LFM based Wideband DOA Estimation using Deep Neural Network at Low SNR

This work focuses on deep learning-based wideband direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation for a wideband in particular LFM in case of extreme noise. We propose a convolutional neural network (CNN) that utilizes the correlation matrix to estimate and trained using multi-channel data in low SNR conditions. By using a systematic approach and treating the problem as a way to identify multiple possible DoAs, the CNN is trained to predict DoAs under different SNR conditions. This allows the CNN to accurately estimate the directions from which signals are coming, regardless of the level of noise in the environment. The architecture proposed exhibits robustness to noise, works effectively with a small number of snapshots, and achieves high resolution in angle estimation. Experimental findings demonstrate notable enhancements in performance under low SNR conditions when compared to existing methods, without the need for parameter tuning for correlated and uncorrelated sources. The enhanced robustness of our solution has broad applications in various fields, including wireless array sensors, acoustic microphones, and sonars

Sensitivity pattern of bacteria causing respiratory tract infections in a tertiary care centre

Background: Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are one of the major public health problems and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in many developing countries. A better understanding of pathogens that cause RTIs is important to select appropriate antimicrobials. In recent years, due to inappropriate use of antimicrobials there is spread of bacterial resistance. The present study was designed to analyze the etiological agents of RTIs and their susceptibility pattern to some commonly prescribed antibiotics.Methods: The study was conducted in Narayana Medical College Hospital of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh in South India from January 2011 to November 2011. Patients who were clinically suspected of having RTIs were included in the study. Sputum or throat swab samples were collected aseptically from the patients and subjected to testing and antibiotic sensitivity.Results: Out of 466 samples 54.9% were males and 45.1% were females. Most prevalent microbes were Klebsiella spp. (51.1%) and least prevalent microbe was enterococci (1.3%). Bacteria were highly sensitive to Meropenem, Imipenem, Piperacillin with Tazobactum and were resistant to Penicillin G, Ampicillin, Cotrimoxazole and Cefepime.Conclusion: RTIs are one of the most common health problems in developing countries. Various drugs are being used in the treatment of RTIs, in the mean time resistance to many of them are emerging. An appropriate antibiotic has to be initiated only after culture sensitivity in RTIs

Upper GI bleeding with myocardial infarction : evaluation of safety for endoscopy

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) in the setting of acute myocardial infarction (MI) is a complex medical condition with substantial morbidity and mortality. The anemia due to the UGIB may exacerbate the MI or the anticoagulation for the MI may contribute to UGIB. In addition, both have many significant complications. Several studies have been performed in studying the safety of EGD after MI; however, these studies vary in definitions and results. This study evaluated the safety and effect of EGD in patients with acute MI in a tertiary-care center

Coadministration of Adenoviral Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Angiopoietin-1 Enhances Vascularization and Reduces Ventricular Remodeling in the Infarcted Myocardium of Type 1 Diabetic Rats

OBJECTIVE - Hyperglycemia impairs angiogenesis in response to ischemia, leading to ventricular remodeling. Although the effects of overexpressing angiogenic growth factors have been studied in inducing angiogenesis, the formation of functional vessels remains a challenge. The present study evaluates the reversal of diabetes-mediated impairment of angiogenesis in the infarcted diabetic rat myocardium by proangiogenic gene therapy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - Ad.VEGF and Ad.Ang1 were intramyocardially administered in combination immediately after myocardial infarction to nondiabetic and diabetic rats. Ad.LacZ was similarly administered to the respective control groups. The hearts were excised for molecular and immunohistochemical analysis at predetermined time points. The myocardial function was measured by echocardiography 30 days after the intervention. RESULTS - We observed reduced fibrosis and increased capillary/arteriolar density along with reduced ventricular remodeling, as assessed by echocardiography in the treated diabetic animals compared with the nontreated diabetic controls. We also observed increased phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase-2, 2 days after the treatment and increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Flk-1, angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1), Tie-2, and survivin, 4 days after treatment in the diabetic animals. Gel shift analysis revealed that the combination gene therapy stimulated the DNA binding activity of nuclear factor-κB in the diabetic animals. CONCLUSIONS - Our preclinical data demonstrate the efficacy of coadministration of adenoviral VEGF and Ang-1 in increasing angiogenesis and reducing ventricular remodeling in the infarcted diabetic myocardium. These unique results call for the initiation of a clinical trial to assess the efficacy of this therapeutic strategy in the treatment of diabetes-related human heart failure

Pain in patients with pancreatic cancer: prevalence, mechanisms, management and future developments

Pain affects approximately 80% of patients with pancreatic cancer, with half requiring strong opioid analgesia, namely: morphine-based drugs on step three of the WHO analgesic ladder (as opposed to the weak opioids: codeine and tramadol). The presence of pain is associated with reduced survival. This article reviews the literature regarding pain: prevalence, mechanisms, pharmacological, and endoscopic treatments and identifies areas for research to develop individualized patient pain management pathways. The online literature review was conducted through: PubMed, Clinical Key, Uptodate, and NICE Evidence. There are two principal mechanisms for pain: pancreatic duct obstruction and pancreatic neuropathy which, respectively, activate mechanical and chemical nociceptors. In pancreatic neuropathy, several histological, molecular, and immunological changes occur which correlate with pain including: transient receptor potential cation channel activation and mast cell infiltration. Current pain management is empirical rather etiology-based and is informed by the WHO analgesic ladder for first-line therapies, and then endoscopic ultrasound-guided celiac plexus neurolysis (EUS-CPN) in patients with resistant pain. For EUS-CPN, there is only one clinical trial reporting a benefit, which has limited generalizability. Case series report pancreatic duct stenting gives effective analgesia, but there are no clinical trials. Progress in understanding the mechanisms for pain and when this occurs in the natural history, together with assessing new therapies both pharmacological and endoscopic, will enable individualized care and may improve patients’ quality of life and survival

Activation of JNK Signaling Mediates Amyloid-ß-Dependent Cell Death

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age related progressive neurodegenerative disorder. One of the reasons for Alzheimer's neuropathology is the generation of large aggregates of Aß42 that are toxic in nature and induce oxidative stress, aberrant signaling and many other cellular alterations that trigger neuronal cell death. However, the exact mechanisms leading to cell death are not clearly understood.We employed a Drosophila eye model of AD to study how Aß42 causes cell death. Misexpression of higher levels of Aß42 in the differentiating photoreceptors of fly retina rapidly induced aberrant cellular phenotypes and cell death. We found that blocking caspase-dependent cell death initially blocked cell death but did not lead to a significant rescue in the adult eye. However, blocking the levels of c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway significantly rescued the neurodegeneration phenotype of Aß42 misexpression both in eye imaginal disc as well as the adult eye. Misexpression of Aß42 induced transcriptional upregulation of puckered (puc), a downstream target and functional read out of JNK signaling. Moreover, a three-fold increase in phospho-Jun (activated Jun) protein levels was seen in Aß42 retina as compared to the wild-type retina. When we blocked both caspases and JNK signaling simultaneously in the fly retina, the rescue of the neurodegenerative phenotype is comparable to that caused by blocking JNK signaling pathway alone.Our data suggests that (i) accumulation of Aß42 plaques induces JNK signaling in neurons and (ii) induction of JNK contributes to Aß42 mediated cell death. Therefore, inappropriate JNK activation may indeed be relevant to the AD neuropathology, thus making JNK a key target for AD therapies

The 100 most cited articles investigating the radiological staging of oesophageal and junctional cancer: a bibliometric analysis

Objectives Accurate staging of oesophageal cancer (OC) is vital. Bibliometric analysis highlights key topics and publications that have shaped understanding of a subject. The 100 most cited articles investigating radiological staging of OC are identified. Methods The Thomas Reuters Web of Science database with search terms including “CT, PET, EUS, oesophageal and gastro-oesophageal junction cancer” was used to identify all English language, full-script articles. The 100 most cited articles were further analysed by topic, journal, author, year and institution. Results A total of 5,500 eligible papers were returned. The most cited paper was Flamen et al. (n = 306), investigating the utility of positron emission tomography (PET) for the staging of patients with potentially operable OC. The most common research topic was accuracy of staging investigations (n = 63). The article with the highest citation rate (38.00), defined as the number of citations divided by the number of complete years published, was Tixier et al. investigating PET texture analysis to predict treatment response to neo-adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy, cited 114 times since publication in 2011. Conclusion This bibliometric analysis has identified key publications regarded as important in radiological OC staging. Articles with the highest citation rates all investigated PET imaging, suggesting this modality could be the focus of future research