A retrospective study of efficacy and cost efficiency of medical vs. surgical management of abortions in first trimester

Background: The aim of the study was to assess and comparatively evaluate the efficacy of different methods of first trimester abortions (medical, surgical) in terms of its safety, cost and effectiveness.Methods: We present a retrospective observational research study done at Chettinad hospital and research institute, Kelambakkam Chennai which included a total of 70 patients of first trimester abortions, in the period from June 2019 to June 2020. 55 patients were offered medical treatment (MTOP) and were followed up with a repeat scan after 2 weeks. In cases of failed medical abortion patient underwent curettage. Though, in some cases after an attempt at medical abortion, if the products didn’t expel at all within 48 hours, dilatation and evacuation was offered. Transvaginal ultrasound was performed to confirm the success of the treatment. In 15 cases who presented with incomplete abortion, surgical treatment (STOP) was offered. The outcomes considered were successful complete abortions, failed medical abortions, side effects and complications including blood transfusion.Results: The baseline characteristics of women were similar in both the groups like mean age, parity, history of previous termination of pregnancy (TOP). The success rate in MTOP was 67.2% and in STOP 100%.The amount of bleeding experienced was moderate to heavy in MTOP and minimal to moderate in STOP.37 women who underwent only medical termination who returned for the 2-week follow-up, the rate of complete pregnancy termination was 94% and for the remaining 2 women surgical intervention was required. In the surgical group, at the 2-week follow up, no woman underwent a repeat vacuum aspiration with an efficacy of 100%. No significant difference was found in the mean total cost for the medical and surgical groups after adding the subsequent costs (including additional manual vacuum evacuation).Conclusions: Medical termination of abortion should be preferred over surgical termination as it is safer, cost effective, with fewer complications and high success rate.

Mapping the Design Space of Photonic Topological States via Deep Learning

Topological states in photonics offer novel prospects for guiding and manipulating photons and facilitate the development of modern optical components for a variety of applications. Over the past few years, photonic topology physics has evolved and unveiled various unconventional optical properties in these topological materials, such as silicon photonic crystals. However, the design of such topological states still poses a significant challenge. Conventional optimization schemes often fail to capture their complex high dimensional design space. In this manuscript, we develop a deep learning framework to map the design space of topological states in the photonic crystals. This framework overcomes the limitations of existing deep learning implementations. Specifically, it reconciles the dimension mismatch between the input (topological properties) and output (design parameters) vector spaces and the non-uniqueness that arises from one-to-many function mappings. We use a fully connected deep neural network (DNN) architecture for the forward model and a cyclic convolutional neural network (cCNN)for the inverse model. The inverse architecture contains the pre-trained forward model in tandem, thereby reducing the prediction error significantly.Comment: 3 figures, AI for better photonics, topological photonics, inverse desig

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) and Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) Co-infection in the Patients Presenting with Acute Viral Hepatitis Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

Introduction: Hepatitis A virus (HAV) and Hepatitis E virus (HEV) are both transmitted enterically, resulting in acute viral hepatitis (AVH) in developing countries like India. HAV has a world-wide distribution and affects infants and young children in developing countries, and its epidemics are not very common. HEV is restricted to tropical countries and affects older children and young adults, and its epidemics are common. Co-infection with both viruses may lead to serious complications. Aim: This study was done to determine prevalence of HAV and HEV in patients presenting with AVH and the co-infection of HAV and HEV in these patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of one year’s duration was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi. 1230 patients presenting with AVH were considered in the study. Serum samples were analyzed for IgM anti-HAV and IgM anti-HEV for the detection of HAV and HEV infection, respectively, using commercially available ELISA kits. Results: The seroprevalence of HAV- and HEV-positive patients was 15.5% and 27.2%, respectively. The seroprevalence of both HAV and HEV in patients with acute viral hepatitis was 5.1%. The prevalence of HAV and HEV among males (14.6% and 29.8%) was higher than in females (16.6% and 23.4%). These infections were predominantly seen during end of monsoons and beginning of winter. Conclusion: The prevalence of HEV is much higher than that of HAV; co-infection rate of 5.1% mandates the screening for HEV which will be of immense importance in pregnant women and improving levels of personal hygiene among lower socio-economic population

Isolation of Halophilic Bacteria and Their Screening for Extracellular Enzyme Production

617-622Halophiles are those microorganisms which are found at high salt concentration. These microorganisms have the capability to form a wide array of bioactive substances that have different applications in various industries. This work focussed at the isolation and screening of various halophilic bacterial strains from different places in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Using a complete medium with different salt concentrations, 70 halophilic bacteria were isolated from 4 different sites. These isolated bacteria were then examined and screened out for the synthesis of different extracellular enzymes, such as cellulase, lipase and amylase. Out of the total, 24 isolates were found positive for amylase, 9 for lipase and 16 for cellulase. These enzymes can perform the hydrolytic activity at high salt concentrations. The various halophilic bacterial strains isolated from various places show a prospective for use in a range of biotechnological and molecular biology experiments and the extremozymes obtained from these bacteria have great industrial importance

Isolation of Halophilic Bacteria and Their Screening for Extracellular Enzyme Production

Halophiles are those microorganisms which are found at high salt concentration. These microorganisms have the capability to form a wide array of bioactive substances that have different applications in various industries. This work focussed at the isolation and screening of various halophilic bacterial strains from different places in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Using a complete medium with different salt concentrations, 70 halophilic bacteria were isolated from 4 different sites. These isolated bacteria were then examined and screened out for the synthesis of different extracellular enzymes, such as cellulase, lipase and amylase. Out of the total, 24 isolates were found positive for amylase, 9 for lipase and 16 for cellulase. These enzymes can perform the hydrolytic activity at high salt concentrations. The various halophilic bacterial strains isolated from various places show a prospective for use in a range of biotechnological and molecular biology experiments and the extremozymes obtained from these bacteria have great industrial importance

Nonlinear Optical Properties Of GeSbS Chalcogenide Waveguides

We characterize the nonlinear optical properties of GeSbS chalcogenide glasses with fiber-based experiments. A waveguide nonlinear parameter of 7 W-1/m and nonlinear refractive index of 3.71 x 10-18 m2/W are estimated by self-phase modulation. A GeSbS waveguide could also generate a supercontinuum from 1280 to 2120 nm at the -30 dB level for maximum coupled power of 340 W, showing a 14-fold spectral broadening of the input spectrum explained by cascaded stimulated Raman scattering

Nonlinear characterization of GeSbS chalcogenide glass waveguides

GeSbS ridge waveguides have recently been demonstrated as a promising mid – infrared platform for integrated waveguide – based chemical sensing and photodetection. To date, their nonlinear optical properties remain relatively unexplored. In this paper, we characterize the nonlinear optical properties of GeSbS glasses, and show negligible nonlinear losses at 1.55 μm. Using self – phase modulation experiments, we characterize a waveguide nonlinear parameter of 7 W[subscript −1]/m and nonlinear refractive index of 3.71 × 10[superscript −18] m[superscript 2]/W. GeSbS waveguides are used to generate supercontinuum from 1280 nm to 2120 nm at the −30 dB level. The spectrum expands along the red shifted side of the spectrum faster than on the blue shifted side, facilitated by cascaded stimulated Raman scattering arising from the large Raman gain of chalcogenides. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic measurements show that these glasses are optically transparent up to 25 μm, making them useful for short – wave to long – wave infrared applications in both linear and nonlinear optics.SUTD-MIT International Design Centre (IDC

Studies on structural, electrical, and optical properties of Cu doped As-Se-Te chalcogenide glasses

Cu doped chalcogenide (ChG) glassy films in the As-Se-Te glass system have been prepared using thermal evaporation techniques. Single-source evaporation from bulk (1-x) As(0.40)Se(0.35)Te(0.25)+x Cu glasses with x=0.05, 0.075, 0.10, 0.125, and 0.15, as well as dual-source coevaporation from As-chalcogenide and Cu-chalcogenide binary glasses as source materials, has been explored. We have shown that it is not possible to deposit high concentration Cu doped ChG glassy films, from the Cu doped bulk samples using single-source evaporation. However, using the dual-source coevaporation technique, we have demonstrated that the films can be doped with high concentrations of Cu. Micro-Raman spectroscopy has been utilized to verify that Cu is introduced into the glass network without disrupting the basic As-chalcogen units. Optical measurements have shown that introduction of Cu decreases the band gap of As-Se-Te glasses. The electrical properties of the investigated films have been measured at different temperatures and it has been shown that Cu incorporation in the As-Se-Te glass system vastly improves electrical conductivity. Moreover, we have shown that the temperature dependence of electrical conductivity can be fitted assuming variable range hopping between states near the Fermi level