Huge Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors Originating In Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) are malignant soft tissue neoplasms which account for 2% of all soft tissue sarcomas. These tumors are associated with poor prognosis, propensity to metastasize and high recurrence rates. About half of the MPNST arise from pre-existing neurofibroma and are associated with Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1), 10% are radiotherapy induced others are sporadic. Pathogenesis of MPNST is not fully understood yet. MPNST are common in extremities followed by trunk but are less common in head and neck area. MPNST show limited sensitivity to radiotherapy and chemotherapy and wide surgical resection is mainstay of treatment. We present a series of 3 cases of MPNST of head and neck region originating in patients having NF1

ETHNOBOTANICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Forssk.) Decne.: A REVIEW

Background: Leptadenia pyrotechnica is traditionally used for treating various diseases. This species holds variety of bioactive constituents that trigger healing properties. The present review was aimed to analyze nutritional, phytochemical and pharmacological activities of L. pyrotechnica. Materials and Methods: The present review regarding Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Forssk.) Decne. Is the compilation of data from the previous research works conducted by various scientists across the world. Various published papers, medicinal plant databases,etc were utilized to compile the information. Results: L. pyrotechnica is a wonderful desert plant belongs to the family Asclepiadaceae This plant possesses antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, antioxidant, wound healing, anthelmintic, antiatheroscloretic, hypolipidemic, antdiabetic and hepatoprotective activities coupled with other multifarious uses. Almost all plant parts are used in the traditional medicinal system to treat various disorders. Conclusion: This review includes the substance of different ethnobotanical uses, phytochemistry and exclusive capability of this plant in the field of anti-microbial and human disease activities

Auricular Cartilage Interposition Arthroplasty in Recurrent Temporomandibular Joint Ankylosis in Pediatric Patients

Background: Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ankylosis in early childhood can lead to disturbances in growth, facial asymmetry and difficulties in eating as well as in breathing.  The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of auricular cartilage as an interpositional material after gap arthroplasty in pediatric patients with temporomandibular joint ankylosis in maintaining the achieved postoperative mouth opening. Material and Methods: This prospective study was conducted at the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department of King Edward Medical University, Lahore, from 1st January 2019 to 30th November 2019. Thirty patients, aged 5 to 15 years with clinical and radiological diagnosis of TMJ ankylosis were included in the study. TMJ ankylotic mass was removed, the gap was created and interposition of auricular cartilage graft was done in these patients. Mouth opening was measured as a distance between the incisal edges of mandibular central incisors to maxillary central incisors using the scale. Preoperative and postoperative mouth opening was noted and compared using the paired t-test. Results: Among the thirty patients, 19 were male and 11 were female. The mean (±SD) age of patients was 9.23±3.23 years (age range 5 to 15 years). The mean preoperative mouth opening (T1) was 7.3±3.1 mm, while the mean postoperative mouth opening (T2) was 29.2±3.3 mm. The mean interincisal distance was 29.0 mm (range 21 mm to 35 mm). The mean difference in pre- and postoperative mouth opening (T2-T1) was 21.6 ± 5 mm. Conclusions: Autogenous auricular cartilage graft is an efficient and reliable interpositional material for achieving early postoperative mouth opening in TMJ ankylosis patients

White Blood Cells Classification Using Entropy-Controlled Deep Features Optimization

White blood cells (WBCs) constitute an essential part of the human immune system. The correct identification of WBC subtypes is critical in the diagnosis of leukemia, a kind of blood cancer defined by the aberrant proliferation of malignant leukocytes in the bone marrow. The traditional approach of classifying WBCs, which involves the visual analysis of blood smear images, is labor-intensive and error-prone. Modern approaches based on deep convolutional neural networks provide significant results for this type of image categorization, but have high processing and implementation costs owing to very large feature sets. This paper presents an improved hybrid approach for efficient WBC subtype classification. First, optimum deep features are extracted from enhanced and segmented WBC images using transfer learning on pre-trained deep neural networks, i.e., DenseNet201 and Darknet53. The serially fused feature vector is then filtered using an entropy-controlled marine predator algorithm (ECMPA). This nature-inspired meta-heuristic optimization algorithm selects the most dominant features while discarding the weak ones. The reduced feature vector is classified with multiple baseline classifiers with various kernel settings. The proposed methodology is validated on a public dataset of 5000 synthetic images that correspond to five different subtypes of WBCs. The system achieves an overall average accuracy of 99.9% with more than 95% reduction in the size of the feature vector. The feature selection algorithm also demonstrates better convergence performance as compared to classical meta-heuristic algorithms. The proposed method also demonstrates a comparable performance with several existing works on WBC classification

Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma

Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (NA) is a rare, highly vascular, benign lesion typically affecting young males. It is prone to spontaneous bleeding even after minor trauma. Reported here is a case of an 18 years old male with almost 8x8cm swelling in the left cheek. There was nasal obstruction due to mass in the left nostril and he had a history of obstructive sleep apnea and frequent epistasis. Surgery was done through Weber- Ferguson approach

Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells Exhibit Osteogenic Differentiation Potential

Bone regeneration after trauma, pathologic and surgical procedures is considered a major medical challenge. Due to limitations in using conventional approaches, cell based regenerative strategies may provide an alternative option to address such issues. In the current study, we sought to determine the osteogenic potential of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) isolated from impacted 3rd molars. DPSCs were isolated from human dental pulp tissue (n=6) using explant culture. Growth characteristics of DPSCs were determined using plating efficiency, and the number and time of population doublings. After characterization, DPSCs were induced to differentiate into osteoblasts and were assessed using polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and histological analysis. Results indicated that DPSCs can be isolated from impacted human third molars, and that DPSCs exhibited typical fibroblastic morphology and excellent proliferative potential. In addition, morphological changes, histological analysis and expression of lineage specific genes confirmed osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs. In conclusion, DPSCs isolated from impacted 3rd molars have high proliferative potential and ability to differentiate into osteoblasts

Leukocytes Classification for Leukemia Detection Using Quantum Inspired Deep Feature Selection

Leukocytes, also referred to as white blood cells (WBCs), are a crucial component of the human immune system. Abnormal proliferation of leukocytes in the bone marrow leads to leukemia, a fatal blood cancer. Classification of various subtypes of WBCs is an important step in the diagnosis of leukemia. The method of automated classification of WBCs using deep convolutional neural networks is promising to achieve a significant level of accuracy, but suffers from high computational costs due to very large feature sets. Dimensionality reduction through intelligent feature selection is essential to improve the model performance with reduced computational complexity. This work proposed an improved pipeline for subtype classification of WBCs that relies on transfer learning for feature extraction using deep neural networks, followed by a wrapper feature selection approach based on a customized quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm (QIEA). This algorithm, inspired by the principles of quantum physics, outperforms classical evolutionary algorithms in the exploration of search space. The reduced feature vector obtained from QIEA was then classified with multiple baseline classifiers. In order to validate the proposed methodology, a public dataset of 5000 images of five subtypes of WBCs was used. The proposed system achieves a classification accuracy of about 99% with a reduction of 90% in the size of the feature vector. The proposed feature selection method also shows a better convergence performance as compared to the classical genetic algorithm and a comparable performance to several existing works

Assessment of Health Risks in Wheat Crop Irrigated by Manka Canal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan

Background. Manka canal’s metal concentration rises from human activities’ garbage. Untreated water from the canal is used by farmers for local crop irrigation. Immediate action is crucial to assess heavy metal levels and ensure soil suitability for agriculture as metal pollution persists. Purpose. The current study was conducted to assess the health risks associated with metal pollution at Manka Canal, Dera Ghazi Khan. Methods. A total of eighty-four wastewater, soil, and wheat samples were collected from study areas. The collected samples were analyzed for heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer (FAAS). Results. The significant findings of the study revealed that the concentration of heavy metals in most of the collected samples of soil, water, and wheat was above the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits. The mean concentrations of Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were at relatively higher concentrations, i.e., 4.88, 22.03, 38.2, 89.2, 19.62, and 67.9 mg/kg, respectively, in collected wheat samples. The soil and irrigation water quality metrics had values that exceeded the acceptable thresholds, rendering them unfit for agricultural use. The local community faces an elevated health risk index for both children and adults due to the consumption of wheat crop as HRI is greater than 1 for nonessential elements like Cd and Pb. Conclusion. The study suggested that wastewater irrigation leads to the accumulation of heavy metals in foodstuffs, causing potential health risks to consumers. The gradual accumulation of these contaminants in biological systems finally gives rise to severe health-related issues. Therefore, it is crucial to implement robust wastewater treatment processes and stringent quality control measures to minimize health risks associated with the consumption of crops grown using reclaimed water. Prior to irrigating crops like wheat and vegetables, it is strongly advised to treat municipal wastewater to prevent soil and dietary toxicity from heavy metals