Efficacy of growth hormone in improving the pregnancy rate in poor responders in ART

Background: Poor responders impose a great challenge to ART clinicians. Research to improve their pregnancy rate is going on. This study was conducted to analyze the effect of growth hormone in poor responders in ART.Methods: This study was done from January 2015 to December 2015. It was a retrospective, single centre, cohort study in which 36 poor responders were selected and allotted into group A (18) with growth hormone and group B (18) without growth hormone. High dose of gonadotrophins was used for ovarian stimulation and antagonist protocol was followed in all patients. Group A received 4 IU of growth hormone along with usual treatment from day 2 till ovulation trigger with HCG injection, group B usual protocol.Results: Statistical analysis was done with independent T test, and p value <0.05 was considered significant. Higher number of mature oocytes and pregnancy rates were observed in growth hormone group. Number of MII oocytes was 5.8, on an average in group A and 3.7 in group B, the difference was statistically significant (p 0.0000001).  Clinical pregnancy rates were 27.7% in group A and 16.6% in group B, statistical significance (p 0.02).Conclusions: Addition of growth hormone shows increase in number of oocytes retrieved and pregnancy rates in poor responders in ART patients

A study on exoenzyme activities of Candida albicans isolated from oral cavities of HIV-infected patients on HAART

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Outcome of laparoscopic surgeries during pregnancy for non-obstetric emergencies

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the surgical and obstetric outcome, safety and feasibility of various laparoscopic surgeries for non-obstetric indications in pregnancy.Methods: We did a retrospective analysis of 18 pregnant patients who underwent laparoscopic surgeries. Study period was from October 2013 till September 2015 conducted in Radhakrishna multispeciality hospital /IVF center Bangalore. Patients operated are 6 cases cholicystectomy, 6 cases appendicectomy, 5 adnexal mass removals, one salpingectomy for heterotopic pregnancy resulted from ART. All patients were between 11 to 32 weeks of gestation, with mean gestational age 21±6.5 weeks at the time of surgery and mean duration of surgery was 46±16.3 minutes.Results: All eighteen pregnant patients had uneventful hospital courses after laparoscopic procedures. Mean duration of hospital stay after surgery was 43±8.5 hours. One pregnancy was terminated at 11 weeks for suspected ovarian malignancy and 16 delivered full-term babies without complications, one patient delivered preterm at 35 weeks with NICU admission. The mean birth weight at the time of delivery was 2.8±550 gms. There was no maternal morbidity or mortality, or any identifiable neonatal birth defect. No conversion to laparotomy required in any case.Conclusions: Laparoscopic surgeries can be done in any trimester of pregnancy, but more safe and feasible during the second and early third trimester of pregnancy. Laparoscopic surgeries are as safe as laparotomy in the hands of experienced laparoscopic surgeon with no deleterious effects on either mother or fetus

Characterization of the Soluble Nanoparticles Formed through Coulombic Interaction of Bovine Serum Albumin with Anionic Graft Copolymers at Low pH

A static light scattering (SLS) study of bovine serum albumin (BSA) mixtures with two anionic graft copolymers of poly (sodium acrylate-co-sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulphonate)-graft-poly (N, N-dimethylacrylamide), with a high composition in poly (N, N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAM) side chains, revealed the formation of oppositely charged complexes, at pH lower than 4.9, the isoelectric point of BSA. The core-corona nanoparticles formed at pH = 3.00, were characterized. Their molecular weight and radius of gyration were determined by SLS, while their hydrodynamic radius was determined by dynamic light scattering. Small angle neutron scattering measurements were used to determine the radius of the insoluble complexes, comprising the core of the particles. The values obtained indicated that their size and aggregation number of the nanoparticles, were smaller when the content of the graft copolymers in neutral PDMAM side chains was higher. Such particles should be interesting drug delivery candidates, if the gastrointestinal tract was to be used

Studies on lipase enzyme production by indigenously isolated Bacillus Cereus (BAIT GCT 127002 ) and Bacillus Cereus (BAIT GCT 127001)

Microbial lipases holds a prominent place among biocatalysts that act on carboxylic ester bonds.Â&nbsp; This present study involves about eight strains isolated form slaughter house waste water,Coimbatore producing lipase.Among those strains , two bacterial strains exhibiting high lipase productionÂ&nbsp; were identified asÂ&nbsp; Bacillus Cereus (BAIT GCT 127002 ) and Bacillus Cereus (BAIT GCT 127001 ) by both biochemical analysis and 16S rRNA sequencing.Â&nbsp; Initial studies were done for optimizing lipase production using many components such as time course,Carbon sources ,pH and innoculum volume whichÂ&nbsp; revealed maximum lipase acitivity (43.37 U/ml) at 24 hours, usingÂ&nbsp; palm oil , at pH 8 and innoculum volume of 1 ml by Bacillus Cereus (BAIT GCT 127002 ).Further the percentageÂ&nbsp; removal of oil from oil stained fabric was determined using partially purified lipase with or without detergents and the results indicated 20% ,30% removal with use ofÂ&nbsp; crude lipase and commercial detergent respectively.Hence, lipase from Bacillus Cereus(BAIT GCT 127002 ) Â&nbsp;Â&nbsp;can be regarded as an ideal ingredient that can be used in the laundry detergents.Â&nbsp

The Evolving Status of Fellowships and Mini-Fellowships in Diagnostic Radiology: A Survey of Program Directors and Chief Residents

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Recent changes in radiology fellowships include musculoskeletal radiology adopting a match system, interventional radiology transitioning away from diagnostic radiology to offer direct-entry programs, and a common fellowship application timeline created by the Society for Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments (SCARD). The concept of mini-fellowships has also emerged with the elimination of the oral American Board of Radiology examinations that had been administered in the final year of residency training prior to 2014. This paper seeks to assess the opinions of fellowship program directors, residency program directors, and chief residents regarding these recent changes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study using a web-based survey posed to fellowship program directors, residency program directors, and chief residents in 2020. Questions sought to explore current attitudes toward the following topics: (1) a common fellowship application timeline; (2) a common fellowship match; and (3) the status of mini-fellowships in diagnostic radiology. In addition, the number of fellowship positions for each subspecialty was estimated using subspecialty society directories, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) data, and individual program websites. RESULTS: Deidentified responses were collected electronically and aggregated. The three respondent groups preferred a common fellowship application timeline at rates of 67% among fellowship program directors, 80% residency program directors, and 74% residents. A common match system across all subspecialties was preferred at rates of 50% fellowship program directors, 74% residency program directors, and 26% chief residents. There was widespread reported compliance with the SCARD fellowship timeline policy. Subspecialty programs using the match system reported interviewing greater numbers of applicants per position. Fellowship directors and chief residents reported that the most common duration of mini-fellowship experiences was 2 to 3 months. CONCLUSION: There is a division between chief residents and program directors regarding the preference for a common radiology match. Adopting a radiology-wide fellowship match would increase the number of interviews required. The SCARD fellowship timeline policy has been successful, and there is support across stakeholders regarding the common timeline. Mini-fellowships are highly variable in length and structure

Can Physician Champions Improve Kangaroo Care? Trends over 5 Years in Rural Western India

Introduction: In 2013, approximately 2.8 million children worldwide died within the neonatal period. India is at the epicenter of this tragedy, accounting for one-third of all neonatal mortalities. Prematurity and/or with low birth weight are the leading cause of neonatal mortality and India has the highest number of neonates born preterm and weighing less than 2,500 grams worldwide. It is estimated that Kangaroo Care can avert up to 48% of all neonatal deaths among premature babies by 2025. However, the promise of Kangaroo Care as a low-cost, safe, and efficacious intervention to reduce neonatal mortality in India has not been realized due to suboptimal implementation. Physician champions can improve Kangaroo Care implementation, but the magnitude of their impact is unknown. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 648 infants identified using clinical data from a NICU located in rural western India. Physicians who led Kangaroo Care training sessions with neonates and coached peer healthcare professionals were considered champions. Two Kangaroo Care champions were on staff full-time from January 2010 through June 2011, part-time from July 2011 through June 2012, and absent thereafter. We examined the effect of the withdrawal of physician champions on overall use using logistic regression, time to initiation using competing risk cox regression, and intensity using linear regression models of the two main components of Kangaroo Care, skin-to-skin care and breastfeeding, separately. Findings: In comparison to when Kangaroo Care champions were present, their absence was associated with a 45% decrease in the odds of receiving skin-to-skin care (95% CI): 64% to 17%), 38% decrease in the rate of initiation of skin-to-skin care (95% CI: 53% to 82%), and on average, 1.47 less hours of skin-to-skin care (95% CI: -2.07 to -0.86). Breastfeeding practices were similar across different champion environments. Interpretation: Withdrawal of Kangaroo Care champions from neonatal intensive care unit in rural western India is associated with diminished administration, delayed initiation, and shorter duration of skin-to-skin care, but did not impact breastfeeding practices. Training healthcare workers and community stakeholders to become champions could help in scaling up and maintaining Kangaroo Care practices. Funding: This research was supported by TL1-TR001454 (to A.S.) from National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, and P60-MD006912-05 (to J.A.) from National Institute on Minority Health and Disparities. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH

A Tunable Band Stop Filter for Ku Band Communication Systems Using DGS and MEMS Switches

This paper presents a tunable bandstop filter based on an interdigital defected ground structure (DGS) and microelectromechanical (MEMS) switches. The switches are positioned over the bends of the DGS. Depending the switch that is actuated, the effective slot length of the DGS varies and hence the resonant frequency. The resonant frequencies can be further varied by varying the individual branch lengths. The proposed design is modified with three additional MEMS switches in each branch to alter its effective length. The design procedure for varying the branch lengths, and mechanical design of the MEMS switches is also presented. The additional switches create a large number of switching states filling the entire Ku- band with closely spaced resonant frequencies

Cysteine mutations in the ebolavirus matrix protein VP40 promote phosphatidylserine binding by increasing the flexibility of a lipid-binding loop

Ebolavirus (EBOV) is a negative-sense RNA virus that causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans. The matrix protein VP40 facilitates viral budding by binding to lipids in the host cell plasma membrane and driving the formation of filamentous, pleomorphic virus particles. The C-terminal domain of VP40 contains two highly-conserved cysteine residues at positions 311 and 314, but their role in the viral life cycle is unknown. We therefore investigated the properties of VP40 mutants in which the conserved cysteine residues were replaced with alanine. The C311A mutation significantly increased the affinity of VP40 for membranes containing phosphatidylserine (PS), resulting in the assembly of longer virus-like particles (VLPs) compared to wild-type VP40. The C314A mutation also increased the affinity of VP40 for membranes containing PS, albeit to a lesser degree than C311A. The double mutant behaved in a similar manner to the individual mutants. Computer modeling revealed that both cysteine residues restrain a loop segment containing lysine residues that interact with the plasma membrane, but Cys311 has the dominant role. Accordingly, the C311A mutation increases the flexibility of this membrane-binding loop, changes the profile of hydrogen bonding within VP40 and therefore binds to PS with greater affinity. This is the first evidence that mutations in VP40 can increase its affinity for biological membranes and modify the length of Ebola VLPs. The Cys311 and Cys314 residues therefore play an important role in dynamic interactions at the plasma membrane by modulating the ability of VP40 to bind PS