Chemical Constituent of Murraya Paniculata (Rutaceae) and Their Biological Activities

An investigation on the plant of Murraya paniculata, employing extraction of the leaves and stem barks and various chromatographic isolation techniques have been used. The structure of the compounds were elucidated by using spectroscopic techniques such as IR, NMR, MS and also by comparison with the previous work. Extraction and isolation work of the leaves and stem barks of Murraya paniculata collected from Lenggong, Perak yielded gardenin E (28), 3',4',5,5', 7-pentamethoxyflavone (29), 3',4',5,5', 7,8-hexamethoxyflavone (30), gardenin A (31), sterol mixtures (32), 3',4',5,5',7-pentamethoxyflavanone (33) and gardenin C (34). Further study on the leaves of the same plant collected from different location in lpoh, Perak afforded four known coumarins ; auraptene (36), gleinadiene (37), 5,7-dimethoxy-8-(3-methyl-2-oxo-butyl)coumalin (38) and toddalenone (39). The antibacterial and antifungi activities test were also carried out on elUde PE, CHCh and MeOH extracts of the leaves and stem barks and also towards pure compounds. This antibacterial activity was tested using the 'disk Diffusion' method. One gram positive bacteria (Baccilus cereus) and four fungi (Aspergillus ochraceous, Saccharomyces lipolytica, Saccharomyces cerevisiae dan Candida lipolytica) were selected for this test. Chloroform extract of Murraya paniculata gave the highest average zone of inhibition, indicating the degree of its sensitivity. Meanwhile compound (37) showed moderate degree of toxicity towards the bacteria

Nonclassic Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Nonclassic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (NCAH) due to P450c21 (21-hydroxylase deficiency) is a common autosomal recessive disorder. This disorder is due to mutations in the CYP21A2 gene which is located at chromosome 6p21. The clinical features predominantly reflect androgen excess rather than adrenal insufficiency leading to an ascertainment bias favoring diagnosis in females. Treatment goals include normal linear growth velocity and “on-time” puberty in affected children. For adolescent and adult women, treatment goals include regularization of menses, prevention of progression of hirsutism, and fertility. This paper will review key aspects regarding pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of NCAH

Violin Bow-Hand Prosthetic

The violin bow hand prosthetic was designed for a young violin player seeking to upgrade the functionality of his current violin prosthetic device. His current device is rigid, forcing him to play mostly with his shoulder. Since the strength of his wrist was unknown, we designed a prosthetic with enough brace flexibility to enable the user to control the bow motion with his own wrist. We also added an axis of rotation and spring mechanism to supplement this motion and provide him the equivalence of fine finger adjustments. The full design process of the prosthetic is documented in this report, including initial research, proof of concept models, calculations, two rounds of prototypes, CAD drawings, and design refinement analysis. The entire assembly cost $ 52.88, excluding freely provided 3D-printing services and tools. The final prototype is made of a brace, four 3D-Printed parts, some fasteners, and some springs. Of the 3D-Printed parts, the first connects to the brace and the second part pivots about the first via a shoulder bolt. The rotation is constrained to 30 degrees (either direction) by some internal stoppers, and controlled by Coulomb damping and four springs which seek to bring the part pack to a straight equilibrium position. The third and fourth 3D-Printed parts are caps to the slots which hold the bow. These are fastened with bolt inserts and wing nuts, and are shaped in such a way as to minimize damage to the bow when it is gripped

Incidence of viral respiratory infections in a prospective cohort of outpatient and hospitalized children aged ≤5 years and its associated cost in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Background: Although information about the incidence of viral respiratory illnesses and their associated cost can help health officials explore the value of interventions, data are limited from middle-income countries. Methods: During 2008-2010, we conducted a prospective cohort study and followed ~1,800 Argentinian children aged ≤5years to identify those children who were hospitalized or who sought care at an emergency room with any acute respiratory infection sign or symptom (e.g., rhinorrhea, cough, wheezing, tachypnea, retractions, or cyanosis). Respiratory samples were obtained for respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, parainfluenza, adenovirus, and metapneumovirus testing by immunofluorescence and for rhinovirus by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: The incidence of respiratory syncytial virus (24/1000 children-years), human metapneumovirus (8/1000 children-years), and influenza (8/1000 children-years) illnesses was highest among hospitalized children aged <6months and decreased among older children. In contrast, the incidence of rhinovirus was highest (12/1000 children-years) among those aged 6-23 months. In the emergency room, the incidence of rhinovirus was 459; respiratory syncytial virus 352; influenza 185; parainfluenza 177; metapneumovirus 130; and adenovirus 73/1,000 children-years. The total cost of hospitalization was a median of US$529 (Interquartile range, US$362-789). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that respiratory viruses, in particular rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, metapneumovirus, and influenza may be associated with severe illness causing substantial economic burden.Fil: Marcone, Débora Natalia. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigación Clínica ; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Durand, Lizette O.. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Estados UnidosFil: Azziz Baumgartner, Eduardo. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Estados UnidosFil: Vidaurreta, Santiago Manuel. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigación Clínica ; ArgentinaFil: Ekstrom, Jorge. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigación Clínica ; ArgentinaFil: Carballal, Guadalupe. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigación Clínica ; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Echavarría, Marcela Silvia. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigación Clínica ; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Behind the Mask: Detection and Recognition Based-on Deep Learning

COVID-19 prevention procedures are executed to support public services and business continuity in a pandemic situation. Manual mask use monitoring is not efficient as it requires resources to monitor people at all times. Therefore, this task can be supported by automated surveillance systems based on Deep Learning. We performed mask detection and face recognition for a real-environment dataset. YOLOV3 as a one-stage detector was implemented to simultaneously generate a bounding box of the face area and class prediction. In face recognition, we compared the performance of three pre-trained models, namely ResNet152V2, InceptionV3, and Xception. The mask detection showed promising results with MAP=0.8960 on training and MAP=0.8957 on validation. We chose the Xception model for face recognition because it has equal quality as ResNet152V2 but has fewer parameters. Xception achieved a minimal loss value in the validation of 0.09157 with perfect accuracy on facial images larger than 100 pixels. Overall the system delivers promising results and can identify faces, even those behind the mask

Analyse exploratoire des projets en entreprenariat des immigrants dans les régions du Québec : cas de la région du Saguenay- Lac-Saint-Jean (SLSJ)

L’objectif de ce mémoire exploratoire est de découvrir le monde de l’entreprenariat des immigrants dans les régions, à travers les projets réalisés au Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Par ailleurs, notre objectif est de comprendre comment les nouveaux arrivants envisagent la réussite et la durabilité de leurs projets. De plus, nous allons comparer les stratégies employées par chaque entrepreneur et évaluer les similitudes et les différences dans les méthodes de gestion, de même que les avantages et inconvénients liés à la gestion des équipes de projet et les stratégies mises en place pour faire face aux obstacles internes et externes. Il s’agit d’évaluer la réussite des entrepreneurs au niveau professionnel et d’analyser le processus de création des projets, tout en prenant en considération les intégrations socio-économiques de ceux-ci. À cet effet, nous nous appuierons sur les recherches du sociologue Émile Durkheim pour traiter la question de l’intégration, et sur le Rapport annuel au Parlement sur l’immigration, afin d’analyser les statistiques relatives à l’immigration dans la région. Nous nous baserons également sur les études scientifiques qui ont été conduites sur les traits de personnalité des entrepreneurs. L’objectif général de notre recherche consiste principalement à examiner le portrait-type de l’immigrant entrepreneur en milieu régional, plus précisément dans la région du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean au Québec. Et, pour y parvenir, nous nous sommes focalisés sur quatre dimensions principales qui sont : • Les traits de personnalité de l’immigrant-entrepreneur, • Les pratiques managériales utilisées et leur impact sur les équipes de projet, • L’intégration des immigrants entrepreneurs, • Les avantages et les inconvénients rencontrés par les immigrants-entrepreneurs ainsi que les stratégies élaborées pour franchir les obstacles. Il est nécessaire de prendre en considération d’autres paramètres pouvant impacter ces quatre dimensions, tels que la taille et l’âge de l’entreprise, son secteur d’activité, sans oublier le contexte environnemental, ni le secteur d’activité. Pour évaluer les projets en entreprenariat des immigrants, nous avons choisi une approche méthodologique fondée sur le paradigme constructiviste par l’approche qualitative ; notre collecte de données s’appuie sur le principe de l’entrevue semi-dirigée, ce qui va nous amener à une conversation ouverte et sincère avec nos interlocuteurs, en veillant à instaurer un cadre identique pour toutes les entrevues. Par ailleurs, les rencontres avec nos témoins vont durer en moyenne une heure, avec un échantillon constitué de huit personnes originaires de plusieurs régions du monde et résidant dans la province du Québec, plus particulièrement dans la région du Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean. Ainsi, nous allons prendre en compte deux facteurs déterminants dans notre échantillon : la durée de résidence dans la région et les immigrants qui ont créé leurs projets depuis plus d’un an. Pour ce qui concerne la durée de résidence, nous allons nous focaliser sur les immigrants qui demeurent dans la région concernée depuis au moins trois ans, ce qui va nous permettre d’analyser le processus d’intégration sur le long terme. C’est à travers ces deux variables que nous allons procéder à l’organisation des entrevues avec les individus désireux de collaborer à la réalisation de ce travail. De surcroît, afin d’approfondir notre analyse, nous comptons aussi étudier les données démographiques relatives à l’emploi et à la qualité de vie des immigrants

A Brief History of Androgen Excess

SUMMARY Male-like hair growth and masculinization of women and the ambiguity of genders has fascinated mankind for millennia, frequently appearing in mythology and the arts. The earliest reports of androgen excess, beginning 400 years BC, focused on the appearance of male-like hair growth and features in women, often accompanied by menstrual cessation. The first etiologies identified as a cause of androgenization in the female were adrenal disorders, primarily adrenocortical neoplasms, but also eventually adrenal hyperplasia. The first report of a patient with nonclassic adrenal hyperplasia (NCAH) was made in 1957. The Achard-Thiers syndrome, which was originally reported in 1921 and was felt to primarily affect postmenopausal women, included the development of diabetes mellitus, hirsutism, and menstrual irregularity or amenorrhea in conjunction with adrenocortical disease. Androgen production by the ovary was not recognized until the early 1900s, with the first case of a patient with glucose intolerance, hirsutism, and ovarian pathology reported by Tuffier in 1914. As early as the mid-18th century, the presence of sclerocystic or multicystic ovaries was recognized, although this pathology was felt to be primarily associated with pelvic pain and/or menorrhagia. It was not until the seminal report of Drs. Stein and Leventhal of 1935 that the association of polycystic ovaries and amenorrhea, and possibly obesity and/or hirsutism, was noted. Subsequent investigations have elucidated the ovarian source of the androgens the gonadotropic abnormalities, the insulin resistance, and the high prevalence of the disorder, currently known as the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This syndrome was initially treated by ovarian wedge resection, but subsequent ovulatory therapies, including clomiphene citrate, menopausal gonadotropins, and most recently insulin sensitizers, have replaced this surgery as the treatment of choice for fertility improvement in PCOS. Notwithstanding, laparoscopic ovarian drilling retains a place in our current therapeutic armamentarium for these patients