Prospective study on sonographic measurement of umbilical cord thickness, foetal fat layer, interventricular septal thickness as predictors of macrosomia in fetus of women with gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: The objectives of the study were to evaluate the Prediction of foetal macrosomia based on sonographic measurements of foetal fat layer, Interventricular septal thickness and umbilical cord thickness in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus at term.Methods: After assessment of inclusion and exclusion criteria 100 antenatal women of gestational age more than 37 weeks selected for study in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Vinayaka Mission’s Kirupananda variyar medical college and hospital, Salem. Participants underwent a third trimester scan and three extra measurements i.e. Umbilical cord thickness, Interventricular septal thickness and foetal fat layer are measured in addition to the normal examination.Results: In present study umbilical cord thickness had good sensitivity and negative predictive value. Hence, if umbilical cord thickness is less than 90th centile the chance of macrosomia is less, the cut off of foetal fat layer ≥5 mm as predictor of macrosomia had sensitivity of 84.2% and specificity of 86.4% and cut off of Interventricular septal thickness ≥3.9mm as a predictor of macrosomia had sensitivity of 84.2%, specificity of 64.2%, negative predictive value of 95.9%. Thus, interventricular septal thickness and foetal fat layer is a reliable predictor of macrosomia.Conclusions: From this study authors concluded that Umbilical cord thickness, foetal fat layer and Interventricular septal thickness are good predictors of foetal macrosomia. In the assessment of risk of macrosomia in addition to the ultrasonographic measurements the clinical risk factors must be considered

Method Development and Validation for Estimation of Tofacitinib in Tablet Dosage Form by using RP-UHPLC

The new analytical method for the UHPLC method was established for Tofacitinib then optimized and then applied on pharmaceutical dosage forms. Various mobile phase systems were prepared and used to provide an appropriate chromatographic separation, but the proposed mobile phase comprising of Buffer, Acetonitrile and methanol in the ratio 40:40:20 gave a better resolution and sensitivity. The detection was carried out by using UV detector at 290nm using Thermo scientific (4.6mmX 3mm,5μm). Among these several flow rates tested, the flow rate of 0.7 ml was found to be the best for Tofacitinib with respect to retention times and theoretical plates. The retention time is 2.129 for Tofacitinib. The asymmetry factor or the tailing factor was found to be 1.4 for tofacitinib, which indicates symmetrical nature of the peak. System suitability parameters such as retention time, tailing factor, capacity factor and number of theoretical plates were calculated. The number of theoretical plates was found to be around 2210 for Tofacitinib, which indicates efficient performance of the column.These parameters represent the specificity of the method. Linearity range was evaluated by the visual inspection of plot of peak area as a function of analyte concentration and the corresponding calibration graphs were shown in figure and results are shown in table. From the linearity studies, the specified concentration range was determined. It was observed that Tofacitinib was linear in the range of 50% to 150% for the target concentrations. The validation of the proposed method was verified by system precision and method precision. The %RSD for system precision and method precision of Tofacitinib was tabulated. Placebo interference studies were made by injecting placebo alone, then the standard and the placebo along with the standard. They did not show any interference of placebo at the RT of the analyte peak. Robustness studies were made by varying the flow rate and also by performing filter validation studies on to types of filters. The analytical data and results for filter validation were tabulated, hence the developed method was found to be robust. Study of ruggedness was made by conducting the study on different system and by two analysts. The results were found to be in limits and were tabulated and hence the developed method is found to be rugged. CONCLUSION: A simple, reproducible and efficient reverse phase Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-UHPLC) method has been developed for estimation of Tofacitinib in its tablet dosage form. Separation was done by using mobile phase consists of Phosphate buffer (pH 5.3): Acetonitrile: methanol (40:40:20, v/v). Chromatography separations were carried out on Thermo scientific (4.6mm X 3mm,5μm) at a flow rate of 0.7ml/min and UV detection at 290nm and the retention time for Tofacitinib is 2.129 minutes. The linear dynamic response was found to be in the concentration of 50μg-150μg/ml. The slope, intercept and Correlation coefficient was found to be 0.9991 respectively. Proposed methods were found to be simple, accurate, precise and rapid and could be used for routine analysis

DRAFT GENOME SEQUENCE OF HUMAN HERPES VIRUS-4 VRF_EBV_01, AN EPSTEIN BARR VIRUS OBTAINED FROM A PEDIATRIC POST TRANSPLANT LYMPHOPROLIFERATIVE DISORDER (PTLD) PATIENT

Objectives: To decode the sequence of Epstein-barr virus (EBV) genome isolated from a pediatric patient with post transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD).Methods: EBV culture harvested from the blood sample of a 4-year-old patient with post liver transplant lymphoproliferative disorder prior to treatment was subjected to whole genome sequencing using Illumina platform. Generated data were subjected to various quality analysis and the filtered sequences were submitted to NCBI and published under accession number KM269735-KM269744.Results: Annotation results of VRF_ EBV01 genome using Prokka tool and manual blast search infers 48 hypothetical proteins, each 3 genes coding for Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen 3A and 3B and each one gene coding for Epstein-Barr nuclear antigens 1, 4, 4B and DNA primase UL70 protein. Single copy of genes coding for each variant of Tegument protein BSRF1, BLRF2, BGLF2 mir-BART 1,2,3,5,7,12,15,17,20 and two copies of gene coding for primary envelopment factor BFRF1 gene was also found.Conclusion: To date, only eight EBV genome sequences have been reported worldwide and there is no genome sequence reported from India. This study is the first of its kind to report on EBV genome from a post–transplant lymphoproliferative disorder to the scientific community for the welfare of research against EBV diagnostic markers and drug discovery.Â

Fast-cure ionogel electrolytes with improved ion transport kinetics at room temperature

Fast-cure 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate-based ionogels have been realised for the first time. The influence of curing temperature on the structure of ionogels and their performance as the electrolyte for electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) has been investigated. Hybrid ionogels were synthesised via a non-hydrolytic sol-gel route and were fully gelled post heat-treating at 125, 150, 175 and 200 °C for 60 min with minimal shrinkage. Charge-transfer resistance (a rate-limiting parameter in cell kinetics during charge/discharge cycles) was reduced by ∼80% by increasing the heat-treatment temperature; this was partially attributed to the interlocking effect facilitated by high curing temperature. We report a maximum areal capacitance of 95 mF cm−2. Due to ∼40% increase in the penetrability coefficient of the ionic liquid, the electrode ‘full’ wetting time dropped from 48 to 5 h when the curing temperature was increased above 150 °C. These results were supported by SEM and Raman spectroscopy to characterise the effect of high temperature heat-treatment on the electrode-ionogel interface and the degree of electrode wetting by the ionic liquid. The fast-cure fabrication process for ionogels removes one of the major hurdles in their industrial application while the improved room temperature ion transport kinetics expands the potential application of ionic liquid-based electrochemical systems

Neuroimaging the sleeping brain: Insight on memory functioning in infants and toddlers.

Episodic memory, or the ability to remember past events with specific detail, is central to the human experience and is related to learning and adaptive functioning in a variety of domains. In typically developing children, episodic memory emerges during infancy and improves during early childhood and beyond. Developmental processes within the hippocampus are hypothesized to be primarily responsible for both the early emergence and persistence of episodic memory in late infancy and early childhood. However, these hypotheses are based on non-human models. In-vivo investigations in early human development of hippocampal processes have been significantly limited by methodological challenges in acquiring neuroimaging data, particularly task-related functional neuroimaging data, from infants and toddlers. Recent studies in adults have shown neural activity in the brain regions supporting episodic memory during slow-wave sleep using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and fMRI has been increasingly utilized in infancy and early childhood to address other research questions. We review initial evidence and present preliminary data showing the promise of this approach for examining hippocampal contribution to how infants and toddlers remember individual events, and their association with information about the context in which the event occurred. Overall, our review, integrated with the presentation of some preliminary data provides insight on leveraging sleep to gain new perspectives on early memory functioning

Optimization of dye transfer inhibition properties of polyvinyl pyrolidine for reactive dye on cotton fabric

This study focuses on the optimization of the amount of dye transfer inhibition (DTI) agent in the in-wash liquor using response surface methodology. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone, one of the DTI polymers, has been used to analyse its dye transfer inhibition properties on reactive dyed cotton fabric against the commercial detergent. The box and Benkhen experimental design has been adapted to study the optimum concentration of DTI and washing condition for the better dye transfer inhibition. The CIELAB color difference (ΔE) and color strength (K/S) values are studied for the cotton fabric used in the in-wash liquor. The result shows that the higher the DTI polymer concentration the better is the dye transfer inhibition property. The performance of the DTI agent is majorly influenced by the surfactant present in the detergent powder due to its ionic nature. The influence of washing pH on the efficacy of the DTI is observed as minimal. The developed model shows higher values of R2 for the selected parameters, around 0.82 for color difference and 0.91 for color strength. The optimum values of process parameters for the improved performance of DTI polymer with minimum quantity are found to be DTI polymer concentration 0.24 g/l, detergent concentration 2.9 g/l, alkaline pH level in one liter of water, and 3% (owm) of reactive dye. The washing efficiency analysis shows that the stain removal percentage of detergent remains the same in presence of DTI polymer. The water hardness property has a major influence on the DTI performance. The environmental impact of the DTI polymer is found negligible, except the chemical oxygen demand

Trend analysis and variability of satellite-based soil moisture data for the Lower Bhavani basin, Tamil Nadu using Google Earth Engine

Soil moisture is a significant hydrological component that is dynamic in nature. The variation in soil moisture in the basin scale would affect the vegetation, ecology and environment. Soil moisture trend analysis aids in providing the variation of soil moisture over the basin. The present study aimed to analyse the soil moisture trend in Lower Bhavani basin, Tamil Nadu from 2003-2022. Satellite-based soil moisture Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) data was extracted from the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to analyse the variation and trend over the period of time. The highest and lowest soil moisture was observed during monsoon and summer months and its percentage variation was studied. Using Man-Kendall test and Sen’s slope, trend analysis was calculated for two decades (2003-2012 and 2013-2022). In 2003-2012, an increasing trend of soil moisture was observed during winter (October to February); from 2013-2022, an increasing trend was observed during both winter (October to February) and monsoon seasons (June to September). The remaining season did not follow any trend, and there was no decreasing trend in soil moisture. The trend analysis of the study will help to monitor and manage the environmental system across the Lower Bhavani basin

Alternative TEL-JAK2 fusions associated with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and atypical chronic myelogenous leukemia dissected in zebrafish

Background Chromosomal translocations resulting in alternative fusions of the human TEL (ETV6) and JAK2 genes have been observed in cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and chronic myelogenous leukemia, but a full understanding of their role in disease etiology has remained elusive. In this study potential differences between these alternative TEL-JAK2 fusions, including their lineage specificity, were investigated.Design and Methods TEL-JAK2 fusion types derived from both T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and atypical chronic myelogenous leukemia were generated using the corresponding zebrafish tel and jak2a genes and placed under the control of either the white blood cell-specific spi1 promoter or the ubiquitously-expressed cytomegalovirus promoter. These constructs were injected into zebrafish embryos and their effects on hematopoiesis examined using a range of molecular approaches. In addition, the functional properties of the alternative fusions were investigated in vitro.Results Injection of the T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia-derived tel-jak2a significantly perturbed lymphopoiesis with a lesser effect on myelopoiesis in zebrafish embryos. In contrast, injection of the atypical chronic myelogenous leukemia-derived tel-jak2a resulted in significant perturbation of the myeloid compartment. These phenotypes were observed regardless of whether expressed in a white blood cell-specific or ubiquitous manner, with no overt cellular proliferation outside of the hematopoietic cells. Functional studies revealed subtle differences between the alternative forms, with the acute lymphoblastic leukemia variant showing higher activity, but reduced downstream signal transducer and activator of transcription activation and decreased sensitivity to JAK2 inhibition. JAK2 activity was required to mediate the effects of both variants on zebrafish hematopoiesis.Conclusions This study indicates that the molecular structure of alternative TEL-JAK2 fusions likely contributes to the etiology of disease. The data further suggest that this class of oncogene exerts its effects in a cell lineage-specific manner, which may be due to differences in downstream signaling.<br /

Sourcing Process – A Supply Chain Management Perspective to Meet Consumer Demand with Special Reference to Solitaire Diamond Brand Sold in Damas Outlets, Dubai

Diamond in a supplier‟s catalogue encompasses a steady price appreciation and less volatility. Strategic sourcing for diamond is based on the assessment of needs and exploration of the legal mining process, and the allied risks. This paper analyses the sourcing process for managing the supply chain with special reference to Damas, Dubai where an organisation has functional expertise at every level but lacks expertise in the value chain