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The management of pink pulseless limbs in supracondylar fractures has remained controversial, especially with regards to the indication for exploration in a clinically well-perfused hand. We reviewed a series of seven patients who underwent surgical exploration of the brachial artery following supracondylar fracture. All patients had a non-palpable radial artery, which was confirmed by Doppler ultrasound. CT angiography revealed complete blockage of the artery with good collateral and distal run-off. Two patients were more complicated with peripheral nerve injuries, one median nerve and one ulnar nerve. Only one patient had persistent arterial constriction which required reverse saphenous graft. The brachial arteries were found to be compressed by fracture fragments, but were in continuity. The vessels were patent after the release of obstruction and the stabilization of the fracture. There was no transection of major nerves. The radial pulse was persistently present after 12 weeks, and the nerve activity returned to full function.

Androsace ojhorensis Y. Nasir (Primulaceae) is a narrow endemic species which is restricted to its type locality only i.e. Ojhor Valley in District Chitral, Pakistan at an altitudinal range of 12000-13000 ft. A total of 95 mature individuals (flowering and fruiting individuals) were counted and recorded in 2016, 82 in 2017 and 75 in 2018. The Grazing Index (GI) for the year 2016, 2017 and 2018 was 12.63%, 29.26% and 42.66% respectively. On the basis of extensive and intensive floristic surveys and population statistics for three consecutive years (2016-2018), geographic range (Extent of Occurrence-8 km2 and Area of Occupancy-4.407 km2), soil erosion, grazing pressure and landslides, Androsace ojhorensis is categorized as Critically Endangered (CR) species according to IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (2012). As this taxon is exposed to many threats, there is dire need to develop species-specific in-situ and ex-situ conservation strategies to implement these managements effectively at national level in order to save this narrow endemic species from extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting the structural condition of sewer pipes plays a vital role in the predictive maintenance of sewer pipes and renewal plans of many water utilities. This study explores the simultaneous utilization of physical and environmental features of sewer pipes in sewer structural condition prediction. Three (3) hybrid machine learning models which are the combination of Bagging (BG), Dagging (DG), and Rotation Forest (RotF) ensembles with a J48 Decision Tree (J48DT) based classifier were used to predict sewer pipe conditions in Ålesund city, Norway. The classification performance of the machine learning models was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC-ROC) and the area under the precision-recall (AUC-PRC) curves. The RotF-J48DT model had the highest (AUC-ROC = 0.857, AUC-PRC = 0.918) values, followed by the BG-J48DT, and the base classifier J48DT. The RotF-J48DT hybrid model should be considered when predicting the condition of sewer pipes in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthracnose, mainly caused by Colletotrichum spp., is one of the fungal diseases resulting in major economic losses affecting chilli production worldwide. Propolis extract from honeybee has been discovered for its antifungal properties, which can potentially reduce postharvest decay. Therefore, the present work investigated the efficiency of aqueous extract of stingless bee (Heterotrigona itama) propolis in controlling postharvest anthracnose and maintaining quality of chilli. Colletotrichum capsici was isolated and characterised from infected chilli. Stingless bee propolis extract at different concentrations of 1, 2, 5, and 10% were assessed in vitro to inhibit the mycelial growth of C. capsici. The best concentration in inhibiting C. capsici growth was thereafter selected for in vivo experiments. All tested concentrations of stingless bee propolis extract inhibited the mycelial growth of C. capsica, the highest being 35% inhibition from the treatment of 10% propolis extract. The extract at this concentration was therefore tested in vivo, and showed effectiveness in reducing the percentage of disease severity in chilli. The propolis extract was also efficient in reducing weight loss, retaining firmness, pH, total soluble solid, and colour (a* value) throughout 21-day storage at 10°C. The present work demonstrated that aqueous extract of stingless bee propolis could have the potential to control anthracnose disease and delay deterioration, thus maintaining the postharvest quality parameters of chilli. This natural product from stingless bee has the prospect to be an alternative to synthetic fungicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]