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Introduction: Chronic viral hepatitis is a condition of hepatotropic viral infection associated with chronic inflammation, hepatocyte injury and progressive fibrosis. Non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B and C patients has been increasing and used instead of liver biopsy. Aim: To assess the diagnostic performance of ElastPQ Point Shear Wave Elastography (ElastPQ PSWE) with liver biopsy as the gold standard and comparing these results with other serum fibrosis markers namely Aspartate to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI), Fibrosis-4 Score (FIB4). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in which 73 patients underwent ElastPQ PSWE and Histopathological Examination (HPE) with METAVIR Scoring system staging. Serum fibrosis indices including APRI and FIB4 values were calculated. The diagnostic performance of ElastPQ PSWE, APRI and FIB4 was evaluated using Area Under Receiver Operating Characteristic (AUROCAUROC) curve analysis, correlations of ElastPQ PSWE, APRI and FIB4 ratio index with histopathological findings (as the reference standard) were determined using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results: Study included 73 patients with chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C, of which 8 (10.96%) were no/early fibrosis (F0- F1); 20 (27.40%) were significant fibrosis (F2); 22 (30.13%) were severe fibrosis (F3), and 23 (31.51%) were cirrhosis (F4). There was a significant positive correlation between different stages of liver fibrosis by liver biopsy and liver stiffness detected by ElastPQ PSWE (r=0.912, p

Production of high-quality inoculum in sufficient quantities is crucial for biocontrol programs. Entomopathogenic Fungi (EPF) are highly suitable biocontrol agents due to their adaptability, mode of action, persistence, and wide host range. This study aimed to evaluate the suitability of agro-wastes, including sugarcane bagasse, paddy husk, Post Mushroom Substrate (PMS), and sorghum grains with and without 10% molasses fortification, for mass production of four EPF isolates (Cordyceps fumosorosea: MT997932, Beauveria bassiana: MT997933, Akanthomyces lecanii: MT997935, and Hirsutella thompsonii: MT997936) isolated from two agro-climatic zones in Karnataka, India. The study employed solid-state fermentation. Results showed that sorghum grains fortified with 10% molasses had the highest mycelial growth and spore production of all isolates, followed by PMS with 10% molasses (T 7 ). Fortification with molasses positively influenced the growth and spore production of EPF. The results indicated that while sorghum grains were the best choice for mass production, PMS fortified with molasses also had great potential as an alternative substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entomopathogenic fungi are the most versatile and potential biocontrol agents, due to their adaptability, mode of entry, persistent nature and wide host range. The present study aimed to isolate and identify the native entomopathogenic fungi for the biocontrol of major sucking insect pests of floriculture. Eighty-one fungal isolates were isolated from 55 soil samples and 26 infected insect cadavers were collected from the eastern and southern dry zones of Karnataka, India. Serial dilution and plating techniques, and insect bait techniques were followed. The insecticidal activity of fungal isolates against aphids, mites, 2nd instar larvae of thrips and whitefly nymphs was determined by leaf disc bioassay under in vitro conditions. The results of the experiment revealed that among 81 fungal isolates, sixteen (19.25 %) exhibited insecticidal activity against test insects and further, a distribution study revealed that 50 per cent of EPF isolates were belonging to genera Beauveria and Metarhizium (25% each), 18.75% Aspergillus, 12.50% were Lecanicillium spp. and 13% were Paecilomyces spp. (6.25%) and Hirsutella spp. (6.25 %) respectively. It was concluded that the recovery rate of EPF is lower with 19.5% and the dominant genera of EPFs are Beauveria and Metarhizium. This show EPFs with broader host rage will have more chances of survival and the same criteria can be used for the selection of efficient EPFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kidney tumors represent a significant medical challenge, characterized by their often-asymptomatic nature and the need for early detection to facilitate timely and effective intervention. Although neural networks have shown great promise in disease prediction, their computational demands have limited their practicality in clinical settings. This study introduces a novel methodology, the UNet-PWP architecture, tailored explicitly for kidney tumor segmentation, designed to optimize resource utilization and overcome computational complexity constraints. A key novelty in our approach is the application of adaptive partitioning, which deconstructs the intricate UNet architecture into smaller submodels. This partitioning strategy reduces computational requirements and enhances the model's efficiency in processing kidney tumor images. Additionally, we augment the UNet's depth by incorporating pre-trained weights, therefore significantly boosting its capacity to handle intricate and detailed segmentation tasks. Furthermore, we employ weight-pruning techniques to eliminate redundant zero-weighted parameters, further streamlining the UNet-PWP model without compromising its performance. To rigorously assess the effectiveness of our proposed UNet-PWP model, we conducted a comparative evaluation alongside the DeepLab V3+ model, both trained on the "KiTs 19, 21, and 23" kidney tumor dataset. Our results are optimistic, with the UNet-PWP model achieving an exceptional accuracy rate of 97.01% on both the training and test datasets, surpassing the DeepLab V3+ model in performance. Furthermore, to ensure our model's results are easily understandable and explainable. We included a fusion of the attention and Grad-CAM XAI methods. This approach provides valuable insights into the decision-making process of our model and the regions of interest that affect its predictions. In the medical field, this interpretability aspect is crucial for healthcare professionals to trust and comprehend the model's reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) are the most versatile and potential biocontrol agents, due to their adaptability, mode of entry, persistence nature and wide host range. The present study aimed to isolate, identify, and evaluate the virulence of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) for their potential as biocontrol agents against red spider mites (Tetranychus urticae). Out of 81 fungal isolates, 16 (19.25%) showed insecticidal activity under in vitro conditions. The results revealed that among 16 isolates, ENPF-8 and ENPF-58 had significantly higher mortality rates (93-95 %) at a concentration of 1x108 conidia/ml after 9 days after treatment (DAT). The virulent fungal isolates were identified as Isaria fumosorosea (Gene bank accession number: MT997932) and Hirsutella thompsonii (Gene bank accession number: MT997936) by sequencing the ITS region of the 18S rRNA gene. H. thompsonii (ENPF-58) was found to be more virulent against test insects, with lower LC50 (7.6x105 conidia/ml) and LT50 (5.7, 5.89 and 5.99 days) values compared to the other EPF. Based on the results, H. thompsonii could be a promising biocontrol agent with a wide host range and high virulence as tested in other experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacillus subtilis is a Gram-positive bacterium known for its antagonistic attributes, particularly through the production of various secondary metabolites, including lipopeptides. In this study, we investigated the antagonistic capabilities of B. subtilis strain NBAIRBSWG1 with a focus on assessing the efficacy of NBAIR-BSWG1 in combatting Sclerotium rolfsii. Our findings demonstrated substantial inhibitory effects, with 82.73% to 100% reduction in S. rolfsii growth when exposed to NBAIR-BSWG1 at concentrations ranging from 50 to 100 µL/mL in poison food technique. In dual culture assay, NBAIR-BSWG1 exhibited a significant 55.50% inhibition of S. rolfsii. Moreover, pot experiments revealed a promising 26% reduction in disease incidence. This study underscores the significant role of NBAIR-BSWG1 in controlling S. rolfsii, holding substantial potential for developing effective formulations aimed at mitigating the southern blight of tomatoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) represents a considerable global health challenge, emphasizing the need for precise and prompt prediction of disease progression to enable early intervention and enhance patient outcomes. As per this study, we introduce an innovative fusion deep learning model that combines a Graph Neural Network (GNN) and a tabular data model for predicting CKD progression by capitalizing on the strengths of both graph-structured and tabular data representations. The GNN model processes graph-structured data, uncovering intricate relationships between patients and their medical conditions, while the tabular data model adeptly manages patient-specific features within a conventional data format. An extensive comparison of the fusion model, GNN model, tabular data model, and a baseline model was conducted utilizing various evaluation metrics, encompassing accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. The fusion model exhibited outstanding performance across all metrics, underlining its augmented capacity for predicting CKD progression. The GNN model's performance closely trailed the fusion model, accentuating the advantages of integrating graph-structured data into the prediction process. Hyperparameter optimization was performed using grid search, ensuring a fair comparison among the models. The fusion model displayed consistent performance across diverse data splits, demonstrating its adaptability to dataset variations and resilience against noise and outliers. In conclusion, the proposed fusion deep learning model, which amalgamates the capabilities of both the GNN model and the tabular data model, substantially surpasses the individual models and the baseline model in predicting CKD progression. This pioneering approach provides a more precise and dependable method for early detection and management of CKD, highlighting its potential to advance the domain of precision medicine and elevate patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Solar Mean Magnetic Field (SMMF) is the mean value of the line-of-sight (LOS) component of the solar vector magnetic field averaged over the visible hemisphere of the Sun. So far, the studies on SMMF have mostly been confined to the magnetic field measurements at the photosphere. In this study, we calculate and analyse the SMMF using magnetic field measurements at the chromosphere, in conjunction with that of photospheric measurements. For this purpose, we have used full-disk LOS magnetograms derived from spectropolarimetric observations carried out in Fe i 6301.5 Å and Ca ii 8542 Å by the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun (SOLIS)/Vector Spectromagnetograph (VSM) instrument during 2010–2017. It is found from this study that the SMMF at the chromosphere is weaker by a factor of 0.60 compared to the SMMF at the upper-photosphere. The correlation analysis between them gives a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.80. The similarity and reduced intensity of the chromospheric SMMF with respect to the photospheric SMMF corroborate the idea that it is the source of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kodaikanal Tower Tunnel Telescope (KTT) is a three-mirror Coelostat-based Solar telescope. An inherent variable image drift is present in the KTT which is detrimental to observations particularly to slit-based spectroscopic and spectropolarimetric observations. An image Auto Guider system has recently been installed at KTT to arrest the image drift based on sensing the image limb. The image's limb position on the image plane is sensed using a two-segment photodiode sensor in North–South and East–West directions. Feedback is given to the second mirror of Coelostat, which tilts, causing the image to move on the image plane. This paper discusses instrumental setup, calibration, and testing of the Auto Guider system at KTT. The Auto Guider system is robust and capable of arresting image drifts up to 55 arcsec min − 1 , which is much higher than the typically observed drifts (maximum 7 arcsec min − 1 ) at KTT with a precision of ± ∼ 0. 9 arcsec. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of endophytes as biocontrol agents has been gaining importance towards the sustainable agriculture and eco friendly farming. The present study is designed to isolate and screen the bacterial endophytes that inhibit the fungal pathogen Alternaria solani that causes early blight disease in the potato and in most of the solanaceous crops. The bacterial endophytes (62) were isolated from different parts of potato plant viz., leaf, stem, roots and tubers. Among them, ten isolates were taken as efficient isolates which significantly inhibited the growth of fungal pathogen in dual culture method. The highest inhibition percentage against the pathogen was recorded in the isolate PEL-4 (71.46%) followed by PES-5 (69.38%). All the ten efficient isolates were found to be Gram positive. Six isolates tested positive for starch hydrolysis. Eight isolates tested catalase positive. Only three isolates were tested positive for HCN production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave sintering of powder metals is recognised for better process advantages, namely, less process time, rapid densification, uniform volumetric and selective heating characteristics. There are certain theoretical analyses to explain the mass transport mechanisms during microwave sintering. The current study reports on an investigation of densification kinetics in austenitic (316 L) stainless steel powder compacts processed by microwave hybrid heating method at solidus and super-solidus temperatures. The analysis of densification kinetics and sintering mechanisms were studied using the grain growth exponential and time-temperature plots. The results revealed that the major densification is achieved through bulk diffusion (viscous mass flow) at a higher temperature (1250°C–1300°C) under the super-solidus region while grain boundary retardation is the mechanism for the reduced grain growth at a lower sintering temperature (1100°C–1200°C) under solidus region. The apparent activation energies are calculated using the Arrhenius plot and classical grain growth analysis simultaneously. The activation energies of 42 ± 3 kJ/mol and 24 ± 2 kJ/mol are observed for the samples sintered at a lower temperature. The higher activation energies of 219 ± 8 kJ/mol and 254 ± 7 kJ/mol are obtained for the samples sintered at 1250°C–1300°C for both analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to evaluate, in a tertiary care context, the effects of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection on the incidence and prognosis of oral malignancies. Methods: At a tertiary care hospital, 100 patients who received an oral cancer diagnosis between 2020 and 2022 were the subject of a retrospective analysis. Medical records were used to gather clinicopathological data, and histopathological specimens’ molecular analyses were used to ascertain the HPV infection status. To assess the variations in overall and disease-free survival between HPV-positive [HPV+] and HPV-negative [HPV-] patients, survival analysis was done. Results: Of the oral malignancies that tested positive for HPV, 25% were caused by strains HPV-16 and HPV-18. Patients who tested positive for HPV had unique clinicopathological characteristics, such as a decreased prevalence of lymph node involvement, nonkeratinizing histology, and younger age at diagnosis. When compared to HPV- patients, HPV+ patients had substantially better overall survival (P = 0.032) and disease-free survival (P = 0.047) according to survival analysis. Conclusion: The incidence and prognosis of oral malignancies are significantly impacted by HPV infection, as demonstrated by current data. When compared to HPV- cancers, HPV+ tumors have different clinicopathological characteristics and improved survival rates. These findings have implications for therapy selection and prognostication, and they highlight the significance of HPV testing in the therapeutic management of oral malignancies. To understand the underlying molecular pathways and provide tailored therapeutics for oral malignancies that are HPV+, more research is required.

Glycogenic acanthosis (GA) is a benign lesion characterized by elevated, small, white plaques commonly detected in the esophageal mucosa. To date, only 6 cases have been reported in the English literature documenting its involvement in the oral cavity. Herein we report a case of large GA on the ventrolateral aspect of the tongue in a 42-year-old male (third case reported on the tongue). Histologically, the lesion was characterized by acanthotic squamous epithelium with glycogen-rich, clear cells located in the upper layers of the epithelium. Since the oral presentation of GA is very rare, it is necessary to document more cases to clarify the clinical features, biological behavior, and management of GA in the future.

Ultra-rapid microwave sintering of powder metals is recognized for better process advantages, namely less process time, uniform volumetric heating, and fine microstructural features that will improve mechanical and corrosion properties. In the present study, austenitic (316 L) stainless steel powder compacts were sintered using a multimode microwave hybrid heating system at solidus (1200°C and 1250°C) and super-solidus (1300°C) temperature with different holding times 30, 45 and 60 min. Mechanical as well as electrochemical responses were correlated with the microstructural features and densification characteristics. The samples sintered at 1300°C for 60 min have shown improved densification and higher tensile strength of 474.3 MPa with 22.1% ductility. It is also noted that an increase in sintering temperature resulted in excellent corrosion resistance in the order of ten times. The input process parameters and the output property responses are mathematically modeled with the help of RSM. The developed equations and experimental studies are in good agreement with output responses (sintered density, yield strength, %elongation, microhardness, corrosion rate) with 0.92 to 0.95 desirability. The validation of optimized output responses is evaluated by conducting confirmation tests at two conditions (1300°C for 60 min & 1300°C for 52 min) and are in line with regression model analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra-rapid microwave sintering of powder metals will provide fine microstructural features that improve mechanical properties. In present study, three grades of stainless steel powder compacts (316L, 430L, 410) were produced using a uniaxial compaction unit. These compacts were sintered by microwave hybrid heating method at 1300°C (super-solidus region). The densification response, microstructural attributes, and mechanical properties were compared at 30, 45 and 60 min holding times. The compositional analysis was performed with the help of optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersed spectroscopy(SEM-EDS). The results obtained from both spectroscopies are compared for the sintered samples. The correlation of mechanical properties is analysed with evolved microstructural attributes (pore volume, pore shape and pore distribution). The excellent strength of 457 ± 16 MPa, 466 ± 6 MPa and 476 ± 26 MPa with 23 ± 1.3%, 14 ± 1.5% and 11 ± 1% of ductility is observed for sintered AISI 316L, 430L and 410, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Identification of suitable factors that influence significantly to the response is crucial for the traits based breeding program to make a better decision about improvement in productivity. Multiple linear regression (MLR) is the benchmark method commonly using to identify suitable factors for crop improvement. It doesn't work always due to stringent assumption (Multicollinearity, Linearity) behind the MLR model. Here we tried to develop an efficient model for the selection of major traits that contribute to seed yield in soybean by comparing different models. Methods: Field experiment was conducted using 98 soybean core population through augmented design. 18 morphometric traits obtain from soybean core population were considered under the study as regressors. Multiple linear regression (MLR), principle component regression (PCR), regression tree and Random Forest models were compared to select traits based on prediction accuracy. Result: All the models identified the number of pods per plant (NPP) has the most influencing variable to the soybean yield. However random forest has a much higher prediction power (RMSE=4.59, MAPE=0.18) compared to other models under study. The results of random forest revealed that the number of pods per plant, number of branches per plant and other associated characters like plant height at harvest as highly influencing traits for seed yield in soybean. Finally, tried to identify genotypesthat possess superiority about most influencing morphological characters on seed yield using cluster analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formalin fixation is the most essential step of routine histopathology practice. During the last few years, various fixatives have been developed for use in histopathology practice as an alternative to formalin, to overcome its side effects on health. Here we have demonstrated an interesting and novel idea of using sirka or sugar cane vinegar as an alternative to the formalin with the adequate result.