A REVIEW ON URSOLIC ACID: A NATURALLY OBTAINED PENTACYCLIC TRITERPENE

Natural products derived from plants have been used for decades in traditional medicine. Many classes of compounds exist in plants such as saponins, alkaloids, anti-oxidants, etc. Pentacyclic triterpenes are also one of the compounds occurring in plants. In this class Ursolic acid is a well-recognized compound that is available from various sources like seeds as well as fruits and possess many types of activities and is a bright contender for developing novel treatment approaches for treating diseases

A REVIEW ON APTAMERS IN GENE THERAPY AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

Gene therapy has been initiated as long back from 1990s but is still in development. Research has been continuously going on in this field in order to cure genetic diseases by various techniques. One of these is aptamers. Aptamers are single stranded DNA or RNA molecules made by SELEX technology and have the ability of attaching to a variety of targets namely proteins, peptides, carbohydrates, toxins etc. They find application in skeletal disorders, biosensors, detection of viruses, delivery of drugs, various drug delivery systems, etc

E-commerce Product Price Monitoring and Comparison using Sentiment Analysis

The increasing prevalence of e-commerce has empowered consumers with vast choices and opportunities for online shopping. This research paper focuses on two essential aspects of online shopping: price comparison and sentiment analysis of product reviews. The paper presents a methodology for scraping product prices from multiple e-commerce websites and conducting sentiment analysis on the corresponding product reviews. The findings of this research have significant implications for both consumers and e-commerce businesses. Consumers can leverage price comparison data to identify the most cost-effective platforms for their desired products, while sentiment analysis enables them to assess the overall satisfaction levels of other customers. E-commerce businesses can utilize these insights to optimize pricing strategies, identify areas for improvement, and enhance customer experiences. Performance analysis of Support Vector Machine, Logistic Regression, VADER Lexicon and SentiWordNet Lexicon is also done

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

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

A comparison of titanium clips versus Roeder's knot tying suture in laparoscopic appendiceal stump closure: A 1-year randomized controlled trial study in KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Charitable Hospital, Belgaum

Background and Objectives: Appendiceal stump closure during laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) is an important step. This study was an attempt to evaluate the ease of use and safety of titanium clips compared to Roeder's knot in the appendiceal stump closure in patients undergoing LA by comparing complications (intraoperative and postoperative), hospital stay, and follow-up period. Materials and Methods: This 1-year randomized controlled trial was done in under the Department of General Surgery, KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Belgaum from January 2014 to December 2014. A total of 60 patients were divided into two groups of 30 each that is, Group R (Roeder's knot using silk suture and Group T (titanium clips). Results: In this study 53.33% of the patients in Group R were females as compared to 36.67% in Group T (P = 0.795). The mean age in Group R was 29.77 ± 11.24 years and in Group T, it was 29.53 ± 8.96 (P = 0.929). Other preoperative characteristics of the study population in Group R and T were comparable (P > 0.050). Significantly higher number of patients (60%) in Group T required lower operative time (45–60 min) compared to Group R (83.33% patients required 61–75 minP 0.050). Conclusion and Interpretation: Appendiceal stump closure with titanium clips is advantageous in terms of operative time, pressure gradient, and offers early resumption of daily activities

Evaluation and correlation of stress scores with blood pressure, endogenous cortisol levels, and homocysteine levels in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy and comparison with age-matched controls

Context: Stress had been associated with the development of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). The study was designed to evaluate the effect of stress on other risk factors of CSC such as serum cortisol levels, serum homocysteine levels, and blood pressure (BP) in CSC patients. Aims: To compare stress scores, serum cortisol and serum homocysteine levels, and BP of CSC patients with that of control population and to correlate stress scores of CSC patients with BP, serum cortisol levels, and serum homocysteine levels. Materials and Methods: Stress scores, serum morning and evening cortisol levels, serum homocysteine levels, systolic and diastolic BP of 54 CSC patients were measured and compared with that of 54 age- and sex-related controls using Student′s t-test. Stress scores of CSC patients were correlated with systolic and diastolic BP, serum morning and evening cortisol levels and serum homocysteine levels and Pearson correlation coefficient (r) were calculated. Results: Stress scores, serum homocysteine levels, serum morning and evening cortisol levels, and systolic and diastolic BP were all elevated in CSC patients as compared with age- and sex-related controls (P < 0.05). Stress scores of CSC patients were found to correlate strongly with serum homocysteine levels, serum morning and evening cortisol levels, and systolic and diastolic BP, with r values 0.82, 0.8, 0.8, 0.8, and 0.81, respectively (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Stress scores were elevated in CSC patients and were strongly correlated with serum homocysteine and cortisol levels and BP

Density Functional Study on the Cytochrome-Mediated <i>S</i>‑Oxidation: Identification of Crucial Reactive Intermediate on the Metabolic Path of Thiazolidinediones

<i>S</i>-Oxidation is an important cytochrome P450 (CYP450)-catalyzed reaction, and the structural and energetic details of this process can only be studied by using quantum chemical methods. Thiazolidinedione (<b>TZD</b>) ring metabolism involving initial <i>S</i>-oxidation leads to the generation of reactive metabolites (RMs) and subsequent toxicity forcing the withdrawal of the glitazone class of drugs, thus, the study of the biochemical pathway of <b>TZD</b> ring metabolism is a subject of interest. The <i>S</i>-oxidation of the <b>TZD</b> ring and the formation of the isocyanate intermediate (<b>ISC</b>) was implicated as a possible pathway; however, there are several questions still unanswered in this biochemical pathway. The current study focuses on the CYP450-mediated <i>S</i>-oxidation, fate of the sulfoxide product (<b>TZDSO</b>), ring cleavage to <b>ISC</b>, and formation of nucleophilic adducts. The process of <i>S</i>-oxidation was explored by using <b>Cpd I</b> (iron­(IV)-oxo porphyrin, to mimic CYP450) at TZVP/6-311+G­(d) basis set. The barriers were calculated after incorporating dispersion and solvent corrections. The metabolic conversion from <b>TZDSO</b> to <b>ISC</b> (studied at B3LYP/6-311++G­(2df,3pd)//B3LYP/6-31+G­(d)) required a novel protonated intermediate, <b>TZDSOH</b>^<b>+</b>. The effect of higher basis sets (6-311+G­(d,p), aug-cc-pvqz) on this conversion was studied. <b>TZDSOH</b>^<b>+</b> was observed to be more reactive and thermodynamically accessible than <b>ISC</b>, indicating that <b>TZDSOH</b>^<b>+</b> is the actual reactive intermediate leading to toxicity of the <b>TZD</b> class of compounds