Search

Primary adenocarcinoma of the fourth portion of the duodenum (D-IV) is reported infrequently than other parts of the duodenum. Its diagnosis is often late because of non-specific symptoms and signs. We encountered a 48-year-old male patient who was diagnosed as duodeno-duodenal intussusception, underwent segmental duodenal resection with duodenojejunal anastomosis and confirmed as adenocarcinoma of D-IV. He received adjuvant chemotherapy and is doing well at 1 year of follow-up. This report describes about the rare case of isolated adenocarcinoma of the D-IV presented as intussusception which is never reported before and successfully treated by segmental resection of the duodenum and jejunum.

BACKGROUND Alopecia areata (AA) is an inflammatory disorder, marked by chronic, persistent, and patchy loss of hair. At present intralesional/topical corticosteroids, Minoxidil solution, and topical immune-therapies are used for treatment. Though all these have side effects and high rate of relapse. As QR678 Neo® is proved to be effective in hair regrowth in male and female pattern hair loss, the aim of the study is to compare the efficacy of QR678 Neo® with intralesional steroid therapy vs. intralesional steroid alone in the treatment of AA of scalp in men and women. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 20 participants in age group of 20-50 years with nonscarring patchy hair loss were chosen for the study. Patients were arbitrarily divided into two groups (Group A-intralesional steroid with placebo and Group B-intralesional steroid with QR678 Neo® ). All the participants were evaluated at baseline, 3 months and 6 months with standard global photography, dermoscopic assessment, and self-evaluation questionnaire at the end of study. RESULT Marked improvement was seen in the global assessment score after 6 months (mean- 6.6 SALT) as compared to baseline (38.5 SALT score) in group B. There was significant reduction of black dots, yellow dots, broken hairs, and tapered hair at 6 months on video dermoscopic examination in group B. Also, higher satisfaction was experienced with the treatment in group B patients. CONCLUSION QR678 Neo® in combination with intralesional steroids therapy proved to be significantly beneficial, efficient, and can be considered as safer treatment option for alopecia areata.

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a serious health issue that is growing at an alarming rate. A person having CKD can only be saved by providing kidney transplantation or dialysis but as it involves huge medical expenditure it remains unaffordable to low and middle-income countries. Therefore, early-stage diagnosis is critical to contain CKD at the initial stage, which can reduce the mortality rate and bring down the cost of treatment significantly. This study proposes a novel feature selection method namely Majority Vote-Grey Wolf Optimization (MV-GWO) with machine learning algorithms for the detection of CKD using benchmark CKD dataset. For validating the proposed method we have used different evaluation metrics. The proposed method achieved higher accuracy of 98.75%, sensitivity of 100%, F1-score of 99% and Mathew Correlation Coefficient of 0.9735 with only five optimal features. Furthermore, we have interpreted the machine learning model by analyzing the most critical features using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) feature importance plot, summary plot, dependence plot, and Partial dependence plots.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the peripheral joints is frequently related with physical disability and decline in health-related quality of life, deciphering into a significant burden on people and humankind. Although IA corticosteroid injections are being in clinical use, their long-term effects on knee OA are least studied and documented. Hence, the study was done with the aim of assessing the effect of intra-articular (IA) injection of corticosteroid in patients with OA of the knee. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted over a period of 6 months between 40 years and 75 years with Grade I and II OA of the knee admitted under the Department of Orthopaedics, Tertiary Care Hospital, Belgaum. Patients' affected knee was injected with 80 mg of triamcinolone after the examination, and follow-ups had done at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. The standard pro forma used were Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS). Results: The mean age of the participants was 58.96 ± 9.58, ranging from 40 to 75 years, with a slightly higher proportion of females. The proportion of Grade 1 and Grade II OA was 24% and 76%, respectively, and 54.7% had right-sided involvement. The difference between pre Rx: Pre intervention VAS score VAS score and follow-up periods at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months was statistically significant with respect to VAS scale, KOOS scale, and WOMAC scale (P < 0.001). Conclusion: there was no major adverse effect of corticosteroid injections, and it showed significant improvement in patients. There is a need to conduct large-scale well-controlled clinical trials with an appropriate control group, to be able to document the relative efficacy and safety of IA steroid injection.

Gastric conduit has emerged as the preferred treatment option for both esophageal bypass and replacement for corrosive stricture of the esophagus. There is a lack of consensus and a dearth of published literature regarding the short- and long-term complications of using a gastric conduit. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the outcomes, morbidity, and complications associated with it. MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar (January 1960 to May 2020) were systematically searched for all studies reporting short- and/or long-term outcomes and complications following the use of a gastric conduit for corrosive esophageal stricture. Seven observational studies involving 489 patients (53.2% males, mean age ranging from 22.1 to 41 years) who had ingested a corrosive substance (acid in 74.8%, alkali in 20.7%, and unknown in the rest) were analyzed. Gastric pull-up was performed in 56.03% (274/489) of patients. Median blood loss in the procedure was 187.5 ml with a mean operative duration of 298.75 ± 55.73 min. The overall pooled prevalence rate of anastomotic leak was 14.4% [95% CI (6.2–24.0); p

BACKGROUND Informed consent is not simply the signing of a form by the patient but more significantly, a process of an in-depth communication between the doctor and the patient. AIM The written informed consent process typically involves reading a lengthy document involving the medical terms which at times lead to misinterpretation. Therefore, the current research envisages assessing the effectiveness and acceptability of the video consent tool athwart the traditional written consent procedure. METHODS A retrospective questionnaire study was carried out with 30 patients posted for Blepharoplasty surgery between ages of 18-50 years. They were divided into two groups randomly. All the participants were given written consent. Video consent was taken additionally for group 2 subjects. All the participants received pre-validated questionnaire. The evaluation scale used was a 5-point Likert scale. RESULTS People with video consent group were more satisfied with the consent process. It was noted that all the patients who received video consent were happier and understood the consent process better than patients with written consent only. CONCLUSION The inference drawn from our study depicts that video consent is not just easy to understand and clarifies the doubts associated with the surgery but also significantly reduces the anxiety of the patient preoperatively. Also, in other 'quality of life' improving cosmetic procedures including rhinoplasty, face lift surgeries, jaw surgeries, botox, fillers, lasers etc., video consenting tool can be used to a maximum benefit. It is strongly recommended to adopt the practice of taking video consent format in all forms of cosmetic procedures.

Introduction: Fungal infections of the orbit have been recognized as one of the most critical infective lesions in the field of ophthalmology due to its morbidity, its association with blindness and even mortality. Delayed presentation and nonspecific symptoms present peculiar challenges in diagnosis and management to the ophthalmologist. This descriptive retrospective study was done to characterize fungal infections of orbit in terms of demographic variables and associated risk factors as well as to describe the clinical spectrum and outcomes of the disease. Materials and Methods: The study is a retrospective, clinicopathological analysis of invasive fungal orbital disease presenting at a tertiary care multi-speciality centre. Data collected included demographic details as well as any medical or surgical morbidities, ongoing treatment, clinical examination findings which included detailed ophthalmologic examination, findings of routine investigations as well as HIV serology, orbital and neuro imaging reports. Treatment outcome details were also recorded from medical follow up records. Results: 20 cases of fungal infections of orbit due to microbiologically confirmed mucormycosis or aspergillosis were identified during this period. Continuous data was presented in median (interquartile range) and categorical data was represented in frequency (%). Mann Whitney u test was used for continuous data and Fischer exact test was used to compare proportions. Patients with mucor mycosis had higher mortality (53.3%) than aspergillosis (25%). Extension to brain, haematological malignancy and AIDS are negative prognostic factors. Conclusion: Orbit involving mucormycosis infection is more common and has higher mortality than aspergillosis. Late presentation is more common in developing countries. Keywords: Fungal infections, Ocular motility disorders, Orbital disease.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the incidence of pancreatic contour variations on multidetector CT (MDCT) for abdominal examinations. A retrospective analysis of 700 MDCT scans was performed in patients who underwent triple phase CT abdomen between October 2018 and January 2021. After excluding 176 patients, finally total of 524 patients were included in the study. For simplification, we classified the pancreatic contour variations as classified by Ross et al. and Omeri et al. Pancreatic head–neck variations was classified into Type I-anterior, Type II-posterior and Type III-horizontal variety. Pancreatic body–tail variation was divided into Type Ia-anterior projection; Ib-posterior projection and Type IIa-globular, IIb-lobulated, IIc-tapered, and IId-bifid pancreatic tail. The most common type of variation in the head was Type II (n = 112, 21.3%) followed by Type III (n = 37, 7%) and Type I (n = 21, 4%). The most common type of variation in the body of pancreas was Type Ia (n = 33, 6.2%) followed by Type Ib (n = 13, 2.4%). In the tail region of pancreas, the most common variation was Type IIb (n = 21, 4%) followed by Type IIa (n = 19, 3.6%). Pancreatic contour variations are not very uncommon in daily practice. Knowledge of these variations is important for surgeons, radiologists and avoids misjudgement of normal pancreatic tissue as tumor or lymph node especially on unenhanced or single phase MDCT.

The extensive use of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections has led to the widespread emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens, becoming increasingly difficult to treat with currently available antibacterial agents. The present study is based on prospecting the ethnomedicinal potential of Indian plant varieties for the treatment of MDR bacteria. Plants produce an array of diverse pharmacological compounds in defence against microbial pathogens which may be employed as a novel intervention strategy to combat MDR human pathogens. In the present study, the antimicrobial activity of extracts of four common Indian plants:Azadirachta indica(Neem),Murraya koenigii(Kadipatta),Phyllanthus emblica(Amla), andOcimum sanctum(Tulsi) prepared in four solvents, water, methanol, ethanol, and chloroform was tested against nine MDR bacterial isolates. Kirby-Bauer well diffusion assays were adopted to assess the antimicrobial activity of plant extracts against the MDR strains. The potency of plant extracts was examined by determining the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC). All MDR isolates includingStaphylococcus haemolyticus,Bacillus subtilis,B. thuringiensis,B. cereus,Enterobacter xiangfangensis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, andPseudomonas aeruginosawere significantly inhibited by the plant extracts. Test extracts showed promising antibacterial potential against MDRP. aeruginosaandBacillussp. with low MIC values ranging between 0.02-1.56 mg/ml, while most plant extracts exhibited either moderate MBC values or bacteriostatic effects. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that demonstrates the potential use of endemicA. indica,M.koenigii,P.emblica, andO. sanctumas therapeutic agents against circulating MDR human pathogens in the national capital.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the corneal biomechanical properties in patients post kidney transplant and to compare them with healthy age-matched control. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 68 patients with kidney transplant (study group) and 68 healthy individuals (control group) were analyzed with ocular response analyzer measurements. Only the right eye of each participant was assessed for corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), corneal-compensated intraocular pressure (IOPcc), and Goldmann-correlated intraocular pressure (IOPg). RESULTS: The mean CH in the study group was 9.70 ± 1.62 mmHg which was significantly lower than the control group with the mean CH of 10.60 ± 1.49 mmHg (P = 0.001). The mean IOPcc was 18.17 ± 4.00 mmHg and 16.00 ± 3.94 mmHg in the study and control groups, respectively (P = 0.002). CRF and IOPg were not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSION: CH and IOPcc are altered in kidney transplant patients.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the alteration in ganglion cell complex and its relationship with retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness as measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) in pituitary adenoma cases and also its correlation with visual field (VF). Methods: This is a prospective comparative study wherein detailed neuro-ophthalmic examination including perimetry, RNFL and ganglion cell layer inner plexiform layer (GCL-IPL) thickness were measured preoperatively in the cases of pituitary adenoma with chiasmal compression with visual symptoms and field changes who were planned for neuro-surgical intervention. These parameters were repeated 1 year after the surgery. GCL-IPL, RNFL parameters were compared with controls and were correlated with VF mean deviation (MD). The diagnostic power of GCL-IPL was tested using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Healthy age and sex-matched controls without any ocular and systemic abnormality were taken for comparison. Results: Twenty-four patients qualified the inclusion criteria. A significant thinning of GCL-IPL (P = 0.002) and RNFL (P = 0.039) was noticed in the pituitary adenoma group. GCL-IPL (r = 0.780 P < 0.001) and RNFL (r = 0.669, P < 0.001) were significantly correlated with the MD. The ROC curve values of GCL-IPL were 0.859 (95% confidence interval 0.744% to 0.973) and of RNFL were 0.731 (95% confidence interval 0.585–0.877). The diagnostic ability of GCL-IPL was more as compared to the RNFL analysis, although it was statistically insignificant (P = 0.122). Conclusion: GCL-IPL measurements on the OCT are a sensitive tool to detect early anterior visual pathway changes in chiasmal compression for pituitary adenoma patients.

Aim: The aim is to study the management of primary pterygium by surgical excision with sutureless conjunctival autograft with limbal stem cells. Materials and Methods: Patients with advanced pterygium were recruited from eye outpatient department (OPD) of rural tertiary care hospital of central India from January 2016 to October 2016. Informed written consent was taken before enrollment. The total 54 eyes (of 42 patients) were operated for pterygium with conjunctival autograft with limbal stem cells. Graft margins were buried around 0.25mm below the host conjunctiva. Results: The mean age of the patients was 48.71 ± 12.87 years. The male patient were 30 (38 eyes, 71.43%) and females were 12 (16 eyes, 28.57%). The most common age group of presentation was 40 to 60 years (28 patients, 66.67%), followed by 61 to 80 years (10 patients, 23.81 %) and lastly age less than 40 years (4patients, all female, 9.52%). At the follow up of 6 months 1 eyes showed recurrence and at 1 year 1 eyes showed recurrence. The recurrence was 3.70 percentage at 1 year of follow up. The recurrent pterygium were reoperated with pterygium excision with mitomycin C (0.02). The patients with recurrence have completed 2 months follow up without any signs of recurrence. In 28 patients (51.85%) showed improvement in visual acuity (2 or more lines) on Snellen chart. Conclusion: Management of primary pterygium by surgical excision with sutureless conjunctival autograft with limbal stem cells is a effective surgical technique in preventing recurrence of pterygium and good cosmetic appearance of eyes after pterygium surgery. The author recommends use of Mitomycin C (MMC) or 5 Fluorouracil (FU) only in selected cases pterygium like extensively infiltrating pterygium or recurrent pterygium. Keywords: Conjunctival autograft, Pterygium surgery, Stem cells.

Low-frequency vibrations are one of the many non-surgical modalities aimed at increasing the rate of orthodontic tooth movement.The present trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of low-frequency vibrations in increasing the rate of orthodontic tooth movement in adolescent patients undergoing fixed mechanotherapy with passive self-ligating brackets and conventional brackets.Setting and sample population: department of orthodontics and dentofacial orthopaedics in a nationally accredited dental college. Participants, study design and methods: 65 patients were randomly allocated to three groups. Two experimental groups consisted of passive self-ligating and conventionally ligated appliances received low-frequency vibrations. The control group did not receive any vibrations. Allocation ratio was 1:1:1.32. Eligibility criteria: adolescent patients with sound and healthy dentition, incisor irregularity5mm.rate of orthodontic tooth movement in mm/month. Randomization and blinding: computer-generated random allocation sequencing was done and data assessor was blinded.the Q-Q plot and Shapiro-Wilks test judged the normality of the data. The parametric test included ANCOVA and post-hoc analysis.No statistically significant enhancement of tooth movement was seen in the experimental groups, when comparison was done with the control group P0.05. Comparison between the two experimental groups did not reveal any significant difference either.No statistically significant increase of orthodontic tooth movement was seen with low-frequency vibrations and the mode of ligation did not have any effect in increasing the rate of tooth movement either.

Introduction Risk assessment models are used to stratify cancer patients according to their underlying risk of VTE. The CATS score has been shown to enhance VTE risk stratification as compared to the modified Khorana score by incorporating d-dimer and soluble p-selectin measurements. Our aim was to evaluate the performance of the CATS score with respect to VTE risk stratification. Materials and methods Analysis of a subset of the AVERT trial population for whom biomarker data was available. All patients included in the AVERT trial were at increased risk of VTE based on a modified Khorana score of ≥2. Patients were stratified according to the modified Khorana score and CATS score. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate the 6-month cumulative probabilities of VTE. Results A total of 466 patients were included in the analysis, 229 and 237 patients in the placebo and apixaban arms, respectively. The 6-month cumulative probability of VTE among patients with a modified Khorana score ≥ 3 was 13% [95% CI 7 to 23], whereas it was 20% [95% CI 11 to 35] for patients with a CATS score ≥ 4. The absolute risk reduction achieved with apixaban VTE prophylaxis among patients with modified Khorana ≥2, modified Khorana ≥3 and CATS ≥4 was −5.9% [−10.9 to −0.8], −5.8% [−16.0 to 4.5] and −10.1% [−22.9 to 2.6], respectively. Apixaban VTE prophylaxis among patients with increasing modified Khorana or CATS scores was not associated with an increased risk of bleeding events. Conclusions The use of a CATS score of ≥4 to identify ambulatory cancer patients at very high risk of VTE could enhance the benefit/risk ratio achieved with apixaban VTE prophylaxis.

Background Cancers are one of the main reasons of morbidity and mortality globally. Chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) is one of the most alarming, terrifying, and traumatic adverse effects. A range of therapeutic measures has been suggested to alleviate CIA, but at present, there is no accepted pharmacological therapy that can assure prevention or management. Aim The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of QR 678 Neo® therapy in the treatment of persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia in women and men treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy for breast and lung cancers, respectively. Methods A total of 8 male patients with history of lung cancer and 12 female patients with history of breast cancer in the age range of 25-60 years, with WHO classification of grade I and II persistent alopecia who had undergone chemotherapy treatment, were selected for the study. At each visit, 1.5 mL solution of QR 678® was injected into the scalp skin of patients. A total of 8 sessions were performed at an interval of 3 weeks each. All the patients were evaluated with standard global photography, video microscopic assessment, and patient self-assessment questionnaire at baseline, 6 months, and 1 year. Results Marked improvement was seen in the global assessment score at 6 months (mean-8) which was maintained even after 1 year. Mean score increase in hair count at 6 months was 12.71 which further increased at 1 year. High satisfaction score was given by patients for slowing of hair loss (mean = 4.2) and also for overall hair growth. For appearance and growth of hair, the mean value was 3.4 and 3.8, respectively. Conclusion The formulation of QR 678® and QR 678® Neo showed to be significantly safe and efficient for chemotherapy-induced alopecia in both men and women. Improvement in hair growth was maintained even at 1 year of follow-up. No patient had any severe adverse effects, and injections were also easily bearable by most of them.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a potential candidate to further enhance the spectrum utilization efficiency in beyond fifth-generation (B5G) standards. However, there has been little attention on the quantification of the delay-limited performance of downlink NOMA systems. In this paper, we analyze the performance of a two-user downlink NOMA system over generalized {\alpha}-{\mu} fading in terms of delay violation probability (DVP) and effective rate (ER). In particular, we derive an analytical expression for an upper bound on the DVP and we derive the exact sum ER of the downlink NOMA system. We also derive analytical expressions for high and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) approximations to the sum ER, as well as a fundamental upper bound on the sum ER which represents the ergodic sum-rate for the downlink NOMA system. We also analyze the sum ER of a corresponding time-division-multiplexed orthogonal multiple access (OMA) system. Our results show that while NOMA consistently outperforms OMA over the practical SNR range, the relative gain becomes smaller in more severe fading conditions, and is also smaller in the presence a more strict delay quality-of-service (QoS) constraint., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures

Chylothorax, although an uncommon complication of esophagectomy, is associated with high morbidity and mortality if not treated promptly. Consequently, knowledge of the thoracic duct (TD) anatomy is essential to prevent its inadvertent injury during surgery. If the TD is injured, early diagnosis and immediate intervention are of paramount importance; however, there is still no universal consensus about the management of post-operative chylothorax. With increasing advances in the spheres of interventional radiology and minimally invasive surgery, there are now several options for managing TD injury. We review this topic in detail to provide a comprehensive and practical overview to help surgeons manage this challenging complication. In particular, we discuss an appropriate step-up approach to prevent the morbidity associated with open surgery as well as the metabolic, nutritional, and immunological disorders that accompany a prolonged illness.

Advancement in technology has changed the viewpoint of the public towards the medical field. Patients believe in the correct diagnosis of a deformity/defect improper functioning before the commence...

Carotenoids and their metabolites play crucial roles in human health such as in immunity, cell differentiation, embryonic development, maintenance of plasma membrane integrity, and gastrointestinal functions, in addition to counteracting night blindness and other eye-related diseases. However, carotenoid bioavailability is highly variable and often low. The bioavailability of β-carotene, among the most frequently consumed carotenoid from the diet, is determined by food matrix related factors such as carotenoid dose, its location in food the matrix, the physical state in food, the presence of other food compounds in the matrix such as dietary fiber, dietary lipids, other micronutrients present such as minerals, and food processing, influencing also the size of food particles, and the presence of absorption inhibitors (fat replacers and anti-obesity drugs) or enhancers (nano-/micro-formulations). However, also host-related factors such as physiochemical interactions by gastrointestinal secretions (enzyme and salts) and other host-related factors such as surgery, age, disease, obesity, and genetic variations have shown to play a role. This review contributes to the knowledge regarding factors affecting the bioavailability of β-carotene (food and host-relegated), as well as highlights in vitro models employed to evaluate β-carotene bioavailability aspects.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are key enzymes in epigenetics and important drug targets in cancer biology. Whilst it has been established that HDACs regulate many cellular processes, far less is known about the regulation of these enzymes themselves. Here, we show that HDAC8 is allosterically regulated by shifts in populations between exchanging states. An inactive state is identified, which is stabilised by a range of mutations and resembles a sparsely-populated state in equilibrium with active HDAC8. Computational models show that the inactive and active states differ by small changes in a regulatory region that extends up to 28 Å from the active site. The regulatory allosteric region identified here in HDAC8 corresponds to regions in other class I HDACs known to bind regulators, thus suggesting a general mechanism. The presented results pave the way for the development of allosteric HDAC inhibitors and regulators to improve the therapy for several disease states., Human Histone Deacetylases (HDACs) regulate gene expression and are important drug targets. Here, the authors combine NMR measurements, enzymatic assays and molecular dynamics simulations and show that HDAC8 samples a catalytically active and an inactive state and further demonstrate that mutations and ligand binding alter the populations of the two states, which is of interest for inhibitor design.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has resulted in the current COVID-19 pandemic. Worldwide this disease has infected over 2.5 million individuals with a mortality rate ranging from 5 to 10%. There are several efforts going on in the drug discovery to control the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. The main protease (MPro) plays a critical role in viral replication and maturation, thus can serve as the primary drug target. To understand the structural evolution of MPro, we have performed phylogenetic and Sequence Similarity Network analysis, that depicted divergence of Coronaviridae MPro in five clusters specific to viral hosts. This clustering was corroborated with the comparison of MPro structures. Furthermore, it has been observed that backbone and binding site conformations are conserved despite variation in some of the residues. These attributes can be exploited to repurpose available viral protease inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 MPro. In agreement with this, we performed screening of ∼7100 molecules including active ingredients present in the Ayurvedic anti-tussive medicines, anti-viral phytochemicals and synthetic anti-virals against SARS-CoV-2 MPro as the primary target. We identified several natural molecules like δ-viniferin, myricitrin, taiwanhomoflavone A, lactucopicrin 15-oxalate, nympholide A, afzelin, biorobin, hesperidin and phyllaemblicin B that strongly binds to SARS-CoV-2 MPro. Intrestingly, these molecules also showed strong binding with other potential targets of SARS-CoV-2 infection like viral receptor human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE-2) and RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). We anticipate that our approach for identification of multi-target-directed ligand will provide new avenues for drug discovery against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Backgrounds/aims Proximal splenorenal shunt (PSRS) is usually done in symptomatic non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis (NCPF). The outcomes of splenectomy with endotherapy in non-bleeder NCPF patients has not been well studied. We here by aimed to study the post-surgical outcomes on short and long-term basis between PSRS and splenectomy among non-bleeder NCPF patients. Methods The consecutive non-bleeder NCPF patients whom underwent either splenectomy or PSRS from 2008 to 2016 were enrolled. The patients were followed up post-surgery clinically and biochemical investigations, Doppler ultrasound and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were done as required. The peri-operative parameters compared were operative time, blood loss, hospital stay and morbidity. The long-term outcome measures compared were incidence of portal hypertension (PHTN) related bleed, change in grade of varices, shunt patency, shunt complications and thrombosis of spleno-portal axis. Results Among 40 patients with non-bleeder status, 24 underwent splenectomy and 16 underwent PSRS. The baseline characteristics including indication of surgery, biochemical investigations and grade of varices were comparable between PSRS and splenectomy. The peri-operative morbidity was not significantly different between two groups. The median follow up duration was 42 months (12-72 months), the decrement in grade of varices was significantly higher in PSRS group (p=0.03), symptomatic PHTN related UGIB was non-significant between PSRS and splenectomy (p=0.5). In PSRS group, 3 (18.3%) patients had shunt thrombosis (n=1) & encephalopathy (n=2) while in splenectomy group two patients developed thrombosis of splenoportal axis. Conclusions Splenectomy with endotherapy is alternative to PSRS in non-bleeder NCPF patients with indications for surgery.

Background Nature has been a source of medicinal treatments since millennia and plant-based systems continue to play an essential role. Aim To study the antimicrobial and antibiofilm effect of cranberry on Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus. Materials and methods The ethanolic extract of cranberry was tested against standard MTCC strains of S. mutans (MTCC 25175) and L. acidophilus (MTCC 8129) for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). The time kill assay was performed to check the time-dependent bactericidal effect of the cranberry extract on microorganisms. Percentage of cell adhesion and biofilm inhibition of the dental microorganism at various doses of cranberry extract was measured by a spectrophotometer and biofilm morphology characteristics were observed under scanning electron microscopy. All the tests were carried out in triplicates. Data were computed in the SPSS software and mean/SD was determined. The results are presented in a descriptive manner; Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Friedman's test were applied for comparative evaluation of the groups. p value

Hair is an essential aspect of image and is correlated with youth, elegance, fitness and achievement. Hair loss leads to lowered self-esteem, lack of confidence and depression amongst affected individuals. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permitted management options for male Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA) are topical Minoxidil and oral Finasteride. These agents are beneficial in controlling hair loss, but can only induce minimal new hair growth.

Objective To test efficacy, safety and tolerability of Umifenovir in non-severe COVID-19 adult patients. Methods We carried out randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, phase III trials involving adult (18-75 years), non-severe COVID19 patients, randomized 1:1 on placebo or Umifenovir (800 mg BID, maximum 14 days) respectively along with standard-of-care. The primary endpoint for Asymptotic-mild patients was time to nasopharyngeal swab RT-PCR test negativity. For Moderate patients, the average change in the ordinal scale from the baseline scores on the eight-point WHO ordinal scale was assessed. Results 132 patients were recruited between 3rd October to 28th April 2021, of which 9 discontinued due to various reasons. In Mild-asymptomatic patients (n=82), we found that 73% patients in the Umifenovir arm were RT-PCR negative, while 40% patients in the placebo arm were negative (P=0.004) on day 5. However, in the moderate group (n=41), the WHO scores for the Umifenovir arm was not statistically significant (P=0.125 on day 3), while it was statistically significant in the Mild-asymptomatic group (P=0.019 on day 5). Conclusion Umifenovir meets the primary and secondary endpoint criteria and exhibits statistically significant efficacy for Mild-asymptomatic patients. It is efficacious, safe and well-tolerated at the tested dosage of 800mg BID, maximum 14 days.

India is a hotspot of the COVID-19 crisis. During the first wave, several lockdowns (L) and gradual unlock (UL) phases were implemented by the government of India (GOI) to curb the virus spread. These phases witnessed many challenges and various day-to-day developments such as virus spread and resource management. Twitter, a social media platform, was extensively used by citizens to react to these events and related topics that varied temporally and geographically. Analyzing these variations can be a potent tool for informed decision-making. This paper attempts to capture these spatiotemporal variations of citizen reactions by predicting and analyzing the sentiments of geotagged tweets during L and UL phases. Various sentiment analysis based studies on the related subject have been done; however, its integration with location intelligence for decision making remains a research gap. The sentiments were predicted through a proposed hybrid Deep Learning (DL) model which leverages the strengths of BiLSTM and CNN model classes. The model was trained on a freely available Sentiment140 dataset and was tested over manually annotated COVID-19 related tweets from India. The model classified the tweets with high accuracy of around 90%, and analysis of geotagged tweets during L and UL phases reveal significant geographical variations. The findings as a decision support system can aid in analyzing citizen reactions toward the resources and events during an ongoing pandemic. The system can have various applications such as resource planning, crowd management, policy formulation, vaccination, prompt response, etc.

Splenic abscess is an uncommon extra-intestinal complication of Salmonella Typhi infection in the post-antibiotic era. The condition is associated with high morbidity and mortality if not diagnosed in a timely manner. We report the case of a 20-year-old man who presented with left upper abdominal pain, high-grade fever, and a lump in the abdomen. Ultrasound and computed tomography scan of the abdomen revealed a large solitary splenic abscess. The abscess was drained percutaneously and Salmonella Typhi was isolated on a culture board, which was an unexpected finding. The patient was prescribed the appropriate antibiotics based on an antimicrobial susceptibility report and periodic follow-up was planned. The clinical condition of the patient improved along with complete resolution of the abscess. This report reiterates the importance of clinical diagnosis and radiological imaging even for common diseases presenting in an unusual fashion. Percutaneous drainage and microbial culture, with antibiotics prescribed based on susceptibility are key to the treatment of such abscesses.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the corneal biomechanical properties in patients with connective tissue disorders (CTDs) and compare them with age-matched healthy control. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 62 patients (study group) with CTDs and 44 healthy patients (control) were analyzed by Ocular Response Analyzer (Reichert Inc., Depew, N. Y., USA) and Corneal Pachymetry (SP-2000, Tomey, Nagoya, Japan). The right eye of all patients was assessed for corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), corneal-compensated intraocular pressure (IOPc), and Goldmann-correlated intraocular pressure (IOPg), and central corneal thickness (CCT). Results: Mean CH (9.54 ± 1.66 mm Hg [study group] and 10.62 ± 1.21 mm Hg [control]; P = 0.013) and mean CRF (9.95 ± 1.47 mm Hg [study group] and 10.76 ± 1.25 mm Hg [control]; P = 0.040) were significantly different between groups. Mean IOPc, IOPg, and CCT were not significantly different between groups. In the subgroup analysis of study cases (oral steroid versus nonsteroid therapy) of CTDs, CRF which was significantly lower in steroid (9.25 mm Hg) compared nonsteroid therapy (10.20 mm Hg) (P = 0.045), whereas, other parameters such as CCT, CH, IOPc, and IOPg were comparable between the two groups (P ≥ 0.05). Conclusion: CH is altered in CTDs which may be an independent risk factor for glaucoma and might underestimate intraocular pressure so CH is an important consideration in patients with CTDs.s

Duodenal gastrointestinal stromal tumours (D-GISTs) are rare disease. It may arise commonly from second or third part of the duodenum and can be erroneously diagnosed as a pancreatic head tumour due to proximity and morphology on imaging studies. We present a case of a sixty-year-old woman who presented with abdominal pain and was diagnosed as a case of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour on radiologic imaging and granulomatous lesion on aspiration cytology. On laparotomy, a ~5x3 cm mass was noted in the pancreatic head and pancreatoduodenectomy was performed. Histopathology reported an exophytic GIST arising from the second part of the duodenum.Hence, D-GIST can invade into the pancreas and mimic pancreatic head tumour; therefore, these tumours should be kept in the differential diagnosis of an atypical pancreatic head mass.

We encountered a 73-year-old patient who presented with right upper abdominal pain and jaundice. On evaluation, he was found to have cholelithiasis with choledocholithiasis. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography was attempted, but during the procedure, the wire snapped and the dormia basket got retained in the common bile duct (CBD). Laparoscopic CBD exploration was performed and the basket with calculus was found impacted in the lower CBD. The basket was disengaged by holding its tip through another dormia introduced through choledochoscope and basket with all calculi retrieved. Clearance of CBD was ascertained with choledochoscopy and CBD was closed primarily. He did well in the post-operative period and was discharged on the 5th post-operative day. At 1-year follow-up, the patient was doing well. Laparoscopic CBD exploration is a feasible and safe option for the retained dormia basket. We utilised the 'dormia with dormia technique' to retrieve the impacted basket which has not been reported before.

In this Letter, the authors present a comprehensive performance analysis of a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system with generalised selection combining (GSC), which bridges the gap between the performance of NOMA with selection combining (SC) and NOMA with maximal-ratio combining (MRC). In particular, the authors derive a closed-form expression for an upper bound on the average achievable sum rate and an exact closed-form expression for the outage probability. The analysis reveals a tradeoff between the number of implemented receiver radio-frequency (RF) chains and the achieved performance and can be used to determine the appropriate number of paths to combine into a practical receiver design. A demonstrated agreement between the analytical and simulation results confirms the correctness of the analysis.

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the long-term functional outcome (exocrine and endocrine) and morphological changes in remnant pancreas after pancreatoduodenectomy and its clinical impact. Methods Periampullary carcinoma patients with minimum follow-up of 2 years and without recurrence were included (N = 102). Exocrine insufficiency includes clinical steatorrhea and fecal elastase-1 (FE-1) levels; endocrine insufficiency, glucose levels and glycated hemoglobin; and morphological changes, main pancreatic duct (MPD) diameter and thickness of remnant pancreas. Results The mean (standard deviation) follow-up period was 59 (26) months. Of the 102 patients, 81 (80%) had severely deficient FE-1 (0-100 μg/g). The preoperative MPD was significantly more and thickness of remnant pancreas was significantly less in patients with severely deficient FE-1. Overall, 15.6% (16/102) developed steatorrhea and improved on enzyme replacement therapy. The presence of MPD stricture (P = 0.008) and weight loss (P = 0.001) were significantly associated with steatorrhea. New-onset diabetes was seen in 17% (15/90) patients, of whom 3 of 5 developed it after 4 years (range, 4-7 years). The blood glucose was controlled on oral hypoglycemics in 2 (10/15) of 3 patients. Conclusions The assessment by FE-1 indicates loss of exocrine function in more than 90%, whereas only 1 of 6 developed steatorrhea and new-onset diabetes. Morphological changes especially MPD stricture affect the functional status of remnant pancreas.