Klippel-Feil syndrome: a case report

Klippel-Feil Syndrome (KFS) is defined as congenital fusion of two or more cervical vertebrae. The most common signs are short neck, low hairline at the back of head and restricted mobility of neck. We report a case of a neonate who presented with complaint of respiratory difficulty and later diagnosed as case of Klippel-Feil syndrome

IMPROVEMENT OF EFFICACY AND SAFETY PROFILE OF SIMVASTATIN IN COMPARISON TO REFERENCE PRODUCT (ZOCOR TABLETS) USING NANOPARTICULATE FORMULATION APPROACH

Objective: Simvastatin, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor widely used in the treatment of Hyper (dys) lipidemia causes myotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. These safety issues limit dose of Simvastatin, lead to additional monitoring of the patients as well as discontinuation of therapy. To alleviate the adverse effects and to improve efficacy and safety profile, Simvastatin was encapsulated in the nanoparticulate formulation and compared with marketed reference formulation (Zocor tablets). Methods: The nano particles (NPs) were prepared using single emulsion diffusion method and optimized for particle size, PDI, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency. Results: The efficacy and safety of final formulation were evaluated in HFD induced hyperlipidemic albino rats. The results suggested that the NPs have significant improvement of efficacy and reduction of the toxicity in comparison to marketed reference formulation. Conclusion: By encapsulating the Simvastatin in the NPs, the 50% dose reduction can be achieved without compromising efficacy

Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Typologies That Reduce Financial Crime Risks

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased concerns over money laundering and terrorist financing and their impacts on societies and the world’s finance and economic systems. Some financial institutions are failing to detect and track new emerging financial crime threats. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to identify predicate offense typologies that U.S. banking and financial services company compliance managers use to reduce the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. To understand the concepts of predicate offense and financial crime risks, Gary Becker’s economic theory of criminal behavior was the conceptual framework that grounded this study. The population was comprised of 15 compliance managers and anti-money laundering investigators. Data sources included semistructured interviews, semistructured observations, and document reviews from business and finance academic journals. Coding, thematic analysis, and content analysis revealed eight main themes as predicate offense typologies: structuring, fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking, illicit arms trafficking, illicit drug trafficking, real estate money laundering, and trade-based money laundering. Four subthemes were identified: red flags, key indicators, typology-specific common signs, and 95% or above. The insights drawn from this study may contribute to efforts by compliance managers to increase transparency and close gaps in the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing compliance framework, which could enhance business practice. Implications for positive social change include a reduced risk of bank failures, increased employment opportunities, and promotion of public awareness about financial crimes

Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Typologies That Reduce Financial Crime Risks

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased concerns over money laundering and terrorist financing and their impacts on societies and the world’s finance and economic systems. Some financial institutions are failing to detect and track new emerging financial crime threats. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to identify predicate offense typologies that U.S. banking and financial services company compliance managers use to reduce the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. To understand the concepts of predicate offense and financial crime risks, Gary Becker’s economic theory of criminal behavior was the conceptual framework that grounded this study. The population was comprised of 15 compliance managers and anti-money laundering investigators. Data sources included semistructured interviews, semistructured observations, and document reviews from business and finance academic journals. Coding, thematic analysis, and content analysis revealed eight main themes as predicate offense typologies: structuring, fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking, illicit arms trafficking, illicit drug trafficking, real estate money laundering, and trade-based money laundering. Four subthemes were identified: red flags, key indicators, typology-specific common signs, and 95% or above. The insights drawn from this study may contribute to efforts by compliance managers to increase transparency and close gaps in the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing compliance framework, which could enhance business practice. Implications for positive social change include a reduced risk of bank failures, increased employment opportunities, and promotion of public awareness about financial crimes

Submerged Pumps and Expanders with Magnetic Coupling for Hazardous Applications

LecturePresentation and discussion of a unique magnetic coupling design that has been developed for cryogenic service in liquefied gases that allows the submerged motor or generator to be isolated from the process fluid in a safe, proven and compact design

Steam Turbine Design, Operation, and Maintenance

Discussion GroupOverhaul intervals Maintenance practices Solid particle erosion Contract versus in-house maintenance Mechanical driver turbine issues - design et al Steam path repairs Turbine casing and alignment issues Steam turbine performance, degradation, etc. Reliability/availabilit

FORMULATION OF CURCUMINOID LOADED SOLID LIPID NANOPARTICLES IN ORDER TO IMPROVE ORAL BIOAVAILABILITY

Objective: Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) of Curcuminoids were formulated and characterized in order to improve poor oral bioavailability of Curcumin. In vivo pharmacokinetics study in rats was conducted to demonstrate improved oral bioavailability.Methods: High pressure homogenization followed by ultrasonication method was adopted to formulate solid lipid nanoparticles of Curcumin. Compritol 888 ATO and Precirol ATO 5 were explored as solid lipids with LIPOID S 75 being used as surfactant. Freeze dried solid lipid nanoparticles were compared with marketed formulation of Curcumin (Adcumin®) in rat plasma using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method using ultraviolet (UV) detector.Results: Particle size measurements performed on Solid lipid nanoparticles of Curcumin revealed the mean particle size of 200-300 nm for optimized formulations and entrapment efficiency of close to 80%. Sucrose and Dextrose were suitable cryoprotectants to prepare freeze dried solid lipid nanoparticles. Curcumin loaded solid lipid nanoparticles exhibited sustained release pattern during in vitro release kinetics.Conclusion: In vivo pharmacokinetics study in Swiss albino rats revealed that encapsulation of Curcumin into solid lipid nanoparticles increased oral bioavailability of Curcumin to 12 folds when compared with marketed formulation of Raw Curcumin (Adcumin®).Â

ASSOCIATION AND CORRELATION OF MEAN PLATELET VOLUME AND PLATELET COUNT IN ACUTE ISCHEMIC STROKE

Objective: Role of platelets in the pathogenesis of the atherothrombosis and ischemic stroke has been documented. Mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet count (PC) could be important predictors of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), its severity; therefore we investigated the correlation of MPV & PC in AIS patients. Methods: We studied MPV and PC of 52 AIS patients consecutively admitted in Neurology department at Geetanjali Medical University, India. Platelet variables were measured and compared with control of similar age, sex and without vascular events. Results: Out of 52 patients, 30 (57.69%) had Thirty (57.69%) patients had significantly higher MPV in AIS group (12.45fL compared with normal range of 6–11 fL in control,p<0.001). No significant differences were found between male and females, but the total mean was elevated. The mean of PC was 1.76×105 cells/cumm (normal range) and there was no correlation between the change in PC and AIS in both sexes. Repeated measurements of MPV and PC were also recorded on follow-up which showed no significant changes from the acute phase; however, MPV remained elevated. The comparison of MPV in patients with mRS score 2 versus 4, 2 versus 5, 3 versus 4 and 5, and 4 versus 5 were found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: Increased MPV has an independent association with AIS and its severity and it could not change after acute treatment. It is possible that these changes precede the vascular event, and further studies are warranted to unravel the underlying mechanism

Comparison of deep-learning data fusion strategies in mandibular osteoradionecrosis prediction modelling using clinical variables and radiation dose distribution volumes

Purpose. NTCP modelling is rapidly embracing DL methods as the need to include spatial dose information is acknowledged. Finding the most appropriate way of combining radiation dose distribution images and clinical data involves technical challenges and requires domain knowledge. We propose different data fusion strategies that we hope will serve as a starting point for future DL NTCP studies. Methods. Early, joint and late DL multi-modality fusion strategies were compared using clinical variables and mandibular radiation dose distribution volumes. The discriminative performance of the multi-modality models was compared to that of single-modality models. All the experiments were conducted on a control-case matched cohort of 92 ORN cases and 92 controls from a single institution. Results. The highest ROC AUC score was obtained with the late fusion model (0.70), but no statistically significant differences in discrimination performance were observed between strategies. While late fusion was the least technically complex strategy, its design did not model the inter-modality interactions that are required for NTCP modelling. Joint fusion involved the most complex design but resulted in a single network training process which included intra- and inter-modality interactions in its model parameter optimisation. Conclusions. This is the first study that compares different strategies for including image data into DL NTCP models in combination with lower dimensional data such as clinical variables. The discrimination performance of such multi-modality NTCP models and the choice of fusion strategy will depend on the distribution and quality of both types of data. We encourage future DL NTCP studies to report on different fusion strategies to better justify their choice of DL pipeline.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 3 table