DEMO: Simulation of Realistic Mobility Model and Implementation of 802.11p (DSRC) for Vehicular Networks (VANET)

An ad hoc network of vehicles (VANET) consists of vehicles that exchange information via radio in order to improve road safety, traffic management and do better distribution of traffic load in time and space. Along with this it allows Internet access for passengers and users of vehicles. A significant characteristic while studying VANETs is the requirement of having a mobility model that gives aspects of real vehicular traffic. These scenarios play an important role in performance of VANETs. In our paper we have demonstration and description of generating realistic mobility model using various tools such as eWorld, OpenStreetMap, SUMO and TraNS. Generated mobility scenario is added to NS-2.34 (Network Simulator) for analysis of DSR and AODV routing protocol under 802.11p (DSRC/WAVE) and 802.11a. Results after analysis shows 802.11p is more suitable than 802.11a for VANET.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, International Journal of Computer Applicatio

CORRELATION OF TOTAL ANTIOXIDANT STATUS (TAS) WITH DNA DAMAGE IN HIV/AIDS PATIENTS

Abstract Title: Correlation of total antioxidant status (TAS) with DNA damage in HIV/AIDS patients. Background: The antioxidant deficiency in HIV-positive populations is probably due to increased utilization of antioxidant micronutrients because of increased oxidative stress rather than to inadequate dietary intake [1].  Objectives: The study had 2 principal objectives. The first was to determine total antioxidant status (TAS) and DNA damage in HIV /AIDS patients on varying antiretroviral therapy(ART)  and those not on ART. The second objective was to ascertain whether there is any correlation between TAS and oxidative DNA damage in these patients. Design: This was a cross-sectional study involving 300 HIV positive and 100 HIV-negative subjects aged 20–60 yrs. Results: The varying ART has not have much effect on TAS levels but there was different levels of DNA damage in ART first line, ART second line and ART not yet started patients. There is a negative correlation between TAS & DNA damage. Conclusions: In this study, we observed that ART plays a significant role in the oxidative DNA damage. Decreased TAS is associated with increased DNA damage. Â

Ayurveda management of Osteo Arthritis (Sandhigata Vata) - A Case Study

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis affecting millions of people worldwide. It occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the end of your bone wears down overtime. In Ayurveda osteoarthritis correlate to Sandhigat Vata. The common sign and symptoms of this disease is present in the form of Shoola, Shotha, Vatapoornadriti Sparsha and difficulty in flexion and extension of Sandhi. In modern science the available treatment is use of NSAID, Calcium supplement and finally replacement therapy. Due to this there are large no of patients suffering from this disease come towards Ayurveda. Ayurveda treatment by its Chikitsa Siddhant gives remarkable relief in osteoarthritis. In this case study a 60 yrs patient suffering from osteoarthritis of both knee joint got good relief

Exploring the therapeutic mechanisms of Cassia glauca in diabetes mellitus through network pharmacology, molecular docking and molecular dynamics

Cassia glauca is reported as anti-diabetic medicinal plant and is also used as an ethnomedicine. However, its mode of action as an anti-diabetic agent has not been clearly elucidated. Hence, the present study investigated the probable mechanism of action of C. glauca to manage diabetes mellitus via network pharmacology and molecular docking and simulations studies. The reported bioactives from C. glauca were retrieved from an open-source database, i.e. ChEBI, and their targets were predicted using SwissTargetPrediction. The proteins involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes were identified from the therapeutic target database. The targets involved in diabetes were enriched in STRING, and the pathways involved in diabetes were identified concerning the KEGG. Cytoscape was used to construct the network among bioactives, proteins, and probably regulated pathways, which were analyzed based on edge count. Similarly, molecular docking was performed using the Glide module of the Schrodinger suite against majorly targeted proteins with their respective ligands. Additionally, the drug-likeness score and ADMET profile of the individual bioactives were predicted using MolSoft and admetSAR2.0 respectively. The stability of these complexes were further studied via molecular dynamics simulations and binding energy calculations. Twenty-three bio-actives were retrieved from the ChEBI database in which cassiarin B was predicted to modulate the highest number of proteins involved in diabetes mellitus. Similarly, GO analysis identified the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway to be primarily regulated by modulating the highest number of gene. Likewise, aldose reductase (AKR1B1) was majorly targeted via the bioactives of C. glauca. Similarly, docking study revealed methyl-3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinate (docking score −9.209) to possess the highest binding affinity with AKR1B1. Additionally, drug-likeness prediction identified cassiaoccidentalin B to possess the highest drug-likeness score, i.e. 0.84. The molecular dynamics simulations and the MMGBSA indicate high stability and greater binding energy for the methyl-3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinate (ΔGbind = −40.33 ± 6.69 kcal mol−1) with AKR1B1, thus complementing results from other experiments. The study identified cassiarin B, cassiaoccidentalin B, and cinnamtannin A2 as lead hits for the anti-diabetic activity of C. glauca. Further, the PI3K-Akt and AKR1B1 were traced as majorly modulated pathway and target, respectively

Global, regional, and national incidence of six major immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: findings from the global burden of disease study 2019

Background The causes for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are diverse and the incidence trends of IMIDs from specific causes are rarely studied. The study aims to investigate the pattern and trend of IMIDs from 1990 to 2019. Methods We collected detailed information on six major causes of IMIDs, including asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis, between 1990 and 2019, derived from the Global Burden of Disease study in 2019. The average annual percent change (AAPC) in number of incidents and age standardized incidence rate (ASR) on IMIDs, by sex, age, region, and causes, were calculated to quantify the temporal trends. Findings In 2019, rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease accounted 1.59%, 36.17%, 54.71%, 0.09%, 6.84%, 0.60% of overall new IMIDs cases, respectively. The ASR of IMIDs showed substantial regional and global variation with the highest in High SDI region, High-income North America, and United States of America. Throughout human lifespan, the age distribution of incident cases from six IMIDs was quite different. Globally, incident cases of IMIDs increased with an AAPC of 0.68 and the ASR decreased with an AAPC of −0.34 from 1990 to 2019. The incident cases increased across six IMIDs, the ASR of rheumatoid arthritis increased (0.21, 95% CI 0.18, 0.25), while the ASR of asthma (AAPC = −0.41), inflammatory bowel disease (AAPC = −0.72), multiple sclerosis (AAPC = −0.26), psoriasis (AAPC = −0.77), and atopic dermatitis (AAPC = −0.15) decreased. The ASR of overall and six individual IMID increased with SDI at regional and global level. Countries with higher ASR in 1990 experienced a more rapid decrease in ASR. Interpretation The incidence patterns of IMIDs varied considerably across the world. Innovative prevention and integrative management strategy are urgently needed to mitigate the increasing ASR of rheumatoid arthritis and upsurging new cases of other five IMIDs, respectively. Funding The Global Burden of Disease Study is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project funded by Scientific Research Fund of Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital (2022QN38)

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Antiretroviral therapy-induced insulin resistance and oxidative deoxy nucleic acid damage in human immunodeficiency virus-1 patients

Background and Objectives: Insulin resistance (IR) is frequent in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and may be related to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Increased oxidative stress parameters and carbonyl protein are linked to insulin sensitivity. The present study is aimed to determine IR, its association with oxidative deoxy nucleic acid (DNA) damage in HIV-1-infected patients with different ART status. Materials and Methods: In this case–control study, a total 600 subjects were included. We used plasma levels of the oxidized base, 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), as our biomarker of oxidative DNA damage. 8-OHdG was measured with the highly sensitive 8-OHdG check enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. IR was determined using homeostasis model assessment. Results: All subjects were randomly selected and grouped as HIV-negative (control group) (n = 300), HIV-positive without ART (n = 100), HIV-positive with ART first line (n = 100), and HIV-positive with ART second line (n = 100). IR and oxidative DNA damage were significantly higher in HIV-positive patients with second-line ART and HIV-positive patients with first-line ART than ART-naive patients. In a linear regression analysis, increased IR was positively associated with the increased DNA damage (odds ratio: 3.052, 95% confidence interval: 2.595–3.509) P < 0.001. Interpretation and Conclusions: In this study, we observed that ART plays a significant role in the development of IR and oxidative DNA damage in HIV-positive patients taking ART. Awareness and knowledge of these biomarkers may prove helpful to clinicians while prescribing ART to HIV/AIDS patients. Larger studies are warranted to determine the exact role of ART in the induction of IR and DNA damage

Antiretroviral therapy-induced insulin resistance and oxidative deoxy nucleic acid damage in human immunodeficiency virus-1 patients

Background and Objectives: Insulin resistance (IR) is frequent in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and may be related to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Increased oxidative stress parameters and carbonyl protein are linked to insulin sensitivity. The present study is aimed to determine IR, its association with oxidative deoxy nucleic acid (DNA) damage in HIV-1-infected patients with different ART status. Materials and Methods: In this case–control study, a total 600 subjects were included. We used plasma levels of the oxidized base, 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), as our biomarker of oxidative DNA damage. 8-OHdG was measured with the highly sensitive 8-OHdG check enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. IR was determined using homeostasis model assessment. Results: All subjects were randomly selected and grouped as HIV-negative (control group) (n = 300), HIV-positive without ART (n = 100), HIV-positive with ART first line (n = 100), and HIV-positive with ART second line (n = 100). IR and oxidative DNA damage were significantly higher in HIV-positive patients with second-line ART and HIV-positive patients with first-line ART than ART-naive patients. In a linear regression analysis, increased IR was positively associated with the increased DNA damage (odds ratio: 3.052, 95% confidence interval: 2.595–3.509) P < 0.001. Interpretation and Conclusions: In this study, we observed that ART plays a significant role in the development of IR and oxidative DNA damage in HIV-positive patients taking ART. Awareness and knowledge of these biomarkers may prove helpful to clinicians while prescribing ART to HIV/AIDS patients. Larger studies are warranted to determine the exact role of ART in the induction of IR and DNA damage

Periodontal status and tooth loss impact on oral health related quality of life among Indian geriatric population

Background: Oral health is believed to be poor as individuals get older since oral problems like as dental caries, diseases of periodontium, and loss of tooth affecting such individuals&nbsp; are chronic and progressive conditions. Understanding whether oral disorders may have an impact on a person's quality of life requires more than merely tracking their prevalence. Therefore, while examining oral health, it is necessary to include quality of life related to the oral health (OHRQoL) metrics. Aim: To evaluate impact of tooth loss and periodontal status on oral health related quality of life among Indian elderly. Methods and materials: This study involved 2191 senior citizens and was cross-sectional in design. The elderly subjects of the Indian population (59 years of age and older) were chosen as the study population. Before obtaining their informed consent prior to the examination, each subject received a packet of information outlining the goals and methods of the study. Older respondents' oral health-related quality of life was assessed using the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index's Hindi translation (GOHAI).&nbsp