A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Keratosis Obturans Causing Facial Nerve Palsy - A Case Report with Review of the Literature

Keratosis obturans is a benign disease caused by layered impaction of wax within the external auditory canal. It presents with acute onset of pain and ear blockade. The current report discusses a 24-year-old male patient with recurrent unilateral keratosis obturans associated with facial canal erosion and resulting in facial palsy. A detailed review of the literature is presented. Keratosis obturans can behave aggressively, resulting in significant erosion of the bone and intratemporal structural damage and complications. Timely intervention is vital

Liposomski sustavi za isporuku lijekova Klinička primjena

Liposomes have been widely investigated since 1970 as drug carriers for improving the delivery of therapeutic agents to specific sites in the body. As a result, numerous improvements have been made, thus making this technology potentially useful for the treatment of certain diseases in the clinics. The success of liposomes as drug carriers has been reflected in a number of liposome-based formulations, which are commercially available or are currently undergoing clinical trials. The current pharmaceutical preparations of liposome-based therapeutic systems mainly result from our understanding of lipid-drug interactions and liposome disposition mechanisms. The insight gained from clinical use of liposome drug delivery systems can now be integrated to design liposomes that can be targeted on tissues, cells or intracellular compartments with or without expression of target recognition molecules on liposome membranes. This review is mainly focused on the diseases that have attracted most attention with respect to liposomal drug delivery and have therefore yielded most progress, namely cancer, antibacterial and antifungal disorders. In addition, increased gene transfer efficiencies could be obtained by appropriate selection of the gene transfer vector and mode of delivery.Od 1970. godine liposomi se intenzivno istražuju kao nosači ljekovitih tvari za isporuku u određene dijelova organizma. Unapređenje i razvoj liposoma omogućili su njihovu kliničku primjenu u terapiji određenih bolesti. Na tržištu je prisutan određen broj ljekovitih oblika na bazi liposoma, a dio je još u kliničkim pokusima. Svi su oni rezultat boljeg razumjevanja raspodjele liposoma i interakcija između lipida i ljekovite tvari. Moguće je pripremiti liposome koji se mogu usmjeriti u određena tkiva, stanice ili međustanične prostore, sa ili bez vezanih molekula za prepoznavanje na površini membrane. Ovaj revijalni članak uglavnom obuhvaća liposome za terapiju karcinoma, bakterijskih i gljivičnih infekcija jer je u tim područjima primjena liposoma najviše opravdana i stoga najviše istraživana. Osim toga, pravilnim izborom vektora za prijenos gena i načina isporuke može se povećati i učinkovitost prijenosa gena

Heavy Metal Contamination of Food Crops: Transportation via Food Chain, Human Consumption, Toxicity and Management Strategies

Food security is a major concern that requires sustained advancement both statistically and on the basis of Qualitative assessment. In recent years, antagonistic impacts of unforeseen toxins have impacted the quality of crops and have created a burden on human lives. Heavy metals (e.g., Hg, As, Pb, Cd, and Cr) can affect humans, adding to dreariness and in severe cases even death. It additionally investigates the conceivable geological routes of heavy metals in the surrounding subsystems. The top-to-the-bottom conversation is additionally offered on physiological/atomic movement systems engaged with the take-up of metallic foreign substances inside food crops. At long last, the board procedures are proposed to recapture maintainability in soil–food subsystems. This paper reflects the contamination of the food crops with heavy metals, the way of transport of heavy metal to food crops, degree of toxicity after consumption and the strategies to maintain the problem

Neurodevelopmental disorders in children aged 2-9 years: Population-based burden estimates across five regions in India.

BACKGROUND: Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) compromise the development and attainment of full social and economic potential at individual, family, community, and country levels. Paucity of data on NDDs slows down policy and programmatic action in most developing countries despite perceived high burden. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We assessed 3,964 children (with almost equal number of boys and girls distributed in 2-<6 and 6-9 year age categories) identified from five geographically diverse populations in India using cluster sampling technique (probability proportionate to population size). These were from the North-Central, i.e., Palwal (N = 998; all rural, 16.4% non-Hindu, 25.3% from scheduled caste/tribe [SC-ST] [these are considered underserved communities who are eligible for affirmative action]); North, i.e., Kangra (N = 997; 91.6% rural, 3.7% non-Hindu, 25.3% SC-ST); East, i.e., Dhenkanal (N = 981; 89.8% rural, 1.2% non-Hindu, 38.0% SC-ST); South, i.e., Hyderabad (N = 495; all urban, 25.7% non-Hindu, 27.3% SC-ST) and West, i.e., North Goa (N = 493; 68.0% rural, 11.4% non-Hindu, 18.5% SC-ST). All children were assessed for vision impairment (VI), epilepsy (Epi), neuromotor impairments including cerebral palsy (NMI-CP), hearing impairment (HI), speech and language disorders, autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), and intellectual disability (ID). Furthermore, 6-9-year-old children were also assessed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disorders (LDs). We standardized sample characteristics as per Census of India 2011 to arrive at district level and all-sites-pooled estimates. Site-specific prevalence of any of seven NDDs in 2-<6 year olds ranged from 2.9% (95% CI 1.6-5.5) to 18.7% (95% CI 14.7-23.6), and for any of nine NDDs in the 6-9-year-old children, from 6.5% (95% CI 4.6-9.1) to 18.5% (95% CI 15.3-22.3). Two or more NDDs were present in 0.4% (95% CI 0.1-1.7) to 4.3% (95% CI 2.2-8.2) in the younger age category and 0.7% (95% CI 0.2-2.0) to 5.3% (95% CI 3.3-8.2) in the older age category. All-site-pooled estimates for NDDs were 9.2% (95% CI 7.5-11.2) and 13.6% (95% CI 11.3-16.2) in children of 2-<6 and 6-9 year age categories, respectively, without significant difference according to gender, rural/urban residence, or religion; almost one-fifth of these children had more than one NDD. The pooled estimates for prevalence increased by up to three percentage points when these were adjusted for national rates of stunting or low birth weight (LBW). HI, ID, speech and language disorders, Epi, and LDs were the common NDDs across sites. Upon risk modelling, noninstitutional delivery, history of perinatal asphyxia, neonatal illness, postnatal neurological/brain infections, stunting, LBW/prematurity, and older age category (6-9 year) were significantly associated with NDDs. The study sample was underrepresentative of stunting and LBW and had a 15.6% refusal. These factors could be contributing to underestimation of the true NDD burden in our population. CONCLUSIONS: The study identifies NDDs in children aged 2-9 years as a significant public health burden for India. HI was higher than and ASD prevalence comparable to the published global literature. Most risk factors of NDDs were modifiable and amenable to public health interventions

Purification and Structural Characterization of N‑Terminal 190 Amino Acid Deleted Essential Mammalian Protein; Transcription Termination Factor 1

The mammalian transcription termination factor 1 (TTF1) is an essential protein that plays diverse cellular physiological functions like transcription regulation (both initiation and termination), replication fork blockage, chromatin remodeling, and DNA damage repair. Hence, understanding the structure and mechanism conferred by its variable conformations is important. However, so far, almost nothing is known about the structure of either the full-length protein or any of its domains in isolation. Since the full-length protein even after multiple attempts could not be purified in soluble form, we have codon optimized, expressed, and purified the N-terminal 190 amino acid deleted TTF1 (ΔN190TTF1) protein. In this study, we characterized this essential protein by studying its homogeneity, molecular size, and secondary structure using tools like dynamic light scattering (DLS), circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). By CD spectroscopy and DLS, we confirmed that the purified protein is homogeneous and soluble. CD spectroscopy also revealed that ΔN190TTF1 is a helical protein, which was further established by analysis of Raman spectra and amide I region deconvolution studies. The DLS study estimated the size of a single protein molecule to be 17.2 nm (in aqueous solution). Our structural and biophysical characterization of this essential protein will open avenues toward solving the structure to atomic resolution and will also encourage researchers to investigate the mechanism behind its diverse functions attributed to its various domains

Sunlight-Induced Photochemical Degradation of Methylene Blue by Water-Soluble Carbon Nanorods

Water-soluble graphitic hollow carbon nanorods (wsCNRs) are exploited for their light-driven photochemical activities under outdoor sunlight. wsCNRs were synthesized by a simple pyrolysis method from castor seed oil, without using any metal catalyst or template. wsCNRs exhibited the light-induced photochemical degradation of methylene blue used as a model pollutant by the generation of singlet oxygen species. Herein, we described a possible degradation mechanism of methylene blue under the irradiation of visible photons via the singlet oxygen-superoxide anion pathway