Design of Nickel Supported Hierarchical ZSM-5/USY Zeolite Bifunctional Catalysts for One-Pot Menthol Synthesis via Liquid-Phase Citral Hydrogenation.

Nickel-supported hierarchical zeolite catalysts were prepared through a desilication reassembly process under optimized conditions and applied in one-pot menthol synthesis. In this work, the hierarchical zeolite-supported metal bifunctional catalysts were prepared with the help of desilication re-assembly and wetness impregnation techniques and applied in menthol synthesis via citral hydrogenation. The prepared catalysts were characterized using PXRD, BET, FE-TEM, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR, pyridine adsorption, and ICP-OES techniques. As a result, the physicochemical and acidic properties, such as mesopore surface area, metal dispersion, acidity, catalytic activity, and strong Lewis acid sites of pure microporous ZSM-5/USY zeolites, were significantly improved. Consequently, with the occurrence of superior physicochemical and acidic properties, the Ni/HZ-0.5 M catalyst exhibited outstanding catalytic activity (100% conversion, TOF 7.12 h-1) and menthol selectivity (83%, 4 h) with uniform stability at 100 °C, 1.0 MPa hydrogen. Similarly, the cracking rate decreased with the decrease in Bronsted acid sites.

Psychopharmacological impact of ferulic acid on depressive-like behaviors induced by high fat diet in rats models of depression.

Previous studies have been demonstrated that high fat diet can leads to the development of obesity. Obesity is strongly linked with several kinds of neurological and physiological disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore studies also suggested that obesity may cause behavioral changes that mainly deal with less locomotor activity and anxiety obesity linked behavioral changes induced by HFD. By using different parameters like growth rate, food intake, levels of anxiety and locomotor activity the finding of this study showed that, that repeated administration of ferulic acid has great profound effect on impairments that were caused by HFD. In our experiments we have observed that those rats which were on HFD and were treated with water only was seemed to be more depressed, less active, and more anxious than those which were administered by ferulic acid doses. From these results we can also suggest that there must be disturbance in the levels of neurotransmitters in an obese individual that caused such kind of changes in the body. This study has implications in the recovery of the changes in the body that were produced by HFD. And ferulic acid can be used as the drug to cure behavioral consequences that were induced by HFD.

Assessment of neuropharmacological consequences induced by dexamethasone administration in rats model of neurodegenerative diseases.

Stress is a well-known and frequently used term among present generation. It has been referred to the response of body to any challenge for a change. It is a natural process and our body is designed to cope with it. However, if stress becomes chronic, it can lead to mental health problems. Stress due to the prolonged administration of glucocorticoid is enabled to produce impressive alterations in rats model shoeing depressive like behavior. In this investigation; purpose was to study the impact of episodic treatment of dexamethasone with respect to behavioral changes in rats. It was hypothesized that repeated administration of dexamethasone could increase stress and thus, psychological stress leading to mood disorders and behavior deficits in rats. Rats were injected daily with DEX (10 mg/ml/kg, orally) and the different behavioral models of the animals were assessed. DEX-treated rats exhibited depressive behavior like greater time to start mobility in a novel environment and elevated anxiety-like behavior in elevated plus maze. However, time spent in light compartment was shorter with repeated administration of DEX. From results it is demonstrated that the administration of DXM for weeks induced stress and consequently, induced a depression-like behaviors in rats models.

CD3+T-lymphocyte infiltration is an independent prognostic factor for advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA-NPC) is a relatively rare disease in the west but more common in East Asia and areas of the Middle East like Saudi Arabia. Despite the advances in radiation therapy techniques, some patients relapse after treatment. In the coming era of cancer immunotherapy, prognostic factors for LA-NPC need to be further defined using immune-relevant markers. Several markers are available; however, the most robust and accessible/affordable marker is not well-defined. METHODS: Retrospectively, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), their subsets as well as tumoral PD-L1 expression were analyzed in tumor tissues from 63 LA-NPC patients treated with platinum-based concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) in addition to 20 cases with metastatic (MET) disease. Immunostaining was done using a validated and fully automated system. Scoring was done by two independent pathologists and results were compared. RESULTS: There was no statistical difference between LA-NPC and MET disease in terms of CD3+, CD8+ TIL infiltration, or tumoral PD-L1 expression. In LA-NPC, low CD3+ TIL infiltration highly correlated with shorter disease-free survival (DFS, HR = 8.5, p = < 0.001) and overall survival (OS, HR = 13, p = 0.015) with substantial agreement between scoring pathologists. A similar correlation was found between low CD8+ TIL and survival. Correlation of total TIL was significant with DFS (HR = 4.0, p = 0.008), borderline with OS and the correlation was dependent on the scoring pathologist. Having histological WHO type I&II correlated significantly with shorter DFS (HR 4.03, p = 0.008) and low CD3+ TIL (p = 0.009). Subgroup analysis of LA-NPC that included undifferentiated type (WHO type III) cases only (n = 58), showed a strong correlation between low CD3+ TIL and shorter DFS (HR = 7.2, p = < 0.001) and OS (HR = 17.3, p = 0.008). PD-L1 was expressed in 72% of type III LA-NPC cases while lacking PD-L1 expression correlated with shorter OS (HR = 6.1, p = 0.031). Patients with a combination of low CD3+ TIL and lack of PD-L1 expression had the worst OS (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: CD3+ TIL is promising as a robust and independent prognostic marker for DFS and OS of LA-NPC patients treated with platinum-based CCRT. We would suggest the use of CD3 + TIL as a stratifying factor for LA-NPC, which warrants further validation in prospective trials.

Apomorphine-induced sensitization in rats exposed to restraint stress: Relationship with adaptation to stress.

Drug abuse and impaired adaptation to stress are inter-related. Drug abuse is more potentiated upon exposure to stress and an impairment to cope with stress may lead to depression. On the other hand, use of addictive compounds increase the vulnerability to depression by inhibiting the adaptation to stress. Present study investigates relationship between behavioral tolerance to repeated restraint stress and apomorphine-induced sensitization. Apomorphine was injected either before or after the restraint stress episode, to monitor drug-induced behavioral sensitization and place preference. Apomorphine-induced sensitization and place preference were enhanced if the drug is experiencing during restraint stress. Conversely, apomorphine-induced sensitization and place preference were attenuated if the drug is experiencing after restraint stress. It shows that apomorphine, if experienced during restraint stress, produces greater sensitization Conversely, sensitization effects of apomorphine are blocked in animals receiving apomorphine after the termination of restraint stress. The results tend to show that drug of abuse may be effective for the treatment but not prevention of stress-induced depression.

Restraint-induced behavioral deficits are attenuated or impaired by pre- or post-injection of apomorphine: A context-based study.

Apomorphine, a psycho stimulant, has neuroprotective effects due to its ability to decrease oxidative stress. Stress-induced dopaminergic dysfunction might lead to posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and related disorders. This dopaminergic dysfunction is more pre-dominant in basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex. Targeting of this dysfunction by psychostimulants, involves elevating dopamine in these brain regions and reduction of stress. On the other hand, stress itself can aggravate addictive effects to psycho stimulants. Present study was therefore designed to monitor the role of apomorphine in the attenuation of stress-induced behavioral deficits. Rats were exposed to 2hr restraint stress either before or after the apomorphine administration, to monitor effects of apomorphine administration on stress-induced behavioral deficits. Stress-induced decreases in food intake, growth rate and elevated plus maze activity were exacerbated if apomorphine was experienced during restraint stress. Conversely, these behavioral deficits were attenuated if apomorphine was experienced after restraint stress. It shows that apomorphine, if experienced during restraint stress, produces greater behavioral deficits, while the same were attenuated in rats receiving apomorphine after the termination of restraint stress. Results suggest that apomorphine and possibly the other CNS stimulants may help to cope stress by attenuating stress-induced behavioral deficits, if experienced after stress.

Phytochemical, anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive and cytotoxic basis for the use of Haloxylon stocksii.

A halophytic plant, Haloxylon stocksii, is used to treat various inflammatory disorders traditionally. The present study was carried out to investigate the phytochemical parameters, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and cytotoxic potential of the whole plant extracts of H. stocksii. The plant powder was standardized for pharmacognostic parameters. It was extracted with methanol followed by chloroform, ethyl acetate and water to prepare respective fractions. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents in the extract and fractions were estimated. The anti-inflammatory potential was determined through carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model. Centrally acting analgesic activity was assessed through the hot plate method. MTT assay was used to assess the viability of Human umbilical and human hepatocyte carcinoma cell lines upon exposure to plant extract/fractions. Chloroform fraction showed the highest phenolic while ethyl acetate exhibited a maximum flavonoids content. The plant ethyl acetate fraction exhibited highest percentage inhibition of paw edema and maximum analgesic activity at 500 mg/kg dose. The plant methanolic extract and fractions showed dose dependent cytotoxic activity. The present study concludes that the extracts of H. stocksii may be effective and safe against acute inflammatory response and pain at therapeutic concentrations.

Interleukin 6 Receptor (IL6-R) Gene Polymorphisms Underlie Susceptibility to Rheumatoid Arthritis.

BACKGROUND: Increased production of interleukin 6 (IL-6) is associated with rheumatoid arthritis that acts through its receptor, IL-6R (interleukin 6 receptor). Various single nucleotide polymorphisms in the IL6R gene conferring susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis have been identified in various populations yet these associations have not been fully established. The present study was pursued with the aim to evaluate a possible association between three single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs2228145, rs4537545, rs4845617) of the IL6R gene and rheumatoid arthritis in Pakistani patients. METHODS: For this purpose, we recruited 60 patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and 60 healthy age and gender matched controls. Blood samples were collected and DNA was extracted. Sanger DNA sequencing was performed to evaluate the SNPs in IL6R and the data were statistically evaluated using chi-square test. RESULTS: Results of our study indicated that rs2228145 and rs4845617 were significantly associated with rheumatoid arthritis in Pakistani population. However, no association could be established between IL6R (rs4537545) and rheumatoid arthritis in Pakistani population. CONCLUSIONS: This study reports a possible genetic association of IL6R (rs2228145 and rs4845617) to the genetic susceptibility of rheumatoid arthritis.

A rare cause of recurrent chest infection in children-bronchopulmonary sequestration.

Bronchopulmonary sequestration is one of the rare thoracic congenital anomalies. We report the case of a 6 year old boy with history of recurrent episodes of chest infection and breathing difficulty. This time admitted with fever and cough. Investigations revelaed neutrophilic leucocytosis, raised C-reactive protein and a retrocardiac opacity on chest radiographs. Contrast enhanced Computed Topography(CT scan) revealed a large, well defined, left lower lobe multi-loculated cystic mass with a vessel arising from the descending aorta supplying sequestrated lung portion. These CT scan findings were suggestive of diagnosis of an intralobar bronchopulmonary sequestration (IPS). Surgical resection of this opacity was done and histopathology report confirmed the diagnosis of bronchopulmonary sequestration.

ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF PISTACIA KHINJUK SUPPORTED BY PHYTOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION.

Pistacia khinjuk is one of the fifteen known species of Pistacia belonging to Anacardiaceae family. Keeping in view the possible therapeutic utility of this genus and the lack of literature on this plant, this study involves phytochemical investigation of P. khinjuk and its antioxidant activity. The phytochemical investigation was conducted on crude methanolic extract and its fractions namely, n-hexane, chloroform, n-butanol, ethyl acetate and aqueous. Total phenolic contents and flavonoids were also determined by phosphomolybdenum and ferric thiocyanate method in crude extract and its fractions. The results of phytochemical investigation indicated the presence of alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, triterpenoids, cardiac glycosides, carbohydrates, proteins and sterols in the crude extract of P. khinjuk. Crude extract and its fractions exhibited remarkable antioxidant activity. This study showed that the crude extract and its fractions have potent antioxidant activity, among all ethyl acetate showed 1.109 ± 0.029 the highest activity. This research concluded that crude extract of P. khinjuk and its fractions contained phenolic and flavonoid compounds that show significant antioxidant activity.

Short term cadmium administration dose dependently elicits immediate biochemical, neurochemical and neurobehavioral dysfunction in male rats.

Cadmium is a toxic environmental and industrial pollutant. Cadmium toxicity has been reported to produce biochemical and behavioral dysfunction that may cause adverse effects on several organs including the central nervous system. The present study was designed to investigate the neurotoxic effects of Cadmium Chloride (CdCl2) at three different doses by using different behavioral models. Lipid peroxidation (LPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities were also monitored following acute intraperitoneal injection of cadmium. Twenty four adult locally bred Albino Wistar rats were divided into control and 3 test groups (n = 6). Control rats were injected intraperitoneally with saline (0.9% NaCl) and test groups were injected with CdCl2 (1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg) dissolved in physiological solution. Behavioral activities of rats were monitored after 1 h of cadmium injection. Locomotor activity and depression-like symptoms were measured by Open Field Test (OFT) and Forced Swimming Test (FST) respectively. Anxiety like behavior was monitored using Light-dark Transition (LDT) test and memory functions of rats were assessed by Morris Water Maze test (MWM). In the present study acute cadmium administration dose dependently increased anxiety in rats as compared to control rats. A significant increase in depression-like symptoms was also exhibited by cadmium treated rats. These behavioral dysfunctions may be attributed to the decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and simultaneously increased brain lipid peroxidation (LPO). Moreover learning and memory assessed by MWM showed dose dependent impairment in memory function in cadmium treated rats as compared to control rats. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was also decreased in brains of cadmium administered rats. It is suggested in this study that behavioral, biochemical and neurochemical dysfunctions caused by acute cadmium administration occur in a dose dependent manner.

Direct oral anticoagulants vs. vitamin K antagonists in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Optimal treatment regimen for patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) remain unclear. Therefore, the authors sought to compare the outcomes of vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) vs. direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in patients with APS. Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central databases were searched for randomized controlled trials comparing efficacy and safety of VKAs and DOACs inhibitors in patients with APS. Recurrent thrombosis, all-cause mortality, stroke, adverse reactions, and bleeding were among outcomes of interest. Mantel-Haenszel weighted random-effects model was used to calculate relative risks (RRs) with 95% CIs. Results: The analysis included 625 patients from four randomized controlled trials and one post hoc analysis. Meta-analysis showed statistically non-significant difference between DOACs inhibitors and VKAs in the recurrent thrombosis risk (arterial or venous) [RR 2.77 (95%, CI 0.79, 9.65); P=0.11, I2=50%]. Consistent results were revealed among patients with the previous history of arterial thrombosis [RR 2.76 (95% CI 0.93, 8.16); P=0.75, I2=0%], venous thrombosis [RR 1.71 (95% CI 0.60, 4.84); P=0.31, I2=15%] and patients who were triple antiphospholipid positive [RR 4.12 (95% CI 0.46, 37.10); P=0.21, I2=58%]. DOACs inhibitors were significantly associated with increased risk of stroke [RR 8.51 (95% CI 2.35, 3.82); P=0.47, I2=0%]. Conclusion: DOACs exhibited increased risk of stroke among patients with APS. In addition, although not significant, the higher RRs among patients on DOACs may indicate higher risk of thrombotic events associated with DOACs.

Temporal analysis and opinion dynamics of COVID-19 vaccination tweets using diverse feature engineering techniques.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has also triggered a tsunami of news, instructions, and precautionary measures related to the disease on social media platforms. Despite the considerable support on social media, a large number of fake propaganda and conspiracies are also circulated. People also reacted to COVID-19 vaccination on social media and expressed their opinions, perceptions, and conceptions. The present research work aims to explore the opinion dynamics of the general public about COVID-19 vaccination to help the administration authorities to devise policies to increase vaccination acceptance. For this purpose, a framework is proposed to perform sentiment analysis of COVID-19 vaccination-related tweets. The influence of term frequency-inverse document frequency, bag of words (BoW), Word2Vec, and combination of TF-IDF and BoW are explored with classifiers including random forest, gradient boosting machine, extra tree classifier (ETC), logistic regression, Naïve Bayes, stochastic gradient descent, multilayer perceptron, convolutional neural network (CNN), bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT), long short-term memory (LSTM), and recurrent neural network (RNN). Results reveal that ETC outperforms using BoW with a 92% of accuracy and is the most suitable approach for sentiment analysis of COVID-19-related tweets. Opinion dynamics show that sentiments in favor of vaccination have increased over time.

Hepatic manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 infection: Clinical and laboratory perspective.

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has become a global challenge of unprecedented nature since December 2019. Although most patients with COVID-19 exhibit mild clinical manifestations and upper respiratory tract involvement, in approximately 5%-10% of patients, the disease is severe and involves multiple organs, leading to multi-organ dysfunction and failure. The liver and gastrointestinal tract are also frequently involved in COVID-19. In the context of liver involvement in patients with COVID-19, many key aspects need to be addressed in both native and transplanted organs. This review focuses on the clinical presentations and laboratory abnormalities of liver function tests in patients with COVID-19 with no prior liver disease, patients with pre-existing liver diseases and liver transplant recipients. A brief overview of the history of COVID-19 and etiopathogenesis of the liver injury will also be described as a prelude to better understanding the above aspects.

Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Engagement in Algeria: A Population-Based Study With Systematic Review of Studies From Arab Countries of the MENA Region.

Background: The Algerian COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which started at the end of January 2021, is marked by a slowly ascending curve despite the deployed resources. To tackle the issue, we assessed the levels and explored determinants of engagement toward the COVID-19 vaccine among the Algerian population. Methods: A nationwide, online-based cross-sectional study was conducted between March 27 and April 30, 2021. A two-stage stratified snowball sampling method was used to include an equivalent number of participants from the four cardinal regions of the country. A vaccine engagement scale was developed, defining vaccine engagement as a multidimensional parameter (5 items) that combined self-stated acceptance and willingness with perceived safety and efficacy of the vaccine. An Engagement score was calculated and the median was used to define engagement vs. non-engagement. Sociodemographic and clinical data, perceptions about COVID-19, and levels of adherence to preventive measures were analyzed as predictors for non-engagement. Results: We included 1,019 participants, 54% were female and 64% were aged 18-29 years. Overall, there were low rates of self-declared acceptance (26%) and willingness (21%) to take the vaccine, as well as low levels of agreement regarding vaccine safety (21%) and efficacy (30%). Thus, the vaccine engagement rate was estimated at 33.5%, and ranged between 29.6-38.5% depending on the region (p > 0.05). Non-engagement was independently associated with female gender (OR = 2.31, p < 0.001), low adherence level to preventive measures (OR = 6.93, p < 0.001), private-sector jobs (OR = 0.53, p = 0.038), perceived COVID-19 severity (OR = 0.66, p = 0.014), and fear from contracting the disease (OR = 0.56, p = 0.018). Concern about vaccine side effects (72.0%) and exigence for more efficacy and safety studies (48.3%) were the most commonly reported barrier and enabler for vaccine acceptance respectively; whereas beliefs in the conspiracy theory were reported by 23.4%. Conclusions: The very low rates of vaccine engagement among the Algerian population probably explain the slow ascension of the vaccination curve in the country. Vaccine awareness campaigns should be implemented to address the multiple misconceptions and enhance the levels of knowledge and perception both about the disease and the vaccine, by prioritizing target populations and engaging both healthcare workers and the general population.

Elucidating the Mechanism of Condensation-Mediated Degradation of Organofunctional Silane Self-Assembled Monolayer Coatings.

Dropwise condensation is favorable for numerous industrial and heat/mass transfer applications due to the enhanced heat transfer performance that results from efficient condensate removal. Organofunctional silane self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coatings are one of the most common ultrathin low surface energy materials used to promote dropwise condensation of water vapors because of their minimal thermal resistance and scalable synthesis process. These SAM coatings typically degrade (i.e., condensation transitions from the efficient dropwise mode to the inefficient filmwise mode) rapidly during water vapor condensation. More importantly, the condensation-mediated coating degradation/failure mechanism(s) remain unknown and/or unproven. In this work, we develop a mechanistic understanding of water vapor condensation-mediated organofunctional silane SAM coating degradation and validate our hypothesis through controlled coating synthesis procedures on silicon/silicon dioxide substrates. We further demonstrate that a pristine organofunctional silane SAM coating resulting from a water/moisture-free coating environment exhibits superior long-term robustness during water vapor condensation. Our molecular/nanoscale surface characterizations, pre- and post-condensation heat transfer testing, indicate that the presence of moisture in the coating environment leads to uncoated regions of the substrate that act as nucleation sites for coating degradation. By elucidating the reasons for formation of these degradation nuclei and demonstrating a method to suppress such defects, this study provides new insight into why low surface energy silane SAM coatings degrade during water vapor condensation. The proposed approach addresses a key bottleneck (i.e., coating failure) preventing the adoption of efficient dropwise condensation methods in industry, and it will facilitate enhanced phase-change heat transfer technologies in industrial applications.

Advanced microbial fuel cell for waste water treatment-a review.

Petroleum, coal, and natural gas reservoir were depleting continuously due to an increase in industrialization, which enforced study to identify alternative sources. The next option is the renewable resources which are most important for energy purpose coupled with environmental problem reduction. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have become a promising approach to generate cleaner and more sustainable electrical energy. The involvement of various disciplines had been contributing to enhancing the performance of the MFCs. This review covers the performance of MFC along with different wastewater as a substrate in terms of treatment efficiencies as well as for energy generation. Apart from this, effect of various parameters and use of different nanomaterials for performance of MFC were also studied. From the current study, it proves that the use of microbial fuel cell along with the use of nanomaterials could be the waste and energy-related problem-solving approach. MFC could be better in performances based on optimized process parameters for handling any wastewater from industrial process.

Experimental investigations of arsenic adsorption from contaminated water using chemically activated hematite (Fe2O3) iron ore.

Indigenous hematite iron ore was chemically activated as a function of various hydrogen peroxide concentrations (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2.0 M), activation time, and iron ore size. Adsorption potential was evaluated at various initial arsenic concentrations, contact time, adsorbent dose, and particle size. Maximum 95% removal efficiency was achieved at 600-µm size of iron ore, activated with 0.5 M concentration of hydrogen peroxide at 24 h of activation time. The experimental data were further evaluated through Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The maximum 14.46 mg/g of adsorption capacity was observed through Langmuir isotherm. Moreover, adsorption kinetics was evaluated using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetics, and the intra-particle diffusion model. The kinetics of arsenic adsorption was best described by using the pseudo-first-order kinetics with a kinetic rate of 0.621 min-1. The hematite iron ore before and after arsenic adsorption was characterized by XRD, SEM, and EDX.

Role of neo-adjuvant chemoradiation in locally advanced rectal cancers.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the radiologic downstaging and histological response after neo-adjuvant concurrent chemoradiation in locally advanced rectal cancers. STUDY DESIGN: Case series. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Radiation Oncology department of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, from December 2004 to November 2005. METHODOLOGY: Thirty patients with histopathologically confirmed locally advanced carcinoma rectum who had not received any treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery) prior to presentation were enrolled. Radiation therapy was delivered with a three-field technique to a dose of 50.4 Gy over 5 weeks at the rate of 1.8 Gy/day. Two cycles of chemotherapy were given synchronously, which comprised of 5-fluorouracil 350 mg/m2 and folinic acid 20 mg/m2 continuous intravenous infusion over first five days and last five days of radiotherapy. Surgery was planned 4-6 weeks later to chemoradiation after radiologic post therapy staging. Viable specimens were identified and toxicity was observed. RESULTS: All patients completed treatment without modification. Radiologic downstaging was found in 56.7%, stable disease was seen in 30.0% and progressive disease was present in 13.3% of the patients. Radiologically complete resolution of tumour was not observed. Pathological complete resolution of tumour was achieved in 3.3% and near complete resolution was observed in 13.3% of the patients. In 86.6% cases, a total gross tumour resection with no macroscopic residual disease was possible. All the patients tolerated the treatment well. CONCLUSION: Neo-adjuvant chemoradiation for locally advanced rectal cancers is associated with high resectability rate and is relatively safe with acceptable morbidity which favours its use in future.