Ultrasonographic evaluation of submucosal thickness in oral submucous fibrosis patients : a cross-sectional study

Purpose: To evaluate the role of ultrasonography in oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) patients. Material and methods: A total of 150 subjects were divided equally into six groups (Group I: 25 healthy subjects; Group II: 25 healthy subjects with habit; Group III: 25 OSMF stage I; Group IV: 25 OSMF stage II; Group V: 25 OSMF stage III; and Group VI: 25 stage OSMF IVA). The grading of OSMF were done according the clinical classification given by Khanna and Andrade (2005). After fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria each subject underwent extraoral ultrasonographic evaluation of submucosal thickness and vascularity in terms of peak systolic velocity (PSV), bilaterally on buccal and labial mucosa. Furthermore, statistical comparison of each group was done, and sensitivity and specificity of USG measurements was obtained in comparison with clinical diagnosis. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS ver. 20.0. Results: A statistically significant increase in mean submucosal thickness was shown, and a decrease in PSV with the advancement of severity of the OSMF. In ultrasonographic diagnosis of OSMF, the reported submucosal thickness had a sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy was 80%, 100%, 100%, 71.4%, and 87%, respectively, but PSV failed to classify the lesion. Conclusions: Because the severity of the disease showed a direct relationship with submucosal thickness and an inverse relationship with PSV, habit-induced mucosal alteration in submucosal thickness can be seen on USG, which cannot be appreciated on clinical examination. Hence, USG can be a promising tool for early diagnosis, assessment of the severity, and evaluation of prognosis of OSMF

Syn-QG: Syntactic and Shallow Semantic Rules for Question Generation

Question Generation (QG) is fundamentally a simple syntactic transformation; however, many aspects of semantics influence what questions are good to form. We implement this observation by developing Syn-QG, a set of transparent syntactic rules leveraging universal dependencies, shallow semantic parsing, lexical resources, and custom rules which transform declarative sentences into question-answer pairs. We utilize PropBank argument descriptions and VerbNet state predicates to incorporate shallow semantic content, which helps generate questions of a descriptive nature and produce inferential and semantically richer questions than existing systems. In order to improve syntactic fluency and eliminate grammatically incorrect questions, we employ back-translation over the output of these syntactic rules. A set of crowd-sourced evaluations shows that our system can generate a larger number of highly grammatical and relevant questions than previous QG systems and that back-translation drastically improves grammaticality at a slight cost of generating irrelevant questions.Comment: Some of the results in the paper were incorrec

Pediatric Rotavirus Gastroenteritis: A 2 year Analysis to Understand Current Prevalence in Mumbai

Many studies have established the high prevalence of paediatric Rotavirus gastroenteritis in India. The importance of rapid diagnosis of rotavirus infection has also been stressed upon, to initiate prompt rehydration therapy and prevent unnecessary use of antibiotics .We undertook a retrospective analysis of 327 paediatric stool specimens to understand the current prevalence and seasonal distribution of cases in Mumbai and its surrounding areas. Overall Rotavirus positivity rate was 37.9 %, with peak positivity in winter seasons. Infections were more common upto 2 years of age. Incidence of bacterial and parasitic coinfections was low

Ethnomedicinal Studies of Some Weeds in Crop Fields of Marathwada Region, India

The aim of the present work was the identification and documentation of ethnomedicinal weeds growing in crop fields in the Marathwada region of India (70o 5’-78o 5’ E longitude and 17o 5’-20o 5’ N longitude). Our survey was also aimed at the possibility of discovering new ways by which such plants could be better utilized for the welfare of human health. A total of 20 species of plants representing 18 Genera and 12 families were collected. In addition to the first hand collection of ethnomedicinal information from the inhabitants of the area, additional traditional uses were obtained through a study of the pertinent literature. Our results suggest the weeds of these fields were mostly ones which were common, unwanted and easily grown in any place. However, our results also show that there are many ways of properly utilizing such weedy species in the promotion of human welfare. Moreover, the collection of these medicinal weeds provided farmers with a most welcomed additional income

INFLUENCE OF CHROMIUM (Cr3+) SUBSTITUTION ON THE STRUCTURAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF NICKEL FERRITE NANOPARTICLES

The nanoparticles of chromium substituted nickel ferrite with the general formula NiCrxFe2-xO4 (x = 0.0, 0.2 and 0.4) were prepared by sol-gel auto combustion method using ascorbic acid as a fuel. The single phase cubic spinel structures of all the samples were confirmed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The lattice constant, X-ray density and bulk density was obtained and their variations with Cr substitution were studied. The lattice constant decreases with Cr substitution. The crystallite size of all the samples was determined using Debye-Scherrer’s formula and found to be 28-36 nm which confirms the nanocrystalline nature of the samples. The DC electrical resistivity was studied using two probe technique to understand role of chromium on electrical behaviour. The variation of DC resistivity with temperature exhibits semiconductor behaviour. The resistivity decreases with increase in temperature

Quantum Blockchain: Unraveling the Potential of Quantum Cryptography for Distributed Ledgers

The examination investigates the joining of quantum-safe cryptographic calculations into blockchain innovation, zeroing in on grid-based cryptography and hash-based marks. Because of the inescapable danger presented by quantum processing, this study proposes a quantum-safe blockchain system intended to upgrade the security and flexibility of circulated records. The cross-section-based cryptography calculation uses the computational intricacy of grid issues, offering protection from quantum goes like Shor's calculation. Simultaneously, hash-based marks give lightweight and quantum-safe choices for advanced marks, supporting the general validity of blockchain exchanges. The examination includes a multi-staged approach, incorporating a complete writing survey, hypothetical system improvement, algorithmic execution, and exhaustive investigation of versatility, execution, and information security. Reproduction results will illuminate ensuing equipment executions, approving the down-to-earth attainability of the proposed quantum-safe blockchain. Besides, the review digs into moral and administrative contemplations, adding to the foundation of capable rules for quantum-safe blockchain innovation. Insights into the performance of lattice-based cryptography and hash-based signatures, as well as the provision of a blueprint for future research in quantum-resistant distributed ledger systems, are among the anticipated contributions. The powerful idea of quantum advancements and blockchain requires continuous investigation, and the exploration makes way for future examinations concerning quantum-safe agreement components, upgraded Quantum Key Dispersion, and interdisciplinary coordinated efforts

MULTIPARTICULATE FLOATING DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM OF ANAGLIPTIN: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION FOR ITS EFFICACY IN MANAGEMENT OF METABOLIC SYNDROME

Objective: The present research aims to design and optimize gastroretentive floating pellets of anagliptin (a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor), so as to reduce P-Glycoprotein (PGP)–mediated efflux in the intestine hence to improve oral bioavailability. Methods: The drug-containing core pellets were prepared by extrusion and spheronization process followed by subsequent coating with three successive layers i.e. Eudragit RS 100, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3): hydroxypropyl methylcellulose E5LV (HPMC E5LV) and Eudragit RL 100 using fluidized bed processor. A 3 level 3 factor box-behnken design was adopted to investigate the effect of Eudragit RS 100, NaHCO3: HPMC E5LVand Eudragit RL 100 on floating lag time and drug release at 10 h. Desirability function under numerical optimization technique was used to identify the optimum formulation. Results: The study reveals the significant effect of the amount of NaHCO3 and coating level of polymers on floating lag time and drug release. The optimum system could float within 4 min and exhibited more than 85% drug release in 10 h. The pharmacokinetic study conducted in male Wistar rats indicated 2.51 fold increase in relative bioavailability of optimized formulation compare to anagliptin drug. Formulated anagliptin pellets were evaluated in cafeteria diet-induced metabolic syndrome model in male Wistar rats. Anagliptin floating pellets treatment compared to cafeteria diet group significantly inhibited increase in body weight (238.79±2.52 g vs. 277.98±3.69 g, P<0.001), calorie intake (2283.99 kcal vs. 3086.05 kcal, P<0.05) and serum levels of total cholesterol (95.19±0.61 mg/dl vs. 110.04±1.31 mg/dl, P<0.01), triglycerides (96.12±1.25 mg/dl vs. 105.99±1.29 mg/dl, P<0.01) while high-density lipoproteins levels were improved (42.15±0.92 mg/dl vs. 30.92±0.77 mg/dl, P<0.01) indicated its hypophagic and anti-hyperlipidemic effects. Conclusion: The gastroretentive floating pellets of anagliptin was obtained and could be a promising technique to deliver anagliptin with improved bioavailability in the management of the metabolic syndrome

Review of Leaf Unhealthy Region Detection Using Image Processing Techniques

Abstract- In agricultural  field the plants comes to an attack from the various pets bacterial and micro-organism diseases. This diseases  attacks on the plant leaves, steams, and fruit part. This present review paper discussed the image processing techniques which is used in performing the early detection of plant diseases through leaf feature inspection. the basic objective of this work is to develop image analysis and classification techniques for extraction and finally classified the diseases present on leaf. Image of leaf is captured  and the process is performed and to determine the status of each plant. Here proposed model  divide into four parts. The  image preprocessing including normalization and contrast adjustment; segment the region of interest  determine by using color transform YCbCr and bi-level thresholding for statistical usage to determine the defect and severity area of plant leaves. The texture feature extraction using statistical GLCM (Gray Level Co-occurrences Matrix)  and color feature by means values.[1] Finally classification achieved using random markov model