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Background: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a potentially serious complication of intravenous or intra-arterial contrast administration during angiographic procedures that results in renal dysfunction. CIN can increase the risk of mortality by three-fold. This meta-analysis assesses the efficacy and safety of nicorandil for the prevention of CIN in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary angiography (CAG)., Methods: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov were used to perform a thorough literature search from their inception to July 2024. Twelve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed on RevMan and pooled estimates were presented as forest plots. The Mantel-Haenszel method was used for dichotomous outcomes and risk ratios (RRs) were calculated along with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI)., Results: This meta-analysis included 2787 participants (nicorandil: 1418, control: 1394). The use of nicorandil was protective against CIN (RR 0.38, 95% CI 0.29-0.50). There was no significant difference in major adverse events between the groups (RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.52-1.13, p = 0.18). Similarly, the use of nicorandil did not affect the risk of developing stroke (RR 1.05, 95% CI: 0.38-2.95), myocardial infarction (RR 0.90, 95% CI: 0.56-1.43), heart failure (RR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.39-1.68), cardiac death (RR 0.90, 95% CI: 0.28-2.88) and dialysis (RR 0.70, 95% CI: 0.11-4.44)., Conclusion: This meta-analysis concludes that nicorandil reduces CIN incidence after PCI or CAG without significantly increasing major adverse events. However, further well-designed, large-scale RCTs are needed to strengthen the practical relevance before routine clinical use., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors report no relationships that could be construed as a conflict of interest., (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

In recent years, workplace violence has become an escalating concern, particularly within the healthcare sector. Healthcare workers, who dedicate their lives to caring for others, are increasingly facing violence within their workplaces as evidenced by existing studies. However, literature overlooks complex associations between workplace violence, workplace stress, and domestic violence and stress. This article explores the phenomenon of workplace violence among healthcare workers through the lens of Spillover Theory and investigates impact of workplace violence on domestic stress with single and sequential mediation of workplace stress and domestic violence. Our findings of MEDTHREE analysis of time-lagged data indicate that individuals who experience workplace violence are more likely to exhibit stress, which ultimately becomes a cause of domestic violence. The study highlights how spillover theory can help to explain how workplace violence can trigger violence and stress in the home environment. The research highlights the need for a support system and targeted interventions to address the issue of workplace violence to mitigate its spillover effects into domestic violence. With the help of the findings, the organisational decision makers can develop comprehensive strategies to mitigate the harmful consequences of the workplace violence to provide safe and healthy environment at work and home settings., (© 2025 The Author(s). Stress and Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Heart failure (HF) patients frequently exhibit iron deficiency, which is associated with a poor prognosis. Although various trials have been conducted, it is uncertain if intravenous (IV) iron replenishment improves clinical outcomes in HF patients with iron deficiency. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from inception till 15 September 2023 to retrieve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared IV iron therapy with placebo or standard of care in patients with HF and iron deficiency. Clinical outcomes were assessed by generating forest plots using the random-effects model and pooling odds ratios (ORs) or weighted mean differences (WMDs). Fourteen RCTs with 6651 patients were included. IV iron therapy showed a significantly reduced incidence of the composite of first heart failure hospitalization (HHF) or cardiovascular (CV) mortality as compared with the control group (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.58 to 0.92). The IV iron therapy resulted in a trend towards lower CV mortality (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.76 to 1.01), 1-year all-cause mortality (OR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.71 to 1.02), and first HHF (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.51 to 1.05), and an improved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (MD = 4.54, 95% CI: -0.13 to 9.21). Meta-regression showed a significant inverse moderating effect of baseline LVEF on the first HHF or CV death. In patients with HF and iron deficiency, IV iron therapy reduced the incidence of composite of first HHF or CV mortality. There was a trend of lower overall CV and 1-year all-cause mortality, first HHF, and improved LVEF with IV iron therapy., (© 2024 The Author(s). ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have significantly changed the multiple myeloma treatment landscape. This meta-analysis compared the efficacy and safety of anti-CD38 mAb-based therapy versus standard therapy in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) patients., Methods: We performed a comprehensive literature search on PubMed, the Cochrane Database, and ClinicalTrials.gov. The primary outcomes were progression-free survival (PFS) and minimal residual disease (MRD) status. Dichotomous outcomes were pooled using risk ratio (RR) along with the 95% confidence interval (CI) in RevMan 5.4. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression analysis were performed. The RoB 2.0 tool was used to assess the risk of bias., Results: Our meta-analysis included 11 randomized controlled trials. There were 5270 patients; 3040 TEs and 2230 TIEs. Anti-CD38 mAbs significantly improved MRD negativity (RR 1.94, 95% CI: 1.59-2.37; p < 0.00001) and PFS (RR 0.51, 95% CI: 0.45-0.58; p < 0.00001). Subgroup analyses revealed better outcomes for both the TE (MRD: RR 1.52, 95% CI: 1.37-1.68; PFS: RR 0.43, 95% CI: 0.34-0.54) and TIE (MRD: RR 3.49, 95% CI: 2.65-4.61; PFS: RR 0.55, 95% CI: 0.47-0.64) populations. Meta-regression revealed that Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score 0 significantly influenced MRD status (β = -0.015, p < 0.05), whereas ECOG scores 1 and 2 lacked statistical significance. Subgroup analysis revealed that PFS was significantly different between standard (RR 0.47) and high (RR 0.81) cytogenetic risk groups., Conclusion: In NDMM patients, anti-CD38 mAb-based therapy significantly improved MRD status, and PFS compared with standard therapy alone, in both TE and TIE patients, suggesting a favorable benefit-risk profile., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), 2025.)

Background: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) has a significant impact on public health and healthcare expenditures in the United States (US)., Methods: We used data from the CDC WONDER database from 1999-2020 to identify trends in the IHD-related mortality of patients ≥ 75 years in the US. AAMRs per 100,000 population and APC were calculated and categorized by year, sex, race, and geographic divisions., Results: Between 1999 and 2020, a total of 8,124,568 IHD-related deaths were recorded. Notable declines in AAMR were observed from 1999 to 2014 (APC: -3.86) and from 2014 to 2018 (APC: -2.55), with an overall increase from 2018 to 2020 (APC: 3.76). Older men consistently demonstrated higher AAMRs than older females, with AAMRs for both sexes decreasing steadily from 1999 to 2018 and increasing in 2020. When stratified by race/ethnicity, Whites (1931.7) had the highest AAMR, followed by Blacks (1836.5), American Indians (1510.5), Hispanics (1464.4), and Asians (1093.6). Furthermore, nonmetropolitan areas (2015.2) showed greater AAMRs than metropolitan areas (1841.8). The ≥ 85-year group consistently exhibited higher IHD-related mortality rates compared to the 75-84 years group. In comparison, the older group [≥75 years] (1873.0) consistently exhibited higher IHD-related AAMRs than the younger group [<75 years] (64.0) throughout the study, showing a significant disparity. Chronic IHD (1552.0) consistently showed the highest AAMRs throughout the study, surpassing myocardial infarction (515.6), other ischemic heart diseases (24.0), and angina pectoris (5.6)., Conclusion: Targeted interventions and resource allocation are crucial for areas with high IHD-related mortality. Public health policies should address demographic and geographical disparities, with further research for effective strategies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2025 Latif et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Bioprosthetic mitral valve degeneration is traditionally treated with Redo-SMVR, but the latest ViV-TMVR procedure offers a less invasive and lower risk alternative. A systematic literature search was conducted on Cochrane Central, Scopus, and Medline (PubMed interface) electronic databases from inception till 15th April 2024. We used risk ratios (RR) for dichotomous outcomes and mean differences (MD) for continuous outcomes. We included a total of eleven studies with 11,931 patients in the final quantitative and qualitative analysis. When comparing ViV-TMVR with Redo-SMVR, no significant difference was found for 30-day mortality (P = 0.13) and 1-year mortality (P = 0.91), whereas patients in the ViV-TMVR showed significantly reduced incidence of stroke (P < 0.00001), In-hospital mortality (P), bleeding complications (P = 0.003), AKI (P = 0.0006), arrhythmias (P = 0.01), LVOT obstruction (P = 0.04), and PPI (P < 0.00001). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed between either group when comparing vascular complications (P = 0.97), 2-year mortality (P = 0.60) and 3-year mortality. ViV-TMVR was associated with a significant risk of paravalvular leakage (P = 0.008). Although, ViV-TMVR reduces the risk of complications associated with Redo-SMVR, larger studies are imperative to reach conclusive results., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

MXenes, a novel class of two-dimensional (2D) materials known for their excellent electronic conductivity and hydrophilicity, have emerged as promising candidates for lithium-ion battery anodes. This study presents a simple wet-chemical method for depositing interconnected SnO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) onto MXene sheets. The SnO 2 NPs act as both a high-capacity energy source and a spacer to prevent MXene sheets from restacking. The highly conductive MXene facilitates rapid electron and lithium-ion transport and mitigates the volume changes of SnO₂ during the lithiation/delithiation process by confining the SnO₂ NPs between the MXene layers. This composite anode, SnO 2 @MXene, leverages the high capacity of SnO 2 and the structural and mechanical stability MXene provides. The SnO 2 @MXene anode exhibits superior electrochemical performance, with a high specific capacity of 678 mAh g - 1 at a current rate of 2.0 A g - 1 over 500 cycles, outperforming pristine MXenes and SnO 2 nanoparticles., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The efficacy and safety profile of mavacamten, a cardiac myosin inhibitor for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is not well-established, prompting the need for an updated meta-analysis. The authors conducted an extensive search across multiple electronic databases, including Embase, MEDLINE (via Pubmed), and CENTRAL, to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the efficacy and safety of mavacamten in HCM. Review Manager 5.4 (Revman) was employed to pool risk ratios (RR) and mean differences (MD). Our literature search yielded 4 RCTs with a total of 503 patients. Mavacamten was found to be associated with higher rates of greater than or equal to 1 New York Heart Association (NYHA) class improvement (RR 2.20, 95% CI: 1.48-3.28; I 2 =51%) and change from baseline in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire- Clinical Summary Score (KCCQ-CSS) (MD 7.50, 95% CI: 3.44-11.55; I 2 =50%). Mavacamten was also associated with improved resting left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) gradient (MD -38.33, 95% CI: -49.38 to -27.28; I 2 =75%), Valsalva LVOT gradient (MD -48.08, 95% CI: -62.21 to -33.96; I 2 =78%), post-exercise LVOT gradient (MD -37.1, 95% CI: -44.37 to -29.84; I 2 =0%), LVMI (MD -16.91, 95% CI: -28.29 to -5.54; I 2 =88%), and lower rates of septal reduction therapy (SRT) (RR 0.30, 95% CI: 0.22-0.40; I 2 =0%). There were no significant differences between mavacamten and placebo regarding the composite functional outcome, greater than or equal to 1 treatment-emergent adverse event, greater than or equal to 1 serious adverse event, and atrial fibrillation. The authors; findings suggest that mavacamten contributes to improvements in NYHA class, KCCQ-CSS scores, and LVOT gradients while reducing the incidence of SRT in patients with HCM., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest and no financial interests related to the material of this manuscript., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Energy storage devices play a crucial role in various applications, such as powering electronics, power backup for homes and businesses, and support for the integration of renewable energy sources into electrical grid applications. Electrode materials for energy storage devices are preferred to have a flexible nature, conductive, better capacity, and low-toxicity. Using Gallium based liquid metal alloys, such as Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn), Eutectic Gallium-Tin (EGaSn), and Eutectic Gallium-Indium-Tin (EGaInSn), as electrode materials play very important role in energy storage devices. These liquid metals have some interesting properties with a self-healing nature, high mechanical stability, compatibility with various materials, fluidity, low young's modulus, high electrical and thermal conductivity. Those properties have made it suitable to be used in various energy storage devices. In this mini review, we have concisely described the advantages and challenges of using liquid metal as electrode materials for various energy storage devices., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: Since the efficacy and safety of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) in patients with acute ischemic stroke with a large infarct area is still inconclusive, we sought to compare functional and neurological outcomes with the use of endovascular thrombectomy versus medical care alone., Methods: We searched MEDLINE (via PubMed), Embase, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) to retrieve all the relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on this topic. Review manager (RevMan) was used to perform meta-analyses using a random-effect model. Dichotomous outcomes were pooled using risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs)., Results: Our meta-analysis included 6 RCTs with a total of 1665 patients. Most studies included patients with an ASPECTS score of 3-5. Our results demonstrate that endovascular thrombectomy significantly increased the rates of functional independence (mRS ≤ 2) (RR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.89-3.29) and moderate neurological outcome (mRS ≤ 3) (RR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.50-2.40) at 90 days. The benefit of EVT for these outcomes remained the same at 1-year follow-up. Endovascular thrombectomy was associated with increased rates of early neurological improvement (RR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.53-3.22), excellent neurological recovery (mRS ≤ 1) (RR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.02-3.03), and decreased rate of poor neurological recovery (mRS 4-6) (RR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.76-0.86). No significant difference was found between the two groups regarding all-cause mortality (RR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.72-1.02), decompressive craniectomy (RR, 1.32; 95% CI, 0.89-1.94), and the incidence of serious adverse effects (RR, 1.39; 95% CI, 0.83-2.32) between the two groups. Endovascular thrombectomy significantly increased the rates of any intracranial hemorrhage (RR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.48-2.53) and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (RR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.11-2.69)., Conclusion: Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) significantly improves neurological and functional outcomes in patients who present within 6 hours of stroke onset with ICA and proximal M1 occlusions, and ASPECTS scores ranging from 3 to 5, compared to medical therapy alone, with an increased risk of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The study aims to not only detect the presence of herd behavior in the countries studied, but also to examine the effect of cultural dimensions and market/bank-based systems on the herding behavior of financial market investors. The study employs the Cross-Sectional Standard Deviation and Cross-Sectional Absolute Deviation methods to analyze daily data from public companies traded in the capital markets in Emerging Seven and Group of Seven economies. The results suggest that being a member of E7-G7, a Future Oriented (FO), and a Performance Oriented (PO) cultures are the most important factors in explaining herd behavior. Additionally, the study found that the Ridge Classifier and CatBoost Classifier algorithms arethe most superior model for estimating herd behavior periods determined by the CSSD and CASD models, respectively. The feature selection results show that the Assertiveness (A) in-group collectivism (GC) are the three most important explanatory factors of the herd behavior., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

A strategy of complete revascularization (CR) is recommended in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and multivessel disease (MVD). However, the optimal timing of CR remains equivocal. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing immediate CR (ICR) with staged CR in patients with ACS and MVD. Our primary outcomes were all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. All outcomes were assessed at 3 time points: in-hospital or at 30 days, at 6 months to 1 year, and at >1 year. Data were pooled in RevMan 5.4 using risk ratios as the effect measure. A total of 9 RCTs (7,506 patients) were included in our review. A total of 7 trials enrolled patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), 1 enrolled patients with non-STEMI only, and 1 enrolled patients with all types of ACS. There was no difference between ICR and staged CR regarding all-cause and cardiovascular mortality at any time window. ICR reduced the rate of myocardial infarction and decreased the rate of repeat revascularization at 6 months and beyond. The rates of cerebrovascular events and stent thrombosis were similar between the 2 groups. In conclusion, the present meta-analysis demonstrated a lower rate of myocardial infarction and a reduction in repeat revascularization at and after 6 months with ICR strategy in patients with mainly STEMI and MVD. The 2 groups had no difference in the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Further RCTs are needed to provide more definitive conclusions and investigate CR strategies in other ACS., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no competing interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) are superior to coronary angiography for guiding percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, whether one technique is superior to the other is inconclusive., Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception to November 2023 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing OCT and IVUS in patients undergoing PCI. RevMan 5.4 was used to pool outcomes with risk ratio (RR) as the effect measure., Results: Six RCTs (4,402 patients) were included in this meta-analysis. There was no significant difference between the OCT- and IVUS-guided PCI groups in the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (RR 0.87, 95% CI: 0.65, 1.16; I 2  = 0%) and cardiac mortality (RR 0.73, 95% CI: 0.24, 2.21; I 2  = 0%). The results were consistent across the subgroups of the presence or absence of left main disease (P interaction >0.1). There were no significant differences between OCT and IVUS in the risk of target lesion revascularization (RR 0.78, 95% CI: 0.47, 1.30; I 2  = 0%), target vessel revascularization (RR 1.06, 95% CI: 0.69, 1.62; I 2  = 0%), target-vessel myocardial infarction (RR 0.79, 95% CI: 0.40, 1.53; I 2  = 0%), stent thrombosis (RR 0.59, 95% CI: 0.12, 2.97; I 2  = 0%), and all-cause mortality (RR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.53, 1.90; I 2  = 0%)., Conclusions: Our meta-analysis demonstrated similar clinical outcomes in OCT- and IVUS-guided PCI. New large-scale multicenter RCTs with long-term follow-up are required to confirm or refute our findings and provide more reliable results., Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO, identifier, CRD42023486933., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The authors declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (© 2024 Vats, Elahi, Hidri, Abdelkader, Munaf, Prince, Asif, Cheema, Ahmad, Rehman, Nashwan, Ahmed, Lakhter, Virk and Vincent.)

Background: Atherosclerosis is a multi-factorial disease, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a critical risk factor in developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Cholesteryl-ester transfer-protein (CETP), synthesized by the liver, regulates LDL-C and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) through the bidirectional transfer of lipids. The novelty of CETP inhibitors (CETPis) has granted new focus towards increasing HDL-C, besides lowering LDL-C strategies. To date, five CETPis that are projected to improve lipid profiles, torcetrapib, dalcetrapib, evacetrapib, anacetrapib, and obicetrapib, have reached late-stage clinical development for ASCVD risk reduction. Early trials failed to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular occurrences. Given the advent of some recent large-scale clinical trials (ACCELERATE, HPS3/TIMI55-REVEAL Collaborative Group), conducting a meta-analysis is essential to investigate CETPis' efficacy., Methods: We conducted a thorough search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that commenced between 2003 and 2023; CETPi versus placebo studies with a ≥6-month follow-up and defined outcomes were eligible., Primary Outcomes: major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related mortality, all-cause mortality., Secondary Outcomes: stroke, revascularization, hospitalization due to acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction (MI)., Results: Nine RCTs revealed that the use of a CETPi significantly reduced CVD-related mortality (RR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.81-0.98; p = 0.02; I2 = 0%); the same studies also reduced the risk of MI (RR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86-0.98; p = 0.01; I2 = 0%), which was primarily attributed to anacetrapib. The use of a CETPi did not reduce the likelihood any other outcomes., Conclusions: Our meta-analysis shows, for the first time, that CETPis are associated with reduced CVD-related mortality and MI.

Background: Dementia is a recognized complication of atrial fibrillation (AF). Oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy can potentially be protective against this complication., Methods: A comprehensive search of MEDLINE and Embase for comparative observational studies reporting the efficacy of OAC therapy for the incidence of dementia in patients with AF was conducted from its inception until March 2023. Studies that had patients with prior use of OAC or with a previous history of dementia were excluded., Results: A total of 22 studies were included in this review involving 617,204 participants. The pooled analysis revealed that OAC therapy, including direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) and vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), was associated with a reduced incidence of dementia in AF patients. Specifically, compared to non-OAC treatment, OACs demonstrated a significant reduction in dementia incidence (HR 0.68, 95 % CI [0.58, 0.80], p < 0.00001), with similar findings observed for DOACs (HR 0.69, 95 % CI [0.51, 0.94], p = 0.02) and VKAs (HR 0.73, 95 % CI [0.56, 0.95], p = 0.02). The comparison of DOAC vs VKA revealed that DOACs are associated with reduced risk of dementia (HR 0.87, 95 % CI [0.79, 0.96], p = 0.004)., Conclusion: Our SR and meta-analysis showed that the use of OAC therapy is associated with a reduced risk of dementia in individuals with AF. However, our results are limited by the potential influence of confounding bias and significant heterogeneity in the analyses., (© 2024 The Authors.)

In this study, twenty-two water samples were collected from boreholes (BH), and streams to evaluate drinking water quality, its distribution, identification of contamination sources and apportionment for Moti village, northern Pakistan. An atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) is utilized to determine the level of heavy metals in water such as arsenic (As), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), and ferrous (Fe). Groundwater chemistry and its quantitative driving factors were further explored using multivariate statistical methods, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) models. Finally, a total of eight electrical resistivity tomographs (ERTs) were acquired across i) the highly contaminated streams; ii) the villages far away from contaminated streams; and iii) across the freshwater stream. In the Moti village, the mean levels (mg/l) of heavy metals in water samples were 7.2465 (As), 0.4971 (Zn), 0.5056 (Pb), 0.0422 (Cu), 0.0279 (Cd), 0.1579 (Mn), and 0.9253 (Fe) that exceeded the permissible limit for drinking water (such as 0.010 for As and Pb, 3.0 for Zn, 0.003 for Cd and 0.3 for Fe) established by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2008). The average entropy weighted water quality index (EWQI) of 200, heavy metal pollution index (HPI) of 175, heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) of 1.6 values reveal inferior water quality in the study area. Human health risk assessment, consisting of hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI), exceeded the risk threshold (>1),indicating prevention of groundwater usage. Results obtained from the PCA and PMF models indicated anthropogenic sources (i.e. industrial and solid waste) responsible for the high concentration of heavy metals in the surface and groundwater. The ERTs imaged the subsurface down to about 40 m depths and show the least resistivity values (<11 Ωm) for subsurface layers that are highly contaminated. However, the ERTs revealed relatively high resistivity values for subsurface layers containing fresh or less contaminated water. Filtering and continuous monitoring of the quality of drinking water in the village are highly recommended., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors have read contents of current manuscript and approved. There is not conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This case report delves into the intricate diagnostic journey of a 42-year-old male presenting with jaundice, abdominal distension, and ascites, where medical imaging, including CT scans and ultrasound, played a central role. Noteworthy radiological findings, such as irregular nodular margins and caudate lobe hypertrophy, illuminated the distinctive pathophysiology of cryptogenic cirrhosis. The study underscores the pivotal role of medical imaging in elucidating complex liver pathologies, emphasizing the relevance of radiological approaches in diagnosing cryptogenic cirrhosis and guiding comprehensive management strategies., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of University of Washington.)

Background: Several studies have been conducted over the years to find an effective and safe therapeutic agent to treat hypercholesterolemia. Inclisiran is a novel drug being studied for its efficacy and safety in reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in patients to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. No previous study was done to review the trials for the serious adverse events of this drug. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the incidence of serious adverse events of this drug., Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials is performed., Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov, from their inception till July 3, 2023, was performed for ORION trials, studying the efficacy and safety of inclisiran. The random-effects model was used in the meta-analysis to provide a pooled proportion of serious adverse events. The risk of bias in each study was assessed by the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool., Results: From 319 studies searched from the databases, only 8 relevant articles remained after a detailed evaluation. These studies, having a total of 4981 patients, were involved in the analysis, with a pooled estimate showing a nonsignificant incidence of serious adverse events. Each adverse event was studied individually, and product issues and endocrine disorders had the highest odds ratio among them. All included studies were classified as moderate quality., Conclusion: Following systematic review and meta-analysis, we found no significant differences in any serious adverse events following the administration of inclisiran. However, larger ongoing trials will provide additional data to evaluate the safety profile of this agent., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

In energy application technology, the anode part of the electrode is typically composed of carbon-coated materials that exhibit excellent electrochemical performance. The carbon-coated electrodes facilitate electrochemical reactions involving the fuel and the oxidant. Energy electrodes are used in stationary power plants to generate electricity for the grid. These large-scale installations are known as distributed generation systems and contribute to grid stability and reliability. Understanding the practical applications of energy materials remains a significant hurdle in the way of commercialization. An anode electrode has one key limitation, specifically with alloy-type candidates, as they tend to exhibit rapid capacity degradation during cycling due to volume expansion. Herein, biomass-derived carbon from sunflowers (seeds husks) via pyrolysis and then bismuth nanoparticles are treated with carbon via a simple wet-chemical method. The electrode Bi@C offers several structural advantages, such as high capacity, good cycling stability, and exceptional capability at the current rate of 500 mA g -1 , delivering a capacity of 731.8 mAh g -1 for 200 cycles. The biomass-derived carbon coating protects the bismuth nanoparticles and contributes to enhanced electronic conductivity. Additionally, we anticipate the use of low-cost biomass with hybrid composition has the potential to foster environment-friendly practices in the development of next-generation advanced fuel cell technology.

Vasovagal syncope (VVS) refers to a heterogeneous group of conditions whereby the cardiovascular reflexes normally controlling the circulation are interrupted irregularly in response to a trigger, resulting in vasodilation, bradycardia, or both. VVS affects one-third of the population at least once in their lifetime or by the age of 60, reduces the quality of life, and may cause disability affecting certain routines. It poses a considerable economic burden on society, and, despite its prevalence, there is currently no proven pharmacological treatment for preventing VVS. The novel procedure of ganglionated plexus (GP) ablation has emerged rapidly in the past two decades, and has been proven successful in treating syncope. Several parameters influence the success rate of GP ablation, including specific ablation sites, localization and surgical techniques, method of access, and the integration of other interventions. This review aims to provide an overview of the existing literature on the physiological aspects and clinical effectiveness of GP ablation in the treatment of VVS. Specifically, we explore the association between GPs and VVS and examine the impact of GP ablation procedures as reported in human clinical trials. Our objective is to shed light on the therapeutic significance of GP ablation in eliminating VVS and restoring normal sinus rhythm, particularly among young adults affected by this condition.

With the ever-increasing world population, the energy produced from green, environmentally friendly approaches is in high demand. In this work, we proposed a green and cost-effective strategy for synthesizing a porous carbon electrode decorated with alumina oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) from cherry blossom leaves using the pyrolysis method followed by a sol-gel method. An Al 2 O 3 -coating nano-layer (4-6 nm) is formed on the porous carbon during the composition fabrication, which further adversely affects battery performance. The development of a simple rich-shell-structured C@Al 2 O 3 nanocomposite anode is expected to achieve stable electrochemical performances as lithium storage. A significant contributing factor to enhanced performance is the structure of the rich-shell material, which greatly enhances conductivity and stabilizes the solid-electrolyte interface (SEI) film. In the battery test assembled with composite C@Al 2 O 3 electrode, the specific capacity is 516.1 mAh g -1 at a current density of 0.1 A g -1 after 200 cycles. The average discharge capacity of carbon is 290 mAh g -1 at a current density of 1.0 A g -1 . The present study proposes bioinspired porous carbon electrode materials for improving the performance of next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

Electrode materials with high electrochemical efficiency are required for battery technology that can be used to store renewable energy. Bismuth (Bi) has shown great potential as an electrode material for metal ion batteries due to its large volumetric capacity and reasonable operating potential. However, the cycling performance deteriorates due to the drastic volume changes that occur during alloying and dealloying. Herein, we design a 2D Bi-C metal sheet using density functional theory and investigate the feasibility of this nanosheet for alkali metal ion batteries. The predicted metallic Bi-C monolayer (ML) are highly stable and show sound electrode performance. Moreover, alkali metal atoms exhibit high diffusivities on both sides (Bi and C sides) with low energy barriers of 0.252/0.201, 0.217/0.169, and 0.179/0.136 eV for Li, Na, and K ions, respectively. Furthermore, the Bi-C ML shows high theoretical storage capacities of (485 mA h g -1 ) for Li and Na and (364 mA h g -1 ) for K and low open-circuit voltage of 0.12, 0.24, and 0.32 V for Li, Na, and K ions, respectively. These exciting findings show that the predicted Bi-C ML can be used as an anode material for Li-, Na- and K-ion batteries.

As permanent pacemaker implantation is increasingly becoming a common practice, it is important to understand potential complications associated with the procedure. We present a 78-year-old Caucasian female who developed contralateral pneumomediastinum, pneumothorax, and pneumopericardium after undergoing implantation of a dual-chamber pacemaker., Competing Interests: The author(s) declare(s) that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wajeeh ur Rehman et al.)

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of supervisor support on the relationship between the need to be unique and the innovative behavior. People not only strive to belong to a group but also want to be unique from others and feel exceptional. Individuals' innovative behavior is one of the things that makes them feel different from other people. Because developing a new idea, supporting this idea, putting this idea into practice, and the positive achievements of this idea distinguish people who exhibit innovative behavior from others. It depends on the behavior of supervisors whether people who break away from typical practices and procedures to feel unique and special continue to act in innovative ways. In this context, it is vitally essential for supervisors to support people who display innovative behavior. The research was conducted on employees working in the education sector in Mersin. We employed the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the fitness of the model and moderation was tested. As hypothesized, the need to be unique had a significant and positive effect on innovative behavior. This finding is consistent with existing literature and thus advance knowledge on need to be unique and innovative behavior, particular in education sector. Nonetheless, it has been determined that supervisor support doesn't have a moderator role on the relationship between the need to be unique and innovative behavior. Although there are some researches in the literature on consumer experiences about the need to be unique and innovative behavior, but literature on education section is sparse and still long way to go to evaluate its' reflections on the workplace., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Bekmezci, Rehman, Khurshid, Eroğluer and Trout.)

The advent of content-centric networks and Small Cell Networks (SCN) has resulted in the exponential growth of data for both uplink and downlink transmission. Data caching is considered one of the popular solutions to cater to the resultant challenges of network congestion and bottleneck of backhaul links in B5G networks. Caching for uplink transmission in distributed B5G scenarios has several challenges such as duplicate matching of contents, mobile station's unawareness about the cached contents, and the storage of large content size. This paper proposes a cache framework for uplink transmission in distributed B5G SCNs. Our proposed framework generates comprehensive lists of cache contents from all the Small Base Stations (SBSs) in the network to remove similar contents and assist uplink transmission. In addition, our framework also proposes content matching at a Mobile Station (MS) in contrast to an SBS, which effectively improves the energy and spectrum efficiency. Furthermore, large size contents are segmented and their fractions are stored in the distributed cache to improve the cache hit ratio. Our analysis shows that the proposed framework outperforms the existing schemes by improving the energy and spectrum efficiency of both access and core networks. Compared to the existing state of the art, our proposed framework improves the energy and spectrum efficiency of the access network by 41.28% and 15.58%, respectively. Furthermore, the cache hit ratio and throughput are improved by 9% and 40.00%, respectively., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Virtual worlds are the most advanced form of virtual environments, which offer one of the best platforms for serving various domains. They are, especially, well suited for education, to cope with the physical restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 outbreak, as they offer classroom experience to their users through immersion. They are online interactive spaces which are collaborative, persistent, coherent, and social in nature. Users immersed in these spaces are represented in the form of digital characters called, avatars. Virtual worlds offer advanced navigation methods such as flying and teleporting to facilitate quick learning. This paper analyses the use of a partial but carefully reconstructed cultural heritage site, developed in OpenSimulator framework, for learning both in terms of discourse and quantitative analysis. Discourse analysis compares the developed virtual world presence with traditional content provisioning methods in terms of a large set of well-known characteristics. Quantitative analysis, on the other hand, is based on data collected from users after conducting simple learning experiments. It revealed that the properties such as realism, friendliness, advanced navigation, and being detailed and social in nature greatly attracted user attention in learning. The learning was fast compared with traditional methods, however, it was a little hard for naive users to start exploring the content. Pre and post learning responses of users revealed that their knowledge level was significantly increased. Based on valuable suggestions, it is planned in future, to add intelligence to traditional agents, so they may help in an increased learning experience of users, based on the knowledge gained in earlier sessions., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022.)

The development of a solid substrate for the support and stabilization of zero-valent metal nanoparticles (NPs) is the heart of the catalyst system. In the current embodiment, we have prepared solid support comprise of alginate-coated cellulose filter paper (Alg/FP) for the synthesis and stabilization of Co nanoparticles (NPs) named as Alg/FP@Co NPs. Furthermore, Alginate polymer was blended with 1 and 2 weight percent of CoNi NPs to make Alg-CoNi1/FP and Alg-CoNi2/FP, respectively. All these stabilizing matrixes were used as dip-catalyst for the degradation of azo dyes and reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4NP). The effect of initial dye concentration, amount of NaBH 4 , and catalyst dosage was assessed for the degradation of Congo red (CR) dye by using Alg-CoNi2/FP@Co NPs. Results indicated that the highest k app value (3.63 × 10 -1 min -1 ) was exhibited by Alg-CoNi2/FP@Co NPs and lowest by Alg/FP@Co NPs against the discoloration of CR dye. Furthermore, it was concluded that Alg-CoNi2/FP@Co NPs exhibited strong catalyst activity against CR, and methyl orange dye (MO) degradation as well as 4NP reduction. Antibacterial activity of the prepared composites was also investigated and the highest l activity was shown by Alg-CoNi2/FP@Co NPs, which inhibit 2.5 cm zone of bacteria compared to other catalysts.

The manipulation of progressive lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with high energy density, low cost, and long-term cycling stability is of high priority to meet the growing demands for next-generation energy storage devices. Silicon (Si) has been receiving marvelous attention as a promising anode material for rechargeable LIBs, due to its high theoretical gravimetric capacity and low cost. Si is the second most abundant element in the earth crust in the form of silicates, so it is the most cost-effective element as an anode material in next-generation LIBs. In this review, different natural sources such as rice husk, sugar cane bagasse, bamboo, reed plant, sand, halloysite, and different waste sources such as waste of the solar power industry, fly ash, straw ash, and other industrial waste that can give rise to different nanostructured Si are systematically summarized. In addition, different synthesis methods of fabricating nanostructured Si are reviewed as well as including magnesiothermic reduction, etching methods, ball milling, and chemical vapor deposition. The advantages and disadvantages of these kind of synthesis methods are discussed as well. Furthermore, the opportunities and challenges of nano-Si are also discussed., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Different films comprising pure chitosan (CS) and chitosan coated sodium zeolites composites films designated as CSZ1, CSZ2, CSZ3 and CSZ4 respectively are presented here for the sequestration of MO dye. The as-synthesized films were characterized by using FSESM, XPS XRD, and TGA analysis. The sequestration of methyl orange dye (MO) was studied under various adsorption parameters i.e. pH effect, reaction temperature, catalytic dosage, interaction period, and original dye concentration in batch experiments. The adsorption power of MO dye sequestration in the presence of CSZ3 was 287 mg g -1 higher than the fine CS (201 mg g -1 ), and lowest for CSZ4 (173 mg g -1 ). The experimental data is fitted in the pseudo-second order of chemical kinetics. The Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models were used on behalf of the analysis of experimental data that revealed multilayered adsorption of MO dye. Kinetics, equilibrium and thermodynamic process were discussed in detailed, suggesting the endothermic and spontaneous process of the adsorption of MO dye on the exterior of films. The present work is general for the MO adsorption, however, it can be applied on large scale applications and can be easily adjustable in the water purification assemblies., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The COVID-19 virus is a devastating pandemic that has impacted the US healthcare system significantly. More than one study reported a significant decrease in acute coronary syndrome admissions during that pandemic which is still due to unknown reasons., Methods: This is a retrospective non-controlled multi-centered study of 180 patients (117 males and 63 females) with acute coronary syndrome (STEMI and NSTEMI) admitted during March/April of 2019 and March/April 2020 in Upstate New York., Results: A total of 113 patients (61.9% males, 38.1% females) with a mean age of 72.3 ± 14.2 presented during March/April 2019 with ACS (STEMI + NSTEMI) while only 67 (70.1% males, 29.9% females) COVID-19 negative patients with a mean age of 65.1 ± 14.5 presented during the same period (March/April) in 2020. This is a drop by 40.7% (P < .05) of total ACS cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. In NSTEMI patients, 36.4% presented late (>24 hours of symptoms) during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with 2019 (27.1%, P = .033)., Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a substantial drop by 40.7% (P < .05) of total ACS admissions in our area. This decrease in hospital admissions and late presentations can be a worrisome sign for an increase in future complications of myocardial infarctions., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Intelligent Transport System (ITS) uses the IEEE 802.11P standard for the wireless communication among vehicles. A wireless ad hoc network of vehicles is established to improve road safety, comfort, security, and traffic efficiency. Wireless communication in ITS leads to many security and privacy challenges. Security and privacy of ITS are important issues that demand incorporation of confidentiality, privacy, authentication, integrity, non-repudiation, and restrictive obscurity. In order to ensure the privacy of vehicles during communication, it is required that the real identity of vehicles should not be revealed. There must be robust and efficient security and privacy mechanisms for the establishment of a reliable and trustworthy network. Therefore, we propose Advanced Strong Pseudonym based Authentication (ASPA), which is a distributed framework to handle the security and privacy issues of vehicle communications in ITS. ASPA only allows vehicles with valid pseudonyms to communicate in ITS. Pseudonyms are assigned to vehicles in a secure manner. The pseudonym mappings of vehicles are stored at different locations to avoid any chance of vehicle pseudonyms certificates linkability. In addition, the most recent communication pseudonyms of a malicious vehicle are revoked and are stored in the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) that results in small size of the CRL. Therefore, the CRL size does not increase exponentially. The distributed framework of ASPA guarantees, the vehicles privacy preservation in the real identities mapping and revocation phase. The empirical results prove that ASPA is robust and efficient with low computational cost, overhead ratio, average latency, and an increased delivery ratio., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) are the promising materials in the various applications due to their unique properties like large surface area, biocompatibility, stability, excellent optical and electrical properties. Surface, optical and electrical properties are highly dependent on particle size, doping of different materials and so on. Porous structures in silicon nanomaterials not only improve the specific surface area, adsorption, and photoluminescence efficiency but also provide numbers of voids as well as the high surface to volume ratio and enhance the adsorption ability. In this review, we focus on the significance of porous silicon/mesoporous silicon nanoparticles (pSiNPs/mSiNPs) in the applications of energy storage, sensors and bioscience. Silicon as anode material in the lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) faces a huge change in volume during charging/discharging which leads to cracking, electrical contact loss and unstable solid electrolyte interphase. To overcome challenges of Si anode in the LIBs, mSiNPs are the promising candidates with different structures and coating of different materials to enhance electrochemical properties. On the basis of optical properties with tunable wavelength, pSiNPs are catching good results in biosensors and gas sensors. The mSiNPs with different structures and modified surfaces are playing an important role in the detection of biomarkers, drug delivery and diagnosis of cancer and tumors.

Volume expansion is a major challenge associated with tin oxide (SnO x ), which causes poor cyclability in lithium-ion battery anode. Bare tin dioxide (SnO 2 ), tin dioxide with graphene sheets (SnO 2 @GS), and bouquet-like nanocomposite structure (Mn 2 SnO 4 @GS) are prepared via hydrothermal method followed by annealing. The obtained composite material presents a bouquet structure containing manganese and tin oxide nanoparticle network with graphene sheets. Benefiting from this porous nanostructure, in which graphene sheets provide high electronic pathways to enhance the electronic conductivity, uniformly distributed particles offer accelerated kinetic reaction with lithium ion and reduced volume deviation in the tin dioxide (SnO 2 ) particle during charge-discharge testing. As a consequence, ternary composite Mn 2 SnO 4 @GS showed a high rate performance and outstanding cyclability of anode material for lithium-ion batteries. The electrode achieved a specific capacity of about 1070 mA h g -1 at a current density of 400 mA g -1 after 200 cycles; meanwhile, the electrode still delivered a specific capacity of about 455 mA h g -1 at a high current density of 2500 mA g -1 . Ternary Mn 2 SnO 4 @GS material could facilitate fabrication of unique structure and conductive network as advanced lithium-ion battery.

Background: Though the classical type of trigeminal neuralgia is the most common type with the neurovascular conflict causing the symptoms, yet quite some patients have the secondary type of trigeminal neuralgia in which space occupying lesions are responsible for the symptoms. This study was conducted to determine the frequency of cerebellopontine angle tumours in patients presenting with complaints of trigeminal neuralgia., Methods: This case series descriptive study was conducted in the department of Neurosurgery, Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad, from January 2009 to January 2012. It included patients who presented with symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia. Patients were subjected to further radiological investigation like Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to look for secondary causes of trigeminal neuralgia., Results: Among the 134 patients with age ranges 13-64 (51?4.3) years of age, 78(58.2%) were females and 56 (41.7%) were males. Frequency of cerebellopontine angle tumours in patients was 14 (10.4%), among them epidermoid was most common lesion being present in 10 (7.4%) of patients and accounted for 75% of Cerebellopontine Angle tumours in these patients. Meningioma and vestibular schwanoma accounted for 2(1.4%) cases each. In secondary trigeminal neuralgia mean age of onset of symptoms was 39.5±5.2 years as compared to classic trigeminal neuralgia which is 53±2.1 years., Conclusion: Trigeminal Neuralgia can be a typical symptom in cerebellopontine angle tumours like epidermoid, especially in young patients, so all the patients with trigeminal neuralgia should be investigated for lesion in cerebellopontine region.

Background: Thrombocytopenia is an important cause of mucocutanaeous bleeding in adult and paediatric patients. Immune thrombocytopenia is one of the common causes of thrombocytopenia. Its clinical presentations vary from patient to patient, not studied in our area previously. The present study was planned to see the frequency of clinical presentations of Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) in our patients., Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 125 patients with ITP, diagnosed by exclusion of secondary causes of thrombocytopenia. Bone marrow examination was performed on all the patients., Results: Bruising, epistaxis and gum bleeding were the commonest clinical presentations in adults and children. Bleeding was more severe in acute cases. Increased menstrual bleeding was seen in female patients., Conclusion: Bruising, epistaxis and gum bleeding are the commonest clinical presentations of ITP. Our results are not much different from those of the other studies conducted in Pakistan.

Background: The radicular cyst is very common odontogenic cyst of the jaws, which is usually associated with a tooth with necrotic pulp. The cyst formation requires proliferation of the epithelial rest cells of Malassez present in the periodontal ligament. Proliferation of epithelial rest cells of Malassez is an essential event in the Pathogenesis of radicular cyst. The wall of the cyst contains epithelial cells, macrophages, fibroblasts and other cells. TNF is one of inflammatory mediators, which is produced by macrophages and monocytes. This study was carried out to investigate the role of tumour necrosis factor in the pathogenesis of radicular cyst, which is by far the commonest cystic lesion of the jaws., Methods: Explants from 20 radicular cysts were cultured in vitro to grow the epithelial cells. However, the cultures were rapidly contaminated with fibroblasts and it was impossible to grow the epithelial cells separately. Therefore, the proliferative effect of Tumour Necrosis Factor (TNF) was studied on mammalian epithelial cells., Results: TNF at low concentration had a proliferative effect on the epithelial cells, which may play some role in pathogenesis of radicular cyst., Conclusion: TNF stimulated the epithelial cell proliferation in low concentration and inhibit the proliferation in higher concentrations. These two effects may have some implications in the pathogenesis of radicular cyst.

Background: Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is one of the cytokines produced by macrophages, monocytes and dentritc cells. Macrophages are present in apical granuloma and the wall of the radicular cyst. This cytokine causes the cyst expansion and is involved in proliferation of fibroblasts in the cyst wall and stimulate the fibroblasts to produce more prostaglandin. Radicular cyst is the most common cyst of the jaws which is usually associated with necrotic pulp of the tooth. The cyst formation requires proliferation of the epithelial rest cells of Malassez present in the periodontal ligament. Proliferation of epithelial rest cells of Malassez is an essential event in the Pathogenesis of radicular cyst. Objective of the study was to investigate the effect of IL-1 on epithelial cell proliferation which is an important factor in the pathogenesis of radicular cyst., Methods: The cyst walls of 20 radicular cysts were removed and were cultured in vitro to grow the epithelial cells. The culture were rapidly contaminated and dominated by growth of fibroblasts. Therefore another cell line was used for the experiments., Results: The result showed that proliferation was stimulated with increased in a biphasic manner with maximum stimulation at 1.25 nanog/ml, beyond this concentration proliferation was decreased., Conclusion: IL-1 had a proliferative effect on epithelial cells at low concentrations which may be playing a role in evoking an inflammatory reaction and stimulating the epithelial cell rests of Malassez to proliferate to form radicular cyst.

Background: Foreign body aspiration is one of the commonly encountered emergencies in ENT and still it remains a significant cause of mortality and morbidity. However with the development of modern endoscopic techniques and controlled anaesthesia, most foreign bodies can be removed safely with a bronchoscope., Methods: This study was carried out at Department of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery, Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad from 1st Jan 2003 to 30th June 2005. Total 81 patients were registered in the study. Two patients, in whom the foreign body could not be removed, were excluded from the study., Results: The most consistent finding was decreased air entry on chest auscultation on the side of impacted foreign body which was present in 72 (91.1%) patients. The second most consistent finding was audible wheeze on the side of impacted foreign body found in 42 (53.2%) patients. The most common finding on Chest X-ray was emphysema found in 19 (61.3%) patient, followed by atelactasis in 9 (28%) patients while 3 (9.7%) patients had normal Chest x-ray., Conclusion: The pre-operative clinical signs in patient with aspirated foreign body give an idea about the site of foreign body in an airway. Although chest x-ray gives an idea about the pathological changes in respiratory tract it has little impact in the management of a patient with aspirated foreign body.

Aim: The bioequivalence of aspirin from two enteric-coated brands, Nu-seals and Loprin, identified as the reference (R) and test (T) products, respectively, was assessed., Methods: A two-period randomised crossover design with a washout interval of 15 days was used in this study. The study results were determined in 16 healthy volunteers, all males with ages ranging from 19-28 (23.33 +/- 3.74) years and bodyweights of 52-92 (65.89 +/- 11.39) kg. After oral ingestion of 150mg of the either brand with 200 mL of water, serial blood samples were obtained over a period of 24 hours. Plasma, harvested from blood was analysed for the concentration of salicylic acid, a deacetylated metabolite of aspirin, by a validated high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Pharmacokinetic parameters were determined for both formulations by an interactive computer-assisted PK II procedure. A general linear model for repeated measures and 90% confidence intervals (CI) was employed to assess the sequence of treatment effects and to exclude differences between the parameters due to the product and period of administration, respectively., Results: The observed 90% CI ratios (Loprin/Nu-seals) for peak concentration, time to reach the peak and area under the plasma-concentration time curve from zero to infinity of 1.03,1.08; 1.04,1.05 and 1.01,1.15, respectively, were within the bioequivalence range (0.80,1.25) stipulated by the US Food and Drug Administration., Conclusion: On the basis of the findings, the test (Loprin) and reference drug (Nu-seals) were deemed bioequivalent.