33 research outputs found
Effect of Butyrate in the Healing of Colonic Anastomoses in Rats
No full textBACKGROUND:
The body’s ability to replace injured or dead cells and repair tissues following inflammation is critical to survival. The repair of tissues involves two distinct processes – replacement of injured or dead cells by cells of the same type or regeneration and replacement by connective tissue called fibroplasia or fibrosis. Both these processes are determined by essentially similar mechanisms involving cell migration, proliferation and differentiation as well as cell-matrix interactions. The orderly regeneration of epithelial tissue requires a
specialised extracellular matrix called the basement membrane which acts as a scaffolding. These processes are the basis of the complex phenomenon of wound healing.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:
1. To assess the effect of intraluminal butyrate on the healing of anastomoses in rat colon by testing mechanical strength.
2. To compare the differences in the mechanical strength of ascending and descending colon with and without treatment with butyrate.
3. To assess the expression of Matrix Metalloproteinases in the healing colon and study the effect of butyrate on this expression.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Forty male albino rats of the Wistar strain weighing between 200 – 250 grams were used for the experiment. The animals were fed a fibre-free diet to minimise the production of SCFAs from the fibre in the colon. This was begun 2 days before the initial operation and continued till the end of the experiment. The diet used was a specially prepared purified fibre free diet based on the American Institute of Nutrition (AIN)-93M diet.105 The diet was prepared initially in a powder form and reconstituted every day with water to make a semi-solid diet. After 48 hours, the rats were anaesthetised using ether chamber and
intra-peritoneal ketamine (50mg/kg) and a midline laparotomy was done. The colon was first washed out with normal saline and then transected in two places preserving the marginal vessels (Fig 6.1). The ascending colon was transected about 3 cms from the ileo-caecal junction and the descending colon about 3 cms from the peritoneal reflection. Specimens were taken from both areas, frozen immediately in liquid nitrogen and stored at -70°C. An end-to-end anastomosis was carried out with a single layer of interrupted 6. 0 proline sutures (Fig 6.2, 6.3). A diversion caecostomy was carried out and the abdomen
closed in layers.
Statistical Analysis:
The results were tabulated on a spreadsheet and statistical analysis was done using SPSS software.
RESULTS:
Of the 40 rats used, 9 died during the course of the experiment. Six rats died during anaesthesia or in the immediate post-operative period. Of these, 4 animals died in the ether chamber possibly due to a reaction to ether or a vasovagal attack. One animal did not wake up after the operation and another animal died of acute cardiac tamponade as the post operative dose of saline was injected into the thorax instead of subcutaneously. Three animals died during the post operative period. One died on the first post-operative day possibly due to aspiration and two died on the fifth post-operative day due to intestinal obstruction. There were no demonstrable anastomotic leaks during the study.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. Local instillation of butyrate significantly strengthens colonic anastomoses as measured by the bursting wall tension.
2. The effect of butyrate increases both the bursting pressure and the circumference of the anastomosis.
3. There is a difference in the strength of proximal and distal colonic anastomoses.
4. There was an increase in the expression of Matrix metalloproteinases in all the post operative specimens. There was no difference in the expression of MMP2, but an increase in the expression of MMP9 between the butyrate and saline arms
Dapsone, Danazol, and Intrapartum Splenectomy in Refractory ITP Complicating Pregnancy
No full textCurrently there is no consensus on the treatment of refractory
idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) complicating pregnancy. Our
patient with chronic ITP complicating pregnancy, who was refractory to
steroids, dapsone, and danazol, was treated successfully with
intrapartum splenectomy
Study of Probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria for Beneficial Properties.
No full textThis Dissertation / Report is the outcome of investigation carried out by the creator(s) / author(s) at the department/division of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore mentioned below in this page
Production, Purification and Characterisation of Pectinase from Soil Metagenomic Library.
No full textThis Dissertation / Report is the outcome of investigation carried out by the creator(s) / author(s) at the department/division of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore mentioned below in this page
Biotelemetry-based Monitoring of Fish-habitat Interactions as an Informative Window into Habitat Management in a Multi-species Fish Community in Toronto Harbour
No full textUnderstanding how animals interact with habitat is a fundamental ecological question with applied implications for conservation and management of biodiversity. In the Laurentian Great Lakes, coastal wetlands provide critical habitat for over 80% of fish species in the community; however, over 70% of all wetlands have been lost and many of the remaining wetlands have seen declines in habitat quality. I used acoustic telemetry to track the space use behaviour of Largemouth Bass (Micropterus nigricans), Northern Pike (Esox lucius), Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio), and Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) in coastal habitat of Toronto Harbour, Lake Ontario. In Chapter 2, I found that Northern Pike, and Yellow Perch had higher daily site fidelity in restored areas, while Common Carp had lower daily site fidelity in restored areas. Each species exhibited highest daily site fidelity during the summer and lowest during the fall. Overall, daily site fidelity estimates were highest in warm, shallow, vegetated, and sheltered regions of the harbour. In Chapter 3, I found that the size and degree of overlap in activity spaces was influenced by season and body size. Generally, activity spaces were largest in the summer and smallest in the winter. The degree of overlap between individual activity spaces was greatest during both of these seasons, but overall, overlap was quite low. In general, the estimated activity spaces were moderately sized compared with those reported in the literature. In Chapter 4, I found that variation in activity was influenced by species, habitat, season, diel period, and body size. Generally, Largemouth Bass exhibited greater activity levels compared to Northern Pike; however, there was considerable variability within both species. The greatest differences in the activity levels between species were observed in colder, exposed habitats, whereas, in coastal vegetated and wetland habitats, the differences were less pronounced. For both species, activity levels were highest during late summer and early fall and much reduced during the winter months. A behavioural understanding of the interactions between an organism and its environment is essential for better understanding of habitat use and improve our ability to predict responses to habitat degradation and habitat restoration
Real world clinicopathologic observations of patients with metastatic solid tumors receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy: Analysis from Kentucky Cancer Registry
No full textThe state of Kentucky has the highest cancer incidence and mortality in the United States. High‐risk populations such as this are often underrepresented in clinical trials. The study aims to do a comprehensive analysis of molecular landscape of metastatic cancers among these patients with detailed evaluation of factors affecting response and outcomes to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. We performed a retrospective analysis of metastatic solid tumor patients who received ICI and underwent molecular profiling at our institution.
Sixty nine patients with metastatic solid tumors who received ICI were included in the study. Prevalence of smoking and secondhand tobacco exposure was 78.3% and 14.5%, respectively. TP53 (62.3%), CDKN1B/2A (40.5%), NOTCH and PIK3 (33.3%) were the most common alterations in tumors. 67.4% were PDL1 positive and 59.4% had intermediate‐high tumor mutational burden (TMB). Median TMB (12.6) was twofold to fourfold compared to clinical trials. The prevalence of mutations associated with smoking, homologous recombinant repair and PIK3/AKT/mTOR pathway mutations was higher compared to historic cohorts.
PDL1 expression had no significant effect on radiologic response, but PFS improvement in patients with tumors expressing PDL1 trended toward statistical significance (median 18 vs. 40 weeks. HR = 1.43. 95%CI 0.93, 4.46). Median PFS was higher in the high‐TMB cohort compared to low‐intermediate TMB (median not reached vs. 26 weeks; HR = 0.37. 95%CI 0.13, 1.05). A statistically significant improvement in PFS was observed in the PIK3 mutated cohort (median 123 vs. 23 weeks. HR = 2.51. 95%CI 1.23, 5.14). This was independent of tumor mutational burden (TMB) status or PDL1 expression status. PIK3 mutants had a higher overall response rate than the wild type (69.6% vs. 43.5%, OR 0.34; p = 0.045). The results should prompt further evaluation of these potential biomarkers and more widespread real‐world data publications which might help determine biomarkers that could benefit specific populations
Experimental realization of two-isotope collision-assisted Zeeman cooling
No full text2013 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.The work presented in this thesis focuses on the demonstration and initial evaluation of a novel non-evaporative cooling method called collision-assisted Zeeman cooling. For this realization, an ultracold gas consisting of a mixture of 87Rb and 8Rb was used. Cooling was accomplished through interisotope inelastic spin-exchange collisions that converted kinetic energy into magnetic energy. Continual optical pumping spin polarized the 85Rb which ensured that only kinetic energy reducing collisions occurred and the scattered pump photons carried entropy out of the system. Thus, cooling of the ultracold gas can be achieved without requiring the loss of any atoms in order to do so. This represents a theoretical advantage over forced evaporative cooling, which is the current state-of-the-art cooling technique in most experiments. This thesis discusses the details of collision-assisted Zeeman cooling, as well as how the theory of the technique has been extended from cooling a single species to cooling with two species. There are many predicted advantages from using two rather than one species of atom in this type of cooling: greater flexibility in finding favorable spin-exchange collision rates, easier requirements on the magnetic fields that must be used, and an additional means to mitigate reabsorption (the primary limitation in many if not most non-evaporative cooling techniques). The experimental considerations needed to prepare a system that simultaneously trapped two isotopes to be able to perform collision-assisted Zeeman cooling are discussed. Because this cooling scheme is highly reliant on the initial conditions of the system, a focused experiment examining the loading of the optical trap with both isotopes of Rb was conducted and the results of that experiment are described here. The first experimental observations of spin-exchange collisions in an ultracold gas mixture of Rb are described as a part of this work. The experiments where collision-assisted Zeeman cooling were demonstrated are then described and evaluated. In this first implementation of the cooling technique the initial densities were too low and optical-pump-induced heating and loss too high for achieving the full predicted performance of the cooling technique. Through additional modeling, these limitations were understood and the necessary improvements for the next iteration of CAZ cooling experiments are laid out at the end of this work
Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis
No full textMultiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis
The Standing Rock Sioux, 1874-1890
No full textIt is the purpose of this thesis to prepare the way for further study and consideration of the Indian problem as presented on Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The material is largely from original sources gathered through years of work among the Indians and whites who remember the period 1874 - 1890. This paper was limited to those years because they mark an epoch in the relations of these people with our own. It begins with the drifting of the discontented Indians of the newly created reservation to and from the camp of Sitting Bull and it ends with the death of this great patriot and leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux.
Documentation is therefore confined almost entirely to reports of the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1874 to 1891, to copies of the original letters of United States Indian agents at Standing Rock during this period, and to works of such men as Major ‘McLaughlin and Stanley Vestal who drew their material from the same sources that I found to be the most authentic available, the people with whom I-have lived and associated with so intimately.
It is to such notables as Chief White Bull, Chief One Bull, Dog Eagle, Kills Pretty Enemy, Male Bear, Little Moon, Jim All Yellow, Has Holy, Two Bulls, and Swift Hawk among the older Indians, Robert Higheagle, Cecelia One Bull Brown, Pius Bigshield, Mrs. Frances Long Chase, and Abraham Buckley of the second generation, Frank Whitebuffaloman, Francis Zahn, Wallace Eagle Shield, and Jesse Taken Alive of the younger generation of Indians that I owe much of my material on the Indians of the older days.
To Ott Black, Charlie Armstrong, Jacob Horner, Col. Mathew F. Steele, Frank B. Fiske, and William Mcflider I am indebted for their stories of life among the Indians during the period with which we are concerned. My first-hand sources, verbal and written, contain both the Indian and the white viewpoint. The material will be presented as given without any attempt to distort or color to obtain the viewpoint of the author
Impact of Organized Retailing on the Unorganized Sector
No full textThe retail business, in India, is estimated to grow at 13 per cent per annum from US 590 billion in 2011-12. The unorganized retail sector is expected to grow at about 10 per cent per annum from US 496 billion in 2011-12. Organized retail which now constitutes a small four per cent of retail sector in 2006-07 is likely to grow at 45-50 per cent per annum and quadruple its share of total retail trade to 16 per cent by 2011-12. The study, which was based on the largest ever survey of all segments of the economy that could be affected by the entry of large corporates in the retail business, has found that unorganized retailers in the vicinity of organized retailers experienced a decline in sales and profit in the initial years of the entry of organized retailers. The adverse impact, however, weakens over time. The study has indicated how consumers and farmers benefit from organized retailers. The study has also examined the impact on intermediaries and manufacturers. The results are indicative of the mega-and-minimetro cities around a limited number of organized retail outlets. Based on the results of the surveys, the study has made a number of specific policy recommendations for regulating the interaction of large retailers with small suppliers and for strengthening the competitive response of the unorganized retailers.Retail Sector, Organised Retail, Unorganised Retail, Kirana store, Food Supply Chain
