Association of placental position with the development of hypertension in pregnancy

Background: Hypertensive disorders remain the most common medical complication during pregnancy and contribute greatly to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Several tests have been proposed to identify the women at risk of developing hypertension. Among the various predictors, the placental location by USG at 18-24 weeks is cost effective, non- invasive and has a good positive predictive value. The present study was undertaken to predict the association of placental location with the development of hypertension in pregnancy.Methods: This was a longitudinal cohort study conducted on 380 uncomplicated primigravid women who attended the obstetric OPD of MGMC&RI over a period of 18 months (March 2017-august 2018). A detailed history was taken, and examination done and B.P. was measured. The placental location was determined by ultrasound at 18-24 weeks and the patients were divided into two groups : group A were women with lateral placenta and group B were women with other placental locations. All women were followed up for signs and symptoms of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and mode of delivery and neonatal outcome were noted.Results: Out of 380 women, 56(14.7%) had lateral placenta and 324(85.3%) had other placental locations. Out of the 57 women who developed hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, 16(28.6%) had lateral placenta and 41(12.7%) had other placental locations. The risk of developing hypertension in pregnancy with lateral placenta was 3.5(odds ratio) with a 95% confidence interval (1.4-8.6). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value when placental laterality is used as a predictive test was 28.1%, 87.6%, 28.6% and 87.4% respectively.Conclusions: The placental laterality as determined by ultrasound at 18-24 weeks is a simple, non-invasive, cost-effective predictive test to predict women at high risk of developing hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and this test has a high specificity and negative predictive value

Impact of Device Parameteres of Triple Gate SOI-FINFET on the Performance of CMOS Inverter at 22NM

A simulation based design evaluation is reported for SOI FinFETs at 22nm gate length. The impact of device parameters on the static power dissipation and delay of a CMOS inverter is presented. Fin dimensions such as Fin width and height are varied. For a given gate oxide thickness increasing the fin height and fin width degrades the SCEs, while improves the performance. It was found that reducing the fin thickness was beneficial in reducing the off state leakage current (IOFF), while reducing the fin height was beneficial in reducing the gate leakage current (IGATE). It was found that Static power dissipation of the inverter increases with fin height due to the increase in leakage current, whereas delay decreased with increase fin width due to higher on current. The performance of the inverter decreased with the down scaling of the gate oxide thickness due to higher gate leakage current and gate capacitance

PREPARATION, PHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION, AND PHARMACOKINETIC STUDY OF DOCETAXEL NANOCRYSTALS

Objective: The main objective of this study was to prepare and evaluate the nanocrystal formulation of docetaxel. Methods: Docetaxel nanocrystals were formulated to improve the water solubility. Docetaxel nanocrystals were prepared by nanoprecipitation method using Tween 80, egg lecithin, and povidone C-12 as stabilizers and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) as polymer in acceptable limits. A total of 16 formulations were prepared by changing stabilizer and polymer ratios. The prepared nanocrystals were characterized by particle size, zeta potential, crystalline structure, surface morphology, assay, saturation solubility, and in vitro drug release. Results: Based on particle size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential data, four formulations were optimized. The formulation containing Tween 80 as stabilizer has shown lowest particle size and better drug release than the formulations containing egg lecithin and povidone C-12 as stabilizers. The formulation containing Tween 80 and PLGA has shown still lower sized particles than the Tween 80 alone and exhibited prolonged sustained drug release. The release kinetics of formulations containing Tween 80 and PLGA followed zero-order release kinetics and formulations containing egg lecithin and povidone C-12 followed Higuchi diffusion (non-Fickian). Conclusion: From the study, we concluded that as the type and concentration of stabilizer changed the size and shape of the crystals were also changed and the formulations showed sustained drug release with non-Fickian diffusion

Molecular Characterization of Wolbachia and its Phage WO in the Laboratory Populations of Drosophila

Wolbachia are a group of maternally inherited intracellular rickettsial á-proteobacteria, infecting wide range of arthropods and filarial nematodes. They infect around 66% of arthropods and impose various fitness related effects in their host populations to enhance their transmission. In the current study, four out of eight laboratory populations of Drosophila has been found positive for Wolbachia and its phage WO through PCR diagnostics. Four populations of D. ananassae were infected with wRiv strain of Wolbachia and its phage, while other four D. melanogaster populations do not have either of them. Further, phylogenetic characterization of Wolbachia and phage WO from D. ananassae indicates close relationship across other Drosophila species, suggesting possible horizontal transmissio

Sex ratio distortion in the Nesolynx thymus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), an ecto-pupal parasitoid of uzifly, Exorista sorbillans (Diptera: Tachinidae)

The reproductive alterations induced by maternally inherited alpha-proteo-bacteria Wolbachia to their hosts is a well-documented phenomenon. In Nesolynx thymus, a gregarious hymenopterous ecto-pupal parasitoid of the uzifly, Exorista sorbillans, diagnostic PCR assay using specific primers revealed the presence of Wolbachia. Following genetic crossing experiments, we observed a female biased sex ratio of 1 : 9.5 at 25 degrees C and 1 : 3 male to female ratio when the populations were exposed to heat shock 33 degrees C for six hours. Furthermore, we found infection polymorphism, where female parasitoids are infected by Wolbachia but males are not infected. Infected eggs develop into females, whereas uninfected eggs develop parthenogenetically into males. The results are discussed in the context of the possible mechanism of sex-ratio bias caused by Wolbachia

Hypertext transfer protocol performance analysis in traditional and software defined networks during Slowloris attack

The extensive use of the internet has resulted in novel technologies and protocol improvisation. Hypertext transfer protocol/1.1 (HTTP/1.1) is widely adapted on the internet. However, HTTP/2 is found to be more efficient over transport control protocol (TCP). The HTTP/2 protocol can withstand the payload overhead when compared to HTTP/1.1 by multiplexing multiple requests. However, both the protocols are highly susceptible to application-level denial of service (DoS) attacks. In this research, a slow-rate DoS attack called Slowloris is detected over Apache2 servers enabled with both versions of HTTP in traditional networks and software defined networks (SDN). Server metrics such as server connection time to the webpage, latency in receiving a response from the server, page load time, response-response gap, and inter-packet arrival time at the server are monitored to analyze attack activity. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to estimate threshold values for server connection time and latency for attack detection. This work is implemented in a lab environment using virtual machines, Ryu controller, zodiac FX OpenFlow switch and Apache2 servers. This study also highlights SDN's security benefits over traditional networks

Prosthetic graft infections involving the femoral artery

BackgroundProsthetic graft infection is a major complication of peripheral vascular surgery. We investigated the experience of a single institution over 10 years with bypass grafts involving the femoral artery to determine the incidence and risk factors for prosthetic graft infection.MethodsA retrospective cohort single-institution review of prosthetic bypass grafts involving the femoral artery from 2001 to 2010 evaluated patient demographics, body mass index, comorbidities, indications, location of bypass, type of prosthetic material, case urgency, and previous ipsilateral bypass or percutaneous interventions and evaluated the incidence of graft infections, amputations, and mortality.ResultsThere were 496 prosthetic grafts identified with a graft infection rate of 3.8% (n = 19) at a mean follow-up of 27 months. Multivariable analysis showed that redo bypass (hazard ratio [HR], 5.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2-15.0), active infection at the time of bypass (HR, 5.2; 95% CI, 1.9-14.2), female gender (HR, 4.5; 95% CI, 1.6-12.7), and diabetes mellitus (HR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.5-14.3) were significant predictors of graft infection. Graft infection was predictive of major lower extremity amputation (HR, 9.8; 95% CI, 3.5-27.1), as was preoperative tissue loss (HR, 4.7; 95% CI, 1.8-11.9). Graft infection did not predict long-term mortality; however, chronic renal insufficiency (HR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.6-3.4), tissue loss (HR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.0-1.9), and active infection (HR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.6-3.4) did. Infected grafts were removed 79% of the time. Staphylococcus epidermidis (37%) and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (26%) were the most common pathogens isolated.ConclusionsRedo bypass, female gender, diabetes, and active infection at the time of bypass are associated with a higher risk for prosthetic graft infection and major extremity amputation but do not confer an increased risk of mortality. Autologous vein for lower extremity bypass and endovascular interventions should be considered when feasible in high-risk patient

Methods to reduce medication errors in a clinical trial of an investigational parenteral medication

AbstractThere are few evidence-based guidelines to inform optimal design of complex clinical trials, such as those assessing the safety and efficacy of intravenous drugs administered daily with infusion times over many hours per day and treatment durations that may span years. This study is a retrospective review of inpatient administration deviation reports for an investigational drug that is administered daily with infusion times of 8–24 h, and variable treatment durations for each patient. We report study design modifications made in 2007–2008 aimed at minimizing deviations from an investigational drug infusion protocol approved by an institutional review board and the United States Food and Drug Administration. Modifications were specifically aimed at minimizing errors of infusion rate, incorrect dose, incorrect patient, or wrong drug administered. We found that the rate of these types of administration errors of the study drug was significantly decreased following adoption of the specific study design changes. This report provides guidance in the design of clinical trials testing the safety and efficacy of study drugs administered via intravenous infusion in an inpatient setting so as to minimize drug administration protocol deviations and optimize patient safety