generally already available, and the approach proposed in the present study was agnostic to genotype platform.

Ephrin type-A receptor 2 (EphA2) is a transmembrane receptor which is upregulated in injured lungs, including those treated with bleomycin. YSA peptide (YSAYPDSVPMMS), a mimic of ephrin ligands, binds to EphA2 receptors on cell surface with high affinity. In this study, we assessed the ability of YSA-functionalized and non-functionalized poly (dl-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles to enhance delivery to bleomycin treated cultured vascular endothelial cells and, in a bleomycin induced lung injury mouse model. Nanoparticles were loaded with a lipophilic fluorescent dye. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) with or without 2-day bleomycin pretreatment (25 µg/ml) and adult mice with or without intratracheal instillation of bleomycin (0.1 U) were dosed with nanoparticles. Mice received nanoparticles via tail vein injection 4 days after bleomycin treatment. Three days after nanoparticle injection, tissues (lung, heart, kidney, spleen, liver, brain, eyes and whole blood) were harvested and quantified for fluorescence using IVIS imaging. Mean particle uptake increased with time and concentration for both types of particles in HUVEC, with the uptake being higher for YSA-functionalized nanoparticles. Bleomycin treatment increased the 3-h uptake of both types of nanoparticles in HUVEC by about two-fold, with the YSA-functionalized nanoparticle uptake being 1.66-fold compared to non-functionalized nanoparticles (p < .05). In mice, bleomycin injury resulted in 2.3- and 4.7-fold increase in the lung levels of non-functionalized and YSA-functionalized nanoparticles (p < .05), respectively, although the differences between the two particle types were not significant. In conclusion, PLGA nanoparticle delivery to cultured vascular endothelial cells and mouse lungs in vivo is higher following bleomycin treatment, with the delivery tending to be higher for YSA functionalized nanoparticles.

In the cost sensitive healthcare industry, an unplanned downtime of diagnostic and therapy imaging devices can be a burden on the financials of both the hospitals as well as the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In the current era of connectivity, it is easier to get these devices connected to a standard monitoring station. Once the system is connected, OEMs can monitor the health of these devices remotely and take corrective actions by providing preventive maintenance thereby avoiding major unplanned downtime. In this article, we present an overall methodology of predicting failure of these devices well before customer experiences it. We use data-driven approach based on machine learning to predict failures in turn resulting in reduced machine downtime, improved customer satisfaction and cost savings for the OEMs. One of the use-case of predicting component failure of PHILIPS iXR system is explained in this article.

The rapid increase in global diabetes burden with its associated morbidity and mortality is a major health concern for humans. Prediabetes is a condition which predispose a person not only to diabetes but also to the associated complications including morbidity even in the absence of an apparant hyperglycemia. However, appropriate dietary intervention may not only prevent but also improve one’s condition as diet is the major contributor to such metabolic disorders. Here, we investigated the effect of dietary ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) on the markers of insulin resistance and pathophysiology in a diet-induced prediabetic rat model. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were fed the following diets: control (5% groundnut oil + 65 % corn starch), high fat high fructose (HFHF; 25% beef tallow + 35 % fructose) and HFHF with 3 % ginger (HFHFG) for eight months. Plasma markers of insulin resistance, lipid profile, oral glucose tolerance (OGTT; 2nd and 5th month), intraperitoneal insulin tolerance (ITT), plasma total antioxidant capacity (TAC), liver histology and pancreatic immunohistochemistry (IHC) were examined. The impaired OGTT, ITT and insulin sensitivity indices with observed hyperinsulinemia and hypertriglyceridemia suggest that HFHF feeding resulted in prediabetes in rats. HFHF feeding also decreased insulin secretion in the pancreas, increased lipid accumulation in liver and total oxidants in plasma. The effects of HFHF feeding on glucose regulation, pathophysiology of pancreas and liver; total oxidative stress were improved by ginger feeding. The present study demonstrated thatlong-term HFHF feeding induces prediabetes in experimental rats while dietary ginger neutralizes the HFHF induced impairment in glucose regulation, dyslipidemia, and oxidative stress.

In clinical environment, Interventional X-Ray (IXR) system is used on various anatomies and for various types of the procedures. It is important to classify correctly each exam of IXR system into respective procedures and/or assign to correct anatomy. This classification enhances productivity of the system in terms of better scheduling of the Cath lab, also provides means to perform device usage/revenue forecast of the system by hospital management and focus on targeted treatment planning for a disease/anatomy. Although it may appear classification of each exam into respective procedure/anatomy a simple task. However, in real-life hospital settings, it is well-known that same system settings are used to perform different types of procedures. Though, such usage leads to under-utilization of the system. In this work, a method is developed to classify exams into respective anatomical type by applying machine-learning techniques (SVM, KNN and decision trees) on log information of the systems. The classification result is promising with accuracy of greater than 90%.

Preclinical Research Vanillic acid (VA) is a dihydroxybenzoic acid derivative widely used as a flavoring agent. It has chemopreventive effects on experimentally-induced carcinogenesis and in ulcerative colitis. The object of the present study was to investigate the effects of VA, alone and in combination with methylprednisolone (MP), on cationic bovine serum albumin (cBSA induced immune-complex glomerulonephritis in female BALB/c mice. Pre-immunization was carried out with cBSA in BALB/c mice and repeated (cBSA, 13 mg/kg, 3 times/week, i.v.) for 6 weeks to induce glomerulonephritis which was confirmed by the presence of severe proteinuria. The effect of VA (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, p.o.) and its combination with MP (12.5 mg/kg, p.o.) was assessed in the nephrotic disease model. Treatment with VA decreased inflammatory nephrotic injury as evidenced by decreased proteinuria, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, serum IgG1 and TNF-α levels. Co-administration of VA with MP showed an improvement in the immunohistochemistry of glomerular nephrin and podocin. The present results indicate that VA has a nephroprotective effect in the management of autoimmune nephritis. Drug Dev Res 77 : 171-179, 2016.   © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the tenth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States. While it is usually lethal when metastatic, RCC is successfully treated with surgery when tumors are confined to the kidney and have low tumor volume. Because most early stage renal tumors do not result in symptoms, there is a strong need for biomarkers that can be used to detect the presence of the cancer as well as to monitor patients during and after therapy., Methods: We examined genome-wide DNA methylation alterations in renal cell carcinomas of diverse histologies and benign adjacent kidney tissues from 96 patients., Results: We observed widespread methylation differences between tumors and benign adjacent tissues, particularly in immune-, G-protein coupled receptor-, and metabolism-related genes. Additionally, we identified a single panel of DNA methylation biomarkers that reliably distinguishes tumor from benign adjacent tissue in all of the most common kidney cancer histologic subtypes, and a second panel does the same specifically for clear cell renal cell carcinoma tumors. This set of biomarkers were validated independently with excellent performance characteristics in more than 1,000 tissues in The Cancer Genome Atlas clear cell, papillary, and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma datasets., Conclusions: These DNA methylation profiles provide insights into the etiology of renal cell carcinoma and, most importantly, demonstrate clinically applicable biomarkers for use in early detection of kidney cancer.

In this paper we introduce a coarse-to-fine arrhythmia classification technique that can be used for efficient processing of large Electrocardiogram (ECG) records. This technique reduces time-complexity of arrhythmia classification by reducing size of the beats as well as by quantizing the number of beats using Multi-Section Vector Quantization (MSVQ) without compromising on the accuracy of the classification. The proposed solution is tested on MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. This work achieves a highest computational speed-up factor of 2.2:1 in comparison with standard arrhythmia classification technique with marginal loss (<;1%) in classification accuracy. The clinical application of this technique enhances physician's throughput by factor of 2x while processing large ECG records from Holter system.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) generally follows prediabetes (PD) conditions such as impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and/or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Although studies reported an association of IGT or IFG with cataract, the experimental basis for PD associated cataract is not known. Hence, we evaluated neonatal streptozotocin (nSTZ) induced rat model to study PD associated cataractogenesis by injecting STZ to two-day old rats. While majority (70%) of nSTZ injected pups developed IGT (nSTZ-PD) by two months but not cataract even after seven months, remaining (30%) nSTZ rats developed hyperglycemia (nSTZ-D) by two months and mature cataract by seven months. Lens biochemical analysis indicated increased oxidative stress as indicated by increased SOD activity, lipid peroxidation, and protein carbonyl levels in nSTZ-D cataractous lens. There was also increased polyol pathway as assessed by aldose reductase activity and sorbitol levels. Though nSTZ-PD animals have not shown any signs of lenticular opacity, insolubilization of proteins along with enhanced polyol pathway was observed in the lens. Further there was increased oxidative stress in lens of IGT animals. These results suggest that oxidative stress along with increased polyol pathway might play a role in IGT-associated lens abnormalities. In conclusion, nSTZ-PD rat model could aid to investigate IGT-associated lens abnormalities.

Because of the increasing number of applications of nanoparticles (NPs), particularly in food, personal care products, etc., these materials pose a potential threat to the environment. The performance of municipal wastewater treatment plants could be adversely affected if NPs ultimately reach these plants. In this study, the effects of silver, titania and zirconia NPs on the micro-organisms responsible for decomposition of organic matter was assessed and related to the performance of sewage treatment plants. Statistical analysis using the most probable number test demonstrated a relationship between NP concentration and parameters related to bacterial decomposition of wastewater. A sequencing batch reactor experiment demonstrated deteriorating performance of the reactor in terms of reduced chemical oxygen demand and biological oxygen demand as a function of NP concentration. The presence of NPs in influent (untreated) wastewater was found to necessitate increased hydraulic residence times to maintain the desired performance of the plant.

Curcumin, the active principle present in the yellow spice turmeric, has been shown to exhibit various pharmacological actions such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anti-carcinogenic activities. Previously we have reported that dietary curcumin delays diabetes-induced cataract in rats. However, low peroral bioavailability is a major limiting factor for the success of clinical utilization of curcumin. In this study, we have administered curcumin encapsulated nanoparticles in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic cataract model. Oral administration of 2 mg/day nanocurcumin was significantly more effective than curcumin in delaying diabetic cataracts in rats. The significant delay in progression of diabetic cataract by nanocurcumin is attributed to its ability to intervene the biochemical pathways of disease progression such as protein insolubilization, polyol pathway, protein glycation, crystallin distribution and oxidative stress. The enhanced performance of nanocurcumin can be attributed probably to its improved oral bioavailability. Together, the results of the present study demonstrate the potential of nanocurcumin in managing diabetic cataract.

A young drug abuser was admitted to our intensive care unit for organophosphorus poisoning. He required mechanical ventilation and was started empirically on linezolid for suspected nosocomial infection. The patient developed high-grade fever with altered sensorium and clonus. Serotonin syndrome was suspected and the patient was started on cyproheptadine. He recovered within 3 days of withdrawing linezolide and administering cyproheptadine.

This is a case of a patient who presented with generalised weakness, dysphagia and ptosis. Upon evaluating the patient, she was found to have myasthenia gravis (MG) with anaemia and hypothyroidism. Further evaluation for the cause of anaemia revealed that the patient had pure red cell aplasia (PRCA). CT thorax revealed a thymoma. The patient was given packed cell transfusions, steroids and pyridostigmine. The patient improved symptomatically. Her haemoglobin level at follow-up was 9.5 gm/dl. The patient has been posted for thymectomy. This is a rare case of PRCA seen in a patient with MG, with thymoma associated with hypothyroidism.

In this paper, we introduce a Concept Graph Engine (CG-Engine) that generates patient specific personalized disease ranking based on the laboratory test data. CG-Engine uses the Unified Medical Language System database as medical knowledge base. The CG-Engine consists of two concepts namely, a concept graph and its attributes. The concept graph is a two level tree that starts at a laboratory test root node and ends at a disease node. The attributes of concept graph are: Relation types, Semantic types, Number of Sources and Symmetric Information between nodes. These attributes are used to compute the weight between laboratory tests and diseases. The personalized disease ranking is created by aggregating the weights of all the paths connecting between a particular disease and contributing abnormal laboratory tests. The clinical application of CG-Engine improves physician's throughput as it provides the snapshot view of abnormal laboratory tests as well as a personalized disease ranking.

The antiphospholipid syndrome and protein-S deficiency are known prothrombotic conditions. The confirmation of the latter in a patient with a recent antiphospholipid syndrome-associated thrombosis may be difficult as protein-S levels are low in a patient in the wake of recent thrombosis, antiphospholipid antibodies themselves may be targeted against protein-S and oral anticoagulation with warfarin may further bring down protein-S levels. We report a case of a 29-year-old man presenting with widespread unprovoked thrombosis in the form of pulmonary thromboembolism, neck vein thrombosis and pancreatitis. He was found to have antiphospholipid syndrome with low protein-S levels on two occasions. He was anticoagulated with heparin and improved over a 24-day hospital stay marred by the development of an exudative pleural effusion.