Gene Expression Modulation System for Use in Plants and Method for Modulating Gene Expression in Plants

An EcR-based gene expression modulation system for use in plants includes an EcR gene expression cassette, a modified RXR gene expression cassette, and a gene-of-interest expression cassette, which can be expressed in a host plant cell

SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO OPTIMIZE THE SIGNALING BETWEEN UPF AND SMF DURING HANDOFF AND EPS-INTERNETWORKING

Systems and methods are described herein for optimizing the signaling between a User Plane Function (UPF) and a Session Management Function (SMF) during Handoff (HO) and Evolved Packet System (EPS)-Interworking cases. The systems and methods may be employed to intimate End-Marker notification from a UPF to a Source Radio Access Network (Source-RAN) of a respective 4G/5G Access-Network. This is achieved by introducing Send End Marker Packets (SNDEM) flags in Remove FAR as part of an N4 Session Modification Request. The solution described herein is applicable where a SMF has selected the same or different UPF to interact with a target RAN (T-RAN) based on slice information provided by Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)

STUDIES ON APPLICATION OF PROSOLVE AS A DIRECT COMPRESSIBLE VEHICLE FOR IMPROVING THE DISSOLUTION RATE OF POORLY SOLUBLE DRUGS

Prosolve, a new directly compressible vehicle consists of microcrystalline cellulose (98%) and colloidal silicon dioxide (2%). Piroxicam (20 mg) tablets, celecoxib (100 mg) tablets and aceclofenac (100 mg) tablets were formulated employing prosolve and three super disintegrants namely pregelatinised starch, sodium starch glycolate and croscarmellose sodium by direct compression method with a view to enhance their dissolution rate. In the micromeritic evaluation microcrystalline cellulose and its blends with other tablet ingredients exhibited excellent to good flow needed for direct compression. All the tablets formulated employing prosolve fulfilled the Pharmacopoeial standards with regard to various tablet characters. These tablets also gave 2 to 5 fold increase in the dissolution rate when compared to commercial tablets. Among the three disintegrants sodium starch glycolate gave higher dissolution rates when compared with both pregelatinised starch and croscarmellose sodium

Comparing the personal oral hygiene practices among Government and Private school children of Mahabubnagar, Telangana state - A cross sectional study

Introduction: Oral health is fundamental to general health and well-being. A healthy mouth enables an individual to talk, eat, and socialize without experiencing active disease, discomfort, or embarrassment. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and oral hygiene practices of school children from both Government and Private schools in Mahabubnagar district. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 children aged 11–15 years were randomly selected from six Private and six Government schools. A questionnaire related to their personal and oral hygiene practices was distributed to the school children. Results: The results of this study showed thatmost respondents had a good knowledge of basic hygiene measures and positive attitude towards oral hygiene. The students of both schools exhibited poor oral hygiene practices but were significantly reported more in the Government school than in the Private schools (p<0.005). Majority of the respondents (91.3%) used a commercial toothbrush and toothpaste and half of them (50%) reported brushing twice a day. Two-third of the respondents (75%), had never visited a dental clinic. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the knowledge and oral hygiene practices of Government school children were less satisfactory in someaspects when compared to private school children.&nbsp

AUTOMATIC SYMMETRIC NETWORK ADDRESS TRANSLATION DISCOVERY AND TRAVERSE BETWEEN SOFTWARE-DEFINED WIDE AREA NETWORK EDGE DEVICES

The techniques presented herein relate to automatic network address translation (NAT) discovery and traverse for edge devices in a software-defined network in a wide area network (SD-WAN). More specifically, the techniques presented herein relate to techniques for automatic, symmetric NAT discovery and traverse between SD-WAN edge devices that ensure new branches can become part of an SD-WAN overlay network without explicit user (e.g., customer/administrator) involvement. Accordingly, and advantageously, the techniques presented herein can dynamically provide NAT-T hub connectivity for symmetric devices that can be used for service insertion of NAT-T functions. These techniques may vastly simplify SD-WAN deployment in diverse deployments and, thus, may provide significant business value

Inter-rater and intra-rater agreement in causality assessment of adverse drug reactions: a comparative study of WHO-UMC versus Naranjo scale

Background: The causality assessment system proposed by the WHO collaborating centre for international drug monitoring, the Uppsala monitoring centre (WHO-UMC) and the Naranjo probability scale are the generally accepted and most widely used methods for causality assessment. Both these scales are structured, transparent, consistent, and easy to apply with distinct advantages. The PvPI recommends use of WHO-UMC scale while many clinicians prefer Naranjo scale for its simplicity. As both these scales are used very widely in practise, it is important to study the level of agreement among them, to ensure proper interpretation of the causality assessment of the drugs. Objective was to study the inter-rater and intra-rater agreement in causality assessment of adverse drug reactions between WHO-UMC and Naranjo scale.Methods: A total of 200 cases were analyzed by three raters. Each ADR reporting form was analyzed by the raters independently using both the Naranjo scale and the WHO-UMC scale. The inter-rater and Intra-rater agreement of all the three raters was analyzed using kappa statistics.Results: The most common category of causality assessment was ‘possible’ which was around 73%, while the probable, definite and unlikely accounted for 23%, 3% and 1% respectively. The inter-rater agreement for the various categories of causality assessment when using Naranjo scale ranged from “very good to excellent” (Kappa value 0.95) while the same ranged from “good to very good” when the WHO-UMC scale was used (Kappa value 0.89) while the Intra-rater agreement for the three raters ranged from good to very good. The mean time (in minutes) taken for assessing the suspected adverse drug an ADR was 8. 26±2.53 for WHO-UMC scale while it was 14.18±3.44 when Naranjo scale was used.Conclusions: Both the WHO-UMC scale and Naranjo scale are reliable and valid tools for causality assessment but the Inter-rater agreement was slightly better with Naranjo as compared to WHO-UMC scale

Alagille-Watson syndrome

Alagille syndrome (AS) is also known as arteriohepatic dysplasia, Watson Miller syndrome, and syndromic bile duct paucity. It is rare autosomal dominant genetic syndrome with incidence of 1 in 100,000 live births. The major manifestations include paucity of interlobular bile ducts, characteristic facies, posterior embryotoxon, vertebral defects, and peripheral pulmonary stenosis. A developmentally normal 14-month-old male toddler born of a non-consanguineous marriage presented with progressive jaundice since 4 months of age and was associated with generalized pruritus, high-colored urine, and pale-colored stools. On examination, broad forehead, pointed chin, low-set eyes, xanthomas over the cheek, and posterior embryotoxon were noticed. Ultrasonography showed hepatomegaly and ectopic kidney, and blood investigations revealed anemia, conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, raised serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, and serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, with altered triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Liver biopsy revealed paucity of intrahepatic bile ducts and diagnosis of AS. The above case report stresses the need to look for any dysmorphic features in a case of neonatal cholestasis as AS, though rare, is a cause of neonatal cholestasis