Prevalence of shoulder pain disability among assistive device users with paraplegia

Objective: To identify the prevalence of shoulder pain disability in paraplegic patients using assistive devices following Spinal Cord Injury. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done among 53 SCI paraplegia patients having shoulder pain after use of assistive devices. Pre-test was done among 5 subjects. The association among different variables with shoulder was tested by using chi-square test. SPSS version 16 was applied to find the result. Results: The study showed that almost 98.11% of the respondents had shoulder pain with the assistive device users. Among them all of the participants were using wheelchair as the assistive devices and 86.3% had mild disability, 11.8% moderate disability and 2% sever disability. Among them, 72% of the patients had stayed in the hospital for less than six months. Shoulder pain was dependent on age, gender, duration of assistive devices used, type of assistive devices used and level of injury Conclusion: Shoulder pain is common and has a high prevalence rate in both traumatic as well as non-traumatic spinal cord injury. Wheelchair user have more shoulder pain then other assistive devices users. Shoulder pain has a negative effect on activities of daily living and is a potential cause of activity limitations. Keywords: shoulder pain, paraplegia, spinal cord injury, assistive device

Cause, pattern and outcome of fractures occurring in the pediatric population of rural tertiary health care center of Nepal.

Introduction: Pediatric trauma is a significant burden to health care worldwide. In Karnali province, most of the cases present late. The aim of this study is to determine demographic characteristics, cause, pattern, treatment and outcome of pediatric fractures in tertiary health care center in Jumla. Method: This is a retrospective study done in patients younger than 16 years who presented to our hospital between January 2016 to December 2017. We analyzed demographic data, injury characteristics, fracture pattern, time of presentation, treatment modalities and outcome. Results: There were total of 1028 patients out of which 60% were males. Mean duration of presentation to hospital was 4.8 days. Most common mechanism of injury was fall from height. 85.60 % were managed conservatively and 14.40% were managed operatively. Postoperative outcome was good in 71 % of the cases, fair in 28% and poor in 1% cases. Forearm fracture was the most common presentation, accounting for 358 cases (34.82%) followed by Supracondylar humerus fracture accounting 23.34%. Conclusion: Pediatric fractures constitute a huge proportion of cases in our hospital. As pediatric bones unite readily, the treatment outcome is good in most of the cases even after conservative management and after delayed presentation. Keywords: pediatric fractures, conservative management, supracondylar fractures, delayed presentation

Clinical profile and outcome of neonates admitted to the Neonatal Care Unit in a rural teaching Hospital

Objectives: Neonatal morbidity and mortality rates reflect efficiency of health services of a country. This study was conducted to identify the clinical profile, pattern of diseases and common causes of mortality and morbidity in neonates admitted to neonatology unit. Methods: The study was conducted in Neonatal Unit of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences, Jumla for a period of one year from 1st May 2017 to 30th April 2018. Data of all admitted patients were reviewed and analyzed in terms of gender, gestational age, age at presentation, weight, cause of admission and their outcome. Diagnosis was made on clinical examination, radiological findings and laboratory investigations. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: Out of 153 neonates admitted during the study period, 2 were excluded because of deficient record. Full-term neonates were 122(80.7%) while preterm were 29 (19.3%). Low birth weight (LBW) babies were 32 (21.18%).Neonatal sepsis 91 (60.26%) was the most common cause of hospital admissions followed by meconium aspiration syndrome 21(13.9%) and prematurity 10(6.62%). Out of 151 newborns, 112 babies (74.1%) were discharged after improvement, 15(9.93%) left against medical advice, 13(8.6%) babies were referred to higher centers for intensive care and there were 9 (5.9%) mortalities and 2(1.3%) got absconded. Conclusion: The majority of neonatal morbidity is due to sepsis, prematurity and respiratory causes. All these causes are preventable to some extent and, can be effectively treated in order to reduce morbidity and mortality. Keywords: New Born, Mortality, Admission, Sepsi

IL-2 Regulates SEB Induced Toxic Shock Syndrome in BALB/c Mice

BACKGROUND:Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) is characterized by fever, rash, hypotension, constitutional symptoms, and multi-organ involvement and is caused by Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxins such as Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B (SEB). SEB binds to the MHC-IIalpha chain and is recognized by the TCRbeta chain of the Vbeta8 TCR(+) T cells. The binding of SEB to Vbeta chain results in rapid activation of T cells and production of inflammatory cytokines, such as Interleukin-2 (IL-2), Interferon-gamma and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha which mediate TSS. Although IL2 was originally identified as the T cell growth factor and was proposed to contribute to T cell differentiation, its role in TSS remains unexplored. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Mice were injected with D-Gal (25 mg/mouse). One hour after D-Galactosamine (D-Gal) injection each mouse was injected with SEB (20 microg/mouse. Mice were then observed for 72 hrs and death was recorded at different times. We tested Interleukin-12, IFNgamma, and IL-2 deficient mice (IL-2(-/-)), but only the IL-2 deficient mice were resistant to SEB induced toxic shock syndrome. More importantly reconstitution of IL-2 in IL-2 deficient mice restored the shock. Interestingly, SEB induced IL-2 production from T cells was dependent on p38MAPK activation in macrophages as inhibition of it in macrophages significantly inhibited IL-2 production from T cells. CONCLUSION:This study shows the importance of IL -2 in TSS which has not been previously explored and it also shows that regulating macrophages function can regulate T cells and TSS

Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in FePt Patterned Media Employing a CrV Seed Layer

A thin FePt film was deposited onto a CrV seed layer at 400°C and showed a high coercivity (~3,400 Oe) and high magnetization (900–1,000 emu/cm3) characteristic of L10 phase. However, the magnetic properties of patterned media fabricated from the film stack were degraded due to the Ar-ion bombardment. We employed a deposition-last process, in which FePt film deposited at room temperature underwent lift-off and post-annealing processes, to avoid the exposure of FePt to Ar plasma. A patterned medium with 100-nm nano-columns showed an out-of-plane coercivity fivefold larger than its in-plane counterpart and a remanent magnetization comparable to saturation magnetization in the out-of-plane direction, indicating a high perpendicular anisotropy. These results demonstrate the high perpendicular anisotropy in FePt patterned media using a Cr-based compound seed layer for the first time and suggest that ultra-high-density magnetic recording media can be achieved using this optimized top-down approach

Explaining co-movements between equity and CDS bid-ask spreads

In this paper I show that the co-movements between bid-ask spreads of equities and credit default swaps vary over time and increase over crisis periods. The co-movements are strongly related to systematic risk factors and to the theoretical debt-to-equity hedge ratio. I document that hedging and asymmetric information, besides higher funding costs and market volatility risk, are driving factors of the commonality and are significantly priced in CDS bid-ask spreads

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV