Disaggregating the Differential Impact of Healthcare IT in Complex Care Delivery: Insights from Field Research in Chronic Care

This study focuses on the impact of digitizing medical information on the efficiency and perceived quality of chronic care delivery at the individual physician level. This study extends the theory of task technology fit to activity systems consisting of highly interdependent tasks. We find that the outcomes of efficiency and quality gains are driven by the structure of interdependencies between tasks that physicians perform. While structured information plays a key role in enabling both decision-making and task execution, we find that physician-created semistructured information is also an important predictor of both efficiency and quality gains. We show that the structure of activity systems (task interdependencies) has a strong moderating influence on the factors that drive efficiency and quality gains. We find that digitization enables physicians to preprocess patients’ records prior to their visit which in turn drives gains in both the efficiency and the perceived quality of care delivered

COMPARISON OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE DRUGS FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES WITH NATURAL MOLECULE FROM TINOSPORA

Objective: Efficacy of natural molecule from Tinospora cordifolia versus commercially available drugs to control diabetes 2.Methods: Twelve different drug molecules were selected to study drug properties, bioactivity and detailed mode of action. A comparative study was carried out among the drugs and plant metabolite to understand the putative mechanism of metabolite action and its potential to be developed as an herbal drug. PharmaGist Server was used to carry out pharmacophore modeling. The sequence of the target molecule (Q09428) was retrieved from UniProtKB/SwissProt, and structure prediction was carried out using ITASSER. The best model generated was further refined by energy minimization using Deep View. Validation of the structure was performed by Ramachandran plot analysis using PDBSum. Interaction analysis of the docked complex was done using LigPlot+.Results: The potential of natural plant metabolite to target ATP-binding cassette sub-family C member 8 seems probable based on docking and interaction analysis results. The natural molecule showed comparable binding energy (-5.57) in four out of seven drugs.Conclusion: Natural molecule from Tinospora cordifolia may serve as a potential lead drug molecule after modification and optimization for enhanced interaction.Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Natural molecule, Tinospora, Type 2 diabete

Museums and Heritage Sites — The Missing Link in Smart City Planning: A Case Study of Pune City, India

The process of urbanisation has dramatically increased in India in recent years. The Government of India launched Smart City Mission in 2015 which was intended to transform 100 cities into smart cities. The focus of our research is one such city in India on its path to smartification. Pune’s smart city mission focuses on techno-infrastructural development to increase mobility and digital connectivity. Social-cultural and historical indicators are not considered an integral part of this development. Given this, does the smart city mission of Pune privilege the techno-infrastructural development of a city over its social and cultural development?  In this paper, we identify museums and heritage sites in Pune as signifiers of a city's culture and analyse metro development plans through GIS to understand whether the museums' current geography mentioned above and heritage sites require alignment with Pune’s planned smart city mission. The research shows that the quest to ‘upgrade’ and ‘modernise’ is not adequately aligned with the role of key historic-cultural institutions such as museums and heritage sites. The case of Pune city shows that, without careful and inclusive development plan, a full roll-out of the smart city project will exclude a large number of historical and cultural spaces such as museums and heritage sites from emerging as an integral part of smart cities across the country and render them peripheral to modern urban life. &nbsp

Metamorphic Evolution of the Amphibolites from Bundelkhand Craton, Central India: P-T Constraints and Phase Equilibrium Modelling

The amphibolites from the Mauranipur and Babina regions are located in the central part of the Bundelkhand Craton (BuC), northern India. During the geodynamic evolution of the BuC, these amphibolites underwent medium-grade metamorphism. This study combines textural observations of amphibolites from two distinct regions (Mauranipur and Babina) with mineral chemistry and phase equilibrium modelling. Observations suggest that the amphibolites of both areas have gone through three stages of metamorphism. The pre-peak stage in the amphibolites from the Mauranipur and Babina regions is marked by the assemblages Ep-AmpCpx-Pl-Ilm-Ru-Qz and Ep-Amp-Cpx-Pl-Ab-Ilm-Qz respectively; the peak metamorphic stage is characterized by the mineral assemblages Amp-CpxPl-Ilm-Ru-Qz and Amp-Cpx-Pl-Ilm-Qz-H2O, which is formed during the burial process, and the post-peak stage is represented by the assemblages Amp-Pl-Ilm-Ru-Qz and Amp-Pl-Ilm-Qz-H2O respectively, which is formed by exhumation event. By applying the phase equilibria modelling in the NCFMASHTO system, the P-T conditions estimated from pre-peak, peak to post-peak stages are characterized as 6.7 kbar/510 ℃, 7.3 kbar/578 ºC and > 3.0 kbar/>585 ºC, respectively, for the Mauranipur amphibolites; and 6.27 kbar/520 ºC, 5.2 kbar/805 ºC and > 3.0 kbar/>640 ºC respectively for Babina amphibolites. The textural association and P-T conditions of both amphibolites suggest that these rocks were affected by burial metamorphism followed by an exhumation process during subduction tectonism in the BuC

Computed dynography, a method for evaluation of gait pattern in treated cases of congenital talipes equino varus

Background: Club foot is characterized by inversion, adduction and equinus. Currently, evaluation of children treated for congenital talipes equino varus (CTEV) includes clinical and radiological examination as well as assessment of function. However, none of the methods is ideal. There should be objective methods for better evaluation of function in treated CTEV. Gait analysis is the emerging method in objectively assessing the functional outcome. The aim of the study was to compare the selected measures from vertical ground reaction force variables and gait parameters of treated CTEV children with plantigrade feet, to healthy age and gender matched control group.Methods: We took 31 children with treated CTEV with mean age 8.21 years and compared with 31 age and gender matched controls. The patients were initially treated under a standard protocol. Gait cycle properties, step time parameters and vertical ground reaction force variables were recorded and comparison of unilateral and bilateral cases of treated CTEV was done with that of controls.Results: Data showed that despite good clinical results and overall function, residual intoeing, lateral foot walking, mild foot drop, weak plantar flexor power, possible residual inversion deformity of the foot, increased frequency and decreased duration of cycle and asymmetry in gait were the main characteristics of gait of children with treated CTEV. In unilateral cases single and double support times were decreased and in bilateral CTEV double support times are increased.Conclusions: The study confirms that in clubfoot patients who underwent full treatment, gait parameters do not reach normal levels. Gait analysis can be used to quantify gait pattern characteristics and is helpful in evaluation and further development of treatment of patients

Dichotomy in the Epigenetic Mark Lysine Acetylation is Critical for the Proliferation of Prostate Cancer Cells

The dynamics of lysine cetylation serve as a major epigenetic mark, which regulates cellular response to inflammation, DNA damage and hormonal changes. Microarray assays reveal changes in gene expression, but cannot predict regulation of a protein function by epigenetic modifications. The present study employs computational tools to inclusively analyze microarray data to understand the potential role of acetylation during development of androgen-independent PCa. The data revealed that the androgen receptor interacts with 333 proteins, out of which at least 92 proteins were acetylated. Notably, the number of cellular proteins undergoing acetylation in the androgen-dependent PCa was more as compared to the androgen-independent PCa. Specifically, the 32 lysine-acetylated proteins in the cellular models of androgen-dependent PCa were mainly involved in regulating stability as well as pre- and post-processing of mRNA. Collectively, the data demonstrate that protein lysine acetylation plays a crucial role during the transition of androgen-dependent to -independent PCa, which importantly, could also serve as a functional axis to unravel new therapeutic targets

Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Ethanobotnical Plants Used as Traditional Medicine: A Review

ABSTRACT Herbs are staging a comeback and herbal "renaissance" is happening all over the globe. The herbal products today symbolise safety in contrast to the synthetics that are regarded as unsafe to human and environment .Inflammation is one of the body unique mechanisms that help body to protect itself against infection, burn, toxic chemicals, allergens or other noxious stimuli. However, over reaction of the body reaction may be harmful or undesirable. This has lead to extensive development of anti-inflammatory drugs. Now a day world population moves towards herbal remedies for treatment of such ailments. The several side effects of steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs evoked us to search for new anti-inflammatory agents from natural botanical sources that may have minimal side effects. The number of plants has been screened for their anti-inflammatory, but only few of them reached up to the clinical level. This review article focuses on our current knowledge of plants which have anti-inflammatory activity and discusses their potential therapeutic use in the management relevant inflammatory diseases

RESEARCH AND REVIEWS: JOURNAL OF PHARMACOGNSOY AND PHYTOCHEMISTRY Anti-inflammatory Activity of Ethno-Botanical Plants Used as Traditional Medicine: A Review

ABSTRACT Herbs are staging a comeback and herbal "renaissance" is happening all over the globe. The herbal products today symbolise safety in contrast to the synthetics that are regarded as unsafe to human and environment .Inflammation is one of the body unique mechanisms that help body to protect itself against infection, burn, toxic chemicals, allergens or other noxious stimuli. However, over reaction of the body reaction may be harmful or undesirable. This has lead to extensive development of anti-inflammatory drugs. Now a day world population moves towards herbal remedies for treatment of such ailments. The several side effects of steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs evoked us to search for new anti-inflammatory agents from natural botanical sources that may have minimal side effects. The number of plants has been screened for their anti-inflammatory, but only few of them reached up to the clinical level. This review article focuses on our current knowledge of plants which have anti-inflammatory activity and discusses their potential therapeutic use in the management relevant inflammatory diseases