Specific Antibodies to Recombinant Allergens of \u3cem\u3eAspergillus fumigatus\u3c/em\u3e in Cystic Fibrosis Patients with ABPA

Background Aspergillus fumigatus, a widely distributed fungus, has been implicated in causing life threatening infections as well as severe asthma and allergic diseases in man. Allergic affliction like allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is a disabling lung disease frequently seen in patients with asthma and cystic fibrosis. Immunodiagnosis of the former is comparatively easier due to the availability of purified antigens and sensitive methods. However, this is not true with cystic fibrosis patients where the prevalence of ABPA is fairly high and the morbidity and mortality are significant. Methods In the present study, we have evaluated purified recombinant allergens from A. fumigatus, namely Asp f 1, f 2, f 3, f 4, and f 6 using ELISA and a semi-automated method (ImmunoCAP). We studied 17 patients each from cystic fibrosis with ABPA, and cystic fibrosis with asthma, 22 cystic fibrosis with no ABPA or asthma, and 11 age matched controls. Results The results indicate that no antigen, antibody or method is capable of differentiating cystic fibrosis (CF) with ABPA from other CF patients, although some allergens showed strong reaction or showed more prevalence among the patients studied. Conclusion When results of several allergens such as Asp f 1, f 2, f 3, f 4, and f 6 in their binding to IgA, IgG, and IgE antibodies were analyzed, a more strong discrimination of CF patients with ABPA was possible from the other groups studied

Dataplane Specialization for High-performance OpenFlow Software Switching

OpenFlow is an amazingly expressive dataplane program- ming language, but this expressiveness comes at a severe performance price as switches must do excessive packet clas- sification in the fast path. The prevalent OpenFlow software switch architecture is therefore built on flow caching, but this imposes intricate limitations on the workloads that can be supported efficiently and may even open the door to mali- cious cache overflow attacks. In this paper we argue that in- stead of enforcing the same universal flow cache semantics to all OpenFlow applications and optimize for the common case, a switch should rather automatically specialize its dat- aplane piecemeal with respect to the configured workload. We introduce ES WITCH , a novel switch architecture that uses on-the-fly template-based code generation to compile any OpenFlow pipeline into efficient machine code, which can then be readily used as fast path. We present a proof- of-concept prototype and we demonstrate on illustrative use cases that ES WITCH yields a simpler architecture, superior packet processing speed, improved latency and CPU scala- bility, and predictable performance. Our prototype can eas- ily scale beyond 100 Gbps on a single Intel blade even with complex OpenFlow pipelines

PLIGHT OF FEMALE CONSTRUCTION WORKERS OF SURAT CITY

Background: With the rapid increase in construction sector, the number of female construction workers is increased. The problems of women worker is still not addressed adequately by health sector. Aims and objective: The present study is aimed to explore problems of female workers at construction sites in working environment and to document issues like gender bias, living conditions, vulnerability and slackness of health among female working in construction field. Methodology: This was a Cross sectional study conducted in May 2011in which all females working at the randomly selected construction site were enrolled. The pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire was prepared to study the participant’s response. In-depth interview technique was also used to strengthen the findings. Results: Total of 118 female construction workers participated in the study with mean age found to be 22 years with SD of 6 years. Mean daily wages of female was 120 Rs while for male it was 245 Rs which is double than what female getting. Major health complaints were fatigue/weakness (61 %), backache (30 %), cough (17.5 %), fever (17 %), skin itching (10.5 %) and diarrhoea (7 %). They were not even using the government medical facility due to lack of awareness and knowledge about this. No safety measures provided to female as compare to male except at 2 sites where female were provided ‘gloves’. Some (6%) of the working females has abuse of chewing tobacco daily or smoking ‘bidi’. The living condition was merely enough to provide any privacy for female. Conclusion: As migratory and floating population, female working in construction field needs attention. Lack of social security and family support make them a vulnerable group for addiction and violence. Alternate way for providing healthcare for these women should be sort out early

Evaluation of peripheral arterial occlusive disease by computed tomography angiography

Background: Characterization of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) can be performed with non-invasive angiography using computed tomography (CT). The present study was conducted to evaluate the CT angiographic spectrum of aortoiliac and the lower limb arterial disease in symptomatic patients of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) and to classify the lesions according to the Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus II (TASC II).Methods: The study was carried out in the department of radio-diagnosis in collaboration with departments of cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology and surgery, Safdarjung Hospital and Vardhman Mahavir Medical College, New Delhi. 50 patients aged above 40 years presenting with symptoms and (or) signs of lower limb peripheral arterial disease were recruited into the study after evaluating the renal function. Patient’s clinical history, ABI index and categories of PAOD according to the classification of Fontaine was noted. CT angiography of aortoiliac and lower limb arteries was performed with Philips Brilliance 40 CT unit. The findings in each CT angiography were analysed in respect to site, number, nature and distribution of the lesions and classified individually according to the TASC II.Results: The patients included in the study were all more than 40 years of age. The age range in the study group was 42 years to 75 years. The majority (86%) were male patients. Smoking and dyslipidemia were found to be the main risk factors in our patients. 24% of patients had documentary evidence of ischemic heart disease. On grading with ABI majority of patients (58%) presented in the end stage of the disease (stage IV). On CT angiography, number of lesions detected was 157. 97.4% of lesions were either stenotic or occlusive and 2.54% are with aneurysm. Maximum number of patients had femoropopliteal lesions followed by aortailiac lesions. 14 Winslow pathways were found in 10 patients. Maximum numbers of femoropopliteal lesions (47.29%) belong to type D, type B lesions account for 50% of total aortoiliac lesions based on TASC II classification. Out of 50, 40 were made follow up. Among them 8 were managed with conservative treatment and remaining 32 managed with treatment based TASC II classification.Conclusions: CT angiography is a reliable noninvasive imaging method for the comprehensive and multi parameter evaluation of patients with PAOD. CT angiographic findings are a highly accurate basis for treatment decisions and planning

Role of 3D printed customized implants in periarticular fractures: a narrative review

“3D printing” is a common term used for a number of technologies which operate on the principle of converting a computer-generated 3D image into a physical model. Advantage of 3D printed parts is that they can assume complex shape, with solid and porous components that can be combined to provide the best combination of strength and performances and can help visualize the complex fractures which are difficult to apprehend with conventional imaging. Presently, the primary applications for 3D printing are the production of anatomical models for planning and surgery simulation, patient-specific instruments and custom-made prosthesis which have transformed how orthopedic problems are addressed now. This review aims to describe the utility and future directives into the application of this technology in orthopedics

Texture Consumption Patterns of 8- to 12-Month-Old Infants: A Reflection of Typical Feeding Development

Purpose: The lack of age-appropriate expectations for the acquisition of feeding skills and consumption of textured food in early childhood inhibits early and accurate identification of developmental delay in feeding and pediatric feeding disorder. The objective of this study was to describe texture intake patterns in a cohort of typically developing infants between 8 and 12 months of age, with the aim of informing future research to establish targets for feeding skill acquisition. Method: Using cross-sectional methodology, we studied the presence of liquid and solid textures and drinking methods in the diet, consumption patterns by texture and drinking methods, and caloric intake by texture via caregiver questionnaire and 3-day dietary intake record in 63 healthy infants between 8 and 12 months of age. Descriptive statistics and a one-way analysis of variance were conducted to compare the effect of age on texture intake patterns. Results: Findings reveal rapid advancement of intake patterns for texture overall and for energy intake by texture between 8 and 12 months of age. Whereas liquids continue to provide a large proportion of total energy through this time, solids contribute an equal proportion of energy by 12 months of age. Conclusions: This study describes texture intake patterns in a cohort of typically developing infants between 8 and 12 months of age by examining the presence of texture and drinking methods, liquid and solid consumption patterns, and energy intake by texture. When applied to data from a future population sample, findings will provide a threshold for age expectations for typical and disordered feeding development to aid in the detection of developmental delay in feeding and pediatric feeding disorder

Solubilised bright blue-emitting iridium complexes for solution processed OLEDs

EZ-C acknowledges the University of St Andrews for financial support. IDWS and AKB acknowledge support from EPSRC (EP/J01771X). The authors would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for financial support for Adam Henwood: EPSRC DTG Grants: EP/J500549/1; EP/K503162/1; EP/L505097/1.Combining a sterically bulky, electron-deficient 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-4-(2,4,6- trimethylphenyl)pyridine (dFMesppy) cyclometalating C^N ligand with an electron rich, highly rigidified 1,1’-(α,α’-o-xylylene)-2,2’-biimidazole (o-xylbiim) N^N ligand gives an iridium complex, [Ir(dFMesppy)2(o-Xylbiim)](PF6), that achieves extraordinarily bright blue emission (ΦPL = 90%; λmax = 459 nm in MeCN) for a cationic iridium complex. This complex is compared with two reference complexes bearing 4,4’-di-tert-butyl-2,2’- bipyridine, and solution-processed organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been fabricated from these materials.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Shell evolution and nuclear forces

We present a quantitative study of the role played by different components characterizing the nucleon-nucleon interaction in the evolution of the nuclear shell structure. It is based on the spin-tensor decomposition of an effective two-body shell-model interaction and the subsequent study of effective single-particle energy variations in a series of isotopes or isotones. The technique allows to separate unambiguously contributions of the central, vector and tensor components of the realistic effective interaction. We show that while the global variation of the single-particle energies is due to the central component of the effective interaction, the characteristic behavior of spin-orbit partners, noticed recently, is mainly due to its tensor part. Based on the analysis of a well-fitted realistic interaction in sdpf-shell model space, we analyze in detail the role played by the different terms in the formation and/or disappearance of N=16, N=20 and N=28 shell gaps in neutron-rich nuclei.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Channel diffusion of sodium in a silicate glass

We use classical molecular dynamics simulations to study the dynamics of sodium atoms in amorphous Na$_2$O-4SiO$_2$. We find that the sodium trajectories form a well connected network of pockets and channels. Inside these channels the motion of the atoms is not cooperative but rather given by independent thermally activated hops of individual atoms between the pockets. By determining the probability that an atom returns to a given starting site, we show that such events are not important for the dynamics of this system.Comment: 10 pages of Latex, 5 figures, one figure added, text expande