Objectives: To examine the association between perceived overweight status and weight control, discrepancies between perceived and measured weight status, and opportunities for health care ...professionals (HCPs) to correct weight perception among US adults. Design: Population-based cross-sectional study. Subjects: In all, 16 720 non-pregnant adults from the 2003 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Results: Overall, 64% (73% women, 55% men) reported a desire to weigh less and 48% (57% women, 40% men) reported pursuing weight control. Weight control was positively associated with overweight perception (odds ratio (OR) women 3.74; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.96, 4.73; OR men 2.82; 95% CI 2.11, 3.76) and an HCP diagnosis of overweight/obesity (OR women 2.22; 95% CI 1.69, 2.91; OR men 2.14; 95% CI 1.58, 2.91), independent of measured weight status. A large proportion of overweight individuals (23% women, 48% men) perceived themselves as having the right weight. Also, 74% of overweight and 29% of obese individuals never had an HCP diagnosis of overweight/obesity. Although the majority of overweight/obese individuals (74% women, 60% men) pursued at least one weight management strategy, fewer (39% women, 32% men) pursued both dietary change and physical activity. Among overweight/obese adults, those with an HCP diagnosis of overweight/obesity were more likely to diet (74 versus 52%), exercise (44 versus 34%), or pursue both (41 versus 30%, all P<0.01) than those who remained undiagnosed. Conclusion: HCPs have unused opportunities to motivate their patients to control and possibly lose weight by correcting weight perceptions and offering counseling on healthy weight loss strategies.
CMOS platforms operating at the telecommunications wavelength either reside within the highly dissipative two-photon regime in silicon-based optical devices, or possess small nonlinearities. Bandgap ...engineering of non-stoichiometric silicon nitride using state-of-the-art fabrication techniques has led to our development of USRN (ultra-silicon-rich nitride) in the form of Si7 N3 , that possesses a high Kerr nonlinearity (2.8 × 10-13 cm2 W-1 ), an order of magnitude larger than that in stoichiometric silicon nitride. Here we experimentally demonstrate high-gain optical parametric amplification using USRN, which is compositionally tailored such that the 1,550 nm wavelength resides above the two-photon absorption edge, while still possessing large nonlinearities. Optical parametric gain of 42.5 dB, as well as cascaded four-wave mixing with gain down to the third idler is observed and attributed to the high photon efficiency achieved through operating above the two-photon absorption edge, representing one of the largest optical parametric gains to date on a CMOS platform.
Concrete cubes prepared from ordinary Portland cement (OPC) of known chemical, mineralogical, and physical performance characteristics and fired to various temperature regimes up to 1000 °C in steps ...of 100 °C for a constant period of 5 h have been studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and DTA/TGA to establish the effect of elevated temperatures on the mineralogical changes occurring in the hydrated phases of concrete. The changes in physical state of concrete were studied by measuring ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and consequent deterioration in the compressive strength with increase in temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies showed distinct morphological changes corresponding to deterioration of concrete exposed to higher temperatures.
The accelerated pozzolanic activity of various siliceous materials, like silica fume, fly ash (as received and fine ground), quartz, precipitated silica, metakaolin and rice husk ash (RHA; various ...fineness and carbon content), has been determined. The compressive strength of accelerated tests has been compared with cubes cured in water at 7 and 28 days. Maximum activity has been observed in case of RHA (<45 μ), followed by quartz and silica fume. The 10% replacement of cement by sand has shown accelerated pozzolanic index of 92% compared with 85% required in ASTM for silica fume as mineral admixture.
Background
Post thyroidectomy hypocalcemia is a major sequel of thyroidectomy and continues to trouble the endocrinologists and the endocrine surgeons as there is no ideal predictive marker of ...hypocalcemia which has the potential to develop into a life-threatening complication. The role of early serum intact parathormone (iPTH) to predict post thyroidectomy hypocalcemia is becoming useful but the literature is still unclear regarding the optimal time of testing and the optimal cut-off value of serum iPTH.
Patients and methods
This is a prospective cohort study of 111 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy in a tertiary care endocrine surgery referral unit. Serum iPTH was measured after 20 min and 4 h of surgery. Receiver-Operator characteristic Curve (ROC) was used to find out of the best cut-off value of S. iPTH 20 min and 4 h after surgery in predicting hypocalcemia.
Results
Hypocalcemia was noted in 60 (54%) out of 111 subjects who underwent total thyroidectomy. The best cut-off values of Serum iPTH to predict hypocalcemia was found to be 4.28 pmol/l at 20 min post total thyroidectomy with a sensitivity and specificity of 81.7% and 51%, respectively. In addition, patients with malignancy or central lymph nodal dissection were significantly over-represented in the hypocalcemia group with serum iPTH above the threshold level of 4.28 pmol/l. Below the cut off level, parenteral calcium supplementation was required in 23% (17/74) subjects while the rate was only 5.4% (2/37) patients when serum iPTH was above the cut-off level.
Conclusions
The decline of serum iPTH below a specific level after surgery has predictive value together with other factors strictly related to patient, the thyroid disease itself and surgery. The risk of development of hypocalcemia and consequent need for calcium supplementation should be evaluated by clinical assessment along with serum PTH measurement.
The Soft X-ray focusing Telescope (SXT), India’s first X-ray telescope based on the principle of grazing incidence, was launched aboard the AstroSat and made operational on October 26, 2015. X-rays ...in the energy band of 0.3–8.0 keV are focussed on to a cooled charge coupled device thus providing medium resolution X-ray spectroscopy of cosmic X-ray sources of various types. It is the most sensitive X-ray instrument aboard the AstroSat. In its first year of operation, SXT has been used to observe objects ranging from active stars, compact binaries, supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei and clusters of galaxies in order to study its performance and quantify its characteriztics. Here, we present an overview of its design, mechanical hardware, electronics, data modes, observational constraints, pipeline processing and its in-orbit performance based on preliminary results from its characterization during the performance verification phase.
The present study was made with the objectives of development and standardization of cattle specific paper-based loop-mediated isothermal amplification cum lateral flow assay (LAMP-LFA), as a ...Point-of-care test (POCT) for identification of tissue of cattle origin. The components of standardized LAMP reaction utilizing cattle specific primer sets were lyophilized over paper buttons, identified best as the carrier of LAMP reagents. Based on probable LAMP amplicon, a pair of probes was designed, tagged and its hybridization with the amplified product of paper LAMP reaction was optimized. The components of lateral flow assay for detection of probe hybridized LAMP products were standardized. Analysis of successful amplification was made by using HNB dye, LAMP-LFA strip, and also by the typical ladder-like pattern on gel electrophoresis. The assay was found highly specific for cattle with an analytical sensitivity of 0.1 pg of absolute DNA. Laboratory validation carried out on samples from different individuals of cattle, coded samples, binary meat admixture, and heat-processed cattle tissues substantiated the accuracy of the assay. Comparison with pre-standardized species-specific PCR assay taken as gold standards revealed 100% conformity. The field utility of the developed assay was further established by its compatibility with the commercial kit eliminating the lengthy DNA extraction step and storage stability of LAMP reagent carrier buttons for 4 months under refrigeration. Thus, the developed assay capable of the result within 3 h in resource-limited settings can be used as POCT for identification of tissue of cattle origin.
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•Describe a paper based LAMP-LF Assay for identification of tissue of cattle origin.•Designed lyophilized paper LAMP buttons as a ready to use LAMP “master-mix”.•Storage stability of freeze-dried paper LAMP buttons at 4 °C were found 4 months.•Time from sampling to detection of end-product was less than 180 min.•Developed assay was found to be effective for species authentication in low field setting.
Aims/hypothesis We studied the bacterial aetiology and antibiotic sensitivity pattern of diabetic foot ulcers in India. Methods Records of 447 hospitalised patients between 1991 and 2008 were ...retrospectively analysed between two time periods (before and after 1999) to compare bacterial aetiology and antimicrobial sensitivity patterns. The first three consecutive cultures from the same wound during treatment were evaluated. Results Of 1,632 cultures, 66% were polymicrobial, 23% monomicrobial and 11% sterile. In the monomicrobial group, 14% (n = 228) of cultures were Gram-negative, whereas 9% (n = 147) were Gram-positive. The most common pathogens in the first culture were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (20.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (17.2%) and Escherichia coli (16.3%). Results for the third cultures showed persistence of P. aeruginosa (15.3%) and E. coli (14.2%). Gram-negative isolates dominated over Gram-positive ones (25.3% vs 15.1%, p < 0.05). Antibiotic sensitivity patterns before and after 1999 were: piperacillin-tazobactam 74% vs 66% (p < 0.005), imipenem 77% vs 85% (NS), cefoperazone-sulbactam 47% vs 44% (p < 0.005), amikacin 62% vs 78% (NS), ceftriaxone 41% vs 36% (p < 0.005), amoxicillin-clavulanate 51% vs 43% (p < 0.05) and clindamycin 43% vs 36% (p < 0.005), respectively. Conclusions/interpretation Unlike in the West, in India Gram-negative bacteria were found to have always been dominant in the wounds of patients with diabetic foot infections. Infection with polymicrobial multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli is common. The policy of empirical antimicrobial therapy at tertiary care needs to be changed.
This paper describes an all-digital PVT-variation tolerant true-random number generator (TRNG), fabricated in 45 nm high-k/metal-gate CMOS, targeted for on-die entropy generation in high-performance ...microprocessors. The TRNG harvests differential thermal-noise at the diffusion nodes of a pre-charged cross-coupled inverter pair to resolve out of metastability, generating one random bit/cycle. A self-calibrating 2-step tuning mechanism using coarse-grained configurable inverters and fine-grained programmable clock delay generators, along with an entropy-tracking feedback loop provide tolerance to 20% PVT variation-induced device mismatches, enabling lowest-reported energy-consumption of 2.9 pJ/bit with a dense layout occupying 4004 μm 2 , while achieving: (i) 2.4 Gbps random bit throughput, 7 mW total power consumption with 0.7 mW leakage power component, measured at 1.1 V, 50°C, (ii) random bitstreams that passes all NIST RNG tests with raw entropy/bit measured up to 0.9999999993, (iii) good distribution of 1's with 4-bit entropy of 3.97996 and high-entropy pattern probability of 0.066 (iv) wide operating supply voltage range with robust sub-threshold voltage performance of 14 Mbps, 5.6 μW, measured at 280 mV, 50°C, (v) 12 fine-grained high-entropy settings for the TRNG to dither in during steady-state operation, (vi) <;3% error while using an analytical ergodic Markov chain model for predicting pattern probabilities and (vii) 200x higher throughput and 9x higher energy-efficiency than previously reported implementations. Design modifications for robust operation in 22 nm high-volume manufacturing in the presence of 3σ process variations demonstrate scalability of the all-digital design to future technologies.
Are melatonin receptors (melatonin receptor 1A (MR1A) and melatonin receptor 1B (MR1B)) expressed in human endometrium and endometriotic tissue, and does melatonin affect endometrial cell ...proliferation?
Melatonin receptors are expressed in human eutopic endometrium, endometriomas and peritoneal lesions, although to different extents, and melatonin treatment attenuated estradiol-induced endometrial epithelial cell proliferation in culture.
Melatonin decreased endometriotic lesion volume in a rat model of endometriosis. Melatonin treatment reduced pain scores in and analgesic use by women with endometriosis.
Basic science study using human endometrial tissue and an endometrial epithelial cell line.
Measurement of melatonin receptor expression (mRNA and protein) in women with surgically confirmed endometriosis (endometrioma (n = 20) or peritoneal lesion (n = 11) alone) and women without surgical evidence of endometriosis (control, n = 15). Collection of endometrial and endometriotic tissue samples, gynecologic history and demographic information. Quantification of estradiol (1.0 nM) and melatonin (0.1 nM-1.0 μM) ± estradiol-induced endometrial epithelial cell proliferation in cultures of endometrial epithelial cells (CRL-1671) following 24 and 48 hours of culture.
MR1A and MR1B were localized by immunohistochemistry in glandular epithelial cells of endometrial biopsies from women with and without endometriosis. Both receptors were expressed in eutopic and ectopic endometrial tissue. mRNA expression of MR1A and MR1B was significantly greater in peritoneal lesions than in either endometriomas or eutopic endometrium. However, protein expression of MR1A was decreased in peritoneal lesions compared to control eutopic endometrium, whereas MR1B expression did not differ between the groups. Melatonin (0.1 nM-1.0 μM) treatment inhibited estradiol (1.0 nM)-induced endometrial epithelial cell proliferation at 48 hours but not 24 hours of culture.
Beneficial effects of melatonin seen in culture have yet to be comprehensively evaluated in women with endometriosis.
Our data suggest that melatonin may be useful as an adjunct to current endometriosis treatments.
This study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant MOP142230 to W.G.F.). A.A.M. is supported by a resident research grant through the Physicians Services Incorporated Foundation. The authors have no conflicts of interest.
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