Surgical glue- a promising technology for wound healing

Wound closure is one of the important steps of surgical dressing and suturing is the most commonly used method of wound closure. The process of suturing takes very long time for surgery and increases the patient’s risk of anesthesia awareness. Skin glues are a safe and effective method to close selected wounds. They are also cost-effective and help prevent infection. Ideally, wounds should be less than 4 cm, not contaminated or infected and have skin edges that are not under tension. Wounds should be closed within 12 hours. Novel methods of wound closure have been introduced to address these issues, most notably cyanoacrylate tissue glues. The evidence would suggest that the use of cyanoacrylate tissue glue is associated with a reduction in closure time and costs. On a daily basis, dermasurgeons are facing different kinds of wounds that have to be closed. With a plethora of skin closure materials currently available, choosing a solution that combines excellent and rapid cosmetic results with practicality and cost-effectiveness is preferred

Sirtuin 6 inhibition protects against glucocorticoid-induced skeletal muscle atrophy by regulating IGF/PI3K/AKT signaling

Chronic activation of stress hormones such as glucocorticoids leads to skeletal muscle wasting in mammals. However, the molecular events that mediate glucocorticoid-induced muscle wasting are not well understood. Here, we show that SIRT6, a chromatin-associated deacetylase indirectly regulates glucocorticoid-induced muscle wasting by modulating IGF/PI3K/AKT signaling. Our results show that SIRT6 levels are increased during glucocorticoid-induced reduction of myotube size and during skeletal muscle atrophy in mice. Notably, overexpression of SIRT6 spontaneously decreases the size of primary myotubes in a cell-autonomous manner. On the other hand, SIRT6 depletion increases the diameter of myotubes and protects them against glucocorticoid-induced reduction in myotube size, which is associated with enhanced protein synthesis and repression of atrogenes. In line with this, we find that muscle-specific SIRT6 deficient mice are resistant to glucocorticoid-induced muscle wasting. Mechanistically, we find that SIRT6 deficiency hyperactivates IGF/PI3K/AKT signaling through c-Jun transcription factor-mediated increase in IGF2 expression. The increased activation, in turn, leads to nuclear exclusion and transcriptional repression of the FoxO transcription factor, a key activator of muscle atrophy. Further, we find that pharmacological inhibition of SIRT6 protects against glucocorticoid-induced muscle wasting in mice by regulating IGF/PI3K/AKT signaling implicating the role of SIRT6 in glucocorticoid-induced muscle atrophy.Fil: Mishra, Sneha. No especifíca;Fil: Cosentino, Claudia. Harvard Medical School; Estados UnidosFil: Tamta, Ankit Kumar. No especifíca;Fil: Khan, Danish. No especifíca;Fil: Srinivasan, Shalini. No especifíca;Fil: Ravi, Venkatraman. No especifíca;Fil: Abbotto, Elena. Università degli Studi di Genova; ItaliaFil: Arathi, Bangalore Prabhashankar. No especifíca;Fil: Kumar, Shweta. No especifíca;Fil: Jain, Aditi. No especifíca;Fil: Ramaian, Anand S.. No especifíca;Fil: Kizkekra, Shruti M.. No especifíca;Fil: Rajagopal, Raksha. No especifíca;Fil: Rao, Swathi. No especifíca;Fil: Krishna, Swati. No especifíca;Fil: Asirvatham Jeyaraj, Ninitha. Indian Institute of Technology; IndiaFil: Haggerty, Elizabeth R.. Harvard Medical School; Estados UnidosFil: Silberman, Dafne Magalí. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; ArgentinaFil: Kurland, Irwin J.. No especifíca;Fil: Veeranna, Ravindra P.. No especifíca;Fil: Jayavelu, Tamilselvan. No especifíca;Fil: Bruzzone, Santina. Università degli Studi di Genova; ItaliaFil: Mostoslavsky, Raul. Harvard Medical School; Estados UnidosFil: Sundaresan, Nagalingam R.. No especifíca

Negotiating feminine autonomy and identity: Diasporic anxieties in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's the Mistress of Spices

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Mistress of Spices (1997) explores issues of ethnic autonomy and feminine identity through its protagonist Tilo, an Indian immigrant in America, who is endowed with magical abilities to conjure the power of spices which she uses for healing people at her grocery store in Oakland, California. Tilo's fate comes to represent the complex socio-political debates surrounding cultural assimilation and racial othering in contemporary America on the one hand, and a woman's struggle against Indian tradition and patriarchy, on the other. In order to befit the gender roles prescribed by consumerist America, Tilo frames an exotic identity for herself selling mystical spices and practices from India and accordingly becomes the site of confluence of tradition and modernity in the novel. The chief problematic in the narrative, however, lies in the fact that in America while Tilo is free to help others transcend pain and seek autonomous identities, she herself remains confined by and rooted in Indian patriarchal culture and tradition which wield complete control over her mind and body. The present paper, by employing postcolonial and transnational discourses vis-à-vis diasporic femininity, attempts to explore how Tilo negotiates and subsequently attains an autonomous identity in Divakaruni's novel

Growth Traits of Pendent Heliconia Genotypes in Kanyakumari Conditions

Heliconia is one of the important emerging exotic specialty cut flowers which is gaining importance in the Indian markets and is used as a cut flower, floral decoration, and beautifying gardens. We carried out a field experiment at Horticultural Research Station, Pechiparai, Kanyakumari to evaluate the performance of pendent Heliconia genotypes based on the growth characteristics. The results revealed that among the eight genotypes evaluated, H. chartacea ‘Surinam Gold’ recorded the highest plant height (168.12 cm and 228.32 cm) at 120 and 180 days after planting (DAP) followed by H. vellerigera ‘Red’ and H. chartacea ‘Sexy Pink’ which were on par with each other with the maximum number of suckers (8.05 and 8.20 respectively). H. vellerigera ‘Red’ has the highest stem girth of the rest of the genotypes

Artificial intelligence and machine learning in ocular oncology: Retinoblastoma

Purpose: This study was done to explore the utility of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in the diagnosis and grouping of intraocular retinoblastoma (iRB). Methods: It was a retrospective observational study using AI and Machine learning, Computer Vision (OpenCV). Results: Of 771 fundus images of 109 eyes, 181 images had no tumor and 590 images displayed iRB based on review by two independent ocular oncologists (with an interobserver variability of <1%). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the trained AI model were 85%, 99%, 99.6%, and 67%, respectively. Of 109 eyes, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for detection of RB by AI model were 96%, 94%, 97%, and 91%, respectively. Of these, the eyes were normal (n = 31) or belonged to groupA (n=1), B (n=22), C (n=8), D (n=23),and E (n=24) RB based on review by two independent ocular oncologists (with an interobserver variability of 0%). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the trained AI model were 100%, 100%, 100%, and 100% for group A; 82%, 20 21 98%, 90%, and 96% for group B; 63%, 99%, 83%, and 97% for group C; 78%, 98%, 90%, and 94% for group D, and 92%, 91%, 73%, and 98% for group E, respectively. Conclusion: Based on our study, we conclude that the AI model for iRB is highly sensitive in the detection of RB with high specificity for the classification of iRB

Unusual magnetic ordering transitions in nanoscale biphasic LuFeO 3 : the role of the ortho–hexa phase ratio and the local structure

Understanding nanoscale ferromagnetism is becoming increasingly important in view of our enhanced ability to control growth and morphological features of complex nano-systems and their potential translation into emergent high density magnetic device technologies. In this work, we have examined the combined consequences of the magneto-crystalline anisotropy, shape anisotropy, intrinsic phase coexistence, and surface induced self-strain and related anisotropy on the magnetism and magnetic transitions in the case of nanoparticles (NPs) and nanofibers (NFs) of the intriguing multiferroic LuFeO3. We find that the two systems exhibit remarkable differences in the magnetic transitions as well as the value of the canted antiferromagnetic moment by virtue of significant differences in the relative hexagonal (h) and orthorhombic (o) phase contents with the h : o phase contribution in NPs (NFs) being 25 : 75 (77 : 23). In the case of NFs with a major hexagonal component, the bifurcation of ZFC and FC magnetization curves is seen to occur above room temperature with a transition seen at about 150 K, a feature reflecting in-plane (a and b) antiferromagnetic order. In the case of NPs with a dominant o-phase, a weak ferromagnetic (canted antiferromagnetic) signal is noted from 300 K (maximum measurement temperature) down to about 274 K, at which point the antiferromagnetic susceptibility feature is seen. Below 223 K a reentrant ferromagnetic order is seen down to 153 K, at which point a bifurcation is noted between FC and ZFC curves. After subtracting the major component of the field dependent linear moment, the weak ferromagnetic (canted) moment at 300 K is almost 2 orders higher in the case of NFs than NPs. A detailed analysis of phase constitution, local structure and lattice-distortions is performed using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and synchrotron-based X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. The potential significance of the interfaces in influencing the canting via gradient spin order distribution is emphasized