Assessment of various cognitive domains in patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Background: OCD is often chronic disorder and causes impairment of functional efficiency. Various researchers have found that cognitive dysfunction frequently present even when mild symptoms are present. This study aimed to investigate various domains of cognitive function in patients with OCD using cross sectional design. In this study we have tried to find out the various domains of cognitive function in OCD and their relation with clinical severities. We also compared the cognitive function of patients with OCD and their control. Methods: Total 60 subjects (30 in case group and 30 in control group) were taken for study. The study subjects (OCD group) were taken from psychiatric OPD and control group from general populations. The subjects of both the groups were screened as per inclusion and exclusion criteria and the Y-BOCS, ACE –III scales were applied. Results: In the case group, 96.70% had a normal ACE-III score and 3.30% had an inconclusive score, while in the control group 100% had a normal score at ACE-III scale, on further scoring. 60% patients have moderate and 33.3% have severe score in the YBOCS scale. We have found the significant decline in total mean ACE-III scores between case and control group (p value 0.000) and decline in memory domain with severity of illness was also significant (p value 0.037). Conclusions: Decline in cognition domain of memory in patient with OCD, was significant in comparison to control group

Brunner gland hyperplasia of duodenum: A rare case mimicking malignancy with obstruction

An extremely uncommon benign tumor of duodenum, Brunner gland hyperplasia (BGH), is hereby reported in a 51-year-old male, who presented with recurrent vomiting and epigastric discomfort. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, computed tomography scan abdomen, and clinical presentation were suspicious of a malignant tumor with gastric outlet obstructive symptoms, and hence, pancreaticoduodenectomy was done. Post-operative histopathological examination confirmed it to be BGH

Assessment of phenotypic developmental traits and hybrid vigour in Arabidopsis thaliana

102-112The Don-0 and Col-0 ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana showed significant phenotypic diversity for several quantitative traits. The phenotypic data taken on hybrid derived from Col-0 x Don-0 and parental lines provides the information of their continuous developmental pattern throughout the life cycle. The developmental data exhibits heterosis for most of the traits (specifically biomass related traits) due to supplementary genetic contributions of both parents. Consequently, the hybrid was found to be more vigorous in comparison to both the parents in terms of all the traits except yield trait. Moreover, higher and lower performance of hybrid causes due to constructive (hybrid vigor) and deleterious epistatic interactions of loci (necrosis: hybrid incompatibility), respectively. The present study also concluded that Don-0 is a slow growing, delayed flowering and high biomass containing ecotype. The shoot and root biomass at initial stage was found to be less in Don-0 than the Col-0 but high at maturity. The present investigation provides the preliminary information which could be utilized for future genetic studies to understand the heterotic phenomenon in Arabidospsis

10 Element Sub-6-GHz Multi-Band Double-T Based MIMO Antenna System for 5G Smartphones

A 10 element multiple input multi output (MIMO)/Diversity antenna system is considered to work in Sub-6 GHz frequency range. The proposed design can work in long term evolution (LTE) band 42(3.4-3.6 GHz), LTE band 43(3.6-3.8 GHz) and LTE band 46(5.15-5.925 GHz). The proposed design consists of 10 identical and highly isolated T-shaped slot antennas fed with T-shaped lines. All three bands have the return loss values (83%) in free space. The peak value of envelope correlation coefficient is 0.06 and the calculated value of ergodic channel capacity is found to be greater than 41bps/Hz in all the bands.The effect of hand grip as well as the presence of battery and LCD screen is investigated. Simulated results are validated via fabrication and measurement of the proposed design

Metabolomics-Driven Mining of Metabolite Resources:Applications and Prospects for Improving Vegetable Crops

Vegetable crops possess a prominent nutri-metabolite pool that not only contributes to the crop performance in the fields, but also offers nutritional security for humans. In the pursuit of identifying, quantifying and functionally characterizing the cellular metabolome pool, biomolecule separation technologies, data acquisition platforms, chemical libraries, bioinformatics tools, databases and visualization techniques have come to play significant role. High-throughput metabolomics unravels structurally diverse nutrition-rich metabolites and their entangled interactions in vegetable plants. It has helped to link identified phytometabolites with unique phenotypic traits, nutri-functional characters, defense mechanisms and crop productivity. In this study, we explore mining diverse metabolites, localizing cellular metabolic pathways, classifying functional biomolecules and establishing linkages between metabolic fluxes and genomic regulations, using comprehensive metabolomics deciphers of the plant’s performance in the environment. We discuss exemplary reports covering the implications of metabolomics, addressing metabolic changes in vegetable plants during crop domestication, stage-dependent growth, fruit development, nutri-metabolic capabilities, climatic impacts, plant-microbe-pest interactions and anthropogenic activities. Efforts leading to identify biomarker metabolites, candidate proteins and the genes responsible for plant health, defense mechanisms and nutri-rich crop produce are documented. With the insights on metabolite-QTL (mQTL) driven genetic architecture, molecular breeding in vegetable crops can be revolutionized for developing better nutritional capabilities, improved tolerance against diseases/pests and enhanced climate resilience in plants

Clinical Impact of Monoclonal Antibodies in the Treatment of High-Risk Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infections:The ORCHESTRA Prospective Cohort Study

The clinical impact of anti-spike monoclonal antibodies (mAb) in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) breakthrough infections is unclear. We present the results of an observational prospective cohort study assessing and comparing COVID-19 progression in high-risk outpatients receiving mAb according to primary or breakthrough infection. Clinical, serological and virological predictors associated with 28-day COVID-19-related hospitalization were identified using multivariate logistic regression and summarized with odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). A total of 847 COVID-19 outpatients were included: 414 with primary and 433 with breakthrough infection. Hospitalization was observed in 42/414 (10.1%) patients with primary and 8/433 (1.8%) patients with breakthrough infection (p &lt; 0.001). aOR for hospitalization was significantly lower for breakthrough infection (aOR 0.12, 95%CI: 0.05–0.27, p &lt; 0.001) and higher for immunocompromised status (aOR:2.35, 95%CI:1.08–5.08, p = 0.003), advanced age (aOR:1.06, 95%CI: 1.03–1.08, p &lt; 0.001), and male gender (aOR:1.97, 95%CI: 1.04–3.73, p = 0.037). Among the breakthrough infection group, the median SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike IgGs was lower (p &lt; 0.001) in immunocompromised and elderly patients &gt;75 years compared with that in the immunocompetent patients. Our findings suggest that, among mAb patients, those with breakthrough infection have significantly lower hospitalization risk compared with patients with primary infection. Prognostic algorithms combining clinical and immune-virological characteristics are needed to ensure appropriate and up-to-date clinical protocols targeting high-risk categories.</p

Minimal hepatic encephalopathy: consensus statement of a working party of the Indian National Association for study of the liver

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a major complication that develops in some form and at some stage in a majority of patients with liver cirrhosis. Overt HE occurs in approximately 30-45% of cirrhotic patients. Minimal HE (MHE), the mildest form of HE, is characterized by subtle motor and cognitive deficits and impairs health-related quality of life. The Indian National Association for Study of the Liver (INASL) set up a Working Party on MHE in 2008 with a mandate to develop consensus guidelines on various aspects of MHE relevant to clinical practice. Questions related to the definition of MHE, its prevalence, diagnosis, clinical characteristics, pathogenesis, natural history and treatment were addressed by the members of the Working Party

Depression and HIV Infection are Risk Factors for Incident Heart Failure Among Veterans: Veterans Aging Cohort Study.

Background: Both HIV and depression are associated with increased heart failure (HF) risk. Depression, a common comorbidity, may further increase the risk of HF among HIV+ adults. We assessed the association between HIV, depression and incident HF. Methods and Results: Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) participants free from cardiovascular disease at baseline (N = 81,427; 26,908 HIV+, 54,51

Impact of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium multidimensional approach on central line-associated bloodstream infection rates in adult intensive care units in eight cities in India

SummaryObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) multidimensional infection control approach on central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates in eight cities of India.MethodsThis was a prospective, before-and-after cohort study of 35650 patients hospitalized in 16 adult intensive care units of 11 hospitals. During the baseline period, outcome surveillance of CLABSI was performed, applying the definitions of the CDC/NHSN (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Healthcare Safety Network). During the intervention, the INICC approach was implemented, which included a bundle of interventions, education, outcome surveillance, process surveillance, feedback on CLABSI rates and consequences, and performance feedback. Random effects Poisson regression was used for clustering of CLABSI rates across time periods.ResultsDuring the baseline period, 9472 central line (CL)-days and 61 CLABSIs were recorded; during the intervention period, 80898 CL-days and 404 CLABSIs were recorded. The baseline rate was 6.4 CLABSIs per 1000 CL-days, which was reduced to 3.9 CLABSIs per 1000 CL-days in the second year and maintained for 36 months of follow-up, accounting for a 53% CLABSI rate reduction (incidence rate ratio 0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.31–0.70; p=0.0001).ConclusionsImplementing the six components of the INICC approach simultaneously was associated with a significant reduction in the CLABSI rate in India, which remained stable during 36 months of follow-up

Common variants in CLDN2 and MORC4 genes confer disease susceptibility in patients with chronic pancreatitis

A recent Genome-wide Association Study (GWAS) identified association with variants in X-linked CLDN2 and MORC4 and PRSS1-PRSS2 loci with Chronic Pancreatitis (CP) in North American patients of European ancestry. We selected 9 variants from the reported GWAS and replicated the association with CP in Indian patients by genotyping 1807 unrelated Indians of Indo-European ethnicity, including 519 patients with CP and 1288 controls. The etiology of CP was idiopathic in 83.62% and alcoholic in 16.38% of 519 patients. Our study confirmed a significant association of 2 variants in CLDN2 gene (rs4409525—OR 1.71, P = 1.38 x 10-09; rs12008279—OR 1.56, P = 1.53 x 10-04) and 2 variants in MORC4 gene (rs12688220—OR 1.72, P = 9.20 x 10-09; rs6622126—OR 1.75, P = 4.04x10-05) in Indian patients with CP. We also found significant association at PRSS1-PRSS2 locus (OR 0.60; P = 9.92 x 10-06) and SAMD12-TNFRSF11B (OR 0.49, 95% CI [0.31–0.78], P = 0.0027). A variant in the gene MORC4 (rs12688220) showed significant interaction with alcohol (OR for homozygous and heterozygous risk allele -14.62 and 1.51 respectively, P = 0.0068) suggesting gene-environment interaction. A combined analysis of the genes CLDN2 and MORC4 based on an effective risk allele score revealed a higher percentage of individuals homozygous for the risk allele in CP cases with 5.09 fold enhanced risk in individuals with 7 or more effective risk alleles compared with individuals with 3 or less risk alleles (P = 1.88 x 10-14). Genetic variants in CLDN2 and MORC4 genes were associated with CP in Indian patients