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Background: COVID-19 has swiftly spread to emerge as a global pandemic with no visible signs of decline. It is imperative to identify the parameters contributing toward COVID-19 mortality to facilitate prompt evaluation and control measures. Materials and Methods: A total of 1754 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection were admitted at MVJMC and RH, Bangalore, from July 1, 2020 to December 12, 2020. Various parameters such as demographical profile, symptomatology, risk factors, laboratory profile, and complications of 75 patients (4.27%) who succumbed were studied. Results: About 45.33% of the patients who died were older than 65 years. 77% of patients who died were males. About 61.33% had severe illness at the time of presentation. 84% of the patients who died had comorbid illnesses. Respiratory failure secondary to acute respiratory distress syndrome and bilateral pneumonia was the leading cause of mortality followed by sepsis/multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, myocarditis, coagulopathy, and acute cardiovascular event. The presence of lymphopenia elevated inflammatory markers, and comorbid conditions were identified as risk factors for the requirement of oxygen, mechanical ventilation, and death. Conclusion: Elderly patients (>65 years of age) and middle-age patients (45–65 years of age) comprised the highest and second-highest proportion of mortality respectively. The increasing proportion of deaths among the middle-aged patients and the narrowing gap of the same between these two groups are alarming. Old age, male gender, underlying chronic illnesses, and elevated inflammatory markers are some of the factors attributed to these trends. Hence, stringent preventive measures, early detection, and initiation of treatment pose a greater impact on reducing the burden of morbidity and mortality.

Background: While the name of the virus indicates respiratory disease, and the respiratory spread of COVID-19 has been well documented in the literature, the ongoing pandemic has shown that the virus is not confined to just the lung. Hence, physicians should be aware of the “many faces” that this singular disease can present with, for timely diagnosis and prompt initiation of best treatment options. Materials and Methods: A total of 1754 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection were admitted at a rural tertiary care center, Karnataka, India. This study is a cross-sectional study done for a period of 6 months from July 2020 to December 2020. Demographic data, clinical manifestations, laboratory parameters, management, and outcomes were recorded and compared. Results: Out of 1754 COVID-19 patients, pulmonary manifestations were seen in 1222 patients, extrapulmonary manifestations in 360 patients, and 172 patients were asymptomatic. Males were affected more than females, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.2:1. Most common pulmonary manifestation seen was cough in 83.06%, followed by fever in 67.59%. Most common extrapulmonary manifestation seen was neurological followed by gastrointestinal in 60.83% and 35.8% patients, respectively. Fatality in patients with pulmonary manifestations was 5% and extrapulmonary manifestation was 3%. All patients were managed according to standard COVID-19 treatment protocol. Conclusion: Early recognition of COVID-19 infections remains a big challenge. COVID-19 can have diverse range of clinical manifestations. Hence, COVID-19 infection should be considered in the differential of any systemic disease during the current pandemic, even in the absence of pulmonary manifestations like fever or cough.

Globalization leads financial market of one country to become more integrated with other countries. In this environment the knowledge of dependency between the stock market helps the investors and portfolio managers for international investment and diversification. This paper investigates the linkage among BRIC market indices, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China, and their relation with US market and oil price. Restricted Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model is employed to gauge the interdependencies among the selected stock market and the short-term relationship is tested with the help of Granger causality test by using the daily data from 2nd January 1998 to 30th September 2014. Based on the result of Final prediction error (FPE) and Akaike information criterion (AIC) six lag lengths is selected as the optimal lag for the VAR model. The results of VAR model indicate that the return of Brazil, Russia and India having co-movement with US market and oil price. However, China does not exhibit the co-movement with US stock market but it does with oil price. Brazil market causes more other market than is caused by them, China and Russia Granger-cause each other. However, to the lesser extent, India Granger-cause China and Russian market. Us market has high significant positive influence than the oil price on Brazil, Russia and India. On the other hand, Oil price has significantly positive influence on China where as US market not influences the Chinese market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical loading is essential to maintain optimal skeletal health. Despite the fact that early-life exercise has positive, long-lasting effects on the musculo-skeletal system, the response of the musculo-skeletal system to spontaneous low-impact exercise has been poorly studied. Previously, we identified subtle morphological changes in the femoral diaphysis of exercised animals compared to nonexercised controls. We hypothesized that significant changes in gene expression of cells should precede significant measurable phenotypic changes in the tissues of which they are part. Here, we employed RNA-Seq to analyse the transcriptome of the cortical bone from the femoral mid-diaphysis of prepubertal male Sprague-Dawley rats that were assigned to control ( CON); bipedal stance ( BPS); or wheel exercise ( WEX) groups for 15 days. We identified 808 and 324 differentially expressed transcripts in the BPS and WEX animals respectively. While a number of transcripts change their levels in an exercise-specific manner, we identified 191 transcripts that were differentially expressed in both BPS and WEX. Importantly, we observed that the exercise mode had diametrically opposite effects on transcripts for multiple genes within the integrin-linked kinase ( ILK) and Ca2+ signaling pathways such that they were up-regulated in BPS and down-regulated in WEX. The findings are important for our understanding of possible ways in which different exercise regimens might affect bone when normal activities apply mechanical stimuli during postnatal growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper juxtaposes the clinical management of two patients with intracranial hypertension secondary to viral infection: one due to Human Herpesvirus-6 and the second due to Varicella Zoster Virus. Our cases highlight the clinical and scientific importance of cerebrospinal fluid viral polymerase chain reaction testing in the evaluation of the high-pressure headache syndrome. Keywords: Headache, Meningitis, Pseudotumor, Intracranial, Hypertension, CSF, Infection, HHV-6

We examine the relationship between spot and futures prices for selected five agricultural commodities, namely, Chilli, Coriander, Jeera, Pepper and Turmeric. We considered all the contracts of the above commodities over a period of 36 months, from Jan 2008 to Dec 2010. The study examined the existence of unit root in the data series by employing Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test and we found the existence of long run relationship between selected spot and futures market using Johansen cointegration test and the presence of disequilibrium between markets in short run by employing Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Few data are available on vitamin A deficiency in the gastric bypass population. Methods. We performed a retrospective chart review of gastric bypass patients (n=69, 74% female). The relationship between serum vitamin A concentration and markers of protein metabolism at 6-weeks and 1-year post-operative were assessed. Results. The average weight loss at 6-weeks and 1-year following surgery was 20.1±9.1 kg and 44.1±17.1 kg, respectively. At 6 weeks and 1 year after surgery, 35% and 18% of patients were vitamin A deficient, (

Objectives: This systematic review aims to evaluate the diagnostic utility of direct and indirect immunofluorescence of oral lesions in comparison with conventional diagnostic aids., Material and Methods: The diagnostic utility of immunofluorescence in various oral lesions was evaluated. Relevant data from 37 studies, including study characteristics, patient population, test details, and outcomes, were systematically extracted. The search was performed analysing studies across multiple electronic databases including MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase, Scopus and Google Scholar, published from January 15, 2024 until May 15, 2024. Risk of bias was assessed using a modified QUADAS-2 tool., Results: Most studies demonstrated a low risk of bias in most domains, indicating overall methodological rigor. Comparative analysis showed that direct immunofluorescence (DIF) consistently outperformed indirect immunofluorescence. DIF exhibited high sensitivity and specificity for pemphigus vulgaris (87.8% and 100%), mucous membrane pemphigoid (92% and 98%), and desquamative gingivitis oral ulcers overlapping with oral lichen planus (OLP) (81% and 98.9%). For OLP, DIF showed moderate sensitivity (64.3%) and high specificity (88%)., Conclusions: This review highlights the superior diagnostic utility of direct immunofluorescence over indirect immunofluorescence in evaluating oral lesions. Direct immunofluorescence's higher performance makes it the preferred technique for conditions requiring direct visualization of tissue-bound immune deposits. The combined use of direct immunofluorescence and indirect immunofluorescence can enhance the evaluation and management of various oral pathologies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there was no conflict of interest related to this study., (Copyright © Arockiam S, Raj B, Prabha N, Dharani M. Published in the JOURNAL OF ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL RESEARCH (http://www.ejomr.org), 30 September 2024.)

In this paper, we aim to investigate the influence of the Covid-19 on the behavior of the S&P 1200 Shariah and non-Shariah sectoral indices over the period from 1st October 2010 to 29th October 2020. We contribute to the global literature by examining the financial impact of the Covid-19 on the Shariah and non-Shariah sectoral indices. We find that the S&P 1200 Shariah Communication, consumer staples, financials, healthcare, industrials, IT, materials, and utility sectors earn higher average returns than their counterpart sectoral indices during the Covid-19 period. The study reports that on average, the volatility of the Shariah indices is less than their counterpart indices. Moreover, we further document that on average the S&P Shariah sectoral indices offer a higher return with low risk even during the Covid-19 global pandemic. We suggest that ethical investments are the best alternatives to retail, institutional, and foreign investors., (© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Flocculation is one of the most widely applied techniques for water treatment. Flocculants based on natural polymer has received more attention due to their eco-friendliness in recent years. New water soluble N-methyl piperazinium chloride grafted chitosan flocculant (chitosan-g-N-MPC) was successfully synthesized and thoroughly characterized using FTIR, NMR and powder X-ray diffraction analytical techniques. Incorporation of N-MPC enhanced the ionic character of the chitosan backbone and improved its water solubility. The flocculation performance of chitosan-g-N-MPC was tested against bentonite suspension. The flocculation performance of chitosan-g-N-MPC was investigated under various pH conditions. Turbidity and zeta potential measurements were employed to investigate the flocculation behavior of the chitosan-g-N-MPC. The characteristics of the industrial wastewater before and after flocculation were analyzed. The morphology of the polymer and flocs were studied by TEM analysis., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Mechanical loading is essential to maintain optimal skeletal health. Despite the fact that early-life exercise has positive, long-lasting effects on the musculo-skeletal system, the response of the musculo-skeletal system to spontaneous low-impact exercise has been poorly studied. Previously, we identified subtle morphological changes in the femoral diaphysis of exercised animals compared to nonexercised controls. We hypothesized that significant changes in gene expression of cells should precede significant measurable phenotypic changes in the tissues of which they are part. Here, we employed RNA-Seq to analyse the transcriptome of the cortical bone from the femoral mid-diaphysis of prepubertal male Sprague-Dawley rats that were assigned to control (CON); bipedal stance (BPS); or wheel exercise (WEX) groups for 15 days. We identified 808 and 324 differentially expressed transcripts in the BPS and WEX animals respectively. While a number of transcripts change their levels in an exercise-specific manner, we identified 191 transcripts that were differentially expressed in both BPS and WEX. Importantly, we observed that the exercise mode had diametrically opposite effects on transcripts for multiple genes within the integrin-linked kinase (ILK) and Ca(2+) signaling pathways such that they were up-regulated in BPS and down-regulated in WEX. The findings are important for our understanding of possible ways in which different exercise regimens might affect bone when normal activities apply mechanical stimuli during postnatal growth and development., (© 2015 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.)