Black Fungus: A Lethal Communal Issue After Winning the Life Battle Against COVID-19

The authors aimed to give a quick reference guide for humanity about the new threat even after the COVID-19 health battle i.e., the Black fungus also baptized as Mucormycosis infection. After recovering from COVID-19, patients with diabetes mellitus and patients who have undergone steroidal treatment are more prone to black fungus infection. This review gives quick information about various types of Mucormycosis infections, risk factors, symptoms, treatment, and prevention of black fungus. The things that can be and cannot be done to eradicate the black fungus. Any sign of black nasal mucosa/sputum, fever, headache, hazy/blurred/double vision with eye pain, loss of one side sensation on face and loss in the sensation while chewing, etc., then it should not be neglected and immediately intimated to the health professionals and get treated. If black fungus is unidentified early stages and untreated in time, the patients may lose their facial/neck parts as a part of cleaning surgery. The study concludes that by maintaining hygienic conditions, health checkups, and doctors’ advice one can fight and eradicate the black fungus.

EMPLOYABILITY OF ADVANCED IMAGE PROCESSING TO EFFECTIVELY COUNT AND CLASSIFY THE BACTERIAL COLONIES

Specification of Bacterial Colonies is needed in many fields, such as clinical analysis, biomedical examination for anticipation of severe illnesses, and the drug industry to avoid tainting items. Existing Bacterial Colony counter frameworks count Bacterial Colony physically, which is a tedious, less effective and dreary cycle. Henceforth, mechanization for calculating bacterial settlement was required. The proposed strategy counts these settlements naturally utilizing picture handling strategies. This strategy will give a more superior level of precision in the counting of bacterial provinces. The proposed method takes a picture of bacterial settlement and converts it into grayscale. Otsu thresholding is applied for the division of the image, further its change into a double shot. From that point onward, morphological activities are used to tidy up the picture by eliminating commotion and superfluous pixels. Distance and watershed changes are applied to double vision to make parts among covered and joint microscopic organisms. Locale properties and marking data of fragmented picture is utilized for counting of the bacterial province.

A New Report of Combined Central and Peripheral Demyelination: A Case Report

Combined central and peripheral demyelination (CCPD) is not encountered frequently in the clinical practice, and it requires a high level of suspicion for diagnosis. We describe a case of a young man who was diagnosed with radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS) after presenting initially with symptoms suggestive of central nervous system (CNS) insult in the form of double vision, slurred speech, left-sided numbness, and unsteadiness. However, on the next day of admission, his neurological examination was remarkable for ataxia, areflexia, and ophthalmoplegia, the typical triad of Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS). After confirming both diagnoses, the final diagnosis of CCPD was made. The challenges one may face to diagnose and treat CCPD urge sharing of similar cases to open the door for further extensive and thorough investigations and to encourage further studies and analysis of available data to come up with consolidated management guidelines for rare disorders.

Bulbar-Predominant Weakness

A 61-year-old man sought care for recurrent episodes of dysarthria for about 1 year. This symptom was more common after prolonged speaking. Six months before his evaluation he had significant slurring of his speech after talking for 3½ hours at work about a new project. This led to emergency evaluation and his symptoms were thought to represent a transient ischemic attack; he started aspirin and a statin. The episodes continued to recur. He also experienced intermittent binocular double vision, which did not improve with new eyeglasses, and a sensation that chewing and swallowing was more effortful. He noted that his arms and legs felt “heavy” at times. All these symptoms tended to occur later in the day or after exertion. Neurologic examination was remarkable for binocular double vision with prolonged gaze upward or to the far right. He could squat and rise 5 times but with difficulty by the 5th attempt. The patient’s symptoms suggested myasthenia gravis. The differential diagnosis for autoimmune myasthenia gravis, particularly with prominent ocular and facial muscle involvement, can include central nervous system disorders, motor neuron disease, and myopathy. Serologic evaluation showed positivity for acetylcholine receptor-binding antibody and acetylcholine receptor-modulating antibody. Striated muscle antibody was also positive. Thiopurine S-methyltransferase activity was low. Repetitive stimulation studies showed a decrement in the right facial nerve, which partially improved after exercise. Routine needle examination showed motor unit variation in the right orbicularis oculi. Single-fiber electromyography showed increased jitter in the right orbicularis oculi. Chest computed tomography showed scattered tiny pulmonary nodules but no evidence of thymoma or other neoplasm. The clinical diagnosis was autoimmune generalized myasthenia gravis, seropositive for acetylcholine receptor antibody, without evident thymoma or other neoplasm. The patient was initially treated with oral pyridostigmine with some symptomatic benefit. Oral prednisone was then initiated; symptoms resolved when the dose was titrated. Calcium and vitamin D supplements, as well as Pneumocystis prophylactic therapy, were initiated concurrently. Mycophenolate mofetil was added as a steroid-sparing agent. On thoracic surgery consultation, thymectomy was recommended. Autoimmune myasthenia gravis is a disorder of impaired neuromuscular transmission caused by immunoglobulin G-mediated attack on a critical component of the acetylcholine receptor signaling complex in the muscle’s postsynaptic membrane. The most commonly identified antibodies, target the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

Interocular suppression in primary visual cortex in strabismus: impact of staggering the presentation of stimuli to the eyes

In strabismus, double vision is prevented by interocular suppression. It has been reported that inhibition of neuronal firing in the primary visual cortex occurs only when stimuli are presented sequentially, rather than simultaneously. However, these recordings in alert macaques raised with exotropia showed, with rare exceptions, little evidence to support the concept that staggered stimulus presentation is more effective at inducing interocular suppression of V1 neurons.

Remembering Paris in Text and Film

Remembering Paris investigates Paris as an urban and poetic site of remembrance. For Charles Baudelaire, the streets of Paris conjured visions of the past even as he contemplated the present. This book investigates this and other cases of double vision, tracing back from Baudelaire into antiquity, but also following Baudelaire forwards as his poetry is translated, received and referenced in texts and films in the twentieth century and beyond.