Macro-seepage based potential new hydrocarbon prospects in Assam-Arakan Basin, India.

Active macro seepages of methane that occur in between the north bank of the Brahmaputra river and Himalayan foothill region of Assam Arakan Basin, India, indicate the presence of hydrocarbon accumulation in the subsurface, but the hydrocarbon prospects in this region are not well studied. We carried out an extensive field sampling, which included a total of 58 sediment core collections from an active gas seepage location and nearby areas at a depth of 2-2.5 m.

Autophagy Is Differentially Regulated in Leukocyte and Nonleukocyte Foam Cells During Atherosclerosis.

Rationale: Atherosclerosis is characterized by an accumulation of foam cells within the arterial wall, resulting from excess cholesterol uptake and buildup of cytosolic lipid droplets (LDs). Autophagy promotes LD clearance by freeing stored cholesterol for efflux, a process that has been shown to be atheroprotective. While the role of autophagy in LD catabolism has been studied in macrophage-derived foam cells, this has remained unexplored in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC)-derived foam cells that constitute a large fraction of foam cells within atherosclerotic lesions.

Aegilops tauschii presents a genetic roadmap for hexaploid wheat improvement.

Modern wheat shows phenomenal evolutional success and adaptability to a range of environments owing to polyploidization; however, during its hybridization process a major genetic gain has been overlooked. Recently, Gaurav et al. emphasized harnessing genetic diversity from wheat wild progenitor Aegilops tauschii for the improvement of hexaploid wheat through introgression or transgenesis.

Mapping and population size estimates of people who inject drugs in Afghanistan in 2019: Synthesis of multiple methods.

Introduction: Mapping and population size estimates of people who inject drugs (PWID) provide information needed for monitoring coverage of programs and planning interventions. The objectives of this study were to provide the locations and numbers of PWID in eight cities in Afghanistan and extrapolate estimates for the country as a whole.

Methods: Multiple population size estimation methods were used, including key informant interviews for mapping and enumeration with reverse tracking, unique object and service multipliers, capture-recapture, and wisdom of the crowds.

UK Joint Advisory Group consensus statements for training and certification in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

 Despite the high-risk nature of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), a robust and standardized credentialing process to ensure competency before independent practice is lacking worldwide. On behalf of the Joint Advisory Group (JAG), we aimed to develop evidence-based recommendations to form the framework of ERCP training and certification in the UK.  Under the oversight of the JAG, a modified Delphi process was conducted with stakeholder representation from the British Society of Gastroenterology, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, trainees and trainers.

Frequency of Celiac Disease in Patients With Chronic Diarrhea.

Introduction: Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated disease caused by ingesting gluten-containing foods and is characterized mainly by malabsorptive diarrhea. Furthermore, distinguishing between mild disease and asymptomatic individuals is critical and necessitates a high level of clinical suspicion. Short stature, delayed puberty, bone abnormalities, neurological problems, and intestinal cancer can all be consequences of a delayed diagnosis.

The scent of atherosclerosis.

Vascular macrophages sense an odorant to induce atherosclerotic plaque formation.

Root system architecture in cereals: progress, challenges and perspective.

Roots are essential multifunctional plant organs involved in water and nutrient uptake, metabolite storage, anchorage, mechanical support, and interaction with the soil environment. Understanding of this 'hidden half' provides potential for manipulation of root system architecture (RSA) traits to optimize resource use efficiency and grain yield in cereal crops. Unfortunately, root traits are highly neglected in breeding due to the challenges of phenotyping, but could have large rewards if the variability in RSA traits can be fully exploited.

Investigation on Rheological Properties of Water-Based Novel Ternary Hybrid Nanofluids Using Experimental and Taguchi Method.

This study presents the rheological behavior of water-based GO-TiO-Ag and rGO-TiO-Ag ternary-hybrid nanofluids. The impact of nanoparticles' volumetric concentration and temperature on the rheological properties were studied. All experiments were performed under temperatures ranging from 25 to 50 °C in the solid volume concentration range of 0.

Resolution of symptoms after Heller's cardiomyotomy with DOR fundoplication versus endoscopic balloon dilatation in patients with achalasia Cardia at tertiary care hospital.

Objective: To compare improvement in symptoms following Heller's myotomy with Dor fundoplication and endoscopic pneumatic dilatation for the treatment of achalasia cardia.

Methods: The prospective comparative study was conducted at the Department of Upper Gastroenterology and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Civil Hospital, Karachi, from February 2016 to January 2019, and comprised patients diagnosed with achalasia cardia on oesophageal manometry. The subjects were randomised into endoscopic pneumatic dilatation group A and laparoscopic Heller's myotomy with Dor fundoplication group B.

Self-Organising Map Based Framework for Investigating Accounts Suspected of Money Laundering.

There has been an emerging interest by financial institutions to develop advanced systems that can help enhance their anti-money laundering (AML) programmes. In this study, we present a self-organising map (SOM) based approach to predict which bank accounts are possibly involved in money laundering cases, given their financial transaction histories. Our method takes advantage of the competitive and adaptive properties of SOM to represent the accounts in a lower-dimensional space.

Histological evaluation of titanium fiber mesh-coated implants in a rabbit femoral condyle model.

Objectives: This study was aimed to comparatively evaluate new bone formation into the pores of a flexible titanium fiber mesh (TFM) applied on the surface of implant.

Methods: Twenty-eight custom made cylindrical titanium implants (4 ×10 mm) with and without a layer of two different types of TFM (fiber diameter of 22 µm and 50 µm, volumetric porosity ~70%) were manufactured and installed bilaterally in the femoral condyles of 14 rabbits. The elastic modulus for these two TFM types was ~20 GPa and ~5 GPa respectively, whereas the solid titanium was ~110 GPa.

Investigating the relationship of computerized examination anxiety with other variables at the university level: A case of health college students in Saudi Arabia.

Background: In the daily lives of people, the level of anxiety plays a significant role. This applies to students, who experience anxiety when taking examinations referred to as examination anxiety. Majority of the current educational institutions have shifted from a traditional evaluation system to one that is computerized.

Deep neural network enabled corrective source term approach to hybrid analysis and modeling.

In this work, we introduce, justify and demonstrate the Corrective Source Term Approach (CoSTA)-a novel approach to Hybrid Analysis and Modeling (HAM). The objective of HAM is to combine physics-based modeling (PBM) and data-driven modeling (DDM) to create generalizable, trustworthy, accurate, computationally efficient and self-evolving models. CoSTA achieves this objective by augmenting the governing equation of a PBM model with a corrective source term generated using a deep neural network.

A Critical Review: Recent Advancements in the Use of CRISPR/Cas9 Technology to Enhance Crops and Alleviate Global Food Crises.

Genome editing (GE) has revolutionized the biological sciences by creating a novel approach for manipulating the genomes of living organisms. Many tools have been developed in recent years to enable the editing of complex genomes. Therefore, a reliable and rapid approach for increasing yield and tolerance to various environmental stresses is necessary to sustain agricultural crop production for global food security.

The power of genetic diversity in genome-wide association studies of lipids.

Increased blood lipid levels are heritable risk factors of cardiovascular disease with varied prevalence worldwide owing to different dietary patterns and medication use. Despite advances in prevention and treatment, in particular through reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Genome-wideassociation studies (GWAS) of blood lipid levels have led to important biological and clinical insights, as well as new drug targets, for cardiovascular disease.

Synthesis and Characterization of Nonwoven Cotton-Reinforced Cellulose Hydrogel for Wound Dressings.

Hydrogels wound dressings have enormous advantages due to their ability to absorb high wound exudate, capacity to load drugs, and provide quick pain relief. The use of hydrogels as wound dressings in their original form is a considerable challenge, as these are difficult to apply on wounds without support. Therefore, the incorporation of polymeric hydrogels with a certain substrate is an emerging field of interest.

Staffing critical care with nurses amid the COVID-19 crisis: Strategies and plans.

Aim: To describe a nursing staffing surge model in critical care units that can be used during a pandemic or crisis. This model may give useful guidance for hospitals or centers that must immediately react in response to the devastating challenges introduced by disease outbreaks.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals were challenged to maintain the quality of care and safe practice in critical care units while accommodating the daily rapidly increasing number of infected cases that needed critical care.

Multiscale vapor-mediateddendritic pattern formation and bacterial aggregation in complex respiratory biofluid droplets.

Hypothesis: Deposits of biofluid droplets on surfaces (such as respiratory droplets formed during an expiratory) are composed of water-based salt-protein solution that may also contain an infection (bacterial/viral). The final patterns of the deposit formed and bacterial aggregation on the deposits are dictated by the fluid composition and flow dynamics within the droplet.

Experiments: This work reports the spatio-temporal, topological regulation of deposits of respiratory fluid droplets and control of bacterial aggregation by tweaking flow inside droplets using non-contact vapor-mediated interactions.

Advanced dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans: an updated analysis of cases from an Indian sarcoma clinic.

Aim: Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) accounts for less than 2% of all soft-tissue sarcomas.

Patients & Methods: We retrospectively reviewed our database for patients with locally advanced or metastatic DFSP who had presented to our clinic between January 2016 and January 2020.

Results: We identified a total of 14 patients, of whom ten had sarcomatous transformation.

Financial impact of energy efficiency and energy policies aimed at power sector reforms: mediating role of financing in the power sector.

This research examines how financial transformative power sector reforms affect energy efficiency and the economy in a sample of economies from South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. We applied two stages of OLS, Bayesian VAR, and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methods to a panel data set from 1995 to 2018. According to empirical findings, institutional deficiency has a negative effect on electricity reforms, implying that the greater the impact of reforms on electricity performance, the higher the institutional efficiency, A collection of reform initiatives involving a variety of reform agencies will boost energy efficiency by up to 13% and per capita electricity access by 62%.

Assessment of Medical Professionalism among Students and Faculty Members of Shalamar Medical and Dental College, Lahore.

Introduction: Medical professionalism is an essential part of training and professional development of medical students. Unprofessional behavior in medical school may lead to professional misconduct in the future careers. The Learner's Attitude of Medical Professionalism Scale (LAMPS) is a self-assessment questionnaire.

Quantifying senescence in bread wheat using multispectral imaging from an unmanned aerial vehicle and QTL mapping.

Environmental stresses from climate change can alter source-sink relations during plant maturation, leading to premature senescence and decreased yields. Elucidating the genetic control of natural variations for senescence in wheat (Triticum aestivum) can be accelerated using recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based imaging techniques. Here, we describe the use of UAVs to quantify senescence in wheat using vegetative indices (VIs) derived from multispectral images.

Comparing Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms' Ability to Safely Navigate Challenging Waters.

Reinforcement Learning (RL) controllers have proved to effectively tackle the dual objectives of path following and collision avoidance. However, finding which RL algorithm setup optimally trades off these two tasks is not necessarily easy. This work proposes a methodology to explore this that leverages analyzing the performance and task-specific behavioral characteristics for a range of RL algorithms applied to path-following and collision-avoidance for underactuated surface vehicles in environments of increasing complexity.