Tyrosine kinase inhibitors induced thyroid dysfunction: myth or reality?

Background: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a hematopoietic stem cell disorder. It is associated with acquired genetic changes in the hematopoietic stem cells in the form of BCR-ABL fusion gene also known as Philadelphia chromosome. Materials and methods: We prospectively studied thyroid function at baseline and at 6 months of imatinib treatment in 26 newly diagnosed BCR-ABL positive CML patients. Result: The thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels increased significantly from baseline (3.20 ± 0.978 mIU/L vs. 3.724 ± 1.726 mIU/L, p < 0.05) after 6 months of treatment, 88.4% of the patients remained euthyroid. Only 2 patients had subclinical hypothyroidism, 1 had hypothyroidism after 6 months of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) therapy. Conclusion: Imatinib did not have any significant effect on thyroid function in CML patients in this study

Comparative Evaluation of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Therapy and Conventional Therapy Use for Musculoskeletal Disorders Management and Its Association with Job Satisfaction among Dentists of West India

ABSTRACTMusculoskeletal problems have become a significant issue in the profession of dentistry. There are currently no recommended effective disease-preventing and modifying remedies. High prevalence rates for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among dentists have been reported in the literature. Complementary and alternative medicine can be helpful in managing and preventing the MSDs. The purpose of this study was to determine if dentists in the western part of India are using complementary and alternative medicine therapies for MSDs, and also to find if those who use complementary and alternative medicine therapies have greater job/career satisfaction compared to conventional therapy (CT) users. Dentists of western India registered under the Dental Council of India (N=2166) were recruited for the study. Data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate analyses and logistic regression. A response rate of 73% (n=1581) was obtained, of which 79% (n=1249) was suffering from MSDs. The use of complementary and alternative medicine or CT was reported by 90% (n=1124) of dentists with MSDs. Dentists using complementary and alternative medicine reported greater health (P<0.001) and carrier satisfaction (P<0.001) and were able to work as many hours they wanted (P<0.001) compared to CT users. Complementary and alternative medicine therapies may improve the quality of life and enhance job satisfaction for a dentist who suffers from MSDs

Image acquisition techniques for assessment of legume quality

This paper reviews different image acquisition techniques that have been employed for quality evaluation of leguminous seeds and has relevance for engineers, food scientists and other agricultural researchers. The inspection and quality evaluation of food grains using machine vision can be achieved with greater speed, consistency and accuracy. Image acquisition is central to the success of any quality inspection system based on machine vision. Soybeans, peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas are the legumes, which form the staple food and hence have great ecological and economic importance. The image acquisition techniques that are reviewed in this paper are non-destructive in nature and are based on visible, infrared and other bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. These include techniques for external surface examination, measurement of moisture content, oil content, insect infestation detection and internal structure visualization. The advantages of machine-vision techniques over the conventional techniques based on manual methods for seed quality estimation are also discussed

A pre-processing based optimized edge weighting method for colour constancy

An improvement in the existing weighted grey-edge (GE) framework for colour constancy is proposed. The acquired images are denoised by vector filtering and then, a two-step colour correction process is performed. In the first step, the GE method is used for estimating the global illuminant and perform the initial level of colour correction. The computed illuminant as well as the initial corrected image are used in the second step, which employs the weighted GE method to iteratively compute the final illuminant for obtaining the final colour corrected image. One hundred sixty-five standard test images from a publicly available colour constancy dataset were used to study the efficacy of the proposed algorithm. The results obtained indicate a significant improvement in the colour correction process as compared to the state-of-the-art colour constancy methods. The proposed algorithm reduced the mean angular error by approximately 67.85% compared to the existing weighted GE method

Intraoral Superficial Angiomyxoma of the Upper Alveolus: Report of a Unique Case

Angiomyxomas are relatively a group of uncommon myxoid mesenchymal tumors characterized by frequent local recurrences and show lack of malignant potential. Basically three types of angiomyxomas are recognized superficial, aggressive, and angiomyofibroblastoma. Though the angiomyxomas are rarely reported in the head and neck region, the paper shows reported cases intraorally in the buccal mucosa and floor of the mouth. Here, the authors report a rare case of angiomyxoma presenting as a growth in the upper posterior alveolar mucosa

ROP and ATRP Fabricated Dual Targeted Redox Sensitive Polymersomes Based on pPEGMA-PCL-ss-PCL-pPEGMA Triblock Copolymers for Breast Cancer Therapeutics

To minimize cardiotoxicity and to increase the bioavailability of doxorubicin, polymersomes based on redox sensitive amphiphilic triblock copolymer poly­(polyethylene glycol methacrylate)-poly­(caprolactone)-s-s-poly­(caprolactone)-poly­(polyethylene glycol methacrylate) (pPEGMA-PCL-ss-PCL-pPEGMA) with disulfide linkage were designed and developed. The polymers were synthesized by ring opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone followed by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of PEGMA. The triblock copolymers demonstrated various types of nanoparticle morphologies by varying hydrophobic/hydrophilic content of polymer blocks, with PEGMA content of ∼18% in the triblock copolymer leading to the formation of polymersomes in the size range ∼150 nm. High doxorubicin loading content of ∼21% was achieved in the polymersomes. Disulfide linkages were incorporated in the polymeric backbone to facilitate degradation of the nanoparticles by the intracellular tripeptide glutathione (GSH), leading to intracellular drug release. Release studies showed ∼59% drug release in pH 5.5 in the presence of 10 mM GSH, whereas only ∼19% was released in pH 7.4. In cellular uptake studies, dual targeted polymersomes showed ∼22-fold increase in cellular uptake efficiency in breast cancer cell lines (BT474 and MCF-7) as compared to nontargeted polymersomes with higher apoptosis rates. <i>In vivo</i> studies on Ehrlich’s ascites tumor (EAT) bearing Swiss albino mouse model showed ∼85% tumor regression as compared to free doxorubicin (∼42%) without any significant cardiotoxicity associated with doxorubicin. The results indicate enhanced antitumor efficacy of the redox sensitive biocompatible nanosystem and shows promise as a potential drug nanocarrier in cancer therapeutics

Comparative Evaluation of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Therapy and Conventional Therapy Use for Musculoskeletal Disorders Management and Its Association with Job Satisfaction among Dentists of West India

Musculoskeletal problems have become a significant issue in the profession of dentistry. There are currently no recommended effective disease-preventing and modifying remedies. High prevalence rates for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among dentists have been reported in the literature. Complementary and alternative medicine can be helpful in managing and preventing the MSDs. The purpose of this study was to determine if dentists in the western part of India are using complementary and alternative medicine therapies for MSDs, and also to find if those who use complementary and alternative medicine therapies have greater job/career satisfaction compared to conventional therapy (CT) users. Dentists of western India registered under the Dental Council of India (N=2166) were recruited for the study. Data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate analyses and logistic regression. A response rate of 73% (n=1581) was obtained, of which 79% (n=1249) was suffering from MSDs. The use of complementary and alternative medicine or CT was reported by 90% (n=1124) of dentists with MSDs. Dentists using complementary and alternative medicine reported greater health (P<0.001) and carrier satisfaction (P<0.001) and were able to work as many hours they wanted (P<0.001) compared to CT users. Complementary and alternative medicine therapies may improve the quality of life and enhance job satisfaction for a dentist who suffers from MSDs