Search

Background: Severe Cognitive Impairment (CI) is a major cause of disability and dependency among the elderly worldwide, and it has a significant impact not only on individuals but also on families, communities, and societies. Early identification and management of CI are critical in geriatric medicine. Prevalence data is often scarce, and this hinders the ground-level implementation of preventive health programs. Objectives: The objective was to find the prevalence of CI and its covariates among the urban geriatric population of Haryana. Materials and Methods: This was a community-based cross-sectional study conducted among 300 geriatric participants residing in an urban area of Rohtak district, Haryana. Hindi Mental State Examination (HMSE) tool was used to assess CI. Data were analyzed using IBM Corp, released 2020, IBM SPSS statistics for windows Ver 20, Armonk, NY. Results: The prevalence of geriatric CI was found to be 27.3% and was found to be significantly associated with age, female gender, scheduled and backward caste (BC), widowhood, and low educational status and is not engaged in any occupation, low socioeconomic status, teetotalism, economic dependency, physical dependency on others, and chronic morbidity. Conclusion: Age, female gender, scheduled and backward caste, widowhood, low educational status, nil employment status, low socioeconomic status, teetotalism, economic dependency, physical dependency on others, and chronic morbidity were found to be important correlates of CI. Further analytical studies can focus on these aspects for an early targeted preventive approach.

The goal of any prosthodontic operation is to restore the patient's natural shape, speech, function, appearance, and general health. However, obtaining the best possible denture stability in conventional full dentures continues to be difficult, especially when there is resorption of the mandibular ridges. A method for enhancing mandibular full denture retention in patients with significantly resorbed ridges is presented in this article. A patient who wanted his dentures replaced came to the Department of Prosthodontics with loose dentures. The mandibular ridge was found to be badly resorbed after a thorough clinical examination. Prosthetic rehabilitation using the neutral zone approach was scheduled following a comprehensive examination. When compared to the patient's prior dentures, the final full denture showed much better stability, functionality, and appearance. Recognizing the benefits of the neutral zone approach and applying it to clinical practice is critical for physicians. With this method, the patient is guaranteed to receive a prosthesis that meets their functional, physiological, and psychological needs. Using this approach, practitioners can give patients prostheses that fulfill their demands and enhance their quality of life. Received: 12 February 2024 Accepted: 22 March 2024 Published: 18 April 2024

Abstract Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Asteraceae) is a highly prevalent invasive species in subtropical regions across the world. It has recently been seen to shift from low (subtropical) to high (sub-temperate) elevations. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of research investigating the adaptive responses and the significance of leaf functional traits in promoting the expansion to high elevations. The current study investigated the variations and trade-offs among 14 leaf traits (structural, photosynthetic, and nutrient content) of P. hysterophorus across different elevations in the western Himalayas, India. Plots measuring 20 × 40 m were established at different elevations (700 m, 1100 m, 1400 m, and 1800 m) to collect leaf trait data for P. hysterophorus. Along the elevational gradient, significant variations were noticed in leaf morphological parameters, leaf nutrient content, and leaf photosynthetic parameters. Significant increases were observed in the specific leaf area, leaf thickness, and chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll and carotenoid content, as well as leaf nitrogen and phosphorus content with elevation. On the other hand, there were reductions in the amount of chlorophyll b, photosynthetic efficiency, leaf dry matter content, leaf mass per area, and leaf water content. The trait-trait relationships between leaf water content and dry weight and between leaf area and dry weight were stronger at higher elevations. The results show that leaf trait variability and trait-trait correlations are very important for sustaining plant fitness and growth rates in low-temperature, high-irradiance, resource-limited environments at relatively high elevations. To summarise, the findings suggest that P. hysterophorus can expand its range to higher elevations by broadening its functional niche through changes in leaf traits and resource utilisation strategies.

Background: Alcohol is the most commonly consumed psycho-active substance in India. People who use substances and are in recovery often face societal discrimination and rejection, such as difficulty in obtaining employment, poor support for treatment, and inter-personal rejection. Aim: To find out the factors affecting the integration of people recovering from alcohol dependence syndrome with their families. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a purposive sampling technique among 50 pairs of alcohol-dependent people and their family members. Data were collected using self-administered Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES IV package), Substance Abuse Self-Stigma Scale, Affiliate Stigma scale, and A Social Support Inventory for Successful Transition. Appropriate statistical tests were used to identify correlations. Results: A negative correlation (r = -0.313, P < 0.05) was found between affiliate stigma and integration, and a positive correlation (P < 0.05) was found between social support and integration. Alcohol-dependent people from Alcoholics Anonymous reported higher levels of perceived social support than those from a tertiary hospital (mean = 47.68 vs. 39.84, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Affiliate stigma negatively impacts people with alcohol dependence and contributes to increased opportunities for interventions to address stigma. Social support has a positive impact on family integration of alcohol-dependent people with Alcoholics Anonymous participants reporting higher levels of social support compared to tertiary hospital participants. Therefore, the findings of this study highlight the need to involve families more intensively to reduce affiliate stigma.

Robots are becoming integral to society and industries due to their enormous advantages. Among the various categories of mobile robots, including wheeled robot, tracked robot, and legged robots, the latter stands out as a better choice for most field applications due to their adaptability across various terrains. The purpose of this review is to study the locomotion capabilities of quadruped robots and judge their suitability for climbing applications as most unexplored applications of automation and robotics are required to climb. This review explores the locomotion capabilities of quadruped robots. It covers different aspects of quadruped robots like types of legs, leg design, gait patterns, and their mathematical formulations, and types of motions like omnidirectional motion and body sway motion. It also emphasizes its fault-tolerant gait, adaptability, and reliability. The paper also focuses on slope and stair climbing, outlining design requirements and applications. The study includes an examination of the applicability of various gaits under different conditions and the methods for increasing stability without compromising speed. Overall, the review serves as a valuable resource for future research in this field.

Summary: Background: It is uncertain which biological features underpin the response of rectal cancer (RC) to radiotherapy. No biomarker is currently in clinical use to select patients for treatment modifications. Methods: We identified two cohorts of patients (total N = 249) with RC treated with neoadjuvant radiotherapy (45Gy/25) plus fluoropyrimidine. This discovery set included 57 cases with pathological complete response (pCR) to chemoradiotherapy (23%). Pre-treatment cancer biopsies were assessed using transcriptome-wide mRNA expression and targeted DNA sequencing for copy number and driver mutations. Biological candidate and machine learning (ML) approaches were used to identify predictors of pCR to radiotherapy independent of tumour stage. Findings were assessed in 107 cases from an independent validation set (GSE87211). Findings: Three gene expression sets showed significant independent associations with pCR: Fibroblast-TGFβ Response Signature (F-TBRS) with radioresistance; and cytotoxic lymphocyte (CL) expression signature and consensus molecular subtype CMS1 with radiosensitivity. These associations were replicated in the validation cohort. In parallel, a gradient boosting machine model comprising the expression of 33 genes generated in the discovery cohort showed high performance in GSE87211 with 90% sensitivity, 86% specificity. Biological and ML signatures indicated similar mechanisms underlying radiation response, and showed better AUC and p-values than published transcriptomic signatures of radiation response in RC. Interpretation: RCs responding completely to chemoradiotherapy (CRT) have biological characteristics of immune response and absence of immune inhibitory TGFβ signalling. These tumours may be identified with a potential biomarker based on a 33 gene expression signature. This could help select patients likely to respond to treatment with a primary radiotherapy approach as for anal cancer. Conversely, those with predicted radioresistance may be candidates for clinical trials evaluating addition of immune-oncology agents and stromal TGFβ signalling inhibition. Funding: The Stratification in Colorectal Cancer Consortium (S:CORT) was funded by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK (MR/M016587/1).

Objectives: Every individual possesses the inherent right to appear human. Physical imperfections, especially those affecting the orofacial region, can have a detrimental impact on one’s quality of life in today’s image-conscious society. Auricular abnormalities, ranging from minor malformations to complete microtia/anotia, can occur due to congenital or acquired factors. While significant progress has been made in the surgical treatment of oral and facial abnormalities, achieving complete correction through plastic surgery alone is often a compromise. Consequently, there has been a recent increase in the demand for maxillofacial prosthetics to aid in the recovery of these patients. Case Presentation: A 26 year old male patient with complaints of microtia of the bilateral ear was referred from the Department of Plastic Surgery for prosthetic rehabilitation. After a clinical examination, a bilateral removable auricular prosthesis made of room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone elastomer and retained by extraoral adhesive and hair band was planned for the patient. After the rehabilitation, the patient was satisfied with the prosthetic outcome. By utilizing anatomical landmarks and a whipmix facebow, the bilateral auricular prosthesis was accurately oriented in three-dimensional (3D) alignment with the patient’s face. Discussion: This case report presents a simple and cost-effective technique for the prosthetic rehabilitation of a patient with congenital bilateral microtia. This approach can be considered for patients who are either unwilling or contraindicated for reconstruction or implant-retained prostheses.

Cleft palate leads to difficulty in suckling, speech abnormalities, dental problems, hearing loss and middle ear infections. Feeding plate acts as a barrier between the oral and nasal cavities allowing the normal development of jaws and enhanced nutritional supply to the patient. Fabrication of the feeding plate using digital means provide better adaptability due to the engagement of all the possible favourable anatomic undercuts, thereby, providing better retention. This case report discusses the hybrid technique including both the digital and conventional means for fabrication of a feeding plate to obturate the defect between the oral and nasal cavity.

Four novel Pseudomonas strains with record resistance to copper (Cu2+) previously isolated from ecologically diverse samples (P. lactis UKR1, P. panacis UKR2, P. veronii UKR3, and P. veronii UKR4) were tested against sonochemically synthesised copper-oxide (I) (Cu2O) and copper-oxide (II) (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs). Nanomaterials characterisation by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) confirmed the synthesis of CuO and Cu2O NPs. CuO NPs exhibited better performance in inhibiting bacterial growth due to their heightened capacity to induce oxidative stress. The greater stability and geometrical shape of CuO NPs were disclosed as important features associated with bacterial cell toxicity. SEM and TEM images confirmed that both NPs caused membrane disruption, altered cell morphology, and pronounced membrane vesiculation, a distinctive feature of bacteria dealing with stressor factors. Finally, Cu2O and CuO NPs effectively decreased the biofilm-forming ability of the Cu2+-resistant UKR strains as well as degraded pre-established biofilm, matching NPs’ antimicrobial performance. Despite the similarities in the mechanisms of action revealed by both NPs, distinctive behaviours were also detected for the different species of wild-type Pseudomonas analysed. In summary, these findings underscore the efficacy of nanotechnology-driven strategies for combating metal tolerance in bacteria.

The rise of cloud technology is a big deal for how we share and access data together. It makes working together easier and opens up a ton of new possibilities. But with all this sharing, we need to make sure our information stays safe and that everyone follows the rules we've agreed upon for how services should work. Blockchain technology seems like a good way to keep track of these rules by recording everything in a secure and unchangeable way. However, the usual blockchain systems have some weaknesses. They can still be attacked in ways that could disrupt services, like with DDoS attacks. Plus, the way blockchain reaches agreements can slow things down. However, managing SLAs itself does not ensure the security of the data and user's privacy. Various solutions have been proposed, but none comprehensively address all the issues associated cloud environment. This paper introduces a framework constructed using Hashgraph-based distributed ledger technology to enhance scalability, security, and performance in the tamper-proof logging of all events through smart contracts. This structure aids in detecting points of failure and is applicable for automatic Service Level Agreement (SLA) verification. To safeguard user privacy, protect data from intruders, and ensure semantic security, we have implemented double-layer encryption. A homomorphic encryption technique is employed to preserve user privacy, allowing computations to be performed on the encrypted data. Additionally, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is used for secure transportation over an open network to prevent potential attacks such as known-plain-text attacks. The performance of our framework was assessed in terms of latency, CPU usage, and memory usage, while the security aspect was conventionally analyzed.

Background: Precise knowledge of the mandibular foramen's location is essential for clinical and surgical procedures, especially the inferior alveolar nerve block. Variability in its position concerning different bony landmarks can significantly impact clinical outcomes. Materials and Methods: This study examined 30 Adult dry human mandibles to determine the mandibular foramen's positions in relation to specific bony landmarks: the occlusal plane, posterior border of the ramus, and lingula. Measurements were obtained using a calibrated digital caliper, and statistical analysis was performed. Results: The study revealed significant variations in the position of the mandibular foramen. In relation to the occlusal plane, the mandibular foramen was found at an average height of approximately 15.2 mm (±2.1 mm). Regarding the posterior border of the ramus, it was situated at an average distance of about 18.5 mm (±3.4 mm). In relation to the lingula, the average distance was approximately 21.8 mm (±4.0 mm). These results underscore the considerable individual differences and anatomical variations in the mandibular foramen's location among the studied specimens. Conclusion: The observed variations in the position of the mandibular foramen emphasize the need for clinicians and surgeons to be cognizant of these differences when performing procedures involving the inferior alveolar nerve block. Understanding these anatomical variations is crucial for enhancing clinical precision, reducing complications, and ensuring optimal outcomes.

Objective: In this case report, we employed an admix material to record the neutral zone in a patient presenting with a palatal fistula and an atrophic mandibular ridge.Case report: In this case report, we present a 67-year-old edentulous female with a history of oropharyngeal carcinoma affecting the soft palate. A circular palatal fistula, measuring approximately 8mm×8mm, was identified at the junction of the hard and soft palate. The mandibular residual ridge displayed significant atrophy. The neutral zone was recorded using admix material, comprising three parts by weight of impression compound and seven parts by weight of tracing compound. The fabricated dentures yielded favorable outcomes in terms of denture stability, and patient comfort. The patient reported the absence of nasal regurgitation and a notable improvement in speech production due to the obturator prosthesis.Conclusion: The neutral zone impression technique with admix impression material provided successful results in constructing both a mandibular complete denture and a maxillary denture with an obturator. The retention and stability of the complete denture were desirable and the patient was satisfied with the outcome.

Abstract The Internet of Things (IoT) is evolving in various sectors such as industries, healthcare, smart homes, and societies. Billions and trillions of IoT devices are used in e-health systems, known as the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), to improve communication processes in the network. Scientists and researchers have proposed various methods and schemes to ensure automatic monitoring, communication, diagnosis, and even operating on patients at a distance. Several researchers have proposed security schemes and approaches to identify the legitimacy of intelligent systems involved in maintaining records in the network. However, existing schemes have their own performance issues, including delay, storage efficiency, costs, and others. This paper proposes trusted schemes that combine mean and subjective logic aggregation methods to compute the trust of each communicating device in the network. Additionally, the network maintains a blockchain of legitimate devices to oversee the trusted devices in the network. The proposed mechanism is further verified and analyzed using various security metrics, such as reliability, trust, delay, beliefs, and disbeliefs, in comparison to existing schemes.

Now a days, the revolution or advancements in Information Communication Technology (ICT) are changing the way of handling the situations in the present environment. In our society, several people are present who live with physical difficulties and can not complete their basic household tasks for their own. The disabled person is all alone at home and caring the house where intermediator may gain the benefit of the opportunity. Though the modern era is revolutionizing the whole communication and interaction process among environment and human. The disabled person who cannot walk, and is deaf completely unable to hear, run or handle the current situation, the automatic systems or alarm may be compromised by the intruder and can access the house with the mean of steal. The aim of this paper is to propose a secure and competent communication mechanism for AI and edge-computing based home automation in case of disabled persons handling the situation. The proposed mechanism integrates the distrust-based recommendation system along with Social Contact Similarity mechanism that improves the efficiency and quick action decision corresponding to the altered device that may cause severe harm at the edge-level or to the person. The proposed mechanism is simulated and substantiated against various existing scheme over several performance metrics such as delay, alteration rate, accuracy and response time.

Disability has traditionally posed a significant barrier for millions of individuals who are unable to benefit from current technologies such as digital interfaces, the internet, and personal computers. Nowadays, developments in information communication and technology (ICT) are transforming the way we handle and interact with our environment, making it easier and more convenient. However, individuals with disabilities face numerous restrictions and challenges, hindering their full involvement and access to the devices. This paper proposes an efficient and trusted communication mechanism that utilizes knowledge factors and friendship similarity schemes to improve the accessibility and accuracy of information transmission in a networked environment for disabled people. The proposed mechanism ensures the involvement of trusted devices in the network for accuracy and immediate decisions for disabled individual. The proposed approach is validated and compared to existing methods using various security metrics, including social trust, objective trust, experienced trust, and recommended trust. Through this research, we aim to address the barriers faced by individuals with disabilities and provide them with equal opportunities to benefit from modern technological advancements.

In smart enterprise systems, augmented IoT can efficiently improve the decision-making, handling, and generation of a huge amount of information during communication. However, Augmented Internet-of-Things (AIoT) leads to various security and trust issues when transmitting information through intermediate devices. In a case where malicious devices can easily integrate with legitimate devices, it can further affect and interfere with the overall performance of the network system. Though various security surveys have been illustrated and schemes have been proposed by scientists, however, all of them are in their early stages. This paper proposes a trusted decision-making mechanism called Active Recognition Trust (ART), using AIoT for handling smart enterprise systems. The proposed mechanism integrates active recognition and associated reference mechanisms to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the secure transmission process by computing a trust value for each device using impact factors of function fusion systems before information exchanges. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism can efficiently enhance performance while improving the accuracy of recognizing legitimate devices by reducing or eliminating interference from malicious devices. The proposed mechanism is evaluated using the transmission ratio, identification accuracy, average trust, and run cycle compared to the existing mechanisms. Further, the proposed mechanism achieves approximately 89% better improvement than the baseline approach.

Introduction: Cancer is a vast group of diseases comprising abnormal cells that multiply and grow uncontrollably, and it is one of the top causes of death globally. Several types of cancers are diagnosed, but the incidence of breast cancer, especially in postmenopausal women, is increasing daily. Chemotherapeutic agents used to treat cancer are generally associated with severe side effects on host cells, which has led to a search for safe and potential alternatives. Therefore, the present research has been conducted to find novel bioactive molecules to treat breast cancer with chlorogenic acid and its derivatives. Chlorogenic acid was selected because of its known activity in the field.Methods: Several chlorogenic acid derivatives were subjected to computational studies such as molecular docking, determination of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME), druglikeness, toxicity, and prediction of activity spectra for substances (PASS) to develop a potential inhibitor of breast cancer. The Protein Data Bank (PDB) IDs used for docking purposes were 7KCD, 3ERT, 6CHZ, 3HB5, and 1U72.Result: Exhaustive analysis of results has been conducted by considering various parameters, like docking score, binding energy, types of interaction with important amino acid residues in the binding pocket, ADME, and toxicity data of compounds. Among all the selected derivatives, CgE18, CgE11, CgAm13, CgE16, and CgE9 have astonishing interactions, excellent binding energy, and better stability in the active site of targeted proteins. The docking scores of compound CgE18 were −11.63 kcal/mol, −14.15 kcal/mol, and −12.90 kcal/mol against breast cancer PDB IDs 7KCD, 3HB5, and 1U72, respectively. The docking scores of compound CgE11 were −10.77 kcal/mol and −9.11 kcal/mol against breast cancer PDB IDs 3ERT and 6CHZ, respectively, whereas the docking scores of epirubicin hydrochloride were −3.85 kcal/mol, −6.4 kcal/mol, −8.76 kcal/mol, and −10.5 kcal/mol against PDB IDs 7KCD, 3ERT, 6CHZ, and 3HB5. The docking scores of 5-fluorouracil were found to be −5.25 kcal/mol, −3.43 kcal/mol, −3.73 kcal/mol, and −5.29 kcal/mol against PDB IDs 7KCD, 3ERT, 6CHZ, and 3HB5, which indicates the designed compounds have a better docking score than some standard drugs.Conclusion: Taking into account the results of molecular docking, drug likeness analysis, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) evaluation, and PASS, it can be concluded that chlorogenic acid derivatives hold promise as potent inhibitors for the treatment of breast cancer.

To ensure better facilitation of vehicular services and improve driving safety in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), context prediction among vehicles plays a very crucial role. However, as more malicious IoV devices get involved in the network, the context prediction accuracy shared among various servers may degrade severely. Existing schemes have used cryptographic mechanisms to securely and accurately identify malicious devices. However, time and the subsequent delay in identifying and rating the legitimate communicating IoV devices emerge as a crucial issue. Hence, to solve this critical problem, we put forth an efficient and reliable trust framework where trust and context prediction is achieved by Tidal Trust Mechanism (TTM) and Contract Theory (CT). TTM can successfully rate the degree of trust between the devices with a high level of accuracy, whereas CT can verify the context prediction reliably. The proposed mechanism based on TTM and CT ensures that trusted IoV devices are identified with high accuracy and verified reliably. The proposed framework is simulated over real-world data set in MATLAB for various performance metrics, such as altered records, accuracy prediction, response time, and utilities of IoV devices. Simulation results show that the proposed framework provides a significant improvement of approximately 87% in comparison to existing (baseline) approaches while analyzing the accuracy, record alteration, and resource utility among the devices in the network.

Background: Local anesthetics have become vital part of multimodal analgesia approach. Instillation of local anesthetics through surgical drain is easier and safer method than conventional nerve blocks. Various local anesthetic drugs and adjuvants have been used for post-operative pain management through surgical drains. Aims and Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of instillation of ropivacaine with fentanyl, dexmedetomidine or morphine through surgical drain for post-operative analgesia and patient satisfaction in patients undergoing modified radical mastectomy. Materials and Methods: A prospective, randomized, and double-blind study was conducted dividing 75 female patients aged 30–70 years who underwent modified radical mastectomy into three groups: Group (RM) received 40 ml 0.25% ropivacaine with 4.5 mg morphine, group (RD) 40 ml 0.25% ropivacaine with 1 mg/kg dexmedetomidine and group (RF) 40 ml 0.25% ropivacaine with 50 microgram fentanyl, instilled through surgical drains. Results: Visual analog score for pain at rest and movement was significantly lower in group RM as compared to group RD and RF with no significant difference among group RD and RF at different time intervals postoperatively. Patient satisfaction at 24-h postoperatively was significantly better in group RM as compared to group RD and RF (P=0.01) with no significant difference among group RD and group RF. Conclusion: Instillation of ropivacaine with morphine provides good pain relief, prolonged duration of analgesia, and good patient satisfaction in the post-operative period as compared to ropivacaine with dexmedetomidine or fentanyl.

Emotional aware intelligent healthcare mechanism is seen as one of the emergent techniques that can be used to overcome the traditional communication issues like storage overhead and delay in transmission process in healthcare systems. It is a smart technique primarily used to ensure faster connectivity and transmission as well as healthcare data processing through various heterogeneous networks by understanding human emotions. Researchers have focused on various processing and transmitting techniques of emotional aware intelligent systems. However, very few of them have focused on the need for security while transmitting or reading the patients’ record. The aim of this paper is to propose a secure and transparent communication mechanism in intelligent emotional aware systems using Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), blockchain system and a mathematical model. AHP and the mathematical model are used to ensure accuracy during the data transmission process by analysing the legitimacy of each device. In addition, the identity based trust and blockchain mechanism is used to ensure the continuous analysis and transparency among network entities while transferring the information. The proposed framework is further analysed against existing models over various security matrices such as data alteration, report generation, accuracy etc. The out performance of proposed mechanism is approximate 89% as compare to existing mechanism.

Brain cancer deaths are significantly increased in all categories of aged persons due to the abnormal growth of brain tumor tissues in the brain. The death rate can be controlled by accurate early stage brain tumor diagnosis. The detection and classification of brain tumors play a crucial role in early diagnosis and treatment planning. Brain tumor detection and classification have become challenging and time-consuming for domain-specific radiologists and pathologists in medical image analysis. So, automatic detection and classification are essential to reduce the time of diagnosis. In recent years, machine learning classifiers have played an essential role in automatically classifying brain tumors. In this research, an approach based on an improved fuzzy factor fuzzy local information C means (IFF-FLICM) segmentation and hybrid modified harmony search and sine cosine algorithm (MHS-SCA) optimized extreme learning machine (ELM) is proposed for brain tumor detection and classification. The IFF-FLICM algorithm is utilized to accurately segment the brain’s magnetic resonance (MR) images to identify the tumor regions. The Mexican hat wavelet transform is employed for feature extraction from the segmented images. The extracted features from the segmented regions are fed into the MHS-SCA-ELM classifier for classification. The MHS-SCA is proposed to optimize the weights of the ELM model to improve the classification performance. Five distinct multimodal and unimodal benchmark functions are considered for optimization to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed MHS-SCA optimization technique. The image Dataset-255 is considered for this study. The quality measures such as SSIM and PSNR are considered for segmentation. The proposed IFF-FLICM segmentation achieved a peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of 37.24 dB and a structural similarity index (SSIM) of 0.9823. The proposed MHS-SCA-based ELM model achieved a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 98.78%, 99.23%, and 99.12%. The classification performance results of the proposed MHS-SCA-ELM model are compared with MHS-ELM, SCA-ELM, and PSO-ELM models, and the comparison results are presented.

A novel series of 1,2,4-triazole analogues of caffeic acid was designed, synthesized, characterized, and assessed for their capacity to inhibit DHFR, as well as their anticancer and antimicrobial properties. A molecular docking analysis was conducted on DHFR, utilizing PDB IDs 1U72 and 2W9S, aiming to design anticancer and antimicrobial drugs, respectively. Among all the synthesized derivatives, compound CTh7 demonstrated the highest potency as a DHFR inhibitor, with an IC50 value of 0.15 μM. Additionally, it exhibited significant cytotoxic properties, with an IC50 value of 8.53 µM. The molecular docking analysis of the CTh7 compound revealed that it forms strong interactions with key residues of homo sapiens DHFR such as Glu30, Phe34, Tyr121, Ile16, Val115, and Phe31 within the target protein binding site and displayed excellent docking scores and binding energy (−9.9; −70.38 kcal/mol). Additionally, synthesized compounds were screened for antimicrobial properties, revealing significant antimicrobial potential against bacterial strains and moderate effects against fungal strains. Specifically, compound CTh3 exhibited notable antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 5 µM). Similarly, compound CTh4 demonstrated significant antibacterial activity against both Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with MIC values of 5 µM for each. A docking analysis of the most active antimicrobial compound CTh3 revealed that it forms hydrogen bonds with Thr121 and Asn18, a π–cation bond with Phe92, and a salt bridge with the polar residue Asp27.