Comparison of superficial surgical site infection following use of diathermyand scalpel for making skin incision in inguinal hernioplasty

The method of making surgical incision remains a complex problem. Although controversial, the use of diathermy instead of scalpel for skin incision and underlying tissue dissection is gradually gaining wide acceptance. This is due to the observation that no change in wound complication rate or postoperative pain is reportedwith the use ofDiathermy. However, the fear of excessive scarring and poorwound healing has curtailed itswidespread use for skin incision. The objective of the study is to compare superficial surgical site infection (SSSI) in diathermy and scalpel skin incision in inguinal hernioplasty. Quasi experimental study. Study was conducted at Surgical Unit II, Holy Family Hospital. Rawalpindi from1 Jan. 2008 to 30 September. 2008. Atotal of 80 patients who presented with inguinal hernias were included in the study. Patientswere divided in two groups. Group1: In 40 patients skin incisionwasmadewithDiathermy,Group 2: The other 40 had skin incisionwith scalpel. Themean age of patients in the intervention group (Group 1)was 50 years while in the control group (Group 2) itwas 46 years. 48% patients in Group 1 and 55% in the Group 2 had indirect inguinal hernias. SSSI was noted in 12.5% cases in Group 1 whereas in Group 2 it was 17.5% but this difference was not found to be statistically significant (p value=0.378). The use of diathermy for making skin incisions is as safe as scalpel and there is no significant difference amongst both regardingwound infection. Keywords: Diathermy incision, electrocautery, scalpel skin incision, superficial surgical site infectio

Ground defected planar super-wideband antenna: a suitable transceiver for short distance wireless communication

A planar microstrip patch super-wideband antenna is presented for short distance wireless communication applications. The antenna is comprised of a simple patch and a ground plane and etched on two sides of a 1.6 mm-thick standard FR4 substrate material with a relative permittivity of 4.5 and loss tangent (0.02). The proposed antenna possesses a compact size of 29 × 20.5 mm2 with an electrical dimension of 0.25 λ × 0.18 λ. To enhance the operating bandwidth, the ground plane is modified by adding seven small rectangular slots on its upper side. Through numerical studies, it is found that insertion of the slots enhances the coupling between the patch and ground plane resulting in achievement of a super-wide operating band. From the measurements, it is observed that the fabricated prototype antenna has a bandwidth from 2.63 to more than 18 GHz, a symmetric omnidirectional radiation characteristic and the maximum peak gain of 5.85 dBi which makes it a suitable transceiver for short distance communication applications

Internet-based Framework to Support Integration of Customer in the Design of Customizable Products

A necessary element to design and produce customer-centric products is the integration of customers in the design process. Challenges faced during customer integration into the design process include generating models of the customized product, performing analysis of these to determine feasibility, and optimizing to increase the performance. These tasks have to be performed relatively quickly, if not in real time, to provide feedback to the customer. The focus of this article is to present a framework that utilizes CAD, finite element analysis (FEA), and optimization to integrate the customer into the design process via the Internet for delivering user customized products. The design analysis, evaluation, and optimization need to be automated and enhanced to enable operation over the Internet. A product family CAD/FEA template has been developed to perform analysis, along with a general formulation to optimize the customized product. The CAD/FEA template generalizes the geometry building and analysis of each configuration developed using a product platform approach. The proposed setup is demonstrated through the use of a bicycle frame family. In this study, the focus is on the application of optimization and FEA to facilitate the design of customer-centric products.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Case studies of six CBFM-2 water bodies

The case studies report on how CBFM-2 interventions have affected aquatic productivity, income, employment and livelihoods in six case study sites, Beelbhora beel cluster (Kishoreganj), Sholuar beel (Narail), Chapundaha beel (Rangpur), Hamil beel (Tangail), Kutir beel (Kishoreganj) and Dikshi beel (Pabna).

Experiments on grain yield in a range of old and modern wheat varieties.

Growth, yield, water use and water use efficiency of old and modern wheat varieties in a mediterranean type environment, 87M17 and 87WH14. Ear and stem dry matter at anthesis and grain yield in a range of wheat varieties, 87M18

Clinical spectrum of systemic lupus erythematosus at the Aga Khan University Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Systemic lupus erythematosus is a disease of unknown etiology, which at onest may involve only one organ system or be multisystemic. The aim of our study is to determine the clinical presentation of SLE patients presenting to AKUH to establish whether guidelines laid down about this disease are in agreement with our experience. METHODS: A retrospective log review was carried out at AKUH, based on data obtained from 165 files of individuals admitted to the hospital over a period of 12 years with a confirmed diagnosis of SLE. RESULTS: From the sample size of 165, 143 (86.7%) were females and 22 (13.3%) males. The mean age of diagnosis was 30.9 years. Frequency of symptomatology was observed to be in the following order: systemic 78.8%, musculoskeletal 63% and hematological 60.6%. Oninvestigation ANA levels were positive in 112 patients. CONCLUSION: Our result lead us to conclude that the classification set forth by the American Rheumatological Association is applicable to patients presenting with SLE in our setting

Characterization of carbon monoxide, methane and nonmethane hydrocarbons in emerging cities of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and in Singapore

We investigate the composition of 63 C2-C10 nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO), in Jeddah, Mecca, and Madina (Saudi Arabia), in Lahore, (Pakistan), and in Singapore. We established a database with which to compare and contrast NMHCs in regions where ambient levels and emissions are poorly characterized, but where conditions are favorable to the formation of tropospheric ozone, and where measurements are essential for improving emission inventories and modeling. This dataset will also serve as a base for further analysis of air pollution in Western Saudi Arabia including, but not limited to, the estimation of urban emissions and long range pollution transport from these regions. The measured species showed enhanced levels in all Saudi Arabian cities compared to the local background but were generally much lower than in Lahore. In Madina, vehicle exhaust was the dominant NMHC source, as indicated by enhanced levels of combustion products and by the good correlation between NMHCs and CO, while in Jeddah and Mecca a combination of sources needs to be considered. Very high NMHC levels were measured in Lahore, and elevated levels of CH4 in Lahore were attributed to natural gas. When we compared our results with 2010 emissions from the MACCity global inventory, we found discrepancies in the relative contribution of NMHCs between the measurements and the inventory. In all cities, alkenes (especially ethene and propene) dominated the hydroxyl radical (OH) reactivity (kOH) because of their great abundance and their relatively fast reaction rates with OH

A study of random laser modes in disordered photonic crystals

We studied lasing modes in a disordered photonic crystal. The scaling of the lasing threshold with the system size depends on the strength of disorder. For sufficiently large size, the minimum of the lasing threshold occurs at some finite value of disorder strength. The highest random cavity quality factor was comparable to that of an intentionally introduced single defect. At the minimum, the lasing threshold showed a super-exponential decrease with the size of the system. We explain it through a migration of the lasing mode frequencies toward the photonic bandgap center, where the localization length takes the minimum value. Random lasers with exponentially low thresholds are predicted.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure