Analysis of a Three Gene Signature in Gastric Cancer patients

INTRODUCTION: Stomach cancer is the 2nd most common cause of cancer related mortality in both men and women aged 30–69 years in India next only to oral cancer in men and cervical cancer in female. Worldwide, stomach cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer death and 4th most common cancer type. Gastric cancer is more common in East Asia and South America than other parts of the world. Gastric cancer is increasing in developing countries and the rates have been decreasing in the developed countries. Among developed countries, Korea and Japan have the highest rates of incidence. But, the mortality rate has dropped by 50% in the above countries as a result of the screening programme. Distal stomach is the most common site in developing countries and in Japan. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the mRNA expression levels of EGFR, FGFR2 & C-Myc genes in the gastric cancers and their clinical significance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study Centre: Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Center of Excellence for Upper G.I Surgery Madras Medical College & Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai – 3 & Department of Genetics, Dr.ALM PG IBMS, University of Madras, Taramani, Chennai – 600113. Study Period: August 2010 to December 2012. Study Design: Genetic Analysis. Sample Size: 25. Inclusion Criteria: Patients who underwent Gastrectomy (Subtotal or Total) for Carcinoma stomach. Exclusion Criteria: Patients with Locally advanced disease, Patients with Metastatic disease. Analysis Plan: Comparing the gene levels of the putative genes with the reference gene. METHODOLOGY: The study was approved by the ethics committee of Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Twenty five patients fulfilling the study criteria and willing to give written and informed consent were recruited for the study. Cancerous and paired normal mucosa was collected after informed consent from patients who undergo surgical resection. The sample is then taken for genetic analysis. RESULTS: The analysis demonstrates that the genes EGFR, FGFR and C-Myc are highly expressed in tumor mucosa when compared with the normal mucosa. We found that C-Myc and EGFR are expressed more abundantly when compared to FGFR2. CONCLUSION: Our results show that the three gene signature (EGFR, FGFR2 & CMyc) is significantly overexpressed in the gastric cancers and this opens up exciting possibilities in 1. Diagnosis of early gastric cancers, 2. Targeted molecular therapy, 3. Predicting the survival after surgery, 4. Predicting tumor response to chemotherapeutic drugs. But, our study results need confirmation in a larger clinical trial with adequate sample size to prove the role of this gene signature conclusively

Buckling Analysis of Fuselage Frame Using CAD/CAM Software

The objective of this project is to study the strength of an aircraft fuselage when subjected to buckling due external load acting on it for different materials and composites. Literature survey designates some structural problems due to the external loads leads to this work. This involves design of an aircraft fuselage which has been modeled using CATIA and buckling analysis using ANSYS. This briefly explains the basics of the aircraft structures, composites, finite element method and its application using ANSYS. The analysis is carried out in ANSYS. Composite materials are used for the production of fuselage and that have very high range of load carrying capacity. From this work it is clear that there is a tremendous progress in the buckling load carrying capacity. To felicitate as a research,incorporated fuselage of an aircraft that would utilize the benefits of designing software, and structural analysis using ANSYS Software to designate the buckling analysis under external loads

Development and histogenesis of human foetal lung in relation with gestational age

Background:The objective was to study the development and histogenesis of human foetal lung in relation with different gestational age.Methods:In the present study lung specimens were collected from formalin fixed 27 aborted foetuses (14 male, 13 female) by abdominal dissection between 6 weeks to 40 weeks of gestational age.Results:In the present study we observed that there was a delay in the appearance of embryonic, pseudo glandular phase, canalicular, terminal saccular and alveolar stages of the lung.Conclusion:Delay in the developmental anatomy and histogenesis of the lung cells leads to histopathological abnormalities which gives knowledge to the clinicians during clinical procedures

A study on the prevalence of peripheral vascular disease in diabetic foot ulcer patients

BACKGROUND: Peripheral Vascular Disease is a chronic limb ischemia caused by atherosclerosis of the peripheral arteries. In diabetic patients, atherosclerosis occurs prematurely and progress at an accelerated pace commonly involving crural arteries namely tibials and peroneals with baring of the arteries of the foot. The perception of muscle pain in the lower limbs on exercise which is the most common symptom of Peripheral Vascular Disease may be blunted in diabetic patients by the presence of peripheral neuropathy. Therefore a patient with diabetes and Peripheral Vascular Disease is more likely to present with an ischemic ulcer or gangrene than a patient without diabetes. The use of Ankle Brachial Index (ABI) in the clinic and bedside provide a measure of bloodflow to the ankle. This could help early detection, initiate early therapy and may thus reduce the risk of critical limb ischaemia and limb loss. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the occurrence of Peripheral Vascular Disease in diabetic foot ulcer patients by measuring Ankle Brachial Index using portable Hand held Doppler. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in diabetic foot ulcer patients of Government Kilpauk Medical College, Kilpauk, Chennai - 600 010 for a period of 10 months (December 2016 to September 2017).Their demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters were noted and documented. Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) was measured for each individual patient using the portable hand held Doppler. ABI < 0.9 is taken as the cut-off to identify the patient as having Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD). RESULTS: A total of 100 patients were recruited. 67 were male and 33 were female patients. About 23 patients were on treatment with Insulin and 60 patients were on treatment with Oral Hypoglycemic Agents. 17 patients were found to had no treatment for diabetes. About 65 patients had no co-morbid conditions other than diabetes. 31 patients had associated Hypertension. 2 patients had associated Bronchial Asthma. 2 patients had associated Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease. Right foot was involved in about 54 patients while left foot was involved in 46 patients. History of trauma was present in 67 patients.13 patients presented with cellulitis and 52 patients had active discharge from the foot ulcers. The youngest in the study population was 29 years and the eldest was 81 years. The duration of diabetes ranges from 2 weeks to 20 years. ABI was found to be 1 in majority of patients (83), 0.9 in 5 patients and 0.8 in 12 patients. Taking into consideration of ABI <0.9 as the cut-off value 12 patients were found to have Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD). Among the patients identified to have Peripheral Vascular Disease (12) majority of patients (9) had duration of diabetes ≥ 6 years and about half of the patients (6) were on treatment with Insulin for uncontrolled diabetes; rest of the patients (6) were on treatment with Oral Hypoglycemic Agents and glycemic status during study was found to be under control in 8 patients (5 on insulin therapy and 3 on OHAs respectively). CONCLUSION: This study shows that the occurrence of Peripheral Vascular Disease determined by Ankle Brachial Index using Hand held Doppler was 12%. The increased duration of diabetes with uncontrolled glycemic status have a significant role in the development of Peripheral Vascular Disease and its complications in diabetic population. The use of Hand held Doppler will aid early diagnosis of critical limb at risk of loss and help to prevent and reduce the high rate of limb loss in diabetic foot ulcer patients

Die Life Prediction of Connecting Rod SIFL-175

This work mainly focuses on the life prediction of hot forging dies of connecting rod SIFL-175. This prediction helps the forging industry in estimating the quantity of products forged before reworking or resinking and thereby can supply the forgings to the customer at reasonable lower price and this will also escalating the demand from the customer. The prediction of die life is vital to satisfy demands for lower cost and shorter production preparation times. The prediction helps the company to make an accurate production planning process and can take necessary steps and actions to utilize the maximum quantity of products before die failures

The Significant Role of CO and NOx in the Tropospheric Ozone Chemistry

Ozone being a greenhouse gas, the chemistry of ozone in the troposphere is considered as an emerging area of investigation after global warming became a reality. The potential role of ozone and its dynamics that changes the atmospheric composition can be retrieved only with the aid of photochemical processes involved in the atmosphere. The various possible chemical reactions that take place at different locations in the atmosphere can significantly change the weather pattern. This is an attempt to review some of the prominent features of the photochemistry of the troposphere and stratosphere

Variation of CO Column over North Kerala by Exploring MOPITT Data

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is one of the prominent pollutant species mainly produced from of fossil fuel burning and motor vehicles. Being a toxic trace gas, it can considerably affect human health. The rapid increase in CO enhances the production of surface ozone which contributes to global warming. This is the first attempt to retrieve the increase in CO over a column of atmosphere up to 100 mb pressure from the surface using MOPITT version 3 of level 2 data. The increase in column abundance of CO observed is correlated with the increase in vehicles in this region and it gives a positive correlation for the four years of observation from 2004. The prominence of this location of north Kerala is that no major industries are sited within this region and the increase in pollution is solely due to anthropogenic activities.ÂÂ

Seasonal Variation of Atmospheric Aerosols over Prominent Hotspot Regions in South India by Employing MODIS Data

Mounting the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere is a subject of deep concern all over the globe. This elevated level of aerosol concentrations has proven direct impact on the radiative forcing (Gadhavi and Jayaraman A, 2004) and subsequent climate change. Thus it becomes imperative to study the inter-annual and seasonal variations of aerosols with the aid of remote sensing method by employing MODIS data. This paper pertains to the study of seasonal variations of Aerosol Optical Depths over three different locations which are lying along the same latitude in South India. The five year (2005-2009) observation is presented and it reveals that aerosol abundance has strong dependence on the geography, environment and local climate at a specific region. The variation of aerosol abundance is found to be higher at the coastal region than the region surrounded by land mass