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The novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 and the virus-induced disease COVID-19 has caused widespread concerns due to its contagiousness, fatality rate, and the absence of drug(s). This study investigated Lens culinaris and its phytochemicals, especially the flavonoids. The compounds were assessed through molecular docking studies for their binding abilities with the major protease of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (PDB: 6LU7). A total of 42 phytochemicals of Lens culinaris were analyzed through molecular docking studies for their binding affinities to COVID 3C-like protease. Of them, 23 compounds were found to have binding affinities to the protease of −7.5 kcal/mol or higher. Our study indicates that Lens culinaris contains a number of polyphenolic compounds as well as phytosterols, which can bind to the active site of the protease, and so merits further scientific attention on trials for use as potential anti-COVID-19 drugs.

Background: The present study was conducted to determine Transverse diameter (inter-pedicular distances) of the lumbar spinal canal measured in plain antero-posterior radiograph of 140 subjects (80 males, 60 females) aged between 20 to 60 years in population of Telangana. Subjects and Methods : The present study was conducted in the department of Anatomy, in a teaching medical college and hospital in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It comprised of antero-posterior plain radiographs of lumbar spine of 140 subjects, aged between 20 to 60 years. Transverse diameter of the lumbar spinal canal or inter-pedicular distances (IPD), and transverse diameter of the vertebral body was measured using electronic Digital Vernier calipers, and the ratio between transverse diameter of vertebral canal and transverse diameter of the corresponding vertebral body were analyzed. Results: Out of 140 patients, males were 80 and females were 60. The mean inter-pedicular distance (IPD) at L1 was 24.2 mm in males and 23.4 mm in females, and at L5 was 30.2 mm in males and 29.6 mm in females. Mean transverse diameter of lumbar vertebral canal (I.P.D) is minimum at L1 vertebra in both sexes. The maximum values of I.P.D were recorded for vertebra L5 for both sexes. The values of IPD are higher in male population in comparison to female counterparts. The mean width of the vertebral body is gradually increasing from L1 to L5. Ratio between transverse diameter of vertebral canal and transverse diameter of the corresponding vertebral body is seen to be constant (0.6) at all lumbar level in both the sexes. Conclusion: Authors found that there is variation in the size of the lumbar vertebral canal between males and females. Even after the revolution of various imaging techniques like CT Scan, MRI, etc., the plain radiography remains the mainstay of investigative procedure particularly in rural setup.

Background: The present study was conducted to assess the association of morphometry of the placenta and birth weight of fetus in hypertensive mothers. Subjects and Methods: The present study was conducted on 74 pregnant women with an uncomplicated pregnancy and those with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH). The following morphometric parameters of each placenta were recorded: weight, volume, thickness, transverse diameter, and shape. Gestational age of mothers, sex and birth weight of newborns were recorded. Results: The majority of male babies with weight > 2500 grams had > 37 weeks of gestational age and the majority of female babies with weight >2500 grams had >37 weeks of gestational age. The mean weight of placentae in male babies was 416.7 grams, the mean surface area was 226.5 sq cm, mean volume was 372.2 ml and mean thickness were 2.04 cm. while the mean weight of placentae in female babies was 407.5 grams, the mean surface area was 220.4 sq cm, mean volume was 354.6 ml and mean thickness was 2.10 cm. Statistics show that the highest sensitivity and specificity for determining the low birth weight of babies in hypertensive mothers was seen with a surface area of the placenta which was 82.3% and 75.6% respectively. The positive predictive value for the weight of the placenta was 65.4%, for the surface area it was 67.8% and for the volume of the placenta, it was 64.2%. Conclusion: To conclude, it was found that placental morphometry like weight, surface area, volume and sex of the baby determined the birth weight efficiently in hypertensive mothers.

Introduction: Thyroid lesions are fairly common & have a wide spectrum of diseases ranging from functional, immune mediated to neoplastic lesions. Objectives: 1) To study the occurrence of various lesions of the thyroid. 2) To study and correlate clinico-morphological features. Results/ Observation: All thyroidectomy specimens were included in the study period of two years i.e, from January 2009 to December 2010. A total of 120 specimens were studied by routine paraffin processing and heamatoxylin eosin stain. Detailed histopathological study was done and correlated with age, sex & clinical presentation. Out of 120 cases, non-neoplastic lesions accounted for 83.33% and included thyroglossal duct cyst (2.5%), Hashimoto thyroiditis (9.1%), colloid goitre (29.1%) & multinodular goitre (42.5%). Neoplastic lesions accounted for 16.67% and consisted of follicular adenoma (12.5%) as the only benign lesion. Papillary carcinoma (2.5%), medullary carcinoma (0.83%) and anaplastic carcinoma (0.83%) were malignant lesions found. Conclusion: Thyroid lesions predominantly affects females during 3rd and 4th decades of life and commonly present as neck swelling. Multinodular goitre was the commonest non- neoplastic lesion followed by colloid goitre. Follicular adenoma was the only benign neoplasm seen while papillary, medullary and anaplastic carcinoma were the malignant thyroid neoplasms. Keywords: Thyroid lesions, Non- neoplastic and neoplastic lesions.

Solid Pseudopapillary Neoplasm (SPN) of the pancreas represents 1-3 % of all exocrine pancreatic tumors and is uncommon in children. We report four pediatric patients with SPN where each patient posed a unique diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. We describe these four cases with detailed clinical-radiological-pathological correlations. All patients are female, with a median age 13.5 years. Two patients presented with abdominal pain, one with jaundice and one with an incidental pancreatic mass on abdominal CT scan. Radiological studies included abdominal ultrasound, CT scan and MRI of abdomen. Pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed in three patients and laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy in one patient. Mean tumor size was 4.5 cm (ranged from 1.9 to 11.5 cm). All SPNs were benign on histological exam. One patient developed pancreatic insufficiency post-surgery. No tumor recurrence was observed over a mean follow up period of 1 year. We conclude that diagnosis of SPN in pediatric population can be challenging due to non-specific clinical findings, and surgical removal of the tumor is usually required for definitive histologic diagnosis and treatment. Most tumors are benign and recurrence is very rare.

The association between coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) and autoimmune disease has been mounting, and literature on COVID-19-induced flare-up of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease is lacking. We describe a case of lupus cerebritis triggered by COVID-19 in a young female with SLE, who presented with fluctuated mentation, psychomotor retardation, slow speech, and intermittent choreiform movement in the upper part of the body. She had a history of COVID-19 infection three weeks back. Her serum immunoglobulin G antibodies were positive against COVID-19. On examination, she had psychomotor agitation, intermittent choreiform movements of upper limbs, and poor speech. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed hyperintense signals in the white matter of both hemispheres, suggestive of lupus cerebritis secondary to COVID-19 infection and lack of any other identifiable risk factor. Management included methylprednisolone, prednisone, and olanzapine. The patient was also placed on monthly intravenous cyclophosphamide, and her condition started improving gradually.

This study is conducted to determine the antidiabetic activity capabilities of both aqueous and alcoholic extracts of Senna alata. Route of administration was by oral intubation on diabetic-induced Sprague Dawley rats through single dose intraperitoneal injection of a diabetogenic agent, Streptozotocin 55mg/kg. This study consists of 9 groups with 4 rats each, Group 1 serves as a control group, Group 2 will be treated with a standard antidiabetic drug, Metformin as a positive control, Group 3 acts as a negative control with no treatment, Group 4 to group 6 will be given aqueous extract of doses from 2 to 8g/kg and Group 7 to group 9 were treated with alcoholic extract of the same dosage strength of Group 4 to 6. Group 2 to 9 were fasted prior to the administration of STZ. Blood glucose was measured on the first two days, three times a week after administration of STZ to confirm rats have reached diabetic FBS blood glucose levels of more than 7.5mmol/L. Both aqueous and alcoholic treatments were administrated BID for a duration of 7 days, and blood glucose levels measured at 2-day intervals. There is a significant reduction (P0.05) These groups are Group 6 (high dose aqueous extract 12g/kg) and Group 9 (high dose alcohol extract 12g/kg). Groups administered with alcoholic extracts were shown to lower blood glucose levels compared to aqueous extracts. The alcoholic extract has exhibited significant higher hypoglycemic effects on STZ induced diabetic rats compared to aqueous extract. No side effects were observed during the course of treatment, even with high dosages.

Segmentation of lung region is specifically difficult because of the large variation in quality of an image. Accurate identification of lung region is very important for clinical applications. The aim of this paper is to make segmentation of lung region accurately. In this paper, lung mask is calculated by taking the average of manual masks of most similar training images, and graph cut segmentation is applied with kernel energy to extract accurate boundaries. Kernel function is used to transform image data into higher dimension data in order to make piecewise constant model of graph cut formulation that becomes applicable then. Minimization of energy function contains graph cut iterations of image partitioning and iterations of updating the region parameters. Performance is evaluated by Dice coefficient. Dice coefficient is used to measure the similarity between manual and segmented mask. Experimental results of proposed methodology state the accuracy of 92.19%. It is observed that all the cases obtain the score more than 0.88 which is sufficient to detect lung region efficiently.

Background: Antidiabetic drugs are many but all of them have adverse effects ranging from simple side effects to serious side effects like hypoglycemic coma. We need alternative drugs which will not only lower blood sugar level but have fewer side effects. One such daily use ingredient in our food is Nigella sativa (kalonji) which has many properties.Methods: This was an objective study in an experimental animal. We divided albino wistar rats into six groups each group with six rats. Diabetes was induced using drug streptozotocin. Three doses of Nigella sativa 0.5 ml, 1 ml, 1.5 ml orally per rat were used. Metformin (100 mg/kg body weight) was used as standard drug. Blood sugar was estimated using glucometer on day 0 (starting day of treatment), day 5, day 10, day 20, day 40. The effect of Nigella sativa was compared with metformin group using the Anova test. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software version 20.Results: Nigella sativa (NS) produced significant hypoglycemic effect. NS in the dose of 0.5 ml, 1 ml and 1.5 ml produced significant reduction in blood glucose in comparison to day 0. Metformin also (100 mg/kg body weight) produced significant reduction in blood glucose on day 20 and day 40. Comparison of hypoglycemic effect of Nigella sativa is not significantly different on day 10 (1 ml) and day 20 (1.5 ml) in comparison to Metformin (100 mg/kg body weight). Histopathological examination showed that there was partial regeneration of beta islet cells of pancreas by 1.5 ml of Nigella sativa which were damaged due to streptozotocin treatment.Conclusions: Alternative method of treatment for diabetes is very much needed and the study shows the use of the spice (Nigella sativa) daily can lower the blood sugar levels and can serve as an alternative treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease and becomes a major threat all over the world but still diagnosis of tuberculosis is a challenging task. In literature, chest radiographs are considered as most commonly used medical images in under developed countries for the diagnosis of TB. Different methods have been proposed but they are not helpful for radiologists due to cost and accuracy issues. Our paper presents a methodology in which different combinations of features are extracted based on intensities, shape and texture of chest radiograph and given to classifier for the detection of TB. The performance of our methodology is evaluated using publically available standard dataset Montgomery Country (MC) which contains 138 CXRs among which 80 CXRs are normal and 58 CXRs are abnormal including effusion and miliary patterns etc. The accuracy of 81.16% was achieved and the results show that proposed method have outperformed existing state of the art methods on MC dataset.

Henoch–Schönlein purpura (HSP) is the most common vasculitis in children. It is a disorder of the inflammatory cascade leading to immunoglobulin A deposition and leukocytoclastic vasculitis of small vessels of skin, kidneys, joints, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract. A wide variety of GI manifestations are seen in ∼50% to 75% of patients with HSP. Diffuse colicky abdominal pain is the most common GI symptom. The small bowel is the most frequently involved GI site. Intussusception is rare but is the most common surgical complication. We report the case of a 2-year-old girl with a 5-day history of abdominal pain followed by a palpable purpuric rash. Her urinalysis, complete blood cell count, and tests of renal function were normal. An acute abdominal series was unremarkable initially, and abdominal ultrasound imaging showed ascites and thickened small bowel loops. She was diagnosed with HSP. The abdominal pain worsened, and an abdominal computed tomography scan demonstrated distal small bowel wall thickening and pneumatosis intestinalis in the descending colon. She was started on total parenteral nutrition and antibiotics and placed on bowel rest. She was given 2 mg/kg of intravenous immunoglobulin. Her abdominal pain gradually improved over the next week, and a repeat computed tomography scan showed significant improvement of the small bowel wall thickening and pneumatosis. The purpuric rash improved, and her abdominal pain resolved. We report a case of HSP and pneumatosis intestinalis, an association that has not been reported previously.