Perforated Meckel's Diverticulum and Adhesive Intestinal Obstruction in a Preterm Neonate: A Case Report.

Perforated bowel and adhesive intestinal obstruction are common indications for emergency surgical intervention in a preterm neonate. The initial approach to managing perforation involves either peritoneal drain insertion or formal laparotomy. Once a neonate presents with complete bowel obstruction, prompt abdominal exploration becomes crucial. One prevalent cause of bowel obstruction in this population is adhesions resulting from previous surgeries. This report details the case of a preterm, extremely low birth weight neonate experiencing pneumoperitoneum, initially managed with an intraperitoneal drain. Despite temporary improvement, the infant developed recurrent pneumoperitoneum, necessitating formal exploratory laparotomy. Approximately one month post-surgery, the baby encountered complete bowel obstruction due to adhesive intestinal obstruction, requiring a second exploratory laparotomy. The child survived both surgical interventions and is thriving at follow-up. Our findings suggest that in select cases, intraperitoneal drain placement may suffice. However, there is a need for further research to improve the suspicion and diagnosis of Meckel's diverticulum perforations in neonates. Additionally, vigilant assessment and timely intervention for adhesive intestinal obstruction can enhance bowel salvage outcomes.

Dosimetry audit for megavoltage photon beams applied in non-reference conditions.

PURPOSE: We have conducted for the first time a Malaysian postal dosimetry audit of external beam under non-reference conditions by evaluating the output performance while screening for systematic errors within the dosimetry chain. The potential use from the choice of detector were investigated along with the search for other sources of discrepancies. METHODS: Ten radiotherapy centres were audited, encompassing 16 megavoltage photon beam arrangements, adopting the IAEA postal dosimetry protocol for non-reference conditions, with a holder modified to accommodate three TLD types: Ge-doped cylindrical silica fibres (CF), Ge-doped flat silica fibres (FF), and TLD-100 powder. RESULTS: Eight of the centres operated within ± 5% of stated dose, one other exceeding tolerance for all measured points, and one did not return any dosimeters for analysis after failing the initial irradiations. Post remedial measures, the mean relative response for CF, FF, and TLD-100 was 1.00, 0.99, and 0.98 respectively, with associated coefficients of variation 6.87%, 6.45%, and 5.06%. CONCLUSION: High quality radiotherapy clinical practice postal dosimetry audits that are based on sensitive TLDs are seen to be particularly effective in identifying and resolving dose delivery discrepancies.

Potential protective role of curcumin powder to regulate arsenic-induced hepatorenal toxicity and hyperlipidemic metabolic dysfunction in rat model.

The present work was conceptualized to determine the potential protective effects of curcumin on arsenic-induced kidney damage in male albino rat model. Thirty six male albino rats were selected, weighed about 175±10g and classified into four groups (9 rats in each group) such as C group (control with basal diet), Cur group (curcumin 200mg/kg body weight), AI group (arsenic-induced 5mg/kg body weight) and AI + Cur group (arsenic 5mg/kg+curcumin 200mg/kg body weight), respectively. Arsenic and curcumin were offered through the gavage method once daily with basal diet. The different analyzed parameters showed that arsenic-induced elevation of aspartate amino transferase, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin urea, alanine aminotransferase and creatinine significantly decreased with curcumin application in AI + Cur group. Similarly, the statistically significant decline of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), cholesterol, triglyceride and increased in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was observed in rats of AI + Cur group with curcumin treatment as compared to the rats of AI group. The level of different enzymes of the liver as well as kidney was noted depleted on arsenic exposure whereas increased in level was observed with curcumin application in AI + Cur group. Moreover, pathological histology changes were also recorded. The outcomes suggest that curcumin has a potential effect against arsenic-induced toxicity in biological model.

Exploring the prophylactic role of soy isoflavones against polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Soy isoflavones (SI) have strong estrogenic effect in tissues by binding to estrogen receptors and might be beneficial for women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) by reduction in testosterone, cholesterol, insulin, weight gain, inflammatory markers, and oxidative stress. The study was planned to examine the effect of various levels of SI on nutrient intake, digestibility, lipid profile, insulin, and reproductive hormones of estradiol valerate (4 mg/rat/IM) PCOS induced rat models. Thirty-six Wistar 45 days old rats weighing 95 ± 5 g were divided into 4 groups, each having 9 rats: C (control: without SF), SF10 (SF 0.10 g/kg BW), SF15 (SF 0.15 g/kg BW), and SF20 (SF 0.20 g/kg BW). SF was given through the oral gavage. Food and water were offered ad libitum, and intake was recorded daily. During last week of trial, collected feces by total collection method and blood samples were used to calculate nutrient digestibility and biochemical analysis, respectively. Estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin were (p < .05) high in rats fed SF diet that was 4% and 30% increase from C, respectively. Insulin, testosterone, FSH, and LH were lowest in rats fed diet SF20. Significant (p < .05) reduction in cholesterol was observed in rats fed SF15 and SF20 as compared to C. Serum HDL was improved (p < .05) in all SIF0.10, SIF0.15, and SIF0.20 in comparison with PC. Serum LDL was significantly reduced to 68.89 ± 4.36 (mg/dl) in SIF0.20 and to 108.20 ± 4.14 (mg/dl) in SIF0.15, whereas insignificant reduction was observed in SIF0.10 as compared to PC. Highly significant reduction was noted in triglycerides level in SIF0.20; however, significant reduction was observed in both SIF0.10 and SIF0.15 as compared to PC after 3 months of treatment with soy isoflavones.

Structural and bone marrow stem cell biocompatibility studies of hydrogel synthesized via chemo-enzymatic route.

Natural biopolymers have many attractive medical applications; however, complications due to fibrosis caused a reduction in diffusion and dispersal of nutrients and waste products. Consequently, severe immunocompatibility problems and poor mechanical and degradation properties in synthetic polymers ensue. Hence, the present study investigates a novel hydrogel material synthesized from caprolactone, ethylene glycol, ethylenediamine, polyethylene glycol, ammonium persulfate, and tetramethylethylenediamine via chemo-enzymatic route. Spectroscopic analyses indicated the formation of polyurea and polyhydroxyurethane as the primary building block of the hydrogel starting material. Biocompatibility studies showed positive observation in biosafety test using direct contact cytotoxicity assay in addition to active cellular growth on the hydrogel scaffold based on fluorescence observation. The synthesized hydrogel also exhibited (self)fluorescence properties under specific wavelength excitation. Hence, synthesized hydrogel could be a potential candidate for medical imaging as well as tissue engineering applications as a tissue expander, coating material, biosensor, and drug delivery system.

Thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of cellulose nanofibers reinforced epoxy composites.

The current study presents about the effect of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) filler on the thermal and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of epoxy composites as a function of temperature. In this study hand lay-up method was used to fabricate CNF reinforced Epoxy nanocomposites with CNF loading of 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% into epoxy resin. The obtained thermal and DMA results illustrates that thermal stability, char content, storage modulus (E'), loss modulus (E") and glass transition temperature (Tg) increases for all CNF/epoxy nanocomposites compared to the pure epoxy. Thermal results revealed that 0.75% offers superior resistance or stability towards heat compared to its counterparts. In addition, 0.75% CNF/epoxy nanocomposites confers highest value of storage modulus as compared to 0.5% and 1% filler loading. Hence, it is concluded that 0.75% CNFs loading is the minimal to enhance both thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of the epoxy composites and can be utilized for advance material applications where thermal stability along with renewability are prime requirements.

Multiple rare opportunistic and pathogenic fungi in persistent foot skin infection.

Persistent superficial skin infection caused by multiple fungi is rarely reported. Recently, a number of fungi, both opportunistic and persistent in nature were isolated from the foot skin of a 24-year old male in Malaysia. The fungi were identified as Candida parapsilosis, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Phoma spp., Debaryomyces hansenii, Acremonium spp., Aureobasidium pullulans and Aspergillus spp., This is the first report on these opportunistic strains were co-isolated from a healthy individual who suffered from persistent foot skin infection which was diagnosed as athlete's foot for more than 12 years. Among the isolated fungi, C. parapsilosis has been an increasingly common cause of skin infections. R. mucilaginosa and D. hansenii were rarely reported in cases of skin infection. A. pullulans, an emerging fungal pathogen was also being isolated in this case. Interestingly, it was noted that C. parapsilosis, R. mucilaginosa, D. hansenii and A. pullulans are among the common halophiles and this suggests the association of halotolerant fungi in causing persistent superficial skin infection. This discovery will shed light on future research to explore on effective treatment for inhibition of pathogenic halophiles as well as to understand the interaction of multiple fungi in the progress of skin infection.

Emergence of Aureobasidium pullulans as human fungal pathogen and molecular assay for future medical diagnosis.

Despite the great importance of Aureobasidium pullulans in biotechnology, the fungus had emerged as an opportunistic human pathogen, especially among immunocompromised patients. Clinical detection of this rare human fungal pathogen presently relies on morphology diagnosis which may be misleading. Thus, a sensitive and accurate quantitative molecular assay for A. pullulans remains lacking. In this study, we presented the microscopy observations of A. pullulans that reveals the phenotypic plasticity of the fungus. A. pullulans-specific primers and molecular beacon probes were designed based on the fungal 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. Comparison of two probes with varied quencher chemistry, namely BHQ-1 and Tamra, revealed high amplification efficiency of 104% and 108%, respectively. The optimized quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assays could detect and quantify up to 1 pg concentration of A. pullulans DNA. Both assays displayed satisfactory performance parameters at fast thermal cycling mode. The molecular assay has great potential as a molecular diagnosis tool for early detection of fungal infection caused by A. pullulans, which merits future study in clinical diagnosis.