Development and Enhancement of PCF-based Sensors for Terahertz-frequency Region Breast Cancer Cell Detection.

In today's medical research, breast cancer is a severe problem, so it is imperative to develop a reliable and efficient approach for identifying cancerous breast cells. PCF, with its exceptional sense-making abilities, simplifies and distinguishes that procedure. The research presents a unique structural hybrid PCF for detecting breast cancer cells using sensors based on PCF that are specifically built for the terahertz-frequency range. The improvement in sensor sensitivity and specificity in identifying cancer cells at these frequencies is a notable progress compared to conventional approaches, which could potentially result in earlier and more precise diagnosis. In our analysis, we discovered the most common malignancies in breast cancer. We investigate the features of the cancerous cell detector using the COMSOL-Multiphysics 5.6 software. This PCF detector achieves a Confinement Loss of 4.75 × 10-12 and 3.42 × 10-13 dB/m for Type-1 and Type-2 cancer cells, respectively, at 1.2 THz, as well as about 99.946% and 99.969% relative sensitivity. This sensor ensures the highest level of sensitivity for the identification of cancerous breast cells. This sensor's physical architecture is quite straightforward, making it simple to build using current manufacturing techniques. Therefore, it seems that this sensor will pave a new path for identifying and treating cancerous cells.

Harnessing THz Technology: Biosensor for Highly Accurate Cervical Cancer Cell Detection via Refractive Index.

In order to rapidly identify various species of cancer cells in the tissues of person, a unique diamond shaped hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF)-formed by optical waveform is developed and computationally studied. In this investigation, we found the most prevalent cancers, such as HeLa-derived cervical carcinoma. Since normal and cancer cells differ in their refractive indices (RIs), other significant optical properties can be assessed using this information. With the use of the finite element method, a computational tool for solving simultaneous equations, the defining characteristics the suggested cancer cell sensor are examined using COMSOL-Multiphysics software. Additionally, strict mesh parts are used to preserve the utmost level of modeling realism. At 2.4 THz, the PCF detector attains a Relative Sensitivity of around 97.51% and 96.29%, Confinement Loss of 6.1 × 10 -09db/m and 4.39 × 10-07db/m with respect to cervical carcinoma cell and cervical normal cell. The straightforward PCF structure provides a wide chance of application using the continuing fabrication technique, based on these conventional values of performance indices. This biosensor utilizes the distinctive refractive characteristics of cancer cells, providing a highly accurate and dependable approach for the early identification of cervical cancer. This has the potential to significantly transform the process of cervical cancer screening. The novel method boosts the ability to detect and identify certain conditions, leading to increased diagnostic capabilities for early treatment and better results for patients.

Status of Serum Iron and Fasting Serum Glucose in Reproductive Aged Women Taking Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill.

The oral contraceptive pill, 'the pill', was introduced in the beginning of the 1960s. Presently, worldwide about 100 million women are current users of combined oral hormonal contraceptives (COC) most frequently used in the western world. Oral contraceptive use has been associated with decreased menstrual blood losses; thus, can independently reduce the risk of anemia and iron deficiency in women. Manufacturers have recently started to include supplemental iron in the non-hormonal placebo tablets of some contraceptives. This study was done to evaluate the status of serum iron and fasting serum glucose in combined oral contraceptive pill users in comparison to non-users. This cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Bangladesh from July 2021 to June 2022. A total number of 120 reproductive aged women, age ranged from 15-55 years was included in this study. Among them, sixty (60) combined oral contraceptive pill users subjects were taken as study group (Group II) and sixty (60) age matched oral pill non users subjects were taken as control group (Group I). Data were expressed as mean±SD and statistical significance of difference among the group was calculated by unpaired students' 't' test. The mean±SD of serum iron of control group (Group I) and study group (Group II) were 93.22±17.19µg/dl and 181.57±22.06µg/dl respectively. The mean±SD of fasting serum glucose of control group (Group I) and study group (Group II) were 4.67±0.61mmol/L and 6.61±0.61mmol/L respectively. Serum iron and fasting serum glucose increased in study group in comparison to control group. Result is statistically highly significant (p<0.001). So there from this study it can be concluded that there is significant association of serum iron and fasting serum glucose with oral contraceptives.

Evaluate the Changes of Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure in Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill Users.

The oral contraceptive pill, 'the pill', was introduced in the starting of the 1960s. Presently, worldwide about 100 million women are current users of combined hormonal contraceptives (COC) most frequently used in the western world. The most frequently used agents are a combination of drugs containing both the estrogen and progesterone. This combination is considered to be highly efficacious, generally considered 99.9% and a use effectiveness of 97.0% to 98.0%. This study was done to evaluate the changes of Body Mass Index (BMI) and Blood pressure ( BP) in combined oral contraceptive pill users in comparison to non- users. This cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from July 2021 to June 2022. Total number of 120 reproductive aged women, age ranged from 15-55 years was included in this study. Among them, sixty (60) combined oral contraceptive pill users subjects were taken as study group (Group II) and sixty (60) age matched oral pill non users subjects were taken as control group (Group I). Data were expressed as mean±SD and statistical significance of difference among the group was calculated by unpaired students' 't' test and Pearson's correlation coefficient test. The mean±SD of BMI of control group (Group I) and study group (Group II) were 22.50±1.50 kg/m² and 27.64±1.28 kg/m² respectively. In study group (Group II) BMI was increased. Result is statistically highly significant (p<0.001). The mean±SD of systolic blood pressure of control group (Group I) and study group (Group II) were 111.17±8.51 mm of Hg and 127.50±6.14 mm of Hg respectively. In this study the mean±SD of diastolic blood pressure of control group (Group I and study group (Group II) were 75.58±5.05mm of Hg and 87.00±4.89 mm of Hg respectively. In study group (Group II) diastolic blood pressure was increased. Result is statistically highly significant (p<0.001). So the assessment of this parameter is important for early detection and prevention of complication related to combined oral contraceptive pill use for leading a healthy life.

A Comparative Study of Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure between Sedentary and Non-Sedentary Workers.

Sedentary lifestyle are spreading worldwide because of lack of available spaces for exercise, increased occupational sedentary behaviors such as office work and the increased prevalence of television and video devices. Increased incidence of sedentary lifestyle and obesity in developed and developing countries is one of the major risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases. This study was undertaken to analyze the differences in anthropometric and cardiovascular parameters in sedentary and non-sedentary male subjects. This analytical type of cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from July 2021 to June 2022. This study consisted 50 male employees of 25-60 years who worked in an office were study group (Group II) and control group Group-I) consisted of 50 male age matched physical laborers. BMI was calculated as weight in kilogram divided by the height in meter square i.e. kg/m². Blood Pressure was measured by indirect auscultatory method with an aneroid sphygmomanometer. Statistical analysis was done by using Student's un-paired 't' test. Values expressed as mean ± standard deviation. P value was taken as significant at 5 percent confidence level. The mean±SD BMI in kg/m² of Group I and Group II were 21.90±2.22 and 29.32±3.13 respectively. The mean±SD systolic blood pressure of Group I and Group II were 112.20±6.79 and 145.10±8.11 and mean±SD diastolic blood pressure of Group I and Group II were 72.80±5.73 and 91.00±5.05 respectively. The BMI and blood pressure were increased in sedentary group compared to non-sedentary group. From the study, it appears that the risk for cardiovascular disease is increased in sedentary workers.

Estimation of Serum Lipid Profile among Patients Admitted with Myocardial Infarction in a Tertiary Level Hospital of Bangladesh.

Different studies worldwide showed that dyslipidaemia is involved in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart diseases (IHD). This cross sectional descriptive type of observational study was carried out at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital during the period of six months from January 2021 to September 2021 to estimate the lipid profile among patients admitted in the coronary care unit (CCU) with myocardial infarction (MI). Data were collected from purposively selected 343 patients with MI by face to face interview and laboratory investigations using a case record form. Informed written consent of participants was taken prior to interview. Data were analyzed by using SPSS version 21.0. The study results revealed that mean age of the patients with myocardial infarction was 53.16 years with a standard deviation of 11.68 years. Majority of them (284, 82.8%) were male and the remaining (59, 17.2%) were female. Proportion of risk factors for ischaemic heart disease (IHD) were estimated and found that 244(71.1%) patients were smoker; 150(43.7%) had hypertension and 110(32.2%) had family history of IHD. Ninety nine (28.9%) patents were obese with BMI ≥25kg/m². Eighty three (24.2%) patients had diabetes mellitus; 66(19.2%) lead sedentary life and 61(17.8%) patients with myocardial infarction had dyslipidaemia. Mean LDL of patients with myocardial infarction was 103.65±39.73mg/dl; mean total cholesterol (TC) was 189.44±45.41mg/dl; mean TG was 243.11±205.19mg/dl and mean HDL was 39.29±8.98mg/dl. LDL was increased in 10(2.9%) patients; total cholesterol was raised in 121 (35.3%) patients and TG was raised in 195(56.9%) patients. HDL was raised in 26(7.6%) patients and it was lowered in 57(16.6%) patients. Mean LDL, TC, TG and HDL of younger (≤45 years) and older (>45 years) patients were compared and t-test showed no significant difference (p>0.05). Similarly mean LDL, TC, TG and HDL of male and female were compared and again t-test showed no significant difference (p>0.05). Though the pattern of lipid profile was found similar in younger and older patients and in males and females, a significant number of patients (61, 17.8%) with MI had dyslipidaemia which should be address by dietary and lifestyle modification.

Causes, characteristics, and patterns of prolonged unplanned school closures prior to the COVID-19 pandemic-United States, 2011-2019.

INTRODUCTION: Outside of pandemics, there is little information about occurrence of prolonged unplanned K-12 school closures (PUSC). We describe here the reasons, characteristics, and patterns of PUSC in the United States during 8 consecutive inter-pandemic academic years, 2011-2019. METHODS: From August 1, 2011 through June 30, 2019, daily systematic online searches were conducted to collect data on publicly announced unplanned school closures lasting ≥1 school days in the United States. Closures were categorized as prolonged when schools were closed for ≥5 unplanned days (approximating one full workweek), excluding weekends and scheduled days off per school calendars. RESULTS: During the eight academic years, a total of 22,112 PUSCs were identified, affecting over 800,000 teachers and 13 million students that resulted in 91.5 million student-days lost. A median of 62.9% of students in PUSC-affected schools were eligible for subsidized school meals. Most affected schools were in cities (35%) and suburban areas (33%). Natural disasters (47%), adverse weather conditions (35%), and budget/teacher strikes (15%) were the most frequently cited reasons for PUSC; illness accounted for 1%, and building/facility issues, environmental issues and violence together accounted for the remaining 2%. The highest number of PUSCs occurred in Health and Human Services Regions 2, 3, 4, and 6 encompassing areas that are frequently in the path of hurricanes and tropical storms. The majority of PUSCs in these regions were attributed to a handful of hurricanes during the fall season, including hurricanes Sandy, Irma, Harvey, Florence, and Matthew. CONCLUSIONS: PUSCs occur annually in the United States due to a variety of causes and are associated with a substantive loss of student-days for in-school learning. Both these prior experiences with PUSCs and those during the current COVID-19 pandemic illustrate a need for creating sustainable solutions for high-quality distance learning and innovative supplemental feeding programs nationwide, especially in disaster-prone areas.

Association of CYP1A1 rs1048943 Polymorphism with Prostate Cancer in Iraqi Men Patients.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between CYP1A1 gene rs1048943 polymorphism and the risk of Iraqi men with prostate cancer. METHODS: In this research, we conducted a population-based approach that intersects high-throughput genotype information from  different population of Iraq to estimate the frequency of genotypes associated with prostate cancer responsivenessOur study included a total of 100 patients and 150 healthy controls. rs1048943 genotyping has been investigated in Iraqi men in connection with prostate cancer. RESULTS: We observed that individuals with the rs1048943 GA genotype had an increased risk of prostate cancer relative to those with the AA genotype  ( OR 95% CI of 0.449 :95%CI 0.23-0.90; P = 0.002). We found in the dominant model that the rs1048943 GA and GG genotype displayed an increased risk of prostate cancer relative to the AA genotype   ( OR 95% CI of 0.680 :95%CI 0.4-1.17; P = 0.018). CONCLUSION: Polymorphism RS 1048943 in the CYP1A1 gene is associated with the risk of developing prostate cancer and is possibly one of the most significant factors in its development.
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Effects of supplemental calcium and vitamin D on tight-junction proteins and mucin-12 expression in the normal rectal mucosa of colorectal adenoma patients.

The physical gut barrier, comprised of a thick mucus layer and the epithelium, plays an important role in defense against microbes and foreign antigens. Calcium and vitamin D may be involved in maintaining the integrity of the intestinal mucosal barrier, the dysfunction of which may lead to endotoxemia and inflammation, and contribute to colorectal carcinogenesis. We investigated supplemental calcium (1200 mg, daily) and/or vitamin D3 (1000 IU daily) effects on intestinal barrier function-related biomarkers in a subset of 105 participants from a large colorectal adenoma recurrence chemoprevention clinical trial. We assessed expression of the tight junction proteins claudin-1 (CLDN1), occludin (OCLD), and mucin-12 (MUC12) in the normal-appearing colorectal mucosa using standardized, automated immunohistochemistry and quantitative image analysis. Following 1 year of treatment, in the calcium relative to the no calcium group, the CLDN1, OCLD, and MUC12 expression increased by 14% (P = 0.17), 23% (P = 0.11), and 22% (P = 0.07), respectively. In secondary analyses, the estimated calcium treatment effects were greater among participants with baseline serum 25-OH-vitamin D concentrations below the median value of 22.69 ng/mL (CLDN1: 29%, P = 0.04; OCLD: 36%, P = 0.06; MUC12: 35%, P = 0.05). There were no biomarker expression changes in the vitamin D3 alone group; however, modest increases were found in the combined calcium/vitamin D3 group. At baseline, obesity, history of a sessile-serrated adenoma, colorectal MIB-1/Ki-67 expression, and a family history of colorectal cancer were associated with CLDN1, OCLD, and MUC12 expression. Our study supports continued investigation of factors that could affect intestinal mucosal barrier integrity relevant to colorectal carcinogenesis.

Effects of Supplemental Calcium and Vitamin D on Expression of Toll-Like Receptors and Phospho-IKKα/ß in the Normal Rectal Mucosa of Colorectal Adenoma Patients.

Chronic inflammation in the colorectum, a significant contributor to colorectal carcinogenesis, can be triggered by the activation of proinflammatory signaling pathways such as those initiated by Toll-like receptors (TLR) and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). Although experimental evidence supports calcium and vitamin D potentially modifying these proinflammatory pathways in the colorectum, human data in these regards are scarce. We investigated supplemental calcium (1,200 mg daily) and/or vitamin D3 (1,000 IU daily) effects on inflammatory signaling pathway-related biomarkers in a subset of 105 participants from a colorectal adenoma recurrence chemoprevention clinical trial. We assessed expression of TLR4 and TLR5, which recognize the bacterial components lipopolysaccharides and flagellin, respectively, and phospho-IKKα/ß (pIKKα/ß), a biomarker of inflammation, in the normal-appearing rectal crypt epithelium and stroma using standardized, automated immunohistochemistry and quantitative image analysis. Following 1 year of treatment, TLR4, TLR5, and pIKKα/ß expression in the rectal mucosa did not statistically significantly change with vitamin D or calcium supplementation, taken alone or in combination. Several baseline participant characteristics, including body mass index, history of sessile serrated adenomas, high red/processed meat intake, and high levels of rectal epithelial cell proliferation (as measured by MIB-1/Ki-67), were associated with higher baseline expression of TLRs or pIKKα/ß. Our findings suggest that vitamin D and calcium may have no substantial effect on the investigated biomarkers. However, several modifiable lifestyle factors may be associated with TLRs and pIKKα/ß expression in the normal rectal mucosa, supporting their future investigation as potentially treatable, preneoplastic risk factors for colorectal neoplasms. Cancer Prev Res; 11(11); 707-16. ©2018 AACR.

Role of Red Cell Distribution Width to Platelet Ratio in Predicting Hepatic Fibrosis in Chronic Hepatitis B.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious global health problem. Globally more than 2 (Two) billion people are infected with Hepatitis B virus and about 400 million people are chronic carriers who are at risk of death from liver cirrhosis and liver cancer that kill more than one million people globally each year. Prevalence of HBV infection in Bangladesh is 2.3 to 9.7% and approximately 10 million people are harboring the virus as carrier. HBV infection is increasing at an alarming rate in Bangladesh due to lack of health education, poverty, illiteracy and lack of hepatitis B vaccination. This cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of Clinical Pathology, in collaboration with Department of Hepatology and Department of Pathology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh from September 2013 to August 2014 to assess the role of Red cell distribution width to platelet ratio (RPR) as a non invasive marker in predicting hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B patients. Total 40 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection who fulfilled the criteria of chronic hepatitis B were included in this study. In this study, majority of the patients belonged to 20-29 years, most of the patients were male and HBeAg negative .Histopathology was gold standard to identify the stages of hepatic fibrosis. We also measured RDW and Platelet count by automated haematology analyzer when platelet count was rechecked manually; RDW to platelet ratio was calculated to see the correlation between RPR with different stages of hepatic fibrosis. In chronic hepatitis B patients a positive and significant correlation was found between RPR and stages of hepatic fibrosis and Spearman's correlation coefficient for RPR was 0.749 which was positive and highly significant (p<0.001). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of RDW to Platelet ratio (RPR) was 62.86%, 80%, 95.65%, 23.53% and 65% respectively. To assess the diagnostic performance of RPR we also used receiver-operating curve (ROC). The area under ROC was 0.889 for identification of hepatic fibrosis. This data revealed that RPR is strongly associated with stages of hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B patients. As such RPR may be a useful diagnostic tool for assessing the hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B patients.

Pharmacogenetics as Personalized Medicine: Association Investigation of SOD2 rs4880, CYP2C19 rs4244285, and FCGR2A rs1801274 Polymorphisms in a Breast Cancer Population in Iraqi Women.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women characterized by a high variable clinical outcome among individuals treated with targeted therapies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, we performed a population-based approach intersecting high-throughput genotype data from Iraqi populations with publicly available pharmacogenomics information to estimate the frequency of genotypes correlated with responsiveness to breast cancer treatment thus improving the clinical management of this disease in an efficient and cost effective way. A total of 50 patients and 25 healthy controls were enrolled in our study. Genotyping of rs4880, rs4244285, and rs1801274 were examined in association with breast cancer in Iraqi women. RESULTS: We found that individuals carrying the CT genotype of rs4880 manifested an increased risk of breast cancer compared with those carrying the TT genotype (odds ratio [OR], 0.171; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.053-0.551; P = .002). In the dominant model, we observed that the CT and CC genotype of rs4880 showed an increased risk of breast cancer compared with the TT genotype (OR, 0.248; 95% CI, 0.089-0.690; P = .006). Moreover, subjects with the GA genotype of rs4244285 presented a higher risk of breast cancer than the GG genotype (OR, 0.256; 95% CI, 0.066-0.987; P = .038) and dominant models (OR, 0.025; 95% CI, 0.054-0.775; P = .013). CONCLUSION: The analysis revealed that rs1801274 showed linkage disequilibrium and decreased risk of breast cancer. In conclusion, our study suggests that rs4880 and rs4244285 polymorphisms play an important role in development of breast cancer in an Iraqi population, and no significant association was found between rs1801274 and the risk of breast cancer.

A Multi-Modal, Discriminative and Spatially Invariant CNN for RGB-D Object Labeling.

While deep convolutional neural networks have shown a remarkable success in image classification, the problems of inter-class similarities, intra-class variances, the effective combination of multi-modal data, and the spatial variability in images of objects remain to be major challenges. To address these problems, this paper proposes a novel framework to learn a discriminative and spatially invariant classification model for object and indoor scene recognition using multi-modal RGB-D imagery. This is achieved through three postulates: 1) spatial invariance $-$ this is achieved by combining a spatial transformer network with a deep convolutional neural network to learn features which are invariant to spatial translations, rotations, and scale changes, 2) high discriminative capability $-$ this is achieved by introducing Fisher encoding within the CNN architecture to learn features which have small inter-class similarities and large intra-class compactness, and 3) multi-modal hierarchical fusion$-$ this is achieved through the regularization of semantic segmentation to a multi-modal CNN architecture, where class probabilities are estimated at different hierarchical levels (i.e., image- and pixel-levels), and fused into a Conditional Random Field (CRF)-based inference hypothesis, the optimization of which produces consistent class labels in RGB-D images. Extensive experimental evaluations on RGB-D object and scene datasets, and live video streams (acquired from Kinect) show that our framework produces superior object and scene classification results compared to the state-of-the-art methods.

Cost-Sensitive Learning of Deep Feature Representations From Imbalanced Data.

Class imbalance is a common problem in the case of real-world object detection and classification tasks. Data of some classes are abundant, making them an overrepresented majority, and data of other classes are scarce, making them an underrepresented minority. This imbalance makes it challenging for a classifier to appropriately learn the discriminating boundaries of the majority and minority classes. In this paper, we propose a cost-sensitive (CoSen) deep neural network, which can automatically learn robust feature representations for both the majority and minority classes. During training, our learning procedure jointly optimizes the class-dependent costs and the neural network parameters. The proposed approach is applicable to both binary and multiclass problems without any modification. Moreover, as opposed to data-level approaches, we do not alter the original data distribution, which results in a lower computational cost during the training process. We report the results of our experiments on six major image classification data sets and show that the proposed approach significantly outperforms the baseline algorithms. Comparisons with popular data sampling techniques and CoSen classifiers demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed method.

No Evaluation of Serum P53 Levels in Iraqi Female Breast Cancer Patients

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed and the second leading cause of cancer death among Iraqi women. The population was exposed to high levels of depleted uranium following the first and second Gulf Wars and this might be a risk factor. Protein 53 (p53) or Tumor protein 53 (Tp53) was originally defined as an oncogenic protein. The aim of the study was to evaluate P-53 serum concentrations in fifty Iraqi female breast cancer patients and twenty five healthy volunteers using the ELISA technique. All these patients attended the Teaching Hospital of AL Diwaniyah during the period between June 2016 to March 2017. The mean values for TP53 concentration in patients with breast cancer and apparently healthy groups were 47+33.5 U/ml and 27. 8+12.7 U/ml, respectively. The results showed no significantly difference , in contrast to most studies conducted elsewhere in the world.

A Discriminative Representation of Convolutional Features for Indoor Scene Recognition.

Indoor scene recognition is a multi-faceted and challenging problem due to the diverse intra-class variations and the confusing inter-class similarities that characterize such scenes. This paper presents a novel approach that exploits rich mid-level convolutional features to categorize indoor scenes. Traditional convolutional features retain the global spatial structure, which is a desirable property for general object recognition. We, however, argue that the structure-preserving property of the convolutional neural network activations is not of substantial help in the presence of large variations in scene layouts, e.g., in indoor scenes. We propose to transform the structured convolutional activations to another highly discriminative feature space. The representation in the transformed space not only incorporates the discriminative aspects of the target data set but also encodes the features in terms of the general object categories that are present in indoor scenes. To this end, we introduce a new large-scale data set of 1300 object categories that are commonly present in indoor scenes. Our proposed approach achieves a significant performance boost over the previous state-of-the-art approaches on five major scene classification data sets.

Hypoglycemic effect of Catharanthus roseus in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

The effects of crude juice (at 0.5 and 1 ml/kg b.w.) and aqueous extract (at 0.30 and 0.45 gm/kg b.w.) of leaves of Catharanthus roseus on serum glucose level in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats were examined at 8 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours following single oral administration. The administration of crude juice at 1 ml/kg b.w. continued for another 9 doses (total 10 single morning doses given) and its effect was examined on the 4th and 11th day. The rats were made diabetic by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin at 45 mg/kg b.w. Glibenclamide was used in the study for comparison. The crude leaf juice at 0.5 and 1 ml/kg b.w. reduced the serum glucose level in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats throughout the 24-hour period significantly (P varies between 0.05 and 0.001 at different times). The aqueous extract at 0.30 and 0.45 gm/kg reduced the serum glucose level in streptozotocin diabetic rats at 8 and 12 hour significantly (P varies between 0.05 to 0.01 at different times) but not at the 24 hour. Glibenclamide, at 500 mug/kg, also reduced the serum glucose level in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats throughout the 24-hour period (P<0.001). The crude leaf juice at 1 ml/kg also significantly reduced the serum glucose level in the streptozotocin induced diabetic rats on the 4th and 11th day (P<0.001 on both occasions). The effect of crude leaf juice at 1 ml/kg b.w administered daily orally over a 10 day period was also examined on a group of normal rats at different times. The study showed significant reduction at 8 hr (P<0.05), 12 hr, 24 hr and on the 4th day (P<0.01 on these 3 occasions) and also on the 11th day (P<0.001).

Mimics of brain tumor on neuroimaging: part II.

Brain tumor is a distinct pathological entity that differs from other diseases, including cerebrovascular, demyelinating, inflammatory, infectious, and various miscellaneous diseases. Insidious onset and gradual progression of signs and symptoms are common in patients with brain tumors, whereas the onset of cerebrovascular diseases is usually acute or sudden. Patients with demyelinating, inflammatory, or infectious diseases show subacute onset. Differentiation of brain tumors from other disorders is usually possible from the clinically and radiologically characteristic features. However, in some diseases other than brain tumors, an atypical clinical course and/or radiological findings may suggest or simulate those of brain tumors. The diagnosis of brain tumor is confirmed histopathologically, and appropriate therapies are given to the patient based on the histopathological type and grade of the tumor. In order to obtain a specimen for histopathological examination, surgical intervention is required. Other diseases are usually diagnosed clinically and radiologically. Invasive procedures should be avoided in making a diagnosis. Therefore, differentiation of brain tumors from other diseases is a critical issue for neuroimaging. Detailed inspection of images is necessary, and characteristic findings, and additional imaging methods, such as diffusion-weighted imaging, are often helpful for the differential diagnosis. We assess the imaging findings of diseases simulating brain tumors and review the literature.

Mimics of brain tumor on neuroimaging: part I.

Brain tumor is a distinct pathological entity that differs from other diseases, including cerebrovascular, demyelinating, inflammatory, infectious, and various miscellaneous diseases. Insidious onset and gradual progression of signs and symptoms are common in patients with brain tumors, whereas the onset of cerebrovascular diseases is usually acute or sudden. Patients with demyelinating, inflammatory, or infectious diseases show subacute onset. Differentiation of brain tumors from other disorders is usually possible from the clinically and radiologically characteristic features. However, in some diseases other than brain tumors, an atypical clinical course and/or radiological findings may suggest or simulate those of brain tumors. The diagnosis of brain tumor is confirmed histopathologically, and appropriate therapies are given to the patient based on the histopathological type and grade of the tumor. In order to obtain a specimen for histopathological examination, surgical intervention is required. Other diseases are usually diagnosed clinically and radiologically. Invasive procedures should be avoided in making a diagnosis. Therefore, differentiation of brain tumors from other diseases is a critical issue for neuroimaging. Detailed inspection of images is necessary, and characteristic findings, and additional imaging methods, such as diffusion-weighted imaging, are often helpful for the differential diagnosis. We assess the imaging findings of diseases simulating brain tumors and review the literature.

Prognostic factors relating to outcome of severe malaria among children in Bangladesh.

This study was done in the Paediatric in-patient department of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Chittagong, Bangladesh to identify and quantify the prognostic factors associated with increased mortality in severe malaria (SM) cases. All the patients with parasitologically confirmed clinical syndromes of SM, admitted between June 1997 and May 1998, were included. A total of 53 consecutive cases were studied. Cerebral malaria (CM) was the commonest type of SM, observed in 36(68%) cases, second commonest type was severe anaemia 13(25%). More than one type of severe manifestations were present in 23(44%) cases. Overall case fatality rate (CFR) was 17% and it was 30% among those who had multi-organ manifestations. Important poor prognostic clinical variables were Blantrye coma score (BCS) score of 0 and 1 on day 1 (OR = 7.78) and day 2(OR = 40.0), multi-organ manifestations (OR = 6.8) and in-hospital complications (OR = 5.18). Important poor prognostic laboratory variables were day 2 parasite count > 50,000/cmm (OR = 5.5), blood glucose < 2.2 mmol/l (OR = 21.5) and raised CSF protein > 50 mg/dl (OR = 7.0). It can be concluded that certain clinical variables e.g. low BCS on day 1 & 2, multi-organ manifestations, in-hospital complications; and laboratory variables e.g. high parasite count, low blood glucose level, raised CSF protein levels are associated with increased mortality rate in SM cases.