Pooling serum samples may lead to loss of potential biomarkers in SELDI-ToF MS proteomic profiling

BACKGROUND: High throughput proteomic technology offers promise for the detection of disease biomarkers and proteomic signature patterns but biomarker discovery studies can be limited by cost factors when large sample size numbers are required. Pooling sera or plasma samples from disease cases potentially offers a solution to cost implications by reducing the standard errors of mass to charge values. Surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization time of flight (SELDI-ToF) mass spectra obtained from individual and pooled sera from invasive aspergillosis cases and controls were compared. RESULTS: Pooling resulted in 50% loss of peak clusters detected in individual samples. Overall, loss was greatest for low intensity clusters. Peak intensities and case:control intensity ratios, among clusters not lost, demonstrated good reproducibility. CONCLUSION: Pooling sera results in significant potential biomarker loss when using SELDI-ToF MS

Paramyxoviruses and Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurological disease characterized by periods of quiescence and exacerbation, epidemiological data suggest the notion that MS is an acquired autoimmune disease caused by environmental factors, probably infectious, in genetically susceptible individuals.The submitted research was attempted to study the possible viral (Paramyxoviruses) role in MS, the sera of 57 MS patients were assayed for anti-measles and anti-mumps IgG antibodies using ELISA technique, the results were compared in order to establish the presence or absence of a significant difference regarding both number of positive cases and antibodies titer between the two groups, the results revealed that there is no in number of measles positive cases in both MS patients and controls while a significant difference in number of positive cases of mumps and measles anti-measles IgG titer and a highly significant difference regarding mumps IgG Abs titer between the two studied groups, this may be considered as a preliminary indicator to the role of those two paramyxoviruses in MS

Proposal of Backtracked Tabu Search (BTS) Algorithm

There are several heuristic search techniques, Tabu Search (TS) is one of them.TS based on generating the neighbor states but it has several problems in its work.This paper presents a new version of TS based on backtracking techniques (calledBTS) to reduce the effect of these problems. Two case studies have been solved usingBTS, 4-Color Map and Traveling Salesman Problem. The proposed algorithm givesgood results compare with the original, the iteration numbers are less and the localminimum or non-optimal solutions are less

Smoking Behaviour Among Resident University Students In North India: Some Issues And Challenges

The use of tobacco as cigarettes has taken a form of epidemic. Unless it is not managed properly and in time it may become an uncontrollable behavior leading to long term health and social problem. This paper is based on a survey that was intended to explore the smoking habits of university students residing in hostels, their perception towards it, factors associated with it and their implications. The study was conducted using a questionnaire based survey among 200 students, who were in the habit of smoking, belonging to different classes and residing in the hostels of a residential central University of North India. It was found that smokers were mainly from urban background. More than a quarter of the smokers spent more than 600 rupees per month on smoking only. The most important reasons given by students for smoking behavior was peer pressure followed by tension. Most of them had started smoking between 14-17 years of age, followed by 17- 21 yrs. age group. The number of cigarettes used increased with seniority. Most of the surveyed students wanted to leave the habit but could not do so because of bad habit followed by tension. 51% faced health problems, the major ones being respiratory problems. The study suggests that most effective control of the habit can be achieved by targeting the students of adolescent age and minimizing the tension among them.   Keywords: Smoking, Adolescents, students’ behavior, central universit

Antibiotic Sensitivity Patterns of Uropathogens in Children: The Current Trend

Background: The emergence of antibiotic-resistant infections has led to increased health care costs and mortality among children. The purpose of this study was to determine the causative organisms responsible for urinary tract infection and their antibiotic sensitivity pattern among pediatric patients of Rawalpindi/Islamabad. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from June 2014 to June 2015, in the Department of Microbiology, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, affiliated with the Military Hospital, Rawalpindi. About 270 urine samples of children with UTI were analyzed through Analytical Profile Index (API) 20E and biochemical test strips system. Their antibiotic susceptibility was determined by using standard techniques. Data were assessed and analyzed by SPSS version 17. Results: Most common uropathogen was Escherichia coli (61.48%), followed by Proteus (15.5), Klebsiella (12.3%), Pseudomonas (4.5%), Enterococcus (3.7%) and Enterobacter (2.5%). Gram-negative rods, were most sensitive to imipenem (100%), Gentamycin (86%) and Amikacin (78.3%). They were least sensitive to Ampicillin (4.2%) and Norfloxacin (5.5%). Gram-positive cocci showed highest sensitivity for Vancomycin (100%) while displayed relatively less sensitivity for Nitrofurantoin (61.2%) and Gentamycin (48.7%). Cephalosporins also showed increased resistance with only 14% of gram-negative rods showing sensitivity to Cefotaxime. These organisms were highly resistant to Penicillin, showing a sensitivity of only 12.4%. Conclusion: Decreased sensitivity against penicillin and cephalosporins is seen in uropathogens causing UTI in children. High sensitivity towards Nitrofurantoin makes this drug an empirical treatment in UTI.  Regular surveillance of the developing resistance in uropathogens due to inappropriate use of antibiotic is necessary to reduce complication in children with urinary tract infection

Frequency of Different Ligament Tears in Knee Injury On Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Background: MRI had been useful in the diagnosis of ligament injuries and the tears were detected by non-invasive procedure. Objective: To determine the frequency of different ligament tears in knee injury on Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional was conducted with the sample size of 206 patients of both genders by selecting the convenient sampling from Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital, Lahore. Out of 206 patients, 157 were males while 49 were females. Data was analyzed with the help of SPSS version 24. The results were derived by mean, frequency and standard deviation. Results: Findings shows that among 206 patients, with in age limit of 12 years to 70 years. 157(76.2%) were males and 49(23.7%) were female while 96(46.6%) were presented with ACL tear, 19(9.2%) were presented with PCL tears, 51(25.7%) were presented with MCL tears, 33(16.0%) patients were presented with LCL tears and all of these 206 patients were suffering from pain. Conclusion: We concluded that males are more prevalent than females and in this population the incidence of ACL tears is more than other ligament tears. Hence, ACL is proved to be the most injured ligament. Keywords: Anterior cruciate ligament, Posterior cruciate ligament, Medial collateral ligament, Lateral collateral ligament and Magnetic resonance imaging. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/71-06 Publication date: February 29th 202

An Efficient Association Rules Algorithms for Medical Test Analysis

Data Mining denotes mining knowledge from hugequantity of data. All algorithms of association rules mining include ‘first finding frequency of item sets, which accept a minimum support threshold, and then calculates confidence percentage for all k-item sets to construct robust association rules’. The trouble is there are some of algorithms that need more time for compute minimum support, minimum confidence and extraction larger item. In this paper one algorithm is proposed (enhanced reduces items Apriori algorithm) to reduce execution time. The proposed algorithm purpose to introduce algorithm to mine association rules to obtain fast algorithm by reducing execute time. Due to many experiments in (enhanced reduces items Apriori algorithm), this algorithm is very fast compared with (topk-rules and topk-non redundant rules) algorithms

BSA: A Hybrid Bees’ Simulated Annealing Algorithm To Solve Optimization & NP-Complete Problems

Swarm-based algorithms such as Bees Algorithm BA have proven to be verypowerful computational techniques due to their search capabilities. Other methodswhich are useful in diverse application areas are simulated annealing, evolutionstrategies etc. The searching ability of these algorithms can be improved by properlyblending their characteristic features. In this paper an attempt is made to intermix thesearch properties of BA and SA, in order to develop a hybrid algorithm which isequally applicable and has a better searching ability and power to reach a near optimalsolution. This leads to the development of a fast method to solve complicated types ofoptimization and NP-complete problems

Development and validation of scale for self evaluation of soft skills in postgraduate dental students

Objective: To develop and validate a soft skills questionnaire, and to use it for self-evaluation by postgraduate dentistry students.Methods: The cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at University College of Dentistry, , University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan, from February 2020 to April 2020 and comprised of residents from first to final year of training for either Masters in Dental Surgery or Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan programmes. A soft skills questionnaire was generated and was validated through exploratory factor analysis of the elements and items of the questionnaire using SPSS 23.Results: Of the 60 subjects, 37(61.7%) were MDS residents and 23(38.3%) were Fellowship residents. The mean age of the sample was 29.650±2.815 years, and 26(43.3%) subjects were males. The questionnaire was validated (p\u3c0.001). Three domains measured the attitude of dentists, with 7 scenarios having 5 items per scenario. Both categories of trainees had high agreement in understanding and application of non-technical skills, with the exception of leadership skills. However, the difference between the groups was non-significant (p\u3e0.05).Conclusions: A self-generated questionnaire was successfully validated

Balance Among Patients after Six Months of Total Knee Arthroplasty

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an orthopedic surgical technique in which the knee joint surfaces, the femoral condyles and tibial plateau, are substituted with prosthetic components.TKA is found effective for improving perambulating purposes, but some other impairment such as proprioception, muscle strength, and balance may continue postoperatively. Balance is defined as an individual’s ability to maintain a desired position within their base of support. The aim of the study was to asses balance among patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty post six months. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted for a period of 6 months from August 2018 till January 2019 at Ghurki Trust and Teaching hospital and Horizon Hospital Lahore, in which 26 subjects (7 Males and 19 Females) were included according to inclusion criteria. Permission from the Ethical Committee of the Lahore College of Physical Therapy was obtained. The sampling technique used was convenient sampling. Balance of each patient was assessed with Berg Balance Scale. The Berg Balance Scale grades execution on 14 different tasks, utilizing a scale of five points ranging from 0 to 4; the isolated scores are summed, for a total score of 56 where greater scores show enhanced stability of task execution. The results of the study showed that out of the total (n = 26) patients, 19 patients had low risk of fall, 6 patients had moderate risk of fall, while only one patient had high risk of fall. The study concluded that patients, who underwent total knee arthroplasty, had low risk of fall when balance was assessed with Berg Balance Scale after six months of Total knee Arthroplasty procedure