Bone marrow aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of hematologic and non-hematologic diseases in a multi-specialty hospital in Nepal

Background: Peripheral blood smear examination and other routine laboratory assays are not always sufficient to diagnose various diseases which affect the blood and bone marrow. A bone marrow aspirate examination is essential in most of the cases.Methods: This work was a hospital-based cross sectional analytical observational study carried out in the department of pathology at the Chitwan Medical College, Teaching Hospital, Nepal, over a period of 3 years from January, 2013 to December 2015. Bone marrow was aspirated from posterior superior iliac crest under local anesthesia; sternum was the alternative site in obese patients. Univariate analysis was performed for each variable using frequency distribution and means with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences 20.0 (SPSS 20.0) software.Results: One hundred and fifty-nine patients were included in the study. Eight cases of 'dry tap' were excluded, for whom bone marrow biopsy was advised. Anemia was the largest group followed by malignancy, infection and miscellaneous diseases. Among anemia, megaloblastic anemia was the most common, followed by aplastic anemia, dyserythropoietic anemia and myelopthisic anemia. The category 'malignancy' consisted of leukemia, multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndrome. Regarding individual diseases, megaloblastic anemia was the most common haematological disorder followed by immune thrombocytopenic purpura, leukemia and aplastic anemia.Conclusions: Bone marrow aspiration cytology is a mildly invasive technique which can diagnose many haematological and non-hematologic diseases that can be confirmed by more advanced investigations, if needed: serological, biochemical or molecular. However, bone marrow sample cannot be obtained (dry tap) in a proportion of cases. In such cases, a bone marrow biopsy needs to be performed

Bio-fertilizer activity of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens as growth and yield promoter for maize

Saabunud / Received 01.06.2020 ; Aktsepteeritud / Accepted 16.09.2020 ; Avaldatud veebis / Published online 19.09.2020 ; Vastutav autor / Corresponding author: Bikram Nepali [email protected] bio-fertilizer potential of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens on growth and yield performance of open-pollinated maize variety Rampur Composite was studied at the research farm of Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal during the winter season of 2018/19. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with seven treatments (T1: recommended dose of NPK (120:60:40 kg NPK ha–1), T2: T. viride only, T3: P. fluorescens only, T4: T. viride + 50% NPK; T5: P. fluorescens + 50% NPK; T6: T. viride + P. fluorescens + 100 % NPK, T7: control) and replicated thrice. The package of agronomic practices was followed as per national recommendation. The result revealed that T. viride + 50% NPK enhanced most of the growth components like plant height (103%), leaf number (9.77%), stem diameter (73.98%), root length (40.57%), leaf area index (173.28%), leaf biomass (83.36%) and stem biomass (127.72%) of maize compared to the control. Similarly, the higher cob biomass (641 g), yield (5708 kg ha–1) and thousand kernel weight (295 g) were recorded in the plot applied to P. fluorescens + 50% NPK. The use of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens with a half-dose of recommended fertilizers may increase the vegetative growth and yield of maize and may also help to reduce the rate of chemical fertilizers in maize

The scavenger function of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in health and disease

The aim of this review is to give an outline of the blood clearance function of the liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) in health and disease. Lining the hundreds of millions of hepatic sinusoids in the human liver the LSECs are perfectly located to survey the constituents of the blood. These cells are equipped with high-affinity receptors and an intracellular vesicle transport apparatus, enabling a remarkably efficient machinery for removal of large molecules and nanoparticles from the blood, thus contributing importantly to maintain blood and tissue homeostasis. We describe here central aspects of LSEC signature receptors that enable the cells to recognize and internalize blood-borne waste macromolecules at great speed and high capacity. Notably, this blood clearance system is a silent process, in the sense that it usually neither requires or elicits cell activation or immune responses. Most of our knowledge about LSECs arises from studies in animals, of which mouse and rat make up the great majority, and some species differences relevant for extrapolating from animal models to human are discussed. In the last part of the review, we discuss comparative aspects of the LSEC scavenger functions and specialized scavenger endothelial cells (SECs) in other vascular beds and in different vertebrate classes. In conclusion, the activity of LSECs and other SECs prevent exposure of a great number of waste products to the immune system, and molecules with noxious biological activities are effectively “silenced” by the rapid clearance in LSECs. An undesired consequence of this avid scavenging system is unwanted uptake of nanomedicines and biologics in the cells. As the development of this new generation of therapeutics evolves, there will be a sharp increase in the need to understand the clearance function of LSECs in health and disease. There is still a significant knowledge gap in how the LSEC clearance function is affected in liver disease

Cloud-Assisted Device Clustering for Lifetime Prolongation in Wireless IoT Networks

One of the crucial challenges in the recently emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications is how to handle the massive heterogeneous data generated from a large number of resource-constrained sensors. In this context, cloud computing has emerged as a promising paradigm due to its enormous storage and computing capabilities, thus leading to the IoT-Cloud convergence. In such a framework, IoT devices can be grouped into several clusters and each cluster head can send the aggregated information to the cloud via a gateway for further processing. Although a number of clustering methods have been proposed for the conventional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), it is important to consider specific IoT characteristics while adapting these techniques for wireless IoT networks. One of the important features of IoT networks that can be exploited while developing clustering techniques is the collaborations among heterogeneous IoT devices. In this regard, the network-wide knowledge at the cloud center can be useful to provide information about the device relations to the IoT gateway. Motivated by this, we propose and evaluate a cloud-assisted device interaction-aware clustering scheme for heterogeneous IoT networks. The proposed method considers the joint impact of residual energy and device closeness factor for the effective selection of cluster heads. Our results show that the proposed clustering scheme can significantly prolong the network lifetime, and enhance the overall throughput of a wireless IoT network

Latency Minimization in Wireless IoT Using Prioritized Channel Access and Data Aggregation

Future Internet of Things (IoT) networks are expected to support a massive number of heterogeneous devices/sensors in diverse applications ranging from eHealthcare to industrial control systems. In highly-dense deployment scenarios such as industrial IoT systems, providing reliable communication links with low-latency becomes challenging due to the involved system delay including data acquisition and processing latencies at the edge-side of IoT networks. In this regard, this paper proposes a priority-based channel access and data aggregation scheme at the Cluster Head (CH) to reduce channel access and queuing delays in a clustered industrial IoT network. First, a prioritized channel access mechanism is developed by assigning different Medium Access Control (MAC) layer attributes to the packets coming from two types of IoT nodes, namely, high-priority and low-priority nodes, based on the application-specific information provided from the cloud-center. Subsequently, a preemptive M/G/1 queuing model is employed by using separate low-priority and high- priority queues before sending aggregated data to the Cloud. Our results show that the proposed priority-based method significantly improves the system latency and reliability as compared to the non-prioritized scheme

Device Grouping for Fast and Efficient Channel Access in IEEE 802.11ah based IoT Networks

The recent advances in Internet of Things (IoT) have led to numerous emerging applications ranging from eHealthcare to industrial control, which often demand stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements such as low-latency and high system reliability. However, the ever-increasing number of connected devices in ultra-dense IoT networks and the dynamic traffic patterns increase the channel access delay and packet collision rate. In this regard, this paper proposes a sector-based device grouping scheme for fast and efficient channel access in IEEE 802.11ah based IoT networks such that the total number of the connected devices within each sector is dramatically reduced. In the proposed framework, the Access Point (AP) divides its coverage area into different sectors, and then each sector is further divided into distinct groups based on the number of devices and their location information available from the cloud-center. Subsequently, individual groups within a sector are assigned to specific Random Access Window (RAW) slots, and the devices within distinct groups in different sectors access the allocated RAW slots by employing a spatial orthogonal access mechanism. The performance of the proposed sectorized device grouping scheme has been analyzed in terms of system delay and network throughput. Our simulation results show that the proposed scheme can significantly enhance the network throughput while simultaneously decreasing the system delay as compared to the conventional Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) and IEEE 802.11ah grouping scheme

Changes in the proteome and secretome of rat liver sinusoidal endothelial cells during early primary culture and effects of dexamethasone

Introduction Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) are specialized fenestrated scavenger endothelial cells involved in the elimination of modified plasma proteins and tissue turnover waste macromolecules from blood. LSECs also participate in liver immune responses. A challenge when studying LSEC biology is the rapid loss of the in vivo phenotype in culture. In this study, we have examined biological processes and pathways affected during early-stage primary culture of rat LSECs and checked for cell responses to the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone. Methods LSECs from male Sprague Dawley rats were cultured on type I collagen in 5% oxygen atmosphere in DMEM with serum-free supplements for 2 and 24 h. Quantitative proteomics using tandem mass tag technology was used to examine proteins in cells and supernatants. Validation was done with qPCR, ELISA, multiplex immunoassay, and caspase 3/7 assay. Cell ultrastructure was examined by scanning electron microscopy, and scavenger function by quantitative endocytosis assays. Results LSECs cultured for 24 h showed a characteristic pro-inflammatory phenotype both in the presence and absence of IL-1β, with upregulation of cellular responses to cytokines and interferon-γ, cell-cell adhesion, and glycolysis, increased expression of fatty acid binding proteins (FABP4, FABP5), and downregulation of several membrane receptors (STAB1, STAB2, LYVE1, CLEC4G) and proteins in pyruvate metabolism, citric acid cycle, fatty acid elongation, amino acid metabolism, and oxidation-reduction processes. Dexamethasone inhibited apoptosis and improved LSEC viability in culture, repressed inflammatory and immune regulatory pathways and secretion of IL-1β and IL-6, and further upregulated FABP4 and FABP5 compared to time-matched controls. The LSEC porosity and endocytic activity were reduced at 24 h both with and without dexamethasone but the dexamethasone-treated cells showed a less stressed phenotype. Conclusion Rat LSECs become activated towards a pro-inflammatory phenotype during early culture. Dexamethasone represses LSEC activation, inhibits apoptosis, and improves cell viability

Regenerative callus induction and biochemical analysis of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni

Stevia Leaves are the principal source of stevioside, which is estimated to be 100-300 times sweeter than table sugar. Stevioside has clinical significance as they are reported to maintain glucose levels in human blood. Owing to the difficulties in propagation of stevia through seeds and vegetative methods, callus culture has been an efficient alternative for generation of stevioside. The aim of this study is to develop an efficient and standardized protocol for maximum induction and multiplication of callus from a leaf. Callus culture was established from leaves in MS basal media fortified with various combinations (BAP, NAA, 2,4-D, KN, IBA) and concentrations of phytohormones. The best callusing (100%) was recorded in MS media supplemented with (2,4-D 1.0mg/l + NAA 1.0mg/l). The callus was harvested after 4 weeks and screened for the presence of various bioactive compounds. The qualitative results showed that the extracts of callus contained bioactive compounds like flavonoids, glycosides, phenol, tannins, sterols and saponins thereby making callus one of the sources for extraction of various secondary metabolites