DIAMOnDS - DIstributed Agents for MObile & Dynamic Services

Distributed Services Architecture with support for mobile agents between services, offer significantly improved communication and computational flexibility. The uses of agents allow execution of complex operations that involve large amounts of data to be processed effectively using distributed resources. The prototype system Distributed Agents for Mobile and Dynamic Services (DIAMOnDS), allows a service to send agents on its behalf, to other services, to perform data manipulation and processing. Agents have been implemented as mobile services that are discovered using the Jini Lookup mechanism and used by other services for task management and communication. Agents provide proxies for interaction with other services as well as specific GUI to monitor and control the agent activity. Thus agents acting on behalf of one service cooperate with other services to carry out a job, providing inter-operation of loosely coupled services in a semi-autonomous way. Remote file system access functionality has been incorporated by the agent framework and allows services to dynamically share and browse the file system resources of hosts, running the services. Generic database access functionality has been implemented in the mobile agent framework that allows performing complex data mining and processing operations efficiently in distributed system. A basic data searching agent is also implemented that performs a query based search in a file system. The testing of the framework was carried out on WAN by moving Connectivity Test agents between AgentStations in CERN, Switzerland and NUST, Pakistan.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, CHEP03, La Jolla, California, March 24-28, 200

Steroid Injection as an Effective Treatment for Lateral Epicondylitis

Methods: In this case control study 70 patients with lateral epicondylitis with no previous history of trauma, surgery around elbow joint or previous history of steroid injection were included. Patients were given local steroid injection after preparing the area with an antiseptic solution. The most tender point was localized and 40 mg methyl-prednisolone solution mixed with one ml of 2% xylocaine solution was infiltrated. Patients were followed up at six weeks for the evaluation of global improvement in symptoms using Likert-type scale. Results:The mean age of the sample was 43 years. 42 patients were in the age group of 41-50 years. Majority (81.4%) patients were females. Most of the patients (81.4%) scored 1 and 2 on Linkert type scale, showing global improvement. Nine patients improved with the second dose of steroid injection making cumulative efficacy to 94%. Conclusion: Local steroid infiltration is an effective method of relieving pain and improving function in patients with tennis elbowBackground: To determine efficacy of local steroid infiltration in patients with lateral epicondylit

Evaluation of bla SHV, bla TEM and bla OXA encoding Clinical Isolates from Chronic Tonsillitis using Phenotypic and Molecular Technique: First report from Pakistan

Objective: To evaluate bla SHV, bla TEM and bla OXA encoding clinical isolates in chronic tonsillitis using phenotypic and molecular techniques.Place and Duration:  The study was conducted in Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Punjab, Lahore from August 2016 to August 2017.Methodology: Sample processing, identification and characterization of isolates was done by using (CLSI, 2016) criteria. Antibiotic susceptibility testing by using disc diffusion assay and biofilm forming ability was analyzed by ring test and slime production test. Combination disc test was used for phenotypic detection of antibiotic resistance genes. Multiplex-PCR assay was used to check the presence of bla SHV, bla TEM and bla OXA genes. 16S rRNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis was performed.Results: Here, variable resistance pattern was observed against applied antibiotics. 100 % resistance towards azotreonam and penicillin was observed. While 60-85 % resistances were observed against cephalosporins. Biofilm formation increased with the passage of time. 77% strains indicated positive combination disc test. Multiplex-PCR indicated 60% strains harbored tested genes. 40 % bla SHV genes, 30 % bla TEM genes and 60% bla OXA genes were observed among selected isolates. GenBank Accession number obtained for Klebsiella pneumoniae was KY810693 and for S. aureus was KY810692.Conclusion: In conclusion, K. pneumoniae and S. aureus came out to be common causative agents of tonsillitis in the current study. Resistance towards multiple classes of antibiotics and strong biofilms of these micro-organisms explain the chronicity and recurrent nature of the infection. bla OXA genes were frequent among genes tested

Changing trends of pyogenic microorganisms in a tertiary care hospital

Objective: To determine the predominant microorganisms responsible for pyogenic infections and prospective monitoring of the changing trends in their antibiotic susceptibility profile. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted at the Department of Microbiology, Rawal Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad, from April 2015 to February 2016. Pus and pus swab samples were randomly collected from different body sites both from the males and females from any age group. Patients who were already taking antibiotics, those on steroids or suffering from chronic illnesses were excluded from the study. Inoculation of the samples on the respective culture media was done followed by Gram stain, biochemical reactions and antibiotic susceptibility testing carried out by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method and its interpretation as per Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Data was collected on preformed table and analysis was done by using SPSS version 21. Results: 127 pus samples were analyzed, out of which 103 yielded a positive culture. Staphylococcus aureus/Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was the commonest organism among the Gram positive organisms which showed maximum susceptibility to vancomycin (100%) and Linezolid (92%). Among the Gram negative organisms Escherichia coli was the commonest followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other organisms. Conclusion:  The changing trends of pyogenic organisms have to be monitored prospectively to counter the global epidemic and to detect the constantly increasing burden of antibiotic resistance leading to it

Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection: A Case Series of 9 Patients With Literature Review.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is an increasingly recognized nonatherosclerotic cause of acute coronary syndrome. Reports regarding the prognosis and natural history of this disease are limited. In addition to the diagnostic difficulty, this condition poses a significant therapeutic challenge due to the lack of specific management guidelines. We present here a case series of 9 patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection. Additionally, this article reviews the incidence, clinical characteristics, risk factors, diagnostic modalities, therapeutic approaches, and patterns of recurrence in patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection

Histomorphological changes in gonads of Clupisoma naziri during spring and summer season

Present study was conducted to analyse the effect of breeding and non-breeding seasons on histomorphological changes in gonads of Clupisoma naziri. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Punjab, Pakistan, 43 mature fish of both sexes were gathered from the Indus River and its tributaries. In the non-breeding season (spring), both testis and ovaries went through a preparatory phase, with thick tunica albuginea and fast spermatogenesis in testes and the formation of cortical alveoli or yolk vesicles in the cortex of the cytoplasm in ovaries. The testicular lobules were loaded with spermatozoa and some spermatogenic cells during breeding season (summer), while the ovaries were filled with mature ovarian follicles. The breeding season is marked by spermatozoa leaking freely from testes and ovaries brimming with completely mature eggs. The gonadosomatic (GSI) results are consistent with the histomorphological results of gonads, as their values peak during breeding season and drop during non-breeding season. C. naziri breeds once a year during the summer season, according to the current study, and this information will aid aqua breeders in the culturing of this commercially significant catfish in Pakistan

Recombinant deoxyribonucleoside kinase from Drosophila melanogaster can improve gemcitabine based combined gene/chemotherapy for targeting cancer cells

A recombinant deoxyribonucleoside kinase from Drosophila melanogaster with a deletion of the last 20 amino acid residues (named DmdNKΔC20) was hypothesized as a potential therapeutic tool for gene therapy due to its broad substrate specificity and better catalytic efficiency towards nucleosides and nucleoside analogs. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of DmdNKΔC20 for sensitizing human cancer cell lines towards gemcitabine and to further investigate its role in reversal of acquired drug resistance in gemcitabine-resistant cancer cell line. The DmdNKΔC20 gene was delivered to three different cancer cell lines, including breast, colon and liver cancer cells, using lipid-mediated transfection reagent. After transfection, gene expression of DmdNKΔC20 was confirmed by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and the combined effect of DmdNKΔC20 and gemcitabine based cytotoxicity was observed by cell viability assay. We further evolved a gemcitabine-resistant breast cancer cell line (named MCF7-R) through directed evolution in the laboratory, which showed 375-fold more resistance compared to parental MCF7 cells. Upon transfection with DmdNKΔC20 gene, MCF7-R cells showed 83-fold higher sensitivity to gemcitabine compared to the control group of MCF7-R cells. Moreover, we observed 79% higher expression of p21 protein in transfected MCF7-R cells, which may indicate induction of apoptosis. Our findings highlight the importance and therapeutic potential of DmdNKΔC20 in combined gene/chemotherapy approach to target a wide range of cancers, particularly gemcitabine-resistant cancers