Report on interviews at level of the European Union

The main objective of European Union (EU) employment and social policies is to promote a decent quality of life and standard of living for its member states. At present, the four key strands of employment and social policy in the European Union are: - The European Employment Strategy - Improving working conditions and standards - Social Inclusion and social protection - Equality of men and women (...)

Indications and Contraindications for Liver Transplantation

Patients with chronic liver disease and certain patients with acute liver failure require liver transplantation as a life-saving measure. Liver transplantation has undergone major improvements, with better selection of candidates for transplantation and allocation of scarce deceased donor organs (according to more objective criteria). Living donor liver transplantation came into existence to overcome the shortage of donor organs especially in countries where there was virtually no deceased donor programme. Advances in the technical aspects of the procedure, the intraoperative and postoperative care of both recipients and donors, coupled with the introduction of better immunosuppression protocols, have led to graft and patient survivals of over 90% in most high volume centres. Controversial areas like transplantation in alcoholic liver disease without abstinence, acute alcoholic hepatitis, and retransplantation for recurrent hepatitis C virus infection require continuing discussion

2017 Research & Innovation Day Program

A one day showcase of applied research, social innovation, scholarship projects and activities.https://first.fanshawec.ca/cri_cripublications/1004/thumbnail.jp

Tomato Flu in the Time of COVID-19: Another Challenge for the Indian Health System

Just as the country has recently dealt with the increase in COVID-19 and monkey pox cases, another dark cloud of “Tomato flu/ Tomato fever” loomed the skies of the nation. As of 24 august, 2022, 100 kids mainly below the age of 5 have been reported showing symptoms of the flu. Another state of Odisha, suspected similar infectious etiology in 36 cases out of which 26 Children were below the age of 10. This endemic viral illness has triggered an alert to the neighboring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, along with the entire nation at large. The wrath of this disease is not just restricted to India but crossing borders. Tang, et al reported a case of a 13-month-old female child and her 5-year old brother based in United kingdom with similar etiology. Through this report, we aim to alert the frontline pediatricians, who are most likely to come across and manage such daunting cases with these non-specific clinical features in their routine clinical practice across the globe. Early and extreme preventive and surveillance measures must be undertaken to prevent substantial loss in public and private secto

Novel diterpenoid and aliphatic compounds from <i>Thuja orientalis</i>

1088-1092Two diterpenoids of labdane group and five long chain aliphatic compounds have been identified as 8(17), 13-labdiene-16,15-olide-18-ate, 8(17), 13-labdiene-15, 16-olide-18-ate, 8-hexyl-tricosane, octacosane-10-ol-21-ene, decanyl-11-hydroxytritriacontanoate, pentyl triacontanoate and nonacosane on the basis of spectroscopic and chemical evidences

A study on inter-planner plan quality variability using a manual planning- or Lightning dose optimizer-approach for single brain lesions treated with the Gamma Knife® Icon™.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate inter-planner plan quality variability using a manual forward planning (MFP)- or fast inverse planning (FIP, Lightning)-approach for single brain lesions treated with the Gamma Knife® (GK) Icon™. METHODS: Thirty patients who were previously treated with GK stereotactic radiosurgery or radiotherapy were selected and divided into three groups (post-operative resection cavity, intact brain metastasis, and vestibular schwannoma [10 patients per group]). Clinical plans for the 30 patients were generated by multiple planners using FIP only (1), a combination of FIP and MFP (12), and MFP only (17). Three planners (Senior, Junior, and Novice) with varying experience levels re-planned the 30 patients using MFP and FIP (two plans per patient) with planning time limit of 60&nbsp;min. Statistical analysis was performed to compare plan quality metrics (Paddick conformity index, gradient index, number of shots, prescription isodose line, target coverage, beam-on-time (BOT), and organs-at-risk doses) of MFP or FIP plans among three planners and to compare plan quality metrics between each planners MFP/FIP plans and clinical plans. Variability in FIP parameter settings (BOT, low dose, and target max dose) and in planning time among the planners was also evaluated. RESULTS: Variations in plan quality metrics of FIP plans among three planners were smaller than those of MFP plans for all three groups. Juniors MFP plans were the most comparable to the clinical plans, whereas Seniors and Novices MFP plans were superior and inferior, respectively. All three planners FIP plans were comparable or superior to the clinical plans. Differences in FIP parameter settings among the planners were observed. Planning time was shorter and variations in planning time among the planners were smaller for FIP plans in all three groups. CONCLUSIONS: The FIP approach is less planner dependent and more time-honored than the MFP approach

Wickerhamomyces anomalous: A Rare Cause of Fungemia Causing Febrile Neutropenia in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Candida bloodstream infection is the major cause of increased morbidity and mortality (20–49%) in hospitalized patients in both paediatric and adult age groups. Due to the increase in the number of immunocompromised patients, other important species such as Trichosporon asahii and Debaryomyces hansenii are emerging. One such organism, Wickerhamomyces anomalous, previously known as Pichia anomala (teleomorph stages of several Candida species), is increasingly being reported as a cause of fungemia in neonatal intensive care units and is now increasingly being reported in a lot of immunosuppressive conditions such as interstitial lung disease, endocarditis, enteritis, corticosteroids, and chemotherapy uptake. Though this yeast is ubiquitous in nature, systemic infections from isolated cases and sporadic outbreaks with high mortality have been reported in ICUs, which emphasize the importance to consider this fungus within the diagnostic possibilities. Here, we report a case of catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) caused by W. anomalus in a leukemic immunosuppressed patient who was successfully treated by early detection and treatment of this emerging fungus

Pooled RNA sample reverse transcriptase real time PCR assay for SARS CoV-2 infection: A reliable, faster and economical method

BACKGROUND: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which initially started as a cluster of pneumonia cases in the Wuhan city of China has now become a full-blown pandemic. Timely diagnosis of COVID-19 is the key in containing the pandemic and breaking the chain of transmission. In low- and middle-income countries availability of testing kits has become the major bottleneck in testing. Novel methods like pooling of samples are the need of the hour. OBJECTIVE: We undertook this study to evaluate a novel protocol of pooling of RNA samples/elutes in performance of PCR for SARS CoV-2 virus. STUDY DESIGN: Extracted RNA samples were randomly placed in pools of 8 on a 96 well plate. Both individual RNA (ID) and pooled RNA RT-qPCR for the screening E gene were done in the same plate and the positivity for the E gene was seen. RESULTS: The present study demonstrated that pool testing with RNA samples can easily detect even up to a single positive sample with Ct value as high as 38. The present study also showed that the results of pool testing is not affected by number of positive samples in a pool. CONCLUSION: Pooling of RNA samples can reduce the time and expense, and can help expand diagnostic capabilities, especially during constrained supply of reagents and PCR kits for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection