Obstetric-associated lower urinary tract injuries: a single-center study

Background: Urinary tract injury is a known complication of obstetric and gynecologic surgery. Intraoperative identification of injury permits prompt repair and potentially lessens postoperative sequelae including patient morbidity and cost. Delayed diagnosis of urinary tract injuries can result in physical complications beyond the site of the injury, such as genitourinary fistula formation, renal injury, sepsis, death, and psychosocial dysfunction.Methods: We describe the management of 27 patients with such injuries, including their demographic profile, associated factors, and complications at a tertiary institution in a retrospective study from February 2013 to March 2021.Results: Bladder injuries were the most common (81.5%), mostly occurring during emergency cesarean delivery, with previous cesarean delivery and adhesions being risk factors. A primary repair was attempted at the referring institution in 18.5% of cases. Repair at the tertiary institution was mostly performed by consultants (66.7%).Conclusions: Early recognition and primary repair are associated with fewer complications

A production inventory model with exponential demand rate and reverse logistics

The objective of this paper is to develop an integrated production inventory model for reworkable items with exponential demand rate. This is a three-layer supply chain model with perspectives of supplier, producer and retailer. Supplier delivers raw material to the producer and finished goods to the retailer. We consider perfect and imperfect quality products, product reliability and reworking of imperfect items. After screening, defective items reworked at a cost just after the regular manufacturing schedule. At the beginning, the manufacturing system starts produce perfect items, after some time the manufacturing system can undergo into “out-of-control” situation from “in-control” situation, which is controlled by reverse logistic technique. This paper deliberates the effects of business strategies like optimum order size of raw material, exponential demand rate, production rate is demand dependent, idle times and reverse logistics for an integrated marketing system. Mathematica is used to develop the optimal solution of production rate and raw material order for maximum expected average profit. A numerical example and sensitivity analysis is illustrated to validate the model

Assessment of bioavailable metals in the sediments of Yamuna flood plain using two different single extraction procedures

AbstractThough flood plains are considered as most fertile areas across the world but they have come under severe stress due to the flow of untreated domestic and industrial effluents and therefore, needed attention for its characterisation and subsequent treatment plans. The sediment samples, collected at 0–15, 15–35 and 30–60 cm depth levels during pre and post monsoon season from east and west sides of the river Yamuna around the national capital region of Delhi, were assessed for bioavailability of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and nickel (Ni) using Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid (EDTA) and acetic acid. The average concentrations of Zn (25 ± 6 mg kg−1) and Pb (33 ± 6 mg kg−1) leached in EDTA were higher than that of in acetic acid (Zn: 22 ± 6 mg kg−1; Pb: 24 ± 5 mg kg−1) whereas Ni (24 ± 6 mg kg−1) leached more in acetic acid compared to EDTA (Ni: 21 ± 4 mg kg−1). The bioavailable concentrations of metals were comparable among 0–15 and 15–35 cm depth samples but decreased in 35–60 cm depth samples. The post monsoon samples contained lower amounts of total metals in comparison to pre-monsoon samples, an indication of washout/dilution effects of flood/high water flow during monsoon season. The percentages of metals, with reference to their respective total concentrations, in the flood plain sediments as extracted by EDTA were in the range of 14–47% for Pb, 17–54% for Zn, and 15–39% for Ni. The Zn, Ni and Pb were soluble in acetic acid in the range of 12–39%, 16.7–36.5% and 14–36%, respectively. The chemical nature of extracting agent affected the metal leaching. Acetic acid, a weak acid, extracted the metals that were present in exchangeable fraction and easily movable whereas EDTA, hexa-dentate complexing agent, extracted metals from carbonate and organically bound fractions of the sediment samples. This could result in metal accumulation in the floodplains, biomagnification, adverse effects on water quality, sediments, aquatic lives and the vegetables grown in the flood plains. Steps should be taken to stop the direct flow of untreated waste into the river to safeguard the floodplains and life forms

Deep 3D Convolutional Neural Network for Automated Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Computer Aided Diagnosis has emerged as an indispensible technique for validating the opinion of radiologists in CT interpretation. This paper presents a deep 3D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture for automated CT scan-based lung cancer detection system. It utilizes three dimensional spatial information to learn highly discriminative 3 dimensional features instead of 2D features like texture or geometric shape whick need to be generated manually. The proposed deep learning method automatically extracts the 3D features on the basis of spatio-temporal statistics.The developed model is end-to-end and is able to predict malignancy of each voxel for given input scan. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed 3D CNN network for classification of lung nodule in-spite of limited computational capabilities.Comment: Initial draft of PAPER Presented at IRSCNS 2018 , Goa , India final version available at Mishra S., Chaudhary N.K., Asthana P., Kumar A. (2019) Deep 3D Convolutional Neural Network for Automated Lung Cancer Diagnosis. In: Peng SL., Dey N., Bundele M. (eds) Computing and Network Sustainability. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 75. Springer, Singapor

Thyroid profile in newly diagnosed male HIV patients: a study from North Western part of India

Background: The aim of this study was to determine proportion of newly diagnosed male HIV cases with thyroid dysfunction at different levels of CD4 counts.Methods: 195 newly diagnosed male HIV patients attending medical OPD, ART centre and medical wards of SMS Medical College and Hospital, during a period of May 2012 to April 2013 were enrolled in the study. These patients were divided in three groups on the basis of CD4 cell counts. Group A: CD4 counts 500/mm3.Results: We concluded a negative correlation between the CD4 counts and serum TSH level (r = -0.382) which was significant (p-value <0.05). Overall 32 (16.41%) patients had increased TSH, 4 (2.05%) patients had decreased and 159 (81.53%) patients had normal TSH level. Plasma TSH values in group A were higher than group B and C and they were highly significant (p<.001). Mean plasma TSH values in patients of group A, B and C was 4.56±3.60 µIU/mL (range: 1.10-17.74), 2.20±1.02 µIU/mL (range:0.24-4.22) and 2.23±1.06 µIU/mL (range:0.28-4.25) respectively. (Reference normal value = 0.4-4.0 µIU/mL). There was significantly positive correlation (p-value < 0.01) found between the CD4 counts and serum free T4 levels (r = +0.378).Conclusions: This study has demonstrated a high prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in HIV infected patients of this part of country. High prevalence of thyroid dysfunction may contribute to the morbidity of the patients and have a bearing on quality of life of the HIV infected patients. Severity of hypothyroidism was correlated with decreasing CD4 cell count

Mesoporous Silica-Supported Amidozirconium-Catalyzed Carbonyl Hydroboration

The hydroboration of aldehydes and ketones using a silica-supported zirconium catalyst is reported. Reaction of Zr(NMe2)4 and mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) provides the catalytic material Zr(NMe2)n@MSN. Exhaustive characterization of Zr(NMe2)n@MSN with solid-state (SS)NMR and infrared spectroscopy, as well as through reactivity studies, suggests its surface structure is primarily ≡SiOZr(NMe2)3. The presence of these nitrogen-containing zirconium sites is supported by 15N NMR spectroscopy, including natural abundance 15N NMR measurements using dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) SSNMR. The Zr(NMe2)n@MSN material reacts with pinacolborane (HBpin) to provide Me2NBpin and the material ZrH/Bpin@MSN that is composed of interacting surface-bonded zirconium hydride and surface-bonded borane ≡SiOBpin moieties in an approximately 1:1 ratio, as well as zirconium sites coordinated by dimethylamine. The ZrH/Bpin@MSN is characterized by 1H/2H and 11B SSNMR and infrared spectroscopy and through its reactivity with D2. The zirconium hydride material or the zirconium amide precursor Zr(NMe2)n@MSN catalyzes the selective hydroboration of aldehydes and ketones with HBpin in the presence of functional groups that are often reduced under hydroboration conditions or are sensitive to metal hydrides, including olefins, alkynes, nitro groups, halides, and ethers. Remarkably, this catalytic material may be recycled without loss of activity at least eight times, and air-exposed materials are catalytically active. Thus, these supported zirconium centers are robust catalytic sites for carbonyl reduction and that surface-supported, catalytically reactive zirconium hydride may be generated from zirconium-amide or zirconium alkoxide sites

β-SiH-Containing Tris(silazido) Rare-Earth Complexes as Homogeneous and Grafted Single-Site Catalyst Precursors for Hydroamination

A series of homoleptic rare-earth silazido compounds and their silica-grafted derivatives were prepared to compare spectroscopic and catalytic features under homogeneous and interfacial conditions. Trivalent tris(silazido) compounds Ln{N(SiHMe2)tBu}3 (Ln = Sc (1), Y (2), Lu (3)) are prepared in high yield by salt metathesis reactions. Solution-phase and solid-state characterization of 1–3 by NMR and IR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction reveals Ln↼H–Si interactions. These features are retained in solvent-coordinated 2·Et2O, 2·THF, and 3·THF. The change in spectroscopic features characterizing the secondary interactions (νSiH, 1JSiH) from the unactivated SiH in the silazane HN(SiHMe2)tBu follows the trend 3 \u3e 2 \u3e 1 ≈ 2·Et2O \u3e 2·THF ≈ 3·THF. Ligand lability follows the same pattern, with Et2O readily dissociating from 2·Et2O while THF is displaced only during surface grafting reactions. 1 and 2·THF graft onto mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) to give Ln{N(SiHMe2)tBu}n@MSN (Ln = Sc (1@MSN), Y (2@MSN)) along with THF and protonated silazido as HN(SiHMe2)tBu and H2NtBu. The surface species are characterized by multinuclear and multidimensional solid-state (SS) NMR spectroscopic techniques, as well as diffuse reflectance FTIR, elemental analysis, and reaction stoichiometry. A key 1JSiH SSNMR measurement reveals that the grafted sites most closely resemble Ln·THF adducts, suggesting that siloxane coordination occurs in grafted compounds. These species catalyze the hydroamination/bicyclization of aminodialkenes, and both solution-phase and interfacial conditions provide the bicyclized product with equivalent cis:trans ratios. Similar diastereoselectivities mediated by catalytic sites under the two conditions suggest similar effective environments

Low-latency gravitational wave alert products and their performance in anticipation of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run

Multi-messenger searches for binary neutron star (BNS) and neutron star-black hole (NSBH) mergers are currently one of the most exciting areas of astronomy. The search for joint electromagnetic and neutrino counterparts to gravitational wave (GW)s has resumed with Advanced LIGO (aLIGO)'s, Advanced Virgo (AdVirgo)'s and KAGRA's fourth observing run (O4). To support this effort, public semi-automated data products are sent in near real-time and include localization and source properties to guide complementary observations. Subsequent refinements, as and when available, are also relayed as updates. In preparation for O4, we have conducted a study using a simulated population of compact binaries and a Mock Data Challenge (MDC) in the form of a real-time replay to optimize and profile the software infrastructure and scientific deliverables. End-to-end performance was tested, including data ingestion, running online search pipelines, performing annotations, and issuing alerts to the astrophysics community. In this paper, we present an overview of the low-latency infrastructure as well as an overview of the performance of the data products to be released during O4 based on a MDC. We report on expected median latencies for the preliminary alert of full bandwidth searches (29.5 s) and for the creation of early warning triggers (-3.1 s), and show consistency and accuracy of released data products using the MDC. This paper provides a performance overview for LVK low-latency alert structure and data products using the MDC in anticipation of O4