Gallstone ileus: retrospective review of a single centre\u27s experience using two surgical procedures

Introduction:Gallstone ileus is responsible for 1-3 percent of cases of mechanical small bowel obstruction. Debate continues regarding choice of optimal surgical procedure. One-stage procedure includes enterolithotomy, cholecystectomy and repair of fistula at the same setting, whereas staged procedure includes enterolithotomy alone, with fistula repair at a later stage. This study aims to determine factors influencing choice of surgical procedure in Patients with gallstone ileus. Methods : Data was collected for Patients diagnosed with gallstone ileus between 1990 and 2005. Five Patients underwent enterolithotomy alone (Group 1), while the remaining five Patients underwent enterolithotomy with cholecystectomy and repair of fistula as a single stage procedure (Group 2). Results: In Group 1, Patients presented late with deranged physiological parameters and pre-existing comorbidities accounting for an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score of 3 or above. In Group 2, Patients presented early with preserved physiological status accounting for an ASA score of 2. The mean operative time was 126 +/- 23 minutes in Group 1 and 245 +/- 54.4 minutes in Group 2. There was no mortality, three Patients in Group 1 had superficial wound infection, and one Patient in Group 2 had injury to the common bile duct necessitating hepaticojejunostomy. The mean follow-up period was 3.5 +/- 1.5 years. None of the Patients in both groups had recurrent symptoms requiring further intervention. Conclusions: Choice of surgical procedure was largely determined by the clinical status of the Patient. Single-stage procedure was performed in haemodynamically-stable Patients, while enterolithotomy alone was considered sufficient for unstable Patients

Rating Determinants Factored in E-Commerce Decision-Making

The user-generated content (UGC) Web sites are gaining popularity for a wide range of media content, such as news, blogs, forums, and open-source software. Instead of relying on information on company Web sites, users benefit by reading reviews written on UGC Web sites by consumers. Online evaluations are usually informative and reduce the information asymmetry. This study examines the problem where UGC can be expedient for online hotel booking. It investigates the relationship between the ratings obtained from the TripAdvisor.com reviewers and the hotel price levels in the United States, outside the United States, and top 20 hotels and others, respectively. Findings suggest that medium-priced hotels provide a comparable value with their high-priced counterparts. Further, the ratings for U.S. hotels are lower than others across all price levels

Antibacterial and Cytotoxic Activities of Acacia nilotica Lam (Mimosaceae) Methanol Extracts Against Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase Producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella Species

Purpose: To investigate lysates from Acacia nilotica pods for their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities against a variety of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae as well as methicillin resistant Staphylococci aureus (MRSA).Methods: ESBLs-producing E. coli and Klebsiella spp were isolated from clinical and environmental specimens and incubated with Acacia nilotica pod lysates. The bactericidal activity and cytotoxic effects of the lysates were evaluated while fast protein liquid chromatography (size exclusion FPLC) was used to identify the various compounds showing bactericidal activity.Results: The lysates showed remarkable bactericidal properties, killing almost 100 % of the bacteria they were tested against, including neuropathogenic Escherichia coli, MRSA, and Klebsiella spp. The bactericidal activity was heat-resistant and showed minimal cytotoxic effects on human brain microvascular endothelial cells. FPLC revealed eight peaks, with three of them representing compounds that had maximum bactericidal activity against all the tested isolates, but showed < 30 % host cell cytotoxicity.Conclusion: The lysate of Acacia nilotica pods is a potentially good candidate for the therapy of antibacterial-resistant bacteria, and would therefore require further studies.Keywords: Acacia nilotica, ESBLs, MRSA, E. coli, Klebsiella, Antibacterial resistance, Cytotoxicit

N-[(Methyl­sulfan­yl)meth­yl]benzamide

In the title compound, C9H11NOS, the phenyl ring and formamide unit make a dihedral angle of 23.93 (14)°, whereas the (methyl­sulfan­yl)methyl group is oriented at a dihedral angle of 61.31 (8)° with respect to the phenyl ring. There are inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming C(4) chains along the [010] direction. These polymeric chains are linked by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form polymeric sheets in the (110) plane

Extraction of Cerium (IV) Using Di–n-butylsulfoxide in Chloroform from Nitric Acid and Determination with Arsenazo (III) as Chromogenic Reagent

A new and advantageous extraction procedure was developed for extraction of cerium (IV) from nitric acid with di-n-butylsulfoxide (DBSO) in perchloric acid. The extracted Ce (IV) was determined spectrophotometrically using 0.01 % solution of arsenazo-III in 3Mper-chloric acid. Various parameters such as equilibration time, metal ion concentration, effect of temperature and diverse ions on the extraction of the Ce (IV) were established. U (VI), Th (IV) and Pb (II) interfere whereas only phosphate and fluoride suppress the extraction among anions. The stoichiometric composition of the cerium complex withDBSO was determined by slope analysis and found to be 1:4. The process of extraction was found to be exothermic. Deionized water was the most appropriate solvent for back extraction of cerium. This method is easier and more sensitive than many of the reported procedures.KEYWORDS Cerium, extraction, DBSO, perchloric acid, arsenazo-II

Assessment of biodiversity based on morphological characteristics and RAPD markers among genotypes of wild rose species

Conservation and utilization of the native plant resources is essential for long term sustainability of biodiversity. Wild native resources are adapted to specific and diverse environmental conditions and therefore, these adaptive features can be introduced into modern cultivars either through conventional breeding or advanced molecular genetic techniques. Understanding the genetic make up of the wildly growing plant species and of target desirable genes is a prerequisite for this purpose. Five wild rose (Rosa L.) genotypes were collected from different locations in northern hilly areas of Pakistan for this study. Different morphological characteristics and PCR based random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used to find out the diversity and relationship among the genotypes. On morphological basis, Rosa webbiana collected from Muree and Nathia gali showed maximum (83%) similarity, whereas on DNA pattern basis, Rosa brunonii collected from Bansra gali and Sunny bank showed maximum (72%) similarity, while R. webbiana showed maximum diversity among all the species.Key words: Genetic diversity, morphological differences, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Rosa

Evaluation of the genetic structure of the urban dwelling species of Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginisnus) using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis

We used the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique to decipher the genetic structure of the Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginisnus) in Pakistan. The samples were collected from four cities namely: Dera Ghazi Khan, Jahanian, Khanewal and Gujranwala. The analysis showed a high genetic diversity at species level (H = 0.318, S = 0.467) but low levels at population levels (H = 0.047, S = 0.069 to H = 0.195, S = 0.283). The four populations analyzed were genetically distant from each other and hinted the effect of urbanization role in isolating the urban dwelling species. The genetic distances between populations ranged from D = 0.2403 to D = 0.3419 and the similarity coefficient showed low range from 0.66 to 0.70. This study will help in future conservation plans and also help the understanding of the role of urbanization on fragmentation of species’ natural distribution and dispersal mechanism.Key words: Acridotheres ginginisnus, Bank Myna, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), genetic structure

Population genetic structure of Rufous-Vented Prinia (Prinia burnesii) in Pakistan

The objective of the study is to ascertain genetic variation within Rufous-vented Prinia, Prinia burnesii an endemic species, by DNA fingerprinting applying random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. Genetic material was obtained from three distant sites along western bank of River Indus. These sites include Chashma barrage (32°50’N, 71°20’E), in the north; Taunsa barrage (30°45’N, 70°45’E) and the southern population from Guddu barrage (28°26’N, 69°44’E). In total, 14 RAPD primers were selected to determine the genetic variability between three populations of the species. The Nei’s (1973) genetic diversity in three populations ranged from 0.190 to 0.320. The genetic distance between Populations ranged from 0.149 to 0.265. The polymorphism levels ranged from 48 to 83% in three populations and at species level, polymorphism were 93.07%. The results further indicate that they are genetically isolated populations.Keywords: Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA, Prinia, genetic variation, river Indu

Effect of Fluxing Additive on Sintering Temperature, Microstructure and Properties of BaTiO\u3csub\u3e3\u3c/sub\u3e

Various fluxing materials are added to technical ceramics in an attempt to lower their sintering temperatures and make their processing economical. The effect of 0·3wt% Li2CO3 addition on the phase, microstructure, phase transition temperatures and dielectric properties of BaTiO3 was investigated in the present study. The addition of 0·3wt% Li2CO3 was observed to lower the optimum sintering temperature by ∼200◦C with no second phase formation and cause a five-fold reduction in grain size. Rhombohedral-to-orthorhombic and tetragonal-to-cubic phase transitions at the expected temperatures were evident from the Raman spectra, but the orthorhombic-totetragonal phase transition was not clearly discernible. The persistence of various phase(s) at higher temperatures in the flux-added materials indicated that the phase transitions occurred relatively slowly. A decrease in dielectric constant of Li2O-added BaTiO3 in comparison to pure BaTiO3 may be due to the diminished dielectric polarizability of Li+ in comparison to Ba2+