The effect of 0.25% levobupivacaine and 0.25% ropivacaine in fascia iliaca block in elderly patients with fracture femur given before positioning for subarachnoid block

Background: Positioning of elderly patients with fracture femur for subarachnoid block (SAB) is a challenging task, both for the patient and anesthesiologist. Severe pain not only adds to the morbidity but also alters the success rate of SAB as appropriate positioning becomes difficult. Fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) is a simple, rapid, effective and safe method for achieving excellent pain relief. The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of 0 .25% of levobupivacaine and 0.25% ropivacaine in FICB on reducing preoperative and postoperative pain and analgesic consumption in lower limb surgery.Methods: 60 elderly patients of ASA class I-III scheduled for elective fracture femur surgery were enrolled in the study and randomly divided into two groups. Group L received 30ml 0.25% levobupivacaine in FICB while Group R received 0.25% ropivacaine in FICB 15min before SAB. Parameters recorded were blood pressure, heart rate, visual analogous scale (VAS), quality of positioning and time to first rescue analgesia. VAS was noted before and after performing FICB and at the time of positioning for subarachnoid block (SAB).Results: The VAS score at different time interval and time to first rescue analgesia were comparable (P >0.05). Quality of positioning was also similar in both the groups (P >0.05).Conclusions: The study demonstrates that levobupivacaine and ropivacaine produce comparable preoperative and postoperative analgesia when used for FICB

Toll-Like Receptors and Cytokines as Surrogate Biomarkers for Evaluating Vaginal Immune Response following Microbicide Administration

Topical microbicides are intended for frequent use by women in reproductive age. Hence, it is essential to evaluate their impact on mucosal immune function in the vagina. In the present study, we evaluated nisin, a naturally occurring antimicrobial peptide (AMP), for its efficacy as an intravaginal microbicide. Its effect on the vaginal immune function was determined by localizing Toll-like receptors (TLRs-3, 9) and cytokines (IL-4, 6 , 10 and TNF-α) in the rabbit cervicovaginal epithelium following intravaginal administration of high dose of nisin gel for 14 consecutive days. The results revealed no alteration in the expression of TLRs and cytokines at both protein and mRNA levels. However, in SDS gel-treated group, the levels were significantly upregulated with the induction of NF-κB signalling cascade. Thus, TLRs and cytokines appear as sensitive indicators for screening immunotoxic potential of candidate microbicides

Development of High Yielding Disease Resistant Hybrid in Pearl Millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.] for Northern Karnataka

Pear Millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] isanimportant nutri-cereal as it contains higher level of micronutrients especially Fe and Zn compared to other cereal crops like maize, wheat, rice, sorghum etcand is one of the important sources of staple food to the large masses of the people across the globe. Heterosis is the superiority of F1 over its parents and it has been extensively studied in pearl millet. Due to its protogynous nature, it is highly cross pollinated and well amenable to exploit heterosis, further, availability of cytoplasmic-nuclear male-sterile sources in the crop gives scope for development of hybrids in turn enhance the crop productivity. Among various biotic and abiotic stresses which impact the productivity, Blast disease caused by Pyriculariagrisea (Cooke) Sacc., is emerging as a major disease of concern resulting into yield loss to the tune of 62 per cent.Looking into the importance of the disease, it necessitates to breed for stable and durable disease resistant hybrids. In this context, disease resistance breeding programme was initiated at All India Co-ordinated Research Project (Millets) at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Vijayapur with the aim to develop disease resistant hybrid with high productivity. After several generations of screening, evaluation and selection of parents and crosscombinations, new hybrid, VPMH-7, was identified by crossinga good combiner and an early flowering A1 cytoplasm based malesterile line ICMA 94555 with good restorer CPRT 112. The hybrid identified has recorded significantly higher mean yield of 24.50 percent over National Check, GHB 558, in Zone 3 of Karnataka. Due to its encouraging performance, the hybrid was promoted and tested underFarm Trials andLarge Scale Demonstrations, wherein, the said hybrid recorded 12.60 and 24.80 per cent superiority over GHB 558 respectively. The hybrid is promising for blast disease resistance under field condition as compared to GHB-558, and matures early (80-85 days), making it suitable for late planting and multiple cropping system. Considering all these attributes, this disease resistant hybrid, VPMH-7, having high yield potential is released (2019) and notified (2020) for commercial cultivation in Zone 3 of Karnataka

Data mining and neural networks to determine the financial market prediction

Predicting stock market movements has been a complex task for years by gaining the increasing interest of researchers and investors present all around the world. These have tried to get ahead of the way in order to know the levels of return and thus reduce the risk they face in investments [1]. Capital markets are areas of fundamental importance for the development of economies and their good management that favors the transition from savings to investment through the purchase and sale of shares [2]. These actions are so important that they are influenced by economic, social, political, and cultural variables. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider the value of an action in an instant not as a deterministic variable but as a random variable, considering its temporal trajectory as a stochastic process

Evidence-based national vaccine policy

India has over a century old tradition of development and production of vaccines. The Government rightly adopted self-sufficiency in vaccine production and self-reliance in vaccine technology as its policy objectives in 1986. However, in the absence of a full-fledged vaccine policy, there have been concerns related to demand and supply, manufacture vs. import, role of public and private sectors, choice of vaccines, new and combination vaccines, universal vs. selective vaccination, routine immunization vs. special drives, cost-benefit aspects, regulatory issues, logistics etc. The need for a comprehensive and evidence based vaccine policy that enables informed decisions on all these aspects from the public health point of view brought together doctors, scientists, policy analysts, lawyers and civil society representatives to formulate this policy paper for the consideration of the Government. This paper evolved out of the first ever ICMR-NISTADS national brainstorming workshop on vaccine policy held during 4-5 June, 2009 in New Delhi, and subsequent discussions over email for several weeks, before being adopted unanimously in the present form

Comparative Omics-Driven Genome Annotation Refinement: Application across Yersiniae

Genome sequencing continues to be a rapidly evolving technology, yet most downstream aspects of genome annotation pipelines remain relatively stable or are even being abandoned. The annotation process is now performed almost exclusively in an automated fashion to balance the large number of sequences generated. One possible way of reducing errors inherent to automated computational annotations is to apply data from omics measurements (i.e. transcriptional and proteomic) to the un-annotated genome with a proteogenomic-based approach. Here, the concept of annotation refinement has been extended to include a comparative assessment of genomes across closely related species. Transcriptomic and proteomic data derived from highly similar pathogenic Yersiniae (Y. pestis CO92, Y. pestis Pestoides F, and Y. pseudotuberculosis PB1/+) was used to demonstrate a comprehensive comparative omic-based annotation methodology. Peptide and oligo measurements experimentally validated the expression of nearly 40% of each strain's predicted proteome and revealed the identification of 28 novel and 68 incorrect (i.e., observed frameshifts, extended start sites, and translated pseudogenes) protein-coding sequences within the three current genome annotations. Gene loss is presumed to play a major role in Y. pestis acquiring its niche as a virulent pathogen, thus the discovery of many translated pseudogenes, including the insertion-ablated argD, underscores a need for functional analyses to investigate hypotheses related to divergence. Refinements included the discovery of a seemingly essential ribosomal protein, several virulence-associated factors, a transcriptional regulator, and many hypothetical proteins that were missed during annotation

Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76TeV

Peer reviewe

Using Enzymes for Oil Recovery from Edible Seeds

298-310Oilseeds and their products are the most valuable agricultural crops in the world trade with, ever-increasing demand for oil from edible oilseeds all over the world. India accounts for 9.6 per cent of the world's oilseeds production. The demand for vegetable oils is increasing at 5 lakh t/y while the production is increasing at 2 lakh t/y only. The present demand over supply gap, in edible oils, is 1.8 million t needing to produce additional 5.4 million t oilseeds/y. Hydraulic, and expeller pressing, and solvent extraction are the three most common processes for oil recovery from oil seeds. Enzyme based oilseed processing technologies emerge as one of the most eco-friendly processing methods. The enzymes have specific mode of action, therefore, cellulase, hemicellulase and pectinase and even proteases are the most favourable enzymes for degrading the cell wall in oilseeds to loosen oil sacs embedded in the structures. The enzyme treatment has been found useful in conventional solvent extraction process also. Different factors like temperature, pH, moisture, grinding and size reduction of oilseeds are required by enzymatic processes which influence the efficiency of extraction, recovery of oil, that also helps maintain higher nutritive value. The usage of enzymes reduces environmental pollution with consequent reduction in BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) of the residues and wastewaters along with reduction in acid development and oxidation during further processing and storage. High cost and specificity of enzymes limit the enzyme usage for different oilseeds