Clinical and Morphological Changes in non Obstructive Renal Tuberculosis

Renal histopathology in non-obstructive stage of urinary tuberculosis revealed seven types of lesion viz; a) nil lesion without nephrotic syndrome (35%); b) minimal change glomerulonephritis (15%); c) focal global sclerosis (5%); d) focal segmental proliferative glomerulonephritis (5%); e) chronic pyelonephritis (15%); f) amyloidosis (20%) and g) focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (5%). Patients having nil lesion without nephrotic syndrome were young, presented with hematuria (57.14%) and positive IVP abnormalities (71.42%) with nil to mild proteinuria. Patients with sclerosing and proliferative lesions mainly presented with hematuria and 2/3 had IVP abnormalities. Amyloidosis patients had generalized swelling all over body with blood pressure towards lower side of normal, marked proteinuria and hypoalbuminemia, 50% of them had long standing pulmonary tuberculosis with normal IVP findings

Rhinitis in the geriatric population

The current geriatric population in the United States accounts for approximately 12% of the total population and is projected to reach nearly 20% (71.5 million people) by 2030[1]. With this expansion of the number of older adults, physicians will face the common complaint of rhinitis with increasing frequency. Nasal symptoms pose a significant burden on the health of older people and require attention to improve quality of life. Several mechanisms likely underlie the pathogenesis of rhinitis in these patients, including inflammatory conditions and the influence of aging on nasal physiology, with the potential for interaction between the two. Various treatments have been proposed to manage this condition; however, more work is needed to enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology of the various forms of geriatric rhinitis and to develop more effective therapies for this important patient population

Infected pancreatic necrosis: outcomes and clinical predictors of mortality. A post hoc analysis of the MANCTRA-1 international study

: The identification of high-risk patients in the early stages of infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN) is critical, because it could help the clinicians to adopt more effective management strategies. We conducted a post hoc analysis of the MANCTRA-1 international study to assess the association between clinical risk factors and mortality among adult patients with IPN. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify prognostic factors of mortality. We identified 247 consecutive patients with IPN hospitalised between January 2019 and December 2020. History of uncontrolled arterial hypertension (p = 0.032; 95% CI 1.135-15.882; aOR 4.245), qSOFA (p = 0.005; 95% CI 1.359-5.879; aOR 2.828), renal failure (p = 0.022; 95% CI 1.138-5.442; aOR 2.489), and haemodynamic failure (p = 0.018; 95% CI 1.184-5.978; aOR 2.661), were identified as independent predictors of mortality in IPN patients. Cholangitis (p = 0.003; 95% CI 1.598-9.930; aOR 3.983), abdominal compartment syndrome (p = 0.032; 95% CI 1.090-6.967; aOR 2.735), and gastrointestinal/intra-abdominal bleeding (p = 0.009; 95% CI 1.286-5.712; aOR 2.710) were independently associated with the risk of mortality. Upfront open surgical necrosectomy was strongly associated with the risk of mortality (p < 0.001; 95% CI 1.912-7.442; aOR 3.772), whereas endoscopic drainage of pancreatic necrosis (p = 0.018; 95% CI 0.138-0.834; aOR 0.339) and enteral nutrition (p = 0.003; 95% CI 0.143-0.716; aOR 0.320) were found as protective factors. Organ failure, acute cholangitis, and upfront open surgical necrosectomy were the most significant predictors of mortality. Our study confirmed that, even in a subgroup of particularly ill patients such as those with IPN, upfront open surgery should be avoided as much as possible. Study protocol registered in ClinicalTrials.Gov (I.D. Number NCT04747990)

Correction to: Vaccine Hesitancy as a Challenge or Vaccine Confidence as an Opportunity for Childhood Immunisation in India

In the original publication, the fourth author name was incorrectly published as Jayant Ray

Do Hα Stokes V Profiles Probe the Chromospheric Magnetic Field? An Observational Perspective

We investigated the diagnostic potential of the Stokes V profile of the H α line to probe the chromospheric line-of-sight (LOS) magnetic field ( B _LOS ) by comparing the B _LOS inferred from the weak field approximation (WFA) with that inferred from the multiline inversions of the Ca ii 8542 Å, Si i 8536 Å, and Fe i 8538 Å lines using the STiC inversion code. Simultaneous spectropolarimetric observations of a pore in the Ca ii 8542 Å and H α spectral lines obtained from the SPINOR at the Dunn Solar Telescope on 2008 December 4 are used in this study. The WFA was applied on the Stokes I and V profiles of H α line over three wavelength ranges, viz., around line core (Δ λ = ±0.35 Å), line wings (Δ λ = [−1.5, −0.6], and [+0.6, +1.5] Å), and full spectral range of the line (Δ λ = ± 1.5 Å) to derive the B _LOS . We found the maximum B _LOS strengths of ∼+800 and ∼+600 G at $\mathrm{log}{\tau }_{500}$ = −1 and −4.5, respectively, in the pore. The morphological map of the B _LOS inferred from the H α line core is similar to the B _LOS map at $\mathrm{log}{\tau }_{500}$ = −4.5 inferred from multiline inversions. The B _LOS map inferred from the H α line wings and full spectral range have a similar morphological structure to the B _LOS map inferred at $\mathrm{log}{\tau }_{500}$ = −1. The B _LOS estimated from H α using WFA is weaker by a factor of ≈0.53 than that of inferred from the multiline inversions

Habitability classification of exoplanets: a machine learning insight

We explore the efficacy of machine learning (ML) in characterizing exoplanets into different classes. The source of the data used in this work is University of Puerto Rico’s Planetary Habitability Laboratory’s Exoplanets Catalog (PHL-EC). We perform a detailed analysis of the structure of the data and propose methods that can be used to effectively categorize new exoplanet samples. Our contributions are twofold. We elaborate on the results obtained by using ML algorithms by stating the accuracy of each method used and propose a paradigm to automate the task of exoplanet classification for relevant outcomes. In particular, we focus on the results obtained by novel neural network architectures for the classification task, as they have performed very well despite complexities that are inherent to this problem. The exploration led to the development of new methods fundamental and relevant to the context of the problem and beyond. The data exploration and experimentation also result in the development of a general data methodology and a set of best practices which can be used for exploratory data analysis experiments

Properties of shock waves in the quiet-Sun chromosphere

Context. Short-lived (100 s or less), sub-arcsec to a couple of arcsec sized features of enhanced brightenings in the narrowband images at the H2V and K2V positions of the Ca I

Divergent trends in ischaemic heart disease and stroke mortality in India from 2000 to 2015: a nationally representative mortality study

Summary: Introduction: India accounts for about a fifth of cardiovascular deaths globally, but nationally representative data on mortality trends are not yet available. In this nationwide mortality study, we aimed to assess the trends in ischaemic heart disease and stroke mortality over 15 years using the Million Death Study. Methods: We determined national and subnational cardiovascular mortality rates and trends by sex and birth cohort using cause of death ascertained by verbal autopsy from 2001 to 2013 among 2·4 million households. We derived mortality rates for ischaemic heart disease and stroke by applying mortality proportions to UN mortality estimates for India and projected the rates from 2000 to 2015. Findings: Cardiovascular disease caused more than 2·1 million deaths in India in 2015 at all ages, or more than a quarter of all deaths. At ages 30–69 years, of 1·3 million cardiovascular deaths, 0·9 million (68·4%) were caused by ischaemic heart disease and 0·4 million (28·0%) by stroke. At these ages, the probability of dying from ischaemic heart disease increased during 2000–15, from 10·4% to 13·1% in men and 4·8% to 6·6% in women. Ischaemic heart disease mortality rates in rural areas increased rapidly and surpassed those in urban areas. By contrast, the probability of dying from stroke decreased from 5·7% to 5·0% in men and 5·0% to 3·9% in women. A third of premature stroke deaths occurred in the northeastern states, inhabited by a sixth of India's population, where rates increased significantly and were three times higher than the national average. The increased mortality rates of ischaemic heart disease nationally and stroke in the northeastern states were higher in the cohorts of adults born in the 1970s onwards, than in earlier decades. A large and growing proportion of the ischaemic heart disease nationally and stroke deaths in high-burden states reported earlier diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, but low medication use. Interpretation: The unexpectedly diverse patterns of cardiovascular mortality require investigation to identify the role of established and new cardiovascular risk factors. Secondary prevention with effective and inexpensive long-term treatment and adult smoking cessation could prevent substantial numbers of premature deaths. Without progress against the control of cardiovascular disease in India, global goals to reduce non-communicable diseases by 2030 will be difficult to achieve. Funding: Fogarty International Center of the US National Institutes of Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Indian Council of Medical Research, and the Disease Control Priorities