Antimicrobial Studies of Triterpenoid Fractions from \u3cem\u3eMyxopyrum smilacifolium\u3c/em\u3e Blume

Triterpenoids isolated from Myxopyrum smilacifolium leaf showed presence of ursolic acid (0.175 mg/g). The triterpenoids showed antimicrobial activity in gram positive bacteria and Candida sps

Anatomical variation in the formation and course of median nerve: a cadaveric study

Background: Median nerve is one of the terminal branches of brachial plexus. Its formed by the union of medial root and lateral root coming respectively from medial and lateral cords of brachial plexus. Knowledge of anatomical variations of median nerve at origin and course is important in repair of traumatic injuries and surgical correction of brachial plexus injuries. These conditions need dissection of median nerve and knowledge of its variations.Methods: Present study included 53 cadavers and 106 upper limbs from our department of Anatomy. In this study, anatomically embalmed cadavers which were kept for routine dissection for under graduates were included. The present study we studied the anatomical variations in origin and course of median nerve in arm. We also studied the relation of median nerve with axillary and brachial arteries.Results: In this study we found origin of median nerve from 3 roots in 26.41%, 4 roots from 1.88%. Regarding the relation of median nerve with axillary artery we observed in 8.49% cadavers median nerve lies medial to axillary artery and in 0.94% Median nerve is passing along the lateral side of brachial artery without crossing the artery.Conclusions: This study shows high percentage of deviations from normal anatomy in origin of median nerve. Anatomical variation in brachial plexus and adjacent arteries knowledge is important for anatomist, plastic surgeon and vascular surgeons.

Risk assessment and decision making about in-labour transfer from rural maternity care: a social judgment and signal detection analysis

Background: The importance of respecting women's wishes to give birth close to their local community is supported by policy in many developed countries. However, persistent concerns about the quality and safety of maternity care in rural communities have been expressed. Safe childbirth in rural communities depends on good risk assessment and decision making as to whether and when the transfer of a woman in labour to an obstetric led unit is required. This is a difficult decision. Wide variation in transfer rates between rural maternity units have been reported suggesting different decision making criteria may be involved; furthermore, rural midwives and family doctors report feeling isolated in making these decisions and that staff in urban centres do not understand the difficulties they face. In order to develop more evidence based decision making strategies greater understanding of the way in which maternity care providers currently make decisions is required. This study aimed to examine how midwives working in urban and rural settings and obstetricians make intrapartum transfer decisions, and describe sources of variation in decision making. Methods: The study was conducted in three stages. 1. 20 midwives and four obstetricians described factors influencing transfer decisions. 2. Vignettes depicting an intrapartum scenario were developed based on stage one data. 3. Vignettes were presented to 122 midwives and 12 obstetricians who were asked to assess the level of risk in each case and decide whether to transfer or not. Social judgment analysis was used to identify the factors and factor weights used in assessment. Signal detection analysis was used to identify participants' ability to distinguish high and low risk cases and personal decision thresholds. Results: When reviewing the same case information in vignettes midwives in different settings and obstetricians made very similar risk assessments. Despite this, a wide range of transfer decisions were still made, suggesting that the main source of variation in decision making and transfer rates is not in the assessment but the personal decision thresholds of clinicians. Conclusions: Currently health care practice focuses on supporting or improving decision making through skills training and clinical guidelines. However, these methods alone are unlikely to be effective in improving consistency of decision making

Trust in an autonomously driven simulator and vehicle performing maneuvers at a T-junction with and without other vehicles

Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology is developing rapidly. Level 3 automation assumes the user might need to respond to requests to retake control. Levels 4 (high automation) and 5 (full automation) do not require human monitoring of the driving task or systems [1]: the AV handles driving functions and makes decisions based on continuously updated information. A gradual switch in the role of the human within the vehicle from active controller to passive passenger comes with uncertainty in terms of trust, which will likely be a key barrier to acceptability, adoption and continued use [2]. Few studies have investigated trust in AVs and these have tended to use driving simulators with Level 3 automation [3, 4]. The current study used both a driving simulator and autonomous road vehicle. Both were operating at Level 3 autonomy although did not require intervention from the user; much like Level 4 systems. Forty-six participants completed road circuits (UK-based) with both platforms. Trust was measured immediately after different types of turns at a priority T-junction, increasing in complexity: e.g., driving left or right out of a T-junction; turning right into a T-junction; presence of oncoming/crossing vehicles. Trust was high across platforms: higher in the simulator for some events and higher in the road AV for others. Generally, and often irrespective of platform, trust was higher for turns involving an oncoming/crossing vehicle(s) than without traffic, possibly because the turn felt more controlled as the simulator and road AVs always yielded, resulting in a delayed maneuver. We also found multiple positive relationships between trust in automation and technology, and trust ratings for most T-junction turn events across platforms. The assessment of trust was successful and the novel findings are important to those designing, developing and testing AVs with users in mind. Undertaking a trial of this scale is complex and caution should be exercised about over-generalizing the findings

Satoyoshi syndrome

Satoyoshi syndrome (Komuragaeri disease) is a rare disorder of presumed autoimmune etiology, characterized by painful muscle spasms, alopecia, diarrhea, endocrinopathy with amenorrhoea and secondary skeletal abnormalities. Most of the previous reports are of the Japanese people. We report the first case from India

Influence of ion-irradiation on the free volume controlled diffusion process in polycarbonate—a positron lifetime study

Iodine sorption in un-irradiated and ion-irradiated polycarbonate (PC) has been investigated using positron lifetime spectroscopy. The decrease in positron lifetime parameters of ion-irradiated sample is attributed to the free volume modifications, and the formation of more stable free radicals on cross-linking. The difference UV absorption spectrum shows a strong absorption peak at 384nm which is due to 2,2′-dihydroxybenzophenone; this depicts the possibility of photo stabilisation of polycarbonate on ion-irradiation. A comparative study of sorption process is explained in terms of iodine diffusion in free volume holes in un-irradiated and ion-irradiated polycarbonates. The experimental results on iodine diffusion shows an early saturation of positron parameters in irradiated PC, which is due to an increase in the rate of diffusion as small number of bigger size free volume holes are formed on irradiation. The diffusion process follows Fick's law and, an exponential type of correlation has been observed between fractional free volume and diffusion coefficient which indicates that Fujita's free volume theory is valid before and after ion-irradiation