Naringenin Against Cadmium Toxicity in Fibroblast Cells: An Integrated Network Pharmacology and In Vitro Metabolomics Approach.

Cadmium, a heavy metal, disrupts cellular homeostasis and is highly toxic, with no effective treatments currently available against its toxicity. According to studies, phytochemicals provide a promising strategy for mitigating cadmium toxicity. Naringenin (NG), a potent antioxidant found primarily in citrus fruits, showed protective properties against cadmium toxicity in rats. Nonetheless, the precise mechanism of cadmium cytotoxicity in fibroblasts remains unknown. This study evaluated NG against cadmium (CdCl2) toxicity utilizing network pharmacology and in silico molecular docking, and was further validated experimentally in rat fibroblast F111 cells. Using network pharmacology, 25 possible targets, including the top 10 targets of NG against cadmium, were identified. Molecular docking of interleukin 6 (IL6), the top potential target with NG, showed robust binding with an inhibition constant (Ki) of 58.76 µM, supporting its potential therapeutic potential. Pathway enrichment analysis suggested that "response to reactive oxygen species" and "negative regulation of small molecules metabolic process" were the topmost pathways targeted by NG against cadmium. In vitro analysis showed that NG (10 µM) attenuated CdCl2-induced oxidative stress by reducing altered intracellular ROS, mitochondrial mass, and membrane potential. Also, NG reversed CdCl2-mediated nuclear damage, G2/M phase arrest, and apoptosis. GC/MS-based metabolomics of F111 cells revealed CdCl2 reduced cholesterol levels, which led to alterations in primary bile acid, steroid and steroid hormone biosynthesis pathways, whereas, NG restored these alterations. In summary, combined in silico and in vitro analysis suggested that NG protected cells from CdCl2 toxicity by mitigating oxidative stress and metabolic pathway alterations, providing a comprehensive understanding of its protective mechanisms against cadmium-induced toxicity.

Antifungal Patterns of Dermatophytes: A Pathway to Antifungal Stewardship in Eastern India.

Background Dermatophytosis is a superficial fungal infection caused by a group of pathogenic keratinophilic fungi. The increase in the incidence of superficial fungal infections, combined with the emergence of antifungal resistance, represents both a global health challenge and a considerable economic burden. Recent years have witnessed a surge in dermatophytosis cases, accompanied by the emergence of antifungal-resistant strains. This study aimed to analyze the in vitro antifungal susceptibility patterns and determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of antifungal drugs among isolated species using the broth microdilution method. Methodology This cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2021 and August 2022. Patients with symptoms or clinical features of fungal infection, including skin, hair, and nail lesions indicative of Tinea infections, were included. Samples underwent processing, including potassium hydroxide (KOH) mounting, direct microscopic examination, and culture on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) with antibiotics. Antifungal susceptibility testing was subsequently conducted. Results Trichophyton mentagrophytes emerged as the most common isolate among patients with Tinea infections. MIC values of various drugs were analyzed, with itraconazole exhibiting a minimum MIC of 0.03 µg/ml and a maximum of 0.50 µg/ml. Terbinafine showed an MIC of 0.010 µg/ml and a maximum of 1.00 µg/ml. Ketoconazole had a minimum MIC of 0.03 µg/ml and a maximum of 0.50 µg/ml. Fluconazole exhibited a minimum MIC of 0.10 µg/ml and a maximum of 1.00 µg/ml. Lastly, miconazole demonstrated a minimum MIC of 0.03 µg/ml and a maximum of 2.00 µg/ml. Conclusion Accurate diagnosis is crucial for fungal infections to enable early treatment and reduce transmission. With an increasing trend in resistance among dermatophytes, there is a growing need to conduct susceptibility testing of antifungal agents, particularly in cases of long-term infections, recurrent infections, and individuals who do not respond to medication.

MLNAS: Meta-learning based neural architecture search for automated generation of deep neural networks for plant disease detection tasks.

Plant diseases pose a significant threat to agricultural productivity worldwide. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved state-of-the-art performances on several plant disease detection tasks. However, the manual development of CNN models using an exhaustive approach is a resource-intensive task. Neural Architecture Search (NAS) has emerged as an innovative paradigm that seeks to automate model generation procedures without human intervention. However, the application of NAS in plant disease detection has received limited attention. In this work, we propose a two-stage meta-learning-based neural architecture search system (ML NAS) to automate the generation of CNN models for unseen plant disease detection tasks. The first stage recommends the most suitable benchmark models for unseen plant disease detection tasks based on the prior evaluations of benchmark models on existing plant disease datasets. In the second stage, the proposed NAS operators are employed to optimize the recommended model for the target task. The experimental results showed that the MLNAS system's model outperformed state-of-the-art models on the fruit disease dataset, achieving an accuracy of 99.61%. Furthermore, the MLNAS-generated model outperformed the Progressive NAS model on the 8-class plant disease dataset, achieving an accuracy of 99.8%. Hence, the proposed MLNAS system facilitates faster model development with reduced computational costs.

Exploring fingerprints for antidiabetic therapeutics related to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) modulators: A chemometric modeling approach.

This study demonstrated the correlation of molecular structures of Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) modulators and their biological activities. Bayesian classification, and recursive partitioning (RP) studies have been applied to a dataset of 323 PPARγ modulators with diverse scaffolds. The results provide a deep insight into the important sub-structural features modulating PPARγ. The molecular docking analysis again confirmed the significance of the identified sub-structural features in the modulation of PPARγ activity. Molecular dynamics simulations further underscored the stability of the complexes formed by investigated modulators with PPARγ. Overall, the integration of many computational approaches unveiled key structural motifs essential for PPARγ modulatory activity that will shed light on the development of effective modulators in the future.

The prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)-related advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis in the United States population utilizing AGILE 3 + and AGILE 4 scores: analysis of the NHANES 2017-2018 cycle.

BACKGROUND: Studies attempted to estimate MASLD-related advanced fibrosis (AF) and cirrhosis (MC) prevalence utilized tests with low positive predictive value (PPV) which overestimates prevalence. AGILE3 + and 4 scores were developed to increase the PPV of both; respectively. In this study, we used these scores to assess the prevalence of AF and MC. METHODS: Participants aged ≥ 18 years with VCTE exam in the NHANES 2017-2018 cycle were included. We excluded pregnant women, patients with excessive alcohol intake, hepatitis B/C, and ALT or AST > 500 IU/L. MASLD was defined with CAP score > 248 dB/m. MASLD subjects with AGILE 3 + score of ≥ 0.68 and AGILE 4 score of ≥ 0.57 were considered to have advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis; respectively. AGILE 3 + of 0.45-0.67 and AGILE 4 of 0.25-0.57 were grey zone, whereas AGILE 3 + < 0.45 and AGILE 4 < 0.25 were considered a rule-out. RESULTS: 1244 subjects were included in the final analysis. The Median age was 53 (51.4-54.6) years, 55.6% were male, median BMI was 33.8 kg/m2 and 41.1% had T2DM. Based on AGILE 3+, 80.3% of the MASLD population were at low risk for AF and 11.5% were in grey zone. The prevalence of AF due to MASLD was 8.1% corresponding to 4.5 million Americans. Based on AGILE 4 score, 96.5% of the MASLD population were at low risk for cirrhosis and 2.4% were in the grey zone. The prevalence of MASLD-cirrhosis was 1.1% corresponding to 610,000 Americans. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that approximately 4.5 million people in the U.S. have AF and 0.6 million have cirrhosis due to MASLD.

Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Ferulic Acid-Piperazine Derivatives Targeting Pathological Hallmarks of Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent cause of dementia and is characterized by low levels of acetyl and butyrylcholine, increased oxidative stress, inflammation, accumulation of metals, and aggregations of Aß and tau proteins. Current treatments for AD provide only symptomatic relief without impacting the pathological hallmarks of the disease. In our ongoing efforts to develop naturally inspired novel multitarget molecules for AD, through extensive medicinal chemistry efforts, we have developed 13a, harboring the key functional groups to provide not only symptomatic relief but also targeting oxidative stress, able to chelate iron, inhibiting NLRP3, and Aß1-42 aggregation in various AD models. 13a exhibited promising anticholinesterase activity against AChE (IC50 = 0.59 ± 0.19 µM) and BChE (IC50 = 5.02 ± 0.14 µM) with excellent antioxidant properties in DPPH assay (IC50 = 5.88 ± 0.21 µM) over ferulic acid (56.49 ± 0.62 µM). The molecular docking and dynamic simulations further corroborated the enzyme inhibition studies and confirmed the stability of these complexes. Importantly, in the PAMPA-BBB assay, 13a turned out to be a promising molecule that can efficiently cross the blood-brain barrier. Notably, 13a also exhibited iron-chelating properties. Furthermore, 13a effectively inhibited self- and metal-induced Aß1-42 aggregation. It is worth mentioning that 13a demonstrated no symptom of cytotoxicity up to 30 µM concentration in PC-12 cells. Additionally, 13a inhibited the NLRP3 inflammasome and mitigated mitochondrial-induced reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial membrane potential damage triggered by LPS and ATP in HMC-3 cells. 13a could effectively reduce mitochondrial and cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the Drosophila model of AD. Finally, 13a was found to be efficacious in reversing memory impairment in a scopolamine-induced AD mouse model in the in vivo studies. In ex vivo assessments, 13a notably modulates the levels of superoxide, catalase, and malondialdehyde along with AChE and BChE. These findings revealed that 13a holds promise as a potential candidate for further development in AD management.

A Comparative Study of the Effectiveness and Safety of Topical Calcipotriol and Topical Methotrexate in Chronic Plaque Psoriasis.

Background Psoriasis is a papulosquamous disease with variable morphology, distribution, severity, and course. Chronic plaque psoriasis, or psoriasis vulgaris, is the most common form of psoriasis. Present available preparations for mild to moderate chronic plaque psoriasis for topical use are local corticosteroids, coal tar, dithranol, tazarotene, calcipotriol, tapinarof, and calcineurin inhibitors. However, every preparation has its disadvantages. Calcipotriol, an active form of vitamin D, is available in topical form for dermatological use. Chronic plaque psoriasis is the chief medical use of calcipotriol for mild to moderate form. Methotrexate has dramatic results in psoriasis when used systemically. Now, topical formulation is being advocated in localized psoriasis, which is not associated with the side effects of the systemic form. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effectiveness of topical calcipotriol and topical methotrexate on the basis of the psoriasis area severity index (PASI) in patients of chronic plaque psoriasis and compare their safety in terms of adverse effects. Methodology The total number of patients included in the study was 60. They were divided into two groups, with 30 patients each. One group was prescribed ointment calcipotriol 0.005% twice daily local application (Group C). The other group was prescribed methotrexate gel 1% twice daily local application (Group M). The patients were followed up on the fourth and eighth weeks, and at each time, thorough clinical examinations were conducted for all patients. The PASI score was calculated in each patient every time. Safety was assessed by biochemical parameters, and tolerability was assessed by the incidence of adverse effects. All the patients included in the study were investigated at baseline, fourth week, and eighth week. The data collected were transferred to a master chart and analyzed. Results For the patients in group C, the mean PASI score at 0 week was 5.93 ± 2.62, while at four weeks, the mean PASI score declined to 1.67 ± 1.13, and at eight weeks, the mean PASI score further declined to 0.67 ± 0.68. For the patients in group M, the mean PASI score at 0 week was 5.91 ± 2.22, while at four weeks, the mean PASI score declined to 1.91 ± 1.11, and at eight weeks, the mean PASI score further declined to 0.89 ± 0.72. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the mean PASI score at various time points when compared between the two groups (p-value = 0.761, 0.296, 0.079, respectively). Thus, both drugs seem to be effective in treating mild- to moderate-grade chronic plaque psoriasis. Most of the patients in both groups showed marked clearance of the lesions. However, there were six patients in the calcipotriol group showing complete clearance of the lesions having mild-degree plaque psoriasis, as compared to three patients in the methotrexate group. In the present study, based on the comparison of safety and tolerability, four out of 30 patients (13.3%) in the calcipotriol group suffered skin irritation, whereas six out of 30 patients (20%) in the methotrexate group complained of a burning sensation. The adverse effects seen in the patients were transient and mild. Conclusion Topical calcipotriol and methotrexate were effective in reducing lesions in patients with chronic mild to moderate plaque psoriasis. Both drugs were well tolerated with mild and transient adverse effects and did not alter hematological and biochemical parameters.

Anderson Localization of Phonons in Thermally Superinsulating Graphene Aerogels with Metal-Like Electrical Conductivity.

In the quest to improve energy efficiency and design better thermal insulators, various engineering strategies have been extensively investigated to minimize heat transfer through a material. Yet, the suppression of thermal transport in a material remains elusive because heat can be transferred by multiple energy carriers. Here, the realization of Anderson localization of phonons in a random 3D elastic network of graphene is reported. It is shown that thermal conductivity in a cellular graphene aerogel can be drastically reduced to 0.9 mW m-1 K-1 by the application of compressive strain while keeping a high metal-like electrical conductivity of 120 S m-1 and ampacity of 0.9 A. The experiments reveal that the strain can cause phonon localization over a broad compression range. The remaining heat flow in the material is dominated by charge transport. Conversely, electrical conductivity exhibits a gradual increase with increasing compressive strain, opposite to the thermal conductivity. These results imply that strain engineering provides the ability to independently tune charge and heat transport, establishing a new paradigm for controlling phonon and charge conduction in solids. This approach will enable the development of a new type of high-performance insulation solutions and thermally superinsulating materials with metal-like electrical conductivity.

Thiazole-Based Silver Ion Sensor for Sequential Colorimetric Visualization of Epinephrine in the Brain Tissues of an Alzheimer's Disease Model of Mouse.

A thiazole-based probe, N'-((2-aminothiazol-5-yl)methylene)benzohydrazide (TBH), has been efficiently synthesized and characterized for the selective and sensitive detection of the neurotransmitter epinephrine (EP). The sensing strategy is based on the use of TBH for sequential colorimetric sensing of Ag+ and EP via in situ formation of Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) from the TBH-Ag+ complex. The generated Ag NPs lead to a bathochromic shift in absorption maximum and a change in color of the solution from light brown to reddish brown. TBH-Ag+ shows remarkable selectivity toward EP versus other drugs, common cations, anions, and some biomolecules. Moreover, TBH-Ag+ has a low detection limit for EP at 1.2 nM. The coordination of TBH-Ag+ has been proposed based on Job's plot, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), 1H NMR titration, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), and density functional theory (DFT) studies. The composition and morphology of the generated Ag NPs have been analyzed by XPS, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The proposed sensing mechanism for EP has been supported by XPS of Ag after the reaction. Further, the sensitivity of TBH-Ag+ toward EP in brain tissues of an Alzheimer's disease model of mouse has been evaluated. A thorough comparison was done for evaluation of the proposed method.

Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Ferulic Acid Template-Based Novel Multifunctional Ligands Targeting NLRP3 Inflammasome for the Management of Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, which arises due to low levels of acetyl and butyrylcholines, an increase in oxidative stress, inflammation, metal dyshomeostasis, Aß and tau aggregations. The currently available drugs for AD treatment can provide only symptomatic relief without interfering with pathological hallmarks of the disease. In our ongoing efforts to develop naturally inspired novel multifunctional molecules for AD, systematic SAR studies on EJMC-4e were caried out to improve its multifunctional properties. The rigorous medicinal efforts led to the development of 12o, which displayed a 15-fold enhancement in antioxidant properties and a 2-fold increase in the activity against AChE and BChE over EJMC-4e. Molecular docking and dynamics studies revealed the binding sites and stability of the complex of 12o with AChE and BChE. The PAMPA-BBB assay clearly demonstrated that 12o can easily cross the blood-brain barrier. Interestingly, 12o also expresses promising metal chelation activity, while EJMC-4e was found to be devoid of this property. Further, 12o inhibited metal-induced or self Aß1-42 aggregation. Observing the neuroprotection ability of 12o against H2O2-induced oxidative stress in the PC-12 cell line is noteworthy. Furthermore, 12o also inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activation and attenuated mitochondrial-induced ROS and MMP damage caused by LPS and ATP in HMC-3 cells. In addition, 12o is able to effectively reduce mitochondrial and cellular oxidative stress in the AD Drosophila model. Finally, 12o could reverse memory impairment in the scopolamine-induced AD mice model, as evident through in vivo and ex vivo studies. These findings suggest that this compound may act as a promising candidate for further improvement in the management of AD.

A Secure and Interpretable AI for Smart Healthcare System: A Case Study on Epilepsy Diagnosis Using EEG Signals.

The efficient patient-independent and interpretable framework for electroencephalogram (EEG) epileptic seizure detection (ESD) has informative challenges due to the complex pattern of EEG nature. Automated detection of ES is crucial, while Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is urgently needed to justify the model detection of epileptic seizures in clinical applications. Therefore, this study implements an XAI-based computer-aided ES detection system (XAI-CAESDs), comprising three major modules, including of feature engineering module, a seizure detection module, and an explainable decision-making process module in a smart healthcare system. To ensure the privacy and security of biomedical EEG data, the blockchain is employed. Initially, the Butterworth filter eliminates various artifacts, and the Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DTCWT) decomposes EEG signals, extracting real and imaginary eigenvalue features using frequency domain (FD), time domain (TD) linear feature, and Fractal Dimension (FD) of non-linear features. The best features are selected by using Correlation Coefficients (CC) and Distance Correlation (DC). The selected features are fed into the Stacking Ensemble Classifiers (SEC) for EEG ES detection. Further, the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) method of XAI is implemented to facilitate the interpretation of predictions made by the proposed approach, enabling medical experts to make accurate and understandable decisions. The proposed Stacking Ensemble Classifiers (SEC) in XAI-CAESDs have demonstrated 2% best average accuracy, recall, specificity, and F1-score using the University of California, Irvine, Bonn University, and Boston Children's Hospital-MIT EEG data sets. The proposed framework enhances decision-making and the diagnosis process using biomedical EEG signals and ensures data security in smart healthcare systems.

Effect of short-term exposure to high-altitude hypoxic climate on feed-intake, blood glucose level and physiological responses of native and non-native goat.

The exposure to high altitude and cold stress poses challenges in maintaining normal physiological standards and body homeostasis in non-native animals. To enhance our understanding of the physiology of native and non-native goats in high-altitude environments, we conducted a comparative study to examine the impact of natural hypoxic and cold stress conditions on their feed intake (FIT) and associated changes in physiological responses, including plasma glucose concentration (PGC). The study took place at an altitude of 3505.2 m above mean sea level and involved twenty-two healthy females from two different breeds of goats. This study was conducted over a period of 56 days after the arrival of non-native Black Bengal goats (BBN) and compared with native Changthangi (CHAN) goats. Both groups were extensively reared in a natural high-altitude and cold-stress environment in Leh, India, and were subjected to defined housing and management practices. The parameters evaluated included FIT, PGC, respiration rate, heart rate, pulse rate, and rectal temperature. High altitudes had a significant (p < 0.05) impact on FIT, PGC, respiration rate, heart rate, pulse rate, and rectal temperature in BBN, whereas these parameters remained stable in CHAN throughout the study period. Additionally, the detrimental effects of high-altitude stress were more pronounced in non-native goats compared to native goats. These findings suggest that physiological responses in non-native goats tend to stabilize after an initial period of adverse effects in high-altitude environments. Based on the physiological responses and glucose concentration, it is recommended to pay special attention to the nutrition of non-native goats for up to the third week (21 days) after their arrival in high-altitude areas.

Manipulating ultrafast magnetization dynamics of ferromagnets using the odd-even layer dependence of two-dimensional transition metal di-chalcogenides.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have drawn immense interest due to their strong spin-orbit coupling and unique layer number dependence in response to spin-valley coupling. This leads to the possibility of controlling the spin degree of freedom of the ferromagnet (FM) in thin film heterostructures and may prove to be of interest for next-generation spin-based devices. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the odd-even layer dependence of WS2 nanolayers by measurements of the ultrafast magnetization dynamics in WS2/Co3FeB thin film heterostructures by using time-resolved Kerr magnetometry. The fluence (photon energy per unit area) dependent magnetic damping (α) reveals the existence of broken symmetry and the dominance of inter- and intraband scattering for odd and even layers of WS2, respectively. The higher demagnetization time, τm, in 3 and 5 layers of WS2 is indicative of the interaction between spin-orbit and spin-valley coupling due to the broken symmetry. The lower τm in even layers as compared to the bare FM layer suggests the presence of a spin transport. By correlating τm and α, we pinpointed the dominant mechanisms of ultrafast demagnetization. The mechanism changes from spin transport to spin-flip scattering for even layers of WS2 with increasing fluence. A fundamental understanding of the two-dimensional material and its odd-even layer dependence at ultrashort timescales provides valuable information for designing next-generation spin-based devices.

A chromogenic diarylethene-based probe for the detection of Cu2+ in aqueous medium in Drosophila for early diagnosis of Alzheimer.

A diarylethene-based probe (Z)-N'-((2-amino-5-chlorophenyl)(phenyl)methylene)-2-hydroxy benzohydrazide (KBH) has been proficiently developed and its structure has been confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. It displays a selective and sensitive colorimetric sensing of Cu2+ ions in aqueous medium with a naked eye colour change from colourless to yellow. It exhibits a significantly low limit of detection as 1.5 nM. A plausible binding mechanism has been proposed using Job's plot, FT-IR, 1H NMR titration, HRMS and DFT studies. The chemosensor is effectively reversible and reusable with EDTA. Test strip kit and real water sample analysis have been shown to establish its practical applicability. Further, the potential of KBH for the early diagnosis of Cu2+ ion-induced amyloid toxicity has been investigated in eye imaginal disc of Alzheimer's disease model of Drosophila 3rd instar larvae. The in-vivo interaction of KBH with Cu2+ in gut tissues of Drosophila larvae establishes its sensing capability in biological system. Interestingly, the in-vivo detection of Cu2+ has been done using bright field imaging which eliminates the necessity of a fluorescent label, hence making the method highly economical.

Saliva as a potential non-invasive liquid biopsy for early and easy diagnosis/prognosis of head and neck cancer.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are the most devastating diseases in India and southeast Asia. It is a preventable and curable disease if detected early. Tobacco and alcohol consumption are the two major risk-factors but infection of high-risk HPVs are also associated with development of predominantly oral and oropharyngeal carcinomas. Interestingly, unlike cervical cancer, HPV-induced HNSCCs show good prognosis and better survival in contrast, majority of tobacco-associated HPV-ve HNSCCs are highly aggressive with poor clinical outcome. Biomarker analysis in circulatory body-fluids for early cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring are becoming important in clinical practice. Early diagnosis using non-invasive saliva for oral or other diseases plays an important role in successful treatment and better prognosis. Saliva mirrors the body's state of health as it comes into direct contact with oral lesions and needs no trained manpower to collect, making it a suitable bio-fluid of choice for screening. Saliva can be used to detect not only virus, bacteria and other biomarkers but variety of molecular and genetic markers for an early detection, treatment and monitoring cancer and other diseases. The performance of saliva-based diagnostics are reported to be highly (≥95 %) sensitive and specific indicating the test's ability to correctly identify true positive or negative cases. This review focuses on the potentials of saliva in the early detection of not only HPV or other pathogens but also identification of highly reliable gene mutations, oral-microbiomes, metabolites, salivary cytokines, non-coding RNAs and exosomal miRNAs. It also discusses the importance of saliva as a reliable, cost-effective and an easy alternative to invasive procedures.

Pan-India influenza-like illness (ILI) and Severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance: epidemiological, clinical and genomic analysis.

Background: Over time, COVID-19 testing has significantly declined across the world. However, it is critical to monitor the virus through surveillance. In late 2020, WHO released interim guidance advising the use of the existing Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) for the integrated surveillance of influenza and SARS-CoV-2. Methods: In July 2021, we initiated a pan-India integrated surveillance for influenza and SARS-CoV-2 through the geographically representative network of Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) across 26 hospital and laboratory sites and 70 community sites. A total of 34,260 cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) and Severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) were enrolled from 4 July 2021 to 31 October 2022. Findings: Influenza A(H3) and B/Victoria dominated during 2021 monsoon season while A(H1N1)pdm09 dominated during 2022 monsoon season. The SARS-CoV-2 "variants of concern" (VoC) Delta and Omicron predominated in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Increased proportion of SARI was seen in extremes of age: 90% cases in < 1 year; 68% in 1 to 5 years and 61% in ≥ 8 years age group. Approximately 40.7% of enrolled cases only partially fulfilled WHO ILI and SARI case definitions. Influenza- and SARS-CoV-2-infected comorbid patients had higher risks of hospitalization, ICU admission, and oxygen requirement. Interpretation: The results depicted the varying strains and transmission dynamics of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses over time, thus emphasizing the need to continue and expand surveillance across countries for improved decision making. The study also describes important information related to clinical outcomes of ILI and SARI patients and highlights the need to review existing WHO ILI and SARI case definitions.

Perceptions of primary and secondary care clinicians treating diabetic foot: A pan India study and quantitative analysis.

AIM: The study quantifies clinicians' perceptions and challenges during different stages of diabetic foot treatment. Diabetic neuropathy (DN), which is a major consequence of diabetes, significantly increases the risk of lower limb amputation. This can be prevented to a large extent by foot care, early detection, and lesion treatment. METHODS: Ninety-two Indian clinicians of various demographics, medical specializations, and experiences were interviewed. Diabetic foot treatment by primary and secondary care clinicians was assessed. This study evaluates aspects related to patient awareness, compliance, and shortcomings of current diagnostic techniques. RESULTS: A two-sample Mann-Whitney statistical method was used to infer the perceptions of clinicians on hypothesis questions. Primary and secondary care clinicians' perceptions differed for the hypotheses related to objective assessment (p-value = 0.001), operator variability (p-value = 0.03), and patient compliance (p-value = 0.047). Conversely, both groups held comparative perspectives for the awareness (p-value = 0.369) and examination time (p-value = 0.276) hypotheses. CONCLUSIONS: All clinicians strongly supported the need for an objective assessment to reduce the misdiagnosis of DN. Further, DNis often underdiagnosed due to a lack of awareness and knowledgeamong people with diabetes. Secondary care clinicians acknowledged a need for trained operators to reduce reliability errors. These insights provide directions for future research in this field.

An Improved Image Compression Algorithm Using 2D DWT and PCA with Canonical Huffman Encoding.

Of late, image compression has become crucial due to the rising need for faster encoding and decoding. To achieve this objective, the present study proposes the use of canonical Huffman coding (CHC) as an entropy coder, which entails a lower decoding time compared to binary Huffman codes. For image compression, discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and CHC with principal component analysis (PCA) were combined. The lossy method was introduced by using PCA, followed by DWT and CHC to enhance compression efficiency. By using DWT and CHC instead of PCA alone, the reconstructed images have a better peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). In this study, we also developed a hybrid compression model combining the advantages of DWT, CHC and PCA. With the increasing use of image data, better image compression techniques are necessary for the efficient use of storage space. The proposed technique achieved up to 60% compression while maintaining high visual quality. This method also outperformed the currently available techniques in terms of both PSNR (in dB) and bit-per-pixel (bpp) scores. This approach was tested on various color images, including Peppers 512 × 512 × 3 and Couple 256 × 256 × 3, showing improvements by 17 dB and 22 dB, respectively, while reducing the bpp by 0.56 and 0.10, respectively. For grayscale images as well, i.e., Lena 512 × 512 and Boat 256 × 256, the proposed method showed improvements by 5 dB and 8 dB, respectively, with a decrease of 0.02 bpp in both cases.

Morphometry and Morphology of the Acromion Process and Its Implications in Subacromial Impingement Syndrome.

Introduction Subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS) is a common shoulder disorder characterized by pain and limited range of motion in the shoulder joint. It is frequently attributed to the compression or impingement of the rotator cuff tendons and bursa between the humeral head and the acromion process of the scapula during arm elevation. Subacromial impingement syndrome may arise as a result of the morphology of the acromion process, a bony protrusion at the top of the scapula that is important in the biomechanics of the shoulder joint. In order to detect potential anatomical differences that can predispose people to subacromial impingement syndrome, medical professionals and researchers need to have a thorough understanding of the morphometry and morphology of the acromion process. Aims and objectives The aim of the present study was to measure the morphometric and morphological characteristics of the acromion process in dried human scapulae that belonged to the North Indian population. Materials and methods This was a cross-sectional study that was carried out on 120 undamaged adult human scapula, of which 52 belonged to the right side and 68 belonged to the left side. Our study focused on analyzing the morphology of the acromion process as well as determining its maximum length, maximum breadth, acromio-coracoid distance, acromio-glenoid distance, and thickness. A statistical analysis of the observed parameters was carried out using the chi-square test and independent t-test with the help of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) 24.0. Statistical significance was set at 0.05 (if the P-value ≤ 0.05, it is significant). Results We observed that the quadrangular shape (51.67%) of the acromion process was most commonly reported in our study, while the tubular (9.99%) shape was the least common. The difference in the incidences of various shapes of the acromion process on the right and left sides of the scapula was found to be statistically significant (p-value ≤ 0.05). In this study, the curved or type II acromion process was the most common type (53.34%) observed, while the least common shape reported was the hooked type (18.33%). The average length of the right acromion process was 44.52±6.61 mm, and the left acromion process was 45.13±6.35 mm. For the breadth, the right acromion had an average value of 28.31±4.67 mm, while the left had an average of 28.34±4.92 mm. The thickness of the right acromion measured 7.10±1.73 mm, and the left acromion was 7.53±1.44 mm. The acromio-coracoid distance on the right side was 34.59 ± 6.47 mm, and the left side was 37.46±6.22 mm. The acromio-glenoid distance was measured to be 32.31±5.87 mm on the right side and 33.18±5.39 mm on the left side. Conclusions Planning and carrying out an acromioplasty require an understanding of the morphometric parameters of the acromion process. Although there is a paucity of research on its morphometric evaluation in the North Indian population, the surgeons would be able to use these data as a reference.