Concise review on clinical applications of conditioned medium derived from human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCS)

In recent years, mesenchymal stem cells have provoked much attentiveness in the field of regenerative medicine because of their differentiation potential and the capability to facilitate tissue repair via the emancipation of biologically active molecules. They have gained interest because of their distinctive curative properties. Mesenchymal stem cells are isolated from the Wharton\u2019s jelly part of umbilical cord possessing higher proliferation capacity, immunomodulatory activity, plasticity, as well as self-renewal capacity than the mesenchymal stem cells from various origins, and it is considered to be the best resource for allogeneic transplantation. The isolated umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells are cultured in the Dulbecco\u2019s Modified Eagle\u2019s Medium, and thereby it begins to release soluble factors into the medium during the period of culture which is termed as conditioned medium. This conditioned media has both differentiation capacity and therapeutic functions. Thus, it can be able to differentiate the cells into different lineages and the paracrine effect of these cells helps in replacement of the damaged cells. This medium may accord to optimization of diagnostic and prognostic systems as well as the generation of novel and targeted therapeutic perspectives

A Comparative Study of Effect of Oral Melatonin Versus Oral Midazolam as Premedicant in Children Undergoing Surgery Under General Anesthesia

Background: Preoperative anxiety in children is associated with multiple post-operative outcomes like post-operative regressive behavioral disturbances, prolonged distress in the recovery phase, eating disorders, and bedwetting. The present study was designed to use low-dose oral melatonin versus oral midazolam in relieving pre-operative anxiety in children in the Indian population. Materials and Methods: A prospective randomized comparative study was conducted on children aged between 2 to 10 years of age scheduled for elective surgeries under general anesthesia are included in the study. This study was conducted with a sample size of 70. Patients were randomly distributed into two groups of 35 content. Group A (received 0.2mg/kg melatonin as premedical) and group B (received 0.5mg/kg midazolam as premedical). Results: Mean induction dose of propofol in the melatonin group was 52.143+ 18.36 mg and in the midazolam, the group was 48.714 + 16.6 mg. In our study, 90 minutes after premedication, the anxiety score was less in the midazolam group. There was no statistically significant difference between the sedation scores in melatonin and midazolam. Conclusion: Low-dose melatonin (0.2mg/kg) is not an effective alternative premedicant in children to alleviate preoperative anxiety compared to midazolam

Scalable fault models for diagnosis in a synchronous generator using feature mapping and transformation techniques

Condition based maintenance (CBM) needs data acquired during healthy and faulty conditions to develop intelligent system for fault diagnosis. However, fault injection is not allowed/possible in a highly expensive components of complex/critical systems to collect fault condition data. Therefore, proto-type/small working models are used to conduct experiments for abnormal/fault conditions, to obtain and scale the intelligence of the system for effective health monitoring of complex system. This methodology is referred as scalable fault models. For proof of concept, in this work, we considered two different capacity synchronous generators with rating of 3 kVA and 5 kVA to emulate the behavior of prototype/small working model and complex system respectively, for scalable fault models. We explored feature mapping and transformation techniques to achieve effective scalability. From the preliminary experiments, it is observed that the baseline system performance deteriorated due to the changes in the system (capacity) and its characteristics with load changes. We therefore, expressed the input features in terms of load and system independent manner, to make the features less dependent on load and system variations. We explored locality constrained linear coding (LLC) to express the features load/system independently. It is observed that experimenting LLC with the backend support vector machine (SVM) classifier gave the best fault classification performance for linear kernel, suggesting that the faults are linearly separable in the new feature space. Since the LLC mapped feature space is linearly separable, we then explored linear feature transformation technique, nuisance attribute projection (NAP) on the LLC mapped feature space to further minimize the load/system specific variations. We observed that LLC-NAP improved the overall accuracy and sensitivity of the classifier significantly. We also noted that the performance of NAP was limited in the original feature space since the feature space (NAP without LLC) is nonlinear with load/system variations

Feature Mapping Techniques for Improving the Performance of Fault Diagnosis of Synchronous Generator

Support vector machine (SVM) is a popular machine learning algorithm used extensively in machine fault diagnosis. In this paper, linear, radial basis function (RBF), polynomial, and sigmoid kernels are experimented to diagnose inter-turn faults in a 3kVA synchronous generator. From the preliminary results, it is observed that the performance of the baseline system is not satisfactory since the statistical features are nonlinear and does not match to the kernels used. In this work, the features are linearized to a higher dimensional space to improve the performance of fault diagnosis system for a synchronous generator using feature mapping techniques, sparse coding and locality constrained linear coding (LLC). Experiments and results show that LLC is superior to sparse coding for improving the performance of fault diagnosis of a synchronous generator. For the balanced data set, LLC improves the overall fault identification accuracy of the baseline RBF system by 22.56%, 18.43% and 17.05% for the R, Y and Bphase faults respectively

A Matignon’s theorem based stability analysis of hybrid power system for automatic load frequency control using atom search optimized FOPID controller

The large-scale penetration of intermittent Renewable Energy (RE) sources such as wind and solar power generation may cause a problem of frequency aberration of interconnected Hybrid Power System (HPS). This occurs when the load frequency control of interconnected system is unable to compensate the power balance between generation and load demand. Also owing to the enhancement of future transport, the Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) plays a significant role to customer at demand side. Thus, the PEV can act as a power control to compensate the power balance in Renewable Energy integrated power system. This paper presents a physics inspired Atom Search Optimization (ASO) algorithm for tuning the parameters of Fractional Order Proportional-Integral-Derivative (FOPID) controller for Automatic Load Frequency control of HPS. In this proposed work, an attempt has been made to analyze the frequency stability of HPS using Matignon’s theorem. The interconnected HPS consists of reheat thermal power system, RE sources such as wind and solar thermal power generation associated with energy storage devices namely aqua electrolyzer, fuel cell and electric vehicle. The gain and fractional terms of the controller were obtained by minimizing the Integral Time Absolute Error of interconnected system. The robustness of ASO-tuned FOPID controller is tested on two-area HPS that was modelled using MATLAB/Simulink. The results obtained were then compared with other fractional order and classical integer order controllers. From the simulation results, it is inferred that the proposed ASO-tuned FOPID controller gives superior transient and steady-state response compared with other controllers. Moreover, the self-adaptiveness and robustness of the controller was validated to account for the change in RE power generations and system parameters. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the method is proved by comparing its performance with the recent literature works. The real-time applicability of proffered controller is validated in hardware-in-the-loop simulation using Real Time Digital Simulator

Applications of Circular Dichroism for Structural Analysis of Gelatin and Antimicrobial Peptides

Circular dichroism (CD) is a useful technique for monitoring changes in the conformation of antimicrobial peptides or gelatin. In this study, interactions between cationic peptides and gelatin were observed without affecting the triple helical content of the gelatin, which was more strongly affected by anionic surfactant. The peptides did not adopt a secondary structure in the presence of aqueous solution or Tween 80, but a peptide secondary structure formed upon the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The peptides bound to the phosphate group of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and displayed an alpha-helical conformation while (KW)4 adopted a folded conformation. Further, the peptides did not specifically interact with the fungal cell wall components of mannan or laminarin. Tryptophan blue shift assay indicated that these peptides interacted with SDS, LPS, and gelatin but not with Tween 80, mannan, or laminarin. The peptides also displayed antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa without cytotoxicity against HaCaT cells at MIC, except for HPA3NT3-analog peptide. In this study, we used a CD spectroscopic method to demonstrate the feasibility of peptide characterization in numerous environments. The CD method can thus be used as a screening method of gelatin-peptide interactions for use in wound healing applications

International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Metabolic and endocrine effects of anabolic compounds in growing beef steers

The metabolic and endocrine effects of anabolic compounds, viz., Zeranol, diethylstilbestrol (DES) and Synovex-S were investigated in growing steers in order to understand their biochemical mechanisms of action. The growth promoting properties of certain anabolic compounds were established. A marked reduction in the plasma concentration of urea nitrogen, alpha amino nitrogen and amino acids was found in steers implanted with anabolic compounds. The results suggested that anabolic compounds significantly alter the nitrogen metabolism of steers by increasing the efficiency of utilization of absorbed nitrogenous compounds. Implantations of DES and Synovex-S were more effective than Zeranol in enhancing the growth rate and altering the nitrogen metabolism of the animals. The usefulness of measuring NT-methylhistidine in urine as a non-destructive, in vivo index of myofibrillar protein degradation and the developmental aspects of muscle protein metabolism in cattle were demonstrated. The implantation of anabolic compounds, in general, increased the efficiency of muscle protein synthesized and protein deposited by the steers. Implantations of DES and Synovex-S were more effective than Zeranol due to a reduction in the muscle protein degradation per unit synthesized. Hydroxyproline excretion in the urine was used as an in vivo indicator of collagen turnover in steers. As the animals gained weight and advanced in maturity, its excretion in the urine decreased indicating a reduction in collagen turnover. Implantation of DES increased the hydroxyproline excreted by steers, while, Zeranol and Synovex-S had very little effect. These results indicate that DES implantation increases the amount of collagen and its turnover in steers. DES and Synovex-S exerted a significant influence on the activity of the thyroid gland and caused an elevation in the circulating concentrations of free and total thyroxine. On the other hand, the implantation of Zeranol resulted in plasma thyroxine concentrations similar to or lower than in the controls. Plasma triiodothyronine concentrations were not influenced by any of the compounds studied. Increased plasma thyroxine concentration observed in the DES or Synovex-S implanted steers was shown to be due to an increase in the secretion and a decrease in the metabolic clearance rates of thyroxine. The implantation of Zeranol appeared to increase the secretion rate of thyroxine, and resulted in slightly depressed plasma thyroxine concentration due to a higher metabolic clearance rate. Implantations of anabolic compounds resulted in an increase in the circulating concentration of growth hormone. Implantations of DES and Synovex-S were more effective than Zeranol in increasing the plasma growth hormone concentration. The kinetic parameters of growth hormone metabolism in growing steers were determined. The anabolic compounds increased the secretion rate of growth hormone from the pituitary gland suggesting that these compounds evoke growth promotion in steers through changes in the endogenous growth hormone status. These changes involved an increased secretion rate of growth hormone with very little alteration in the metabolic clearance rate. The metabolism of insulin was influenced to a significant extent in steers implanted with anabolic compounds. Zeranol increased the insulin secretion rate to a greater extent than Synovex-S or DES. The data indicated that the implantation of anabolic compounds altered the metabolism of steers significantly and enhanced the secretion rate of thyroxine, growth hormone and insulin. They altered the metabolism of the steers in such a way that there was an efficient utilization of absorbed nutrients. The mechanisms of action of anabolic compounds have been discussed in detail and the directions for future research suggested.Land and Food Systems, Faculty ofGraduat