Identification of the active constituents and molecular mechanism of Eulophia nuda extract in the treatment of osteoarthritis by network pharmacology, molecular modelling and experimental assays.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that worsens over time, often resulting in chronic pain. Eulophia nuda (Orchidaceae), a medicinal herb widely used by folklore and indigenous healers for treating arthritis but the active ingredients and the molecular mechanisms of action are yet to be explored. The present study systematically investigates the underlying anti-osteoarthritic mechanism of ENE through network pharmacology, molecular dynamics simulation and experimental assays.

Exogenous variable driven deep learning models for improved price forecasting of TOP crops in India.

Accurately predicting agricultural commodity prices is crucial for India's economy. Traditional parametric models struggle with stringent assumptions, while machine learning (ML) approaches, though data-driven, lack automatic feature extraction. Deep learning (DL) models, with advanced feature extraction and predictive abilities, offer a promising solution.

Diagnosing sucrase-isomaltase deficiency: a comparison of a C-sucrose breath test and a duodenal enzyme assay.

Background: Reduced activity of the sucrase-isomaltase (SI) enzyme can cause gastrointestinal symptoms. Biochemical measurement of SI activity in small intestinal biopsies is presently considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of SI deficiency, but this invasive test is not suitable as a routine diagnostic tool.

Aim: To evaluate a C-sucrose-breath test (CSBT) as a diagnostic tool for SI deficiency in an adult population.

Monitoring pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis disease activity using an unsedated blind esophageal brushing model: A pilot study.

Background: Recurrent upper endoscopies are essential for monitoring therapy response and disease activity in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), leading to increased costs, procedural complications, and anesthesia exposure. The aim of this study was to examine an office-based model using serial sedation-free blind esophageal epithelial brushing (BEEB) to monitor therapy response through eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) levels and guide therapy plans in pediatric EoE patients.

Methods: EoE patients (≤21 years of age) were enrolled in this prospective study.

Addressing diagnostic dilemmas in eosinophilic esophagitis using esophageal epithelial eosinophil-derived neurotoxin.

Objectives: Eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) is a viable marker of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) disease activity. We studied the utility of measuring EDN from esophageal epithelial brushings for diagnosing EoE, focusing on two scenarios: (1) cases of exclusive distal eosinophilia and (2) cases of discrepancy between endoscopy and histology.

Methods: Records of patients who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with EDN measured via esophageal brushings at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida from January 2014 to October 2018 were retrospectively reviewed.

The Scholarly and Pedagogical Benefits of the Legal Laboratory: Lessons from the Consortium for the Advanced Study of Brain Injury at Yale Law School.

In our article, we share the lessons we have learned after creating and running a successful legal laboratory over the past seven years at Yale Law School. Our legal laboratory, which focuses on the intersection of law and severe brain injury, represents a unique pedagogical model for legal academia, and is closely influenced by the biomedical laboratory.

TrIncNet: a lightweight vision transformer network for identification of plant diseases.

In the agricultural sector, identifying plant diseases at their earliest possible stage of infestation still remains a huge challenge with respect to the maximization of crop production and farmers' income. In recent years, advanced computer vision techniques like Vision Transformers (ViTs) are being successfully applied to identify plant diseases automatically. However, the MLP module in existing ViTs is computationally expensive as well as inefficient in extracting promising features from diseased images.

Factors Associated with Neonatal Survival in a Special Care Newborn Unit in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bangladesh.

The 2020 neonatal mortality rate in Bangladesh was 17 deaths per 1,000 live births, higher than the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal target (12 deaths per 1,000 live births). Over the past decade, Bangladesh has established special care newborn units (SCANUs) in medical facilities countrywide to improve neonatal survival. We conducted a retrospective cohort study in the SCANU of a tertiary-level healthcare facility in Bangladesh to study neonatal survival and associated risk factors using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models.

A lightweight convolutional neural network for recognition of severity stages of maydis leaf blight disease of maize.

Maydis leaf blight (MLB) of maize (), a serious fungal disease, is capable of causing up to 70% damage to the crop under severe conditions. Severity of diseases is considered as one of the important factors for proper crop management and overall crop yield. Therefore, it is quite essential to identify the disease at the earliest possible stage to overcome the yield loss.

Gut Microbiome Remains Static in Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders Patients Compared to Controls: Potential for Diagnostic Tools.

Background: Functional Abdominal Pain disorders (FAPDs) are a group of heterogeneous gastrointestinal disorders with unclear pathophysiology. In children, FAPDs are more common in the winter months than summer months. The possible influence of school stressors has been proposed.

Microbiome profile informs cleansing and storage practices for reusable feeding tube stylets in critical care.

Background: Cleansing and storage practices for reusable feeding tube stylets are varied and lack consensus guidelines. Almost 40% of critical care nurses do not cleanse reusable stylets. Our proof-of-concept study aimed to identify potential microbial contamination of stylets before and after cleansing with 70% isopropyl alcohol to establish practice standards.

Deep learning-based approach for identification of diseases of maize crop.

In recent years, deep learning techniques have shown impressive performance in the field of identification of diseases of crops using digital images. In this work, a deep learning approach for identification of in-field diseased images of maize crop has been proposed. The images were captured from experimental fields of ICAR-IIMR, Ludhiana, India, targeted to three important diseases viz.

Phytohormone Priming of Tomato Plants Evoke Differential Behavior in During Infection, With Salicylate Priming Imparting Greater Tolerance Than Jasmonate.

In the field of phytohormone defense, the general perception is that salicylate (SA)-mediated defense is induced against biotrophic pathogens while jasmonate (JA)-mediated defense functions against necrotrophic pathogens. Our goals were to observe the behavior of the necrotrophic pathogen in the vicinity, on the surface, and within the host tissue after priming the host with SA or JA, and to see if priming with these phytohormones would affect the host defense differently upon infection. It was observed for the first time, that could not only distinguish between JA versus SA-primed tomato plants from a distance, but surprisingly avoided SA-primed plants more than JA-primed plants.

A 1-minute blood test detects decreased immune function and increased clinical risk in COVID-19 patients.

Upon infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, most people will develop no or mild symptoms. However, a small percentage of the population will become severely ill, and some will succumb to death. The clinical severity of COVID-19 has a close connection to the dysregulation of the patient's immune functions.

The Gut Microbiome Alterations in Pediatric Patients with Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders.

In this prospective longitudinal study, we enrolled 54 healthy pediatric controls and 28 functional abdominal pain disorders (FAPDs) pediatric patients (mean age was 11 ± 2.58 years old). Fecal samples and symptom questionnaires were obtained from all participants over the course of the year.

Pepsin A in Tracheal Secretions From Patients Receiving Mechanical Ventilation.

Background: In patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) receiving mechanical ventilation, aspiration of gastric contents may lead to ventilator-associated events and other adverse outcomes. Pepsin in pulmonary secretions is a biomarker of microaspiration of gastric contents.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between tracheal pepsin A and clinical outcomes related to ventilator use.

Eosinophil-Derived Neurotoxin Predicts Response to Proton-Pump Inhibitor Treatment in Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

Objectives: There are no tests or patient factors to help predict the best treatment approach for a patient with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). The prevalence of proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) responsive EoE in children ranges from 30% to 71% with multiple studies showing similar characteristics in responders and nonresponders. Eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN), an eosinophilic granule protein, measured in esophageal brushing has been shown to be a viable measure of disease activity in EoE.

Pulmonary Microbiome of Patients Receiving Mechanical Ventilation: Changes Over Time.

Background: Interest in the pulmonary microbiome is growing, particularly in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation.

Objectives: To explore the pulmonary microbiome over time in patients undergoing prolonged mechanical ventilation and to evaluate the effect of an oral suctioning intervention on the microbiome.

Methods: This descriptive subanalysis from a clinical trial involved a random sample of 16 participants (7 intervention, 9 control) who received mechanical ventilation for at least 5 days.

Using Eosinophil Biomarkers From Rectal Epithelial Samples to Diagnose Food Protein-induced Proctocolitis: A Pilot Study.

Objectives: The gold standard diagnostic procedure for food protein-induced proctocolitis (FPIP) requires flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS). To date there is no validated, noninvasive test to confirm FPIP diagnosis. Eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN), a product of eosinophil (EOS) degranulation, has been shown to correlate with eosinophil infiltration in other tissues.

Intubation Setting, Aspiration, and Ventilator-Associated Conditions.

Background: Patients experience endotracheal intubation in various settings with wide-ranging risks for postintubation complications such as aspiration and ventilator-associated conditions.

Objectives: To evaluate associations between intubation setting, presence of aspiration biomarkers, and clinical outcomes.

Methods: This study is a subanalysis of data from the NO-ASPIRATE single-blinded randomized clinical trial.

Sucrase-isomaltase Gene Variants in Patients With Abnormal Sucrase Activity and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine prevalence and characterize sucrase-isomaltase (SI) gene variants of congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency in non-Hispanic white pediatric and young adult patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs), and abnormal sucrase activity on histologically normal duodenal biopsy.

Methods: Clinical symptoms and disaccharidase activities data were collected for an abnormal (low) sucrase (≤25.8 U, n = 125) activity group, and 2 normal sucrase activity groups with moderate (≥25.