Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dave P et al: Case-fatality among HIV-infected TB patients in India www.jrmds.in

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) control efforts have been challenged by deadly interaction of TB and HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) epidemics. To address this challenge in India, all TB patients are routinely offered HIV testing and HIV positive TB patients are provided CPT (Cotrimoxazole Prophylaxis Therapy) and ART (Anti-Retroviral Treatment) as part of TB/HIV collaborative activities. Objective: To study the impact of TB/HIV collaborative activities on case-fatality among HIV infected patients with tuberculosis. Methods: All TB registers maintained under National TB programme (RNTCP) in Gujarat were reviewed and data on HIV testing, ART, CPT and TB treatment outcomes were retrieved for all the TB patients registered in 2010. Results: Among 77,839 registered TB patients, 59,638 (75%) were ascertained for HIV status and 2,893 (4%) were HIV infected. Among those HIV infected TB patients, 95% received CPT and 68% received ART during TB treatment. Case fatality among patients who received both CPT and ART was 10% compared to 37% among those didn’t receive both. Conclusion: TB-HIV collaborative activities reduced mortality among HIV infected TB patients under program condition in Gujarat. The programme needs to sustain efforts of collaborative interventions to improve care for such co-infected patients. Moreover, future TB-HIV collaborative efforts should focus on early diagnosis of HIV and TB and prompt initiation of ART.
Prothrombin Time (PT) and Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, a Case Control Study

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is characterized by hyperglycemia accompanied with the biochemical alterations in carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism. Diabetics have been shown to be in procoagulant state due to abnormalities in several plasma proteins in blood coagulation.Measurement of prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), bleeding time and clotting factor concentration are usually done in patients with a suspected abnormal coagulation. The present study was planned to assess and compare the coagulation tests in patients with T2DM and healthy individuals. Material and methods: In this prospective case control study 50 diabetic patients and 50 healthy non-diabetic individuals were were subjected to Prothrombin time(PT), Activated partial thromboplastin time(APTT) and D-Dimer assay patients in the department of Pathology at Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda from 1st January 2016 to 30TH June 2017. Results: A stastically significant increase in Mean Prothrombin time (PT) levels of 17.48 in cases vs 14.52 in controls with a P value was 0.012. The Mean aPTT levels in cases was 48.12 and in controls was 30.56 with a P value was 0.001. However, in case of Mean D-Dimer levels, there was no significant difference between cases and controls with a P value of 1.000. Conclusion: The present study observed a significant association between Type 2 Diabetes mellitus and coagulation parameters. Increased plasma levels of PT and APTT were observed which are consistent with abnormal coagulation mechanisms and may be interpreted as a tendency for bleeding and cardiovascular disorders. It would also be helpful to incorporate coagulation screening as a routine investigations for the better management of diabetic patients.
The Comparative Study of Homocysteine, Folate and Cobalamine Level in Hyperthyroid Women and Normal Healthy Women

Background: Thyroid disorders are among the most common endocrine disorders in India. The prevalence and pattern of the thyroid disorders depends on age, sex, geographical factors, food habits and on iodine intake. (1) A Hospital based case-control study was planned, including 50 patients of clinically proven hyperthyroid disease women patient (Case) and 50 age and sex matched controls attending medicine OPD and microbiology department of S. P. Medical College and Associated Group of Hospitals, Bikaner for study of Homocysteine, Folate and Cobalamine levels. Method: Plasma Homocysteine, Folate and Cobalamine levels were measured by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) Method in clinical Biochemistry laboratory, S. P. Medical College, Bikaner. Results: A statically significant decreased concentration of plasma homocysteine was recorded in hyperthyroid patients as compared to Controls (p-value 0.0001). The serum vitamin B9 (folic acid) concentration was found to be decreased significantly in hyperthyroid female patients as compared to Controls (p-value 0.0001). A statically significantly increased concentration of serum cobalamine ( Vit B12) was found in hyperthyroid patients as compared to normal control female subject (p-value 0.0001). Conclusion: Estimation of Serum Homocysteine, Folate and Cobalamine level is simple, reliable, economic and sensitive and it can be used in the proper management of developing new therapeutic strategies in treatment of hyperthyroid women patients.
A PRELIMINARY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS FOR SOFTWARE EFFORT ESTIMATION

Accurate Software Effort Estimation is vital to the areas of Software Project Management. It is a process to predict the Effort in terms of cost and time, required to develop a software product. Traditionally, researchers have used the off the shelf empirical models like COCOMO or developed various methods using statistical approaches like regression and analogy based methods but these methods exhibit a number of shortfalls. To predict the effort at early stages is really difficult as very less information is available. To improve the effort estimation accuracy, an alternative is to use machine learning (ML) techniques and many researchers have proposed plethora of such machine learning based models. This paper aims to systematically analyze various machine learning models considering the traits like type of machine learning method used, estimation accuracy gained with that method, dataset used and its comparison with empirical model. Although researchers have started exploring Machine learning from past two decades, this paper analyses comparison on studies being used in recent years. Subsequently exploring various studies, we found that the estimation accuracy of these ML models is near to the satisfactory level and gives enhanced results than that of non-Machine Learning based models.
SCHIZOPHRENIA: PSYCHO-SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE AND DRUG UTILIZATION STUDY OF ANTI-PSYCHOTICS AT A GOVERNMENT MEDICAL TEACHING HOSPITAL

Objective: To assess the drug utilization and prescribing pattern of antipsychotic agents in Schizophrenia patients with regard to drug, drug class, ATC coding, combination therapy and sociodemographic details. Methodology: A prospective observational study, for 6 months in the psychiatry department of a tertiary care hospital. Ethical clearance was obtained prior to the study. Data was collected by using a patient data collection form and the antipsychotic drug use was recorded. Results:186 patient’s data was recorded and analyzed statistically for the pattern of use of antipsychotics. olanzapine(27.98%) was found to be most prescribed followed by risperidone(20.98%), haloperidol (6.45%) and chlorpromazine (8.60%). Total no. of drugs prescribed for 186 patients is 428, mean of the drugs prescribed per prescription is 2.30, total no. of antipsychotic drugs prescribed is 218, average number of antipsychotic drugs per prescription is 1.17. Conclusion: Atypical antipsychotics(olanzapine, risperidone) were the most prescribed compared to the typical antipsychotics(haloperidol, chlorpromazine). Most of the drugs were prescribed by generic names, only few drugs was prescribed by their brand names. and no polypharmacy was seen. WORLD JOURNAL OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES SJIF Impact Factor 5.210 Volume 4, Issue 09, 1036-1045 Research Article ISSN 2278 – 4357 Article Received on 01 July 2015, Revised on 24 July 2015, Accepted on 16 Aug 2015
A Comparison of Three types of Trail Making Test in the Korean Elderly: Higher Completion Rate of Trail Making Test-Black and White for Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objective: A Korean version of Trail Making Test (TMT) led to reduced clinical use in Korea because of lower completion rate. The current study examines multiple TMT versions in effort to identify which type might accurately detect cognitive decline with higher completion rate. Methods: Three versions of TMT including the original TMT, TMT-Korean Letter (TMT-K), and TMT-Black and White (TMT-B&W) were utilized. A total of 62 participants were included, comprised of 30 cognitively normal controls (NC) and 32 mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Three TMT versions were administered to subjects with other neuropsychological tests. Results: TMT-B&W completion time as well as that of Original TMT and TMT-K was successful in distinguishing MCI from NC adjusted for age, sex and educational level. TMT-B&W also showed a high correlation with other neuropsychological tests that represent frontal executive function. Regarding completion rate in MCI patients, Original TMT and TMT-K were not successfully completed (62% and 60.6%, respectively) compared with TMT-B&W (90.1%). Conclusion: As TMT-B&W showed higher completion rate than others and revealed significant correlation with frontal executive function, this culture-fair measure can vitalize TMT task with increased applicability in Korean elderly adults who are unfamiliar with the sequence of English or Korean alphabet. *Corresponding author: SangYun Kim, Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, 463-707, Republic of Korea, Tel: +82 31 787 7462; E-mail: neuroksy@snu.ac. kr Received May 25, 2016; Accepted May 30, 2016; Published June 07, 2016 Citation: Kim K, Jang JW, Baek MJ, Kim SY (2016) A Comparison of Three types of Trail Making Test in the Korean Elderly: Higher Completion Rate of Trail Making Test-Black and White for Mild Cognitive Impairment. J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 6: 239. doi: 10.4172/2161-0460.1000239 Copyright: © 2016 Kim K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The aims of the current study were 1) to validate the new versions of TMT-B&W in effort to maximize test-taker performance, and 2) to administer the three versions of these tests in older Korean healthy and patient with cognitively impaired subjects, to distinguish groups at the stage of mild cognitive impairment. Materials and Methods
Image Compression and Resizing Using Improved Seam Carving for Retinal Images

— Seam Carving, the popular content-aware image resizing technique, removes or inserts seams of low energy iteratively without sufficiently considering their impact on the global visual quality of the image. However, sometimes seams pass through the regions of interest (ROIs) with low energy and distort the geometric shapes of the important objects. In this paper, we propose an improved resizing method based on improved seam carving method that can prevent the seams going through the ROIs and better preserve the content of the image. With considering frequency-tuned saliency map and the distance to the image center for each pixel in the importance map, it can protect the ROIs when the image is resized to the target size. Moreover, a developed two-dimension search scheme for seam carving and a switching scheme between seam carving and scaling are also proposed to efficiently protect the global visual of the image. Experiments demonstrate that resizing results of the proposed method are more pleasant than those of cropping, uniform scaling and other several methods.
Different Animal Models for Estimating Genetic Parameters of Barki Sheep in Egypt

This investigation dealed with different animal models for estimating genetic parameters, which are considered available information in Barki sheep. Variance and (Co)variance components were estimated for birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), weight at 6 months (6MW) and yearling weight (YW) for a flock of 2248 Barki sheep (1303 males and 945 females) progeny of 74 unrelated rams over a period of 23 years from 1979 to 2001. Multiple-trait analyses were used by MTDFREML to estimate genetic parameters, fitting an animal model and ignoring or including maternal genetic or permanent environmental effects. Four animal models were fitted for all traits studied, and the best model was chosen after testing improvement in loglikelihood values. The fixed effects in the model were year of birth, sex, type of birth and age of dam. Number of days between birth date and the date of obtaining measurement of each record was used as a covariate. Direct heritabilities estimates were inflated substantially for BW and WW traits when maternal effects were ignored and vice versa for 6MW and YW. Based on the most appropriate fitted model, direct heritability of BW, WW, 6MW and YW were 0.24±0.05, 0.20±0.03, 0.19±0.03, and 0.18±0.02, respectively. Corresponding maternal heritabilities were 0.10±0.02, 0.07±0.02, 0.07±0.02 and 0.07±0.03 for above traits, respectively. Maternal genetic effects contributed 10 to 14% of the total phenotypic variance for BW, and their effect diminished further with other traits. Estimates of the fraction of variance due to maternal permanent environmental effects were 0.07±0.0.02, 0.09±0.0.03, 0.06±0.02 and 0.07±0.02, for BW, WW, 6MW and YW, respectively. These results indicate that selecting for improved maternal and for direct effects in Barki sheep would generate slow genetic progress in growth traits. Direct and maternal genetic correlations (ra1a2, rm1m2) among the lamb weights varied between 0.67 and 1.00 and between 0.79 and 0.98, respectively. In addition, the maternal influence on lamb weights decreased with advanced in age at measurement. Moreover, ignoring maternal effects from the model caused overestimation of direct heritability. Maternal effects are significant sources of variation for growth traits and ignoring these effects in the model would cause inaccurate genetic evaluation of lambs. [El-Awady, H.G. Different Animal Models for Estimating Genetic Parameters of Barki Sheep in Egypt. Journal of American Science 2011;7(9):882-887]. (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.americanscience. org.
Association of serum MDA with Magnesium, Calcium and Zinc levels in thalassemic and healthy children

Introduction: The thalassemias are group of haemoglobin disorders, initially found in 1925 in United States and Italy. It is the genetic disorder which passed down through families. In this disease deficient haemoglobin formation occurs which leads to gross destruction of R.B.C., subsequently leads to anaemia. The treatment of thalassemic patients involves mostly blood transfusion, lead to accumulation of excess iron in the body tissues. This secondary iron overload is responsible for peroxidative damage by increased production of reactive oxygen species within the erythrocytes leading to oxidative stress. This increased oxidative stress will cause damage of many organs including lungs, liver and brain. Materials and Method: This study was conducted in Department of Biochemistry with collaboration of Dept. of paediatrics S.P. Medical College and attached Hospital, Bikaner. Samples taken for study includes total 100 subjects, including 50 thalassemic and 50 healthy children as controls with age groups from 3 to 14 years. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA), Mg, Ca and Zn were estimated by using standard enzymatic kits and instruments. Results: The mean ± SD of serum MDA, Magnesium, calcium and zinc levels were found 8.99±1.33 nmol/ml, 2.04±0.22 mg%, 9.54 ± 0.53 mg% and 105.11±9.89 μg% respectively in healthy children and 17.16±1.79 nmol/ml,1.19±0.14 mg%, 6.88±0.61 mg% and 61.76±5.44 μg% respectively in thalassemic children. Conclusions: Children who were suffering from thalassemia disease, had increased level of MDA level and decreased levels of magnesium, calcium and zinc level with respect to healthy children. The inverse relation were found between MDA and magnesium, calcium and zinc levels in thalassemic subjects.
GENETIC VARIABILITY, HERITABILITY AND CORRELATION OF FABA BEAN (VICIA FABA., L) GROWN IN NEW DELHI

This study was conducted to determine variability, heritability and correlation between yield and yield components in 50 faba bean germplasm accessions in the year 2012-13. Ten morphological observations were recorded which showed a significant in the study material and there is a scope for the identification of best accession which will be used in future breeding programme. The phenotypic coefficient of variation is higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation for all the characters but the difference between them is low in the characters studied. High heritability was observed for most of the characters except for number of branches, number of pods per plant and pod width. A direct and indirect effect of yield components on seed yield per plant was also observed.
PHARMACOGNOSTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PHYLA NODIFLORA L. (VERBENACEAE): A VALUABLE MEDICINAL PLANT

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the pharmacognostical and histochemical characters of Phyla nodiflora L. (Verbenaceae) an important medicinal plant. Methods: Pharmacognostical characters such as macroscopic and anatomical characters of root, stem and leaf were studied. Physico-chemical characteristics of crude drugs of aerial parts and root were determined. To localize various phytochemicals, histochemical studies were also determined. Results: Pharmacognostical studies helped in the identification and authentication of the plant material. Physico-chemical properties such as water soluble extractive value (21.44±0.009% w/w), alcohol soluble extractive (13.39±0.03% w/w), total ash (20.85±0.09% w/w), loss on drying (15.68±0.05% w/w) were calculated. Histochemical study indicated the presence of alkaloids, lignin, starch, proteins, lipids, phenolics, and tannins in the plant parts examined. Conclusion: This study revealed the pharmacognostical properties and characteristics of P. nodiflora, an important medicinal plant. The presence of alkaloids, lignin, starch, proteins, lipids, phenolics, and tannins in the plant parts can be attributed to the cytotoxic, antimicrobial, antiviral, and antifungal properties of P. nodiflora. Keywords: Phyla nodiflora, Microscopy, Pharmacognosy, Stomatal index, Histochemistry.
Evaluation of adaptive cognitive function in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Using Functional Transcranial Doppler

Background: Functional Transcranial Doppler (fTCD) is an efficient reliable method for detecting cerebral lateralization; however very few studies were interested in its application in multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical settings. Objective: Our purpose was to investigate whether lateralization index for language is altered in multiple sclerosis patients using fTCD and its relation to adaptive cognitive functions. Methods: The study recruited 20 multiple sclerosis patients and 20 healthy control subjects matched for age, sex and handedness. Using fTCD lateralization index for language was calculated in both groups. To assess clinical disabilities due to MS, we used Multiple Sclerosis Function Composite (MSFC), Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI). Results: Multiple sclerosis patients showed more bilateral activation for language tasks compared to controls (P < 0.001). Lateralization index in patients showed high significant correlation with the disease duration (P value < 0.01). Functional TCD lateralization index revealed a significant correlation with the PASAT scores (P value <0.05), however it showed no correlation Timed Waked Test TWT or the nine Hole Peg Test (9HPT). In addition there was no significant correlation of fTCD lateralization index with either the EDSS or the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory scores. Conclusion: Functional transcranial Doppler should be more entertained in investigating cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis patients. It may offer a future promising tool for diagnosing and following up treatment and rehabilitation effects. [Fathy Afifi, Hassan Kawashti, Khalid Sobh, Amir Abdelghaffar, Abdel-Hamid Seiam and Mohammad Aboulwafa. Evaluation of adaptive cognitive function in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Using Functional Transcranial Doppler. J Am Sci 2014;10(10):174-178]. (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.jofamericanscience. org. 26
Effect of Saffron (Crocus Sativus) Administration on Kidney Function in Normal Cats as Determined by Use of 99mTc-DTPA Renal Scintigraphy

Objective- To evaluate and compare kidney function with and without saffron administration and consider the diuretic and nephroprotective effects of aqueous extract of this substance in normal cats. Design- Descriptive study Animals- 6 female healthy cats (age: 2 to 4 years, average weight: 4 kg) - no clinical sign of renal disorders and prior to presentation Procedures- The scintigraphy of right and left kidney was performed using Gamma camera (Piker Model) and 99mTc-DTPA as radiopharmaceutical with and without saffron administration. The average quantities of Total and individual GFR, Time to peak activity (TOP), Emptying half time and 3-min activity are the determined parameters in this evaluation. Results- A significantly higher amount of total GFR was present at the end of the study with Saffron administration compared with control study with saline administration (P= 0.017). Also T1/2 of the treatment renograms was significantly shorter than that of the control renograms (P=0.002 for right kidney and p=0.001 for left kidney). Conclusion and Clinical Relevance- Administration of saffron increased the glomerular filtration rate and shortened the emptying half-time of radiopharmaceutical. This study shows that Saffron as a harmless substance can play as a diuretic substance, therefore can play a significant role in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases.
Partner influences on smoking cessation: A longitudinal study of couple relationships

ABSTRACT Introduction: Despite declines in population tobacco use, smoking remains unacceptably high. Smoking cessation may be particularly difficult in couple relationships when partners continue to smoke, and when relationship satisfaction is low. This study examined the longitudinal influence of partner tobacco use and relationship satisfaction on the likelihood of smoking cessation. Methods: Data were obtained from 238 tobacco-using couples aged between 18 and 45 over three assessments from a nationally representative sample of Australian households. Results: There was high concordance between partner smoking six years after the initial assessment, with a little more than three-quarters (76.1%) of non-smokers residing with partners who had also ceased smoking. Step-wise logistic regression models indicated that females were more likely to cease smoking if their partners had previously quit. Males were more likely to quit smoking when they perceived their relationship as highly satisfying and their partner had stopped smoking. Female partners were also more likely to quit smoking when they were highly satisfied with their relationships. Conclusions: Both partner’s smoking status and relationship satisfaction are important considerations in smoking-related cessation. For entrenched smokers in couple relationships, involvement of partners in interventions may be useful.