Outcomes of Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis Admitted to a Tertiary Care Hospital with COVID-19

Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic has caused a disastrous world health crisis. The patients with renal disease, particularly those who are receiving regular dialysis therapy have elevated risk of COVID-19 infection-associated complications as well as poor prognosis including enhanced risk of hospital admission, mechanical ventilation and mortality.Objective: The objective of the study is to assess the outcomes of patients on maintenance dialysis admitted to a tertiary care hospital with COVID-19.Material and Methods: This retrospective study was performed in a Tertiary Care Hospital from March 2020 to August 2020. A total of 44 patients were included in the study. Data collected through questionnaire was analyzed using the computer software SPSS 24.0. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical data while mean+SD was calculated for quantitative data.Results: Among 44 patients, 63.6% were males and the mean age was 46.86+12.413 years. Mean number of dialysis were 3.57+2.214. The mean ferritin level was 2067.05+788.412 ng/ml and mean C-reactive protein level was 111.59+32.998 mg/L. Among these patients, 65.9% were discharged and 34.1% patients expired.Conclusion: Study concluded that elevated levels of inflammatory markers such as ferritin and CRP are found among patients on maintenance dialysis with COVID-19

Diagnostic accuracy of contrast enhanced MRI pelvis in differentiating indeterminate adnexal lesions into benign and malignant with histopathological correlation

Background: The objective of our study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging pelvis in differentiating indeterminate adnexal lesions into benign and malignant, while considering histopathological examinations as the gold standard.Methods: A total 880 patients who underwent contrast enhanced MRI pelvis in our institute from January 2014 to June 2016 were prospectively analyzed.Results: A total of 880 women were included in this study, of which 782 (88.8%) were younger than 50 years and 98 (11.1%) were older than 50 years. Mean patient age was 56.7 years and mean tumor size was 4.38 cm. There were 648 (73.60%) patients who had a tumor size of >4 cm, and 337 (38.29%) of these tumors were found to be malignant. Furthermore, tumors smaller than 4 cm in size were observed in 232 (26.36%) of patients, of which tumors in 225 (25.56%) patients were benign.Conclusions: The diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced MRI was found to be significantly high (79.65%) in differentiating indeterminate adnexal lesions into benign and malignant lesions

Stability-indicating HPLC-PDA assay for simultaneous determination of paracetamol, thiamine and pyridoxal phosphate in tablet formulations

With the increased number of multi-drug formulations, there is a need to develop new methods for simultaneous determinations of drugs. A precise, accurate and reliable liquid chromatographic method was developed for simultaneous determination of paracetamol, thiamine, and pyridoxal phosphate in pharmaceutical formulations. Separation of analytes was carried out with an Agilent Poroshell C18 column. A mixture of ammonium phosphate buffer (pH = 3.0), acetonitrile and methanol in the ratio of 86:7:7 (V/V/V) was used as the mobile phase pumped at a flow rate of 1.8 mL min-1. Detection of all three components, impurities and degradation products was performed at the selected wavelength of 270 nm. The developed method was validated in terms of linearity, specificity, precision, accuracy, LOD and LOQ as per ICH guidelines. Linearity of the developed method was found in the range 17.5-30 µg mL–1 for thiamine, 35-60 µg mL–1 for pyridoxal phosphate and 87.5-150 µg mL–1 for paracetamol. The coefficient of determination was ≥0.9981 for all three analytes. The proposed HPLC method was found to be simple and reliable for the routine simultaneous analysis of paracetamol, thiamine and pyridoxal phosphate in tablet formulations. Complete separation of analytes in the presence of degradation products indicated selectivity of the method

Macroscopic Traffic Flow Characterization at Bottlenecks

Traffic congestion is a significant issue in urban areas. Realistic traffic flow models are crucial for understanding and mitigating congestion. Congestion occurs at bottlenecks where large changes in density occur. In this paper, a traffic flow model is proposed which characterizes traffic at the egress and ingress to bottlenecks. This model is based on driver response which includes driver reaction and traffic stimuli. Driver reaction is based on time headway and driver behavior which can be classified as sluggish, typical or aggressive. Traffic stimuli are affected by the transition width and changes in the equilibrium velocity distribution. The explicit upwind difference scheme is used to evaluate the Lighthill, Whitham, and Richards (LWR) and proposed models with a continuous injection of traffic into the system. A stability analysis of these models is given and both are evaluated over a road of length 10 km which has a bottleneck. The results obtained show that the behavior with the proposed model is more realistic than with the LWR model. This is because the LWR model cannot adequately characterize driver behavior during changes in traffic flow

Perovskite LaNiO3/Ag3PO4 heterojunction photocatalyst for the degradation of dyes

Pristine lanthanum nickelate (LaNiO3), silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) and perovskite lanthanum nickelate silver phosphate composites (LaNiO3/Ag3PO4) were prepared using the facile hydrothermal method. Three composites were synthesized by varying the percentage of LaNiO3 in Ag3PO4. The physical properties of as-prepared samples were studied by powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX). Among all synthesized photocatalysts, 5%LaNiO3/Ag3PO4 composite has been proved to be an excellent visible light photocatalyst for the degradation of dyes i.e., rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO). The photocatalytic activity and stability of Ag3PO4 were also enhanced by introducing LaNiO3 in Ag3PO4 heterojunction formation. Complete photodegradation of 50 mg/L of RhB and MO solutions using 25 mg of 5%LaNiO3/Ag3PO4 photocatalyst was observed in just 20 min. Photodegradation of RhB and MO using 5%LaNiO3/Ag3PO4 catalyst follows first-order kinetics with rate constants of 0.213 and 0.1804 min−1, respectively. Perovskite LaNiO3/Ag3PO4 photocatalyst showed the highest stability up to five cycles. The photodegradation mechanism suggests that the holes (h+) and superoxide anion radicals O2 •− plays a main role in the dye degradation of RhB and MO

Flow Injection Photosensitized Chemiluminescence of Luminol with Cu(II)-Rose Bengal: Mechanistic Approach and Vitamin A and C Determination

Rose Bengal photosensitized flow injection chemiluminescence method is reported using luminol-Cu(II) for the determination of vitamins A and C in pharmaceutical formulations. The reaction is based on the enhancement effect of analyte in the production of anion radicals of Rose Bengal (RB•−) which rapidly interact with dissolved oxygen and generate superoxide anions radicals (O2•−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (•OH) were produced via dismutation of H2O2 by catalyst (Cu2+). The generated superoxide anions radicals and hydroxyl radicals thus oxidize luminol in alkaline medium to generate strong chemiluminescence. The limit of detection (3s of the blank, n=6) of vitamins A and C and RB was found to be 0.008, 0.005, and 0.05 μg mL−1, respectively. The sample throughput of 70 h−1 for vitamins A and C and 30 h−1 for RB was found. Calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.05–15, 0.01–20, and 0.1–50 μg mL−1 for vitamins A and C and RB, respectively, with relative standard deviations (RSDs; n=3) in the range 1.6–3.6%. The method was successfully applied to pharmaceutical formulations and the results obtained were in good agreement with the labeled values

Salt Toxicity (Sodium Intake): A Serious Threat to Infants and Children of Pakistan.

Excess sodium intake can lead to hypertension, the primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the sodium and potassium contents of foodstuff used by infants and children of Pakistan.We analyzed the sodium and potassium contents of infant milk formula (6 months), baby food (cereals), biscuits, fruit juices, potato chips (crisps), cheese puffs, roasted cereals (salty), ice cream cones (kulfi) all of which are the processed food extensively used by the children. The amount of sodium and potassium contents in drinking water of few cities of Pakistan were also considered to assess the additional sodium/potassium in the preparation of milk using infant milk formula.Na to K ratio (Na:K) was determined 0.3-1.23, 0.3-1.16, 0.33-0.82, 0.54-2.68, 0.51-0.85, 2.86 and 1.02 for infant milk formula (6 months), baby food (cereals), biscuits, fruit juices, potato chips (crisps, cheese puffs, roasted cereals), ice cream cones (kulfi), respectively.The higher sodium content is present than most of the quoted values; whereas lower potassium is present than the recommended values. The higher Na:K ratio indicates the severity of the situation where it is commonly stated that "higher an individual's salt intake, the higher an individual's blood pressure". Present study indicates that nearly all Pakistani children consume substantially more salt than they need which will affect health status in later life