A randomized comparative clinical study to evaluate the effect of Ghanavyoshadi Khanda over Vidarikandadi Khanda in Karshya w.s.r. to Underweight Children

Background: Undernutrition is one of the major causes of increased morbidity & mortality among children. One of the most emerging issues in the present scenario is having long-term effects on physical & cognitive development. Underweight is one of the cardinal determinants of under nutrition.  According to a 2019 report, India is ranked 102 out of 119 countries. As per NFHS 4 in India shows 35.7% under 5 children were underweight, 38.4% were stunted & 21% were wasted. Karshya is an Apatarpana Janya Vyadhi.  The trial was proposed to study the comparative effect of Ghanavyoshadi Khanda & Vidaryadi Khanda by using specific parameters for Karshya w.s.r. to underweight. Objective: To evaluate the comparative effect of Ghanavyoshadi Khanda over Vidarikandadi Khanda in the management of Karshya. Materials & Methods: Children of age group 2-5 years were selected from Kaumarabhritya OPD of SDM College of Ayurveda & Hospital, Udupi, also from nearby Anganwadi’s & preschool of Udupi. Selected subjects were randomly allocated into 2 groups of 15 patients each. Group A will be administered with Ghanavyoshadi Khanda along with Sukoshna Ksheera as Anupana twice daily before food and group B with Vidarikandadi Khanda along with Sukoshna Ksheera as Anupana twice daily after food for 1 month. Results: Children showed improvements in all aspects of Karshya w.s.r. to underweight like weight, height, MUAC, & BMI. Both the groups showed highly significant improvement in Kshut, Abyavarana Sakti & significant changes in Badhavitt. Insignificant changes in Alpapranaschakriya, Pipasa & Nidra. Conclusion: It was concluded clinically the consumption of Ghanavyoshadi Khanda & Vidaryadi Khanda along with Sukoshna Ksheera are equally effective in the management of Karshya w.s.r. to underweight in children

A clinical study to evaluate the effect of Dashamoola Hareetaki Avaleha in Tundikeri w.s.r to Chronic Tonsillitis

Recurrent tonsillitis is commonly seen in children and this has many adverse effects on the normal growth and development of the child, missing of school days, economic burden of treatment etc. are few to name. About 30 million children develop tonsillitis with frequent exposure to bacterial and viral infections. The chronic tonsillitis wherein the tonsil gland gets inflamed and enlarged repeatedly, after treatment the size remains same though the inflammation subsides. This leads to obstruction in the throat both to airways as well as digestive tract. According to Ayurvedic classics, various internal medicines and procedures are advocated in the management of Mukharogas. In general, the drugs selected for treatment should have Lekhana, Shothahara, Pachana, Ropana, Rakthashambana and Vedanasthapana properties. One such polyherbal preparation is Dashamoolaharitaki Avaleha mentioned in Svayathu Chikitsa by Acharya Vagbhata, which is widely used in clinics for management of Tundikeri. In the present scenario scientific validation about the success of these treatments is required. Therefore an open label clinical study was designed to prove the effect of Dashamoolaharitaki Avaleha in Tundikeri. Materials and Methods: An open trial single group clinical study with minimum of 30 patients between the age group of 5 to 15 years with Tundikeri over a period of 30 days. Result: The clinical    study showed highly significant results in relieving the clinical signs and symptoms of Tundikeri. Discussion: The Dashamoolaharitaki Avaleha was found therapeutically effective and safe to be administered in children and the mode of action was elaborated to substantiate the results

LHX2 Interacts with the NuRD Complex and Regulates Cortical Neuron Subtype Determinants Fezf2 and Sox11

In the developing cerebral cortex, sequential transcriptional programs take neuroepithelial cells from proliferating progenitors to differentiated neurons with unique molecular identities. The regulatory changes that occur in the chromatin of the progenitors are not well understood. During deep layer neurogenesis, we show that transcription factor LHX2 binds to distal regulatory elements of Fezf2 and Sox11, critical determinants of neuron subtype identity in the mouse neocortex. We demonstrate that LHX2 binds to the nucleosome remodeling and histone deacetylase histone remodeling complex subunits LSD1, HDAC2, and RBBP4, which are proximal regulators of the epigenetic state of chromatin. When LHX2 is absent, active histone marks at the Fezf2 and Sox11 loci are increased. Loss of LHX2 produces an increase, and overexpression of LHX2 causes a decrease, in layer 5 Fezf2 and CTIP2-expressing neurons. Our results provide mechanistic insight into how LHX2 acts as a necessary and sufficient regulator of genes that control cortical neuronal subtype identity

Undifferentiated spondyloarthritis following allogeneic stem cell transplantation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Stem cell transplant has been utilized in the treatment of malignancies and rheumatic disease. Rheumatic disease may be transferred from the donor with active disease or may be developed in a recipient de novo as a late complication of SCT.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>We here report the rare case of a 26-year old male patient, who has been diagnosed with undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy after unique circumstance. The patient suffered from intermittent inflammatory back pain and peripheral joint swelling for several years and did not find relief through multiple emergency room visits at different medical facilities. After a thorough history and physical exam, it was noted that our patient had developed signs of axial disease along with dactylitis and overall that he had been insidiously developing an undifferentiated spondyloarthopathy after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our observation supports the hypothesis that de novo rheumatic disease can develop after stem cell transplant for a variety of reasons. Thus, larger studies and awareness of this association are needed to delineate the exact underlying mechanism(s).</p

Genetic Background Can Result in a Marked or Minimal Effect of Gene Knockout (GPR55 and CB2 Receptor) in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Models of Multiple Sclerosis

PMCID: PMC379391

Laws of biology: why so few?

Finding fundamental organizing principles is the current intellectual front end of systems biology. From a hydrogen atom to the whole cell level, organisms manage massively parallel and massively interactive processes over several orders of magnitude of size. To manage this scale of informational complexity it is natural to expect organizing principles that determine higher order behavior. Currently, there are only hints of such organizing principles but no absolute evidences. Here, we present an approach as old as Mendel that could help uncover fundamental organizing principles in biology. Our approach essentially consists of identifying constants at various levels and weaving them into a hierarchical chassis. As we identify and organize constants, from pair-wise interactions to networks, our understanding of the fundamental principles in biology will improve, leading to a theory in biology

MicroRNA signature characterizes primary tumors that metastasize in an esophageal adenocarcinoma rat model

Objective: To establish a miRNA signature for metastasis in an animal model of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Background: The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) has dramatically increased and esophageal cancer is now the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Mortality rates remain high among patients with advanced stage disease and esophagectomy is associated with high complication rates. Hence, early identification of potentially metastatic disease would better guide treatment strategies. Methods: The modified Levrat's surgery was performed to induce EAC in Sprague-Dawley rats. Primary EAC and distant metastatic sites were confirmed via histology and immunofluorescence. miRNA profiling was performed on primary tumors with or without metastasis. A unique subset of miRNAs expressed in primary tumors and metastases was identified with Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) along with upstream and downstream targets. miRNAlinked gene expression analysis was performed on a secondary cohort of metastasis positive (n=5) and metastasis negative (n=28) primary tumors. Results: The epithelial origin of distant metastasis was established by IF using villin (VIL1) and mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) antibodies. miRNome analysis identified four down-regulated miRNAs in metastasis positive primary tumors compared to metastasis negative tumors: miR-PLOS 92a-3p (p=0.0001), miR-141-3p (p=0.0022), miR-451-1a (p=0.0181) and miR133a-3p (p=0.0304). Six target genes identified in the top scoring networks by IPA were validated as significantly, differentially expressed in metastasis positive primary tumors: Ago2, Akt1, Kras, Bcl2L11, CDKN1B and Zeb2. Conclusion: In vivo metastasis was confirmed in the modified Levrat's model. Analysis of the primary tumor identified a distinctive miRNA signature for primary tumors that metastasized

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty