Search

Background Hair restoration surgery is a definitive surgical procedure undertaken for androgenetic alopecia (AGA). Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy has gained importance in recent times as a valuable adjunct to therapy in hair restoration. However, the various beneficial effects of PRP as intraoperative holding solution hair restoration surgery remain to be objectively defined. Methods Twenty cases of AGA were allocated into two groups (PRP and non-PRP). The follicular grafts harvested were stored in platelet-rich plasma/chilled ringers lactate solution depending on subject/control and were implanted in receding hairline using hair implanters. Patients were reviewed at the end of 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months using clinical and folliculoscopic images. The analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0. Results Follicular growth as assessed using the percentage of grafts in actively growing phase posttransplant showed faster recovery from ‘shock effluvium’ in the PRP group when compared with the non-PRP group from Week 4, through Week 8 and 3 months with the ‘lead’ increases of percentage growth difference being statistically significant(P = 0.02) between the two groups. At the end of 6 months, 100% of patients recorded a hair shaft length of >10 mm in the PRP group, whereas only 20% achieved >10 mm length. The difference in hair densities between PRP and the non-PRP group from 4 weeks up to 6 months in the non PRP group remained significant (P Conclusion Intraoperative PRP as a holding solution improves outcome in hair restoration surgery by a significant improvement in the mean density of the implanted follicular unit grafts at 6 months.

The current outbreak of COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has affected > 210 countries. Various steps are taken by different countries to tackle the current war-like health situation. In India, the Ministry of AYUSH released a self-care advisory for immunomodulation measures during the COVID-19 and this review article discusses the detailed scientific rationale associated with this advisory. Authors have spotted and presented in-depth insight of advisory in terms of immunomodulatory, antiviral, antibacterial, co-morbidity associated actions, and their probable mechanism of action. Immunomodulatory actions of advised herbs with no significant adverse drug reaction/toxicity strongly support the extension of advisory for COVID-19 prevention, prophylaxis, mitigations, and rehabilitation capacities. This advisory also emphasized Dhyana (meditation) and Yogasanas as a holistic approach in enhancing immunity, mental health, and quality of life. The present review may open-up new meadows for research and can provide better conceptual leads for future researches in immunomodulation, antiviral-development, psychoneuroimmunology, especially for COVID-19.

BackgroundCylinder blasts can inflict multi-system life-threatening injuries to one or many persons simultaneously if they are nearby. The explosion in high-pressure equipment produces injuries due to its varied effects. Cases have been reported where the blast occurred in balloon gas cylinder, oxyacetylene gas cylinder, oxygen cylinder, coffee machine, and compressor of a split air conditioner (AC). Most of the cases are accidental. The investigation into the blast circumstances is of utmost importance to find out the manner and device involved.Case presentationHere, we present a report of two cases where victims suffered blast injuries at the same location due to the explosion of two different capacity liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) domestic cylinder and died on the spot.ConclusionThe investigation into the blast circumstances is of utmost importance to find out the manner and device involved. Malpractice involving use of cylinder to fill another one might be dangerous for the person involved and present in the vicinity. This practice should be discouraged by lay person.

Background: The POMPP (Practical scoring system of mortality in patients with perforated peptic ulcer) score is a simple method which is new and easily applicable scoring system. Our aim is to predict the post operative mortality rate in patients with perforated peptic ulcer by using POMPP scoring system in Indian population. Method: A prospective study of total 100 patients of perforated peptic ulcer operated in J.L.N. Hospital, Ajmer were included in our study. Three parameters corresponding score 1 for each are included in this multivariate analysis which are age > 65 years, albumin ≤ 1.5 g/dl and BUN (Blood urea nitrogen) > 45 mg/dl. All data that may be potential predictors with respect to hospital mortality were analyzed and compared with previous studies. Results: In our study of 100 patients with M: F ratio 7.33 around 17 deaths was recorded out of which 14 were males and 3 were females. We have observed that mortality rates were signicantly affected by the parameters of POMPP scoring system with 0%, 11.76%, 35.29% and 52.95% mortality for scores 0, 1, 2 and 3 respectively. We also observed out of 17 deaths 15 deaths were seen in age group > 65 years, 11 deaths were associated with albumin < 1.5gm/l and 16 deaths were associated with blood urea nitrogen > 45mg/dl. Data analysis was done using chi square method. Conclusion: POMPP scoring system consists only age and routinely measured two simple laboratory tests (albumin and BUN), its application is easy and prediction power is satisfactory. It provides early detection of high risk peptic perforation cases; allow other supportive treatment modality apart from surgery which can decrease the mortality

Currently, a disease name as corona (COVID-19) has become a serious problem around the globe. As of December 2020, the disease has spread to over 213 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances, with over 79,850,900 confirmed cases and over 1,751,705 deaths. The ailment (COVID-19) is instigated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). CoV impacts on the respiratory tract and causes infection that may be minor or deadly. Several studies reveal that coronavirus can remain live on nonliving surfaces (glass, metal, or plastic) for up to 9 days, but it may be denatured with many disinfectants having alcohol, benzalkonium chloride, sodium hypochlorite, etc., within 1 min. As we know, there is no fruitful therapy or medication for COVID-19 so early precaution and prevention is the only solution to break the chain of coronavirus. By using different types of disinfectants, we can inhibit the growth of this novel corona disease.

Hypertension is a critical health problem and worse other cardiovascular diseases. It is mainly of two types: Primary or essential hypertension and Secondary hypertension. Hypertension is the primary possibility feature for coronary heart disease, stroke and renal vascular disease. Herbal medicines have been used for millions of years for the management and treatment of hypertension with minimum side effects. Over aim to write this review is to collect information on the anti-hypertensive effects of natural herbs in animal studies and human involvement as well as to recapitulate the underlying mechanisms, from the bottom of cell culture andex-vivotissue data. According to WHO, natural herbs/shrubs are widely used in increasing order to treat almost all the ailments of the human body. Plants are the regular industrial units for the invention of chemical constituents, they used as immunity booster to enhance the natural capacity of the body to fight against different health problems as well as herbal medicines and food products also. Eighty percent population of the world (around 5.6 billion people) consume medicines from natural plants for major health concerns. This review provides a bird’s eye analysis primarily on the traditional utilization, phytochemical constituents and pharmacological values of medicinal herbs used to normalize hypertensioni.e. Hibiscus sabdariffa,Allium sativum, Andrographis paniculata, Apium graveolens, Bidenspilosa, Camellia sinensis, Coptis chinensis, Coriandrum sativum, Crataegusspp.,Crocus sativus, Cymbopogon citrates, Nigella sativa, Panax ginseng,Salviaemiltiorrhizae, Zingiber officinale, Tribulus terrestris, Rauwolfiaserpentina, Terminalia arjunaetc.Graphic Abstract

Background: Septicemia is the most important cause of mortality in burns. Burn patients can only be saved if septicemia is detected early which requires very sensitive prognostic indicator. In this study, platelet count was studied as a prognostic indicator. Material and Methods: Present study is to be carried out on 50 burn cases (age > 15 years and burn surface area 20% to 70%) in Department of Surgery, J.L.N. Medical College and Associated Group of Hospitals, Ajmer during the period 2013 to 2016. Results: In non-survivors gradual decline in platelet count was observed on subsequent post-burn days till death of these patients. While in survivors gradual rise in platelet count was observed.Conclusion: Declining platelet count is a very sensitive prognostic factor in early detection of post burn septicemia.

The neutral point clamped quasi-Z-source (NPC-qZS) inverter is poised to become a potential candidate for renewable energy applications because it yields a continuous input current and voltage boost. In this study, the closed-loop control of grid-tied three-phase (3- ϕ ) NPC-qZS inverter, fed with renewable energy sources, is proposed for the first time. A dynamic model has been developed to accurately design the control strategy. The proposed strategy includes the control of grid-tied current and the peak dc-link voltage (PDV). The control of grid-tied current is achieved through a damped-second-order-generalised integrator. The PDV is estimated indirectly from the voltages of qZS network capacitors and is regulated by an integral-double-lead controller. Two modified modulation techniques based on phase-opposite disposition and in-phase disposition are proposed to yield shoot through by injecting 3rd harmonics for maximum constant boost control. A comparison is drawn between the performance of the proposed controller and sliding-mode controller on the dc side. The controller design and system performance are validated through real-time simulation and experimentation on a practical setup in the laboratory.

This paper presents a novel strategy to indirectly control the peak dc-link voltage (PDV) of grid-connected quasi-Z-source (qZS) inverter supplied with renewable energy sources (RES). The method is directed to indirectly determine and regulate the pulsating PDV through the qZS network capacitor voltages. The small signal model is developed by representing ac- and dc-sides separately. The ac-side control is designed with higher bandwidth to avoid interference from dc-side. The dc-side control utilizes shoot-through duty ratio to PDV transfer function and controller is designed to minimize the effect of its right-half-plane zero (RHPZ) characteristics. The gating signals are realized through maximum constant boost control in conjunction with one-sixth of third harmonic injection. The strategy is implemented through MATLAB/Simulink and is verified experimentally with real-time simulations (RTSs) in OPAL-RT.

Background: Appendiceal perforation in patients with acute appendicitis may cause a variety of potentially life-threatening complications. Escherichia coli endotoxin has been shown to impact physiological bile flow in vivo. This had led to the theory that hyperbilirubinemia and elevated CRP in patients with appendicitis may have a predictive potential for the preoperative diagnosis of appendiceal perforation. Objectives: The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the diagnostic value of hyperbilirubinemia and elevated CRP as a preoperative laboratory marker for appendiceal perforation in patients with acute appendicitis. Thus a new marker for appendiceal perforation would be welcomed. Thus, the need for the study is to conclude whether the Serum Bilirubin or CRP can be considered as a new laboratory marker to aid in the diagnosis of Appendicular Perforation. Materials and methods: All patients admitted with clinical diagnosis of "Acute Appendicitis" or "Appendicular Perforation" and undergoing surgery in General Surgery Dept in Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital were taken as Subjects for this study. The primary data for this study were the blood investigations of the patients. 200 patients with concerned consent and meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The necessary clinical and lab details were obtained in a prewritten format. The intraoperative findings were noted and documented precisely. Upon completion of data collection the preoperative bilirubin levels of the perforated and uncomplicated groups wereOther clinical and lab parameters obtained during the study were compared between the two groups. All parameters were subjected to statistical analysis and evaluated critically. Results: A total of 200 patients participated in the study. Of the 200 patients studied 132 patients were males and 68 patients were females. The youngest patient was 13 years old and the oldest 64 years. Among all the patients operated with a diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis 92 were found to have a perforated appendix, and 108 were found to have a non-perforated appendix. It was observed that among 92 patients with perforated appendix 86 patients showed a raised CRP levels and 58 patients had a raised Bilirubin levels. However in case of non-perforated cases it was found that among the 108 cases 82 patients had a raised CRP levels and 36 patients showed raised bilirubin levels. Conclusion: Hence Logistic Regression technique revealed that the C- reactive protein and Hyperbilirubinemia can be used to predict the appendicular perforation preoperatively and that their roles are comparable and that there is no definitive advantage of one over the other for the same.

Background: Thalassemia is the most common inherited monogenic disorder in the world. The present study was conducted to assess thyroid dysfunction in thalassemia patients.Materials & Methods: 84 children with beta thalassemia major of both genders were assessed for serum total thyroxine (T4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and Serum ferritin levels were obtained. TSH and T4 concentration were analyzed by ELISA.Results: There were 64 euthyroid and 20 hypothyroid patients. 40 male and 24 females euthyroid patients and 12 males and 8 hypothyroid patients. The difference was significant (P

Background: Reduced port size mini-laparoscopic cholecystectomy (MLC) has widened the horizons of modern laparoscopic surgery. Standard four port conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC), which has long been established as the “Gold Standard” for gall bladder diseases, is under reconsideration following the advent of further minimally-invasive procedures including MLC. Our study aims to provide a comparison between MLC and CLC and assesses whether MLC has any added benets. Materials And Methods: A prospective randomized controlled study of 46 patients of gall stone disease was conducted at J.L.N. Medical College, Ajmer. The patients assigned in to two groups (23 in each) group A [Reduced port size mini-laparoscopic cholecystectomy {MLC}] or group B [Standard four port conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy {CLC}] through randomization. Data was collected prospectively and analysed retrospectively using a predesigned Performa. Results: In our study, both the groups had similar age, body mass index (BMI) and gender distribution. No cases of MLC required insertion of additional ports. The mean operative time for MLC was 63.74 ± 9.50, which is longer than CLC 44.91 ± 14.73. The pain was signicantly lower in mini laparoscopic group which is analysed on 0th ,2nd 7th and 28th post operatively. Patients who underwent MLC were able to return to normal activity earlier than patients undergoing CLC (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Our experience suggests that MLC can safely be used as an alternative to CLC. Compared to CLC, it has the added benet of an early return to work along with excellent cosmetic results. Intraoperative blood loss is comparable in both groups, however the operative time in MLC group higher than the CLC group. Further large scale trials are required to prove any additional benet of MLC

Centrifugal pumps are commonly utilized in thermo-fluidic systems in the industry. Being a rotating machinery, they are prone to vibrations and their premature failure may affect the system predictability and reliability. To avoid their premature breakdown during operation, it is necessary to diagnose the faults in a pump at their initial stage. This study presents the methodology to diagnose fault of a cent rifugal pump using two distinct machine learning techniques, namely, Support vector machine (SVM) and Artificial neural network (ANN). Different statistical features are extracted in the time and the frequency domain of the vibration signal for different working conditions of the pump. Furthermore, to decrease the dimensionality of the obtained features different feature ranking (FR) methods, namely, Chi-square, ReliefF and XGBoost are employed. ANN technique is found to be more efficient in classifying faults in a centrifugal pump as compared to the SVM, and Chi-square and XGBoost ranking techniques are better than ReliefF at sorting more relevant features. The results presented in thus study demonstrate that an ANN based machine learning approach with Chi-square and XGBoost feature ranking techniques can be used effectively for the fault diagnosis of a centrifugal pump.

Acute haemorrhage from ruptured oesophageal varices is a serious consequence of portal hypertension in cirrhotic patients. It represents a medical emergency with a high morbidity and mortality rate. Studies over the years have shown a direct link with chronic alcoholism in the development of such complications. Although the gastrointestinal system accounts for a few numbers of sudden deaths, bleeding through ruptured varices represent a life-threatening condition. The role of forensic pathologist is vital in dealing with sudden deaths. Here, we report a case of a 46-year-old man who died suddenly following the rupture of oesophageal varices.

BACKGROUND Differential expression of chemokines/chemokine receptors in colorectal cancer (CRC) may enable molecular characterization of patients' tumors for predicting clinical outcome. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prognostic ability of these molecules in a CRC cohort and the CRC TCGA-dataset. METHODS Chemokine (CXCL-12α, CXCL-12β, IL-17A, CXCL-8, GM-CSF) and chemokine receptor (CXCR-4, CXCR-7) transcripts were analyzed by RT-qPCR in 76 CRC specimens (normal: 27, tumor: 49; clinical cohort). RNA-Seq data was analyzed from the TCGA-dataset (n= 375). Transcript levels were correlated with outcome; analyses: univariate, multivariable, Kaplan-Meier. RESULTS In the clinical cohort, chemokine/chemokine receptor levels were elevated 3-10-fold in CRC specimens (P⩽ 0.004) and were higher in patients who developed metastasis (P= 0.03 - < 0.0001). CXCR-4, CXCR-7, CXCL-12α, CXCL-8, IL-17 and GM-CSF levels predicted metastasis (P⩽ 0.0421) and/or overall survival (OS; P⩽ 0.0373). The CXCR-4+CXCR-7+CXCL-12 marker (CXCR-4/7+CXCL-12 (α/b) signature) stratified patients into risk for metastasis (P= 0.0014; OR, 2.72) and OS (P= 0.0442; OR, 2.7); sensitivity: 86.67%, specificity: 97.06%. In the TCGA-dataset, the CXCR-4/7+CXCL-12 signature predicted metastasis (P= 0.011; OR, 2.72) and OS (P= 0.0006; OR: 4.04). In both datasets, the signature was an independent predictor of clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS Results of 451 specimens from both cohorts reveal that the CXCR-4/7+CXCL-12 signature potentially predicts outcome in CRC patients and may allow earlier intervention.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV2) is responsible for fetal pneumonia called COVID19. SARS-CoV2 emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China in December 2019. The COVID19 pandemic has now gripped the entire world with more than 70 million cases and over 1.5 million deaths so far. There no treatment option for COVID19 is in term of a drug or vaccine is currently available. Therefore drug repurposing may only provide a quick method for utilizing existing drugs for a therapeutic option. The virus genome contains several non-structural proteins (NSP) which serve as target for designing of antiviral agents. NSP9 of SARS-CoV2 encodes for a replicase enzyme which is essential for the virus replication in the host cell. In search of potent inhibitors, we have screened FDA approved drugs against NSP9 using in silico methods. Five drugs fluspirilene, troglitazone, alvesco, dihydroergotoxine and avodart were found to have highest affinities with the replicase. The molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) studies demonstrated strong drugs binding and stable NSP9-drugs complexes formation. The findings are also strongly supported by root-mean-square deviation, root-mean-square fluctuation, radius of gyration, and hydrogen bond analysis of the complexes. Principal component analysis showed the stable conformation of NSP9 upon drug binding. It could be inferred that these five drugs individually or in combinations may be used as potential inhibitors of NSP9 of SARS-CoV-2 after exploring their in vivo antiviral potential.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Information technology has seen quite a few marvels of invention and new discoveries in terms of technology. Until now this was a revolutionary era in which change was something which is not accepted easily. Blockchain is the example of that change, which no one has thought of a technology that keeps and upholds the long-term record keeping. However, the adoption of technology is quite risky and requires a lot of analysis. The chapter covers Blockchain’s brief summary in terms of its evolution from its origin, why we should opt for blockchain as a technology, a brief introduction to blockchain, types of blockchain Platform, how blockchain is driven by consensus mechanism along with its listed objectives which play an important role. There are several consensus mechanisms listed and explained with the conceptual point of view. The chapter enlists the smart contract, which is required to drive the business based upon some business rules. Alongside, blockchain implementation with its types is explained with their brief steps followed. Blockchain implementation is explained with the help of Ethereum in-depth with dedicated steps with deeply explained.

Leakage in water pipeline is one of the major issues in water distribution system (WDS), and to reduce the loss of the water due to leak, leak detection system is used to detect and locate leak. The accuracy of the leak detection system depends on change in flow characteristics of the pipeline due to the presence of the leak. In this study, CFD analysis was performed on the pipeline in the presence of leak and the variation in flow characteristics such as pressure drop, leak mass flow rate and outlet velocity due to change in leak location was recorded. The analysis was carried out on Ansys Fluent. The obtained result shows that the leak causes change in pressure drop along the length, leak mass flow rate and also a significant effect on outlet velocity.

Wind energy is the form of sun energy. Flow of wind is not uniform all time. For conversion of wind energy into electrical energy synchronous generator were used. Synchronous generator used for the constant speed of power generation. So using synchronous generator for irregular wind energy conversion in electrical energy is not efficient. Due to such disadvantages of fixed speed generator, recent days variable speed generator using called doubly fed induction generators. This asynchronous generator has many advantages over fixed speed generator system. An asynchronous based turbine has a capacity to convert the wind energy into maximum electrical energy with changing and customizable speed. It is also having the capacity to control active and reactive power with the help of power electronics converter. When operating the doubly fed induction generator, generating system controlling and handling the plant for smooth and efficient operation is challenging task. Many control strategy were proposed by the researchers discuss in this chapter. This chapter presents an outline and a deep review of recent decades on the various issues related to infiltration of doubly fed Induction generator in wing generation system. Also discuss various problem associated in the proposed techniques and what the improvement required for future work.

Bioactives and/or biological agents are vital substances (i.e., vitamins and phytoactives) that occur in nature or fabricated intentionally (i.e., vaccines and recombinant protein) and are fortified for providing immense health benefits. These bioactives provide distinctive useful impacts on human health including antioxidant, antiinflammatory, anticancer, antihypertensive, and many other biological activities. They offer exclusive immunity to explicit antigen, and direct the expression of a variety of genes. Bioactives are the endowment of the mother nature to benefit humankind yet endure to reach at its greatest viability because of unforeseen delivery issues. Nanotechnology is progressively utilized in pharmaceutical and medical science for overcoming the delivery challenge of various class of therapeutics. It features functionality to therapeutic actives to resolve the limitation of their delivery. Therefore nanostructured delivery systems are the panacea to fight the various delivery challenges of bioactives and biological agents that upgrade several attributes of bioactive conveyance as shielding them against debasement at various physiological conditions, improving dissolvability such and stability, and subsequently help to achieve maximum bioavailability. This chapter addresses the key challenges and opportunities for developing delivery carriers of bioactives and biological agents to overpower the restriction and providing the greatest health advantages.

A 5-month-old female child weighing 5 Kg presented to paediatrician with complaints of breathlessness, cough and decreased feeding since the age of one month. She had history of recurrent lower respiratory tract infection. There is no significant birth history. The child was asymptomatic one month back, then developed breathlessness, cough and decreased feeding at the age of one month. Later got hospitalised for pneumonia twice in 4 months. After admission and investigation for the above complaints, child was diagnosed with a large mediastinal cyst with left lung collapse and was posted for emergency thoracotomy for excision of cyst.

Intoroduction:Prodrug approach deals with chemical biotransformation or enzymatic conversion or involves inactive or less active bio-reversible derivatives of active drug molecules. They have to pass through enzymatic or chemical biotransformation before eliciting their pharmacological action.Methods & Materials:The two different pharmacophores combine to give synergistic activity or may help in targeting the active drug to its target. Prodrug super seeds the problems of prodrug designing, for example solubility enhancement, bioavailability enhancement, chemical stability improvement, presystemic metabolism, site specific delivery, toxicity masking, improving patient acceptance, or eradicating undesirable adverse effects.Results:As an outcome the search for a prodrug or mutual prodrug with reduced toxicity has continued during recent years. This present review emphasizes the common help to revamp physiochemical, pharmaceutical and therapeutic effectiveness of drugs.Conclusion:This gives the researcher a common platform where they can find prodrugs of commonly used NSAIDs to overcome the gastrointestinal toxicity (irritation, ulcergenocity and bleeding).

The hasty developments in nanotechnology will have intense impact on various areas of therapeutic applications like drugs and bioactive delivery, tissue engineering, and other application. This review mainly emphasized on the nanoparticle systems for delivery of antimicrobial drug. Various antimicrobial agents have been used to kill or inhibit the growth of microbes such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. As the pharmacological actions of these drugs have been well established, feeble delivery and degradation could lead to insufficient therapeutic index and cause side effects. Nanoparticles have many advantages like small and controllable size, large surface area to mass ratio, and functionalizable structure. These properties make the nanoparticles, a suitable delivery system of antimicrobials. Along with this, it also overcomes the limitations intra-additional antimicrobial therapeutics. In last few years, development and fabrication of antimicrobial agent in nanoparticle systems has evolved as an innovative and promising alternative that increases therapeutic effectiveness and overcoming the undesirable side effects. In this chapter, we focused on the current progress and challenges in producing nanoparticle system for antimicrobial drugs delivery for the treatment of microbial diseases.

Developed nations are turning to the utilization of traditional medicinal systems that include the use of herbal drugs and remedies, and as indicated by the World Health Organization, relatively 65% of the total population has incorporated plants as therapeutic agents into their main modality of health care. The research and development push is focused on development of new creative and innovative delivery systems for plant based drugs. Phytoconstituents obtained from plants generally possess an inherent drawback of limited oral bio availability and instability owing to their hydrophilic nature. Novel drug delivery system is a novel way to deal with medication that is held to the constraints of conventional drug delivery systems. Limitations of novel drug delivery systems include poor storage stability, poor encapsulation efficiency, lengthy production procedures, and when chemical cross-linking is involved, possible inactivation of herbal components. Clinical assessments required for the herb–drug interaction potential of phytoconstituents incorporating the novel formulations.

Periodontitis (PD) is a common dysbiotic inflammatory disease that leads to local bone deterioration and tooth loss. PD patients experience low-grade bacteremias with oral microbes implicated in the risk of heart disease, cancer, and kidney failure. Although Th17 effectors are vital to fighting infection, functional imbalance of Th17 effectors and regulatory T cells (Tregs) promote inflammatory diseases. In this study, we investigated, in a small pilot randomized clinical trial, whether expansion of inflammatory blood myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) and conversion of Tregs to Th17 cells could be modulated with antibiotics (AB) as part of initial therapy in PD patients. PD patients were randomly assigned to either 7 d of peroral metronidazole/amoxicillin AB treatment or no AB, along with standard care debridement and chlorhexidine mouthwash. 16s ribosomal RNA analysis of keystone pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis and its consortium members Fusobacterium nucleatum and Streptococcus gordonii confirmed the presence of all three species in the reservoirs (subgingival pockets and blood DCs) of PD patients before treatment. Of the three species, P. gingivalis was reduced in both reservoirs 4–6 wk after therapy. Further, the frequency of CD1C+CCR6+ myeloid DCs and IL-1R1 expression on IL-17A+FOXP3+CD4+ T cells in PD patients were reduced to healthy control levels. The latter led to decreased IL-1β–stimulated Treg plasticity in PD patients and improvement in clinical measures of PD. Overall, we identified an important, albeit short-term, beneficial role of AB therapy in reducing inflammatory DCs and Treg–Th17 plasticity in humans with PD.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is known to be one of the diseases wrecking most parts of the globe with 89% of sickle patients worldwide in Africa, of which Nigeria alone constitutes 25%. It was first reported by Dr. James Herrick in 1910 and the subsequent characterisation was by Linus Pauling. SCD is a genetic blood disorder, characterised by modification in the shape of the red blood cell from a smooth, donut shape into a crescent or half-moon shape. The practice of traditional medicine using medicinal plants has a long history in the treatment of sickle cell disease. The role of nutrition and anti-sickling effects of various phytoconstituents in overcoming SCD has been reported, although information on the management of SCD is still scarce.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a virus with single positive-strand RNA, having glycoproteins projection on envelopes so reveals a halo-like appearance or corona. Coronavirus is of four types: (1) α-coronavirus (α-COV); (2) β-coronavirus (β-COV); (3) δ-coronavirus (δ-COV); and (4) γ-coronavirus (γ-COV) and belongs to family Coronaviridae and subfamily Coronavirinae. Coronaviruses are the normal pathogens that cause broad band of gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases in domestic as well as wild animals such as pigs, birds, and rodents. Coronavirus is highly infectious in case of elders for mortality rate. The elder peoples are at 2-fold higher risk as compared to the younger population and the greater part of the population dying from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is male. The virus enters into the body by the mouth, eyes, or nose, then particles march inside of the body by different pathways and affect vital organs in severe ways such as liver, heart muscle, blood vessels, kidneys, central nervous system, etc. Right now, the only solution to avoid COVID-19 infection is “precautions.” Different companies of different countries at different steps are in race to develop effective medicines for treatment and management of the same. Here, in this review, we tried to give an overview of all about SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 infection, pathophysiology, mechanisms, and various treatment trials.

Major depressive disorder afflicts ~16 percent of the world population at some point in their lives. Despite a number of available monoaminergic-based antidepressants, most patients require many weeks, if not months, to respond to these treatments, and many patients never attain sustained remission of their symptoms. The non-competitive glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, (R,S)-ketamine (ketamine), exerts rapid and sustained antidepressant effects following a single dose in depressed patients. Here we show that the metabolism of ketamine to (2S,6S;2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) is essential for its antidepressant effects, and that the (2R,6R)-HNK enantiomer exerts behavioural, electroencephalographic, electrophysiological and cellular antidepressant actions in vivo. Notably, we demonstrate that these antidepressant actions are NMDAR inhibition-independent but they involve early and sustained α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptor activation. We also establish that (2R,6R)-HNK lacks ketamine-related side-effects. Our results indicate a novel mechanism underlying ketamine’s unique antidepressant properties, which involves the required activity of a distinct metabolite and is independent of NMDAR inhibition. These findings have relevance for the development of next generation, rapid-acting antidepressants.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is the most common manifestation of tuberculosis, and to this day, sputum smear microscopy remains the most widely used diagnostic test in resource-limited settings despite its suboptimal sensitivity. Here we report the development of two DNA aptamer-based diagnostic tests, namely aptamer linked immobilized sorbent assay (Aptamer ALISA) and electrochemical sensor (ECS), for the direct detection of a TB biomarker HspX in sputum. First we compared the performance of Aptamer ALISA with anti-HspX polyclonal antibody-based enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (Antibody ELISA) in a blinded study of 314 sputum specimens. Aptamer ALISA displayed a high sensitivity of 94.1% (95% CI 86.8-98%) as compared to 68.2% sensitivity (95% CI 57.2-77.9%) of Antibody ELISA ( p-value < 0.05) using culture as the reference standard without compromising test specificity of 100%. Out of nine smear-negative culture-positive samples, six were positive by Aptamer ALISA and only two were detected by Antibody ELISA. ALISA detected as positive 80 of 85 culture-positive TB as compared to 57 of 81 diagnosed as TB by X-ray ( p-value < 0.0001). These findings demonstrate the superiority of the aptamer-based test over smear microscopy, antibody-based ELISA, and chest X-ray for TB detection ( p-value < 0.0001 for all). Further, we have developed a ∼30 min point-of-care ECS test that discriminates between tuberculous and nontuberculous sputum with a sensitivity of ∼92.3% and specificity of 91.2%. The tests developed in the current study cost ∼$1-3/test and have potential utility in active case finding in high-risk groups and screening for pulmonary TB among presumptive TB subjects.

Children under the age of five constitute around 7% of the total U.S. population, and represent a segment of the population that is totally dependent on others for day-to-day activities. A significant proportion of this population spends time in some form of day care arrangement while their parents are away from home. Accounting for those children during emergencies is of high priority, which requires a broad understanding of the locations of such day care centers. As concentrations of at risk population, the spatial location of day care centers is critical for any type of emergency preparedness and response (EPR). However, until recently, the U.S. emergency preparedness and response community did not have access to a comprehensive spatial database of day care centers at the national scale. This paper describes an approach for the development of the first comprehensive spatial database of day care center locations throughout the U.S. utilizing a variety of data harvesting techniques to integrate information from widely disparate data sources followed by geolocating for spatial precision. In the context of disaster management, such spatially refined demographic databases hold tremendous potential for improving high-resolution population distribution and dynamics models and databases.

This review presents an overview on plants identified to possess hair growth activity in various ethno-botanical studies and surveys of tradition medicinal plants. It also highlights the developments in hair rejuvenation strategies from 1926 till-date and reviews the potential of herbal drugs as safer and effective alternatives. There are various causes for hair loss and the phenomenon is still not fully understood. The treatments offered include both natural or synthetic products to treat the condition of hair loss (alopecia), nonetheless natural products are continuously gaining popularity mainly due to their fewer side effects and better formulation strategies for natural product extracts. Plants have been widely used for hair growth promotion since ancient times as reported in Ayurveda, Chinese and Unani systems of medicine. This review covers information about different herbs and herbal formulation that are believed to be able to reduce the rate of hair loss and at the same time stimulate new hair growth. A focus is placed on their mechanism of action and the review also covers various isolated phytoconstituents possessing hair growth promoting effect.

Objective: Infantile hemangiomas are the most common benign tumour in infancy. Propranolol has recently been introduced as therapeutic agent for treating hemangiomas. This study explores the impact of Propranolol on hemangiomas. Study Design: Prospective study. Materials and Methods: Propranolol was given to 32 children (19 girls and 13 boys) having hemangiomas between age of 3 weeks to 12 months at a dose of 2 mg/kg per day, in 2 or 3 divided doses. Total duration of study period was one year from July 2013 to June 2014. Serial photographs were taken at 4-6 weeks interval during the course of their therapy to record clinical response. Results: out of 32 patients 31 patients showed improvement in their hemangiomas by reduction in size and change in color during propranolol therapy. Results were determined as complete resolution (n- 5, 15.6%), ongoing resolution (n-26, 81.2%). No side effects of propranolol was observed in any patient. Conclusions: Propranolol appears to be a valuable and effective treatment option for infantile hemangiomas. Propranolol is likely to revolutionize the treatment of hemangiomas.

Proposed in this paper is a new particle swarm optimization technique for the solution of economic load dispatch as well as environmental emission of the thermal power plant with power balance and generation limit constraints. Economic load dispatch is an online problem to minimize the total generating cost of the thermal power plant and satisfy the equality and inequality constraints. Thermal power plants use fossil fuels for the generation of power; fossil fuel emits many toxic gases which pollute the environment. This paper not only considers the economic load dispatch problem to reduce the total generation cost of the thermal power plant but also deals with environmental emission minimization. In this paper, fuel cost and the environmental emission functions are considered and formulated as a multiobjective economic load dispatch problem. For obtaining the solution of multiobjective economic load dispatch problem a new PSO called moderate random search PSO was used. MRPSO enhances the ability of particles to explore in the search spaces more effectively and increases their convergence rates. The proposed algorithm is tested for the IEEE 30 bus test systems. The results obtained by MRPSO algorithm show that it is effective and efficient.

// Michal P. Kuczma 1, 6 , Zhi-Chun Ding 1 , Tao Li 2 , Tsadik Habtetsion 1 , Tingting Chen 1 , Zhonglin Hao 1 , Locke Bryan 3 , Nagendra Singh 4 , James N. Kochenderfer 5 and Gang Zhou 1 1 Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA 2 Department of Oncology and Surgery, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, Ningxia Province, PR China 3 Hematology/Oncology, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA 4 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA 5 Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA 6 Current/Present address: Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Correspondence to: Gang Zhou, email: GZHOU@augusta.edu Keywords: antibiotics; intestinal microbiota; cyclophosphamide; chimeric antigen receptor; adoptive T-cell therapy Received: September 12, 2017 Accepted: November 26, 2017 Published: December 05, 2017 ABSTRACT In recent years the combined use of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, collectively termed chemoimmunotherapy, has emerged as a promising treatment option for patients with cancer. Antibiotics are commonly used to reduce infection-related complications in patients undergoing chemotherapy. Intriguingly, accumulating evidence has implicated gut microbiota as a critical determinant of host antitumor immune responses, raising the question as to whether the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics would invariably diminish tumor response to chemoimmunotherapies. We investigated the impact of antibiotics on the therapeutic outcomes of cyclophosphamide (CTX) chemotherapy and adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT) where CTX was used as the host-conditioning regimen in mice. We show that antibiotic prophylaxis dampened the endogenous T cell responses elicited by CTX, and reduced the efficacy of CTX against B-cell lymphoma. In the ACT setting, antibiotics administration impaired the therapeutic effects of adoptively transferred tumor-specific CD4+ T cells in mice with implanted colorectal tumors. In contrast, long-term antibiotic exposure did not affect the efficacy of ACT using CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in mice with systemic B-cell lymphoma, although it correlated with prolonged CAR expression and sustained B-cell aplasia. Our study demonstrates that chemoimmunotherapies may have variable reliance on intestinal microbiota for T cell activation and function, and thus have different sensitivities to antibiotic prophylaxis. These findings may have implications for the judicial use of antibiotics in cancer patients receiving chemoimmunotherapies.