Trace elements in human pregnancy

Recently there has been much interest in the effects of trace elements on the fetal growth and development and congenital defects. Baseline data on these trace elements are few and new more accurate methods for their analysis are being introduced. This study was designed to determine such baseline data. Methods were developed to determine zinc, copper, iron, manganese and chromium in serum and urine. A series of experiments were carried out to optimize the drying, charring, and atomizing parameters for each element in three different matrices: water, serum and urine. The method for chromium was hampered by the loss of the highly volatile chromium fraction and the analytical interference due to smoke and background absorption. The efficiency of the method was determined using three different methods: 1) a calibrated serum standard - Cation-cal; 2) serum samples analysed by method of additions; 3) serum analysed by flame atomic absorption. Serum zinc, copper, iron, manganese and chromium levels were measured in pregnant women at 6-10, 11-16, 24-26 weeks of gestation, at labor, and at 3 days and 6-30 weeks postpartum and in nonpregnant women. Trace elements in the venous, umbilical cord serum were also measured. The serum trace element levels in nonpregnant women were not influenced by the regular hormonal changes of the menstrual cycle. However, use of oral contraceptive agents resulted in a significant decline in serum chromium and increase in serum copper. In normal pregnancy, maternal serum zinc and chromium levels declined, serum copper rose and no changes were observed in serum iron and manganese levels. Iron supplementation eliminated any observable decline which would be expected in pregnancy. No statistically significant differences were observed between pathological and normal pregnancies, and due to lack of adequate numbers in each category, statistical analysis could not be done. However, the data seems to suggest that serum zinc and copper levels were decreased in women with threatened abortions. In some cases decreased copper levels may be observed in women who miscarry; or with premature rupture of membranes; or women who undergo induction of labor. A decline in serum iron levels, at term, was observed in prolonged gestation. Zinc, iron, manganese and chromium levels in the venous, umbilical cord serum were higher than the levels seen in maternal serum at term. Cord serum copper levels were only one-fourth of the maternal level at term. The fetus accumulates these trace elements from the mother for postnatal growth and development. Serum copper in the fetus is low because the fetus does not synthesize the major cuproenzyme, ceruloplasmin, until onset of postnatal life; however, it is known that fetal liver copper content is much higher than adult liver copper content, suggesting prenatal storage of the metal. Slightly lower serum zinc and iron levels were observed in low birthweight neonates and low serum iron was seen in postmature neonates

Effect of Prayer and “OM” Meditation in Enhancing Galvanic Skin Response

The research was conducted with the purpose to study the effect of prayer and meditation on galvanic skin response (GSR). It was hypothesized that there was a significant positive effect of prayer and meditation (Om chanting) on galvanic skin response (GSR). The sample consisted of 20 normal, healthy female participants through purposive sampling. The age group of the sample was 18 to 24 years (Mean= 18.7, SD= 1.55). Gender was female and minimum education was graduation. The daily practice time of prayer and meditation session was 30 minutes for one month. Pre- Post data were recorded before and after intervention of prayer and meditation session by using single group pre-post research design. Recordings of galvanic skin response (GSR) were made on a computerized polygraph (Model Physiopac, PP 4, Medicaid Systems, Chandigarh, India) test. The results revealed a significant increase in GSR values as an effect of prayer and meditation which suggested the psychophysiological relaxation. Practicing prayer and meditation increases the galvanic skin response and hence decreases the stress level of the individual. Language: Englis

Effect of Job Autonomy Upon Organizational Commitment of Employees at Different Hierarchical Level

The main aim of the present study was to examine the effect of job autonomy upon organizational commitment of employees at different hierarchical level. A study was made on randomly selected 100 male employees who work in different organizations in Agra, who were administered Organizational Commitment Scale (by Allen & Meyer, 1990) and Job Autonomy Scale (by Das, Arora, & Singhal, 2000). On the basis of median of the job autonomy scores, the sample was divided into two groups (1) high job autonomy group and (2) low job autonomy group and on the basis of hierarchical level, the employees were divided into two groups (1) 50 high hierarchical level employees’ including managers, etc. and (2) 50 low hierarchical level employees, e.g. clerical staff, etc. The 2x2 factorial design was formed for this purpose and four groups of employees were formed (1) high hierarchy, high autonomy group (2) high hierarchy, low autonomy group(3) low hierarchy, high autonomy group and (4) low hierarchy, low autonomy group. A two-way analysis of variance was employed to compare the level of organizational commitment of each of the four groups. There is a significant difference found between job commitment of employees with high and low job autonomy (F = 4.670, p < .05). There is a significant difference found between job commitment of employees of high hierarchical group and those of low hierarchical group (F = 40.691, p < .01) and significant interaction effect found between job autonomy and hierarchical level upon organizational commitment of employees (F = 6.114, p < .05)

Decomposing Revenue Effects of Tax Evasion, Base Broadening and Tax Rate Reduction

This paper proposes a method for evaluating the impact of tax reform on tax revenues and the distribution of the tax burden. The technique consists of decomposing actual revenue relative to potential revenue into components attributable to (i) changes in the tax rate structure (ii) deductions and (iii) tax evasion. If the standard reform package is successful, revenue loss from deductions should be curtailed by base broadening. Furthermore, revenues lost by lowering tax rates should be more than compensated by the induced decline in tax evasion. We use the method to examine tax reforms in India. Our results indicate that, for the reform episode we examine, reform did have the looked for effect but that these gains could not be sustained over time. The magnitude of the gains from the reform were limited and failed to curtail losses from tax evasion to any significant extent. At a disaggregated level, gains to the exchequer from the tax reform have arisen mainly from low income taxpayers without having much impact on upper income group taxpayers. Furthermore, the reforms had little or no impact on deductions taken by business income earners and professionals. This raises questions about the desirability of base-broadening and rate-cum-slab reduction from the perspective of equity

Value Added Tax Evasion, Auditing and Transactions Matching

This paper extends the standard theoretical model of tax enforcement by allowing for the cross- matching of transactions in addition to the auditing of taxpayers. For the Value Added Tax (VAT) the matching of purchase and sales invoices is an important enforcement technique. The paper examines the impact such enforcement on the revenue effectiveness and efficiency consequences of the VAT. Transactions matching is shown to have very different effects from auditing: Even when auditing alone is unable to induce non-zero taxpayer reports, and regardless of the expected success rate in auditing of the tax administration, sufficiently intensive cross- matching can induce truthful reporting. On the other hand, matching leads to distorted purchase and sales transactions. It can also distort input use and output decisions even if auditing alone has no adverse effects. In the model, conditions under which the VAT leaves input prices undistorted are found and the content of the often made claim, that a VAT is self-enforcing, is explored. The ability of the tax administration to enforce compliance with the VAT is shown to be sensitive to the knowledge that the tax administration has about the production technology

A Comparison of Sales Taxes

We describe the simple analytics of the four main types of sales taxes under revenue neutrality: the retail sales tax, the value added tax, a cascading sales tax and a manufacturers' sales tax. The retail sales tax is shown to be equivalent to a value added tax. In order to produce equal revenues these two taxes must be at a higher rate than a cascading tax. However, output under a retail sales tax exceeds that under a cascading sales tax and deadweight losses are lower. The manufacturers' sales tax offers the worst of all worlds: with revenue neutrality the manufacturers' sales tax has a higher tax rate, lower output and greater deadweight loss than all the other taxes

CO-BOT: An Intelligent Technique for Designing a Chatbot for Initial COVID-19 Test

The coronavirus (nCOV-19), which was discovered, has now spread around the world. However, managing the flow of a large number of cases has proven to be a significant issue for hospitals or healthcare professionals. It is becoming increasingly challenging to speak with a medical expert after the epidemic’s initial wave has passed, particularly in rural areas. Thus, it becomes clear that a Chatbot that is well-designed and implemented can assist patients who are located far away by advocating preventive actions, and viral updates in various cities, and minimising the psychological harm brought on by dread. In this study, a sophisticated Chabot’s design for diagnosing individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19 is presented, along with recommendations for immediate safety measures. Additionally, when symptoms grow serious, this virtual assistant makes contact with specialised medical professionals

Thermal and electrical characteristics of a two‐dimensional tanh‐conductivity arc

The two-dimensional variable-property arc has been studied through the use of the tanh-conductivity model. Results that describe the thermal and electric arc characteristics for various values of the electrode temperatures and aspect ratios are given. The numerical evaluation is carried out by the use of a Galerkin technique. The results exhibit several novel and interesting features depending on the arc parameters. For large aspect ratios (ratio of the interelectrode distance to that between the bounding walls) and small electrode temperatures, the current---electric-field characteristics tend toward those of a slender arc. However, at a given aspect ratio with large enough electrode temperatures, the distinct minimum noted in the slender-arc characteristics does not occur. Also, for a given aspect ratio and large enough differences in electrode potential, the electric-field-current characteristic is nearly linear and is independent of the electrode temperature. The transverse electrostatic potential is found to have no significant variation in cross-sectional planes. The qualitative nature of the thermal characteristics are similar to those of a constant-property arc although significant differences in quantitative results exist. Wall and electrode heat transfer rates are provided

Exact Gap Computation for Code Coverage Metrics in ISO-C

Test generation and test data selection are difficult tasks for model based testing. Tests for a program can be meld to a test suite. A lot of research is done to quantify the quality and improve a test suite. Code coverage metrics estimate the quality of a test suite. This quality is fine, if the code coverage value is high or 100%. Unfortunately it might be impossible to achieve 100% code coverage because of dead code for example. There is a gap between the feasible and theoretical maximal possible code coverage value. Our review of the research indicates, none of current research is concerned with exact gap computation. This paper presents a framework to compute such gaps exactly in an ISO-C compatible semantic and similar languages. We describe an efficient approximation of the gap in all the other cases. Thus, a tester can decide if more tests might be able or necessary to achieve better coverage.Comment: In Proceedings MBT 2012, arXiv:1202.582

Mitochondrial genome copy number measured by DNA sequencing in human blood is strongly associated with metabolic traits via cell-type composition differences

BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial genome copy number (MT-CN) varies among humans and across tissues and is highly heritable, but its causes and consequences are not well understood. When measured by bulk DNA sequencing in blood, MT-CN may reflect a combination of the number of mitochondria per cell and cell-type composition. Here, we studied MT-CN variation in blood-derived DNA from 19184 Finnish individuals using a combination of genome (N = 4163) and exome sequencing (N = 19034) data as well as imputed genotypes (N = 17718). RESULTS: We identified two loci significantly associated with MT-CN variation: a common variant at the MYB-HBS1L locus (P = 1.6 × 10 CONCLUSION: These results suggest that measurements of MT-CN in blood-derived DNA partially reflect differences in cell-type composition and that these differences are causally linked to insulin and related traits