Diabetes in California: Findings From the 2001 California Health Interview Survey

Examines the prevalence of diabetes in California, with particular attention paid to disparities between different population groups. Includes access to medical care, diabetes care and management, and identifying at-risk populations

Alternatively activated macrophages promote pancreatic fibrosis in chronic pancreatitis.

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a progressive and irreversible inflammatory and fibrotic disease with no cure. Unlike acute pancreatitis (AP), we find that alternatively activated macrophages (AAMs) are dominant in mouse and human CP. AAMs are dependent on interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 signalling, and we show that mice lacking IL-4Rα, myeloid-specific IL-4Rα and IL-4/IL-13 were less susceptible to pancreatic fibrosis. Furthermore, we demonstrate that mouse and human pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are a source of IL-4/IL-13. Notably, we show that pharmacologic inhibition of IL-4/IL-13 in human ex vivo studies as well as in established mouse CP decreases pancreatic AAMs and fibrosis. We identify a critical role for macrophages in pancreatic fibrosis and in turn PSCs as important inducers of macrophage-alternative activation. Our study challenges and identifies pathways involved in crosstalk between macrophages and PSCs that can be targeted to reverse or halt pancreatic fibrosis progression

Deep Over-sampling Framework for Classifying Imbalanced Data

Class imbalance is a challenging issue in practical classification problems for deep learning models as well as traditional models. Traditionally successful countermeasures such as synthetic over-sampling have had limited success with complex, structured data handled by deep learning models. In this paper, we propose Deep Over-sampling (DOS), a framework for extending the synthetic over-sampling method to exploit the deep feature space acquired by a convolutional neural network (CNN). Its key feature is an explicit, supervised representation learning, for which the training data presents each raw input sample with a synthetic embedding target in the deep feature space, which is sampled from the linear subspace of in-class neighbors. We implement an iterative process of training the CNN and updating the targets, which induces smaller in-class variance among the embeddings, to increase the discriminative power of the deep representation. We present an empirical study using public benchmarks, which shows that the DOS framework not only counteracts class imbalance better than the existing method, but also improves the performance of the CNN in the standard, balanced settings

Anti-microbial screening of some sulphonanilide complexes with Tm(III) ion against gram positive cocci & gram negative bacilli

A series of different sulphonanilide complexes with Tm(III) metal ion were prepared and the systems have been screened for anti-microbial activities by Bauer-Kirby discdiffusion technique against bacterial species such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E.Coli (gram positive and gram negative) and were found to have moderate to significant activity against bacterialspecies

Arranged marriages in people with epilepsy: A pilot knowledge, attitudes and practices survey from India

Introduction: Marriage is a socially challenging barrier in the personal lives of people with epilepsy worldwide. However, it is during arranges marriages, which are common in South Asian communities, that epilepsy is most profoundly stigmatizing. We hypothesized that the felt stigma associated with epilepsy during arranged marriages affects women more frequently and intensely. // Materials and methods: A pilot study in married (n = 38) and unmarried PWE (n = 58) and general public (n = 150) to explore gender-based differences in the stigma associated with epilepsy during arranged marriages. // Results: Majority unmarried PWE (87%) considered arranged marriage as the best way to realize their matrimonial plans. More unmarried women (72%) apprehended problems in adhering to their epilepsy medications regime after marriage (p 0.009) and 50% apprehended victimization in marriage on account of epilepsy (p 0.001). Moreover, 41% of the married women with epilepsy felt that the disclosure had a negative impact on their married life (p 0.047). // Conclusions: South Asian WWE experienced more felt stigma than men before and after arranged marriages and this might impact a number of health related psychosocial outcomes. The lack of past experience with epilepsy was associated with a number of misplaced beliefs about and attitudes towards epilepsy

Gene regulation knowledge commons: community action takes care of DNA binding transcription factors

A large gap remains between the amount of knowledge in scientific literature and the fraction that gets curated into standardized databases, despite many curation initiatives. Yet the availability of comprehensive knowledge in databases is crucial for exploiting existing background knowledge, both for designing follow-up experiments and for interpreting new experimental data. Structured resources also underpin the computational integration and modeling of regulatory pathways, which further aids our understanding of regulatory dynamics. We argue how cooperation between the scientific community and professional curators can increase the capacity of capturing precise knowledge from literature. We demonstrate this with a project in which we mobilize biological domain experts who curate large amounts of DNA binding transcription factors, and show that they, although new to the field of curation, can make valuable contributions by harvesting reported knowledge from scientific papers. Such community curation can enhance the scientific epistemic process.Database URL: http://www.tfcheckpoint.org

Correlation between mutans streptococci counts of parents and their children residing in Chandigarh, India

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Mutans Streptococci (MS) in children and to evaluate the relationship between the salivary levels of MS in children and their parents. Material and Methods: 100 children aged 3-6 years along with their parents (100 mothers and fathers each) were included in the study. The children were segregated depending upon their age and level of caries experience. The children were examined clinically on an ordinary chair in natural daylight using the Møller's index criteria. Assays for Mutans Streptococci (MS) were done for both the children and their parents using the Dentocult SM strip mu - tans test. Collected data was assessed using SPSS software. Results: The overall prevalence of MS in the children was 83%. A statistically significant correlation (p<0.05) was observed between salivary MS counts of children and their mothers. No significant correlation was seen with the fathers. Conclusions: The findings conclude that if primary caregivers harbour high levels of MS in their saliva, it is likely that their children will have the same

Acute kidney disease and renal recovery : consensus report of the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) 16 Workgroup

Consensus definitions have been reached for both acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) and these definitions are now routinely used in research and clinical practice. The KDIGO guideline defines AKI as an abrupt decrease in kidney function occurring over 7 days or less, whereas CKD is defined by the persistence of kidney disease for a period of > 90 days. AKI and CKD are increasingly recognized as related entities and in some instances probably represent a continuum of the disease process. For patients in whom pathophysiologic processes are ongoing, the term acute kidney disease (AKD) has been proposed to define the course of disease after AKI; however, definitions of AKD and strategies for the management of patients with AKD are not currently available. In this consensus statement, the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) proposes definitions, staging criteria for AKD, and strategies for the management of affected patients. We also make recommendations for areas of future research, which aim to improve understanding of the underlying processes and improve outcomes for patients with AKD