Novel Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection—A Systematic Review

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are associated with significant morbidity. We rely on clinical presentation, urinalysis, and urine culture to diagnose UTI. To differentiate between lower UTI and pyelonephritis, we depend on the clinical presentation. In the extremes of age and in immunocompromised individuals, clinical presentation is often atypical posing a challenge to diagnosis. In the elderly, the high prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria is another confounder. We conducted a search of publications to find novel biomarkers to diagnose UTI and to ascertain its severity. We searched PUBMED, MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases for studies pertaining to novel biomarkers and UTI. Two reviewers independently evaluated the methodology of the studies using the STARD (Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy) criteria. We have identified procalcitonin as a biomarker to differentiate lower UTI from pyelonephritis in the pediatric age group. Elevated serum procalcitonin levels can result in early and aggressive treatment at the time of presentation. Interleukin 6 has also shown some promise in differentiating between lower UTI and pyelonephritis but needs further validation. Lastly, given the paucity of data in certain subgroups like diabetics, kidney transplant recipients, and individuals with spinal cord injury, further studies should be conducted in these populations to improve diagnostic criteria that will inform clinical management decisions

Frobenius Distributions in Short Intervals for Non-CM Elliptic Curves

Let E be an elliptic curve defined over Q. An extremal prime for E is a prime p of good reduction such that the number of rational points on E modulo p is minimal or maximal in relation to the Hasse bound, i.e. In the first case, we say that p is a trailing prime. In the second case, we say that p is a champion prime. The notion of extremal primes was generalized to primes such that ap(E)/2√p lie in a short interval around c ∈ (0,1] in [AHJ+18], who considered the case of curves with complex multiplication. In this thesis, assuming E does not have complex multiplication, we study the distribution in short intervals for (a_p (E))/(2√p)∈(c-f(p),c) (1) where c ∈ (−1,1] and f(x) = x^δ such that −1/2 ≤ δ < 0. The distribution is different if c = 1 or c ≠ 1, influenced by the Sato-Tate distribution (see Conjecture 1.1). We use the techniques of David, Gafni, Malik, Prabhu, and Turnage-Butterbaugh [DGM+19], who considered the extremal primes for elliptic curves without complex multiplication to get an upper bound for the number of primes such that (1) holds, under GRH (Theorem 1.4) and unconditionally (Theorem 1.5)

Structural aspects of virtual twin groups

Study of certain isotopy classes of a finite collection of immersed circles without triple or higher intersections on closed oriented surfaces is considered as a planar analogue of virtual knot theory with the genus zero case corresponding to classical knot theory. Alexander and Markov theorems are known in this setting with the role of groups being played by a class of right-angled Coxeter groups called twin groups, denoted $T_n$, in the genus zero case. For the higher genus case, the role of groups is played by a new class of groups called virtual twin groups, denoted $VT_n$. A virtual twin group $VT_n$ contains the twin group $T_n$ and the pure virtual twin group $PVT_n$, an analogue of the pure braid group. The paper investigates in detail some structural aspects of these groups. We prove that the pure virtual twin group $PVT_n$ is an irreducible right-angled Artin group with trivial center and give it's precise presentation. We show that $PVT_n$ has a decomposition as an iterated semidirect product of infinite rank free groups. We also give a complete description of the automorphism group of $PVT_n$. As applications, we show that $VT_n$ is residually finite and $PVT_n$ has the $R_\infty$-property. Along the way, we also obtain a presentation of $VT_n'$ and a freeness result on $PVT_n'$.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure

Virtual planar braid groups and permutations

Twin groups and virtual twin groups are planar analogues of braid groups and virtual braid groups, respectively. These groups play the role of braid groups in the Alexander-Markov correspondence for the theory of stable isotopy classes of immersed circles on orientable surfaces. Motivated by the general idea of Artin and a recent work of Bellingeri and Paris \cite{BellingeriParis2020}, we obtain a complete description of homomorphisms between virtual twin groups and symmetric groups, which as an application gives us the precise structure of the automorphism group of the virtual twin group $VT_n$ on $n \ge 2$ strands. This is achieved by showing the existence of an irreducible right-angled Coxeter group $KT_n$ inside $VT_n$. As a by-product, it also follows that the twin group $T_n$ embeds inside the virtual twin group $VT_n$, which is an analogue of a similar result for braid groups.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Intranasal midazolam for the treatment of seizures in children in rural India

Background: About 5% of healthy children experience at least one convulsive episode in their lifetime with onset during childhood in more than half the cases. The current evidence suggests that prolonged seizures are best stopped with early treatment. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the role of intranasal administration of midazolam for seizure cessation at home by caregiver in semi-urban and rural settings. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 children in the age group of 6 months–14 years were included in the study, who previously had a history of convulsions and were on regular follow-up. The study was conducted over a period of 6 months. The parents were instructed to give intranasal midazolam (INM) if seizure activity lasted for more than 3 minutes and the need of giving it 2nd time if the seizure was not aborted and to bring the child to nearest pediatrics emergency set up for the further management. Results: The subjects were divided into three groups according to age: Group A consisted of children between 6 months and 4 years, Group B of 4 and 9 years, and Group C had 9 and 14 years old children. Average duration of aborting seizures before INM use was 16.22 min and after its use was 4.66 min. Seizures were aborted in 45 children within 10 min. Conclusion: INM is safe and efficacious in aborting seizures at home in semi-urban and rural settings

Theranostics Application of Graphene-Based Materials in Cancer Imaging, Targeting and Treatment

Recent advancements in graphene-based nanomaterials provide the opportunity that compliments the limitations of conventional drug delivery systems (DDSs) through simultaneous targeting of the anticancer drug to the cancer cell by reducing the side effects of other administration routes. Graphene with its extraordinary electronic properties like larger surface area, possibilities of surface modification, can efficiently target the tumor cell. At the same time, nanocarriers have the advantages of immune clearance adulteration of physicochemical properties of anticancer drug. The DDSs can be made by biodegradable nanocarriers such as proteins, peptides, biocompatible polymers, antibodies, polymer-drug conjugates, etc. Graphene-supported DDSs in cancer therapy also supports the co-delivery of therapeutic agents, antioxidants, SiRNA, shRNA, etc. as the co-delivery approach, which provide additive or synergistic therapeutic efficacy and can reduce toxic effects

Antioxidant activity of stem bark of Elephant Apple in different solvents

Plants have been always played an important role in maintaining human health directly or indirectly. Dillenia indica Linn. is a plant known for its nutritive as well as medicinal properties. Bark of the plant has been blessed with various phytochemicals as alkaloids, tannins, phenols etc. which give the plant a defence mechanism to protect the plant. Presence of these phytochemicals proved that bark is also beneficial for human beings because of their therapeutic properties. In the present study the total phenolic content and antioxidant activities of the different extracts of bark of Dillenia indica Linn. have been examined and it is found that ascorbic acid as standard having the great antioxidant activity with lowest IC50. Fifty per cent methanolic extract showed higher amount of total phenolic content 47.6± 0.92 mg/gm and lowest IC50 value 13.43 ± 1.25µg/ml having highest antioxidant activity. In contrast with its aqueous extract having highest IC50 value 239.1 ± 2.15 µg/ml with lowest antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activity has proved to be great source in the prevention of many life threatening diseases. The antioxidant activity of Dillenia indica Linn. should be further explored commercially to take its health benefits for serving the human society