PREVALENCE OF IMPAIRMENT IN PULMONARY FUNCTION TEST IN SUGAR DISTILLERY INDUSTRY WORKERS IN KARAD TALUKA

Objective: The objective of this study was to find the prevalence of impairments in pulmonary function test (PFT) in sugar distillery industry workers in Karad taluka. Methods: A total of 88 sugar distillery industry workers, both male and female with 5 years of the duration of exposure to sugar distillery industry in Karad taluka, were selected as per the inclusion criteria in this study. They were aged between 40 and 60 years. The outcome measures were PFT and 6 min walk test. Based on the outcome measures and conclusion were made. Results: The study showed that among the 88 workers, 34 workers had normal pulmonary function, 25 of them had mild obstructive type of pulmonary impairments, 26 workers had mild restrictive type of pulmonary impairments, and remaining three workers had mixed type of lung disease for PFT. Conclusion: The total 61.36% of workers were suffering from various impairments in PFT. The study concluded that statistically significant impairments in PFT are existed among workers of sugar distillery industry from Karad taluka

Anaesthesia Management in a Case of Large Ventricular Septal Defect with Eisenmengerisation Undergoing Caesarean Section

Incidence of cardiac disease in pregnancy in developed countries is 0.2-3% and that in developing countries is still higher. Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) is one of the commonest congenital heart diseases. Pregnant patient with small VSD generally tolerate well but patients with unrepaired large VSD develop pulmonary hypertension and left heart failure over a period of time. If pulmonary pressure reaches systemic levels there is reversal or bidirectional flow. As per WHO classification of maternal cardiac risk disease, pulmonary hypertension is categorized under class 4. Here we report a case management of a pregnant patient with large VSD (15 mm) with severe pulmonary hypertension (105 mmHg) with eisenmengerisation posted for emergency caesarean section. It was done under general anaesthesia with successful maternal and foetal outcome

Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cells Are a Preferred Source to Generate Dendritic Cells for Immunotherapy in Multiple Myeloma Patients

In multiple myeloma (MM), dendritic cells (DCs), and their precursors are prone to malignant cell-mediated regulation of function leading to low efficacy of DC vaccine. DCs taken directly from MM patient's body or derived from monocytes are fewer in numbers and are also dysfunctional. Here, we investigated the functionality of Hematopoietic stem cell-derived DCs (SC-DCs) from MM patients. Mature-MM-SC-DCs showed all essential functions like antigen uptake, allogenic T cells simulation and migration comparable to those derived from healthy donor (HD) samples. A comparison of Mo-DCs and SC-DCs obtained from the same MM patients' samples revealed that the expression of IL-6 was higher in the precursors of Mo-DCs leading to their impaired migration. In addition, expression of CCR7 which is responsible for DCs migration was found to be lower in MM-Mo-DCs. The chromatin permissiveness as observed by H3K4me3 histone modification at the Ccr7 promoter in MM-Mo-DCs was significantly lower than those in MM-SC-DCs. Levels of Zbtb46- a hall mark DC transcription factor mRNA was also found to be reduced in MM-Mo-DCs. Cytotoxic T cells generated from MM-SC-DCs from autologous naïve T cells exhibited reduced antitumor activity because the T cells were exhausted. Blocking of CTLA-4 on autologous T cells could partially restore T cell proliferation and activation. Thus, a combination of MM-SC-DC vaccine and anti-CTLA-4 antibody may serve as a better candidate for immunotherapy of MM. This study has implications in increasing the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy in MM

Role of comprehensive diabetes care in known diabetes patients from western Mumbai region: an observational study

Background: The occurrence of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) has been creating a havoc since past few decades on a global platform. As per available literature, prevalence of DM in Mumbai is around 10%. Comprehensive Diabetes Care (CDC) is a form of Ayurvedic therapy which combines panchkarma and diet management. The present study was planned to evaluate the effectiveness of CDC in patients of DM by analysing changes in body mass index (BMI), body weight, OGTT, HbA1c, etc.Methods: The present study was of retrospective design, conducted at Madhavbaug clinics in western Mumbai. The duration of study was of one year, conducted from October 2018 to September 2019. It included patients diagnosed with type 2 DM i.e. HbA1c>6.5%, who were given CDC therapy.Results: In the present study, out of 183 type 2 diabetic patients, 99 were males (52%), while 84 were females (48%), thus male: female ratio was 1.17:1. On analysing the results of HbA1c in patients who had completed 12 weeks of CDC therapy, it was found that controlled DM status was seen in 109 patients (59%), while uncontrolled DM status was noted in 33 patients (19%) as compared to 102 patients (58%) at baseline.Conclusions: From the findings of the present study, it is clear that CDC is effective in the form of increasing number of euglycemic patients at the end of study period, as well as reduction in all glycaemic and anthropometric parameters, and reducing dependency on conventional medicines

Role of Drug Repurposing in Cancer Treatment and Liposomal Approach of Drug Targeting

Cancer is the leading cause of death, and incidences are increasing significantly and patients suffering from it desperately need a complete cure from it. The science of using an already-invented drug that has been approved by the FDA for a new application is known as “drug repurposing.” Currently, scientists are drawn to drug repositioning science in order to investigate existing drugs for newer therapeutic uses and cancer treatment. Because of their unique ability to target cancer cells, recently repurposed drugs and the liposomal approach are effective in the treatment of cancer. Liposomes are nanovesicles that are drastically flexible, rapidly penetrate deeper layers of cells, and enhance intracellular uptake. More importantly, liposomes are biocompatible, biodegradable; entrap both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs. This chapter summarizes various approaches to drug repurposing, as well as drug repurposing methods, advantages and limitations of drug repurposing, and a liposomal approach to using repurposed drugs in cancer targeting. This chapter also summarizes liposomal structure, drug loading, and the mechanism of liposomes in targeted cancer treatment. The lipid-based liposomal approach is emerging as a powerful technique for improving drug solubility, bioavailability, reducing side effects, and improving the therapeutic efficacy of repurposed drugs for cancer treatment

Institute Document Automization System

This paper presents the achievements of an experimental project called Maurdor (Moyens AUtomatisés de Reconnaissance de Documents ecRits – Automatic Processing of Digital Documents) funded by the French DGA that aims at improving processing technologies for handwritten and typewritten documents in French, English and Arabic. The first part describes the context and objectives of the project. The second part deals with the challenge of creating a realistic corpus of 10,000 annotated documents to support the efficient development and evaluation of processing modules. The third part presents the organisation, metric definition and results of the Maurdor International evaluation campaign. The last part presents the Maurdor demonstrator with a functional and technical perspective

Establishment of human iPSC line NCCSi003-A from CD34+cells of peripheral blood collected during apheresis of healthy donor from Indian ethnicity

We present generation of iPSCs from CD34+ cells isolated from peripheral blood, collected during apheresis of a healthy female individual. We nucleofected the CD34+cells by episomal vectors containing Oct4, Sox2, L-Myc, Lin28, Klf4 and p53DD (dominant negative mutation in p53). The resultant colonies showed cobble-stone appearance and stained positive for alkaline phosphatase. The colonies demonstrated presence of pluripotency markers by immunofluorescence, flow-cytometry and PCR. The plasmids were lost from cells subsequently during passages as assessed by PCR. Karyotype analysis demonstrated a stable genome. The cells had capability to differentiate to cells from all three-germ lineages in vitro

The brain-dead donor: An anaesthesiologist's perspective

The brain-dead organ donation programme is slowly gathering momentum in India. There is a long way to go before our cadaver donor numbers, currently at 0.35 per million reaches 35 per million as is the case in countries like Spain. Each donor, therefore, has to be managed immaculately. The anaesthesiologists will be well served by familiarising themselves with the challenges during the crucial period preceding and during the actual harvest of organs in a brain-dead donor. There are significant opportunities for anaesthesiologists to make great contributions in this cause due to their unique skill sets and perspective. A robust brain-dead cadaver programme will go a long way in saving numerous lives as well as reduce the requirements of the living donor programme. A well-managed harvest will ensure good quality organs and an overall superior outcome in the recipients