Anomaly of the biliopancreatic junction with associated hepatic duct anomaly – a rare case report

Pancreaticobiliary maljunction (PBM) or anomaly is defined as an anatomical maljunction of the biliary duct and pancreatic duct outside of the duodenal wall beyond the influence of the sphincter of Oddi. Children with this anomaly can present with choledochal cyst with recurrent attacks of acute pancreatitis, and condition can be worse when not treated appropriately. Pancreaticobiliary maljunction or anomaly is considered to be a major risk factor for biliary tract cancer. In patients with this anomaly, free reflux of pancreatic juice into biliary tract may cause biliary tract damage, resulting biliary malignancy can occur. Therefore, in this condition total excision of the extrahepatic bile duct with hepaticojejunostomy is recommended. Early diagnosis of this condition and early surgical treatment is the mainstay to prevent further complications. Proper follow-up is necessary to detect biliary tract malignancy in early post-operative period, especially in patients demonstrating post-operative complications. Here we are describing a young boy with an abnormal pancreaticobiliary junction (PBM) with choledochal cyst associated with hepatic duct anomaly and biliary and pancreatic stones causing recurrent attack of acute pancreatitis

ADAPTATION OF DOMAIN-SPECIFIC TRANSFORMER MODELS WITH TEXT OVERSAMPLING FOR SENTIMENT ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS ON COVID-19 VACCINE

Covid-19 has spread across the world and many different vaccines have been developed to counter its surge. To identify the correct sentiments associated with the vaccines from social media posts, this paper aims to fine-tune pre-trained transformer models on tweets associated with different Covid vaccines, specifically RoBERTa, XLNet and BERT which are recently introduced state-of-the-art bi-directional transformer models, and domain-specific transformer models BERTweet and CT-BERT that are pre-trained on Covid-19 tweets. We further explore the option of data augmentation by text oversampling using LMOTE to improve the accuracies of these models, specifically, for small sample datasets where there is an imbalanced class distribution among the positive, negative and neutral sentiment classes. Our results summarize our findings on the suitability of text oversampling for imbalanced, small sample datasets that are used to fine-tune state-of-the-art pre-trained transformer models, and the utility of having domain-specific transformer models for the classification task

Adaptation of domain-specific transformer models with text oversampling for sentiment analysis of social media posts on Covid-19 vaccines

Covid-19 has spread across the world and several vaccines have been developed to counter its surge. To identify the correct sentiments associated with the vaccines from social media posts, we fine-tune various state-of-the-art pre-trained transformer models on tweets associated with Covid-19 vaccines. Specifically, we use the recently introduced state-of-the-art pre-trained transformer models RoBERTa, XLNet and BERT, and the domain-specific transformer models CT-BERT and BERTweet that are pre-trained on Covid-19 tweets. We further explore the option of text augmentation by oversampling using Language Model based Oversampling Technique (LMOTE) to improve the accuracies of these models, specifically, for small sample datasets where there is an imbalanced class distribution among the positive, negative and neutral sentiment classes. Our results summarize our findings on the suitability of text oversampling for imbalanced small sample datasets that are used to fine-tune state-of-the-art pre-trained transformer models, and the utility of domain-specific transformer models for the classification task.Comment: The paper has been accepted for publication in Computer Science journal: http://journals.agh.edu.pl/csc

Evaluation of commercial probiotic lactic cultures against biofilm formation by

Background/Aims Cronobacter sakazakii, an emergent pathogen is considered as a major concern to infants and neonates fed on reconstituted powdered infant milk formula. In conjunction with many other factors, biofilm forming capacity adds to its pathogenic potential. In view of the facts that infants are at highest risk to C. sakazakii infections, and emerging antibiotic resistance among pathogens, it is imperative to evaluate probiotic cultures for their efficacy against C. sakazakii. Therefore, pure probiotic strains were isolated from commercial probiotic products and tested for their antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activities against C. sakazakii. Methods A total of 6 probiotic strains were tested for their antibiotic susceptibility followed by antimicrobial activity using cell-free supernatant (CFS) against C. sakazakii. The inhibitory activity of CFS against biofilm formation by C. sakazakii was determined using standard crystal violet assay and microscopic observations. Results All the probiotic strains were sensitive to ampicillin, tetracycline, vancomycin and carbenicillin whereas most of the strains were resistant to erythromycin and novobiocin. Four of the 6 probiotic derived CFS possessed antimicrobial activity against C. sakazakii at a level of 40 μL. A higher biofilm inhibitory activity (>80%) was observed at initial stages of biofilm formation with weaker activity during longer incubation upto 48 hours (50%–60%). Conclusions The study indicated the efficacy of isolated commercial probiotics strains as potential inhibitor of biofilm formation by C. sakazakii and could be further explored for novel bioactive molecules to limit the emerging infections of C. sakazakii

Fresh Autologous Pericardium to Reconstruct the Pulmonary Valve at the Annulus When Tetralogy of Fallot Requires a Transannular Patch at Midterm

Tetralogy of Fallot often requires reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract with a transannular patch (TAP), but this renders the pulmonary valve incompetent and eventually leads to right ventricular dysfunction. We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of a reconstructed pulmonary valve and annulus in 70 patients who underwent, from December 2006 through December 2010, complete correction of tetralogy of Fallot. We divided the 70 patients into 2 groups in accordance with whether they required (n=50) or did not require (n=20) a TAP. We used autologous untreated pericardium to fashion the TAP and to create both an annulus of the correct size and a competent pulmonary valve with native leaflets. We evaluated the efficiency of this procedure both functionally and anatomically. The median age of the patients was 11 years (range, 2–38 yr). There were 56 males, with no significant difference in sexual distribution between groups. The clinical follow-up was 88% for 57.5 months, and the echocardiographic follow-up was 80% for 36 months. There was no significant difference in outflow gradient or in the occurrence of pulmonary insufficiency between the TAP group (none, 31; mild, 12; moderate, 6; and severe, 1) and the No-TAP group (none, 16; moderate, 2; and severe, 2) (P=0.59). Nor was there any thickening or calcification in the constructed valves. We conclude that pulmonary valves constructed of untreated autologous pericardium performed as well as native valves after total tetralogy of Fallot correction at midterm

SPONTANEOUS BILOMA: REPORT OF TWO CASES WITH REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION Biloma is the collection of bile outside the biliary tree and can be intra or extra hepatic. It is most commonly iatrogenic, secondary to surgery or percutaneous transhepatic procedures or secondary to abdominal trauma. Spontaneous bilomas are very rarely described in the literature. CASE REPORT A 32 years old female presented as lump abdomen in epigastric region. Blood investigations were normal. Chest radiographs were unremarkable. Ultrasound examination revealed two cystic lesion in relation to left lobe of liver and cholelithiasis with choledocholithiasis. Ultrasound guided pigtail catheter drainage of the collection was done. ERCP failed to manage the choledocholithiasis. CBD exploration with choledocholithotomy and T-tube drainage and cholecystectomy was done. The postoperative period was uneventful, and the T-tube was removed on the 10th day after a normal T-tube cholangiogram. CASE 2 32 year old female admitted in emergency with complain of acute pain in abdomen since 2 days. Ultrasound shows contracted gallbladder withstone along with focal collection in perihepatic and peri gallbladder region extending into subcutaneous plane with cbd stone.. Ultrasound guided pigtail catheter drainage of the collection was done. After 5 days she underwent ERCP by which cbd stones were cleared. Elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy was done. CONCLUSION A high index of clinical suspicion is necessary for prompt recognition and its proper management. Percutaneous treatment should be considered as the first-line option for patients with spontaneous biloma. In cases of persistent bile leaks, endoscopic biliary drainage and endoscopic sphincterotomy with or without stent placement should be performed. Surgery is now performed only in cases with a persistent bile leak or for treatment of an underlying disease

Adaptation of domain-specific transformer models with text oversampling for sentiment analysis of social media posts on Covid-19 vaccine

Covid-19 has spread across the world and many different vaccines have been developed to counter its surge. To identify the correct sentiments associated with the vaccines from social media posts, we fine-tune various state-of-the-art pretrained transformer models on tweets associated with Covid-19 vaccines. Specifically, we use the recently introduced state-of-the-art RoBERTa, XLNet, and BERT pre-trained transformer models, and the domain-specific CT-BER and BERTweet transformer models that have been pre-trained on Covid-19 tweets. We further explore the option of text augmentation by oversampling using the language model-based oversampling technique (LMOTE) to improve the accuracies of these models - specifically, for small sample data sets where there is an imbalanced class distribution among the positive, negative and neutral sentiment classes. Our results summarize our findings on the suitability of text oversampling for imbalanced, small-sample data sets that are used to fine-tune state-of-the-art pre-trained transformer models as well as the utility of domain-specific transformer models for the classification task

Superficial acral fibromyxoma: A rare and distinct clinicopathological entity: A case report and review of literature

Superficial acral fibromyxoma (SAF) is a rare, slow growing soft tissue tumor which was first described as a separate entity in 2001 by Fetsch et al. The tumor involves periungual and subungual regions of fingers and toes in middle aged adults with slight male predominance. Not many cases have been reported worldwide. To the best of our knowledge, only a couple of such cases have been reported earlier in Indian population. Superficial acral fibromyxoma has a recurrence rate of 25%. Local recurrence is almost always associated with positive margins. Malignant or metastatic behaviour has not been reported as yet. Since the tumor has a tendency to recur, it is beneficial to make a pre-operative provisional diagnosis and do wide surgical excision with tumor free margins and keep the patient on regular follow up

Screening of Chronic Kidney Disease in Adults: A 10 years' Experience in North Indian City on World Kidney Day

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complex disease that is asymptomatic in its early stages. Its delayed recognition may predispose patients to adverse outcomes. Early detection and management of kidney disease through screening programs is widely recommended. In the present study, we conducted a screening program at a hospital set up on World Kidney Day for 10 years to detect patients with CKD. The current study constituted 1324 apparently healthy adults, aged >18 years. Information on age, sex, height, weight, history of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN), and familial history of kidney disease was recorded. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, random blood sugar; urinalysis, and serum creatinine (Cr) levels were measured. The study outcome was the presence of CKD. Binary logistic regression analysis was applied to find the predictors of CKD. The median age of the study subjects was 40 years. CKD was found in 35.6% of subjects. Age, DM, HTN, and abnormal Cr levels were associated with increasing risk of CKD. The main objective of the present study was to identify the extent of risk relative to the co-factors of CKD and thereby target those who are potentially modifiable, like DM, to intervene at the earliest possible stage to treat the current disease condition and prevent the future health impairment

An in vivo evaluation of the clinical success rates of mineral trioxide aggregate and formocresol in pulp therapies of deciduous teeth- an original research study

This in vivo study was conducted to evaluate the clinical success rates of mineral trioxide aggregate and formocresol in pulp therapies of deciduous teeth. Total 40 patients were studied including male and female patients in the age range of 5 to 8 years. One deciduous decayed molar per patient evaluated. Pulpotomy was endeavored very cautiously to avoid any post operative complications. Group 1 has 20 deciduous molars treated with formocresol whereas Group 2 has 20 deciduous molars treated with mineral trioxide aggregate. Patients were reevaluated for clinical and radiographic outcomes in their post operative phases at different timings. Date and other details were subjected to basic statistical analysis. P value less than 0.05 considered as significant (p<0.05). Results confirmed that in the age group of 5 years, there were 6 male and 4 female patients. P value was highly significant for that (0.01). In addition, p value was highly significant (0.01) for evaluation done at 10 months post operative phase in group 1. P value was very significant (0.02) for evaluation done at 10 months post operative phase in group 2