Gut Microbiota Modulation of Short Bowel Syndrome and the Gut-Brain Axis.

Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a condition that results from a reduction in the length of the intestine or its functional capacity. SBS patients can have significant side effects and complications, the etiology of which remains ill-defined. Thus, facilitating intestinal adaptation in SBS remains a major research focus. Emerging data supports the role of the gut microbiome in modulating disease progression. There has been ongoing debate on defining a "healthy" gut microbiome, which has led to many studies analyzing the bacterial composition and shifts that occur in gastrointestinal disease states such as SBS and the resulting systemic effects. In SBS, it has also been found that microbial shifts are highly variable and dependent on many factors, including the anatomical location of bowel resection, length, and structure of the remnant bowel, as well as associated small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). Recent data also notes a bidirectional communication that occurs between enteric and central nervous systems called the gut-brain axis (GBA), which is regulated by the gut microbes. Ultimately, the role of the microbiome in disease states such as SBS have many clinical implications and warrant further investigation. The focus of this review is to characterize the role of the gut microbiota in short bowel syndrome and its impact on the GBA, as well as the therapeutic potential of altering the microbiome.

An AI-Enabled ensemble method for rainfall forecasting using Long-Short term memory.

Rainfall prediction includes forecasting the occurrence of rainfall and projecting the amount of rainfall over the modeled area. Rainfall is the result of various natural phenomena such as temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and wind direction, and is therefore composed of various factors that lead to uncertainties in the prediction of the same. In this work, different machine learning and deep learning models are used to (a) predict the occurrence of rainfall, (b) project the amount of rainfall, and (c) compare the results of the different models for classification and regression purposes. The dataset used in this work for rainfall prediction contains data from 49 Australian cities over a 10-year period and contains 23 features, including location, temperature, evaporation, sunshine, wind direction, and many more. The dataset contained numerous uncertainties and anomalies that caused the prediction model to produce erroneous projections. We, therefore, used several data preprocessing techniques, including outlier removal, class balancing for classification tasks using Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE), and data normalization for regression tasks using Standard Scalar, to remove these uncertainties and clean the data for more accurate predictions. Training classifiers such as XGBoost, Random Forest, Kernel SVM, and Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) are used for the classification task, while models such as Multiple Linear Regressor, XGBoost, Polynomial Regressor, Random Forest Regressor, and LSTM are used for the regression task. The experiment results show that the proposed approach outperforms several state-of-the-art approaches with an accuracy of 92.2% for the classification task, a mean absolute error of 11.7%, and an R2 score of 76% for the regression task.

Post Surgical Non-tuberculous Mycobacterium: A Case Series.

Background There has been an increase in non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infection reports in humans. Surgeons are concerned about the link between them and surgical site infections. As a result, it has been challenging to determine just how common this illness is. A two-year study by the authors examines the occurrence of NTM infections after different surgical procedures. Design and methods Researchers at a tertiary care hospital in central India performed this prospective study over two years. NTM was found in six of the 25 instances of post-surgical wound infections. Ziehl-Neelsen staining, Auramine O-Rhodamine fluorescence staining, Multiplex Real-Time PCR, and Genotyping were used to identify the species. Results M. fortuitum, M. chelonae and M.kansasii were isolated from discharge in 2 cases each respectively. NTM isolates evaluated for antibiotic susceptibility pattern were all sensitive to Clarithromycin (100%). One case with prolonged healing had to be intervened with amikacin along with clarithromycin. Conclusion NTM is an infection of uncommon nature which can occur following surgical procedures. Identification of these organisms through sensitive techniques and appropriate therapeutic regimen formulation must be done to tackle this growing menace in health care setups.

Bifunctional in vivo role of laccase exploited in multiple biotechnological applications.

Laccases are multicopper enzymes present in plants, fungi, bacteria, and insects, which catalyze oxidation reactions together with four electron reduction of oxygen to water. Plant, bacterial, and insect laccases have a polymerizing role in nature, implicated in biosynthesis of lignin, melanin formation, and cuticle hardening, respectively. On the other hand, fungal laccases carry out both polymerizing (melanin synthesis and fruit body formation) as well as depolymerizing roles (lignin degradation). This bifunctionality of fungal laccases can be attributed to the presence of multiple isoforms within the same as well as different genus and species. Interestingly, by manipulating culture conditions, these isoforms with their different induction patterns and unique biochemical characteristics can be expressed or over-expressed for a targeted biotechnological application. Consequently, laccases can be considered as one of the most important biocatalyst which can be exploited for divergent industrial applications viz. paper pulp bleaching, fiber modification, dye decolorization, bioremediation as well as organic synthesis. The present review spotlights the role of fungal laccases in various antagonistic applications, i.e., polymerizing and depolymerizing, and co-relating this dual role with potential industrial significance.

Bis[(l)prolinate-N,O]Zn: A water-soluble and recycle catalyst for various organic transformations.

Under the green chemistry perspective, bis[(l)prolinate-N,O]Zn (also called zinc-proline or Zn[(l)-pro]2) has proven its competence as a promising alternative in a plethora of applications such as catalyst or promoter. Owing to its biodegradable and non-toxic nature of bis[(l)prolinate-N,O]Zn, it is being actively investigated as a water soluble green catalyst for synthetic chemistry. Bis[(l)prolinate-N,O]Zn are readily utilized under mild conditions and have high selectivity and reactivity with broad range of substrate acceptance to make it better reaction medium for a wide variety of organic transformations. This Review summarizes the till date literature on its synthesis, characterization, and its catalytic role in various organic reactions.

Ecofriendly approach for detection of phenols in water using laccase from different fungi.

Laccase-initiated oxidative coupling reactions of phenol and its derivatives with 4-aminoantipyrene using air as an oxidant has been investigated. The oxidation reaction of phenols and 4-aminoantipyrene is getting a lot of attention due to environmental concerns. Oxidation of simple phenol and 4-aminoantipyrene as a benchmark reaction enabled us to rank the relative oxidation ability of various laccases. Among the laccases tested, laccase from Pycnoporus cinnabarinus successfully yielded 72% antipyrilquinoneimine dye. The present method can also be used to determine p-substituted phenols and chlorophenols. In this work, the influence of mediators on laccase activity has also been studied.

Magnetic nanoparticles catalyzed synthesis of diverse N-heterocycles.

A large library of diversified compounds (pyrano [2,3-d]pyrimidines, pyrido[2,3-d] pyrimidines and a variety of spirooxindoles) were synthesized through a very efficient, economical and environmentally benign process utilizing magnetic nanoparticles. Ease of recovery using an external magnetic field is an additional ecofriendly attribute of this catalytic system. Most of the compounds are new; therefore, could be further explored for their pharmaceutical application. Moreover, column chromatography and recrystallisation of the products is not required as the crude products are already highly pure and hence can be used for target oriented synthesis on a wide scale.

Removal of arsenic and methylene blue from water by granular activated carbon media impregnated with zirconium dioxide nanoparticles.

This study investigated the effects of in situ ZrO(2) nanoparticle formation on properties of granulated activated carbon (GAC) and their impacts on arsenic and organic co-contaminant removal. Bituminous and lignite based zirconium dioxide impregnated GAC (Zr-GAC) media were fabricated by hydrolysis of zirconium salt followed by annealing of the product at 400 °C in an inert environment. Media characterization suggested that GAC type does not affect the crystalline structure of the resulting ZrO(2) nanoparticles, but does affect zirconium content of the media, nanoparticle morphology, nanoparticle distribution, and surface area of Zr-GAC. The arsenic removal performance of both media was compared using 5mM NaHCO(3) buffered ultrapure water and model groundwater containing competing ions, both with an initial arsenic C(0) ≈ 120 µg/L. Experimental outcomes suggested favorable adsorption energies and higher or similar adsorption capacities than commercially available or experimental adsorbents when compared on the basis of metal content. Short bed adsorber column tests showed that arsenic adsorption capacity decreases as a result of kinetics of competing ions. Correlation between the properties of the media and arsenic and methylene blue removal suggested that surface area and GAC type may be the dominant factors controlling the arsenic and organic co-contaminant removal performance of the fabricated Zr-GAC media.

Quality of life in children with epilepsy.

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is a chronic medical condition with many co-morbid features. It has been observed that children with epilepsy (CWE) have a compromised quality of life (QOL). OBJECTIVE: To assess the QOL in CWE and to study the various factors affecting QOL among CWE. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample consisted of 102 CWE aged 5-15 years of either sex. QOL was measured by Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE) questionnaire, a 76-item, parent-reported questionnaire. Cronbach alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the subscales and Pearson correlation to determine construct validity. The t-test and analysis of variance were used to compare mean QOLCE scores. RESULTS: Factors affecting QOL included age, place of residence, socioeconomic condition, maternal education, seizure type and frequency and number of antiepileptic drugs. CONCLUSION: CWE have a relatively compromised QOL and comprehensive care needs to go beyond the attempt of controlling seizures.

Evaluation of wound-healing activity of Acorus calamus Linn.

The aim of the present study was to assess the wound-healing activity of ethanolic extracts of Acorus calamus leaves. A wound was induced by an excision- and incision-based wound model in rats of either sex. The mature green leaves of A. calamus were collected and authenticated. Extractions of dried leaves were carried out with 80% ethanol in a soxhlet apparatus. For wound-healing activity, the extracts were applied topically once daily in conc. of 40% w/w and 20% w/w in the form of ointment and compared with a standard drug (povidion-iodine). The healing of the wound was assessed by the rate of wound closure, period of epithelialisation, tensile strength and weight of the granulation tissue, hydroxyproline content and histopathology of the granulation tissue. The ethanolic extract of A. calamus promoted wound-healing activity significantly in both the wound models studied. The histological study of the granulation tissue with 20% A. calamus extract ointment-treated animals showed a larger number of inflammatory cells and lesser collagen when compared with the 40% A. calamus extract ointment-treated animals. However, this was better than the control group of animals. Enhanced wound contraction, decreased epithelialisation time, increased hydroxyproline content and histological characteristics suggest that A. calamus extract may have therapeutic benefits in wound healing.

Sorptive removal of crystal violet from aqueous solution using spent tea leaves: part I optimization of sorption conditions and kinetic studies.

The low cost adsorbent, spent tea leaves (STL) has been tested for the effectiveness in decolorization of wastewater containing crystal violet dye in batch experiments. Effect of various parameters such as agitation time, pH, temperature and adsorbent dose has been investigated. The dye uptake has been found to increase with pH and temperature. The kinetic uptake data, obtained at different sorbate concentrations, is best interpreted by pseudo second order model and rate constants for adsorption are found to be 8.5 × 10-3, 22.2 × 10-3 and 42.0 × 10-3 g mg-1 min-1 for initial dye concentrations of 10, 20 and 30 mg L-1 respectively. The dye uptake was found to increase with temperature and the activation energy for adsorption process was found to be 10.45 ± 0.89 kJ mol-1.