Effects of Nalbuphine and Fentanyl as Adjuvants to (0.5 %) Isobaric Levobupivacaine in Subarachnoid Block for Elective Transurethral Endoscopic Surgeries

BACKGROUND Isobaric levobupivacaine has minimal effect on positional variation of sensory and motor blockade given intrathecally. Also, it has lesser cardiotoxic and neurotoxic effects. Present study was done to compare efficacy, analgesia haemodynamic effects and any adverse effects after spinal anaesthesia with isobaric levobupivacaine with nalbuphine and fentanyl as adjuvants in transurethral endoscopic surgeries. METHODS 60 male adult patients of American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA class I-III) of age group 40 - 80 years were randomized into 2 groups (n = 30) in this prospective, double blinded study. 10 mg of 0.5 % levobupivacaine with 25 µg fentanyl in group LF and 10 mg of 0.5 % levobupivacaine with 0.8 mg nalbuphine in group LN. Parameters assessed were sensory and motor blockade characteristics and hemodynamic variables in both the groups. Adverse effects were recorded if any. RESULTS Onset of sensory and motor blockade were significantly faster in group LF compared to group LN. In both the groups, time for two segment regression was comparable. Statistically significant prolonged analgesic duration was noticed in group with nalbuphine than fentanyl as adjuvant to isobaric levobupivacaine. Difference in haemodynamic variation was not significant in both the groups. CONCLUSIONS Intrathecal nalbuphine 0.8 mg as an adjuvant with isobaric levobupivacaine 0.5 % 10 mg is as efficacious as fentanyl 25µg in transurethral endoscopic surgeries in elderly population with better hemodynamic stability. KEY WORDS Levobupivacaine; Fentanyl; Nalbuphine; Spinal anaesthesia.

Investigating the effect of positional variation on mid-lactation mammary gland transcriptomics in mice fed either a low-fat or high-fat diet

Little attention has been given to the effect of positional variation of gene expression in the mammary gland. However, more research is shedding light regarding the physiological differences that mammary gland location can have on the murine mammary gland. Here we examined the differentially expressed genes between mammary gland positions under either a low-fat diet (LFD) or a high-fat diet (HFD) in the mid-lactation mammary gland (lactation day 11; L11). Three-week old WT C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to either a low-fat diet (LFD) or high fat diet (HFD) (n = 3/group) and either the right thoracic mammary gland (TMG) or inguinal mammary gland (IMG) was collected from each dam for a total of 12 unique glands. Within each diet, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were first filtered by adjusted p-value (cutoff ≤ 0.05) and fold-change (FC, cutoff ≥2). Genes were further filtered by mean normalized read count with a cutoff≥10. We observed that mammary gland position had a significant impact on mammary gland gene expression with either LFD or HFD diet, with 1264 DEGs in LFD dams and 777 DEGs in HFD dams. We found that genes related to snRNP binding and translation initiation were most significantly altered between the TMG and IMG. Although we were not able to discern a molecular mechanism, many small nuclear RNAs and small nucleolar RNAs were differentially expressed between the TMG and IMG responsible for cellular functions such as splicing and ribosome biogenesis, which provides and interesting avenue for future research. Our study supports the hypothesis that collection of the mammary gland from a particular location influences mammary gland gene expression, thereby highlighting the importance for researchers to be vigilant in documenting and reporting which mammary gland they are using for their studies.

Offset Trajectory Planning of Robot End Effector and its Jerk with Curvature Theory

Some situations that change the parameters of the kinematic structure may cause the robot end effector to deviate [Merlet [2005] Parallel Robots, Vol. 128 (Springer Science & Business Media, Germany)] from the desired trajectory. This effect is called the robustness of the robot by Merlet. One of the ways to correct the robustness is by updating the robot trajectory. The jerk vector of the robot end effector is the third-order positional variation of the TCP and defined as thus the time derivative of the acceleration vector. If there is a high curvature on the transition curve trajectory of robot, then there is a tangential jerk along the trajectory. In this study, the geometrically offset trajectory of the robot end effector from the current trajectory was obtained by using the curvature theory. The angular velocity and angular acceleration of the offset trajectory were calculated. An example of the main trajectory of robot end effector and its offset is given. Also, the jerk of the robot end effector of the offset trajectory was calculated according to the curvature of the trajectory surface in case of a jerk problem caused by a high curvature in the transition curve along the offset trajectory curve.

Validity of the EOS-determined pelvic parameters and orientation with pelvic positional variation: a phantom study

The EOS is a medical imaging system that incorporates simultaneous orthogonal images, producing three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of the whole skeletal system in various functional positions. Despite growing interest in the pelvic 3D position, the validity of the EOS has not yet been well studied. We investigated the trueness and precision of EOS imaging for pelvic parameters and orientation and assessed whether the measurement using the EOS was affected by the pelvic orientation itself. The orientation of the anterior pelvic plane and pelvic parameters of a custom-made pelvic phantom were measured by three raters using the EOS, and the measurements obtained were compared with the true values. The standard deviations of the measurement errors were 3.23°, 0.26°, 0.23°, 2.98°, 0.88°, and 3.22° for flexion, obliquity, rotation, pelvic incidence, spinopelvic tilt, and sacral slope, respectively. The root-mean square averages of the standard deviation of each measurement were 4.05°, 0.41°, 0.28°, 4.80°, 0.99°, and 5.13°, respectively. The measurement errors for sacral slope correlated significantly with geometric means of flexion, obliquity, and rotation (r = 0.364, p = 2.67 × 10–11). The EOS rendered accurate and reliable measurements regarding pelvic 3D position, even with positional variation, but positional variation could affect measurements of sacral slope.

Local superimpositions facilitate morphometric analysis of complex articulating structures

Articulating structures, such as the vertebrate skeleton or the body and limb segments of the arthropod exoskeleton, comprise a majority of the morphological diversity across the eukaryotic tree of life. Quantifying the form of articulating structures is therefore imperative for a fuller understanding of the factors influencing biological form. A wealth of freely available 3 D data capturing this morphological diversity is stored in online repositories such as Morphosource, but the geometric morphometric analysis of an articulating structure is impeded by arbitrary differences in the resting positions of its individual articulating elements. In complex articulating structures, where the angles between articulating elements cannot be standardized, landmarks on articulating elements must be Procrustes superimposed independently (locally) and then recombined to quantify variation in the entire articulating structure simultaneously. Here, we discuss recent advances in local superimposition techniques, namely the ‘matched local superimpositions’ approach which incorporates anatomically-accurate relative sizes, positions, and orientations of locally-superimposed landmarks, enabling clearer biological interpretation. We also use simulations to evaluate the consequences of choice of superimposition approach. Our results show that local superimpositions will isolate shape variation within locally-superimposed landmark subsets by sacrificing size and positional variation. They may also create morphometric ‘modules’ when there are none by increasing integration within the locally-superimposed subsets, however this effect is no greater than the spurious between-module integration created when superimposing landmark subsets (i.e., articulating elements) together. Taken together, our results show that local superimposition techniques differ from conventional Procrustes superimpositions in predictable ways. Finally, we use empirical datasets of the skulls of wrasses and colubriform snakes to highlight the promise of local superimpositions and their utility. Complex articulating structures must be studied, and the only current solution to do so is local superimpositions.

Evolution of conserved noncoding sequences in Arabidopsis thaliana

Recent pangenome studies have revealed a large fraction of the gene content within a species exhibits presence-absence variation (PAV). However, coding regions alone provide an incomplete assessment of functional genomic sequence variation at the species level. Little to no attention has been paid to noncoding regulatory regions in pangenome studies, though these sequences directly modulate gene expression and phenotype. To uncover regulatory genetic variation, we generated chromosome-scale genome assemblies for thirty Arabidopsis thaliana accessions from multiple distinct habitats and characterized species level variation in Conserved Noncoding Sequences (CNS). Our analyses uncovered not only PAV and positional variation (PosV) but that diversity in CNS is non-random, with variants shared across different accessions. Using evolutionary analyses and chromatin accessibility data, we provide further evidence supporting roles for conserved and variable CNS in gene regulation. Additionally, our data suggests transposable elements contribute to CNS variation. Characterizing species-level diversity in all functional genomic sequences may later uncover previously unknown mechanistic links between genotype and phenotype.

Position-specific countermovement jump characteristics of elite Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 athletes

Rugby union (RU) is an intermittent team sport, with diverse playing positions, played internationally by both men and women. Considerable scientific attention has been devoted to men’s RU, however despite the growth in the women’s professional game, there is a significant lack of available physiological and normative data. The purpose of the present study was to investigate positional variation in countermovement jump characteristics from elite women’s RU players. Qualitative data were collected from women’s Rugby World Cup (2017) competitors (n = 86; age: 27 ± 5 years; body mass: 77.8 ± 10.6 kg; height: 1.69 ± 0.07 cm) and jump data (countermovement jumps) were collected using a 1200 Hz force platform (n = 63). Athletes were divided into positional unit (backs: n = 39 and forwards: n = 47) and by positional subgroups. Backs had greater jump height (ES = 0.72, 95%CL ± 0.50), relative power output (ES = 0.84, 95%CL ± 0.50), relative force production (ES = 0.62, 95%CL ± 0.51) and reactive strength index (RSI; ES = 0.62, 95%CL ± 0.50), compared to forwards (for all, P < 0.02). Backrows, halves and back-three players had greater relative force, relative power and jump height, compared to the front and second rows (P < 0.03; ES > 0.70). These data could aid in programming for long-term player development in women’s RU and could have implications for “readiness” to compete at international level.