Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Down, But Not Out

Presents findings from twelve metropolitan areas about employers' efforts to control employee healthcare costs in response to the recession and national healthcare reform by firm size. Projects employer trends through 2014, including greater cost sharing

PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF HIV PHARMACOTHERAPY AT DISTRICT ART CENTER IN SOUTH TELANGANA

Objective: Objective of the study was to assess the drug utilization pattern of antiretroviral drugs, and medication adherence behavior among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients attending a local ART center, Suryapet, South Telangana. Methods: This was a prospective observational study approved by institutional ethics committee. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and the treatment details were collected on daily basis for new cases and the data add on was collected for old cases. Medication adherence behavior was assessed through Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8. Results: During the study period, a total of 505 HIV patients were enrolled. Among them, majority patients were women (61%), in the age group of 31–45 (49.7%). Illiterates (52.6%). Major mode of transmission identified was intimate contact (74%), and majority patients were in Stage I (49%). TLE regimen was prescribed in 69.9% patients and for children the prescribed regimen was ABC, 3TC, EFV (5.1%). About 43% patients were found with medium adherence. Conclusion: This study concludes that the most prescribed regimens were combination of TLE, and majority of the patients were found with medium adherence

Garden Pea Improvement in India

Garden pea (Pisum sativum L. var. hortense) is an important legume vegetable grown for its fresh, shelled green seeds rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals. At present over 1000 germplasm lines are available in India. Improvement of garden pea in the country was initiated during the 1940s in IARI and later in several other agricultural universities/ ICAR institutes. Currently, 27 early-varieties and 59 mid-season varieties are under cultivation in india. Initially, focus was on developing early-maturing varieties with high yield and quality. Subsequently, emphasis was laid on developing mid-season varieties having resistance to powdery mildew and other major diseases like Fusarium wilt and rust. Besides, varieties with resistance to bruchids and the leaf miner are also available. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to review current status of improvement of garden pea in India, covering its genetic resources, variability, heritability, genetic advance, heterosis and combining ability, G x E interaction, male sterility, breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses, mutation breeding and biotechnological applications. In recent years, there has been an increase in demand for varieties suited to kharif and early summer seasons, with resistance to powdery mildew, rust, Fusarium root wilt/rot and stemfly and also for processing and export. Therefore, future thrust in the improvement of garden pea would be on developing varieties tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses (mainly high temperature), and also for processing and export

Fibre Bragg grating sensors for the analysis of pressure distribution at a disc brake/pad interface

The use of optical fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) to monitor the Interface Pressure Distribution (IPD) on an automotive disc brake pad under a variety of loading conditions is studied. The results demonstrate successful strain transfer from the brake pads to the attached FBG sensors under static loading, with a linear response to increasing pressure, and with the measured IPD showing good agreement with that recorded using pressure sensitive paper. Results are also presented demonstrating that changes in the IPD as a result of torque acting on the brake pads can be monitored by the FBG sensors

Real-Time Adaptive Event Detection in Astronomical Data Streams

A new generation of observational science instruments is dramatically increasing collected data volumes in a range of fields. These instruments include the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), terrestrial sensor networks, and NASA satellites participating in "decadal survey"' missions. Their unprecedented coverage and sensitivity will likely reveal wholly new categories of unexpected and transient events. Commensal methods passively analyze these data streams, recognizing anomalous events of scientific interest and reacting in real time. Here, the authors report on a case example: Very Long Baseline Array Fast Transients Experiment (V-FASTR), an ongoing commensal experiment at the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) that uses online adaptive pattern recognition to search for anomalous fast radio transients. V-FASTR triages a millisecond-resolution stream of data and promotes candidate anomalies for further offline analysis. It tunes detection parameters in real time, injecting synthetic events to continually retrain itself for optimum performance. This self-tuning approach retains sensitivity to weak signals while adapting to changing instrument configurations and noise conditions. The system has operated since July 2011, making it the longest-running real-time commensal radio transient experiment to date

Salivary levels of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory biomarkers in periodontitis patients with and without acute myocardial infarction: implications for cardiovascular risk assessment.

BACKGROUND Periodontitis is initiated by a dysbiotic activity and furthermore leads to a chronic inflammatory response. The presence of pro-inflammatory markers plays an important role in the inflammatory load. Macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha (MIP-1α) and C-reactive protein (CRP) are pro- inflammatory biomarkers that quantify clinical and subclinical inflammation in cardiac ischemia in cardiac inflammation and disease. Adiponectin is an anti-inflammatory marker associated with good health. The susceptibility of periodontitis patients to cardiovascular events needs to be evaluated. OBJECTIVE This study aims to assess the levels of biomarkers in periodontitis patients with and without acute myocardial infarction (AMI) compared to controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS Pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory analytes were examined by collecting unstimulated saliva from three groups (n = 20/each): healthy individuals, individuals with stage III periodontitis, and post-myocardial infarction patients with stage III periodontitis. The samples were collected within 48 h of AMI. RESULTS Adiponectin levels were significantly lower in patients with periodontitis with and without AMI compared to controls, while CRP and MIP-1α were significantly higher in patients with periodontitis with and without AMI compared to controls. The highest titers for MIP-1α and CRP were detected among patients with periodontitis with and AMI. CONCLUSION Our study provides possible evidence of the association between periodontitis and salivary analytes that occur in tandem with cardiovascular disease. The lower levels of Adiponectin and higher levels of CRP and MIP-1α in patients with periodontitis indicate that this condition is a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The findings emphasize the importance of early detection and intervention for periodontitis patients to prevent cardiovascular events