The evaluation of the incidence of sensorineural component of hearing loss in chronic suppurative otitis media

Background: The sensorineural component of hearing loss either in form of pure sensorineural or Mixed components has since long been suspected to be a dreaded sequela of chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM). The aim of this study is to access the incidence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) or mixed hearing loss (MHL) amongst people suffering from both mucosal and squamosal variants of CSOM.Methods: A prospective observational cohort study (control group: contralateral ear) was conducted at the E.N.T. department of tertiary care center from December 2020 to September 2022. 149 patients of ages 15-50 of either gender with unilateral CSOM were included in the study. The other normal ear of the same patient was taken as the control ear. The pure tone audiometry of both diseased and control ears at frequencies 500,1000,2000 and 4000 kHz were taken to determine SNHL or MHL.Results: The mean age was 26.54±8.75 years of which, 79 males and 70 females. The mean duration of disease was 3.92±3.32. SNHL occurred in 25.5% of cases, while conductive and MHL affected 69.8% and 4.7 % of patients respectively. Conclusions: SNHL and MHL occurred in a significant number of patients suffering from CSOM. Further research needs to be encouraged and management should be refined to decrease disease-related morbidity

Variable Size 2D DCT with FPGA Implimentation

A lot of research are going on in the field of image processing algorithm. Compression enables throughput processing through transmission medium.A lot of research is going on in this field to have a highly efficient output. In this paper a co-simulation environment is for discrete co-sine transform is proposed which enables compression for different size of images provides facts approximately FPGA implementation for compression of an image using the Xilinx system Generator1 (XSG) for MATLAB. For using Xilinx system generator for an image processing minimizes the complexity in structural design also gives extra characteristic for hardware co-simulation2.The most easiest and reliable constructing block for compression system is DCT. Which may be completed the usage of specialized algorithms. Fast prototyping based on FPGA platform of the virtex-5 family is used to validate the operation of the defined DCT device

Institutional evaluation of anosmia and ageusia in COVID-19 positive health care workers of clinical and non-clinical departments

Background: Health Care Workers (HCW’s) are disproportionately at high risk to acquire COVID-19, through their close and extended contact in outpatient, inpatient departments, and operation theatres. This study aims to compare anosmia and ageusia in COVID-19 positive health workers in clinical and non-clinical categories who tested positive for COVID-19.Methods: A retrospective Institutional study was performed on 106 HCW’s of clinical and non-clinical departments from July 2020 to February 2021. Cases were HCW’s who tested positive on RTPCR for SARS-CoV-2 and were working at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the basis of symptoms and oxygen support, we made a grading system named COVID-19 proposed grading system based on symptom and supplementary oxygen requirement to simplify the patient category and treatment plan. The Subjective Self-assessment olfactory and gustatory functions of each individual were collected telephonically including time of onset, severity, duration, and time of improvement.Results: Out of 106 positive individuals, 68 were males and 38 were females. Forty-five out of the 106 HCW’s had anosmia and ageusia as initial symptoms. The prevalence of anosmia and ageusia was 42.4% in the COVID-19 positive HCW’s. The affected HCW’s were also enquired about the department they worked in to explore the relationship between viral load exposure and the development of anosmia and ageusia as symptoms. 61.3% of HCW’s working in clinical departments had anosmia and ageusia as symptoms as compared to 38.7% in non-clinical departments.Conclusions: The prevalence of anosmia and ageusia was higher in HCW’s affected with SARS-CoV-2 placed in the clinical department than in the non-clinical department. It also emphasizes that the patient-to healthcare transmission is the major factor, then the transmission of viruses in HCW by other means. Hence, the modified strategies must be made to protect the HCW’s in view of their maximum utilization to manage the COVID-19 or non-COVID-19 patients

Appearance of superconductivity in new BiS2 based layered LaO0.5F0.5BiS2

We report here synthesis, structural, DC magnetization, and transport studies of new BiS2 based layered LaO0.5F0.5BiS2 superconductor [1]. The sample was synthesized by conventional solid state route via vacuum encapsulation technique at 800oC for 12h. LaO0.5F0.5BiS2 crystallizes in tetragonal P4/nmm space group with lattice parameters a = 4.0703(5){\AA}, c = 13.3902(4){\AA}. Bulk superconductivity is confirmed with superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of 2.7K by DC magnetization measurements. The Isothermal magnetization (MH) measurements showed closed loops with clear signatures of flux pinning and irreversible behavior. The resistivity measurements confirmed an onset Tc of 2.7K. The magneto-transport {\rho}(T,H) measurements showed a resistive broadening and decrease in Tc ({\rho}=0) to lower temperatures with increasing magnetic field. The magnetic phase diagram involving upper critical and irreversibility fields as a function of temperature has been ascertained. Our DC magnetization and electrical transport measurements confirm the appearance of bulk superconductivity in LaO0.5F0.5BiS2 superconductor.Comment: 11 pages figures + Text: First observation/approval of LaO/FBiS2 superconductivity: comments/suggestions: [email protected]

Targeting Apoptotic Pathway of Cancer Cells with Phytochemicals and Plant-Based Nanomaterials

Apoptosis is the elimination of functionally non-essential, neoplastic, and infected cells via the mitochondrial pathway or death receptor pathway. The process of apoptosis is highly regulated through membrane channels and apoptogenic proteins. Apoptosis maintains cellular balance within the human body through cell cycle progression. Loss of apoptosis control prolongs cancer cell survival and allows the accumulation of mutations that can promote angiogenesis, promote cell proliferation, disrupt differentiation, and increase invasiveness during tumor progression. The apoptotic pathway has been extensively studied as a potential drug target in cancer treatment. However, the off-target activities of drugs and negative implications have been a matter of concern over the years. Phytochemicals (PCs) have been studied for their efficacy in various cancer cell lines individually and synergistically. The development of nanoparticles (NPs) through green synthesis has added a new dimension to the advancement of plant-based nanomaterials for effective cancer treatment. This review provides a detailed insight into the fundamental molecular pathways of programmed cell death and highlights the role of PCs along with the existing drugs and plant-based NPs in treating cancer by targeting its programmed cell death (PCD) network

An objective validation of polyp and instrument segmentation methods in colonoscopy through Medico 2020 polyp segmentation and MedAI 2021 transparency challenges

Automatic analysis of colonoscopy images has been an active field of research motivated by the importance of early detection of precancerous polyps. However, detecting polyps during the live examination can be challenging due to various factors such as variation of skills and experience among the endoscopists, lack of attentiveness, and fatigue leading to a high polyp miss-rate. Deep learning has emerged as a promising solution to this challenge as it can assist endoscopists in detecting and classifying overlooked polyps and abnormalities in real time. In addition to the algorithm's accuracy, transparency and interpretability are crucial to explaining the whys and hows of the algorithm's prediction. Further, most algorithms are developed in private data, closed source, or proprietary software, and methods lack reproducibility. Therefore, to promote the development of efficient and transparent methods, we have organized the "Medico automatic polyp segmentation (Medico 2020)" and "MedAI: Transparency in Medical Image Segmentation (MedAI 2021)" competitions. We present a comprehensive summary and analyze each contribution, highlight the strength of the best-performing methods, and discuss the possibility of clinical translations of such methods into the clinic. For the transparency task, a multi-disciplinary team, including expert gastroenterologists, accessed each submission and evaluated the team based on open-source practices, failure case analysis, ablation studies, usability and understandability of evaluations to gain a deeper understanding of the models' credibility for clinical deployment. Through the comprehensive analysis of the challenge, we not only highlight the advancements in polyp and surgical instrument segmentation but also encourage qualitative evaluation for building more transparent and understandable AI-based colonoscopy systems

COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey dataset on psychological and behavioural consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak

This N = 173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey - an open science effort to improve understanding of the human experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic between 30th March and 30th May, 2020. The dataset allows a cross-cultural study of psychological and behavioural responses to the Coronavirus pandemic and associated government measures like cancellation of public functions and stay at home orders implemented in many countries. The dataset contains demographic background variables as well as measures of Asian Disease Problem, perceived stress (PSS-10), availability of social provisions (SPS-10), trust in various authorities, trust in governmental measures to contain the virus (OECD trust), personality traits (BFF-15), information behaviours, agreement with the level of government intervention, and compliance with preventive measures, along with a rich pool of exploratory variables and written experiences. A global consortium from 39 countries and regions worked together to build and translate a survey with variables of shared interests, and recruited participants in 47 languages and dialects. Raw plus cleaned data and dynamic visualizations are available.Measurement(s) psychological measurement center dot anxiety-related behavior trait center dot Stress center dot response to center dot Isolation center dot loneliness measurement center dot Emotional Distress Technology Type(s) Survey Factor Type(s) geographic location center dot language center dot age of participant center dot responses to the Coronavirus pandemic Sample Characteristic - Organism Homo sapiens Sample Characteristic - Location global Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data:Peer reviewe