Keratin based bioplastic film from chicken feathers and its characterization.

Plastics have been one of the highly valued materials and it plays an significant role in human's life such as in food packaging and biomedical applications. Bioplastic materials can gradually work as a substitute for various materials based on fossil oil. The issue like sustainability and environmental challenges which occur due to manufacturing and disposal of synthetic plastics can be conquering by bio-based plastics.

Discovery of Potent and Orally Bioavailable Dihydropyrazole GPR40 Agonists.

G protein-coupled receptor 40 (GPR40) has become an attractive target for the treatment of diabetes since it was shown clinically to promote glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Herein, we report our efforts to develop highly selective and potent GPR40 agonists with a dual mechanism of action, promoting both glucose-dependent insulin and incretin secretion. Employing strategies to increase polarity and the ratio of sp/sp character of the chemotype, we identified BMS-986118 (compound 4), which showed potent and selective GPR40 agonist activity in vitro.

Identification of bicyclic hexafluoroisopropyl alcohol sulfonamides as retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor gamma (RORγ/RORc) inverse agonists. Employing structure-based drug design to improve pregnane X receptor (PXR) selectivity.

We disclose the optimization of a high throughput screening hit to yield benzothiazine and tetrahydroquinoline sulfonamides as potent RORγt inverse agonists. However, a majority of these compounds showed potent activity against pregnane X receptor (PXR) and modest activity against liver X receptor α (LXRα). Structure-based drug design (SBDD) led to the identification of benzothiazine and tetrahydroquinoline sulfonamide analogs which completely dialed out LXRα activity and were less potent at PXR.

Precipitating hydrophobic injectable liquid embolization of intracranial vascular shunts: initial experience and technical note.

Precipitating hydrophobic injectable liquid is a new liquid embolic agent used mainly for intracranial neurointervention. The agent is ready to use (no shaking is required), since iodine, the radiopaque material, is covalently bonded into the compound. Additionally, due to the absence of tantalum, minimal artifacts are seen on postprocedure follow-up CT scans, and the agent penetrates into vessels smaller than 10 µm.

Applications of 2, 2, 2 trifluoroethanol as a versatile co-solvent in supercritical fluid chromatography for purification of unstable boronate esters, enhancing throughput, reducing epimerization, and for additive free purifications.

Analysis and purification of boronic acid pinacol esters by RPLC is very challenging due to their degradation in aqueous and alcoholic solvents. These compounds are difficult to purify by SFC too as they are equally sensitive to traditional co-solvents like methanol, ethanol, and 2-propanol. 2,2,2 trifluoroethanol (TFE), which has been reported for the purification of a few alcohol sensitive compounds, was evaluated as a co-solvent in this study for the purification of chiral and achiral boronate esters by SFC.

Association of freezing of gait with nigral iron accumulation in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Background And Purpose: The objective of this work was to investigate whether patients with and without freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) have differences in iron accumulation in substantia nigra using R2* relaxometry.

Materials And Methods: This study included seventeen PD patients with FOG [FOG (+)], equal number of age and gender matched patients without FOG [FOG (-)] and 34 healthy controls (HC). T2* images were obtained from a 3-Tesla MRI system using multi-echo sequence.

Novel Findings in Obstetric Brachial Plexus Palsy: A Study of Corpus Callosum Volumetry and Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Sensorimotor Network.

Background: The response of the brain to obstetric brachial plexus palsy (OBPP) is not clearly understood. We propose that even a peripheral insult at the developmental stage may result in changes in the volume of white matter of the brain, which we studied using corpus callosum volumetry and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) of sensorimotor network.

Objective: To study the central neural effects in OBPP.

Pre-operative Hepatic Artery Resistive Index is a Non-invasive Predictive Indicator of Prognosis in Biliary Atresia.

Aims: The aim of this study is to evaluate hepatic artery resistive index (HARI) as a noninvasive prognostic predictor by correlating it with peripheral blood nitric oxide (NO) levels, portal pressure (PP) and histopathological changes in the liver in patients of biliary atresia (BA).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-five patients were included in the study prospectively from November 2012 to June 2014. All patients underwent Doppler sonography to calculate the HARI preoperatively.

Neonatal intestinal obstruction associated with situs inversus totalis: two case reports and a review of the literature.

Background: The association of neonatal intestinal obstruction with situs inversus totalis is extremely rare with only few cases reported in the literature to date. This association poses dilemmas in management. We present two such cases (of Indian origin), and briefly discuss the pertinent literature and measures to prevent unfavorable outcome.

Evaluation of Cyavanaprāśa on Health and Immunity related Parameters in Healthy Children: A Two Arm, Randomized, Open Labeled, Prospective, Multicenter, Clinical Study.

Context: Cyavanaprāśa (CP) is an Ayurvedic immune booster formulation that confers vigor and vitality while delaying the ageing process. Benefits of CP have been studied widely in adult population.

Objectives: Current study assessed beneficial effects of CP on health and immunity related parameters in healthy children.

Primary renal echinococcosis with gross hydatiduria.

Renal echinococcosis is a rare disease. It is usually asymptomatic but may present with pain, lump or in rare cases hydatiduria. Diagnosis is mainly by imaging but serology is usually false negative.

Preventing Retained Central Venous Catheter Guidewires: A Randomized Controlled Simulation Study Using a Human Factors Approach.

Background: Retained central venous catheter guidewires are never events. Currently, preventative techniques rely on clinicians remembering to remove the guidewire. However, solutions solely relying upon humans to prevent error inevitably fail.

Pelvic radiograph in skeletal dysplasias: An approach.

The bony pelvis is constituted by the ilium, ischium, pubis, and sacrum. The pelvic radiograph is an important component of the skeletal survey performed in suspected skeletal dysplasia. Most of the common skeletal dysplasias have either minor or major radiological abnormalities; hence, knowledge of the normal radiological appearance of bony pelvis is vital for recognizing the early signs of various skeletal dysplasias.

Ultrasound non-invasive measurement of intracranial pressure in neurointensive care: A prospective observational study.

Background: The invasive nature of the current methods for monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) has prevented their use in many clinical situations. Several attempts have been made to develop methods to monitor ICP non-invasively. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between ultrasound-based non-invasive ICP (nICP) and invasive ICP measurement in neurocritical care patients.

Trigeminal neuralgia caused by a new variant of persistent trigeminal artery associated with agenesis of internal carotid artery.

We report a hitherto undescribed persistent carotid vertebral anastomosis associated with ipsilateral internal carotid artery agenesis and bilateral duplication of the intradural vertebral arteries. This rare anomaly was detected on MRI, supplemented by CT angiography while evaluating for cause trigeminal neuralgia in a 37-year-old woman. The aberrant vessel was seen to cause thinning and lateral displacement of the left trigeminal nerve on CISS 3D images.

Characterization of keratin microparticles from feather biomass with potent antioxidant and anticancer activities.

In the present study chicken feathers were hydrolyzed by chemical treatment in alkaline conditions. The pH value of feather hydrolyzed solution was amended accordingly the iso-electric precipitation. Two types of keratin microparticles KM1, KM2 were synthesized under acidic conditions at 3.

Assessment of PANC3 Score in Predicting Severity of Acute Pancreatitis.

Introduction: Acute pancreatitis is inflammatory process of the pancreas associated with local and systemic complications. At present, there are lots of scores (such as Ransons, APACHE II, bedside index for severity in acute pancreatitis) that help us in predicting severity at the time of admission but these are time consuming or require complex calculation and are costly.

Material And Methods: PANC3 Scoring System is one of the better systems because the three criteria used (hematocrit, body mass index, and pleural effusion) are simple, easy to assess, readily available, and economic.

Efficacy of Oral Zinc Supplementation in Radiologically Confirmed Pneumonia: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of zinc as an adjuvant therapy in radiologically confirmed pneumonia in children 2-24 months of age.

Patients And Methods: We analyzed data of 212 children with pneumonia for whom chest X-ray films were available at enrollment and at least two radiologists agreed on the diagnosis of pneumonia. We compared the time to recovery in the two groups (n = 121, zinc group and n = 91, placebo group) using a Cox proportional hazards regression model.

Statistical investigation of extraction parameters of keratin from chicken feather using Design-Expert.

Uncontrolled disposal of feathers from the poultry industry and slaughterhouses is environmentally undesirable. The feathers are composed of approximately 90% of keratin which is an important ingredient of cosmetics, shampoos and hair treatment creams. This study aimed to determine the optimum conditions for the extraction of keratin from chicken feathers.