A Prospective-Comparative Study on Extremity of Stroke in Patients with and Without Atrial Fibrillation as a Clinical Predictor

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a leading cause of ischemic stroke. It is critical to confirm the impact of AF on stroke outcomes. Objective: To assess the risk factors for stroke in conditions with or without atrial fibrillation. • To compare stroke severity and outcomes in stroke patients with or without atrial fibrillation. • To assess the vascular risk factors and co-morbid conditions Method: Analysis of the patient's medical information, such as age, gender, kind of stroke, location, mode of therapy, severity, and results. antithrombotic therapy) on 100 stroke victims (50 of them who exhibited AF and the other 50 without). Results: Age 61 to 80 were associated with a greater risk of strokes (33% non-AF, 14% AF), while age groups 81 and above were associated with a higher chance of atrial fibrillation (2% AF).men and females had the same incidence of AF (12% each), with the exception that females were more common in the non-AF group (47%) than men (29%). Patients with ischemic stroke were more prevalent (73%), but patients with hemorrhagic stroke (6% AF, 9% non-AF) were more likely to have it. The CHAD2DS2-VASc SCORE and AH showed that hypertensive people had a greater risk of stroke in both the AF (10%) and non-AF (46%) groups. Overall, the AF (10%) and non-AF (46%) groups had hypertension as the most common co-morbid disease, with antihypertensive medications being the commonest prescribed medicine (23% AF, 59% non-AF). Conclusion: The study concluded that if treatment methods for atrial fibrillation and stroke are given, patient outcomes can be improved with sufficient assessment and strict adherence

Colon histology slide classification with deep-learning framework using individual and fused features

Cancer occurrence rates are gradually rising in the population, which reasons a heavy diagnostic burden globally. The rate of colorectal (bowel) cancer (CC) is gradually rising, and is currently listed as the third most common cancer globally. Therefore, early screening and treatments with a recommended clinical protocol are necessary to trat cancer. The proposed research aim of this paper to develop a Deep-Learning Framework (DLF) to classify the colon histology slides into normal/cancer classes using deep-learning-based features. The stages of the framework include the following: (ⅰ) Image collection, resizing, and pre-processing; (ⅱ) Deep-Features (DF) extraction with a chosen scheme; (ⅲ) Binary classification with a 5-fold cross-validation; and (ⅳ) Verification of the clinical significance. This work classifies the considered image database using the follwing: (ⅰ) Individual DF, (ⅱ) Fused DF, and (ⅲ) Ensemble DF. The achieved results are separately verified using binary classifiers. The proposed work considered 4000 (2000 normal and 2000 cancer) histology slides for the examination. The result of this research confirms that the fused DF helps to achieve a detection accuracy of 99% with the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classifier. In contrast, the individual and ensemble DF provide classification accuracies of 93.25 and 97.25%, respectively

TRAF6 controls excitatory spinogenesis and excitation-inhibition balance though binding neuroplastin

Cell-autonomous mechanisms of early synaptogenesis and their impact on the excitatory-inhibitory brain balance are poorly understood. By analyzing binding motifs in cytoplasmic regions of synaptogenic cell adhesion molecules, we identified a tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) binding motif in neuroplastin. Three-dimensional molecular modelling and biochemical approaches identified amino acids in neuroplastin binding the TRAF-C of TRAF6 with micromolar affinity. TRAF6 is required for spinogenesis and its association with neuroplastin fostered formation of new postsynapses in young hippocampal neurons. Also, TRAF6 is strictly necessary to restore failed spinogenesis in neuroplastin-deficient neurons via neuroplastin expression. These features are independent from neuroplastin extracellular adhesive properties or its known interaction with plasma-membrane Ca2+ ATPases. Furthermore, TRAF6-mediated neuroplastin-dependent spinogenesis determinates the excitatory synapse density and in turn the balance of E-I synapses in mature neurons. These findings provide a highly specific cell-encoded mechanism for early synaptogenesis crucial for neuronal connectivity

TRAF6 controls excitatory spinogenesis and excitation-inhibition balance though binding neuroplastin

Cell-autonomous mechanisms of early synaptogenesis and their impact on the excitatory-inhibitory brain balance are poorly understood. By analyzing binding motifs in cytoplasmic regions of synaptogenic cell adhesion molecules, we identified a tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) binding motif in neuroplastin. Three-dimensional molecular modelling and biochemical approaches identified amino acids in neuroplastin binding the TRAF-C of TRAF6 with micromolar affinity. TRAF6 is required for spinogenesis and its association with neuroplastin fostered formation of new postsynapses in young hippocampal neurons. Also, TRAF6 is strictly necessary to restore failed spinogenesis in neuroplastin-deficient neurons via neuroplastin expression. These features are independent from neuroplastin extracellular adhesive properties or its known interaction with plasma-membrane Ca2+ ATPases. Furthermore, TRAF6-mediated neuroplastin-dependent spinogenesis determinates the excitatory synapse density and in turn the balance of E-I synapses in mature neurons. These findings provide a highly specific cell-encoded mechanism for early synaptogenesis crucial for neuronal connectivity

The perceived impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on medical student education and training – an international survey

Abstract: Background: The Covid-19 pandemic led to significant changes and disruptions to medical education worldwide. We evaluated medical student perceived views on training, their experiences and changes to teaching methods during the pandemic. Methods: An online survey of medical students was conducted in the Autumn of 2020. An international network of collaborators facilitated participant recruitment. Students were surveyed on their perceived overall impact of Covid-19 on their training and several exposure variables. Univariate analyses and adjusted multivariable analysis were performed to determine strengths in associations. Results: A total of 1604 eligible participants from 45 countries took part in this survey and 56.3% (n = 860) of these were female. The median age was 21 (Inter Quartile Range:21–23). Nearly half (49.6%, n = 796) of medical students were in their clinical years. The majority (n = 1356, 84.5%) were residents of a low or middle income country. A total of 1305 (81.4%) participants reported that the Covid-19 pandemic had an overall negative impact on their training. On adjusted analysis, being 21 or younger, females, those reporting a decline in conventional lectures and ward based teaching were more likely to report an overall negative impact on their training (p ≤ 0.001). However, an increase in clinical responsibilities was associated with lower odds of participants reporting a negative impact on training (p < 0.001). The participant’s resident nation economy and stage of training were associated with some of the participant training experiences surveyed (p < 0.05). Conclusion: An international cohort of medical students reported an overall significant negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their undergraduate training. The efficacy of novel virtual methods of teaching to supplement traditional teaching methods warrants further research

Morphological and functional characterization of layer 5 neurons in rat medial prefrontal cortex, their synaptic microcircuitry and serotonin modulation

Medial prefrontal cortex (Cortex praefrontalis medialis, mPFC) is a part of the association cortex that serves to process and integrate synaptic inputs from sensory and motor cortical areas. The mPFC plays important roles in numerous cognitive processes, such as emotional processing, executive function, decision making, spatial orientation, long-term memory and impulse control. Compared to other cortical areas, the mPFC has a particularly high density of serotonergic axons which originate from the dorsal and medial raphe nuclei; they play a crucial role in regulating the development and function of the neocortex. For this reason, a basic knowledge of the role of serotonin (5-HT) and its receptors (5-HTRs) function in the mPFC in modulating cortical activity is crucial

Alcohol-Related Violence among the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of the Northern Territory: Prioritizing an Agenda for Prevention-Narrative Review Article.

Alcohol - related violence among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (also called as "Indigenous") is a major public health concern in Northern Territory of Australia. There is dearth of epidemiological data that link three contributing epidemics: alcohol misuse, violence, and trauma in the Northern Territory. In this review, we aimed to concentrate on how these epidemics intersect among the Indigenous people in the Northern Territory. In our descriptive review, we have searched published papers, publicly available government and health department reports web sites reporting relevant data on these three risk factors in the Northern Territory. The high rate of family and domestic violence and assaults in the Australian Territory indicates an increased correlation with high risk alcohol use compared to unintentional injuries. Heavy drinking pattern and harmful use of alcohol among Indigenous people are more likely to be associated with the incidence of violent assaults and physical injuries in the Northern Territory. We are trying to emphasize our understanding of co-occurring risk factors on the alcohol - violence relationship and urging a need for interventional approaches to reduce the public health issues in the Northern Territory