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In this paper, synthesis and characterization of polymer intercalated carbon nanotube buckypaper for improved structural, morphological, electrical, and thermal properties have been discussed. Resin-infiltration technique was opted for the preparation of polyvinylchloride intercalated poly(ethylene glycol) -modified-multi-walled carbon nanotube buckypaper. The effect of increasing purified nanotube (purified multi-walled carbon nanotube) and functional nanotube (functional multi-walled carbon nanotube) content on the properties of BP-polyvinylchloride/poly(ethylene glycol)/purified multi-walled carbon nanotube and BP-polyvinylchloride/poly(ethylene glycol)/functional multi-walled carbon nanotube buckypaper composites was investigated, while using same amount of polymer. Results indicated better interaction between polyvinylchloride and functional multi-walled carbon nanotube due to hydrogen bonding relative to polyvinylchloride and purified multi-walled carbon nanotube where no chemical link was present between the two. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results confirmed the modification of functional multi-walled carbon nanotube, and formation of buckypaper composite. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs showed better network formation in BP-polyvinylchloride/poly(ethylene glycol)/functional multi-walled carbon nanotube samples and intercalation of polymer can be seen forming polymer-coated functional multi-walled carbon nanotube network. Thermal stability was found to be improved by the increment of multi-walled carbon nanotube and the difference between the thermal stability of functional multi-walled carbon nanotube and purified multi-walled carbon nanotube buckypaper was also prominent. The maximum degradation temperature (Tmax) of functional composite BP-polyvinylchloride/poly(ethylene glycol)/functional multi-walled carbon nanotube 0.05 (469℃) was higher relative to non-functional BP-polyvinylchloride/poly(ethylene glycol)/purified multi-walled carbon nanotube 0.05 (461℃). The glass transition temperature of BP-polyvinylchloride/poly(ethylene glycol)/functional multi-walled carbon nanotube 0.05 was found as 249℃, while BP-polyvinylchloride/poly(ethylene glycol)/functional multi-walled carbon nanotube 0.05 depicted higher Tg of 271℃. Amorphous character of polymer/carbon nanotube -buckypaper composite showed a trend towards crystallinity according to X-ray diffraction results. Purified multi-walled carbon nanotube-based buckypaper presented conductivity up to 1.91 × 10−1 S cm−1, while BP-polyvinylchloride/poly(ethylene glycol)/functional multi-walled carbon nanotube 0.01–0.08 had increased conductivity up to 9.88 × 10−1 S cm−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE) is an inflammatory disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Kidneys are frequently affected in SLE and various stages of lupus nephritis have been identified based on severity of the disease. Treatment varies with the staging and correct diagnosis is essential for timely intervention as it can have significant impact on morbidity and mortality. The objective of the study was to determine whether laboratory parameters of lupus nephritis (LN); including urinalysis, serum creatinine (S. Cr) and 24 hours urine protein can accurately predict histologic staging of the disease. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in department of Nephrology, Liaquat National Hospital Karachi from January 2012 to December 2014. Fifty one patients of SLE who underwent renal biopsy were selected. Patients, urinalysis at the time of renal biopsy, serum creatinine and 24 hours urine collection for protein were noted. All patients renal biopsy was read by the same pathologist. Patients were clinically staged based on these parameters and their histologic staging based on biopsy findings were compared, to see their correlation. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 17. Chi-square test was used to analyze categorical data and p<0.05 was considered significant. Cohen's kappa analysis was used to examine the agreement by comparing lupus nephritis staging done by laboratory and histological ground. P value <0.05 indicates that agreement was unlikely due to chance alone. Results: Among 51 patients analyzed, 37 patients were females (72.5%) and 14 patients were males (27.5%) with mean age of 32.51 + 16.91 years. In stage II, kappa of 0.304 represented fair strength of agreement and a p value of 0.012 (p<0.05)which was statistically significant. In stage III, kappa was 0.209 indicating none to slight agreement and a p value of 0.131 (p>0.05). In stage IV, kappa was 0.141 (slight agreement) and p value 0.301 (p>0.05) in stage V; kappa of 0.030 represented poor agreement and a p value of 0.828 (p>0.05). Conclusion: Staging of lupus nephritis done on basis of laboratory findings did not correlate well with underlying histological staging. Therefore, renal biopsy is an essential tool in approach to lupus nephritis in order to provide timely and appropriate treatment to patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to analyse the conditional β-convergence and its sources for 32 African countries over the period 1960-2008. The augmented Solow model with both gross domestic product ( GDP) per worker and per capita income is estimated using the dynamic system generalized methods of moments ( GMM) technique with the panel data. This is the first study on the sources of conditional β-convergence for African countries. According to the results of the augmented Solow model, income convergence rates are lower than those of GDP per worker. Moreover, total factor productivity convergence, human capital convergence and capital labour convergence are contributing towards the convergence of GDP per worker in Africa. This means that growth in the poorest African countries is being augmented by 'catch-up factor,' which is good news for them. However, convergence in terms of GDP per worker is not being fully translated into income per capita convergence. The demographic structure in the African continent with its record of persistent population growth has played an important role in lowering the income convergence of its countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at analyzing public perceptions on political empowerment of women in Pakistan. According to the World Economic Forum index on gender gap regarding political empowerment, Pakistan is one of the lowest among South Asian countries despite the highest quota for women in parliament. The paper is first of its kind with an attempt to empirically evaluate people's perceptions on women's political empowerment in Pakistan and also to look at determinants of these perceptions. For this purpose, a questionnaire is formulated and Likert scale is used to compute a score on attitudes regarding women's political empowerment by both males and females. The data was collected from Rawalpindi district in Punjab province of Pakistan and total sample size is 231. The empirical analysis consists of two regression equations. The first is regarding the determinants of choice of candidate either male or female with equal qualifications for which Logistic regression approach is utilized. The second equation is a linear regression model with people's opinions as dependent variable. Results show that age, gender, marital status, education and income of the household of respondent are significant determinants of attitudes regarding women's political empowerment. The study concludes that wide ranging measures at societal level are necessary along with the quota to ensure effective political empowerment of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vanadium-magnesium oxide (VMgO) catalysts with vanadium loadings of 15 and 20 wt% were prepared by the method of wet impregnation. The prepared catalyst were characterized by IR and Raman spectroscopy, Powder XRD, ICP-OES, N adsorption desorption isotherms, oxygen chemisorption, TPR, TPD, SEM, SEM-EDX and TEM. From XRD and IR analyses, vanadium was found to be present in two phases i.e. orthovanadate and pyrovanadate. Dispersion of vanadium on the MgO was in the range of 30-40 % and oxygen chemisorption capacity increased with the vanadium loading. The catalysts were tested in a continuous flow fixed bed reactor at a GHSV of 4,000 h over a temperature range of 350-550 °C at an n-heptane to oxygen molar ratio of 1:1. Oxidative dehydrogenation of n-heptane showed that product selectivity depends on the phase of vanadium present on the MgO catalysts and conversion is proportional to the amount of chemisorbed oxygen on the surface of the catalyst. Carbon oxides are the major products over the MgO support, whereas heptene isomers are the major products over the VMgO catalysts. 2-Heptene, toluene and 2-heptanol are the dominant products in the heptene isomers, aromatics and oxygenate products respectively. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses conditionalβ-convergence among the low income countries using a panel data framework covering the period 1960 to 2008. The estimation of conditional income convergence is based on the augmented Solow model with system GMM technique for the dynamic panel data. More importantly, the article assesses the role of initial human capital stock and the rule of law in the income convergence of poor countries by considering further categorizations of the poor countries based on these two variables. This is the first study on the comparative properties of human capital and the rule of law in the income convergence of poor countries utilizing a dynamic panel framework. The full sample of low income countries does not show any evidence of conditional income convergence. The categorizations on the basis of initial human capital stock do not alter the conclusion of no income convergence. However, the subsample of low income countries with a better rule of law exhibits positive evidence of convergence towards the steady states. The article concludes that there exists a greater role of the rule of law, than initial human capital stock, in the income convergence of poor countries and vice versa for the high and middle income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) transcription factors (TFs) are well known for their role in plant development but are rarely studied in citrus. In this study, we identified 11 putative genes from the sweet orange genome and divided the citrus WOX genes into three clades (modern/WUSCHEL(WUS), intermediate, and ancient). Subsequently, we performed syntenic relationship, intron-exon organization, motif composition, and cis-element analysis. Co-expression analysis based on RNA-seq and tissue-specific expression patterns revealed that CsWOX gene expression has multiple intrinsic functions. CsWUS homolog of AtWUS functions as a transcriptional activator and binds to specific DNA. Overexpression of CsWUS in tobacco revealed dramatic phenotypic changes, including malformed leaves and reduced gynoecia with no seed development. Silencing of CsWUS in lemon using the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system implied the involvement of CsWUS in cells of the plant stem. In addition, CsWUS was found to interact with CsCYCD3, an ortholog in Arabidopsis (AtCYCD3,1). Yeast one-hybrid screening and dual luciferase activity revealed that two TFs (CsRAP2.12 and CsHB22) bind to the promoter of CsWUS and regulate its expression. Altogether, these results extend our knowledge of the WOX gene family along with CsWUS function and provide valuable findings for future study on development regulation and comprehensive data of WOX members in citrus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: RCTs (randomized controlled trials) are the preferred source of evidence to support professional societies' guidelines. The fragility index (FI), defined as the minimum number of patients whose status would need to switch from nonevent to event to render a statistically significant result nonsignificant, quantitatively estimates the robustness of RCT results. We evaluate RCTs supporting current guidelines on myocardial revascularization using the FI and FI minus number of patients lost to follow-up.Methods and Results: The FI and FI minus number of patients lost to follow-up of RCTs supporting the 2012 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Patients with Stable Ischemic Heart Disease, the 2014 Focused Update of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Patients with Stable Ischemic Heart Disease, and the 2018 European Society of Cardiology/European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Guidelines for Myocardial Revascularization were calculated. Of 414 RCTs identified, 160 were eligible for FI calculation. The median FI was 8.0 (95% CI, 5.0-9.0) and the median FI minus number of patients lost to follow-up was 1.0 (95% CI, 0.0-3.0). FI was ≤3, indicating very limited robustness, in 44 (27.5%) RCTs, and was lower than the number LTF, indicating limited robustness, in 68 (42.5%) RCTs. FI was significantly (all P<0.05) correlated with the sample size, number of events, statistical power, journal impact factor, use of intention-to-treat analysis, and of composite end points and negatively correlated with the use of percutaneous interventions in the treatment arm and the P-value level.Conclusions: More than a quarter of RCTs that support current guidelines on myocardial revascularization have a FI of 3 or lower, and over 40% of trials reveal a FI that is lower than the number of patients lost to follow-up. These findings suggest that the robustness of the findings that support current myocardial revascularization guidelines is tenuous and vulnerable to change as new evidence from RCTs appears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite several reports, there are still conflicting data on the influence of ethnicity on mortality rates associated with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). We aimed to get further insights into the effect of race on mortality following CABG by performing a risk adjusted meta-analysis. Relevant studies were searched on PubMed, Embase, BioMed Central, and the Cochrane Central register. Pairwise meta-analysis was used to estimate the relative risk of hospital death of black, Hispanic, and Asian patients using white patients as reference. Risk adjusted meta-analytic estimates were obtained using generic inverse variance methods with random effect model. A total of 28 studies were selected for analysis. A total of 21 studies reported on hospital mortality in black (n = 222,892) versus white (n = 3,884,043) patients, 7 studies reported on Hispanic (n = 91,256) versus white (n = 1,458,524) and 9 studies reported on Asian (n = 27,820) versus white (n = 1,081,642). When compared with white patients, adjusted risk of hospital death was significantly greater for black patients (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.39; P <.001), and not statistically different for Asian (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 0.99-1.77; P =.05) and Hispanic patients (adjusted OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.94-1.23; P =.26). Meta-regression showed a significant trend toward lower mortality rates in most recent series in both black (P =.02) and white (P =.0007) and Asian (P =.01) but not for Hispanic (P =.41). However, as mortality rates were lower across the different races, the relative disadvantage between the study groups persisted, which may explain the lack of interaction between study period and race effect on mortality for black (adjusted P =.09), Asian (adjusted P =.63), and Hispanic (adjusted P =.97) patients. The present meta-analysis showed that despite progress is being made in lowering in-hospital mortality rates among the major racial/ethnic groups, ethnical disparities in hospital mortality after CABG remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Altered lipid metabolism is an emerging hallmark of aggressive breast cancers. The N-myc downstream regulated gene (NDRG1) gene plays a critical role in peripheral nervous system myelination, as inactivating mutations cause severe demyelinating neuropathy. In breast cancer, elevated NDRG1 expression has been linked to clinical outcomes, but its functional role in breast cancer physiology has remained unclear.Methods: A meta-analysis of NDRG1 expression in multiple large publicly available genomic databases was conducted. Genome-wide expression correlation and Cox proportional hazards and Kaplan-Meier modeling of clinical outcomes associated with elevated expression were assessed. To study NDRG1 function, gene silencing and overexpression phenotypic studies were carried out in a panel of cell lines representing all major breast cancer molecular subtypes. Changes in cell proliferation, morphology, and neutral lipid accumulation due to altered NDRG1 expression were assessed by high throughput, quantitative microscopy. Comprehensive lipidomics mass spectrometry was applied to characterize global changes in lipid species due to NDRG1 silencing. Labeled fatty acids were used to monitor cellular fatty acid uptake and subcellular distribution under nutrient replete and starvation culture conditions.Results: NDRG1 overexpression correlated with glycolytic and hypoxia-associated gene expression, and was associated with elevated rates of metastasis and patient mortality. Silencing NDRG1 reduced cell proliferation rates, causing lipid metabolism dysfunction including increased fatty acid incorporation into neutral lipids and lipid droplets. Conversely, NDRG1 expression minimized lipid droplet formation under nutrient replete and starvation conditions.Conclusions: Here we report that NDRG1 contributes to breast cancer aggressiveness by regulating the fate of lipids in cells that exhibit an altered lipid metabolic phenotype. In line with its role in promoting myelination and its association with altered metabolism in cancer, our findings show that NDRG1 is a critical regulator of lipid fate in breast cancer cells. The association between NDRG1 and poor prognosis in breast cancer suggests it should play a more prominent role in patient risk assessment. The function of NDRG1 in breast cancer lipid metabolism may represent a promising therapeutic approach in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital age, social media has emerged as a significant platform, generating a vast amount of raw data daily. This data reflects the opinions of individuals from diverse backgrounds, races, cultures, and age groups, spanning a wide range of topics. Businesses can leverage this data to extract valuable insights, improve their services, and effectively reach a broader audience based on users' expressed opinions on social media platforms. To harness the potential of this extensive and unstructured data, a deep understanding of Natural Language Processing (NLP) is crucial. Existing approaches for sentiment analysis (SA) often rely on word co-occurrence frequencies, which prove inefficient in practical scenarios. Identifying this research gap, this paper presents a framework for concept-level sentiment analysis, aiming to enhance the accuracy of sentiment analysis (SA). A comprehensive Urdu language dataset was constructed by collecting data from YouTube, consisting of various talks and reviews on topics such as movies, politics, and commercial products. The dataset was further enriched by incorporating language rules and Deep Neural Networks (DNN) to optimize polarity detection. For sentiment analysis, the proposed framework employs predefined rules to trigger sentiment flow from words to concepts, leveraging the dependency relations among different words in a sentence based on Urdu language grammatical rules. In cases where predefined patterns are not triggered, the framework seamlessly switches to its sub-symbolic counterpart, passing the data to the DNN for sentence classification. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed framework surpasses state-of-the-art approaches, including LSTM, CNN, SVM, LR, and MLP, achieving an improvement of 6–7% on Urdu dataset. In conclusion, this research paper introduces a novel framework for concept-level sentiment analysis of Urdu language data sourced from social media platforms. By combining language rules and DNN, the proposed framework demonstrates superior performance compared to existing methodologies, showcasing its effectiveness in accurately analyzing sentiment in Urdu text data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poultry industry is confronted to different hurdles which are blamed for the decline in the nutrients supplements for humans. One of the hurdles is the oxidative stress, which is responsible for the reduction of gut morphology and growth performance in the poultry birds. The present study was performed to explore the impact of inorganic selenium (sodium selenite). Day old chicks were kept in a control environment. At day 7, five groups were made with four replicas in each group based on the diet being offered. Group A, the positive control group fed with normal basal diet group B was termed as negative control group offered basal diet + dexamethasone and group C, D and E was offered 0.2mg/kg, 0.3mg/kg, and 0.4mg/kg of basal diet, respectively. The trial lasted for 35-days and on the last day two chickens from each replicate were slaughtered (a cumulatively eight chickens from each group). Samples from different regions (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum) of the small intestine were collected and kept in the fixatives. Slices from each part were stained with H and E stain to make it fit for microscopy. Picture were taken with different magnifications, i.e., 4X, 10X and 40X and histo-morphometry was done through Pixel-Pro (Labomed America Inc). The statistical analysis was through IBM SPSS (Statistics.V22.X86). The present study concluded that selenium improves the intestinal morphology i.e. villus height, villus width, villus surface area showed better growth(P=0.05) in the selenium supplemented groups. The FCR initially did not differ (P=0.05) among the groups but toward the end it was comparatively better (P=0.05) in selenium supplemented groups. The relative body weight of different organs i-e liver, gizzard, heart, pancreas, and proventriculus etc. showed significant (P=0.05) results in each of selenium-supplemented groups. Overall, 0.3 mg/kg (Basal diet) of selenium showed better results with respect to the positive control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Method: The aim of present study is to study the role of Multi detector computed Tomography in the evaluation of colorectal lesions with histopathological correlation. In this study, patients with wall thickening involving the colon and rectum on CT were included. CT was performed using Idohexol contrast medium. All patients were placed in the supine position on the CT table, and a rectal tube was inserted. Room air was gently insufflated into the colon get adequate colonic distension. CT acquisitions were performed in the arterial phase (start delay of 25-35 seconds) and in the portal venous phase (start delay of 50- 70 seconds) with a section width of 5 mm. when wall thickening is identified, it is characterized using the following criteria. Result: Of the 50 patients with colorectal lesions on CT, 40 lesions (80%) were diagnosed as malignant and 10 lesions (20%) were diagnosed as benign on histopathology. Of the 50 patients with colorectal lesions on CT, 40 lesions (80%) were diagnosed as malignant and 10 lesions (20%) were diagnosed as benign on histopathology. Conclusion: MDCT is an excellent modality in the diagnosis and differentiation of benign and malignant lesions of the colon and rectum, since it has the advantage of providing thinner sections, faster acquisition and multi planar reformatted images. MDCT is also useful in the staging of malignant lesions which helps in proper planning of surgery and further management of the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive utilization of coconut tissue culture in propagation and transformation is limited by the low efficiency of somatic embryogenesis. Understanding the potential mechanisms and developmental regulators (DRs) will facilitate the process. Here, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) using protoplasts isolated from the zygotic embryo (ZE), embryogenic callus (EC) and somatic embryo (SE) of 'Hainan Tall' coconut. Cell types were identified with the assistance of known cell marker genes and further validated by RNA in situ hybridization. Differentiation trajectories from the ZE to SE transition were then constructed and identified potential DRs in the process. Notably, developmental initiation cells for both ZE and SE were identified as quiescent center-like cells (QC-L), while it was the dividing cell (DC) in EC. CnGRF12 (Growth Regulating Factor) was preferentially expressed in these developmental initiation cells, and its co-expression with CnGIF1 (GRF-interacting Factor) by transient transformation suggested that CnGRF12 has potential as a DR to accelerate transformation. Our comprehensive cell atlas provides single-cell-level insights into the developmental trajectories of ZE, EC and SE cells in coconut, and potential DRs investigated in this study could be useful for the future genotype-independent transformation and gene editing of coconut. [Display omitted] • Quiescent center-like cells (QC-L) were the developmental initiation cells in ZE and SE. • Dividing cell (DC) was the developmental initiation cells in EC. • CnGRF12 was preferentially expressed in developmental initiation cells (QC-L and DC). • CnGRF12 has potential as a DR to accelerate transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In primary care risk stratification, automated algorithms do not consider the same factors as providers. The process of adjudication, in which providers review and adjust algorithm-derived risk scores, may improve the prediction of adverse outcomes. Objective: We assessed the patient factors that influenced provider adjudication behavior and evaluated the performance of an adjudicated risk model against a commercial algorithm. Design: (1) Structured interviews with primary care providers (PCP) and multivariable regression analysis and (2) receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) with sensitivity analyses. Participants: Primary care patients aged 18 years and older with an adjudicated risk score. Approach and Main Measures: (1) Themes from structured interviews and discrete variables associated with provider adjudication behavior; (2) comparison of concordance statistics and sensitivities between risk models. Key Results: 47,940 patients were adjudicated by PCPs in 2018. Interviews revealed that, in adjudication, providers consider disease severity, presence of self-management skills, behavioral health, and whether a risk score is actionable. Provider up-scoring from the algorithmic risk score was significantly associated with patient male sex (OR 1.24, CI 1.15–1.34), age > 65 (OR 2.55, CI 2.24–2.91), Black race (1.26, CI 1.02–1.55), polypharmacy >10 medications (OR 4.87, CI 4.27–5.56), a positive depression screen (OR 1.57, CI 1.43–1.72), and hemoglobin A1c >9 (OR 1.89, CI 1.52–2.33). Overall, the adjudicated risk model performed better than the commercial algorithm for all outcomes: ED visits (c-statistic 0.689 vs. 0.684, p < 0.01), hospital admissions (c-statistic 0.663 vs. 0.649, p < 0.01), and death (c-statistic 0.753 vs. 0.721, p < 0.01). When limited to males or seniors, the adjudicated models displayed either improved or non-inferior performance compared to the commercial model. Conclusions: Provider adjudication of risk stratification improves model performance because providers have a personal understanding of their patients and are able to apply their training to clinical decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to detect the effect of inorganic selenium on the liver enzymes, kidney function and changes in biochemical parameters of broiler chicken under dexamethasone (DEX) induced stress. The day old, two hundred (n=200) chicks were bought from commercial hatchery and randomly divided into five groups with eight replicas(n=5) in each group. Broiler chickens were fed with starter and finishing commercial corn based basal diet (BD) with different doses of inorganic Selenium (Se) powder. Group-A was kept negative control provided with BD twice a day. Group-B was positive control group fed with 15mg DEX/kg twice/day. The Group-C was fed with BD+0.2mgSe+15mg DEX/kg. Similarly, Group-D was fed with BD+0.3mgSe+15mgDEX. Group-E was fed with BD+0.4mgSe+15mg DEX/kg. Two chicks were randomly slaughtered from each replicate and blood glucose level, kidney function and liver enzyme were examined. After slaughtering, the collected blood was centrifuged for 15 minutes at 1000 rpm for serum analysis and anticoagulant added tube for whole blood. The serum was stored at-20°C until further analysis. Biochemical parameters were measured through commercial kits. The result of the current study showed that the values of Alanine transaminase (ALT), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were higher significantly (P≤0.05) in negative control group (B) as compared to the group C, D and E. The level of uric acid, creatinine and blood urea were significantly higher (P≤0.05) in group A (negative control) (P≤0.05) as compared to the group B (positive control) C, D, and E. The blood cholesterol level and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in group B (positive control) was significantly higher (P≤0.00) than the group A (negative control) and Se supplemented group C, D and E. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the overall quality of study-level meta-analyses in high-ranking journals using commonly employed guidelines and standards for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.Methods: 100 randomly selected study-level meta-analyses published in ten highest-ranking clinical journals in 2016-2017 were evaluated by medical librarians against 4 assessments using a scale of 0-100: the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies (PRESS), Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Standards for Systematic Reviews, and quality items from the Cochrane Handbook. Multiple regression was performed to assess meta-analyses characteristics' associated with quality scores.Results: The overall median (interquartile range) scores were: PRESS 62.5(45.8-75.0), PRISMA 92.6(88.9-96.3), IOM 81.3(76.6-85.9), and Cochrane 66.7(50.0-83.3). Involvement of librarians was associated with higher PRESS and IOM scores on multiple regression. Compliance with journal guidelines was associated with higher PRISMA and IOM scores.Conclusion: This study raises concerns regarding the reporting and methodological quality of published MAs in high impact journals Early involvement of information specialists, stipulation of detailed author guidelines, and strict adherence to them may improve quality of published meta-analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient reminders are a specific type of clinical decision support (CDS) and have been shown to improve adherence to preventative performance measures.[5] We incorporated the cognitive assessment performance into standard patient rooming workflows for improved reliability and durability. The provider could then update the patient reminder for cognitive screening as complete or contact the scheduler to follow up with any patient due for assessment. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Anastomotic leak after esophagectomy carries important short- and long-term sequelae. The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine its association with surgical volume., Materials and Methods: A systematic literature review was performed to identify all studies reporting on anastomotic leak after esophagectomy. Studies with less than 100 cases were excluded. The primary outcome was postesophagectomy anastomotic leak, while secondary outcomes were operative mortality overall and after anastomotic leak. Pooled event rates (PER) were calculated, and the association with annual esophagectomy volume by center was investigated., Results: Of the 3932 retrieved articles, 472 were included ( n =177 566 patients). The PER of anastomotic leak was 8.91% [95% CI=8.32; 9.53%]. The PER of early mortality overall and after an anastomotic leak was 2.49% [95% CI=2.27; 2.74] and 11.39% [95% CI=9.66; 13.39], respectively. Centers with less than 37 annual esophagectomies had a higher leak rate compared to those with greater than or equal to 37 annual esophagectomies (9.58% vs. 8.34%; P =0.040). On meta-regression, surgical volume was inversely associated with the PER of esophageal leak and of early mortality., Conclusions: The frequency of anastomotic leaks after esophagectomy, perioperative, and leak associated mortality are inversely associated with esophagectomy volume., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Over the past few years, there have been tremendous developments in the design and synthesis of organic optoelectronic materials with appealing applications in device fabrication of organic light-emitting diodes, superconductors, organic lasers, organic field-effect transistors, clean energy-producing organic solar cells, etc. There is an increasing demand for the synthesis of green, highly efficient organic optoelectronic materials to cope with the issue of efficiency roll-off in organic semiconductor-based devices. This review systematically summarized the recent progress in the design and synthesis of small organic molecules having promising optoelectronic properties for their potential applications in optoelectronic devices during the last 10-year range (2010-early 2021)., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Ingrown toenail (IGTN), known as onychocryptosis or unguis incarnatus, is a painful condition affecting the big toe, with symptoms including pain, inflammation, and infection. This review explores surgical options for IGTN, categorized into altering the nail plate or diminishing periungual tissues. Conservative treatments alleviate early-stage symptoms, while surgical interventions are reserved for severe cases. Various surgical techniques are discussed, such as the Winograd technique, Vandenbos procedure, chemical matricectomy, radiofrequency ablation, bipolar diathermy, carbon dioxide laser ablation, Zadik's procedure, Howard-Dubois procedure, Super U procedure, Noël's procedure, knot technique, and toenail paronychium flap. The choice of procedure depends on the severity and recurrence of IGTN., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Hassan et al.)

Determining which traits allow species to live at higher elevations is essential to understanding the forces that shape montane biodiversity. For the many animals that rely on flight for locomotion, a long-standing hypothesis is that species with relatively large wings should better persist in high-elevation environments because wings that are large relative to the body generate more lift and decrease the aerobic costs of remaining aloft. Although these biomechanical and physiological predictions have received some support in birds, other flying taxa often possess smaller wings at high elevations or no wings at all. To test if predictions about the requirements for relative wing size at high elevations are generalizable beyond birds, we conducted macroecological analyses on the altitudinal characteristics of 302 Nearctic dragonfly species. Consistent with the biomechanical and aerobic hypotheses, species with relatively larger wings live at higher elevations and have wider elevation breadths-even after controlling for a species' body size, mean thermal conditions, and range size. Moreover, a species' relative wing size had nearly as large of an impact on its maximum elevation as being adapted to the cold. Relatively large wings may be essential to high-elevation life in species that completely depend on flight for locomotion, like dragonflies or birds. With climate change forcing taxa to disperse upslope, our findings further suggest that relatively large wings could be a requirement for completely volant taxa to persist in montane habitats., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2023 British Ecological Society.)

Objectives: C5 inhibitors such as eculizumab and ravulizumab are the first-line treatment in the management of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). However, some patients develop novel symptoms as part of their treatment with eculizumab, and the disease is termed as eculizumab refractory PNH. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review on the available treatment modalities for the management of eculizumab refractory PNH., Methods: Two authors independently searched two databases according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A total of 70 studies were obtained: 4 out 70 studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria., Results: Four studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria of our study. Two studies were published in 2021 and two studies were published in 2020. All four studies were multicenter clinical trials. Two studies were phase III clinical trials, one study was a phase II clinical trial, and one study was a phase I clinical trial. Two studies were about pegcetacoplan, one was about danicopan, and one was about iptacopan., Conclusion: Based upon the findings of our systematic review, we recommend an individualized treatment plan based on the mechanism of eculizumab refractoriness and the mechanism of PNH breakthrough. This recommendation is subject to the available resources and clinical expertise available at different hospitals. More studies using study designs such as randomized controlled trials comparing multiple drugs should be performed to accurately assess the different medications and aid in designing guidelines of the management of eculizumab refractory PNH., Level of Evidence: Level I., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article., (© The Author(s) 2023.)

Artificial Intelligence has been used for many applications such as medical, communication, object detection, and object tracking. Maize crop, which is the major crop in the world, is affected by several types of diseases which lower its yield and affect the quality. This paper focuses on this issue and provides an application for the detection and classification of diseases in maize crop using deep learning models. In addition to this, the developed application also returns the segmented images of affected leaves and thus enables us to track the disease spots on each leaf. For this purpose, a dataset of three maize crop diseases named Blight, Sugarcane Mosaic virus, and Leaf Spot is collected from the University Research Farm Koont, PMAS-AAUR at different growth stages on contrasting weather conditions. This data was used for training different prediction models including YOLOv3-tiny, YOLOv4, YOLOv5s, YOLOv7s, and YOLOv8n and the reported prediction accuracy was 69.40%, 97.50%, 88.23%, 93.30%, and 99.04% respectively. Results demonstrate that the prediction accuracy of the YOLOv8n model is higher than the other applied models. This model has shown excellent results while localizing the affected area of the leaf accurately with a higher confidence score. YOLOv8n is the latest model used for the detection of diseases as compared to the other approaches in the available literature. Also, worked on sugarcane mosaic virus using deep learning models has also been reported for the first time. Further, the models with high accuracy have been embedded in a mobile application to provide a real-time disease detection facility for end users within a few seconds., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Khan, Zafar, Tahir, Aqib, Waheed and Haroon.)

Ynamides are N -alkyne compounds bearing an electron withdrawing group at the nitrogen atom. They offer unique pathways for the construction of versatile building blocks owing to their exceptional balance between reactivity and stability. Recently several studies have been reported that explore and illustrate the synthetic potential of ynamides and ynamide-derived advanced intermediates in cycloadditions with different reaction partners to yield heterocyclic cycloadducts of synthetic and pharmaceutical value. Cycloaddition reactions of ynamides are the facile and preferable routes for the construction of structural motifs having striking importance in synthetic, medicinal chemistry, and advanced materials. In this systematic review, we highlighted the recently reported novel transformations and synthetic applications that involved the cycloaddition reaction of ynamides. The scope along with the limitations of the transformations are discussed in detail., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Commercially important palms (oil palm, coconut, and date palm) are widely grown perennial trees with tremendous commercial significance due to food, edible oil, and industrial applications. The mounting pressure on the human population further reinforces palms' importance, as they are essential crops to meet vegetable oil needs around the globe. Various conventional breeding methods are used for the genetic improvement of palms. However, adopting new technologies is crucial to accelerate breeding and satisfy the expanding population's demands. CRISPR/Cas9 is an efficient genome editing tool that can incorporate desired traits into the existing DNA of the plant without losing common traits. Recent progress in genome editing in oil palm, coconut and date palm are preliminarily introduced to potential readers. Furthermore, detailed information on available CRISPR-based genome editing and genetic transformation methods are summarized for researchers. We shed light on the possibilities of genome editing in palm crops, especially on the modification of fatty acid biosynthesis in oil palm. Moreover, the limitations in genome editing, including inadequate target gene screening due to genome complexities and low efficiency of genetic transformation, are also highlighted. The prospects of CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing in commercial palms to improve sustainable production are also addressed in this review paper., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Khan, Goher, Zhang, Shi, Li, Htwe and Wang.)