Comparative study of neuroimaging features and clinical symptoms in patients with eclampsia

Background: Eclampsia is a life-threatening emergency that remains a major cause for feto-maternal morbidity and mortality. The purpose of our study was to access various computed tomographic scan (CT) findings in eclampsia patients and compare neurological symptoms with radiological findings. Methods: A prospective analytical study was undertaken in department of obstetrics and gynecology, J. K. Lon hospital, Kota during the period of 2019-2020. Women who presented as eclampsia and admitted in indoor wards were included in the study. Data analyzed included various maternal and fetal parameters, CT scan findings and outcome of pregnancy. Results: The incidence of eclampsia was 1.1% of total deliveries. High risk factors associated with eclampsia were primigravida (70%), maternal age (70% in 21-25 years age group), illiteracy (64%), inadequate antenatal care (96%), early gestation (68%). On CT scan findings 52% patients had abnormal CT scan findings of which most common was cerebral edema (57.7%). Parieto-occipital lobe was most common region to be affected. Altered sensorium was found to be significantly associated with abnormal CT scan findings.Conclusions: Eclampsia is a major cause of fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality.  CT scan in eclampsia have significant role in early diagnosis of patients with cerebral pathologies and these CT scan findings were associated with the level of consciousness and number of convulsive episodes.  Thus, CT scan helps in further management of these patients by multidisciplinary approach

Relationship between Thyroid Profile with Reproductive Hormones and Semen Quality

Semen quality is associated with various factors. The objective of the study was to investigate the impact of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism on human semen quality and reproductive hormones level if any. A total of 351 subjects were enrolled. They were subjected to assess the status of thyroid as well as reproductive hormones and semen quality. The subjects were grouped on the basis of thyroid hormone profile as, hypothyroid, hyperthyroid and normal thyroid hormone profile with respect to semen quality and reproductive hormones level.  Semen volume, sperm count and viability was non-significant statistically in both hypothyroid and hyperthyroid subjects with respect to subjects with normal thyroid profile. Whereas, percent fast progressive Sperm was significantly lower in hypothyroid subjects, while non-motile sperm was significantly higher in hypothyroid subjects as compared to normal thyroid profile subjects. The data on reproductive hormones level indicated that FSH was higher and testosterone level was lower in both hypo and hyperthyroid subjects as compared to subjects with normal thyroid profile. Although the results were statistically non-significant. While LH level was also higher which was statistically significant in hypothyroid subjects with respect to subjects having normal thyroid profile. The data obtained suggest that impaired thyroid hormone has an impact on semen quality as well as reproductive hormone profile to some extent

Status and plans for the Array Control and Data Acquisition System of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next-generation atmospheric Cherenkov gamma-ray observatory. CTA will consist of two installations, one in the northern, and the other in the southern hemisphere, containing tens of telescopes of different sizes. The CTA performance requirements and the inherent complexity associated with the operation, control and monitoring of such a large distributed multi-telescope array leads to new challenges in the field of the gamma-ray astronomy. The ACTL (array control and data acquisition) system will consist of the hardware and software that is necessary to control and monitor the CTA arrays, as well as to time-stamp, read-out, filter and store -at aggregated rates of few GB/s- the scientific data. The ACTL system must be flexible enough to permit the simultaneous automatic operation of multiple sub-arrays of telescopes with a minimum personnel effort on site. One of the challenges of the system is to provide a reliable integration of the control of a large and heterogeneous set of devices. Moreover, the system is required to be ready to adapt the observation schedule, on timescales of a few tens of seconds, to account for changing environmental conditions or to prioritize incoming scientific alerts from time-critical transient phenomena such as gamma ray bursts. This contribution provides a summary of the main design choices and plans for building the ACTL system

Role of Heme Oxygenase1 in Alteration of Antioxidant Defense Responses of Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. under Salt Stress Condition

Abstract. Economically important crops are frequently facing many stresses, such as salt stress. They have developed an antioxidant defense network for preventing and repairing oxidative damage caused by salt stress. In this study, Brassica juncea seedlings were subjected to salt stress (NaCl) for time course analysis (1 st -5 th day) of heme oxygenase1 (HO1) activity along with other antioxidant enzymes. Treatment of salt induced lipid peroxidation and H 2 O 2 content in root tissue as days of treatment increased. However, 1 st and 2 nd day of treatment did not modify these parameters, were similar to control values. HO1, Ascorbate peroxidase (APX), Peroxidase (POD) and Glutathione reductase (GR) activities were highest at 5 th day of treatment. Gene expression pattern of HO1 was similar as shown in biochemical analysis. These results showed that HO1 along with other antioxidant enzymes play an essential protective role against salt stress in B. juncea seedlings

A GC-MS Based Metabolic Profiling of Probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Traditional Food Products

A GC-MS based metabolic profiling was carried out to study metabolic differences of lactic acid bacteria isolated from different food sources. Metabolic fingerprinting is a non-targeted procedure where all detectable peaks are considered to establish sample classification. A total of 40 compounds were identified as major metabolites contributing to the difference among five different probiotic lactic acid bacteria. Some of the metabolites identified in this study have been reported as a defrosting agent, antioxidant, flavour agent, antimicrobial, natural food additive, anti-inflammatory, anti-sleep disorder agent and anti-cancer agents. These results suggest that GC-MS based metabolomic analysis is a useful tool to facilitate future investigations into the characterization of probiotic lactic acid bacteria

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Not AvailableSoybean is regarded as “miracle bean” due to its numerous uses as food, feed and health supplement. However, acceptance of soy foods has been restricted by the presence of kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) in soybean seeds. Kunitz trypsin inhibitor also known as SBTI-A2 which constitutes 80% of the total trypsin inhibitor activity, has been shown to be responsible for growth inhibition, pancreatic hypertrophy and hyperplasia in experimental animals [1-3]. Though KTI is heat labile, however, heat treatment is not only cost ineffective but also results in approximately 20% decline in protein solubility [4]. Similarly, boiling of beans prior to grinding with wheat (1:9) is essential while preparing soy-supplemented chapatti flour. Therefore, development of KTI-free soybean varieties which are not yet available in India is expected to boost utilization of soybean in food productsNot Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableSoybean is regarded as “miracle bean” due to its numerous uses as food, feed and health supplement. However, acceptance of soy foods has been restricted by the presence of kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) in soybean seeds. Kunitz trypsin inhibitor also known as SBTI-A2 which constitutes 80% of the total trypsin inhibitor activity, has been shown to be responsible for growth inhibition, pancreatic hypertrophy and hyperplasia in experimental animals [1-3]. Though KTI is heat labile, however, heat treatment is not only cost ineffective but also results in approximately 20% decline in protein solubility [4]. Similarly, boiling of beans prior to grinding with wheat (1:9) is essential while preparing soy-supplemented chapatti flour. Therefore, development of KTI-free soybean varieties which are not yet available in India is expected to boost utilization of soybean in food products.Not Availabl

The paradigm of prophylactic viral outbreaks measures by microbial biosurfactants

The recent emergence and outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic confirmed the incompetence of countries across the world to deal with a global public health emergency. Although the recent advent of vaccines is an important prophylactic measure, effective clinical therapy for SARS-Cov-2 is yet to be discovered. With the increasing mortality rate, research has been focused on understanding the pathogenic mechanism and clinical parameters to comprehend COVID-19 infection and propose new avenues for naturally occurring molecules with novel therapeutic properties to alleviate the current situation. In accordance with recent clinical studies and SARS-CoV-2 infection markers, cytokine storm and oxidative stress are entwined pathogenic processes in COVID-19 progression. Lately, Biosurfactants (BSs) have been studied as one of the most advanced biomolecules of microbial origin with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral properties, antiadhesive, and antimicrobial properties. Therefore, this review inspects available literature and proposes biosurfactants with these properties to be encouraged for their extensive study in dealing with the current pandemic as new pharmaceutics in the prevention and control of viral spread, treating the symptoms developed after the incubation period through different therapeutic approaches and playing a potential drug delivery model

Amelioration of lipopeptide biosurfactants for enhanced antibacterial and biocompatibility through molecular antioxidant property by methoxy and carboxyl moieties

Biosurfactants having surface-active biomolecules have been the cynosure in environment research due to their vast application. However, the lack of information about their low-cost production and detailed mechanistic biocompatibility limits the applicability. The study explores techniques for the production and design of low-cost, biodegradable, and non-toxic biosurfactants from Brevibacterium casei strain LS14 and excavates the mechanistic details of their biomedical properties like antibacterial effects and biocompatibility. Taguchi’s design of experiment was used to optimize for enhancing biosurfactant production by optimal factor combinations like Waste glycerol (1%v/v), peptone (1%w/v), NaCl 0.4% (w/v), and pH 6. Under optimal conditions, the purified biosurfactant reduced the surface tension to 35 mN/m from 72.8 mN/m (MSM) and a critical micelle concentration of 25 mg/ml was achieved. Spectroscopic analyses of the purified biosurfactant using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance suggested it as a lipopeptide biosurfactant. The evaluation of mechanistic antibacterial, antiradical, antiproliferative, and cellular effects indicated the efficient antibacterial activity (against Pseudomonas aeruginosa) of biosurfactants due to free radical scavenging activity and oxidative stress. Moreover, the cellular cytotoxicity was estimated by MTT and other cellular assays revealing the phenomenon as the dose-dependent induction of apoptosis due to free radical scavenging with an LC50 of 55.6 ± 2.3 mg/ml

Biofilm modifiers: The disparity in paradigm of oral biofilm ecosystem

A biofilm is a population of sessile microorganisms that has a distinct organized structure and characteristics like channels and projections. Good oral hygiene and reduction in the prevalence of periodontal diseases arise from minimal biofilm accumulation in the mouth, however, studies focusing on modifying the ecology of oral biofilms have not yet been consistently effective. The self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substances and greater antibiotic resistance make it difficult to target and eliminate biofilm infections, which lead to serious clinical consequences that are often lethal. Therefore, a better understanding is required to target and modify the ecology of biofilms in order to eradicate the infection, not only in instances of oral disorders but also in terms of nosocomial infections. The review focuses on several biofilm ecology modifiers to prevent biofilm infections, as well as the involvement of biofilm in antibiotic resistance, implants or in-dwelling device contamination, dental caries, and other periodontal disorders. It also discusses recent advances in nanotechnology that may lead to novel strategies for preventing and treating infections caused by biofilms as well as a novel outlook to infection control