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Background and Objectives: Social media offers a platform for its users to share information and spread awareness regarding various issues including mental health problems. In some previous studies it was found that people suffering from mental health issues benefited from social media. However, the use of social media is also significantly associated with increased depression, mood and anxiety disorders in adolescents. Furthermore, it was found that the prevalence of poor mental health was high in medical students. With this background, this study was taken up to contribute to the scarce literature about the impact social media has on the mental well-being of medical students. Methods: The setting was a medical college and research centre, situated in the metropolitan city of Bengaluru in Karnataka. A pretested and predesigned questionnaire was self-administered anonymously by 318 students. The data was analyzed using appropriate statistics. Results: A statistically significant relationship was found between the amount of time spent on social media and the mental well-being score, according to the Sell and Nagpal scale, of students. In participants with scores of < 90.8, (30.2%) of them used social media for 4 hrs or more, as opposed to those with scores ≥ to 90.8, (35.6%) of them spent between 1 and 2 hrs a day on social media, 90.8 being the mean well-being score in India. Conclusions: Students need to monitor their screen time. There is a need to go back to old times of establishing human connections and, families and friendships should be nurtured.

Background: 1H‐magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H‐MRS) may provide a direct index for the testing of medicines for neuroprotection and drug mechanisms in multiple sclerosis (MS) through measures of total N‐acetyl‐aspartate (tNAA), total creatine (tCr), myo‐inositol (mIns), total‐choline (tCho), and glutamate + glutamine (Glx). Neurometabolites may be associated with clinical disability with evidence that baseline neuroaxonal integrity is associated with upper limb function and processing speed in secondary progressive MS (SPMS). Purpose: To assess the effect on neurometabolites from three candidate drugs after 96‐weeks as seen by 1H‐MRS and their association with clinical disability in SPMS. Study‐Type: Longitudinal. Population: 108 participants with SPMS randomized to receive neuroprotective drugs amiloride [mean age 55.4 (SD 7.4), 61% female], fluoxetine [55.6 (6.6), 71%], riluzole [54.6 (6.3), 68%], or placebo [54.8 (7.9), 67%]. Field Strength/Sequence: 3‐Tesla. Chemical‐shift‐imaging 2D‐point‐resolved‐spectroscopy (PRESS), 3DT1. Assessment: Brain metabolites in normal appearing white matter (NAWM) and gray matter (GM), brain volume, lesion load, nine‐hole peg test (9HPT), and paced auditory serial addition test were measured at baseline and at 96‐weeks. Statistical Tests: Paired t‐test was used to analyze metabolite changes in the placebo arm over 96‐weeks. Metabolite differences between treatment arms and placebo; and associations between baseline metabolites and upper limb function/information processing speed at 96‐weeks assessed using multiple linear regression models. P‐value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In the placebo arm, tCho increased in GM (mean difference = −0.32 IU) but decreased in NAWM (mean difference = 0.13 IU). Compared to placebo, in the fluoxetine arm, mIns/tCr was lower (β = −0.21); in the riluzole arm, GM Glx (β = −0.25) and Glx/tCr (β = −0.29) were reduced. Baseline tNAA(β = 0.22) and tNAA/tCr (β = 0.23) in NAWM were associated with 9HPT scores at 96‐weeks. Data Conclusion: 1H‐MRS demonstrated altered membrane turnover over 96‐weeks in the placebo group. It also distinguished changes in neuro‐metabolites related to gliosis and glutaminergic transmission, due to fluoxetine and riluzole, respectively. Data show tNAA is a potential marker for upper limb function. Level of Evidence: 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 4 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genomic findings underscore the heterogeneity of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Identification of mutations that predict therapeutic response would be a major advance. We determined the mutationally altered, targetable mitogenic pathways in a large HNSCC cohort. Analysis of whole-exome sequencing data from 151 tumors revealed the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway to be the most frequently mutated oncogenic pathway (30.5%). PI3K pathway-mutated HNSCC tumors harbored a significantly higher rate of mutations in known cancer genes. In a subset of human papillomavirus-positive tumors, PIK3CA or PIK3R1 was the only mutated cancer gene. Strikingly, all tumors with concurrent mutation of multiple PI3K pathway genes were advanced (stage IV), implicating concerted PI3K pathway aberrations in HNSCC progression. Patient-derived tumorgrafts with canonical and noncanonical PIK3CA mutations were sensitive to an mTOR/PI3K inhibitor (BEZ-235), in contrast to PIK3CA-wild-type tumorgrafts. These results suggest that PI3K pathway mutations may serve as predictive biomarkers for treatment selection.

Purpose: Sodium MRI can be used to quantify tissue sodium concentration (TSC) in vivo; however, UTE sequences are required to capture the rapidly decaying signal. 2D MRI enables high in‐plane resolution but typically has long TEs. Half‐sinc excitation may enable UTE; however, twice as many readouts are necessary. Scan time can be minimized by reducing the number of signal averages (NSAs), but at a cost to SNR. We propose using compressed sensing (CS) to accelerate 2D half‐sinc acquisitions while maintaining SNR and TSC. Methods: Ex vivo and in vivo TSC were compared between 2D spiral sequences with full‐sinc (TE = 0.73 ms, scan time ≈ 5 min) and half‐sinc excitation (TE = 0.23 ms, scan time ≈ 10 min), with 150 NSAs. Ex vivo, these were compared to a reference 3D sequence (TE = 0.22 ms, scan time ≈ 24 min). To investigate shortening 2D scan times, half‐sinc data was retrospectively reconstructed with fewer NSAs, comparing a nonuniform fast Fourier transform to CS. Resultant TSC and image quality were compared to reference 150 NSAs nonuniform fast Fourier transform images. Results: TSC was significantly higher from half‐sinc than from full‐sinc acquisitions, ex vivo and in vivo. Ex vivo, half‐sinc data more closely matched the reference 3D sequence, indicating improved accuracy. In silico modeling confirmed this was due to shorter TEs minimizing bias caused by relaxation differences between phantoms and tissue. CS was successfully applied to in vivo, half‐sinc data, maintaining TSC and image quality (estimated SNR, edge sharpness, and qualitative metrics) with ≥50 NSAs. Conclusion: 2D sodium MRI with half‐sinc excitation and CS was validated, enabling TSC quantification with 2.25 × 2.25 mm2 resolution and scan times of ≤5 mins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Juvenile Paget's disease (JPD), a rare genetic skeletal disorder characterized by accelerated bone turnover with elevated levels of serum alkaline phosphatase, presents in early childhood. We report a female patient with typical features of JPD with dental finding who remained undiagnosed until 18 years of age. Scarcity of this disease in the Indian literature and need for timely diagnosis to avert progression of disease thus incited us to report this case.

Background: The prevalence of chronic renal failure is increasing because of increase in chronic debilitating diseases and progressing age of population. These patients experience accumulation of metabolic byproducts and electrolyte imbalance, which has harmful effects on their health. Timely hemodialysis at regular intervals is a life-saving procedure for these patients. Salivary diagnostics is increasingly used as an alternative to the traditional methods. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine the diagnostic efficacy of saliva in chronic renal failure patients. Materials and Methods: This case–control study included 82 individuals, of which 41 were chronic renal failure patients and 41 were age- and sex-matched controls. Blood and saliva were collected and centrifuged. Serum and supernatant saliva were used for biochemical analysis. Serum and salivary urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium, calcium, and phosphorus were evaluated and correlated in chronic renal failure patients using unpaired t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, diagnostic validity tests, and receiver operative curve. Results: When compared to serum; salivary urea, creatinine, sodium, and potassium showed diagnostic accuracy of 93%, 91%, 73%, and 89%, respectively, based on the findings of study. Conclusion: It can be concluded that salivary investigation is a dependable, noninvasive, noninfectious, simple, and quick method for screening the mineral and metabolite values of high-risk patients and monitoring the renal failure patients.

The principal malignancy of peripheral nerves is malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST), which is common in soft tissue of the lower extremities. Its occurrence in the head and neck region is about 10-20%, which makes it a rare entity. Intraosseous MPNST is rare in the literature. Here, we discuss the case report of de novo occurrence of MPNST in the mandible of a 25-year-old female patient.

Although over the last 15 years, prevalence of malaria became reduced by over half but developing resistance against artemisinin derivatives and its combinations, which are only ray of hope to treat resistant malaria set back the control efforts and the key hinderence to achieve the goal of malaria elimination till 2030. In spite these artemisinins are precious antimalarials, their action mechanism is yet to be fully understood. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) produces by cleavage of endoperoxide bridge of artemisinin derivatives are known to be its antimalarial efficacy. Since ROS could induce apoptosis, here we had explored the effect of artemisinin derivatives on apoptotic machinery of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum and its survival. We have studied the effect of a/β arteether, artesunate and a synthetic 1, 2, 4 trioxane on mitochondria, caspase activity and DNA during asexual blood stages of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7. Results have shown that cleavage of peroxide bridge of artemisinin derivatives and 1,2,4 trioxane generate reactive oxygen species which depolarize mitochondrial membrane potential and make it permeable which further followed by activation of caspase like enzyme and DNA fragmentation, which are hallmark of apoptotic cell death. These findings suggest that artemisinin derivatives and synthetic trioxane induce apoptosis like phenomena in erythrocytic stage of malaria parasite; Plasmodium falciparum.

Introduction: Angiogenesis is vital in the aetiology and pathogenesis of a number of pathological processes that include solid reactive lesions like pyogenic granuloma and chronic inflammatory disorders like periapical granuloma. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is a potent proangiogenic cytokine secreted by many cell types which present several pivotal functions in physiologic and pathologic angiogenesis. Aim: The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare the expression of VEGF in oral Pyogenic Granuloma (PG) and Periapical Granuloma (PAG) and also to correlate with the inflammatory cell infiltrate. Materials and Methods: Paraffin embedded tissue blocks of histologically diagnosed cases of PG and PAG, 20 of each were retrieved from the archives. The cases were selected randomly to evaluate the expression of VEGF marker and to assess the Mean Vascular Count (MVC) index and inflammation by Morphological Index (MI). The results were analysed using Unpaired t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and spearman correlation coefficient-test. Results: The PG showed higher expression of VEGF when compared to PAG with no significant difference in inflammation. PG showed positive correlation and PAG showed negative correlation between inflammation and VEGF expression. Conclusion: Histologically similar PG and PAG are different not only by their clinical presentation but also by their mechanisms of formation and molecular sketch. Thereby raised expression of VEGF marker was established in PG emphasizing the fact that all histologically similar lesions need not have similar clinical course and molecular depiction.

Cardiac arrhythmia is a condition where irregular heart rhythms occur. According to World Health Organization (WHO), about 17 million people in the world die every year due to cardiovascular diseases. This is about 31% of the total deaths globally. According to the statistics of American Heart Association (AHA), one out of every three deaths in US is related to cardiovascular diseases. The deaths due to cardiovascular diseases are more than due to all types of cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases combined. A 2014 study indicates that approximately 2 to 3% of the people in North American and European countries are affected by atrial fibrillation. A heart rate which is high (above 100 beats per minute in adults) is called tachycardia and a heart rate that is slow (below 60 beats per minute) is called bradycardia. If the beat is too early, then it is called premature contraction. Irregular beat is called fibrillation or flutter. Other than the criteria of heart rate, there are a number of other classifications for cardiac arrhythmia depending upon different types of criteria. Another type of classification is in terms of the site of origin of the irregular heart rate. Cardiac arrhythmia is a condition where heartbeat is irregular. The goal of this paper is to apply deep learning techniques in the diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmia using ECG signals with minimal possible data pre-processing. We employ one-dimension convolutional neural network (1D-CNN), and long short-term memory (LSTM) to automatically detect the abnormality. This work is focused on the design of CNN and LSTM algorithms to predict Arrhythmia diseases with 7 different stages. To train both algorithms, the MIT-BH dataset is used with 7 different disease stages. Further, existing LSTM resulted in low accuracy. So, this work adopted the CNN model for training and testing Arrhythmia disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]