56 research outputs found
The Valuable Plurality of the Citizen Sciences
No full textWe are grateful to Caren Cooper, Sachit Mahajan, Hussein Zeidan, Maxson Anyolitho, and Mercy Gloria Ashepet for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. Author Anna Berti Suman’s research was supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant n. 891513, awarded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Funding Program. Views and opinions expressed in this article by author Anna Berti Suman are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. The ATRAP project is financed by the Development Cooperation program of the Royal Museum for Central Africa with support of the Belgian Directorate-General Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid.Peer-reviewe
Prolonged priapism following single dose administration of sildenafil: A rare case report
No full textA case of priapism following the consumption of a single dose of sildenafil is reported. A 25-year-old unmarried healthy man consumed non-prescribed 50 mg sildenafil purchased over the counter. He developed painful priapism 30 min after the drug intake that had lasted for 4 days (96 h) when he sought medical advice as an emergency. The corpus spongiosum and glans was soft and the corpus cavernosa was rigid. Winter′s shunt was done. Fifteen milliliters of dark blood was aspirated with 16 G needle. Detumescence was achieved within 30 min. He was discharged after 12 h. On one month follow-up, he had normal morning erections. A genetic basis with cross-reactivity of PDE-3 in addition to PDE-5 resulting in a cumulative erection effect may be possible elucidation for this unwanted side effect in rare cases. However, the number of cases reported with this side effect is still too less to draw further conclusions
The Protective Role of Cinnamaldehyde in Kidney Injury: Modulation of NF-κB and PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathways
No full textChronic renal disease is defined as the presence of kidney damage or impaired kidney function over a period of at least three months, regardless of the origin of the condition. Numerous factors, including oxidative stress, inflammation, and cell death, are frequently responsible for acute and chronic kidney injury, which is a significant issue in the field of global health. Because of the crucial functions that they play, the NF-κB and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways are potential therapeutic targets. These pathogenic processes are mediated by these pathways. cinnamonaldehyde, which is a naturally occurring bioactive component, has demonstrated encouraging nephroprotective properties. These properties are attributed to the fact that it contains anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-apoptotic properties. The purpose of this review is to investigate the molecular role of cinnamaldehyde in preventing kidney damage by modulating the NF-κB and PI3K/Akt pathways. Within this article, we examine the molecular pathways involved and highlight the potential of cinnamaldehyde as a treatment for renal disease. Although preclinical studies have demonstrated significant protective effects, additional research, including clinical trials, is required to validate its safety, effectiveness, and potential therapeutic uses in the management of renal illness in people
A Comprehensive Review on Hepatic Encephalopathy: Pathophysiology, Symptoms, Epidemiology, Classification, Diagnosis and Treatment
No full textThe condition known as hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a state of impaired brain function that can be reversed and is experienced by patients who are suffering from severe liver diseases. Neurotoxins, decreased neurotransmission as a result of metabolic anomalies in liver failure, changes in brain energy metabolism, systemic inflammatory response, and alterations of the blood brain barrier are the primary hypotheses that are still being explored in relation to the precise pathophysiology of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). There is a wide spectrum of severity regarding the neurological and mental symptoms that can be brought on by HE. For the purpose of diagnosing limited HE, abnormal psychometric tests are utilised. Alterations in personality, altered states of consciousness, gradual spatial and temporal disorientation, lethargy, stupor, and coma are some of the characteristics of HE that are clinically noticeable. For the purpose of diagnosis, specific testing is not required outside of clinical studies. HE is classified according to the underlying disease, the severity of symptoms, the length of time it has been present, and whether or not there are triggers that cause it to occur. Hepatic encephalopathy refers to a collection of neuropsychiatric illnesses that can be treated and are characterised by the presence of symptoms in individuals who have liver disease or who have undergone portosystemic shunting. Entephalopathy, a disabling result of cirrhosis, affects thirty-five percent to forty-five percent of cirrhotic patients. Before recently, the treatment choices for HE that were available in hospitals were depending on anecdotal evidence, the availability of medication, and the norms of the relevant institutions. An increasing number of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are providing further confirmation of the central significance of the basic HE therapy techniques (lactulose, branched-chain amino acids, and rifaximin), as well as the rising body of evidence showing the large beneficial advantages associated with these strategies. The liver transplantation and embolisation of large PSSs are two treatments that have proven to be effective for a select group of patients who have been carefully selected. Not only does it have a significant influence on the day-to-day lives of patients and carers, but it is also associated with increased rates of sickness and death and consumes a significant amount of resources in the healthcare system. In this article, we examine the history of hepatic encephalopathy, as well as the current understanding of the condition and the potential treatments for it
Looking beyond the dartos fascia and tunica vaginalis: reviewing the stance of common adjuvant covering biomaterials in hypospadiology
No full textHypospadias, one of the commonest congenital anomalies in boys, can have a spectrum of clinical presentation based on the location of the meatus and the presence of chordee. The surgical repair of hypospadias involves great precision, especially in proximal varieties and redo/complex cases of hypospadias. Hypospadiologists have put in tremendous efforts to improve the outcomes of these children. The utilization of adjuvant biomaterials is one such effort that has gained significant attention over the recent years. Biomaterials are used to cover the urethral suture line in instances where the ideal covering agents (dartos fascia and tunica vaginalis) are unavailable. We reviewed the mechanism of action, current stance, and advantages/disadvantages of three commonly used adjuvant agents, i.e. autologous platelet concentrates, tissue glues, and acellular dermal matrixes. Although individual studies have highlighted the therapeutic benefits of these adjuvants, the available literature has a limited level of evidence. Moreover, it is believed that the application procedure of these covering agents needs to be scrutinized in future studies. In addition, it is suggested that the application of any covering agent right up to the meatus is non-anatomical and redundant. Well-designed randomized controlled trials with a uniform application procedure and comparing different covering agents need to be conducted in the future before any definite conclusion is drawn
Angiogenesis and Vascular Repair in Acute Kidney Injury
No full textChronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most dangerous medical illnesses that can be caused by acute kidney injury (AKI), which is characterised by the sudden cessation of normal kidney function. This condition can also lead to other major complications. Abnormalities of the endothelium, inflammation, and oxidative stress are all factors that contribute to the development of acute kidney injury (AKI), which primarily impacts the vasculature of the kidneys. Renal regeneration is dependent on angiogenesis and vascular repair pathways, which include hypoxia-inducible pathways, vascular endothelial growth factor signalling, and the activation of endothelial progenitor cells. These pathways are essential for the regeneration of the human kidney. Angiogenesis that is not properly regulated can, unfortunately, hasten the onset of chronic kidney disease (CKD), which can then result in maladaptive repair and fibrosis. In acute kidney injury (AKI), there is an immediate need for novel therapeutic approaches that focus on the molecular mechanisms of vascular repair in order to enhance regeneration while simultaneously reducing pathological remodelling. The purpose of this study is to discuss the function of angiogenesis and vascular repair in acute kidney injury (AKI), as well as to highlight potential treatment methods that could improve renal outcomes
Pattern and visual outcomes of ocular fire-cracker injuries during Diwali festival in a tertiary Care Hospital in North India
No full textBackground: The firecrackers are used widely during Diwali. Eyeball is one of the most commonly injured organ in firecracker injuries. The fire-crackers can cause irreparable damage to ocular structures, leading to blindness. This study was conceptualized to study the pattern of injuries resulting from fire-cracker use and their visual outcomes, in order to generate evidence for managing these injuries more effectively. Material and Methods: This longitudinal, descriptive study was carried out over a period of one week during Diwali festival in 2019, in a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India in 21 patients who presented to hospital with ocular injuries caused by firecrackers. Visual acuity was recorded and complete slit lamp examination, non-contact tonometery, and gonioscopy was done. Ultrasound B-scan and X-ray were also done, when required. Results: The mean age in our study was 18.42±11.88 years with age range of 7-57 years. There were 20 males and 1 female in the study. Most of the injuries were caused by bombs and sparkles. Most of the patients (50%) had visual acuity in range of 6/6-6/24 at the time of presentation. Conjunctival surface was involved in all the patients, followed by lids and cilia (59.09%). One patient had corneal perforation with uveal tissue proplase.Six patients had vitreous haemorrahge and seven patients had hyphema. Final visual outcome was favorable with 63.64% patients achieving vision of 6/6- 6/24 at the end of six weeks. Conclusion: Severe injuries can lead to permanent loss of vision or decreased vision from squealae of wound healing such as astigmatism. Hence, stricter implementation of existing laws and regulations, public education and awareness is needed to prevent avoidable blindness resulting from use of fire crackers
Solvent compatible microfluidic platforms for solid form screening of pharmaceutical parent compounds
No full textA significant fraction of candidate pharmaceutical parent compounds (PCs) are rejected on account of poor physicochemical properties that affect their biopharmaceutical attributes such as bioavailability, toxicity, and stability. Hence, a major factor contributing to the high costs and turnaround times associated with drug development involves the laborious characterization of physicochemical properties of thousands of compounds in the drug development process. The physicochemical properties of these compounds are typically determined by screening, crystallization, and subsequent analysis of various solid forms of a compound obtained. Currently the solid form screening process is performed by robotic platforms that require on the order of 0.5 g of material to screen 100 conditions. As a result, this screening effort is postponed to later stages in the drug development process, until sufficient material is available and hence majority of the PCs are forcefully brought forward in the drug development cycle, only to realize later that their solid forms may not be suitable for formulation. Solid form screening with reduced sample requirement per condition will allow the identification of enabling solid forms of PCs and their crystallization conditions at an early stage. Exploring enabling solid forms and applying them in the early stage would significantly reduce the cost of drug development associated with the switch of solid forms. Microfluidics has the potential to screen for solid forms of PCs using significantly smaller quantities of materials (~5 μg per condition), thereby enabling high throughput screening for suitable solid forms in the crucial early stages of development when only limited amounts of PC (typically 10 mg) are available. In addition, microfluidics offers more precise control over fluid flow and transport, composition, and kinetics of a crystallization trial compared to conventional methods.
The microfluidic crystallization platforms reported in this work enable high throughput (24-288 sub-microliter well arrays), combinatorial solid form screening of PCs (e.g., salts, cocrystals, and polymorphs) employing a wide range of modes of crystallization including diffusive mixing, antisolvent addition, seeding, and solvent evaporation while utilizing significantly smaller quantities of materials (~5 μg per condition). The developed platforms are compatible with a wide range of solvents commonly used in pharmaceutical crystallization (polar as well as non-polar organic solvents), exhibit minimal solvent loss (enabling long-term crystallization experiments), allow on-chip solid form characterization via Raman spectroscopy and / or X-ray analysis, circumventing the need to manually harvest crystals and potentially damage them, as well as enable portability between sample loading and analysis stations.
Development of multilayer PDMS-based and hybrid polymer-based microfluidic platforms and their application to solid form screening via diffusive mixing and antisolvent addition crystallization modes is discussed in chapters 2-4. An on-chip seeding-based crystallization optimization method to enhance crystal quality, and X-ray data collection and analysis method to solve structures of pharmaceutical solid forms is discussed in chapter 5. The development and application of a hybrid multilayer polymer-based microfluidic platform that enables controlled and variable solvent evaporation-based solid form screening of pharmaceuticals is discussed in chapter 6. The employment of appropriate polymers for chip fabrication enabled solvent compatibility with polar organic solvents typically used in pharmaceutical industry (e.g., alcohols, acetonitrile, water, and DMSO) and on-chip analysis of the crystallized solid forms via Raman and X-ray. The development and application of hybrid perfluoropolyether-based microfluidic platforms for solid form screening of PCs with enhanced solvent resistance (polar as well as non-polar organic solvents) while retaining the high throughput screening and on-chip analysis capabilities is discussed in chapter 7. The microfluidic platforms developed in this work find immediate application in the pharmaceutical industry, as they require cheap and readily available external peripherals, such as pipettes and a vacuum source for operation. The microfluidic platforms developed in this work can further be employed for a multitude of applications including studying the effect of additives (e.g., polymers, antisolvents, surfactants) on crystal habit and polymorphism, studying the solution-based transformation of solid forms, as well as studying crystallization nucleation and growth kinetics of pharmaceuticals.
In this work, the development and application of hybrid polymer-based microfluidic platforms for liquid-liquid extraction applications in the pharmaceutical industry including purification of radioactive metals for radiopharmaceutical synthesis and drug lipophilicity studies is also discussed in chapter 8.Item withdrawn by Laura Spradlin ([email protected]) on 2014-03-20T18:07:51Z
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Xanthogranulomatous cystitis: A rare clinical entity
No full textXanthogranulomatous cystitis (XC) is a rare benign disease of unknown etiology. A case of XC in a 30-year-old male is presented due to sparcity of such case report in medical literature. Patient evaluation included clinical, biochemical and radiological studies before treatment. Histological study revealed the rare diagnosis. Patient was asymptomatic at eight weeks follow-up after treatment
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