Hypoalbuminemia in Jaundice Neonatorum among Term Newborns at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Jaundice which occurs in about 60% term and more than 80 % preterm neonates. It remains on the most common morbidities observed in the first week of life of newborns and is most prevalent cause of re-hospitalization after their discharge from birth hospitalization. This study was conducted to document the frequency of hypoalbuminemia in neonatum jaundice as there is no such study conducted in Pakistan. Objective: To determine  the frequency of hypoalbuminemia in jaundice neonatorum in term infants. Material and methods: A total of 265 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria from indoor department of pediatrics Nishtar hospital Multan were included in the study from May 2016 to May 2017. Demographic information of patients (gestational age, mode of delivery, gender, weight) was taken and recorded in study proforma. Three ml blood sample was collected from all participants for serum albumin levels and hypoalbuminemia was defined as serum albumin level of less than 2.5 g/dL by laboratory test. Data was analyzed with statistical analysis program (SPSS version11.5). Results: Of these 265 study cases, 150 (56.6%) were boys while 115 (43.4%) were girls. Mean gestational age of our study cases was 39.84 ± 1.67 weeks (with minimum gestational age was 37 weeks while maximum was 42 weeks). Mean gestational age of the boys was 40.41 ± 1.42 weeks while that of girls was 39.10 ± 1.69 weeks. Our study results have indicated that majority of our study cases i.e. 160 (60.4%) had gestational age ranging from  40- 42 weeks. Majority of these babies i.e. 222 (83.8%) were born through vaginal mode of delivery. Mean weight of our study cases was 3084.08 ± 344.422 grams (with minimum weight was 2550 grams while maximum weight was noted to be 3750 grams). Majority of our study cases i.e. 150 (56.6%) were from rural areas and 115 (43.3%) belonged to the urban areas. Of these 265 study cases, 104 (39.2%) were from poor socioeconomic background while 125 (47.2%) had middle income. Mean level of serum albumin was 2.55 ± 0.31 g/dl (with minimum albumin level was 2.2 and maximum was 3.6). Hypoalbuminemia was seen in 141 (53.2%) of our study cases.Conclusion: In our study, very high frequency of hypoalbuminemia has been noted in neonates presenting with jaundice. Neonatal jaundice was more prevalent in boys than girls. Hypoalbuminemia was significantly associated with rural residential status, vaginal mode of delivery and poor socioeconomic status. Keywords: Hyperbillirubinemia, hypoalbuminemia, jaundice

COMPARISON OF BODY WEIGHT, ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE WEIGHT OF PITUITARY GLAND IN CARBIMAZOLE AND CARBIMAZOLE PLUS THYROXIN TREATED MALE ALBINO RATS

ABSTRACT: Overt hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism may be associated with weight gain and loss. The present study was designed to determine the effects of Carbimazole, an antithyroid drug (ATD) used in the treatment of hyperthyroidism and Grave's disease, on body weight, weight of Pituitary gland and relative weight of male albino rats and compared it with the effect of Carbimazole plus Thyroxin on body weight, absolute and relativ

Estimation of Different Biochemical Intensities in Drinking Water from Eastern Region of Lahore City

Background: Lahore is city of over 8 million population with consumption of over 350 million gallons of fresh water per day. The present study was undertaken to determine the suitability of ground water from different areas of Mughalpura Lahore which is being used for drinking purposes.Methods: The ionic concentration of TDS (total dissolved solids), TSS (total suspended solids), calcium, magnesium, sulphate, chloride, carbonate, bicarbonate and alkalinity in the collected water samples was determined. The concentration of heavy metals like Cu, Cr, Zn, Cd, As, Pb and Fe was estimated by applying American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) methods. The EC (electrical conductivity), pH, BOD (biological oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) values of the water were also measured. Data was statistically analyzed through analysis of variance technique.Results: Increasing concentrations of heavy metals like Cu, Cr, Zn, Cd, As, Pb, Fe and TDS, TSS, calcium, magnesium, sulphate, chloride, carbonate, bicarbonate and alkalinity were obtained. The observed values of EC, BOD and COD were also high in range. Only the pH value obtained was in the range of WHO standards.Conclusion: It was concluded from correlation among various chemical components in water like Ca+2, Mg+2, HCO3- and SO4-2 that this water is not safe for drinking according to WHO standards. The correlation among alkalinity, pH, Ca+2, Cl-, EC, HCO3-, SO4-2, TH and TSS further suggested that the samples with higher amount of these components must not be used for drinking purposes by animals and human

A cost-effective o-toulidine-based Schiff base as an efficient sorbent for metal ion uptake from aqueous and soil samples: Synthesis, antimicrobial, and acute toxicity analyses

Heavy metals create serious health problems, so the practical implementation and development of low-cost sorbent materials to remove heavy metals from the ecosystem is a worldwide issue. The purpose of this study is to find a low-cost ligand that has the potential to adsorb heavy metals from aqueous and soil samples and also has biological potential. For this, a Schiff base, dimeric o-toluidine (SBL), has been synthesized through condensation, characterized by spectroscopic analysis, and had its biological activities measured. We also studied its adsorption efficiency through a batch technique to remove Zn(II), Co(II), and Cu(II) from aqueous and soil samples under different conditions such as metal ion concentration, pH, contact time, and SBL concentration. The adsorption potential of SBL was analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. The values of correlation coefficients revealed that the Freundlich isotherm elucidated results that were more appropriable than the Langmuir model. Adsorption equilibrium was established in 90 min for aqueous samples and in 1,440 min for soil samples. For the maximum adsorption of all metals, the optimum pH was 8, and it showed a capacity to remove 77 to 95 percent of metals from the samples. The maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of SBL were 75.75, 62.50, and 9.17 mg g-1 in the case of Cu(II), Zn(II), and Co(II) ions, respectively, from aqueous samples and 10.95, 64.10, and 88.49 mg g-1 in the case of Zn(II), Cu (II), and Co(II), respectively, from soil samples. The effectiveness of SBL in the sorption of the selected metals was found to be Cu+2 > Zn+2 > Co+2 for aqueous samples and Co+2 > Cu+2 > Zn+2 for soil samples. The antimicrobial activity of SBL was also investigated. The results revealed that SBL showed moderate inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus dysentria, C. albican, and Aspergillus niger, whereas it exhibited weak activity against S. aureus, P. aureginosa, K. pneumoniae, P. vulgaris, and E.coli when compared to Fluconazole and Ciprofloxacin as the standard. Acute toxicity of the synthesized compound was measured through its daily oral administration with various doses ranging from 0.1 to 1,000 mg/kg of the mice’s body weights. Even at the dose of 1,000 mg/kg, the SBL showed no mortality or any type of general behavioral change in the treated mice. Based on preparation cost, metal removal capacity, toxicity, and antimicrobial activities, SBL is an excellent sorbent and should be studied at pilot scale levels

Survey of Multilingual Script Identification Techniques on Wild Images

Multilingual Script Identification on natural images has recently increase research attention and this is very challenging task. This paper presents a review of latest techniques for the multilingual scripts. The system can choose the appropriate Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine to recognize a script based here on script identity of a retrieved line of text or word. A number of approaches for identifying different characters, including such Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Korean and Indian, have been developed. scripts are used in written on natural scenes captured by a voyager from cameras or text recognitions system. Here we also present the difficulties that come with script identification, methods used for features extraction and also the classifiers used for identification. We provided a comprehensive description and evaluation of previous and state-of-the-art script identification approaches. It should be emphasized that researchers in the area of multilingual script recognition is still in its early stages, and additional analysis is needed

Successful DNA Profiling for Identification of burnt Families from their bones using AmpFℓSTR Identifiler® Plus Kit

Background: DNA profiling plays a vital role in the identification of dead bodies during mass disasters. Severe fragmentation, decomposition, burning and intermixing of the remains can occur in the mass disasters. DNA analysis faces many challenges especially when the dead bodies are completely decomposed or burnt. This report presents the identification of 32 completely burnt individuals including three families from their remains in a bus using AmpFlSTR Identifiler Plus® Kit and AmpFlSTR Y-filer® Kit. Methods: DNA was extracted from provided remains of burnt bodies and reference samples by organic extraction procedure. The extracted quantity of DNA was calculated on ABI SDS7500 real time PCR with Quantifiler® Human DNA Quantification Kit (Applied Biosystems). DNA samples of 32 completely burnt individuals including three families were amplified using AmpFlSTR Identifiler Plus® Kit and AmpFlSTR Y-filer® Kit. The genotyping of these amplified samples was performed on ABI 3130xl Genetic Analyzer. Results: The resulting data obtained from Genetic Analyzer was analyzed using GeneMapper ID software version 3.2 (Applied Biosystems). Seventeen burnt individuals including 3 burnt families were identified with the help of 16 autosomal STRs and 6 were identified through Y-STR analysis by allele sharing of their provided reference samples of parents and brothers respectively. Conclusion: For the identification of unknown individuals particularly burnt deceased victims, STR analysis has become the gold standard in forensic science. Successful DNA profiling through the amplification of STR markers of AmpFlSTR Identifiler Plus® Kit proved to be very helpful in identifying the remains of burnt individuals even in the presence of inhibition observed in the Real Time PCR

A Winning New Combination? Toward Clinical Application in Oncology

Immunotherapy has substantial attention in oncology due to the success of CTLA-4 and PD-1 inhibitors in the treatment of melanoma, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A deeper understanding of interaction of tumor with its environment and the immune system provides best guide for oncology research. Recent studies in oncology have explained how a tumor alters antigen presentation, avoids detection, and activation of the host immune system to live and develop. Understanding the connections between the tumor and the immune system has resulted in several innovative therapy options. The extensive field of gene therapy has provided a number of cutting-edge medicines that are expected to play an important role in lowering cancer-related mortality. This article explains the history, important breakthroughs, and future prospects for three separate gene therapy treatment modalities: immunotherapy, oncolytic virotherapy, and gene transfer. Immunotherapies have completely changed how cancer is treated, especially for individuals whose condition was previously thought to be incurable. Examples include ACT (adoptive cell therapy) and ICB (immune checkpoint blockade). This review article will discuss the relationship between the immune response to cancer and the mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance. It will cover combination drugs authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration and provide a thorough overview of how these drugs are doing clinically right now. Cytokines, vaccines, and other soluble immunoregulatory agents, innate immune modifiers, ACT, virotherapy, and other treatment modalities will all be covered in detail

DataSheet1_A cost-effective o-toulidine-based Schiff base as an efficient sorbent for metal ion uptake from aqueous and soil samples: Synthesis, antimicrobial, and acute toxicity analyses.docx

Heavy metals create serious health problems, so the practical implementation and development of low-cost sorbent materials to remove heavy metals from the ecosystem is a worldwide issue. The purpose of this study is to find a low-cost ligand that has the potential to adsorb heavy metals from aqueous and soil samples and also has biological potential. For this, a Schiff base, dimeric o-toluidine (SBL), has been synthesized through condensation, characterized by spectroscopic analysis, and had its biological activities measured. We also studied its adsorption efficiency through a batch technique to remove Zn(II), Co(II), and Cu(II) from aqueous and soil samples under different conditions such as metal ion concentration, pH, contact time, and SBL concentration. The adsorption potential of SBL was analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. The values of correlation coefficients revealed that the Freundlich isotherm elucidated results that were more appropriable than the Langmuir model. Adsorption equilibrium was established in 90 min for aqueous samples and in 1,440 min for soil samples. For the maximum adsorption of all metals, the optimum pH was 8, and it showed a capacity to remove 77 to 95 percent of metals from the samples. The maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of SBL were 75.75, 62.50, and 9.17 mg g-1 in the case of Cu(II), Zn(II), and Co(II) ions, respectively, from aqueous samples and 10.95, 64.10, and 88.49 mg g-1 in the case of Zn(II), Cu (II), and Co(II), respectively, from soil samples. The effectiveness of SBL in the sorption of the selected metals was found to be Cu+2 > Zn+2 > Co+2 for aqueous samples and Co+2 > Cu+2 > Zn+2 for soil samples. The antimicrobial activity of SBL was also investigated. The results revealed that SBL showed moderate inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus dysentria, C. albican, and Aspergillus niger, whereas it exhibited weak activity against S. aureus, P. aureginosa, K. pneumoniae, P. vulgaris, and E.coli when compared to Fluconazole and Ciprofloxacin as the standard. Acute toxicity of the synthesized compound was measured through its daily oral administration with various doses ranging from 0.1 to 1,000 mg/kg of the mice’s body weights. Even at the dose of 1,000 mg/kg, the SBL showed no mortality or any type of general behavioral change in the treated mice. Based on preparation cost, metal removal capacity, toxicity, and antimicrobial activities, SBL is an excellent sorbent and should be studied at pilot scale levels. </p