Comparative study of programmed labor and traditional management of labor

Background: Prolongation of labor leads to dehydration, ketoacidosis, infection, fetal asphyxia. Programmed labor aims at reducing the duration of labor, labor pain and incidence of cesarean section with improved maternal and neonatal outcome.Aims and Objectives:1)       To evaluate the effect of programmed labor on duration of labor.2)       To assess efficacy of analgesics in reducing pain of labor.3)       To find out maternal and neonatal complications.4)       To study impact of programmed labor on LSCS rates.Methods: Prospective randomized study of primigravida in active labor (after 4 cm cervical dilatation) for which 100 women were selected for programmed labor (cases) and 100 women were selected for traditional management of labor (controls). Cases were subjected to interventions to improve uterine contractions (ARM, Dinoprostone tablets, and Oxytocin drip), to facilitate cervical dilatation (Inj. Drotaverine), to relieve labor pains (Inj. Pentazocine & Diazepam). All labors were monitored by partogram.Results: Programmed labor reduced duration of first and second stage of labor. There was faster cervical dilatation (1.8 cm/hour against 1.2 cm/hour). Majority of the patients had better pain relief. There was no impact on LSCS ratesConclusions: Programmed labor significantly reduced duration of labor with good pain relief without compromising maternal and fetal/neonatal safety. But it had no impact on LSCS rates

ANTIFUNGAL APPRAISAL OF BURKHOLDERIA GLADIOLI STRAIN VIMP03 (JQ867372) AGAINST CERATOCYSTIS PARADOXA

ABSTRACTObjective: The purpose of the present investigation was to assess antifungal characterization of Burkholderia gladioli strain VIMP03 (JQ867372), anisolate from sugar beet rhizosphere.Methods: Antifungal characterization was carried out by biochemical, dual culture, and agar well diffusion methods against Ceratocystis paradoxa, asoilborne pathogen of sugarcane and other crops. Culture filtrate and ethyl acetate extract obtained from culture supernatant were analyzed by highperformanceliquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses, respectively.Results: The culture filtrate and ethyl acetate extract exhibited effective antifungal activity. Organic acid profile of the culture filtrate was determined.Acetic acid was mainly produced by the culture under study. The GC-MS analysis of ethyl acetate extract documented the presence of compoundsincluding tetratetracontane, 9-nonadecene, erucic acid, and other hydrocarbon derivatives.Conclusion: The GC-MS, HPLC, and biochemical profiles of B. gladioli strain VIMP03 (JQ867372) revealed its agro clinical-antifungal potential.Keywords: Antifungal, Burkholderia gladioli, High-performance liquid chromatography, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF NEBIVOLOL ON ALUMINIUM-INDUCED NEUROBEHAVIORAL AND BIOCHEMICAL ALTERATIONS IN RATS

Objective: The present study was designed to investigate the neuroprotective potential of nebivolol, a β1 adrenergic blocker on aluminium-induced neurobehavioral and biochemical alterations in rats. Methods: The neurotoxicity was induced by administration of aluminium (50 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 5 weeks. Nebivolol was administered at a dose of 10 mg/kg, p.o. for 5 weeks. Behavioral assessments were done by using open field test and modified elevated plus maze (mEPM) test. At the end of the study, oxidative stress parameters were determined and histopathological studies of cerebral cortex of rat brains were performed. Results: Aluminium chloride treated rats showed significant reduction in motor activity in open field test and memory impairment in mEPM test as compared to control group. Nebivolol significantly reversed these parameters and restored brain antioxidant defensive enzymes with reduction in lipid peroxidation. The neurotoxicity was confirmed by the histopathological analysis of cerebral cortex of rat brains. Aluminium treated animals showed presence of ghost cells, vacuolated cytoplasm and haemorrhage in rat cerebral cortex, indicating neurotoxicity. Nebivolol attenuated all these changes. Thus, the potential of nebivolol to prevent aluminium-induced neurotoxicity was also reflected at microscopic level, indicative of its neuroprotective effects. Conclusion: Nebivolol showed significant antioxidant and neuroprotective activities against aluminium-induced neuronal degeneration. The results of the present study strengthen oxidative stress hypothesis of aluminium-induced neurotoxicity and suggest beneficial role of nebivolol in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders

Reconstruction Methods for Providing Privacy in Data Mining

Data mining is the process of finding correlations or patterns among the dozens of fields in large database. A fruitful direction for data mining research will be the development of techniques that incorporate privacy concerns. Since primary task in our paper is that accurate data which we retrieve should be somewhat changed while providing to users. For this reason, recently much research effort has been devoted for addressing the problem of providing security in data mining. We consider the concrete case of building a decision tree classifier from data in which the values of individual records have been reconstructed. The resulting data records look very different from the original records and the distribution of data values is also very different from the original distribution. By using these reconstructed distribution we are able to build classifiers whose accuracy is comparable to the accuracy of classifiers built with the original data

Association of Genetic Variants in XPC and XPG Genes with Cervical Cancer Risk in a Rural Population: A Hospital Based Case Control Study

Background: Cervical cancer is a major concern of health risk in urban and rural parts of India.. Aim and Objectives: This study was aimed to find out frequency of polymorphisms in DNA repair genes including Xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C (XPC) and Xenoderma pigmentosum complementation group G (XPG) in patients of cervical cancer from Maharashtra and to evaluate their association with risk of cervical cancer. Materials and Methods: We used polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) to examine gene polymorphisms in 350 patients with cancer of cervix and 400 age and sex matched normal controls. Results: The results obtained indicated that there was no significant difference in the genotype distribution between cervical cancer patients and controls for XPC Lys939Gln, -371promoter and XPG His 1104 Asp. The result showed that genotype frequencies of XPC Val 499 Arg of codon 499 in exon 15 (OR=4.26; 95% CI=(3.007-6.03); p= <0.0001) were increased significantly. Conclusion: This study indicates that polymorphisms in Val499Arg haplotype of XPC gene appear to influence genetic susceptibility of individual to cervical cancer in Maharashtrian patients

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Global age-sex-specific mortality, life expectancy, and population estimates in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1950–2021, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Estimates of demographic metrics are crucial to assess levels and trends of population health outcomes. The profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on populations worldwide has underscored the need for timely estimates to understand this unprecedented event within the context of long-term population health trends. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 provides new demographic estimates for 204 countries and territories and 811 additional subnational locations from 1950 to 2021, with a particular emphasis on changes in mortality and life expectancy that occurred during the 2020–21 COVID-19 pandemic period. Methods: 22 223 data sources from vital registration, sample registration, surveys, censuses, and other sources were used to estimate mortality, with a subset of these sources used exclusively to estimate excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2026 data sources were used for population estimation. Additional sources were used to estimate migration; the effects of the HIV epidemic; and demographic discontinuities due to conflicts, famines, natural disasters, and pandemics, which are used as inputs for estimating mortality and population. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) was used to generate under-5 mortality rates, which synthesised 30 763 location-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 1365 surveys and censuses, and 80 other sources. ST-GPR was also used to estimate adult mortality (between ages 15 and 59 years) based on information from 31 642 location-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 355 surveys and censuses, and 24 other sources. Estimates of child and adult mortality rates were then used to generate life tables with a relational model life table system. For countries with large HIV epidemics, life tables were adjusted using independent estimates of HIV-specific mortality generated via an epidemiological analysis of HIV prevalence surveys, antenatal clinic serosurveillance, and other data sources. Excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 was determined by subtracting observed all-cause mortality (adjusted for late registration and mortality anomalies) from the mortality expected in the absence of the pandemic. Expected mortality was calculated based on historical trends using an ensemble of models. In location-years where all-cause mortality data were unavailable, we estimated excess mortality rates using a regression model with covariates pertaining to the pandemic. Population size was computed using a Bayesian hierarchical cohort component model. Life expectancy was calculated using age-specific mortality rates and standard demographic methods. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were calculated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered values from a 1000-draw posterior distribution. Findings: Global all-cause mortality followed two distinct patterns over the study period: age-standardised mortality rates declined between 1950 and 2019 (a 62·8% [95% UI 60·5–65·1] decline), and increased during the COVID-19 pandemic period (2020–21; 5·1% [0·9–9·6] increase). In contrast with the overall reverse in mortality trends during the pandemic period, child mortality continued to decline, with 4·66 million (3·98–5·50) global deaths in children younger than 5 years in 2021 compared with 5·21 million (4·50–6·01) in 2019. An estimated 131 million (126–137) people died globally from all causes in 2020 and 2021 combined, of which 15·9 million (14·7–17·2) were due to the COVID-19 pandemic (measured by excess mortality, which includes deaths directly due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and those indirectly due to other social, economic, or behavioural changes associated with the pandemic). Excess mortality rates exceeded 150 deaths per 100 000 population during at least one year of the pandemic in 80 countries and territories, whereas 20 nations had a negative excess mortality rate in 2020 or 2021, indicating that all-cause mortality in these countries was lower during the pandemic than expected based on historical trends. Between 1950 and 2021, global life expectancy at birth increased by 22·7 years (20·8–24·8), from 49·0 years (46·7–51·3) to 71·7 years (70·9–72·5). Global life expectancy at birth declined by 1·6 years (1·0–2·2) between 2019 and 2021, reversing historical trends. An increase in life expectancy was only observed in 32 (15·7%) of 204 countries and territories between 2019 and 2021. The global population reached 7·89 billion (7·67–8·13) people in 2021, by which time 56 of 204 countries and territories had peaked and subsequently populations have declined. The largest proportion of population growth between 2020 and 2021 was in sub-Saharan Africa (39·5% [28·4–52·7]) and south Asia (26·3% [9·0–44·7]). From 2000 to 2021, the ratio of the population aged 65 years and older to the population aged younger than 15 years increased in 188 (92·2%) of 204 nations. Interpretation: Global adult mortality rates markedly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, reversing past decreasing trends, while child mortality rates continued to decline, albeit more slowly than in earlier years. Although COVID-19 had a substantial impact on many demographic indicators during the first 2 years of the pandemic, overall global health progress over the 72 years evaluated has been profound, with considerable improvements in mortality and life expectancy. Additionally, we observed a deceleration of global population growth since 2017, despite steady or increasing growth in lower-income countries, combined with a continued global shift of population age structures towards older ages. These demographic changes will likely present future challenges to health systems, economies, and societies. The comprehensive demographic estimates reported here will enable researchers, policy makers, health practitioners, and other key stakeholders to better understand and address the profound changes that have occurred in the global health landscape following the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and longer-term trends beyond the pandemic

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND: Disorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021. METHODS: We estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined. FINDINGS: Globally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer. INTERPRETATION: As the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed