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1.
Ann Afr Med ; 23(3): 488-493, 2024 Jul 01.
Article in French, English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-39034577

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Hypertension is the most prevalent non communicable disease causing deaths even before evidence of target organ damage. Platelet activation is associated with risk of vascular events. Identification of mean platelet volume (MPV) values in patients with hypertensive retinopathy (HR) can help in prognostication and risk stratification of possible complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients presenting to the outpatient department over a period of 18 months underwent clinical examination, blood sampling, direct ophthalmoscopic examination, and two-dimensional echocardiography. RESULTS: Out of 104 subjects, there were a total of 25 females and 79 males. Patients with grade 1HR had a mean MPV value of 9.4, those with grade 2 HR had a mean MPV of 9.8, among people with grade 3 HR the mean MPV was 10.1, and those with grade 4 HR had a mean MPV of 10.9. CONCLUSION: In our study, we have seen that MPV increases with increasing severity of HR, thus implying that MPV probably plays a role in HR. Testing of MPV can be used to decide whether preventative treatments should be instituted to the prevent the severe complications of retinopathy and thus decrease the risk and occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events.


Résumé Objectif:L'hypertension est la maladie non transmissible la plus répandue causant des décès avant même la preuve de lésions des organes cibles. L'activation plaquettaire est associée à un risque d'événements vasculaires. Identification des valeurs moyennes du volume plaquettaire (MPV) chez les patients atteints d'hypertension La rétinopathie (HR) peut aider au pronostic et à la stratification du risque de complications possibles.Matériel et méthodes:Les patients se présentant à le service ambulatoire a fait l'objet d'un examen clinique sur une période de 18 mois, d'un prélèvement sanguin, d'un examen ophtalmoscopique direct et l'échocardiographie bidimensionnelle.Résultats:Sur 104 sujets, il y avait un total de 25 femmes et 79 hommes. Patients de grade 1 HR avaient une valeur moyenne de MPV de 9,4, celles de grade 2 HR avaient une MPV moyenne de 9,8, parmi les personnes de grade 3 HR, la MPV moyenne était de 10,1, et celles avec un grade 4 HR avait un MPV moyen de 10,9.Conclusion:Dans notre étude, nous avons vu que la MPV augmente avec la gravité croissante de la FC, donc ce qui implique que le MPV joue probablement un rôle dans les RH. Le test de MPV peut être utilisé pour décider si des traitements préventifs doivent être instituts prévenir les complications graves de la rétinopathie et ainsi diminuer le risque et la survenue d'événements cardiovasculaires et cérébrovasculaires.


Subject(s)
Hypertensive Retinopathy , Mean Platelet Volume , Severity of Illness Index , Humans , Female , Male , Hypertensive Retinopathy/blood , Middle Aged , Adult , Hypertension/complications , Aged , Echocardiography , Risk Factors
2.
J Family Med Prim Care ; 13(6): 2289-2294, 2024 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-39027847

ABSTRACT

Background: Antiseptics were introduced a long time ago, but their significance was noteworthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hand sanitizer plays a pivotal role as a preventive measure. Multiple national authorities have advocated for the application of Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers (ABHS). During the pandemic, a surge in demand and limited supply prompted numerous manufacturers to ramp up production. Consequently, it is imperative to scrutinize the composition, labeling, and price of hand sanitizers. Aims and Objective: To assess the contents, labeling, and price of hand sanitizers available in the Indian market. Methodology: Hand sanitizers, both online and offline, marketed in India between May 2019 and May 2022 were included. Hand sanitizers by local manufacturers without labeling were excluded. Contents and labeling of hand sanitizers were evaluated as per World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Price was assessed as a percentage cost variation. Result: Out of 79, the majority (98.73%) were ABHS, and 28.20% of them met the recommended criteria for "Adequate" alcohol concentration. Ethyl alcohol emerged as the most prevalent (69.23%), often accompanied by emollients, humectants, fragrances, and color additives. Notably, 69.62% of the hand sanitizers featured comprehensive labeling, while incomplete labels lacked essential details under "Warning and Cautions." The average price of hand sanitizers was Rs 505.11 ± 255.36. Conclusion: Choosing ABHS with appropriate alcohol concentrations in line with recommendations is crucial. To ensure the proper and safe use of hand sanitizers, individuals should follow the instructions provided on the product labels; both manufacturers and regulators are responsible for adhering to standards for hand sanitizers made available to the public.

3.
Arch Virol ; 169(7): 150, 2024 Jun 20.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38898334

ABSTRACT

Secoviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses that infect plants. In the present study, we identified 61 putative novel secoviral genomes in various plant species by mining publicly available plant transcriptome data. These viral sequences represent the genomes of 13 monopartite and 48 bipartite secovirids. The genome sequences of 52 secovirids were coding-complete, and nine were partial. Except for small open reading frames (ORFs) determined in waikaviral genomes and RNA2 of torradoviruses, all of the recovered genomes/genome segments contained a large ORF encoding a polyprotein. Based on genome organization and phylogeny, all but three of the novel secoviruses were assigned to different genera. The genome organization of two identified waika-like viruses resembled that of the recently identified waika-like virus Triticum aestivum secovirus. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a pattern of host-virus co-evolution in a few waika- and waika-like viruses and increased phylogenetic diversity of nepoviruses. The study provides a basis for further investigation of the biological properties of these novel secoviruses.


Subject(s)
Genetic Variation , Genome, Viral , Open Reading Frames , Phylogeny , Secoviridae , Transcriptome , Genome, Viral/genetics , Open Reading Frames/genetics , Secoviridae/genetics , Secoviridae/classification , Plant Diseases/virology , Plants/virology , RNA, Viral/genetics
4.
Cureus ; 16(4): e58866, 2024 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38800170

ABSTRACT

Monkeypox is a zoonotic viral disease. Monkeypox was first reported in humans about 54 years ago. Prior to the global outbreak, monkeypox was endemic to the rainforests of central and western African countries. In the last three years, increasing numbers of human monkeypox have been reported from various countries. Responding to the severity, monkeypox was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization. In the absence of approved drugs or clinical studies, repurposed drugs and therapeutic medical countermeasures effective against other orthopoxviruses have been utilized to treat severe human monkeypox cases. Currently, clinical trials are underway exploring the potential therapeutic effectiveness of tecovirimate in human monkeypox cases. Monoclonal antibodies, IFN-ß, resveratrol, and 15 triple-targeting FDA-approved drugs represent potential new drug targets for human monkeypox, necessitating further research.

5.
Adv Anat Pathol ; 31(3): 202-205, 2024 May 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38525603

ABSTRACT

The NKX3.1 immunohistochemical stain is widely recognized as a highly sensitive and specific marker for prostate adenocarcinoma. Nevertheless, its expression has been documented in various nonprostatic tissues and malignancies. This review aims to provide an overview of NKX3.1 expression in diverse tumor types, with a specific focus on its aberrant expression in esophageal/gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (E/GE-ADC). In our investigation, we explored the expression of NKX3.1 in a series of E/GE-ADC to shed light on its prevalence in this tumor category. A total of 50 samples, comprising primary and metastatic E/GE-ADC specimens from 34 patients, were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis. Stained sections were scored based on the intensity and distribution-categorized as negative, weak, moderate, or strong in either a focal or diffuse pattern. Strong staining corresponds to the intensity observed in normal prostate controls, while focal and diffuse staining denote <50% and ≥50% of tumor nuclei staining positive, respectively. Our semiquantitative scoring revealed that 6 (12%) of the primary and metastatic E/GE-ADC specimens exhibited variable positivity for NKX3.1. This finding suggests that E/GE-ADC can sporadically stain positive for NKX3.1, introducing potential challenges in definitively determining the primary site of origin in certain clinical scenarios. Along with a literature review of NKX3.1 expression in other tumor types, our study provides additional important information about the extent to which this immunostain can be seen in E/GE-ADCs, which, to our knowledge, has not been reported.


Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma , Esophageal Neoplasms , Prostatic Neoplasms , Humans , Male , Adenocarcinoma/pathology , Biomarkers, Tumor/analysis , Homeodomain Proteins/analysis , Homeodomain Proteins/metabolism , Prostate/pathology , Prostatic Neoplasms/pathology , Transcription Factors/metabolism
6.
Med Mycol Case Rep ; 43: 100638, 2024 Mar.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38487405

ABSTRACT

A male in his 40's with no known comorbidities developed severe COVID-19 pneumonia and received a four-week course of methylprednisolone. The patient subsequently developed disseminated Aspergillus endocarditis, manifesting as multiple organ involvement including the heart, eyes, and brain. Despite the poor prognosis generally associated with fungal endocarditis, the patient survived following aggressive medical management with a combination of liposomal amphotericin b and voriconazole therapy and is now doing well for over two years and is off antifungal therapy for a year.

7.
Materials (Basel) ; 17(5)2024 Feb 29.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38473596

ABSTRACT

Gas-atomization is extensively used to produce metallic feedstock powders for additive manufacturing processes, including gas dynamic cold spray processing. This work explores the potential utility of on-demand recycled titanium scrap feedstock powder as a viable substitute for virgin powder sources. Three recycled titanium powders were atomized from different battlefield scrap sources using a mobile foundry developed by MolyWorks Materials Corporation. Recycled titanium alloy powders were compared against virgin Ti-6Al-4V powder to verify there were no significant variations between the recycled and virgin materials. Powder characterization methods included chemical analysis, particle size distribution analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Karl Fischer (KF) titration moisture content analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) phase analysis, microparticle compression testing (MCT), and nanoindentation. Results indicate that recycled titanium powder provides a viable alternative to virgin titanium alloy powders without compromising mechanical capabilities, microstructural features, or ASTM-specified composition and impurity standards. The results of this work will be used to aid future research efforts that will focus on optimizing cold spray parameters to maximize coating density, mechanical strength, and hardness of recycled titanium feedstock powders. "Cold spray" presents opportunities to enhance the sustainability of titanium component production through the utilization of recycled feedstock powder, mitigating issues of long lead times and high waste associated with the use of conventional virgin feedstock.

8.
Sci Rep ; 13(1): 19995, 2023 Nov 15.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37968362

ABSTRACT

Urea is recognized as one of the most frequently used adulterants in milk to enhance artificial protein content, and whiteness. Drinking milk having high urea concentrations which causes innumerable health disputes like ulcers, indigestion, and kidney-related problems. Therefore, herein, a simple and rapid electroanalytical platform was developed to detect the presence of urea in milk using a modified electrode sensor. Calcium oxide nanoparticles (CaO NPs) were green synthesized and used as a catalyst material for developing the sensor. Synthesized materials formation was confirmed by different techniques like FTIR, UV-visible, XRD, SEM-EDX, and Raman spectroscopy. The carbon paste electrode (CPE) was modified using the CaO NPs and used as a working electrode during the analysis followed by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) techniques. The fabricated calcium oxide modified carbon paste electrode (CaO/CPE) successfully detected the presence of urea in the lower concentration range (lower limit of detection (LLOD) = 0.032 µM) having a wide linear detection range of 10-150 µM. Adsorption-controlled electrode process was achieved at the scan rate variation parameter. The leading parameters like the selectivity, repeatability, and stability of the CaO/CPE were investigated. The relative standard deviation of sensor was ± 3.8% during the interference and stability study.

9.
BMC Infect Dis ; 23(1): 670, 2023 Oct 09.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37814234

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: With the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus has shifted to understanding and managing long-term post-infectious complications. "Long COVID," characterized by persistent or new onset symptoms extending beyond the initial phase of infection, is one such complication. This study aims to describe the incidence, clinical features and risk profile of long COVID among individuals in a South Indian cohort who experienced post-ChAdOx1 n-Cov-2 vaccine breakthrough infections. METHODS: A single-centre hospital-based prospective observational study was conducted from October to December 2021. The study population comprised adult patients (> 18 years) with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who had received at least a single dose of vaccination. Data was collected using a specially tailored questionnaire at week 2, week 6, and week 12 post-negative COVID-19 test. A propensity score based predictive scoring system was developed to assess the risk of long COVID. RESULTS: Among the 414 patients followed up in the study, 164 (39.6%) reported long COVID symptoms persisting beyond 6 week's post-infection. The presence of long COVID was significantly higher among patients above 65 years of age, and those with comorbidities such as Type II Diabetes Mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, asthma, and cancer. Using backwards selection, a reduced model was developed, identifying age (OR 1.053, 95% CI 0.097-1.07, p < 0.001), hypertension (OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.46-4.59, p = 0.001), and bronchial asthma (OR 3.7176, 95% CI 1.24-11.12, p = 0.018) as significant predictors of long COVID incidence. A significant positive correlation was observed between the symptomatic burden and the number of individual comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: The significant presence of long COVID at 12 weeks among non-hospitalised patients underscores the importance of post-recovery follow-up to assess for the presence of long COVID. The predictive risk score proposed in this study may help identify individuals at risk of developing long COVID. Further research is needed to understand the impact of long COVID on patients' quality of life and the potential role of tailored rehabilitation programs in improving patient outcomes.


Subject(s)
Asthma , COVID-19 , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 , Hypertension , Adult , Humans , Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19 Testing , Pandemics , Prospective Studies , Quality of Life , Breakthrough Infections
10.
Waste Manag ; 171: 375-381, 2023 Sep 26.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37769596

ABSTRACT

Syngas production from co-gasification of waste tires and different amounts of drywall waste gypsum (CaSO4) was investigated using CO2 as the gasifying agent in a lab-scale reactor. Gypsum is known to react with carbon feedstocks through solid-solid reactions to produce CaS and CaO, CO, and CO2. The presence of gypsum in waste tires increased the syngas yield from the conversion of char and tars. Gypsum addition to the waste tire also increased syngas quality from increased syngas energy yield. The overall yield of syngas increased by up to 55% while the energy yield (MJ/ kg feedstock) improved by 40% with gypsum addition. The product gas yield, energy, H2, and CH4 yields increased with gypsum addition while CO only increased for lower gypsum concentrations. Higher gypsum addition increased CO2 yields. Aspen Plus simulation results revealed that for waste tires, temperatures < 1200 °C suppressed the transformation of sulfur present in gypsum into SO2 for all waste tires to gypsum feed mass ratios. At 50 wt% gypsum concentrations, only 2% of the sulfur in the feedstock was transferred into SO2. The results showed improved syngas yield and quality, without any increase in sulfur emissions showing the benefits of gypsum waste incorporation in waste tire gasification.

11.
Arch Microbiol ; 205(9): 319, 2023 Aug 25.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37626254

ABSTRACT

An increase in antibiotic pollution in reef areas will lead to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, leading to ecological disturbances in the sensitive coral holobiont. This study provides insights into the genome of antibiotics-resistant Stutzerimonas frequens CAM01, isolated from Favites-associated Symbiodiniaceae of a near-shore polluted reef of Palk Bay, India. The draft genome contains 4.67 Mbp in size with 52 contigs. Further genome analysis revealed the presence of four antibiotic-resistant genes, namely, adeF, rsmA, APH (3")-Ib, and APH (6)-Id that provide resistance by encoding resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND) antibiotic efflux pump and aminoglycoside phosphotransferase. The isolate showed resistance against 73% of the antibiotics tested, concurrent with the predicted AMR genes. Four secondary metabolites, namely Aryl polyene, NRPS-independent-siderophore, terpenes, and ectoine were detected in the isolate, which may play a role in virulence and pathogenicity adaptation in microbes. This study provides key insights into the genome of Stutzerimonas frequens CAM01 and highlights the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in coral reef ecosystems.


Subject(s)
Anthozoa , Coral Reefs , Animals , Ecosystem , Bays , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Drug Resistance, Microbial , India
12.
J Family Med Prim Care ; 12(7): 1399-1405, 2023 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37649754

ABSTRACT

Background: Package inserts (PIs) serve detailed information on drug products to the users and primary care physicians, so information should be accurate, reliable, and as per the regulatory guidelines. The study aims to analyze the information adequacy of the PIs available in the Indian market as per Drug and Cosmetic Rule 1945 and US Food and Drug Administration criteria. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on PIs collected from accessible pharmacy stores. Information provided was recorded as per criteria, and total information adequacy score (IAS) and information deficiency (IDS) score were calculated. The association of factors like single-drug/FDCs, a company of origin Indian/multinational, and route of administration (ROA) with IDS was statistically analyzed. Results: Of 120 PIs, 60%, 86.66%, and 73% were single-drug, prescription-drug, and drugs by Indian manufacturers, respectively. Most PIs provided generic names, ROA, and indications for use. 85%, 12%, 29.16%, and 3.33% provided information on PIs on the ability to drive, drug-food interactions, drug-drug interactions, and addiction potential, respectively. Lacking area was information on use in pediatrics-geriatrics (30%), excipients (28.3%), preclinical (15.83%), post-surveillance data (18.33%), and approval date (2.5%). There was a statistically significant difference between pharmaceutical score (3.22 vs 4.12), therapeutic score (11.5 vs 13.18), and total IAS (14.78 ± 3.39 vs 17.31 ± 2.33) of Indian and multinational companies. IDS was statistically significantly different in both pharmaceutical and therapeutic categories for single-drug vs FDCs (P = 0.00001), OTC vs prescription drugs (P < 0.05), and Indian vs multinational companies' PIs (P = 0.00001). Conclusion: Numerous facets of information are lacking in PIs, and they do not impart whole information, especially of Indian origin, as per objective IDS.

13.
Res Sq ; 2023 Jul 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37461545

ABSTRACT

Pathology reports are considered the gold standard in medical research due to their comprehensive and accurate diagnostic information. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques have been developed to automate information extraction from pathology reports. However, existing studies suffer from two significant limitations. First, they typically frame their tasks as report classification, which restricts the granularity of extracted information. Second, they often fail to generalize to unseen reports due to variations in language, negation, and human error. To overcome these challenges, we propose a BERT (bidirectional encoder representations from transformers) named entity recognition (NER) system to extract key diagnostic elements from pathology reports. We also introduce four data augmentation methods to improve the robustness of our model. Trained and evaluated on 1438 annotated breast pathology reports, acquired from a large medical center in the United States, our BERT model trained with data augmentation achieves an entity F1-score of 0.916 on an internal test set, surpassing the BERT baseline (0.843). We further assessed the model's generalizability using an external validation dataset from the United Arab Emirates, where our model maintained satisfactory performance (F1-score 0.860). Our findings demonstrate that our NER systems can effectively extract fine-grained information from widely diverse medical reports, offering the potential for large-scale information extraction in a wide range of medical and AI research. We publish our code at https://github.com/nyukat/pathology_extraction.

14.
Elife ; 122023 07 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37410627

ABSTRACT

Using measures of research productivity to assess academic performance puts women at a disadvantage because gender roles and unconscious biases, operating both at home and in academia, can affect research productivity. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on research productivity has been the subject of a number of studies, including studies based on surveys and studies based on numbers of articles submitted to and/or published in journals. Here, we combine the results of 55 studies that compared the impact of the pandemic on the research productivity of men and women; 17 of the studies were based on surveys, 38 were based on article counts, and the total number of effect sizes was 130. We find that the gender gap in research productivity increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the largest changes occurring in the social sciences and medicine, and the changes in the biological sciences and TEMCP (technology, engineering, mathematics, chemistry and physics) being much smaller.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Male , Humans , Female , Pandemics , Sex Factors , Publications , Engineering
15.
Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg ; 75(Suppl 1): 906-914, 2023 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37206792

ABSTRACT

Effective management of Tumors of Nose and Paranasal Sinuses (PNS) require adequate vascular control of the vessels supplying the tumor to facilitate complete removal and to reduce the complications. To emphasize the role of prior control of feeding vessels in reducing intraoperative blood loss, achieving bloodless fields for endoscopic excision and in facilitating complete excision of tumors of Nose and PNS. A prospective study of 23 patients who were operated for various tumors of Nose and PNS by either Endoscopic or Open approaches for which intraoperative control of the feeding vessels was done based on the Radiological findings. The mean average blood loss was 280 ml and mean Operating time for Endoscopic approach was less than 2 h. All the patients were stable postoperatively and none of the patients had worrisome intraoperative hemorrhage or required multiple blood transfusions. All the patients had complete removal of the tumor. Prior identification of all the vessels that supply the tumor and planning to control them before manipulating the tumor always gives us good results. Tumors supplied by single vessel can be controlled by Embolization or intraoperative clamping, when the tumor is supplied by multiple vessels or when it is not possible to access the vessel by the size of the tumor, Temporary Clamping of the main vessel is a definitive alternative.

16.
Cureus ; 15(4): e37484, 2023 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37064726

ABSTRACT

A 68-year-old female, with a known case of mantle cell lymphoma, came with complaints of persistent cough with expectoration for three months, not responding to multiple courses of antibiotics. Bronchoscopy was done and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) culture revealed Penicillium species. She was started on IV liposomal amphotericin B for 14 days and then switched to oral itraconazole which showed a response to treatment. Early diagnosis of penicilliosis and prompt treatment are important as it is rare and associated with a high mortality rate.

17.
Sci Rep ; 12(1): 15244, 2022 Sep 09.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36085299

ABSTRACT

Breakwaters are essential constructions providing tranquility to ports and harbour structures, when there is a lack of natural protection measures. Traditionally these massive structures are constructed using natural rocks weighing tonnes. In the present scenario, obtaining huge natural rocks are difficult as well as non-eco-friendly. Geotextiles sand containers (GSCs) emerges as a suitable alternative for the rock armour units of breakwaters and various literatures supports its efficacy. The present investigation aims at analysing the performance of GSCs when filled with a calculated amount of cement and sand. The Hydraulic performance and stability analysis of cement and sand filled geotextile breakwater models are carried out in a 1:30 scaled monochromatic wave flume. When GSC breakwaters are filled with sand and cement, up to 43% increased stability is observed with a considerable decrease in wave runup, rundown and reflection, than sand-alone filled units. As a result, cement-sand filled GSC units can be suggested as a possible alternative to sand alone filled units where vandalism has to be countered.

18.
Mol Cell Neurosci ; 123: 103772, 2022 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36055521

ABSTRACT

Axon guidance during neural wiring involves a series of precisely controlled chemotactic events by the motile axonal tip, the growth cone. A fundamental question is how neuronal growth cones make directional decisions in response to extremely shallow gradients of guidance cues with exquisite sensitivity. Here we report that nerve growth cones possess a signal amplification mechanism during gradient sensing process. In neuronal growth cones of Xenopus spinal neurons, phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP3), an important signaling molecule in chemotaxis, was actively recruited to the up-gradient side in response to an external gradient of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), resulting in an intracellular gradient with approximate 30-fold amplification of the input. Furthermore, a reverse gradient of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) was induced by BDNF within the growth cone and the increased PTEN activity at the down-gradient side is required for the amplification of PIP3 signals. Mechanistically, the establishment of both positive PIP3 and reverse PTEN gradients depends on the filamentous actin network. Together with computational modeling, our results revealed a double negative feedback loop among PTEN, PIP3 and actomyosin for signal amplification, which is essential for gradient sensing of neuronal growth cones in response to diffusible cues.


Subject(s)
Actomyosin , Growth Cones , Growth Cones/physiology , Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor , Feedback , Chemotaxis/physiology
19.
Facts Views Vis Obgyn ; 14(2): 171-175, 2022 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35781114

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to prospectively compare the measurement of skin-to-fascia distances in the neutral state, during manual elevation and by fascial elevation in patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery. In 53 patients, the distance between the skin and anterior wall of the rectus sheath was measured prospectively in following three different ways: (1) in neutral position, (2) during manual elevation and (3) during elevation of the fascia using forceps following an infraumbilical vertical skin incision. In all patients, subcutaneous tissue up to the fascia was dissected after a vertical skin incision. The skin-to-fascia distance of 30.9 mm (14.0-52.0 mm) in the neutral position decreased to 11.1 mm (0.0-26.0 mm) during the fascial elevation, while the mean distance increased to 40.1 mm (19-70 mm) during manual elevation (p < 0.001). In the closed laparoscopic entry technique in which a Veress needle is inserted into the peritoneum through a small incision, the needle should be introduced from the shortest distance between the skin and the peritoneum. Lifting the fascia with a proper surgical instrument in suitable patients could enable us to achieve this goal.

20.
J Taibah Univ Med Sci ; 17(1): 72-81, 2022 Feb.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35140568

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: In the present study, an attempt is made to develop novel multifunctional sustained-release minitablets in a capsule system by film coating Fesoterodine for the treatment of urinary incontinence (increased urinating frequency). METHODOLOGY: The direct compression technique was used to formulate the minitablets, and coating was applied using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) phthalate. The pre-formulation study was performed using tools like differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and post-formulation parameters such as hardness, thickness, weight variation, uniformity, and drug release. Drug release kinetics were studied for the formulations F1-F11. RESULTS: All the pre- and post-formulation parameters were found to be within the limits. F1 and F2 result in burst release of the drug within 30 minutes. For the F3, F4, and F5 formulations, HPMC phthalate-coated minitablets show almost 100% drug release in 3, 4, and 5 hours, respectively. F6, F7, and F8 (2.5%, 5%, and 10% formaldehyde-coated minitablets, respectively) show drug releases in the small intestine, and the release was prolonged for 24 hours, whereas F9, F10, and F11 (2.5%, 5%, and 10% glutaraldehyde-coated minitablets, respectively) release in the small intestine, but drug release takes more than 20 hours. CONCLUSION: Film-coated minitablets were satisfactorily developed in terms of various post-compression parameters like hardness, thickness, friability, weight variation, and content uniformity. IR and DSC studies revealed no significant drug excipient interactions. HPMC phthalate-coated minitablets released in the buffer, and it was supposed that the drug releases in the intestine, which leads to better absorption and follows Korsmeyer-Peppas release kinetics.

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