Tissue plasminogen activator dose and pulmonary artery pressure reduction in catheter directed thrombolysis of submassive pulmonary embolism.

PURPOSE:The purpose of this study is to assess the incremental effect of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) dose on pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and bleeding during catheter directed thrombolysis (CDT) of submassive pulmonary embolism (PE). MATERIALS AND METHODS:Records of 46 consecutive patients (25 men, 21 women, mean age 55±14 y) who underwent CDT for submassive PE between September 2009 and February 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Mean t-PA rate was 0.7±0.3 mg/h. PAP was measured at baseline and daily until CDT termination. Mixed-effects regression modeling was performed of repeated PAP measures in individual patients. Bleeding events were classified by Global Utilization of Streptokinase and Tissue Plasminogen Activator for Occluded Coronary Arteries (GUSTO) and t-PA dose at onset. RESULTS:Mean t-PA dose was 43.0±30.0 mg over 61.9± 28.8 h. Mean systolic PAP decreased from 51.7±15.5 mmHg at baseline to 35.6±12.7 mmHg at CDT termination (p<0.001). Mixed-effects regression revealed a linear decrease in systolic PAP over time (β = -0.37 (SE = 0.05), p<0.001) with reduction in mean systolic PAP to 44.8±1.9 mmHg at 12 mg t-PA/20 h, 39.5±2.0 mmHg at 24 mg t-PA/40 h, and 34.9±2.1 mmHg at 36 mg/60 h. No severe, one moderate, and 8 mild bleeding events occurred; bleeding onset was more frequent at ≤24 mg t-PA (p <0.001). One patient expired from cardiopulmonary arrest after 16 h of CDT (15.4 mg t-PA); no additional intra-procedural fatalities occurred. CONCLUSION:Increased total t-PA dose and CDT duration were associated with greater PAP reduction without increased bleeding events

High temperature magnetic ordering in La2RuO5

Magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity and electrical resistivity measurements have been carried out on a new ruthenate, La2RuO5 (monoclinic, space group P21/c) which reveal that this compound is a magnetic semiconductor with a high magnetic ordering temperature of 170K. The entropy associated with the magnetic transition is 8.3 J/mole-K -close to that expected for the low spin (S=1) state of Ru4+ ions. The low temperatures specific heat coefficient g is found to be nearly zero consistent with the semiconducting nature of the compound. The magnetic ordering temperature of La2RuO5 is comparable to the highest known Curie temperature of another ruthenate, namely, metallic SrRuO3, and in both these compounds the nominal charge state of Ru is 4+.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, To be published in Solid State Communication

Clinical spectrum of hypothyroidism: a cross sectional study in Puducherry, South India

Background: Hypothyroidism is characterised by underactive thyroid gland where there is reduced synthesis and secretion of thyroid hormones by the gland. With nearly one fifth of the population affected by hypothyroidism it is important to understand the clinical presentation of the disease. The present study aims to explore various clinical signs and symptoms of patients with hypothyroidism in Puducherry, South India.Methods: The study was carried out as a cross sectional study in a tertiary care medical college hospital, Puducherry among 213 patients who are admitted for various reasons and found to have hypothyroidism on laboratory investigations. With help of specialists in various fields all the patients were evaluated thoroughly and findings of the history and examination were noted down. Data entry was done in Epi Data version 3. Means and proportions were calculated using the software SPSS version 21.Results: Most of the hypothyroid patients (168/213) were females, giving a female: male ratio of approximately 3.4: 1. Primary hypothyroidism was found in most of the study participants (91%) and sub clinical hypothyroidism was seen in 6.2% of the patients. Commonest clinical presentation of the hypothyroid patients were fatigue (83.6%), weight gain (66.7%), were dry/coarse skin (52.1%) and voice change (50.7%).Conclusions: The commonest symptom being fatigue and weight gain while the commonest clinical sign was dry skin and voice change.

BASS XXXI : outflow scaling relations in low redshift X-ray AGN host galaxies with MUSE

Ionized gas kinematics provide crucial evidence of the impact that active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have in regulating star formation in their host galaxies. Although the presence of outflows in AGN host galaxies has been firmly established, the calculation of outflow properties such as mass outflow rates and kinetic energy remains challenging. We present the [O III]λ5007 ionized gas outflow properties of 22 z<0.1 X-ray AGN, derived from the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey using MUSE/VLT. With an average spatial resolution of 1 arcsec (0.1–1.2 kpc), the observations resolve the ionized gas clouds down to sub-kiloparsec scales. Resolved maps show that the [O III] velocity dispersion is, on average, higher in regions ionized by the AGN, compared to star formation. We calculate the instantaneous outflow rates in individual MUSE spaxels by constructing resolved mass outflow rate maps, incorporating variable outflow density and velocity. We compare the instantaneous values with time-averaged outflow rates by placing mock fibres and slits on the MUSE field-of-view, a method often used in the literature. The instantaneous outflow rates (0.2–275 M yr−1) tend to be two orders of magnitude higher than the time-averaged outflow rates (0.001–40 M yr−1). The outflow rates correlate with the AGN bolometric luminosity (Lbol ∼ 1042.71–1045.62 erg s−1) but we find no correlations with black hole mass (106.1–108.9 M ), Eddington ratio (0.002–1.1), and radio luminosity (1021–1026 W Hz−1). We find the median coupling between the kinetic energy and Lbol to be 1 per cent, consistent with the theoretical predictions for an AGN-driven outflow

Simulation model of human cupula for free vibration analysis

Any dysfunction of vestibular system leads to various diseases, the most common among them is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). BPPV is most found in elderly people causing vertigo/dizziness which leads to fall and serious injuries. The primary system in inner ear helping in human body balancing and postural adjustment is the cupula. Cupulolithiasis is a type of BPPV caused when otoconia get settles on the cupula. In the present work, a three-dimensional model of cupula and otoconia particle is modelled. A free vibration modal analysis is carried out on the cupula with and without otoconia particle to extract the natural frequency and mode shapes. Change in natural frequency of the cupula due to presence of otoconia particle is presented. Present work has a future scope involving fluid solid interaction (FSI) and extracting response of the cupula incorporating damping to obtain complete dynamic characteristics of cupula. The extracted results help in future investigation of new therapeutical solution to treat BPPV

Magnetoelectricity at room temperature in Bi0.9-xTbxLa0.1FeO3 system

Magnetoelectric compounds with the general formula, Bi0.9-xRxLa0.1FeO3 (R =Gd, Tb, Dy, etc.), have been synthesized. These show the coexistence of ferroelectricity and magnetism, possess high dielectric constant and exhibit magnetoelectric coupling at room temperature. Such materials may be of great significance in basic as well as applied research.Comment: 11 pages of text and figure

Magnetocaloric effect in R2Ti3Ge4 (R = Gd, Tb and Er) Compounds

Heat capacity of polycrystalline R2Ti3Ge4 (R = Gd, Tb and Er) compounds (Orthorhombic, Sm5Ge4-type, Space group Pnma) has been studied in the temperature range of 1.8 K to 300 K in various applied magnetic fields. The compounds with magnetic lanthanide elements show interesting low field magnetism intrigued by possible presence of competing antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions. The magnetocaloric effect in these compounds is estimated from the field dependent heat capacity data. The magnetic entropy change and the adiabatic temperature change in the vicinity of the magnetic transition are found to be significant.Comment: 12 pages incl 3 figures, submitted to Journal of Applied Physic