Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Sonographic Evaluation of the Median Nerve and Fourth Flexor Tendon Between Asymptomatic Subjects With and Without Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disease associated with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and tendinopathy. This study aims to assess the ultrasonographic (US) parameters of the flexor tendon and median nerve in asymptomatic subjects with diabetes in comparison with controls without diabetes. 22 DM and 22 non-DM subjects without any symptoms or manipulations in non-dominant hands and wrists were assessed. The ultrasound evaluation of the length, width, cross-sectional area and circumference of forth flexor tendon and the median nerve was performed in the two groups. There was no statistically significant difference of age (P = 0.473) , gender (P = 0.364) , wrist circumferences (P = 0.1921) between the two groups. This study showed no significant difference between the two groups in the median nerve length (P = 0.35), width (P = 0.17), cross-sectional circumference (P = 0.23) and cross-sectional area (P = 0.16). Also, comparing of the sonographic data of the fourth flexor tendon between the two groups presented no significant difference in the length (P = 0.68), width (P = 0.80), cross-sectional circumference (P = 0.70) and cross-sectional area (P = 0.80). In conclusion, our data showed that sonographic values of the median nerve and fourth flexor tendon in asymptomatic subjects with DM did not significantly differ with non-diabetics. These findings demonstrate that still more case studies and more evaluations are required to validate the applicability of ultrasonography in the prediction of carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinopathy in diabetic patients.
A STUDY ON THE PREVALENCE OF ASYMPTOMATIC BACTERIURIA AND THEIR ANTIBIOGRAM PATTERN AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

BACKGROUND: Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) is common in pregnancy, if left untreated it may lead to adverse maternal and fetal complications like abortion, premature delivery and low birth weight. Early diagnosis and treatment have reduced the risk of pyelonephritis in pregnant women with ASB from 20-30% to 2-4% Increasing Resistance trends of uropathogens to commonly prescribed first line antibiotics has posed a great threat with limited therapeutic options. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: The present study was carried out to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnant women attending antenatal clinic of our tertiary care hospital and also to study the bacteriological profile and determine antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the pathogens responsible for Asymptomatic Bacteriuria. SETTINGS & DESIGN: A Cross sectional study. METHODS & MATERIALS: Midstream urine samples from 281 pregnant women without urinary symptoms who attended antenatal clinic during March 2012 and March 2013 were included in this study. Samples were processed and isolates were identified as per the CLSI guidelines. Antibiotic susceptibility was done by Kirby bauer disk diffusion method. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of ASB was 13.87%. There was no significant association of ASB occurrence with respect to age (P>0.05). A significant association with gravid status and trimester (P<0.001) was observed. Escherichia coli was the most predominant with total 26 (66.66%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus 6(15.38%), Klebsiella pneumoniae 5(12.82%) and CONS 2(5.13%). Amoxicillin (96%), Norfloxacin (84%), ceftriaxone (89%) and Augmentin (94%) were found to be the most effective antibiotics against the uropathogens isolated. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that Asymptomatic bacteriuria is not uncommon in our population studied. Keeping in view that screening, often prevents severe complications, we emphasize the need to include urine culture as a part of antenatal care in order to identify any unsuspecting infection. Increasing antibiotic resistance trends of ASB uropathogens indicate that it is imperative to rationalize the use of antibiotics.
A study investigating the association between vitamin D and depression among university students in 39 countries

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the association between vitamin D deficiency and depression among university students and to identify the factors affecting this association. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted between 1st January and end of March 2017 among university students from 39 different countries. Results: 699 students were participated in this study. The findings of this study found that 270 students (38.6%) had vitamin D deficiency with level less than 20. The findings of this study found that majority of students (99.9%) in this study had depression. The findings of this study found that there was no association between depression and vitamin D depression (p value=0.386). The findings of this study shows that there was a significant difference between the severe groups of depression and other classes in terms of prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (p value=0.000). Conclusion: The current study shows that there was no association between vitamin D deficiency and depression. On the other hand, there were significant associations between the severity of depression and vitamin D deficiency. Lack of sun exposure; diet and financial factors were the causes of vitamin D deficiency in this study. Further studies are highly recommended to investigate the causes of depression among students.
An Insight into the Role of Benefical Bacteria in Periodontal Pocket Recolonization: A Literature Review

6 Private Practitioner (Ex-Post Graduate Student) Department of Periodontics DAPMRV Dental College, Bangalore, Karnataka AbstrAct Microflora can be found in both caries-free and periodontitis-free people and caries-affected and periodontitisaffected people, and many clinical studies reveal that the portion of certain bacterial species such as Streptococcus mutans or Porphyromonas gingivalis, respectively, is increased in patients with caries or periodontitis. Therefore, it seems that the competition that results between beneficial bacteria and virulent bacteria leads to either a healthy or sick status of human beings. Competition between members of the dental microflora and there role in pocket recolonization is very complex and many antagonistic characteristics can be observed from competition for initial attachment on tooth surfaces or for later attachment to pioneer bacteria, competition from bacteriocins or hydrogen peroxide secreted and from facilitating the growth of some species which inhibit other species. To date only some of the details of these mechanisms are known. The present review will provide an overview on the prevalence of beneficial bacteria and the major mechanisms of oral bacterial interactions. Due to the large number of oral bacterial species, only the best characterized species are included in this review.
Phenotypic and functional analysis of malignant mesothelioma tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes

ABSTRACT Given the growing interest and promising preliminary results of immunotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), it has become important to more fully understand the immune landscape in this tumor. This may be especially relevant in deciding who might benefit most from checkpoint blockade or agonist antibody therapy. Since the phenotype of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in MPM has not been fully described and their function has not been carefully assessed, we collected fresh tumor and blood from 22 patients undergoing surgical resection and analysed single cell suspensions by flow cytometry. The functionality of TILs was assessed by measurement of cytokine expression (IFN-γ) following overnight stimulation ex vivo. Results showed low numbers of CD8+ TILs whose function was either moderately or severely suppressed. The degree of TIL hypofunction did not correlate with the presence of co-existing macrophages or neutrophils, nor with expression of the inhibitory receptors PD-1, CD39 and CTLA-4. Hypofunction was associated with higher numbers of CD4 regulatory T cells (Tregs) and with expression of the inhibitory receptor TIGIT. On the other hand, presence of tissue-resident memory (Trm) cells and expression of TIM-3 on CD8+ cells were positively associated with cytokine production. However, Trm function was partially suppressed when the transcription factor Eomesodermin (Eomes) was co-expressed. Understanding the function of TILs in malignant mesothelioma may have clinical implications for immunotherapy, especially in choosing the best immunotherapy targets. Our data suggests that Treg cell blocking agents or TIGIT inhibitor antibodies might be especially valuable in these patients.
Effectiveness of Infant Massage on Strengthening Bonding and Improving Sleep Quality

Background : Baby massage is the oldest and most popular touch therapy known to mankind, which is also the art of health care and treatment that has been practiced for centuries. This study aims to determine the effect of infant massage on bonding attachments between mother and baby and the quality of infant sleep. Subjects an d Met h od: This was experimental study with Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design conducted in five health centers in Ponorogo Regency, East Java in March to April 2019. The total sample was 120 mothers and infants aged 3 to 6 months divided between massage groups (treatment) and not massage (control) based on The dependent variable of this study was bonding attachment and sleep quality. The independent variable in this study was infant massage. Data collection was using questionnaires and checklists. This study used the Mann-Whitney test Result : Infant massage effectively increased bonding attachment (effect size = 6.19; p <0.001), increased infant sleep duration (effect size= 2.79, p <0.001), decreases the number of baby awakened (effect size = -2.78; p <0.001), decreased duration awakened (effect size= -0.80; p= 0.001), Conclusion : Baby massage effectively increased bonding attachment and sleep duration, and effectively decreased the number of awakenings and the duration of awakening. K eywords : baby massage, bonding attachment, sleep quality Co r responden ce : Ainurrizma Tri Hartanti, Public Health Postgraduate Program, Universitas Sebelas Maret. Jl. Ir. Sutami 36 A, Surakarta 57126, Central Java. Email: ainurrizma.th@yahoo.co.id . Mobile: 085784939555 Indonesian Journal of Medicine (2019), 4(2): 165-175 https://doi.org/10.26911/theijmed.2019. 04.02. 10
Prevalence of multi-drug resistant Staphylococci isolated from surgical site infections

Surgical site infections are the most common post-operative infections even in hospitals with most modern facilities complications and standard protocols of pre-operative preparation and antibiotic prophylaxis.Staphylococci stay as our natural flora and yet sometimes threaten our life as tenacious pathogens. In addition to their ability to evade our immune system, the multi-drug resistance phenotype makes Staphylococci the most intractable pathogenic bacteria in the history of antibiotic chemotherapy. Staphylococci are among the leading causes of nosocomial infections such as surgical site infections. Increasing resistance to β-lactams and the glycopeptides complicates treatment of infections caused by Stahpylococci. The aim of this study is to investigate the antibiotic resistance profile of Staphylococci isolated from surgical site infection. Staphylococci isolates were identified morphologically, by Gram stain and biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by the Kirby-Bauer standard disk diffusion method. One hundred Staphylococci isolates were recovered from one hundred and ninety samples isolated from surgical site infections. Staphylococcus aureus was the most predominant one. From 100 isolates, Staphylococcus aureus was found in 91 isolate and coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) in 9 isolates. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were highly resistant to tigecycline, oxacillin, ampicillin and ampicillin-sulbactam antibiotics. They showed intermediate resistance to daptomycin, amikacin, azithromycin, levofloxacin, clindamycin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprime, doxycycline and gatifloxacin, while they showed low resistance to vancomycin, linezolid and imipenem. On the other hand, CoNS isolates were highly resistant to doxycycline, oxacillin, ampicillin and ampicillin- sulbactam antibiotics. They showed intermediate resistance to daptomycin, levofloxacin, clindamycin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprime, gatifloxacin, vancomycin, tigecycline, linezolid and imipenem, while they showed low resistance to amikacin and complete sensitivity to azithromycin. Eighty four isolates were multi-drug resistant.Percentage of multi-drug resistant Staphylococci isolates were very high. This may be attributed to the misuse of antibiotics. To minimize resistance, strict antimicrobial prescription policy should be applied.
Robust Watermarking for Scalable Video Sequence

With the emergence of the scalable video coding (SVC), efficient and secure transmission of scalable video stream becomes an important research topic. In the recent literature, watermarking is regarded as an efficient tool for scalable video authentication. Primary motivation of this entire dissertation, is to develop robust watermarking solutions for different scalable adaptations like resolution, temporal and quality. In the first part of this work, watermarking issues for resolution and quality scalability have been considered. It has been observed in the literature that there are two basic requirements for the scalable watermarking, firstly the watermark should be extracted from each of the scalable layers and secondly, reliability of the extracted watermark should be increased with the increase of the video quality layers i.e. achieving graceful improvement. In this context, an uncompressed domain watermarking scheme has been proposed to meet both the requirements while maintaining the decent visual quality of the watermarked video. It is observed that the temporal adaptation is also a serious problem for designing robust scalable watermarking. In the next phase of this work, a robust algorithm has been devised where DCT based motion compensated temporal filtering is used to handle the temporal adaptation. A wavelet based spatial filtering is also used for embedding zone selection to achieve an acceptable visual quality. Although, the proposed scheme against the resolution scalability outperforms recent existing schemes, its performance can be improved, especially when the resolution scaling is relatively large. In the third
PENGARUH KOMPETENSI, INDEPENDENSI, PROFESIONALISME TERHADAP KUALITAS AUDIT

This study aimed to test whatever there is influence of Competence, Independence, Professionalism, Integrity, and Objectivity of the Quality Audit. The study was conducted by distributing questionnaires. The study population was Affiliates Medium Public Accountants and Public Accounting Firm Medium Non Affiliates. Data analysis is done using multiple regression. The result showed that the competence, independence, professionalism, integrity and objectivity affect audit quality on an ongoing basis. In addition, this study proves that the partial competency, independence and Professionalism while simultaneously all influence the quality of audits. For research in the future, this study suggests the development of survey area coverage and the addition of more variables that affect audit quality
Nutritive properties of aqueous extract Justicia carnea leaves and its effects on haematological and some biochemical indices of anaemia induced male wistar albino rats

This study investigated nutritive properties of aqueous extract of J. carnea leaves and its effects on haematological and biochemical indices of anaemia induced male Wistar albino rats. In the nutritional study, proximate composition, phytochemicals, antinutritonal factors, minerals and vitamins analyses were carried out using standard analytical procedures. Eighteen male Wistar albino mice were used for the acute toxicity study while 28 male Wistar albino rats were used for haematological and biochemical study. The rats were randomly distributed into seven groups of four rats each with group 1 as normal control. Group 2 was anaemia induced untreated, and group 3 was anaemia induced treated with 50 mg/kg b. wt. of Astyfer. Groups 4-6 were anaemia induced and treated with 100, 300 and 500 mg/kg b. wt. of the extract respectively. Group 7 was non-anaemic rats that received 500 mg/kg b. wt. of the aqueous extract. Nutritional study showed richness of the aqueous extract in proximate composition, phytochemicals, minerals and vitamins contents. The extract caused no adverse reactions or death in the animals indicating it is relatively safe for consumption. Significant (p<0.05) reduction in the levels of haematological indices observed in anaemic rats were significantly (p<0.05) reverted within 4 to 8 d of treatment with the extract when compared with group 2. There were no significant difference observed in the liver marker enzymes activities and renal function indices concentrations of all the anaemic rats treated with the aqueous extract when compared with normal control, which could be attributed to the aqueous extract lacking potentials of causing liver and renal damage. These findings suggest that aqueous of J. carnea leaves is safe, nutritionally rich with no toxic effects on liver and kidney function indices, and possesses anti-anaemic effects due to its blood boosting and replenishing properties.
Prior Appendectomy and the Onset and Course of Crohn's Disease in Chinese Patients

Background and Aim The relationship between prior appendectomy and Crohn's disease (CD) has previously revealed conflicting findings. The present study investigates the relationship between prior appendectomy and CD development in Chinese patients. Methods A retrospective case-control study was performed to compare prior appendectomy rate between CD patients and age- and gender-matched controls at two Chinese hospitals. The clinical course of CD was determined in patients who underwent and did not undergo appendectomies before CD diagnosis. Results A total of 617 CD patients and 617 controls were included. The appendectomy rate before CD diagnosis in patients was higher, when compared to controls (6.65% versus 3.73%, P = 0.033). Appendectomy was a risk factor for the onset of CD independent of smoking in the multivariate analysis (OR: 1.878; 95% CI: 1.111–3.174; P = 0.019). Appendectomies were performed closer to the date of CD diagnosis in the trend test (P = 0.039). The rate of appendectomy within one year or 1-5 years before CD diagnosis was higher in patients when compared to that in controls (0.97% versus 0%, P = 0.031; 1.13% versus 0.32%, P = 0.180). However, the rate of appendectomy over five years before CD diagnosis was close to controls (4.54% versus 3.40%, P = 0.392). No significant differences in disease location, behavior, medication, and intestinal resection between appendectomy and nonappendectomy CD patients were found, even in the subgroup analysis by age of appendectomy. Conclusion Prior appendectomy is a risk factor for the onset of CD. However, the appendectomy rate only increased for a short duration before CD diagnosis, likely reflecting a diagnostic bias. Prior appendectomy did not influence the features or course of CD.
HSP70 gene Polymorphism in Pre-eclamptic Women and its Correlation with Serum Levels of HSP70

Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the possible association of three different HSP70; HSPA1A, HSPA1B and HSPA1L; gene polymorphisms with pre-eclampsia and the possible correlation with serum levels of HSP70. Method: The study included 46 women with pre-eclampsia as group I (GI) and twenty two normotensive pregnant controls representing group II (GII). All candidates of the study were subjected to the following: Measurement of human HSP70 concentrations in serum, molecular analysis for PCR amplification of the HSPA1A G (190)C regions, HSPA1B A(1267)G regions, HSPA1L T(2437)C regions. Results: Serum HSP70 was found to be significantly increased in pre-eclamptic patients when compared to normal pregnancy. HSPA1A (190) GC and HSPA1B (1267) GG genotypes occurred more frequently in pre-eclamptic patients compared to healthy controls (p < 0.03). Significant difference was found in the distribution of HSPA1B (1267) AG genotype between the pre-eclamptic and control group (p < 0.004). Distribution of HSPA1L T(2437)C gene was found similar in the Pre-eclamptic and control group. Cases with HSPA1A G(190)C had a mean serum level of HSP70 that is 1.4 ng/ml more than those without HSPA1A G(190)C polymorphism. A significant negative association was noted between maternal age and serum Hsp70 concentration in both preeclampsia and healthy pregnant women. Conclusion: Elevated serum HSP70 level in pre-eclamptic patients seems to reflect the burden of oxidative stress taking place im pre-eclampsia. HSP70 polymorphism may affect the serum level as proved by increase in the mean serum level of HSP70 by 1.4 ng/ml in those with HSPA1A G(190)C polymorphism .
Metabolic syndrome in patients with psoriasis: A hospital-based case–control study

Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Metabolic syndrome (MS) increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Previous studies indicate a higher prevalence of MS in psoriatic patients. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of occurrence of MS and its individual components in patients with psoriasis. Methodology: This study was a hospital-based, case–control study involving fifty adult patients with psoriasis and fifty age- and gender-matched controls. Blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, fasting lipid profile, and blood sugar were assessed in all subjects. MS was diagnosed by the presence of three or more of the South Asian Modified National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Results: MS was significantly more common in psoriatic patients than in controls (38% vs. 22%, P = 0.043). Psoriatic patients had higher prevalence of raised fasting blood sugar (32% vs. 16%, P = 0.0334), hypertriglyceridemia (34% vs. 18%, P = 0.037), low high-density lipoprotein (50% vs. 20%, P = 0.00093), and hypertension (38% vs. 20%, P = 0.025). Raised values of waist circumference as a measure of central obesity though not statistically significant (P = 0.08) were found higher in psoriatic cases. The mean age of the psoriatic patients in years was 48 ± 17.1. Mean duration of the disease was 9.2 ± 8 years. There was no correlation between the severity and duration of psoriasis with MS. Conclusion: MS is frequent in patients with psoriasis. This highlights the need for screening of all psoriatic patients for early diagnosis and treatment of associated MS.