Genetic Association of Visfatin Gene G-948T Polymorphism with Biochemical Parameters and Oxidative Stress Markers in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Visfatin are bioactive molecules that control a wide range of physiological processes, including insulin action, the inflammatory process, and vascular homeostasis. The aim of this study is to ascertain the relationship between serum visfatin levels and other biochemical markers. More than 300 people from Outpatient Department of Medicine of Santosh Medical College took part in the study. Out of the 300 participants chosen, 150 had type 2 diabetes, while the remaining 150 acted as the control group. All subjects\u27 lipid profiles, fasting plasma glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, and visfatin serum concentrations were examined. The outcome showed that the visfatin serum concentration were higher in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus than the control groups. Visfatin was found to be correlated with some biochemical parameters. From the obtained results we concluded that the assessment of visfatin levels and their relation to some metabolic parameters can help to identify subjects who are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease.&nbsp

Streetscapes as surrogate greenspaces during COVID-19?

In 2020, the spread of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) globally led to severe crisis, disruption and hardship in both private and public life. In such times of distress, access to urban greenspaces is essential for physical and mental wellbeing. However, globally implemented lockdowns deprived many people of freely visiting greenspaces. Inequality in access to urban greenspaces was apparent at global scales. Consequently, many people took to streets for outdoor activities due to its easy accessibility. We, therefore, aimed to study the usage and relevance of streetscapes for outdoor activities during a crisis. We hypothesised that streetscapes supported diverse outdoor activities, functioning as surrogate urban greenspaces. We distributed an online questionnaire to over 400 international respondents. Our results clearly showed that people used streetscapes during this period for a variety of activities, many of which were also reported as their main physical activity. Walking was the most frequent activity in streetscapes globally, and independent from sociocultural characteristics. Other activities reported such as jogging and cycling also aligned generally with main physical activities of people, but differed between countries and people's sociocultural background. In summary, more than one third of respondents from lower-income countries reported not having had access to a greenspace, whereas 8% reported the same in high-income countries. Our results highlight the important role of streetscapes in facilitating people's regular physical activities during the pandemic. Recognising streetscapes as important public outdoor spaces within residential neighbourhoods could help counteract the inequality in greenspace access, an issue that seems more relevant than ever before.German Research Foundation (DFG

Deep Residual Adaptive Neural Network Based Feature Extraction for Cognitive Computing with Multimodal Sentiment Sensing and Emotion Recognition Process

For the healthcare framework, automatic recognition of patients’ emotions is considered to be a good facilitator. Feedback about the status of patients and satisfaction levels can be provided automatically to the stakeholders of the healthcare industry. Multimodal sentiment analysis of human is considered as the attractive and hot topic of research in artificial intelligence (AI) and is the much finer classification issue which differs from other classification issues. In cognitive science, as emotional processing procedure has inspired more, the abilities of both binary and multi-classification tasks are enhanced by splitting complex issues to simpler ones which can be handled more easily. This article proposes an automated audio-visual emotional recognition model for a healthcare industry. The model uses Deep Residual Adaptive Neural Network (DeepResANNet) for feature extraction where the scores are computed based on the differences between feature and class values of adjacent instances. Based on the output of feature extraction, positive and negative sub-nets are trained separately by the fusion module thereby improving accuracy. The proposed method is extensively evaluated using eNTERFACE’05, BAUM-2 and MOSI databases by comparing with three standard methods in terms of various parameters. As a result, DeepResANNet method achieves 97.9% of accuracy, 51.5% of RMSE, 42.5% of RAE and 44.9%of MAE in 78.9sec for eNTERFACE’05 dataset.  For BAUM-2 dataset, this model achieves 94.5% of accuracy, 46.9% of RMSE, 42.9%of RAE and 30.2% MAE in 78.9 sec. By utilizing MOSI dataset, this model achieves 82.9% of accuracy, 51.2% of RMSE, 40.1% of RAE and 37.6% of MAE in 69.2sec. By analysing all these three databases, eNTERFACE’05 is best in terms of accuracy achieving 97.9%. BAUM-2 is best in terms of error rate as it achieved 30.2 % of MAE and 46.9% of RMSE. Finally MOSI is best in terms of RAE and minimal response time by achieving 40.1% of RAE in 69.2 sec

Interference of phenol during quantification of a bacterial lipoprotein

Accurate protein estimation is an essential requirement for any biochemical investigation. The bacterial Braun liporotein (BLP) from E. coli (a Toll-2 receptor ligand) is purified via phenol extraction on the basis of selective extraction of the lipoprotein. The procedure leaves behind the major endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that acts through the related Toll-4 receptor. However, as low as 0.00001% of phenol carried over during lipoprotein isolation interferes in the Lowry’s method of protein estimation. A simple gel filtration on sephadex G-50 efficiently separates lipoproteins from phenol thereby avoiding inaccurate protein estimation of the lipoprotein content and making it suitable ligand for Toll-2 receptor.Keywords: Lipoproteins; Lipopolysaccharide (LPS); Lowry's method; Phenol interferenc

The great mimicker “Burkholderia cepacia”: A case of intra-abdominal abscesses

Burkholderia cepacia infections are underreported and often seen in immunocompromised or cystic fibrosis patients. We describe a case of intra-abdominal abscesses and bacteraemia due to Burkholderia cepacia in a non-cystic fibrosis patient. A middle aged farmer with uncontrolled diabetes presented with 1 month of fever, abdominal pain, anorexia and weight loss. Examination revealed hepatosplenomegaly. Imaging showed multiple abscesses in liver and spleen. Burkholderia cepacia grew in the blood cultures. Patient showed clinical and radiological resolution post treatment with meropenem and subsequently co-trimoxazole. Clinicians' awareness, targeted investigations and early therapeutic intervention are essential for diagnosis and management of Burkholderia cepacia infections

Phenotyping and Genotype × Environment Interaction of Resistance to Leaffolder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis Guenee (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Rice

Rice leaffolder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis is one of the key foliage feeding insects of great concern throughout Asia as it results in significant yield losses. High visibility of damage is triggering farmers to apply toxic pesticides for its management. Therefore, it is vital to identify new stable sources of resistance for leaffolder. Phenotyping of 160 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of a cross between a resistant parent, W1263 and a susceptible parent, TN1 using a rapid field screening method for three seasons resulted in identification of nine RILs as stable sources of resistance to rice leaffolder. Phenotypic frequency distributions were found continuous indicating that the resistance is a quantitative trait governed by polygenes. Phenotypic data for three seasons were analyzed using Genotype and Genotype × Environment Interaction (GGE) analysis for identification of stable resistant lines. Additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis showed that 86.41% of the total sum of square of damaged leaf area was attributed to genotype (GEN) effect; 0.48% to environment (ENV) effects and 5.68% to genotype by environment (G × E) interaction effects. Damage area, damage score and leaf length showed very high broad-sense heritability across three environments. However, leaf width had low heritability indicating higher environment influence. Phylogenetic analysis grouped these 160 RILs and parents into five clusters based on resistant reaction. AMMI and GGE biplot analysis revealed that stable genotypes G8 (MP114) and G3 (MP108) with lower damage area and damage score can be utilized in developing cultivars with leaffolder resistance

Application of DSTATCOM for surplus power circulation in MV and LV distribution networks with single-phase distributed energy resources

Single-phase distributed energy resources (DERs), such as rooftop photovoltaic arrays, are usually installed based on the need and affordability of clients without any regard to the power demand of the connected phase of a three-phase system. It might so happen that the power generation in a particular phase is more than its load demand. This may cause a reverse power flow in a particular phase, especially in a three-phase, four-wire distribution system. If now the load demand in the other two phases is more than their respective generations, then these two phases will see a forward power flow, while there will be a reverse power flow in the third phase. This will create severe unbalance in the upstream network. In this paper, a distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM) is used to circulate the excess generation from one phase to the others such that a set of balanced currents flow from or into the upstream network. Two different topologies of DSTATCOM are proposed in this paper for the low and medium voltage feeders. Two different power circulation strategies are developed for this purpose. Furthermore, a suitable feedback scheme is developed for each topology for power converter control. The performance of the proposed topologies and the control schemes for the DSTATCOM is evaluated through computer simulation studies using PSCAD/EMTDC

Enhancing water security and landscape resilience through multibenefit land repurposing

Achieving water sustainability in many water-scarce regions will require reducing consumptive water use by converting irrigated agricultural land to less water intensive uses. Conventional approaches to this challenge that emphasize water conservation as a singular objective often promote ad hoc practices that temporarily leave land idle while missing an opportunity to enhance landscape resilience and harness synergies of managing water and land together. Multibenefit land repurposing offers an alternative solution to this challenge by strategically transitioning irrigated agricultural land to other beneficial uses that consume less water and provide benefits for multiple constituencies. In practice, multibenefit land repurposing involves the process of collaboration among different groups (e.g., growers and community members) and the outcome of converting irrigated agriculture to other multibenefit uses (e.g., groundwater recharge basins with habitat and water quality benefits). It integrates into a single framework the joint objectives of conserving water, creating benefits for society and the environment, and stimulating the growth of participatory governance networks. But the pathways through which multibenefit land repurposing can achieve these objectives have yet to be demonstrated, either empirically or conceptually. To this end, we illustrate conceptually how multibenefit land repurposing can be designed to enhance water security and enable a transition to more resilient landscapes, building a theory of change around three key elements: (i) creating multibenefit outcomes, (ii) improving strategic regional coordination, and (iii) shifting underlying institutional conditions to promote innovation, adaptation, and cooperation. We draw from experience with the ongoing Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP) in California, which has brought together over 100 different organizations in support of eight regional teams to work collectively on coordinated land transformation. We use examples from MLRP to illustrate key components and challenges of the theory of change, including how multibenefit land repurposing may be implemented in practice. Despite being a relatively new approach, we argue that multibenefit land repurposing offers a pathway to building resilient landscapes, including in regions with historically severe and inequitable depletion of water resources

Effect of Hydrocortisone on Mortality and Organ Support in Patients With Severe COVID-19: The REMAP-CAP COVID-19 Corticosteroid Domain Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Evidence regarding corticosteroid use for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is limited. Objective: To determine whether hydrocortisone improves outcome for patients with severe COVID-19. Design, Setting, and Participants: An ongoing adaptive platform trial testing multiple interventions within multiple therapeutic domains, for example, antiviral agents, corticosteroids, or immunoglobulin. Between March 9 and June 17, 2020, 614 adult patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled and randomized within at least 1 domain following admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) for respiratory or cardiovascular organ support at 121 sites in 8 countries. Of these, 403 were randomized to open-label interventions within the corticosteroid domain. The domain was halted after results from another trial were released. Follow-up ended August 12, 2020. Interventions: The corticosteroid domain randomized participants to a fixed 7-day course of intravenous hydrocortisone (50 mg or 100 mg every 6 hours) (n = 143), a shock-dependent course (50 mg every 6 hours when shock was clinically evident) (n = 152), or no hydrocortisone (n = 108). Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was organ support-free days (days alive and free of ICU-based respiratory or cardiovascular support) within 21 days, where patients who died were assigned -1 day. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model that included all patients enrolled with severe COVID-19, adjusting for age, sex, site, region, time, assignment to interventions within other domains, and domain and intervention eligibility. Superiority was defined as the posterior probability of an odds ratio greater than 1 (threshold for trial conclusion of superiority >99%). Results: After excluding 19 participants who withdrew consent, there were 384 patients (mean age, 60 years; 29% female) randomized to the fixed-dose (n = 137), shock-dependent (n = 146), and no (n = 101) hydrocortisone groups; 379 (99%) completed the study and were included in the analysis. The mean age for the 3 groups ranged between 59.5 and 60.4 years; most patients were male (range, 70.6%-71.5%); mean body mass index ranged between 29.7 and 30.9; and patients receiving mechanical ventilation ranged between 50.0% and 63.5%. For the fixed-dose, shock-dependent, and no hydrocortisone groups, respectively, the median organ support-free days were 0 (IQR, -1 to 15), 0 (IQR, -1 to 13), and 0 (-1 to 11) days (composed of 30%, 26%, and 33% mortality rates and 11.5, 9.5, and 6 median organ support-free days among survivors). The median adjusted odds ratio and bayesian probability of superiority were 1.43 (95% credible interval, 0.91-2.27) and 93% for fixed-dose hydrocortisone, respectively, and were 1.22 (95% credible interval, 0.76-1.94) and 80% for shock-dependent hydrocortisone compared with no hydrocortisone. Serious adverse events were reported in 4 (3%), 5 (3%), and 1 (1%) patients in the fixed-dose, shock-dependent, and no hydrocortisone groups, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with severe COVID-19, treatment with a 7-day fixed-dose course of hydrocortisone or shock-dependent dosing of hydrocortisone, compared with no hydrocortisone, resulted in 93% and 80% probabilities of superiority with regard to the odds of improvement in organ support-free days within 21 days. However, the trial was stopped early and no treatment strategy met prespecified criteria for statistical superiority, precluding definitive conclusions. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02735707