Deep learning identified pathological abnormalities predictive of graft loss in kidney transplant biopsies.

Interstitial fibrosis, tubular atrophy, and inflammation are major contributors to kidney allograft failure. Here we sought an objective, quantitative pathological assessment of these lesions to improve predictive utility and constructed a deep-learning-based pipeline recognizing normal vs. abnormal kidney tissue compartments and mononuclear leukocyte infiltrates. Periodic acid- Schiff stained slides of transplant biopsies (60 training and 33 testing) were used to quantify pathological lesions specific for interstitium, tubules and mononuclear leukocyte infiltration. The pipeline was applied to the whole slide images from 789 transplant biopsies (478 baseline [pre-implantation] and 311 post-transplant 12-month protocol biopsies) in two independent cohorts (GoCAR: 404 patients, AUSCAD: 212 patients) of transplant recipients to correlate composite lesion features with graft loss. Our model accurately recognized kidney tissue compartments and mononuclear leukocytes. The digital features significantly correlated with revised Banff 2007 scores but were more sensitive to subtle pathological changes below the thresholds in the Banff scores. The Interstitial and Tubular Abnormality Score (ITAS) in baseline samples was highly predictive of one-year graft loss, while a Composite Damage Score in 12-month post-transplant protocol biopsies predicted later graft loss. ITASs and Composite Damage Scores outperformed Banff scores or clinical predictors with superior graft loss prediction accuracy. High/intermediate risk groups stratified by ITASs or Composite Damage Scores also demonstrated significantly higher incidence of estimated glomerular filtration rate decline and subsequent graft damage. Thus, our deep-learning approach accurately detected and quantified pathological lesions from baseline or post-transplant biopsies and demonstrated superior ability for prediction of post-transplant graft loss with potential application as a prevention, risk stratification or monitoring tool.

Hyperparameter Optimization of Bayesian Neural Network Using Bayesian Optimization and Intelligent Feature Engineering for Load Forecasting.

This paper proposes a new hybrid framework for short-term load forecasting (STLF) by combining the Feature Engineering (FE) and Bayesian Optimization (BO) algorithms with a Bayesian Neural Network (BNN). The FE module comprises feature selection and extraction phases. Firstly, by merging the Random Forest (RaF) and Relief-F (ReF) algorithms, we developed a hybrid feature selector based on grey correlation analysis (GCA) to eliminate feature redundancy. Secondly, a radial basis Kernel function and principal component analysis (KPCA) are integrated into the feature-extraction module for dimensional reduction. Thirdly, the Bayesian Optimization (BO) algorithm is used to fine-tune the control parameters of a BNN and provides more accurate results by avoiding the optimal local trapping. The proposed FE-BNN-BO framework works in such a way to ensure stability, convergence, and accuracy. The proposed FE-BNN-BO model is tested on the hourly load data obtained from the PJM, USA, electricity market. In addition, the simulation results are also compared with other benchmark models such as Bi-Level, long short-term memory (LSTM), an accurate and fast convergence-based ANN (ANN-AFC), and a mutual-information-based ANN (ANN-MI). The results show that the proposed model has significantly improved the accuracy with a fast convergence rate and reduced the mean absolute percent error (MAPE).

Infectious bronchitis virus infection in chicken: viral load and immune responses in Harderian gland, choanal cleft and turbinate tissues compared to trachea.

1. The role of the Harderian gland (HG), choanal cleft (CC) and turbinate in terms of IBV M41 viral load compared to the trachea, and immune (innate, cellular and mucosal) responses were studied in 21-day-old commercial broiler chickens.2. After virulent IBV M41 challenge, the antigen concentration detected either by quantitative RT-PCR or immunohistochemistry peaked at 2-3 days post challenge (dpc) in all tissues. Significant increases of lachrymal IBV-specific IgA and IgY levels were found at 4-5 dpc.3. Gene transcription showed a significant up-regulation of TLR3, MDA5, IL-6, IFN-α and IFN-ß, where patterns and magnitude fold-change of mRNA transcription were dependent on the gene and tissue type.4. The results demonstrated active IBV M41 replication in the HG, CC and turbinate, comparable to levels of replication found in the trachea. Data on immune-related genes in head-associated tissues provide further understanding on the immunobiology of IBV and offer opportunities to identify their use as quantitative biomarkers in pathogenicity and vaccination-challenge studies.

Reclassification of aortic stenosis by fusion of echocardiography and computed tomography in low-gradient aortic stenosis.

BACKGROUND: The integration of computed tomography (CT)-derived left ventricular outflow tract area into the echocardiography-derived continuity equation results in the reclassification of a significant proportion of patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) into moderate AS based on aortic valve area indexed to body surface area determined by fusion imaging (fusion AVAi). The aim of this study was to evaluate AS severity by a fusion imaging technique in patients with low-gradient AS and to compare the clinical impact of reclassified moderate AS versus severe AS. METHODS: We included 359 consecutive patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation for low-gradient, severe AS at two academic institutions and created a joint database. The primary endpoint was a composite of all-cause mortality and rehospitalisations for heart failure at 1 year. RESULTS: Overall, 35% of the population (n = 126) were reclassified to moderate AS [median fusion AVAi 0.70 (interquartile range, IQR 0.65-0.80) cm2/m2] and severe AS was retained as the classification in 65% [median fusion AVAi 0.49 (IQR 0.43-0.54) cm2/m2]. Lower body mass index, higher logistic EuroSCORE and larger aortic dimensions characterised patients reclassified to moderate AS. Overall, 57% of patients had a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <50%. Clinical outcome was similar in patients with reclassified moderate or severe AS. Among patients reclassified to moderate AS, non-cardiac mortality was higher in those with LVEF <50% than in those with LVEF ≥50% (log-rank p = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS: The integration of CT and transthoracic echocardiography to obtain fusion AVAi led to the reclassification of one third of patients with low-gradient AS to moderate AS. Reclassification did not affect clinical outcome, although patients reclassified to moderate AS with a LVEF <50% had worse outcomes owing to excess non-cardiac mortality.

Post-traumatic osteomyelitis in Middle East war-wounded civilians: resistance to first-line antibiotics in selected bacteria over the decade 2006-2016.

BACKGROUND: War-wounded civilians in Middle East countries are at risk of post-traumatic osteomyelitis (PTO). We aimed to describe and compare the bacterial etiology and proportion of first-line antibiotics resistant bacteria (FLAR) among PTO cases in civilians from Syria, Iraq and Yemen admitted to the reconstructive surgical program of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Amman, Jordan, and to identify risk factors for developing PTO with FLAR bacteria. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the laboratory database of the MSF program. Inclusion criteria were: patients from Iraq, Yemen or Syria, admitted to the Amman MSF program between October 2006 and December 2016, with at least one bone biopsy sample culture result. Only bone samples taken during first orthopedic surgery were included in the analysis. To assess factors associated with FLAR infection, logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: 558 (76.7%) among 727 patients included had ≥1 positive culture results. 318 were from Iraq, 140 from Syria and 100 from Yemen. Median time since injury was 19 months [IQR 8-40]. Among the 732 different bacterial isolates, we identified 228 Enterobacteriaceae (31.5%), 193 Staphylococcus aureus (26.3%), 99 Pseudomonas aeruginosa (13.5%), and 21 Acinetobacter baumanii (2.8%). Three hundred and sixty four isolates were FLAR: 86.2% of Enterobacteriaceae, 53.4% of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 60.5% of S. aureus and 45% of Acinetobacter baumannii. There was no difference in bacterial etiology or proportion of FLAR according to the country of origin. In multivariate analysis, a FLAR infection was associated with an infection of the lower extremity, with a time since the injury ≤12 months compared with time > 30 months and with more than 3 previous surgeries. CONCLUSIONS: Enterobacteriaceae were frequently involved in PTO in war wounded civilians from Iraq, Yemen and Syria between 2006 and 2016. Proportion of FLAR was high, particularly among Enterobacteriaceae, regardless of country of origin.

Decision-making algorithm for sequential treatment of diaphyseal bone gaps in war-wounded patients in the Middle East.

INTRODUCTION: Tibial bone gaps after war injuries are common and can be managed by different types of surgery, including compression, bone graft, tibialisation of fibula, bone transport, and free flaps. Here, we present an algorithm developed at a humanitarian surgical hospital to manage tibial bone gaps. We also identify some key factors affecting patient outcomes and describe some clinical considerations for choosing treatment strategy. METHOD: We performed retrospective data analysis on war-wounded adult patients with tibial injuries treated at our project according to the described algorithm. Patient outcomes were followed for at least four  years. Outcomes assessed were length of stay, complication rate, re-admission (late complications), and final discharge. RESULTS: Among the 200 included patients, 103 (51.5%) had bone gaps. Univariate analysis showed that the presence of a bone gap, but not its size, was associated with significantly increased risk of early complications, while type of surgery was significantly correlated with re-admission. Presence of a bone gap and type of surgery were each significantly associated with length of stay. Bone gap size showed no correlation with outcomes, an unexpected finding. DISCUSSION: Soft tissue damage with compromised vascularity may explain the lack of association between bone gap size and outcomes. Specialised centres using standardised approaches to complex surgical reconstruction can play an important role in expanding the evidence base needed to improve case management. CONCLUSIONS: Less invasive procedures may lead to better patient outcomes, although unfortunately may not always be possible given the nature of the injury and/or injury site.

Adaptation of MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory in rural Pakistan - useful tool for early childhood studies.

BACKGROUND: Given the significance of early language for later academic achievement, language development can be an important outcome measure in evaluation of early childhood intervention programmes. Language development may be challenging to assess in settings where trained personnel are hard to find; therefore, maternal report can be a reliable alternative measure. AIM: The aim of this study was to adapt a maternal report measure, the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory II-Short Form, in the Sindhi language and to examine its psychometric properties as a measure of language outcome in 2-year-old children in rural Pakistan. METHODS: A three-phase process was followed to produce a Sindhi adaptation of the tool comprising 100 words. The first phase was a review of the original 258 words through a focus group discussion with a team familiar with the context; the second phase was testing 258 words to compile a 100-word list of easy, moderate and difficult words. The third phase was a pilot of the 100-word list followed by administration in a larger intervention study population. RESULTS: On administration with 1381 children, concurrent validity with the Bayley Scale of Infant Development III using the Pearson's correlation test showed a moderate association for comprehension (r = 0.45, p = 0.01, n = 1381) and good association for expression (r = 0.51, p = 0.01, n = 1381). Internal consistency was high with alphas of 0.98 for comprehension items and 0.96 for expression items. CONCLUSION: The authors conclude that the Sindhi adaptation of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory followed a feasible and rigorous methodology to create a reliable and sensitive tool to assess young children's language development for use in a child assessment battery for early childhood health, nutrition and development studies.

Bone cultures from war-wounded civilians in the Middle East: a surgical prospective.

PURPOSE: Hidden infections in a reconstructive surgery program are frequently underestimated. METHODS: A retrospective study was undertaken of 1,891 civilian war-wounded patients from Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Gaza treated in Amman from August 2006 to January 2016. One thousand three hundred and fifty-three underwent surgical interventions for previous bone injury and had systematic bone cultures. RESULTS: Among patients (167) without any clinical, biological or radiological signs of infection, 46% demonstrated infection based on bone cultures. We conclude that bone culture should become a prerequisite for any reconstruction in such contexts.

In situ hybridization and promoter analysis reveal that cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite localizes in the phloem.

Begomoviruses (the family Geminiviridae) have either a monopartite or a bipartite (DNA A and DNA B) single-stranded DNA genome. DNA B contains the open reading frame for movement protein and enables some bipartite begomoviruses to invade non-phloem tissues, whereas monopartite begomoviruses are limited to the phloem. Betasatellite DNA replicates in association with some monopartite begomoviruses to produce severe symptoms and enhance replication of helper virus in some hosts. The cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMuB) has been shown to substitute for the DNA B of a bipartite begomovirus by permitting systemic infection, but the tissue tropism and the role of betasatellites in releasing monopartite begomoviruses from the phloem to adjacent tissue has not been described. In this study, the tissue tropism of CLCuMuB and a monopartite helper virus, tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV), has been investigated using in situ hybridization, promoter localization and analysis of transgenic 2ß plants, which contain a dimer of the CLCuMuB genome. In situ hybridization showed that CLCuMuB and ToLCV were localized into the vascular tissue of infected plants. In addition, CLCuMuB was detected only in the vascular tissue of 2ß transgenic plants after infection with ToLCV. ß-glucuronidase (GUS) expression under the ßC1 promoter was also limited to the phloem tissues. In conclusion, we showed for the first time that CLCuMuB localizes only in the phloem tissues and unlike the DNA B component, CLCuMuB is unable to release the monopartite helper virus out of phloem tissues.

The development and reliability of an observational tool for assessing mother-child interactions in field studies- experience from Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: This study describes the development and reliability testing of an observational tool to measure mother-child interactions with toddlers aged 2 years in a rural low-income country setting. METHODS: The development protocol comprised five phases with iterative revisions: (1) identification of the theoretical framework for responsive behaviours and selection of items; (2) field testing; (3) expert review; (4) training of the data collection team; and (5) piloting. The final tool was a structured live observational measure assessing a 5-min interaction of a shared picture-book-reading activity. Maternal behaviours assessed included affect, touch, verbal statements and language stimulation; child behaviours assessed included affect, communication and attention. RESULTS: Following development, the mother-child interaction tool was administered on a cohort of 1390 children at 2 years of age. Using a video strategy, inter-observer reliability assessed by the Bland-Altman test for mother-child dyads suggested moderate agreement between expert and field assessors on total scores (r = 0.681**, P < 0.001, n = 154). Significant associations of the total interaction score correlations using Pearson's' correlations were found with the Responsiveness (r = 0.271**, P < 0.001, n = 1345) and Involvement (r = 0.325**, P < 0.001, n = 1345) subscales of the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment-Infant Toddler Inventory, maternal knowledge (r = 0.203**, P < 0.001, n = 1345), maternal depression (r = .-063**, P < 0.001, n = 1345), child cognitive development (r = 0.392**, P < 0.001, n = 1345) and language development (r = 0.620**, P < 0.001, n = 1345) assessed using the Bayley Scales for Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. CONCLUSION: The authors conclude that this tool can be reliably used by trained assessors to measure mother-child interactions in field studies.

Erectile Dysfunction and Depression Prevalence Among Male Patients with Type II Diabetes.

Background and Objective: Patients with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) are at substantial risk for developing erectile dysfunction (ED). The primary goal of this study was to assess the prevalence of ED and depression among T2D patients and the associated risk factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted for adult T2D patients who had a routine clinic visit between January-August 2023. Structured questionnaires formed with two validated questionnaires - the International Index of Erectile Function short form (IIEF-5) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) - were used to screen for ED and depression, respectively. Results: A total of 478 male patients with T2D with a mean age of 59.2 ± 10.8 years, mostly married, with long standing T2D were included. Hyperlipidemia followed by hypertension were the most reported comorbidities. Of the patients, 61.3% had reported no depression and were less likely to have ED or severe ED (p <0.001) and more likely to be physically active and to report no smoking (p <0.0001) when compared to those with depression. Fifty-two percent of the patients reported moderate and severe ED and those were older in age (p = 0.031), had longer duration of T2D diagnosis (p = 0.005), were more likely to have any comorbidities (p <0.05), were less likely to have a university degree and higher income (both p <0.001), were less likely to be on oral hypoglycemic agents (OHA) (p <0.001), had worse glycemic control parameters (p = 0.463), were more likely to have positive urine microalbuminuria (p = 0.019), and were less likely to be physically active (p = 0.048) when compared to patients with no or milder degree of ED. Conclusion: ED is highly prevalent in our study sample, with half of the patients having moderate to severe ED and being more likely to have depression. Older age, long-standing T2D, comorbidities, socioeconomic disadvantage, and sedentary lifestyle were all significantly associated with ED.

Carbon isotope fractionation studies of bacterial strain Rhodococcus rhodochrous MTCC 291.

Carbon isotope fractionation associated with the aerobic consumption of propane (C3) were determined using Rhodococcus rhodochrous MTCC 291 bacterial strain to estimate the amount of hydrocarbon oxidized using GC, fractionation of delta13C carbon isotopes of propane and CO2 using GC-C-IRMS and growth of bacteria by UV-Visible Spectrophotometer. The initial delta13C isotopic value of propane was -34 per thousand and after incubation the changes of the isotopic values have been determined on 6th, 10th, 14th, and 17th days. The propane isotopic fractionation value was found to be maximum of -38.0 per thousand with an average value of -36.5 per thousand and a standard deviation of -1.22 per thousand. The initial delta13C isotopic value of CO2 was -19.601 per thousand. The CO2 isotopic fractionation value was found to be maximum of -29.153 per thousand with an average value of -26.859 per thousand and a standard deviation of -28.338 per thousand. The consumption of propane gas was estimated using Gas Chromatograph. The initial concentration of propane in control was found to be 53 ppm. On incubation, the consumption of the propane gas was observed to be of 26 ppm. The carbon isotope fractionation presented here may be applied to estimate the extent of C1-C4 oxidation in natural gas samples, and should prove useful in further studying the microbial oxidation of these compounds in the natural environment.

Prolonged neuraxial block following spinal anaesthesia in a patient with carnitine palmitoyl transferase II deficiency undergoing caesarean section.

Carnitine palmitoyl transferase II (CPT II) deficiency is a rare disorder of fatty acid metabolism in cell mitochondria. There is limited information about the disease process and complications of anaesthesia, particularly in the obstetric population. Due to the increased risks of general anaesthesia in patients with CPT II deficiency, neuraxial anaesthesia is the preferred method of anaesthesia. We describe a patient with CPT II deficiency who had spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section. Subsequently, the patient had prolonged neuraxial blockade, a previously undescribed complication in a patient with CPT II deficiency.

A personalized approach to modify axillary crutches using 3D printing technology.

3D printers can produce specific medical objects that are tailored to the individual patient's needs, and if they are combined with a personalized orthopedic rehabilitation, it can result in improved functional outcomes. We present a 26-year-old male war victim with multiple injuries in his lower and upper limbs. The use of standard crutches was impossible, so we developed a customized 3D-printed crutch with a relative low cost. The gait and balance scores-as a part of the Tinetti score-improved immediately, and the patient's QUEST 2.0 questionnaire was high after 4 weeks of the crutches use, indicating high patient's satisfaction.

Deep learning based diagnostic quality assessment of choroidal OCT features with expert-evaluated explainability.

Various vision-threatening eye diseases including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) are caused due to the dysfunctions manifested in the highly vascular choroid layer of the posterior segment of the eye. In the current clinical practice, screening choroidal structural changes is widely based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. Accordingly, to assist clinicians, several automated choroidal biomarker detection methods using OCT images are developed. However, the performance of these algorithms is largely constrained by the quality of the OCT scan. Consequently, determining the quality of choroidal features in OCT scans is significant in building standardized quantification tools and hence constitutes our main objective. This study includes a dataset of 1593 good and 2581 bad quality Spectralis OCT images graded by an expert. Noting the efficacy of deep-learning (DL) in medical image analysis, we propose to train three state-of-the-art DL models: ResNet18, EfficientNet-B0 and EfficientNet-B3 to detect the quality of OCT images. The choice of these models was inspired by their ability to preserve the salient features across all the layers without information loss. To evaluate the attention of DL models on the choroid, we introduced color transparency maps (CTMs) based on GradCAM explanations. Further, we proposed two subjective grading scores: overall choroid coverage (OCC) and choroid coverage in the visible region(CCVR) based on CTMs to objectively correlate visual explanations vis-à-vis DL model attentions. We observed that the average accuracy and F-scores for the three DL models are greater than 96%. Further, the OCC and CCVR scores achieved for the three DL models under consideration substantiate that they mostly focus on the choroid layer in making the decision. In particular, of the three DL models, EfficientNet-B3 is in close agreement with the clinician's inference. The proposed DL-based framework demonstrated high detection accuracy as well as attention on the choroid layer, where EfficientNet-B3 reported superior performance. Our work assumes significance in bench-marking the automated choroid biomarker detection tools and facilitating high-throughput screening. Further, the methods proposed in this work can be adopted for evaluating the attention of DL-based approaches developed for other region-specific quality assessment tasks.

Assessment of drinking water quality using ICP-MS and microbiological methods in the Bholakpur area, Hyderabad, India.

A total of 16 people died and over 500 people were hospitalized due to diarrhoeal illness in the Bholakpur area of Hyderabad, India on 6th May 2009. A study was conducted with immediate effect to evaluate the quality of municipal tap water of the Bholakpur locality. The study consists of the determination of physico-chemical properties, trace metals, heavy metals, rare earth elements and microbiological quality of drinking water. The data showed the variation of the investigated parameters in samples as follows: pH 7.14 to 8.72, EC 455 to 769 µS/cm, TDS 303.51 to 515.23 ppm and DO 1.01 to 6.83 mg/L which are within WHO guidelines for drinking water quality. The water samples were analyzed for 27 elements (Li, Be, B, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Ba and Pb) using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The concentrations of Fe (0.12 to 1.13 mg/L), Pb (0.01 to 0.07 mg/L), Cu (0.01 to 0.19 mg/L), Ni (0.01 to 0.15 mg/L), Al (0.16 to 0.49 mg/L), and Na (38.36 to 68.69 mg/L) were obtained, which exceed the permissible limits of the World Health Organization (WHO) for drinking water quality guidelines. The remaining elements were within the permissible limits. The microbiological quality of water was tested using standard plate count, membrane filtration technique, thermotolerant coliform (TTC), and most probable number (MPN) methods. The total heterotrophic bacteria ranged from 1.0 × 10(5) to 18 × 10(7 )cfu/ml. Total viable bacteria in all the water samples were found to be too numerable to count and total number of coliform bacteria in all water samples were found to be of order of 1,100 to >2,400 MPN index/100 ml. TTC tested positive for coliform bacteria at 44.2°C. All the water samples of the study area exceeded the permissible counts of WHO and that (zero and minimal counts) of the control site (National Geophysical Research Institute) water samples. Excessively high colony numbers indicate that the water is highly contaminated with microorganisms and is hazardous for drinking purposes. Bacteriological pollution of drinking water supplies caused diarrhoeal illness in Bholakpur, which is due to the infiltration of contaminated water (sewage) through cross connection, leakage points, and back siphoning.

Characterization of light gaseous hydrocarbons of the surface soils of Krishna-Godavari basin, India.

Several techniques are used for the exploration of hydrocarbons, of which; the geochemical techniques involving the microbiological technique use the principle of detecting the light hydrocarbon seepage activities for indication of sub-surface petroleum accumulations. Asurvey was carried out to characterize the light gaseous hydrocarbons seeping in oil and gas fields of Krishna-Godavari basin ofAndhra Pradesh. Aset of 50 sub-soil samples were collected at depths of about 3 m for geochemical analyses and 1m for microbiological analysis. The microbial prospecting studies showed the presence of high bacterial population for methane 2.5 x 10(2) to 6.0 x 10(6) cfu g(-1), propane 1x10(2) to 8.0 x 10(6) cfu g(-1) in soil samples. The adsorbed soil gas analysis showed the presence of moderate to low concentrations of methane (26 to 139 ppb), ethane (0 to 17 ppb), propane (0 to 8 ppb), butane (0 to 5 ppb) and pentane (0 to 2 ppb) in the soil samples of the study area. Carbon isotope analysis for methane ('13C1) ranging from -36.6 to -22.7 per hundred Pee Dee Belemnite (PDB) suggests these gases are of thermogenic origin. Geo-microbial prospecting method coupled with adsorbed soil gas and carbon isotope ratio analysis have thus shown good correlation with existing oil/gas fields of Krishna-Godavari basin.

Evaluation of potable groundwater quality in some villages of Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Reconnaissance hydrochemical survey was conducted in some villages of Adilabad district, Andhra Pradesh to assess the quality of groundwater, which is mainly used for drinking purpose. The study consists of the determination of physico-chemical properties, trace metals, heavy metals and rare earth elements in water samples. The data showed the variation of the investigated parameters in samples as follows: pH 6.92 to 8.32, EC 192 to 2706 microS cm(-1), TDS 129.18 to 1813.02 ppm. The pH of the waters was within the permissible limits whereas EC and TDS were above the permissible limits of World Health Organization (WHO). Total 27 elements (Li, Be, B, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Ba and Pb) were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). The concentration of elements in water samples ranged between 0.063 to 0.611 mg l(-1) for B, 11.273 to 392 mg l(-)1 for Na, 5.871 to 77.475 mg l(-1) for Mg, 0.035 to 1.905 mg l(-1) for Al, 0.752 to 227.893 mg l(-1) for K, 11.556 to 121.655 mg l(-1) for Ca and 0.076 to 0.669 mg l(-1) for Fe respectively. The concentrations of Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, and Fe exceeded the permissible limits of WHO and BIS guidelines for drinking water quality. In the present study, Bhimavaram, Kazipalli, Kannepalli and Chennur areas of the Adilabad are especially prone to geogenic contamination. Overall water quality was found unsatisfactory for drinking purposes.

Volumetric quantification of choroid and Haller's sublayer using OCT scans: An accurate and unified approach based on stratified smoothing.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The choroid, a dense vascular structure in the posterior segment of the eye, maintains the health of the retina by supplying oxygen and nutrients, and assumes clinical significance in screening ocular diseases including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR). As a technological assist, algorithmic estimation of choroidal biomarkers has been suggested based on sectional (B-scan) optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. However, most such 2D estimation techniques are compute-intensive, yet enjoy limited accuracy and have only been validated on OCT image datasets of healthy eyes. Not surprisingly, fine-scale analyses, including those involving Haller's sublayer, remain relatively rare and unsophisticated. Against this backdrop, we propose an efficient algorithm to quantify desired biomarkers with improved accuracy based on volume OCT scans. Specifically, we attempted an accurate, computationally light volumetric segmentation method involving stratified smoothing to detect choroid and Haller's sublayer. METHODS: For detecting the various boundaries of the choroid and the Haller's sublayer, we propose a common volumetric method that performs suitable exponential enhancement and maintains smooth spatial continuity across 2D B-scans. Further, we achieve suitable volumetric smoothing by primarily deploying light-duty linear regression, and sparingly using compute-intensive tensor voting, and hence significantly reduce overall complexity. The proposed methodology is tested on five health and five diseased OCT volumes considering various metrics including volumetric Dice coefficient and corresponding quotient measures to facilitate comparison vis-à-vis intra-observer repeatability. RESULTS: On five healthy and five diseased OCT volumes, respectively, the proposed method for choroid segmentation recorded volumetric Dice coefficients of 93.53 % and 93.30 %, which closely approximate the respective reference observer repeatability values of 95.60 % and 95.49 %. In terms of related quotient measures, our method achieved more than 50 % improvement over a recently reported method. In detecting Haller's sublayer as well, our algorithm records statistical performance closely matching that of reference manual method. CONCLUSION: Advancing the state-of-the-art, the proposed volumetric segmentation, tested on both healthy and diseased datasets, demonstrated close match with the manual reference. Our method assumes significance in accurate screening of chorioretinal diseases including AMD, CSCR and pachychoroid. Further, it enables generating accurate training data for developing deep learning models for improved detection of choroid and Haller's sublayer.

Mitochondrial DNA diversity and maternal origins of Pakistani donkey.

Domestic donkey plays a key role as a draft animal in rural economy of Pakistan where its population is increasing every year. The complete mtDNA control region of forty randomly sampled donkeys was PCR- amplified and sequenced bi-directionally using specific primers. Distinct mtDNA haplotypes obtained in the current study (KY446001-KY446011) were subjected to haplotype (h) and nucleotide diversity (π) measures using DnaS as well as to phylogenetic, Network, and AMOVA analyses. There were a total 27 polymorphic sites present within 11 unique mtDNA haplotypes from the studied 40 animals from different regions. Neighbor-joining network and median-joining network both illustrated the splitting of all these haplotypes into two well-defined Nubian and Somali lineages, confirming African maternal origin of Pakistani domestic donkey. Diversity parameters h (0.967± 0.037) and π (0.02917± 0.00307) were found to reveal high levels of genetic diversity in Pakistani donkeys. AMOVA demonstrated only 1% of genetic differences between two mtDNA maternal lineages, pointing to lack of population substructure in Pakistani donkeys as is the case with worldwide domestic donkey population. Pakistani donkeys have African maternal origin and high levels of mtDNA diversity. High genetic diversity may be due to non-selective breeding and heteroplasmy. We herein provide the first report on mtDNA diversity of control region in Pakistani domestic donkey.