Anatomical variations in the extra hepatic biliary system: a cross sectional study

Background: The anatomy of the biliary system has been the subject of extended research for many years. Largely because of their surgical importance in cholecystectomies and the ease with which they may be studied. Though, interest has been focused on the extrahepatic bile ducts very few studies have been carried out in the Indian subcontinent. Objectives was to study the anatomical variations in extrahepatic biliary system in sample of Indian cadaveric specimens.Methods: The study material consisted of 20 adult dissection room cadavers and 30 enbloc post-mortem specimens. Cadaver specimens were studied from dissection room. Post-mortem enbloc specimens were collected from the Department of Forensic Medicine, Madurai Medical College, Madurai. They were studied by conventional dissection method.Results: The key abnormalities found in all bladder were Hartman's pouch shape and neck in 2 (4%) subjects each. Gallstones were present in 2 (4%) subject. The length of the common Bile duct was ranging from as short as 6.5 cm in 24% of the subjects to 9cm in 4% of the subjects. High level of the cystic duct union with the common hepatic duct was noted in16% of specimens and in remaining 2% it was low union. Abnormal arrangement of structures in hepatoduodenal duct was normal in 98% but was abnormal in 2% of subjects. A total of 14% of the specimens had accessory ducts. Double and accessory cystic artery was found in 2% of the subjects each.  In 8% of the subjects, cystic artery had abnormal course and division. The right hepatic artery was had shown abnormal course and division in 4% of the subjects. Abnormal boundaries of Calot’s triangle was found in 2% of the subjects. Abnormal contents of Calot’s triangle include Accessory hepatic ducts in 10% of subjects.Conclusions: Anatomical variations of the extrahepatic biliary system are very common and a through an understanding of them is essential for surgeons to avoid damage to vital structures during surgical procedures and better surgical outcomes

The Study of the Origin, Course, Distribution and Branching Pattern of the Inferior Epigastric Artery.

The inferior epigastric artery, the most important and largest blood vessel of the anterior abdominal wall, was studied in detail by conventional dissection, predissectional dye injection, angiographic and histological studies. The observations of the study have been correlated with the findings of already existing studies. The following conclusions are derived from the study. The origin of the inferior epigastric artery is from the anteromedial surface of the external iliac artery bilaterally at or just above the inguinal ligament. The inferior epigastric artery ascends between the rectus abdominis muscle and its sheath for a considerable distance before entering the rectus muscle in its middle third in 72%, lower third 20% and upper third 8%. Commonly the inferior epigastric artery has a single stem (86%), but double stem before entering the rectus muscle substance occurs in 14%. Abnormal obturator artery is found in 16%. In 87.5%, the abnormal obturator artery is related to the lateral border of the femoral ring, and in 12.5% it descends along the medial border of the femoral ring. The pubic branch of the inferior epigastric artery crosses the superior pubic ramus to anastomose with the pubic ramus of the obturator artery(corona mortis) where it is prone to injury in operations around the retropubic area like laparoscopic hernia repair and laparoscopic prostatectomy. Gross anastomoses between the superior and inferior epigastric arteries is observed in 28%, and it occurs above the level of the umbilicus, whereas no anastomoses is observed in 72%. In cases with anastomoses, Type I pattern (Moon & Taylor) is 16%, Type II 10% and Type III 2%. The average length of the inferior epigastric artery from the origin to the lateral rectus margin is 5.8 cm and from the origin to the entry into the rectus muscle substance is 10.4 cm. The diameter of the inferior epigastric artery observed by 64 slice CT angiographic study is 2.8 mm at the origin, and 2 mm at its entrance into the rectus abdominis. The distance of the inferior epigastric artery from the midline at various levels have been noted. Regardless of the abdominal level, the dangerous zone is found to be between 3 cm and 8 cm from the midline. Staying away from this area either medially or laterally will determine the safety zone of entry into the abdominal wall without risk of injury to the epigastric vessels. The combined thickness of the intima and media is lower in inferior epigastric artery than the internal thoracic artery. The media of the inferior epigastric artery consists of thickly packed smooth muscle fibres whereas in the internal thoracic artery, the media contains mainly elastic fibres. A comprehensive study of the origin, course, branches, anastomosis, length, diameter and distance of the inferior epigastric artery from important landmarks of the abdominal wall under a common umbrella will prove to be useful to the plastic surgeons who consider the lower abdomen skin and fat to be an ideal material for breast reconstruction, cardiothoracic surgeons evaluating the inferior epigastric artery as an alternative conduit for coronary artery bypass grafting, the laparoscopic surgeons and the general surgeons

The Antecedents of Information Systems Development Capability in Firms: A Knowledge Integration Perspective

The linkages between IS and business units are recognized as being critical to information systems development processes and outcomes. Previous research has found that they are associated with better performing ISD teams, stronger alignment between firms’ IT investments and business objectives, and comparatively superior exploitation of information technologies for business ends. What remains lacking in this stream is a coherent theoretical explanation for why and how the linkages between the IS unit and business units in a firm influence ISD processes and outcomes. This study draws on strength-of-ties theory to develop and test a project-level model that links both structural and cognitive IS-business linkages to ISD outcomes and processes. The key premise of this model is that IS-business linkages influence ISD primarily by facilitating integration of business and technical knowledge dispersed across internal business functions and outside the formal boundaries of the firm during the ISD process. Such integration of internal and external knowledge in turn influences ISD processes and outcomes. We tested the model using data on 133 projects collected from CIOs and client-side managers in 133 firms. Our results provide strong support for the hypothesized model

ARTERY VEIN CLASSIFICATION OF BLOOD VESSELS IN RETINAL IMAGE: AN AUTOMATED APPROACH

ABSTRACT Artery/Vein (A/V) of retinal vessel is helpful for the automating the detection of various diseases such as Diabetic Retinography, high blood pressure, pancreas, and other vascular conditions. An automated approach is presented in this paper for classification of blood vessels into Artery/Vein based on the features extracted from the centerline pixels. The proposed method consists of 4 important phases: 1) Segmentation 2) Centerline Extraction 3) Feature Extraction and 4) Classification. First input image is converted into green channel then retinal vessels are extracted using segmentation process after that centerline of the vessels is extracted using the thinning algorithm. Next step is to extract the features from the centerline pixels and finally vessels are classified using the extracted features. Input images are available on the databases like VICAVR [7], DRIVE[5] and

Performance of a megawatt-scale grid-connected solar photovoltaic power plant in Kolar District in Karnataka

A megawatt scale grid-connected photovoltaic power plant was commissioned on 27 December 2009 in Yalesandra in Kolar district in Karnataka. The Yalesandra plant is one among more than 20 such Megawatt size solar power plants in India during the past few years. The performance of this plant during its first year of operation has been discussed. The total electrical energy generated by the Yelasandra plant during 2010 was 3.34 million kWh. Although the performance of photovoltaic modules was good, there were problems associated with the inverters which led to reduction in energy generation. The impact of temperature variation of modules on their performance has been highlighted

An Effective Strategy for the Synthesis of Biocompatible Gold Nanoparticles Using Cinnamon Phytochemicals for Phantom CT Imaging and Photoacoustic Detection of Cancerous Cells

This is a post-print version of the Pharmaceutical Research Article. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com. DOI 10.1007/s11095-010-0276-6Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to explore the utilization of cinnamon coated gold nanoparticles (Cin-AuNPs) as CT/optical contrast enhancement agent for detection of cancer cells. Methods: Cin-AuNPs were synthesized by a “Green” procedure and the detailed characterization has been performed by physic-chemical analysis. Cytotoxicity and cellualar uptake studies were carried out in normal human fibroblast and cancerous (PC-3 and MCF-7) cells respectively. The efficacy of detecting cancerous cells was monitored using photoacoustic technique. In vivo biodistribution was studied after IV injection of Cin-AuNPs in mice and a CT phantom model was generated. Results: Biocompatible Cin-AuNPs were synthesized with high purity. Significant uptake of these gold nanoparticles was observed in PC-3 and MCF-7 cells. Cin-AuNPs internalized in cancerous cells facilitate detectable photoacoustic signals. In vivo biodistribution in normal mouse shows steady accumulation of gold nanoparticles in lungs and rapid clearance from blood. Quantitative analysis of CT values in phantom model reveals that the cinnamon phytochemicals coated AuNPs has reasonable attenuation efficiency. Conclusions: The results indicate that these non-toxic Cin-AuNPs can serve as excellent CT/ photoacoustic contrast enhancement agents and may provide a novel approach toward the tumor detection through nanopharmaceuticals.This work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute under the Cancer Nanotechnology Platform program (grant number: 5R01CA119412-01), NIH - 1R21CA128460-01; NIH-SBIR-Contract no. 241, and University of Missouri-Research Board - Program C8761 RB 06-030

Impact of blockchain technology adoption in farms of FPO members

BCT adoption remains to be a promising way to achieve food security and safety in many developing countries. This paper explores the impact of blockchain technology adoption on household farm income. Based on a simple random sampling method, a cross sectional survey was conducted in the year 2023 to collect data from 240 sample farmers including 120 BCT adopters and 120 non-adopters in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. The information regarding socio-economic profiles like age, gender, educational status, farming experience, farm size, extension agency contact, training programmes attended, access to technological information were collected from sample farmers through personal interviews. The present research used a treatment effect analysis with propensity score matching approach to assess the impact of blockchain technology adoption on household’s farm income. Results showed a significant increase in farm income as a result of blockchain technology adoption among sample farmers. PSM approach estimated that the blockchain technology adopters earned higher farm income of ₹25829.16 as compared to non-adopters. Hence the findings provide empirical evidence that blockchain technology adoption in agriculture can contribute to improve quality food production and enhance farm income

Comparative oncology and clinical translation of glyco protein conjugated gold nano therapeutic agent (GA-198AuNP) [abstract]

Nanoscience Poster SessionAs part of our efforts toward clinical translation of GA-198AuNP, our studies are focused on therapeutic efficacy of nanoparticulate GA198AuNP agent in dogs with prostatic carcinoma. The overall goal is to gain clinical insights on therapeutic efficacy of GA198AuNP in a large animal model. We have performed a phase I clinical trial using GA-AuNP administered intravenously or intratumorally by injection or infusion. CT scans were performed prior to injection and 24 hours post injection in 3 of the 4 dogs. Following injections, dogs were allowed further treatment as recommended by the primary attending clinician. Four dogs have been treated to date. Complications related to GA-AuNP treatment were not observed, and all 4 dogs received adjunctive treatment with radiation therapy and/ or chemotherapy. These preliminary studies have clearly provided compelling evidence on the therapeutic potential of biocompatible GA-AuNP for their utility as novel therapeutic agents in treating various types of inoperable solid tumors. Intra-tumoral and intravenous administration of GA-AuNP is safe in dogs with spontaneously occurring tumors. As further therapeutic efficacy studies continue, the outcome of this clinical trial in a large animal model will generate therapeutic efficacy data which will be used for filing IND application for Phase I clinical trial studies. This clinical translation effort provides significant advances in terms of delivering optimum therapeutic payloads into prostate cancers with subsequent reduction in tumor volume, thus may effectively reduce/eliminate the need for surgical resection. This presentation will include details of clinical translation of GA198AuNP in prostate tumor bearing dogs

Youth futures and a masculine development ethos in the regional story of Uttarakhand

Research on the Uttarakhand region, which became a new state in 2000, has focused largely on agrarian livelihoods, religious rituals, development demands, ecological politics and the role of women in regional social movements. This essay discusses another dimension of the regional imaginary—that of a masculine development ethos. Based on ethnographic research and print media sources, this essay focuses on stories, politics, mobilities and imaginations of young men in the years immediately after the achievement of statehood. Despite increased outmigration of youth in search of employment, many young men expressed the dream of maintaining livelihoods in the familiar towns and rural spaces of Uttarakhand, describing their home region as a source of power and agency. In rallies and in print media, young (mostly upper caste) men expressed their disillusionment with the government and the promises of statehood, arguing that their aspirations for development and employment were left unfulfilled. Gendered stories of the region, told in Hindi in rallies and print media, contained references to local places, people and historical events and were produced through local connections and know-how, fostering a regional youth politics. The article argues that Uttarakhand as a region is shaped by the politics of local actors as well as embodied forms of aspiration, affiliation and mobility.IS