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Introduction: Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumours of gastrointestinal tract. A high postsurgical recurrence and metastatic rate have created a need for a presurgical risk profile identification system. Aim: To assess the association between morphological Computed Tomography (CT) parameters with the pathological risk profile and analyse which CT features can predict the risk grading of GISTs. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study based on imaging and histopathological data of 26 patients with pathologically proven GISTs presenting to the Department of Radiodiagnosis of a tertiary hospital in the northern Indian Himalayan foothills over a period of five years from July 2018 to June 2023. CT imaging features including size, growth pattern, margins, enhancement, calcifications, necrosis, intralesional haemorrhage, enlarged feeding vessels, direct organ invasion, and associations such as ascites and lymphadenopathy were studied. All lesions were classified as per Miettinen risk classification into no risk, very low-risk, low, moderate, and high-risk lesions. Analysis was done by the Chi-square test. Predictive analysis was carried out by computing the odds ratio and performing regression analysis on significantly associated imaging features. Results: Out of 26 patients, the study group comprised 16 males (61.54%) and 10 females (38.46%). The most common decade of presentation was the 6th decade with the mean age of presentation being 55.81±4.23 years. Twelve patients were grouped under intermediate to high-risk grading. Lesion size >5 cm (p-value=0.0171, OR=19.12), ill-defined margins (p-value=0.0048, OR=18.33), intralesional necrosis (p-value=0.0053, OR=19.8), and enlarged feeding vessels (p-value=0.012, OR=21.27) were identified as imaging features with significant association and predictive ability for high-risk lesions. The strongest predictive ability for a high-risk profile was shown by ill-defined margins (R2=0.381) and intralesional necrosis (R2=0.3287). Conclusion: A preoperative Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) assessment provides a comprehensive imaging profile for GISTs as well as a fair accuracy of risk profile prediction via various singular and clustered morphological parameters.

Biodegradable magnesium (Mg) alloys hold great potential for revolutionizing the field of biomedical engineering by offering temporary support during tissue healing and degrading without leaving permanent residues. However, their clinical applications have been limited due to their relatively high degradation rate. This study focuses on evaluating the in-vitro degradation, fatigue resistance, and fracture toughness properties of Mg alloys under cyclic loading conditions, mimicking real-life scenarios. Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM) was used to prepare spark-processed Mg samples with complex surface texture, and fine-polished Mg samples were used for comparison. The structural characterization, electrochemical corrosion behavior, degradation assessment, and mechanical integrity of the samples were comprehensively analysed. The results show that the Electrical Discharge processed (EDed) Mg sample exhibited uniformly distributed overlapped craters on the surface, which led to a lower charge transfer resistance and higher corrosion potential compared to the Pristine Mg sample. The rough surface topography and alkaline pH microenvironment of the EDed Mg sample facilitated rapid apatite mineralization, but the resulting Ca-deficient apatite compromised its structural stability. Both EDed and Pristine Mg samples exhibited a significant reduction in fatigue life and lower fracture toughness with prolonged immersion. These findings provide valuable insights into the performance of Mg alloys and their potential applications in biodegradable implants, guiding the design of robust implant materials for enhanced patient outcomes.

Lung cancer is among the top causes of death globally, significantly impacting global health due to its high incidence and mortality rates. Breathing difficulties and reduced quality of life are common in people with respiratory illnesses such as asthma, interstitial lung disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Doctors diagnose and establish the stages of cancer, which may not always be correct. The only way to increase the chances of human survival is to recognize them early. The average survival rate increased from 14% to 49% when lung cancer was diagnosed early. Although computed tomography (CT) is significantly more effective than radiography, a complete diagnosis requires a combination of imaging methods. Machine learning technology has been developed and tested for lung cancer detection using CT images. Image processing and machine learning techniques for lung cancer identification were used to a dataset of CT scans in order to categorize the presence of lung cancer. From kaggle, we obtained a lungs imaging dataset. Fuzzy C-means, its variants and K-means algorithms were considered for image segmentation. Aberrant images were segmented to concentrate on the tumor. SVM, KNN, RF, and CNN were employed to study the classification efficiency and to determine if the CT image of the patient is normal or abnormal. The study reveals that the EnFCM method of Segmentation followed by CNN showed 99% accuracy, EnFCM segmentation followed by classification in tumor detection and identification has a good impact. The accuracy obtained with this model is more efficient.

Ready-to-eat food products are becoming a necessity. Bread is the most consumed and easily available product used for breakfast in several households. In this study, mango bread was developed by incorporating whole wheat flour into brown rice flour. The mango breads were formulated with different levels of brown rice flour incorporation (0, 20, 40, and 60 %), and the breads were abbreviated as MB0, MB1, MB2, and MB3, respectively. The findings of the study revealed that with the increase in the concentration of brown rice flour, there was an increase in the ash and fiber contents, which increased from 0.85 to 3.58 % and 0.86 to 1.76 %, respectively. Increasing the concentration of brown rice flour increased hardness, whereas gumminess, chewiness, stickiness, and adhesiveness decreased proportionately. The results showed that brown rice flour could be an effective ingredient by missing it in whole wheat flour up to a level of 40 % to yield breads of acceptable sensory attributes with average liking sensory scores of 7 (like moderately) and above.

AbstractCloud computing is a technique for developing systems that rely on dynamic sharing to enable the integration of several systems to provide services. For the purpose of completing their intended work, cloud users may literally access the cloud resources over the internet. The tasks that cloud users submit and the time it takes to do them determine the effectiveness and efficiency of cloud computing services. Task scheduling is essential to improving a cloud system’s efficacy and performance since it optimizes resource allocation and utilization. In this context, cloud computing offers a variety of advantages, including cost savings, security, mobility, flexibility, disaster recovery, quality control, automated software updates, and sustainability. Therefore, the requirement to control resource allocation has increased along with the number of cloud users. However, cloud task scheduling requires a quick and intelligent algorithm that can identify available resources and plan out tasks that different people desire. Therefore, a quick, effective work scheduling method is needed for improved resource allocation and scheduling. Grey Wolf Job Optimization (GWO) and Cuckoo Search Optimization (CSO) are used for the Optimized Efficient Job Scheduling Resource (OEJSR). The "grey wolf optimization" (GWO) ensemble with OEJSR has provided the best resource allocation models. The prior research was compared using computation time, make span, iteration-based performance, fitness, and success rate. Studies demonstrate the superiority of the suggested approach.

The natural environment is often contaminated with hydrophobic pollutants such as long-chain hydrocarbons, petrochemicals, oil spills, pesticides, and heavy metals. Hydrophobic pollutants with a toxic nature, slow degradation rates, and low solubility pose serious threats to the environment and human health. Decontamination based on conventional chemical surfactants has been found to be toxic, thereby limiting its application in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In contrast, biosurfactants synthesized by various microbial species have been considered superior to chemical counterparts due to their non-toxic and economical nature. Some biosurfactants can withstand a wide range of fluctuations in temperature and pH. Recently, biosurfactants have emerged as innovative biomolecules not only for solubilization but also for the biodegradation of environmental pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, and oil spills. Biosurfactants have been well documented to function as emulsifiers, dispersion stabilizers, and wetting agents. The amphiphilic nature of biosurfactants has the potential to enhance the solubility of hydrophobic pollutants such as petroleum hydrocarbons and oil spills by reducing interfacial surface tension after distribution in two immiscible surfaces. However, the remediation of contaminants using biosurfactants is affected considerably by temperature, pH, media composition, stirring rate, and microorganisms selected for biosurfactant production. The present review has briefly discussed the current advancements in microbially synthesized biosurfactants, factors affecting production, and their application in the remediation of environmental contaminants of a hydrophobic nature. In addition, the latest aspect of the circular bioeconomy is discussed in terms of generating biosurfactants from waste and the global economic aspects of biosurfactant production.

Bakery industry is an important segment of the food industry, worldwide, and texture is an important determinant in the consumer acceptability of baked products especially biscuits. In this study, six different textured biscuits namely, whole wheat flour biscuit, chocolate biscuit, cumin biscuit, cardamom biscuit, pistachio biscuit and cashew biscuit, procured from local bakery, were analyzed for their proximate composition and color characteristics. The biscuits were having significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different values for proximate composition and color parameters. This study primarily aimed at investigating the application of electromyography (EMG) as a prospective technique for texture evaluation of these different types of biscuits. EMG is an upcoming technique for in vivo food texture evaluation which gives real-time information about the dynamic textural changes occurring during mastication of a food product. The EMG study was conducted on ten human subjects who were served six samples of biscuits in duplicate. To eliminate subject factor variance, two-way ANOVA was applied on the relative values of EMG variables. Two recordings of same subject in an EMG session for a biscuit sample showed significant (p ≤ 0.05) degree of similarity indicating that human mastication behavior is reproducible. Initially, twenty-eight EMG parameters were obtained which were reduced to five representative parameters using cluster analysis. Principal component analysis further classified these five masticatory parameters into two independent principal components (PC1 and PC2) for explaining the data variance. Cumulative proportions for PC1 and PC2 were 37.6% and 70.8%, respectively. The results showed that mastication time obtained from electromyographic analysis can evaluate sensory fracturability, hardness and chewiness. While middle interburst duration can effectively evaluate sensory cohesiveness and instrumental flexural strength. The study concluded that EMG can serve as a comprehensive texture evaluation tool in the bakery industry.

Incorporating by-products like coal bottom ash (BA), recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), and fly ash (FYA) in concrete is an essential step toward green and sustainable development in construction sector. For sustainable utilization of RCA as natural coarse aggregates (NCA) and BA as natural fine aggregates (NFA) in high-volume fly ash self-compacting concrete (HVFYA-SCC), this study investigates ten numbers of designed HVFYA-SCC mixes. HVFYA-SCC mixes were developed with varying content of ordinary Portland cement, FYA (60%), NCA, NFA, RCA (maximum 50%) and BA (maximum 30%). The substitution of 20% BA and 25% RCA in HVFYA-SCC mixes increased compressive and split tensile strengths after 120 days of curing, while further substitution (s) led to a drop in properties. Similarly, at 120 days of curing the maximum electrical resistivity was achieved (20% BA and 25% RCA), while all mixes under ultrasonic pulse velocity resulted in the ‘good category.’ Also, the same mix resulted in lower sorptivity values for maximum curing. A good correlation (R2 0.8) was observed among the tested mechanical and durability properties. The outcomes of this study indicate valuable information on the performance and potential benefits of using HVFYA-SCC in advanced structural designs for upcoming concrete industry. Furthermore, the findings successfully support the implementation of designed concretes as sustainable and environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional concrete(s).

The study was conducted to evaluate the systemic adverse effects of smokeless tobacco (SLT) on hematological as well as other biochemical parameters and find out if any correlation between them which may be worthy of creating awareness among the masses against its usage. The current observational study was carried out among 250 tobacco chewers, and complete hemogram, LFT profile, and electrolyte profile were studied. The mean values of hemoglobin (Hb) gram % was 12.74 ± 1.6, total leucocyte count (TLC/cu mm) is 6608.33 ± 1752.083, and platelet count lakh cell/cu mm is 2.55 ±0.806. The mean values of Na+ mmol/1 of the S. electrolyte profile was 132 ± 18.05 and K+ mmol/1 was 3.89 ± 0.538. The study deliberates imperative perception into smokeless tobacco-mediated effects on body systemic functions and reports a crucial part into SLT-mediated effects on biochemical profile and metabolism which can be revealed in promoting tobacco cessation.

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate on the growth and tuber yield in potato (Solanum tuberosum L). Experiment was carried out in split-plot design comprising of nine calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate treatments i.e.T1- Ca(NO3)2 @ 0.5%, T2- Ca(NO3)2 @ 1%, T3- Ca(NO3)2 @ 2%, T4- MgSO4 @ 0.5%, T5- MgSO4 @ 1%, T6- MgSO4 @ 2%, T7- Ca(NO3)2 @ 1% + MgSO4 @ 1%, T8- Ca(NO3)2 @ 2% + MgSO4 @ 2%, T9- Control on two potato varieties i.e. Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Chandramukhi. Data collected on different parameters were analyzed using CPCS1 software. Among all the calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate treatments, application of Ca(NO3)2 @ 2% + MgSO4 @ 2% was found to be the best for most of the parameters studied and between the varieties Kufri Jyoti was found highly significant for the different parameters under study. Hence it can be concluded that commercial cultivation of potato in the central region of Punjab can be successfully supplemented with application of Ca (NO3)2 + MgSO4 and variety Kufri Jyoti.

Sustainable infrastructure is one of the fastest growing sectors and is concurrently producing huge amount of construction demolition waste (CDW). Correspondingly, industrial activities also result in generation of similar wastes, out of which slag from iron industries pose a serious threat to the environment. This study attempts to incorporate both of the above-mentioned wastes in concrete, thereby an attempt to encourage and contribute towards sustainability. The experimental program comprises the evaluation of strength and water absorption behaviour along with the prediction and validation of iron slag (IS) and recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). The replacement levels for IS range from 10 to 30% while those for recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) range from 0 to 50%. Based on the experimental outcomes, the predicted equations for strength and water absorption characteristics were established. Furthermore, the statistical analysis was performed, indicating the desired responses thereby validating the efficiency of the tested properties of IS–RAC concrete. The successful analysis indicates the optimum constituent mix of 24.8% IS and 26.9% RCA for maximum strength and water absorption behaviour. Finally, a comparative environmental estimation was performed by life cycle assessment, describing a reduction of nearly 12.28% and 22% in carbon dioxide emissions and eco-cost in optimized concrete respectively.

The current study primarily evaluates the carbonation and permeation resistance of coal bottom ash (CBA) and copper slag (CS) based geopolymer concrete (GPC). The strength parameters along with non-destructive tests were also performed for reference. CS and CBA were used as a 10%, 30% and 50% replacement of natural fine aggregates (NFA). Fly Ash (FA) was used as a binder and all seven mixes were subjected to oven curing at 65 °C for 24 h. The molarity of NaOH was kept constant (12 M) along with Sodium Silicate/Sodium Hydroxide ratio of 2. With inclusion of CS the carbonation depth, initial and capillary absorption has been decreased by 30%, 23% and 19% respectively with respect to control mix. The above-mentioned values have been increased by 28%, 27% and 58% in CBA based GPC. GPC mix containing 30% replacement of CS as sand has been considered to be appropriate for carbonation and permeation aspects.

Biodegradable metals and their alloys have gained significant attention as promising candidates for biomedical applications. Notably, Magnesium, Zinc, and Iron stand out as the most prominent biodegradable materials, prompting extensive research into novel alloy development. These metals exhibit inherent biodegradability, acceptable biocompatibility, and commendable mechanical integrity, rendering them suitable for implant use. In this comprehensive review, we delve into recent advancements in biodegradable implants within the biomedical domain, with a primary focus on orthopedic and cardiovascular applications. The paper extensively explores the in vivo and in vitro degradation behavior, mechanical properties, and corrosion mechanism of these materials. Additionally, we discuss progress in surface modification and fabrication techniques, vital in optimizing implant performance. However, certain limitations associated with alloying materials, especially Zinc and Iron, have hindered their widespread implementation. We underscore the importance of overcoming these challenges to unlock the full potential of these materials. Furthermore, we present the promise of new metals, such as Molybdenum, which exhibit remarkable properties, opening doors to implants with superior mechanical characteristics. Overall, this review emphasizes the growing significance of biodegradable metallic implants, showcasing their potential to address diverse clinical needs. By addressing material limitations and harnessing innovative metals, we pave the way for the development of implants with superior mechanical properties and desirable degradation rates, thus revolutionizing the field of biomedical applications.

Background: Stereotactic Radiotherapy (SRT) in pancreatic and biliary tract cancer (PBC) suffers from proximity to any organ(s) at risk (OARs). Some strategies to manage this issue have previously been proposed, such as Simultaneous Integrated Protection (SIP), with the aim of maintaining a biological effective dose prescription while reducing toxicities. We performed a systematic review of the literature about SRT techniques applied in patients with tumor in proximity to OARs, with the aim of testing safety and efficacy. Methods: using PRISMA guidelines, we selected studies from a pool of more than 25,000 articles published from 2010 to 30 January 2023 that explored the use of SRT to deliver targeted treatment for PBC. We then selected the ones referring to decreases in prescription doses (for SRT only) in the area of overlap between planning target volume (PTV) and OARs. Local control (LC) and toxicities being detailed were exclusion criteria for articles. Results: 9 studies were included in our review, considering 368 patients. One-year LC probability ranges between 67% and 98.3% were reported. Late G3 toxicities ranged between 0% and 5.3%, while G4-G5 late toxicities were both reported as 0.3%. Conclusion: prioritizing critical OAR constraints limits severe toxicities while preserving LC in PBC SRT. Improving in-study reporting is essential to confirm these promising results.

Surface coatings have been extensively used to control the degradation rate of Mg alloys for bioimplant applications. However, these coatings only act as passive barriers. In corrosive media, structural damage impairs their barrier properties, resulting in rapid degradation of Mg alloys. The present study incorporates phytic acid (PA) as a healing agent in polycaprolactone (PCL) microcapsules with a unique honeycomb core matrix to obtain a self-healing PA-PCLcaps coating. The contact between simulated body fluid (SBF) and PA-PCLcaps coated ZM21 exhibited Cassie-Baxter interfacial states, resulting in significant hydrophobicity with a contact angle (CA) of 116.3. The corrosion potential (Ecorr) and current density (Icorr) were found to be -0.28 V and 1.1 × 10-9 A/cm2, respectively, for PA-PCLcaps coating, resulting in biosafe corrosion rate of 2.5 × 10-4 mm/year. After mechanical scratching, rapid HA mineralization at scratched regions recovered the hydrogen evolution rate (HER, 0.36 mL/cm2/day) and pH change (pH 7.10) of scratched PA-PCLcaps coated ZM21 samples to corresponding unscratched samples within one day of immersion. The coating's self-healing ability could be attributed to PA released from punctured microcapsules, which facilitates HA chelation. The pH-triggered (pH 10) and Mg (II)-triggered (5 mM) conditions enhanced PA release from PA-PCLcaps coating by 2.5 and 3.1 times, respectively. As a result, dense HA mineralization occurred, which protects the coating from structural defects and ensures its durability in stimulating conditions. The findings of present study provide new insight for design of multiple stimuli-feedback based self-healing coatings on biodegradable Mg alloys.

Fatty acid profiles of 14 Linum species was determined by GC-MS analysis to study the nutritional quality of Linum species based on fatty acid composition, lipid health indices, and chemometric approaches. L. lewisii and L. marginale found to have the highest content of ALA i.e., 65.38 % and 62.79 %, respectively, L. tenuifolium recorded the highest linoleic acid content (69.69 %), while, L. catharticum recorded highest oleic acid (27.03 %). Health indices viz. polyunsaturated fatty acids/saturated fatty acids ratio, n-6/n-3 fatty acids ratio, atherogenicity, thrombogenicity, oxidability, oxidative stability, hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic fatty acids, and peroxidisability calculated based on the fatty acid composition revealed that all the linseed species except L. aristatum, L. tenuifolium and L. hudsoniodes have healthy fatty acid composition. L. lewisii clearly emerges as a promising species followed by L. bienne with great values across multiple indices, making them as a potential candidate for dietary or nutritional interests. The lipid profile of Linum species could be well distinguished by two principal components by Principal Component Analysis (PCA).

Mg and its alloys evince strong candidature for biodegradable bone implants, cardiovascular stents, and wound closing devices. However, their rapid degradation rate causes premature implant failure, constraining clinical applications. Bio-functional surface coatings have emerged as the most competent strategy to fulfill the diverse clinical requirements, besides yielding effective corrosion resistance. This article reviews the progress of biodegradable and advanced surface coatings on Mg alloys investigated in recent years, aiming to build up a comprehensive knowledge framework of coating techniques, processing parameters, performance measures in terms of corrosion resistance, adhesion strength, and biocompatibility. Recently developed conversion and deposition type surface coatings are thoroughly discussed by reporting their essential therapeutic responses like osteogenesis, angiogenesis, cytocompatibility, hemocompatibility, anti-bacterial, and controlled drug release towards in-vitro and in-vivo study models. The challenges associated with metallic, ceramic and polymeric coatings along with merits and demerits of various coatings have been illustrated. The use of multilayered hybrid coating comprising a unique combination of organic and inorganic components has been emphasized with future perspectives to obtain diverse bio-functionalities in a facile single coating system for orthopedic implant applications.

IntroductionThe standard of care for patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by consolidation durvalumab as shown in the PACIFIC trial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes and toxicities regarding the use of durvalumab in a real clinical scenario.MethodsA single-center retrospective study was conducted on patients with a diagnosis of unresectable stage III NSCLC who underwent radical CRT followed or not by durvalumab. Tumor response after CRT, pattern of relapse, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), and toxicity profile were investigated.ResultsEighty-five patients met the inclusion criteria. The median age was 67 years (range 45–82 years). Fifty-two patients (61.2%) started sequential therapy with durvalumab. The main reason for excluding patients from the durvalumab treatment was the expression of PD-L1 < 1%. Only two patients presented a grade 4 or 5 pneumonitis. A median follow-up (FU) of 20 months has been reached. Forty-five patients (52.9%) had disease progression, and 21 (24.7%) had a distant progression. The addition of maintenance immunotherapy confirmed a clinical benefit in terms of OS and PFS. Two-year OS and PFS were respectively 69.4% and 54.4% in the durvalumab group and 47.9% and 24.2% in the no-durvalumab group (p = 0.015, p = 0.007).ConclusionIn this real-world study, patients treated with CRT plus durvalumab showed clinical outcomes and toxicities similar to the PACIFIC results. Maintenance immunotherapy after CRT has been shown to be safe and has increased the survival of patients in clinical practice.

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is an important fruit crop of the Indian sub-continent, with potential for improvements in quality and yield. The goal of the present study was to construct a genetic linkage map in an intraspecific cross between the elite cultivar ‘Allahabad Safeda’ and the Purple Guava landrace to identify the genomic regions responsible for important fruit quality traits, viz., total soluble solids, titratable acidity, vitamin C, and sugars. This population was phenotyped in field trials (as a winter crop) for three consecutive years, and showed moderate-to-high values of heterogeneity coefficients along with higher heritability (60.0%–97.0%) and genetic-advance-over-mean values (13.23%–31.17%), suggesting minimal environmental influence on the expression of fruit-quality traits and indicating that these traits can be improved by phenotypic selection methods. Significant correlations and strong associations were also detected among fruit physico-chemical traits in segregating progeny. The constructed linkage map consisted of 195 markers distributed across 11 chromosomes, spanning a length of 1,604.47 cM (average inter-loci distance of 8.80 markers) and with 88.00% coverage of the guava genome. Fifty-eight quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected in three environments with best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) values using the composite interval mapping algorithm of the BIP (biparental populations) module. The QTLs were distributed on seven different chromosomes, explaining 10.95%–17.77% of phenotypic variance, with the highest LOD score being 5.96 for qTSS.AS.pau-6.2. Thirteen QTLs detected across multiple environments with BLUPs indicate stability and utility in a future breeding program for guava. Furthermore, seven QTL clusters with stable or common individual QTLs affecting two or more different traits were located on six linkage groups (LGs), explaining the correlation among fruit-quality traits. Thus, the multiple environmental evaluations conducted here have increased our understanding of the molecular basis of phenotypic variation, providing the basis for future high-resolution fine-mapping and paving the way for marker-assisted breeding of fruit-quality traits.

The scarcity of high-quality data presents a major challenge to the prediction of material properties using machine learning (ML) models. Obtaining material property data from experiments is economically cost-prohibitive, if not impossible. In this work, we address this challenge by generating an extensive material property dataset comprising thousands of data points pertaining to the elastic properties of Fe-C alloys. The data were generated using molecular dynamic (MD) calculations utilizing reference-free Modified embedded atom method (RF-MEAM) interatomic potential. This potential was developed by fitting atomic structure-dependent energies, forces, and stress tensors evaluated at ground state and finite temperatures using ab-initio. Various ML algorithms were subsequently trained and deployed to predict elastic properties. In addition to individual algorithms, super learner (SL), an ensemble ML technique, was incorporated to refine predictions further. The input parameters comprised the alloy’s composition, crystal structure, interstitial sites, lattice parameters, and temperature. The target properties were the bulk modulus and shear modulus. Two distinct prediction approaches were undertaken: employing individual models for each property prediction and simultaneously predicting both properties using a single integrated model, enabling a comparative analysis. The efficiency of these models was assessed through rigorous evaluation using a range of accuracy metrics. This work showcases the synergistic power of MD simulations and ML techniques for accelerating the prediction of elastic properties in alloys.

The present study aimed to monitor the general anaesthesia (midazolam-propofol and isoflurane) in 31 buffaloes undergoing diaphragmatic herniorrhaphy in relation to pleural integrity and survivability. Various herniorrhaphy and peri-operative anaesthetic parameters of heart rate, respiration rate, SpO2, apnea, corneal reflex, lacrimation, salivation, regurgitation and position of eyeball were recorded. The data was compared between the survivor (26/31=83.87%, Group 1) and the non-survivor group (Group 2) and between the buffaloes with intact pleura during herniorrhaphy (21/31= 67.75%, Group 3) and those with ruptured pleura (Group 4). Majority of the buffaloes (80%) in Group 2 had ruptured pleura during herniorrhaphy, while in Group 1, 76.92% had intact pleura. The corneal reflex was considered the most reliable manual parameter to assess the survival status of the buffalo in ventro-dorsal position and its absence was considered alarming. The heart rate was significantly higher in Group 2 in comparison to Group 1 after breaking of hernia ring adhesions. The SpO2 of Group 4 was always lower than in Group 3 and at the time of rupture of pleura it was significantly low but improved with suction and intermittent positive pressure ventilation in Group 1 buffaloes. The study recommended perioperative monitoring of eye reflexes, heart rate, respiration rate, and SpO2 during diaphragmatic herniorrhaphy in buffaloes to take necessary precautions for the timely removal of free air from the pleural space. The integrity of the pleura plays an important role in the survival of buffaloes undergoing herniorrhaphy.

Background. There is limited documentation of hematogenous transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in non–lung transplants from infected donors to uninfected recipients. Methods. We analyzed 16 recipients (7 liver, 9 kidney) transplanted from SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test+ deceased donors from December 25, 2021, to February 28, 2022, who were followed-up for at least 90 d. Primary outcomes included coronavirus disease 2019–positivity, allograft loss, and all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included biopsy-proven rejection (BPAR), donor-specific antibodies, delayed graft function, and opportunistic infections. Unlike previous studies, we followed the recipients clinically with the intent to treat if they developed SARS-CoV-2 symptoms. Results. All donors were SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction–positive 72 h before donation. No recipients developed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The nadir serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate were 1.33 mg/dL and 64 mL/min/1.732 m2 for kidney transplantation (KTx) respectively. The median alanine transaminase was 14.5 IU/L, aspartate aminotransferase 13 IU/L, and alkaline phosphatase 74 IU/L. Two KTx patients lost allograft, and 1 liver transplantation patient died with a failed allograft. However, this was unrelated to their SARS-CoV-2–positive donor status. One BPAR in the liver transplantation was treated with steroids. No donor-specific antibodies or BPAR were reported in the KTx. Six KTx patients experienced delayed graft function, and 4 are off dialysis. Two KTx patients developed cytomegalovirus infection because of an error in reporting the cytomegalovirus serostatus by the donor center. We did not do serial testing for SARS-CoV-2 by polymerase chain reaction, imaging, or cycle threshold score pre- or posttransplant for donor/recipient and had comparable outcomes with previous studies. Conclusions. Because of the low risk of transmission, serial testing might not be necessary and, thus, could be reciprocated at small-volume transplant centers.

Abstract We study the bosonic part of the BMN matrix model for wide ranges of temperatures, values of the deformation parameter, and numbers of colors 16 ≤ N ≤ 48. Using lattice computations, we analyze phase transitions in the model, observing a single first-order transition from a uniform to a gapped phase for all values of the deformation parameter. We study the functional form of the dependence of the critical temperature on the deformation parameter, to describe how our results smoothly interpolate between the limits of the bosonic BFSS model and the gauged Gaussian model.

Background: Rhino-orbito-cerebral-mucormycosis (ROCM) associated with COVID-19 infection was at its peak during and immediately after the second wave of the pandemic in India during 2021. Many of the risk factors were implicated in the development of this deadly fungal infection, when there was a sudden surge of cases, especially who had a history of COVID-19 infection. Objectives: The objective of the study was to describe the characteristic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in invasive mucormycosis and to evaluate the extent and severity of invasive mucormycosis. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was carried out for 4 months which included 60 patients who underwent MRI using a Siemens Avanto 1.5 Tesla scanner. During our study, 68 cases were selected based on clinicoradiological features suspected of ROCM. However, 8 patients were excluded on the basis of exclusion criteria as either there was no definitive evidence of COVID infection or were proven to be negative for mucormycosis on microbiological examination. Results: On the basis of the spectrum of MRI findings, post-COVID-19 related ROCM was broadly categorized into three stages. Out of total of 60 patients, the disease was localized to the nasal and paranasal sinus region (Stage I) in 7 patients (11.66%), extending to adjacent extrasinus orofacial soft tissue structures (Stage II) in 36 patients (60%), and intracranial extension of disease (Stage III) was seen in 17 patients (28.33%). Conclusion: In post-COVID-19 patients presenting with clinical features suspected of ROCM, MRI imaging helps in early diagnosis and staging/severity of ROCM, so that timely intervention can be planned to reduce mortality as well as morbidity.

3D printing is increasingly becoming an important technology in the manufacturing sector and has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing. 3D printing allows customization, which produces sophisticated structures while lowering waste and at the same time allowing more flexibility in the design. This paper includes a brief overview of the main types of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. It reviews the work carried out in various types of 3D printing technologies particularly focusing on mechanical characterization. Based on the literature studied, comparisons have been drawn on the various merits and challenges offered by various 3D printed materials. Dedicated sections on various materials aspects and application areas have been included particularly from a medical science point of view. This paper ends with a dedicated section on applications of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in orthopedic, dental, prosthetics, food and textile sectors. It tries to establish relationships between AM, industry 4.0 and sustainability. This paper shall act as a stimulant to trigger further advancements in the above fields.

Background: People who inject drugs are vastly over-represented, often accounting for 50% of prison inmates, so, the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and tuberculosis (TB) is a serious problem in many prison systems. The prevalence of HCV infection is so disproportionately high in the correctional population that one in four detainees worldwide is living with HCV and the story is similar for HIV. Objective: The objective of the study is to find the prevalence of HIV, HCV and dual HIV-HCV infection in the prison inmates. Materials and Methods: A sample of 1569 jail inmates was assessed, after obtaining formal approval from the ethical committee for assessment of the medical record of subjects, to know sero-positivity for HIV and HCV. The data generated is then analysed. Results: The results show a very high point prevalence of HIV (10.0%) and HCV (31.6%) in the jail inmates, which is 40 and 30 times higher, respectively, as compared to the national average. A staggering 8.5% of the inmates were found to be positive for both viruses. The sero-prevalence for mono-infection for HCV (23.1%) is found to be significantly higher compared to HIV (1.5%). The infection rate of HCV was found to be three times higher compared to HIV. Conclusions: Substantially high prevalence of HIV, HCV and dual HIV-HCV infection exists in the prison inmates. Data suggests high virulence for HCV compared to HIV, as both viruses have common routes of transmission. There is an urgent need to keep a constant check on the intravenous drug usage (IDU) in the prisons that is linked to the common transmission of both these blood-borne viruses.

The Internet of Things tends to attract deep interest in areas such as electronic, environmental management and enhance the effectiveness from researchers, the industry, citizens and government. IoT provides internet connectivity between connected phones in any context, anytime or anywhere. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consequently play an important role in developing a robust, affordable and convenient network of smart devices. Even then, sensor networks are restricted in scope of power, processing, and memory. In this framework, authors proposed a routing protocol of hybrid meta-heuristic moth search algorithm based differential evolution (HMSA-DE). By choosing routes based on the quality of the link, residual energy and recommended measuring mechanisms, the HMSA enhances reliability and energy efficiency. In addition, HMSA offers an event-based load balancing system that further prevents premature node / network power consumption. The findings suggest that HMSA improves the life cycle and availability of the network as well as the performance of IoT application services. It distributes limited network resources evenly and reduces the packet loss rate compared with the results of network protocols.

Background: The world is struggling with the rising number of covid-19 cases. Few studies are available to propose the effect of menopause on covid-19. We are submitting a research article targeted at identifying menopause as an independent risk factor for severe Covid-19. Aims and Objectives: Determine whether menopausal women are at higher risk of developing severe Covid-19 infection as compared to menstruating women of the same age group. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study that included patients ages varies from 40 to 55 years from the medical record department of LNMC Bhopal, India. We enrolled 65 female patients after analysing records of 2500 patients. We divided the entire study population into two groups, the menopause group, and the non-menopausal group. Result: Out of 65 patients, 27 patients were in the menopause group, and 38 patients were in the non-menopause group. The mean D-dimer in the menopause group is 1100.78 ng/ml and in the non-menopause group is 727.63 ng/ml, which is statistically significant. (p-value 0.04) The mean value of C-Reactive protein is 27.11 mg/l and 16.74 mg/l among the menopause and non-menopause groups, respectively (p-value0.041). Twelve out of 17 patients who develop moderate-to-severe disease belong to the menopause group and five patients in the non-menopause group (p-value 0.005). Conclusion: In the present study, we witnessed that the disease is more severe in the menopause group than in the non-menopause group (p

IntroductionRadiochemotherapy (RCHT) for the treatment of anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) has evolved dramatically, also thanks to intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) and 3D image guidance (3D IGRT). Despite most patients presenting fair outcomes, unmet needs still exist. Predictors of poor tumor response are lacking; acute toxicity remains challenging; and local relapse remains the main pattern of failure.Patients and methodsBetween 2010 and 2020, ASCC stages I–III treated with 3D conformal radiotherapy or IMRT and CDDP-5FU or Mytomicine-5FU CHT were identified. Image guidance accepted included 2D IGRT or 3D IGRT. The study endpoints included freedom from locoregional recurrence (FFLR), colostomy free survival (CFS), freedom from distant metastasis (FFDM), overall survival (OS), and acute and late toxicity as measured by common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTCAE) version 5.0. An exploratory analysis was performed to identify possible radiomic predictors of tumor response. Feature extraction and data analysis were performed in Python™, while other statistics were performed using SPSS® v.26.0 software (IBM®).ResultsA total of 131 patients were identified. After a median FU of 52 months, 83 patients (63.4%) were alive. A total of 35 patients (26.7%) experienced locoregional failure, while 31 patients (23.7%) relapsed with distant metastasis. Five year FFLR, CFS, DMFS and PS resulted 72.3%, 80.1%, 74.5% and 64.6%. In multivariate analysis, 2D IGRT was associated with poorer FFLR, OS, and CFS (HR 4.5, 4.1, and 5.6, respectively); 3DcRT was associated with poorer OS and CFS (HR 3.1 and 6.6, respectively). IMRT reduced severe acute gastro-intestinal (GI) and severe skin acute toxicity in comparison with 3DcRT. In the exploratory analysis, the risk of relapse depended on a combination of three parameters: Total Energy, Gray Level Size Zone Matrix’s Large Area High Gray Level Emphasis (GLSZM’s LAHGLE), and GTV volume.ConclusionsAdvances in radiotherapy have independently improved the prognosis of ASCC patients over years while decreasing acute GI and skin toxicity. IMRT and daily 3D image guidance may be considered standard of care in the management of ASCC. A combination of three pre-treatment MRI parameters such as low signal intensity (SI), high GLSZM’s LAHGLE, and GTV volume could be integrated in risk stratification to identify candidates for RT dose-escalation to be enrolled in clinical trials.

Abstract Controlled drainage and subirrigation (CDSI) is an important water management strategy in many regions, but the conditions under which CDSI is most likely to increase crop yield and soil moisture are not fully understood. A meta‐analysis, consisting of 154 pairwise observations from replicated and randomized trials in 30 peer‐reviewed primary research articles on CDSI (6 controlled drainage, 24 CDSI, analyzed together due to data scarcity), was conducted to study the responses of yield and soil moisture to CDSI, and investigate how crop type, soil texture, and cumulative growing season precipitation (PGS) influence these responses. Based on the yield response to these moderating factors, we used a fuzzy‐logic approach to map potentially suitable locations for CDSI in the conterminous United States. On average, CDSI increased yield by 8.0% (95% CI = 1.8–14.7%) compared with conventional free drainage. The yield response to CDSI did not differ among crops. However, a greater yield response to CDSI was observed in medium‐textured soils (19.4% increase; 95% CI = 12.4–27.0%) than in coarse‐ or fine‐textured soils. The positive effect of CDSI on yield increased with decreasing PGS in coarse‐ and medium‐textured soils. There was no clear effect of CDSI on soil moisture, nor did any moderators influence this relationship, though this may be attributed to the scarcity of studies on CDSI reporting soil moisture. The fuzzy‐logic‐based approach revealed that while potentially suitable areas are mostly concentrated in the well‐studied U.S. Midwest, these areas also exist in other regions where CDSI may warrant further study.

Iatrogenic aortocoronary dissection is a scarcely reported complication of cardiac catheterization, which can be fatal if not managed promptly. We present a case of extensive aortocoronary dissection extending into aortic arch in a patient undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of right coronary artery (RCA) and its successful percutaneous management.

The performance of blended mortar mixtures produced with partial replacement of cement with agriculture waste ashes of rice husk, sugarcane bagasse, corncob, and waste wood were evaluated in this investigation. Cement was replaced at 5, 10, and 15 wt% with each of agriculture waste ashes for manufacturing of blended mortars. Fresh mixture properties, compressive strength, electrical resistivity, and sulfate resistance of the mixtures were evaluated at 7, 28, 56, and 90 days of curing ages and compared with that of control mixture.Test results showed a significant improvement in the later age compressive strength, electrical resistivity and sulfate resistance of blended mortar mixtures. Considerable increase in the initial and final setting times of the blended mortar mixtures was noted. Increasing demand for the superplasticizer dosage to achieve the target flow level was recorded with increase in percent replacement of cement with the agriculture waste ashes. Blended mortar mixtures produced with rice husk ash as partial replacement of cement showed superior performance among the four types of mixtures. A replacement level of 10 wt% of cement with the agriculture waste ashes was observed to be the optimum to achieve enhanced strength and durability of the blended mortar mixtures.

Carbonation is one of the significant durability properties of cement mortar. Conventional mortar is generally made up of cement and sand, but blended mortar is formed by partial substitution of cement with certain pozzolanic materials. Consumption of industrial-by-products in developing of mortar is a footstep towards economic and sustainable construction and it also results in probable reduction of excessive carbon footprint and simultaneously deals with major environmental problems i.e., safe disposal of industrial by-products, reduction of pollution by dropping the amount of Portland Cement (PC) and lowering the exploitation of natural resources. The studies investigating carbonation resistance of mortar blended with industrial-by-products are uncommon till date. The current literature reviews the carbonation resistance of blended mortar made with incorporation of various industrial by-products (namely- silica fume-SF, fly ash-FA, ground granulated blast furnace slag-GGBS, coal bottom ash-CBA etc.). Out of all industrial by-products blended mortars containing SF exhibit highest carbonation resistance followed by FA, GGBS and CBA. The carbonation depth has been decreased up-to the range of 10% with the incorporation of various industrial mortars. Based on the existing trends, the current area requires more devotion as significant number of investigations has favoured the use of aforesaid by-products as partial replacement of PC in refining carbonation resistance.

Scope and application: The present review focuses on the innovative extraction and encapsulation methods of the phytochemical constituents from various parts of saffron plant (stigma, tepals and corm) and their potential applications in food, nutraceuticals and drug formulations.Background: The phytochemistry of the saffron plant shows that it is a bioactive powerhouse rich in apocarotenoids, anthocyanins, flavonoids and traces of B1 and B2 vitamins. The parts of the saffron plant, stigma, tepals and corm are rich in apocaroteniods, anthocyanidins, flavonoids and phenolic compounds. The purity, stability, applications and target delivery of bioactive compounds are all influenced by the extraction and encapsulation process.Key findings and conclusion: Several studies have been conducted for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of bioactive components present in saffron plant, and it has been found that all the parts of the plant are rich in bioactive compounds. The bioactive compounds were extracted by several advanced methods for increased yield and purity, and it was found that Supercritical fluid extraction (SC-CO2), Microwave assisted extraction (MAE), Pulsed electric field (PEF) and High hydrostatic pressure extraction (HHPE) methods resulted in a broad range of bioactives from stigma part as compared to other extraction methods. The stability, bioavailability and target delivery of bioactives present in stigma and petals of saffron plant are studied by several encapsulation techniques. Various researchers have also investigated the food and pharmaceutical uses of bioactive components extracted from the saffron plant. However, extraction, characterization and utilization of bioactive components from saffron floral biomass, including petals and corm parts, by techniques like SC-CO2, PEF and Emulsion liquid membrane extraction (ELM) are yet to be investigated.

Surface modification for improving corrosion resistance of Mg alloys is highly demanded for degradable orthopedic and cardiovascular devices. The research reports the design and development of TiO2HA composite and novel TiO2HA–PCL hybrid coating belonging to the unique class of inorganic organic hybrid with striking features that are explored for the first time in the corrosion resistance of Mg alloys. Sol–gel dip coating combined with non-solvent induced phase separation is used to create the hybrid coating. TiO2HA–PCL hybrid coating introduces strong hydrogen bonding between TiO2HA inorganic matrix and PCL organic layer in addition to the Vander wall electrostatic interaction of the later with the Mg substrate which in turn enhance adhesion strength to about 1.5 times of TiO2HA coating. The corrosion potentials for TiO2HA–PCL and TiO2HA were found to be −0.407 V and −1.017 V (vs Ag/AgCl), respectively. The current densities of TiO2HA–PCL and TiO2HA were found to be 7.31 × 10−8 A/cm2 and 4.03 × 10−4 A/cm2 respectively. The corrosion resistance of coatings was confirmed by immersion testing by weight loss, pH changes and H2 evolution measurements at interval of 7 days till 28 days. The present TiO2HA–PCL coating in comparison to TiO2HA coating demonstrate nearly 6% less weight loss. The outcome of the present work was compared with the similar coatings in recent past. The work done ingresses enhancing the corrosion resistance of Mg alloys, which fulfill the dreams of future degradable orthopedic and cardiovascular devices.

One of the major impediments to the computational investigation and design of complex alloys such as steel is the lack of effective and versatile interatomic potentials to perform large-scale calculations. In this study, we developed an RF-MEAM potential for the iron-carbon (Fe-C) system to predict the elastic properties at elevated temperatures. Several potentials were produced by fitting potential parameters to the various datasets containing forces, energies, and stress tensor data generated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The potentials were then evaluated using a two-step filter process. In the first step, the optimized RSME error function of the potential fitting code, MEAMfit, was used as the selection criterion. In the second step, molecular dynamics (MD) calculations were employed to calculate ground-state elastic properties of structures present in the training set of the data fitting process. The calculated single crystal and poly-crystalline elastic constants for various Fe-C structures were compared with the DFT and experimental results. The resulting best potential accurately predicted the ground state elastic properties of B1, cementite, and orthorhombic-Fe7C3 (O-Fe7C3), and also calculated the phonon spectra in good agreement with the DFT-calculated ones for cementite and O-Fe7C3. Furthermore, the potential was used to successfully predict the elastic properties of interstitial Fe-C alloys (FeC-0.2% and FeC-0.4%) and O-Fe7C3 at elevated temperatures. The results were in good agreement with the published literature. The successful prediction of elevated temperature properties of structures not included in data fitting validated the potential’s ability to model elevated-temperature elastic properties.

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has engulfed the world, within a short span of time crippling many health systems. The disease in its ever-evolving course is exhibiting a myriad of symptoms and imaging manifestations. This retrospective study was conducted to generate evidence from the chest computed tomography (CT) findings of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia to aid in the diagnosis and disease management. Methods: This retrospective study included all patients with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction confirmed COVID-19 disease who underwent chest CT between 1st June to 31st December 2020 at a tertiary care institute of North India. Anonymized data of 152 COVID-19 positive patients was used for the evaluation of the clinical profile and imaging findings. Results: The common presenting clinical symptoms were fever, cough, myalgia and sore throat. The most frequent CT imaging feature consisted of ground-glass opacities (GGOs), consolidation and crazy paving distributed bilaterally, peripherally in subpleural location with a predilection for the posterior parts of lungs. Reverse halo sign was observed in 12 patients and halo sign in 3 patients. Dilated pulmonary vessels with mild bronchiolectasis were observed in the involved lung parenchyma. Less common findings included pleural effusion, mediastinal lymphadenopathy, and pericardial effusion. The mean CT severity score gradually increased with increasing age. Conclusion: The predominant imaging finding of COVID-19 pneumonia was peripheral GGO's distributed bilaterally in peripheral subpleural region and having predilection for the posterior parts of the lungs which gradually evolve into organizing pneumonia patterns. Although COVID-19 shares imaging findings with other viral pneumonias, however in the context of the current pandemic, we must keep COVID-19 a differential diagnosis, in all patients with fever and respiratory symptoms.

Barbaloin is the phytoconstituent which is obtained from the plant known as aloe vera. As we all know aloe vera is the main curative medicinal plants, has been traditionally used as alternative treatment against the many skin diseases. Barbaloin extracted from the aloe vera plant which is physically light yellow colored powder. Extraction of barbaloin from the plant Aloe barbadensis Miller had been accomplished by the Soxhelt extraction, Batch extraction experiment and Ultrasound assisted extraction method (UAE). Barbaloin showed various kinds of therapeutic and medicinal properties like anti-diabetic, antioxidants, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and and anti-microbial. It also has good effect on cardiovascular system, test perception, enzyme or metabolism and bioavailability. Our Skin plays an important role in the development of skin diseases because there are many types of skin disorders are developed and the variety of disorders may result to dermatitis or they affect the social wellbeing of a person. Due to their good pharmacological activities, Barbaloin have great potential to treat the different type of skin disorders like Eczema, Psoriasis, Burns and wound, Acne, Dandruff, Frostbite, Rashes, Cold sores, Razor burn and Sunburn. To access the effective use of barbaloin there are various attempts have been experimented on the subject of their Pharmacological activities to check their effect on skin disease and the steps regarding the Isolation of barbaloin also has been made. We can examine their effects on chronic skin diseases. In this review article we discuss about the potential of barbaloin on skin disorders, medicinal importance or Pharmacological activities and their methods of extraction.

Background: Minimally invasive thymectomy is fast becoming the preferred approach for myasthenia gravis and non-invasive thymoma. The most commonly employed approach for minimally invasive thymectomy is the lateral thoracic approach. Safe achievement of radical resection requires adequate visualisation of both the phrenic nerves along their entire course. In our experience, such visualisation is rather difficult with unilateral transthoracic approaches. We herein describe our technique and initial experience of 25 cases with subxiphoid robotic thymectomy (SRT) for myasthenia gravis with or without thymoma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such report from India. Subjects and Methods: We retrospectively analysed data of patients who underwent SRT at our centre from June 2017 to September 2018. Twenty-five consecutive patients were analysed, and demographic data, total duration of the procedure, console time, blood transfusion requirement, duration of chest drainage, length of hospital stay, pain score on post-operative day (POD) 1 and day of discharge and post-operative morbidity and mortality within 90 days were recorded. Results: A total of 25 patients underwent SRT. All our patients had myasthenia gravis with 4 of them having thymoma. There were 11 males and 14 females with mean age of 29.30 years (range 23–48). The mean console time was 102.85 min (range 88–120) while the mean total operative time was 199.14 (range 180–220). On first POD 1, visual analogue scale score average was 5, and at discharge, it was 2. There was no 30-day or 90-day mortality. All cases of thymoma had a complete R0 resection. Conclusion: Our experience suggests that subxiphoid approach offers a good operative view of the thymus in cervical region along with easy identification of bilateral phrenic nerves. Thus, SRT can be performed safely with comparable results.

Background. Core needle and wedge biopsies are the two main pathologic ways to determine the suitability of a kidney allograft and to have a baseline allograft biopsy in case of future rejection. Case Presentation. A 57-year-old patient developed a renal arteriovenous fistula causing postoperative and recurrent hematuria after allograft pretransplant renal core needle biopsy and treated with selective Interventional radiology coil embolization. Conclusion. Delayed profound hematuria can be seen after pretransplant core needle renal biopsies and can recur again even after complete resolution, due to arteriovenous fistula formation in the renal calyceal system.

Complications are a part of surgery. Spinal infarctions are a dreaded complication of aortic surgery. We present a patient who developed a spinal infarct after a kidney transplant. We were unable to find a causative factor in our search for etiology. In our review of the literature, we were unable to find a similar report. We present this case report to highlight a rare complication of kidney transplantation and to reinforce that patients requiring kidney transplant are complex patients with multiple comorbidities that can cause a multitude of complications in the periop period.

Background. Patients with more than two prior kidney transplant procedures pose unique surgical challenges. Once both the right and left retroperitoneal spaces have been dissected, intra-abdominal implantation is usually necessary. If the external iliac arteries have been used previously, it is sometimes necessary to use the aorta and vena cava for implantation. Gaining safe exposure in these cases can be complicated by history of prior laparotomy, adhesive disease, and other surgical histories. Case Presentation. A 58-year-old female with type 1 diabetes and end-stage renal disease presented for surgical evaluation for kidney transplant. Surgical history was notable for prior simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplant followed by both a living donor kidney transplant and a pancreas after kidney transplant. She had undergone both an allograft nephrectomy and an allograft pancreatectomy and currently had a nonfunctioning kidney in the left retroperitoneal position and a nonfunctioning pancreatic allograft on the right common iliac artery. The entire distal aortoiliac system was surgically inaccessible. She was listed for transplantation, and a cadaveric graft was allocated. Intraoperatively, severe lower abdominal and pelvic adhesions prevented any use of the iliac system. A left native nephrectomy was performed, and the allograft was implanted in the left orthotopic position. The native left renal vein was used for outflow, the donor renal artery was joined end-to-side to the infrarenal aorta, and a uretero-ureterostomy was created. The operation was uneventful. The allograft functioned without delay, and almost one year later, the GFR is approximately 50 mg/dL. Conclusion. The left orthotopic position can be a good choice for kidney transplant candidates with histories of prior complex lower abdominal surgery.

Impression making in compromised residual alveolar ridge is a regular challenge in rehabilitating patients with conventional removable complete dentures. In patients who cannot afford implant-supported dentures, specialized impression technique is a viable and justified option for fabrication of complete dentures. More often, the stability of denture in such patients becomes a deciding factor between failure and success. Furthermore, increased interarch space may result in increased height of maxillary and/or mandibular dentures with corresponding increase in weight, which further compromises the retention and stability of the prosthesis. This article describes an amalgamation of Hobkirk's impression technique in a case of resorbed maxillary residual alveolar ridge with a flabby anterior segment and fabrication of hollow maxillary dentures using a “three-dimensional printed dental spacer” with a “double-flask technique.” The weight of the final prosthesis was reduced therefore contributing to improved retention and stability of the final prosthesis.

Twenty-four buffaloes presented between 36-72 h of occurrence of uterine torsion were successfully detorted and equally divided to intracervical hyaluronidase enzyme or prostaglandin E1 (PgE1) treatment or control group for investigating the treatment effectiveness for complete cervical dilatation. Intracervical treatment was administered immediately after detorsion, and cervical biopsy was collected immediately before instituting treatment and at time of cervical dilatation or at 18 h post detorsion in case of non-dilated cervix. The doppler indices of middle uterine artery were evaluated at an hour before detorsion and 0.5 h after detorsion. In control group, none of the buffaloes exhibited cervical dilatation, whereas, 87.5% buffaloes of hyaluronidase group and 62.5% of PgE1 group exhibited cervical dilatation. Following intracervical treatment, lamina propria showed loosely arranged collagen fibres along with hemorrhages, polymorphonuclear (PMN) cells and intercollagen space filled by homogenous/ watery substance in case of dilated cervix. In non-dilated cervix, the collagen fibres were tightly arranged with lesser number of PMN cells and negligible haemorrhages at 18 h after treatment. The doppler indices of the middle uterine artery revealed improvement (P

Background: The standard treatment for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) is represented by concomitant chemo-radiotherapy followed by consolidation with durvalumab that ensures a 5-year survival of 46%. However, the risk of radiotherapy-induced pneumonia (RIP) is almost 10–15%. Complete cardiological examination is also usually performed during the cardiopulmonary pre-treatment evaluation and pulmonary function testing is one of the most used tool to predict the risk of RIP development. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of Tc-99 macroaggregated albumin (MAA) lung perfusion scan with single photon emission-computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) in the preliminary assessment of lung functions and its potential role for the optimization of the radiotherapy treatment planning. Methods: Descriptive and statistical analysis were performed on eight patients affected by unresectable stage III LA-NSCLC treated with chemo-radiotherapy. Before starting radiotherapy, patients underwent lung perfusion SPECT/CT. The SPECT/CT images were firstly co-registered with the simulation CT scan ones, then a specific region of interest (ROI) of lung volumes was created to represent the areas with a perfusion of at least 20% 40%, 60% and 80% of maximum perfusion, respectively. Finally, optimization of the standard treatment plan was performed with the aim of preserving the better perfused lung volumes. The dosimetric correlations of both plans were made comparing pulmonary V20 and V5, mean pulmonary, esophagus and heart dose. Results: From the DVH comparative analysis of the two treatment plans (standard one versus SPECT optimized one) obtained for each patient, the data confirmed an equal coverage of the target volume while respecting all lungs, heart and esophagus dose constraints. At the same time, SPECT-optimized plans allowed to reduce the average dose to the better perfused lung volumes. Conclusions: Lung perfusion scintigraphy could be considered a preliminary assessment tool to explore lung functions and stratify the risk of RIP development. SPECT/TC may also be proposed as a dose painting tool to optimize radiotherapy treatment plans. Only prospective analysis will be enable us to confirm the real reduction of RIP risk in lung areas with an optimal perfusion.

Abstract Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has the potential to recover the soil hydrological properties of marginal lands. Nitrogen (N) and landscape position are the key factors in impacting these soil properties under switchgrass. The specific objective of this study was to investigate the responses of N rate (low, 0 kg N/ha and high, 112 kg N/ha) and landscape positions (shoulder and footslope) on near‐surface soil hydrological properties that included: infiltration rate (qs), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), bulk density (ρb), penetration resistance (SPR), water retention (SWR), pore‐size distribution (PSD), and carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fractions under switchgrass production. Data showed that, in general, the N and landscape position significantly influenced soil hydrological properties. Higher N rate decreased ρb (1.23 and 1.36 g/cm3 at 0–5 and 5–15 cm, respectively) and SPR (1.06 and 1.53 MPa at 0–5 and 5–15 cm, respectively) at both depths and increased the qs, Ksat and Green–Ampt estimated sorptivity (S) and hydraulic conductivity (Ks) parameters, and SWR (0–5 cm depth) at 0 and −0.4 kPa matric potentials (ψm). Furthermore, footslope position significantly decreased ρb, SPR at 0–5 and 5–15 cm depths, and increased the qs, Ksat, S, Ks, and SWR (0–5 cm depth) at every ψm ranged from 0 to −30.0 kPa. The higher N rate increased the coarse mesopores (60–1,000 μm) and total pores, whereas, footslope position increased the coarse mesopores, micropores (

Images are sometimes affected by improper illumination and are dark. This happens usually in medical images or the images acquired in low light conditions. This paper focuses on retinal imaging and proposes two techniques, RIHE-RVE (Radiance indicator based histogram equalization for retinal vessel enhancement) and RIHE-RRVE (Radiance indicator based histogram equalization for recursive retinal vessel enhancement) to address the problem of low light radiance. The techniques separate the histogram into sub-histograms at the split value determined by the tuneable parameter, ψ. RIHE-RVE recursively performs histogram integration after each split followed by equalization whereas in RIHE-RRVE histogram split can be done to any level (which is decided by the parameter,r) followed by equalization and integration. It has been observed from a comprehensive literature survey that very few algorithms exist that enhance the quality of retinal images. The proposed methods efficiently address the low light radiance problem. Performance evaluation of the techniques is done in terms of Information content (Entropy), PSNR (Peak signal to noise ratio), SSIM (Structure similarity index measurement), Euclidean distance and visual quality inspection. To demonstrate the robustness of the proposed methods, the techniques are not only applied specifically to publicly available retinal databases DRIVE, STARE and CHASE_DB1 but also to some of the MRI images taken from publicly available OASIS database. Results show that the proposed techniques outperform the state of the art techniques especially in low radiance images. Keywords: Histogram equalization, Radiance, Retinal image enhancement, Entropy