Effect of Vitamin D supplementation in under-5 children with pneumonia: A randomized controlled trial

Objective: The objective of the study was to study whether Vitamin D supplementation in under-5 children presenting with pneumonia and severe pneumonia reduces its duration and recurrences. Study Design: This study was designed as a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Setting: Pediatric unit of a teaching institute. Methods: A total of 80 children aged between 2 months and 5 years with the diagnosis of pneumonia and severe pneumonia (as per the WHO definition) admitted over a period of 1 year were included in the study. Children with features of rickets, severe malnutrition, asthma, any underlying medical disorders, and if received Vitamin D supplementation over the past 12 months were excluded from the study. Children were randomized into two groups. Intervention group received 300,000 IU (international units) of Vitamin D (1 ml), and the control group received 1 ml of sterile water as a placebo along with antibiotics and supportive care. Children were monitored for the resolution of symptoms. The two groups were comparable for baseline demographic, socioeconomic, clinical, and laboratory parameters. All the children were followed up for 3 months after discharge for any repeat episodes of pneumonia. Results: Time to resolution of symptoms (fever, tachypnea, and chest retractions) was not significant (3.6

Spinal cord stimulation for predominant low back pain in failed back surgery syndrome: study protocol for an international multicenter randomized controlled trial (PROMISE study)

Background: Although results of case series support the use of spinal cord stimulation in failed back surgery syndrome patients with predominant low back pain, no confirmatory randomized controlled trial has been undertaken in this patient group to date. PROMISE is a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label, parallel-group study designed to compare the clinical effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation plus optimal medical management with optimal medical management alone in patients with failed back surgery syndrome and predominant low back pain. Method/Design: Patients will be recruited in approximately 30 centers across Canada, Europe, and the United States. Eligible patients with low back pain exceeding leg pain and an average Numeric Pain Rating Scale score >= 5 for low back pain will be randomized 1:1 to spinal cord stimulation plus optimal medical management or to optimal medical management alone. The investigators will tailor individual optimal medical management treatment plans to their patients. Excluded from study treatments are intrathecal drug delivery, peripheral nerve stimulation, back surgery related to the original back pain complaint, and experimental therapies. Patients randomized to the spinal cord stimulation group will undergo trial stimulation, and if they achieve adequate low back pain relief a neurostimulation system using the Specify (R) 5-6-5 multi-column lead (Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) will be implanted to capture low back pain preferentially in these patients. Outcome assessment will occur at baseline (pre-randomization) and at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months post randomization. After the 6-month visit, patients can change treatment to that received by the other randomized group. The primary outcome is the proportion of patients with >= 50% reduction in low back pain at the 6-month visit. Additional outcomes include changes in low back and leg pain, functional disability, health-related quality of life, return to work, healthcare utilization including medication usage, and patient satisfaction. Data on adverse events will be collected. The primary analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle. Healthcare use data will be used to assess costs and long-term cost-effectiveness. Discussion: Recruitment began in January 2013 and will continue until 2016

Temperature-dependent device properties of gamma-CuI and beta-Ga2O3 heterojunctions

Temperature-dependent studies of Ga2O3-based heterojunction devices are important in understanding its carrier transport mechanism, junction barrier potential, and stability at higher temperatures. In this study, we investigated the temperature-dependent device characteristics of the p-type gamma-copper iodide (gamma-CuI)/n-type beta-gallium oxide (beta-Ga2O3) heterojunctions, thereby revealing their interface properties. The fabricated gamma-CuI/beta-Ga2O3 heterojunction showed excellent diode characteristics with a high rectification ratio and low reverse saturation current at 298 K in the presence of a large barrier height (0.632 eV). The temperature-dependent device characteristics were studied in the temperature range 273-473 K to investigate the heterojunction interface. With an increase in temperature, a gradual decrease in the ideality factor and an increase in the barrier height were observed, indicating barrier inhomogeneity at the heterojunction interface. Furthermore, the current-voltage measurement showed electrical hysteresis for the reverse saturation current, although it was not observed for the forward bias current. The presence of electrical hysteresis for the reverse saturation current and of the barrier inhomogeneity in the temperature-dependent characteristics indicates the presence of some level of interface states for the gamma-CuI/beta-Ga2O3 heterojunction device. Thus, our study showed that the electrical hysteresis can be correlated with temperature-dependent electrical characteristics of the beta-Ga2O3-based heterojunction device, which signifies the presence of surface defects and interface states

Highly efficient chemo- and enantioselective enzymatic resolution of (±)-methyl O-acetylmandelates

918-92

Characteristics of Vertical Ga2O3 Schottky Junctions with the Interfacial Hexagonal Boron Nitride Film

We present the device properties of a nickel (Ni)- gallium oxide (Ga2O3) Schottky junction with an interfacial hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layer. A vertical Schottky junction with the configuration Ni/hBN/Ga2O3/In was created using a chemical vapor-deposited hBN film on a Ga(2)O(3 )substrate. The current-voltage characteristics of the Schottky junction were investigated with and without the hBN interfacial layer. We observed that the turn-on voltage for the forward current of the Schottky junction was significantly enhanced with the hBN interfacial film. Furthermore, the Schottky junction was analyzed under the illumination of deep ultraviolet light (254 nm), obtaining a photoresponsivity of 95.11 mA/W under an applied bias voltage (-7.2 V). The hBN interfacial layer for the Ga2O3-based Schottky junction can serve as a barrier layer to control the turn-on voltage and optimize the device properties for deep-UV photosensor applications. Furthermore, the demonstrated vertical heterojunction with an hBN layer has the potential to be significant for temperature management at the junction interface to develop reliable Ga2O3-based Schottky junction devices

FPGA-Based Portable Ultrasound Scanning System with Automatic Kidney Detection

Bedsides diagnosis using portable ultrasound scanning (PUS) offering comfortable diagnosis with various clinical advantages, in general, ultrasound scanners suffer from a poor signal-to-noise ratio, and physicians who operate the device at point-of-care may not be adequately trained to perform high level diagnosis. Such scenarios can be eradicated by incorporating ambient intelligence in PUS. In this paper, we propose an architecture for a PUS system, whose abilities include automated kidney detection in real time. Automated kidney detection is performed by training the Viola–Jones algorithm with a good set of kidney data consisting of diversified shapes and sizes. It is observed that the kidney detection algorithm delivers very good performance in terms of detection accuracy. The proposed PUS with kidney detection algorithm is implemented on a single Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA, integrated with a Raspberry Pi ARM processor running at 900 MHz