Endoscopic management of retrocalcaneal pain: a prospective observational study

Background: In an effort to reduce morbidity and complications of open surgery, an endoscopic technique was used for the management of the conditions leading to retrocalcaneal pain. With this purpose, the current study was undertaken to evaluate results of endoscopic management of retrocalcaneal pain using American orthopaedic foot and ankle score (AOFAS).Methods: 20 patients (26 heels) in the age group 18-80 years presenting with retrocalcaneal pain not responding to conservative management underwent endoscopic decompression of the retrocalcaneal bursae and excision of bony spurs. Two portals were created, one laterally and one medially, over the posterosuperior portion of the calcaneus to gain access to the retrocalcaneal space. The inflamed bursal tissue was identified and removed, and the prominent bone was resected. The functional outcome was evaluated pre and postoperatively with the AOFAS.Results: 70% patients have retrocalcaneal bursitis, 20% Haglund’s deformity as confirmed on lateral view of ankle X-ray and only 10% of non-insertional tendinosis. Mean operative time was 54.95 minutes. Mean duration of hospital stay was 3.90±0.64 and the mean follow-up was 66 days (range 30-180 days). The average AOFAS score improved from 65.60 points pre-operatively to 96.80 points at final follow-up. There were fifteen excellent results, seven good results, two fair results and two poor results.Conclusions: Endoscopic procedure for retrocalcaneal bursitis and Haglund deformity seemed to be a safe and efficacious option for surgical treatment of retrocalcaneal pain

Challenges of virtual classroom during COVID-19 pandemic: An empirical analysis of Indian higher education

Higher education institutions (HEIs) usually work open throughout the academic session. In the COVID-19 pandemic time, all the HEIs were also closed temporarily. The study examined the major challenges faced by the teachers and students from the virtual classroom during the nationwide lockdown. Due to the nationwide lockdown and lack of funding, convenience sampling and snowball sampling techniques were used for data collection. A total of 893 responses were analyzed for this study. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire on a Likert scale from 305 teachers and 588 students of higher education institutes from the entire India. Network connectivity was the major challenge faced by the faculty members (mean value of 3.68) followed by 3.17 mean value for lack of professional environment at home, 3.03 for lack of teaching material at home, 2.92 for lack of personal computer/laptop. Lack of professional environment at home (mean value of 3.59) was the major challenge faced by the students followed by 3.57 for lack of teaching material at home, 3.35 for network connectivity, 3.31 for lack of personal computer/laptop. Virtual classrooms have challenges such as poor internet connectivity, non-availability of appropriate electronic devices, lack of a teaching environment at home, less information and communication technology (ICT) knowledge among students and teachers. It implied less engagement of students and teachers in the teaching and learning process

Molecular Docking Studies of Coronavirus Proteins with Medicinal Plant Based Phytochemicals

In this study, we presented an in silico molecular docking between the SARS-CoV-2 four proteins [(a) SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein N-terminal RNA binding domain (6M3M), (b) Nsp9 RNA binding protein of SARS CoV-2 (6W4B), (c) The crystal structure of COVID-19 main protease in apo form (6M03), and (d) Structure of the 2019-nCoV HR2 Domain (6LVN)] available in the PDB (Protein Data Bank), and the medicinal plant-based phytochemicals (retrieved from PubChem database) as ligand molecules i.e. Piperine (Black Pepper), Eugenol (Clove), Alliin (Garlic), Gingerol (Ginger) and Curcumin (Turmeric). All these ligand molecules showed good docking with their respective receptor molecules and their scores range from -8.195 to -5.263. DockThor Portal (a receptor ligand-docking server) which was recently developed and published this year were used in the current study. The obtained results might help in the wet lab conditions to develop better antiviral compounds against SARS-CoV-2

Mild and transient heat shock enhances DNA integration following lipofection of recombinant plasmids in 4T1 cells

316-320Cancer cells having stably integrated genes encoding tumor-associated antigens could be utilized as a vaccine, in-vitro stimulators of antigen-primed T-cells, and target for cytotoxicity assay, etc. Lipofection is a simple and safer technique for stable transfection of plasmid DNA. However, the poor rate of genomic integration has limited its application. In the current study, the effect of mild and transient heat shock following lipofection on the improvement of genomic integration was evaluated. The cDNA fragments encoding chicken MMP-11peptide (V32-K365) and the immunoglobulin-like domain 2 of chicken VEGFR-2 were cloned separately into pcDNA3.1 vector. Lipofection was carried out using Lipofectamine® 2000 (Life Technologies, USA) in 4T1 cells followed by a heat shock at 42°C for 10 min. Transfected cells were selected for a period of four weeks against 500 µg/mL G418 in RPMI 1640 media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Distinct G418-resistant colonies appeared after 14 days of selection. Heat shock significantly (P <0.05) increased the number of viable colonies following antibiotic selection. The immunofluorescent study confirmed the stable integration of the target DNAs into the cells. It is concluded that mild and brief heat shock following lipofection improves the stable integration of recombinant pcDNA3.1 plasmids into 4T1 cells

Mild and transient heat shock enhances DNA integration following lipofection of recombinant plasmids in 4T1 cells

Cancer cells having stably integrated genes encoding tumor-associated antigens could be utilized as a vaccine, in-vitro stimulators of antigen-primed T-cells, and target for cytotoxicity assay, etc. Lipofection is a simple and safer technique for stable transfection of plasmid DNA. However, the poor rate of genomic integration has limited its application. In the current study, the effect of mild and transient heat shock following lipofection on the improvement of genomic integration was evaluated. The cDNA fragments encoding chicken MMP-11peptide (V32-K365) and the immunoglobulin-like domain 2 of chicken VEGFR-2 were cloned separately into pcDNA3.1 vector. Lipofection was carried out using Lipofectamine® 2000 (Life Technologies, USA) in 4T1 cells followed by a heat shock at 42°C for 10 min. Transfected cells were selected for a period of four weeks against 500 µg/mL G418 in RPMI 1640 media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Distinct G418-resistant colonies appeared after 14 days of selection. Heat shock significantly (P &lt;0.05) increased the number of viable colonies following antibiotic selection. The immunofluorescent study confirmed the stable integration of the target DNAs into the cells. It is concluded that mild and brief heat shock following lipofection improves the stable integration of recombinant pcDNA3.1 plasmids into 4T1 cells

Evaluation of the pancreatic malignancy with MRI & MDCT modalities

Background:Detection of pancreatic abnormality by routine noninvasive radiological method namely plain radiography and gastrointestinal barium studies is possible but these tests are insensitive and nonspecific. In earlier era more invasive tests like retroperitoneal air insufflations with tomography used never achieved wide spread clinical application and isotope scan proved disappointing owing to their false positive rates. Material &amp; Methods:The present retrospective study was conducted at department of Department of Radiology at MRI Centre, M.B. Govt. Hospital, Udaipur. The study duration was December 2012 to November 2014. The study group of 100 patients, with suspected pancreatic diseases were examined using either MDCT scan or MRI or both as prime diagnostic modality.Results: In the present study, Pancreatic carcinoma is a hypo vascular mass so it does not enhance at all or show a mild enhancement on post contrast study. In this study out of 14 cases, 14 cases showed mild post contrast enhancement and 2 cases showed no enhancement at all. on CECT examination, out of 10 cases of head mass, 8 cases were hypo dense and 2 were Isodense and showed dilated MPD in 9 cases 90.00% which were most common finding followed by dilated CBD in 8 cases (80.00%) and invasion of other organs in 2 cases (20%). On MRI examination, out of 4 cases of head carcinoma, 3 appeared hyperintense &amp; 1 appeared hypointense and showed dilatation of MPD &amp; CBD in all cases and invasion of organ in one case. Out of 14 cases of head carcinoma, 4 (28.57%) cases showed distal metastasis in liver. Out of 7 cases of body-tail mass, six appeared hypo dense and one appeared on NCCT. Distant metastasis and dilated MPD were found in 4 cases and CBD were dilated in any one case of body mass. Conclusion:&nbsp;We concluded from the present study that Dual-phasic contrast-enhanced MDCT in the pancreatic parenchymal and the venous phase is the method of choice for detection and staging of pancreatic cancer, inflammatory lesions and its vascular complications. For detection of small, hyper vascular neuroendocrine tumors, no single imaging method will reveal all tumors. In this respect, MDCT and MRI are complementary methods

Influence of drip lateral placement depth and fertigation level on germination, yield and water-use efficiency of cucumber (Cucumis sativus)

A field experiment was conducted from February to June for three years (2009-2011) to evaluate the response of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) under 0 (surface) (D00), 5(D05), 10 (D10) and 15 (D15) cm depth of lateral placement and four levels of fertilizer application with NPK in the ratio of 50:30:30, 100:60:60, 120:90:90 and 150:120:120 kg/ ha (F1, F2, F3 and F4). Uniformity of water application through subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) system was assessed every year. Soil moisture content in root zone, germination percentage, vine length and yield per plot were recorded and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) was estimated.It was observed that soil moisture content was higher and moisture profile was more uniform under SDI. Shallower depths of lateral, D00 and D05, resulted in higher seed germination percentage (92.8 and 90.2 %). Increased moisture and nutrient availability under D10 and D15 resulted in higher vine length (2.49 and 2.36m). During 2011, treatments D10 and D15 recorded highest mean yields of 31.7 and 32.9 t/ha, respectively. Fertigation level F3 recorded consistently higher mean yields for three consecutive cropping seasons yielding higher mean IWUE under D10 (0.49 to 0.81 t/ha/cm) and D15 (0.50 to 0.85 t/ha/cm).The results showed that SDI maintained uniform moisture in soil profile, minimized the evaporative loss and consequently increased IWUE. The SDI system with lateral placement depth of10 cm and fertigation level F3 is recommended as an optimum practice for better yields and increased IWUE of cucumber cultivation. This record was migrated from the OpenDepot repository service in June, 2017 before shutting down

A study of acoustical parameters of cupric oxide nanoparticles dispersed in aqueous solutions of various glycols

In this study cupric oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were synthesised by precipitation method using                    cupric acetate dihydrate [Cu(CH3COO)2.2H2O] as a starting material. The synthesised nanoparticles were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). These nanoparticles were dispersed in three different base fluids which were 10% aqueous solutions of ethylene glycol (EG), propylene glycol (PG) and hexylene glycol (HG). Ultrasonic velocity (U), density (ρ) and viscosity (η) of these nanofluids were measured at different concentrations of CuO nanoparticles as a function of temperatures (T = 303.15K, 308.15K and 313.15 K). Using these values various acoustical parameters such as adiabatic compressibility, intermolecular free length, relaxation time, acoustic impedence and attenuation coefficient were evaluated

Bioactive compounds of Curvularia species as a source of various biological activities and biotechnological applications

Many filamentous fungi are known to produce several secondary metabolites or bioactive compounds during their growth and reproduction with sort of various biological activities. Genus Curvularia (Pleosporaceae) is a dematiaceous filamentous fungus that exhibits a facultative pathogenic and endophytic lifestyle. It contains ~213 species among which Curvularia lunata, C. geniculata, C. clavata, C. pallescens, and C. andropogonis are well-known. Among them, C. lunata is a major pathogenic species of various economical important crops especially cereals of tropical regions while other species like C. geniculata is of endophytic nature with numerous bioactive compounds. Curvularia species contain several diverse groups of secondary metabolites including alkaloids, terpenes, polyketides, and quinones. Which possess various biological activities including anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, and phytotoxicity. Several genes and gene factors are involved to carry and regulate the expression of these activities which are influenced by environmental signals. Some species of Curvularia also show negative impacts on humans and animals. Apart from their negative effects, there are some beneficial implications like production of enzymes of industrial value, bioherbicides, and source of nanoparticles is reported. Many researchers are working on these aspects all over the world but there is no review in literature which provides significant understanding about these all aspects. Thus, this review will provide significant information about secondary metabolic diversity, their biological activities and biotechnological implications of Curvularia species

Use of emergency contraceptive pill in India: boon or bane

It has been almost fifteen years since emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) have been made available over the counter in India. There have been concerns about the overuse/misuse of ECPs and probability to replace regular contraceptive methods. This article presents various facets of the use of emergency contraceptive pills in India and highlights the importance of potential research to prevent its misuse