STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF MEDICINAL PLANTS EXTRACTS ON THE INFECTED BLOOD

Medicinal plants are used for treating and preventing the specific disease that affects the human being. There are several species of medicinal plants available in nature; amongst those researchers selected Basil, Zingiber, Azadirachtaindica, Curcuma longa, Carica Papaya, Allium sativum for research purpose. Natural compounds have been isolated from various parts such as leaves, fruits, stem, roots, and seeds of these plants. The present paper is the comparative study of variation in the physical properties like pH, critical solution temperature, and boiling point, etc. of these medicinal plants, individually, in combination ratios and also with the infected blood doped samples

Comparative phase imaging of live cells by digital holographic microscopy and transport of intensity equation methods

We describe a microscopic setup implementing phase imaging by digital holographic microscopy (DHM) and transport of intensity equation (TIE) methods, which allows the results of both measurements to be quantitatively compared for either live cell or static samples. Digital holographic microscopy is a well-established method that provides robust phase reconstructions, but requires a sophisticated interferometric imaging system. TIE, on the other hand, is directly compatible with bright-field microscopy, but is more susceptible to noise artifacts. We present results comparing DHM and TIE on a custom-built microscope system that allows both techniques to be used on the same cells in rapid succession, thus permitting the comparison of the accuracy of both methods

Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) Conference and Expo

Meeting Abstracts: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) Conference and Expo Clearwater Beach, FL, USA. 9-11 June 201

Increasing the number of tradeswomen at UBC

The critical issue that the University of British Columbia Building Operations (UBCBO) is faced with is one of social sustainability - increasing the number of female tradespeople within the organization to reach the provincial average of 5%. An internal review of UBC’s current hiring processes did not reveal any systemic issues to the underrepresentation of females in the trades workforce. Research in the form of one-on-one interviews with both female and male tradespeople currently employed at UBCBO provided in-depth information into the ways that these trades people had heard about UBCBO, as well as their reasons for remaining with the employer. Further analysis led to the finding that the low female participation rate came as a result of a lack of awareness about UBCBO as an employer. This recruitment-marketing plan is geared towards increasing the awareness of UBCBO as an employer for certified tradespeople. First, the issue of brand management is tackled - UBCBO needs to realign key advertising materials to strengthen the employer brand of diversity. This realignment is in response to literature review findings that women judge the diversity of a workplace based on inconspicuous aspects of the advertising message. To generate leads and spread information regarding new job postings, UBCBO needs to utilize social media outlets, particularly Twitter. A new Twitter account would link UBCBO to the BC trade certification schools, thus creating interaction between newly certified tradespeople and UBCBO. A physical presence through workshops at trade certification schools would be used to raise a general awareness of UBCBO as an employer of skilled female tradespeople. Once employer brand management and lead generation are underway, UBCBO needs to make sure that potential female tradespeople follow through with applications. The wording of job postings pertaining to skilled tradespeople positions needs to be re-evaluated to become comparable to those of competitors in terms of length, density, and positioning of key statements. As a last note, UBCBO needs to review the policies that are preventing the hire of external apprentices – it is understood that this is a complex issue, but research has shown the many benefits of this program in retaining top talent across the trades. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Business, Sauder School ofUnreviewedUndergraduat

Demographic profile and clinical characteristics of patients presenting with acute ocular burns

Purpose: To study and compare the demographic and clinical profile of acute ocular burns (AOB) in children and adults. Methods: This retrospective case series included 271 children (338 eyes) and 1300 adults (1809 eyes) who presented to two tertiary eye care centers within one month of sustaining AOB. Data regarding demographics, causative agents, severity of injury, visual acuity (VA), and treatment were collected and analyzed. Results: Males were more commonly affected particularly among adults (81% versus 64%, P < 0.00001). Among children, 79% sustained domestic injuries, whereas 59% of adults had work-place injuries (P < 0.0001). Most cases were due to alkali (38%) and acids (22%). Edible lime (chuna, 32%), superglue (14%), and firecrackers (12%) in children, and chuna (7%), insecticides, lye, superglue (6% each), toilet cleaner (4%) and battery acid (3%) in adults, were the main causative agents. The percentage of cases with Dua grade IV-VI was greater in children (16% versus 9%; P = 0.0001). Amniotic membrane grafting and/or tarsorrhaphy were needed in 36% and 14% of affected eyes in children and adults, respectively (P < 0.00001). The median presenting VA was logMAR 0.5 in children and logMAR 0.3 in adults (P = 0.0001), which improved significantly with treatment in both groups (P < 0.0001), but the final VA in eyes with Dua grade IV-VI burns was poorer in children (logMAR 1.3 versus logMAR 0.8, P = 0.04). Conclusion: The findings clearly delineate the at-risk groups, causative agents, clinical severity, and treatment outcomes of AOB. Increased awareness and data-driven targeted preventive strategies are needed to reduce the avoidable ocular morbidity in AOB

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance for evaluation of cardiac involvement in COVID-19: recommendations by the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

Abstract Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing global pandemic that has affected nearly 600 million people to date across the world. While COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory illness, cardiac injury is also known to occur. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is uniquely capable of characterizing myocardial tissue properties in-vivo, enabling insights into the pattern and degree of cardiac injury. The reported prevalence of myocardial involvement identified by CMR in the context of COVID-19 infection among previously hospitalized patients ranges from 26 to 60%. Variations in the reported prevalence of myocardial involvement may result from differing patient populations (e.g. differences in severity of illness) and the varying intervals between acute infection and CMR evaluation. Standardized methodologies in image acquisition, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of CMR abnormalities across would likely improve concordance between studies. This consensus document by the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) provides recommendations on CMR imaging and reporting metrics towards the goal of improved standardization and uniform data acquisition and analytic approaches when performing CMR in patients with COVID-19 infection

The major genetic determinants of HIV-1 control affect HLA class I peptide presentation.

Infectious and inflammatory diseases have repeatedly shown strong genetic associations within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC); however, the basis for these associations remains elusive. To define host genetic effects on the outcome of a chronic viral infection, we performed genome-wide association analysis in a multiethnic cohort of HIV-1 controllers and progressors, and we analyzed the effects of individual amino acids within the classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) proteins. We identified &gt;300 genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the MHC and none elsewhere. Specific amino acids in the HLA-B peptide binding groove, as well as an independent HLA-C effect, explain the SNP associations and reconcile both protective and risk HLA alleles. These results implicate the nature of the HLA-viral peptide interaction as the major factor modulating durable control of HIV infection

Epidemiology and outcomes of hospital-acquired bloodstream infections in intensive care unit patients: the EUROBACT-2 international cohort study

Purpose In the critically ill, hospital-acquired bloodstream infections (HA-BSI) are associated with significant mortality. Granular data are required for optimizing management, and developing guidelines and clinical trials. Methods We carried out a prospective international cohort study of adult patients (≥ 18 years of age) with HA-BSI treated in intensive care units (ICUs) between June 2019 and February 2021. Results 2600 patients from 333 ICUs in 52 countries were included. 78% HA-BSI were ICU-acquired. Median Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score was 8 [IQR 5; 11] at HA-BSI diagnosis. Most frequent sources of infection included pneumonia (26.7%) and intravascular catheters (26.4%). Most frequent pathogens were Gram-negative bacteria (59.0%), predominantly Klebsiella spp. (27.9%), Acinetobacter spp. (20.3%), Escherichia coli (15.8%), and Pseudomonas spp. (14.3%). Carbapenem resistance was present in 37.8%, 84.6%, 7.4%, and 33.2%, respectively. Difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR) was present in 23.5% and pan-drug resistance in 1.5%. Antimicrobial therapy was deemed adequate within 24 h for 51.5%. Antimicrobial resistance was associated with longer delays to adequate antimicrobial therapy. Source control was needed in 52.5% but not achieved in 18.2%. Mortality was 37.1%, and only 16.1% had been discharged alive from hospital by day-28. Conclusions HA-BSI was frequently caused by Gram-negative, carbapenem-resistant and DTR pathogens. Antimicrobial resistance led to delays in adequate antimicrobial therapy. Mortality was high, and at day-28 only a minority of the patients were discharged alive from the hospital. Prevention of antimicrobial resistance and focusing on adequate antimicrobial therapy and source control are important to optimize patient management and outcomes

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on $10^3$ pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype