Displaying publications 81 - 100 of 104 in total

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  1. Kumar D, Rishabh Kumar R, Kujur A, Kumar C, Sunderam S, Kashyap V, et al.
    Malays J Med Sci, 2020 Jul;27(4):108-118.
    PMID: 32863750 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2020.27.4.10
    Background: This study intends to find the growth patterns of selected school children. Globally accepted statistical methods were used to evaluate the data and prepare a growth chart.

    Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with school-going children from 16 selected schools of a tribal district in Jharkhand using multistage cluster random sampling. In each selected school, 60 students, 30 boys and 30 girls, were chosen randomly, totaling 960 children (full data was for 935 children only). Growth charts were created using Lambda-Mu-Sigma (LMS) chart maker version 2.5 for height, weight and body mass index (BMI). In the charts, the LMS values with Z scores for each age and respective height and weight for boys and girls were recorded.

    Results: The 468 boys and 467 girls were in the range of 6-14 years of age. Percentile values obtained for the measured heights in centimetres were evaluated and compared with Indian Academy of Pediatrics reference charts for boys and girls for the same age group, and our values were found to be on the lower side. We were able to plot a growth chart of the data set; as the tribal children's ethnicity is different, this growth chart might be used to assess nutritional status.

    Conclusion: We concluded that growth curves for height, weight, and BMI may be used for evaluating children of age 6-14 years in the tribal population. The measures can be a good indicator of their nourishment status and overall growth patterns, which might be indigenous to their ethnicity. A larger sample size of similar tribal populations may give a clearer picture.

  2. Dey YN, Wanjari MM, Srivastava B, Kumar D, Sharma D, Sharma J, et al.
    Heliyon, 2020 May;6(5):e04023.
    PMID: 32509986 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04023
    The tubers of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Elephant foot yam), principally consumed as crop food and vegetables, are used in ethno-medicinal practices in mitigation of constipation and piles. Hence, present study evaluated the effect of tubers of A. paeoniifolius and its active constituents glucomannan and betulinic acid on experimentally-induced constipation. The tuber and its extracts were standardized as per Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India and physicochemical constants were found within the pharmacopoeial limit. HPTLC fingerprint profile of extracts has been developed using suitable mobile phase. Methanolic extract was subjected to column chromatography. The isolated phytoconstituents were characterized by FT-IR, NMR and MS and identified as betulinic acid and β-sitosterol. Functional constipation was induced in rats by oral administration of loperamide (3 mg/kg) for first 3 consecutive days. The rats were orally treated with methanolic and aqueous tuber extracts in the doses of 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg, glucomannan (300 mg/kg) and betulinic acid (1.5 mg/kg) for 7 days. The parameters viz. number of stools, wet weight of stools and moisture content of stools and intestinal transit were studied. Treatment with tuber extracts, glucomannan and betulinic acid showed significant (p < 0.05) increase in fecal parameters and intestinal transit in constipated rats. The effects were comparable to standard laxative drug, sodium picosulfate (5 mg/kg, orally). The results indicated that tuber extracts and its active constituents showed laxative effect and relieved constipation. It is concluded that tuber of A. paeoniifolius exhibited beneficial effect in functional constipation possibly through its laxative action. The study validates its ethno-medicinal use in correction of constipation. The principal constituents, betulinic acid and glucomannan in tuber extracts might have played important role in relieving the constipation.
  3. Kumar P, Pandey R, Sharma P, Dhar MS, A V, Uppili B, et al.
    Wellcome Open Res, 2020;5:184.
    PMID: 32995557 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16119.1
    Background: India first detected SARS-CoV-2, causal agent of COVID-19 in late January 2020, imported from Wuhan, China. From March 2020 onwards, the importation of cases from countries in the rest of the world followed by seeding of local transmission triggered further outbreaks in India. Methods: We used ARTIC protocol-based tiling amplicon sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 (n=104) from different states of India using a combination of MinION and MinIT sequencing from Oxford Nanopore Technology to understand how introduction and local transmission occurred. Results: The analyses revealed multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 genomes, including the A2a cluster from Europe and the USA, A3 cluster from Middle East and A4 cluster (haplotype redefined) from Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia) and Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan). The local transmission and persistence of genomes A4, A2a and A3 was also observed in the studied locations. The most prevalent genomes with patterns of variance (confined in a cluster) remain unclassified, and are here proposed as A4-clade based on its divergence within the A cluster. Conclusions: The viral haplotypes may link their persistence to geo-climatic conditions and host response. Multipronged strategies including molecular surveillance based on real-time viral genomic data is of paramount importance for a timely management of the pandemic.
  4. Navin Kumar DR
    Med J Malaysia, 2018 12;73(6):443.
    PMID: 30647229
    No abstract provided.
  5. Dey YN, Sharma G, Wanjari MM, Kumar D, Lomash V, Jadhav AD
    Pharm Biol, 2017 Dec;55(1):53-62.
    PMID: 27600166
    CONTEXT: The tuber of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson (Araceae), commonly called Suran or Jimmikand, has high medicinal value and is used ethnomedicinally for the treatment of different gastrointestinal and inflammatory disorders.

    OBJECTIVE: The present study evaluated the effects of extracts of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius tubers on acetic acid-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in rats.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: Wistar rats were orally administered methanol extract (APME) or aqueous extract (APAE) (250 and 500 mg/kg) or standard drug, prednisolone (PRDS) (4 mg/kg) for 7 days. On 6th day of treatment, UC was induced by transrectal instillation of 4% acetic acid (AA) and after 48 h colitis was assessed by measuring colitis parameters, biochemical estimations and histology of colon.

    RESULTS: APME or APAE pretreatment significantly (p 

  6. Gandhamal A, Talbar S, Gajre S, Razak R, Hani AFM, Kumar D
    Comput Biol Med, 2017 Sep 01;88:110-125.
    PMID: 28711767 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2017.07.008
    Knee osteoarthritis (OA) progression can be monitored by measuring changes in the subchondral bone structure such as area and shape from MR images as an imaging biomarker. However, measurements of these minute changes are highly dependent on the accurate segmentation of bone tissue from MR images and it is challenging task due to the complex tissue structure and inadequate image contrast/brightness. In this paper, a fully automated method for segmenting subchondral bone from knee MR images is proposed. Here, the contrast of knee MR images is enhanced using a gray-level S-curve transformation followed by automatic seed point detection using a three-dimensional multi-edge overlapping technique. Successively, bone regions are initially extracted using distance-regularized level-set evolution followed by identification and correction of leakages along the bone boundary regions using a boundary displacement technique. The performance of the developed technique is evaluated against ground truths by measuring sensitivity, specificity, dice similarity coefficient (DSC), average surface distance (AvgD) and root mean square surface distance (RMSD). An average sensitivity (91.14%), specificity (99.12%) and DSC (90.28%) with 95% confidence interval (CI) in the range 89.74-92.54%, 98.93-99.31% and 88.68-91.88% respectively is achieved for the femur bone segmentation in 8 datasets. For tibia bone, average sensitivity (90.69%), specificity (99.65%) and DSC (91.35%) with 95% CI in the range 88.59-92.79%, 99.50-99.80% and 88.68-91.88% respectively is achieved. AvgD and RMSD values for femur are 1.43 ± 0.23 (mm) and 2.10 ± 0.35 (mm) respectively while for tibia, the values are 0.95 ± 0.28 (mm) and 1.30 ± 0.42 (mm) respectively that demonstrates acceptable error between proposed method and ground truths. In conclusion, results obtained in this work demonstrate substantially significant performance with consistency and robustness that led the proposed method to be applicable for large scale and longitudinal knee OA studies in clinical settings.
  7. Gandhamal A, Talbar S, Gajre S, Hani AF, Kumar D
    Comput Biol Med, 2017 04 01;83:120-133.
    PMID: 28279861 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2017.03.001
    Most medical images suffer from inadequate contrast and brightness, which leads to blurred or weak edges (low contrast) between adjacent tissues resulting in poor segmentation and errors in classification of tissues. Thus, contrast enhancement to improve visual information is extremely important in the development of computational approaches for obtaining quantitative measurements from medical images. In this research, a contrast enhancement algorithm that applies gray-level S-curve transformation technique locally in medical images obtained from various modalities is investigated. The S-curve transformation is an extended gray level transformation technique that results into a curve similar to a sigmoid function through a pixel to pixel transformation. This curve essentially increases the difference between minimum and maximum gray values and the image gradient, locally thereby, strengthening edges between adjacent tissues. The performance of the proposed technique is determined by measuring several parameters namely, edge content (improvement in image gradient), enhancement measure (degree of contrast enhancement), absolute mean brightness error (luminance distortion caused by the enhancement), and feature similarity index measure (preservation of the original image features). Based on medical image datasets comprising 1937 images from various modalities such as ultrasound, mammograms, fluorescent images, fundus, X-ray radiographs and MR images, it is found that the local gray-level S-curve transformation outperforms existing techniques in terms of improved contrast and brightness, resulting in clear and strong edges between adjacent tissues. The proposed technique can be used as a preprocessing tool for effective segmentation and classification of tissue structures in medical images.
  8. Jahanfar A, Amirmojahedi M, Gharabaghi B, Dubey B, McBean E, Kumar D
    Waste Manag Res, 2017 Mar;35(3):220-227.
    PMID: 28148208 DOI: 10.1177/0734242X16686412
    Rapid population growth of major urban centres in many developing countries has created massive landfills with extraordinary heights and steep side-slopes, which are frequently surrounded by illegal low-income residential settlements developed too close to landfills. These extraordinary landfills are facing high risks of catastrophic failure with potentially large numbers of fatalities. This study presents a novel method for risk assessment of landfill slope failure, using probabilistic analysis of potential failure scenarios and associated fatalities. The conceptual framework of the method includes selecting appropriate statistical distributions for the municipal solid waste (MSW) material shear strength and rheological properties for potential failure scenario analysis. The MSW material properties for a given scenario is then used to analyse the probability of slope failure and the resulting run-out length to calculate the potential risk of fatalities. In comparison with existing methods, which are solely based on the probability of slope failure, this method provides a more accurate estimate of the risk of fatalities associated with a given landfill slope failure. The application of the new risk assessment method is demonstrated with a case study for a landfill located within a heavily populated area of New Delhi, India.
  9. Bawankar P, Shanbhag N, K SS, Dhawan B, Palsule A, Kumar D, et al.
    PLoS One, 2017;12(12):e0189854.
    PMID: 29281690 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189854
    Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness among working-age adults. Early diagnosis through effective screening programs is likely to improve vision outcomes. The ETDRS seven-standard-field 35-mm stereoscopic color retinal imaging (ETDRS) of the dilated eye is elaborate and requires mydriasis, and is unsuitable for screening. We evaluated an image analysis application for the automated diagnosis of DR from non-mydriatic single-field images. Patients suffering from diabetes for at least 5 years were included if they were 18 years or older. Patients already diagnosed with DR were excluded. Physiologic mydriasis was achieved by placing the subjects in a dark room. Images were captured using a Bosch Mobile Eye Care fundus camera. The images were analyzed by the Retinal Imaging Bosch DR Algorithm for the diagnosis of DR. All subjects also subsequently underwent pharmacological mydriasis and ETDRS imaging. Non-mydriatic and mydriatic images were read by ophthalmologists. The ETDRS readings were used as the gold standard for calculating the sensitivity and specificity for the software. 564 consecutive subjects (1128 eyes) were recruited from six centers in India. Each subject was evaluated at a single outpatient visit. Forty-four of 1128 images (3.9%) could not be read by the algorithm, and were categorized as inconclusive. In four subjects, neither eye provided an acceptable image: these four subjects were excluded from the analysis. This left 560 subjects for analysis (1084 eyes). The algorithm correctly diagnosed 531 of 560 cases. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 91%, 97%, 94%, and 95% respectively. The Bosch DR Algorithm shows favorable sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing DR from non-mydriatic images, and can greatly simplify screening for DR. This also has major implications for telemedicine in the use of screening for retinopathy in patients with diabetes mellitus.

    Study site: India
  10. Viswanathan, R., Ramesh, S., Kamesh Kumar, D., Elango, N.
    MyJurnal
    This paper focuses on examining the ‘cutting zone temperature’ while performing turning operation
    on AZ91Mg alloy using cemented carbide tools. The regression model is developed by using the RSM
    techniques based on experimental results. It is revealed that the cutting speed (v) is the most dominant
    factor affecting cutting zone temperature. The developed models of cutting zone temperature sufficiently
    map within the range of the turning conditions considered. The adequacy and accuracy of the regression
    equation is justified through ANOVA. It is found that the optimal combinations of machining parameters
    minimize the cutting temperature.
  11. Dey YN, Wanjari MM, Kumar D, Lomash V, Jadhav AD
    J Ethnopharmacol, 2016 Nov 04;192:183-191.
    PMID: 27426509 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2016.07.042
    ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson (Family- Araceae) is a crop of south East Asian origin. In India, its tuber is widely used in ethnomedicinal practices by different tribes for the treatment of piles (hemorrhoids).

    AIM: The present study evaluated the effect of methanolic and aqueous extract of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius tuber on croton oil induced hemorrhoids in rats.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: The methanolic extract was standardized with the major phenolic compound, betulinic acid, by HPLC. The hemorrhoids were induced by applying 6% croton oil preparation in the ano-rectal region. Rats were orally administered methanolic and aqueous extract at doses of 250 and 500mg/kg, each for 7 days. Pilex (200mg/kg) was used as reference anti-hemorrhoidal drug. Hemorrhoids were assessed on eighth day by measuring hemorrhoidal and biochemical parameters along with histology of ano-rectal tissue.

    RESULTS: Croton oil application caused induction of hemorrhoids as indicated by significant (p<0.001) increase in plasma exudation of Evans blue in ano-rectal tissue, macroscopic severity score and ano-rectal coefficient as compared to normal rats. It significantly (p<0.001) elevated lactate dehydrogenase and cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6) levels in serum and increased myeloperoxidase activity and lipid peroxidation in ano-rectal tissue along with marked histological damage as compared to normal rats. Treatment with tuber extracts and pilex significantly (p<0.05-p<0.001) ameliorated Evans blue exudation, hemorrhoidal parameters and other biochemical parameters with attenuation of tissue damage compared to hemorrhoid control rats. The results indicate that tuber extracts exhibited curative action on hemorrhoids. The aqueous extract showed more pronounced effect than methanolic extract. The effects may be attributed to anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

    CONCLUSION: Results indicate that tuber of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius exhibited curative action on hemorrhoids through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The study validates the ethnomedicinal use of tuber in hemorrhoids and implicates its therapeutic potential as an anti-hemorrhoidal agent.

  12. Thomas A, Rajesh EK, Kumar DS
    Phytother Res, 2016 Mar;30(3):357-66.
    PMID: 26749336 DOI: 10.1002/ptr.5559
    Tinospora crispa is a medicinal plant belonging to the botanical family Menispermiaceae. The plant is widely distributed in Southeast Asia and the northeastern region of India. A related species Tinospora cordifolia is used in Ayurveda for treating a large spectrum of diseases. Traditional healers of Thailand, Malaysia, Guyana, Bangladesh and the southern Indian province of Kerala use this plant in the treatment of diabetes. Many diterpenes, triterpenes, phytosteroids, alkaloids and their glycosides have been isolated from T. crispa. Cell culture and animal studies suggest that the herb stimulates secretion of insulin from β-cells. It also causes dose-dependent and time-dependent enhancement of glucose uptake in muscles. However, in view of the reported hepatotoxicity, this herb may be used with caution. This article reviews the animal studies and human clinical trials carried out using this herb. Areas of future research are also identified.
  13. Singh V, Elamvazuthi I, Jeoti V, George J, Swain A, Kumar D
    Biomed Eng Online, 2016;15:13.
    PMID: 26838596 DOI: 10.1186/s12938-016-0129-6
    Anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) is considered as the weakest ankle ligament that is most prone to injuries. Ultrasound imaging with its portable, non-invasive and non-ionizing radiation nature is increasingly being used for ATFL diagnosis. However, diagnosis of ATFL injuries requires its segmentation from ultrasound images that is a challenging task due to the existence of homogeneous intensity regions, homogeneous textures and low contrast regions in ultrasound images. To address these issues, this research has developed an efficient ATFL segmentation framework that would contribute to accurate and efficient diagnosis of ATFL injuries for clinical evaluation.
  14. Dey YN, Mahor S, Kumar D, Wanjari M, Gaidhani S, Jadhav A
    J Intercult Ethnopharmacol, 2016;5(1):36-42.
    PMID: 27069720 DOI: 10.5455/jice.20151211063819
    AIM: The tuber of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Family-Araceae), commonly called suran or jimikand, has medicinal and food value. It is used in ethnomedicinal practices for correction of gastrointestinal disturbances such as constipation and hemorrhoids. The present study evaluated the effect of A. paeoniifolius tuber on gastrointestinal motor functions.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: The tuber was collected in December 2011, and its methanolic extract was standardized with the major phenolic compound, betulinic acid, by high-performance liquid chromatography. Rats were orally administered methanolic (APME) or aqueous (APAE) extract (250 and 500 mg/kg, each) of tuber for 7 days. Metoclopramide (MET) (3 mg/kg, orally) was used a reference prokinetic drug. The gastrointestinal parameters viz. number of feces, wet and dry weight and moisture content of feces, gastric emptying, and intestinal transit were evaluated. The isolated tissue preparations were used to check the effect of the extracts on fundus and intestinal contractility. The glucomannan and total phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined spectrophotometrically.

    RESULTS: The pre-treatment of extracts significantly increased the number of feces, wet and dry weight of feces, moisture content, gastric emptying, and intestinal transit. Results were comparable to MET. Further, APME and APAE showed a contraction of fundus and ileum in isolated preparations. APME and APAE were also found to have fair amount of glucomannan, total phenolics, and flavonoids. The results indicate the gastrokinetic potential of the tuber extracts. This may be attributed to the presence of glucomannan and betulinic acid present in the extracts.

    CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the tuber of A. paeoniifolius exhibits gastrokinetic activity and substantiates its traditional use in gastrointestinal motor disturbances.

  15. Klionsky DJ, Abdelmohsen K, Abe A, Abedin MJ, Abeliovich H, Acevedo Arozena A, et al.
    Autophagy, 2016;12(1):1-222.
    PMID: 26799652 DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2015.1100356
  16. Hani AF, Kumar D, Malik AS, Walter N, Razak R, Kiflie A
    Acad Radiol, 2015 Jan;22(1):93-104.
    PMID: 25481518 DOI: 10.1016/j.acra.2014.08.008
    Quantitative assessment of knee articular cartilage (AC) morphology using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging requires an accurate segmentation and 3D reconstruction. However, automatic AC segmentation and 3D reconstruction from hydrogen-based MR images alone is challenging because of inhomogeneous intensities, shape irregularity, and low contrast existing in the cartilage region. Thus, the objective of this research was to provide an insight into morphologic assessment of AC using multilevel data processing of multinuclear ((23)Na and (1)H) MR knee images.
  17. Hani AF, Kumar D, Malik AS, Ahmad RM, Razak R, Kiflie A
    Rheumatol Int, 2015 Jan;35(1):1-16.
    PMID: 24879325 DOI: 10.1007/s00296-014-3052-9
    Early detection of knee osteoarthritis (OA) is of great interest to orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists, radiologists, and researchers because it would allow physicians to provide patients with treatments and advice to slow the onset or progression of the disease. Early detection can be achieved by identifying early changes in selected features of degenerative articular cartilage (AC) using non-invasive imaging modalities. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is becoming the standard for assessment of OA. The aim of this paper was to review the influence of MRI on the selection, detection, and measurement of AC features associated with early OA. Our review of the literature indicates that the changes associated with early OA are in cartilage thickness, cartilage volume, cartilage water content, and proteoglycan content that can be accurately, consistently, and non-invasively measured using MRI. Choosing an MR pulse sequence that provides the capability to assess cartilage physiology and morphology in a single acquisition and advanced multi-nuclei MRI is desirable. The results of the review indicate that using an ultra-high magnetic strength, MR imager does not affect early OA detection. In conclusion, MRI is currently the most suitable modality for early detection of knee OA, and future research should focus on the quantitative evaluation of early OA features using advances in MR hardware, software, and data processing with sophisticated image/pattern recognition techniques.
  18. Sahu PS, Parija S, Kumar D, Jayachandran S, Narayan S
    Parasite Immunol., 2014 Oct;36(10):509-21.
    PMID: 24965663 DOI: 10.1111/pim.12124
    Traditionally serum and/or CSF specimens have been used for detection of either specific antibodies or antigens as a supportive diagnosis of NCC. However, in recent days, much interest has been shown employing noninvasive specimens such as urine. In our study, we identified and compared a profile of circulating antigenic peptides of parasite origin in three different body fluids (CSF, serum and urine) obtained from confirmed NCC cases and control subjects. The circulating antigenic peptides were resolved by SDS-PAGE and subjected to immunoblotting. For confirmation of their origin as parasite somatic or excretory secretory (ES) material, immunoreactivity was tested employing affinity purified polyclonal Taenia solium metacestode anti-somatic or ES antibodies, respectively. Only lower molecular weight antigenic peptides were found circulating in urine in contrast to serum and CSF specimens. Few somatic peptides were identified to be 100% specific for NCC (19·5 kDa in all three specimens; 131, 70 kDa in CSF and serum only; 128 kDa in CSF only). Similarly, the specific ES peptides detected were 32 kDa (in all three specimens), 16·5 kDa (in serum and CSF only), and 15 kDa (urine only). A test format detecting either one or more of these specific peptides would enhance the sensitivity in diagnosis of NCC.
  19. Kumar D, Ganguly K, Hegde HV, Patil PA, Roy S, Kholkute SD
    J Ayurveda Integr Med, 2014 Jan;5(1):33-7.
    PMID: 24812473 DOI: 10.4103/0975-9476.128853
    The pastes prepared from roots of Plumbago zeylanica Linn. and barks of Holoptelea integrifolia Roxb. are widely used by traditional healers for the treatment of arthritis in rural northern Karnataka.
  20. Kulkarni DD, Tosh C, Venkatesh G, Senthil Kumar D
    Indian J Virol, 2013 Dec;24(3):398-408.
    PMID: 24426305 DOI: 10.1007/s13337-013-0171-y
    The emergence of Nipah virus (NiV) infection into the pig population and subsequently into the human population is believed to be due to changes in ecological conditions. In Malaysia, A major NiV outbreak occurred in pigs and humans from September 1998 to April 1999 that resulted in infection of 265 and death of 105 persons. About 1.1 million pigs had to be destroyed to control the outbreak. The disease was recorded in the form of a major outbreak in India in 2001 and then a small incidence in 2007, both the outbreaks in West Bengal only in humans without any involvement of pigs. There were series of human Nipah incidences in Bangladesh from 2001 till 2013 almost every year with mortality exceeding 70 %. The disease transmission from pigs acting as an intermediate host during Malaysian and Singapore outbreaks has changed in NIV outbreaks in India and Bangladesh, transmitting the disease directly from bats to human followed by human to human. The drinking of raw date palm sap contaminated with fruit bat urine or saliva containing NiV is the only known cause of outbreak of the disease in Bangladesh outbreaks. The virus is now known to exist in various fruit bats of Pteropus as well as bats of other genera in a wider belt from Asia to Africa.
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