Labour admission test: a screening test for foetal distress in labour

Background: Labour is a very short period in the life of a foetus but poses the maximum threat. Improvements in medical technology have made it possible to monitor fetal well-being during labour. The introduction of labour admission test has proven to be of benefit in identifying patients at risk for developing distress and implementing timely intervention.Methods: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the same. This was a prospective study done on 500 patients above 37 weeks of gestation in cephalic presentation. EFM was done using oxford sonicaid 8002 CTG machine and Gem premier 3000 (model no 5700) arterial blood gas analyzer machine was used for determining the pH of fetal blood.Results: Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 15.0 statistical analysis software. p value <0.001 was considered highly significant. Results revealed that a total of 105 (80.77%) babies had fetal distress in category II and III out of 135, whereas only 30 (8.11%) were distressed in category I out of 370. Test had a sensitivity of 77.7% and specificity of 93.15% with a positive predictive value of 80.7% and a negative predictive value of 91.89%.Conclusions: It has become evident that combined use of CTG with cord blood pH is more accurate way of predicting and diagnosing birth asphyxia

Expectation of forward-backward rapidity correlations in p+pp+p collisions at the LHC energies

Forward-backward correlation strength ($b$) as a function of pesudorapidity intervals for experimental data from $p+\bar{p}$ non-singly diffractive collisions are compared to PYTHIA and PHOJET model calculations. The correlations are discussed as a function of rapidity window ($\Delta \eta$) symmetric about the central rapidity as well as rapidity window separated by a gap ($\eta_{gap}$) between forward and backward regions. While the correlations are observed to be independent of $\Delta \eta$, it is found to decrease with increase in $\eta_{gap}$. This reflects the role of short range correlations and justifies the use of $\eta_{gap}$ to obtain the accurate information about the physics of interest, the long range correlations. The experimental $b$ value shows a linear dependence on $\ln \sqrt{s}$ with the maximum value of unity being reached at $\sqrt{s}$ = 16 TeV, beyond the top LHC energy. However calculations from the PYTHIA and PHOJET models indicate a deviation from linear dependence on $\ln \sqrt{s}$ and saturation in the $b$ values being reached beyond $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8 TeV. Such a saturation in correlation values could have interesting physical interpretations related to clan structures in particle production. Strong forward-backward correlations are associated with cluster production in the collisions. The average number of charged particles to which the clusters fragments, called the cluster size, are found to also increase linearly with $\ln \sqrt{s}$ for both data and the models studied. The rate of increase in cluster size vs. $\ln \sqrt{s}$ from models studied are larger compared to those from the data and higher for PHOJET compared to PYTHIA. Our study indicates that the forward-backward measurements will provide a clear distinguishing observable for the models studied at LHC energies.Comment: 15 pages, 14 Figures, accepted for publication in International Journal of Modern Physics

Aerosol Chemistry over a High Altitude Station at Northeastern Himalayas, India

BACKGROUND: There is an urgent need for an improved understanding of the sources, distributions and properties of atmospheric aerosol in order to control the atmospheric pollution over northeastern Himalayas where rising anthropogenic interferences from rapid urbanization and development is becoming an increasing concern. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: An extensive aerosol sampling program was conducted in Darjeeling (altitude approximately 2200 meter above sea level (masl), latitude 27 degrees 01'N and longitude 88 degrees 15'E), a high altitude station in northeastern Himalayas, during January-December 2005. Samples were collected using a respirable dust sampler and a fine dust sampler simultaneously. Ion chromatograph was used to analyze the water soluble ionic species of aerosol. The average concentrations of fine and coarse mode aerosol were found to be 29.5+/-20.8 microg m(-3) and 19.6+/-11.1 microg m(-3) respectively. Fine mode aerosol dominated during dry seasons and coarse mode aerosol dominated during monsoon. Nitrate existed as NH(4)NO(3) in fine mode aerosol during winter and as NaNO(3) in coarse mode aerosol during monsoon. Gas phase photochemical oxidation of SO(2) during premonsoon and aqueous phase oxidation during winter and postmonsoon were the major pathways for the formation of SO(4)(2-) in the atmosphere. Long range transport of dust aerosol from arid regions of western India was observed during premonsoon. The acidity of fine mode aerosol was higher in dry seasons compared to monsoon whereas the coarse mode acidity was higher in monsoon compared to dry seasons. Biomass burning, vehicular emissions and dust particles were the major types of aerosol from local and continental regions whereas sea salt particles were the major types of aerosol from marine source regions. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The year-long data presented in this paper provide substantial improvements to the heretofore poor knowledge regarding aerosol chemistry over northeastern Himalayas, and should be useful to policy makers in making control strategies

Triethyl­ammonium N′-(benzyl­sulfanylthio­carbonyl)-2-hydroxy­benzohydrazidate

In the title compound, C6H16N+·C15H13N2O2S2 −, the thione S atom is in a cis configuration with respect to the phenyl and benzene rings, while it adopts a trans configuration with respect to the carbonyl group. The dihedral angle between the benzene and phenyl rings is 78.81 (2)°. The mol­ecular conformation is stabilized by intra­molecular O—H⋯O and N—H⋯S hydrogen bonds, while inter­molecular N—H⋯O, N—H⋯N and weak C—H⋯O inter­actions help to stabilize the crystal structure

Duplication cyst of pyloroduodenal canal: a rare cause of neonatal gastric outlet obstruction: a case report

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Honokiol Arrests Cell Cycle, Induces Apoptosis, and Potentiates the Cytotoxic Effect of Gemcitabine in Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Survival rates for patients with pancreatic cancer are extremely poor due to its asymptomatic progression to advanced and metastatic stage for which current therapies remain largely ineffective. Therefore, novel therapeutic agents and treatment approaches are desired to improve the clinical outcome. In this study, we determined the effects of honokiol, a biologically active constituent of oriental medicinal herb Magnolia officinalis/grandiflora, on two pancreatic cancer cell lines, MiaPaCa and Panc1, alone and in combination with the standard chemotherapeutic drug, gemcitabine. Honokiol exerted growth inhibitory effects on both the pancreatic cancer cell lines by causing cell cycle arrest at G1 phase and induction of apoptosis. At the molecular level, honokiol markedly decreased the expression of cyclins (D1 and E) and cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdk2 and Cdk4), and caused an increase in Cdk inhibitors, p21 and p27. Furthermore, honokiol treatment led to augmentation of Bax/Bcl-2 and Bax/Bcl-xL ratios to favor apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. These changes were accompanied by enhanced cytoplasmic accumulation of NF-κB with a concomitant decrease in nuclear fraction and reduced transcriptional activity of NF-κB responsive promoter. This was associated with decreased phosphorylation of inhibitor of kappa B alpha (IκB-α) causing its stabilization and thus increased cellular levels. Importantly, honokiol also potentiated the cytotoxic effects of gemcitabine, in part, by restricting the gemcitabine-induced nuclear accumulation of NF-κB in the treated pancreatic cancer cell lines. Altogether, these findings demonstrate, for the first time, the growth inhibitory effects of honokiol in pancreatic cancer and indicate its potential usefulness as a novel natural agent in prevention and therapy