Low-cost preventive screening using carotid ultrasound in patients with diabetes.

Diabetes and atherosclerosis are the predominant causes of stroke and cardiovascular disease (CVD) both in low- and high-income countries. This is due to the lack of appropriate medical care or high medical costs. Low-cost 10-year preventive screening can be used for deciding an effective therapy to reduce the effects of atherosclerosis in diabetes patients.

Mortality on the UNOS Waitlist for Patients with Autoimmune Liver Disease.

Background: Outcomes on the liver transplant waitlist can vary by etiology. Our aim is to investigate differences in waitlist mortality of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database.

Methods: We identified patients who were listed for liver transplantation from 1987 to 2016 with a primary diagnosis of AIH, PBC, or PSC.

DNA base excision repair genes variants rs25487 (X-ray repair cross-complementing 1) and rs1052133 (human 8-oxoguanine glycosylase 1) with susceptibility to ovarian cancer in the population of the Jammu region, India.

Background: Ovarian cancer is highly prevalent in the population of Jammu, in India; the ovarian cancer ranks third among other types of cancer prevalent in females. However, association studies on ovarian cancer are lacking in this region. We aimed to investigate the disease susceptible variants rs1052133 (human 8-oxoguanine glycosylase 1 [hOGG1]) and rs25487 (X-ray repair cross-complementing 1 [XRCC1]) with ovarian cancer in population of Jammu, India.

Carotid artery stenosis and brain connectivity: the role of white matter hyperintensities.

Purpose: It is under debate how white matter hyperintensities (WMH) affects the brain connectivity. The objective of this research study is to validate the hypothesis, if and how the WMH influences brain connectivity in a population with carotid artery stenosis (CAS), which are eligible for carotid endarterectomy (CEA). We used resting state functional connectivity (rs-fc) magnetic resonance (MR) to validate our hypothesis, focusing on the effects of the total number of WMH (TNWMH) and of the WMH Burden (WMHB).

The influence of the volumetric composition of the intracranial space on neural activity in healthy subjects: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance study.

Brain atrophy is a condition observed both with healthy aging and in association with neurologic pathological conditions. We investigated the role of the volumetric composition of the intracranial space (VOCICS) in terms of relative brain volume (BV%) and relative cerebrospinal fluid volume (CSFV%) on the neural activity measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). We performed a group rs-fMRI analysis of a dataset of 192 healthy subjects derived by the publicly available Functional Connectome Project.

Global perspective on carotid intima-media thickness and plaque: should the current measurement guidelines be revisited?

Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and carotid plaque (CP) currently act as risk predictors for CVD/Stroke risk assessment. Over 2000 articles have been published that cover either use cIMT/CP or alterations of cIMT/CP and additional image-based phenotypes to associate cIMT related markers with CVD/Stroke risk. These articles have shown variable results, which likely reflect a lack of standardization in the tools for measurement, risk stratification, and risk assessment.

Ultrasound-based carotid stenosis measurement and risk stratification in diabetic cohort: a deep learning paradigm.

Background: Stroke is in the top three leading causes of death worldwide. Non-invasive monitoring of stroke can be accomplished via stenosis measurements. The current conventional image-based methods for these measurements are not accurate and reliable.

A low-cost machine learning-based cardiovascular/stroke risk assessment system: integration of conventional factors with image phenotypes.

Background: Most cardiovascular (CV)/stroke risk calculators using the integration of carotid ultrasound image-based phenotypes (CUSIP) with conventional risk factors (CRF) have shown improved risk stratification compared with either method. However such approaches have not yet leveraged the potential of machine learning (ML). Most intelligent ML strategies use follow-ups for the endpoints but are costly and time-intensive.

An Unusual Case of Extrapulmonary Hydatid Cyst Masquerading as a Mediastinal Tumor.

Hydatid disease is a common disease in developing countries. The usual presentations include lung and liver cysts. Herein, we present a case of extrapulmonary, intrathoracic hydatid cyst with chest wall and spinal cord involvement, with the patient having symptoms of neurological compression and chest pain.

The Impact of Sleep-Disordered Breathing on Severity of Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension and Feto-Maternal Outcomes.

Background: There is a close association between sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and preeclampsia. Both conditions have poor pregnancy outcomes.

Methods: Forty women with new-onset hypertension of pregnancy and 60 age-matched normotensive pregnant women were subjected to polysomnography.

State-of-the-art methods in healthcare text classification system: AI paradigm.

Machine learning has shown its importance in delivering healthcare solutions and revolutionizing the future of filtering huge amountd of textual content. The machine intelligence can adapt semantic relations among text to infer finer contextual information and language processing system can use this information for better decision support and quality of life care. Further, a learnt model can efficiently utilize written healthcare information in knowledgeable patterns.

A new backpropagation neural network classification model for prediction of incidence of malaria.

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by parasitic protozoans of the Plasmodium family. These parasites are transmitted by mosquitos which are common in certain parts of the world. Based on their specific climates, these regions have been classified  as low and high risk regions using a backpropagation neural network (BPNN).

Carotid Intraplaque-Hemorrhage Volume and Its Association with Cerebrovascular Events.

Background And Purpose: Our aim was to assess the relationship between volume and percentage of intraplaque hemorrhage measured using CT and the occurrence of cerebrovascular events at the time of CT.

Materials And Methods: One-hundred-twenty-three consecutive subjects (246 carotid arteries) with a mean age of 69 years who underwent CTA were included in this retrospective study. Plaque volume of components and subcomponents (including intraplaque hemorrhage volume) was quantified with dedicated software.

An unusual case of idiopathic inflammatory myopathy presenting with organizing pneumonia as cavitary lesions.

A young woman presented with gradually progressive breathlessness, cough and muscle weakness for one and a half year. Her chest radiograph showed multiple, bilateral thin-walled cavitary lesions. Her serum was found to be positive for anti-Jo1 antibodies on serology.

Utility of bedside lung ultrasound for assessment of lung recruitment in a case of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Lung recruitment maneuvers are rescue measures commonly used to improve oxygenation in severely hypoxemic patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), who fail to improve on standard treatment. After recruitment, appropriate level of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) is applied to prevent alveolar de-recruitment during expiration. Computed tomography scan of thorax and quasi-static pressure-volume curves have played a pivotal role are important in the assessment of recruitment, but they have several limitations.

Impact of biomass fuel exposure from traditional stoves on lung functions in adult women of a rural Indian village.

Introduction: Exposure to biomass fuel (BMF) from traditional cookstoves inflicts an enormous burden of morbidities in women across the developing world. This study aims to assess the lung function and its association with the indoor air pollutants generated using BMF.

Materials And Methods: This cross-sectional study including 310 women was conducted in a rural village of India.

Carotid Plaque CTA Analysis in Symptomatic Subjects with Bilateral Intraparenchymal Hemorrhage: A Preliminary Analysis.

Background And Purpose: The presence of IPH is considered the most dangerous feature because it is significantly associated with clinical ipsilateral cerebrovascular events. Our aim was to explore the characterization of plaque with CT in symptomatic subjects with bilateral intraplaque hemorrhage.

Materials And Methods: Three-hundred-forty-three consecutive patients with recent anterior circulation ischemic events (<2 weeks) and CT of the carotid arteries (performed within 14 days of the cerebrovascular event) evaluated between June 2012 and September 2017 were analyzed for plaque volume composition to identify all subjects with bilateral intraplaque hemorrhage.

Incidence and risk factors of dysphagia after variceal band ligation.

Background And Aim: There is a lack of data on long-term morbidity, particularly dysphagia, following endoscopic variceal band ligation (EVL). The aim of this study are to assess the incidence of dysphagia and variables associated with this complication after EVL.

Methods: We identified individuals who completed at least one session of EVL as their sole treatment for varices from August 2012 to December 2017.

Neurocognitive and behavioral abnormalities in Indian children with sleep-disordered breathing before and after adenotonsillectomy.

Objectives: Children with untreated sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) have impaired intellectual ability and behavioral effects. Timely treatment of SDB by adenotonsillectomy (AT) may prevent this morbidity. This study was designed to assess the prevalence of neurocognitive and behavioral dysfunction in Indian children with SDB and to evaluate the impact of AT.

Assessment of labor progression by intrapartum ultrasonography among term nulliparous women.

Objective: To assess cervical dilation, fetal head station, and fetal head position by intrapartum ultrasonography and to compare the approach with digital vaginal examination (DVE).

Methods: An observational study conducted from October 2015 to January 2017 among term nulliparous women in active labor at a tertiary hospital in Delhi, India. Cervical dilation, head station, and head position were assessed by DVE, followed by ultrasonography within 10 minutes.

Pharmacologic management of primary sclerosing cholangitis: what's in the pipeline?

: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare cholestatic liver disease characterized by biliary inflammation, fibrosis, and stricturing. Although considered progressive, its course is difficult to predict, and there is currently no definitive therapy shown to alter disease course and prevent death or the need for liver transplantation. : There are multiple agents in the pipeline targeting various pathways hypothesized to lead to and drive this disease.

Statistical characterization and classification of colon microarray gene expression data using multiple machine learning paradigms.

Objective: A colon microarray data is a repository of thousands of gene expressions with different strengths for each cancer cell. It is necessary to detect which genes are responsible for cancer growth. This study presents an exhaustive comparative study of different machine learning (ML) systems which serves two major purposes: (a) identification of high risk differential genes using statistical tests and (b) development of a ML strategy for predicting cancer genes.

An uncommon cause of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in a young male.

It is uncommon for Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to present with diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) as the initial presentation. To diagnose this in a young male with no renal involvement is further uncommon. We report a case of a 16-year-old boy, who presented with hemoptysis and was eventually diagnosed as DAH with underlying SLE.