Recurring Lower Abdominal Pain and Fever as Initial Presentation of Adult Onset Still’s Disease in the Absence of Arthralgia and Other System Involvement

A 34 year-old Afro-Caribbean female presented with recurring episodes of fever and lower abdominal pain over a period of two months not improving despite courses of antibiotics for possible recurrent urinary tract infections. On admission to hospital, patient was treated for a possible pyelonephritis or pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Extensive investigations into possible source of infection were carried out. However, all of the repeated microbiological cultures were normal. Patient was investigated further for other possible causes including connective tissue disease, haematological disorders, or neoplasm, all of which were normal. Diagnosis of adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD) was confirmed by a rheumatologist based on Yamaguchi’s diagnostic criteria for AOSD alongside significantly raised serum ferritin. Patient was treated with steroids to which she showed remarkable clinical improvement alongside marked reduction in her serum ferritin levels

Migrant workers in Malaysia: does gain outweigh pain?

The study is to identify the condition of migrant workers in Malaysia by looking at the case of workers from Bangladesh who migrates to Malaysia in search of employment. One of the primary reasons they want work abroad either temporarily or permanently is because Malaysia has offers a long term benefit for their skills and exposure to a different culture and practices. Their joyful experiences were often unnoticed as it goes hand in hand with the prejudices of their difficult working journey. Their agony of this minority of immigrant apparently caught more attention compared to the pleasure

Religion and global peace: the instrumentality of religion

Religious believers claim their religions are peaceful and genuine believers are peacekeepers and peacemakers. In substantiating justification to their claim, they very often refer to religious scriptures. Yet, on the contrary, their claim is confronted by an opposite claim: many wars were fought and are being fought in the name of religion; and a great deal of violence can be ascribed to the religious believers. In addition, religious scriptures and history of religions do attest, to a certain extent, permissibility of using physical offence or defence. As a result, a question arises: Is the violence credited to religious believers, due to religions? Or is it because of certain secular causes in which religious texts get invoked very often? In responding to the question, the study relied on the theoretical criticism and justification. The study argued that religions, considering their historical inception, are fundamentally aimed at attaining holistic peace for their immediate subjects and subsequent followers, both spiritually and physically. The study by referring to major religions of the world generally and Islam particularly, argued that in contributing to build global peace, religious believers can plausibly turn to primary peaceful intentions of the religions, if they are provided with a feasible atmosphere. Keywords: Religious violence, Religious dialogue, Religion and peace

Improved functional recovery of osteoarthritic knee joint after treatment with chondrogenically induced multipotent cells

The aim of this study was to quantify the functional improvements of osteoarthritic (OA) knee joints after treatment with chondrogenically induced pluripotent stem cells. OA was induced in the right knee joints by the resection of the anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus. Nine sheep were divided equally into 3 groups. Two treatment groups received either autologous chondrogenically induced adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) or bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs), while the control group received basal medium. Electromyography evaluations (EMGs) were conducted at week 0 (pre-OA), 8 (post-OA) and 24 (post-treatment), and compared to ascertain recovery in joint function. Multifocal subchondral lesions were developed after OA inductions and the treatment groups demonstrated the presence of regenerated neocartilages, evidenced by the presence of PKH26 tracking dye. Post-treatment EMGs showed that the controls retained significant reductions in amplitude compared to the pre-OA values, whereas ADSCs and BMSCs samples had no further significant reductions in amplitude post treatments (p<0.05). ADSCs and BMSCs treated knee joints had structural regeneration of cartilage; confirmed by PKH26 dye. The EMG analysis provided evidence of functional recovery associated to the structural regenerations

Anterior cruciate ligament resection and medial meniscectomy result in multifocal cartilage degenerations

Damage to the meniscus and the anterior cruciate ligament alters the pattern of loading in the knee joint and frequently leads to cartilage degeneration and osteoarthritis. This study aimed to evaluate the area of greatest impact after traumatic osteoarthritic induction at the knee joint in sheep model. Osteoarthritis was induced unilaterally at the right hind knee of six sheep by surgical resection of the anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus. After 3 weeks recovery period, sheep were exercised once daily by running a 100 meters distance on a hard surface for 3 weeks. Gross and histological assessments were done. Six regions examined were; the patella, patella femoral groove, medial femoral condyle, lateral femoral condyle, medial tibia plateau and lateral tibia plateau. Their mean International Cartilage Repair Society grading was: 2.5±0.42, 3.3±0.17, 2.25±0.38, 1.33±0.25, 2±0.37 and 1.5±0.22 respectively. The control from all samples scored zero at the above regions. The lesions at various regions were significantly higher compared to the control (p < 0.05). Patella femoral groove was significantly higher compare to all other regions except for Patella. Lateral femoral condyle was the least (p < 0.05). Histological staining revealed defined osteoarthritic changes. Total excision of medial meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament followed by exercise regime induced osteoarthritis in the affected knee joint. The changes in pattern of degeneration, affected patella femoral groove the most; followed by the patella and medial femoral condyle, then medial tibia plateau, lateral tibia plateau and lastly the lateral femoral condyle

Comparison between bipolar diathermy and silk ligation technique during tonsillectomy

Objective: to compare the use of bipolar diathermy and silk ligation in tonsillectomy with respect to operative time and post op hemorrhage, in our setting. Study design: randomized controlled trail. Place and duration of study: nishtar hospital, multan from May 2016 to May 2018.  Methodology: After consent, 234 patients of chronic tonsillitis of 5 to 35 year of age were selected as per inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were randomly divided in to two groups by using lottery method. In group A, tonsillectomy was done and suture ligation was applied for hemostasis. In group B, tonsillectomy was done and bipolar diathermy was used for hemostasis. Data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS software. Results: In our study, mean age was 13.84 + 5.83 years. Majority of patients 55.13% were between 5-15 years of age. Out of 234 patients, 71.37% were male and 28.63% were females. The mean operative time in group A was 29.45 + 9.71 minutes and in group B was 16.37 + 4.38 minutes with p-value &lt;0.0001. Secondary hemorrhage was seen in 2.56% patients in group A (suture ligation group) and 10.56% patients in group B (Bipolar diathermy group) with p-value of 0.016. Conclusion: bipolar diathermy method of hemostasis in tonsillectomy is fast but associated with statistically increase risk of secondary hemorrhage compared to silk ligation. Keywords: tonsillectomy, silk ligation, bipolar diathermy, operative interval, secondary hemorrhage

ISLAMIC VALUE-DRIVEN COOPERATION IN SKILLS ACQUISITION AND MOBILITY FOR EMPOWERING MARGINAL SOCIETY

Islam exhorts for cooperation in righteous and God conscious acts. This exhortation has individual and institutional implications for efforts geared towards promoting the welfare of less privileged marginal segment of society. Conceiving an institutional form of cooperation, this paper proposes and explains a program which will target at empowering this segment. The program is for developing non-professional skills which have to be founded on and inspired by the Islamic principles of cooperation and self-reliance. As non-professional skills are mostly learned informally and on-the-job, business houses will be the cooperator who will provide platforms for training. Members of a marginal segment of society will be the beneficiaries who will receive training for acquiring job skills and mobility towards achieving their self-reliance. Government organ will be a facilitating party that shall provide support for the collaborative venture to occur and sustain. Apart from Islamic principles of cooperation and self-reliance, this paper will draw upon the theory of social learning, theory of conforming to group norms and doctrine of market supervision (al-Hisbah) in Islamic civilization to expound the role of the triad—the cooperator, the beneficiaries, and the facilitator—in achieving the major outcomes of the program. =========================================== Islam mendorong kerjasama dalam kebaikan dan bertindak semata-mata karena Allah. Dorongan ini memiliki implikasi individual dan institusional dalam upaya mensejahterakan masyarakat marjinal yang kurang beruntung. Dalam suatu bentuk upaya kerjasama secara institusional, artikel ini menawarkan dan menjelaskan suatu program yang akan menargetkan dalam memberdayakan segmen ini. Program ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan keterampilan non-professional yang dibentuk dan didorong oleh prinsip-prinsip Islam dalam kerjasama dan kemandirian. Keterampilan non-professional sebagian besar dipelajari secara informal dan disaat bekerja, tempat-tempat bisnis akan menjadi pembuat kerjasama yang akan menyediakan platform untuk pelatihan. Para anggota masyarakat di segmen marjinal ini akan menjadi penerima manfaat yang akan mendapatkan pelatihan untuk mendapatkan keahlian kerja dan mobilitas untuk mencapai kemandirian. Institusi pemerintah yang berkaitan akan menjadi fasilitator yang akan menyediakan dukungan bagi skema kolaboratif agar dapat diwujudkan dan berkelanjutan. Selain dari prinsip- prinsip kerjasama dan kemandirian dalam Islam, paper ini akan mengutip teori pembelajaran sosial, teori sesuai dengan norma-norma kelompok dan doktrin pengawasan pasar (Al-Hisbah) dalam peradaban Islam guna menjelaskan peranan tiga pihak yaitu pembuat kerjasama, penerima manfaat, dan fasilitator dalam upaya mencapai hasil-hasil utama dalam program tersebut

Isolation, identification, and antibiogram studies of Salmonella species and Escherichia coli from boiler meat in some selected areas of Bangladesh

Background: The present study was carried out for the isolation, identification of Salmonella and Escherichia coli from broiler meat samples (leg muscle, breast muscle and drumstick) which were collected from different upazilla markets of Mymensingh, Gazipur, and Sherpur districts during the period of January 2015 to May 2015.Methods: A total of 60 samples were subjected to bacterial isolation and identification by using cultural, biochemical, and polymerase chain reaction assays.Results: Using standard bacteriological techniques E. coli was isolated from 50 (83.33%) samples and Salmonella spp. from 18 (31.66%) samples. Furthermore, the isolates were subjected to antibiogram studies by disk diffusion method using eight commonly used antibiotics. Antibiogram studies revealed that gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and norfloxacin were highly sensitive against all the isolated bacteria, whereas most of the isolates were resistant to amoxicillin, erythromycin, and tetracycline. Out of all the isolates, 5 isolates of E. coli and 3 isolates of Salmonella were found multidrug resistant.Conclusions: The study revealed the presence of multidrug resistant Salmonella and E. coli in broiler meat sold in live bird market of different upazilla

Tensile properties of 3D-printed PLA prismatic cellular structures: an experimental investigation

Advancements in additive manufacturing have significantly increased the use of cellular structures in product development, especially in the automotive, aerospace, and biomedical industries, due to their enhanced strength-to-weight ratio and energy-absorbing capabilities. This study investigates the tensile properties of 3D-printed PLA prismatic cellular structures, focusing on the effects of fillet radius, wall thickness, and cell size on tensile strength, Young’s modulus, and strength-to-weight ratio. Using a full factorial design and ANOVA, we examined the impact and interaction of each geometrical parameter. Our findings show that triangular cellular structures exhibit a higher stiffness of 1.36 GPa and tensile strength of 24.28 MPa, resulting in a notable 5.78 MPa/gram strength-to-weight ratio. Increasing cell count and wall thickness enhances both tensile strength and Young’s modulus, whereas adding fillet radii at corners reduces these properties. Fracture behaviors are influenced by geometrical design: shorter, thicker walls lead to progressive crack propagation, while longer, thinner walls tend to fail catastrophically. Fillet radius introduction shifts the fracture initiation point from the nodes. ANOVA results indicate that wall thickness and cell size significantly affect tensile strength and Young’s modulus, contributing 36.53% and 53.54%, respectively