Practical use of dabigatran etexilate for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism, and is the most prevalent factor for cardioembolic stroke. Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) have been the standard of care for stroke prevention in patients with AF since the early 1990s. They are very effective for the prevention of cardioembolic stroke, but are limited by factors such as drug-drug interactions, food interactions, slow onset and offset of action, haemorrhage and need for routine anticoagulation monitoring to maintain a therapeutic international normalised ratio (INR). Multiple new oral anticoagulants have been developed as potential replacements for VKAs for stroke prevention in AF. Most are small synthetic molecules that target thrombin (e.g. dabigatran etexilate) or factor Xa (e.g. rivaroxaban, apixaban, edoxaban, betrixaban, YM150). These drugs have predictable pharmacokinetics that allow fixed dosing without routine laboratory monitoring. Dabigatran etexilate, the first of these new oral anticoagulants to be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular AF, represents an effective and safe alternative to VKAs. Under the auspices of the Regional Anticoagulation Working Group, a multidisciplinary group of experts in thrombosis and haemostasis from Central and Eastern Europe, an expert panel with expertise in AF convened to discuss practical, clinically important issues related to the long-term use of dabigatran for stroke prevention in non-valvular AF. The practical information reviewed in this article will help clinicians make appropriate use of this new therapeutic option in daily clinical practice

Optical properties of calcium aluminate phosphors

Thermoluminescence properties of CaAl2O4 was studied. It was found that firstly the TL intensity increases with increase in UV irradiation time and it attains a maximum value for 20 minute irradiation time. TL intensity decreases with further increase in irradiation time

Insect Diversity of Freshwater Ecosystems in Meghalaya, Northeast of India

The study was carried out on the biodiversity of freshwater insects in Meghalaya (northeast India). Seven different sampling points were selected: Umngot river, Umkhen River, paddy field (Mawryngkneng village), and Fish dale farm (Directorate of Fisheries), Puriang sung valley in East Khasi Hills District; Umiam River (Dwarksuid bridge) in Ri-Bhoi district; Dawki Wah Umngot in West Jaintia Hills District during August 2023 – January 2024 (including the three seasons summer, autumn, and winter). Insects were gathered every month by using a dip net having a mesh size of 500 µm. A total of 24 species of insects belonging to 16 families and 6 orders were found and the most abundant order was Hemiptera consisting of (25%), and followed by Odonata (21.3%), Coleoptera (15.74%), Megaloptera (14.81%), Ephemeroptera (12.96%), and Diptera (10.19%). This study attempts to emphasize that unregulated mixing of different pollutant in rivers and its effect on the freshwater insect’s biodiversity and rivers ecosystem of Meghalaya.&nbsp

Sex-specific regulation of chemokine Cxcl5/6 controls neutrophil recruitment and tissue injury in acute inflammatory states

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.Barts and The London Trustees Studentship (SM), Marie Curie fellowships (MB, JD), Arthritis Research UK career development fellowship (JW), William Harvey Research Foundation grant (JW/RSS), Kidney Research UK fellowship (NSAP), Barts and The London Vacation Scholarship (ISN), Wellcome Trust senior fellowship (DWG), and a Wellcome Trust career development fellowship (RSS). This work forms part of the research themes contributing to the translational research portfolio of Barts and The London Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, which is supported and funded by National Institute for Health Researc

The Effect of 6-Weeks of Yoga Training on Measures of Health & Performance in Sedentary Individuals

Yoga is a part of complementary and alternative medicine aimed at improving overall physical well-being. Yoga is a relatively new treatment approach often used in evidence-based exercise practice. It is known that aerobic exercises like walking, jogging, running, and cycling have beneficial effects on respiratory and cardiovascular systems. While yoga is not entirely an aerobic exercise, previous research justifies the benefits of yoga training on multiple systems of the human body. PURPOSE: Previous research has found a positive effect of Hatha Yoga practice on diseased populations. Minimal research supports the use of Hatha Yoga to increase makers of aerobic capacity in healthy individuals. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap in the literature and determine the effectiveness of prolonged Hatha Yoga training with reduced frequency per week. METHODS: Six sedentary participants (age = 32.67 ± 9.41 years, weight = 79.65 ± 14.85 kg, height = 1.65 ± 0.09 meters, BMI = 29.09 ± 4.74 kg*m-²) practiced Hatha Yoga for six weeks. The following baseline measurements were determined: resting heart rate (RHR, beats*min-1), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1, L), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR, L*min-1), and resting metabolic rate (RMR, kcal*day-1). Each subject was tested at baseline, week 3, week 5, and week 7. Each subject practiced 45-minute yoga session per day for minimum 3 days of week. The amount of time spent doing yoga varied from week to week, with the weekly duration of yoga ranging from 220 to 315 minutes. A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to determine potential differences amongst the variables over the six-week period. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in RHR (p = 0.008) from baseline (85 ± 2.83 beats*min-1) to week 7 (76.17 ± 5.08 beats*min-1) and in FEV1 (p = 0.018) from baseline (2.03 ± 0.27 L) to week 5 (2.52 ± 0.24 L). There were no significant differences in other variables in multiple comparisons across weeks. CONCLUSION: Results of this experimental study indicate that prolonged Hatha Yoga practice with less frequency per week did not significantly change BMI, PEFR, and RMR values from baseline. However, it improved FEV1 and decreased RHR in sedentary individuals. Previous research has found 130 to 180 minutes per week of Hatha Yoga practice helped to improve FEV1, PEFR, RMR, BMI, and RHR in individuals with chronic disease, but our findings in sedentary individuals only found improvements in RHR and FEV1

Impact of foliar application of micronutrients on growth, yield, fruit quality characteristics and profitability in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) cv. Ridhi

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) is a significant warm-season vegetable crop, renowned for its tender and nutritious fruits that are abundant in vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. It is widely grown in tropical and subtropical regions because of its adaptability and economic importance. Despite its potential, it remains difficult to achieve higher productivity and quality due to suboptimal nutrient management practices. A field experiment was conducted at the experimental farm, School of Agriculture Sanjeev Agrawal Global Educational University, Bhopal during spring-summer season of 2024. The experiment was conducted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 14 treatment combinations with three replications. Foliar applications of various micronutrients (B, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn) were applied at 30 and 45 days after sowing during the evening hours. The foliar application of various micronutrients was found to enhance the growth, yield, fruit quality and financial viability of okra. The findings revealed that the highest values for plant height (135.39 cm), leaf area (4377.92 cm2), leaf area index (3.86), specific leaf weight (9.85 mg/cm2), total leaf chlorophyll (1.88 mg g- 1), total fruit chlorophyll (0.84 mg g- 1), dry matter (12.16 %), crude protein (10.29%), vitamin C (13.65 mg/100g), fruit length (10.30 cm), fruit diameter (1.42 cm), average fruit weight (9.33 g), fruit weight/plant (232.61g), number of fruits/plant (22.05) and fruit yield (172.84 q/ha) were achieved with the foliar application of treatment T14. However, in term of economics the treatment T14 documented maximum gross return (54, 5310.20) and net return (44, 5143.59) and B: C ratio of (4.44). In conclusion, the study revealed that the foliar application of micronutrients, mostly treatment T14, significantly improved the growth, yield, quality and profitability of okra cultivation. This underscores the significance of balancing micronutrient management for ensuring sustainable and economically viable crop production. The purpose of this study is to determine the most effective nutrient management strategy for optimizing okra cultivation by assessing the impact of different micronutrient treatments on plant growth, yield, quality and financial performance

Treasure codes: augmenting learning from physical museum exhibits through treasure hunting

Previous studies have highlighted the difficulty that designers face in creating mobile museum guides to enhance small group experiences. In this paper, we report a study exploring the potential of mobile visual recognition technology (Artcodes) to improve users’ experiences in a visitor centre. A prototype mobile guide in the form of a treasure hunt was developed and evaluated by means of a field study comparing this technology with the existing personal guided tour. The results reveal a preference for the mobile guide amongst participants and show significant learning gains from pre-test to post-test compared with the pre-existing personal tour. Our observational analyses indicate how the mobile guide can be used to improve visitors’ learning experiences by supporting active discovery and by balancing physical and digital interactions. We further expand the concept of design trajectories to consider micro-scaffolding as a way of understanding and designing future public technologies

Long-Term ERK Inhibition in

Induction of compensatory mechanisms and ERK reactivation has limited the effectiveness of Raf and MEK inhibitors in -mutant cancers. We determined that direct pharmacologic inhibition of ERK suppressed the growth of a subset of -mutant pancreatic cancer cell lines and that concurrent phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibition caused synergistic cell death. Additional combinations that enhanced ERK inhibitor action were also identified. Unexpectedly, long-term treatment of sensitive cell lines caused senescence, mediated in part by MYC degradation and p16 reactivation. Enhanced basal PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling was associated with de novo resistance to ERK inhibitor, as were other protein kinases identified by kinome-wide siRNA screening and a genetic gain-of-function screen. Our findings reveal distinct consequences of inhibiting this kinase cascade at the level of ERK

Spanish Teachers\u27 Sense of Humor and Student Performance on the National Spanish Exams

Research suggests that second/foreign language teachers\u27 sense of humor is directly related to many outcomes for teachers and their students. This research investigates the relationship between the perceived sense of humor of in-service Spanish teachers\u27 (n = 102) and their students\u27 (n = 5,419) score on the National Spanish Exams using the affective filter hypothesis as a conceptual framework. Statistical analyses indicate that Spanish teacher sense of humor is related to student achievement on the exams. This research has implications for language teachers and teacher educators

Impact of National Economy and Policies on End-Stage Kidney Care in South Asia and Southeast Asia

Background. The association between economic status and kidney disease is incompletely explored even in countries with higher economy (HE); the situation is complex in lower economies (LE) of South Asia and Southeast Asia (SA and SEA). Methods. Fifteen countries of SA and SEA categorized as HE and LE, represented by the representatives of the national nephrology societies, participated in this questionnaire and interview-based assessment of the impact of economic status on renal care. Results. Average incidence and prevalence of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) per million population (pmp) are 1.8 times and 3.3 times higher in HE. Hemodialysis is the main renal replacement therapy (RRT) (HE-68%, LE-63%). Funding of dialysis in HE is mainly by state (65%) or insurance bodies (30%); out of pocket expenses (OOPE) are high in LE (41%). Highest cost for hemodialysis is in Brunei and Singapore, and lowest in Myanmar and Nepal. Median number of dialysis machines/1000 ESKD population is 110 in HE and 53 in LE. Average number of machines/dialysis units in HE is 2.7 times higher than LE. The HE countries have 9 times more dialysis centers pmp (median HE-17, LE-02) and 16 times more nephrologist density (median HE-14.8 ppm, LE-0.94 ppm). Dialysis sessions >2/week is frequently followed in HE (84%) and <2/week in LE (64%). "On-demand"hemodialysis (<2 sessions/week) is prevalent in LE. Hemodialysis dropout rates at one year are lower in HE (12.3%; LE 53.4%), death being the major cause (HE-93.6%; LE-43.8%); renal transplants constitute 4% (Brunei) to 39% (Hong Kong) of the RRT in HE. ESKD burden is expected to increase >10% in all the HE countries except Taiwan, 10%-20% in the majority of LE countries. Conclusion. Economic disparity in SA and SEA is reflected by poor dialysis infrastructure and penetration, inadequate manpower, higher OOPE, higher dialysis dropout rates, and lesser renal transplantations in LE countries. Utility of RRT can be improved by state funding and better insurance coverage