Introduction to the special issue on psychiatry in Asia

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies in schizophrenia help clarify the neural substrates underlying the pathogenesis of this neuropsychiatric disorder. Contemporary brain imaging in schizophrenia is predominated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based research approaches. This review focuses on the various imaging studies from India and their relevance to the understanding of brain abnormalities in schizophrenia. The existing studies are predominantly comprised of structural MRI reports involving region-of-interest and voxel-based morphometry approaches, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and single-photon emission computed tomography/positron emission tomography (SPECT/PET) studies. Most of these studies are significant in that they have evaluated antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients – a relatively difficult population to obtain in contemporary research. Findings of these studies offer robust support to the existence of significant brain abnormalities at very early stages of the disorder. In addition, theoretically relevant relationships between these brain abnormalities and developmental aberrations suggest possible neurodevelopmental basis for these brain deficits.     

Ethnic density,cultural congruity and mental illness in migrants

Migration is now well understood to be associated with mental illness in many parts of the world. However, the cause and effects of migration that are associated with mental illness continue to be a point of debate. The Ethnic Density concepts give a plausible explanation. On further elaboration, we conclude that a move from a sociocentric society to an egocentric one leads to more distress and more mental illness. Cultural incongruity faced by a migrant in an alien culture has a similar impact. Several theories on migratory distress have tried to explain psychiatric morbidity: high morbidity at source, individual predisposition, stress, misdiagnosis and racial discrimination. We hypothesise that the impact of ethnic density and cultural congruity occurs in a social context.     

Trans-peritoneal vs. retroperitoneal robotic assisted partial nephrectomy in posterior renal tumours: need for a risk-stratified patient individualised approach. A systematic review and meta-analysis

Journal of Robotic Surgery - To systematically review world literature and compare peri-operative outcome including operating time (OT), estimated blood loss (EBL), warm ischemia time (WIT), length...     

Early- and late-onset pancreatic adenocarcinoma: A population-based comparative study

BackgroundPancreatic cancer is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer related death in the US. We aim to investigate the demographics, clinical outcomes and survival outcomes of patients diagnosed with early-onset (<40 years) and late-onset (>40 years) pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC).MethodsData on PAC between 1975 and 2016 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Registry.ResultsWithin the study period, 136,100 patients were identified which included 1181 patients with early-onset PAC and 134,919 patients with late-onset PAC. Both cohorts tend to present with distant metastasis (70.3% vs 57.9%). Both groups also showed an exponential rise in incidence (early-onset 3.69% annual change vs late-onset 6.25% annual change). When stratified by anatomical location, there was a trend of increasing cancer in the head of the pancreas for patients <40 years (3.63% annual change). While late PAC showed increasing cancer in all anatomical locations, the largest increase was observed in the tail of the pancreas (8.62% annual change). Overall, there was a mild difference in survival for early- and late-onset PAC (7 months vs 6 months, respectively, log rank p = 0.004). Both age groups showed the worse prognosis when cancer occurred in the tail of the pancreas (6 months vs 4 months, respectively). On cox proportion analysis, patients with late-onset PAC had twice the risk of mortality compared to early-onset PAC (HR 2.06, CI: 1.788–2.370, P = 0.001).ConclusionsOur study showed that both early- and late-onset PAC are increasing and while prognosis remains poor. Tumor anatomy showed a growing incidence of early-onset PAC in the head of the pancreas while late-onset PAC showed a rising incidence in the body and tail of the pancreas.     

Dynamical facilitation governs glassy dynamics in suspensions of colloidal ellipsoids

One of the greatest challenges in contemporary condensed matter physics is to ascertain whether the formation of glasses from liquids is fundamentally thermodynamic or dynamic in origin. Although the thermodynamic paradigm has dominated theoretical research for decades, the purely kinetic perspective of the dynamical facilitation (DF) theory has attained prominence in recent times. In particular, recent experiments and simulations have highlighted the importance of facilitation using simple model systems composed of spherical particles. However, an overwhelming majority of liquids possess anisotropy in particle shape and interactions, and it is therefore imperative to examine facilitation in complex glass formers. Here, we apply the DF theory to systems with orientational degrees of freedom as well as anisotropic attractive interactions. By analyzing data from experiments on colloidal ellipsoids, we show that facilitation plays a pivotal role in translational as well as orientational relaxation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the introduction of attractive interactions leads to spatial decoupling of translational and rotational facilitation, which subsequently results in the decoupling of dynamical heterogeneities. Most strikingly, the DF theory can predict the existence of reentrant glass transitions based on the statistics of localized dynamical events, called excitations, whose duration is substantially smaller than the structural relaxation time. Our findings pave the way for systematically testing the DF approach in complex glass formers and also establish the significance of facilitation in governing structural relaxation in supercooled liquids.The transformation of liquids into glasses is as ubiquitous as it is enigmatic. From the formation of obsidian during volcanic eruptions (1) and fabrication of superstrong metallic glasses (2) to exotic forms of slow dynamics in crystals of colloidal dimers (3) and Janus particles (4), glass formation pervades nature, industry, and academia. A vast majority of molecular glass-forming materials exhibit anisotropy in shape and interparticle interactions, which often has a profound influence on their glassy dynamics. The rapidly expanding repertoire of chemists has made it possible to design colloidal particles of desired shape and interactions that can serve as realistic experimental analogs of these molecular liquids (5). By contrast, prominent theories like the Adam–Gibbs (6) theory, random first-order transition (RFOT) theory (7, 8), and the dynamical facilitation (DF) theory (9, 10) have been tested predominantly on spherical glass formers with isotropic interactions, which exhibit gross features of glassy dynamics, but fail to capture the nuances of vitrification in complex systems.The discovery of growing static (11–16) and dynamic (17–21) length scales appears to support the thermodynamic perspective of the Adam–Gibbs and RFOT theories. However, the growth in static length scales over the dynamical range accessible to numerical simulations is often minuscule and much smaller than the corresponding growth in dynamic length scales (21, 22). This renders any causal connection between growing static length scales and growing timescales doubtful (22). Moreover, recent simulations (23) and colloid experiments (24) have shown that growing dynamical correlations in the form of string-like cooperative motion emerge naturally within the purely kinetic approach of the DF theory. To compound matters further, facilitation is present even within the RFOT framework, albeit as a consequence of slow dynamics rather than a cause (25). Thus, although DF has been shown to exist (23, 24, 26–29), its relative importance as a mechanism of structural relaxation is still debated (30–32). The application of the DF approach to complex glass formers will therefore not only enhance our understanding of glass transitions in these systems, but also help ascertain the relevance of facilitation in governing structural relaxation.Here, we apply the DF theory to elucidate glass formation in suspensions of colloidal ellipsoids with repulsive as well as attractive interactions. The DF theory claims that structural relaxation in glass-forming liquids proceeds via a process known as dynamical facilitation, whereby localized mobile regions, termed excitations, mediate motion in neighboring regions in a manner that conserves mobility (9, 10). We first show that the notions of localized excitations and facilitated dynamics can be extended even to orientational relaxation. Next, we demonstrate that the spatial decoupling of dynamical heterogeneities (DHs) observed in colloid experiments stems from the spatial decoupling of rotational and translational facilitation. Most importantly, the DF theory can predict the existence of recently observed reentrant glass transitions (33) from the density dependence of the concentration of excitations. Our findings not only highlight the importance of facilitated dynamics in anisotropic glass formers but also reinforce the claim that, in the broader context of the glass transition, facilitation dominates structural relaxation.     

Dual colorimetric sensing of ascorbic acid and thyroxine using Ag–EGCG–CTAB via a DFT approach

In this work, a colorimetric approach for the detection of ascorbic acid (AA) and thyroxine (TH) was developed by synthesizing cost-effective silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) decorated with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and CTAB. EGCG is the major bioactive chemical constituent that played a significant role in this study. The environment around the nanoparticle (NP) was controlled by adding CTAB surfactants. The synthesized NPs were characterized by different advanced techniques including XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM. UV-visible spectra were thoroughly analyzed for sensing of AA and TH and the colour change of the solution can be visually monitored. The change in the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties was used as an asset for the detection of AA and TH. A good linear relationship was obtained in both the sensing schemes with a limit of detection (LoD) of 0.67 μM and 0.33 μM for AA and TH respectively. Furthermore, the nanoparticles (NP) were implemented for real-sample analysis (pharmaceutical tablets). A cost-effective filter paper strip-based method coupled with smartphone scanning sensing was developed for the detection of AA. The interaction of AA and TH with the probe was depicted by a density functional theory (DFT) analysis. The synthesized NPs show tremendous selectivity towards AA and TH and excellent potential for practical applications.

In this work, a colorimetric approach for the detection of ascorbic acid and thyroxine was developed by synthesizing cost-effective silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) decorated with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and CTAB.     

New onset hypertension after transplantation

It has been reported that up to 90% of organ transplant recipients have suboptimal blood pressure control. Uncontrolled hypertension is a well-known culprit of cardiovascular and overall morbidity and mortality. In addition, rigorous control of hypertension after organ transplantation is a crucial factor in prolonging graft survival. Nevertheless, hypertension after organ transplantation encompasses a broader range of causes than those identified in non-organ transplant patients. Hence, specific management awareness of those factors is mandated. An in-depth understanding of hypertension after organ transplantation remains a debatable issue that necessitates further clarification. This article provides a comprehensive review of the prevalence, risk factors, etiology, complications, prevention, and management of hypertension after organ transplantation.     

Comparison of pulse rate variability with heart rate variability during obstructive sleep apnea

We investigate whether pulse rate variability (PRV) extracted from finger photo-plethysmography (Pleth) waveforms can be the substitute of heart rate variability (HRV) from RR intervals of ECG signals during obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Simultaneous measurements (ECG and Pleth) were taken from 29 healthy subjects during normal (undisturbed sleep) breathing and 22 patients with OSA during OSA events. Highly significant (p<0.01) correlations (1.0>r>0.95) were found between heart rate (HR) and pulse rate (PR). Bland-Altman plot of HR and PR shows good agreement (<5% difference). Comparison of 2 min recording epochs demonstrated significant differences (p<0.01) in time, frequency domains and complexity analysis, between normal and OSA events using PRV as well as HRV measures. Results suggest that both HRV and PRV indices could be used to distinguish OSA events from normal breathing during sleep. However, several variability measures (SDNN, RMSSD, HF power, LF/HF and sample entropy) of PR and HR were found to be significantly (p<0.01) different during OSA events. Therefore, we conclude that PRV provides accurate inter-pulse variability to measure heart rate variability under normal breathing in sleep but does not precisely reflect HRV in sleep disordered breathing.