REVIEW OF CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF ABHRAKA WSR TO PINAKA ABHRAKA

Rasashastra (Vedic chemistry) is the root branch of the Ayurveda (the science of life) that deals with herbomineral preparations. Abhraka (mica) is a mineral that classified in Maharasa group of Rasashastra. It contains several elements such as Si, Fe, Al, Mg, Na, and K as main ingredients. Four types of abhrakas are described in the Classics of Rasashastra including pinaka. Property of Pinaka is told that when it is heated on fire, the layers get separates. Intake of its bhasma causes severe constipation. The characteristic effect of pinak abhraka can be correlated with muscovite – paragonite micas. Because their perfect basal cleavage allows them to be split into thin, flexible sheets. Muscovite–paragonite series group of mica having hydrous potassium, sodium, aluminum, and silicate minerals. In this hydrous group, aluminum hydroxide causes constipation. In this paper, an attempt will be made to explain how does pinaka abhrak causes severe constipation

Role of Hemoglobin and Serum Iron in Oral Submucous Fibrosis: A Clinical Study

Background. Oral submucous fibrosis is a chronic, insidious oral mucosal condition affecting the most parts of the oral cavity with high malignant transformation rate triggered by areca nut chewing, nutritional deficiencies, immunologic processes, and genetic predisposition. OSF causes significant hematological abnormalities resulting in anemia and a decrease in serum iron levels. Aim. The aim of this study was to estimate the hemoglobin and serum iron levels among patients with oral submucous fibrosis and to compare the values with healthy subjects. Materials and Methods. In this hospital-based study 30 diagnosed patients of OSMF and 15 healthy individuals were included, and the values of hemoglobin and serum iron levels were estimated using Sahli's and Ferrene methods. Results. OSMF patients showed significantly lower levels of hemoglobin and serum iron when compared with the healthy subjects. Conclusion. The findings of the study emphasizes on the assessment of hemoglobin and serum iron for patients with oral submucous fibrosis. Also iron therapy should be instituted concomitantly with the initial diagnosis which helps to cease the further progression of the condition. Further extensive studies are indicated to understand the correlation between OSMF and iron deficiency

High-risk human papillomavirus, tumor suppressor protein p53 and mitomycin-C in invasive squamous cell carcinoma cervix

Background: Clinical data relating to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and p53 status in cervical cancer has been sparse and confusing. Aim: To evaluate high-risk HPV and expression of tumor suppressor protein p53 in squamous cell carcinoma of cervix and to assess response to mitomycin-C in neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Setting and Design : Teaching College Hospital; Gynecologic Oncology Unit and Department of Pathology. Prospective, randomized. Materials and Methods: Expression of p53 protein was assessed, using immunohistochemistry with mouse monoclonal antibody in 30 consecutive patients undergoing radical hysterectomy or admitted for neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Human papillomavirus DNA (HPV DNA) was assessed using hybrid capture II technology. Patients eligible for chemotherapy were randomized into vincristine, bleomycin and cisplatin (VBP) group and VBP with mitomycin C group. Statistical Analysis : Chi-square test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation; Mann-Whitney, McNemar and Fischer's exact tests were used for statistical analysis. Result : All patients with cancer cervix were positive for high-risk HPV DNA having relative light units/cut off values ranging from 3.4-2389.21 ( P value = 0.006). High viral load of high risk HPV DNA was seen in advanced stages ( P = 0.05) and an association of viral load with tumor volume was also seen (r=0.361, P =0.05). Analysis of p53 protein in cervical carcinoma patient showed expression in 50% of cancer specimens ( P value < 0.001). McNemar's and Fischer's exact test showed no change in p53 status post-chemotherapy; however 66% of stage II B patients in VBP-M group became operable. Conclusion : High-risk HPV was universally present in all cases of cancer cervix and viral load was associated with stage and tumor volume while p53 protein was expressed in 50% of cases suggesting deregulation. More studies using mitomycin-C in cervical cancer treatment protocols are needed

Pulmonary MR angiography and perfusion imaging—A review of methods and applications

The pulmonary vasculature and its role in perfusion and gas exchange is an important consideration in many conditions of the lung and heart. Currently the mainstay of imaging of the vasculature and perfusion of the lungs lies with CT and nuclear medicine perfusion scans, both of which require ionizing radiation exposure. Improvements in MRI techniques have increased the use of MRI in pulmonary vascular imaging. Here we review MRI methods for imaging the pulmonary vasculature and pulmonary perfusion, both using contrast enhanced and non-contrast enhanced methodology. In many centres pulmonary MR angiography and dynamic contrast enhanced perfusion MRI are now well established in the routine workflow of patients particularly with pulmonary hypertension and thromboembolic disease. However, these imaging modalities offer exciting new directions for future research and clinical use in other respiratory diseases where consideration of pulmonary perfusion and gas exchange can provide insight in to pathophysiology

C-Type Lectin Receptors in Asthma

This review is submitted as part of PhD thesis by SH. SH incepted, wrote the manuscript. G.D.B and F.B. edited the manuscript. SH PhD studentship was funded by CIDRI (Wellcome Trust initiative, South Africa) and the University of Aberdeen College studentship. GDB is funded by the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cancer Biomarker Discovery: The Entropic Hallmark

Background: It is a commonly accepted belief that cancer cells modify their transcriptional state during the progression of the disease. We propose that the progression of cancer cells towards malignant phenotypes can be efficiently tracked using high-throughput technologies that follow the gradual changes observed in the gene expression profiles by employing Shannon's mathematical theory of communication. Methods based on Information Theory can then quantify the divergence of cancer cells' transcriptional profiles from those of normally appearing cells of the originating tissues. The relevance of the proposed methods can be evaluated using microarray datasets available in the public domain but the method is in principle applicable to other high-throughput methods. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using melanoma and prostate cancer datasets we illustrate how it is possible to employ Shannon Entropy and the Jensen-Shannon divergence to trace the transcriptional changes progression of the disease. We establish how the variations of these two measures correlate with established biomarkers of cancer progression. The Information Theory measures allow us to identify novel biomarkers for both progressive and relatively more sudden transcriptional changes leading to malignant phenotypes. At the same time, the methodology was able to validate a large number of genes and processes that seem to be implicated in the progression of melanoma and prostate cancer. Conclusions/Significance: We thus present a quantitative guiding rule, a new unifying hallmark of cancer: the cancer cell's transcriptome changes lead to measurable observed transitions of Normalized Shannon Entropy values (as measured by high-throughput technologies). At the same time, tumor cells increment their divergence from the normal tissue profile increasing their disorder via creation of states that we might not directly measure. This unifying hallmark allows, via the the Jensen-Shannon divergence, to identify the arrow of time of the processes from the gene expression profiles, and helps to map the phenotypical and molecular hallmarks of specific cancer subtypes. The deep mathematical basis of the approach allows us to suggest that this principle is, hopefully, of general applicability for other diseases

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017) includes a comprehensive assessment of incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) for 354 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Previous GBD studies have shown how the decline of mortality rates from 1990 to 2016 has led to an increase in life expectancy, an ageing global population, and an expansion of the non-fatal burden of disease and injury. These studies have also shown how a substantial portion of the world's population experiences non-fatal health loss with considerable heterogeneity among different causes, locations, ages, and sexes. Ongoing objectives of the GBD study include increasing the level of estimation detail, improving analytical strategies, and increasing the amount of high-quality data. Methods: We estimated incidence and prevalence for 354 diseases and injuries and 3484 sequelae. We used an updated and extensive body of literature studies, survey data, surveillance data, inpatient admission records, outpatient visit records, and health insurance claims, and additionally used results from cause of death models to inform estimates using a total of 68 781 data sources. Newly available clinical data from India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, China, Brazil, Norway, and Italy were incorporated, as well as updated claims data from the USA and new claims data from Taiwan (province of China) and Singapore. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, as the main method of estimation, ensuring consistency between rates of incidence, prevalence, remission, and cause of death for each condition. YLDs were estimated as the product of a prevalence estimate and a disability weight for health states of each mutually exclusive sequela, adjusted for comorbidity. We updated the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary development indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Additionally, we calculated differences between male and female YLDs to identify divergent trends across sexes. GBD 2017 complies with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting. Findings: Globally, for females, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and haemoglobinopathies and haemolytic anaemias in both 1990 and 2017. For males, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and tuberculosis including latent tuberculosis infection in both 1990 and 2017. In terms of YLDs, low back pain, headache disorders, and dietary iron deficiency were the leading Level 3 causes of YLD counts in 1990, whereas low back pain, headache disorders, and depressive disorders were the leading causes in 2017 for both sexes combined. All-cause age-standardised YLD rates decreased by 3·9% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3·1-4·6) from 1990 to 2017; however, the all-age YLD rate increased by 7·2% (6·0-8·4) while the total sum of global YLDs increased from 562 million (421-723) to 853 million (642-1100). The increases for males and females were similar, with increases in all-age YLD rates of 7·9% (6·6-9·2) for males and 6·5% (5·4-7·7) for females. We found significant differences between males and females in terms of age-standardised prevalence estimates for multiple causes. The causes with the greatest relative differences between sexes in 2017 included substance use disorders (3018 cases [95% UI 2782-3252] per 100 000 in males vs 1400 [1279-1524] per 100 000 in females), transport injuries (3322 [3082-3583] vs 2336 [2154-2535]), and self-harm and interpersonal violence (3265 [2943-3630] vs 5643 [5057-6302]). Interpretation: Global all-cause age-standardised YLD rates have improved only slightly over a period spanning nearly three decades. However, the magnitude of the non-fatal disease burden has expanded globally, with increasing numbers of people who have a wide spectrum of conditions. A subset of conditions has remained globally pervasive since 1990, whereas other conditions have displayed more dynamic trends, with different ages, sexes, and geographies across the globe experiencing varying burdens and trends of health loss. This study emphasises how global improvements in premature mortality for select conditions have led to older populations with complex and potentially expensive diseases, yet also highlights global achievements in certain domains of disease and injury