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Abstract Background While leeches as intranasal foreign bodies are not frequently encountered, they can be one of the causes of epistaxis. The aim of the study is to raise awareness among healthcare professionals about the possibility of patients from leech endemic regions presenting with epistaxis. Case presentation We present a series of epistaxis cases due to intranasal leech infestation. In our series of 10 cases, there were 7 male and 3 female patients, aged between 2 and 53 years old. The duration of the complaint ranged from 1 to 5 weeks. All patients experienced with blood-stain nasal discharge or frank nasal bleeding at some point and most of them have a history of leech infestation from spring water as a local source. This article presents our approach to managing nasal leech infestation as epistaxis and outlines the precautionary measures taken for the retrieval of this living foreign body. Conclusion Details of the history must be taken before concluding the diagnosis. Maintain a high index of suspicion of leech infestation as a hidden cause of epistaxis especially in patients coming from endemic areas.

Study region: The Punatshangchu River Basin and the Wangchu River Basin in Bhutan. Study focus: Mountain regions are more sensitive to changes in environment and climate. Changes in intensity and magnitude of floods due to climate change will have devastating impacts, including on agriculture, a main source of people’s livelihoods and a primary economic driver of many countries. We analyzed impacts of climate change on flood inundation and flood damage to agriculture in the Himalayan Mountains of Bhutan. Projected rainfall from general circulation models was used to simulate flood characteristics from the rainfall-runoff-inundation model, to calculate the agriculture damage loss to rice crops. New hydrological insights for the region: The results show an increase of approximately 60% in magnitude in annual rainfall towards the end of the century, with extreme rainfall events greater than 32% for the river basins. The increase in changes in rainfall will result in an increase in inundation of almost 60% and 90% for the Punatshangchu River Basin and the Wangchu River Basin, respectively. The inundation depth and volume could increase up to 60%. With the increase in inundation characteristics, the damage to agricultural areas is expected to increase by 2 to 6 times, and the damage loss value increase from 2 to 38 times in the river basins.

Introduction: Noise-induced hearing loss is a type of sensorineural hearing loss caused by long-term exposure to loud noise. This study provides insight into hearing loss problems the general population faces. The study aimed to find out the prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss among patients needing pure tone audiometry evaluation in a tertiary care centre. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 January 2021 to 30 July 2021 among patients requiring pure tone audiometry evaluation in the outpatient Department of Otorhinolaryngology in a tertiary care centre. The study was conducted after ethical approval from Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 2812202001). Pure tone audiometry was used to diagnose noise-induced hearing loss. Convenience sampling was done. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Out of 690 patients, 14 (2.02%) (0.97-3.06, 95% Confidence Interval) were diagnosed with noise-induced hearing loss. Conclusions: The prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss among patients requiring pure tone audiometry evaluation was similar to other studies conducted in similar settings.

The marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata is a Near Threatened small felid. The cat’s presence in Nepal is based on an anecdote. A camera trap-based study to access diversity and abundance of terrestrial mammals in eastern Nepal accumulated 3,014 camera trap days and resulted in 5,176 photographs of 17 medium-large sized mammal species. Amongst them, a marbled cat was captured at a single camera trap station in January 2018. The camera trap-capturing the marbled cat was located in the secondary forest at an altitude of 2,750 m a.s.l., dominated by free-ranging cattle close to a permanent human settlement (1.4 km) and a temporary cattle herding camp (0.4 km). This is the first photographic evidence of a marbled cat in Nepal. In this survey, we also recorded three other felid species: common leopard Panthera pardus, Asiatic golden-cat Catopuma temminckii and leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis. We recommend detailed year-round camera trap surveys in the mid-hills of eastern Nepal along with research on adaptation of the small felids to human-dominated areas and assessment of immediate threats for preparing sound conservation management plans of the marbled cat and its sympatric species. Initiation of conservation programmes engaging local dokpa (herders) is necessary.

The anti-oxidant effects of melatonin and the immune-pineal axis are well established. However, how they play a role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases is not well elucidated. A better understanding of this neuro-immuno-endocrinological link can help in the development of novel therapies with higher efficacy to alleviate symptomatology, slow disease progression and improve the quality of life. Recent studies have shown that the immune-pineal axis acts as an immunological buffer, neurohormonal switch and it also intricately links the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases (like Multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease) and inflammation at a molecular level. Furthermore, alteration in circadian melatonin production is seen in neurodegenerative diseases. This review will summarise the mechanics by which the immune-pineal axis and neuro-immuno-endocrinological disturbances affect the pathogenesis and progression of neurodegenerative diseases. It will also explore, how this understanding will help in the development of novel hybrid melatonin hormone therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Introduction: The term ‘voice' is the acoustic energy generated from the vocal tract that are characterized by their dependence on vocal fold vibratory pattern. Teachers as professional voice users are afflicted with dysphonia and are discouraged with their jobs and seek alternative employment. Loud speaking and voice straining may lead to vocal fatigue and vocal fold tissue damage. Methods: Sixty teachers from various schools, volunteered to participate in this study. Acoustic analysis Doctor Speech Tiger Electronics, USA was used to assess the voice quality of the school teachers before and after teaching practice. The data were collected and analyzed using Doctor Speech Tiger Electronics, USA. Analysis was performed in terms of perturbation (jitter and shimmer), fundamental frequency, harmonic to noise ratio and maximum phonation time. Results: We found statistically significant difference in all the four parameters except the Jitter value. The fundamental frequency and shimmer value has significantly increased (P

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has advanced our understanding of cellular heterogeneity by characterizing cell types across tissues and species. While several mouse retinal scRNA-seq datasets exist, each dataset is either limited in cell numbers or focused on specific cell classes, thereby hindering comprehensive gene expression analysis across all retina types. To fill the gap, we generated the largest retinal scRNA-seq dataset to date, comprising approximately 190,000 single cells from C57BL/6J mouse retinas, enriched for rare population cells via antibody-based magnetic cell sorting. Integrating this dataset with public datasets, we constructed the Mouse Retina Cell Atlas (MRCA) for wild-type mice, encompassing over 330,000 cells, characterizing 12 major classes and 138 cell types. The MRCA consolidates existing knowledge, identifies new cell types, and is publicly accessible via CELLxGENE, UCSC Cell Browser, and the Broad Single Cell Portal, providing a user-friendly resource for the mouse retina research community., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024 The Authors.)

CIViC (Clinical Interpretation of Variants in Cancer; civicdb.org) is a crowd-sourced, public domain knowledgebase composed of literature-derived evidence characterizing the clinical utility of cancer variants. As clinical sequencing becomes more prevalent in cancer management, the need for cancer variant interpretation has grown beyond the capability of any single institution. CIViC contains peer-reviewed, published literature curated and expertly-moderated into structured data units (Evidence Items) that can be accessed globally and in real time, reducing barriers to clinical variant knowledge sharing. We have extended CIViC's functionality to support emergent variant interpretation guidelines, increase interoperability with other variant resources, and promote widespread dissemination of structured curated data. To support the full breadth of variant interpretation from basic to translational, including integration of somatic and germline variant knowledge and inference of drug response, we have enabled curation of three new Evidence Types (Predisposing, Oncogenic and Functional). The growing CIViC knowledgebase has over 300 contributors and distributes clinically-relevant cancer variant data currently representing >3200 variants in >470 genes from >3100 publications., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

Pin site infections are a very common complication of external fixation, and unfortunately, no standard of care exists to effectively minimize the risk of infection. Various pin site care regimens with different methods of cleaning and dressing orthopedic percutaneous pin sites can be found. Little evidence exists as to which pin site care regimen best reduces infection rates. This retrospective case series introduces the potential of a new organic polymer in solvent (DuraDerm®), which when applied to a pin site, eradicates any organisms, and forms a flexible occlusive bandage that reduces the risk of microbe migration into the pin track site. J Drugs Dermatol. 2018;17(12):1322-1324.