658 research outputs found
Clinical rabies: is cure possible?
Rabies is a fatal disease in humans and till date survivors of the disease after the clinical onset of the illness are rare. The approach to management of rabies is usually palliative. In rare cases of paralytic rabies a trial for cure has been tried. No single therapeutic agent is likely to be effective, but a combination of specific therapies could be considered, including rabies vaccine, rabies immunoglobulin, monoclonal antibodies, ribavirin, interferon alpha, ketamine etc. the only reported cases in literature were with rare success of the Milwaukee protocol. This is the case report of a 45 year old male who presented with clinical rabies and was started on the trial. Has the treatment had any benefit is to be debated and further options discussed
Outcome Of Newborn Hearing Screening Program in A Tertiary Care Centre, South India.
Objective
To determine the coverage and outcome of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) Program in Government Medical College Manjeri, South India. To study the prevalence of hearing loss (HL) among those children screened, to describe the characteristics of confirmed cases, and the status of speech and language development acquired by them at follow up.
Design
Hospital based retro prospective study.
Methods
Data were collected from all newborns who underwent Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) over a four-year period (November 2014 to October 2018). Cases with confirmed hearing loss were studied by pre-structured questionnaire and telephonic interview. Speech and language assessments of 10 confirmed cases were conducted after a period of intervention. Results
Out of 17,260 babies, 16,625 were screened (96.3%). HL was confirmed for 13 of these, resulting in a prevalence rate of 0.08%. Risk factors for HL were not present in 61.5% of these cases. Confirmation was done at a median age of 6 months with an Interquartile Range (IQR) (4; 12). Interventions in the form of speech therapy and hearing aid were started at a median age of 17.5 months with an IQR (13;25) and the median duration of intervention till the time of assessment was 30 months with an IQR (17;43) Out of 13, five children were managed with hearing aid. Another five required cochlear implant at a median age of 24 months with an IQR (17.5; 33). All received speech therapy. Three children were lost during follow up. On assessment using ISD and REELS, eight out of the remaining 10 children showed a lag in the speech and language development, with a median delay of 19.3 months with an IQR (2; 34.5)
Conclusions
Coverage of the program was optimal, with almost all newborns successfully screened. More than half of the confirmed children did not exhibit risk factors for HL and therefore might not have been identified early without UNHS. The observed median age of starting intervention for confirmed cases was higher than the age recommended by AAP guidelines and most of the children had language development below those of typically hearing age mates after months of intervention.
Key words: Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, Outcome, Oto Acoustic Emission, Hearing loss, Neonates
DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF POLYHERBAL GEL FOR ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY
Objective: Piper betal and Piper nigrumare traditional medicinal plants that have antifungal activity against Candida albicans, a combination of these two plants have not been known for its activity against this fungus. The purpose of this research was to formulate topical gel, a combination of P. betal and P. nigram which has antifungal activity against Candida albicans.Methods: The antifungal activity test of P. betal and P. nigrum using agar well diffusion method was carried out. Thereafter, a topical gel formulation was prepared using Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose as a gelling agent of concentration 1; 1.5 and 2%. Test parameters for topical gel includes organoleptic, pH, extrudability, spreadability, diffusion, and stability test.Result: The results of this study showed that P. betel and P. nigrum extracts had antifungal activity. Antifungal activity combination of P. betel and P. nigrum leaf extract is synergistic. For the formulation materials, the concentration chosen is 1: 1 (P. betel: P. nigrum) because in that combination the value of the resistor area is still categorized well. The stability test results stated that all the formulas were stable even after 30 d of stability studies.Conclusion: This is the first report on the scientific evaluation of betel and pepper leaf extracts combination as a gel for antifungal activity. Thus our study reveals both leaf extracts to be good antifungals; their methanolic hydro extracts may be formulated as hydrogels with satisfactory physicochemical parameters
Stock assessment of coastal tunas in the Indian seas
Tuna and billfish production from the Indian coastal waters, Lakshadweep and
Andaman and Nicobar islands during the period 1985-'99 averaged 40,204 t. The
contribution by E.affinis, Athazard, T.tonggol, K.pelamis and T.albacares (young
ones) were 18,5041,6,8521,3,093 t, 3,3921 and 2,2111 respectively. Drift gill net
was the major gear employed in the coastal tuna fishery. The length frequency data
collected on the above species during 1990-'98 at seven centres along the Indian
coast were analysed employing FiSAT programme to estimate their growth and
mortality parameters, exploitation rates and relative yield per recmit
Status of exploitation of coastal tunas in the Indian seas
Tuna and billfish production from Indian seas during the period 1985-'99 evinced an
increasing trend and the landings fluctuated between 24,287 t (1987) and
53,6621 (1992). The average annual production during the said period was 40,2041,
contributing to 3.6% of the total pelagic fish landings and 1.8% of the total marine
fish landings. On an average, 24% of the total tuna and billfish production during
1991-'99 was contributed by northwest coast, 2% by Andaman and Nicobar islands
and 14.9% by Lakshadweep. Among the maritime states, Kerala (36 %), Gujarat
(18.1%) Tamilnadu (11.6%), Maharashtra (5.9%), Kamataka (5%), Andhra Pradesh
(4.4 %) and Goa (2%) were the prime tuna producing states
First LIGO search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings
We report on a matched-filter search for gravitational wave bursts from
cosmic string cusps using LIGO data from the fourth science run (S4) which took
place in February and March 2005. No gravitational waves were detected in 14.9
days of data from times when all three LIGO detectors were operating. We
interpret the result in terms of a frequentist upper limit on the rate of
gravitational wave bursts and use the limits on the rate to constrain the
parameter space (string tension, reconnection probability, and loop sizes) of
cosmic string models.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Replaced with version submitted to PR
Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era
We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom
Stacked Search for Gravitational Waves from the 2006 SGR 1900+14 Storm
We present the results of a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational
waves (GWs) associated with the 2006 March 29 SGR 1900+14 storm. A new search
method is used, "stacking'' the GW data around the times of individual
soft-gamma bursts in the storm to enhance sensitivity for models in which
multiple bursts are accompanied by GW emission. We assume that variation in the
time difference between burst electromagnetic emission and potential burst GW
emission is small relative to the GW signal duration, and we time-align GW
excess power time-frequency tilings containing individual burst triggers to
their corresponding electromagnetic emissions. We use two GW emission models in
our search: a fluence-weighted model and a flat (unweighted) model for the most
electromagnetically energetic bursts. We find no evidence of GWs associated
with either model. Model-dependent GW strain, isotropic GW emission energy
E_GW, and \gamma = E_GW / E_EM upper limits are estimated using a variety of
assumed waveforms. The stacking method allows us to set the most stringent
model-dependent limits on transient GW strain published to date. We find E_GW
upper limit estimates (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) of between 2x10^45 erg
and 6x10^50 erg depending on waveform type. These limits are an order of
magnitude lower than upper limits published previously for this storm and
overlap with the range of electromagnetic energies emitted in SGR giant flares.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Scientific Objectives of Einstein Telescope
The advanced interferometer network will herald a new era in observational
astronomy. There is a very strong science case to go beyond the advanced
detector network and build detectors that operate in a frequency range from 1
Hz-10 kHz, with sensitivity a factor ten better in amplitude. Such detectors
will be able to probe a range of topics in nuclear physics, astronomy,
cosmology and fundamental physics, providing insights into many unsolved
problems in these areas.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, Plenary talk given at Amaldi Meeting, July 201
Swift follow-up observations of candidate gravitational-wave transient events
We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate
gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their
2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network
of GW detectors and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift
observatory. Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected
electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background.
Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected
GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is
consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a "blind
injection challenge". With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid
follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint
electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an
electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the
advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime
multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the
astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results
from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of
sensitivity for the present and future instruments.Comment: Submitted for publication 2012 May 25, accepted 2012 October 25,
published 2012 November 21, in ApJS, 203, 28 (
http://stacks.iop.org/0067-0049/203/28 ); 14 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables;
LIGO-P1100038; Science summary at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6LVSwift/index.php ; Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p110003
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