STATUS OF ENZYMATIC ANTIOXIDANTS IN EYE LENS EXTRACTED FROM CATARACTOUS SUBJECTS

Objectives: Cataract is a common kind of blindness prevailing in India. Eye lens is normally exposed to toxic elements of the surroundings, leading to the formation of free radicals. In normal conditions, the presence of antioxidants may help to counteract the progression of free radical formation in an eye lens. Hence, it was requisite to assess the activities of enzymatic antioxidants in the eye lens extracted from cataractous subjects.Methods: The cataractous lens samples of 120 subjects were collected from the ophthalmic centres in and around Coimbatore. The subjects were categorised into apparently normal cataract men (ACM), apparently normal cataract women (ACW), diabetic cataract men (DCM), diabetic cataract women (DCW), hypertensive cataract men (HCM) and hypertensive cataract women (HCW) with each group consisting of 20 samples. Activities of enzymatic antioxidants namely superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) were assessed in the cataractous lens samples from the selected subjects. Data was interpreted using SPSS 16.0 software package.Results: The activities of SOD and CAT were found to be significantly decreased (p<0.05) in all the five groups when compared to apparently normal cataract men. Enzymes of glutathione system exhibited a significant variation (p<0.05) in their activity in the cataractous eye lens extracted from diabetic and hypertensive cataract women in comparison to apparently normal cataract men. A significant decrease (p<0.05) in the activities of GR and GST was also observed in the cataractous eye lens extracted from diabetic and hypertensive cataract men when compared to the subjects of ACM group. Conclusion: The outcome of the study suggested that cataractous subjects with clinical complications were much disposed to the reactive oxygen species and more affected than the apparently normal cataractous subjects. Â

Alzheimers Disease Diagnosis using Machine Learning: A Review

Alzheimers Disease AD is an acute neuro disease that degenerates the brain cells and thus leads to memory loss progressively. It is a fatal brain disease that mostly affects the elderly. It steers the decline of cognitive and biological functions of the brain and shrinks the brain successively, which in turn is known as Atrophy. For an accurate diagnosis of Alzheimers disease, cutting edge methods like machine learning are essential. Recently, machine learning has gained a lot of attention and popularity in the medical industry. As the illness progresses, those with Alzheimers have a far more difficult time doing even the most basic tasks, and in the worst case, their brain completely stops functioning. A persons likelihood of having early-stage Alzheimers disease may be determined using the ML method. In this analysis, papers on Alzheimers disease diagnosis based on deep learning techniques and reinforcement learning between 2008 and 2023 found in google scholar were studied. Sixty relevant papers obtained after the search was considered for this study. These papers were analysed based on the biomarkers of AD and the machine-learning techniques used. The analysis shows that deep learning methods have an immense ability to extract features and classify AD with good accuracy. The DRL methods have not been used much in the field of image processing. The comparison results of deep learning and reinforcement learning illustrate that the scope of Deep Reinforcement Learning DRL in dementia detection needs to be explored.Comment: 10 pages and 3 figure

A CASE REPORT: DRUG INTERACTION BETWEEN LINEZOLID AND DOPAMINE

Linezolid is a weak, non-selective inhibitor of monoamine oxidase (MAO). It can inhibit the breakdown of the tyramine by MAO in the gut and can also potentiate the effect of tyramine at nerve endings, thereby causing an increase in blood pressure. We encountered a neonate who developed acute hypertensive episode after simultaneous administration of dopamine and linezolid. A 25 w preterm neonate was admitted in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) with complaints of Patent Ductus Arteriosus and respiratory infection. Linezolid infusion 6.5 mg every 8 h over 30 min (7 am, 3pm, 11 pm) was added after confirmation of gram-positive cocci (Staphylococcus epidermis) growth. Inj. Dopamine 20 mcg/kg/min was started for derangement in blood pressure 52/28 mm Hg (Mean blood pressure 43) at 5 pm. The baby developed acute hypertensive episode at 5.30 pm for which dopamine was withdrawn immediately. The half-life of Linezolid is 5.6 h in preterm baby, and that of Dopamine is 2 min. Since the probability of peak concentration for both the administered drugs was around the same time period, the baby developed acute hypertensive episode. So the combination of Linezolid with Dopamine should be avoided if possible or the dosage interval has to be extended to minimize the adverse reaction.Â

SCIENTIFIC WRITING AS AN ART: AN OVERVIEW

Writing well is an art that takes time to be perfect, but if you don't try it, you won't nail it. The value of writing should never be underestimated, as writing well improves your work [1]. If the writing is clear, it can turn bad science into good science and makes more impactful and valuable [1]. Writing helps the speaker to express the issue before audience very easier. There are various types of writing such as articles, journals, literature review etc [3]. The scientific writing should be simple, objective and concise. Writing depends on the reader's needs (for a normal reader technical terms mathematical expressions has never suited well) [2]. Various types of manuscripts are used in scientific writing. One of the key developers in scientific publications is the adoption of the IMRAD's [Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion] structure [5]. Apart from this other form is TAKAR (Title, Abstract, Keywords, Acknowledgements, and References) [5]. Approaches made by writers for in the design of the contents are about various forms in more than one journal [4]. In case of reference also various styles are used, such as Vancouver's style, the Harvard system. Writing is a most important factor to criticize and evaluate the publications [9]. Writing process should not intend to be sane, effective. Writing is a decision making process and Writers designs in different ways for their scientific work [7]. All written communications are affected by a larger context or situation [8]. This article helps the reviewers to know about the different writing methods its rhythm and styles

Effective Disaster Management by Efficient Usage of Resources

Disaster Management can be merely defined as the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of crises, in specific preparedness, rejoinder and recapture in order to diminish the influence of disasters. But the affects of the disaster increases only when the information about the disaster is unknown and when the resources for the disaster management is not correctly used. Now there are several methods for forecast the disaster, But there are no any effective methods for handling the resources needed for both managing the disaster and also for rehabilitation purpose. Thus this paper proposes an application used for managing the disaster and handling the rehabilitation process. This application which deals with almost all the resources those are required for the management of disaster. This proposed application which is based on java programming language. This project also has a great scope of enhancement in future

FAST DISSOLVING SUBLINGUAL PATCH OF PHENOBARBITAL SODIUM: FORMULATION AND IN VITRO EVALUATION

Objective: To formulate and characterize. Phenobarbital sodium loaded sublingual patch using biodegradable, mucoadhesive, fast-dissolving natural polymer pullulan for immediate management of epileptic seizures. Methods: Phenobarbital sodium loaded sublingual patches were prepared by the solvent casting method and were subjected to various physicochemical evaluation parameters to find the optimized sublingual patch. The in vitro drug release study and kinetic model of the optimized formulation was also carried out. The stability study of the optimized Phenobarbital sodium loaded sublingual patch was also done. Results: From in vitro drug release study, it was found that Phenobarbital sodium loaded sublingual patch (S4) exhibited a maximum drug release of 96.24±1.27% at the end of 60 min compared to other formulations indicating a faster drug release from the formulation with release kinetics as Higuchi diffusion model. In fact, a notable release data was obtained between 0.5 to 8 min by all formulations, specifically S4 formulation (20.84±1.97% and 77.22±2.41% drug release at the end of 0.5 min and 8 min respectively) showed a better percentage release profile in comparison with other formulations. Such a trend is vital to deliver the drug at a faster rate to promote immediate effect for managing the fatal and complicated seizure. Considering the physicochemical property and in vitro drug release data, S4 formulation was regarded as an optimized one. The stability study also confirmed that S4 formulation is stable at refrigeration conditions. Conclusion: The formulated Phenobarbital sodium loaded sublingual patch is an effective drug delivery carrier which enables faster drug release to manage epileptic seizure

Mitigating Phytophthora foot rot and slow decline diseases of black pepper through the deployment of bacterial antagonists

Field trial was conducted at ICAR-IISR Experimental Farm, Peruvannamuzhi, Kozhikode district, Kerala, during 2008-2013 using IPM modules. Planting materials of black pepper were produced by raising two node runners cuttings treated with chemicals and bioagents. A plot having non-living standards in 3 x 2 m spacing was selected. Pits of 50 cm3 were made and buffered with lime and cow dung. Planting was done with three month old rooted plants where roots were primed with respective bacterium/chemical. The experiment was in RCBD with eight treatments viz., Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Bp 35) + Phorate, P. putida (Bp 25) + Phorate, P. fluorescence (IISR 6)  (later identified as P.aeruginosa) + Phorate, Bacillus megaterium (Bp 17) + Metalaxyl Mz, Curtobacterium luteum (TC10) + Metalaxyl Mz, P. aeruginosa (IISR 853) + Metalaxyl Mz and Phorate + Metalaxyl Mz (chemical check) and an absolute control having no treatments.  The differential treatments were imposed at planting in May and subsequent application in September and thereafter every year. Initial two years, plants were maintained weed free by plastic mulching. Commonly, shade and irrigation were provided during summer in the first two years and thereafter only mulching and irrigation were continued. All the plants were sprayed with ZnSO4 (0.25%), DAP (0.5%) and MgSO4 (0.25%) during May and September from second year onwards. For controlling ‘Pollu’ beetle (Longitarsus nigripennis) and anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides), quinalphos (0.075%) + Bordeaux mixture (1%) was sprayed twice during September and November. Soil biological properties and pathogen population were monitored regularly. No foot rot incidence due to Phytophthora spp. could be noticed in any of the treatments till the end of the experimental period. However, nematode infection, manifested as yellowing of the vines, as well as nematode population showed a gradual increase. Among the treatments, C. luteum (TC 10) with Metalaxyl- Mz showed significant reduction in nematode population and also showed better performance in growth and yield