Surgical Outcome of Anterior Cervical Decompression and Fusion in Patients with Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy and Radiculopathy in Terms of Improvement of Pain

Objective: Cervical spondylosis is a common degenerative condition leading to compression of nerve roots or spinal cord, causing radiculopathy or myelopathy. Anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) techniques are commonly recognized procedures in treating axial cervical spine pain and upper extremity radicular discomfort. The study analyzed the surgical outcome of anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) in cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) and radiculopathy patients in terms of pain improvement. Material and Methods: This descriptive case series analysis was performed at the Neuro Surgery department, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar. A total of 146 patients between age 18 – 65 years meeting the inclusion criteria underwent anterior decompression &post-procedure improvement in pain of neck and arm/shoulder was determined using patient reported outcome (PRO) measure, namely visual analog scale (VAS) of 0-10 and a final outcome that is an improvement of pain, i.e., Mild to no pain (VAS score ≤3) was considered after 12 months. Results: The mean age was 52 years ± 8.273. As regards gender distribution, 78% of patients were male, while 22% were female. The mean baseline VAS score was 6.5 ± 2.37, mean postoperative VAS score was 3.5 ± 1.161 with a mean point improvement in pain of 3.0 points (p-value < 0.05). 80% of patients had shown improvement in reducing pain, while 20% did not have shown any improvement. Conclusion: This study revealed that independent of symptoms duration and presentation, patients reported dramatic improvements in neck and arm pain after ACDF

Potential of plant alkaloids as dengue NS3 protease inhibitors: Molecular docking and simulation approach

Dengue infection has become a worldwide health problem and infection rate is increasing each year. Alkaloids are important phytochemicals of medicinal plant and can be used as vaccine candidates for viruses. Therefore, present study was designed to find potential alkaloids inhibitors against the Dengue virus NS2B/NS3 protease which can inhibit the viral replication inside the host cell. Through molecular docking it was investigated that most of the alkaloids bound deeply in the binding pocket of Dengue virus NS2B/NS3 protease and had potential interactions with catalytic triad. Five alkaloids (6-desmethylthalifaboramin; 3,5-dihydroxythalifaboramine; Betanin; Reserpic acid and  Tubulosine) successfully blocked the catalytic triad of NS2B/NS3 protease and these alkaloids can serve as a potential drug candidate to stop viral replication. It can be concluded from this study that these alkaloids could serve as important inhibitors to inhibit the replication of DENV and need further in-vitro investigations to confirm their efficacy and drug ability

Impedance Spectroscopy Analysis of PbSe Nanostructures Deposited by Aerosol Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition Approach

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: accepted 2021-08-21, pub-electronic 2021-10-23Publication status: PublishedFunder: Higher Education Commision, Pakistan; Grant(s): 7363This research endeavor aimed to synthesize the lead (II) diphenyldiselenophosphinate complex and its use to obtain lead selenide nanostructured depositions and further the impedance spectroscopic analysis of these obtained PbSe nanostructures, to determine their roles in the electronics industry. The aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition technique was used to provide lead selenide deposition by decomposition of the complex at different temperatures using the glass substrates. The obtained films were revealed to be a pure cubic phase PbSe, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. SEM and TEM micrographs demonstrated three-dimensionally grown interlocked or aggregated nanocubes of the obtained PbSe. Characteristic dielectric measurements and the impedance spectroscopy analysis at room temperature were executed to evaluate PbSe properties over the frequency range of 100 Hz–5 MHz. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss gave similar trends, along with altering frequency, which was well explained by the Koops theory and Maxwell–Wagner theory. The effective short-range translational carrier hopping gave rise to an overdue remarkable increase in ac conductivity (σac) on the frequency increase. Fitting of a complex impedance plot was carried out with an equivalent circuit model (Rg Cg) (Rgb Qgb Cgb), which proved that grains, as well as grain boundaries, are responsible for the relaxation processes. The asymmetric depressed semicircle with the center lower to the impedance real axis provided a clear explanation of non-Debye dielectric behavior

Impact of Managerial Self-efficacy, Improvement-oriented Employees' Voice Fearing External Threat on Performance

Managers’ self-efficacy, being an active area of research, is important as it encourages employees’ performance. The feedback of highly self-efficacious managers in making better decisions is important to meet the global challenges that world is facing. This study explores literature on the relationship between managerial self-efficacy and employees’ performance. We further empirically tested the hypothesis in the banking sector in Pakistan and the results supported the theoretical implications. The study can serve as a basis for further studies and is practically useful for managers for improving employee performance

Potential of plant alkaloids as dengue ns3 protease inhibitors: Molecular docking and simulation approach

Dengue infection has become a worldwide health problem and infection rate is increasing each year. Alkaloids are important phytochemicals of medicinal plant and can be used as vaccine candidates for viruses. Therefore, present study was designed to find potential alkaloids inhibitors against the Dengue virus NS2B/NS3 protease which can inhibit the viral replication inside the host cell. Through molecular docking it was investigated that most of the alkaloids bound deeply in the binding pocket of Dengue virus NS2B/NS3 protease and had potential interactions with catalytic triad. Five alkaloids (6’-desmethylthalifaboramin; 3,5-dihydroxythalifaboramine; Betanin; Reserpic acid and Tubulosine) successfully blocked the catalytic triad of NS2B/NS3 protease and these alkaloids can serve as a potential drug candidate to stop viral replication. It can be concluded from this study that these alkaloids could serve as important inhibitors to inhibit the replication of DENV and need further in-vitro investigations to confirm their efficacy and drug ability

Impedance Spectroscopy Analysis of PbSe Nanostructures Deposited by Aerosol Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition Approach

This research endeavor aimed to synthesize the lead (II) diphenyldiselenophosphinate complex and its use to obtain lead selenide nanostructured depositions and further the impedance spectroscopic analysis of these obtained PbSe nanostructures, to determine their roles in the electronics industry. The aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition technique was used to provide lead selenide deposition by decomposition of the complex at different temperatures using the glass substrates. The obtained films were revealed to be a pure cubic phase PbSe, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. SEM and TEM micrographs demonstrated three-dimensionally grown interlocked or aggregated nanocubes of the obtained PbSe. Characteristic dielectric measurements and the impedance spectroscopy analysis at room temperature were executed to evaluate PbSe properties over the frequency range of 100 Hz–5 MHz. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss gave similar trends, along with altering frequency, which was well explained by the Koops theory and Maxwell–Wagner theory. The effective short-range translational carrier hopping gave rise to an overdue remarkable increase in ac conductivity (σac) on the frequency increase. Fitting of a complex impedance plot was carried out with an equivalent circuit model (Rg Cg) (Rgb Qgb Cgb), which proved that grains, as well as grain boundaries, are responsible for the relaxation processes. The asymmetric depressed semicircle with the center lower to the impedance real axis provided a clear explanation of non-Debye dielectric behavior