Tryon's conjecture and Energy and momentum of Bianchi Type Universes

The energy and momentum of the Bianchi type $III$ universes are obtained using different prescriptions for the energy-momentum complexes in the framework of General Relativity. The energy and momentum of the Bianchi $III$ universe is found to be zero for the M\o{}ller prescription. For all other prescriptions the energy and momentum vanish when the metric parameter $h$ vanishes. In an earlier work, Tripathy et al. \cite{SKT15} have obtained the energy and momentum of Bianchi $VI_h$ metric and found that the energy of the Universe vanish only for $h=-1$. This result raised a question: why this specific choice?. We explored the Tryon's conjecture that 'the Universe must have a zero net value for all conserved quantities' to get some ideas on the specific values of this parameter for Bianchi type Universes.Comment: 17 page

Lactate Clearance at 24 of Hours as Predictors of Outcome in Children with Shock

Background: Monitoring of tissue perfusion markers like lactate and its clearance is necessary for early recognition of shock in sick children which will enable the caregiver to initiate an appropriate and timely therapy. Objective: To study the blood lactate clearance at 24 hours of admission and its prognostic importance in predicting the outcomes in children with shock. Methods: This was a “prospective observational” study, conducted in NICU and PICU at Sparsh multispeciality hospital, Bhilai and Jagannath hospital, Bhubaneswar over 80 children presented with shock, from January 2018 to December 2020. Blood lactate level at admission and after 24 hours were evaluated and lactate clearance was compared with mortality. Results: In lactate clearance >20% group, mortality was only 3.8% wherein LC<20% group, mortality was 52.17%. In Lactate clearance < 10% group, inotropes (p0.0002), ventilator support (p-0.0015) were needed more than Lactate clearance > 20% group. When initial lactate >6mmol/dl, 35% of neonates died in comparison to 11.76% in the group having initial lactate <6mmol/dl. The average lactate clearance among the survivors was 28.35% and among the non-survivors was 5.73% (P <0.001). AUC between lactate clearance and mortality was 0.73 suggestive of a good correlation. Conclusion: Lactate clearance of less than 10% at 24 hours of admission showed a good correlation in predicting the mortality in children with shock

Microfluidic Chips for In Vivo Imaging of Cellular Responses to Neural Injury in Drosophila Larvae

With powerful genetics and a translucent cuticle, the Drosophila larva is an ideal model system for live imaging studies of neuronal cell biology and function. Here, we present an easy-to-use approach for high resolution live imaging in Drosophila using microfluidic chips. Two different designs allow for non-invasive and chemical-free immobilization of 3rd instar larvae over short (up to 1 hour) and long (up to 10 hours) time periods. We utilized these ‘larva chips’ to characterize several sub-cellular responses to axotomy which occur over a range of time scales in intact, unanaesthetized animals. These include waves of calcium which are induced within seconds of axotomy, and the intracellular transport of vesicles whose rate and flux within axons changes dramatically within 3 hours of axotomy. Axonal transport halts throughout the entire distal stump, but increases in the proximal stump. These responses precede the degeneration of the distal stump and regenerative sprouting of the proximal stump, which is initiated after a 7 hour period of dormancy and is associated with a dramatic increase in F-actin dynamics. In addition to allowing for the study of axonal regeneration in vivo, the larva chips can be utilized for a wide variety of in vivo imaging applications in Drosophila

Genetic components in diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a serious complication of diabetes, which is fast reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. While tight glycemic control remains the standard of care for preventing the progression of DR, better insights into DR etiology require understanding its genetic basis, which in turn may assist in the design of novel treatments. During the last decade, genomic medicine is increasingly being applied to common multifactorial diseases such as diabetes and age-related macular degeneration. The contribution of genetics to the initiation and progression of DR has been recognized for some time, but the involvement of specific genes and genetic variants remains elusive. Several investigations are currently underway for identifying DR susceptibility loci through linkage studies, candidate gene approaches, and genome-wide association studies. Advent of next generation sequencing and high throughput genomic technologies, development of novel bioinformatics tools and collaborations among research teams should facilitate such investigations. Here, we review the current state of genetic studies in DR and discuss reported findings in the context of biochemical, cell biological and therapeutic advances. We propose the development of a consortium in India for genetic studies with large cohorts of patients and controls from limited geographical areas to stratify the impact of the environment. Uniform guidelines should be established for clinical phenotyping and data collection. These studies would permit identification of genetic loci for DR susceptibility in the Indian population and should be valuable for better diagnosis and prognosis, and for clinical management of this blinding disease

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The SI and LI microfluidic chips for immobilizing <i>Drosophila</i> larva.

<p>(A) The SI-chip is a single-layer PDMS microfluidic device that utilizes a shallow (140 µm thick) immobilization microchamber to fix a 3^rd instar larva in the vertical direction. Scale bar, 1 mm. (B) the two-layer LI-chip. The first PDMS layer (labeled with blue color) has the larva immobilization microchamber and is connected to two microfluidic channels to supply food to the larva head (typically delivered every 30 min). A second PDMS layer (labeled with red color) is vertically integrated into the first PDMS layer to deliver CO₂ through a 10-µm thick PDMS membrane. In both the SI and LI chips, a microfluidic network surrounding the immobilization chamber is used to create a tight seal between the PDMS and the glass coverslip. Scale bar, 1 mm. (C) (I) Bright-field image of a 3^rd instar larva immobilized in the LI-chip. Scale bar, 1 mm. (II) Fluorescent images of the larva body (highlighted in the red square in C(I)) before (top image) and after (bottom image) immobilization. After application of CO₂ at 5 psi, the larva is immobilized and the GFP-labeled ventral nerve cord is brought into focus (bottom image). Scale bar, 20 µm.</p

Axonal sprouting after laser injury.

<p>(A) <i>In vivo</i> time-lapse images of the proximal stump from 7 hours to 12 hours after laser axotomy. A single enteric motoneuron was visualized by combining the RN2-Gal4_ENREF_48 <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029869#pone.0029869-Fujioka1" target="_blank">[48]</a> driver line with UAS-mCD8-RFP (red) to label axonal membrane, and UAS-GFP-moesin <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029869#pone.0029869-Dutta1" target="_blank">[54]</a> (green) to label F-actin. The proximal site (PS) of injury, the site of injury (SOI), and the distal site (DS) of injury are highlighted right after injury (0∶00 frame). Scale bar, 10 µm. (b) Normalized area change of the proximal stump over time. Significant movement in the proximal stump is observed ∼10.5 hours after injury.</p

Changes in axonal transport after nerve-crush injury.

<p>(A) Kymographs from example movies of ANF-GFP labeled vesicles in an uninjured axon (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029869#pone.0029869.s008" target="_blank">Movie S3</a>), the distal stump 3 hours after injury (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029869#pone.0029869.s009" target="_blank">Movie S4</a>) and the proximal stump (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029869#pone.0029869.s010" target="_blank">Movie S5</a>) 3 hours after injury. (B) Particle density (anterograde, retrograde, and stationary) was quantified per 100 µm of axon length. In the proximal stump 3 hours after injury, there was a 90% increase in anterograde particle density (p-value = 0.03, n = 16), but no significant change in retrograde particle density (p-value<0.01, n = 16). In contrast, transport was almost completely halted in the distal stump (p value<0.01, n = 8). Error bars represent standard error of the mean.</p

Calcium dynamics after laser microsurgery.

<p>(A) Time-lapse images from immobilized larvae depict intracellular calcium dynamics during laser microsurgery of a sensory neuron dendrite, using a pulsed UV laser (see also <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029869#pone.0029869.s006" target="_blank">Movies S1</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029869#pone.0029869.s007" target="_blank">S2</a>). The ppk-Gal4 driver was used to express UAS-G-CaMP3.0 or UAS-mCD8-GFP. (B) Average normalized fluorescent intensity (ΔF/F₀) was calculated in the cell bodies for G-CaMP3.0 and mCD8-GFP (sample size, n = 12) before and after injury (injury is performed at 0 sec). A peak value in the intensity of G-CaMP is observed 2 seconds after injury. Calcium transients from individual larvae are depicted in light grey color. (C) Quantification of the maximum fluorescent intensity change (maximum ΔF/F₀). The fluorescent intensity from mCD8-GFP expressing neurons did not change significantly (p-value<0.01, n = 12).</p