Alkali Silica reaction under the influence of chloride based deicers

Highways form the backbone of transportation in United States. As a result, issues related to distress in pavements and use of chemicals on pavement forms one of the major focus areas of highway agencies. One of the forms of distress in concrete pavements is Alkali silica reaction (ASR). External source of alkalis in the form of deicing chemicals play a key role in accelerating ASR. Sodium chloride or Rock salt is one of the oldest forms of deicers. Several research studies have been done on ASR under the influence of sodium chloride and calcium chloride. Limited information is available on alkali silica effect due to potassium chloride and magnesium chloride. This research discusses laboratory evaluations to assess effect of chloride deicers on alkali silica reactivity. Variations in exposure conditions, cement and aggregate are introduced to understand the effect in a wider spectrum. Tests include use of fused silica as reactive aggregate and Type I Cement. Tests are carried out at two temperature conditions, 38¡C and 80¡C. Tests show that sodium chloride and potassium chloride solutions cause more expansion in mortar specimens than sodium hydroxide solution. Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride have no effect on ASR. ASR was accelerated at higher temperature. Type of cement does not have a major influence on alkali silica reactivity in the presence of external deicing solutions. Formation of chloroaluminates or Friedel\u27s salt can accelerate the expansive reaction. However, the expansive effect was associated with alkalis only

Fetal heart rate patterns in patients with thick meconium staining of amniotic fluid and its association with perinatal outcome

Background: This study assesses the role of abnormal fetal heart rate tracing patterns in patients with thick meconium staining of the amniotic fluid and its association with perinatal outcomes.Methods: Prospective unmatched case-control study on 2 groups of 136 subjects each- cases had thick MSAF and controls had clear liquor with abnormal fetal heart rate tracings on cardiotocography.Results: Gestational age (GA) >40 weeks, was found to have a significant association with MSAF (p value 0.01556 CI 95%). Premature Rupture of membranes at term (PROM) showed a significant association with MSAF with an OR of 2.25 (95% CI 1.37, 3.7); Post datism had significantly higher odds for being a risk factor for MSAF with an OR (3.194) (CI 95% 1.003-10.165). MSAF was not found to be significantly associated with abnormal trace on CTG. Neonatal morbidity (MAS, birth asphyxia, sepsis, HIE) had statistically higher odds in cases 1.669 (0.884-3.150) as compared to controls.Conclusions: No particular cardio-tocograph pattern can be considered to have a poor prognostic value in the presence of thick MSAF and the decision to deliver and the mode of delivery should be based on the overall assessment and the stage and progress of labor. While management should be individualized, a higher Caesarean section rate in thick MSAF can be justified to ensure a better outcome for the neonate even in the presence of a normal CTG trace

CORRELATION BETWEEN FICAT-ARLET AND MITCHELL’S STAGING FOR AVASCULAR NECROSIS OF FEMUR HEAD

Introduction: Avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head is an increasingly common cause of musculoskeletal disability, and it poses a major diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Surgical management involves joint preserving surgeries in early stages of disease and joint replacement procedures in advanced stage disease. Thus, pre-operative staging is of utmost importance in deciding the appropriate treatment option. Objective: The objective of the study was to stage avascular necrosis involving head of femur according to Ficat-Arlet (using X-RAY and MRI features) and Mitchell staging (using MRI features) and to study the correlation amongst the above mentioned staging systems. Methodology: X-RAY and MRI images of thirty patients having Avascular Necrosis of femur head (23-bilateral and 7-unilateral) were studied retrospectively and staged according to Ficat-Arlet and Mitchell staging. Results: Most of the Ficat-Arlet stage I and stage II joints (early stage) had Class A signal on MRI and most of the Ficat-Arlet stage III and stage IV joints (advanced stage) had class B or class C signal on MRI. Most of the affected joints with class A signal in the necrotic core had early stage disease while those with class B or class C signal had advanced stage disease. Conclusions: Our study suggests that Mitchell’s MRI staging for Avascular necrosis involving head of femur may have prognostic significance and Mitchell’s MRI staging may be used in surgical decision making (joint preservation versus joint replacement)

HIV Risk on Twitter: the Ethical Dimension of Social Media Evidence-based Prevention for Vulnerable Populations

As of 2016 the HIV/AIDS epidemics is still a key public health problem. Recent reports showed that alarmingly high numbers of people in vulnerable populations are not reached by preventative efforts. Despite technology improvement, we are not yet able to identify populations that are most susceptible to HIV infections. In order to enable evidence-based prevention, we are studying new methods to identify HIV at-risk populations, exploiting Twitter posts as possible indicators of HIV risk. Our research on social network analysis and machine learning outlined the feasibility of using tweets as monitoring tool for HIV-related risk at the demographic, geographical, and social network level. However, this approach highlights ethical dilemmas in three different areas: data collection and analysis, risk inference through imperfect probabilistic approaches, and data-driven prevention. We contribute a description, analysis and discussion of ethics based on our 2-year experience with clinicians, IRBs, and local HIV communities in San Diego, California

Absence of toll-like receptor 9 Pro99Leu polymorphism in cervical cancer [version 2; referees: 2 approved, 1 not approved]

Background: Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) plays a key role in the elimination of viral pathogens by recognising their CpG DNA. Polymorphisms in the TLR9 gene may influence their recognition and subsequent elimination. Therefore, the present study was designed to elucidate the role of a rare unexplored TLR9 gene polymorphism C296T/ Pro99Leu (rs5743844) in cervical cancer susceptibility among Indian women. Methods: The genotyping of TLR9 Pro99Leu polymorphism in 110 cervical cancer patients and 141 healthy controls was performed by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results: The genotype frequency detected in both cervical cancer and control populations was 1.0 (CC), 0.0 (CT) and 0.0 (TT); while the allele frequency was found to be 1.0 (C) and 0.0 (T). Conclusions: The present study demonstrates no involvement of TLR9 C296T/ Pro99Leu polymorphism in cervical cancer susceptibility and supports minor allele frequency (MAF) (0.0002) status of the same as no nucleotide variation was detected in any of the study subjects

PIRCNET: A Data Driven Approach to HIV Risk Analysis

The world continues to battle with HIV, one of the major public health issues. It has no known cure yet and has claimed several million lives so far. Over a period of time, there has been tremendous progress in intervention methods to prevent the spread of this disease. Traditional intervention schemes have however been faced with several challenges. An important challenge is the lack of a real-time radar to address the most at-risk communities at a given time and location. Another challenge is related to limited HIV prevention resources. Such challenges makes it important to progress towards a more targeted, evidence based, and data-driven intervention method. Along with being data-driven, such intervention also needs to be effective, scalable, and tailored as per the distinct needs of communities.The primary goal of this thesis is to unveil HIV transmission networks with the help of information gathered from digital social media footprint. Recent research in this area suggests the feasibility of using Twitter as a platform to uncover HIV at-risk behaviors among communities. Our research further explores this by trying to understand how likely a person may be at the risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV based on the nature of the content shared or consumed via Twitter. We focus on the quality of the data gathered, as well as its temporal and spatial dimensions to help with a more real-time risk analysis.To begin with, we look only at the text-based information shared by users to design a model for HIV risk prediction. We move on to improving the risk analysis model by exploiting social relationships from network induced user-user connections in addition to the text-based information. Towards the end we discuss how our model can be used to inform the current intervention methods, followed by areas for improvement and future directions to further refine our techniques

ROLE OF MRI IN CHARACTERIZATION OF FOCAL LIVER LESIONS

Introduction: The increasing and widespread use of imaging studies has led to an increase in detection of incidental Focal Liver Lesions. It is important to diagnose not only malignant liver lesions, but also benign solid and cystic liver lesions. Objectives: Role of MRI imaging in characterization of various focal liver lesions detected incidentally on Ultrasonography. Methods: The present study included 50 patients with various focal Liver Lesions detected incidentally on Ultrasonography. MRI Liver of the patients having incidentally detected Focal Liver Lesions on Ultrasonography and Inconclusive Ultrasonography findings was done to characterize the various focal liver lesions. Biopsy was done in patients with findings raising a possibility of a malignant lesion. Result: Of the 50 patients, 30 patients were male and 20 were female. Age of patients ranged from 1 year to 79 years. Spectrum of diseases based on imaging findings includes: Simple hepatic cyst (5/50, 10%), Hemangioma(5/50, 10%) , Focal nodular hyperplasia(2/50, 4%), Hydatid cyst(4/50, 8%), abscess(3/50, 6%), hepatocellular carcinoma(9/50, 18%), metastases(12/50, 24%) and indeterminate radiological diagnosis(10/50, 20%). USG guided liver biopsy was done in 31 patients revealed Hepatocellular carcinoma in 7, Cholangiocarcinoma in 2, metastases in 20 patients and Hepatic adenoma in 2 patients. Conclusion: MRI has an excellent lesion detection rate. Nearly all the lesions detected on Ultrasonography were detected on MRI imaging. MRI is excellent for the characterization of various Focal Liver Lesions. It was possible to reach to a specific radiological diagnosis in most of the patients

Role of Chest Xray In Assessing the Severity In H1N1 Influenza Cases

Introduction: Chest x-rays may play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of H1N1 influenza by predicting which patients are likely to become sicker-who may be treated on out patient basis; who may need short duration of hospitalization; -who may need Intensive critical care viz. ventilator support Methodology: We retrospectively studied 130 patients with H1N1 influenza infection. The most common abnormality was consolidation in the lower zones (46/130) followed by multiple zonal involvement (41/130). Although a normal chest x-ray did not exclude the possibility of an adverse outcome, the studys findings can help physicians better identify high-risk H1N1 patients who require close monitoring. Result: The most common abnormality was consolidation in the lower zones (46/130) followed by multiple zonal involvement (41/130). On follow up 18 patients expired. Seropositive patients had predominant lower zone involvement While Patients with unizonal involvement has better outcome. [Natl J Med Res 2015; 5(4.000): 305-308

X-RAY AND MRI CORRELATION OF BONE TUMOURS

Introduction: The evaluation of all skeletal lesions should begin with plain radiographic imaging. These images give basic information about its site, its location,its morphology, its aggressiveness. After the initial plain radiographic evaluation, the next imaging modality of choice is MRI. its clinical applications in the form of diagnostic and therapeutic monitoring has reached a new height in musculoskeletal imaging1. Method: Correlating x-ray findings with mri findings to know the sensitivity and specificity of each diagnostic modality and to know role of each in planning management 30 patients were studied,The plain film included at least 2 projection depending on location and then patients underwent MRI. Result: MRI is useful for information regarding soft tissue component, periosteal reaction where as XRAY is useful for information regarding bone and tumour calcification