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Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is a genetic disorder that can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema. Although it is the most well-studied genetic risk factor for emphysema, data is still scarce. Traditionally, medical therapy is similar to standard chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Over the past several decades, enzyme augmentation therapy has emerged as a highly utilized alpha-1 antitrypsin-specific therapy. It has become the standard of care for severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency despite unclear effects on a multitude of clinical outcomes. Significant data supports interventional therapies, including lung volume reduction surgery and bronchoscopic lung volume reduction, for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients without alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. These interventions have less robust data in the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This review will explore the data regarding various treatment options for severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema.

Edentulism, a condition characterized by the absence of teeth, significantly impacts facial aesthetics, eating efficiency, and speech fluency, thereby diminishing the quality of life. This paper aims to explore the All-On-Four Treatment Concept in Dental Implants, a promising solution to this issue. The All-On-Four approach, though complex, offers a pathway to restore smile and functionality by using four strategically positioned implants to hold a temporary prosthesis. This prosthesis is later replaced by a permanent version after approximately four months. This swift oral restoration technique significantly enhances a patient’s self-confidence and overall life quality. The significance of this treatment lies in its potential to provide a less invasive and more affordable solution for severe jawbone atrophy, where the proximity of critical anatomical structures and compromised bone conditions may hinder other prosthetic solutions. The paper concludes with a discussion on the potential of the All-On-Four treatment to revolutionize dental implant procedures, offering a beacon of hope for individuals suffering from edentulism.

The RNA interference (RNAi) technique is a new modality for cancer therapy, and several candidates are being tested clinically. Nanotheranostics is a rapidly growing field combining disease diagnosis and therapy, which ultimately may add in the development of ‘personalized medicine’. Technologies on theranostic nanomedicines has been discussed. We designed and developed bioresponsive and fluorescent hyaluronic acid-iodixanol nanogels (HAI-NGs) for targeted X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging and chemotherapy of MCF-7 human breast tumors. HAI-NGs were obtained with a small size of ca. 90 nm, bright green fluorescence and high serum stability from hyaluronic acid-cystamine-tetrazole and reductively degradable polyiodixanol-methacrylate via nanoprecipitation and a photo-click crosslinking reaction. This chapter presents an over view of the current status of translating the RNAi cancer therapeutics in the clinic, a brief description of the biological barriers in drug delivery, and the roles of imaging in aspects of administration route, systemic circulation, and cellular barriers for the clinical translation of RNAi cancer therapeutics, and with partial content for discussing the safety concerns. Finally, we focus on imaging-guided delivery of RNAi therapeutics in preclinical development, including the basic principles of different imaging modalities, and their advantages and limitations for biological imaging. With growing number of RNAi therapeutics entering the clinic, various imaging methods will play an important role in facilitating the translation of RNAi cancer therapeutics from bench to bedside.

Smart agriculture applications (monitoring, sensing, automation and control) of micro-climate and environmental conditions for different agriculture production sectors and scales, decision-makers and researchers need to take it into consideration to strengthen the efforts of mitigation and adaption of climate change impacts as well as maximize the natural resources use efficiencies and food production. Motivate the farmers to implement smart agriculture applications, especially in developed and poor countries, strong cooperation for technology transfer and build up the technology infrastructure of information and communication (ICT) plus the internet of things (IoT).

Objective: To describe some aspects of the quality of ambulance care and completeness of information in the transfer forms of emergency patients who arrived in ambulances to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL). Methods:This was a descriptive study. All ambulances arrived at the NHSL during the study period with an emergency patient were selected (n=409) and from those 250 transfer forms, which could be traced were taken. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for ambulance staff. A Checklist, which has been derived from the standard patent chart, was used to determine the availability of information on transfer forms. Results: Of the 409 ambulances, the patient was accompanied by a doctor in 4% (n=16), a nurse in 4% (n=15) and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) in 1% (n= 4), and there were 675 miner employees and 409 drivers. Twenty six percent (n= 4) of doctors, 12.5% (n= 2) of nurses, 100% (n=4) of EMTs, 56.9% (n=189) of drivers and 24.3% (n=164) of minor employees had received training in emergency medicine/pre-hospital care. The time interval between receipt of the message and loading the patient to the ambulance was >15 minutes on 19% (n= 75) of the occasions and from the latter time to commencement of the journey was >15 minutes on 7% (n=27) of the occasions. The call number of sending facility 0.4% (n=1) and sending time 33.2% (n=83) were poorly documented. The past surgical histories 20.8% (n=52), chronic diseases 48% (n=120), psychological problems 13.2% (n=33) and allergies 9.2% (n=23) were poorly documented. Details of physical examination findings except cardio-vascular system were not documented in >50% of transfer forms. Medications had been documented fairly (>60%) in most of the transfer forms and however, the procedures (IV fluids, ECG) were poorly documented (<30%). Conclusion: The completeness of information in the transfer form was not up to standards. This emphasizes for need of well-structured standard transfer form in the country.

Sleep related breathing disorders (SRBD) are among seven well-established major categories of sleep disorders defined in the third edition of The International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD-3), and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the most common SRBD [1,2]. Several studies have demonstrated that obstructive sleep apnea treatment increases the quality of life in OSA patients [3-8]. Indeed, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), cognitive impairment (e.g., deficits in attention-concentration, memory, dexterity, and creativity), traffic accidents, and deterioration of social activities are frequently reported in untreated patients [9-11]. Furthermore, an increase in cardiovascular morbidities and mortality (systemic hypertension, stroke, cardiac arrhythmias, pulmonary arterial hypertension, heart failure) [12], metabolic dysfunction, cerebrovascular ischemic events and chemical/structural central nervous system cellular injuries (gray/white matter) has been reported in OSA patients [13-17].  Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is considered the gold standard for treatment of moderate-severe OSA, nevertheless there is an increasing body of evidence supporting the usefulness of mandibular advancement devices (MADs) for improving quality of life and respiratory parameters even among patients with a high severity of OSA burden [5,10,18,19]. According to the standard of care of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), MADs are indicated for mild to moderate OSA particularly in the context of CPAP intolerance or refusal, surgical contraindication, or the need for a short-term substitute therapy [9,15,20-22]. In Cuba, CPAP machines are not readily available; they are expensive and the majority of OSA patients cannot obtain this mode of therapy. Taking into account this problem, our hypothesis was based in the scientific evidences of MAD effectiveness, considering that low cost MADs could offer a reasonable alternative treatment for patients with OSA where CPAP technology are not handy. In this way our purpose was to assess the efficacy of one of the most simple, low cost, manufactured monoblock MAD models (SAS de Zúrich) in terms of improvements in cerebral function, sleep quality and drowsiness reports in a group of Cuban OSA patients with mild to severe disease. Outcome measures included changes in the brain electrical activity, sleep quality, and respiratory parameters, measured by EEG recording with qEEG analysis and polysomnographic studies correspondingly, which were recorded before and during treatment with an MAD, as well as subjective/objective improvements in daytime alertness. 

Essential Thrombocythemia (ET) is currently classified as a Philadelphia negative myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) together with polycythemia vera (PV) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF); the latter can be further divided in pre-fibrotic primary myelofibrosis (pre-PMF) and overt myelofibrosis, as listed in the revised 2016 World Health Organization classification of myeloid malignancies (WHO 2016). Overall, respect to the others MPNs, ET is characterized by favorable prognosis, lower life expectancy if compared to the control population, increased risk of thrombohemorrhagic complications along with possible evolution in myelofibrosis and leukemic transformation. In this review the authors will review current knowledge on biology, clinical aspects, prognosis and stratification of thrombotic risk, therapeutic options and outcome in ET patients.

Despite the rising burden of fungal infections across the globe, the World Health Organization's efforts remained questionable in fungal infection-related projects. Most of the developing countries consequently lost focus on the need for assessment and establishment of national surveillance set up or advanced technology hubs against mycological infections. The current study aimed to the determination of the local burden of cutaneous fungal infections in 2019-2021. Among 497 suspected fungal cultures, 22.5% depicted fungal growth. Among males, the prevalence of dermatomycosis was 0.75 times higher than in females. Penicillium species followed by Epidermophyton and Candida species were common among subjects of < 30 years of age. The Aspergillus spp, Penicillium spp, mucormycosis agents, and Candida albicans infections were more common among subjects 30 to 60 years of age. Aspergillus species were more commonly observed among patients > 60 of age. 22.2% of the fungal infections were Penicillium species, 9% of the infections were Aspergillus species, followed by 4.4% of Epidermophyton, mucormycosis, Candida species, and Candida albicans respectively. There is an urgent need for the establishment of national policy for the prevention of fungal disease.

Being one of the basic principles of clinical research, informed consent is definitely a legal responsibility and ethical duty for health professionals.

The study has been undertaken to investigate the determination of digital financial fraud (cyber fraud) in Jamtara district of Jharkhand (the hub of cyber fraudsters) the basic tools & techniques which are used by the offenders and to find out the socio-economic condition of their social life & find the new challenging in cybercrime investigation and to find out the more secure way of digital financial flow, by using survey research method and work on secondary as well primary data which was related to this study, cybercrime especially financial fraud becomes the new challenging task for law enforcement agencies.Digital financial frauds are being within an undefined jurisdiction so it becomes more difficult to investigate the cases and due to other different public as well private sectors of service providers like the telecom companies and the banks are unable to make the defensive system for their customer also. This is the main reason for delays in cyber-related case investigation and a very low conviction rate in cyber-related cases.