Publications by authors named "Chopra R"

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the anatomical registration of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and prostate whole-mount obtained with 3D-printed, patient-specific, MRI-derived molds (PSM) versus conventional whole-mount sectioning (WMS).

Materials And Methods: Based on an a priori power analysis, this institutional review board-approved study prospectively included 50 consecutive men who underwent 3 T multiparametric prostate MRI followed by radical prostatectomy. Two blinded and independent readers (R1 and R2) outlined the contours of the prostate, tumor, peripheral, and transition zones in the MRI scans using regions of interest.

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Manipulation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system to achieve targeted degradation of proteins within cells using chemical tools and drugs has the potential to transform pharmacological and therapeutic approaches in cancer and other diseases. An increased understanding of the molecular mechanism of thalidomide and its analogues following their clinical use has unlocked small-molecule modulation of the substrate specificity of the E3 ligase cereblon (CRBN), which in turn has resulted in the advancement of new immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) into the clinic. The degradation of multiple context-specific proteins by these pleiotropic small molecules provides a means to uncover new cell biology and to generate future drug molecules against currently undruggable targets.

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Purpose: To compare the single-fraction dose-related incidence of rectal obstruction and/or bleeding in normothermic and hypothermic rectums of a rat model.

Methods And Materials: A 1.9-cm length of rectum was irradiated with a single fraction in 57 Sprague-Dawley rats using a dedicated image-guided small animal irradiator and Monte Carlo-based treatment planning system.

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Background: Frozen shoulder is not an uncommon disorder, and steroid injection into the glenohumeral (GH) joint is one of the most well-known approaches for the frozen shoulder. However, their results have been varied with beneficial effects or no additional advantage. With the understanding about the pathological changes taking place in frozen shoulder and the biomechanics involved, we wanted to evaluate the short- and long-term efficacy of steroid injection by a novel three-site (NTS) injection technique and compare it with the single-site injection (SSI).

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Aim: To assess the effect of combining 0.2% chlorhexidine (CHX) mouthwash with xylitol (XYL) chewing gum on and biofilm levels among 8- to 12-year-old children.

Materials And Methods: Sixty children aged 8 to 12 years were selected with moderate and high salivary S.

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Background: Climate variability due to fluctuation in temperature is a worldwide concern that imperils crop production. The need to understand how the germplasm variation in major crops can be utilized to aid in discovering and developing breeding lines that can withstand and adapt to temperature fluctuations is more necessary than ever. Here, we analyzed the genetic variation associated with responses to thermal stresses in a sorghum association panel (SAP) representing major races and working groups to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with resilience to temperature stress in a major cereal crop.

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Purpose: To evaluate magnetization-prepared 3D T -weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of acute tissue changes produced during ablative MR high-intensity focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) exposures.

Materials And Methods: A clinical MR-HIFU system (3T) was used to generate thermal lesions (n = 24) in the skeletal muscles of three pigs. T -weighted, 2D T -weighted, and magnetization-prepared 3D T -weighted sequences were acquired before and after therapy to evaluate tissue changes following ablation.

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Introduction: Dental caries is one of the most common infectious diseases affecting the oral cavity. Among the oral bacteria, mutans streptococci have been implicated as major cariogenic bacteria as they can produce high levels of dental caries causing substances such as lactic acid and extracellular polysaccharides.

Aim: The aim of the study was to detect the presence of and in dental plaque by using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method, quantification of these micro-organisms using Modified Sucrose-Bacitracin (SB-20M) agar medium and to correlate their presence in Caries Active (CA) and Caries Free (CF) pre-school children.

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Purpose: Considerable between-individual variation in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) density exists in healthy individuals, making identification of change from normal to glaucoma difficult. In ascertaining local cone-to-RGC density ratios in healthy individuals, we wished to investigate the usefulness of objective cone density estimates as a surrogate of baseline RGC density in glaucoma patients, and thus a more efficient way of identifying early changes.

Design: Exploratory cohort study.

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To test the hypothesis that the cultivated peanut species possesses almost no molecular variability, we sequenced a diverse panel of 22 Arachis accessions representing Arachis hypogaea botanical classes, A-, B-, and K- genome diploids, a synthetic amphidiploid, and a tetraploid wild species. RNASeq was performed on pools of three tissues, and de novo assembly was performed. Realignment of individual accession reads to transcripts of the cultivar OLin identified 306,820 biallelic SNPs.

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Background: Lung remodeling and pulmonary fibrosis are serious, life-threatening conditions resulting from diseases such as chronic severe asthma and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Preclinical evidence suggests that JNK enzyme function is required for key steps in the pulmonary fibrotic process. However, a selective JNK inhibitor has not been investigated in translational models of lung fibrosis with clinically relevant biomarkers, or in IPF patients.

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Purpose: We evaluated magnetic resonance imaging controlled transurethral ultrasound therapy as a treatment for magnetic resonance imaging defined focal prostate cancer using subsequent prostatectomy and histology as the reference standard.

Materials And Methods: Five men completed this pilot study, which was approved by the institutional review board. Prior to radical prostatectomy focal tumors identified by magnetic resonance imaging were treated by coagulating targeted subtotal 3-dimensional volumes of prostate tissue using magnetic resonance imaging controlled transurethral focused ultrasound.

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Three dimensional (3D) printing can be used to create material models to aid preoperative planning of complex orthopedic procedures as exemplified by this case of total hip arthroplasty failure due to infection with resulting severe acetabular bone stock deficiency. The 3D model allowed for trialing of the acetabular component to determine cup size, position, and screw placement. Most importantly, the model confirmed that there was not a pelvic discontinuity and the revision shell would be sufficient for the reconstruction.

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Objective: Failure of inferior alveolar nerve block in achieving profound anesthesia of the pulp due to various reasons has led to the introduction of more potent local anesthetic agents like articaine. This study was conducted to compare the efficacy of buccal infiltration with articaine in achieving pulpal anesthesia of primary molars as compared to inferior alveolar nerve block with lignocaine.

Study Design: 30 patients (4-8 years) with indication of pulp therapy in at least two mandibular primary molars were selected.

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A supramolecular ensemble having Ag@Cu2O core-shell nanoparticles stabilized by aggregates of a hexaphenylbenzene derivative has been developed which exhibits excellent photocatalytic efficiency in reactions involving preparation of imidazole and benzimidazole derivatives via C-H activation.

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Skeletal tuberculosis is an important component of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. It can lead to substantial morbidity and poses serious occupational and economic problem. We conducted a study in an urban District Tuberculosis Centre (DTC) to assess the burden and distribution of skeletal tuberculosis in the community.

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Methoxychlor (MXC) and vinclozolin (VIN) are well-recognized endocrine disrupting chemicals known to alter epigenetic regulations and transgenerational inheritance; however, non-endocrine disruption endpoints are also important. Thus, we determined the effects of MXC and VIN on the dysregulation of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) and activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in WB-F344 rat liver epithelial cells. Both chemicals induced a rapid dysregulation of GJIC at non-cytotoxic doses, with 30 min EC50 values for GJIC inhibition being 10 µM for MXC and 126 µM for VIN.

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Aim: To determine the efficacy of salivary nitric oxide as a biomarker for dental caries risk in children and to compare the salivary nitric oxide levels in caries-active and caries-free children.

Methods: One hundred children aged 6-12 years were selected and were divided into two groups according to DMFT index: as caries-free consisting of 50 individuals (DMFT/dmft = 0) and caries-active group (DMFT/dmft ≥3) consisting of 50 individuals. The saliva collected was estimated for nitric oxide level by Griess reaction method.

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Winged bean, Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC., is similar to soybean in yield and nutritional value but more viable in tropical conditions.

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Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a versatile C4 crop and a model for research in family Poaceae. High-quality genome sequence is available for the elite inbred line BTx623, but functional validation of genes remains challenging due to the limited genomic and germplasm resources available for comprehensive analysis of induced mutations. In this study, we generated 6400 pedigreed M4 mutant pools from EMS-mutagenized BTx623 seeds through single-seed descent.

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Purpose: Sparse-sampling and reconstruction techniques represent an attractive strategy to achieve faster image acquisition speeds, while maintaining adequate spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio in rapid magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The authors investigate the use of one such sequence, broad-use linear acquisition speed-up technique (k-t BLAST) in monitoring tumor motion for thoracic and abdominal radiotherapy and examine the potential trade-off between increased sparsification (to increase imaging speed) and the potential loss of "true" information due to greater reliance on a priori information.

Methods: Lung tumor motion trajectories in the superior-inferior direction, previously recorded from ten lung cancer patients, were replayed using a motion phantom module driven by an MRI-compatible motion platform.

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Background: Children who have severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) weigh significantly less than caries-free children. The association between S-ECC and weight suggests that its timely treatment at early stages may preserve general health, in addition to preventing pain and infection.

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate whether children with untreated S-ECC had lower weight and height as compared with children with low caries and to evaluate whether full mouth rehabilitation of children with S-ECC resulted in the phenomenon of catch-up growth.

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Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has found an important role in the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer, demonstrating improvements in dose distribution and even tumor cure rates, particularly for early-stage disease. Despite its emerging clinical efficacy, SBRT has primarily evolved due to advances in medical imaging and more accurate dose delivery, leaving a void in knowledge of the fundamental biological mechanisms underlying its activity. Thus, there is a critical need for the development of orthotropic animal models to further probe the biology associated with high-dose-per-fraction treatment typical of SBRT.

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5q-syndrome is a distinct form of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) where a deletion on chromosome 5 is the underlying cause. MDS is characterized by bone marrow failures, including macrocytic anemia. Genetic mapping and studies using various models support the notion that ribosomal protein S14 (RPS14) is the candidate gene for the erythroid failure.

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Unlabelled: There is growing interest in performing hyperthermia treatments with clinical magnetic resonance imaging-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) therapy systems designed for tissue ablation. During hyperthermia treatment, however, due to the narrow therapeutic window (41-45 °C), careful evaluation of the accuracy of proton resonant frequency (PRF) shift MR thermometry for these types of exposures is required.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of MR thermometry using a clinical MR-HIFU system equipped with a hyperthermia treatment algorithm.

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