Cerebral venous thrombosis: a changing landscape

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is an uncommon cause of stroke and is mainly a disease of the young. The aims of the study were to summarize the change in the clinical profile of CVT and provide an update regarding the current management of the same. A literature search was conducted using Pubmed and Google scholar using the desired terms. Studies were analysed and review was formulated. The median age of CVT in most studies was 32 years. There has been a shift from female pre-ponderence to equal gender predilection. Several studies are confirming the efficacy of D-dimer as a diagnostic marker of CVT. Newer oral anticoagulants have been found to be as efficient as warfarin. There have been several cases of CVT reported in association with COVID-19. This review confirmed the traditional understanding of age and risk factors of CVT. It also noted a change from the female pre-ponderence. NOACS are emerging as the preferred drug for the long-term management of CVT

A correlative study of homocysteine levels and dementia: an Indian perspective

Background: The prevalence of dementia is increasing worldwide and with India experiencing an epidemiological transition with increasing ageing population, the prevalence in India is expected to double by 2030 adding to the already high burden of significant health care costs and caregiver fatigue. Indian population has a higher burden of elevated homocysteine levels due to multiple factors. However, studies correlating the homocysteine levels and severity of dementia in the Indian subcontinent is lacking. This study is aimed to analyse the diagnostic utility of serum total homocysteine in dementia and to examine the association between serum total homocysteine levels and severity of dementia.Methods: This was a cross-sectional hospital-based study on patients attending neurology out-patient department who satisfied the DSM-V criteria. Each participant underwent an interview of general health and function followed by a standard assessment including medical history, physical and neurological examination as well as a neuropsychological battery.Results: A total of 30 patients fulfilling the DSM-Vcriteria for Dementia were included in the study. Increasing S. Homocysteine levels were associated with lower neuropsychological compound scores with MMSE score of 20.78±2.98 and ACE-3 score of 77.40±5.60 in patients with Serum Homocysteine less than 22 Umoles/L and 18.85±2.50 and 75.55±5.06 respectively in patients with serum homocysteine levels above 22 Umoles/L. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between neurocognitive scores and serum homocysteine levels (p value 0.06 for MMSE and 0.19 for ACE-3). Also, no correlation was found between severity of dementia and serum homocysteine levels with p≥0.05 and Pearson’s correlation coefficient r=0.06.Conclusions: This study shows no significant association between serum total homocysteine levels and severity of dementia. Thus, the association of homocysteine as an independent risk factor with the diagnosis and severity of dementia needs to be re-evaluated as it might undermine the multiple mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of dementia

Neuropathy in the setting of alcoholism-an entity less thought of

Disulfiram is a commonly used adjunctive treatment in the management of alcohol dependency.  It has been noted that disulfiram can induce peripheral neuropathy, the mechanism of which has not been clearly determined. A 35-year-old patient, reformed alcoholic, on disulfiram presented with complaints of painful distal dysesthesias and foot drop. Clinical examination revealed bilateral foot drop without any objective sensory loss. Patient was evaluated for the same and routine blood investigations including vitamin B-12, inflammatory and virological markers were found to be normal. Nerve conductions studies revealed in excitable bilateral common peroneal and tibial nerves. Possibility of disulfiram induced peripheral neuropathy was thought of and drug was withdrawn. Patient was followed up and after two months improvement in motor power and reduction in paraesthesia’s was noted. Disulfiram is a commonly used drug, the uncommon side effect of which is distal predominant axonal neuropathy. This must be kept be kept in mind when evaluating a patient presenting with features of peripheral neuropathy, on a background of alcohol abuse

Using simplified indices to forecast the seismic vulnerability of New Zealand unreinforced masonry churches

Unreinforced masonry churches are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because they are often deteriorated and damaged, they were built with comparatively low strength materials, they are heavy, and the connections between the various structural components are often insufficient to resist loads generated during earthquakes. A simplified method for seismic assessment of large span masonry churches is presented and data from 44 churches located in Italy, Portugal and Spain are used to provide lower bound limits for different simplified geometrical indexes. Subsequently, the proposed thresholds are validated with data from the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes, including 48 clay brick and stone unreinforced masonry churches. Finally, data collected for 40 unreinforced masonry churches in Wellington and Dunedin are used to identify churches in these cities requiring priority detailed seismic evaluation

Examining the initial usability, acceptability and feasibility of a digital mental health intervention for college students in India

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156228/2/ijop12640_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156228/1/ijop12640.pd

Experimental bladder carcinogenesis – rodent models

Several rodent models of bladder cancer development have been established. The aim of this review article is to provide a critical assessment of different animal models available for the study of bladder carcinogenesis, its chemoprevention and therapy. All, except for transgenic and knockout animals, require 8–12 months experimental periods in order to generate a high yield of neoplasias. Spontaneous bladder tumor models are extremely rare. The significance of the results from animal experiments is dependent upon the selection of a suitable animal model. There are no rules regarding the choice of a model, it is however very useful to have knowledge of relevant comparative medical aspects concerning this subject. We describe chemical carcinogens most commonly used to induce bladder cancer, pellet implantation and urinary calculi, agents that promote bladder cancer, and irradiation. We also evaluated other tools such as cell cultures, tumor implantation and transgenic models for bladder cancer, that have been developed to study the process. The review considers how several imaging techniques can be applied to study rodent bladder carcinogenesis.Для изучения механизмов развития рака мочевого пузыря было создано несколько экспериментальных моделей на гры- зунах. Целью обзора была сравнительная оценка различных экспериментальных моделей для изучения канцерогенеза мочевого пузыря, профилактики и терапии. За исключением трансгенных и нокаутных животных, для получения высокого выхода опухолей в любой экспериментальной модели требуется 8–12 мес. Модели спонтанного канцерогенеза мочевого пузыря крайне редки. Выбор экспериментальной модели с определенными параметрами определяет значимость получен- ных результатов. В статье описаны различные методики, используемые для индукции рака мочевого пузыря in vivo, ряд методических подходов, таких как культура клеток, имплантация опухоли и трансгенные модели рака мочевого пузыря и современные методы мониторинга опухолевой прогрессии

Application of particle filters to regional-scale wildfire spread

European Conference on Thermophysical Properties (ECTP)European Conference on Thermophysical Properties (ECTP), Porto, PORTUGALPorto, PORTUGAL, SEP 05-05, 2014SEP 05-05, 2014International audienceThis paper demonstrates the capability of particle filters for sequentially improving the simulation and forecast of wildfire propagation as new fire front observations become available. Particle filters, also called Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods, fit into the domain of inverse modeling procedures, where measurements are incorporated (assimilated) into a computational model so as to formulate some feedback information on the uncertain model state variables and/or parameters, through representations of their probability density functions (PDF). Based on a simple sampling importance distribution and resampling techniques, particle filters combine Monte Carlo samplings with sequential Bayesian filtering problems. This study compares the performance of the Sampling Importance Resampling (SIR) and of the Auxiliary Sampling Importance Resampling (ASIR) filters for the sequential estimation of a progress variable and of vegetation parameters of the Rate Of fire Spread (ROS) model, which are all treated as state variables. They are applied to a real-world case corresponding to a reduced-scale controlled grassland fire experiment for validation; results indicate that both the SIR and the ASIR filters are able to accurately track the observed fire fronts, with a moderate computational cost. Particle filters show, therefore, their good ability to predict the propagation of controlled fires and to significantly increase fire simulation accuracy. While still at an early stage of development, this data-driven strategy is quite promising for regional-scale wildfire spread forecasting

Report of the ICES\NAFO Joint Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC), 11–15 March 2013, Floedevigen, Norway.

On 11 February 2013, the joint ICES/NAFO WGDEC, chaired by Francis Neat (UK) and attended by ten members met at the Institute for Marine Research in Floedevi-gen, Norway to consider the terms of reference (ToR) listed in Section 2. WGDEC was requested to update all records of deep-water vulnerable marine eco-systems (VMEs) in the North Atlantic. New data from a range of sources including multibeam echosounder surveys, fisheries surveys, habitat modelling and seabed imagery surveys was provided. For several areas across the North Atlantic, WGDEC makes recommendations for areas to be closed to bottom fisheries for the purposes of conservation of VMEs

Self-Organizing Maps for Pattern Recognition in Design of Alloys

A combined experimental\u2013computational methodology for accelerated design of AlNiCo-type permanent magnetic alloys is presented with the objective of simultaneously extremizing several magnetic properties. Chemical concentrations of eight alloying elements were initially generated using a quasirandom number generator so as to achieve a uniform distribution in the design variable space. It was followed by manufacture and experimental evaluation of these alloys using an identical thermo-magnetic protocol. These experimental data were used to develop meta-models capable of directly relating the chemical composition with desired macroscopic properties of the alloys. These properties were simultaneously optimized to predict chemical compositions that result in improvement of properties. These data were further utilized to discover various correlations within the experimental dataset by using several concepts of artificial intelligence. In this work, an unsupervised neural network known as selforganizing maps was used to discover various patterns reported in the literature. These maps were also used to screen the composition of the next set of alloys to be manufactured and tested in the next iterative cycle. Several of these Pareto-optimized predictions out-performed the initial batch of alloys. This approach helps significantly reducing the time and the number of alloys needed in the alloy development process