Routine Echocardiography is not Required in Neonates with Arterial Ischemic Stroke.

OBJECTIVE: Current guidelines suggest routine echocardiography (ECHO) in the acute phase to exclude a cardiac source for neonatal arterial ischemic stroke (NAIS). However, the commonly assumed embolic origin from a cardiac source for NAIS is challenged and the need for ECHO in NAIS remains questionable, especially during the era of standard fetal anomaly scanning. Our hypothesis is that any complex cardiac defects potentially causing NAIS would likely be detected during routine prenatal scans, thus possibly making routine postnatal ECHO redundant. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of significant cardiac risk factors and evaluate the necessity of routine postnatal ECHO in NAIS during the routine use of prenatal fetal sonography. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review of 54 infants diagnosed with NAIS via brain magnetic resonance imaging who underwent an ECHO evaluation during the acute period to exclude potential cardiac origins for NAIS. RESULTS: Postnatal ECHO revealed no intracardiac thrombus or vegetation, and only identified structural heart anomalies in three (5%) infants. Interestingly, these three cases had already been diagnosed with syndromic conditions or chromosomal malformations prenatally. In the remaining infants, postnatal ECHO was either normal or showed minor abnormalities unlikely to have contributed to the stroke. The detection rates of complex cardiac anomalies from prenatal scans and postnatal ECHO were statistically similar (p = 0.617). CONCLUSION: The probability of ECHO to exclude cardiac sources for NAIS is so low that in the era of standard fetal anomaly scanning, routine postnatal ECHO may not be necessary for all NAIS infants, except when chromosomal malformations are detected. KEY POINTS: · Guidelines recommend an acute phase ECHO to identify a cardiac source of NAIS.. · ECHO not effective at excluding NAIS's cardiac origin for infants with normal fetal scans.. · Routine postnatal ECHO is unnecessary in NAIS infants, except with genetic abnormalities..

Multi-mycotoxin analysis method using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry and fluorescence detection in Indian medicinal herbs: Development and validation.

While medicinal plants are in high demand worldwide for their therapeutic properties, they can constitute a health concern to consumers when contaminated with mycotoxins. The unavailability of standardised methods for multiclass mycotoxin analysis to assess health risks has thus been realised. This study reports a simple, robust and precise method to estimate nine regulated mycotoxins in a range of Indian medicinal plant matrices including giloy (Tinospora cordifolia), ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), safed musli (Chlorophytum borivilianum), satavari (Asparagus racemosus) and tulsi (Ocimum sanctum). The sample preparation method involved extraction of homogenised matrices (12.5 g) using methanol:water (8:2, 100 mL) followed by cleanup through a multi-mycotoxin immunoaffinity column (IAC), which significantly reduced matrix interferences. The method was initially developed and validated using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous analysis of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2), ochratoxin A, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, T-2 and HT-2 toxin. Later, it was validated using LC-fluorescence (LC-FLD) for aflatoxins, ochratoxin A and zearalenone. The optimised sample preparation protocol and analytical method provided acceptable results. Compared to LC-FLD, it was possible to attain a lower limit of quantification (LOQ) with LC-MS/MS for all the tested analytes except aflatoxins. However, LOQs of both instruments were lower than the maximum limits (MLs), with recoveries ranging between 71 and 110% and precision (RSD) of ≤10% across matrices. Despite matrix-induced signal suppressions in LC-MS/MS analysis, the matrix-matched calibrations corrected all recoveries. Considering its accuracy, reliability, robustness and time-effectiveness, this method is recommended for regulatory testing purposes.

De-Oiled Citrus Peels as Feedstock for the Production of Pectin Oligosaccharides and Its Effect on Lactobacillus fermentum, Probiotic Source.

Following the extraction of essential oil, citrus (Mousambi, Kinnow, and Orange) peel wastes were used to produce pectin. The yield of essential oil and pectin was maximum in orange. Pectin was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. The degree of esterification (DE) and methoxyl content (MC) was maximum in orange whereas, the equivalent weight was maximum in Mousambi. A significant increase (61.8%) in the Lactobacillus fermentum population was observed with pectin as compared with sugar. Three sources followed the Orange > Kinnow > Mousambi trend as a prebiotic source. It was attributed to higher DE as well as higher MC. Enhancement in the bacterial population was in the range of 79.16-87.50%. The present work confirms the potential of pectin as a probiotic source for the enhancement of the bacterial population. Thus, it has a large scope for use in the food industry targeting a circular economy.

Sociability of Indian free-ranging dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) varies with human movement in urban areas.

Cohabiting with humans in the same ecological space requires significant variation in the behavioral repertoire of animals. Behavioral variation can potentially improve the chances of survival of an individual. The influence of humans can be measured by quantifying specific behavioral parameters of the interacting individuals. Sociability or the tendency to be friendly toward others is one of many personality traits in animals that can provide us with insights regarding their relationship with humans. Free-ranging dogs are one of the successful urban-adapted species that interact with humans regularly, which, in turn, influences their behavioral properties. In this study, we tested 600 adult dogs from 60 sites across India, categorized as high, low, and intermediate human flux zones, to understand their degree of sociability toward an unfamiliar human. Initially, a "positive vocalization phase" was carried out. Unresponsive dogs were further tested in a "stimulus phase." The first phase was characterized by positive vocal sounds, while the second one included both food and positive vocalization. In addition, we surveyed a total of 1,200 people from the 60 sites to understand their perception of free-ranging dogs. Dogs in the IF zones were highly sociable compared to the other zones. High human flux zone dogs were reluctant to approach initially but showed an increased approach when food was provided. Low human flux zone dogs were the least sociable, and even the food reward had minimal impact on them. Our study provides the first evidence of behavioral variation in the degree of sociability of free-ranging dogs in urban environments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Inulin from Pachyrhizus erosus root and its production intensification using evolutionary algorithm approach and response surface methodology.

Production of inulin from yam bean tubers by ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE) was optimized by using response surface methodology (RSM) and genetic algorithms (GA). Yield of inulin was obtained between 11.97%-12.15% for UAE and 11.21%-11.38% for microwave assisted extraction (MAE) using both the methodologies, significantly higher than conventional method (9.9 %) using optimized conditions. Under such optimized condition, SEM image of root tissues before and extraction showed disruption and microfractures over surface. UAE provided a shade better purity of extracted inulin than other two techniques. Degree of polymerization in inulin was also recorded to be better, might be due lesser degradation during extraction. Significant prebiotic activity was recorded while evaluation using Lactobacillus fermentum and it was 36 % more than glucose treatment. Energy density by UAE was few fold lesser than MAE. Carbon emission was far more less in both these methods than the conventional one.

Anthocyanin Profiling Using UV-Vis Spectroscopy and Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry.

BACKGROUND: As a powerful antioxidant and natural colorant, anthocyanins are being used increasingly as a component of food supplements and nutraceutical products. Hence, its characterization is a prerequisite for further exploration of its nutraceutical potential. UV-Vis and MS are the two important techniques, which have been largely employed for the qualitative and quantitative determination of anthocyanins. However, a comprehensive review of the applications of these techniques in literature is scarce. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to review the utilization of UV-Vis spectral data as well as mass spectral data for characterization and putative identification of anthocyanins with approaches of quantification. METHODS: The techniques described in literature have been thoroughly reviewed and comparatively evaluated. The complementary approaches of UV-Vis and MS spectra have been discussed for identification and quantification of these compounds. RESULTS: Valuable information about the chemical composition and structure of anthocyanins can be predicted from the UV-Vis spectral data, such as number and type of glycosylation as well as absence or presence of acylation, to name a few. It is also pointed out that for their structural confirmation, selectivity of mass detectors with unit and high-resolution analysis could be effective. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of LC-MS with UV-Vis spectroscopy provides complementary information on structural details of anthocyanins. In case the analytical reference standards are available, a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer provides selectivity and quantitative sensitivity in analysis. On the other hand, high-resolution MS analysis provides valuable information for tentative identification during nontarget screening of compounds when the reference standard is not available. HIGHLIGHTS: This paper reviews the applications of UV-Vis spectroscopy and LC-MS for qualitative and quantitative analysis of anthocyanins.

Tight clustering for large datasets with an application to gene expression data.

This article proposes a practical and scalable version of the tight clustering algorithm. The tight clustering algorithm provides tight and stable relevant clusters as output while leaving a set of points as noise or scattered points, that would not go into any cluster. However, the computational limitation to achieve this precise target of tight clusters prohibits it from being used for large microarray gene expression data or any other large data set, which are common nowadays. We propose a pragmatic and scalable version of the tight clustering method that is applicable to data sets of very large size and deduce the properties of the proposed algorithm. We validate our algorithm with extensive simulation study and multiple real data analyses including analysis of real data on gene expression.

Free-ranging dogs show age related plasticity in their ability to follow human pointing.

Differences in pet dogs' and captive wolves' ability to follow human communicative intents have led to the proposition of several hypotheses regarding the possession and development of social cognitive skills in dogs. It is possible that the social cognitive abilities of pet dogs are induced by indirect conditioning through living with humans, and studying free-ranging dogs can provide deeper insights into differentiating between innate abilities and conditioning in dogs. Free-ranging dogs are mostly scavengers, indirectly depending on humans for their sustenance. Humans can act both as food providers and as threats to these dogs, and thus understanding human gestures can be a survival need for the free-ranging dogs. We tested the responsiveness of such dogs in urban areas toward simple human pointing cues using dynamic proximal points. Our experiment showed that pups readily follow proximal pointing and exhibit weaker avoidance to humans, but stop doing so at the later stages of development. While juveniles showed frequent and prolonged gaze alternations, only adults adjusted their behaviour based on the reliability of the human experimenter after being rewarded. Thus free-ranging dogs show a tendency to respond to human pointing gestures, with a certain level of behavioural plasticity that allows learning from ontogenic experience.