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The kidney tubules constitute two-thirds of the cells of the kidney and account for the majority of the organ’s metabolic energy expenditure. Acute tubular injury (ATI) is observed across various types of kidney diseases and may significantly contribute to progression to kidney failure. Non-invasive biomarkers of ATI may allow for early detection and drug development. Using the SomaScan proteomics platform on 434 patients with biopsy-confirmed kidney disease, we here identify plasma biomarkers associated with ATI severity. We employ regional transcriptomics and proteomics, single-cell RNA sequencing, and pathway analysis to explore biomarker protein and gene expression and enriched biological pathways. Additionally, we examine ATI biomarker associations with acute kidney injury (AKI) in the Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP) (n = 44), the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study (n = 4610), and the COVID-19 Host Response and Clinical Outcomes (CHROME) study (n = 268). Our findings indicate 156 plasma proteins significantly linked to ATI with osteopontin, macrophage mannose receptor 1, and tenascin C showing the strongest associations. Pathway analysis highlight immune regulation and organelle stress responses in ATI pathogenesis.Acute tubular injury (ATI) significantly contributes to many kidney diseases. Here, the authors identify several immune response and cellular stress plasma proteins linked to ATI severity and acute kidney injury, which may aid in non-invasive ATI assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forensic age assessments are crucial in the evaluation of criminal responsibility and preventing false age claims. Of all the methods available, the Greulich and Pyle (GP) atlas is most commonly used for age estimation purposes. Therefore, the current study sought to analyze the reliability and applicability of the GP standard and, additionally, to determine any possible association between the socioeconomic status (SES), food habits, and estimated skeletal maturity in the North Indian population. The study included 627 (334 males and 293 females) healthy children up to 19 years of age with varying SES and food habits. The skeletal age (SA) was estimated by three different evaluators using the GP atlas. The chronological mean age (CA) and SA were compared in different age cohorts. A paired t-test and a Pearson chi-square test were applied to show the difference between CA and estimated SA and the association of skeletal maturity with SES and food habits. The estimated skeletal age in males was retarded by 0.142 years or 1.72 months (p ≤ 0.05), whereas in females, it was retarded by 0.259 years or 3.12 months (p ≤ 0.05). In males, the GP method has significantly underestimated SA in age cohorts 3–4, 4–5, 6–7, 7–8, 8–9, and 12–13, whereas it overestimated in 10–11 and 18–19 years. However, in females, the SA was significantly underestimated in age groups 10–11, 12–13, and 14–15, respectively. Estimated skeletal maturity had no significant association with SES and food habits. The current study concludes that the GP atlas may not be applicable to North India's population. The observed difference in assessed skeletal maturity may be due to geographical region, genetics, hormonal effects, etc., which require further investigation. Hence, population-specific standards are necessary to determine the bone age of Indian children accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents boresight gain enhancement of a microstrip fed X-band triangular slot antenna using rhombic loop (RL) based frequency selective surfaces (FSSs). Two single side printed orthogonal layers of arrays of dual rhombic loops (DRLs) kept in pairs are stacked together to form cascaded dual rhombic loop (CDRL) based reflective surface which exhibits wide stop bands within X-band but with reflection phase non-linearities. The non-linearities are suppressed when both layers are printed back to back (BTB) on both sides of same dielectric substrate while they are completely eliminated when both the layers are printed on same side of the dielectric substrate to form a merged dual rhombic loop (MDRL) based FSS. A triangular slot antenna operating at 8.2 GHz is designed and integrated with these FSSs for a purpose to investigate their impact on antenna performance. Through simulations, it is found that antenna when integrated with MDRL FSS demonstrates superior performance. Later, the slot antenna and MDRL FSS are developed and integrated to perform experiments. The integrated antenna exhibits an impedance bandwidth of 650 MHz and a maximum gain of 8.5 dB in antenna boresight including 4.5 dB enhancement due to frequency selective reflectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disorders of sexual development (DSD) comprise a complex group of conditions with varied clinical presentations, such as atypical genitalia, non-palpable testes, primary amenorrhea, or infertility. Besides being associated with other congenital anomalies, DSDs bear substantial ethical issues regarding assigning the sex of rearing to the child and future fertility options. Establishing the correct diagnosis is essential for the appropriate management of such cases. Various imaging modalities, such as ultrasonography, genitography, and MRI, when complemented with detailed clinical evaluation and karyotyping, are the key to diagnosing the condition. This article attempts to present a concise approach to various patterns of DSD, which will aid radiologists to solve these diagnostic dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma (SEP) of the nasal cavity is a rare neoplastic condition characterized by the localized proliferation of abnormal plasma cells. We present a case of SEP involving the nasal cavity in a 40-year-old male patient who presented with nasal obstruction and recurrent epistaxis. The diagnosis was confirmed through clinical evaluation, imaging studies, and histopathological examination of excised specimen. The patient underwent trans-nasal endoscopic excision of nasal mass without any adjuvant therapy, which resulted in successful local control. This case report highlights the clinical presentation, diagnostic approach, treatment modalities, and favourable prognosis associated with solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma of the nasal cavity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infections by Entamoeba histolytica (E. histolytica) lead to considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide and treatment is reliant on a single class of drugs, nitroimidazoles. Treatment failures and intermittent reports of relapse from different parts of world indicate towards development of clinical drug resistance. In the present study, susceptibility testing of clinical isolates of E. histolytica was carried against metronidazole and tinidazole. Additionally, anti-amoebic property of active compounds of Andrographis paniculata was also evaluated. Prevalence of metronidazole resistance gene (nim) in patients attending hospital was also done to get comprehensive insight of present situation of drug resistance in E. histolytica. Mean inhibitory concentration 50 (IC50) value of E. histolytica isolates against metronidazole and tinidazole was 20.01 and 16.1 µM respectively. Andrographolide showed minimum mean IC50 value (3.06 µM). Significant percentage inhibition of E. histolytica isolates by andrographolide was seen as compared to metronidazole (p = 0.0495). None of E. histolytica isolates showed presence of nim gene. However, in stool samples from hospital attending population, prevalence of nimE gene was found to be 76.6% (69/90) and 62.2% (56/90) in diarrheal and non-diarrheal samples respectively. Inhibitory concentration of commonly used nitroimidazoles against clinical isolates of E. histolytica are on rise. Percentage inhibition of E. histolytica isolates by andrographolide was significantly higher than control drug metronidazole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atypical MRI findings of cranial tuberculosis can lead to prolonged delay in diagnosis resulting in high costs to evaluate for alternative diagnoses. The aim of this study was to describe a series of cranial tuberculosis patients with spectrum of MRI features, other than hydrocephalus, parenchymal tuberculomas, and leptomeningeal thickening. The final diagnosis was made based on CSF findings, clinical findings, and/or marked improvement after antitubercular treatment. Results: A total of 39 patients met the inclusion criteria and were diagnosed with vasculitis (n = 15), tubercular abscess (n = 5), miliary tuberculosis (n = 3), tubercular cerebritis (n = 9), sellar and parasellar tuberculosis (n = 7), mass forming tuberculosis (n = 1), choroid plexitis (n = 2), and intraventricular tuberculomas (n = 1). Conclusion: A significant number of patients of cranial tuberculosis can have variable presentations and may be misdiagnosed. This analysis helps to reinvestigate the spectrum of MRI findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the Sr1−xAl2O4:Eux (x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.09) phosphor were synthesized by urea fuel combustion method at 580 °C temperature with very high brightness and long after glow. The structural studies carried out using XRD technique shows that the sample is single phased in nature and it gets crystallized into monoclinic phase with standard JCPDS 34-0379 card. The oxide formation was examined using FTIR technique. UV–Visible spectroscopy has been used to study the optical band gap of material, it's value in the current case, Sr1−xAl2O4:Eux (x = 0.05) is 3.78 eV. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), confirm the formation of nano particle, with average particle size around 6–25 nm. The elemental composition was confirmed by using Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) technique. The photo-luminescence study revealed that it gives broad emission spectra using excitation wavelength λex = 365 nm. It is observed that the Sr1−xAl2O4:Eux (x = 0.05) phosphor give maximum emission intensity and it can be regulated as green (0.23, 0.49) emission with the colour temperature 3224 K, CRI 78, and colour purity 60.69%. The spectra are intense and lie in the visible range. The green lights can regulate the circadian rhythm through melatonin, and it is also suitable for green LED and other optoelectronic devices. The Sr1−xAl2O4:Eux (x = 0.00 and 0.05) phosphor behaves like eco-materials, because nano particles of Sr1−xAl2O4:Eux (x = 0.05) does not show antimicrobial activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endophytes either be bacteria, fungi, or actinomycetes colonize inside the tissue of host plants without showing any immediate negative effects on them. Among numerous natural alternative sources, fungal endophytes produce a wide range of structurally diverse bioactive metabolites including anticancer compounds. Considering the production of bioactive compounds in low quantity, genetic and physicochemical modification of the fungal endophytes is performed for the enhanced production of bioactive compounds. Presently, for the treatment of cancer, chemotherapy is majorly used, but the side effects of chemotherapy are of prime concern in clinical practices. Also, the drug-resistant properties of carcinoma cells, lack of cancer cells-specific medicine, and the side effects of drugs are the biggest obstacles in cancer treatment. The interminable requirement of potential drugs has encouraged researchers to seek alternatives to find novel bioactive compounds, and fungal endophytes seem to be a probable target for the discovery of anticancer drugs. The present review focuses a comprehensive literature on the major fungal endophyte-derived bioactive compounds which are presently been used for the management of cancer, biotic factors influencing the production of bioactive compounds and about the challenges in the field of fungal endophyte research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research work, we synthesized novel zinc aluminate (Zn1−xEuxAl2−yO4Sry) sky bluish phosphors at 500 °C via the combustion route method, and for better crystallinity, we were annealed in condensing envelope with 85% of N2 and 15% of H2 at 1200 °C. The spinel cubic phase, elemental mapping elements, surface morphology, and vibrational properties were observed by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared), and Raman spectroscopic techniques, respectively. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra were monitored by λex. = 490 nm (excitation wavelength) and λem. = 392 (emission wavelength). Due to Eu2+ ions at 490 nm, intense photoluminescence spectra have been found. The PL efficiency has been found for synthesized Zn0.95Eu0.05Al1.95O4Sr0.05 (ZAS-5) phosphor at around 93.2%. The high Corelated Color Temperature (~ 25,963 K), low color purity (50%), and low Color Rendering Index (~ 44) value were found for the ZAS-5 sample, that result (temperature) is indicating the prepared phosphor is emitting cold sky bluish light which may be useful for a sleeping light lamp, activation of photosynthesis reaction for crops, and background color for the display screen, because it may be a low dangerous color for human eyes. Antibacterial activity of phosphors indicated that combustion derived synthesized all ZAS samples may behave just like as an eco-material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare the high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT)–derived severity score in COVID-19 patients between those who had earlier received the vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 and those who did not. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of HRCT of the chest was done in correlation with the vaccination status of clinically diagnosed COVID-19 patients. The variable under evaluation was the CT severity score, whereby differential analysis of the variability on this parameter between incompletely (single dose) vaccinated, completely (both doses) vaccinated, and non-vaccinated individuals was the outcome. Results: The analysis included 826 patients of which 581 did not receive any vaccination whereas 196 patients received incomplete (single dose) vaccination and 49 received complete vaccination. Mean CT severity score was lower in completely vaccinated patients (3.5 ± 6.3) vis-à-vis incompletely vaccinated (10.1 ± 10.5) and non-vaccinated (10.1 ± 11.4) individuals. The mean CT score was significantly lower in completely vaccinated patients of lower ages (≤ 60 years) compared to patients above that age. The incidence of severe disease (CT score ≥ 20) was significantly higher in the incompletely vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients compared to that in the completely vaccinated group. Conclusions: CT severity scores in individuals receiving both doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination were less severe in comparison to those receiving a single dose of vaccine or no vaccine at all. Key Points: • Patients who received complete two doses of vaccination had significantly low mean CT scores compared to the partially vaccinated patients and non-vaccinated patients. • The mean CT scores were significantly lower in completely vaccinated patients of lower ages (< 60 years) while patients > 60 years did not show significantly different CT scores between the vaccinated and non-vaccinated groups. • Consolidations and ground-glass opacities were significantly lower in the group receiving complete vaccination as compared to the unvaccinated and incompletely vaccinated patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starvation ketosis and pancreatitis are uncommon and underrecognized etiologies of euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Euglycemic DKA is associated commonly with pregnancy, use of insulin en route to the hospital, and use of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors. A 58-year-old male with past medical history of type II diabetes mellitus and alcoholism presented with chief complaint of nausea, vomiting, and poor oral intake for several weeks. Despite extensive history of diabetes and no recent SGLT-2 inhibitor use, his labs were consistent with euglycemic DKA. His imaging and clinical history also confirmed alcoholic pancreatitis. The patient was admitted for euglycemic DKA secondary to starvation ketosis and alcoholic pancreatitis. His anion gap and beta-hydroxybutyrate rapidly cleared with initiation of the DKA protocol. This case teaches us that clinicians should consider early initiation of the DKA protocol even in the setting of euglycemia, when a patient presents with high-anion-gap metabolic acidosis, a high beta-hydroxybutyrate level, and a clinical picture of pancreatitis and starvation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver abscess is a life-threatening condition and relatively common in tropics. It may be infected by bacteria, fungal, and/or parasitic microorganism. The various risk factors are described for this disease. Amebic abscess accounts for the majority of the cases. Most hepatic abscesses are mono-microbial; however, it may have poly-microbial infections also. Klebsiella pneumoniae has emerged as one of the commonest causes of liver abscesses in most of Asian countries, with high rates of complications. The classic triad of presentation is right upper quadrant abdominal pain, fevers/chills, and malaise. The metastatic infection is reported in approximately 10–45% patients. Imaging and biochemical tests are suggestive of liver abscess. Treatment of abscess includes multi-disciplinary team approach, involves surgery, interventional radiology, and infectious disease specialists. The goal of treatment includes drainage of the abscess and targeted antibiotics for the eradication of the pathogen involved. Percutaneous CT or USG-guided drainage of abscess can be done either with needle aspiration or by inserting a pigtail catheter. Surgery is reserved in patients presenting with rupture, peritonitis, anatomically difficult abscess, or refractory to medical treatment and having co-existing pathology requiring surgery. The role of percutaneous therapeutic aspiration guided by US or CT for uncomplicated amebic liver abscess remains controversial. The complications of liver abscesses are reported in 15.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are very few studies based on the updated dystonia classification. However, a comparison of the idiopathic and non-idiopathic dystonias based on the newer classification has not been done previously. Objectives: To study and compare the clinicoetiological profile of patients with idiopathic and non-idiopathic dystonia attending a movement disorder clinic of a tertiary care teaching institution. Methods: All the consecutive dystonia patients from October 2017 to September 2019 fulfilling the inclusion criteria were subjected to a detailed clinical evaluation. Investigations were performed as per requirement. Patients were classified according to the consensus update on phenomenology and classification of dystonia. Results: A total of 183 patients with dystonia were included, with 61.7% (113) males and 38.3% (70) females. The idiopathic group revealed a significantly earlier age of onset with cases slightly outnumbering (n = 96/183, 52.5%) the non-idiopathic group (n = 87/183, 47.5%). Focal dystonias were the commonest type in both the idiopathic (n = 58/96, 60.4%) and non-idiopathic groups (n = 30/87, 34.5%), while generalized dystonia accounted for 26.4% (n = 23/87) of the non-idiopathic cases and only 3.1% (n = 3/96) of the idiopathic cases. The majority of idiopathic cases were isolated dystonia (n = 93/96, 96.9%), while all hemidystonias were non-idiopathic. Conclusion: Focal dystonias were the commonest in both idiopathic and non-idiopathic groups, while generalized dystonia was significantly commoner in the non-idiopathic group. Acquired causes like drugs, perinatal insult were the commonest etiology in the non-idiopathic group. Hemidystonia was found exclusively in the non-idiopathic acquired group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is an increasing concern that a proportion of the survivors of COVID 19 might develop fibrotic and/or other non-reversible lung changes. The aim of this retrospective study was to review the imaging findings of HRCT of lungs in a cohort of COVID 19 survivors, coming for short-term clinical follow-up and to assess the relation of the observed HRCT changes with the presence of dyspnea. Results: In total, 40 patients with residual CT findings were included in this study with a mean age of 44.3 years and male: female ratio of 3:2. The presence of residual ground-glass opacities (85%) and reticular opacities (80%) was the most common findings. 25% of the cases had cystic changes in their lung. The presence of dyspnea was significantly associated with male sex and a history of smoking. On HRCT, the presence of cystic changes, involvement of > 10 lung segments, and an HRCT severity score > 7 were significantly associated with dyspnea. Conclusion: Survivors of COVID 19 demonstrate persistent changes in the lung on HRCT. We recommend that a follow-up HRCT should be performed in these patients to identify those with post-COVID sequelae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A remarkably large number of hypergeometric (and generalized) functions and a variety of their extensions have been presented and investigated in the literature by many authors. In this paper, we introduce five new hypergeometric functions in four variables and then establish several recursion formulas for these new functions. Some interesting particular cases and consequences of the main results are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An integral part of management of breast cancer is the appropriate treatment of the involved lymph nodes. While axillary nodes are always assessed and managed by sentinel node biopsy or an axillary clearance, the extra-axillary nodes do not receive equivalent attention even though they may influence staging, treatment, and prognosis. The purpose of this study was to assess the extra-axillary nodes by Doppler ultrasonogram in 228 patients with breast cancer over an 8-year period from January 2012 to January 2020. It is a case series analysis to evaluate axillary and extra-axillary lymph node basins in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients using linear array transducer ultrasonogram. It was found that while patients with T1 and T2 lesions did not have extra-axillary nodal involvement, 12% of T3 lesions (102 patients) and 50% of T4 lesions (48 patients) exhibited extra-axillary node involvement. Among the extra-axillary sites, internal mammary nodes were most often involved (24 patients) followed by infra-clavicular (8 patients) and supra-clavicular (4 patients) sites. Clinical examination by palpation could detect only the supra-clavicular nodes but was false negative in all patients who had an internal mammary or infra-clavicular node detected on ultrasound. Failure to identify internal mammary, supra-clavicular, and infra-clavicular lymph nodes can result in erroneous understaging in breast cancer patients leading to inadequate treatment and worse than anticipated prognosis. Therefore, all breast cancer patients as part of their pre-treatment protocol should undergo focused ultrasonogram evaluation of their axillary as well as extra-axillary lymph nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As predicting the trajectory of COVID-19 is challenging, machine learning models could assist physicians in identifying high-risk individuals. This study compares the performance of 18 machine learning algorithms for predicting ICU admission and mortality among COVID-19 patients. Using COVID-19 patient data from the Mass General Brigham (MGB) Healthcare database, we developed and internally validated models using patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) between March-April 2020 (n = 3597) and further validated them using temporally distinct individuals who presented to the ED between May-August 2020 (n = 1711). We show that ensemble-based models perform better than other model types at predicting both 5-day ICU admission and 28-day mortality from COVID-19. CRP, LDH, and O2 saturation were important for ICU admission models whereas eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m2, and neutrophil and lymphocyte percentages were the most important variables for predicting mortality. Implementing such models could help in clinical decision-making for future infectious disease outbreaks including COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endophytes are endosymbiotic fungi or bacteria that invade and colonize the plant tissue without harming their respective host. Since fungal endophytes live inside the host tissues, their effective isolation and identification is an important step. Endophytic fungi produce bioactive metabolites with unique chemical structures, which may help in improving the physiological condition of both the plants and endophytes. Endophytic fungi are a potent source of all major classes of secondary metabolites including terpenoids, non-ribosomal peptides, polyketides, and alkaloids. With the increase in the number of diseases and human health problems, an intensive search for new sources and effective metabolites is now in progress. The bioactive metabolites produced by the fungal endophytes are competent and effective against various diseases such as cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases, immunological disorders, and cardiovascular diseases. The present review summarizes the efficient approaches used for the screening of fungal endophytes, extraction, and purification of bioactive metabolites along with OMICS based study of endophytes. Along with this, the pharmaceutical importance of novel bioactive metabolites and their efficient production from fungal endophytes using various approaches like genetic engineering, use of elicitors, and precursor feeding are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Empyema thoracis is a very common disease. The surgical outcome of empyema patients depends upon various factors. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study in literature describing the surgical outcome of patients in relation to the contrast-enhanced computerized tomography (CECT) thorax morphometric findings. In this study, we examined the surgical outcome of empyema thoracis patients in relation to both clinical and radiological findings. Materials and methods: It is a prospective hospital-based study conducted between October 2016 and August 2018. A total of 30 patients, who underwent decortication during the study period, were included. They were divided into three performance groups (excellent performance, average performance and poor performance groups) according to the outcome. The surgical outcome was correlated with the pre-operative clinical, radiological, intra-operative and post-operative parameters. Results: Intra-operative ability to complete decortication, intra-operative expansion of the lungs and presence of broncho-pleural fistula were significantly different between the three performance groups. Duration of the disease, pre-operative duration of antitubercular therapy (ATT) intake and duration of pre-operative intercostal drain (ICD) were statistically insignificant between groups. In computed tomography (CT) morphometry, residual lung volume of the involved lung and volume of empyema were found to be significantly different between the performance groups. The residual volume of the involved lung (expressed in terms of the percentage of lung volume of the normal opposite lung) can predict the complete expansion of the lung with sensitivity of 71% and specificity of 70%. Conclusion: The pre-operative residual lung volume of the involved lung, empyema volume, completeness of decortication, intra-operative expansion of the lung and presence or absence of broncho-pleural fistula can determine the surgical outcome in empyema thoracis patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Around 10% to 30% patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) do not have a cause after the routine investigations, and are considered as having idiopathic acute pancreatitis (IAP). Establishing the etiology in such patients will prevent recurrences and evolution to chronic pancreatitis. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) characteristically are used to diagnose IAP when routine methods fail, but their exact role is not determined. Methods: This prospective study was undertaken in a tertiary care hospital, in which patients admitted initially with diagnosis of IAP were evaluated. These patients underwent MRCP and EUS at least 4 weeks after an attack of AP. The results of EUS and MRCP were compared and analyzed with various clinical variables using suitable statistical tests. Results: A total of 31 patients with IAP were included. EUS and/or MRCP was able to establish at least one etiology in 17 patients (54.8%). The diagnoses revealed were gallbladder (GB) microlithiasis, GB sludge, choledocholithiasis, pancreatobiliary ductal anomalies, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm. Comparing the diagnostic accuracy of both the modalities, EUS (14/31) was able to diagnose more cases than MRCP (8/31). The diagnostic capability of EUS was lower in patients who had a cholecystectomy (12.5% vs. 56.5%; p = 0.03). Conclusions: EUS and MRCP are useful modalities in the etiological diagnosis of IAP and should be used in conjunction. EUS is better for establishing a possible biliary etiology and MRCP for an anatomical alteration in pancreatobiliary ducts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europium doped zinc aluminum oxide (Zn0.93Al2O4:Eu0.07) was successfully prepared by a combustion method at 550 °C, in which urea, glycine, urea–glycine, citric acid, carbohydrazide, tartaric acid, carbohydrazide–glycine, oxalic acid–glycine, and tetraformaltrisazine were used as a fuel (complexing reagents). The structural and morphological properties were measured and elemental analysis carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), respectively. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra were monitored by excitation spectra (λex. = 378 nm) and emission spectra (λem. = 614 nm), to assess various complexing reagents in which urea was found to be the most efficient for synthesizing ZnAl2O4:Eu3+orange-red phosphor. The discussed zinc aluminate (U-1) phosphor has a higher luminescence intensity at 614 nm. It is concluded, therefore, that the ZnAl2O4:Eu phosphor can be used widely in various solid-state lighting as an orange-red phosphor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtain recursion formulas for the Srivastava's general triple q-hypergeometric series. It is derived that these recursion relations can be represented in terms of q-derivatives of respective Srivastava's general triple q-hypergeometric series. The peculiar outcome for three Srivastava's triple q-hypergeometric series H A , q , H B , q and H C , q are also drawn from the recursion formulas for the Srivastava's general triple q-hypergeometric series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fistula in ano is one of the common anorectal disorders which have a tendency to recur specially in complex cases usually due to missed or undetected sepsis at the time of examination or surgery. A correct identification of the primary source of crypt infection along with a complete understanding of the anatomical course of primary and secondary tracks and abscesses is a prerequisite for the successful management of fistula. Preoperative evaluation of fistula in ano using radio-imaging techniques provides a handy insight of fistula anatomy and helps in planning the appropriate treatment strategy. The objective of this article is to review the role of different radio-imaging techniques in the diagnosis and evaluation of fistula in ano along with their advantages and disadvantages over one another. Main text: A comprehensive literature review was performed searching through the electronic databases as well as the standard textbooks of colorectal surgery. X-rays (plain radiographs and contrast fistulography), computed tomography (CT) scanning, anal endosonography, and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are the modalities used for preoperative imaging of fistula in ano. Due to low accuracy, X-ray fistulography is not used now for fistula imaging. CT fistulography can be more accurate in cases associated with acute inflammations and abscesses and the fistulas related with inflammatory bowel disease. Anal endosonography and MRI are two of the mostly used and reliable imaging techniques for fistula in ano. Though the use of a 3D technology has improved the accuracy of anal endosonography, MRI is the preferred choice by many. However, various reports have depicted comparable accuracies for both MRI and anal endosonography showing both to be equally sensitive but MRI to be more specific. 3D endoanal ultrasound, on the other hand, is more rapid and can also be used intraoperatively to provide live imaging during surgical exploration. Conclusion: Complex and recurrent fistula cases should undergo a preoperative imaging to reduce the chances of recurrence. MRI is recommended as the imaging modality of choice for such cases. 3D anal endosonography may however be a good option over MRI owing to its rapidity, availability, and potential of intraoperative assistance during surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtain certain recursion formulas for fourteen three variable q-Lauricella series. It is derived that these recursion relations can be expressed in terms of q-derivatives of the respective q-Lauricella series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the competition between HSR and the incumbent with vertical service differentiation for Indian corridors. As Indian government plans to invest in this new technology, strategic decisions pertaining to type of corridor, speed of HSR, HSR technology, given the competition scenario on that corridor becomes vital. The strategic interactions between the operators are modelled as a three staged game between the entrant and the incumbent considering the competition over fare and frequency to maximize different objective functions i.e. Profit and Social Welfare. Speed of HSR is taken as a strategic variable in the game with two levels of high speed, {Low-H, High-H}. This model is applied on two corridors of India of different length i.e. Bangalore-Delhi (competition with airlines with length of corridor being 2400 km) and Bangalore-Mysore (competition with bus with length of corridor being 150 km). Revealed and stated preference surveys are conducted for the passengers traveling on these corridors and a discrete choice model was estimated for both the corridors. These models were used to determine the modal share in the new hypothetical scenario which were in turn used in defining objective functions such as profits and social welfare. Various game scenarios characterized by sunk and variable cost of the modes are formulated and equilibrium for all demand levels is computed for both the corridors for these different objective functions. Results demonstrates variation in Nash equilibrium for different game scenarios and hence indicates the importance of incorporating speed as a strategic variable. Changing the objective function to social welfare maximization results in different equilibrium solution for Bangalore-Delhi corridor. Thus, impact of different combinations of demand, cost structures and objective functions are explored on the market equilibrium thereby providing interesting insights in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To identify and to assess imaging and clinical features of Posterior urethral diverticula (PUD) in a single-centre series and include a brief review of literature. Materials and method Post operative MRI of 140 children from north India were retrospectively reviewed who underwent surgical repair for anorectal malformation (ARM) along with the Hospital records. Results Ten cases had MRI features of posterior urethral diverticulum. All of these patients had undergone primary abdominoperineal pull through (APPT) procedure. The lesions ranged between 6 mm and 38 mm in size. Two of these lesions were missed in the post operative MRI report. Only one of these patients was symptomatic and presented with dribbling of urine and gross bilateral vesicoureteric reflux in which the diverticulum was excised surgically. Conclusion PUD is an under-recognised entity and can be identified in preclinical stage on MRI. Careful assessment of urethra and periurethral structures should be a mandatory step in MRI evaluation of post repair ARM cases. An observational conservative approach in selected asymptomatic patients can be an effective management strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an empirical analysis of non-workers' activity-travel behaviour from Bangalore city, India. The paper builds a causal model-to describe the relationships among socio-demographics, activity-participation, and travel behaviour of non-workers-following structural equation modelling methodology. The results indicate that in-home maintenance activity-duration drives the time allocation decisions of non-workers. The model also shows the presence of 'time-budget' effects i.e., excess travel time cuts into in-hhome discretionary activity duration, implying the trade-off between daily travel time and in-home discretionary activity duration. The out-of-home activity durations of non-workers are found to be insensitive to travel time-an important finding of this research. The model also suggests that mixed residential development reduce travel distance and indirectly contribute to more trips. An indirect effect of mixed residential development on daily travel distance offsets the direct effect, which leads to a limited total effect of this variable on travel distance. The basic model was expanded further by separating the time spent on others' activity (children and elders) from in-home maintenance activity duration. The stable model reveals that the time spent on others' activity also influences in-home and out-of-home activities, and travel behaviour. This indicates that the time spent on others' activity is an important time allocation of its own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibrinolytic therapy for arterial or venous thrombotic disorders involves the systemic administration of thrombolytics such as streptokinase, which is associated with serious bleeding complications. With this study, we provide a proof-of-concept of photothermal thrombus ablation with gold nanorods exposed to near-infrared irradiation, both in vitro using materials generated from purified fibrinogen or plasma and in vivo in murine blood vessels. This is the first report of the application of photothermal therapy as an anti-thrombotic measure. Remarkably, the addition of streptokinase had a multimodal additive effect with regard to acceleration of photothermal lysis of thrombi even at a dose significantly below the therapeutic concentration, thus minimizing the lifethreatening side effects and adverse complications. This combinatorial approach exhibits great promise for lysing pathological clots while effectively overcoming the drawbacks of existing therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder. Aggregation of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ42) into fibrils is a key pathological process associated with Alzheimer's disease. In this study, effect of surfactin against amyloid β-peptide was studied by using computational approaches. In the molecular docking, surfactin interacts with A chain of amyloid fibril and forms the hydrogen bonds with Ala 21 and Asp 23 with total energy of −3.28 kcal/mol. Surfactin interacts with an amphiphilic pore amyloid β-peptide (Aβ42); binding of surfactin to amyloid fiber shows the decrease in salt bridge length (between Asp 23 and Lys 28) from 11.5 to 9.0 Å; and this may lead to displace the water molecules and so destabilize the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ42). 10-ns molecular dynamics simulation was performed for amyloid fibril and with surfactin amyloid fibril complex. RMSD, RMSF, Rg trajectories, and SASA plot further used to study the stability of complex and effect of surfactin. This is the novel in silico study of surfactin against the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ42) fiber responsible for Alzheimer's disease, and these results may provide an insight role of surfactin in the drug design against Alzheimer's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antenatal diagnosis of the invasiveness of a placenta percreta helps in planning the surgical approach, reducing blood loss and morbidity. Doppler sonography is the mainstay diagnostic modality with a sensitivity of 80-95 %. With the advent of high magnetic field MRI techniques, there has been recent interest in evaluation of placenta by MRI. On an extensive PUBMED search, we could not find any citations describing imaging, ultrasound, or MRI features to evaluate vesical wall invasion by placenta percreta. Purpose: We attempt to evaluate transmyometrial vesical wall invasion by placenta percreta using chemical shift artifact as a marker of intact bladder-myometrial interface on steady-state MRI sequences. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study, conducted at a university hospital. We have compiled clinico-radiological criteria for diagnosis of invasive placentae based on the existing body of evidences, in four patients. We further go on to analyze a specific proposed sign on a newly introduced MR imaging sequence i.e., loss of chemical shift artifact (India ink line) on steady-state GRE sequence (TrueFISP), to diagnose transmyometrial vesical invasion in placenta percreta. Results: Though the sample size is small, the sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive value of the proposed sign for the purpose was 100 %. Conclusions(s): Loss of chemical shift artifact (India ink line) on steady-state GRE sequences at the vesico-myometrial junction in case of invasive placentae confirms vesical wall invasion, a prospective diagnoses of which can help in planning the surgical protocol and preventing potentially fatal blood loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dermoidcysts of the ovary represent the most common form of benign ovarian tumors. Their site, size and clinical presentations are extremely variablecausing confusion with various medical and surgical entities. Uncomplicated dermoid cysts are often asymptomatic andare relatively easy to diagnose on imaging. Symptomatic complicated dermoids may lead to diagnostic dilemmas. Of the various complications of ovarian dermoid, spontaneous rupture into theadjacent viscera is the least common. We report a case of a 55-year-old patient presenting with abdominal pain and passage of hair-like and cheesy material in stools, in which contrast enhanced CT scan demonstrated bilateral ovarian dermoids with the right oneruptured into asmall bowel loop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periampullary region encircles a radius of 2 cm around the ampulla of Vater; accordingly, four distinct neoplasias with overlapping imaging features originate in the region. Each of these lesions has a different long-term prognosis; hence, imaging evaluation to characterize the lesion is important. Further certain specific features pertaining to the vascular invasion and systemic spread may decide about the treatment as well as surgical approach. An understanding of the advances in imaging and image processing technology as well as in the methods of image acquisition, for the purpose, is quite relevant towards etching out a rational pre-treatment evaluation protocol. Further, an evidence-based decision as to the choice of optimum modality for answering specific clinical question is of prime importance in achieving a reasonable post-treatment outcome. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is the fourth most common cancer and a malignancy with one of the least 5-year survival rates (ranging from 6.8 to 15 % depending on peripancreatic extensions, dropping to 1.8 % for metastatic disease). A survival rate of 15-27 % can be achieved if the lesion is resectable but unfortunately, only 10-15 % of patients are eligible for resection. Cystic tumors of pancreas are a rarer variety of pancreatic neoplasia (5-15 % of pancreatic cysts and 1 % of all pancreatic cancers) which have a much better outcome and chances of resection. Being mostly incidentalomas, a timely differentiation of this lesion from the much more common pseudocyst (which would mandate a medical management and a different surgical protocol) is the key for curability. Lastly, the neuroendocrine tumors of pancreas are equally rare (1 % of all pancreatic tumors), but importantly due to associated clinical syndromes and their capability to metastasize early in the course of disease, a timely detection may hence be the key for successful treatment of these lesions. Imaging plays a vital role in the initial detection and characterization as well as in determination of resectability of each of these pancreatic neoplasias. Further, the differentiation of pancreatic head tumors from other periampullary neoplasias is important; the fact that most recurrences are as a result of surgical intervention in an otherwise inoperable disease while most treatment failures are due to improper characterization of the lesion is notable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Sodium hypochlorite is the active ingredient in bleach, a ubiquitous household disinfectant, and has known toxicities depending on route of exposure and amount. Acute kidney injury due to sodium hypochlorite exposure has never been reported. Patients that did develop nephrotoxicity following bleach exposure did so due to development of other risk factors for kidney injury such as volume depletion or sepsis. Discussion: We report a patient who presented with black urine after parenteral self-administration of a large quantity of bleach. We review the clinical presentation, laboratory and biopsy findings, and outcome as well as discuss possible mechanisms of sodium hypochlorite toxicity and management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cronkhite-Canada syndrome (CCS) is a rare syndrome first described in 1955. Since then, over 400 cases worldwide have been reported in the literature. The disease is characterized by diffuse gastrointestinal polyposis, dystrophic changes of the fingernails, alopecia, cutaneous hyperpigmentation, diarrhea, weight loss, and abdominal pain. An autoimmune etiology is suspected. The workup is based on history and physical examination, imaging, and endoscopy with biopsy to confirm gastrointestinal polyposis. Nutritional support and corticosteroids are the mainstay of treatment. Here, we describe two familial cases-one a 50-year-old male patient with chronic diarrhea and epigastric pain since 1.5 years with hyperpigmentation of the hand and foot, alopecia, anorexia, hypogeusia, and weight loss; other case was his 22-year-old son who was asymptomatic, with mild alopecia and hyperpigmentation over his face and hands. Gastrointestinal endoscopy showed multiple polyps in both the cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the case of a 27-year-old male who presented with acute mesocaval shunt thrombosis, which was successfully managed by mechanical thrombolysis. Shunt thrombosis was suspected when the patient showed clinical signs and symptoms of obstructive jaundice in the immediate postoperative period. Doppler sonography showed absence of flow across the shunt, suggestive of thrombosis, which was mechanically thrombolyzed by a percutaneous approach. The portocaval pressure gradient noted at the end of procedure was <5 mm Hg. The shunt remained patent at the end of 3 months’ follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endogenous Cushing's syndrome is a relatively rare disease. Most cases being ACTH-dependent, ACTH-independent Cushing's syndrome (AICS) is an even rarer condition [15%-20%]. In more than 95% cases the cause of AICS is unilateral adrenal enlargement caused by adenoma or carcinoma. Bilateral adrenal disease is caused by primary pigmented nodular adrenal dysplasia (PPNAD) and ACTH-independent macro nodular hyperplasia (AIMAH). Only few case reports of the latter condition exist in the radiology literature, PPNAD being the commoner of two as the cause for AICS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a three-stage pixel-based visual front end for automatic speechreading (lipreading) that results in significantly improved recognition performance of spoken words or phonemes. The proposed algorithm is a cascade of three transforms applied on a three-dimensional video region-of-interest that contains the speaker's mouth area. The first stage is a typical image compression transform that achieves a high-energy, reduced-dimensionality representation of the video data. The second stage is a linear discriminant analysis-based data projection, which is applied on a concatenation of a small amount of consecutive image transformed video data. The third stage is a data rotation by means of a maximum likelihood linear transform that optimizes the likelihood of the observed data under the assumption of their class-conditional multivariate normal distribution with diagonal covariance. We applied the algorithm to visual-only 52-class phonetic and 27-class visemic classification on a 162-subject, 8-hour long, large vocabulary, continuous speech audio-visual database. We demonstrated significant classification accuracy gains by each added stage of the proposed algorithm which, when combined, can achieve up to 27% improvement. Overall, we achieved a 60% (49%) visual-only frame-level visemic classification accuracy with (without) use of test set viseme boundaries. In addition, we report improved audio-visual phonetic classification over the use of a single-stage image transform visual front end. Finally, we discuss preliminary speech recognition results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which aims to analyze the biochemical basis of methyl isocyanate (MIC) intoxication in animals. The study involved adult male albino rats exposed to MIC vapours concentration including glutathione-S-transferase, aniline hydroxylase and aminopyrine demethylase. Results show that repeated exposure of rats to MIC has a great effect on the animal's microsomal membrane due to slower tissue regeneration.

Low Temperature grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) was incorporated as a buffer layer for GaAs on Si (GaAs/Si) and striking advantages of this structure were confirmed. The LT-GaAs layer showed high resistivity of 1.7 × 10 ω-cm even on a highly defective GaAs/Si. GaAs/Si with the LT-GaAs buffer layers had smoother surfaces and showed much higher photoluminescence intensities than those without LT-GaAs. Schottky diodes fabricated on GaAs/Si with LT-GaAs showed a drastically reduced leakage current and an improved ideality factor. These results indicate that the LT-GaAs buffer layer is promising for future integrated circuits which utilize GaAs/Si substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]