Bone health after menopause: effect of surgical menopaus on bone mineral density and osteoporosis

Background: Natural menopause or surgical menopause is associated with endocrinological changes and alteration in bone and mineral metabolism. Hence this study was conducted to assess the bone mineral density changes in women with surgical menopause. Methods: This is a prospective observational study conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Sri Ramachandra medical college, which is a tertiary care teaching hospital. 60 women with surgical menopause were included in the study. BMD was assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry at the lumbar spine and hip joint. All the data was entered in Microsoft excel spread sheet and analysed by using SPSS software.Results: Among 60 study subjects, 41 individuals had a normal BMD, 16 had osteopenia, and 3 were diagnosed with osteoporosis. Osteopenia and osteoporosis is significantly higher in patients who had undergone hysterectomy with removal of ovaries. Observations of osteopenia and osteoporosis were significantly higher with increasing number of years post hysterectomy.Conclusions: Prevalence of osteoporosis is high in patients who undergo hysterectomy. Oophorectomy is associated with postoperative bone loss. Targeted management strategies should include routine BMD assessment and hormone therapy improves management of bone health in this population. Further more studies are needed in large populations to test alternative treatments for post oophorectomy osteoporosis

Dietary Salt Intake and Hypertension in An Urban South Indian Population – [CURES - 53]

Objective : The aim of the study was to determine the mean dietary salt intake in urban south India and to look at its association with hypertension. Methods : The Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES) is an ongoing population based study on a representative population of Chennai city in southern India. Phase 1 of CURES recruited 26,001 individuals aged ≥ 20 years, of whom every tenth subject (n=2600) was invited to participate in Phase 3 for detailed dietary studies and 2220 subjects participated in the present study (response rate : 84.5%). Participants with self-reported history of hypertension, diabetes or heart disease were excluded from the study (n=318) and thus the final study numbers were 1902 subjects. Dietary salt, energy, macronutrients and micronutrients intake were measured using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Diagnosis of hypertension was based on the National Cholesterol Education Programme (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Logistic regression analysis was used to look at the association of dietary salt with hypertension. Results : Mean dietary salt intake (8.5 g/d) in the population was higher than the recommended by the World Health Organization (<5g/d). Higher salt intake was associated with older age and higher income (p for trend<0.0001). Subjects in the highest quintile of salt intake had significantly higher prevalence of hypertension than did those in the lowest quintile (48.4 vs 16.6%, p<0.0001). Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure significantly increased with increase in quintiles of total dietary salt both among hypertensive and normotensive subjects (p for trend p1 teaspoon/day at the dining table was associated with a higher prevalence for hypertension compared to zero added salt (38.5% vs 23.3%, Chi-square = 18.95; p<0.0001). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that even after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, total energy intake and dietary fat, total dietary salt intake was positively associated with hypertension. [Odds ratio (OR): 1.161, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.115-1.209, p<0.0001]. Conclusion: Intake of dietary salt in urban south India is higher than currently recommended. Increasing salt intake is associated with increased risk for hypertension even after adjusting for potential confounders. This calls for urgent steps to decrease salt consumption of the population at high ris

Modifying the photodetachment near a metal surface by a weak electric field

We show the photodetachment cross sections of H near a metal surface can be modified using a weak static electric field. The modification is possible because the oscillatory part of the cross section near a metal surface is directly connected with the transit-time and the action of the detached-electron closed-orbit which can be changed systematically by varying the static electric field strength. Photodetachment cross sections for various photon energies and electric field values are calculated and displayed.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Association of A1C with cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome in Asian Indians with normal glucose tolerance.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association of A1C with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, coronary artery disease (CAD), and metabolic syndrome in Asian Indians with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited subjects from phase III of the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES), an epidemiological study in a representative population of Chennai (formerly Madras) in South India, conducted between January 2003 and June 2004. Included were 1,644 subjects with NGT, i.e., fasting plasma glucose <100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l) and 2-h postload plasma glucose <140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l). A1C was measured using the Biorad Variant machine. Metabolic syndrome was defined based on modified Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD A1C value in the study cohort was 5.5 +/- 0.4%. A1C showed a significant association with BMI (beta = 0.017, P < 0.001), systolic (beta = 0.002, P = 0.028) and diastolic (beta = 0.202, P = 0.017) blood pressure, waist circumference (beta = 0.007, P < 0.001), serum cholesterol (beta = 0.002, P < 0.001), triglycerides (beta = 0.001, P < 0.001), LDL cholesterol (beta = 0.002, P < 0.001), fasting insulin (beta = 0.009, P < 0.001), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (beta = 0.047, P < 0.001) after adjusting for age and sex. Regression analysis showed that A1C had a strong association with metabolic syndrome that persisted after adjusting for age and sex (odds ratio [OR] 2.9 [95% CI 2.08-4.00]; P < 0.001). A1C also had a strong association with CAD (2.6 [1.23-5.63]; P = 0.01), but the significance was lost when adjusted for age and sex. CONCLUSIONS: There is a strong association of A1C with prevalent CVD risk factors in Asian-Indian subjects with NGT

Complete Acid Ceramidase ablation prevents cancer-initiating cell formation in melanoma cells

Acid ceramidase (AC) is a lysosomal cysteine hydrolase that catalyzes the conversion of ceramide into fatty acid and sphingosine. This reaction lowers intracellular ceramide levels and concomitantly generates sphingosine used for sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) production. Since increases in ceramide and consequent decreases of S1P reduce proliferation of various cancers, AC might offer a new target for anti-tumor therapy. Here we used CrispR-Cas9-mediated gene editing to delete the gene encoding for AC, ASAH1, in human A375 melanoma cells. ASAH1-null clones show significantly greater accumulation of long-chain saturated ceramides that are substrate for AC. As seen with administration of exogenous ceramide, AC ablation blocks cell cycle progression and accelerates senescence. Importantly, ASAH1-null cells also lose the ability to form cancer-initiating cells and to undergo self-renewal, which is suggestive of a key role for AC in maintaining malignancy and self-renewal of invasive melanoma cells. The results suggest that AC inhibitors might find therapeutic use as adjuvant therapy for advanced melanoma

Anomalous thermoelectric power of Mg1-xAlxB2 system with x = 0.0 to 1.0

Thermoelectric power, S(T) of the Mg1-xAlxB2 system has been measured for x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0. XRD, resistivity and magnetization measurements are also presented. It has been found that the thermoelectric power is positive for x = 0.4 and is negative for x = 0.6 over the entire temperature range studied up to 300 K. The thermoelectric power of x = 0.4 samples vanishes discontinuously below a certain temperature, implying existence of superconductivity. In general, the magnitude of the thermoelectric power increases with temperature up to a certain temperature, and then it starts to decrease towards zero base line. In order to explain the observed behavior of the thermoelectric power, we have used a model in which both diffusion and phonon drag processes are combined by using a phenomenological interpolation between the low and high temperature behaviors of the thermoelectric power. The considered model provides an excellent fit to the observed data. It is further found that Al doping enhances the Debye temperature.Comment: 19 pages Text + Figs. suggestions/comments([email protected]

Post-Quantum and Code-Based Cryptography—Some Prospective Research Directions

Cryptography has been used from time immemorial for preserving the confidentiality of data/information in storage or transit. Thus, cryptography research has also been evolving from the classical Caesar cipher to the modern cryptosystems, based on modular arithmetic to the contemporary cryptosystems based on quantum computing. The emergence of quantum computing poses a major threat to the modern cryptosystems based on modular arithmetic, whereby even the computationally hard problems which constitute the strength of the modular arithmetic ciphers could be solved in polynomial time. This threat triggered post-quantum cryptography research to design and develop post-quantum algorithms that can withstand quantum computing attacks. This paper provides an overview of the various research directions that have been explored in post-quantum cryptography and, specifically, the various code-based cryptography research dimensions that have been explored. Some potential research directions that are yet to be explored in code-based cryptography research from the perspective of codes is a key contribution of this paper

Characterization of uncertainties in atmospheric trace gas inversions using hierarchical Bayesian methods

We present a hierarchical Bayesian method for atmospheric trace gas inversions. This method is used to estimate emissions of trace gases as well as "hyper-parameters" that characterize the probability density functions (PDFs) of the a priori emissions and model-measurement covariances. By exploring the space of "uncertainties in uncertainties", we show that the hierarchical method results in a more complete estimation of emissions and their uncertainties than traditional Bayesian inversions, which rely heavily on expert judgment. We present an analysis that shows the effect of including hyper-parameters, which are themselves informed by the data, and show that this method can serve to reduce the effect of errors in assumptions made about the a priori emissions and model-measurement uncertainties. We then apply this method to the estimation of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) emissions over 2012 for the regions surrounding four Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) stations. We find that improper accounting of model representation uncertainties, in particular, can lead to the derivation of emissions and associated uncertainties that are unrealistic and show that those derived using the hierarchical method are likely to be more representative of the true uncertainties in the system. We demonstrate through this SF6 case study that this method is less sensitive to outliers in the data and to subjective assumptions about a priori emissions and model-measurement uncertainties than traditional methods

Maturation trajectories of cortical resting-state networks depend on the mediating frequency band

The functional significance of resting state networks and their abnormal manifestations in psychiatric disorders are firmly established, as is the importance of the cortical rhythms in mediating these networks. Resting state networks are known to undergo substantial reorganization from childhood to adulthood, but whether distinct cortical rhythms, which are generated by separable neural mechanisms and are often manifested abnormally in psychiatric conditions, mediate maturation differentially, remains unknown. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to map frequency band specific maturation of resting state networks from age 7 to 29 in 162 participants (31 independent), we found significant changes with age in networks mediated by the beta (13–30 Hz) and gamma (31–80 Hz) bands. More specifically, gamma band mediated networks followed an expected asymptotic trajectory, but beta band mediated networks followed a linear trajectory. Network integration increased with age in gamma band mediated networks, while local segregation increased with age in beta band mediated networks. Spatially, the hubs that changed in importance with age in the beta band mediated networks had relatively little overlap with those that showed the greatest changes in the gamma band mediated networks. These findings are relevant for our understanding of the neural mechanisms of cortical maturation, in both typical and atypical development.This work was supported by grants from the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation (TK, SK, MGK), Autism Speaks (TK), The Simons Foundation (SFARI 239395, TK), The National Institute of Child Health and Development (R01HD073254, TK), National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (P41EB015896, 5R01EB009048, MSH), and the Cognitive Rhythms Collaborative: A Discovery Network (NFS 1042134, MSH). (Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation; Autism Speaks; SFARI 239395 - Simons Foundation; R01HD073254 - National Institute of Child Health and Development; P41EB015896 - National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering; 5R01EB009048 - National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering; NFS 1042134 - Cognitive Rhythms Collaborative: A Discovery Network

Synthesis of highly tetrahedral amorphous carbon by mixed-mode HiPIMS sputtering

Tetrahedral amorphous carbon films with an sp 3 content of 80% have been produced by high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) operating in a mixed sputtering/arc mode. In this mode, short-lived cathode spots form in the magnetic racetrack and produce large numbers of carbon ions. The spots move rapidly, inhibiting the formation of macroparticles. An argon pressure below 2.5 mTorr was critical for obtaining films with high sp 3 content, high stress, large Tauc gap and symmetrical Raman spectra, and all four quantities were strongly correlated