The accuracy of protein structure alignment servers

Background: Protein structural alignment is one of the most fundamental and crucial areas of research in the domain of computational structural biology. Comparison of a protein structure with known structures helps to classify it as a new or belonging to a known group of proteins. This, in turn, is useful to determine the function of protein, its evolutionary relationship with other protein molecules and grasping principles underlying protein architecture and folding. Results: A large number of protein structure alignment methods are available. Each protein structure alignment tool has its own strengths andweaknesses that need to be highlighted.We compared and presented results of six most popular and publically available servers for protein structure comparison. These web-based servers were compared with the respect to functionality (features provided by these servers) and accuracy (how well the structural comparison is performed). The CATH was used as a reference. The results showed that overall CE was top performer. DALI and PhyreStorm showed similar results whereas PDBeFold showed the lowest performance. In case of few secondary structural elements, CE, DALI and PhyreStorm gave 100% success rate. Conclusion: Overall none of the structural alignment servers showed 100% success rate. Studies of overall performance, effect of mainly alpha and effect of mainly beta showed consistent performance. CE, DALI, FatCat and PhyreStorm showed more than 90% success rate

Automated virtual reality therapy to treat agoraphobic avoidance and distress in patients with psychosis (gameChange): a multicentre, parallel-group, single-blind, randomised, controlled trial in England with mediation and moderation analyses

BackgroundAutomated delivery of psychological therapy using immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) might greatly increase the availability of effective help for patients. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an automated VR cognitive therapy (gameChange) to treat avoidance and distress in patients with psychosis, and to analyse how and in whom it might work.MethodsWe did a parallel-group, single-blind, randomised, controlled trial across nine National Health Service trusts in England. Eligible patients were aged 16 years or older, with a clinical diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder or an affective diagnosis with psychotic symptoms, and had self-reported difficulties going outside due to anxiety. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to either gameChange VR therapy plus usual care or usual care alone, using a permuted blocks algorithm with randomly varying block size, stratified by study site and service type. gameChange VR therapy was provided in approximately six sessions over 6 weeks. Trial assessors were masked to group allocation. Outcomes were assessed at 0, 6 (primary endpoint), and 26 weeks after randomisation. The primary outcome was avoidance of, and distress in, everyday situations, assessed using the self-reported Oxford Agoraphobic Avoidance Scale (O-AS). Outcome analyses were done in the intention-to-treat population (ie, all participants who were assigned to a study group for whom data were available). We performed planned mediation and moderation analyses to test the effects of gameChange VR therapy when added to usual care. This trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, 17308399.FindingsBetween July 25, 2019, and May 7, 2021 (with a pause in recruitment from March 16, 2020, to Sept 14, 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions), 551 patients were assessed for eligibility and 346 were enrolled. 231 (67%) patients were men and 111 (32%) were women, 294 (85%) were White, and the mean age was 37·2 years (SD 12·5). 174 patients were randomly assigned to the gameChange VR therapy group and 172 to the usual care alone group. Compared with the usual care alone group, the gameChange VR therapy group had significant reductions in agoraphobic avoidance (O-AS adjusted mean difference –0·47, 95% CI –0·88 to –0·06; n=320; Cohen's d –0·18; p=0·026) and distress (–4·33, –7·78 to –0·87; n=322; –0·26; p=0·014) at 6 weeks. Reductions in threat cognitions and within-situation defence behaviours mediated treatment outcomes. The greater the severity of anxious fears and avoidance, the greater the treatment benefits. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of serious adverse events between the gameChange VR therapy group (12 events in nine patients) and the usual care alone group (eight events in seven patients; p=0·37).InterpretationAutomated VR therapy led to significant reductions in anxious avoidance of, and distress in, everyday situations compared with usual care alone. The mediation analysis indicated that the VR therapy worked in accordance with the cognitive model by reducing anxious thoughts and associated protective behaviours. The moderation analysis indicated that the VR therapy particularly benefited patients with severe agoraphobic avoidance, such as not being able to leave the home unaccompanied. gameChange VR therapy has the potential to increase the provision of effective psychological therapy for psychosis, particularly for patients who find it difficult to leave their home, visit local amenities, or use public transport.FundingNational Institute of Health Research Invention for Innovation programme, National Institute of Health Research Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre

Effect of lean green practices on sustainability performance with mediating role of entrepreneurship orientation: a resource based view

Sustainability performance concept has gained amplified importance in the last decades. On the other hand, with the change in market dynamics and increasing concerns for social responsibility and environment, the improvement methodologies related to the environment, operations, and society such as manufacturing practices lean and green are rising these days. However, there are minimal efforts at integrating the concepts of Lean, Green concerning sustainability performance in SMEs. As the concepts of Lean Green and their integration is necessary to balance the requirement for operational efficiency, environmental commitment and social fairness. Therefore, this study suggests a conceptual framework for the implementation of Lean, Green practices impact on the sustainability performance within business operations of Small and Medium Enterprises with mediating role of entrepreneurship orientation under the theory of Resource Based View. The proposed framework shows new pathways and paradigms for SMEs to understand the importance of Lean Green practices effect with the role of entrepreneurship orientation in their day to day performance as well as to achieve the balance between economic, social and environmental priorities

Development of sustainability framework based on the theory of resource based view

Lean, Green and Agile management are arguably among the most frequently discussed topics in the business-operations management literature. These three concepts are perfectly aligned with theory of resource based view, which advocates a symbiotic relationship between a firm resources and capabilities and performance. In spite of the theoretical and historical linkages between these concepts however, there has been minimal efforts at integrating the concepts of Lean, Green and Agile particularly with regard to sustainability performance. This study therefore proposes a conceptual framework to examine the impact of Lean, Green and Agile practices and the relationship between sustainability performances of a firm. The study is conceptual in nature, as it involves the review of existing literature critically and systematically and synthesis of existing studies and relevant theory have been discussed, leading to the formulation of the proposed framework. Documented evidence in the literature shows that these concepts are historically linked. In spite of the linkage, there have been minimal efforts at integrating the concept of Lean Green Agile to achieve sustainability performance of the firm. The proposed framework provides a guide for examining the impact of Lean Green and Agile practices and sustainability performance achievement. It is hoped that findings emanating from the study will aid companies to further understand the importance of Lean Green and Agile practices in their day to day performance

Early-Stage Heart Disease Prediction using supervised Machine Learning Algorithms

Heart Disease is believed to be the number one killer globally, and its diagnosis has long been considered a very crucial problem. With the revolution of the modern world, it is very important to detect heart disease at its earlier stages so that patient treatment should be done effectively. Many previous researchers used Hybrid and Data Mining techniques to predict heart disease at its earlier stages, but they couldn’t get the required results. The evaluation of the Machine learning and artificial intelligence research community mainly focused on these techniques to get better results. This research paper used six supervised machine learning classifiers like Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, Logistic Regression, Decision Tree, K-Nearest Neighbor and Naïve Bayes. We used two different datasets for the sample data in terms of attributes and values. We also used three different feature selection techniques to improve our accuracy by selecting the most important features. We first applied these machine learning classifiers to our proposed dataset without using the feature selection technique and computing the results. After that, we applied LASSOM, MRMR and MIFS techniques and derived the results with improved accuracies. In the end, we make a comparison table between the results that are computed with and without the feature selection technique. According to our experimental results we can say that the results accuracies computed with the feature selection technique are higher than those computed without feature selection techniques. Evaluation techniques like Confusion matrix, Accuracy, precision, Recall, F1 Score, PR Curve and ROC curve are used to measure the performance of our classifiers.  So, we conclude that if we use any of these feature selection techniques, we can conclude better results and predict heart disease at its earlier stages with improved accuracy

EMBLICA OFFICINALIS (AMLA): A PROSPECTIVE REVIEW ON DISTINCTIVE PROPERTIES AND THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS OF AMLA

Phyllanthus emblica Linn. (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) usually referred as Amla is well-known tree used for the production of herbal as well as pharmacological medicines. It is a famous truth so as to every components of Amla are beneficial for the treatment of numerous illnesses. Among all, the maximum vital element is fruit. Amla fruit is extensively utilized in all around the world gadget of medication as antioxidant, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, metabolic syndrome, cardioprotective, hair energizer, stomach ulcer protective, and sickness, as by myself or in aggregate with different herbs. The different researches show that it contains large number of biochemical components, especially alkaloids, phenols, tannins, multivitamin, and inorganic compounds. The organic chemical constituents present in Amla involve ellagic acid, gallic acid, emblicanin A and B, phyllembein, quercetin, and ascorbic acid are decided to be efficient for health. The review articles related to Amla well known its palliative, anti-coughing, anti-atherogenic, immune booster, aerobic, intestinal protective, kidney protective, and neuroprotective, chemopreventive, radio modulatory, and anticancer homes. It is also stated to possess amazing unfastened radical scavenging, oxidation inhibitor, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, and immune modulatory sports that are effectual inside the remedy and treatment of diverse illnesses such as cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes, liver, and coronary heart illnesses. In this text, we communicate the nutritional fee, biochemical components, and conventional makes use of medicinal cost of Amla and its use as a household treatment. We, moreover, emphasized the mechanisms entails in pharmacological sports based on the modern-day research critiques and attempted to summarize the results of studies carried out from the beyond 5 years with proper specifications on the destiny possibilities in a pharmacological perspective

Prevalence and Types of Contraceptive Used in Pakistan- A National Survey

Introduction/background: Pakistan is among the fastest growing countries of the world as far as population growth is concerned. With a growth rate of 2percent, the contraceptive prevalence rate is stagnant at 30 percent for the last many years. Use of family planning methods is limited and steps should be taken to increase the uptake. Objectives: To find the prevalence of contraception and choice of technique used. Methodology: The study was descriptive and cross-sectional in nature, the questionnaire was self administered semi-structured ipsative and was pilot tested on a sample of 10 females of reproductive age group before the final administration. The study was carried out in all four provinces. The sample size 200 females per district and 4 districts were taken from each province. Data analysis was done using SPSS. Results: The survey covered 3200 women from 16 districts (4 each province). The overall use of contraceptives was found to be maximum in Punjab (36.5%), then Sindh (28.7%), KPK (24.6%) and least in Baluchistan (14.5%). In Punjab and Sindh most common method was tubal ligation (11% and 10% respectively), while in KPK it was condoms and in Baluchistan it was oral pills. The least preferred methods in Punjab were found to be Injectable hormones and IUCD’s (both 3.5%) while in Sindh (1%), KPK (2%) and Baluchistan (1%) it was reported to be IUCD’s. Conclusion: People should be counselee properly about use of contraceptives. Awareness programs through social media should be may become aware especially in Baluchistan and KPK

Perceived barriers to facemask adherence in the covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan-A cross-sectional survey.

ObjectiveTo explore perceived barriers associated with facemask adherence to prevent spread of COVID-19 spread in Pakistani population.MethodologyA cross sectional study was conducted from 25-July 2020 to 5-August 2020. Participants of both genders of age >17 years, currently residing in Pakistan, who had access to internet and understood English were included in the survey. The survey was designed on Google form and was distributed digitally across different areas of Pakistan via social media. Survey included questions regarding socio-demographics, facemask adherence and perceived barriers related to facemask adherence such as perceived risks, health concerns, comfort, social influences, religious/cultural norms and social protocols and health recommendations. SPSS version 23 was used to analyze data. Independent t-test/One-way ANOVA was applied to assess significant difference between perceived barriers to wear face mask and socio-demographic factors, p-value ≤0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Post-hoc LSD test was also applied where applicable.ResultsOnly 20% of the participants reported non-adherence to facemask. Amongst these participants, majority agreed that comfort was the main barrier precluding them from wearing a mask, 89.4% subjects saying that it was too hot to wear it and 84.1% saying that a mask was too uncomfortable to wear. Whereas, 82.1% highly agreed that difficulty in breathing is perceived barrier related to facemask usage. Statistically significant difference was found between health concerns with gender (p = 0.031), locality (p = 0.001) and religion (p = 0.03); comfort with locality (p = 0.007); social influences with gender (p = 0.001), ethnicity (p = 0.001) and locality (p = 0.017); cultural/religious norms with religion (p = 0.001) and social protocols and health recommendations with age (p = 0.015).ConclusionDespite of satisfactory facemask adherence, still there are perceived barriers to it. In order to increase utilization of face masks among the general population, strict health policies should be implemented and awareness regarding the importance of face masks should be enhanced by educational interventions

Transdermal Delivery of Glimepiride: A Novel Approach Using Nanomicelle-Embedded Microneedles

Glimepiride (GM) is a hydrophobic drug that dissolves slowly and yields inconsistent clinical responses after oral administration. Transdermal drug delivery (TDD) is an appropriate alternative to oral administration. Microneedles (MNs) offer a promising delivery system that penetrates the skin, while polymeric micelles can enhance the solubility; hence, the combination of both results in high drug bioavailability. This study aims to improve glimepiride’s solubility, dissolution rate, and bioavailability by incorporating nanomicelles into MNs for TDD. The nanomicelles formulated with 10% Soluplus® (SP) and 40% GM had a mean particle size of 82.6 ± 0.54, PDI of 0.1 ± 0.01, −16.2 ± 0.18 zeta potential, and achieved a 250-fold increase in solubility. The fabricated pyramid shaped GM-dissolving MNs were thermally stable and had no formulation incompatibility, as confirmed by thermal and FTIR analysis. The in vitro dissolution profile revealed that the GM release from nanomicelles and nanomicelle-loaded DMN was concentration-independent following non-Fickian transport mechanism. Improved pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained with dose of 240 µg as compared to 1 mg of GM oral tablet, in healthy human volunteers. The observed Cmax, Tmax and MRT were 1.56 μg/mL ± 0.06, 4 h, and 40.04 h ± 3.37, respectively. The safety profile assessment indicated that microneedles are safe with no adverse effects on skin or health. This study provides an alternative delivery system for the administration of glimepiride, resulting in improved bioavailability, enhanced patient compliance, and reduced dosing frequency