Hippocampal CA3 Transcriptome Signature Correlates with Initial Precipitating Injury in Refractory Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Background: Prolonged febrile seizures constitute an initial precipitating injury (IPI) commonly associated with refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (RMTLE). in order to investigate IPI influence on the transcriptional phenotype underlying RMTLE we comparatively analyzed the transcriptomic signatures of CA3 explants surgically obtained from RMTLE patients with (FS) or without (NFS) febrile seizure history. Texture analyses on MRI images of dentate gyrus were conducted in a subset of surgically removed sclerotic hippocampi for identifying IPI-associated histo-radiological alterations.Methodology/Principal Findings: DNA microarray analysis revealed that CA3 global gene expression differed significantly between FS and NFS subgroups. An integrative functional genomics methodology was used for characterizing the relations between GO biological processes themes and constructing transcriptional interaction networks defining the FS and NFS transcriptomic signatures and its major gene-gene links (hubs). Co-expression network analysis showed that: i) CA3 transcriptomic profiles differ according to the IPI; ii) FS distinctive hubs are mostly linked to glutamatergic signalization while NFS hubs predominantly involve GABAergic pathways and neurotransmission modulation. Both networks have relevant hubs related to nervous system development, what is consistent with cell genesis activity in the hippocampus of RMTLE patients. Moreover, two candidate genes for therapeutic targeting came out from this analysis: SSTR1, a relevant common hub in febrile and afebrile transcriptomes, and CHRM3, due to its putative role in epilepsy susceptibility development. MRI texture analysis allowed an overall accuracy of 90% for pixels correctly classified as belonging to FS or NFS groups. Histological examination revealed that granule cell loss was significantly higher in FS hippocampi.Conclusions/Significance: CA3 transcriptional signatures and dentate gyrus morphology fairly correlate with IPI in RMTLE, indicating that FS-RMTLE represents a distinct phenotype. These findings may shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying refractory epilepsy phenotypes and contribute to the discovery of novel specific drug targets for therapeutic interventions

An approach for classification of lung nodules

The main objective of the proposed work is to develop an automated computer-aided detection (CAD) system to classify lung nodules using various classifiers from computed tomography (CT) images. One of the most important steps in lung nodule detection is the classification of nodule and non-nodule patterns in CT. The early detection of the condition helps lower the mortality rate. The developed CAD systems consist of segmentation, feature extraction, and classification. In this work, a filter method is used to segment the infected region. Later, we extracted features through and fed into classifiers such as Decision Stump (DS), Random Forest (RF), and Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN). The experimentation was conducted on LIDC-IDRI dataset, and the results with BPNN outperformed those with DS and RF classifiers.</jats:p

Concerns Among Parents of Dental Profession Students During Covid -19 Pandemic

Aim: This study was undertaken to assess the concerns of the parents of dental profession students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: In this survey a structured questionnaire was sent to all the participants through Google Fforms. The questionnaire was designed into five sections. The complete questionnaire consisted of 19 questions. In the first section, participants needed to answer demographic information (five Questions). The second part of the questionnaire (four questions) assessed anxiety of parents and the third part was related to their professional career (three questions), the fourth part asked about effective disinfection practices (four questions) in the college premises and hostel, while the fifth part questioned about learning mode (three questions) during COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The total response rate in this present survey was 78.02%. 52.2% of parents stated that they are really anxious and have disturbed mental health. Significant percentages (more than 80%) of the parents were worried about their son/daughter’s career advancement and dental profession but, 87.7% of the parents were not ready to change their son/daughter’s profession. 53.2 % of the parents believed that their wards were unable to learn efficiently without attending college and 44.9 % of the parents were not satisfied in online assessment during COVID- 19 pandemic. Conclusion: Within the limitations of this present study, it was concluded that majority of the parents expressed fear and anxiety about their children’s profession. Regarding the mode of learning, half of the parents expressed concern that their wards were unable to learn efficiently without attending college and clinics and also, they were unsatisfied with online assessment.</jats:p

Concerns Among Parents of Dental Profession Students During Covid -19 Pandemic

Aim: This study was undertaken to assess the concerns of the parents of dental profession students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: In this survey a structured questionnaire was sent to all the participants through Google Fforms. The questionnaire was designed into five sections. The complete questionnaire consisted of 19 questions. In the first section, participants needed to answer demographic information (five Questions). The second part of the questionnaire (four questions) assessed anxiety of parents and the third part was related to their professional career (three questions), the fourth part asked about effective disinfection practices (four questions) in the college premises and hostel, while the fifth part questioned about learning mode (three questions) during COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The total response rate in this present survey was 78.02%. 52.2% of parents stated that they are really anxious and have disturbed mental health. Significant percentages (more than 80%) of the parents were worried about their son/daughter’s career advancement and dental profession but, 87.7% of the parents were not ready to change their son/daughter’s profession. 53.2 % of the parents believed that their wards were unable to learn efficiently without attending college and 44.9 % of the parents were not satisfied in online assessment during COVID- 19 pandemic. Conclusion: Within the limitations of this present study, it was concluded that majority of the parents expressed fear and anxiety about their children’s profession. Regarding the mode of learning, half of the parents expressed concern that their wards were unable to learn efficiently without attending college and clinics and also, they were unsatisfied with online assessment

Cytotoxicity based screening for radioprotective properties of methanolic extract of Tragia involucrata L. on cultured human peripheral lymphocytes exposed to gamma radiation

469-477Radioprotective drugs of plant origin with bioactives are a boon against ionizing radiation injuries. Tragia involucrata L. (Indian stinging nettle), has medicinal properties and is traditionally used to treat various ailments. Here, we evaluated the radioprotective efficacy of the methanolic whole plant extract of T. involucrata against the damaging effects of gamma radiation. Cultured lymphocytes were treated with methanolic extract for one hour and irradiated with (1-4 Gy) gamma radiation. This pretreatment of lymphocytes with methanolic extract significantly increased the cell viability at 10 μg/mL and reduced the damage to the treated cells compared to the radiation control. In addition, a significant decrease in comet parameters (Comet length and percent DNA in tail and olive moment) and formation of micronuclei (P P Tragia involucrata L. has been proposed as a candidate with a radioprotective property, and further study on animal models would strengthen this claim