Comparison of Bipolar Diathermy with Thunder-beat Device in Surgical Outcome of Tonsillectomy

Background:. To compare the thunder-beat device with bipolar diathermy in surgical outcome of tonsillectomy. Methods: In this prospective study 75 patients who underwent tonsillectomy on one side using thunder beat device and on the other side using bipolar diathermy, were included . The intra-operative blood loss, operative time, post-operative pain and post-operative haemorrhage were taken for analysis in both the surgical procedures. Results: Among the seventy five patients, the age groups ranged from 19-36 years with mean age 25.36+/-5.54 years. Out of 75 patients, 21 were male and 54 were female.The comparison of operation time and intra-operative blood loss between thunder- beat and bipolar diathermy showed statistically significant differences. The comparison of pain score showed statistically significant result with better pain results in bipolar diathermy whereas the secondary haemorrhage was common in thunder beat device. Conclusion: The thunder-beat use in tonsillectomies is less time consuming with decreased intra-operative blood loss. But, the post-operative pain is more as compared to bipolar diathermy. Though, it is safe and effective in performing tonsillectomy but its cost is the main drawback for its regular use

Myocardial performance index in children with β-thalassemia major

Background: Cardiac complications are the major cause of mortality and morbidity in thalassemic children. Iron deposition inmyocardium is the key factor leading to poor cardiac functions. Myocardial performance index (MPI) by echocardiography (ECHO)can be used for an early recognition of ventricular dysfunctions. Objectives: To assess the MPI in children with β-thalassemiamajor and to establish their relationship with serum ferritin. Methods: Fifty-five children of Thalassemia major in age group of4-20 years who were on regular blood transfusion and on oral iron chelators from thalassemia unit of tertiary hospital were enrolled.After blood transfusion, serum ferritin estimation was done. Two dimensional ECHO with color Doppler was done to estimate thecardiac functions and then MPI by various parameters was calculated. Results: Out of 55 children, most were in the age groupof 4 to 8 years. Mean rate of blood transfusion in subjects was 157.01 ± 21.33 ml/kg/year and mean duration of chelation therapywas 2.34 ± 1.86 years. Mean serum ferritin of subjects was 2130 ± 859.5 ng/ml. Mean ejection fraction was 61 ± 6.2%. Mean MPIof subjects was 0.60 ± 0.14. The MPI was abnormal at all levels of more than 1000 ng/ml serum ferritin (p=0.001). There was apositive correlation between MPI and serum ferritin (Pearson’s bivariate correlation coefficient r=+0.93). Conclusion: In poorlychelated thalassemic children, MPI was abnormally high despite normal ejection fraction, which can be used as an early marker ofventricular dysfunction

ATORVASTATIN VS ROSUVASTATIN; FENOFIBRATE AS AN ADD ON: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Objective: Statins being the first choice drug for dyslipidaemia, the quest for better one among all has always been and still a question for research in the field of medicine. Objective­ The objective of our study was to find out the best statin among the two, Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin, in terms of efficacy and safety; alone or in combination with Fenofibrate for the management of dyslipidaemia. Methods: This was an open label, randomized, parallel group, prospective comparative study, carried out in patients in two groups treated with Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin (10mg each) for 6 weeks, after which Fenofibrate (67mg) was added as an add on therapy in either group for the next 4 weeks before and after treatment. Results: After the treatment, the TC, TG, LDL- C, HDL- C and Non HDL- C were comparable between two groups. The changes in the levels of TC were -15.90±5.16 (-8.53%) vs -20.70±4.83 (-11.32%) respectively in groups treated with Atorvastatin (group I) and Rosuvastatin (group II). Changes in TGs were -11.60±4.16 (-7.46%) vs -15.10±5.18 (-9.99%), respectively; change in LDL- C were -16.90±3.58 (-15.31%) vs -13.0±3.04 (-11.56%) respectively; change in HDL- C were +6.75±0.86 (+18.72%) vs +9.0±1.22 (+23.72%) respectively in each group; change in Non HDL- C were found to be -6.90±4.83 (-4.4%) vs -7.8±4.78 (-5.05%) respectively in groups I and II. After the addition of Fenofibrate (67mg) there were no significant changes in the different parameters of serum lipid profile. Conclusion: The result of our study suggests that Rosuvastatin (10mg) was more efficacious than Atorvastatin (10mg) in lipid lowering effect and HDL- C raising effect but should be used with great caution and care in patients with uncontrolled hyperglycaemia and in those with compromised hepatic status. Further addition of Fenofibrate (67mg) didn't make any significant difference in the result

zTrap: zebrafish gene trap and enhancer trap database

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have developed genetic methods in zebrafish by using the <it>Tol2 </it>transposable element; namely, transgenesis, gene trapping, enhancer trapping and the Gal4FF-UAS system. Gene trap constructs contain a splice acceptor and the GFP or Gal4FF (a modified version of the yeast Gal4 transcription activator) gene, and enhancer trap constructs contain the zebrafish <it>hsp70l </it>promoter and the GFP or Gal4FF gene. By performing genetic screens using these constructs, we have generated transgenic zebrafish that express GFP and Gal4FF in specific cells, tissues and organs. Gal4FF expression is visualized by creating double transgenic fish carrying a Gal4FF transgene and the GFP reporter gene placed downstream of the Gal4-recognition sequence (UAS). Further, the Gal4FF-expressing cells can be manipulated by mating with UAS effector fish. For instance, when fish expressing Gal4FF in specific neurons are crossed with the UAS:TeTxLC fish carrying the tetanus neurotoxin gene downstream of UAS, the neuronal activities are inhibited in the double transgenic fish. Thus, these transgenic fish are useful to study developmental biology and neurobiology.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>To increase the usefulness of the transgenic fish resource, we developed a web-based database named <it>z</it>Trap <url>http://kawakami.lab.nig.ac.jp/ztrap/</url>. The <it>z</it>Trap database contains images of GFP and Gal4FF expression patterns, and genomic DNA sequences surrounding the integration sites of the gene trap and enhancer trap constructs. The integration sites are mapped onto the <it>Ensembl </it>zebrafish genome by in-house Blat analysis and can be viewed on the <it>z</it>Trap and <it>Ensembl </it>genome browsers. Furthermore, <it>z</it>Trap is equipped with the functionality to search these data for expression patterns and genomic loci of interest. <it>z</it>Trap contains the information about transgenic fish including UAS reporter and effector fish.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>z</it>Trap is a useful resource to find gene trap and enhancer trap fish lines that express GFP and Gal4FF in desired patterns, and to find insertions of the gene trap and enhancer trap constructs that are located within or near genes of interest. These transgenic fish can be utilized to observe specific cell types during embryogenesis, to manipulate their functions, and to discover novel genes and <it>cis</it>-regulatory elements. Therefore, <it>z</it>Trap should facilitate studies on genomics, developmental biology and neurobiology utilizing the transgenic zebrafish resource.</p

Tuberous sclerosis with visceral leishmaniasis: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Visceral leishmaniasis, a tropical infectious disease, is a major public health problem in India. Tuberous sclerosis, a congenital neuro-ectodermosis, is an uncommon disease which requires life long treatment.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 15-year-old Indian patient, presented to the outpatient department of our institute with a high-grade fever for two months, splenomegaly and a history of generalized tonic-clonic convulsions since childhood. The clinical and laboratory findings suggested visceral leishmaniasis with tuberous sclerosis. The patient was treated with miltefosine and antiepileptics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The patient responded well and in a follow up six months after presentation, she was found free of visceral leishmaniasis and seizures. Diagnosis and treatment of this rare combination of diseases is difficult.</p

Food anticipatory behaviour on European seabass in sea cages: activity-, positioning-, and density-based approaches

IntroductionFarmed fish like European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) anticipate meals if these are provided at one or multiple fixed times during the day. The increase in locomotor activity is typically known as food anticipatory activity (FAA) and can be observed several hours prior to feeding. Measuring FAA is often done by demand feeders or external sensors such as cameras or light curtains. However, purely locomotor-activity-based FAA may provide an incomplete view of feeding and prefeeding behaviour.MethodsHere, we show that FAA can be measured through passive acoustic telemetry utilising three different approaches and suggest that adding more means to food anticipation detection is beneficial. We compared the diving behaviour, acceleration activity, and temperature of 22 tagged individuals over the period of 12 days and observed FAA through locomotor activity, depth position, and density-based unsupervised clustering (i.e., DBSCAN).ResultsOur results demonstrate that the position- and density-based methods also provide expressions of anticipatory behaviour that can be interchangeable with locomotor-driven FAA or precede it.DiscussionWe, therefore, support a unified framework for food anticipation: FAA should only describe locomotor-driven FAA. Food anticipatory positioning (FAP) should be a term for position-based (P-FAP) and density-based (D-FAP) methods for food anticipation. Lastly, FAP, together with the newly defined FAA, should become part of an umbrella term that is already in use: food anticipatory behaviour (FAB). Our work provides data-driven approaches to each FAB category and compares them with each other. Furthermore, accurate FAB windows through FAA and FAP can help increase fish welfare in the aquaculture industry, and the more approaches available, the more flexible and more robust the usage of FAB for a holistic view can be achieved

Mechanism and kinetics of chlorpyrifos co-metabolism by using environment restoring microbes isolated from rhizosphere of horticultural crops under subtropics

The indiscriminate use of organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos in agricultural crops causes significant soil and water pollution and poses a serious threat to the global community. In this study, a microbial consortium ERM C-1 containing bacterial strains Pseudomonas putida T7, Pseudomonas aeruginosa M2, Klebsiella pneumoniae M6, and a fungal strain Aspergillus terreus TF1 was developed for the effective degradation of chlorpyrifos. Results revealed that microbial strains were not only utilizing chlorpyrifos (500 mg L–1) but also coupled with plant growth-promoting characteristics and laccase production. PGP traits, that is, IAA (35.53, 45.53, 25.19, and 25.53 μg mL–1), HCN (19.85, 17.85, 12.18, and 9.85 μg mL–1), and ammonium (14.73, 16.73, 8.05, and 10.87 μg mL–1) production, and potassium (49.53, 66.72, 46.14, and 52.72 μg mL–1), phosphate (52.37, 63.89, 33.33, and 71.89 μg mL–1), and zinc (29.75, 49.75, 49.12, and 57.75 μg mL–1) solubilization tests were positive for microbial strains T7, M2, M6, and TF1, respectively. The laccase activity by ERM C-1 was estimated as 37.53, 57.16, and 87.57 enzyme U mL–1 after 5, 10, and 15 days of incubation, respectively. Chlorpyrifos degradation was associated with ERM C-1 and laccase activity, and the degree of enzyme activity was higher in the consortium than in individual strains. The biodegradation study with developed consortium ERM C-1 showed a decreased chlorpyrifos concentration from the 7th day of incubation (65.77% degradation) followed by complete disappearance (100% degradation) after the 30th day of incubation in the MS medium. First-order degradation kinetics with a linear model revealed a high k –day value and low t1/2 value in ERM C-1. The results of HPLC and GC-MS analysis proved that consortium ERM C-1 was capable of completely removing chlorpyrifos by co-metabolism mechanism

Betydning av tidspunkt og lengde av vintersignal i RAS for prestasjon i sjø ved utsett av stor smolt

Source at https://nofima.no/.Under kontrollerte forhold i kar var det en positiv effekt av et vintersignal kombinert med brakkvann i RAS på vekst etter overføring til sjøvann. Men et vintersignal ga også økt kjønnsmodning i hannfisk når fisken gikk lenge i RAS på kontinuerlig lys etter at vintersignalet var avsluttet. Kjønnsmodning ble redusert når fisken ble satt ut på lav sjøtemperatur. Resultatene fra utsett i sjømerder viste betydelig høyere dødelighet som følge av vintersår og lavere vekst i sjøfase hos stor smolt på henholdsvis 320 og 850 g satt ut i oktober og januar sammenlignet med fisk satt ut i september ved 160 g. Resultatene fra kar med sjøvann viste ikke store forskjeller i TGC mellom de ulike utsettene, og fisk overført på 320 g hadde høyest TGC i kar. Dødelighet i kar med sjøvann var lav, henholdsvis 0, 0,2 og 1,1 % for de tre utsettene. Forsøket i kar med sjøvann viste at den større smolten har et potensial for god vekst i sjøvann, men også høyere risiko for kjønnsmodning, særlig på høy temperatur i sjøfase. Årsaken til at den større smolten var mer sensitiv mot vintersår og hadde høyere dødelighet i merder i sjø enn mindre fisk som hadde gått lenger i sjø før utbruddet startet bør undersøkes nærmere

Betydning av tidspunkt og lengde av vintersignal i RAS for prestasjon i sjø ved utsett av stor smolt

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