Effect of my fit trainer for balance rehabilitation in chronic stroke patient: a case study

Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the world and most common cause of adult disability of the survivors. Balance problems in stroke is very common, and they have been implicated in the poor recovery of activities of daily living (ADL) and mobility and an increased risk of falls. They also have altered in body weight distribution patterns, so that less body weight is taken through the weaker leg have smaller excursions when moving their weight toward the base of support, mostly in the direction of the weaker leg. My fitness trainer (MFT) balance board consists of a uniaxial unstable platform with an integrated sensor, which records all discrepancies in the plane. A 30-year-old female who has history of stroke 4 year ago has chief complain of weakness of upper limb and lower limb and unable to maintain dynamic balance. In this study we assessed the patient on berg balance scale and my fit trainer balance board with pre score and post score which shows significant improvement in results. The Berg balance scale measure score from 37/56 pre-treatment to 48/56 post treatment which shows significance increase in berg balance scale. The MFT balance board measure score from 4.2 disappointed stability in 30 seconds pre-treatment and 3.4 improve stability in 120 seconds post treatment which shows significance increase in MFT balance board. It concluded that there is effect of MFT to improve balance in chronic stroke patient

All-epitaxial guided-mode resonance mid-wave infrared detectors

We demonstrate all-epitaxial guided-mode resonance mid-wave infrared (MWIR) type-II superlattice nBn photodetectors. Our detectors consist of a high-index absorber/waveguide layer grown above a heavily doped (n þþ), and thus, low-index, semiconductor layer, and below a high-index and wide-bandgap grating-patterned layer. Polarization- and angle-dependent detector response is measured experimentally and simulated numerically, showing strongly enhanced absorption, compared to unpatterned detectors, at wavelengths associated with coupling to guided-mode resonances in our fabricated detectors. The detectors show high operating temperature (T ¼ 200 K) external quantum effi- ciencies over 50% for TE-polarized light with absorber thickness of only 250 nm ( ko=20). We calculate T ¼ 200 K estimated specific detec- tivity for our detectors, on resonance, of 4 10 10 cm Hz1=2 W 1, comparable with state-of-the-art MWIR detectors. The presented results offer an approach to monolithic, all-epitaxial integration of IR detector architectures with resonant optical cavities for enhanced detector response across the mid-wave infrared.This material was based upon work supported by the United States Army under Prime Contract No. W909MY-20-P-0010. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Army. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (No. ECCS-1926187 and MRSEC Program No. DMR-1720595). Part of the work was done at the University of Texas Microelectronics Research Center (The Texas Nanofabrication Facility), a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), supported by the National Science Foundation (No. ECCS- 2025227).Center for Dynamics and Control of Material

Primary Carcinoma of the Fallopian Tube: A Review of a Single Institution Experience of 8 Cases

Aims and Objectives. To evaluate the clinicopathologic features, response to cytoreductive surgery and adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy with or without paclitaxel. Materials and Methods. A retrospective observational study of 8 women with a histopathologic diagnosis of primary fallopian tube carcinoma (PFTC) from January 2000 to February 2013. Results. 4/8 (50%) of the women were in the early stage and an intraoperative frozen section was 100% effective in identifying fallopian tube carcinoma and then a staging laparotomy was performed. All 4/8 cases in the early stage had received and responded to single agent carboplatin and all are alive without clinical, radiological, or biochemical evidence of recurrence at the end of 2 years and the longest survivor has completed 13 years. Primary optimal cytoreductive surgery was achievable in 3/4 (75%) in advanced disease. All showed response to adjuvant paclitaxel and carboplatin (T+C), but all had succumbed to the disease following recurrence with mean progression-free survival of 19 months (range 15–21 months) and mean overall survival of 27 months (range 22–36 months). Conclusion. The pivotal role played by a frozen section in diagnosing PFTC which is rare needs to be reemphasized, therefore justifying a primary staging laparotomy in an early stage. Prolonged survival observed in this group following an optimum tailored adjuvant single agent carboplatin is worth noting

Undifferentiated febrile illness in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Undifferentiated febrile illnesses (UFIs) are common in low- and middle-income countries. We prospectively investigated the causes of UFIs in 627 patients presenting to a tertiary referral hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Patients with microbiologically confirmed enteric fever (218 of 627; 34.8%) randomized to gatifloxacin or ofloxacin treatment were previously reported. We randomly selected 125 of 627 (20%) of these UFI patients, consisting of 96 of 409 (23%) cases with sterile blood cultures and 29 of 218 (13%) cases with enteric fever, for additional diagnostic investigations. We found serological evidence of acute murine typhus in 21 of 125 (17%) patients, with 12 of 21 (57%) patients polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive for Rickettsia typhi. Three UFI cases were quantitative PCR-positive for Rickettsia spp., two UFI cases were seropositive for Hantavirus, and one UFI case was seropositive for Q fever. Fever clearance time (FCT) for rickettsial infection was 44.5 hours (interquartile range = 26-66 hours), and there was no difference in FCT between ofloxacin or gatifloxacin. Murine typhus represents an important cause of predominantly urban UFIs in Nepal, and fluoroquinolones seem to be an effective empirical treatment

Distinct host-immune response toward species related intracellular mycobacterial killing : a transcriptomic study

CITATION: Madhvi Abhilasha et al. 2020. Distinct host-immune response toward species related intracellular mycobacterial killing : a transcriptomic study. Virulence, 11(1):170-182, doi:10.1080/21505594.2020.1726561.The original publication is availablle at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.govThe comparison of the host immune response when challenged with pathogenic and nonpatho- genic species of mycobacteria can provide answers to the unresolved question of how pathogens subvert or inhibit an effective response. We infected human monocyte derived macrophages (hMDMs) with different species of mycobacteria, in increasing order of pathogenicity, i.e. M. smegmatis, M. bovis BCG, and M. tuberculosis R179 that had been cultured in the absence of detergents. RNA was isolated post-infection and transcriptomic analysis using amplicons (Ampliseq) revealed 274 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across three species, out of which we selected 19 DEGs for further validation. We used qRT-PCR to confirm the differential expression of 19 DEGs. We studied biological network through Ingenuity Pathway Analysis® (IPA) which revealed up-regulated pathways of the interferon and interleukin family related to the killing of M. smegmatis. Apart from interferon and interleukin family, we found one up-regulated (EIF2AK2) and two down-regulated (MT1A and TRIB3) genes as unique potential targets found by Ampliseq and qRT-PCR which may be involved in the intracellular mycobacterial killing. The roles of these genes have not previously been described in tuberculosis. Multiplex ELISA of culture supernatants showed increased host immune response toward M. smegmatis as compared to M. bovis BCG and M.tb R179. These results enhance our understanding of host immune response against M.tb infection.Publisher's versio

Cell Cycle- and Cancer-Associated Gene Networks Activated by Dsg2: Evidence of Cystatin A Deregulation and a Potential Role in Cell-Cell Adhesion

This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (Mahoney, R01AR056067; Riobo, RO1 GM088256). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

ACORN (A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network) II: protocol for case based antimicrobial resistance surveillance

Background: Antimicrobial resistance surveillance is essential for empiric antibiotic prescribing, infection prevention and control policies and to drive novel antibiotic discovery. However, most existing surveillance systems are isolate-based without supporting patient-based clinical data, and not widely implemented especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods: A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (ACORN) II is a large-scale multicentre protocol which builds on the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System to estimate syndromic and pathogen outcomes along with associated health economic costs. ACORN-healthcare associated infection (ACORN-HAI) is an extension study which focuses on healthcare-associated bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Our main aim is to implement an efficient clinically-oriented antimicrobial resistance surveillance system, which can be incorporated as part of routine workflow in hospitals in LMICs. These surveillance systems include hospitalised patients of any age with clinically compatible acute community-acquired or healthcare-associated bacterial infection syndromes, and who were prescribed parenteral antibiotics. Diagnostic stewardship activities will be implemented to optimise microbiology culture specimen collection practices. Basic patient characteristics, clinician diagnosis, empiric treatment, infection severity and risk factors for HAI are recorded on enrolment and during 28-day follow-up. An R Shiny application can be used offline and online for merging clinical and microbiology data, and generating collated reports to inform local antibiotic stewardship and infection control policies. Discussion: ACORN II is a comprehensive antimicrobial resistance surveillance activity which advocates pragmatic implementation and prioritises improving local diagnostic and antibiotic prescribing practices through patient-centred data collection. These data can be rapidly communicated to local physicians and infection prevention and control teams. Relative ease of data collection promotes sustainability and maximises participation and scalability. With ACORN-HAI as an example, ACORN II has the capacity to accommodate extensions to investigate further specific questions of interest