A cross sectional study on the prescribing pattern, self medication and adverse reactions associated with topical corticosteroids

Background: Glucocorticosteroids, one of the common drugs used by the dermatologists brought a revolutionary change in their practice. Unfortunately steroids are misused in dermatological panacea due to dramatic relief in inflammatory and pruritic skin conditions but may lead to deleterious effects if irrationally used. Hence this study was planned to know the prescribing pattern of corticosteroids.Methods: It was a cross sectional observational study. The prescriptions of patient attending the dermatology OPD were screened for the usage of the corticosteroids. The demographic data, chief complaints, diagnosis and the details of the drugs was collected.Results: Out of 384 prescriptions screened, 14.06% were prescribed corticosteroids. Average number of drugs per prescription was 2.28±0.83. Polypharmacy (≥4 drugs) observed in 9.26% of prescriptions. Corticosteroids prescribed by generic name were 24.07% and brand name was 75.93%. Corticosteroids alone prescribed in 38.89% and along with antihistaminics/antibiotics/emollients in 61.11%. Topical corticosteroids prescribed in 79.6% and 20.4% by systemic route. Moderately potent steroids prescribed in 74.42% followed by potent (13.95%) and very potent steroids (11.63%). Patients on corticosteroid self-medication were 28%, among them 4 developed adverse reactions with severe acneiform eruptions over the face. No fixed dose combination drugs were prescribed.Conclusions: In this study we observed the rationale and safe prescribing pattern. However, the corticosteroids prescribed by brand names (75.93%) were more than generic names (24.07%), information about the strength of the steroid not mentioned and usage of emollients was less. This indicates the need for continuous medical education for the clinicians

Increase in the Reduction Potential of Uranyl upon Interaction with Graphene Oxide Surfaces

Coordination of uranyl (U(VI)) with carboxylate groups on functionalized graphene oxide (GO) surfaces has been shown to alter the reduction potential of the sorbed uranium ion. A quantitative measure of the reduction potential and qualitative estimation of sorption/desorption processes were conducted using cyclic voltammetry, and the proposed coordination environment was determined using the surface sensitive attenuated total reflection mode of infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). GO is a nanostructured material possessing a large amount of oxygen-containing functional groups both on basal planes and at the edges, which can form strong surface complexes with radionuclides. The presence of these functional groups on the surface of GO allows efficient immobilization of uranium due to sorption of uranyl (UO22+) to carboxylate, hydroxide, or sulfonate functional groups and the potential for enhanced reduction of U(VI) to more strongly sorbing and insoluble U(IV). Herein, binding of U(VI) to carboxylate groups on the GO surface is proposed as the primary sorption mechanism based on the FTIR study. Furthermore, the coordination of uranium with the surface increases the reduction potential of the U(VI)/U(IV) redox couple as compared to the case of the aqueous U(VI)/U(IV) species. This is consistent with the alteration of the electronic structure of the sorbed ion, which can be determined in our case due to the use of a GO-coated working electrode. Thus, GO-coated glassy carbon electrodes and other semi-conducting electrodes with high ion sorption capacities may provide a means of examining the oxidation/reduction potentials of sorbed ions

Using Deep RNA Sequencing for the Structural Annotation of the Laccaria Bicolor Mycorrhizal Transcriptome

BACKGROUND: Accurate structural annotation is important for prediction of function and required for in vitro approaches to characterize or validate the gene expression products. Despite significant efforts in the field, determination of the gene structure from genomic data alone is a challenging and inaccurate process. The ease of acquisition of transcriptomic sequence provides a direct route to identify expressed sequences and determine the correct gene structure. METHODOLOGY: We developed methods to utilize RNA-seq data to correct errors in the structural annotation and extend the boundaries of current gene models using assembly approaches. The methods were validated with a transcriptomic data set derived from the fungus Laccaria bicolor, which develops a mycorrhizal symbiotic association with the roots of many tree species. Our analysis focused on the subset of 1501 gene models that are differentially expressed in the free living vs. mycorrhizal transcriptome and are expected to be important elements related to carbon metabolism, membrane permeability and transport, and intracellular signaling. Of the set of 1501 gene models, 1439 (96%) successfully generated modified gene models in which all error flags were successfully resolved and the sequences aligned to the genomic sequence. The remaining 4% (62 gene models) either had deviations from transcriptomic data that could not be spanned or generated sequence that did not align to genomic sequence. The outcome of this process is a set of high confidence gene models that can be reliably used for experimental characterization of protein function. CONCLUSIONS: 69% of expressed mycorrhizal JGI "best" gene models deviated from the transcript sequence derived by this method. The transcriptomic sequence enabled correction of a majority of the structural inconsistencies and resulted in a set of validated models for 96% of the mycorrhizal genes. The method described here can be applied to improve gene structural annotation in other species, provided that there is a sequenced genome and a set of gene models

Association between longer hospitalization and development of de novo donor specific antibodies in simultaneous liver–kidney transplant recipients

© 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Background:De novo Donor Specific Antibodies (DSA) are considered as a risk factor for the kidney allograft outcomes in recipients after simultaneous liver–kidney transplantation (SLKT). We hypothesized that length of hospital stay (LOS) might be associated with de novo DSA development of due to the increased likelihood of receiving blood transfusions with reduced immunosuppressive regimens. Methods: This study is a single-center, retrospective cohort study consisting of 85 recipients who underwent SLKT from 2009 to 2018 in our hospital. We divided the patients into two groups according to LOS [long hospital stay (L) group (LOS \u3e14 days) and short hospital stay (S) group (LOS ≤14 days)]. Propensity score (PS) has been created using logistic regression to predict LOS greater than median of 14 days. The association between the presence of de novo DSA and LOS was assessed by logistic regression models adjusted for PS. Results: The mean age at transplantation of the entire cohort was 55.5 ± 10.1 years. Sixty percent of the recipients were male and Caucasian. Median LOS in (L) group was three-fold longer than (S) group [L: median 30 days (IQR: 21–52), S: median 8.5 days (IQR: 7–11)]. Eight patients developed de novo DSA after SLKT (9.4%), all of them were in (L) group. Longer LOS was significantly associated with higher risk of development of de novo DSA in unadjusted (OR+ each 5 days: 1.09, 95% CI:1.02–1.16) and PS adjusted (OR+ each 5 days: 1.11, 95% CI:1.02–1.21) analysis. Conclusion: Longer hospitalization is significantly associated with the development of de novo DSA in SLKT

Deficits in a Radial-Arm Maze Spatial Pattern Separation Task and Cell Proliferation in a Mouse Model for Down Syndrome

poster abstractDown syndrome (DS) is caused by three copies of human chromosome 21 (Hsa21) and results in an array of phenotypes including intellectual disability. Ts65Dn mice have three copies of ~50% of the genes on Hsa21 and display many phenotypes associated with DS, including cognitive deficits. DYRK1A is found in three copies in humans with Trisomy 21 and in Ts65Dn mice, and is involved in a number of critical pathways including CNS development. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the main polyphenol in green tea, inhibits Dyrk1a activity. We have shown that a three-week EGCG treatment normalizes skeletal abnormalities in Ts65Dn mice, yet did not rescue deficits in the Morris water maze spatial learning task or novel object recognition. The current study investigated deficits in a radial arm maze pattern separation task in Ts65Dn mice. Pattern separation requires differentiation between similar memories acquired during learning; distinguishing between these similar memories is thought to depend on distinctive encoding in the hippocampus. Pattern separation has been linked to functional activity of newly generated granule cells in the dentate gyrus. Recent studies in Ts65Dn mice have reported significant reductions in adult hippocampal neurogenesis, and after EGCG treatment, enhanced hippocampal neurogenesis. Thus, it was hypothesized that Ts65Dn mice would be impaired in the pattern separation task, and that EGCG would alleviate the pattern separation deficits seen in trisomic mice, in association with increased adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Beginning on postnatal day 75, mice were trained on a radial arm maze-delayed non-matching-to-place pattern separation task. Euploid mice performed significantly better over training than Ts65Dn mice, including better performance at each of the three separations. EGCG did not significantly alleviate the pattern separation deficits in Ts65Dn mice. The euploid controls had significantly more BrdU labeled cells than Ts65Dn mice, however, EGCG does not appear to increase proliferation of the hippocampal neuroprogenitor cells

Efficiency of nanoparticle reinforcement using finite element analysis of titanium alloy mandible plate

Nanoparticles in the form nanotubes and nanoplatelets have been compared for von Mises stresses by using them as low-composition reinforcements in titanium alloy–based mandible plate for different compositions and orientations. A finite element model has been designed to reconstruct a fractured human mandible with a titanium alloy mandible plate. A 500 N compressive force was applied on the mandible, and stress distribution across the plate sections was analysed for aligned two-dimensional random and three-dimensional random orientations for both tubes and platelets. Carbon material as graphene has been used for tube and platelet in the form of nanotubes and nanoplatelets, respectively. Using properties of graphene as the filler in titanium alloy plate, for both nanoplatelets and nanotubes, the stresses reduced between 5% and 25% for nanoplatelets and nanotubes graphene–titanium composite plates in comparison to non-reinforced plates, at critically stressed sections. Nanotubes exhibited stress reduction of nearly 23.4% for aligned configurations, while nanoplatelets exhibited stress reduction up to 21.2% for two-dimensional and three-dinemsional random configurations in comparison to non-reinforced titanium plates. Hence, it has been suggested that nanotubes exhibited superior mechanical reinforcement potential beyond that of aligned nanoplatelets, while nanoplatelets provided enhanced mechanical reinforcements for random configurations. Therefore, for biomedical implant applications nanocomposite materials can be designed with the same dimensional form but with lower compositions of filler materials by simply manipulating the appropriate orientations

In vitro antimitotic activity and in silico study of some 6-fluoro-triazolo-benzothiazole analogues

In this work, nine 6-fluoro-triazolo-benzothiazole derivatives were prepared and evaluated for in vitro antimitotic activity. In addition, in silico study was also done using tubulin protein (PDB: 6QQN) by molecular docking method. Results revealed that TZ2 and TZ9 were the most active compounds with antimitotic action opposing the standard drug, aspirin. Results of molecular docking exhibited the inhibitory potential of triazolo-benzothiazole against tubulin protein. The mitotic study indicates the efficacy of triazolo-benzothiazole analogues in inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells either by promoting microtubule formation or affecting microtubules, thereby preventing microtubule breakdown

Tropospheric O 3 moderates responses of temperate hardwood forests to elevated CO 2 : a synthesis of molecular to ecosystem results from the Aspen FACE project

1.   The impacts of elevated atmospheric CO 2 and/or O 3 have been examined over 4 years using an open-air exposure system in an aggrading northern temperate forest containing two different functional groups (the indeterminate, pioneer, O 3 -sensitive species Trembling Aspen, Populus tremuloides and Paper Birch, Betula papyrifera , and the determinate, late successional, O 3 -tolerant species Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum ). 2.   The responses to these interacting greenhouse gases have been remarkably consistent in pure Aspen stands and in mixed Aspen/Birch and Aspen/Maple stands, from leaf to ecosystem level, for O 3 -tolerant as well as O 3 -sensitive genotypes and across various trophic levels. These two gases act in opposing ways, and even at low concentrations (1·5 × ambient, with ambient averaging 34–36 nL L −1 during the summer daylight hours), O 3 offsets or moderates the responses induced by elevated CO 2 . 3.   After 3 years of exposure to 560 µmol mol −1 CO 2 , the above-ground volume of Aspen stands was 40% above those grown at ambient CO 2 , and there was no indication of a diminishing growth trend. In contrast, O 3 at 1·5 × ambient completely offset the growth enhancement by CO 2 , both for O 3 -sensitive and O 3 -tolerant clones. Implications of this finding for carbon sequestration, plantations to reduce excess CO 2 , and global models of forest productivity and climate change are presented.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72125/1/j.1365-2435.2003.00733.x.pd

Effects of Layer Stacking on the Combination Raman modes in Graphene

We have observed new combination modes in the range from 1650 - 2300 cm-1 in single-(SLG), bi-, few-layer and incommensurate bilayer graphene (IBLG) on silicon dioxide substrates. The M band at ~1750 cm-1 is suppressed for both SLG and IBLG. A peak at ~1860 cm-1 (iTALO-) is observed due to a combination of the iTA and LO phonons. The intensity of this peak decreases with increasing number of layers and this peak is absent in bulk graphite. Two previously unidentified modes at ~1880 cm-1 (iTALO+) and ~2220 cm-1 (iTOTA) in SLG are tentatively assigned as combination modes around the K point of the graphene Brillouin zone. The peak frequencies of the iTALO+ (iTOTA) modes are observed to increase (decrease) linearly with increasing graphene layers.Comment: 11 Pages, 4 Figure