Assessment of prescribing pattern in chronic liver disease (CLD) patients and rational use of medication in a tertiary care teaching hospital: A uni-centric prospective study

Background: Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a condition of liver damage that includes cirrhosis and fibrosis of liver. It is a progressive destruction of liver functions due to inflammation, exertion of bile and detoxification of harmful products of metabolism. Objective : To assess the prescribing pattern in chronic liver disease patients and to facilitate rational use of medication. Method : A uni-centric prospective (observational) study was conducted for a period of 6 months for analyzing the prescribing pattern used in treating Chronic Liver Disease (CLD) patients. All the patients (both male and female) diagnosed with CLD visited to gastroenterology department were included in the study. Patients with pregnancy, age below 18 year and above 80 year were not involved in the study. Result: It was observed that the number of males accounted for the 64% of the total patients and rest 36% were females. CLD affected the age group of 48 – 58 years and the common causes were hepatitis C virus (55.55%) and alcohol consumption (26.19%).&nbsp

Immunomodulatory effects of probiotics and prilled fat supplementation on immune genes expression and lymphocyte proliferation of transition stage Karan Fries cows

Background and Aim: Probiotics are the living microorganism which when administered improves the digestion and health of the animal. Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) improves the humoral and innate immunity of the animal. Prilled fat is a hydrogenated palm oil triglyceride which has been reported to promote the release of cytokines from macrophages. The aim of the study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of probiotic and prilled fat during transition stage in Karan Fries (KF) cows. Materials and Methods: A total of 12 KF cows at 21 days prepartum were selected and divided into two groups of six animals each. The control group was fed as per the standard feeding practices and the supplemented group cows were supplemented daily with prilled fat at 100 g/cow, SC at 25 g/cow, and sweetener at 1 g/cow in addition to the standard feeding practices from -30 days of prepartum to 21 days of lactation. The sweetener was added to improve the palatability of the feed. The natural sweetener of an African plant leave had 105 times more sweetness than glucose with good aroma. The dry matter intake of the animal was recorded. Plasma samples were collected weekly from all cows for the analysis of blood metabolite beta-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA). Lymphocytes were isolated from the blood for studying the expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and for estimating lymphocyte proliferation index (LPI). Results: The upregulated IL-1β and TNF-α around calving might be possibly associated to the metabolic changes occurring during the transition period and suggest a higher degree of inflammation around parturition. High concentrations of BHBA caused increased expression and synthesis of the pro-inflammatory factors such as TNF-α and IL-1β in supplemented group in primary calf hepatocytes. The LPI was higher in supplemented group as compared to control which suggests a stimulatory effect of unsaturated fatty acids on mitogen-stimulated T-cell proliferation. Conclusion: Dietary supplementation of probiotics, prilled fat, and sweetener alleviated negative energy balance by stimulating feed intake and modulating hepatic lipid metabolism; and both of these additives improved the postpartum health (antioxidant status and immune function) of transition dairy cows

Application of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning in Modern Agriculture Technology: A Review

In order to determine their potential impact in the field of agriculture, the proposed work aims to review the various artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, with a focus on expert systems, robots designed specifically for agriculture, and sensors technology for data collection and transmission. These techniques include fuzzy logic (FL), artificial neural network (ANN), genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimisation (PSO), artificial potential field (APF), simulated annealing (SA), deep learning. The application of AI techniques and robots in cultivation, monitoring, and harvesting is not highlighted in any literature, making it difficult to compare each one simultaneously based on popularity and usefulness while also understanding how each contributes to the agricultural industry. With knowledge of the extent of AI engaged and the robots used, this paper compares three crucial agricultural phases: cultivation, monitoring, and harvesting. The current study offers a comprehensive analysis of over 200 publications that cover the use of automation in agriculture as of 1960 and 2021. It draws attention to the unmet research needs for developing intelligent, self-governing agricultural systems. The frequency of various AI, robotics and deep learning techniques for particular applications in the agriculture industry round out the article

Ultrasound Assisted Endoscopic Gastric Bypass (USA-EGB): a potential endoscopic alternative to surgical bypass, a pre-clinical proof of concept study

Background and Aims: endoscopic weight loss procedures have gained traction as minimally invasive options for the primary treatment of obesity. Thus far, we have developed endoscopic procedures that reliably address gastric restriction but result in significantly less weight loss than surgical gastrointestinal bypass. The goal of this non-survival study was to assess the technical feasibility of an endoscopic procedure, that incorporates both gastric restriction and potentially reversible gastrointestinal bypass. Methods: USA-EGB was performed in three consecutive live swine, followed by euthanasia and necropsy. Procedure steps were 1) balloon assisted enteroscopy (BAE) that determines the length of the bypassed limb, 2) EUS-guided gastroenterostomy (EUS-GE) that creates a gastrointestinal anastomosis using a lumen apposing metal stent (LAMS), 3) endoscopic pyloric exclusion (EPS) that disrupts transpyloric continuity resulting in complete gastro-intestinal bypass and 4) gastric restriction (GR) that reduces gastric volume. Results: complete gastrointestinal bypass and gastric restriction was achieved in all three swine. The mean total procedure time was 131 min (113-143 min), mean length of the bypassed limb was 92.5 cm and 180 cm, using short and long overtubes respectively. There were no significant complications. Conclusions: we successfully described USA-EGB in three consecutive live swine. Further studies are needed to access the procedures safety, efficacy, and clinical use

Thermoelectric Power Generation from Lanthanum Strontium Titanium Oxide at Room Temperature through the Addition of Graphene

The applications of strontium titanium oxide based thermoelectric materials are currently limited by their high operating temperatures of >700 °C. Herein, we show that the thermal operating window of lanthanum strontium titanium oxide (LSTO) can be reduced to room temperature by the addition of a small amount of graphene. This increase in operating performance will enable future applications such as generators in vehicles and other sectors. The LSTO composites incorporated one percent or less of graphene and were sintered under an argon/hydrogen atmosphere. The resultant materials were reduced and possessed a multiphase structure with nanosized grains. The thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites decreased upon the addition of graphene, whereas the electrical conductivity and power factor both increased significantly. These factors, together with a moderate Seebeck coefficient, meant that a high power factor of ∼2500 μWm^–1K^–2 was reached at room temperature at a loading of 0.6 wt % graphene. The highest thermoelectric figure of merit (<i>ZT</i>) was achieved when 0.6 wt % graphene was added (<i>ZT</i> = 0.42 at room temperature and 0.36 at 750 °C), with >280% enhancement compared to that of pure LSTO. A preliminary 7-couple device was produced using bismuth strontium cobalt oxide/graphene-LSTO pucks. This device had a Seebeck coefficient of ∼1500 μV/K and an open voltage of 600 mV at a mean temperature of 219 °C

A rare variant of African ancestry activates 8q24 lncRNA hub by modulating cancer associated enhancer

Genetic variants on chromosome 8q24 are associated with prostate cancer risk in men of African ancestry. Here the authors show that one of these variants, rs72725854 alters the enhancer activity in its region, which upon androgen stimulation, activates multiple oncogenic lncRNAs and c-myc