Innovations in surgery between the past and future: A narrative review of targeted literature

Innovation is the introduction of a new method or technology designed to change the way things are done. History is full of remarkable innovations in surgery over the years as surgeons have always been innovating and pioneering latest techniques and equipment that can benefit the mankind. Though persistent, progress has been far from uniform. Despite all the bells and whistles that these innovations bring to the table, the little acknowledged fact is that they are only accessible to a very small proportion of the global population. Five billion people on this planet do not even have access to an operating room when needed. It has been reported that conditions requiring surgery are responsible for one-third of all the deaths in the world. The current narrative review was planned to focus on the importance of innovations in surgery, to highlight the problems that were faced by resource-restricted countries in the past, and the necessity of innovative solutions to improve global surgical care in the future

Demographic Factors Associated with Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination: An Online Survey-Based Study from Hyderabad Sindh

Background: COVID19 is a major threat to global health. World health organization has proposed use of vaccines against COVID19 to end the pandemic. Due to low literacy rate in many developing countries and disinformation, the population is reluctant for COVID19 vaccination. To explore the demographic factors associated with acceptance of COVID19 vaccination, we set up an online cross-sectional study. Methods: The online survey-based cross-sectional study was conducted to understand the demographic factors of residents of Hyderabad city associated with vaccine acceptance. The questionnaire was divided into sections to get sociodemographic characters and other information related with willingness of vaccination. This questionnaire was sent to 300 people from which 205 people participated. Results: The result showed that 28.8% of the participants were not sure to get vaccination of COVID-19, while 41.5% participants were willing to get vaccine if available; rest of the people (29.8%) were not willing be vaccinated at all. The main reason behind this denial was due to belief on conspiracies against COVID-19 vaccine. Many participants either denied (42%) for any disinformation or were not sure (12%) on this account. Conclusion: The study was based on demographic factors of residents of Hyderabad associated with acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine. Among the studied population only 41.5% showed willingness to get vaccinated which indicate the necessity to effectively educate the population about COVID-19 vaccines

Antioxidant, Cytotoxic, and Antimicrobial Potential of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized using Tradescantia pallida Extract

Silver nanoparticles have received much attention, due to their wide range of biological applications as an alternative therapy for disease conditions utilizing the nanobiotechnology domain for synthesis. The current study was performed to examine the antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial, and antifungal potential of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (TpAgNPs) using plant extract. The TpAgNPs were produced by reacting the Tradescantia pallida extract and AgNO3 solution in nine various concentration ratios subjected to bioactivities profiling. According to the current findings, plant extract comprising phenolics, flavonoids, and especially anthocyanins played a critical role in the production of TpAgNPs. UV–visible spectroscopy also validated the TpAgNP formation in the peak range of 401–441 nm. Further, the silver ion stabilization by phytochemicals, face-centered cubic structure, crystal size, and spherical morphology of TpAgNPs were analyzed by FTIR, XRD, and SEM. Among all TpAgNPs, the biosynthesized TpAgNP6 with a medium concentration ratio (5:10) and the plant extract had effective antioxidant potentials of 77.2 ± 1.0% and 45.1 ± 0.5% free radical scavenging activity, respectively. The cytotoxic activity of TpAgNP6 in comparison to plant extract for the rhabdomyosarcoma cell line was significantly the lowest with IC50 values of 81.5 ± 1.9 and 90.59 ± 1.6 μg/ml and cell viability % of 24.3 ± 1.62 and 27.4 ± 1.05, respectively. The antibacterial and antifungal results of TpAgNPs revealed significant improvement in comparison to plant extract, i.e., minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) 64 μg/ml against Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa while, in the case of antifungal assay, TpAgNP6 was active against Candida parapsilosis. These TpAgNPs play a crucial role in determining the therapeutic potential of T. pallida due to their biological efficacy

Synthesis and bio-molecular study of (+)-N-Acetyl-α-amino acid dehydroabietylamine derivative for the selective therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: The purpose of present work is to synthesize novel (+)-Dehydroabietylamine derivatives (DAAD) using N-acetyl-α-amino acid conjugates and determine its cytotoxic effects on hepatocellular carcinoma cells. METHODS: An analytical study was conducted to explore cytotoxic activity of DAAD on hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. The cytotoxicity effect was recorded using sulforhodamine B technique. Cell cycle analysis was performed using Propidium Iodide (PI) staining. Based on cell morphology, anti growth activity and microarray findings of DAAD2 treatment, Comet assay, Annexin V/PI staining, Immunoperoxidase assay and western blots were performed accoringly. RESULTS: Hep3B cells were found to be the most sensitive with IC(50) of 2.00 ± 0.4 μM against (+)-N-(N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine)-dehydroabietylamine as DAAD2. In compliance to time dependent morphological changes of low cellular confluence, detachment and rounding of DAAD2 treated cells; noticeable changes in G(2)/M phase were recorded may be leading to cell cycle cessation. Up-regulation (5folds) of TUBA1A gene in Hep3B cells was determined in microarray experiments. Apoptotic mode of cell death was evaluated using standardized staining procedures including comet assay and annexin V/PI staining, Immuno-peroxidase assay. Using western blotting technique, caspase dependant apoptotic mode of cell death was recorded against Hep3B cell line. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that a novel DAAD2 with IC(50) values less than 8 μM can induce massive cell attenuation following caspase dependent apoptotic cell death in Hep3B cells. Moreover, the corelation study indicated that DAAD2 may have vital influence on cell prolifration properties. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2942-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

To compare the total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol before and after ultra-centrifugation in lipemic samples

Objective: It is an everyday routine in laboratories to encounter interference in the analysis of lipids. These likely interferences (hemolysis, icterus and lipemia) are countered by asking physicians and patients to send fresh and properly collected samples. At the Aga Khan University (AKU) Laboratory, we receive 2-3 lipemic/turbid samples per day. Previously it was our departmental policy to advise these patients to go for lipoprotein electrophoresis, which though accurate was time consuming and not cost effective. We therefore studied ultra centrifugation/airfuge as an alternate method to clear lipid interference and provide accurate, reliable and cost effective results.Methods: Daily 2-3 grossly turbid samples are identified on the lipid bench, 48 samples were received in 4 months (February to May 2004). These samples were analyzed for total cholesterol (TC) and High Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (HDL-C) before and after ultra centrifugation/airfuge.Results: There was a positive correlation between the lipemia and the false high TC and HDL-C. The mean TC and HDL-C before ultra centrifugation were 263.06 mg/dl and 39.42 mg/dl respectively and after centrifugation these became 191.77 mg/dl and 33.06 mg/dl. P value showed a significant difference in both results.CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the removal of turbidity by ultra centrifugation/airfuge is cost effective, less time consuming and provides accurate reliable results of TC and HDL-C in patients with lipemia interference

A novel mobility-aware data transfer service (MADTS) based on DDS standards

Information sharing between mobile devices has gained immense popularity in recent times, owing to advances in network bandwidth and sophistication ofmobile applications. Developing such applications to facilitate seamless information sharing between heterogeneous mobile devices can be cumbersome. The Object Management Group DDS (Data Distribution Service) specification provides a standard for a range of real-time mobile systems and embedded computing environments, from small networked embedded systems up to large-scale information backbones, to communicate with each other. The service exhibits features such as asynchronous interaction, Quality of Service (QoS) support, and a dynamic discovery mechanism to support smooth handoff during communication. In this paper,we propose a service architecturemodel to facilitate uninterrupted mobile communications, using the DDS specification, so as to minimize disconnections during the data communication between mobile nodes due to mobility factors. We also introduce the application of the DDS QoS module for evaluating our mobilityaware data transfer model. Several experiments were conducted to identify the capabilities of the proposed approach in a heterogeneous environment in terms of latency and throughput, using a two mobile node scenario, and the results were found to be promising

Correlation of Middle Upper Arm Circumference With Other Anthropometric Indictors and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Young Adults of Urban Areas of Hyderabad, Pakistan

Introduction: Middle Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) is used to assess nutritional status particularly under nutrition. Recently, the use of MUAC has been suggested as a novel anthropometric marker to assess the condition of obesity among the children, adolescents, and young adults. We, therefore, setup / study to evaluate the correlation of MUAC for the assessment of various CVD risk factors. Methodology: The study was carried out from April 2021 to March 2022. Total 366 participants were randomly selected, out of which 190 were male participants and 176 were female participants. The data was collected using interview based questionnaire; middle upper arm circumference was measures using a non stretchable measuring tape. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS ver 23. Results: The mean age of participants was 24.04±4.04, the mean values of WC, WHR, SBP, DBP, and LDL were significantly higher (P< 0.05) in males, the mean values of HDL were significantly higher in females(p< 0.05). Non-significant difference in the mean values of BMI, FBG, Cholesterol and Triglycerides (P> 0.05) were observed between male and female participants. MUAC showed strong positive correlation with BMI, WC and WHR (P<.001). Except HDL all other CVD risk factors showed significant positive correlation with MUAC (P<.001), however, MUAC showed a significantly negative correlation with HDL( r = -.370, P<.001) in males, no correlation of MUAC with HDL ( r = -.028, P<.001) was observed in females. Conclusion: Except HDL significant correlation was observed between MUAC and various CVD risk factors

Wireless Sensor’s Civil Applications, Prototypes, and Future Integration Possibilities: A Review

International audienceAdvances in wireless communication are forging new possibilities for sensors. New sensors are equipping major systems around us with unparalleled intelligence as in the case of smart grids, smart homes, and driverless vehicles. Considering the current developments in the field of sensor networks, one feels that it has reached an interesting stage, where the role of the sensors becoming crucial in numerous applications. This all speaks volumes of the fact that sensors are going to be at the front and center of most of future technologies, needless to say the Internet of Things. Considering their vital role from futuristic perspective this survey reports variety of sensors along with their characteristics and applications, which impact human life and well-being. In addition, this survey considers recent prototypes, leading sensor manufacturers as well as major projects that have made use of sensors since the last decade. Moreover, significance of this effort is that integration possibilities of sensors with other networks and major technologies are discussed, while possible challenges and key benefits are highlighted. This research effort focuses the latest developments in the area of sensors and sensor networks as research gears up to meet the challenges of the emerging technologies and their applications particularly those that emphasize smart sensors

Correlation of serum cortisol levels and stress among medical doctors working in emergency departments.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To assess and correlate serum cortisol levels and self-perceived work-related stress among medical doctors working in emergency departments in different tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. DESIGN: Cohort study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The study was conducted in Section of Chemical Pathology, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, AKUH, from December 2004 to August 2005. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 64 doctors participated from one private and two public tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. Thirty-four doctors were from emergency departments and 30 from non-emergency departments. Serum cortisol levels were measured in the morning (between 8.00-8.30 am) and in the evening (between 8.00-8.30 pm). Cortisol was measured by Florescence Polarization Immunoassay (FPIA) technique. Two questionnaires, modified mental Professional Stress Scale (PSS) and Aga Khan University Anxiety and Depression Scale (AKUADS) were used to assess stress levels. RESULTS: Emergency room physicians (ERP) were 1.2-year younger than non-emergency room physicians (NERP). Mean evening cortisol of emergency physicians was 60.72nmol/L higher than non-emergency physicians. The difference between morning and evening cortisol was marginally significant (p = 0.051). Morning diastolic blood pressure was 3mmHg higher in emergency physicians. Forty-one percent of emergency physicians and 20% of non-emergency physicians had AKUADS more than or equal to 20, the difference was borderline significant (p = 0.068). Mean value of professional stress scale for emergency physicians was significantly higher than non-emergency physicians. Evening serum cortisol concentration was significantly associated with PSS (p = 0.011). The sub-scales such as work-load (p = 0.007) and lack of resources were highly significant with evening cortisol (p = 0.005). CONCLUSION: In this study, evening serum cortisol levels significantly correlated with work overload and lack of resources, however, there was marginally significant correlation between morning and evening serum cortisol difference. Study suggests that emergency physicians perceive more stress than non-emergency physicians. Work overload and lack of resources are major contributing factors for stress in these doctors