Is cross-species horizontal gene transfer responsible for gallbladder carcinogenesis.

BACKGROUND: Cross-species horizontal gene transfer (HGT) involves the transfer of genetic material between different species of organisms. In recent years, mounting evidence has emerged that cross-species HGT does take place and may play a role in the development and progression of diseases. METHODS: Transcriptomic data obtained from patients with gallbladder cancer (GBC) was assessed for the differential expression of antisense RNAs (asRNAs). The Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) was used for cross-species analysis with viral, bacterial, fungal, and ancient human genomes to elucidate the evolutionary cross species origins of these differential asRNAs. Functional enrichment analysis and text mining were conducted and a network of asRNAs targeting mRNAs was constructed to understand the function of differential asRNAs better. RESULTS: A total of 17 differentially expressed antisense RNAs (asRNAs) were identified in gallbladder cancer tissue compared to that of normal gallbladder. BLAST analysis of 15 of these asRNAs (AFAP1-AS1, HMGA2-AS1, MNX1-AS1, SLC2A1-AS1, BBOX1-AS1, ELFN1-AS1, TRPM2-AS, DNAH17-AS1, DCST1-AS1, VPS9D1-AS1, MIR1-1HG-AS1, HAND2-AS1, PGM5P4-AS1, PGM5P3-AS1, and MAGI2-AS) showed varying degree of similarities with bacterial and viral genomes, except for UNC5B-AS1 and SOX21-AS1, which were conserved during evolution. Two of these 15 asRNAs, (VPS9D1-AS1 and SLC2A1-AS1) exhibited a high degree of similarity with viral genomes (Chikungunya virus, Human immunodeficiency virus 1, Stealth virus 1, and Zika virus) and bacterial genomes including (Staphylococcus sp., Bradyrhizobium sp., Pasteurella multocida sp., and, Klebsiella pneumoniae sp.), indicating potential HGT during evolution. CONCLUSION: The results provide novel evidence supporting the hypothesis that differentially expressed asRNAs in GBC exhibit varying sequence similarity with bacterial, viral, and ancient human genomes, indicating a potential shared evolutionary origin. These non-coding genes are enriched with methylation and were found to be associated with cancer-related pathways, including the P53 and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways, suggesting their possible involvement in tumor development.

An appraisal of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF): the dynamic molecule of wound healing and its current clinical applications.

Angiogenesis is a critical step of wound healing, and its failure leads to chronic wounds. The idea of restoring blood flow to the damaged tissues by promoting neo-angiogenesis is lucrative and has been researched extensively. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a key dynamic molecule of angiogenesis has been investigated for its functions. In this review, we aim to appraise its biology, the comprehensive role of this dynamic molecule in the wound healing process, and how this knowledge has been translated in clinical application in various types of wounds. Although, most laboratory research on the use of VEGF is promising, its clinical applications have not met great expectations. We discuss various lacunae that might exist in making its clinical application unsuccessful for commercial use, and provide insight to the foundation for future research.

Unravelling of the comparative Transcriptomic Profile of Gallbladder Cancer using mRNA sequencing.

BACKGROUND: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) represents a wide geographical diversity as well as heterogeneity in clinical and genomic landscape. There seems to be little progress in the development of diagnostic biomarkers, targeted therapies or individualized approaches to GBC management. In this study, we investigated the whole transcriptome profile of GBC patients using RNA sequencing and identified key genes and pathways associated with gallbladder cancer using bioinformatics. METHODOLOGY: A total of 10 cases of GBC were collected and sequenced. The raw reads of the gallbladder sample was compared with the gallbladder normal control (SRA Database ID: ERX288537: HPA RNA-seq normal tissues gallbladder). Using Gene ontology analysis the differentially expressed genes were categorized into the biological pathway, cellular component, and molecular function. Pathway enrichment analyses, protein-protein interaction, transcription factor and miRNA interaction that regulate the expression of hub genes were conducted using bioinformatics tool. RESULTS: A total of 954 differentially expressed mRNA transcripts were identified, including overexpression of REG4, TMEM238, S100A2, LYPD2, and KRT17, as well as underexpressed genes like CCKAR, IGSF10, CHRM2, CRISP3, and FGF19. Enrichment analysis showed the metabolic pathways to be the top five cancer pathways in gallbladder carcinogenesis besides PI3k-Akt signalling pathway, cAMP signalling pathway, miRNAs in cancer, and cell adhesion profile of GBC. CONCLUSIONS: CCKAR, CDKN2A and LRRK2 were found to be most involved genes in its progression and development through different regulatory pathways. Further, most of the genes were significantly involved in PI3k-Akt, Wnt and hedgehog signaling pathways which have a key role in gallbladder cancer development.

Significant presence of biofilm-producing gut-derived bacteria in anal fistula of chronic duration.

Fistula-in-ano though not a life-threatening condition, yet its symptoms often significantly impact patients' social, intimate, and work lives. There is an established role of bacterial microflora in acute infections. However, we proposed that biofilm-forming organisms might be present in the microflora of anal fistula of prolonged duration. This aspect has rarely been studied earlier. Therefore, the study describes the microbiology of anal fistula and the biofilm-forming capacity of the isolated organisms. A total of 30 patients were included in the study as per the criteria. Anal fistula tissue sample, tissue fluid, and blood samples were collected from each individual. The collected specimens were detected for the presence of aerobic and anaerobic microflora through standard microbiological method and polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, the role of biofilm formation by microtitre plate assay and serum matrix metalloproteinases-9 was also studied. The result showed significant predominance of gut-derived microflora with high-to-moderate biofilm-producing ability in anal fistulas of prolonged duration. The study emphasises the presence of biofilm-forming bacteria in chronic, non-healing fistula.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in India: Findings from the national serosurvey, May-June 2020.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Population-based seroepidemiological studies measure the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a country. We report the findings of the first round of a national serosurvey, conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among adult population of India. METHODS: From May 11 to June 4, 2020, a randomly sampled, community-based survey was conducted in 700 villages/wards, selected from the 70 districts of the 21 States of India, categorized into four strata based on the incidence of reported COVID-19 cases. Four hundred adults per district were enrolled from 10 clusters with one adult per household. Serum samples were tested for IgG antibodies using COVID Kavach ELISA kit. All positive serum samples were re-tested using Euroimmun SARS-CoV-2 ELISA. Adjusting for survey design and serial test performance, weighted seroprevalence, number of infections, infection to case ratio (ICR) and infection fatality ratio (IFR) were calculated. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with IgG positivity. RESULTS: Total of 30,283 households were visited and 28,000 individuals were enrolled. Population-weighted seroprevalence after adjusting for test performance was 0.73 per cent [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.34-1.13]. Males, living in urban slums and occupation with high risk of exposure to potentially infected persons were associated with seropositivity. A cumulative 6,468,388 adult infections (95% CI: 3,829,029-11,199,423) were estimated in India by the early May. The overall ICR was between 81.6 (95% CI: 48.3-141.4) and 130.1 (95% CI: 77.0-225.2) with May 11 and May 3, 2020 as plausible reference points for reported cases. The IFR in the surveyed districts from high stratum, where death reporting was more robust, was 11.72 (95% CI: 7.21-19.19) to 15.04 (9.26-24.62) per 10,000 adults, using May 24 and June 1, 2020 as plausible reference points for reported deaths. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 was low among the adult population in India around the beginning of May 2020. Further national and local serosurveys are recommended to better inform the public health strategy for containment and mitigation of the epidemic in various parts of the country.

Cannabis-based products for pediatric epilepsy: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the benefits and harms of cannabis-based products for pediatric epilepsy. METHODS: We identified in this living systematic review randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and nonrandomized studies (NRSs) involving children with epilepsy treated with cannabis-based products. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, and gray literature (April 25, 2018). The primary outcome was seizure freedom; secondary outcomes were seizure frequency (total, ≥50% reduction), quality of life, sleep, status epilepticus, death, gastrointestinal adverse events, and visits to the emergency room. Data were pooled by random-effects meta-analysis. Risk of bias was assessed for each study, and GRADE was used to assess the quality of evidence for each outcome. RESULTS: Four RCTs and 19 NRSs were included, primarily involving cannabidiol. All RCTs were at low risk of bias, whereas all NRSs were at high risk. Among RCTs, there was no statistically significant difference between cannabidiol and placebo in seizure freedom (relative risk [RR] = 6.77, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.36-128.38; 1 RCT), quality of life (mean difference = 0.6, 95% CI = -2.6 to 3.9; 3 RCTs), sleep disruption (mean difference = -0.3, 95% CI = -0.8 to 0.2; 3 RCTs), or vomiting (RR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.51-1.96; 4 RCTs). There was a statistically significant reduction in the median frequency of monthly seizures with cannabidiol compared with placebo (-19.8%, 95% CI = -27.0% to -12.6%; 3 RCTs) and an increase in the number of participants with at least a 50% reduction in seizures (RR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.07-2.88; 1 RCT) and diarrhea (RR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.38-3.68; 3 RCTs). Death and status epilepticus were infrequently reported. SIGNIFICANCE: Evidence from high-quality RCTs suggests that cannabidiol probably reduces seizures among children with drug-resistant epilepsy (moderate certainty). At this time, the evidence base is primarily limited to cannabidiol, and these findings should not be extended to all cannabis-based products.

Comparative Analysis of Mutational Profile of Sonic hedgehog Gene in Gallbladder Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Gallbladder cancer has high incidence in northeastern India; mortality too is high as the disease is often diagnosed late. Numerous studies have shown the role of sonic hedgehog (shh) in different cancers, an important ligand of the hedgehog signaling pathway. AIM: This study was carried out to evaluate the shh gene mutations in gallbladder cancer patients. METHODS: PCR-SSCP was performed for shh gene in 50 samples each of gallbladder cancer, cholelithiasis, and control. The samples showing aberration in banding pattern were sequenced. RESULTS: Variation in banding pattern was observed in 20% gallbladder cancer cases, 10% in cholelithiasis, and none of the control (χ 2 = 11.111; p < 0.05). Sequencing results revealed seven novel point mutations in GBC cases. These novel mutations were found to be associated with histopathology (p < 0.05) and stage (p < 0.05) of gallbladder cancer. CONCLUSION: This study reveals several novel individual and repetitive mutations of shh gene in GBC and cholelithiasis samples that may be used as diagnostic markers for gallbladder carcinogenesis.

Acid exposure induces multiplication of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi faces several environmental stresses while going through the stomach (acidic pH) to the small intestine (basic pH) and intracellularly in macrophages (acidic pH) in humans. The acidic pH followed by alkaline pH in the small intestine might be responsible for expression of certain stress-induced genes, resulting in not only better survival but also induction of multiplication and invasion of the bacterium in the small intestine. Based on this hypothesis, we developed a process wherein we exposed the blood, urine, and stool specimens from 90 acute typhoid fever patients and 36 chronic typhoid carriers to acidic pH to see the effect on isolation rate of S. Typhi. About 5 g of freshly passed unpreserved stool, a centrifuged deposit of 15 ml of urine, and 5 ml of blood clot were subjected to 5 ml of Luria-Bertani (LB) broth (pH 3.5) for 20 min, followed by enrichment in bile broth-selenite F broth. When the combined isolation from all 3 specimens, i.e., blood, urine, and stool, after acid exposure was considered, a total of 77.7% of the acute typhoid patients were observed to be positive for the isolation of the S. Typhi serotype, compared to 8.8% by the conventional method. Similarly, 42% (15/36) of chronic carriers yielded positive for S. Typhi growth after acid exposure, compared to 5.5% (2/36) by the conventional method. It therefore can be concluded that acid shock triggers the multiplication of the bacteria, resulting in better isolation rates from blood clot, stool, and urine specimens.

Heavy and trace metals in carcinoma of the gallbladder.

BACKGROUND: Carcinoma of the gallbladder is the commonest malignancy of the biliary tract in northern India The etiologic relation of specific metals (heavy and trace) and their compounds to neoplasia has been a topic of investigation for some time but not adequately described for carcinoma of the gallbladder. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relation of heavy and trace metals to this malignancy. METHODS: The levels of selenium, zinc, copper, manganese, cadmium, chromium, lead, and nickel were estimated in serum, bile, gallstones, and gallbladder tissue using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The tests were carried out in 30 patients with gallbladder cancer and 30 sex-matched patients with cholelithiasis. RESULTS: Selenium and zinc levels were significantly reduced (p < 0.001) and copper concentration was found to be significantly higher (p < 0.001) in serum, bile, and gallbladder tissue from patients with carcinoma of the gallbladder. Lead, cadmium, chromium, and nickel levels were elevated in serum and bile in patients with carcinoma of the gallbladder. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated a significant decrease in serum, biliary, and tissue levels of selenium and zinc but increased copper, lead, cadmium, chromium, and nickel levels in patients with carcinoma of the gallbladder, indicating a strong relation between the concentrations of these metals and gallbladder cancer.

"Hurricane-like" Presentation of a Recurrent Marjolin's Ulcer in a Young Female.

Marjolin's ulcer (MU) with rapid progression and multiple distant metastases is rare. We report a case of an MU of the thigh developing in a postburn scar, which after successful R0 resection developed multiple bony and visceral metastasis to femur, vertebra, skull, lung, and liver within 3 months of excision. We highlight the "hurricane-like" recurrence in an MU, which is unusual for the metachronous disease. We stress that MUs, unlike conventional wisdom, need a thorough metastatic workup at presentation, and prognostication of a possible rapidly progressive course after surgery which may lead to grave prognosis and mortality.

Wandering Spleen and Acute Gastric Volvulus in an Elderly Woman with Acute Abdomen: A Case Report.

Gastric volvulus is an uncommon clinical condition with the potentially life-threatening complication of acute gastric necrosis. A wandering spleen may also be associated with gastric volvulus and can produce a diagnostic dilemma as the cause of an acute abdomen. We present a case of an elderly woman who presented with acute abdominal symptoms. She did not have the classical Borchardt triad to diagnose gastric volvulus and had a coexisting wandering spleen. Although torsion and ischemia of the wandering spleen were initially thought to be the cause of acute abdomen, a subsequent contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) scan confirmed a coexistent mesenteric-axial gastric volvulus with gangrenous changes. We present this case to highlight a rare combination of pathologies, either of which can confuse the diagnosis or cause a delay in management. Early diagnosis with CECT is emphasized, and segmental resection is feasible when the rest of the viscus can be preserved.

Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: What We Learned in the Last Two Decades and the Future Perspectives.

The advancement in surgical techniques, optimization of systemic chemoradiotherapy, and development of refined diagnostic and imaging modalities have brought a phenomenal shift in the treatment of the locally advanced rectal cancer. Although each therapeutic option has shown substantial progress in their field, it is finding their ideal amalgamation which has baffled the clinician and researchers alike. In the effort to identifying the perfect salutary treatment plan, we have even shifted our attention from the trimodal approach to non-operative "watchful waiting" to more recent individualized care. In this article, we acknowledge the scientific progress in the management of locally advanced rectal cancer and compare the opportunities as well as the obstacles while implementing them clinically. We also explore the current challenges and controversies surrounding the multidisciplinary approach and highlight the new trends and recent advances with an ultimate goal to improve the patients' quality of life.

Biofilm and wound healing: from bench to bedside.

The bubbling community of microorganisms, consisting of diverse colonies encased in a self-produced protective matrix and playing an essential role in the persistence of infection and antimicrobial resistance, is often referred to as a biofilm. Although apparently indolent, the biofilm involves not only inanimate surfaces but also living tissue, making it truly ubiquitous. The mechanism of biofilm formation, its growth, and the development of resistance are ever-intriguing subjects and are yet to be completely deciphered. Although an abundance of studies in recent years has focused on the various ways to create potential anti-biofilm and antimicrobial therapeutics, a dearth of a clear standard of clinical practice remains, and therefore, there is essentially a need for translating laboratory research to novel bedside anti-biofilm strategies that can provide a better clinical outcome. Of significance, biofilm is responsible for faulty wound healing and wound chronicity. The experimental studies report the prevalence of biofilm in chronic wounds anywhere between 20 and 100%, which makes it a topic of significant concern in wound healing. The ongoing scientific endeavor to comprehensively understand the mechanism of biofilm interaction with wounds and generate standardized anti-biofilm measures which are reproducible in the clinical setting is the challenge of the hour. In this context of "more needs to be done", we aim to explore various effective and clinically meaningful methods currently available for biofilm management and how these tools can be translated into safe clinical practice.

A Study of Arginase Expression in Chronic Non-healing Wounds.

Arginase expression has been recently shown to increase in numerous disease states like neurodegeneration, inflammation, and malignancies. Although it has been found to be functionally important in various disease pathologies, little is known about its role in wound healing. Here, we look at the expression of arginase and its isoforms in chronic non-healing wounds and also study the expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and oxidative stress enzymes in them. Wound tissues and blood samples were collected at the time of index presentation and follow-up from 61 chronic non-healing wound cases. The expression patterns of arginase isoenzymes, NOS, superoxide dismutases (SOD), lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH), and catalase were examined by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunohistochemistry, and western blot analysis at the transcript and protein level. We reported a significant decrease of serum arginase levels in chronic nonhealing wounds in the progress of wound healing. Interestingly, tissue arginase levels were found to be increased with improved wound condition at follow-up. Tissue NOS, LDH, and catalase activity were also found to be increased with the progress of healing, whereas SOD levels were downregulated. Our findings reported increased expression at the transcript level of arginase-I and arginase-II in chronic non-healing wounds for the first time. In conclusion, we observed decreased serum arginase levels in completely healed patients as compared to non-healed cases. Our study findings support the hypothesis that inhibition of the activity of arginase delays wound healing. Arginase and iNOS may also find their place in the future as possible biomarkers for wound healing.

Poor Glycemic Control Is Associated With Lower Interleukin-2 (IL-2) Levels and Low Macrophage Viability in Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs).

Low macrophage viability in chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) may lead to inadequate interleukin (IL) expression and the persistence of infection. This study evaluates the association between macrophage function, IL-2 expression, and wound microflora in chronic DFUs. Diabetic patients with DFUs (group 1, n = 40) and without DFUs (group 2, n = 40) were compared for macrophage function in serum by viability testing. Immunological response was measured by serum IL-1ß, IL-2ß, and IL-10 levels. The aerobic and anaerobic microflora of the DFUs were assessed by culture and molecular methods. Demographic, clinical, and biochemical factors were statistically analyzed by χ2 test and Student t test. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to detect the pattern of association between glycosylated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1c), serum IL-2 levels, and macrophage viability. Of the total DFU cases, 22 (55%) showed the presence of polymicrobial microflora. Low macrophage viability with predominant Gram-negative flora was seen in 10 (25%) cases in group 1. Serum IL-2 levels were significantly lower (P = .004) in patients in group 1 along with elevated levels of hemoglobin A1c (P = .038). MCA showed an association between low viability of macrophages and lower IL-2 levels and elevated hemoglobin A1c levels with lower serum IL-2 levels. As compared to group 2, the low viability of macrophages was significantly associated (P = .007) with lower IL-2 levels in group 1. Elevated hemoglobin A1c levels are strongly associated with lower IL-2 levels and low macrophage viability. This might be a contributing factor to the persistence of infections in chronic DFUs.

Cancer pattern in Varanasi district from Uttar Pradesh state of India, a foundation for cancer control based on the first report of the population-based cancer registry.

Background: The cancer registry provides reliable data from the population. In this article, we provide cancer burden and its patterns from the Varanasi district. Methods: The method adopted by the Varanasi cancer registry is community interaction along with regular visits to more than 60 sources to collect data on cancer patients. The cancer registry was established by the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, in 2017 covering 4 million population (57% rural and 43% urban population). Results: The registry has recorded 1,907 incidence cases (1,058 male and 849 female). The age-adjusted incidence rate per 100,000 population in male and female of Varanasi district is 59.2 and 52.1, respectively. One in 15 male and one in 17 female are at risk of developing the disease. Mouth and tongue cancers are the predominant cancers in male, whereas breast, cervix uteri, and gallbladder are the leading cancer sites among the female. In female, cervix uteri cancer is significantly higher (double) in rural areas when compared with urban areas (rate ratio [RR] 0.5, 95% confidence interval [CI; 0.36, 0.72]), whereas in male, mouth cancer is higher in urban areas when compared with rural areas (RR 1.4, 95% CI [1.11, 1.72]). More than 50% of cancer cases in male are due to tobacco consumption. There may be underreporting of the cases. Conclusion: The results of the registry warrant policies and activities related to early detection services for the mouth, cervix uteri, and breast cancers. The Varanasi cancer registry is the foundation for cancer control and will play an important role in the evaluation of the interventions.

Wound Healing in the Golden Agers: What We Know and the Possible Way Ahead.

While "population aging" is an accomplishment that deserves acclamation, it is in itself a tremendous challenge. Age-related skin changes, impaired wound healing, and concurrent comorbidities are the deadly triad that contribute most to the development of nonhealing chronic wounds in the elderly. This imposes enormous medical, social, and financial burden. With the rising trend in the aging population, this problem is likely to exacerbate unless multidisciplinary, rapt wound care strategies are developed. The last decade was dedicated to understand the basic biology underlying the wound healing process but most in vitro and animal model studies translated poorly to human conditions. Forthcoming, the focus is on the development of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to improve healing in this vulnerable age group. Further, understanding the complex pathobiology of cellular senescence and wound healing process is required to develop focused therapy for these "problem wounds" in the elderly.

Significant in-Vitro and in-Vivo Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity of Colloidal Silver Nanoparticles (cAgNPs) in Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers.

Infection is a foremost challenge in the cases of wound care, especially in cases of chronic wounds. The present study was conducted to determine the antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity of the colloidal silver nanoparticles (cAgNPs) on Gram positive organisms and to evaluate the in-vivo response of cAgNPs on patients of chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). cAgNPs were tested against selected Gram-positive organisms like methicillin-sensitive and resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA, MRSA), Enterococcus faecalis and vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) using microbroth dilution assay to estimate minimum inhibitory/bactericidal concentration (MIC/MBC). Biofilm inhibition capacity and time kill assay was performed. Further, the in-vivo response of topical application of cAgNPs was evaluated on patients of DFUs. The susceptibility testing demonstrated the MIC and MBC values of the cAgNPs ranging from 0.5µg/ml to 1.0 µg/ml and 1.0 µg/ml to 8 µg/ml against the tested organisms respectively. The cAgNPs showed inhibition of biofilm formation in the low, medium and high biofilm producers by 91%, 83% and 75% respectively at the highest concentration (52ppm). The time kill kinetics showed significant reduction in the number of viable cells (p < 0.0001). Significant reduction in microbial load (p = 0.0062) and in the number of moderate to strong biofilm producing organisms (p = 0.0069) after treatment with cAgNPs was seen. cAgNPs exhibited significant in-vitro bactericidal and bacteriostatic activity against MRSA, MSSA and VRE respectively along with anti-biofilm activity. Additionally, cAgNPs showed significant reduction in microbial load of the chronic DFUs.

Multiresolution-Based Singular Value Decomposition Approach for Breast Cancer Image Classification.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer that can strike at any age; the higher the age, the greater the risk. The presence of malignant tissue has become more frequent in women. Although medical therapy has improved breast cancer diagnostic and treatment methods, still the death rate remains high due to failure of diagnosing breast cancer in its early stages. A classification approach for mammography images based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) is proposed in order to investigate it. The proposed method uses multiresolution NSCT decomposition to the region of interest (ROI) of mammography images and then uses Z-moments for extracting features from the NSCT-decomposed images. The matrix is formed by the components that are extracted from the region of interest and are then subjected to singular value decomposition (SVD) in order to remove the essential features that can generalize globally. The method employs a support vector machine (SVM) classification algorithm to categorize mammography pictures into normal, benign, and malignant and to identify and classify the breast lesions. The accuracy of the proposed model is 96.76 percent, and the training time is greatly decreased, as evident from the experiments performed. The paper also focuses on conducting the feature extraction experiments using morphological spectroscopy. The experiment combines 16 different algorithms with 4 classification methods for achieving exceptional accuracy and time efficiency outcomes as compared to other existing state-of-the-art approaches.

Study on Blood Serum Levels of Heavy and Trace Metals in Chronic Non-Healing Wounds.

Wound healing is a complex, highly regulated process that is important in sustaining the skin barrier function. The etiologic relation of specific metals is not adequately described for chronic non-healing wounds. The aim of this study was to estimate heavy and trace metals in chronic non-healing wound and their association with wound healing. The levels of zinc, selenium, copper, magnesium, chromium, cadmium, iron, and lead were estimated in serum of chronic non-healing wound patients using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The tests were carried out in 50 patients with chronic non-healing wound and thirty healthy volunteers as control. The serum levels of elements namely zinc, selenium, copper, magnesium, and chromium were significantly reduced in chronic non-healing wounds (P < .001) as compared to control. Lead and cadmium levels had shown the significantly increasing trend in chronic non-healing wound cases (P < .001). The present study demonstrated a significant decrease in serum, levels of selenium, zinc, copper, magnesium, iron, and chromium levels in patients with chronic non-healing wound indicating an association between these elements and wound healing. To summarize the findings of our research, hence trace elements were decreasing in chronic non-healing wound patients suggesting their role in wound healing.