ABSTRACT
Importance: As there is no definitive treatment available for covid-19 pneumonia, with timed administration of tocilizumab as an adjuvant therapy in moderate to severe covid-19 pneumonia, we can reduce mortality due to cytokine storm. Objective: To determine effectiveness of tocilizumab as an adjuvant therapy in moderate to severe covid-19 pneumonia patients. Design: Retrospective Observational study from the time period of April 2020 to December 2020. Setting: This study has been carried out at SSG Hospital, a tertiary care hospital at Vadodara, Gujarat. Participants: 80 moderate to severe COVID-19 positive patients in the group of age 18-80 years requiring hospitalisation in whom tocilizumab (8mg/kg to a maximum dose of 800mg) was given, were enrolled in the study. The following patient details were collected and studied in relation to the use of tocilizumab- Biodata, Presenting complaints, past history of any illness, Drug history, Vitals and physical examination, Investigations, Treatment. Exposures: 80 patients of moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia who were given Injection tocilizumab (8mg/kg to a maximum dose of 800mg) were selected retrospectively. Main outcomes and Measures: We have correlated the outcome in the form of discharged or death with the help of parameters likes: Time to Clinical Improvement, Ventilator-Free Days, Duration of ICU Stay, Time to Clinical Failure, and Time to Hospital Discharge Results: Out of the total 80 patients, 29 patients were in the age group of more than 60 years, of which 7 were discharged and 22 died. The other 51 patients were less than 60 years of age, of which 28 patients were discharged and the rest 23 died. (p value 0.007). 63 patients out of the total 80 patients were males of which 31 (49.21%) recovered while 32 (50.79%) of them died. 5 (29.11%) females out of the total 17 female covid positive patients recovered while the other 12 (70.59 %) died. (p value 0.14) Conclusion and Relevance: In our study, we have observed that even after giving tocilizumab mortality was higher in patients above 60 years of age, two or more co-morbidities, SpO2 of less than 85% on the room air, SOFA scoring of more than or equal to 3, radiological involvement of more than 2 zones, higher score (>3) of inflammatory markers, higher level of mode of respiratory support like BiPAP or invasive ventilation. . This shows that the ideal time to give tocilizumab is when the patient is on NRBM support. By this it gives the maximum benefit. There was no difference in outcome in patients of either gender, blood pressure and on admission blood sugar levels, and co-administration of injection Ramdesivir. Significant percentage of patients died who had uncontrolled diabetes mellitus with insignificant p value, so further studies are required to find out the association.
ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is a major killer disease for women and men. It can be treated and controlled only if it is detected at its earlier stage. Early detection can be achieved by the help of Computer Aided Detection (CAD) methods. From the detailed study on previous researches, it is found that, there is no system producing 100% accuracy because of one or more reasons. Absence of effective preprocessing is the discussed reason that obstructs the detection accuracy of CAD method. Noise removal and contrast enhancement are the two types of preprocessing. There is no system performs both the preprocessing on mammogram image. This work is an attempt to develop an enhanced preprocessing method for CAD of breast cancer by incorporating suitable noise reduction and contrast enhancement methods in the conventional CAD system. Among the available noise reduction techniques, Fast Discrete Curvelet Transform (FDCT) based UnequiSpaced Fast Fourier Transform (USFFT) has been utilized and the Modified Local Range Modification (MLRM) technique has been utilized for contrast enhancement. Contrast enhancement after noise reduction double enhances the mammogram image and the proposed methods MSE value for the mammogram image mdb072 has been 1.44% reduced when comparing to the LRM method. Reduction in MSE increases the PSNR to 0.16%. Many mammogram images have been tested and the result shows that, increase in contrast, decrease in mean square error and increase in peak signal to noise ratio when comparing to existing methods.
Introdução: O câncer de mama é uma grande doença mortal para mulheres e homens. Ele só pode ser tratado e controlado se for detectado em sua fase inicial. A detecção precoce pode ser alcançada com a ajuda de métodos de detecção assistida por computador (CAD). A partir do estudo detalhado sobre pesquisas anteriores, verifica-se que, não há um sistema com 100% de precisão por causa de uma ou mais razões. A ausência de pré-processamento efetivo é o motivo discutido que obstrui a precisão de detecção do método CAD. A remoção de ruído e o aprimoramento do contraste são os dois tipos de pré-processamento. Não existe um sistema que realize ambos os pré-processamentos na imagem da mamografia. Objetivo: Este trabalho é uma tentativa de desenvolver um método de pré-processamento aprimorado para CAD de câncer de mama, incorporando métodos adequados de redução de ruído e aprimoramento de contraste no sistema de CAD convencional. Métodos: Entre as técnicas de redução de ruído disponíveis, a transformada de curva discreta rápida (FDCT) baseada na transformada rápida de Fourier desigualmente espaçada (USFFT) foi utilizada e a técnica de modificação de faixa local modificada (MLRM) foi utilizada para aprimoramento de contraste. Resultados: o aprimoramento do contraste após a redução do ruído melhora o dobro da imagem da mamografia e os métodos propostos para o valor de MSE para a imagem da mamografia mdb072 foram reduzidas em 1,44% quando comparados ao método LRM. A redução de MSE aumenta o PSNR para 0,16%. Conclusão: muitas imagens de mamografia foram testadas e o resultado mostra que, aumento no contraste, diminuição do erro quadrático médio e aumento da relação pico do sinal/ruído quando comparado aos métodos existentes.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms , Mammography , Computer-Aided DesignABSTRACT
A palindrome is a set of characters that reads the same forwards and backwards. Since the discovery of palindromic peptide sequences two decades ago, little effort has been made to understand its structural, functional and evolutionary significance. Therefore, in view of this, an algorithm has been developed to identify all perfect palindromes (excluding the palindromic subset and tandem repeats) in a single protein sequence. The proposed algorithm does not impose any restriction on the number of residues to be given in the input sequence. This avant-garde algorithm will aid in the identification of palindromic peptide sequences of varying lengths in a single protein sequence.
ABSTRACT
It is well known that water molecules play an indispensable role in the structure and function of biological macromolecules. The water-mediated ionic interactions between the charged residues provide stability and plasticity and in turn address the function of the protein structures. Thus, this study specifically addresses the number of possible water-mediated ionic interactions, their occurrence, distribution and nature found in 90% non-redundant protein chains. Further, it provides a statistical report of different charged residue pairs that are mediated by surface or buried water molecules to form the interactions. Also, it discusses its contributions in stabilizing various secondary structural elements of the protein. Thus, the present study shows the ubiquitous nature of the interactions that imparts plasticity and flexibility to a protein molecule.
ABSTRACT
Although currently available vaccines represent an outstanding success story in past few years and it is clear that improvements in vaccine delivery and introduction of new vaccines are required. Vaccine delivery improvements may include the use of novel routes of delivery including intradermal, intranasal, tanscutaneous, and needle free delivery. Intradermal delivery includes delivery of vaccine to the dermis or epidermis for enhancement of immunogenicity. Needle free delivery present lowest risk of needle stick injury and transmission of blood borne pathogen through needle and increase compliance. This review represents the different delivery system, characteristics and advancement in the field of vaccine drug delivery.