Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma in the Sinonasal Region

Sinonasal region is an exceptional site for metastatic tumors. Renal cell carcinoma is known to metastasise to the most unusual sites, the sinonasal region being one of them. Clear cell carcinoma is its most common histologic variant. A sixty year old male presented with epistaxis and nasal obstruction. Clinical examination and CT scan revealed a vascular tumor in the right nasal cavity and maxillary sinus. The tumor was resected and sent for histopathological examination. A diagnosis of metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma was made and confirmed with immunohistochemistry (IHC). The pathologic diagnosis was made without prior knowledge of the primary tumor in the kidney. Very few cases of metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the sinonasal region have been reported in literature. We present this case to document its occurrence, highlight the rarity and briefly discuss the differential diagnoses of clear cell carcinoma in the sinonasal area, based on morphology and IHC

Brunner Gland Hamartoma: A Rare Incidental Finding on Autopsy

Brunner gland hamartoma (BGH), is a very rare benign tumor of the duodenum. It is usually asymptomatic and detected incidentally by endoscopy or other imaging modality. But, the definitive diagnosis is only by histopathological examination. We report an autopsy case in which a duodenal mass was found incidentally which was then confirmed histologically as Brunner gland hamartoma and the cause of death in this case was cerebral haemorrhage

Formulation, Evaluation and Lyophilization of Cisplatin Loaded Liposomes

Cisplatin, is an anticancer drug, belongs to alkylating agent_s class. Cisplatin is commonly used for the treatment of a wide range of cancers, majorly used in testicular and ovarian cancers and also in many types of sarcomas and carcinomas. The main objective of this work was designed to prepare and evaluate the Cisplatin Liposomes. This formulation can target the site of action with effect of stabilizer on drug entrapment efficiency, and to reduce the side effects by formulating pegylated Liposomes. This liposomal formulation was formulated using the hydrogenated soya phosphatidyl choline and cholesterol which has lesser toxicity. The Liposomes were prepared by dried thin film hydration technique using rotary evaporator with drug, carrier, ammonium sulphate and stabilizer. The parameters like temperature, vacuum and RPM were maintained accordingly. After preparation, the Liposomes were stored in freezed condition, and given for further evaluation. The prepared Liposomes of F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 and F6 formulations were evaluated for physical and chemical characteristics like average vesicle size, shape and zeta potential. The evaluated batches showed good physicochemical characteristics in F6 formulation. The prepared Liposomes of F1 to F6 were evaluated for % free drug and Assay, The % Free drug was optimum in F6 formulation when compared to other formulations. This developed liposomal drug delivery system was also evaluated for diffusion study by phosphate buffer pH7.4 using membrane diffusion method. The release of drug from F6 formulation was found to be sustained to certain extent when compared to other formulations. The release kinetics of F6 Formulation were optimized. F6formulation follow Case II transport when it is applied to the Korsmeyer model for mechanism of drug release. F6 formulation has better kinetic results when compared to other formulations. The stability of the Cisplatin Liposomes was evaluated at 4°c and room temperature for 60 days. The assay of the samples was determined as a function of the storage at different time intervals. The Liposomes stored at 4°c were found to be stable for duration of two months. From the results of physical characterization, in-vitro evaluation, release kinetics and stability studies, it was found that negative charged Liposomes containing Cisplatin might be used for the treatment of a testicular and ovarian cancer when compared to the normal drug and neutral Liposomes. CONCLUSION: To conclude the liposomal delivery of cisplatin would act as a suitable technique to enhance bioavailability of cisplatin than the conventional dosage form. It is also confirmed that liposomes will sustain the drug release, from the executed experimental results, it could be concluded that the stabilizer and along with hydrogenated soya phosphatidyl choline and cholesterol, were suitable carriers for the preparation of Cisplatin Liposome

Developing Business Acumen in Chinese Business School Graduates

This study assessed the importance of knowledge, skills, abilities (i.e., KSAs) and competencies for managerial success in China’s market economy. Business students at a major Chinese university were surveyed over a five year period, initially in 2001 and later in 2006, five years after China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Using Partial Least Squares (PLS), the explained variances in business acumen and social motivation skills were higher after China’s WTO entry. The results were reversed for communication skills. The results confirmed the predictive relevance of entrepreneurial behavior and adaptability in the model. Overall, the results suggest an enhanced appreciation for these KSAs after China’s WTO entry

Saccharin test of mucociliary clearance in Kartagener's syndrome

Saccharin test is a method for estimating mucociliary clearance in the upper respiratory passage. Its application in a clinically diagnosed patient with Kartagener's syndrome is reported

A comparative study between 0.5% ropivacaine with 50 mcg of dexmedetomidine and 0.5% ropivacaine with 8 mg of dexamethasone for ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus block – A randomized controlled study

Background: Peripheral nerve block analgesia is augmented using dexamethasone with perineural local anesthesia. Aims and Objectives: The study aimed to assess and compare the effects of dexmedetomidine and dexamethasone on the onset and duration of the sensory and motor block when added to 0.5% ropivacaine for the supraclavicular brachial plexus block. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled study was conducted at the Department of Orthopedics, Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, for 6 months March 2021–September 2021). Eighty patients were randomly allocated into two groups. Group A (40 patients) received ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus block with 0.5% ropivacaine (30 mL)+dexmedetomidine 50 mcg (0.5 mL)+normal saline (1.5 mL). Group B (40 patients) received ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus block with 0.5% ropivacaine (30 mL)+dexamethasone 8 mg (2 mL). Results: The dexmedetomidine group had a significantly faster onset of sensory anesthesia (3.9 min) than the dexamethasone group (7.8 min), with a higher duration. The dexmedetomidine group also had a faster onset of motor anesthesia (4.9 min) and a longer duration of analgesia (892.3 min) compared to the dexamethasone group (538 min). The dexmedetomidine group also had a longer duration for rescue analgesia (906 min) than the dexamethasone group (727 min). Visual Analog scores at 10, 14 and 24th h were lower in the dexmedetomidine group than in the dexamethasone group, which is statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine has a faster onset, longer duration, longer analgesia, and prolonged duration for rescue analgesia compared to dexamethasone for ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus block, with bradycardia and sedation as side effects

Integration of gene-based markers in a pearl millet genetic map for identification of candidate genes underlying drought tolerance QTLs

BACKGROUND: Identification of genes underlying drought tolerance (DT) quantitative trait loci (QTLs) will facilitate understanding of molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance, and also will accelerate genetic improvement of pearl millet through marker-assisted selection. We report a map based on genes with assigned functional roles in plant adaptation to drought and other abiotic stresses and demonstrate its use in identifying candidate genes underlying a major DT-QTL. RESULTS: Seventy five single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and conserved intron spanning primer (CISP) markers were developed from available expressed sequence tags (ESTs) using four genotypes, H 77/833-2, PRLT 2/89-33, ICMR 01029 and ICMR 01004, representing parents of two mapping populations. A total of 228 SNPs were obtained from 30.5 kb sequenced region resulting in a SNP frequency of 1/134 bp. The positions of major pearl millet linkage group (LG) 2 DT-QTLs (reported from crosses H 77/833-2 × PRLT 2/89-33 and 841B × 863B) were added to the present consensus function map which identified 18 genes, coding for PSI reaction center subunit III, PHYC, actin, alanine glyoxylate aminotransferase, uridylate kinase, acyl-CoA oxidase, dipeptidyl peptidase IV, MADS-box, serine/threonine protein kinase, ubiquitin conjugating enzyme, zinc finger C- × 8-C × 5-C × 3-H type, Hd3, acetyl CoA carboxylase, chlorophyll a/b binding protein, photolyase, protein phosphatase1 regulatory subunit SDS22 and two hypothetical proteins, co-mapping in this DT-QTL interval. Many of these candidate genes were found to have significant association with QTLs of grain yield, flowering time and leaf rolling under drought stress conditions. CONCLUSIONS: We have exploited available pearl millet EST sequences to generate a mapped resource of seventy five new gene-based markers for pearl millet and demonstrated its use in identifying candidate genes underlying a major DT-QTL in this species. The reported gene-based markers represent an important resource for identification of candidate genes for other mapped abiotic stress QTLs in pearl millet. They also provide a resource for initiating association studies using candidate genes and also for comparing the structure and function of distantly related plant genomes such as other Poaceae members

Classification of chemically modified red blood cells in microflow using machine learning video analysis

We classify native and chemically modified red blood cells with an AI based video classifier. Using TensorFlow video analysis enables us to capture not only the morphology of the cell but also the trajectories of motion of individual red blood cells and their dynamics. We chemically modify cells in three different ways to model different pathological conditions and obtain classification accuracies for all three classification tasks of more than 90% between native and modified cells. Unlike standard cytometers that are based on immunophenotyping our microfluidic cytometer allows to rapidly categorize cells without any fluorescence labels simply by analysing the shape and flow of red blood cells

Interoperability and FAIRness through a novel combination of Web technologies

Data in the life sciences are extremely diverse and are stored in a broad spectrum of repositories ranging from those designed for particular data types (such as KEGG for pathway data or UniProt for protein data) to those that are general-purpose (such as FigShare, Zenodo, Dataverse or EUDAT). These data have widely different levels of sensitivity and security considerations. For example, clinical observations about genetic mutations in patients are highly sensitive, while observations of species diversity are generally not. The lack of uniformity in data models from one repository to another, and in the richness and availability of metadata descriptions, makes integration and analysis of these data a manual, time-consuming task with no scalability. Here we explore a set of resource-oriented Web design patterns for data discovery, accessibility, transformation, and integration that can be implemented by any general- or special-purpose repository as a means to assist users in finding and reusing their data holdings. We show that by using off-the-shelf technologies, interoperability can be achieved atthe level of an individual spreadsheet cell. We note that the behaviours of this architecture compare favourably to the desiderata defined by the FAIR Data Principles, and can therefore represent an exemplar implementation of those principles. The proposed interoperability design patterns may be used to improve discovery and integration of both new and legacy data, maximizing the utility of all scholarly outputs