System of Hodge Bundles and Generalized Opers on Smooth Projective Varieties

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of any characteristic. Let $X$ be a polarized irreducible smooth projective algebraic variety over $k$. We give criterion for semistability and stability of system of Hodge bundles on $X$. We define notion of generalized opers on $X$, and prove semistability of the Higgs bundle associated to generalized opers. We also show that existence of partial oper structure on a vector bundle $E$ together with a connection $\nabla$ over $X$ implies semistability of the pair $(E, \nabla)$.Comment: Typos corrected, acknowledgement added. To appear in the Journal of Geometry and Physic

Prescription audit in outpatient department of a teaching hospital of North East India

Background: Quality of the prescriptions generated from OPD of Agartala Government Medical College and Govinda Ballabh Pant Hospital is never assessed. The study objectives were to find out the quality in terms of legibility, completeness and adherence to WHO core prescribing indicators of the prescriptions generated from OPD of this hospital.Methods: This hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted during 11th to 16th December 2017 among 442 prescriptions picked up from 12 OPDs by multi stage sampling technique and examined using a checklist designed to assess adherence to WHO core prescribing indicators, legibility and completeness. Data entry and analysis were performed with computer using SPSS 15.0. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used to present data.Results: Total 1169 items were prescribed in 442 prescriptions. Only 50.90% prescriptions were legible. Average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 2.64, 223 (19.07%) were generic drugs, 14 (1.19%) were injections, 176 (15.05%) were antibiotics and 618 (52.86%) items were from the national essential drug list. History was written in 62.70%, findings were written in 52.70%, diagnosis was written in 40.00%, 87.80% prescriptions contained no review instructions, 84.60% contained complete directions to the pharmacist, 87.10% did not contain complete direction to the patients and signature section was incomplete in 99.80% of the prescriptions. Significantly higher proportions of the high ranked prescribers wrote generic items, review instructions and complete directions to the patients in their prescriptions (p < 0.05).Conclusions: Most of the prescriptions generated from OPD of Agartala Government Medical College and Govinda Ballabh Pant Hospital were found to be incomplete, about half of them were illegible and sizeable proportions did not adhere to the WHO core prescribing indicators

Bioactive Herbal Medicine Use for Eye Sight: A Meta Analysis

The use of chemical medications to treat eye conditions in a way that avoids causing harm is still a work in progress for modern medicine. Herbal remedies, however, may be able to solve the problems that conventional pharmaceuticals have. Given their efficacy, lack of adverse effects, and inexpensive cost, there have been extensive efforts to discover novel medicinal plants from various locations. Several plant species have been promoted in Traditional Indian Medicine for their ophthalmic effects, and it is estimated that around 200 plants worldwide have been documented to support therapy of eye problems. This review seeks to shed light on the history of using various plants to treat eye illnesses, the advantages and disadvantages of those approaches, and the advantages of modern medicine over those of the plants themselves. Based on the findings of this review, the most effective Ayurvedic preparations may be created by combining traditional knowledge with modern techniques and polymers

RAGE signaling contributes to neuroinflammation in infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis

AbstractPalmitoyl-protein thioesterase-1 (PPT1) deficiency causes infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL), a devastating childhood neurodegenerative storage disorder. We previously reported that neuronal apoptosis in INCL is mediated by endoplasmic reticulum-stress. ER-stress disrupts Ca2+-homeostasis and stimulates the expression of Ca2+-binding proteins. We report here that in the PPT1-deficient human and mouse brain the levels of S100B, a Ca2+-binding protein, and its receptor, RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end-products) are elevated. We further demonstrate that activation of RAGE signaling in astroglial cells mediates pro-inflammatory cytokine production, which is inhibited by SiRNA-mediated suppression of RAGE expression. We propose that RAGE signaling contributes to neuroinflammation in INCL

Magnetic-field sensitive charge density wave orders in the superconducting phase of UTe2

The intense interest in triplet superconductivity partly stems from theoretical predictions of exotic excitations such as non-abelian Majorana modes, chiral supercurrents, and half-quantum vortices. However, fundamentally new, and unexpected states may emerge when triplet superconductivity appears in a strongly correlated system. In this work we use scanning tunneling microscopy to reveal an unusual charge density wave (CDW) order in the heavy fermion triplet superconductor, UTe2. Our high-resolution maps reveal a multi-component incommensurate CDW whose intensity get weaker with increasing field, eventually disappearing at the superconducting critical field, Hc2. To explain the origin and phenomenology of this unusual CDW, we construct a Ginzburg-Landau theory for a uniform triplet superconductor coexisting with three triplet pair density wave (PDW) states. This theory gives rise to daughter CDWs which would be sensitive to magnetic field due to their origin in a triplet PDW state, and naturally explains our data. Our discovery of a CDW sensitive to magnetic fields and strongly intertwined with superconductivity, provides important new information for understanding the order parameter of UTe2 and uncovers the possible existence of a new kind of triplet PDW order which has not been previously explored.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

In a model of Batten disease, palmitoyl protein thioesterase-1 deficiency is associated with brown adipose tissue and thermoregulation abnormalities

Infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by a deficiency of palmitoyl-protein thioesterase-1 (PPT1). We have previously shown that children with INCL have increased risk of hypothermia during anesthesia and that PPT1-deficiency in mice is associated with disruption of adaptive energy metabolism, downregulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), and mitochondrial dysfunction. Here we hypothesized that Ppt1-knockout mice, a well-studied model of INCL that shows many of the neurologic manifestations of the disease, would recapitulate the thermoregulation impairment observed in children with INCL. We also hypothesized that when exposed to cold, Ppt1-knockout mice would be unable to maintain body temperature as in mice thermogenesis requires upregulation of Pgc-1α and uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp-1) in brown adipose tissue. We found that the Ppt1-KO mice had lower basal body temperature as they aged and developed hypothermia during cold exposure. Surprisingly, this inability to maintain body temperature during cold exposure in Ppt1-KO mice was associated with an adequate upregulation of Pgc-1α and Ucp-1 but with lower levels of sympathetic neurotransmitters in brown adipose tissue. In addition, during baseline conditions, brown adipose tissue of Ppt1-KO mice had less vacuolization (lipid droplets) compared to wild-type animals. After cold stress, wild-type animals had significant decreases whereas Ppt1-KO had insignificant changes in lipid droplets compared with baseline measurements, thus suggesting that Ppt1-KO had less lipolysis in response to cold stress. These results uncover a previously unknown phenotype associated with PPT1 deficiency, that of altered thermoregulation, which is associated with impaired lipolysis and neurotransmitter release to brown adipose tissue during cold exposure. These findings suggest that INCL should be added to the list of neurodegenerative diseases that are linked to alterations in peripheral metabolic processes. In addition, extrapolating these findings clinically, impaired thermoregulation and hypothermia are potential risks in patients with INCL

Maternal and neonatal serum zinc level and its relationship with neural tube defects

Neural tube defect (NTD) is a multi-factorial disorder in which nutritional, genetic and environmental factors are involved. Among the nutritional factors, low level of serum zinc has been reported from differ-ent parts of the world. This hospital-based case-control study was conducted with the objective of finding the relationship between serum zinc level in newborns and their mothers and NTDs in a Bangladeshi population. The study was conducted during August 2006-July 2007 at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in Dhaka. In total, 32 mothers and their newborns with NTDs were included as cases and another 32 mothers with their normal babies were included as controls. Concentration of se-rum zinc was determined by pyro-coated graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GF-AAS). The mean age of the case and control mothers was 25.28 years and 24.34 years respectively. The mean gestational age of the case newborns was 36.59 weeks and that of the control newborns was 37.75 weeks. The mean serum zinc level of the case and control mothers was 610.2 \u3bcg/L and 883.0 \u3bcg/L respectively (p&lt;0.01). The mean serum zinc level of the case and control newborns was 723 \u3bcg/L and 1,046 \u3bcg/L respec-tively (p&lt;0.01). In both case and control groups, the serum zinc level of the newborns positively correlated with that of the mothers. The serum zinc levels of the mothers and newborns negatively correlated with NTDs. Mothers with serum zinc level lower than normal were 7.66 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.5-23.28] times more likely to have NTDs compared to the normal zinc level of mothers. After adjusting for the zinc level of the newborns, parity, and age of the mothers, this risk reduced 1.61 times [confidence interval (CI) 95% 0.24-8.77]. On the other hand, the low serum zinc level of the newborns was 7.22 times more associated with NTDs compared to the newborns with the normal serum zinc level, which was statistically significant (p=0.001). After adjusting for other factors, such as maternal age and parity, newborns with the low serum zinc level was found to be 9.186 times more likely to be associated with NTDs compared to new-borns with normal serum zinc level. Based on the findings, it may be concluded that the low serum zinc levels of newborns may be associated with NTDs. To confirm these findings, a further study with a larger sample-size is recommended. Moreover, a follow-up study with zinc supplementation to pregnant women and its impact on NTDs is also recommended