Chronic Bronchitis

Overall incidence of chronic bronchitis is increasing in the community. Long-term side effects negatively affect quality of life of patients. This poster presentation attempts to provide more details on chronic bronchitis. Extensive details on the pathophysiology, signs & symptoms, nursing implications are provided to help the reader understand the disease process, management and prevention strategies of chronic bronchitis

Performance appriasal of State Bank of India and its associate Banks

Not availabl

The effects of water content on mantle circulation, geochemical cycles and surface observables

Water is one of the key components for life and yet its role in Earth evolution is not well understood and its interaction with the mantle even less so. There is evidence of mantle water from mid-ocean ridge basalts, ocean island basalts and diamond inclusions that indicate local hydration. However, how much water resides in the mantle today is completely unknown. I use a parametrised mantle convection model to understand the interaction of the surface ocean and mantle reservoir by tracking degassing of water to the surface and regassing of the mantle at subduction zones. This thesis aims to examine the effects of viscosity laws and mixing on thermal evolution and the water cycle. I also use present and past surface exposure of topography to constrain the behaviour of the water cycle and assess how much water the mantle resides in the mantle today. I show that a temperature-dependent viscosity law best matches present day average mantle temperature compared to water-dependent laws that promote excessive cooling. With this viscosity law, I take into account a mixing time in the water cycle where it takes a finite amount of time for subducted water to be degassed at a mid-ocean ridge. Results show that mixing effectively traps water at depth forming a more hydrous mantle and a smaller surface ocean. This delay also induces a period of net degassing and the associate fluctuations in the water cycle translate to changes in sea level >10m. Finally, I calculate the relationship between surface ocean mass and sea level, using the Earth's hypsometry. I use present and past surface exposure and present day estimates for the degassing flux to show that no more than 1 ocean of water can reside in the mantle today

A Memory-Based Approach to Model Glorious Uncertainties of Love

We propose a minimal yet intriguing model for a relationship between two individuals. The feeling of an individual is modeled by a complex variable and hence has two degrees of freedom. The effect of memory of other individual's behavior in the past has now been incorporated via a conjugate coupling between each other's feelings. A region of parameter space exhibits multi-stable solutions wherein trajectories with different initial conditions end up in different aperiodic attractors. This aligns with the natural observation that most relationships are aperiodic and unique not only to themselves but, more importantly, to the initial conditions too. Thus, the inclusion of memory makes the task of predicting the trajectory of a relationship hopelessly impossible.Comment: 4+1 pages, 4+1 figure

Autofluorescence in parathyroidectomy: signal intensity correlates with serum calcium and parathyroid hormone but routine clinical use is not justified

BACKGROUND: The inability to identify the pathological gland at surgery results in failure to cure hyperparathyroidism in 2-5%. The poorly understood characteristic of parathyroid tissue to manifest autofluorescence (AF) under near-infrared (NIR) light has been promoted as an intraoperative adjunct in parathyroid surgery. This study sought to explore potential clinical correlates for AF and assess the clinical utility of AF in parathyroid surgery. METHODS: Consecutive patients undergoing parathyroid surgery for primary and renal disease were included. NIR imaging was used intraoperatively and the degree of AF of parathyroid glands graded by the operating surgeon. Variables assessed for correlation with AF were: pre-operative serum calcium and PTH, SestaMIBI positivity, gland weight and histological composition. RESULTS: Ninety-six patients underwent parathyroidectomy over an 8-month period: 49 bilateral explorations, 41 unilateral and 6 focussed lateral approaches: 284 potentially 'visualisable' glands in total. Two hundred and fifty-seven glands (90.5%) were visualised with NIR. Correlation was found between the degree of fluorescence and pre-operative serum calcium and PTH, but not between gland weight and SestaMIBI positivity. In those with renal hyperparathyroidism, a predominance of oxyphil cells correlated with increased AF. CONCLUSION: Autofluorescence intensity correlates with serum calcium, PTH and gland composition. Further refinements would be required for this information to be of value in a clinical setting. Improvements allowing NIR to visualise the additional 9.5% of parathyroids and overcome the variation in signal intensity due to depth of access are required for the routine adoption of this technology. At present, its routine use in a clinical setting cannot be justified

Methylation of RNA polymerase II non-consensus Lysine residues marks early transcription in mammalian cells

Dynamic post-translational modification of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) coordinates the co-transcriptional recruitment of enzymatic complexes that regulate chromatin states and processing of nascent RNA. Extensive phosphorylation of serine residues at the largest RNAPII subunit occurs at its structurally-disordered C-terminal domain (CTD), which is composed of multiple heptapeptide repeats with consensus sequence Y1-S2-P3-T4-S5-P6-S7. Serine-5 and Serine-7 phosphorylation mark transcription initiation, whereas Serine-2 phosphorylation coincides with productive elongation. In vertebrates, the CTD has eight non-canonical substitutions of Serine-7 into Lysine-7, which can be acetylated (K7ac). Here, we describe mono- and di-methylation of CTD Lysine-7 residues (K7me1 and K7me2). K7me1 and K7me2 are observed during the earliest transcription stages and precede or accompany Serine-5 and Serine-7 phosphorylation. In contrast, K7ac is associated with RNAPII elongation, Serine-2 phosphorylation and mRNA expression. We identify an unexpected balance between RNAPII K7 methylation and acetylation at gene promoters, which fine-tunes gene expression levels

A transdisciplinary and community-driven database to unravel subduction zone initiation

Subduction zones are pivotal for the recycling of Earth’s outer layer into its interior. However, the conditions under which new subduction zones initiate are enigmatic. Here, we constructed a transdisciplinary database featuring detailed analysis of more than a dozen documented subduction zone initiation events from the last hundred million years. Our initial findings reveal that horizontally forced subduction zone initiation is dominant over the last 100 Ma, and that most initiation events are proximal to pre-existing subduction zones. The SZI Database is expandable to facilitate access to the most current understanding of subduction zone initiation as research progresses, providing a community platform that establishes a common language to sharpen discussion across the Earth Science community

New mutations at the imprinted Gnas cluster show gene dosage effects of Gsα in postnatal growth and implicate XLαs in bone and fat metabolism, but not in suckling

The imprinted Gnas cluster is involved in obesity, energy metabolism, feeding behavior, and viability. Relative contribution of paternally expressed proteins XLαs, XLN1, and ALEX or a double dose of maternally expressed Gsα to phenotype has not been established. In this study, we have generated two new mutants (Ex1A-T-CON and Ex1A-T) at the Gnas cluster. Paternal inheritance of Ex1A-T-CON leads to loss of imprinting of Gsα, resulting in preweaning growth retardation followed by catch-up growth. Paternal inheritance of Ex1A-T leads to loss of imprinting of Gsα and loss of expression of XLαs and XLN1. These mice have severe preweaning growth retardation and incomplete catch-up growth. They are fully viable probably because suckling is unimpaired, unlike mutants in which the expression of all the known paternally expressed Gnasxl proteins (XLαs, XLN1 and ALEX) is compromised. We suggest that loss of ALEX is most likely responsible for the suckling defects previously observed. In adults, paternal inheritance of Ex1A-T results in an increased metabolic rate and reductions in fat mass, leptin, and bone mineral density attributable to loss of XLαs. This is, to our knowledge, the first report describing a role for XLαs in bone metabolism. We propose that XLαs is involved in the regulation of bone and adipocyte metabolism