Formulation and performance evaluation of polymeric mixed micelles encapsulated with baicalein for breast cancer treatment.

The present study is aimed to formulate baicalein-loaded mixed micelles to enhance the solubility and oral bioavailability. Baicalein encapsulated D-α-tocopherol polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) and pluronic F127 (F127) combined micelles were prepared and investigated for anticancer effect. The optimized formulation contains 25.04 ± 0.24 nm mean particle size of micelles with a zeta potential value of -4.01 ± 0.5 mV. The calculated entrapment efficiency percentage of baicalein within the micellar structure was 83.43 ± 0.13% and the in vitro release of baicalein from micelles displayed a sustained release profile at pH 7.4. The incorporation of baicalein within micelles core was also confirmed by FTIR analysis of formulation, which hardly represents the characteristic peak of baicalein, indicating successful entrapment of the drug. In vitro cell culture experiments revealed baicalein-loaded micelles significantly enhanced cellular uptake and cytotoxicity against MDAMB-231 cell lines in comparison to free baicalein. Additionally, as compared to free baicalein, baicalein micelles demonstrated greater apoptosis-inducing potential while the results of the cell cycle study exhibited arrest of cells at the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. Results of ROS (reactive oxygen species) and MMP (mitochondrial membrane potential) assay revealed the ROS-dependent mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway utilized by developed formulation to inhibit cell proliferation. Thus, the developed nano micelles can serve as a potent carrier system for baicalein against breast cancer.

ECMO and Short-term Support for Cardiogenic Shock in Heart Failure.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review aims to discuss the role of ECMO in the treatment of cardiogenic shock in heart failure. RECENT FINDINGS: Trials done previously have shown that IABP does not improve survival in cardiogenic shock compared to medical treatment, and that neither Impella 2.5 nor TandemHeart improves survival compared to IABP. The "IMPRESS in severe shock" trial compared Impella CP with IABP and found no difference in survival. A meta-analysis of cohort studies comparing ECMO with IABP showed 33% improved 30-day survival with ECMO (risk difference 33%; 95% CI 14-52%; p = 0.0008; NNT 3). ECMO is indicated in medically refractory cardiogenic shock. ECMO can be considered in cardiogenic shock patients with estimated mortality of more than 50%. ECMO is probably the MCS of choice in cardiogenic shock with; biventricular failure, respiratory failure, life-threatening arrhythmias and cardiac arrest.

Genetic diversity and population structure analysis between Indian red jungle fowl and domestic chicken using microsatellite markers.

The present study was conducted to assess the genetic diversity, population structure, and relatedness in Indian red jungle fowl (RJF, Gallus gallus murgi) from northern India and three domestic chicken populations (gallus gallus domesticus), maintained at the institute farms, namely White Leghorn (WL), Aseel (AS) and Red Cornish (RC) using 25 microsatellite markers. All the markers were polymorphic, the number of alleles at each locus ranged from five (MCW0111) to forty-three (LEI0212) with an average number of 19 alleles per locus. Across all loci, the mean expected heterozygosity and polymorphic information content were 0.883 and 0.872, respectively. Population-specific alleles were found in each population. A UPGMA dendrogram based on shared allele distances clearly revealed two major clusters among the four populations; cluster I had genotypes from RJF and WL whereas cluster II had AS and RC genotypes. Furthermore, the estimation of population structure was performed to understand how genetic variation is partitioned within and among populations. The maximum ▵K value was observed for K = 4 with four identified clusters. Furthermore, factorial analysis clearly showed four clustering; each cluster represented the four types of population used in the study. These results clearly, demonstrate the potential of microsatellite markers in elucidating the genetic diversity, relationships, and population structure analysis in RJF and domestic chicken populations.

Tomato plant leaf disease segmentation and multiclass disease detection using hybrid optimization enabled deep learning.

Production of crops is increasing day by day in agriculture sectors. The insecurity of food is a main reason of plant disease and is a main global issue that humans face these days. With the design of contemporary environmental agriculture, more focus is devised for yielding the crop and elevating its quality. The occurrence of crops has elevated in years and the kind of disease has become more and more complex. The disease in plants and the pernicious insects are the major risks in agriculture field. Thus, earlier discovery and treatment of this disease are imperative. The major design of Deep Learning (DL) model helped in detecting the plant disease and grants a dynamic tool with accurate results. This paper presents DL-assisted technique for detecting and classifying the tomato disease and used deep batch-normalized eLu Alex Net (DbneAlexnet) for classifying the tomato plant leaves. Initially, tomato plant leaf images are taken as an input from specific dataset represented and it is subjected to preprocessing phase to eliminate unwanted distortions using anisotropic filtering. Then, the segmentation is carried out using U-net, which is trained by Gradient-Golden search optimization (Gradient-GSO) Algorithm and it is incorporation of both Golden search optimization (GSO) and Gradient concept. Thereafter the segmented image is given to image augmentation process, where position augmentation and color augmentation are considered. Finally, the multiclass plant leaf disease is classified using DbneAlexnet and is trained using proposed Gradient Jaya- Golden search optimization (GJ-GSO). Here, the GJ-GSO is devised with the integration of Gradient concept, Jaya algorithm, and GSO algorithm. The proposed GJ-GSO-based DbneAlexnet outperformed highest accuracy of 92.4%, True positive rate (TPR) of 91.9%, True negative rate (TNR) of 92.2% and smallest False Positive Rate (FPR) of 0.078. Hence, the technique with unified segmentation and classification is effectual for identifying the plant disease and the empirical research verifies the benefits of the developed model.

Design, fabrication, and characterization of a drift tube linac type double gap re-buncher cavity.

The Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA) at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India, has recently been commissioned to the target energy of 20 MeV by beam acceleration through a 352 MHz radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) and drift tube linac (DTL). The medium energy beam transport (MEBT) line of LEHIPA matches the 3 MeV beam from RFQ to the DTL using four electromagnetic quadrupoles and a re-buncher cavity. In the beam transport lines of high frequency linacs, TM010 mode single gap buncher cavities are conventionally used, while a double gap re-buncher cavity was chosen for the short length LEHIPA MEBT based on beam dynamics simulations. The 352 MHz double gap re-buncher cavity has been designed in a DTL type geometry with a cell length of ßλ. This double gap cavity is found to be more power efficient with a higher shunt impedance and transit time factor than the conventional single gap buncher cavity. Electromagnetic design simulations, fabrication details, low power and high-power RF test results, and beam test results of the re-buncher cavity are presented in this paper.

'Doing things differently'--working towards distributed responsibility within memory assessment services.

OBJECTIVES: To compare initial diagnostic hypotheses made by Allied Health Professionals (AHP) (mental health nurses, occupational therapists and social workers) with subsequent formal multidisciplinary formulation based upon the full possession of investigations, neuropsychological tests and brain imaging. Design Prospective analysis. DESIGN: Prospective analysis. SETTING: Home-based assessments, secondary care based multidisciplinary memory clinic. PARTICIPANTS: 90 consecutive referrals over a 3-month period. RESULTS: Fifty eight patients (64.4%) were diagnosed by the multi-disciplinary team as having a dementia. Twenty (34%) were classified as Alzheimer's disease, 28 (49%) of mixed sub-type and 9 (16%) of vascular origin. Together, AHP's were able to detect dementia with 91% accuracy (Kappa 0.81) sensitivity was 0.88 and specificity 0.97. The diagnostic accuracy for each professional group ranged from 88% to 93% (Kappa 74-90%). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, structured initial assessment by AHP's working in a Memory Assessment Service was shown to be an accurate method of determining a diagnosis of cognitive impairment, when compared with formal MDT judgment. It is suggested that such distributed responsibility affords a viable option for the future detection of early dementia.

Detection of Breast Cancer from Five-View Thermal Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks.

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer. Its aggressive nature coupled with high mortality rates makes this cancer life-threatening; hence early detection gives the patient a greater chance of survival. Currently, the preferred diagnosis method is mammography. However, mammography is expensive and exposes the patient to radiation. A cost-effective and less invasive method known as thermography is gaining popularity. Bearing this in mind, the work aims to initially create machine learning models based on convolutional neural networks using multiple thermal views of the breast to detect breast cancer using the Visual DMR dataset. The performances of these models are then verified with the clinical data. Findings indicate that the addition of clinical data decisions to the model helped increase its performance. After building and testing two models with different architectures, the model used the same architecture for all three views performed best. It performed with an accuracy of 85.4%, which increased to 93.8% after the clinical data decision was added. After the addition of clinical data decisions, the model was able to classify more patients correctly with a specificity of 96.7% and sensitivity of 88.9% when considering sick patients as the positive class. Currently, thermography is among the lesser-known diagnosis methods with only one public dataset. We hope our work will divert more attention to this area.

A fully implantable wireless bidirectional neuromodulation system for mice.

Novel research in the field of bioelectronic medicine requires neuromodulation systems that pair high-performance neurostimulation and bio-signal acquisition hardware with advanced signal processing and control algorithms. Although mice are the most commonly used animal in medical research, the size, weight, and power requirements of such bioelectronic systems either preclude use in mice or impose significant constraints on experimental design. Here, a fully-implantable recording and stimulation neuromodulation system suitable for use in mice is presented, measuring 2.2 cm3 and weighing 2.8 g. The bidirectional wireless interface allows simultaneous readout of multiple physiological signals and complete control over stimulation parameters, and a wirelessly rechargeable battery provides a lifetime of up to 5 days on a single charge. The device was implanted to deliver vagus nerve stimulation (n = 12 animals) and a functional neural interface (capable of inducing acute bradycardia) was demonstrated with lifetimes exceeding three weeks. The design utilizes only commercially-available electrical components and 3D-printed packaging, with the goal of facilitating widespread adoption and accelerating discovery and translation of future bioelectronic therapeutics.

Nutrient concentrations and distribution of phytoplankton pigments in recently deposited sediments of a positive tropical estuary.

Investigation of nutrients in the water column and phytoplankton pigments in recently formed modern sediments (0-5 cm) was carried out in Cochin estuary. The anthropogenic impacts were assessed using nutrients, nitrate, and phosphate in combination with phytopigments in sediments. The nitrate and phosphate concentration during the study ranged from 0.81 to 42.53 µmol/L and from 0.1 to 5.81 µmol/L, respectively. The mean values of the pigment showed the following order: zeaxanthin (791.53 ng/g) > lutein (347.57 ng/g) > fucoxanthin (335.30 ng/g) > pheophytin (308.84 ng/g) > pheophorbide (172.06 ng/g) > chlorophyll a (161.63 ng/g). The increase in the concentration of zeaxanthin indicated the presence of cyanobacteria, associated with eutrophication. Correlation analysis revealed that water column nutrients have a strong relationship between fucoxanthin and lutein, indicating the coexistence of diatoms and prasinophytes in the sampling sites. The principal component analysis showed positive loading of nutrients concomitant with pigment fucoxanthin and lutein, thus establishing that nutrient input controls the phytoplankton biomass of this estuary.

ECMO in cardiogenic shock and bridge to heart transplant.

PURPOSE: The aim of this review is to discuss the role of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in cardiogenic shock and its use to bridge patients to heart transplantation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Consideration of published literature reveals indications for ECMO in cardiogenic shock and tools for patient selection, adequate evidence of its efficacy, its advantages when compared with other temporary mechanical circulatory support devices and details of its use as a bridge to decision, bridge to recovery, bridge to bridge (durable ventricular assist device) and bridge to heart transplant. CONCLUSION: ECMO is invaluable in treating patients with medically refractory profound cardiogenic shock and allows for cardiac recovery or planning for permanent heart replacement treatments.

Extracorporeal life support in adult patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

The use of extracorporeal life support in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) of adult patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by the application of veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) during cardiac arrest has been increasing over the past decade. This can be attributed to the encouraging results of extracorporeal CPR (ECPR) in multiple observational studies. To date, only one randomised controlled trial has compared ECPR to conventional advanced life support measures. Patient selection is crucial for the success of ECPR programmes. A rapid and organised approach is required for resuscitation, i.e. cannula insertion with ECMO pump initiation in combination with other aspects of post-cardiac arrest care such as targeted temperature management and early coronary reperfusion. The provision of an ECPR service can be costly, resource intensive and technically challenging, as limited studies have reported on its cost-effectiveness.

Drug Resistance Reversal Potential of Nanoparticles/Nanocomposites via Antibiotic's Potentiation in Multi Drug Resistant P. aeruginosa.

Bacteria employ numerous resistance mechanisms against structurally distinct drugs by the process of multidrug resistance. A study was planned to discover the antibacterial potential of a graphene oxide nanosheet (GO), a graphene oxide-zinc oxide nanocomposite (GO/ZnO), a graphene oxide-chitosan nanocomposite (GO-CS), a zinc oxide decorated graphene oxide-chitosan nanocomposite (GO-CS/ZnO), and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO) alone and in a blend with antibiotics against a PS-2 isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These nanocomposites reduced the MIC of tetracycline (TET) from 16 folds to 64 folds against a multidrug-resistant clinical isolate. Efflux pumps were interfered, as evident by an ethidium bromide synergy study with nanocomposites, as well as inhibiting biofilm synthesis. These nanoparticles/nanocomposites also decreased the mutant prevention concentration (MPC) of TET. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on nanomaterials as a synergistic agent via inhibition of efflux and biofilm synthesis.

An improved strip-line fast Faraday cup for beam bunch measurements.

A 3 MeV proton radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator has been designed, built, and commissioned at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India. A compact wide bandwidth strip-line fast Faraday cup (SFFC) has been developed for the beam bunch measurements of the 352 MHz RFQ. The SFFC design is improvised over the standard strip-line FFC designs with a thicker strip, which can withstand larger beam intensities. The absence of the pinhole beam limiting aperture and the provision for a suppressor electrode to suppress secondary electrons on the strip are other improvisations over standard SFFC designs. The SFFC has been characterized using the time domain reflectometry method, and a broad bandwidth of ∼7 GHz is measured. The SFFC has been tested with a 3 MeV RFQ beam at a 4 mA peak current. The time structure of the individual micro-pulses with a FWHM of 297 ps has been measured with a SFFC.

Geochemical fractionation of trace elements in the coral reef sediments of the Lakshadweep Archipelago, Indian Ocean.

Geochemical fractionation of seven trace elements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb) was investigated in the surficial coral reef sediments of three inhabited islands (Kavaratti, Kadmat, and Agatti) belonging to the Lakshadweep Archipelago. The observations indicated that the metals showed their highest contents in the residual fraction of geological origin. The extent of risk, bioavailability, and contamination of trace elements was assessed by risk assessment codes and contamination factors. Based on the results, medium potential adverse effects were observed in the sediments of Kavaratti and Agatti. The concentration of Cd in the exchangeable and carbonate-bound fractions was above its global average shale value in the sediments of Kavaratti and Agatti, suggesting its high mobility and bioavailability and thus an environmental threat to the coral reef ecosystem.

Spatial and Temporal Variations of Arsenic Distribution in a Tropical Estuary Along the West Coast of India.

Arsenic (As) contamination was studied and reported for the first time in the sediments of the Cochin estuary. Surface sediment samples were collected from twenty-seven stations encompassing the entire estuary constituting south, central and north estuary. The total As concentration varied from 0.01 mg/kg to 9.28 mg/kg and undetected to 23.37 mg/kg during the pre and post-monsoon. The degree of contamination assessed in terms of geochemical indices such as contamination factor (CF), geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and enrichment factor (EF) unraveled the As contamination to be meager. The application of risk index factor and sediment quality guidelines showed that the As concentration in the estuary is below the background concentration. Pearson correlation analysis of As with iron and TOC exhibited significant weak and poor correlations with these variables.

Spatial variation of trace element concentration and contamination assessment in the coral reef sediments of Lakshadweep Archipelago, Indian Ocean.

Surface sediments were collected from the shore and lagoons of Kavaratti, Kadmat and Agatti islands of Lakshadweep Archipelago and analysed for trace element concentration. The sediment contamination was assessed on the basis of geochemical, biological hazard and ecological risk indices. Except Cd and Pb, all the other trace elements selected for the study were below the contamination level. Compared to Kadmat, Kavaratti and Agatti were more polluted and the pollution was pronounced in lagoons than shore. Population pressure, untreated sewage, diesel based power generation, shipping and tourism activities contribute to sediment contamination. Statistical analysis revealed the association of trace elements with sedimentary characteristics due to anthropogenic sources.

Subcutoff microwave driven plasma ion sources for multielemental focused ion beam systems.

A compact microwave driven plasma ion source for focused ion beam applications has been developed. Several gas species have been experimented including argon, krypton, and hydrogen. The plasma, confined by a minimum B multicusp magnetic field, has good radial and axial uniformity. The octupole multicusp configuration shows a superior performance in terms of plasma density (~1.3 x 10(11) cm(-3)) and electron temperature (7-15 eV) at a power density of 5-10 Wcm(2). Ion current densities ranging from a few hundreds to over 1000 mA/cm(2) have been obtained with different plasma electrode apertures. The ion source will be combined with electrostatic Einzel lenses and should be capable of producing multielemental focused ion beams for nanostructuring and implantations. The initial simulation results for the focused beams have been presented.

Lattice strain and lattice expansion of nanoparticles of MgAl2O4 as a function of particle size.

Reduction in the physical dimension of a crystalline solid lead to regular changes in the lattice constants. The lattice expansion or contraction in nanoparticles depend on a number of factors like nature of atoms in the interior, surface atoms, surface surroundings, dangling bonds, and oxygen concentration on the surface. XRD patterns of nanoparticles of MgAl2O4 having average particle size 7 nm, 9 nm, and 19 nm show that lattice parameters undergo contraction or repulsion along different planes. The lattice contraction along with lattice expansion is possible since the morphology of the particle is not spherical which is evident from the SEM micrographs. Lattice expansion is observed mainly in nanocrystals having covalent or ionic bonds. The existence of ionic bonds is evident from the IR spectrum. Along planes where there is no deficiency of oxygen, contraction is observed while where there is deficiency of oxygen lattice expansion is observed. As the particle size increases due to heating most of the planes show lattice contraction and on further heating due to the excess oxygen accumulation in interstitial positions lattice expansion is observed along most of the planes. The reason for the observation of lattice strain or lattice expansion may be due to the electrostatic attraction or repulsion between ions along different planes.

Beam emittance measurements and simulations of injector line for radio frequency quadrupole.

A 400 keV deuteron (D(+)) radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator has been designed, built, and commissioned at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India. A beam line has been developed for injecting deuterons into the 400 keV RFQ. This comprises of a RF plasma ion source and a low energy beam transport (LEBT) system, consisting of two solenoid magnets and two steerer magnets. The ion source is characterized in terms of transverse beam emittance. A slit-wire scanner based emittance measurement setup has been developed for the transverse emittance measurements of H(+) and D(+) beams. The measured emittance values are found to be well within the acceptance value for the RFQ. These measured emittance parameters are used to optimize the solenoid fields in LEBT to match the beam from the ion source to RFQ. TRACEWIN simulation code is used for the beam transport simulations. The simulations show 99% transmission of D(+) beam through the RFQ, while 95% transmission has been measured experimentally.