Maternal and fetal outcome in pregnancy with hepatitis E virus infection

Background: Hepatitis E infection has been a major concern in the pregnant females due to its fulminant nature in pregnancy and increased mortality in pregnant females as compared the non-pregnant females and males. In spite of approximately 60 years of its discovery the cause of fulminant nature of hepatitis E in pregnancy still remains a mystery. The maternal and fetal outcomes are still unfavorable. Various studies and hypothesis have been given but still not proved. Hence the study was performed in tertiary care centre to evaluate the maternal and fetal outcome in pregnancy with hepatitis E virus infection.Methods: All cases of hepatitis E, IgM positive visiting the antenatal clinic or admitted during the period of 2012 and 2014 at the tertiary care centre were included in the study. Other cases of hepatitis (noninfectious, other causes of viral hepatitis) were excluded. Maternal outcome in terms of acute liver failure, coagulation failure, hepatic encephalopathy and maternal mortality was studied. Fetal outcome in terms of, preterm labor, low birth weight, intrauterine fetal death was studied.Results: In the study it was found that pregnant women with jaundice and acute viral hepatitis due to hepatitis E virus infection had a high mortality rate (52%), especially during third trimester and postpartum period (82%). The most common medical complication was coagulation failure (56%) and acute liver failure (27%) followed by hepatic encephalopathy (17%). The most common obstetric complication was post-partum hemorrhage (42%) followed by IUFD (24%), APH (8%).Conclusions: The study shows that pregnant women with jaundice and acute viral hepatitis due to hepatitis E virus infection had a high mortality rate especially during third trimester and postpartum period and also they had poor obstetric and fetal outcome

Role of Doppler indices in prediction of perinatal outcome in preeclampsia

Background: Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity worldwide, particularly in developing countries. The objective of the study was to study Doppler indices in pregnancies with preeclampsia and to correlate Doppler indices with perinatal outcome.Methods: This was a prospective study conducted within a period of September 2012 to August 2014 where 100 singleton preeclampsia patients attending tertiary care hospital were recruited. These patients were followed by serial Doppler assessment and the result of the last Doppler examination within 10 days of delivery was considered in the subsequent correlation with perinatal outcomes. Perinatal outcome was studied under major and minor adverse outcome.Results: In this study out of total population 54% were primigravida patients. 43.75% caesarean sections done for fetal distress with abnormal Doppler. Bilateral uterine artery diastolic notch and umbilical artery S/D ratio have better sensitivity (72.55%) for prediction of minor adverse outcome while uterine artery diastolic notch has better sensitivity (86.67%) for major adverse outcome. Umbilical artery and middle cerebral artery RI have better specificity and positive predictive value  for prediction of both major and minor adverse outcome. Bilateral uterine artery notch and umbilical artery S/D ratio have better negative predictive value for prediction of both major and minor adverse outcome.Conclusions: In this study it is concluded that Doppler analysis helps not only earlier detection of uteroplacental and fetoplacental changes associated with the disease but also help to take decision for early intervention. Doppler technology has provided the best opportunity for repetitive non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring in pregnancy for fetal well-being evaluation and predicting perinatal outcome

Maternal and fetal outcome in pregnancy with hepatitis E virus infection

Background: Hepatitis E infection has been a major concern in the pregnant females due to its fulminant nature in pregnancy and increased mortality in pregnant females as compared the non-pregnant females and males. In spite of approximately 60 years of its discovery the cause of fulminant nature of hepatitis E in pregnancy still remains a mystery. The maternal and fetal outcomes are still unfavorable. Various studies and hypothesis have been given but still not proved. Hence the study was performed in tertiary care centre to evaluate the maternal and fetal outcome in pregnancy with hepatitis E virus infection.Methods: All cases of hepatitis E, IgM positive visiting the antenatal clinic or admitted during the period of 2012 and 2014 at the tertiary care centre were included in the study. Other cases of hepatitis (noninfectious, other causes of viral hepatitis) were excluded. Maternal outcome in terms of acute liver failure, coagulation failure, hepatic encephalopathy and maternal mortality was studied. Fetal outcome in terms of, preterm labor, low birth weight, intrauterine fetal death was studied.Results: In the study it was found that pregnant women with jaundice and acute viral hepatitis due to hepatitis E virus infection had a high mortality rate (52%), especially during third trimester and postpartum period (82%). The most common medical complication was coagulation failure (56%) and acute liver failure (27%) followed by hepatic encephalopathy (17%). The most common obstetric complication was post-partum hemorrhage (42%) followed by IUFD (24%), APH (8%).Conclusions: The study shows that pregnant women with jaundice and acute viral hepatitis due to hepatitis E virus infection had a high mortality rate especially during third trimester and postpartum period and also they had poor obstetric and fetal outcome

The cultural-social nucleus of an open community: A multi-level community knowledge graph and NASA application

The challenges faced by science, engineering, and society are increasingly complex, requiring broad, cross-disciplinary teams to contribute to collective knowledge, cooperation, and sensemaking efforts. However, existing approaches to collaboration and knowledge sharing are largely manual, inadequate to meet the needs of teams that are not closely connected through personal ties or which lack the time to respond to dynamic requests for contextual information sharing. Nonetheless, in the current remote-first, complexity-driven, time-constrained workplace, such teams are both more common and more necessary. For example, the NASA Center for HelioAnalytics (CfHA) is a growing and cross-disciplinary community that is dedicated to aiding the application of emerging data science techniques and technologies, including AI/ML, to increase the speed, rigor, and depth of space physics scientific discovery. The members of that community possess innumerable skills and competencies and are involved in hundreds of projects, including proposals, committees, papers, presentations, conferences, groups, and missions. Traditional structures for information and knowledge representation do not permit the community to search and discover activities that are ongoing across the Center, nor to understand where skills and knowledge exist. The approaches that do exist are burdensome and result in inefficient use of resources, reinvention of solutions, and missed important connections. The challenge faced by the CfHA is a common one across modern groups and one that must be solved if we are to respond to the grand challenges that face our society, such as complex scientific phenomena, global pandemics and climate change. We present a solution to the problem: a community knowledge graph (KG) that aids an organization to better understand the resources (people, capabilities, affiliations, assets, content, data, models) available across its membership base, and thus supports a more cohesive community and more capable teams, enables robust and responsible application of new technologies, and provides the foundation for all members of the community to co-evolve the shared information space. We call this the Community Action and Understanding via Semantic Enrichment (CAUSE) ontology. We demonstrate the efficacy of KGs that can be instantiated from the ontology together with data from a given community (shown here for the CfHA). Finally, we discuss the implications, including the importance of the community KG for open science

Transferrin functionalized poloxamer-chitosan nanoparticles of metformin: physicochemical characterization, <i>in-vitro,</i> and <i>Ex-vivo</i> studies

We report the preparation, characterization, and in-vitro therapeutic evaluation of Metformin-Loaded, Transferrin-Poloxamer-Functionalized Chitosan Nanoparticles (TPMC-NPs) for their repurposing in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Usefulness of this work to establish the repurposing of metformin for the treatment of AD. The TPMC-NPs were prepared by ionic gelation method using sodium tripolyphosphate. The modification and functionalization were confirmed by FTIR and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The physicochemical characterization was performed using DLS, FTIR,1H-NMR, CD spectroscopy, SEM, DSC, PXRD, HR-TEM, and hot-stage microscopy. The size, PDI, percent entrapment efficiency, and percent drug loading of TPMC-NPs were found to be 287.4 ± 9.5, 0.273 ± 0.067, 81.15 ± 7.17%, 11.75%±8.21%, respectively. Electron microscope analysis revealed smooth and spherical morphology. The transferrin conjugation efficiency was found to be 46% by the BCA method. CD spectroscopy confirmed no significant loss of the secondary structure of transferrin after conjugation. PXRD data indicated the amorphous nature of the TPMC-NPs. Hot-stage microscopy and DSC confirmed the thermal stability of TPMC-NPs. The in-vitro drug release showed a sustained release at pH 7.4. The DPPH assay displayed 80% antioxidant activity of TPMC-NPs in comparison with metformin and blank NPs. The in-vitro cytotoxicity assay revealed 69.60% viable SH- SY5Y cells at 100 µg/mL of TPMC NPs. The ex-vivo nasal ciliotoxicity and mucoadhesion studies showed no significant toxicity, and 98.16% adhesion, respectively. The nasal permeability study showed the release of metformin within 30 min from TPMC-NPs. The obtained results suggested the usefulness of TPMC-NPs in the treatment of AD via the intranasal route.</p

Cloud Security Using AES Algorithm

This paper proposes an overview of an android application which uses cloud service and provides a network to user for securing data over cloud by storing it in encrypted format. This data could only be retrieved with the help of key which is provided by the application to the user. The main aspect of cloud computing is how one can Secure, Protect and Process the data Cloud computing is a technology that is recently developed for complex systems with large-scale services sharing among multiple users. Therefore, authentication and integration of both users and services is a significant issue for the trust and security of the cloud computing unique platform has brought new security issues to contemplate. Cloud computing is essentially the management and provision of applications, information and data as a service. Using key based Cryptography technique we propose and implement a new algorithmic approach for cloud security in this paper. The efficiency of the algorithm can be improved by integrating multiple cryptography algorithms. To ensure the data security, we proposed a method by implementing AES algorithm

Role of Doppler indices in prediction of perinatal outcome in preeclampsia

Background: Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity worldwide, particularly in developing countries. The objective of the study was to study Doppler indices in pregnancies with preeclampsia and to correlate Doppler indices with perinatal outcome.Methods: This was a prospective study conducted within a period of September 2012 to August 2014 where 100 singleton preeclampsia patients attending tertiary care hospital were recruited. These patients were followed by serial Doppler assessment and the result of the last Doppler examination within 10 days of delivery was considered in the subsequent correlation with perinatal outcomes. Perinatal outcome was studied under major and minor adverse outcome.Results: In this study out of total population 54% were primigravida patients. 43.75% caesarean sections done for fetal distress with abnormal Doppler. Bilateral uterine artery diastolic notch and umbilical artery S/D ratio have better sensitivity (72.55%) for prediction of minor adverse outcome while uterine artery diastolic notch has better sensitivity (86.67%) for major adverse outcome. Umbilical artery and middle cerebral artery RI have better specificity and positive predictive value  for prediction of both major and minor adverse outcome. Bilateral uterine artery notch and umbilical artery S/D ratio have better negative predictive value for prediction of both major and minor adverse outcome.Conclusions: In this study it is concluded that Doppler analysis helps not only earlier detection of uteroplacental and fetoplacental changes associated with the disease but also help to take decision for early intervention. Doppler technology has provided the best opportunity for repetitive non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring in pregnancy for fetal well-being evaluation and predicting perinatal outcome

Development of Antifouling Thin-Film Composite/Nanocomposite Membranes for Removal of Phosphate and Malachite Green Dye

Nowadays polymer-based thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane technologies are showing key interest to improve the separation properties. TFN membranes are well known in diverse fields but developing highly improved TFN membranes for the removal of low concentration solutions is the main challenge for the researchers. Application of functional nanomaterials, incorporated in TFN membranes provides better performance as permeance and selectivity. The polymer membrane-based separation process plays an important role in the chemical industry for the isolation of products and recovery of different important types of reactants. Due to the reduction in investment, less operating costs and safety issues membrane methods are mainly used for the separation process. Membranes do good separation of dyes and ions, yet their separation efficiency is challenged when the impurity is in low concentration. Herewith, we have developed, UiO-66-NH2 incorporated TFN membranes through interfacial polymerization between piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) for separating malachite green dye and phosphate from water in their low concentration. A comparative study between thin-film composite (TFC) and TFN has been carried out to comprehend the benefit of loading nanoparticles. To provide mechanical strength to the polyamide layer ultra-porous polysulfone support was made through phase inversion. As a result, outstanding separation values of malachite green (MG) 91.90 &plusmn; 3% rejection with 13.32 &plusmn; 0.6 Lm&minus;2h&minus;1 flux and phosphate 78.36 &plusmn; 3% rejection with 22.22 &plusmn; 1.1 Lm&minus;2h&minus;1 flux by TFN membrane were obtained. The antifouling tendency of the membranes was examined by using bovine serum albumin (BSA)-mixed feed and deionized water, the study showed a good ~84% antifouling tendency of TFN membrane with a small ~14% irreversible fouling. Membrane&rsquo;s antibacterial test against E. coli. and S. aureus. also revealed that the TFN membrane possesses antibacterial activity as well. We believe that the present work is an approach to obtaining good results from the membranes under tricky conditions