Bridging the Gap of Skilled Surgeons in Low and Middle Income Countries Using ICT Based Tools : A Case Study in Super-Speciality Training

Introduction: Over the last two decades, advancement of super specialised surgical disciplines has shown improved health outcome, in particular quality and safety. Although medical technology has developed to meet diagnostics and therapeutic needs, there is a scarcity of trained human resources in advanced specialities in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Innovative methods are needed to educate and train people at their workplaces using collaborative technologies and networks. Methods: Over the last 15 years, two general surgeons in Cuttack have been telementored from Lucknow 1,163 km away, using collaborative technologies to develop Endocrine Surgery. This study reviews the last 11 years of the service which includes a clinical decision support system and treatment planning advice using real time videoconferencing. Results: Over the last 11 years, 199 endocrine surgeries per annum were performed with most being thyroid cases as compared with 119 surgeries per annum during the previous five years. Parathyroid and adrenal cases increased significantly during this period (p <0.001). Rates of temporary and permanent vocal cord palsy (1.7% and 0%), hypocalcaemia (5.9% and 1.1%) were comparable with high volume centres. Based on the quantum, safety and quality outcome of endocrine surgery the provincial government has approved creation of a super-speciality department of endocrine surgery in Cuttack. Conclusion: Sustained engagement using telementoring can transfer surgical skills to needy surgeons and enable them to match the expertise of mentors. This model can be replicated in other specialities in a cost effective way to develop specialised human resources for healthcare, in particular in LMICs

Transgenic plants for the production of edible vaccines and antibodies for immunotherapy

Vaccines and antibodies play a key role in healthcare. However, the cost of production and maintaining a chain for vaccine distribution has so far hampered realizing their full potential. Expression of antigens as vaccines, and of antibodies against antigens of pathogens in transgenic plants is a convenient and inexpensive source for these immunotherapeutic molecules. Various antigens and antibodies have already been expressed successfully in plants and have been shown to retain their native functional forms. Edible plant vaccine against diarrhoea, expressed in potato, and antibody against dental caries, expressed in tobacco, is already in pre-clinical human trials. Attempts are being made to express many proteins of immunotherapeutic use at high levels in plants and to use them as bio-reactors of the modern er

Evaluation of antidiabetic efficacy of Murraya koenigii on Streptozotocin induced diabetes in experimental rats

Background: The medicinal plant Murraya koenigii shown to have a wide variety of pharmacological activities (hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic). Objective of this study is the present study was designed to evaluate Antidiabetic and Hypolipidemic property of Murraya koenigii in experimentally induced diabetes in rats.Methods: Experimental diabetes was produced with single dose of Streptozotocin (STZ): 45 mg/kg IP. The rats were randomly allocated in various groups for 37 days. After the confirmation of diabetes on 7th day (>200 mg/dl), hydroalcoholic extract of Murraya koenigii (500 mg/kg) was administered orally to experimental rats from day 7th day and continued for 37 days thereafter. Various antidiabetic (Glucose, HbA1C), metabolic (Lipid profile), safety (pancreatic lipase, Creatinine, SGPT, Histopathology of Liver and Kidney) were evaluated in various group.Results: Efficacy of Murraya koenigii was observed on various parameter of diabetes. Administration of STZ resulted in a significant decrease in diabetic changes (increase in blood glucose, HbA1C), altered lipid profile (p<0.01) in the Control group rats as compared to sham group. Murraya koenigii treatment demonstrated significant antidiabetic indicated by restoration of blood glucose, HbA1C level (p<0.01) compared to Control group. In addition, Murraya koenigii also documented hypolipidemic property of test drug. As per biochemical assessment of Pancreatic lipase, Serum creatinine, SGPT and Histopathological report, the test drug reduce the pancreatic, liver and renal marker and also showed safe to pancreas, Liver and kidney. The histopathological assessment of the liver and kidney confirmed the biochemical findings.Conclusions: The study concluded that the Murraya koenigii possess antidiabetic efficacy

Changes in expression of monocarboxylate transporters, heat shock proteins and meat quality of Large White Yorkshire and Ghungroo pigs during hot summer period

Objective Present study explores the effect of hot summer period on the glycolytic rate of early post-mortem meat quality of Ghungroo and Large White Yorkshire (LWY) pig and comparative adaptability to high temperature between above breeds by shifting the expression of stress related genes like mono-carboxylate transporters (MCTs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs). Methods Healthy pigs of two different breeds, viz., LYW and Ghungroo (20 from each) were maintained during hot summer period (May to June) with a mean temperature of about 38°C. The pigs were slaughtered and meat samples from the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles were analyzed for pH, glycogen and lactate content and mRNA expression. Following 24 h of chilling, LD muscle was also taken from the carcasses to evaluate protein solubility and different meat quality measurements. Results LWY exhibited significantly (p<0.01) higher plasma cortisol and lactate dehydrogenase concentration than Ghungroo indicating their higher sensitivity to high temperature. LD muscle from LWY pigs revealed lower initial and ultimate pH values and higher drip loss compared to Ghungroo, indicating a faster rate of pH fall. LD muscle of Ghungroo had significantly lower lactate content at 45 min postmortem indicating normal postmortem glycolysis and much slower glycolytic rate at early postmortem. LD muscle of LWY showed rapid postmortem glycolysis, higher drip loss and higher degrees of protein denaturation. Ghungroo exhibited slightly better water holding capacity, lower cooking loss and higher protein solubility. All HSPs (HSP27, HSP70, and HSP90) and MCTs (MCT1, MCT2, and MCT4) in the LD muscle of pigs inclined to increase more in Ghungroo than LWY when exposed to high temperature. Conclusion Effect of high temperature on the variation of HSPs and MCTs may play a crucial role in thermal tolerance and adaptation to different climatic conditions, pH regulation, muscle acidification, drip loss, protein denaturation and also in postmortem meat quality development

Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology with Gravitational Waves

Gravitational wave detectors are already operating at interesting sensitivity levels, and they have an upgrade path that should result in secure detections by 2014. We review the physics of gravitational waves, how they interact with detectors (bars and interferometers), and how these detectors operate. We study the most likely sources of gravitational waves and review the data analysis methods that are used to extract their signals from detector noise. Then we consider the consequences of gravitational wave detections and observations for physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.Comment: 137 pages, 16 figures, Published version <http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2009-2

Measurements of branching fraction ratios and CP-asymmetries in suppressed B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- and B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^- decays

We report the first reconstruction in hadron collisions of the suppressed decays B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- and B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^-, sensitive to the CKM phase gamma, using data from 7 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron collider. We reconstruct a signal for the B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- suppressed mode with a significance of 3.2 standard deviations, and measure the ratios of the suppressed to favored branching fractions R(K) = [22.0 \pm 8.6(stat)\pm 2.6(syst)]\times 10^-3, R^+(K) = [42.6\pm 13.7(stat)\pm 2.8(syst)]\times 10^-3, R^-(K)= [3.8\pm 10.3(stat)\pm 2.7(syst]\times 10^-3, as well as the direct CP-violating asymmetry A(K) = -0.82\pm 0.44(stat)\pm 0.09(syst) of this mode. Corresponding quantities for B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^- decay are also reported.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, accepted by Phys.Rev.D Rapid Communications for Publicatio

Sensitivity to Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Coalescences Achieved during LIGO's Fifth and Virgo's First Science Run

We summarize the sensitivity achieved by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors for compact binary coalescence (CBC) searches during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. We present noise spectral density curves for each of the four detectors that operated during these science runs which are representative of the typical performance achieved by the detectors for CBC searches. These spectra are intended for release to the public as a summary of detector performance for CBC searches during these science runs.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Integrating transcriptomic and proteomic data for accurate assembly and annotation of genomes

© 2017 Wong et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Complementing genome sequence with deep transcriptome and proteome data could enable more accurate assembly and annotation of newly sequenced genomes. Here, we provide a proof-of-concept of an integrated approach for analysis of the genome and proteome of Anopheles stephensi, which is one of the most important vectors of the malaria parasite. To achieve broad coverage of genes, we carried out transcriptome sequencing and deep proteome profiling of multiple anatomically distinct sites. Based on transcriptomic data alone, we identified and corrected 535 events of incomplete genome assembly involving 1196 scaffolds and 868 protein-coding gene models. This proteogenomic approach enabled us to add 365 genes that were missed during genome annotation and identify 917 gene correction events through discovery of 151 novel exons, 297 protein extensions, 231 exon extensions, 192 novel protein start sites, 19 novel translational frames, 28 events of joining of exons, and 76 events of joining of adjacent genes as a single gene. Incorporation of proteomic evidence allowed us to change the designation of more than 87 predicted noncoding RNAs to conventional mRNAs coded by protein-coding genes. Importantly, extension of the newly corrected genome assemblies and gene models to 15 other newly assembled Anopheline genomes led to the discovery of a large number of apparent discrepancies in assembly and annotation of these genomes. Our data provide a framework for how future genome sequencing efforts should incorporate transcriptomic and proteomic analysis in combination with simultaneous manual curation to achieve near complete assembly and accurate annotation of genomes

Directional limits on persistent gravitational waves using LIGO S5 science data

The gravitational-wave (GW) sky may include nearby pointlike sources as well as astrophysical and cosmological stochastic backgrounds. Since the relative strength and angular distribution of the many possible sources of GWs are not well constrained, searches for GW signals must be performed in a model-independent way. To that end we perform two directional searches for persistent GWs using data from the LIGO S5 science run: one optimized for pointlike sources and one for arbitrary extended sources. The latter result is the first of its kind. Finding no evidence to support the detection of GWs, we present 90% confidence level (CL) upper-limit maps of GW strain power with typical values between 2-20x10^-50 strain^2 Hz^-1 and 5-35x10^-49 strain^2 Hz^-1 sr^-1 for pointlike and extended sources respectively. The limits on pointlike sources constitute a factor of 30 improvement over the previous best limits. We also set 90% CL limits on the narrow-band root-mean-square GW strain from interesting targets including Sco X-1, SN1987A and the Galactic Center as low as ~7x10^-25 in the most sensitive frequency range near 160 Hz. These limits are the most constraining to date and constitute a factor of 5 improvement over the previous best limits.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure