Fabrication of Asymmetric Electrode Pairs with Nanometer Separation Made of Two Distinct Metals

We report a simple and reproducible method to fabricate two metallic electrodes made of different metals with a nanometer-sized gap. These electrodes are fabricated by defining a pair of gold electrodes lithographically and electrodepositing a second metal onto one of them. The method enables the fabrication of pairs of metallic electrodes that exhibit distinct magnetic properties or work functions. The utility of this technique is demonstrated by making single-electron tunneling devices incorporating 2-nm gold nanocrystals.Comment: 3 figures, 1 colo

Development of the Personal Genomics Industry

Today, numerous commercial services offer genetic testing, genotyping and genome sequencing services both to medical providers and directly to the public. Twenty-five years ago, such offerings would have been unthinkable, both in terms of cost and medical practice. This chapter describes the development of the personal genomics industry and its evolving business models and goals

Delays in reporting of cancer cervix in rural India: sociodemographic and reproductive correlation

Background: Cervical cancer, caused by sexually-acquired infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), continues to be a public health problem worldwide as it claims the lives of more than 270,000 women every year. The majority of cervical cancer deaths (85%) occur in women living in low- and middle-income countries. Assessment of socio-demographic profile and reproductive history gives a better picture of the determinants of cervical carcinoma in low-resource settings.Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was undertaken at a Regional Cancer Institute at Aurangabad, India. Hundred newly diagnosed women with advanced cervical cancer (stage 2B-4B), who were undertaking radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, were included to assess their socio-demographic, reproductive and clinical profile. The causes for late presentations were also noted.Results: The mean age of women at the time of detection of cervical cancer was 57.35 years (30-82 years). More than 81% of patients were illiterate and belonged to low socioeconomic status. 47% of the study subjects had their first sexual experience before 15 years of age. Nearly 78% women had 5 or more pregnancies, among them, unusual discharge from vagina (39%) followed by bleeding after menopause (28%) and pain in abdomen (13%) were the most common presenting complaints. The average duration of symptoms was (28 days), time interval between the symptoms and biopsy was (3.6 months). Combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy was the most common modality of treatment. Most common cause of delay in diagnosis was lack of awareness about the symptom of cancer (11%), feeling ashamed (10%), no one paid attention (19%), not diagnosed and referred at periphery and financial causes (23%) were found.Conclusions: Prevention of cervical cancer include delaying the age at initiation of sexual activity to above 18 years, spreading cancer awareness in women and with well-equipped health workers with diagnosis and knowledge of cancer cervix. This can prevent the medical and patient delay in the diagnosis of cancer cervix

Magnetic Switching of Phase-Slip Dissipation in NbSe2 Nanobelts

The stability of the superconducting dissipationless and resistive states in single-crystalline NbSe2 nanobelts is characterized by transport measurements in an external magnetic field (H). Current-driven electrical measurements show voltage steps, indicating the nucleation of phase-slip structures. Well below the critical temperature, the position of the voltage steps exhibits a sharp, periodic dependence as a function of H. This phenomenon is discussed in the context of two possible mechanisms: the interference of the order parameter and the periodic rearrangement of the vortex lattice within the nanobelt.Comment: 4 figure

Almost Contact Lagrangian Submanifolds of Nearly Kaehler 6-Sphere

For a Lagrangian submanifold M of S 6 with nearly Kaehler structure, we provide conditions for a canonically induced almost contact metric structure on M by a unit vector field, to be Sasakian. Assuming M contact metric, we show that it is Sasakian if and only if the second fundamental form annihilates the Reeb vector field ξ, furthermore, if the Sasakian submanifold M is parallel along ξ, then it is the totally geodesic 3-sphere. We conclude with a condition that reduces the normal canonical almost contact metric structure on M to Sasakian or cosymplectic structure

miRNAs as a novel clinical biomarker and therapeutic targets in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): A review

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most prevalent endocrine disorder in females of the reproductive age. PCOS is commonly manifested as ovulatory dysfunction, clinical and biochemical excess androgen level, and polycystic ovaries. Metabolic sequelae associated with PCOS, including insulin resistance (IR), type 2 diabetes (T2DM), obesity and increased cardiometabolic risk. The underlying pathology of PCOS is not fully understood with various genetic and environmental factors have been proposed. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), are endogenously produced, small non-coding, single-stranded RNAs that capable of regulating gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Altered miRNAs expression has been associated with various disorders, including T2DM, IR, lipid disorder, infertility, atherosclerosis, endometriosis, and cancer. Given that PCOS also present with similar features, there is an increasing interest to investigate the role of miRNAs in the diagnosis and management of PCOS. In recent years, studies have demonstrated that miRNAs are present in various body fluids, including follicular fluid of women with PCOS. Therefore, it may act as a potential biomarker and could serve as a novel therapeutic target for the diagnosis and treatment of PCOS. This review aims to summarise the up to date research on the relation between miRNAs and PCOS and explore its potential role in the diagnosis and the management of PCOS

Prescription pattern of antibiotics in neonatal intensive care unit of tertiary care hospital

Background: Recurrent and prolonged courses of antibiotics exposure have resulted in an increase in the prevalence of hospital acquired infections and antibiotic resistant profile. The objective of this study was to quantify the use of antibiotics in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Govt. Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, a tertiary health care centre.Methods: A total of 260 neonates admitted in NICU from August 2017 to February 2018 were enrolled in the study and fulfilling inclusion criteria of the study. Demographic details, data on antibiotic prescriptions (name, dose, frequency, route of administration) was recorded on pre-tested structured Performa.Results: A total of 248 neonates received the antibiotics. EOS pneumonia was most common i.e. 29.8% followed by LOS pneumonia (20.6%). Sepsis, pneumonia Meningitis, NEC, were common indications for admission in NICU. Among the antibiotic combinations amoxicillin + clavulanate (38.99%), was most commonly prescribed followed by gentamicin (37.89%) and piperacillin (11.01%) respectively. Other antibiotics like, linezolide (0.94%), fluconazole (5.97%), meropenem (4.42%), vancomycine (0.77%) were also used less commonly in NICU. About fifty of the medicine prescribed were in compliance with the national list of essential medicines 2011.Conclusions: In tertiary care setup of NICU amoxicillin + clavulanate and gentamicin are most commonly used antibiotics in NICU. The study concludes that the antibiotic prescription pattern at NICU of our tertiary care hospital was found rational

Fixed Price Approximability of the Optimal Gain From Trade

Bilateral trade is a fundamental economic scenario comprising a strategically acting buyer and seller, each holding valuations for the item, drawn from publicly known distributions. A mechanism is supposed to facilitate trade between these agents, if such trade is beneficial. It was recently shown that the only mechanisms that are simultaneously DSIC, SBB, and ex-post IR, are fixed price mechanisms, i.e., mechanisms that are parametrised by a price p, and trade occurs if and only if the valuation of the buyer is at least p and the valuation of the seller is at most p. The gain from trade is the increase in welfare that results from applying a mechanism; here we study the gain from trade achievable by fixed price mechanisms. We explore this question for both the bilateral trade setting, and a double auction setting where there are multiple buyers and sellers. We first identify a fixed price mechanism that achieves a gain from trade of at least 2/r times the optimum, where r is the probability that the seller's valuation does not exceed the buyer's valuation. This extends a previous result by McAfee. Subsequently, we improve this approximation factor in an asymptotic sense, by showing that a more sophisticated rule for setting the fixed price results in an expected gain from trade within a factor O(log(1/r)) of the optimal gain from trade. This is asymptotically the best approximation factor possible. Lastly, we extend our study of fixed price mechanisms to the double auction setting defined by a set of multiple i.i.d. unit demand buyers, and i.i.d. unit supply sellers. We present a fixed price mechanism that achieves a gain from trade that achieves for all epsilon > 0 a gain from trade of at least (1-epsilon) times the expected optimal gain from trade with probability 1 - 2/e^{#T epsilon^2 /2}, where #T is the expected number of trades resulting from the double auction

Using single quantum states as spin filters to study spin polarization in ferromagnets

By measuring electron tunneling between a ferromagnet and individual energy levels in an aluminum quantum dot, we show how spin-resolved quantum states can be used as filters to determine spin-dependent tunneling rates. We also observe magnetic-field-dependent shifts in the magnet's electrochemical potential relative to the dot's energy levels. The shifts vary between samples and are generally smaller than expected from the magnet's spin-polarized density of states. We suggest that they are affected by field-dependent charge redistribution at the magnetic interface.Comment: 4 pages, 1 color figur

Star formation in galaxies at z~4-5 from the SMUVS survey: a clear starburst/main-sequence bimodality for Halpha emitters on the SFR-M* plane

We study a large galaxy sample from the Spitzer Matching Survey of the UltraVISTA ultra-deep Stripes (SMUVS) to search for sources with enhanced 3.6 micron fluxes indicative of strong Halpha emission at z=3.9-4.9. We find that the percentage of "Halpha excess" sources reaches 37-40% for galaxies with stellar masses log10(M*/Msun) ~ 9-10, and decreases to <20% at log10(M*/Msun) ~ 10.7. At higher stellar masses, however, the trend reverses, although this is likely due to AGN contamination. We derive star formation rates (SFR) and specific SFR (sSFR) from the inferred Halpha equivalent widths (EW) of our "Halpha excess" galaxies. We show, for the first time, that the "Halpha excess" galaxies clearly have a bimodal distribution on the SFR-M* plane: they lie on the main sequence of star formation (with log10(sSFR/yr^{-1})<-8.05) or in a starburst cloud (with log10(sSFR/yr^{-1}) >-7.60). The latter contains ~15% of all the objects in our sample and accounts for >50% of the cosmic SFR density at z=3.9-4.9, for which we derive a robust lower limit of 0.066 Msun yr^{-1} Mpc^{-3}. Finally, we identify an unusual >50sigma overdensity of z=3.9-4.9 galaxies within a 0.20 x 0.20 sq. arcmin region. We conclude that the SMUVS unique combination of area and depth at mid-IR wavelengths provides an unprecedented level of statistics and dynamic range which are fundamental to reveal new aspects of galaxy evolution in the young Universe.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 1 table. Re-submitted to the ApJ, after addressing referee report. Main changes with respect to v1: a new section and a new appendix have been added to investigate further the origin and robustness of the sSFR bimodality. No conclusion change