926 research outputs found
Severe anaemia is associated with a higher risk for preeclampsia and poor perinatal outcomes in Kassala hospital, eastern Sudan
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anaemia during pregnancy is major health problem. There is conflicting literature regarding the association between anaemia and its severity and maternal and perinatal outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is a retrospective case-control study conducted at Kassala hospital, eastern Sudan. Medical files of pregnant women with severe anaemia (haemoglobin (Hb) < 7 g/dl, n = 303) who delivered from January 2008 to December 2010 were reviewed. Socio-demographic and obstetric data were analysed and compared with a similar number of women with mild/moderate anaemia (Hb = 7-10.9 g/dl, n = 303) and with no anaemia (Hb > 11 g/dl, n = 303). Logistic regression analysis was performed separately for each of the outcome measures: preeclampsia, eclampsia, preterm birth, low birth weight (LBW) and stillbirth.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 9578 deliveries at Kassala hospital, 4012 (41.8%) women had anaemia and 303 (3.2%) had severe anaemia. The corrected risk for preeclampsia increased only in severe anaemia (OR = 3.6, 95% CI: 1.4-9.1, <it>P </it>= 0.007). Compared with women with no anaemia, the risk of LBW was 2.5 times higher in women with mild/moderate anaemia (95% CI: 1.1-5.7), and 8.0 times higher in women with severe anaemia (95% CI: 3.8-16.0). The risk of preterm delivery increased significantly with the severity of anaemia (OR = 3.2 for women with mild/moderate anaemia and OR = 6.6 for women with severe anaemia, compared with women with no anaemia). The corrected risk for stillbirth increased only in severe anaemia (OR = 4.3, 95% CI: 1.9-9.1, <it>P </it>< 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The greater the severity of the anaemia during pregnancy, the greater the risk of preeclampsia, preterm delivery, LBW and stillbirth. Preventive measures should be undertaken to decrease the prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy.</p
Effects of quantum gravity on the inflationary parameters and thermodynamics of the early universe
The effects of generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) on the inflationary
dynamics and the thermodynamics of the early universe are studied. Using the
GUP approach, the tensorial and scalar density fluctuations in the inflation
era are evaluated and compared with the standard case. We find a good agreement
with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data. Assuming that a quantum gas
of scalar particles is confined within a thin layer near the apparent horizon
of the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker universe which satisfies the
boundary condition, the number and entropy densities and the free energy
arising form the quantum states are calculated using the GUP approach. A
qualitative estimation for effects of the quantum gravity on all these
thermodynamic quantities is introduced.Comment: 15 graghes, 7 figures with 17 eps graph
On the Beaming of Gluonic Fields at Strong Coupling
We examine the conditions for beaming of the gluonic field sourced by a heavy
quark in strongly-coupled conformal field theories, using the AdS/CFT
correspondence. Previous works have found that, contrary to naive expectations,
it is possible to set up collimated beams of gluonic radiation despite the
strong coupling. We show that, on the gravity side of the correspondence, this
follows directly (for arbitrary quark motion, and independently of any
approximations) from the fact that the string dual to the quark remains
unexpectedly close to the AdS boundary whenever the quark moves
ultra-relativistically. We also work out the validity conditions for a related
approximation scheme that proposed to explain the beaming effect though the
formation of shock waves in the bulk fields emitted by the string. We find that
these conditions are fulfilled in the case of ultra-relativistic uniform
circular motion that motivated the proposal, but unfortunately do not hold for
much more general quark trajectories.Comment: 1+33 pages, 2 figure
Asymptotically Lifshitz wormholes and black holes for Lovelock gravity in vacuum
Static asymptotically Lifshitz wormholes and black holes in vacuum are shown
to exist for a class of Lovelock theories in d=2n+1>7 dimensions, selected by
requiring that all but one of their n maximally symmetric vacua are AdS of
radius l and degenerate. The wormhole geometry is regular everywhere and
connects two Lifshitz spacetimes with a nontrivial geometry at the boundary.
The dynamical exponent z is determined by the quotient of the curvature radii
of the maximally symmetric vacua according to n(z^2-1)+1=(l/L)^2, where L
corresponds to the curvature radius of the nondegenerate vacuum. Light signals
are able to connect both asymptotic regions in finite time, and the
gravitational field pulls towards a fixed surface located at some arbitrary
proper distance to the neck. The asymptotically Lifshitz black hole possesses
the same dynamical exponent and a fixed Hawking temperature given by T=z/(2^z
pi l). Further analytic solutions, including pure Lifshitz spacetimes with a
nontrivial geometry at the spacelike boundary, and wormholes that interpolate
between asymptotically Lifshitz spacetimes with different dynamical exponents
are also found.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur
A branch and efficiency algorithm for the optimal design of supply chain networks
Supply chain operations directly affect service levels. Decision on amendment of facilities is generally decided based on overall cost, leaving out the efficiency of each unit. Decomposing the supply chain superstructure, efficiency analysis of the facilities (warehouses or distribution centers) that serve customers can be easily implemented. With the proposed algorithm, the selection of a facility is based on service level maximization and not just cost minimization as this analysis filters all the feasible solutions utilizing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique. Through multiple iterations, solutions are filtered via DEA and only the efficient ones are selected leading to cost minimization. In this work, the problem of optimal supply chain networks design is addressed based on a DEA based algorithm. A Branch and Efficiency (B&E) algorithm is deployed for the solution of this problem. Based on this DEA approach, each solution (potentially installed warehouse, plant etc) is treated as a Decision Making Unit, thus is characterized by inputs and outputs. The algorithm through additional constraints named “efficiency cuts”, selects only efficient solutions providing better objective function values. The applicability of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through illustrative examples
Echocardiographic assessment of mitral valve morphology after Percutaneous Transvenous Mitral Commissurotomy (PTMC)
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Aims</p> <p>PTMC produces significant changes in mitral valve morphology as improvement in leaflets mobility. The determinants of such improvement have not been assessed before.</p> <p>Methods and results</p> <p>The study included 291 symptomatic patients with mitral stenosis undergoing PTMC. Post-PTMC subvalvular splitting area was a determinant of post-PTMC excursion in both the anterior (B 0.16, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.30, p < 0.05) and the posterior (B 0.12, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.24, p < 0.05) leaflets. Another determinant was the post-PTMC transmitral pressure gradient for anterior (B -0.02, 95% CI -0.04 to -0.005, p < 0.01) and posterior (B -0.01, 95% CI -0.04 to -0.005, p < 0.05) leaflets excursion. The relationship between post-PTMC MVA and leaflet excursion was non-linear "S curve". There was a steep increase of both anterior (p, 0.02) and posterior (p, 0.03) leaflets excursion with increased MVA till the MVA reached a value of about 1.5 cm<sup>2</sup>; after which both linear and S curves became nearly parallel.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The improvement in leaflets excursion after PTMC is determined by several morphologic and hemodynamic changes produced in the valve. The increase in MVA improves mobility within limit; after which any further increase in MVA is not associated by a significant improvement in mobility in both leaflets.</p
Incidence of post myocardial infarction left ventricular thrombus formation in the era of primary percutaneous intervention and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors. A prospective observational study
BACKGROUND: Before the widespread use of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GP IIb/IIIa) left ventricular (LV) thrombus formation had been reported to complicate up to 20% of acute myocardial infarctions (AMI). The incidence of LV thrombus formation with these treatment modalities is not well known. METHODS: 92 consecutive patients with ST-elevation AMI treated with PCI and GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors underwent 2-D echocardiograms, with and without echo contrast agent, within 24–72 hours. RESULTS: Only 4/92 (4.3%) had an LV thrombus, representing a significantly lower incidence than that reported in the pre-PCI era. Use of contrast agents did not improve detection of LV thrombi in our study. CONCLUSION: The incidence of LV thrombus formation after acute MI, in the current era of rapid reperfusion, is lower than what has been historically reported
Holographic Aspects of Two-charged Dilatonic Black Hole in AdS5
We study certain features of a strongly coupled theory whose gravitational
dual is given by two-charge dilatonic black hole in AdS5 which has recently
been used to study holographic Fermi liquids. By making use of the gravity
description, we have studied conductivity, holographic entanglement entropy and
dynamics of a charged scalar field. In particular at low energy we find that
the temperature dependence of the real part of the conductivity goes as T^3 and
the background is stable against scalar condensations.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, V2: Refs. adde
The relationship between livestock ownership and child stunting in three countries in eastern Africa using national survey data
Livestock ownership has the potential to improve child nutrition through various mechanisms, although direct evaluations of household livestock and child stunting status are uncommon. We conducted an analysis of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets from Ethiopia (2011), Kenya (2008-2009), and Uganda (2010) among rural children under 5 years of age to compare stunting status across levels of livestock ownership. We classified livestock ownership by summing reported household numbers of goats, sheep, cattle and chickens, as well as calculating a weighted score to combine multiple species. The primary association was assessed separately by country using a log-binomial model adjusted for wealth and region, which was then stratified by child diarrheal illness, animal-source foods intake, sub-region, and wealth index. This analysis included n = 8079 children from Ethiopia, n = 3903 children from Kenya, and n = 1645 from Uganda. A ten-fold increase in household livestock ownership had significant association with lower stunting prevalence in Ethiopia (Prevalence Ratio [PR] 0.95, 95% CI 0.92-0.98) and Uganda (PR 0.87, 95% CI 0.79-0.97), but not Kenya (PR 1.01, 95% CI 0.96-1.07). The weighted livestock score was only marginally associated with stunting status. The findings varied slightly by region, but not by wealth, diarrheal disease, or animal-source food intake. This analysis suggested a slightly beneficial effect of household livestock ownership on child stunting prevalence. The small effect size observed may be related to limitations of the DHS dataset or the potentially complicated relationship between malnutrition and livestock ownership, including livestock health and productivity
TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives
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