Antibakterijski učinak ekstrakta lista biljke Plectranthus amboinicus Benth u uzorcima voća, povrća i pilećeg mesa

The ability of acetone and ethyl acetate extracts of the leaves of a traditional Indian medicinal plant, Indian borage (Plectranthus amboinicus Benth) to prevent spoilage of artificially inoculated model food systems (cabbage and papaya) and natural microflora of chicken meat was evaluated. These extracts were able to reduce the bacterial counts in all food systems; however, the effective concentration varied with the complexity of the system (in descending order: cabbage, papaya and chicken). A probable mode of action of extracts was investigated by analyzing the changes they cause in bacterial cell wall and leakage of nucleic acid from bacterial cells. Both acetone and ethyl acetate extracts at their respective minimum inhibitory concentrations resulted in leakage of cell constituents to an extent of 40 to 80 and 60 to 95 %, respectively, compared to the control, and finally leading to disintegration of cell walls. These findings indicate the potential use of ethyl acetate and acetone extracts of Indian borage leaves in food preservation.U radu je ispitan učinak ekstrakata lišća drevne indijske ljekovite biljke Plectranthus amboinicus Benth, izoliranih pomoću acetona i etilnog acetata, na sprečavanje rasta bakterija uzročnika kvarenja inokuliranih u uzorke svježeg kupusa i papaje, te na prirodnu mikrofloru pilećeg mesa. Dobiveni su ekstrakti uspješno smanjili broj bakterija u svim uzorcima hrane, no njihova je učinkovitost ovisila o složenosti sastava uzorka, pa je najveća bila u kupusu, zatim u papaji, a najmanja u mesu. Ispitan je utjecaj ekstrakata na razgradnju stanične stijenke bakterija i otpuštanje nukleinskih kiselina u međustanični prostor. Ekstrakt lišća dobiven pomoću acetona je pri minimalnoj inhibicijskoj koncentraciji uzrokovao otpuštanje 40 do 80 % staničnog sadržaja, a ekstrakt dobiven pomoću etilnog acetata 60 do 95 % staničnog sadržaja bakterija u usporedbi s kontrolnim uzorkom, što je naposljetku uzrokovalo potpunu razgradnju stanične stijenke. Rezultati pokazuju da se ekstrakti lišća indijske biljke Plectranthus amboinicus Benth, dobiveni pomoću etilnog acetata ili acetona, mogu upotrijebiti za konzerviranje hrane

Strong impact of TGF-β1 gene polymorphisms on breast cancer risk in Indian women: a case-control and population-based study

Introduction: TGF-β1 is a multi-functional cytokine that plays an important role in breast carcinogenesis. Critical role of TGF-β1 signaling in breast cancer progression is well documented. Some TGF-β1 polymorphisms influence its expression; however, their impact on breast cancer risk is not clear. Methods: We analyzed 1222 samples in a candidate gene-based genetic association study on two distantly located and ethnically divergent case-control groups of Indian women, followed by a population-based genetic epidemiology study analyzing these polymorphisms in other Indian populations. The c.29C>T (Pro10Leu, rs1982073 or rs1800470) and c.74G>C (Arg25Pro, rs1800471) polymorphisms in the TGF-β1 gene were analyzed using direct DNA sequencing, and peripheral level of TGF-β1 were measured by ELISA. Results: c.29C>T substitution increased breast cancer risk, irrespective of ethnicity and menopausal status. On the other hand, c.74G>C substitution reduced breast cancer risk significantly in the north Indian group (p  =  0.0005) and only in the pre-menopausal women. The protective effect of c.74G>C polymorphism may be ethnicity-specific, as no association was seen in south Indian group. The polymorphic status of c.29C>T was comparable among Indo-Europeans, Dravidians and Tibeto-Burmans. Interestingly, we found that Tibeto-Burmans lack polymorphism at c.74G>C locus as true for the Chinese populations. However, the Brahmins of Nepal (Indo-Europeans) showed polymorphism in 2.08% of alleles. Mean TGF-β1 was significantly elevated in patients in comparison to controls (p<0.001). Conclusion: c.29C>T and c.74G>C polymorphisms in the TGF-β1 gene significantly affect breast cancer risk, which correlates with elevated TGF-β1 level in the patients. The c.29C>T locus is polymorphic across ethnically different populations, but c.74G>C locus is monomorphic in Tibeto-Burmans and polymorphic in other Indian populations

Enhanced recovery after surgery in liver surgery

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) or fast-track surgery protocols, have been implemented across surgical fields with positive impact on outcomes. These protocols represent a standardized and evidence-based multimodal perioperative strategy founded on a series of measures aiming to attenuate the physical and psychological stress responses to surgical insults, and to potentiate the postoperative rehabilitation of patients. The successful adoption of ERAS protocols in various specialties enabled its gradual acceptance in the complex field of liver surgery. Even though many elements have been adapted especially from colorectal surgery, a few elements of ERAS protocol are unique to liver surgery. The goals of enhanced recovery can be achieved with efforts beginning at the first interaction on outpatient basis. Core elements of this multidisciplinary effort include pre-operative counseling, shortened preoperative fasting, no pre-anesthetic medication, targeted antimicrobial prophylaxis and early withdrawal, preventing and treating of postoperative nausea and vomiting, minimally invasive approaches, avoidance of postoperative nasogastric decompression, preventing hypothermia, optimal perioperative fluid management, selective use of abdominal drains, early urinary catheter removal, optimal pain control, early oral feeding and mobilization. The available evidence from recent randomized controlled studies and meta-analyses comparing ERAS programs with traditional care in liver surgery suggests that length of hospital stay is shortened without increasing morbidity, mortality or readmission rates

Analysis of VMM computation strategies to implement BNN applications on RRAM arrays

The growing interest in edge-AI solutions and advances in the field of quantized neural networks have led to hardware efficient binary neural networks (BNNs). Extreme BNNs utilize only binary weights and activations, making them more memory efficient. Such networks can be realized using exclusive-NOR (XNOR) gates and popcount circuits. The analog in-memory realization of BNNs utilizing emerging non-volatile memory devices has been widely explored recently. However, most realizations typically use 2T-2R synapses, resulting in sub-optimal area utilization. In this study, we investigate alternate computation mapping strategies to realize BNN using selectorless resistive random access memory arrays. A new differential computation scheme that shows a comparable performance with the well-established XNOR computation strategy is proposed. Through extensive experimental characterization, BNN implementation using a non-filamentary bipolar oxide-based random access memory device-based crossbar is demonstrated for two datasets: (i) experimental characterization was performed on a thermal-image based Rock-Paper-Scissors dataset to analyze the impact of sneak-paths with real-hardware experiments. (ii) Large-scale BNN simulations on the Fashion-MNIST dataset with multi-level cell characteristics of non-filamentary devices are performed to demonstrate the impact of device non-idealities