Association between Irregular Labour Pains and Meconium in Low Risk Pregnancies

Background Meconium stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) is a frequent occurrence seen by health care providers in obstetric and neonatal practice. MSAF is a predictor of adverse perinatal outcome even in low risk pregnancies, so MSAF can be taken as independent marker of fetal distress. MSAF was associated with higher rate of caesarean delivery, meconium aspiration syndrome, hospital admission and perinatal mortality. Objective The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of MSAF in low risk pregnancies presenting with irregular labour pains between 37 to 40 weeks of gestation. Material and Methods This was a Descriptive case series conducted in Gynae / Obs Unit II, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi from December 2020 to May 2021. All patients registered in the labour room of Obs/Gynae Unit-II between 37 to 40 weeks were evaluated for the occurrence of irregular labour pains, with the help of history and clinical examination. Presence of meconium stained amniotic fluid in low risk pregnancies presenting with irregular labour pains was noted. A cutoff value of 12 hours for irregular labour pains was taken and after that elective amniotomy was done to see the colour of liquor and delivery was planned accordingly. Informed written consent was taken from all patients before enrollment in study. All relevant information was recorded on specified proforma. Results Out of 120 low risk pregnant women those presenting with irregular labour pains, meconium was found positive in 77 (64.2%) pregnant women. Out of which majority 45 (37.5%) was 26-30 years old. The mean age of the pregnant women was 28.05 years those fall in the category of low risk pregnancies with irregular labour pains and the standard deviation was 4.354. Among 36 (30.0%) pregnant women who were 19-25 years old, meconium was found positive in 21 (17.5%) pregnant women. Among 45 (37.5%) pregnant women who were 26-30 years old, meconium was found positive in 32 (26.7%) pregnant women. Likewise among 39 (32.5%) pregnant women who were 31-38 years old, meconium was found positive in 24 (20.0%) pregnant women.   Conclusion  Meconium-stained amniotic fluid was prevalent among majority of the women (64.2%) those presented with irregular labour pains and categorized as low risk. Mean age of the women was 28.05 years. MSAF was found positive among all three age groups but it was more prevalence in age group 26-30 years

Terezine E, bioactive prenylated tryptophan analogue from an endophyte of Centaurea stoebe

Fungal endophytes are considered promising sources of new bioactive natural products. In this study, a Mucor sp. has been isolated as an endophyte from the medicinal plant Centaurea stoebe. Through bioactivity-guided fractionation, the isolation of the new bioactive terezine E in addition to the previously reported 14-hydroxyterezine D was carried out. The isolated compounds were fully characterised by HRESIMS and 1D and 2D NMR analyses. Both compounds exhibited potent antiproliferative activity against K-562 and HUVEC cell lines and antifungal efficacy against the tested fungal strains. </p

Using Sat solvers for synchronization issues in partial deterministic automata

We approach the task of computing a carefully synchronizing word of minimum length for a given partial deterministic automaton, encoding the problem as an instance of SAT and invoking a SAT solver. Our experimental results demonstrate that this approach gives satisfactory results for automata with up to 100 states even if very modest computational resources are used.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Efficacy of plant extracts in controlling wheat leaf rust disease caused by Puccinia triticina

AbstractThe efficacy of eight plant extracts (garlic, clove, garden quinine, Brazilian pepper, anthi mandhaari, black cumin, white cedar and neem) in controlling leaf rust disease of wheat was investigated in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, all treatments inhibited spore germination by more than 93%. Neem extract recorded 98.99% inhibition of spore germination with no significant difference from the fungicide Sumi-8 (100%). Under greenhouse conditions, seed soaking application in neem extract (at concentration of 2ml/L) resulted in 36.82% reduction in the number of pustules/leaf compared with the untreated control. Foliar spraying of plant extracts on wheat seedlings decreased the number of pustules/leaf. Foliar spraying of plant extracts four days after inoculation led to the highest resistance response of wheat plants against leaf rust pathogen. Spray application of wheat seedlings with neem, clove and garden quinine extracts, four days after inoculation with leaf rust pathogen completely prevented rust development (100% disease control) and was comparable with the fungicide Sumi-8. Foliar spray application of wheat plants at mature stage with all plant extracts has significantly reduced the leaf rust infection (average coefficient of infection, ACI) compared with the untreated control and neem was the most effective treatment. This was reflected on grain yield components, whereas the 1000-kernel weight and the test weight were improved whether under one- or two-spray applications, with two-spray application being more effective in this regard. Thus, it could be concluded that plant extracts may be useful to control leaf rust disease in Egypt as a safe alternative option to chemical fungicides

Does Valproic Acid Induce Neuroendocrine Differentiation in Prostate Cancer?

Valproic Acid (VPA) is a histone deacetylase inhibitor that holds promise for cancer therapy. Here, we investigate whether VPA treatment induces neuroendocrine differentiation of Prostate Cancer (PCa). A tissue microarray of VPA-treated and untreated tumor xenografts and cell lines of human PCa (LNCaP, C4-2, DU145, and PC-3) were generated and were analyzed by immunohistochemical analysis (IHC) for NE markers chromogranin A (CgA), synaptophysin, and NCAM (neural cell adhesion molecule). Western blot analysis for CgA was performed to confirm the results of the TMA. IHC analysis did not reveal any induction of CgA, synaptophysin, or NCAM in any xenograft after VPA treatment in vivo. In vitro, VPA treatment induced little synaptophysin expression in C4-2 and PC-3 cells and NCAM expression in LNCaP and PC-3 cells. In the case of CgA, VPA treatment decreased its expression in vitro in a dose-dependent manner, as determined by western blot analysis. Thus our data demonstrates that VPA does not induce NE differentiation of PCa cells in the physiologically relevant in vivo setting

One-stage lingual augmented urethroplasty in repair of distal penile hypospadias

AbstractObjectivesTo evaluate the outcome of augmentation of shallow urethral plate by lingual graft in repair of distal penile hypospadias.Patients and methodsBetween June 2008 and May 2011, the procedure was performed on 23 patients with mean age 2.3 years (range 1–3). All patients had distal penile hypospadias; 11 sub coronal and 12 coronal. The urethral plate was less than 8mm in all patients and 3 of them had history of previous hypospadias surgery. All procedures were carried out under general anesthesia using 4× magnifying loupe. After penile degloving and dorsal incision of the urethral plate, the lingual graft was harvested and sutured to the edges of the incised urethral plate from the hypospadias opening to the tip of the penis. The neourethra was closed and an intervening flap was fixed over the neourethra as a barrier against fistula formation.ResultsSuccess rate was 87% as 20/23 patients were cured without any permanent complication throughout the follow up period. None of patients suffered meatal stenosis or required regular urethral dilatation. Three patients developed urethrocutaneous fistula, of which two closed spontaneously and one required surgical repair 6 months later. Two patients had failed procedures and delayed re-intervention was performed due to complete loss of the graft in one of them and repair disruption following infection in the other. Two patients had post-operative pain in the graft harvesting site which disappeared within days.ConclusionThe one-stage lingual augmented urethral plate urethroplasty offers promising outcomes for repair of distal penile hypospadias with narrow urethral plate

A study on wear evaluation of railway wheels based on multibody dynamics and wear computation

The wear evolution of railway wheels is a very important issue in railway engineering. In the past, the reprofiling intervals of railway vehicle steel wheels have been scheduled according to designers' experience. Today, more reliable and accurate tools in predicting wheel wear evolution and wheelset lifetime can be used in order to achieve economical and safety benefits. In this work, a computational tool that is able to predict the evolution of the wheel profiles for a given railway system, as a function of the distance run, is presented. The strategy adopted consists of using a commercial multibody software to study the railway dynamic problem and a purpose-built code for managing its pre- and post-processing data in order to compute the wear. The tool is applied here to realistic operation scenarios in order to assess the effect of some service conditions on the wheel wear progression

Multibody dynamics analysis (MDA) as a numerical modelling tool to reconstruct the function and palaeobiology of extinct organisms

Recent advances in computer technology have substantially changed the field of palaeontology in the last two decades. Palaeontologists now have a whole new arsenal of powerful digital techniques available to study fossil organisms in unprecedented detail and to test hypotheses regarding function and behaviour. Multibody dynamics analysis (MDA) is one of these techniques and although it originated as a tool used in the engineering and automotive industry, it holds great potential to address palaeontological questions as well. MDA allows the simulation of dynamic movements in complex objects consisting of multiple linked components. As such, this technique is ideally suited to model biological structures and to obtain quantifiable results that can be used to test the function of musculoskeletal systems rigorously. However, despite these advantages, MDA has seen a slow uptake by the palaeontological community. The most likely reason for this lies in the steep learning curve and complexity of the method. This paper provides an overview of the underlying principles of MDA and outlines the main steps involved in conducting analyses. A number of recent studies using MDA to reconstruct the palaeobiology of fossil organisms are presented and the potential for future studies is discussed. Similar to other computational techniques, including finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics, the non‐invasive and exploratory power of MDA makes it ideally suited to study the form and function in vertebrates for which no modern analogues exist

210Po Log-normal distribution in human urines: Survey from Central Italy people

The death in London of the former secret service agent Alexander Livtinenko on 23 November 2006 generally attracted the attention of the public to the rather unknown radionuclide 210Po. This paper presents the results of a monitoring programme of 210Po background levels in the urines of noncontaminated people living in Central Italy (near the Republic of S. Marino). The relationship between age, sex, years of smoking, number of cigarettes per day, and 210Po concentration was also studied. The results indicated that the urinary 210Po concentration follows a surprisingly perfect Log-normal distribution. Log 210Po concentrations were positively correlated to age (p < 0.0001), number of daily smoked cigarettes (p = 0.006), and years of smoking (p = 0.021), and associated to sex (p = 0.019). Consequently, this study provides upper reference limits for each sub-group identified by significantly predictive variables