Role of micronized progesterone in prevention of preterm labour in women with previous history of one or more preterm births: a research study at a tertiary care hospital

Background: According to the WHO, 3 million newborns die each year due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth and 99% of these deaths occur in the developing countries. Preterm birth is a leading cause of neonatal and infant mortality as well as short and long term disability. The mechanism responsible for preterm labour are not exactly known, may be multifactorial and preventable with timely and appropriate treatment.Methods: This was a prospective double blinded randomized placebo controlled study conducted in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Kamla Nehru State hospital for mother and child, Shimla. Total 80 patients with asymptomatic high risk singleton pregnancy between 24-28 weeks were included in the study. They were randomly allotted to receive either the progesterone tablet 100 mg intravaginally (Study group) or an identical looking placebo (Control group).Thus both the groups included 40 subjects each. The treatment was continued till 34 weeks of gestation or till PROM/ delivery, whichever was earlier. Method of termination, gestational age at time of delivery, mode and type of delivery, birth weight, apgar score, maternal and perinatal outcome were noted and compared in both groups. All the parameters were statistically analysed by mean + S.D, proportion, frequency, chi-square test. Percentage reduction in the quantitative variables was calculated using the formula of (n-t)/n x100.Results: The incidence of preterm deliveries in the present study was found to be 9.88%. Both the groups were comparable in respect of age, parity, BMI, socioeconomic status, occupation and gestational age at first antenatal visit. There was similarity in both groups in respect to number of previous preterm deliveries and cervical length. The incidence of preterm delivery in the study group was 12.5% and in the control group was 35%.Conclusions: The study concluded that progesterone use was associated with 64.2% reduction in the incidence of preterm delivery (p=0.029).Antenatal administration of progesterone reduces the risk of preterm birth before 37 weeks and 34 weeks as well as the risk of a newborn being born with a birth weight of less than 2500 gms

A Research Update: Significance of Cytokine Storm and Diaphragm in COVID-19

Emerging research on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) shows that it is spreading to multiple organs in addition to the respiratory system. Though the SARS-CoV2 enters the human body by binding to ACE2 receptors on pulmonary alveolar cells, recent studies indicate that it is spreading to the central nervous system, cardiac and skeletal muscles leading to various pathological conditions in these organs. In particular, the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on triggering the cytokine storm and its consequential effects on skeletal muscles has generated a lot of discussion. The effects of this virus on muscular function especially in susceptible elderly populations is still being explored. However, its effects on diaphragm, a respiratory muscle which plays an important role in determining lung capacity are not completely explored. Currently, as new evidence on using lung ultrasounds to confirm COVID-19 diagnosis is gaining traction, it is necessary to explore the role of diaphragm in treating COVID-19 patients. This article will review the effects of cytokine storm triggered by the SARS- CoV-2 and its resultant effects on skeletal muscle with a specific focus on the diaphragm in order to identify knowledge gaps in effectively treating COVID-19 patients, especially those who are on a mechanical ventilator

Comparative Cytotoxic Effect Of Methanolic Extract Of Cinnamon Zeylanicum Bark With Commercial Trans Cinnamaldehyde In Animal Cell Culture

A comparison of the cytotoxic effects of methanolic cinnamon extract (MCE) from the bark of Cinnamon zeylanicum L. (Lauraceae) and commercially available cinnamaldehyde was carried out using mouse cell line (C2C12). The bark of Cinnamon zeylanicum was extracted in 50% methanol and trans cinnamaldehyde was procured commercially. Methanolic cinnamon extract (MCE) is highly concentrated as a result showing 50% cell cytotoxicity to C2C12 cells at concentration 100 μg/ml than commercial cinnamaldehyde at 66.08 μg/ml

A retrospective study of 72 cases diagnosed with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia in indian populace

Context: Trigeminal neuralgia is as a chronic, debilitating condition, which can have a major impact on quality of life. There are few reports of trigeminal neuralgia in oriental populations. Objectives: To evaluate the retrospective data of the patients diagnosed with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia and to understanding the disorder in the Indian populace. Methods: The retrospective data of 72 patients with typical idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia regarding age of onset, gender, site of involvement, clinical presentations and treatment received during three years of the follow up was collected and analyzed. Results: In the present retrospective study, the mean age was 54.9 years; female to male ratio was 2.13:1; rural to urban ratio 1.76:1 with 62.5% suffered trigeminal neuralgic pain on the right side. Carbamazepine was found to be highly effective in 60.8% of the cases on long-term basis with maintenance doses. Other treatment modalities were employed in more refractory cases including add-on of gabapentin, which relieved the symptoms for an additional duration of 13±3months. The neurolytic alcohol bloc was given in 30% of patients who stopped responding to com - bination of carbamazepine and gabapentin and relieved pain for a mean duration of 17.25±2.95 months. Twenty three percent of the patients (23%) required peripheral neurectomy. Conclusions: Carbamazepine was found to be highly effective in trigeminal neuralgia. Other treatment modality includes add-on of gabapentin, neurolytic alcohol blocs and peripheral surgical intervention in more refractory cases. Only limited cases needed further neurological consideration

Influence of Malnutrition on Adverse Outcome in Children with Confirmed or Probable Viral Encephalitis: A Prospective Observational Study

to explore the independent predictors of adverse outcome in the patients with confirmed/probable viral encephalitis. The primary outcome variable was the incidence of adverse outcomes defined as death or severe neurological deficit such as loss of speech, motor deficits, behavioural problems, blindness, and cognitive impairment. Patients with confirmed or probable viral encephalitis were classified into two groups based on their -score of weight-for-age as per WHO growth charts. Group I. Patients with confirmed or probable viral encephalitis with weight-for-age (W/A) -scores below −2SD were classified as undernourished. Group II. Patients with confirmed or probable viral encephalitis were classified as having normal nutritional status (weight-for-age -score >−2SD). A total of 114 patients were classified as confirmed or probable viral encephalitis based on detailed investigations. On multivariate logistic regression, undernutrition (adjusted OR: 5.05; 95% CI: 1.92 to 13.44) and requirement of ventilation (adjusted OR: 6.75; 95% CI: 3.63 to 77.34) were independent predictors of adverse outcomes in these patients. Thus, the results from our study highlight that the association between undernutrition and adverse outcome could be extended to the patients with confirmed/probable viral encephalitis

Clinical sequencing identifies potential actionable alterations in a high rate of urachal and primary bladder adenocarcinomas.

OBJECTIVE Administration of targeted therapies provides a promising treatment strategy for urachal adenocarcinoma (UrC) or primary bladder adenocarcinoma (PBAC); however, the selection of appropriate drugs remains difficult. Here, we aimed to establish a routine compatible methodological pipeline for the identification of the most important therapeutic targets and potentially effective drugs for UrC and PBAC. METHODS Next-generation sequencing, using a 161 cancer driver gene panel, was performed on 41 UrC and 13 PBAC samples. Clinically relevant alterations were filtered, and therapeutic interpretation was performed by in silico evaluation of drug-gene interactions. RESULTS After data processing, 45/54 samples passed the quality control. Sequencing analysis revealed 191 pathogenic mutations in 68 genes. The most frequent gain-of-function mutations in UrC were found in KRAS (33%), and MYC (15%), while in PBAC KRAS (25%), MYC (25%), FLT3 (17%) and TERT (17%) were recurrently affected. The most frequently affected pathways were the cell cycle regulation, and the DNA damage control pathway. Actionable mutations with at least one available approved drug were identified in 31/33 (94%) UrC and 8/12 (67%) PBAC patients. CONCLUSIONS In this study, we developed a data-processing pipeline for the detection and therapeutic interpretation of genetic alterations in two rare cancers. Our analyses revealed actionable mutations in a high rate of cases, suggesting that this approach is a potentially feasible strategy for both UrC and PBAC treatments

Pitfalls in machine learning‐based assessment of tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer: a report of the international immuno‐oncology biomarker working group

The clinical significance of the tumor-immune interaction in breast cancer (BC) has been well established, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have emerged as a predictive and prognostic biomarker for patients with triple-negative (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2 negative) breast cancer (TNBC) and HER2-positive breast cancer. How computational assessment of TILs can complement manual TIL-assessment in trial- and daily practices is currently debated and still unclear. Recent efforts to use machine learning (ML) for the automated evaluation of TILs show promising results. We review state-of-the-art approaches and identify pitfalls and challenges by studying the root cause of ML discordances in comparison to manual TILs quantification. We categorize our findings into four main topics; (i) technical slide issues, (ii) ML and image analysis aspects, (iii) data challenges, and (iv) validation issues. The main reason for discordant assessments is the inclusion of false-positive areas or cells identified by performance on certain tissue patterns, or design choices in the computational implementation. To aid the adoption of ML in TILs assessment, we provide an in-depth discussion of ML and image analysis including validation issues that need to be considered before reliable computational reporting of TILs can be incorporated into the trial- and routine clinical management of patients with TNBC

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI