Effects of different prey regimes on activities of digestive enzymes in Andrallus spinidens (Hem.: Pentatomidae)

The responses of digestive enzymes of the midgut of Andrallus spinidens Fabricius nymphs, toward feeding on Chilo suppressalis Walker, Galleria melonella (L.), Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) and Ephestia kuehniella Zeller were analyzed to find the most satisfactory species for a mass rearing program. The nymphs were fed from 2nd instar until 24 hours after the emergence of the 5th instar. The highest weight gain was recorded in the nymphs that fed on C. suppressalis and G. melonella, and the highest amount of total protein found in the nymphs feeding on G. mellonella. Carbohydrase activities including α-amylase, α- and β-glucosidase were the highest in the nymphs that were fed on C. suppressalis and E. kuhniella. The highest TAG-lipase activity occurred in the nymphs feeding on G. mellonella and the related gel electrophoresis showed distinctive zones in comparison with the rest. General proteolytic was performed at two pH values and the highest activity recorded in G. melonella (pH 8) and E. kuehniella (pH 6). The highest activities of serine proteinases, cysteine proteinases and two exopeptidases were found in the nymphs fed on G. mellonella and E. kuehniella. Correlation between digestive enzyme activities in A. spinidens and nutritional composition of their feeds may reflect the adaptive nature of the enzymatic profile. These findings can efficiently help to find the most suitable species for an efficient control program and successful mass rearing of the biocontrol agent

Exhumation history of the Higher Himalayan Crystalline along Dhauliganga-Goriganga river valleys, NW India: new constraints from fission track analysis

New apatite and zircon fission track data collected from two transects along the Dhauliganga and Goriganga rivers in the NW Himalaya document exhumation of the Higher Himalayan Crystalline units. Despite sharing the same structural configuration and rock types and being separated by only 60 km, the two study areas show very different patterns of exhumation. Fission track (FT) data from the Dhauliganga section show systematic changes in age (individual apatite FT ages range from 0.9 ± 0.3 to 3.6 ± 0.5 Ma, r 2 = 0.82) that record faster exhumation across a zone that extends from the Main Central Thrust to north of the Vaikrita thrust. By contrast, FT results from the Goriganga Valley show a stepwise change in ages across the Vaikrita thrust that suggests Quaternary thrust sense displacement. Footwall samples yield a weighted mean apatite age of 1.6 ± 0.1 Ma compared to 0.7 ± 0.04 Ma in the hanging wall. A constant zircon fission track age of 1.8 ± 0.4 Ma across both the footwall and hanging wall shows the 0.9 Ma difference in apatite ages is due to movement on the Vaikrita thrust that initiated soon after ∼1.8 Ma. The Goriganga section provides clear evidence for >1 Ma of tectonic deformation in the brittle crust that contrasts with previous exhumation studies in other areas of the high Himalaya ranges; these studies have been unable to decouple the role of climate erosion from tectonics. One possibility why there is a clear tectonic signal in the Goriganga Valley is that climate erosion has not yet fully adjusted to the tectonic perturbation

Comparing the Efficacy of Tolterodine and Gabapentin Versus Placebo in Catheter Related Bladder Discomfort after Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of tolterodine and gabapentin vs placebo in catheter related bladder discomfort (CRBD) following percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Materials and Methods: This study was a double-blind parallel group randomized clinical trial. Patients who were candidates of PCNL were enrolled. Patients were randomized to treatment groups of tolterodine 2 mg orally (PO) (group T, n = 50), gabapentin 600 mg PO (group G, n = 50), and placebo (group P, n = 70) 1 hour before operation using balanced block randomization. The primary endpoint of interest was visual analog pain scale in 1, 3, 12, and 24 hours after the operation. Secondary endpoints included rescue analgesic use (opioid and nonopioid). Results: The frequency of severe CRBD in 1,12, and 24 hours after the operation was 4, 4, and 6 in group T vs 4, 0, and 2 in group G vs 47, 14, and 6 in the P group (p < 0.001). The number of paracetamol injections for CRBD in the T and G groups was significantly lower than the placebo group (1.8 ± 0.8 vs 1.8 ± 0.7 vs 3.6 ± 0.7, p < 0.001). Likewise the number of pethidine injections in the T and G groups was significantly lower than the placebo group (0.42 ± 0.54 vs 0.68 ± 0.62 vs 2.4 ± 0.64, p < 0.001). In patients with history of Double-J insertion, the severity of CRBD was lower in all treatment groups. Conclusions: Preoperative administration of oral tolterodine or gabapentin reduces postoperative CRBD and the need for rescue analgesics as much as 24 hours after surgery. Patients with history of Double-J insertion experience less CRBD. © Copyright 2018, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc

Comparing the Efficacy of Tolterodine and Gabapentin Versus Placebo in Catheter Related Bladder Discomfort after Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of tolterodine and gabapentin vs placebo in catheter related bladder discomfort (CRBD) following percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Materials and Methods: This study was a double-blind parallel group randomized clinical trial. Patients who were candidates of PCNL were enrolled. Patients were randomized to treatment groups of tolterodine 2 mg orally (PO) (group T, n = 50), gabapentin 600 mg PO (group G, n = 50), and placebo (group P, n = 70) 1 hour before operation using balanced block randomization. The primary endpoint of interest was visual analog pain scale in 1, 3, 12, and 24 hours after the operation. Secondary endpoints included rescue analgesic use (opioid and nonopioid). Results: The frequency of severe CRBD in 1,12, and 24 hours after the operation was 4, 4, and 6 in group T vs 4, 0, and 2 in group G vs 47, 14, and 6 in the P group (p < 0.001). The number of paracetamol injections for CRBD in the T and G groups was significantly lower than the placebo group (1.8 ± 0.8 vs 1.8 ± 0.7 vs 3.6 ± 0.7, p < 0.001). Likewise the number of pethidine injections in the T and G groups was significantly lower than the placebo group (0.42 ± 0.54 vs 0.68 ± 0.62 vs 2.4 ± 0.64, p < 0.001). In patients with history of Double-J insertion, the severity of CRBD was lower in all treatment groups. Conclusions: Preoperative administration of oral tolterodine or gabapentin reduces postoperative CRBD and the need for rescue analgesics as much as 24 hours after surgery. Patients with history of Double-J insertion experience less CRBD. © Copyright 2018, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc

The sensitivity of ECG contamination to surgical implantation site in brain computer interfaces.

BACKGROUND Brain sensing devices are approved today for Parkinson's, essential tremor, and epilepsy therapies. Clinical decisions for implants are often influenced by the premise that patients will benefit from using sensing technology. However, artifacts, such as ECG contamination, can render such treatments unreliable. Therefore, clinicians need to understand how surgical decisions may affect artifact probability. OBJECTIVES Investigate neural signal contamination with ECG activity in sensing enabled neurostimulation systems, and in particular clinical choices such as implant location that impact signal fidelity. METHODS Electric field modeling and empirical signals from 85 patients were used to investigate the relationship between implant location and ECG contamination. RESULTS The impact on neural recordings depends on the difference between ECG signal and noise floor of the electrophysiological recording. Empirically, we demonstrate that severe ECG contamination was more than 3.2x higher in left-sided subclavicular implants (48.3%), when compared to right-sided implants (15.3%). Cranial implants did not show ECG contamination. CONCLUSIONS Given the relative frequency of corrupted neural signals, we conclude that implant location will impact the ability of brain sensing devices to be used for "closed-loop" algorithms. Clinical adjustments such as implant location can significantly affect signal integrity and need consideration

Tear fluid biomarkers in ocular and systemic disease: potential use for predictive, preventive and personalised medicine

In the field of predictive, preventive and personalised medicine, researchers are keen to identify novel and reliable ways to predict and diagnose disease, as well as to monitor patient response to therapeutic agents. In the last decade alone, the sensitivity of profiling technologies has undergone huge improvements in detection sensitivity, thus allowing quantification of minute samples, for example body fluids that were previously difficult to assay. As a consequence, there has been a huge increase in tear fluid investigation, predominantly in the field of ocular surface disease. As tears are a more accessible and less complex body fluid (than serum or plasma) and sampling is much less invasive, research is starting to focus on how disease processes affect the proteomic, lipidomic and metabolomic composition of the tear film. By determining compositional changes to tear profiles, crucial pathways in disease progression may be identified, allowing for more predictive and personalised therapy of the individual. This article will provide an overview of the various putative tear fluid biomarkers that have been identified to date, ranging from ocular surface disease and retinopathies to cancer and multiple sclerosis. Putative tear fluid biomarkers of ocular disorders, as well as the more recent field of systemic disease biomarkers, will be shown

Wavefront-guided versus cross-cylinder photorefractive keratectomy in moderate-to-high astigmatism: a cohort of two consecutive clinical trials

MR Sedghipour, R Sorkhabi, A MostafaeiNikoukari Ophthalmology University Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IranBackground: Although there have been many studies of the efficacy and safety of wavefront-guided (WF) and cross-cylinder photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), there are few studies on moderate-to-high astigmatism cases. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the efficacy of WF and cross-cylinder PRK in moderate-to-high astigmatism.Methods: In a comparative cohort, the results of two before-and-after clinical trials conducted on moderate-to-high astigmatism were studied. In the first trial, 50 eyes of 25 patients with stable refraction were enrolled in a before-and-after clinical trial to undergo WF PRK using the VISX&amp;trade; (VISX Inc, Santa Clara, CA) system. The second clinical trial enrolled 48 eyes of 24 patients with stable refraction and moderate-to-high astigmatism to undergo PRK by the cross-cylinder method using a NIDEK EC-5000 excimer laser system (NIDEK Co Ltd, Gamagori, Japan).Results: After 6 months, 80% of the eyes in the WF group had uncorrected visual acuity of 20/20 or better compared to 40% in the cross-cylinder group. Only one eye in the cross-cylinder group and no eyes in the WF group lost more than one line of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) after 6 months of treatment. No treated eyes in either group lost more than two lines of BCVA. The percentage of eyes with no change in BCVA was 54% and 58.3% in the WF and cross-cylinder groups, respectively. Mean postoperative absolute changes in total root-mean-square higher order aberrations in the WF group and cross-cylinder group were 0.05 &amp;plusmn; 0.22 &amp;micro;m and 0.17 &amp;plusmn; 0.20 &amp;micro;m, respectively (P &amp;lt; 0.001).Conclusion: Both methods of PRK, using the NIDEK EC-5000 and VISX excimer laser systems, are effective for correcting moderate-to-high astigmatism. The WF approach appeared more successful in improving the refractive results.Keywords: astigmatism, photorefractive keratectomy, wavefront-guided photorefractive keratectomy, cross-cylinder photorefractive keratectom