Elicitation of flavonoids by Salicylic acid and Penicillium expansum in Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees. cell culture

Salicylic acid and Penicillium expansum extract were used as chemical and fungalelicitors to enhance the synthesis of total flavonoid content in suspension culture ofAndrographis paniculata. Salicylic acid elicitor was added in 0.05mM, 0.5mM and 1.5mMconcentrations to the cell suspension of Andrographis paniculata and studied for 24, 48 and72 hrs. of treatment duration. Similarly, 0.3%, 0.6% and 1.2% of Penicillium expansum homogenate was treated with Andrographis paniculata suspension culture for 2 days, 5 daysand 8 days. All the elicitors administered at late exponential phase (25 days old culture).Ourfindings revealed that the salicylic acid treatment for 24 hrs with 0.05 mM concentration oftreatment duration showed 1.39 fold increment in total flavonoid content (1.72 mg/g) whereas Penicillium expansum elicitor (1.2%, 2 days) indicates 1.59 fold enhancement (2.38 mg/g) ascompared to control (1.49 mg/g). This concentration and incubation period was superior toother studied concentrations and incubation periods for P. expansum elicitor. Among all thestudied elicitors, Penicillium expansum (1.2%, 2 days) was found to be superior over Salicylicacid (0.05 mM, 24 hrs)

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF FLOATING TABLET OF ECLIPTA ALBA EXTRACT FOR HEPATIC DISORDERS

Objective: The aim of the present study was to design and estimate gastro retentive floating tablet of Eclipta alba extract to increase the efficacy by extending the release of extract. Eclipta alba is reported to be useful in liver ailments and has been shown to possess hepatoprotective activity.Methods: The floating tablet extract of Eclipta alba was prepared by using kollidon SR as floating and release retarding polymer. The effect of various additive excipient was also studied and optimized using 32full factorial design to alter the floating behaviour and extract release from the floating tablet.Results: The polymeric structure of Kollidon® SR possesses appreciable porosity during the compression process. Results of multiple regression analysis show that the amount of stearic acid and lactose has significant influence on Q2, Q6 and Q10.Conclusions: From the desirability function, the levels of the optimized batch were selected as -1 for the X1 and 1 for the X2 which correspond to batch F3 of factorial design. This study can open the avenues for the In-vitro dissolution testing of herbal extracts by simple UV method for the determination of extract release in extended release formulations.Â

Comparative study of titanium elastic nailing v/s dynamic compression plating for the management of fracture shaft of femur in adolescent age group

Background: Femoral fractures are one of the common long bones fractured in paediatric age group. Over the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic and sustained trend toward the operative stabilization of femoral shaft fractures in school-aged children. Femoral fracture demands stable fixation in adolescent.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. All children’s between the age 11 to 18 years with femur fracture managed with either TENS or dynamic compression plating between march 2014 to march 2017 were included into the study.Results: most common mode of injury was RTA. Middle third being the most common site for fracture. There was100% union in our study. The mean time of union in TENS group was 12 weeks and that of Plating group Was 13.1 weeks. Irritation at entry site was seen in 11 (22.9%) out of 48 patients. Malunion was seen in 9 out of 48 children’s in group a, whereas malunion in group b seen in 1 child. All the malunion was less than 5 degree and Varus being most common type of malunion. Limb length discrepancy in group A was observed in 5 patents (10.5%) out which 3 were shortening and 2 were lengthening. In group b 1pateint had shortening at end of follow up. In group B superficial infection was seen in 4 (15%) out of 33 children’s and in group A it was observed in 2 children’s (5%).Conclusions: we concluded that compression plating in adolescent age group especially older and obese children for the management fracture shaft of femur comparatively better than TENS.

Atlas construction and spatial normalisation to facilitate radiation-induced late effects research in childhood cancer

Reducing radiation-induced side effects is one of the most important challenges in paediatric cancer treatment. Recently, there has been growing interest in using spatial normalisation to enable voxel-based analysis of radiation-induced toxicities in a variety of patient groups. The need to consider three-dimensional distribution of doses, rather than dose-volume histograms, is desirable but not yet explored in paediatric populations. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of atlas construction and spatial normalisation in paediatric radiotherapy. We used planning computed tomography (CT) scans from twenty paediatric patients historically treated with craniospinal irradiation to generate a template CT that is suitable for spatial normalisation. This childhood cancer population representative template was constructed using groupwise image registration. An independent set of 53 subjects from a variety of childhood malignancies was then used to assess the quality of the propagation of new subjects to this common reference space using deformable image registration (i.e., spatial normalisation). The method was evaluated in terms of overall image similarity metrics, contour similarity and preservation of dose-volume properties. After spatial normalisation, we report a dice similarity coefficient of 0.95±0.05, 0.85±0.04, 0.96±0.01, 0.91±0.03, 0.83±0.06 and 0.65±0.16 for brain and spinal canal, ocular globes, lungs, liver, kidneys and bladder. We then demonstrated the potential advantages of an atlas-based approach to study the risk of second malignant neoplasms after radiotherapy. Our findings indicate satisfactory mapping between a heterogeneous group of patients and the template CT. The poorest performance was for organs in the abdominal and pelvic region, likely due to respiratory and physiological motion and to the highly deformable nature of abdominal organs. More specialised algorithms should be explored in the future to improve mapping in these regions. This study is the first step toward voxel-based analysis in radiation-induced toxicities following paediatric radiotherapy

Applying machine learning to automated segmentation of head and neck tumour volumes and organs at risk on radiotherapy planning CT and MRI scans

Radiotherapy is one of the main ways head and neck cancers are treated; radiation is used to kill cancerous cells and prevent their recurrence. Complex treatment planning is required to ensure that enough radiation is given to the tumour, and little to other sensitive structures (known as organs at risk) such as the eyes and nerves which might otherwise be damaged. This is especially difficult in the head and neck, where multiple at-risk structures often lie in extremely close proximity to the tumour. It can take radiotherapy experts four hours or more to pick out the important areas on planning scans (known as segmentation). This research will focus on applying machine learning algorithms to automatic segmentation of head and neck planning computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust patients. Through analysis of the images used in radiotherapy DeepMind Health will investigate improvements in efficiency of cancer treatment pathways

Microwave and Millimeter Wave Techniques

Contains research objectives and summary of research on four research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-74-C-0630)National Science Foundation (Grant GP-40485X)National Science Foundation (Grant MPS73-05043-A01

New Perspectives for Watering Substrate-Based Root Modules in Microgravity in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH)

No abstract availabl

Links between a biomarker profile, cold ischaemic time and clinical outcome following simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. In sepsis, trauma and major surgery, where an explicit physiological insult leads to a significant systemic inflammatory response, the acute evolution of biomarkers have been delineated. In these settings, Interleukin (IL) -6 and TNF-α are often the first pro-inflammatory markers to rise, stimulating production of acute phase proteins followed by peaks in anti-inflammatory markers. Patients undergoing SPKT as a result of diabetic complications already have an inflammatory phenotype as a result of uraemia and glycaemia. How this inflammatory response is affected further by the trauma of major transplant surgery and how this may impact on graft survival is unknown, despite the recognised pro-inflammatory cytokines’ detrimental effects on islet cell function. The aim of the study was to determine the evolution of biomarkers in omentum and serum in the peri-operative period following SPKT. The biochemical findings were correlated to clinical outcomes. Two omental biopsies were taken (at the beginning and end of surgery) and measured for CD68+ and CD206+ antibodies (M1 and M2 macrophages respectively). Serum was measured within the first 72 h post-SPKT for pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL -6, -10 and TNF-α), inflammatory markers (WCC and CRP) and endocrine markers (insulin, C-peptide, glucagon and resistin). 46 patients were recruited to the study. Levels of M1 (CD68+) and M2 (CD206+) macrophages were significantly raised at the end of surgery compared to the beginning (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001 respectively). Levels of C-peptide, insulin and glucagon were significantly raised 30 min post pancreas perfusion compared to baseline and were also significantly negatively related to prolonged cold ischaemic time (CIT) (p < 0.05). CRP levels correlated significantly with the Post-Operative Morbidity Survey (p < 0.05). The temporal inflammatory marker signature after SPKT is comparable to the pattern observed following other physiological insults. Unique to this study, we find that CIT is significantly related to early pancreatic endocrine function. In addition, this study suggests a predictive value of CRP in peri-operative morbidity following SPKT

Clinically Applicable Segmentation of Head and Neck Anatomy for Radiotherapy: Deep Learning Algorithm Development and Validation Study

BACKGROUND: Over half a million individuals are diagnosed with head and neck cancer each year globally. Radiotherapy is an important curative treatment for this disease, but it requires manual time to delineate radiosensitive organs at risk. This planning process can delay treatment while also introducing interoperator variability, resulting in downstream radiation dose differences. Although auto-segmentation algorithms offer a potentially time-saving solution, the challenges in defining, quantifying, and achieving expert performance remain. OBJECTIVE: Adopting a deep learning approach, we aim to demonstrate a 3D U-Net architecture that achieves expert-level performance in delineating 21 distinct head and neck organs at risk commonly segmented in clinical practice. METHODS: The model was trained on a data set of 663 deidentified computed tomography scans acquired in routine clinical practice and with both segmentations taken from clinical practice and segmentations created by experienced radiographers as part of this research, all in accordance with consensus organ at risk definitions. RESULTS: We demonstrated the model's clinical applicability by assessing its performance on a test set of 21 computed tomography scans from clinical practice, each with 21 organs at risk segmented by 2 independent experts. We also introduced surface Dice similarity coefficient, a new metric for the comparison of organ delineation, to quantify the deviation between organ at risk surface contours rather than volumes, better reflecting the clinical task of correcting errors in automated organ segmentations. The model's generalizability was then demonstrated on 2 distinct open-source data sets, reflecting different centers and countries to model training. CONCLUSIONS: Deep learning is an effective and clinically applicable technique for the segmentation of the head and neck anatomy for radiotherapy. With appropriate validation studies and regulatory approvals, this system could improve the efficiency, consistency, and safety of radiotherapy pathways