ABSTRACT Background Emergency laparotomy is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Various risk stratification tools, including the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) score, Portsmouth‐POSSUM (P‐POSSUM), American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS‐NSQIP) risk calculator, and the Hajibandeh Index, have been developed to predict postoperative outcomes. This study aims to compare the predictive accuracy of these scoring systems in assessing morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing emergency laparotomy. Method A prospective observational study was performed at PGIMER, Chandigarh, from January 2023 to June 2024. A total of 510 individuals who underwent emergency laparotomy were included. Preoperative risk evaluation was conducted utilizing NELA, P‐POSSUM, ACS‐NSQIP, and Hajibandeh Index. Primary outcomes included 30‐day mortality, while secondary outcomes assessed surgical site infection (SSI), anastomotic leak, and re‐exploration. Diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were evaluated. Outcome The NELA score had the greatest predictive accuracy for 30‐day mortality (C‐statistic: 0.979). The Hajibandeh Index was the most sensitive predictor of surgical site infection and anastomotic leakage, with C‐statistics of 0.760 and 0.741, respectively. P‐POSSUM demonstrated the greatest specificity in predicting re‐exploration. Conclusion NELA is the most dependable predictor of mortality, although the Hajibandeh Index excels in predicting postoperative morbidities. P‐POSSUM provides better specificity for re‐exploration risk. Integrating these tools into clinical practice can optimize patient risk assessment and improve outcomes.
Abstract Estimating scattering parameters of heterogeneous media from images is a severely under‐constrained and challenging problem. Most of the existing approaches model BSSRDF either through an analysis‐by‐synthesis approach, approximating complex path integrals, or using differentiable volume rendering techniques to account for heterogeneity. However, only a few studies have applied learning‐based methods to estimate subsurface scattering parameters, but they assume homogeneous media. Interestingly, no specific distribution is known to us that can explicitly model the heterogeneous scattering parameters in the real world. Notably, procedural noise models such as Perlin and Fractal Perlin noise have been effective in representing intricate heterogeneities of natural, organic, and inorganic surfaces. Leveraging this, we first create HeteroSynth, a synthetic dataset comprising photorealistic images of heterogeneous media whose scattering parameters are modeled using Fractal Perlin noise. Furthermore, we propose Tensorial Inverse Scattering (TensoIS), a learning‐based feed‐forward framework to estimate these Perlin‐distributed heterogeneous scattering parameters from sparse multi‐view image observations. Instead of directly predicting the 3D scattering parameter volume, TensoIS uses learnable low‐rank tensor components to represent the scattering volume. We evaluate TensoIS on unseen heterogeneous variations over shapes from the HeteroSynth test set, smoke and cloud geometries obtained from open‐source realistic volumetric simulations, and some real‐world samples to establish its effectiveness for inverse scattering. Overall, this study is an attempt to explore Perlin noise distribution, given the lack of any such well‐defined distribution in literature, to potentially model real‐world heterogeneous scattering in a feed‐forward manner. Project Page: https://yashbachwana.github.io/TensoIS/
ABSTRACT Many songbird species use individual vocal recognition in their social behaviors. Researchers commonly use individual discrimination tasks, such as operant conditioning Go/No‐go tasks, to assess individual vocal recognition. Several black‐capped chickadee ( Poecile atricapillus ) vocalizations contain individually distinct features which may be used for individual discrimination. However, not all such vocalizations have been tested for individual recognition with live birds. Additionally, cross vocalization generalization of learned individual discrimination has not been tested. Such generalizability would be advantageous for chickadees, as chickadees often communicate outside of visual contact and use vocal communication to guide their social interactions. Here we test whether black‐capped chickadees can discern individual identity of callers in black‐capped chickadee chick‐a‐dee calls. We also aim to answer whether chickadees can generalize learned individual discrimination using chick‐a‐dee calls to fee‐bee songs, and vice versa. Black‐capped chickadees were trained to discriminate several chick‐a‐dee calls or fee‐bee songs produced by one male and one female chickadee from those produced by a different male and female in an operant conditioning Go/No‐go experiment. We then tested for generalization across vocalization types by presenting birds with recordings from the same four individuals, this time of the opposing vocalization type. Chickadees were able to discriminate between individuals using either chick‐a‐dee calls or fee‐bee songs but were unable to generalize this learning to the opposing vocalization type. While our findings suggest that chickadees can employ individual discrimination within at least two vocalization types, the mechanism by which songs and calls are recognized as belonging to the same individual remains unclear. External contextual cues may play an important role in bridging identity information across those vocalization types.
Peptidyl prolyl isomerases (PPIases) are well‐conserved protein‐folding enzymes that moonlight as regulators of bacterial virulence. Peptidyl prolyl isomerase A, PPiA (Rv0009) is a secretory protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that possesses sequence and structural similarity to eukaryotic cyclophilins. In this study, we validated the interaction of PPiA with stimulator of interferon genes (STING) using both, Escherichia coli ‐based and mammalian in vitro expression systems. In vitro pull‐down assays confirmed that the cytosolic domain of STING interacts with PPiA, and moreover, we found that PPiA could induce dimerization of STING in macrophages. In silico docking analyses suggested that the PXXP (PDP) motif of PPiA is crucial for interaction with STING, and concordantly, mutations in the PDP domain (PPiA MUT‐II) abrogated this interaction, as well as the ability of PPiA to facilitate STING dimerization. In agreement with these observations, fluorescence microscopy demonstrated that STING and wild‐type PPiA, but not PPiA MUT‐II, could colocalize when expressed in HEK293 cells. Highlighting the importance of the PDP domain further, PPiA, but not PPiA MUT‐II could activate Tank binding kinase 1 (TBK1)‐interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) signaling to promote the release of interferon‐beta (IFNβ). PPiA, but not PPiA MUT‐II expressed in Mycobacterium smegmatis induced IFNβ release and facilitated bacterial survival in macrophages in a STING‐dependent manner. The PPiA‐induced release of IFNβ was c‐GAS independent. We conclude that PPiA is a previously undescribed mycobacterial regulator of STING‐dependent type I interferon production from macrophages.
Abstract Glass through‐holes are essential for wafer‐level packaging of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and are often fabricated through wet bulk micromachining. For efficient through‐hole fabrication, there is a need for the development of cost‐effective masking layers and faster etching processes. This work presents an economical method for fabricating through‐holes of various dimensions in 500 µm‐thick Borofloat glass wafers with a relatively high etch rate using wet bulk micromachining. The process employs wet isotropic etching in 25% and 30% hydrofluoric acid (HF), utilizing a masking layer of sputter‐deposited Cr thin film and spin‐coated positive photoresist. The masking layer revealed strong adhesion to the wafers during the entire etching process, enabling the fabrication of through‐holes with sharp edges. Additionally, the masking layer delivered excellent resistance to both HF concentrations, establishing effective protection, and subsequently resulting in minimal defects on the wafer surface. Through‐holes are fabricated in 190 min using 25% HF and in 150 min using 30% HF, with the latter facilitating comparatively faster fabrication due to its higher HF concentration. The present work demonstrates the best output in terms of faster etching time for through‐holes fabrication in glass wafers using a Cr thin film combined with a photoresist as a masking layer.
Abstract This study examines the transmission of monetary policy shocks on stock market returns, liquidity, expected inflation, and inflation under varying economic policy uncertainty (EPU) levels in the Indian context. Using a Smooth Transition VAR model, we find that contractionary monetary policy increases illiquidity and decreases returns during the high EPU regime but has minimal effects during the low EPU regime. Additionally, monetary policy effectively curtails expected inflation and inflation in a low EPU regime more than in a high EPU regime. The results emphasize monetary policy transmission via expectation channels over asset pricing channels.