Search

The Extended Screening for Inborn Errors of Metabolism is done for aminoacidopathies, fatty acid oxidation disorders and organic acid disorders. In a single dried blood spot, the tandem mass spectrometry is capable of measuring multiple analytes like amino acids, acylcarnitines, nucleosides, succinylacetone and lysophosphatidylcholines. This study was proposed to establish age specific reference internal for aminoacids and acylcartinitine in dried blood spot by tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 480 apparently healthy children were enrolled for the study and sub classified into four groups as follows: Group A: 0-1 month, Group B: 1 month-1 year, Group C: 1-5 year and Group D: 5-12 years each having 120 participants. Sample size were calculated as per CLSI approved guidelines. Tables 1 and 2 presents the age-specific percentile distribution of aminoacids and acylcarnitines established from healthy subjects as per rank-based method recommended by the IFCC and CLSI. Tables 3, 4 and 5 presents the cut-off values of primary and secondary marker/ratios for screening of aminoacidopathies, fatty acid oxidation disorders and organic acid disorders respectively. As a general principle, the interpretation of extended newborn screening results should be based on age specific cut-off established by the laboratory for primary analyte concentration and secondary analyte concentration/ ratios. This study was useful in establishing age specific cut-off values for various amino acids and acylcarnitines in South Indian population. [Table: see text] [Table: see text] [Table: see text] [Table: see text] [Table: see text]., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestNo potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Association of Clinical Biochemists of India 2023, corrected publication 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

We have designed and developed novel and selective TLR7 agonists that exhibited potent receptor activity in a cell-based reporter assay. In vitro , these agonists significantly induced secretion of cytokines IL-6, IL-1β, IL-10, TNFa, IFNa, and IP-10 in human and mouse whole blood. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies in mice showed a significant secretion of IFNα and TNFα cytokines. When combined with aPD1 in a CT-26 tumor model, the lead compound showed strong synergistic antitumor activity with complete tumor regression in 8/10 mice dosed using the intravenous route. Structure-activity relationship studies enabled by structure-based designs of TLR7 agonists are disclosed., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 American Chemical Society.)

Background: Patients with symptomatic calcified coronary lesions have poor outcomes. Such lesions require additional atherectomy devices for bed preparation., Aim: To assess the safety and efficacy of OPN balloon in patients with calcified coronary lesions., Methods: This is an investigator-initiated, prospective, observational study. The primary outcome of the study was a procedural success., Results: We studied 71 patients (133 lesions). Maximum lesions were located in LAD [46.6 %]. The OPN balloon was used for pre-dilatation alone in 28.6 % (Pre-stent OPN group), post-dilatation alone in 63.2 % of lesions (Post-stent OPN group), and in both situations in 8.3 % of lesions with procedural success in 98.5 % of patients. Further dilatation with different NC balloons was required in both groups (30 %). The median (IQR) OPN balloon diameter in the pre- and post-stent OPN group were 2.5 (2.5, 3.0) and 3.0 (3.0,3.0) mm (p = 0.001), respectively. The difference between the diameter of the stent and OPN balloon used in pre-stent OPN group was 0.5 (0.2, 0.5) mm while it was 0.0 (0.0,0.2) mm in the post-stent OPN group (p < 0.001). Eight complications and two deaths occured. Distal shaft rupture was also noticed., Conclusion: OPN balloon is safe, and effective in treating calcified coronary lesions. We propose to undersize the balloon by 0.5 mm for pre-dilatation followed by 0.25 mm larger NC balloon if needed. In the post-dilatation group, use a 1:1 size balloon in a non-tortuous straight segment. Use imaging especially when (1) the pressure taken more than the rated burst pressure, (2) an OPN balloon size is ≥3 mm (3) using 1:1 size OPN balloon in a tortuous segment., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hydrogels are 3D crosslinking networks of hydrophilic biopolymers which can able to absorb and retain large amount of water. In this present study, the Sodium alginate (SA)- Galactoxyloglucan (GXG) blended hydrogel beads were prepared and optimized through two level optimization steps. Alginate and xyloglucan are the cell wall polysaccharides biopolymers obtained from the plant sources, Sargassum sp. and Tamarindus indica L. respectively. The extracted biopolymers were confirmed and characterized by UV-Spectroscopy, FT-IR, NMR and TGA analysis. Based on the hydrophilicity, non-toxicity and biocompatibility, SA-GXG hydrogel were prepared and optimized through two-level optimization steps. The optimized hydrogel bead formulation was characterized through FT-IR, TGA and SEM analysis. From the obtained result, it is found that the polymeric formulation GXG (2 % w/v)-SA (1.5 % w/v), cross-linker (CaCl 2 ) concentration at 0.1 M and the cross-linking time at 15 Min showed significant swelling index. The optimized hydrogel beads are porous and show good swelling capacity and thermal stability. The optimized protocol of hydrogel beads may be useful in designing hydrogel beads for specific applications in agricultural, Biomedical and remediation sectors., 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 © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The intention of this work is to study a mathematical model for fractal-fractional tuberculosis and COVID-19 co-infection under the Atangana-Baleanu fractal-fractional operator. Firstly, we formulate the tuberculosis and COVID-19 co-infection model by considering the tuberculosis recovery individuals, the COVID-19 recovery individuals, and both disease recovery compartment in the proposed model. The fixed point approach is utilized to explore the existence and uniqueness of the solution in the suggested model. The stability analysis related to solve the Ulam-Hyers stability is also investigated. This paper is based on Lagrange's interpolation polynomial in the numerical scheme, which is validated through a specific case with a comparative numerical analysis for different values of the fractional and fractal orders., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The cadmium tungstate rods have been given much attention due to their potential for usage in numerous luminescent applications. We have prepared single crystalline Sn-doped Cd 1-x Sn x WO 4 (where x = 0, 1, 3, and 5%) nanorods (NRDs) and characterized them using refined X-ray diffraction and TEM analysis, revealing a monoclinic phase and a crystallite size that decreased from 62 to 38 nm as Sn concentration increased. Precise Sn doping modulation in CdWO 4 NRDs causes surface recombination of electrons and holes, which causes the PL intensity to decrease as the Sn content rises. The chromaticity diagram shows that an increase in the Sn content caused a change in the emission color from sky blue to light green, which was attributed to the increased defect density. The photoluminescence time decay curve of all samples fit well with double-order exponential decay, and the average decay lifetime was found to be 1.11, 0.93, and 1.16 ns for Cd 1-x Sn x WO 4 , x = 0, 1, and 5%, respectively. This work provides an understanding of the behavior of Sn-doped CdWO 4 NRDs during electron transitions and the physical nature of emission that could be used in bio-imaging, light sources, displays, and other applications.

Bismuth ion (Bi 3+ ) sensitized, europium ion (Eu 3+ ) activated La 2 Zr 2 O 7 nanophosphors are prepared successfully by simple wet chemical method. Strong blue emission of singly doped La 2 Zr 2 O 7 with Bi 3+ was observed at 310 nm excitation, its wide emission spectrum has a peak maximum at 465 nm ascribed to electronic transition 3 P 1  →  1 S 0 of Bi 3+ . The recorded photoluminescence spectra of y at% Eu 3+ codoped La 2 Zr 2 O 7 , when excited at 285 nm, the emission spectrum exhibits maximum peaks at wavelength values 615 nm, 646 nm and 665 nm which are ascribed to 5 D 0  →  7 F 2 , 5 D 0  →  7 F 3 and 5 D 0  →  7 F 4 transitions of Eu 3+ respectively. The chromaticity coordinates for the optimized sample were found to be (0.519, 0.329). Sensitizing with Bi 3+ can affect the luminescence properties of La 2 Zr 2 O 7 :Eu 3+ phosphors. With reference to the change in Eu 3+ concentration from Y  = 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5%, color tunable luminescence from blue to orange, red of La 2 Zr 2 O 7 :Bi 3+ ,Eu 3+ phosphors are observed. The lifetime decay values, energy level description and CIE chromatic color coordinates for Bi 3+ , Eu 3+ in La 2 Zr 2 O 7 :Bi 3+ ,Eu 3+ codoped sample was discussed. The spectral overlap between sensitizer, activator ions confirms the efficient energy transfer from Bi 3+ to Eu 3+ in La 2 Zr 2 O 7 :Bi 3+ ,Eu 3+ codoped sample and is via a dipole-quadruple mechanism., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: As dental lasers are becoming more popular in the branch of oral medicine for its various advantages and applications, this study was carried out to evaluate better mode of obtaining oral biopsies which is a common and inevitable procedure for providing final diagnosis in majority of conditions., Methodology: In this study, a total of 60 patients who required biopsy for final diagnosis of oral mucosal lesions as part of diagnosis in department of Oral Medicine were selected, out of which 30 were subjected to scalpel biopsies and 30 patients were subjected to diode laser biopsies. A 980 nm Zolar plus diode laser was used for the study. Out of 30 patients who were subjected to laser biopsies, 3W continuous mode settings were used for 15 patients and 3W pulsed mode was used for 15 patients. The specimens were sent to Department of Oral Pathology for histopathological evaluation to provide the final diagnosis. The time taken for each patient, volume of local anesthesia, during operative, postoperative pain scale, and co-relation of provisional and final diagnosis was noted for comparison purpose and the pathologist comments, peripheral tissue damage and artifact's for each slide were noted., Results: The study results showed the postoperative pain was comparatively less in diodlaser than scalpel, the lasers were patient friendly as the heammorage was negligible when compared to scalpel and suturing was not required. The pulsed mode in diode laser was advantageous over continuous mode when amount of thermal damage and postoperative pain score was compared., Conclusion: The results showed that oral biopsies can be made better using diode lasers, by having thorough knowledge on the device., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences.)

Data science has been an invaluable part of the COVID-19 pandemic response with multiple applications, ranging from tracking viral evolution to understanding the vaccine effectiveness. Asymptomatic breakthrough infections have been a major problem in assessing vaccine effectiveness in populations globally. Serological discrimination of vaccine response from infection has so far been limited to Spike protein vaccines since whole virion vaccines generate antibodies against all the viral proteins. Here, we show how a statistical and machine learning (ML) based approach can be used to discriminate between SARS-CoV-2 infection and immune response to an inactivated whole virion vaccine (BBV152, Covaxin). For this, we assessed serial data on antibodies against Spike and Nucleocapsid antigens, along with age, sex, number of doses taken, and days since last dose, for 1823 Covaxin recipients. An ensemble ML model, incorporating a consensus clustering approach alongside the support vector machine model, was built on 1063 samples where reliable qualifying data existed, and then applied to the entire dataset. Of 1448 self-reported negative subjects, our ensemble ML model classified 724 to be infected. For method validation, we determined the relative ability of a random subset of samples to neutralize Delta versus wild-type strain using a surrogate neutralization assay. We worked on the premise that antibodies generated by a whole virion vaccine would neutralize wild type more efficiently than delta strain. In 100 of 156 samples, where ML prediction differed from self-reported uninfected status, neutralization against Delta strain was more effective, indicating infection. We found 71.8% subjects predicted to be infected during the surge, which is concordant with the percentage of sequences classified as Delta (75.6%-80.2%) over the same period. Our approach will help in real-world vaccine effectiveness assessments where whole virion vaccines are commonly used., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Pars plana vitrectomy with implantation of an Ahmed glaucoma valve in the vitreous cavity has been reported with a success rate in the management of refractory and neovascular glaucoma. This study aimed to present the outcomes of pars plana Ahmed glaucoma valve (PPAV) surgical implantation in cases with refractory glaucoma., Methods: In this single-center, retrospective, comparative study, 87 consecutive patients diagnosed with refractory glaucoma who underwent PPAV surgical implantation between October 2015 and October 2019 were evaluated. A successful postoperative outcome was defined as intraocular pressure (IOP) ≤ 21 mmHg upon examination and a reduction in the number of anti-glaucoma agents used at the latest follow-up., Results: Finally, 81 eyes of 78 patients with refractory glaucoma were included; 54 (66.66%) of the eyes had neovascular glaucoma. The mean follow-up was 20.65 ± 12.17 months (range: 2-52 months). The mean preoperative IOP was 40.01 ± 1.19 mmHg and reduced significantly to 16.73 ± 0.82 mmHg at the latest follow-up ( P < 0.001); a successful IOP outcome was achieved in 88.89% of eyes. The mean number of anti-glaucoma agents decreased significantly from 2.86 ± 0.09 preoperatively to 1.46 ± 0.11 at the latest follow-up (P < 0.001); while 61 (75.31%) of eyes had a reduction in the number of IOP lowering eye drops, and 14 (17.28%) had no need for IOP lowering eye drops., Conclusions: PPAV surgery is a successful procedure for IOP reduction in patients with refractory glaucoma. Our study demonstrated either reduction or elimination of IOP lowering eye drops postoperatively. Large scale studies with a comparison group, a longer follow-up, and having various subtypes of glaucoma are required as future research to confirm these outcomes., Competing Interests: None., (© Author(s).)

In the field of photocatalysis, the suppression of electron-hole recombination through various defects has been an emerging trend to enhance photocatalytic activity. The separation efficiency of electron-hole recombination of well-explored wolframite structured monoclinic CdWO 4 , prepared using the one-pot hydrothermal method, was further improved by Bi 3+ doping in CdWO 4 . Studies using the partial density of states illustrated that Bi 6s and 6p orbitals altered the electronic band structure to the extent of lowering the band gap, resulting in more photon absorption. The positron annihilation lifetime studies unveiled the formation of cluster defects such as oxygen (V0o, V o 1+ , V o 2+ ) along with cadmium vacancies () in Bi-doped CdWO 4 . The coexistence and synergy of more adsorption sites of V0o, V o 1+ , V o 2+ , V Cd for dye and O 2 molecules, suitable oxide/redox band potentials, the modified electronic band structure especially owing to W-O1-Bi-O2-W linkages, together with high surface area endowed Bi-doped CdWO 4 to form ˙O 2 - radicals played a predominant role in the methyl orange degradation. All the experimental findings demonstrated conclusively that Bi 3+ doping at Cd 2+ facilitated CdWO 4 to exhibit superior photocatalytic activity.