Articles

Insulin resistance, often referred to as impaired insulin sensitivity. This clinical case focusses on a woman with insulin resistance and a long-standing and recurring history of obesity to demonstrate how diet therapy can be applied in addition to standard medication therapy.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is increasingly recognized for its cardiovascular complications. To address the knowledge gap in our region, this study investigated the relationship between electrocardiographic (ECG) features and in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients.Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted involving 140 RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients at Dhaka Medical College Hospital from August 2021 to July 2022. Patients were divided into two groups based on ECG findings: normal (Group A) and abnormal (Group B). Clinical data and ECG parameters were analyzed using SPSS 24.0.Results: Patients with abnormal ECGs were older, more likely male, and presented with higher rates of dyspnea and palpitations. They were also at increased risk of severe COVID-19 and had longer hospital stays. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher in Group B (21.4% vs.4.3%). ST-T changes and atrial fibrillation were associated with increased mortality. Independent predictors of in-hospital mortality included ECG abnormalities and admission SpO₂ < 90%.Conclusion: ECG abnormalities are significantly associated with adverse outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Further large-scale studies are warranted to strengthen these findings.

A prospective cross-sectional study of diabetic patients registered at the Eye department of Tobruk Medical Center in Tobruk-Libya between (01.06.2023 to 29.02.2024). At the same time data was collected in the eye department in Alwahda Derna Teaching Hospital, Data was collected using the same administered questionnaire. Grading of DR was done by slit-lamp examination and Fundoscopy by an ophthalmologist. Descriptive analysis included percentage mean, median, and p - value by using SPSS 25. There were 185 diabetic patients, ages ranging between 30 and 90 years, with a mean of 58, the majority (97.6%) were of Libyan nationality. There were 86 males and 99 females. Patients with a duration of diabetes ranging between 11 and 15 years were at almost a five-fold risk of developing DR compared to those with a duration of < 10 years. Most of advanced complicated diabetic retinopathy cases had diabetes for more than fifteen years, and no advanced disease in the cases with a duration of less than 10 years.

A recurrent miscarriage may be defined in the African context as the foetal demise of two or more successive pregnancies before the attainment of the age of viability. A literature review was done to assess the trend of recurrent miscarriage in sub-Saharan Africa. Identifying the main causes, considering the population at risk, and the availability of accurate diagnostic utilities to effectively ensure good management of recurrent miscarriage is an important gynaecologic issue. Over the years, studies have identified several etiologies and yet there’s been no tangible implementation of therapeutic strategies. Routine modifications should also be employed to develop new approaches to reproductive prognosis. There is notably scanty information on the cases of spontaneous abortion due to chromosomal abnormalities. Genetic and immunological factors should be considered in the work-up plan for women with RM. About 70% of the cases of RM are considered unexplained, and this may be due to limited resources. We concluded that there is relatively poor management of miscarriage and cases of missed and inaccurate diagnosis of the causes of spontaneous abortion in sub-Saharan Africa. More studies are needed in order to assess the extent of genetic induced miscarriage, where resources are limited, folic acid supplements should be provided for pregnant women.

The torsional deformation behavior of an elastic bar with a circular cross-section was investigated by applying invariant dyadic analysis, where the small finite displacement functions advocated by Saint-Venant (1855) were fully employed. It was found that the previously overlooked circumferential shear force field generated by pure torsion on the side walls of a bar produces an unusual torque term induced by the skew-symmetric part of the deformation tensor and exhibits quadratic length dependence along the z-axis of the bar. The adaptation of this torque term for a helical conformation of α-peptides creates moments acting on the circular cross-sections and is directed along the surface normal of circular cross-sections, which coincides with the tangent vector of the helix. The projection of this torque along the z-axis of the helix varies quadratically with the azimuthal angle. The radial component of the unusual torque, which also lies along the principal normal vector of the helix, starts to perform a precession motion by tracking a spiral orbit around the z-axis, whereas its apex angle decreases asymptotically with the azimuthal angle and finally reaches a finite value depending on the height of the helix along the z-axis. The ordinary torque terms, which are also deduced from the self- and anti-self-conjugate parts of the deformation tensor, have magnitudes half that of the full torque term reported in the literature. The present results were applied to the helical conformation of α-peptides designated by {3.611} to show that the mechanical stability of strained open-ended helical conformations can be successfully achieved by spontaneous readjustments of the surface and bulk Helmholtz free energies under isothermal isochoric conditions. It has been demonstrated that the main contribution to the mechanical stability of α-peptide 3.611 cannot come alone from the electrostatic dipole-dipole interaction potential of the anti-align excess dipole pairs but also from the surface Helmholtz free energy, which is characterized by a binding free energy of -15.5 eV/molecule (-32.56 Kcal/mole) for an alpha-peptide composed of 11 amino acid residues with a critical arc length of approximately 10 nm, assuming that the shear modulus is G = 1GPa and the surface Helmholtz specific free energy density is fs = 800 erg/cm2. This result was in excellent agreement with the experimental observations of the AH-1 conformation of (Glu)n Cys at pH 8. The present theory indicates that only two excess permanent anti-align dipole pairs for one α-Helical peptide molecule is requirement to stabilize the whole secondary structure of the protein that is exposed to heavy torsional deformation during the folding processes which amounts to 7.75 eV/molecule stored electrostatic energy compared to the interfacial Helmholtz free energy of -23.25 eV/molecule, which is exposed to hydrophobic environments.

Background: We previously reported, for the first time, serum levels of the C-terminal fragment of fibroblast growth factor 23 (C-FGF23) in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD). Most HD patients have undergone treatment with either recombinant erythropoietin (r-EPO) or hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) proline hydroxylase domain (PHD) inhibitor, both of which stimulate FGF23 production and cleavage. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study involved analyzing measuring FGF-related parameters and comparing results for subgroups of patients who received either r-EPO and or a PHD inhibitor. Results: No significant difference was observed for iron-related parameters or serum hepcidin levels in both subgroups of patients. Significant differences were found for certain FGF-23-related parameters. Conclusion: Both FGF23 production and cleavage were stimulated more in patients treated with the PHD inhibitor than in patients treated with r-EPO.

Usually affecting men in the sixth decade bladder cancer is generally revealed by hematuria or lower urinary tract symptoms. Cutaneous metastases are very rare in genitourinary tumors representing only 1.34% of cutaneous metastases of other neoplasms. The presence of cutaneous metastases is associated with a poor prognosis with a median survival of fewer than 12 months.We reported the case of a 65-year-old man current smoker who presented a cutaneous metastasis of urothelial bladder cancer confirmed after a cutaneous biopsy, palliative chemotherapy was initiated after multidisciplinary staff.

It is important for sustainable use of soil water resource and high-quality development to forecast the soil moisture in forestland of water-limited regions. There are some soil water models. However, there is not the best model to forecast the change of soil moisture in the caragana shrubland. In this paper, the plant water relationship has been investigated at the same time for a long term in the caragana shrubland of semiarid region of the Loess Plateau of China. The data of soil moisture was divided and then NARX neural network was used to build model I and model II. For model I, low frequency component was the input variable, and for model II, low frequency component and high frequency component were predicted. The results showed the average relative error for model I is 3.5% and for model II is 0.3%. The average relative error of predicted soil moisture in 100 cm layer using model II is 0.8%, then soil water content in the 40 cm and 200 cm soil depth is selected and the forecast errors are 4.9% and 0.4%. The results showed that using model II to predict soil water is well Predicting soil water using model II will be important for sustainable use of soil water resource and high-quality development.

Self-Powered Neutron Detectors (SPNDs) are in use as in-core Neutron Fluence Detectors in Nuclear Power Plants. Though the detectors are simple in design and have a common structure for the same application, there are various types of emitters (neutron-sensitive electrodes) that make SPNDs categorized into different types. There are various SPNDs in application at different types of nuclear power reactors. SPND emitters are chosen based on their characteristics/behavior in the neutron & gamma flux environment in the reactor core. A detailed Literature Review was done on five different types of SPNDs. This paper focuses on the physics behind the operation, characteristics, and review of Vanadium, Rhodium, Inconel, and Cobalt & Silver emitter-based SPNDs. A comparison study was done by a literature review on these detectors.

Vaginal bleeding during pregnancy can often be frightening for women. However, such bleeding does not always indicate a serious problem. This type of bleeding occurs routinely, especially in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. A significant proportion of women who experience bleeding during pregnancy go on to give birth to healthy babies. Despite this, women who frequently experience bleeding problems at different stages of pregnancy may need to take this situation seriously. A critical approach is important both from the gynecologist and from the pregnant woman.