Intelligent Personalized Abnormality Detection for Remote Health Monitoring

Machine learning algorithms are extensively used in healthcare analytics to learn normal and abnormal patterns automatically. The detection and prediction accuracy of any machine learning model depends on many factors like ground truth instances, attribute relationships, model design, the size of the dataset, the percentage of uncertainty, the training and testing environment, etc. Prediction models in healthcare should generate a minimal false positive and false negative rate. To accomplish high classification or prediction accuracy, the screening of health status needs to be personalized rather than following general clinical practice guidelines (CPG) which fits for an average population. Hence, a personalized screening model (IPAD – Intelligent Personalized Abnormality Detection) for remote healthcare is proposed that tailored to specific individual. The severity level of the abnormal status has been derived using personalized health values and the IPAD model obtains an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.907.</jats:p

Anti Inflammatory Studies of Barringtonia acutangula (Linn) Fruits on Wistar Rats.

The study aims to evaluate the anti inflammatory activity of Barringtonia acutangula (Linn) fruit extracts in wistar rats. In this study fruits of Barringtonia acutangula were extracted with ethanol and purified water, these extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical analysis to identify their phytoconstituents. The ethanol and aqueous extracts were evaluated in vivo by using acute inflammatory models like; carrageenan induced paw oedema and chronic models like; cotton-pellet induced granuloma and carrageenan induced air-pouch model in rats. The biochemical parameters like reduced glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation and catalase were also estimated as supportive studies. Acute toxicity studies were performed initially in order to ascertain the safety of ethanol and aqueous extracts. The ethanol extract reduced the inflammation more significantly than the aqueous extract in the carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema, cotton-pellet induced granuloma and carrageenan induced air-pouch model in rats. The phytochemical investigation of the ethanol fruit extract showed the presence of phytosterols, glycosides, flavonoids, alkaloids and carbohydrates. From the present study the ethanolic fruit extract of Barringtonia acutangula exhibited the anti-inflammatory effect by augmenting antioxidant defense system in the inflammation bearing rat, which is largely attributable to the additive or synergistic effect of its constituents

Voriconazole is a safe and effective anti-fungal prophylactic agent during induction therapy of acute myeloid leukemia

Abstract Background: Antifungal prophylaxis (AFP) reduces the incidence of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) during induction therapy of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Posaconazole is considered the standard of care. Voriconazole, a generic cheaper alternative is a newer generation azole with broad anti-fungal activity. There is limited data on the use of voriconazole as a prophylactic drug. Materials and Methods: A single-center, prospective study was performed during which patients with AML undergoing induction chemotherapy received voriconazole as AFP (April 2012 to February 2014). Outcomes were compared with historical patients who received fluconazole as AFP (January 2011-March 2012, n = 66). Results: Seventy-five patients with AML (median age: 17 years [range: 1-75]; male:female 1.6:1) received voriconazole as AFP. The incidence of proven/probable/possible (ppp) IFI was 6.6% (5/75). Voriconazole and fluconazole cohorts were well-matched with respect to baseline characteristics. Voriconazole (when compared to fluconazole) reduced the incidence of pppIFI (5/75, 6.6% vs. 19/66, 29%; P &lt; 0.001), need to start therapeutic (empiric + pppIFI) antifungals (26/75, 34% vs. 51/66, 48%; P &lt; 0.001) and delayed the start of therapeutic antifungals in those who needed it (day 16 vs. day 10; P &lt; 0.001). Mortality due to IFI was also reduced with the use of voriconazole (1/75, 1.3% vs. 6/66, 9%; P = 0.0507), but this was not significant. Three patients discontinued voriconazole due to side-effects. Conclusion: Voriconazole is an effective and safe oral agent for IFI prophylaxis during induction therapy of AML. Availability of generic equivalents makes this a more economical alternative to posaconazole.</jats:p

Anti Inflammatory Studies of Barringtonia acutangula (Linn) Fruits on Wistar Rats.

The study aims to evaluate the anti inflammatory activity of Barringtonia acutangula (Linn) fruit extracts in wistar rats. In this study fruits of Barringtonia acutangula were extracted with ethanol and purified water, these extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical analysis to identify their phytoconstituents. The ethanol and aqueous extracts were evaluated in vivo by using acute inflammatory models like; carrageenan induced paw oedema and chronic models like; cotton-pellet induced granuloma and carrageenan induced air-pouch model in rats. The biochemical parameters like reduced glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation and catalase were also estimated as supportive studies. Acute toxicity studies were performed initially in order to ascertain the safety of ethanol and aqueous extracts. The ethanol extract reduced the inflammation more significantly than the aqueous extract in the carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema, cotton-pellet induced granuloma and carrageenan induced air-pouch model in rats. The phytochemical investigation of the ethanol fruit extract showed the presence of phytosterols, glycosides, flavonoids, alkaloids and carbohydrates. From the present study the ethanolic fruit extract of Barringtonia acutangula exhibited the anti-inflammatory effect by augmenting antioxidant defense system in the inflammation bearing rat, which is largely attributable to the additive or synergistic effect of its constituents.