Predictive factors for polypharmacy among child and adolescent psychiatry inpatients

BACKGROUND: Aim was to determine the predictive factors for polypharmacy among inpatient children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. METHODS: Blinded, case-note review of children and adolescents with ICD 10 diagnosis of psychiatric disorders on psychotropic medication was conducted. Data on demography, illness, and treatment was analyzed with univariate and multivariate techniques. RESULTS: Proscribing non-pharmacological interventions (OR = 4.7) and pro re nata medication (OR = 3.3), increased the risk of polypharmacy. Prescribing physical restraint reduced the risk of receiving multiple medications (OR = 0.3). CONCLUSION: Proscribing non-pharmacological interventions, pro re nata medication and physical restraints increased polypharmacy

AMELIORATION OF NECROSIS FORMATION IN GINGIVA BY LICORICE ROOT EXTRACT

Objective: Gingivitis is a reversible condition associated with a bacterial plaque that resolves in about 1 week after the reinstitution of oral hygiene procedures. If left untreated, may ultimately progress to periodontitis in a subset of individuals. The objective of the study was to evaluate the amelioration of necrosis formation in gingiva by Licorice root extract. The licorice compounds, licoricidin, and licorisoflavan A were the most effective antibacterial substances.Methods: Licorice root extract was prepared by macerating 50 g of dry powder with 100 ml of 70% (w/v) ethyl alcohol for a week. Human gingival fibroblasts were obtained from a commercial source and were maintained in serum-free fibroblast medium as recommended by the manufacturer. The cells were treated with licorice root extract (100 μg/ml) and incubated for 48 h. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were estimated.Result: TNF-alpha levels were raised, and agglutination of CRP was observed in hepatocyte growth factor positive samples whereas after the treatment with licorice root extract the TNF-alpha levels were declined and no agglutination was seen.Conclusion: TNF and CRP levels are raised during necrosis formation. These levels are decreased when treated with licorice root extract. Thus, licorice root extract causes amelioration of necrosis formation in the gingiva

OCTraN: 3D Occupancy Convolutional Transformer Network in Unstructured Traffic Scenarios

Modern approaches for vision-centric environment perception for autonomous navigation make extensive use of self-supervised monocular depth estimation algorithms that output disparity maps. However, when this disparity map is projected onto 3D space, the errors in disparity are magnified, resulting in a depth estimation error that increases quadratically as the distance from the camera increases. Though Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) can solve this issue, it is expensive and not feasible for many applications. To address the challenge of accurate ranging with low-cost sensors, we propose, OCTraN, a transformer architecture that uses iterative-attention to convert 2D image features into 3D occupancy features and makes use of convolution and transpose convolution to efficiently operate on spatial information. We also develop a self-supervised training pipeline to generalize the model to any scene by eliminating the need for LiDAR ground truth by substituting it with pseudo-ground truth labels obtained from boosted monocular depth estimation.Comment: This work was accepted as a spotlight presentation at the Transformers for Vision Workshop @CVPR 202

The Cauvery Conflict (NIAS Backgrounder No. B5-2010)

T he conflict over sharing of the waters of the Cauvery has spread over more than a century, involving four prominent contenders in South India– the riparian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the union territory of Pondicherry. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have historically clashed on the issue, dating back to the times of the British-controlled Madras Presidency and the Princely State of Mysore while Kerala entered the fray on the reorganisation of states in 1956 and Pondicherry, only in the 1970s. While two treaties, the Agreements of 1892 and 1924, held the peace between Mysore and Madras through the last few decades of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, the sharing of Cauvery waters once again turned contentious with Tamil Nadu alleging a violation of the terms of one of the treaties by Karnataka, and conflicting interpretations by the two states of a clause of the 1924 agreement. Tamil Nadu stood at a historical advantage in terms of irrigation development and Karnataka claimed its right to accelerate its exploitation of the waters. Through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, series of talks between the states failed to establish a solution agreeable to all the parties involved. Finally, in 1990, the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was instituted with the purpose of arriving at a watersharing formula between the states. The Tribunal released an interim order in 1991 and eventually, 17 years after its creation, announced its final verdict in 2007. However, the order is as yet unimplemented as a Special Leave Petition on the matter remains pending in the Supreme Court

Astrovirus MLB1 Is Not Associated with Diarrhea in a Cohort of Indian Children

Astroviruses are a known cause of human diarrhea. Recently the highly divergent astrovirus MLB1 (MLB1) was identified in a stool sample from a patient with diarrhea. It has subsequently been detected in stool from individuals with and without diarrhea. To determine whether MLB1 is associated with diarrhea, we conducted a case control study of MLB1. In parallel, the prevalence of the classic human astroviruses (HAstVs) was also determined in the same case control cohort. 400 cases and 400 paired controls from a longitudinal birth cohort in Vellore, India were analyzed by RT-PCR. While HAstVs were associated with diarrhea (p = 0.029) in this cohort, MLB1 was not; 14 of the controls and 4 cases were positive for MLB1. Furthermore, MLB1 viral load did not differ significantly between the cases and controls. The role of MLB1 in human health still remains unknown and future studies are needed

The 3′ Untranslated Regions of Influenza Genomic Sequences Are 5′PPP-Independent Ligands for RIG-I

Retinoic acid inducible gene-I (RIG-I) is a key regulator of antiviral immunity. RIG-I is generally thought to be activated by ssRNA species containing a 5′-triphosphate (PPP) group or by unphosphorylated dsRNA up to ∼300 bp in length. However, it is not yet clear how changes in the length, nucleotide sequence, secondary structure, and 5′ end modification affect the abilities of these ligands to bind and activate RIG-I. To further investigate these parameters in the context of naturally occurring ligands, we examined RNA sequences derived from the 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions (UTR) of the influenza virus NS1 gene segment. As expected, RIG-I-dependent interferon-β (IFN-β) induction by sequences from the 5′ UTR of the influenza cRNA or its complement (26 nt in length) required the presence of a 5′PPP group. In contrast, activation of RIG-I by the 3′ UTR cRNA sequence or its complement (172 nt) exhibited only a partial 5′PPP-dependence, as capping the 5′ end or treatment with CIP showed a modest reduction in RIG-I activation. Furthermore, induction of IFN-β by a smaller, U/A-rich region within the 3′ UTR was completely 5′PPP-independent. Our findings demonstrated that RNA sequence, length, and secondary structure all contributed to whether or not the 5′PPP moiety is needed for interferon induction by RIG-I

Viruses exacerbating chronic pulmonary disease: the role of immune modulation

Chronic pulmonary diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality and their impact is expected to increase in the future. Respiratory viruses are the most common cause of acute respiratory infections and it is increasingly recognized that respiratory viruses are a major cause of acute exacerbations of chronic pulmonary diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cystic fibrosis. There is now increasing evidence that the host response to virus infection is dysregulated in these diseases and a better understanding of the mechanisms of abnormal immune responses has the potential to lead to the development of new therapies for virus-induced exacerbations. The aim of this article is to review the current knowledge regarding the role of viruses and immune modulation in chronic pulmonary diseases and discuss avenues for future research and therapeutic implications