International Field Studies: Tools For Enhancing Cultural Literacy

As part of Loyola College’s Executive MBA Program, students participate in an international field study (IFS).  This IFS provides participants with an experientially based learning opportunity to understand that there are leadership universals that every executive and manager needs to practice in order to be world-class at home and abroad; and to appreciate that valuing and leveraging cultural differences is key to success  in a global environment. This paper presents our approach to enhancing the cultural competency and literacy of students enrolled in the program

Integrated Team Development Methodologies for Managers in an E.M.B.A. Program: A Case Study

Established in 1973, Loyola College’s Executive MBA (EMBA) program is one of the first ten such programs in the United States. A primary focus of our program is the development of effectively functioning executive teams. The main contribution of our paper is the integration of several creative team development methodologies that are applied over the course of the EMBA program. Specific practices are described which are transferable to a broad range of organizational contexts. The paper concludes with a set of lessons learned regarding team functioning based on our collective forty-four years experience in executive development and education

Chemo-resistant gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: a review of cases at a tertiary cancer centre

Background: Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) was earlier a dreaded malignancy with high mortality rates. GTN is now considered to be one of the most curable solid tumours in women with cure rates greater than 90% even in the presence of metastases. Despite the high chemo sensitivity, treatment failure or drug resistance has been described in both groups.Methods: In this study, available records of GTN cases over 6 years were reviewed with emphasis on those who were resistant to the first line of chemotherapy. Of these, 37(34.58%) were resistant to the first line of chemotherapy. These cases were studied with respect to age, parity, antecedent pregnancy, interval from antecedent pregnancy, pretreatment β hCG, risk score and presence of metastases. The data was analyzed in order to find any risk factors associated with chemo-resistance.Results: Total number of cases of GTN was 107. Out of these 107 cases, 63 (58.88%) were low risk and 44 (41.12%) were high risk according to FIGO scoring system. Complete response was achieved with first line chemotherapy in 70 (65.42%) patients. The remaining 37 (34.57%) were resistant to first line chemotherapy. In the low risk group, 30 (47.62%) cases, and in the high-risk group, 7(15.91%) were resistant to first line of chemotherapy.Conclusions: Despite the high chemo sensitivity of GTN, resistance to first line chemotherapy may be encountered in up to 40% of cases.  It is important to identify the patients who are at risk to develop resistance, early identification of resistance and change of chemotherapy so as to minimize the exposure of these patients to ineffective chemotherapy

Ensemble Deep Learning for Detecting Onset of Abnormal Operation in Industrial Multi-component Systems

Breakdowns and unplanned shutdowns in industrial processes and equipment can lead to significant loss of availability and revenue. It is imperative to perform optimal maintenance of such systems when signs of abnormal behavior are detected and before they propagate and lead to catastrophic failure. This is particularly challenging in systems with interconnected multiple components as it is difficult to isolate the effect of one component on the operation of other components in the system. In this work, an ensemble approach based on Cascaded Convolutional neural network and Long Short-term Memory (CC-LSTM) network models is proposed for detecting and predicting the time of onset of faults in interconnected multicomponent systems. The performance of the ensemble CC-LSTM model was demonstrated on an industrial 4-component system and was found to improve the accuracy of onset time predictions by ~15% compared to individual CC-LSTM models and ~25-40% compared to commonly used deep learning techniques such as dense neural networks, convolutional neural networks and LSTMs. The CC-LSTM and the ensemble models also had the lowest missed detection rates and zero false positive rates making them ideal for real-time monitoring and fault detection in multicomponent systems

Comparison of clinical efficacy of methylprednisolone and serratiopeptidase for reduction of postoperative sequelae after lower third molar surgery

Background: Surgical removal of mandibular third molars results in some degree of post-operative pain, swelling and trismus. These can be controlled by proper administration of local anesthesia, careful bone removal, minimal trauma to adjacent soft tissues and administration of methylprednisolone and serratiopeptidase drugs. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of methylprednisolone and serratiopeptidase in controlling post- operative pain, swelling and trismus after surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars. Material and Methods: The subjects were divided into two groups of 50 patients each undergoing surgical removal of mandibular third molars. Group A was given methylprednisolone 4mg orally every 8th hourly and Group B was given serratiopeptidase 10 mg every 12th hourly orally. Post-operatively pain, swelling and trismus were evaluated at the end of 1st, 3rd and 5thday. Results: The results of this study showed that methylprednisolone is an effective analgesic, while serratiopeptidase has moderate analgesic activity. Serratiopeptidase is more effective than methylprednisolone in controlling post surgical swelling and trismus. Hence combination of these two drugs would be very effective than individual drug when widespread post-operative sequelae are expected after surgical removal of impacted lower third molars. Conclusions: We conclude that methylprednisolone affords better pain relief while serratiopeptidase exerts better anti-inflammatory and anti-swelling effects in the post-operative period. Synergistic combinations of these two drugs would however prove to be more effective when extensive post-operative sequelae are expecte

MDR-TB patients in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: cost-effectiveness of 5 models of care.

CAPRISA, 2018.Abstract available in pdf

Evaluation of an Immunochromatographic Assay as a Canine Rabies Surveillance Tool in Goa, India

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal. More than 95% of the human rabies cases in India are attributed to exposure to rabid dogs. This study evaluated the utility of a lateral flow immunochromatographic assay (LFA) (Anigen Rapid Rabies Ag Test Kit, Bionote, Hwaseong-si, Korea) for rapid post mortem diagnosis of rabies in dogs. Brain tissue was collected from 202 animals that were screened through the Government of Goa rabies surveillance system. The brain tissue samples were obtained from 188 dogs, nine cats, three bovines, one jackal and one monkey. In addition, 10 dogs that died due to trauma from road accidents were included as negative controls for the study. The diagnostic performance of LFA was evaluated using results from direct fluorescence antibody test (dFT); the current gold standard post mortem test for rabies infection. Three samples were removed from the analysis as they were autolysed and not fit for testing by dFT. Of the 209 samples tested, 117 tested positive by LFA and 92 tested negative, while 121 tested positive by dFT and 88 tested negative. Estimates of LFA sensitivity and specificity were 0.96 (95% CI 0.91–0.99) and 0.99 (95% CI 0.94–1.00), respectively. The LFA is a simple and low-cost assay that aids in the rapid diagnosis of rabies in the field without the need for expensive laboratory equipment or technical expertise. This study found that Bionote LFA has potential as a screening tool in rabies endemic countries

Clinical, Immunological, and Molecular Findings in 57 Patients With Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) From India

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) represents one of the most severe forms of primary immunodeficiency (PID) disorders characterized by impaired cellular and humoral immune responses. Here, we report the clinical, immunological, and molecular findings in 57 patients diagnosed with SCID from India. Majority of our patients (89%) presented within 6 months of age. The most common clinical manifestations observed were recurrent pneumonia (66%), failure to thrive (60%), chronic diarrhea (35%), gastrointestinal infection (21%), and oral candidiasis (21%). Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) is the only curative therapy available for treating these patients. Four patients underwent HSCT in our cohort but had a poor survival outcome. Lymphopenia (absolute lymphocyte counts/μL <2,500) was noted in 63% of the patients. Based on immunophenotypic pattern, majority of the cases were T−B− SCID (39%) followed by T−B+ SCID (28%). MHC class II deficiency accounted for 10.5% of our patient group. A total of 49 patients were molecularly characterized in this study and 32 novel variants were identified in our cohort. The spectrum of genetic defects in our cohort revealed a wide genetic heterogeneity with the major genetic cause being RAG1/2 gene defect (n = 12) followed by IL2RG (n = 9) and JAK3 defects (n = 9). Rare forms of SCID like Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) deficiency, reticular dysgenesis, DNA-Protein Kinase (DNA-PKcs) deficiency, six cases of MHC class II deficiency and two ZAP70 deficiency were also identified in our cohort. Fourteen percent of the defects still remained uncharacterized despite the application of next generation sequencing. With the exception of MHC class II deficiency and ZAP70 deficiency, all SCID patients had extremely low T cell receptor excision (TRECs) (<18 copies/μL)