Ocular morbidity among diabetics attending the preventive ophthalmic clinic of a tertiary care institute with special reference to diabetic retinopathy

Background: Non communicable diseases have taken over previously life threatening infections in the demographic transition. As the burden of NCDs including diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate the complications related to these diseases are also increasing leading to huge morbidity. Likewise, blindness/ visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy is now slowly and steadily replacing refractive errors and cataracts as a cause of morbidity.Methods: This cross sectional study was carried over a period of one year in an ophthalmic unit of a tertiary health care institute in which known diabetic patients were screened for diabetic retinopathy besides various modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors.Results: Overall prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in our study population was found to be 29.0%. Among various risk factors duration of diabetes, hypertension, HbA1C >6.5% and serum creatinine >1.1 mg/dl were found to be significantly associated with diabetic retinopathy.Conclusion: Regular screening for diabetic retinopathy besides prevention and strict control of risk factors is key to prevention and progression of blindness/ visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy

Dark matter interpretations of ATLAS searches for the electroweak production of supersymmetric particles in s√=8 s=8 TeV proton-proton collisions

A selection of searches by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC for the electroweak production of SUSY particles are used to study their impact on the constraints on dark matter candidates. The searches use 20 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at s √ =8 s=8 TeV. A likelihood-driven scan of a five-dimensional effective model focusing on the gaugino-higgsino and Higgs sector of the phenomenological minimal supersymmetric Standard Model is performed. This scan uses data from direct dark matter detection experiments, the relic dark matter density and precision flavour physics results. Further constraints from the ATLAS Higgs mass measurement and SUSY searches at LEP are also applied. A subset of models selected from this scan are used to assess the impact of the selected ATLAS searches in this five-dimensional parameter space. These ATLAS searches substantially impact those models for which the mass m(χ ~ 0 1 ) m(χ~10) of the lightest neutralino is less than 65 GeV, excluding 86% of such models. The searches have limited impact on models with larger m(χ ~ 0 1 ) m(χ~10) due to either heavy electroweakinos or compressed mass spectra where the mass splittings between the produced particles and the lightest supersymmetric particle is small

May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

Planck 2015 results I. Overview of products and scientific results

The European Space Agency's Planck satellite, which is dedicated to studying the early Universe and its subsequent evolution, was launched on 14 May 2009. It scanned the microwave and submillimetre sky continuously between 12 August 2009 and 23 October 2013. In February 2015, ESA and the Planck Collaboration released the second set of cosmology products based on data from the entire Planck mission, including both temperature and polarization, along with a set of scientific and technical papers and a web-based explanatory supplement. This paper gives an overview of the main characteristics of the data and the data products in the release, as well as the associated cosmological and astrophysical science results and papers. The data products include maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, diffuse foregrounds in temperature and polarization, catalogues of compact Galactic and extragalactic sources (including separate catalogues of Sunyaev-Zeldovich clusters and Galactic cold clumps), and extensive simulations of signals and noise used in assessing uncertainties and the performance of the analysis methods. The likelihood code used to assess cosmological models against the Planck data is described, along with a CMB lensing likelihood. Scientific results include cosmological parameters derived from CMB power spectra, gravitational lensing, and cluster counts, as well as constraints on inflation, non-Gaussianity, primordial magnetic fields, dark energy, and modified gravity, and new results on low-frequency Galactic foregrounds

Transparent wide band gap crystals follow indirect allowed transition and bipolaron hopping mechanism

Recently, we carried out structural, optical and dielectric studies on micro-crystals of Oxypeucedanin (C16H14O5), isolated from the roots of plant Prangos pabularia (Mir et al. (2014) [3,4]). The obtained trend in frequency exponent (s) with frequency (ω) indicates that the universal dynamic response is followed by this compound. From optical absorption spectroscopy, the optical band gap (Eg) was estimated around 3.76 eV and system is showing indirect allowed transition. Using Eg in certain relation of s, a close value of s (as much close obtained by fitting ac conductivity) was obtained. This method was further used for other similar systems and again same trend was obtained. So a general conclusion was made that the high transmitting wide band insulators or semiconductors may follow bipolaron hopping transport mechanism

A novel idea of pseudo-code generator in quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA)

In present work, we have implemented the pseudo-code (PN-code) generator using quantum-dot cellular (QCA) technology. Simulation results are obtained from QCA designer software. The PN-code generation is of paramount importance for any secure communication system. The complex code generated is used to scramble incoming plain text. At the receiving end, the same code is generated and successfully used to decrypt the transmitted data. The algorithm for generating noise signal is quite simple. The simplicity of the circuit along with the complexity of the code generated makes the circuit attractive for secure message communication

Irigenin – an isoflavone: a brief study on structural and optical properties

Irigenin, an isoflavone (mol. formula = C18H16O8), was isolated from the plant Iris hookeriana using dichloromethane as solvent. The compound was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-visible spectroscopy measurements. Structural analysis of XRD data confirmed the orthorhombic structure for the compound. The microstructure of the compound is an aggregate of microcrystals with an irregular morphology. From the UV-visible spectroscopy, the present compound shows indirect allowed transition with an optical band gap (Eg) of around 3.25 eV. The present optical properties of the compound can be utilized in flexible organic electronics applications

Optical and electrical characterization of Ni-doped orthoferrites thin films prepared by sol-gel process

International audienceThis paper presents a low-temperature route for producing RFe0.6Ni0.4O3 (where R = Pr, Nd and Sm) thin films by an aqueous inorganic sol-gel process. The films produced were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) for structural, four probes for electrical and UV-vis spectroscopy for optical properties. As-deposited films were amorphous and after annealing them at 650 °C, crystallinity appears and shows an orthorhombic structure. From UV-vis spectroscopy, variation in optical band gap and transmission is seen with change of rare-earth ions. From electrical resistivity measurement, semiconducting behavior is observed. The difference in activation energy is observed. This variation could be due to the orthorhombic distortion caused by size of rare-earth ion and which may impact the Fe-O-Fe or Fe-O-Ni or Ni-O-Ni bond angle, and hence affects the single particle band width in the present system