Comparison of anti-inflammatory efficacy of lercanidipine and Tanacetum parthenium with indomethacin in rats

Background: Inflammation can be classified as either acute or chronic. NSAIDs are the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide, and mostly have adverse effects. Lercanidipine a CCB of (DHPs) blocks the mediators of inflammation and has additional anti-inflammatory potential. Tanacetum parthenium (Feverfew) extracts have also shown its anti-inflammatory effects in experimental studies. It was decided to study anti-inflammatory effects of Lercanidipine and Tanacetum parthenium which was compared with Indomethacin. The present study was aimed to evaluate and compare the anti-inflammatory effect of lercanidipine and Tanacetum parthenium with Indomethacin in rats.Methods: The study was conducted in the department of Pharmacology UPUMS, Saifai after getting approval from IAEC.A total of 24 animals divided into 4 groups of six (n=6) animals each group were used, and the anti-inflammatory effects of both drugs were evaluated by Carrageenan-induced Paw Edema Model by digital Plethysmometer in rats, drug administration was with the same frequency.Results: The result of the present study had shown that lercanidipine produced anti-inflammatory effect compared to Indomethacin, while its efficacy in reducing paw edema was better at 1st hour, 48 and 72 hours while at 2nd hour and 3rd hour Indomethacin had better efficacy. Tanacetum parthenium also decreased paw edema at 2nd, 3rd, 48 and 72 hour while at 1st hour no effect was seen. However, at 72 hours, shown good efficacy compared to lercanidipine and Indomethacin.Conclusions: Lercanidipine could be a promising anti-inflammatory drug in reducing the inflammation and edema. However, herbal drug (Tanacetum parthenium) has shown anti- inflammatory efficacy when compared with Indomethacin. Both drugs were found safe during our study

Antenatally diagnosed upper moiety hydronephrosis in a child with ectopic ureter: A case report

An ectopic ureter is any ureter, single or duplex, that does not enter the trigonal area of the bladder. In a duplex system, the ectopic ureter is inevitably the upper pole ureter. In males, the ectopic ureter always enters the urogenital system above the external sphincter. The majority of ectopic ureters are detected through prenatal ultrasound imaging, even if the specific diagnosis is not made until after birth. Radionuclide renal imaging remains the gold standard for renal functional assessment, and this is usually best provided by dimercaptosuccinic acid imaging. The goals of therapy are the preservation of renal function; elimination of infection, obstruction, and reflux; and maintenance of urinary continence. We report a case of a 6-month-old male child presenting with urinary tract infection. The child was diagnosed to have had a cystic dilatation of the right upper moiety on antenatal ultrasonography imaging

Efficacy and safety of various drugs used for the treatment of nonneurogenic lower urinary tract symptoms in tertiary care hospital

Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) are common in elder men. Previously surgical treatment was mainstay of treatment of BPH. But now number of drugs alone or combined are clinically used for this disorder. Primary aim was to study the prescribing pattern of different drug therapies and their role in treating LUTS/BPH by evaluating their efficacy and safety in tertiary health care centre.Methods: An observational study including 78 male patients ≥45 years, newly diagnosed with LUTS from April 2014 to May 2015. Patients were followed up every 4 weeks for 3 months after the drug has been prescribed. Efficacy assessment was done on basis of change in IPSS score over 12 weeks. Data was expressed in percentage and Mean ±SD.Results: Mean age of Patients was 64.94 years. Alpha blockers are mainstay prescribed drug either as monotherapy (48.7%) or with 5 alpha reductase inhibitor-dutasteride (38.4%) and with antimuscarinic –Tolterodene (12.8%). Among alpha blockers Tamsulosin (58.97%) was most commonly prescribed, followed by Silodosin (20.5%) and Alfuzosin (20.5%). All drug treatment results in significant improvement with dizziness being the most common adverse event. A subgroup analysis in symptoms was done comparing alpha blockers. All alpha blockers have near about similar efficacy with no significant difference.Conclusions: Alpha blockers are main drugs prescribed in management of LUTS/BPH with near about similar efficacy of all alpha blockers

Augmentation gastrocystoplasty in a child with orofacial syndrome and dysfunctional voiding

We report the case of a child diagnosed with orofacial syndrome with dysfunctional voiding and elevated serum creatinine in whom augmentation gastrocystoplasty was performed to manage urinary incontinence.Keywords: augmentation gastrocystoplasty, dysfunctional voiding, orofacial syndrom

An unusual presentation of anterior urethral valve in a child with diabetes mellitus

Anterior urethral valve (AUV) is identified to be a common source of congenital obstructive lesion of the anterior urethra. Up to 80% of children with AUVs develop bladder dysfunction, bladder instability, hyperreflexia, diminished compliance and capacity. We report a case of an unusual presentation of a child with AUV and diabetes mellitus

Management of antenatally diagnosed hydronephrosis in a child presenting later with urinary tract infections: A case report

Preservation of renal function remains the main goal of follow-up of a child with antenatal hydronephrosis. The question remains as to how long we need to follow these children. Even after several decades, the indications and timing of surgery in a newborn with hydronephrosis are still debated. Herewith, we report the case of a 9-year-old male child who was diagnosed to have hydronephrosis on antenatal scans and was managed conservatively postnatally who presented after 9 years with recurrent urinary tract infections

Augmented Reality and AI in Smart Manufacturing: An Empirical Investigation

This empirical study, “Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence in Smart Manufacturing,” reveals how these two technologies are revolutionizing the manufacturing industry. The results, which are based on real data, highlight the significant effects of integrating AI and AR. Notably, after installation, productivity indicators saw an average improvement of 8.5% across production lines, highlighting the effectiveness of AR and AI in improving production operations. Furthermore, the average number of completed product faults dropped by 3.5, demonstrating the effectiveness of AI and AR in quality control. The average 47.5% decrease in repair requests highlights the predictive maintenance's potential for cost savings made possible by AR and AI. The relevance of AR and AI as critical factors influencing productivity, quality, and affordability in smart manufacturing is further supported by this empirical data

Gene Expression Signature of DMBA-Induced Hamster Buccal Pouch Carcinomas: Modulation by Chlorophyllin and Ellagic Acid

Chlorophyllin (CHL), a water-soluble, semi-synthetic derivative of chlorophyll and ellagic acid (EA), a naturally occurring polyphenolic compound in berries, grapes, and nuts have been reported to exert anticancer effects in various human cancer cell lines and in animal tumour models. The present study was undertaken to examine the mechanism underlying chemoprevention and changes in gene expression pattern induced by dietary supplementation of chlorophyllin and ellagic acid in the 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced hamster buccal pouch (HBP) carcinogenesis model by whole genome profiling using pangenomic microarrays. In hamsters painted with DMBA, the expression of 1,700 genes was found to be altered significantly relative to control. Dietary supplementation of chlorophyllin and ellagic acid modulated the expression profiles of 104 and 37 genes respectively. Microarray analysis also revealed changes in the expression of TGFβ receptors, NF-κB, cyclin D1, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that may play a crucial role in the transformation of the normal buccal pouch to a malignant phenotype. This gene expression signature was altered on treatment with chlorophyllin and ellagic acid. Our study has also revealed patterns of gene expression signature specific for chlorophyllin and ellagic acid exposure. Thus dietary chlorophyllin and ellagic acid that can reverse gene expression signature associated with carcinogenesis are novel candidates for cancer prevention and therapy

Science with the Daksha High Energy Transients Mission

We present the science case for the proposed Daksha high energy transients mission. Daksha will comprise of two satellites covering the entire sky from 1~keV to $>1$~MeV. The primary objectives of the mission are to discover and characterize electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave source; and to study Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). Daksha is a versatile all-sky monitor that can address a wide variety of science cases. With its broadband spectral response, high sensitivity, and continuous all-sky coverage, it will discover fainter and rarer sources than any other existing or proposed mission. Daksha can make key strides in GRB research with polarization studies, prompt soft spectroscopy, and fine time-resolved spectral studies. Daksha will provide continuous monitoring of X-ray pulsars. It will detect magnetar outbursts and high energy counterparts to Fast Radio Bursts. Using Earth occultation to measure source fluxes, the two satellites together will obtain daily flux measurements of bright hard X-ray sources including active galactic nuclei, X-ray binaries, and slow transients like Novae. Correlation studies between the two satellites can be used to probe primordial black holes through lensing. Daksha will have a set of detectors continuously pointing towards the Sun, providing excellent hard X-ray monitoring data. Closer to home, the high sensitivity and time resolution of Daksha can be leveraged for the characterization of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to ApJ. More details about the mission at https://www.dakshasat.in

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an