3D echocardiography allows rapid and accurate surgical planning in complex aortic root abscess cases

Despite 3D echocardiography (3DE) acquiring significantly greater data than standard 2D echocardiography (2DE), it is underutilised in assessing cardiac anatomy and physiology. A key advantage is the ability of a single 3DE acquisition to be post-processed to generate volume-rendered 3D models and an unlimited number of multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) images. We describe the case of a highly anxious patient with life-threatening complex aortic valve endocarditis and aortic root abscess, refusing transesophageal echocardiography (TOE) under general anaesthesia with tachycardia, breathlessness and acute kidney injury precluding accurate or safe gated (computed tomography) CT, who was comprehensively assessed with a rapid 3D-TOE under sedation. This led to timely surgery and an excellent outcome for the patient

Surgical Outcome of Microvascular Decompression for Trigerminal Neuralgia in Terms of Pain Control Using Visual Analogue Scale

Objective:  The aim of conducting this study was to evaluate the outcome of a Micro vascular Decompression procedure for the definitive treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia in our setup. Material and Methods:  This observational prospective study was carried out in Neurosurgery unit Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar. A total of 50 patients operated for micro vascular decompression surgeries were enrolled in the study, both genders and any age were in inclusion criteria. Patients previously operated for trigeminal neuralgia were excluded from the study. Post operatively all patients were followed for 1year to calculate the outcome in terms of pain control using visual analogue score (VAS). Immediate pain relief during the first post-operative week and trigeminal neuralgia pain at 1 year post op were recorded and  graded into three categories based on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) such as Excellent: 0-2 , Good: 3-6, Fail/Poor: 7 – 10. Results:  50 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. 22 were male & 28 were female with an age range from 42-78 years. Average duration of disease was 5 years. In 30 patients, clinically v2-v3 were predominantly involved, in remaining 14 patient v1-v2 were involved & only in 6 patients all three branches were involved. Among all operated 50 patients 18(36%) had excellent pain relief, 26 (52%) had good pain relief & 6 (12%) had fail/poor pain relief. Conclusion:  From this data it was concluded that micro vascular decompression is an effective surgical procedure in relieving pain of trigeminal neuralgia in patients who are refractive to medical treatment

Early Versus Interval Cholecystectomy in Mild Acute Biliary Pancreatitis. A Retrospective Study in Tertiary Care Hospital

Objective: The objective is to determine the adequacy of early cholecystectomy (EC) versus interval cholecystectomy (IC) in terms of recurrence, duration of hospital admission, and perioperative complications after mild acute biliary pancreatitis (MABP). Methodology: After endorsement from the ethical committee, clinical data and files of all the admitted patients having MABP in the general surgery department of Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, was collected retrospectively from August 2017 to July 2020. The patients’ demographic profile, clinical findings, diagnostic investigations, timing of cholecystectomy, operating surgeons, operative time, biliary complications, intraoperative bleeding, conversion rate, duration of admission, and recurrence were reviewed. Patients presented with abdominal pain, vomiting, jaundice, or fever. The diagnosis was confirmed on the basis of a CT scan of the abdomen showing an inflamed pancreas and stones in the gallbladder. Outcomes were compared and reviewed between the two groups. Results: In this research proposal, 263 patients admitted were analyzed. EC was performed were discharged after conservative management and followed up after 12 weeks for interval laparoscopic cholecystectomy (IC). It was observed in patients of IC (EC 2 [1.2%] vs IC 7[7%]; p value <0.01) while duration of hospitalization was prolonged as compared to patients of EC (EC 5.53+0.58days vs IC 5.82+0.78days; p value <0.001). lar in both EC and IC. Conclusion: EC performed after MABP is associated with shorter duration of hospitalization and reduced recurrence with similar rate of perioperative complications

OPERATIONAL RESEARCH TOOLS IN IRRIGATION - A REVIEW

Operational research optimization is an old method for allocating scarce resources with maximum benefits and efficiency. With increasing global water scarcity, earliness and tiredness in demand base water supply, economical issues, maximizing crop per drop of water, OR is getting popular in irrigation and agriculture sector as well. This paper is intended to review different optimization techniques used so far in the field of irrigation.Key Words: Operation research, optimization, irrigation, water delivery, genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, fuzzy sets, swarm optimization

Recent developments and perspectives in CdS-based photocatalysts for water splitting

Over the past few years, many approaches have been developed progressively to produce hydrogen (H2) from water under solar light irradiation. This process of fuel production is clean, potentially cost-effective, and environment-friendly. At present, however, current technologies are unable to meet the industrial requirements because of high cost, low photoresponse, and insufficient catalytic performance. Among water splitting photocatalysts, CdS is considered to be an interesting and important material owing to its low cost, prominent catalytic activity, high absorption in the visible spectrum, and the suitable positions of its conduction (CB) and valence (VB) bands. There are, however, some associated problems such as the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs and photocorrosion that have severely hampered its practical usage. The efficient conversion of water to H2 depends on the extent to which the charge carriers, especially the electrons, are first generated and then have sufficient life-time for their effective utilization. This review highlights work over the past several years to improve the photocatalytic efficiency and stability of CdS for H2 production from water

OPERATIONAL RESEARCH TOOLS IN IRRIGATION - A REVIEW

Operational research optimization is an old method for allocating scarce resources with maximum benefits and efficiency. With increasing global water scarcity, earliness and tiredness in demand base water supply, economical issues, maximizing crop per drop of water, OR is getting popular in irrigation and agriculture sector as well. This paper is intended to review different optimization techniques used so far in the field of irrigation.Key Words: Operation research, optimization, irrigation, water delivery, genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, fuzzy sets, swarm optimization

Chemical composition and pharmacological bio-efficacy of Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana (Decne) Rehder for anticancer activity

Consistent STAT3 (Single transducer and activator of transcription 3) activation is observed in many tumors and promotes malignant cell transformation. In the present investigation, we evaluated the anticancer effects of Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana methanol fraction (PJM) on STAT3 inhibition in HCCLM3 and MDA-MB 231 cells. PJM suppressed the activation of upstream kinases i.e. JAK-1/2 (Janus kinase-1/2), and c-Src (Proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase c-Src), and upregulated the expression levels of PIAS-1/3 (Protein Inhibitor of Activated STATs-1/3), SHP-1/2 (Src-homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-1/2), and PTP-1β (Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1 β) which negatively regulate STAT3 signaling pathway. PJM also decreased the levels of protein products conferring to various oncogenes, which in turn repressed the proliferation, migration, invasion, and induced apoptosis in cancer cell lines. The growth inhibitory effects of PJM on cell-cycle and metastasis were correlated with decreased expression levels of CyclinD1, CyclinE, MMP-2 (Matrix metalloproteinases-2), and MMP-9 (Matrix metalloproteinases-9). Induction of apoptosis was indicated by the cleavage and subsequent activation of Caspases (Cysteine-dependent Aspartate-directed Proteases) i.e. caspase-3, 7, 8, 9, and PARP (Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase) as well as through the down-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins. These apoptotic effects of PJM were preceded by inhibition of STAT3 cell-signaling pathway. STAT3 was needed for PJM-induced apoptosis, and inhibition of STAT3 via pharmacological inhibitor (Stattic; SC-203282) abolished the apoptotic effects. Conclusively, our results demonstrate the capability of PJM to inhibit cancer cell-proliferation and induce apoptosis by suppressing STAT3 via upregulation of STAT3 inhibitors and pro-apoptotic proteins whereas the down-regulation of upstream kinases and anti-apoptotic protein expression. In future, one-step advance studies of PHM regarding its role in metastatic inhibition, immune response modulation for reducing tumor, and inducing apoptosis in suitable animal models would be an interesting and promising research area

Effects of mutual coupling on gain and beam width of a linear array of a dielectric resonator antenna for main beam scanning applications

The effects of mutual coupling on the scanning characteristics of a four-element linear rectangular dielectric resonator antenna array (RDRA) are investigated for different inter-element spacing in this work. In particular, the gain and half-power beam width (HPBW) of an RDRA are studied for various scan angles in the E- and H-plane configurations. It is shown that for both the E and H planes, mutual coupling has an adverse effect on the performance of both phased array configurations. The H-plane array, however, is more stable than the E-plane array in terms of a gain and beam width performance comparison. The HPBW increases and gain decreases more in the E plane than the H plane when the scan angle is increased