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Abstract Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) is rarely considered against more common differentials such as diabetes mellitus in patients presenting with polydipsia and polyuria. Hypokalemia and hypercalcemia are known to induce NDI, but not much is known about hypomagnesemia. Hypokalemia refractory to therapy should prompt consideration of hypomagnesemia.

One of the most cost-effective ways to save energy in commercial buildings is through designing a dedicated controller for adjusting environmental set-points according occupancy flow. This paper presents the design of a fuzzy rule-based supervisory controller for reducing energy consumptions while simultaneously providing comfort for passengers in a large airport terminal building. The inputs to the controller are the time schedule of the arrival and departure of passenger planes as well as the expected number of passengers, zone global illuminance (daylight) and external temperature. The outputs from the controller are optimised temperature, airflow and lighting set-point profiles for the building. The supervisory controller was designed based on expert knowledge in MATLAB/Simulink, and then validated using simulation studies. The simulation results demonstrate significant potential for energy savings in the controller's ability to maintain comfort by adjusting set-points according to the flow of passengers.Practical application: The systematic approach adopted here, including the use of artificial intelligence to design supervisory controllers, can be extended to other large buildings which have variable but predictable occupancy patterns like the restricted area of the airport terminal building. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Diabetic foot problems are among the most debilitating complications of diabetes mellitus. These problems incur significant economic costs and reduce quality of life. The integration of thermography technology in the screening and management of diabetic foot problems has been proven to be successful in recent years. By detecting changes in temperature, thermography helps identify early infections and assists in patient monitoring. These early successes have inspired more research and publications in this field. To date, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of thermography-related research on diabetic foot using the Scopus database has not been conducted. This bibliometric analysis aims to fill this gap by reviewing the Scopus database from its inception until 2023 to examine the literature on thermography-related research on diabetic foot. A total of 342 articles met the selection criteria and were included in this analysis. The number of articles in this field remained low until the 2010s, when there was a sudden surge of interest that prompted numerous publications. Authors from the USA contributed the highest number of articles and had the greatest scholarly impact in this field. Despite the major contribution from the USA, there were numerous collaborations between various countries, underscoring the importance of international collaboration in advancing research and exchanging knowledge., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Zakaria et al.)

Background: Melanoma is one of the most malignant forms of skin cancer, with a high mortality rate in the advanced stages. Therefore, early and accurate detection of melanoma plays an important role in improving patients' prognosis. Biopsy is the traditional method for melanoma diagnosis, but this method lacks reliability. Therefore, it is important to apply new methods to diagnose melanoma effectively., Aim: This study presents a new approach to classify melanoma using deep neural networks (DNNs) with combined multiple modal imaging and genomic data, which could potentially provide more reliable diagnosis than current medical methods for melanoma., Method: We built a dataset of dermoscopic images, histopathological slides and genomic profiles. We developed a custom framework composed of two widely established types of neural networks for analysing image data Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and networks that can learn graph structure for analysing genomic data-Graph Neural Networks. We trained and evaluated the proposed framework on this dataset., Results: The developed multi-modal DNN achieved higher accuracy than traditional medical approaches. The mean accuracy of the proposed model was 92.5% with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.96, suggesting that the multi-modal DNN approach can detect critical morphologic and molecular features of melanoma beyond the limitations of traditional AI and traditional machine learning approaches. The combination of cutting-edge AI may allow access to a broader range of diagnostic data, which can allow dermatologists to make more accurate decisions and refine treatment strategies. However, the application of the framework will have to be validated at a larger scale and more clinical trials need to be conducted to establish whether this novel diagnostic approach will be more effective and feasible., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) rely on a variety of sensors to perceive and navigate their airborne environment with precision. The autopilot software interprets this sensory data, acting as the control mechanism for autonomous flights. As UAVs are exposed to physical environment, they are vulnerable to potential impairments in their sensory mechanism. Their real-time interactions with the actual atmosphere make them susceptible to cyber exploitations as well, where sensory data alterations through counterfeit wireless signals pose a significant threat. In this context, sensor failures can result into unsafe flight conditions, as the fault handling logic may fail to anticipate the context of the issue, allowing autopilot to execute operations without necessary adjustments. Untimely control of sensor failures can result in mid-air collisions or crashes. To address these challenges, we created Biomisa Arducopter Sensory Critique (BASiC) dataset, a state-of-the-art resource for UAV sensor failure analysis. The BASiC dataset comprises 70 autonomous flight data, spanning over 7 hours. It encompasses 3+ hours of (each) pre-failure and post-failure data, along with 1+ hour of no-failure data. We selected the ArduPilot platform as our demonstration aerial vehicle to conduct the experiments. By engineering Software in the Loop (SITL) parameters, we effectively executed sensor failure test simulations. Our dataset incorporates six representative sensors failures which are critical to UAV operations: global positioning system (GPS) for precise aerial positioning, remote control for communication with the ground control station (GCS), accelerometer for measuring linear acceleration, gyroscope for rotational acceleration measurement, compass providing heading information, and barometer for maintaining flight height based on atmospheric pressure data. The availability of the BASiC dataset will benefit the research community, empowering researchers to explore and experiment with state-of-the-art deep learning models by tailoring them for time series signal analysis. It may also contribute in enhancing the safety and reliability of mission-critical autonomous UAV flights., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Early detection of histamine in foodstuffs/beverages could be useful in preventing various diseases. In this work, we have prepared a free-standing hybrid mat based on manganese cobalt (2-methylimodazole)-metal organic frameworks (Mn-Co(2-MeIm)MOF) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and explored as a non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor for determining the freshness of fish and bananas based on histamine estimation. As-developed hybrid mat possesses high porosity with a large specific surface area and excellent hydrophilicity those allow easy access of analyte molecules to the redox-active metal sites of MOF. Furthermore, the multiple functional groups of the MOF matrix can act as active adsorption sites for catalysis. The Mn-Co(2-MeIm)MOF@CNF mat-modified GC electrode demonstrated excellent electrocatalytic activities toward the oxidation of histamine under acidic conditions (pH = 5.0) with a faster electron transfer kinetics and superior fouling resistance. The Co(2-MeIm)MOF@CNF/GCE sensor exhibited a wide linear range from 10 to 1500 µM with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 89.6 nM and a high sensitivity of 107.3 µA mM -1  cm -2 . Importantly, as-developed Nb(BTC)MOF@CNF/GCE sensor is enabled to detect histamine in fish and banana samples stored for different periods of time, which thus indicates its practical viability as analytical histamine detector., (© 2023. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: To evaluate the association of chromosomal translocations in multiple myeloma (MM) detected by Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH) and its clinical characteristics., Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Haematology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from February to August 2022., Methodology: A total of 40 cases of MM were included. All cases were diagnosed using international myeloma working group (IMWG) criteria. Clinical presentations like bone pain, backache, fatigue, pallor, and weight loss were noted. The workup for myeloma-defining events was done. FISH analysis was done for t (4;14), t (11,14), t (14;16), t (14;20), and del 17p. Data were analysed using the chi-square test. A p-value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: Out of 40 patients, 8 (20%) were females and 32 (80%) were males. The highest frequency of cases were noted among males in the age group >60 years and females in the age group 40-60 years. FISH for t (4;14) was positive in 22 (55%) patients, for t (11;14) was positive in 4 (10%) patients, for t (14;16) was positive in 3 (7.5%) patients, and for t (14;20) was positive in 3 (7.5%) patients, while for del17p was positive in 8 (20%) patients. Cases with t (4;14), t (11;14), and t (14;20) had bone pain, fatigue, and backache as the most common presentations. Among the various parameters studied, lytic lesions, beta-2 microglobulin, spike protein, deranged haemoglobin, TLC, ESR, albumin, and creatinine were significant risk factors in patients who were tested positive for various mutations., Conclusion: The FISH technique has brought an immense uprising in the genetic analysis of MM. Among translocations, t (4;14) and del17p are associated with poor clinical outcomes and prognosis. If the diagnosis of MM is delayed, then an increase in morbidity and mortality can occur., Key Words: Multiple myeloma, FISH, Translocations.

Autonomous flights are the major industry contributors towards next-generation developments in pervasive and ubiquitous computing. Modern aerial vehicles are designed to receive actuator commands from the primary autopilot software as input to regulate their servos for adjusting control surfaces. Due to real-time interaction with the actual physical environment, there exists a high risk of control surface failures for engine, rudder, elevators, and ailerons etc. If not anticipated and then timely controlled, failures occurring during the flight can have severe and cataclysmic consequences, which may result in mid-air collision or ultimate crash. Humongous amount of sensory data being generated throughout mission-critical flights, makes it an ideal candidate for applying advanced data-driven machine learning techniques to identify intelligent insights related to failures for instant recovery from emergencies. In this paper, we present a novel framework based on machine learning techniques for failure prediction, detection, and classification for autonomous aerial vehicles. The proposed framework utilizes long short-term memory recurrent neural network architecture to analyze time series data and has been applied at the AirLab Failure and Anomaly flight dataset, which is a comprehensive publicly available dataset of various fault types in fixed-wing autonomous aerial vehicles' control surfaces. The proposed framework is able to predict failure with an average accuracy of 93% and the average time-to-predict a failure is 19 s before the actual occurrence of the failure, which is 10 s better than current state-of-the-art. Failure detection accuracy is 100% and average detection time is 0.74 s after happening of failure, which is 1.28 s better than current state-of-the-art. Failure classification accuracy of proposed framework is 100%. The performance analysis shows the strength of the proposed methodology to be used as a real-time failure prediction and a pseudo-real-time failure detection along with a failure classification framework for eventual deployment with actual mission-critical autonomous flights., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Arsenic exposure alters redox balance, induces DNA damage, and deregulates many genes. OGG1 gene involved in base repair mechanism, for excision of 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) from DNA formed as a result of accumulation of ROS in cell. HPRT gene encode transferase enzymes involved in purine recycling mechanism. The main focus of the study was to evaluate the expression variation in HPRT, OGG1 gene expression, and DNA damage of industrial workers. Blood samples of 300 occupational workers were collected from welding, brick kiln, furniture, pesticide, and paint industry (n = 60/industry) to evaluate the expression variation in HPRT, OGG1 gene expression, and DNA damage in blood cells by comet assay along with age and gender matched 300 control individuals. Blood arsenic content was higher (P<0.001) in an industrial group compared to the control. OGG1 and HPRT expression were (P<0.05) downregulated in exposed workers compared to controls. Spearman correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between HPRT vs OGG1 (P< 0.0001) in exposed workers compared to controls. Altered expression of both genes was observed between workers with <25years and >25years of age as well as between workers with <10years and >10year exposure. Reduced expression (P<0.05) of both genes and a high extent of DNA damage was evident in exposed smokers compared to respective non-smokers. DNA fragmentation was higher (P<0.05) in the furniture, welding and brick kiln group compared to control, and other industries. The present study suggests that altered expression of OGG1 and HPRT gene induce oxidative stress, showed a negative impact on the recycling of purines leading to DNA damage which increase the vulnerability of workers to carcinogenicity., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background In light of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, vaccination is one of the most important defensive strategies in combating the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Vaccine hesitancy or anti-vaccination attitude has become a barrier to the nationwide vaccination program, potentially sabotaging the effectiveness of vaccination. Thus far, Google Trends (GT) has been used extensively for monitoring information-seeking behavior during the pandemic. We aimed to investigate the association between Google search, the vaccination rate, and the number of vaccinated and infected cases among the Malaysian population. Material and method GT's customizable geographic and temporal filters were applied to include results for predetermined keywords from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021. Both Malay and English languages were used to reflect the multi-racial and multi-lingual community in Malaysia. The search volume index (SVI) derived was compared with the numbers of vaccinated and infected cases which were extracted from the open-access database (COVIDNOW in Malaysia) within the same period. Both analyses were performed independently by two authors to ensure accuracy of the data extraction process. A descriptive analysis was used to compare GT analyses and the number of daily vaccinations and positive COVID-19 cases. Results The information-seeking behavior in the public fluctuated from time to time. The interest surged during the initiation of vaccination program and upon the outbreak of COVID-19 in Malaysia. The surge in interest prior to the peak of vaccination rate also indicated that the public tended to get information online prior to getting the vaccines.  Conclusion This observational study illustrates the ability of GT to monitor the interest of vaccination among the Malaysian population during the pandemic. By monitoring the dynamic changes in Google Trends, healthcare authorities can get a glimpse of public perceptions such as attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine, hence potentially identify and stymie any dangerous online anti-vaccination rhetoric swiftly., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2022, Kow et al.)

In recent years, the application of various recommendation algorithms on over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Amazon Prime and Netflix has been explored, but the existing recommendation systems are less effective because either they fail to take an advantage of exploiting the inherent user relationship or they are not capable of precisely defining the user relationship. On such platforms, users generally express their preferences for movies and TV shows and also give ratings to them. For a recommendation system to be effective, it is important to establish an accurate and precise relationship between the users. Hence, there is a scope of research for effective recommendation systems that can define a relationship between users and then use the relationship to enhance the user experiences. In this research article, we have presented a hybrid recommendation system that determines the degree of friendship among the viewers based on mutual liking and recommendations on OTT platforms. The proposed enhanced model is an effective recommendation model for determining the degree of friendship among viewers with improved user experience., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in the research article with any parties., (Copyright © 2022 Aqeel Khalique et al.)

A previously healthy 27-year-old man was brought to hospital after been found late at night confused, agitated and talking incoherently. He represented 12 days later with focal seizures, progressing to anarthria and encephalopathy. MR scan of brain showed diffuse cerebral oedema and his plasma ammonia was >2000 µmol/L (12-55 µmol/L). He developed refractory status epilepticus and subsequently died. Genetic analysis identified an ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) gene mutation on the X chromosome. We discuss this atypical presentation of OTC deficiency as a rare but treatable cause of hyperammonaemic encephalopathy., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Gadolinium (Gd) based contrast agents (CAs) (Gd-CAs) represent one of the most advanced developments in the application of Gd for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Current challenges with existing CAs generated an urgent requirement to develop multimodal CAs with good biocompatibility, low toxicity, and prolonged circulation time. This review discussed the Gd-CAs used in bioimaging applications, addressing their advantages and limitations. Future research is required to establish the safety, efficacy and theragnostic capabilities of Gd-CAs. Nevertheless, these Gd-CAs offer extraordinary potential as imaging CAs and promise to benefit bioimaging applications significantly.

Nickel disulfide nanoparticles (NiS 2 NPs)-anchored carbon nanofibers (NiS 2 NPs@CNF) hybrid mats were fabricated via the sequential process of stabilization and carbonization of electrospun polyacrylonitrile-based fibers followed by hydrothermal growth of NiS 2 NPs on the porous surface of CNFs. The vertical growth of NiS 2 NPs on entire surfaces of porous CNFs appeared in the SEM images of hybrid mat. The hierarchical NiS 2 NPs@CNF core-shell hybrid nanofibers with 3D interconnected network architecture can endow continuous channels for easy and rapid ionic diffusion to access the electroactive NiS 2 NPs. The conductive and interconnected CNF core could facilitate electron transfer to the NiS 2 shell. Moreover, the porous CNF as a buffering matrix can resist volumetric deformation during the long-term charge-discharge process. The NiS 2 NPs@CNF electrode can yield high specific capacitance (916.3 F g -1 at 0.5 A g -1 ) and reveal excellent cycling performances. The solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) was fabricated with NiS 2 NPs@CNF mat as a binder-free positive electrode and activated carbon cloth as a negative electrode. As-assembled ASC not only produce high specific capacitance (364.8 F g -1 at 0.5 A g -1 ) but also exhibit excellent cycling stability (∼92.8% after 5000 cycles). The ASC delivered a remarkably high energy density of 129.7 Wh kg -1 at a power density of 610 W kg -1 . These encouraging results could make this NiS 2 NPs@CNF hybrid mat a good choice of cathode material for the fabrication of flexible solid-state ASC for various flexible/wearable electronics., (© 2021 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

Background: Strayer's gastrocnemius recession is a common technique in treating ankle equinus of gastrocnemius origin. Nevertheless, this technique is associated with a few flaws. We aim to introduce a novel technique of isolated gastrocnemius recession and perform a cadaveric study to evaluate its safety and at the same time compare this novel technique with the existing Strayer procedure biomechanically., Methods: Eight fresh cadaveric models of gastrocnemius tightness were established by isolated traction of the gastrocnemius muscles. Gastrocnemius recession was performed on all eight models with Strayer method and the novel method randomized equally. The safety of both the techniques was evaluated by identifying any iatrogenic injury to the surrounding structures. The lengthening and improvement of the ankle dorsiflexion was measured and compared between the two techniques., Results: There was no iatrogenic sural nerve or saphenous vein injury in all eight models. There was no significant difference between the two techniques in terms of lengthening (24.25 mm vs 21.00 mm; p = 0.838) and improvement of ankle dorsiflexion (26.5° vs 26°; p = .829)., Conclusions: Both Strayer technique and the novel technique of gastrocnemius recession lengthened the gastrocnemius and improved the ankle dorsiflexion in this cadaver trial. Both procedures were safe with proper techniques, and there was no significant difference in efficacy between them., Level of Evidence: Level II, randomized controlled trial.

In this study, hydrophilic and biocompatible chitosan oligosaccharide lactate (COL)-coated ultra-small gadolinium oxide nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized through a one-pot polyol method and characterized by various experimental techniques. The In Vitro cellular cytotoxicity assay indicated that the COL-coated gadolinium oxide NPs were non-toxic up to 500 μ M Gd. In addition, their water proton spin relaxivities (i.e., r 1 and r ₂) were estimated to be 13.0 and 27.0 s -1 mM -1 , respectively, which are higher than those of commercial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. The application potential of the solution sample as a T 1 MRI contrast agent was demonstrated In Vitro by measuring map images in which dose-dependent contrast enhancements were observed.

The innate structural and functional properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) have been greatly improved by developing its composites with other materials for its applications in different fields. In the present study, BC- Aloe vera (BCA) gel composite with high tensile strength was ex situ developed and characterized for its potential applications in environmental and medical fields. FE-SEM micrographs showed the impregnation of Aloe vera gel into the fibril network of BC. The dry weight analysis showed the addition of 40 wt.% Aloe vera contents into the BC matrix. The addition of Aloe vera resulted in a 3-fold increase in the mechanical strength of BCA composite. The critical strain or stress concentration points were accurately identified in the composite using a three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) system. The BCA composite retained water for an extended period of up to 70 h. The BCA composite effectively adsorbed Cu, Co, Fe, and Zn metals. Moreover, the BCA composite supported the adhesion and proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells. The findings of this study suggest that the developed BCA composite could find multipurpose applications in different fields., 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 © 2021 Ul-Islam, Ahmad, Fatima, Shah, Yasir, Ahmad, Manan and Ullah.)

Post Transactional Modification (PTM) is a vital process which plays an important role in a wide range of biological interactions. One of the most recently identified PTMs is Malonylation. It has been shown that Malonylation has an important impact on different biological pathways including glucose and fatty acid metabolism. Malonylation can be detected experimentally using mass spectrometry. However, this process is both costly and time-consuming which has inspired research to find more efficient and fast computational methods to solve this problem. This paper proposes a novel approach, called SEMal, to identify Malonylation sites in protein sequences. It uses both structural and evolutionary-based features to solve this problem. It also uses Rotation Forest (RoF) as its classification technique to predict Malonylation sites. To the best of our knowledge, our extracted features as well as our employed classifier have never been used for this problem. Compared to the previously proposed methods, SEMal outperforms them in all metrics such as sensitivity (0.94 and 0.89), accuracy (0.94 and 0.91), and Matthews correlation coefficient (0.88 and 0.82), for Homo Sapiens and Mus Musculus species, respectively. SEMal is publicly available as an online predictor at: http://brl.uiu.ac.bd/SEMal/., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Post Translational Modification (PTM) is defined as the alteration of protein sequence upon interaction with different macromolecules after the translation process. Glutarylation is considered one of the most important PTMs, which is associated with a wide range of cellular functioning, including metabolism, translation, and specified separate subcellular localizations. During the past few years, a wide range of computational approaches has been proposed to predict Glutarylation sites. However, despite all the efforts that have been made so far, the prediction performance of the Glutarylation sites has remained limited. One of the main challenges to tackle this problem is to extract features with significant discriminatory information. To address this issue, we propose a new machine learning method called BiPepGlut using the concept of a bi-peptide-based evolutionary method for feature extraction. To build this model, we also use the Extra-Trees (ET) classifier for the classification purpose, which, to the best of our knowledge, has never been used for this task. Our results demonstrate BiPepGlut is able to significantly outperform previously proposed models to tackle this problem. BiPepGlut achieves 92.0%, 84.8%, 95.6%, 0.82, and 0.88 in accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, Matthew's Correlation Coefficient, and F1-score, respectively. BiPepGlut is implemented as a publicly available online predictor.

The study of ultra-small paramagnetic gadolinium oxide (Gd 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles (NPs) as in vivo positive (T 1 ) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents is one of the most attractive fields in nanomedicine. The performance of the Gd 2 O 3 NP imaging agents depends on the surface-coating materials. In this study, poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic acid) (PMVEMA) was used as a surface-coating polymer. The PMVEMA-coated paramagnetic ultra-small Gd 2 O 3 NPs with an average particle diameter of 1.9 nm were synthesized using the one-pot polyol method. They exhibited excellent colloidal stability in water and good biocompatibility. They also showed a very high longitudinal water proton spin relaxivity (r 1 ) value of 36.2 s -1 mM -1 (r 2 /r 1 = 2.0; r 2 = transverse water proton spin relaxivity) under a 3.0 tesla MR field which is approximately 10 times higher than the r 1 values of commercial molecular contrast agents. High positive contrast enhancements were observed in in vivo T 1 MR images after intravenous administration of the NP solution sample, demonstrating its potential as a T 1 MRI contrast agent.

Equol (4',7-isoflavandiol), is a phytoestrogenic compound, which is synthesized from parent molecule diadzein by intestinal bacterial flora. It is among one of the most extensively researched molecule due to its high affinity towards estrogen receptors. Its enantiomeric form S-equol has been explored in the treatment of estrogen/androgen mediated diseases. Various therapeutic applications such as anti-cancer, cardioprotective, antidiabetic, antiosteoporosis, anti-ageing, and neuroprotective efficacy are attributed to it. This review explored major studies related to biochemistry and pharmacological applications of equol for human health., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Oxidative stress and DNA damage are considered as possible mechanisms involved in lead toxicity. To test this hypothesis, DNA damage and expression variations of aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), and 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 2a (OGG1-2a) genes was studied in a cohort of 100 exposed workers and 100 controls with comet assay and real-time polymerse chain reaction (PCR). Results indicated that increased number of comets was observed in exposed workers versus controls ( p < 0.001). After qPCR analysis, significant down-regulation in ALAD ( p < 0.0001), SOD2 ( p < 0.0001), and OGG1-2a ( p < 0.0001) level was observed in exposed workers versus controls. Additionally, a positive spearmen correlation was observed between ALAD versus SOD2 ( r = 0.402**, p < 0.001), ALAD versus OGG1-2a ( r = 0.235*, p < 0.05), and SOD2 versus OGG1-2a ( r = 0.292*, p < 0.05). This study showed that lead exposure induces DNA damage, which is accompanied by an elevated intensity of oxidative stress and expression variation of lead-related gene.

The functional polymorphism A1082G in the gene (IL10) for interleukin-10 associated with risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The present case-control study was to evaluate the possible association between IL10 A1082G gene and OSCC in north Indian population. Analysis of IL10 A1082G genotype in 232 OSCC cases and 221 healthy controls of comparable age, gender, smokers, tobacco chewing and alcohol consumption. IL10 A1082G status in cases and controls were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The frequencies of IL10 A1082G polymorphism AA, AG, GG genotypes were 29.74, 68.10 and 2.15% in OSCC cases and 57.46, 42.08 and 0.45% in healthy controls. The average frequency of G mutant allele was 36.20% in OSCC cases compared with 21.50% among the controls and this allele was associated with increased risk for OSCC cases. Heterozygous AG genotype was found statistically significant in OSCC cases than in controls (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1-2.2, P = 0.003), whereas homozygous mutant GG genotype was not found significant (OR = 4.7, 95% CI = 0.55-41.1, P = 0.2). Moreover, we found that G allele was significant in OSCC cases of tobacco chewing. The frequency of IL10 A1082G polymorphism G allele and AG genotype is associated with OSCC cases as compared with controls; this may be due to smoking and tobacco chewing. Our findings showed that in IL10 A1082G gene polymorphism AG genotype and G allele may participate in the progression of OSCC.

Background: Affordable and efficient water treatment process to produce water free from various contaminants is a big challenge. The presence of toxic heavy metals, dyes, hazardous chemicals and other toxins cause contamination of water sources and our food chain and make them hazardous to living organisms. The current water treatment processes are no longer sustainable due to high cost and low efficiency. Due to advantageous properties, nanotechnology based materials can play a great role in increasing the efficiency of water treatment processes. Magnetic nanocomposites use nano as well as magnetic properties and have the potential to provide a sophisticated system to overcome most of the impurities present in water. There is diversity of magnetic nanocomposites, however presently we have focussed the core-shell magnetic nanocomposites because they have excellent magnetic and separation properties, stability, and good biocompatibility., Methods: We collected systematically the bibliographic data bases for peer-reviewed research literature focusing on the theme of our review. The Quality of the included research papers are selected by standard tools. A conceptual frame work is designed to arrange the topics and extracted the interventions and findings of the included studies., Results: The overall study was divided in sections and each section incorporated the most appropriate literature citation. Total one hundred and eight references were included of which 32 references were used for basic description/introduction of core-shell magnetic nanocomposites. One review paper containing the synthesis methods for core shell magnetic nanocomposites is included while majority (76) of the references are included for comprehensive description of applications of the core-shell nanocomposites among which 25 were for dyes removal, 27 for hazardous metals, 07 for hazardous chemicals, 12 for pesticides and biological contaminants removal and five other including patents were added as miscellaneous substances removal from water sources. This review identified the effective role of core-shell magnetic nanocomposites for environmental remediation in terms of removal of various hazardous substances from water resources., Conclusion: The outcomes of the present review confirms that the magnetic core-shell nanocomposites provide a cost effective and efficient way for the removal of various toxic substances including dyes, heavy metals, toxic organic chemicals, pesticides and some biological contaminants from water sources.

Affordable and efficient water treatment process to produce water free from various contaminants is a big challenge. The presence of toxic heavy metals, dyes, hazardous chemicals and other toxins causes contamination of water sources and our food chain and make them hazardous to living organisms. The current water treatment processes are no longer sustainable due to high cost and low efficiency. Due to advantageous properties, nanotechnology based materials can play a great role in increasing the efficiency of water treatment processes. Magnetic nanocomposites use nano as well as magnetic properties and have the potential to provide a sophisticated system to overcome most of the impurities present in water. There is a diversity of magnetic nanocomposites, however presently we have focussed the core-shell magnetic nanocomposites because they have excellent magnetic and separation properties, stability, and good biocompatibility., Methods: We collected systematically the bibliographic data bases for peer-reviewed research literature focusing on the theme of our review. The quality of the included research papers are selected by standard tools. A conceptual frame work is designed to arrange the topics and extracted the interventions and findings of the included studies., Results: The overall study was divided into sections and each section incorporated the most appropriate literature citation. Total one hundred and eight references were included of which 32 references were used for basic description/introduction of core-shell magnetic nanocomposites. One review paper containing the synthesis methods for core shell magnetic nanocomposites is included while majority (76) of the references are included for comprehensive description of applications of the core-shell nanocomposites among which 25 were for dyes removal, 27 for hazardous metals, 07 for hazardous chemicals, 12 for pesticides and biological contaminants removal and five other including patents were added as miscellaneous substances removal from water sources. This review identified the effective role of core-shell magnetic nanocomposites for environmental remediation in terms of removal of various hazardous substances from water resources., Conclusion: The outcome of the present review confirms that the magnetic core-shell nanocomposites provide a cost effective and efficient way for the removal of various toxic substances including dyes, heavy metals, toxic organic chemicals, pesticides and some biological contaminants from water sources.

Water-soluble and biocompatible D-glucuronic acid coated Na 2 WO 4 and BaCO 3 nanoparticles were synthesized for the first time to be used as x-ray computed tomography (CT) contrast agents. Their average particle diameters were 3.2 ± 0.1 and 2.8 ± 0.1 nm for D-glucuronic acid coated Na 2 WO 4 and BaCO 3 nanoparticles, respectively. All the nanoparticles exhibited a strong x-ray attenuation. In vivo CT images were obtained after intravenous injection of an aqueous sample suspension of D-glucuronic acid coated Na 2 WO 4 nanoparticles, and positive contrast enhancements in the kidney were clearly shown. These findings indicate that the nanoparticles reported in this study may be promising CT contrast agents.

A new type of dual-mode T1 and T2 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent based on mixed lanthanide oxide nanoparticles was synthesized. Gd(3+) ((8)S7/2) plays an important role in T1 MRI contrast agents because of its large electron spin magnetic moment resulting from its seven unpaired 4f-electrons, and Dy(3+) ((6)H15/2) has the potential to be used in T2 MRI contrast agents because of its very large total electron magnetic moment: among lanthanide oxide nanoparticles, Dy2O3 nanoparticles have the largest magnetic moments at room temperature. Using these properties of Gd(3+) and Dy(3+) and their oxide nanoparticles, ultrasmall mixed gadolinium-dysprosium oxide (GDO) nanoparticles were synthesized and their potential to act as a dual-mode T1 and T2 MRI contrast agent was investigated in vitro and in vivo. The D-glucuronic acid coated GDO nanoparticles (davg = 1.0 nm) showed large r1 and r2 values (r2/r1 ≈ 6.6) and as a result clear dose-dependent contrast enhancements in R1 and R2 map images. Finally, the dual-mode imaging capability of the nanoparticles was confirmed by obtaining in vivo T1 and T2 MR images.

Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer development and several genes have been identified as potential biomarker for lungs cancer. Contributing to the present scientific knowledge of biomarkers for lung cancer two different data sets, i.e. GDS3257 and GDS3054 were downloaded from NCBI׳s GEO database and normalized by RMA and GRMA packages (Bioconductor). Diffrentially expressed genes were extracted by using and were R (3.1.2); DAVID online tool was used for gene annotation and GENE MANIA tool was used for construction of gene regulatory network. Nine smoking independent gene were found whereas average expressions of those genes were almost similar in both the datasets. Five genes among them were found to be associated with cancer subtypes. Thirty smoking specific genes were identified; among those genes eight were associated with cancer sub types. GPR110, IL1RN and HSP90AA1 were found directly associated with lung cancer. SEMA6A differentially expresses in only non-smoking lung cancer samples. FLG is differentially expressed smoking specific gene and is related to onset of various cancer subtypes. Functional annotation and network analysis revealed that FLG participates in various epidermal tissue developmental processes and is co-expressed with other genes. Lung tissues are epidermal tissues and thus it suggests that alteration in FLG may cause lung cancer. We conclude that smoking alters expression of several genes and associated biological pathways during development of lung cancers.

Gadolinium (Gd) is a unique and powerful element in chemistry and biomedicine which can be applied simultaneously to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray computed tomography (CT), and neutron capture therapy for cancers. This multifunctionality can be maximized using gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) nanoparticles (GNPs) because of the large amount of Gd per GNP, making both diagnosis and therapy (i.e., theragnosis) for cancers possible using only GNPs. In this study, the T1 MRI and CT dual imaging capability of GNPs is explored by synthesizing various iodine compound (IC) coated GNPs (IC-GNPs). All the IC-GNP samples showed stronger X-ray absorption and larger longitudinal water proton relaxivities (r1 = 26-38 s(-1) mM(-1) and r2/r1 = 1.4-1.9) than the respective commercial contrast agents. In vivo T1 MR and CT images of mice were also acquired, supporting that the GNP is a potential dual imaging agent.

An efficient method for the synthesis of aryl aminocholestanes, using a chlorotriisopropoxytitanium(IV)-mediated reductive amination reaction of 5α-cholestane-3,7-dione, is reported. A series of 3,7-diarylaminocholestane derivatives were prepared according to this methodology in up to 98% yield. These compounds were primarily characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, and mass spectrometry., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Ipilimumab has been shown to improve overall survival in patients with metastatic melanoma; however, complete responses (CRs) are uncommon. Immune-related side effects usually involve the skin or gastrointestinal tract. Neurologic events occur less frequently but are well described., Case Report: We report the case of a 58-year-old man with metastatic melanoma who commenced ipilimumab post spinal decompression and radiation. He developed a colitis post cycle 2 and ipilimumab was discontinued. Imaging, however, documented a radiological CR. 8 weeks later, he developed paraplegia and a myelitis despite an ongoing radiological CR. Steroid use resulted in some improvement radiologically, without clinical improvement., Conclusion: We report myelitis with consequent paraplegia as a potential neurological immune-related side effect of ipilimumab. We further describe a patient with a CR after 2 cycles of ipilimumab in the setting of radiation., (© 2014 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.)

The water-soluble and biocompatible D-glucuronic acid coated Eu(OH)3 nanorods (average thickness x average length = 9.0 x 118.3 nm) have been prepared in one-pot synthesis. The D-glucuronic acid coated Eu(OH)3 nanorods showed a strong fluorescence at approximately 600 nm with a narrow emission band width. A cytotoxicity test by using DU145 cells showed that D-glucuronic acid coated Eu(OH)3 nanorods are not toxic up to 100 microM, making them a promising candidate for biomedical applications such as fluorescent imaging. The minimum Eu concentration needed for a conventional confocal imaging was estimated to be approximately 0.1 mM. Therefore, D-glucuronic acid coated Eu(OH)3 nanorods can be applied to fluorescent imaging. However, a very tiny magnetization of approximately 1.2 emu/g at room temperature and at an applied field of 5 tesla was observed. As a result, very small r1 and r2 water proton relaxivities were estimated, implying that surface coated Eu(OH)3 nanorods are not sufficient for MRI contrast agents.