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Background: Cariprazine, a novel antipsychotic drug, is a partial agonist of dopamine D2/D3 receptors with preferential binding to the D3 receptor. There has been an increasing interest in cariprazine augmentation to clozapine; however, the evidence thus far has been only limited to case reports and case series. Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the augmentation of clozapine with cariprazine in patients with sub-optimal treatment response. Methods: Demographic and clinical information of the study population were collected from the electronic records and PANSS scale administered at baseline and 3 months. Tolerability and discontinuation reasons where applicable were also recorded. Results: Ten patients (four men and six women) with a mean age of 36.5 years (range = 26–45) were included. Reasons for cariprazine initiation included inadequate treatment response, persistent negative symptoms and/or tolerability issues with clozapine or previous augmentation options. Two patients discontinued cariprazine within the first 6 weeks due to restlessness and poor response, respectively. There was a significant reduction in the median total PANSS score from baseline to 3 months (from 59 to 22.5, p

Abstract Background Inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) represent a subclass of rare inherited diseases caused by a wide range of defects in metabolic enzymes or their regulation. Of over a thousand characterized IEMs, only about half are understood at the molecular level, and overall the development of treatment and management strategies has proved challenging. An overview of the changing landscape of therapeutic approaches is helpful in assessing strategic patterns in the approach to therapy, but the information is scattered throughout the literature and public data resources. Results We gathered data on therapeutic strategies for 300 diseases into the Drug Database for Inborn Errors of Metabolism (DDIEM). Therapeutic approaches, including both successful and ineffective treatments, were manually classified by their mechanisms of action using a new ontology. Conclusions We present a manually curated, ontologically formalized knowledgebase of drugs, therapeutic procedures, and mitigated phenotypes. DDIEM is freely available through a web interface and for download at http://ddiem.phenomebrowser.net .

Abstract Objective: To evaluate changes in the levels of salivary irisin in chronic periodontitis, and to correlate the two. Methods: The analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at Fatima Memorial Hospital & College of Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan, from September 2017 to March 2018, and comprised patients of either gender visiting the periodontic out-patient department. The subjects were divided into group I, which had periodontally healthy controls, and group II, which had an equal number of chronic periodontitis patients. Chronic periodontitis was assessed on basis of pocket probing depth, clinical attachment level, plaque percentage and bleeding on probing. Also, 4ml of un-stimulated saliva was collected for the quantification of irisin protein using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data was analysed using SPSS 25. Results: Of the 40 subjects, there were 20 (50%) in group I with 10 (50%) males and 10 (50%) females having an overall mean age of 37.60±2.58 years. The remaining 20 (50%) subjects were in group II with 16 (80%) males and 4 (20%) females having an overall mean age of 43.25±6.10 years. Mean salivary irisin level in group II was 6.80±3.97ng/ml compared to 3.99±2.48 ng/ml in group I (p=0.009). Periodontal clinical parameters in both the groups were positively but non-significantly correlated with salivary irisin levels (p>0.05) except for decreased plaque percentage in group I (p

This study investigates the effect of global supply chain pressures and crude oil prices on the consumer price index from October 1997 to February 2022 using panel linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lags (ARDLs, NARDLs). The results showed that the asymmetric effect of the global supply chain on the inflation rate is stronger when the supply chain increases than when it decreases in the long run for advanced economies and vice versa in emerging markets. A one standard deviation of the supply chain pressures has rebounded the inflation rate by about 1.7% and 0.71% for advanced economies and emerging markets, respectively. The findings establish that a 10 U.S. dollar increase in oil prices leads the inflation rate to rise by 0.1%–0.6% for all countries in the short run. However, the impact of the global supply chain index fits much better with the inflation rate than the oil prices in the short and long run, including the subprime crisis, such as the COVID‐19 outbreak, and the beginning of the Russo–Ukrainian conflict. Thus, the empirical results of the current study provide acumens for policymakers of advanced economies and emerging markets to consume green energy and make use of green technology and environmental innovations for counterbalancing the inflation issues induced by the higher rates of oil prices without halting the economic growth and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study established that best method to propagate Jatropha curcus plant is via sapling rather than seed germination in agroclimatic conditions of Lahore, Pakistan having suitable temperature range. Moreover efficiency of drain water (DW) was compared with canal water (CW) and ground water (GW) on physical growth parameters, seed contents and seed oil quality of J.curcus. Impact of water quality was also assessed on the soil quality in terms of electrical conductivity (EC in dSm-1), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). A significant increase in Plant height, stem diameter, number of branches, number of fruit balls, 100 seed weight, fresh seed weight per plant and %age oil yield was observed where DW was applied followed by CW and GW. Proximate analysis indicated the statistically high protein and carbohydrate contents of seed from plants irrigated with DW. However, there was no conspicuous variation in ash contents (%age) and moisture contents (%age) of seed. Similarly positive effects of DW were came out for peroxide value (PV),free fatty acids (FFA), conjugated dienes and conjugated trienes of seed oil. However, water quality did not depict any noteworthy impact on iodine value of seed oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Chemical composition and medicinal potential of Centella asiatica (C. asiatica), Cedrus deodara (C. deodara) and Artemisia persica (A. persica) prompts the need to investigate antioxidant attributes of these species as alternative source of natural antioxidants. The main aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the antioxidant potential of methanolic extracts of these plants towards stabilization of sunflower oil as oxidation substrate. Material and methods. Total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, DPPH radical scavenging activity, peroxide value, iodine value, conjugated dienes, trienes and P-anisidine value were determined by recommended methods of AOCS. Results. It was observed that all the plant extracts possessed antioxidant activity, but generalized statement was in favour of Centella asiatica. DPPH scavenging activity of Centella asiatica extract was just like BHT emphasising the antioxidant potential of Centella asiatica in fats and oil containing foods. Conclusion. Centella asiatica extracts can be explored as a source for antioxidant components for food preservation. However, further studies may be carried out to isolate and identify more specific natural and safe antioxidants by combining various analytical techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]