Association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is closely associated with metabolic syndrome. NAFLD is considered a disease of no consequence. Data on the effect of NAFLD on renal dysfunction in T2DM is sparse. Author aimed to study the association of NAFLD with CKD in Indian T2DM subjects.Methods: In an observational cross-sectional study at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India from February 2017 to March 2018. 197 out of 268 randomly selected type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) subjects were selected for the study after considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. CKD was defined as estimated GFR <60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 and/or albumin to creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/g. NAFLD was diagnosed using ultrasonography. The association between NAFLD and CKD was analyzed using SPSS (version 24.0).Results: On ultrasonography 133 (67.5%) T2DM subjects had NAFLD. Diabetic with NAFLD (133, 67.51%) had significantly more history of hypertension (p 0.006), higher systolic (p 0.03) and diastolic BP (p 0.009), higher BMI (p <0.001), waist circumference (p <0.001), fasting glucose (p 0.03), triglyceride (p<0.001) and higher urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (p <0.001). Diabetics with CKD (61, 30.96%), were older (p 0.03), hypertensive (p <0.001) and had higher fasting glucose (p 0.003). Subjects with CKD had a higher prevalence of underlying NAFLD (78.69% vs 62.5%, p 0.03) as compared with diabetics with no CKD. T2DM subjects with NAFLD had more than two times (OR 2.88 (1.1-6.78), p 0.03) the risk of developing CKD after multivariate analysis as compared to subjects without NAFLD.Conclusions: NAFLD is a risk factor for development of CKD in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Screening and early preventive measures may go long way in reducing morbidity

Cataract and its risk factor among adults residing in South Bihar, India

Background: Cataract is considered as one of the most common causes of visual impairment and the leading cause of blindness in the world. Age related cataract occurs in people above 50 years of age and the its pathogenesis is multifactorial. Therefore, the present study was aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors for cataract.Methods: Community based cross sectional study was conducted among adults residing at urban areas of South Bihar. The data was collected by interview method, using pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire which contains socio-demographic data, dietary habits, history of diabetes or hypertension, family history of cataract and long-term sun exposure.Results: Among 240 participants, 94 (39.2%) were male and 146 (60.8%) were female. Maximum participants were aged more than 70 years. The prevalence of cataract was 52.1%.Conclusions: The prevalence of cataract was quite high and was significantly associated with age, long term sun exposure and family history of cataract

Relevance of tumor angiogenesis patterns as a diagnostic value and prognostic indicator in oral precancer and cancer

Tumor angiogenesis occurs by recruitment of endothelial cell precursors or by sprouting of existing capillaries, which differ from the normal vasculature by having an altered morphology that can be exploited for diagnosis and as a prognostic indicator. Improved technologies have propelled diagnosis into a new era. These technologies have to be used with great precision. The diagnosis of a dysplastic premalignant lesion of the oral mucosa cannot be based solely on clinical findings. Therefore histologic evaluation of a representative biopsy specimen is necessary. Accurate judgment of the proper site for biopsy is essential for reaching a correct diagnosis. The aim of this report is to analyze the vascular patterns with the help of direct oral microscopy and the technique of stereo-optical microscopy in the oral cavity to select biopsy sites, and compare the outcome of a directed biopsy with that of biopsy specimens obtained from sites selected solely on the basis of clinical criteria. The study sample comprised 50 oral mucosal lesions. A statistically significant difference was noted between samples judged to be microscopically representative sites. We conclude that this method would aid in early and better diagnosis and treatment planning of oral premalignant and malignant lesions by assessing the various vascular patterns in the mucosa

Global text mining and development of pharmacogenomic knowledge resource for precision medicine

Understanding patients' genomic variations and their effect in protecting or predisposing them to drug response phenotypes is important for providing personalized healthcare. Several studies have manually curated such genotype-phenotype relationships into organized databases from clinical trial data or published literature. However, there are no text mining tools available to extract high-accuracy information from such existing knowledge. In this work, we used a semiautomated text mining approach to retrieve a complete pharmacogenomic (PGx) resource integrating disease-drug-gene-polymorphism relationships to derive a global perspective for ease in therapeutic approaches. We used an R package, pubmed.mineR, to automatically retrieve PGx-related literature. We identified 1,753 disease types, and 666 drugs, associated with 4,132 genes and 33,942 polymorphisms collated from 180,088 publications. With further manual curation, we obtained a total of 2,304 PGx relationships. We evaluated our approach by performance (precision = 0.806) with benchmark datasets like Pharmacogenomic Knowledgebase (PharmGKB) (0.904), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) (0.600), and The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) (0.729). We validated our study by comparing our results with 362 commercially used the US- Food and drug administration (FDA)-approved drug labeling biomarkers. Of the 2,304 PGx relationships identified, 127 belonged to the FDA list of 362 approved pharmacogenomic markers, indicating that our semiautomated text mining approach may reveal significant PGx information with markers for drug response prediction. In addition, it is a scalable and state-of-art approach in curation for PGx clinical utility

KCNT1- related epilepsy: An international multicenter cohort of 27 pediatric cases

ObjectiveThrough international collaboration, we evaluated the phenotypic aspects of a multiethnic cohort of KCNT1- related epilepsy and explored genotype- phenotype correlations associated with frequently encountered variants.MethodsA cross- sectional analysis of children harboring pathogenic or likely pathogenic KCNT1 variants was completed. Children with one of the two more common recurrent KCNT1 variants were compared with the rest of the cohort for the presence of particular characteristics.ResultsTwenty- seven children (15 males, mean age = 40.8 months) were included. Seizure onset ranged from 1 day to 6 months, and half (48.1%) exhibited developmental plateauing upon onset. Two- thirds had epilepsy of infancy with migrating focal seizures (EIMFS), and focal tonic seizures were common (48.1%). The most frequent recurrent KCNT1 variants were c.2800G>A; p.Ala934Thr (n = 5) and c.862G>A; p.Gly288Ser (n = 4). De novo variants were found in 96% of tested parents (23/24). Sixty percent had abnormal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Delayed myelination, thin corpus callosum, and brain atrophy were the most common. One child had gray- white matter interface indistinctness, suggesting a malformation of cortical development. Several antiepileptic drugs (mean = 7.4/patient) were tried, with no consistent response to any one agent. Eleven tried quinidine; 45% had marked (>50% seizure reduction) or some improvement (25%- 50% seizure reduction). Seven used cannabidiol; 71% experienced marked or some improvement. Fourteen tried diet therapies; 57% had marked or some improvement. When comparing the recurrent variants to the rest of the cohort with respect to developmental trajectory, presence of EIMFS, >500 seizures/mo, abnormal MRI, and treatment response, there were no statistically significant differences. Four patients died (15%), none of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.SignificanceOur cohort reinforces common aspects of this highly pleiotropic entity. EIMFS manifesting with refractory tonic seizures was the most common. Cannabidiol, diet therapy, and quinidine seem to offer the best chances of seizure reduction, although evidence- based practice is still unavailable.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154940/1/epi16480_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154940/2/epi16480.pd

Calibration of the CMS hadron calorimeters using proton-proton collision data at root s=13 TeV

Methods are presented for calibrating the hadron calorimeter system of theCMSetector at the LHC. The hadron calorimeters of the CMS experiment are sampling calorimeters of brass and scintillator, and are in the form of one central detector and two endcaps. These calorimeters cover pseudorapidities vertical bar eta vertical bar ee data. The energy scale of the outer calorimeters has been determined with test beam data and is confirmed through data with high transverse momentum jets. In this paper, we present the details of the calibration methods and accuracy.Peer reviewe

Homeopathy in Dentistry -An Overview

Abstract&nbsp;&nbsp;Title of the article: Homeopathy in Dentistry- an Overview&nbsp;&nbsp;Minimum intervention is the catchphrase of the moment as is applying a natural approach to dental practice.&nbsp;Homoeopathy cannot replace the mechanical arts of dentistry and there is not a homeopathic remedy that will selectively numb a tooth.&nbsp;However homoeopathy is a useful adjunct to conventional dentistry. It may be used effectively in the place of drugs prescribed which sometimes have unpleasant side effects.&nbsp;The basic law of homeopathy is "The Law of Similars&rdquo; which states that a substance can cure a disease if it produces in a healthy person symptoms similar to and much milder than those of the disease. &nbsp;Key-words:Constitutional Homeopathy, Homeopathy, Law of Similars, Potentization, Proving, Pathological homeopathy, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp

Neuroprotective effect of silymarin against 3-Nitropropionic acid-induced neurotoxicity in rats

(HD) Huntington's disease is a severe hereditary catastrophic neurological disease with an autosomal dominant heritable changes manifested by cognitive, behavioural, and motor progression deficits, resulting in death. Several mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of this complex and rare disease, including excitotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, neurotransmitters imbalance, and oxidative stress. Silymarin was selected as an investigational drug, due to its numerous activities in current research, it possesses substantial antioxidant and neuroprotective functionalities. The present research attempts, i.p. injections of 3-NPA (10 ​mg/kg) were given for 21 days to trigger Huntington-like symptoms in rats. The percentage fluctuations in body weight, the footfall counts, and the time required to transverse the beam and motor functions were analyzed at multiple time points. Oxidative stress markers like MDA/LPO, GSH, protein, nitrite, catalase, and superoxide dismutase levels were examined in the striatum region. The current study results conclusively demonstrate that chronic 3-NPA administration significantly decreased the body weight and showed marked abnormalities in motor coordination, locomotion, and increased striatal generation of free radicals. Furthermore, treatment with silymarin (100 &amp; 200 ​mg/kg/p.o.), mitigated 3-NPA triggered behavioural and biochemical alterations. Our study results could conclude that Silymarin may be advantageous and might develop an adjuvant treatment for the management of Huntington's disease