A study of clinical and laboratory profile of dengue positive cases in hadoti region Rajasthan, India

 Background: Dengue fever is one of the most common arboviral mediated outbreaks reported with increased prevalence year after year with considerable morbidity and mortality in hadoti region. the aim to study various clinical and laboratory manifestations of Dengue fever admitted in MBS Hospital KOTA, with a diagnosis of Dengue fever according to WHO protocol from December 2018 to January 2020.Methods: Prospective observational study was undertaken among adult patients. 132 patients were studied and analysed. And diagnosis was confirmed with Dengue IgM ELISA test. Other routine investigations done were routine hematological and biochemical investigations.Results: A total of 132 cases, out of which 95 cases of Dengue Fever (DF), 34 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and 3 cases of Dengue Shock syndrome, out of which Male: Female ratio was 2.1. and mean age of presentation was 37. Fever and myalgia were the most common finding (100%) followed by arthralgia and headache. Pruritus was found in 21 cases (15.9%) which carried a significant difference between DF and DHF (p value 40 IU/L) was seen in 39 cases (29.54%.). Pleural effusion was seen in 4 cases (3%), of which 3 cases of DHF and 1 case of DSS. Ascites in 6 cases (4.8%), all cases belong to DHF. Gall bladder wall thickening was seen in 28 cases (21.21%) of which 20 cases (54.04%) were of DHF. Melena was the most common bleeding manifestation. Skin rash was found to be positive in 40.5% cases. Hess test was positive in 4 cases (10.8% of DHF).Conclusions: Incidence of dengue fever is on the rise in hadoti region and one of the most important differential diagnosis of patients presenting with fever during monsoon and post monsoon seasons

Risk-Neutral Pricing and Hedging of In-Play Football Bets

A risk-neutral valuation framework is developed for pricing and hedging in-play football bets based on modelling scores by independent Poisson processes with constant intensities. The Fundamental Theorems of Asset Pricing are applied to this set-up which enables us to derive novel arbitrage-free valuation formulæ for contracts currently traded in the market. We also describe how to calibrate the model to the market and how trades can be replicated and hedged

Central nervous system tumors: a histopathological study

Background: Brain tumors can originate in almost any type of tissue, cell or mixture of cell types in the brain or spinal cord. Tumors in different areas of the central nervous system may be treated differently and have a different prognosis.Methods: In the period between 2011-2015, we studied on 59 patients diagnosed with CNS tumors according to the World Health Organization’s diagnostic criteria. Patient data were retrieved from the archives of the department of Pathology, Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner. The diagnosis in all the cases were made on hematoxylin & eosin stained slides of processed tissue.Results: Patients ages ranged from 3.5-65 years with a mean age of 41.2 years and a male to female ratio of 1.8:1. Majority of tumors had intracranial location (55 cases, 93.23%). 91.5% tumors were solid in consistency. Frontal lobe (37.3%) was the predominant affected region. Most tumors were originated from neuroepithelium (67.8%) followed by meninges (22.03%). When examining the data pertaining to specific types of tumors, most frequent type of CNS tumors was astrocytoma (31 cases, 52.5%), followed by meningioma (13 cases, 22%).Conclusion: The most frequent type of CNS tumours in this study was astrocytoma, followed by meningioma. Males are at much higher risk of developing CNS tumour in comparison to females (1.8:1). WHO Grade IV lesions were more common in our institutional set up. The exact histological diagnosis of CNS tumors is essential to predict the prognostic factors.

RNA interference: A novel tool for plant disease management

Plant diseases pose a huge threat to crop production globally. Variations in their genomes cause selection to favor those who can survive pesticides and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops. Though plant breeding has been the classical means of manipulating the plant genome to develop resistant cultivar for controlling plant diseases, the advent of genetic engineering provides an entirely new approach being pursued to render plants resistant to fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes. RNA interference (RNAi) technology has emerged to be a promising therapeutic weapon to mitigate the inherent risks such as the use of a specific transgene, marker gene, or gene control sequences associated with development of traditional transgenics. Silencing specific genes by RNAi is a desirable natural solution to this problem as disease resistant transgenic plants can be produced within a regulatory framework. Recent studies have been successful in producing potent silencing effects by using target doublestranded RNAs through an effective vector system. Transgenic plants expressing RNAi vectors, as well as, dsRNA containing crop sprays have been successful for efficient control of plant pathogens affecting economically important crop species. The present paper discusses strategies and applications of this novel technology in plant disease management for sustainable agriculture production.Keywords: Plant disease, RNA interference, transgene, managementAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(18), pp. 2303-231

On the existence and uniqueness of solutions to stochastic differential equations driven by G-Brownian motion with integral-Lipschitz coefficients

In this paper, we study the existence and uniqueness of solutions to stochastic differential equations driven by G-Brownian motion (GSDEs) with integral-Lipschitz conditions on their coefficients

Stress induced hyperglycemia and the subsequent risk of type 2 diabetes in survivors of critical illness

OBJECTIVE: Stress induced hyperglycemia occurs in critically ill patients who have normal glucose tolerance following resolution of their acute illness. The objective was to evaluate the association between stress induced hyperglycemia and incident diabetes in survivors of critical illness. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: All adult patients surviving admission to a public hospital intensive care unit (ICU) in South Australia between 2004 and 2011. PATIENTS: Stress induced hyperglycemia was defined as a blood glucose ≥ 11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL) within 24 hours of ICU admission. Prevalent diabetes was identified through ICD-10 coding or prior registration with the Australian National Diabetes Service Scheme (NDSS). Incident diabetes was identified as NDSS registration beyond 30 days after hospital discharge until July 2015. The predicted risk of developing diabetes was described as sub-hazard ratios using competing risk regression. Survival was assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression. MAIN RESULTS: Stress induced hyperglycemia was identified in 2,883 (17%) of 17,074 patients without diabetes. The incidence of type 2 diabetes following critical illness was 4.8% (821 of 17,074). The risk of diabetes in patients with stress induced hyperglycemia was approximately double that of those without (HR 1.91 (95% CI 1.62, 2.26), p<0.001) and was sustained regardless of age or severity of illness. CONCLUSIONS: Stress induced hyperglycemia identifies patients at subsequent risk of incident diabetes.Mark P. Plummer, Mark E. Finnis, Liza K. Phillips, Palash Kar, Shailesh Bihari, Vishwanath Biradar, Stewart Moodie, Michael Horowitz, Jonathan E. Shaw, Adam M. Dean

Code Verification Results of an LLNL ASC Code on Some Tri-Lab Verification Test Suite Problems

As scientific codes become more complex and involve larger numbers of developers and algorithms, chances for algorithmic implementation mistakes increase. In this environment, code verification becomes essential to building confidence in the code implementation. This paper will present first results of a new code verification effort within LLNL's B Division. In particular, we will show results of code verification of the LLNL ASC ARES code on the test problems: Su Olson non-equilibrium radiation diffusion, Sod shock tube, Sedov point blast modeled with shock hydrodynamics, and Noh implosion

Humidity assay for studying plant-pathogen interactions in miniature controlled discrete humidity environments with good throughput

This paper reports a highly economical and accessible approach to generate different discrete relative humidity conditions in spatially separated wells of a modified multi-well plate for humidity assay of plant-pathogen interactions with good throughput. We demonstrated that a discrete humidity gradient could be formed within a few minutes and maintained over a period of a few days inside the device. The device consisted of a freeway channel in the top layer, multiple compartmented wells in the bottom layer, a water source, and a drying agent source. The combinational effects of evaporation, diffusion, and convection were synergized to establish the stable discrete humidity gradient. The device was employed to study visible and molecular disease phenotypes of soybean in responses to infection by Phytophthora sojae, an oomycete pathogen, under a set of humidity conditions, with two near-isogenic soybean lines, Williams and Williams 82, that differ for a Phytophthora resistance gene (Rps1-k). Our result showed that at 63% relative humidity, the transcript level of the defense gene GmPR1 was at minimum in the susceptible soybean line Williams and at maximal level in the resistant line Williams 82 following P. sojae CC5C infection. In addition, we investigated the effects of environmental temperature, dimensional and geometrical parameters, and other configurational factors on the ability of the device to generate miniature humidity environments. This work represents an exploratory effort to economically and efficiently manipulate humidity environments in a space-limited device and shows a great potential to facilitate humidity assay of plant seed germination and development, pathogen growth, and plant-pathogen interactions. Since the proposed device can be easily made, modified, and operated, it is believed that this present humidity manipulation technology will benefit many laboratories in the area of seed science, plant pathology, and plant-microbe biology, where humidity is an important factor that influences plant disease infection, establishment, and development

In vivo imaging and quantitative analysis of leukocyte directional migration and polarization in inflamed tissue

Directional migration of transmigrated leukocytes to the site of injury is a central event in the inflammatory response. Here, we present an in vivo chemotaxis assay enabling the visualization and quantitative analysis of subtype-specific directional motility and polarization of leukocytes in their natural 3D microenvironment. Our technique comprises the combination of i) semi-automated in situ microinjection of chemoattractants or bacteria as local chemotactic stimulus, ii) in vivo near-infrared reflected-light oblique transillumination (RLOT) microscopy for the visualization of leukocyte motility and morphology, and iii) in vivo fluorescence microscopy for the visualization of different leukocyte subpopulations or fluorescence-labeled bacteria. Leukocyte motility parameters are quantified off-line in digitized video sequences using computer-assisted single cell tracking. Here, we show that perivenular microinjection of chemoattractants [macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha (MIP-1alpha/Ccl3), platelet-activating factor (PAF)] or E. coli into the murine cremaster muscle induces target-oriented intravascular adhesion and transmigration as well as polarization and directional interstitial migration of leukocytes towards the locally administered stimuli. Moreover, we describe a crucial role of Rho kinase for the regulation of directional motility and polarization of transmigrated leukocytes in vivo. Finally, combining in vivo RLOT and fluorescence microscopy in Cx3CR1(gfp/gfp) mice (mice exhibiting green fluorescent protein-labeled monocytes), we are able to demonstrate differences in the migratory behavior of monocytes and neutrophils.Taken together, we propose a novel approach for investigating the mechanisms and spatiotemporal dynamics of subtype-specific motility and polarization of leukocytes during their directional interstitial migration in vivo