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The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (hereinafter "MWPSC Act") of India, specifically section 23, addresses the responsibility of heirs towards their parents' maintenance and the consequences of failure in such obligations. This article critically evaluates the interpretation and application of section 23, focusing on the judicial reasoning, implications on property rights, and comparisons with international jurisprudence. The article proposes a balanced approach to ensure equitable enforcement while safeguarding third-party interests and the broader legal landscape. It advocates for a nuanced understanding of the statute, emphasizing the need for explicit conditions, limitations on resorting to section 23, and harmonizing maintenance obligations with property rights. Drawing from foreign legal systems, this article underscores the uniqueness of Indian legislation while highlighting the absence of similar provisions in other jurisdictions. By analysing the interpretation and application of section 23 of the MWPSC Act, this article contributes to the broader discourse on balancing legislative intent, public policy, familial obligations, and property rights in the context of elder care in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A line-field confocal optical coherence tomography (LC-OCT) combines confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography into a single, rapid, easy-to-use device. This meta-analysis was performed to determine the reliability of LC-OCT for diagnosing malignant skin tumors. PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science databases, and the Cochrane Library were searched for research studies in the English language from inception till December 2023. To assess quality and the risk of bias, the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) was used. The sensitivity and specificity of each study were calculated. The bivariate summary sensitivity and specificity were calculated using the linear mixed model. Five studies with 904 reported per lesion analyses in our study; the specificity and sensitivity ranged from 67% to 97% and 72% to 92%, respectively. The pooled specificity and sensitivity were 91% (95% CI: 76–97%) and 86.9% (95% CI: 81.8–90.8%), respectively. The summary sensitivity and specificity from the bivariate approach are 86.9% (95% CI: 81.8–90.8%) and 91.1% (95% CI: 76.7–97.0%), respectively. The area under the curve is 0.914. LC-OCT shows great sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing malignant skin tumors. However, due to the limited number of studies included in our meta-analysis, it is premature to elucidate the true potential of LC-OCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, titled "Vitiligo outpatient management in the United States: findings from the 2012–2019 National Ambulatory Medical care Survey (NAMCS)," discusses the management of vitiligo, an autoimmune disorder that causes cosmetic disfigurement, in the United States. The study utilized data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to analyze outpatient visits for vitiligo patients. The results showed that a small percentage of outpatient visits were for vitiligo, and a significant proportion of patients did not receive any medical treatment. Topical corticosteroids were the most commonly prescribed treatment, followed by calcineurin inhibitors and systemic agents. The study also highlighted the need for improved access to care and adherence to treatment for vitiligo patients. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Fairness products are an essential component of daily beauty routines for many individuals in subcontinental Asia. However, it is important to be aware that these products often contain ingredients that can be detrimental to the skin and are banned in several developed countries. Objective: Our study aims to analyze the content of fairness cream commercials in order to gain a deeper understanding of the information used to persuade and influence consumers to use these products. Methods: Fairness cream commercials originating from countries in subcontinental Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, were specifically searched and analyzed on the YouTube platform. Results: An analysis of 152 fairness cream commercials on YouTube identified 84.21% of commercials targeted female consumers, while only 15.79% targeted male consumers. 77.63% of commercials used celebrities in their commercials and 47.37% of commercials mentioned specific ingredients. Conclusions: Based on our findings, it is crucial for dermatologists to take an active role in educating patients and consumers about the potential risks associated with certain ingredients found in fairness creams. Dermatologists should emphasize the importance of prioritizing overall skin health rather than solely focusing on skin lightening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the role of COVID-19 vaccines in the development and recurrence of pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid, which are autoimmune-mediated dermatologic conditions characterized by blistering. The study analyzed data from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) and found that there were cases of pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid following COVID-19 vaccination. Most cases occurred after the second dose of the vaccine, and the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were associated with higher rates of these conditions. However, the study has limitations, such as reliance on self-reporting data and missing variables. Further research with larger patient cohorts is needed to evaluate the relationship between COVID-19 vaccines and these dermatologic conditions. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the demographics, lifestyle factors, and comorbidities of pemphigus, a rare autoimmune blistering disease, in underrepresented groups. The study used data from the "All of Us" database and compared pemphigus patients to non-pemphigus patients. The analysis found that older age was associated with a higher likelihood of pemphigus, and pemphigus patients were more likely to be unemployed. There was no significant relationship between pemphigus and race, ethnicity, gender identity, education, or other lifestyle factors. Pemphigus patients had higher rates of dermatologic conditions, cardiovascular comorbidities, psychiatric conditions, and chronic kidney disease. The study suggests the need for further research using larger, nationally representative samples. [Extracted from the article]

Line-field confocal optical coherence tomography (LC-OCT) is a non-invasive imaging technique that allows for high-resolution visualization of the skin. It has been used to evaluate various skin lesions, but there is limited research on its use for treatment monitoring. Actinic keratosis (AK) is a precancerous skin lesion that can progress to squamous cell carcinoma. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of LC-OCT in monitoring AK lesions undergoing cryotherapy treatment. The study found that LC-OCT imaging could identify histopathological changes in AK lesions before and after treatment, including reductions in hyperkeratosis, acanthosis, and keratinocytic atypia. LC-OCT has the potential to be a valuable tool for treatment monitoring, but further research is needed to confirm these findings. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction. Vitiligo is an acquired autoimmune disease associated with high psychosocial burden. As novel treatments are being developed in clinical trials, assessing vitiligo disease burden extends beyond physical manifestations. Including quality of life (QoL) measures in vitiligo clinical trials can better capture disease-specific psychosocial concerns and facilitate cross comparisons amongst interventions. Objective. To determine the frequency and types of QoL measures utilized in vitiligo clinical trials and comment on how this has changed longitudinally. Methods. A search of vitiligo clinical trials using clinicaltrials.gov was conducted. Phase 2 and phase 3 trials published in English from January 2000 to July 2023 were eligible for this review. Characteristics of clinical trial parameters were compared to those of non-QoL reporting clinical trials using Pearson's χ2 tests (or Fisher's if low n). Results. A total of 60 clinical trials were eligible for this review, of which 40% included a QoL measure in their study design. Phase 3 clinical trials (p = 0.002), larger (100+ participants) trials (p = 0.063), U.S. trials (p = 0.029), and pharmaceutical interventions (p = 0.022) were more likely to include QoL measures in their design. The number of clinical trials has been increasing over time, with 8 trials from 2000 to 2010, 32 total trials from 2011 to 2020, and 20 trials from 2021 to 2023. The most commonly used QoL measures were the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI, 55.2%), Children's Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI, 13.8%), and Vitiligo-specific quality of life instrument (VitiQoL, 13.8%). Over time, the VitiQoL and CDLQI have been used more frequently. Conclusion. Although vitiligo is associated with high psychological and emotional burden, less than half of vitiligo trials utilize QoL measures. The general dermatology QoL measures, namely the DLQI and CDLQI, are the most commonly used QoL assessments. As the number of clinical trials is increasing, vitiligo-specific questionnaires may better capture unique vitiligo-specific concerns. Standardizing the types of and implementation of QoL questionnaires in clinical trials can aid in assessing outcome measures across clinical trials worldwide and allow for better data interpretation, comparability, and clinical application of results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's involvement with the Pacific Islands traces its history to colonial times, colonialization being the cause of the migration of plantation workers from India. India's outreach to the Pacific Island countries (PIC) assumes importance due to its implications such as climate change, human resources, security, natural resources, and so on. [Extracted from the article]

Medication non‐adherence is currently estimated to have caused at least 100 000 preventable deaths and over $100 billion in preventable medical costs. Adherence is particularly poor in dermatological conditions, with more than 50% of patients discontinuing topical treatments within the first year. Pharmacists are among the most accessible health‐care professionals with the potential to greatly impact medication non‐adherence through patient education, medication therapy management, and improved access to care. This review aimed to determine how pharmacists have improved medication adherence in dermatology and discuss strategies for further involvement. An extensive medical literature search using the PubMed database was conducted to evaluate clinical studies, published in the last 20 years, that have evaluated the pharmacist's role and impact on adherence of to dermatological products. PubMed search terms include: "pharmacists' role in dermatologic medication adherence", "pharmacist‐led interventions in dermatology", "pharmacist medication adherence dermatology" and "pharmacist intervention dermatology". A total of 18 relevant studies were identified. Pharmacists improved dermatological medication adherence by increasing access to medications, providing medication counseling programs, and performing treatment monitoring services. However, corticophobia may contribute to pharmacists' hesitancy in making corticosteroid over‐the‐counter recommendations. Pharmacists are accessible health‐care providers with the potential to improve dermatological medication adherence. Future advanced training in dermatology medications may refine pharmacists' knowledge of dermatological products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Basal cell carcinoma and actinic keratosis are two of the most common cutaneous lesions identified in the dermatology clinic. There is established evidence suggesting that topical treatments play a significant role in treating early forms of superficial BCC while also lowering the economic burden of healthcare by alleviating the need for unnecessary biopsies. Considering the expected continued rise in prevalence of BCC and AK in the coming years, topical therapies can decrease the cost of treatment, limit in-office procedures, and lessen the risks associated with surgery, including infection and scarring. Skin cancer is an overarching label used to classify a variety of cutaneous malignancies. Surgical excision procedures are the commonly used treatments for these lesions; however, the choice to perform operative intervention may be influenced by other factors. Established research and literature suggest that topical treatments limit the need for surgical intervention and its commonly associated adverse effects, including infection and scarring. In addition, the growing indications for the usage of topical therapies in BCC treatment, as well as their increased availability and therapeutic options, allow for their greater applicability in the dermatology clinic. Certain topical therapies have been highlighted in research, especially those targeting basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and actinic keratosis (AK). There is also a clear correlation between cost and treatment outcomes, considering BCC's ever-growing prevalence and the proportion of excised lesions being reported as malignant. This review will discuss BCC and AK lesion criteria that result in the most successful outcomes using topical treatments, then highlight the various topical treatment options, and finally address their clinical significance moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facial intramuscular injections of Botulinum toxin (BoNT) injections are among the most common cosmetic procedures in dermatology. Rarely, serious adverse reactions such as blepharoptosis, diplopia and periorbital hematoma may occur with improper administration technique. Here we report a case of painless diplopia 5 weeks post‐BoNT injection for 'crow's feet' likely due to inadvertent BoNT diffusion into the lateral rectus muscle causing a temporary palsy. This case aims to raise awareness of proper cosmetic BoNT injection techniques in the periorbital area to avoid ophthalmic complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The approach of using polyether, aka glycol, side chains to afford amphiphilicity to conducting polymers has recently emerged as a powerful technique for next-generation materials for bioelectronics and electrochemical devices. Herein we apply this synthetic logic to the archetypical conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, to generate a glycolated PEDOT analogue, G-PEDOT. We report on the electropolymerization of this material, and its electrochemical properties: including spectroelectrochemistry, electrochemical capacitance, and operation of microelectrodes and electrochemical transistors. While in many respects performing like PEDOT, G-PEDOT has electrochemical switching within lower potentials with complete de-doping at lower potentials, affording transistors with higher on/off ratios than PEDOT, and electrochromic switching within a smaller electrochemical window. Overall, G-PEDOT emerges as a useful, functional alternative to other PEDOT derivatives, and could be a building block in copolymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to compare the performance of patient self‐collected oral swab (OS) with healthcare worker (HCW)‐collected nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) for SARS‐CoV‐2 detection by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) in real‐world setting. Paired OS and NPS were collected from 485 consecutive individuals presenting with symptoms of coronavirus disease‐19 (COVID‐19) or asymptomatic contacts of COVID‐19 cases. Both specimens were processed for RT‐PCR and cycle threshold (Ct) value for each test was obtained. Positive percent agreement (PPA), negative percent agreement (NPA), overall percent agreement (OPA) and kappa were calculated for OS RT‐PCR compared with NPS RT‐PCR as reference. A total of 116/485 (23.9%) participants were positive by NPS RT‐PCR. OS had PPA of 71.6%, NPA of 98.8%, OPA of 92.4% and kappa of 0.771. Almost all participants (483/485, 99.6%) reported OS as a convenient and comfortable sample for SARS‐CoV‐2 testing over NPS. All participants with Ct values <25 and majority (90.8%) with Ct values <30 were detected by OS. To conclude, OS self‐sampling was preferred in comparison with NPS due the ease and comfort during collection. The performance of OS RT‐PCR for SARS‐CoV‐2 detection, however, was sub‐optimal in comparison with NPS RT‐PCR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, the focus of the India-Russia relationship should be on a deeper engagement to balance with China's otherwise India may face tensions with China on the LAC. On the other hand, more than 60% of India's defense hardware comes from Russia, and therefore, Russia shall keep India in good humor (Paul, [16]). Apart from that, India has always used Russia to balance China in Asia because it does not want Russia to side with China (Ganguly, [4]). India has historical defense relation with Russia and if China keeps getting closer to Russia, India may move away from Russia (Paul, [16]). [Extracted from the article]

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the fastest emerging technologies in the industry. It includes diverse applications with different requirements to provide services to users. Secure, low-powered, and long-range transmissions are some of the most vital requirements in developing IoT applications. IoT uses several communication technologies to fulfill transmission requirements. However, Low Powered Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) transmission standards have been gaining attention because of their exceptional low-powered and long-distance transmission capabilities. The features of LPWAN transmission standards make them a perfect candidate for IoT applications. However, the current LPWAN standards lack state-of-the-art security mechanism s because of the limitations of the IoT devices in energy and computational capacity. Most of the LPWAN standards, such as Sigfox, NB-IoT, and Weightless, use static keys for node authentication and encryption. LoRaWAN is the only LPWAN technology providing session key mechanisms for better security. However, the session key mechanism is vulnerable to replay attacks. In this paper, we propose a centralized lightweight session key mechanism for LPWAN standards using the Blom–Yang key agreement (BYka) mechanism. The security of the session key mechanism is tested using the security verification tool Scyther. In addition, an energy consumption model is implemented on the LoRaWAN protocol using the NS3 simulator to verify the energy depletion in a LoRaWAN node because of the proposed session key mechanisms. The proposed session key is also verified on the Mininet-WiFi emulator for its correctness. The analysis demonstrates that the proposed session key mechanism uses a fewer number of transmissions than the existing session key mechanisms in LPWAN and provides mechanisms against replay attacks that are possible in current LPWAN session key schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses Clearview, an American facial recognition company and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Topics include Clearview scraped images of all persons, irrespective of their age, residency, or any other factors without the consent of any of the persons whose images were downloaded; Clearview had faced some penalties for the violation of GDPR's data protection law; and Clearview maintained that it has downloaded images that were already publicly available on the internet.

Electrical signals are fundamental to key biological events such as brain activity, heartbeat, or vital hormone secretion. Their capture and analysis provide insight into cell or organ physiology and a number of bioelectronic medical devices aim to improve signal acquisition. Organic electrochemical transistors (OECT) have proven their capacity to capture neuronal and cardiac signals with high fidelity and amplification. Vertical PEDOT:PSS‐based OECTs (vOECTs) further enhance signal amplification and device density but have not been characterized in biological applications. An electronic board with individually tuneable transistor biases overcomes fabrication induced heterogeneity in device metrics and allows quantitative biological experiments. Careful exploration of vOECT electric parameters defines voltage biases compatible with reliable transistor function in biological experiments and provides useful maximal transconductance values without influencing cellular signal generation or propagation. This permits successful application in monitoring micro‐organs of prime importance in diabetes, the endocrine pancreatic islets, which are known for their far smaller signal amplitudes as compared to neurons or heart cells. Moreover, vOECTs capture their single‐cell action potentials and multicellular slow potentials reflecting micro‐organ organizations as well as their modulation by the physiological stimulator glucose. This opens the possibility to use OECTs in new biomedical fields well beyond their classical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to isolate and classify Dalbergia sissoo (L.) bioactive compounds. The genus consists of 300 species in India, including 25 species. The generic name Dalbergia honors the 18th century Swedish brothers Nils and Carl Dalberg. Various phytoconstituents of alkaloids, glycosides, flavanoids, tannins, saponins, sterols and terpenoids were isolated and classified from different parts of the plant. Thin Layer Chromatography, High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography, and Column Chromatography were used to isolate spots from the fraction of the crude extract to elucidate the chemical structure of Dalbergia sissoo (L.) leaf extract. Potential spots have been exposed to techniques of FTIR, NMR and mass spectroscopy. Column chromatography was exposed to the raw extract, obtaining 125 fractions, conducting TLC. Among them was a single band in TLC, characterized by FTIR, NMR spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy, and the structure was known as Quercetin. The results of this study indicate the effective potential compound of the ethanolic fraction of Dalbergia sissoo (L.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrolyte‐gated field effect transistors and electrochemical transistors have emerged as powerful components for bioelectronic sensors and biopotential recording devices. A set of parameters must be considered when developing devices to amplify weak electrophysiological signals. These include maximum transconductance values, cut‐off frequencies, and large on/off current ratios. Organic polymer‐based devices have recently dominated the field, especially when considering flexibility as a key factor. Oxide semiconductors may also offer these features, as well as advantages like higher mobility. Herein, flexible, ultrathin, indium tin oxide (ITO) electrolyte‐gated transistors are reported. These accumulation‐mode devices combine n‐type operation with µe = 9.5 cm2 Vs−1, high transconductance (gm = 44 mS), and on/off ratios (105) as well as optically transparent layouts. While oxides are normally considered brittle, mechanically flexible ITO layers are obtained by room temperature deposition of amorphous layers onto parylene C. This process results in low strain, producing devices that survive bending. ITO electrochemically degrades, however, with cycling. To overcome this, the surface is passivated with high dielectric constant inert capping layers of Ta2O5 or Ta2O5/AlN. This greatly improves stability while preserving low gate voltages. Based on their overall performance, ITO‐based EGFETs are promising for bioelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]