313 research outputs found
Controlling formation of metal ion adducts and enhancing sensitivity in Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry
Formation of metal ion adducts in mass spectrometry, particularly in electrospray ionization liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (ESI-LC-MS), is a nightmare scenario for an analyst dealing with quantitative analysis. We have studied in detail the metal adduct formation and concluded that the use of fluorinated alkanoic acids along with formic acid and volatile ammonium salts was extremely useful in suppressing metal adduct formation in positive ion mode of ESI-LC-MS. The extremely high electronegativity of fluorine atom and unique electrostatic nature of CâF bond coupled with stereo-electronic interactions with neighboring bonds or lone pairs enables the polyfluorinated alkanoic acids in trapping highly electropositive ions (Na+, K+) thereby letting proton do its job efficiently. Addition of formic acid, trifluoroacetic acid, heptafluorobutyric acid and ammonium acetate was found to be extremely effective in controlling metal ion adducts and producing [M+H]+ ions almost exclusively resulting in significant increase in the sensitivity. This technique has been successfully used in our laboratory for the estimation of targeted and nontargeted analysis of pesticides, marine toxins, drugs and pharmaceuticals etc. in various matrices including environmental waters using liquid chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometer operated in all ion acquisition mode and triple quadruples (QQQ) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode
Status of Bone Mineral Density in Patients with Hyperthyroidism
Vitamin D deficiency is widely prevalent in patients with hyperthyroidism along with lower bone mineral density. Against this background, the present study aims to analyze the status of bone mineral density in patients with hyperthyroidism along with age and sex matched controls. 70 consecutive patients and controls were analyzed for thyroid function test, BMD parameters and DEXA scan. The values of BMD parameters were analyzed at the baseline in both patients & control group. The baseline values of vitamin D and PTH of both the groups were 19.24±10.15 Vs 28.38±14.56 and 69.81±57.41Vs 58.53±46.49 respectively. BMD at spine and Hip were -1.38±1.31 Vs -0.26±0.80 and -1.02±1.11 Vs -0.22±0.93 respectively. The BMD of total body was 1.044±0.10 Vs 1.160±0.08. Vitamin D deficiency was found to be prevalent in patients with hyperthyroidism along with significantly reduced BMD compared to controls. The occurrence of osteopenia was higher than osteoporosis in the patient group at both lumbar spine and hip region
Role of serum interleukin-6 in deciding therapy for multidrug resistant oral lichen planus
Background: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a T cell mediated immune response. T cells locally present in the involved
tissues release cytokines like interleukin-6 (IL-6), which contributes to pathogenesis of OLP. Also IL-6 has been
associated with multidrug resistance protein (MRP) expression by keratinocytes. Correspondingly, upregulation of
MRP was found in OLP. We conducted this study to evaluate the effects of various drugs on serum IL-6 in OLP; and
correlation of these effects with the nature of clinical response and resistance pattern seen in OLP lesions with various
therapeutic modalities. Thus we evaluated the role of serum IL-6 in deciding therapy for multidrug resistant OLP.
Material and Methods: Serum IL-6 was evaluated in 42 erosive OLP (EOLP) patients and 10 normal mucosa and
10 oral squamous cell carcinoma cases using ELISA technique. OLP patients were randomly divided into 3 groups
of 14 patients each and were subjected to Pimecrolimus local application, oral Mycophenolate Mofetil (MMF)
and Methotrexate (MTX) alongwith Pimecrolimus local application. IL-6 levels were evaluated before and after
treatment.
Results: Serum IL-6 levels were raised above 3pg/ml in 26.19% erosive OLP (EOLP) cases (mean- 3.72±8.14).
EOLP (5%) cases with IL-6 levels above 5pg/ml were resistant in MTX group. However significant decrease in
serum IL-6 corresponding with the clinical resolution was seen in MMF group.
Conclusions: Significantly raised IL-6 levels in EOLP reflect the chronic inflammatory nature of the disease. As
serum IL-6 levels significantly decreased in MMF group, correspondingly no resistance to treatment was noted.
However with MTX there was no significant decrease in IL-6 and resistance to treatment was noted in some, especially plaque type lesions. Thus IL-6 can be a possible biomarker in deciding the best possible therapy for treatment
resistant OLP
A 4D Light-Field Dataset and CNN Architectures for Material Recognition
We introduce a new light-field dataset of materials, and take advantage of
the recent success of deep learning to perform material recognition on the 4D
light-field. Our dataset contains 12 material categories, each with 100 images
taken with a Lytro Illum, from which we extract about 30,000 patches in total.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first mid-size dataset for
light-field images. Our main goal is to investigate whether the additional
information in a light-field (such as multiple sub-aperture views and
view-dependent reflectance effects) can aid material recognition. Since
recognition networks have not been trained on 4D images before, we propose and
compare several novel CNN architectures to train on light-field images. In our
experiments, the best performing CNN architecture achieves a 7% boost compared
with 2D image classification (70% to 77%). These results constitute important
baselines that can spur further research in the use of CNNs for light-field
applications. Upon publication, our dataset also enables other novel
applications of light-fields, including object detection, image segmentation
and view interpolation.Comment: European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) 201
The Inside Mystery of Jejunal Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor: A Rare Case Report and Review of the Literature
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are malignant and rare form of soft tissue sarcoma of the digestive tract. The incidence of gastrointestinal stromal tumors is very low Kramer et al. 2005 Jejunal GISTs are extremely rare. Here we present a rare case of jejunal GIST with unusually large size at presentation. The patient presented with severe abdomen pain, exophytic growth, and dimorphic anemia. Surgical resection of the tumor was carried out, and operative findings revealed a 15 Ă 10âcm growth, arising from serosal surface of jejunum, at the antimesenteric surface. Diagnosis in this case was made by subjecting the resected specimen to immunohistochemical analysis. In view of large size of the resected tumor, and high-risk histopathological features, imatinib mesylate 400âmg once daily was given as adjuvant chemotherapy. Patient is asymptomatic without any evidence of tumor recurrence after six months of postoperative followup. Imatinib as such is recommended in metastatic, residual or recurrent cases of GISTs or which are surgically not removable; however, recent recommendations suggests the use of imatinib mesylate after radical surgery in high-risk cases, because it has shown a significant decrease in the recurrence rate, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also approved the use of imatinib as adjuvant therapy after complete resection of localized, primary GIST
SARS-2 COVID-19-induced immunity response, a new prognostic marker for the pregnant population correlates inversely with neonatal Apgar score
Background: The COVID-19 infection has impacted pregnancy outcomes; however, few studies have assessed the association between haematological parameters and virus-related pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. We hypothesised differences in routine haematology indices in pregnant and non-pregnant COVID-19 patients as well as COVID-19-negative pregnant subjects and observed neonatal outcomes in all pregnant populations. Further, we tested if pattern identification in the COVID-19 pregnant population would facilitate prediction of neonates with a poor Apgar score. Methods: We tested our hypothesis in 327 patients (111 COVID-19-positive pregnant females, 169 COVID-19-negative pregnant females and 47 COVID-19-positive non-pregnant females) in whom standard routine laboratory indices were collected on admission. Results: Pregnant COVID-19-positive patients exhibited higher WBC, neutrophil, monocyte counts as well as neutrophil/lymphocyte and neutrophil/eosinophil ratio compared to non-pregnant COVID-19-positive patients (p = 0.00001, p = 0.0023, p = 0.00002, p = 0.0402, p = 0.0161, p = 0.0352, respectively). Preterm delivery was more prevalent in COVID-19-positive pregnant patients accompanied with a significantly lower birth weight (2894.37 (± 67.50) g compared with 3194.16 (± 50.61) g, p = 0.02) in COVID-19-negative pregnant patients. The COVID-19-Induced Immunity Response (CIIR) was defined as (WBC Ă neutrophil) / eosinophil; Apgar scores were significantly and inversely correlated with the CIIR index (r =â0.162). Interpretation: Pregnancy appears to give rise to an increased immune response to COVID-19 which appears to protect the mother, however may give rise to complications during labour as well as neonatal concerns. CIIR is a simple metric that predicts neonatal distress to aid clinicians in determining the prognosis of COVID-19 and help provide early intensive intervention to reduce complications
The Combined Effect of Bubble and Photo Catalysis Technology in BTEX Removal from Produced Water
Among the several ways used in wastewater treatment, the photocatalysis process is a more novel and alternative process that is increasingly employed in recent years. This work aims to improve the performance of the photocatalyst process by using air bubbles in removing the BTEX from produced water as an indicator of process efficiency. The study also shows the effect of influencing factors (pH and residence time) on the photocatalysis process. The study was done in a rectangular column with dimensions of 200 mm width, 30 mm depth, and 1500 mm height. Commercial titanium oxide (TiO2) coated on a plate by the varnish was used as a source of the photocatalyst. The experiment was carried out under different values of gas flow rate (0-3 L/min) to evaluate its effect on the photocatalyst process, the effect of other variables of pH (3-11), and irradiation time (30-120) min was also studied. A new method of the coating was adopted by using an alumina plate with varnish as an adhesive. The characteristics results show that the coated plate has hydrophilic properties and that there is no significant change in the crystal structure of the TiO2 nanoparticles and the varnish before and after 60 h of the photocatalytic process, indicating that the plate is still effective after 60 h usage under different conditions. The results also show that the introduction of air bubbles enhances the removal efficiency of BTEX significantly and the best removal effectiveness of BTEX was 93% when pH = 5 after 90 min and 90% when pH = 3 after 120 min. The removal rate also reached 86% when pH = 7 after 120 min all at a flow rate of 3 L/min. The percentage of removal decreased at pH = 9 and 11, reaching 64% and 50%, respectively after 120 min and a flow rate of 3 L/min. Copyright © 2022 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).
A study of frequency and pulses for stepper motor controller system by using programmable logic controller
The stepper motor movement process produced different frequency and pulses. This research explained about the frequency and pulses for the stepper motor movement by using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) as research method. The study was done to find the suitable frequency and pulses for stepper motor movement by developing a prototype stepper motor controller system. The pulse frequency used did not affected the distance of moving load in the stepper motor operations. The increasing number of pulse frequency only will affect the time taken for the stepper motor to complete its operations. The result showed that number of pulse frequency at high operation was 5000 Hz. Pulse number reacted as a manipulated variable that affected both factor which is time taken of stepper motor operation and the distance of moving load
The Clinico-epidemiologic Characteristics of Iraqi Patients with Neuroendocrine Tumors and Their Response to Long Acting Octreotide
Background: The lack of studies regarding the neuroendocrine tumors (NET) is related to the rarity of these tumors .Long acting Octreotide is an established treatment for NETs by both providing symptomatic relief & inhibiting tumor growth. However, studies regarding incidence of NETs & their response to long acting Octreotide are still insufficient.
Objectives: To study the clinico-pathologic characteristics of Iraqi patients with NET & their response to long acting Octreotide.
Patients & methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study that was conducted in Oncology teaching hospital using patientsâ follow-up records. Data recruitment included all NET patients diagnosed after October 2013.
Results: During the study period (2 years) ,38 patients were recorded in Iraq/oncology teaching hospital NET Registry. Patients ` data (age, gender, site of the tumor, metastatic status as well as type of therapy applied) were collected. Twenty one (55.3 %)of the patients were males, M:F=1.2:1 , while 23 patients (60.5%) were over the age of 50 years .The gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) tract being the most common primary site followed by pelvis We found metastatic disease at presentation in 17 (44.7% ) of patients and the Liver was the most common metastatic site found in (15.8%, 6 patients). Seventeen (44.7%) patients presented with Grade 3 . Most common therapy applied in our patients included systemic chemotherapy, surgery, long acting Sandostatin & radiotherapy for palliation only according to both NCCN & ESMO guidelines. The median time of remission following Somatostatin analogue (SSA) administration was 3 months compared to 7 months in patients received other modalities of treatment (p=0.003).
Conclusion: Octreotide LAR provides symptomatic response & contributes to disease stabilization & tumor regression in both functional & non functional NETs
CAM5.2 Expression in Metastatic Tumours of CNS: A Diagnostic Tool
Introduction: Secondary tumours or metastases account for more than half of all brain tumours in adults. Central nervous system is most commonly a target of metastatic dissemination. The judicious use of selected immunostains is unquestionably helpful in diagnostically challenging cases. CAM 5.2 being highly specific, is emerging as a specific marker to diagnose metastatic carcinoma.Presentation of case: Total six metastatic tumours were studied using CAM5.2. Histopathological sections of brain tissue were stained by routine hematoxylin and eosin (HE) as per standard technique. Representative sections were subjected to immunohistochemical staining with CAM 5.2. Skin biopsy act as a positive control for cytokeratin.All of the 6 cases showed positivity for CAM 5.2. CAM5.2 expression in metastatic tumours was statistically significant (sensitivity 100% 100% specificity).Conclusion: We conclude in our study that CAM5.2 was significantly associated with metastatic tumours, as they were positive using this specific marker
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