Reproducibility and repeatability of measuring the electrical impedance of the pregnant human cervix-the effect of probe size and applied pressure

Background: The utility of cervical electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a diagnostic tool is being investigated in clinical trials. We sought to assess the reliability of two different sizes of tetrapolar probes used in measuring cervical impedance. Methods: Cervical transfer impedance was measured at 14 frequencies between 76 and 625 000 Hz from 11 pregnant subjects at term. Repeated measurements were taken with two probes (3 mm and 12 mm diameter) applied softly (approximately 0.7 Newton of force), and firmly (approximately 2.2 Newton) to the surface of the cervix by two observers. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), coefficient of variation (CV) and repeatability standard deviations (SD) were derived from these measurements and compared. Results: Measurements taken by one observer were highly repeatable for both probes as demonstrated by high ICC and low CV values. Probe performance was improved further by firm application. Firm application of the 3 mm probe resulted in ICC values that ranged from 0.936 to 0.986 (p = 0.0001) and CV values between 1.0 and 3.4%. Firm pressure with the 12 mm probe resulted in ICC values that ranged between 0.914 and 0.988 (p = 0.0001) with CV values between 0.7 and 2.1%. In addition, the repeatability SD was low across all frequencies implying that there was low intra-observer variability. Measurements taken by 2 observers with firm application of the 12 mm probe demonstrated moderate reproducibility between 9.8 and 156 kHz, the frequency range in which previous clinical studies have shown predictive association between high cervical resistivity and vaginal delivery: ICC values ranged between 0.528 and 0.638 (p < 0.05), CV values were between 3.3 and 5.2% and reproducibility SD values were also low. In contrast the 3 mm probe demonstrated poor reproducibility at all study frequencies. Conclusion: Measuring cervical resistivity by a single observer with both the 3 and 12 mm probes is highly repeatable whilst inter-observer reproducibility is poor with the 3 mm probe but moderately good when the 12 mm probe is firmly applied to the cervix in the frequency range 9.8 to 156 kHz, consistent with our observations of probe performance in clinical trials

Content-Based Image Retreival for Detecting Brain Tumors and Amyloid Fluid Presence

Medical images play a vital role in identifying diseases and detecting if organs are functioning correctly. Image processing related to medical images is an active research area in which various techniques are used in order to make diagnosis easier. The brain is a vital organ in our body, and brain tumors are a very critical life altering condition. Identifying tumors is a challenging task and various image processing techniques can be used. Doctors can identify tumors from looking at the scan, and this project attempts to automatically derive these results. In this project, image processing is done for automatically detecting the presence of brain tumors in a given brain scan. Content-based image retrieval extracts features from a query or template image, computes a measure of similarity, and gives results by detecting tumors. Template matching is used to identify a template at any position within the image to identify tumor location. Secondly, early detection of Alzheimer’s, which in turn prevents dementia, can be determined from the presence of amyloid fluid along with the other factors. The amyloid fluid presence helps in detecting dementia at an early stage. The presence of this fluid can be found in a PET scan of the brain. Here, the idea is to show the color distribution from a scan image, i.e., the domination of given colors. Content-based image retrieval’s low level feature based approaches such as color histograms are used. In this project, the conventional K- means algorithm is used for clustering the histograms, and identifying dominant colors

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LITHOTRIPSY AND MINIPERC IN 11 TO 18 MM IMPACTED PUJ CALCULI

Background: Impacted PUJ calculi are well known entity.&nbsp; Nephrolithiasis is a common disorder that accounts for significant cost, morbidity, and loss of work. Over last 3 decades considerable advances have been made in the management of kidney stone disease, still there is no single universally accepted and uniformly effective modality of treatment in medium size of impacted PUJ calculi. Aim: To study the efficacy of lithotripsy and MINIPERC in 11mm to 18mm impacted PUJ calculi. Methodology: The patients with impacted PUJ calculi of size 11 to 18mm of both sexes of all age group varying form 18-60 years, on consecutive sampling method total 84 patients were included. All patients underwent basic lab investigations, USG, IVU and investigations for fitness purpose. Group 1: All procedures were tubeless.Â&nbsp; We used 15 Fr Richard Wolf nephroscope for the procedure. 16 to 20 Fr Amplatz sheath was used depending upon situation. Fragmentation was performed using pneumatic lithoclast or holmium Laser depending upon stone size and characteristics. Group 2: Underwent DJ stenting under subarachnoid block or short GA depending upon situation. On the next day they were subjected for lithotripsy on Dorniel alpha machine under USG guidance, 3000 shocks were given in each sitting. One to three such sittings were given. Post operatively ultrasonography and X-ray KUB was done in all the patients and stents were removed after assuring complete clearance. Patients with absence of stone or presence of stone less than 4 mm on USG or x-ray KUB were declared as completely cleared. Results: Average hospital stay was 48 hours in miniperc group and it was 30 hours in DJ with ESWL group. Clearance rate was 100 % in Miniperc group and it was 85.71 % in DJ with ESWL group. Five patients (11.9%) in DJ lithotripsy group required another procedure. (Two needed miniperc and three needed URS). Two(4.76 %) patients in miniperc group had fever in post op period but nobody suffered major sepsis. Conclusion: Miniperc fulfils many criteria if we see results and complications. Although bigger sized multicentric study and long term follow up is needed

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LITHOTRIPSY AND MINIPERC IN 11 TO 18 MM IMPACTED PUJ CALCULI

Background: Impacted PUJ calculi are well known entity.&nbsp; Nephrolithiasis is a common disorder that accounts for significant cost, morbidity, and loss of work. Over last 3 decades considerable advances have been made in the management of kidney stone disease, still there is no single universally accepted and uniformly effective modality of treatment in medium size of impacted PUJ calculi. Aim: To study the efficacy of lithotripsy and MINIPERC in 11mm to 18mm impacted PUJ calculi. Methodology: The patients with impacted PUJ calculi of size 11 to 18mm of both sexes of all age group varying form 18-60 years, on consecutive sampling method total 84 patients were included. All patients underwent basic lab investigations, USG, IVU and investigations for fitness purpose. Group 1: All procedures were tubeless.Â&nbsp; We used 15 Fr Richard Wolf nephroscope for the procedure. 16 to 20 Fr Amplatz sheath was used depending upon situation. Fragmentation was performed using pneumatic lithoclast or holmium Laser depending upon stone size and characteristics. Group 2: Underwent DJ stenting under subarachnoid block or short GA depending upon situation. On the next day they were subjected for lithotripsy on Dorniel alpha machine under USG guidance, 3000 shocks were given in each sitting. One to three such sittings were given. Post operatively ultrasonography and X-ray KUB was done in all the patients and stents were removed after assuring complete clearance. Patients with absence of stone or presence of stone less than 4 mm on USG or x-ray KUB were declared as completely cleared. Results: Average hospital stay was 48 hours in miniperc group and it was 30 hours in DJ with ESWL group. Clearance rate was 100 % in Miniperc group and it was 85.71 % in DJ with ESWL group. Five patients (11.9%) in DJ lithotripsy group required another procedure. (Two needed miniperc and three needed URS). Two(4.76 %) patients in miniperc group had fever in post op period but nobody suffered major sepsis. Conclusion: Miniperc fulfils many criteria if we see results and complications. Although bigger sized multicentric study and long term follow up is needed

Evaluating Performance of Fault Current Limiters in Electric Substations Using Monte Carlo Method

Application of Fault Current Limiters (FCL’s) seems a promising alternative to upgrade system breakers and switchgears in areas with heavy demand growth. These devices are mainly expected to improve reliability by reducing fault current values to levels interruptible by existing switchgears, and therefore ensuring safer and more reliable operation of power apparatus. Power substations are one of the ideal candidates for application of FCL’s. In this work, Monte Carlo simulation method has been used to study performance of fault current limiters and their impacts on different components. Results show effectiveness of these device in reducing the average fault current passed through power system components and reducing the associated burdens

Pharmacological Activities of Boswellia serrata Roxb. - Mini Review

Boswellia serrata (Salai Guggal) is one of the most ancient and respected herbs in Ayurveda. “Gajabhakshya” a Sanskrit name sometimes used for Boswellia suggests that elephants enjoy this herb as a part of their diet. Historically Boswellia serrata is recommended for osteoarthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, soft tissue fibrosis and spondilytis without any side effect. Present review focuses on pharmacological activities of Boswellia serrata Roxb

A Bibliometric Survey on Polymer Composites in Energy Storage Applications

Ceramic polymer composites have gained a significant place in energy storage applications for electrical capacitors due to their distinguished properties. There is a huge demand of capacitors with high energy density, high dielectric strength, negligibly low dielectric loss, light weight, chemically less reactive in energy storage applications. These requirements can be fulfilled by ceramic polymer composites only which exhibit all the above-mentioned characteristics. Considering the huge demand of such capacitors, it has attracted the attention of researchers around the world. The present work attempts to summarise all the research conducted on Polymer Composites for energy storage applications and provides an up-to-date research document for the ready reference of the researchers/scientists engaged in the area of Polymer composites. The bibliometric analysis includes Scopus database and software, such as Gephi, Vos Viewer, and Table2Net. The study can be considered as a handbook reflecting the gradual exploration in the field of polymer composites and their applications in energy storage

The importance of endogenous opioids in feeding behavior

Endogenous opioids are involved in a broadly distributed neural network regulating eating behavior. Opioid transmission has long been implicated in controlling hedonic and homeostatic feeding as well as regulating body weight and metabolism. Most evidence implicating endogenous opioids is based on studies using pharmacological, or genetic knockout of opioid receptors, which alters feeding behaviors. However, individual contribution of each opioid peptide in feeding behavior and metabolism is not entirely clear. The present study was aimed to distinguish the role of the two major classes of endogenous opioids, namely enkephalin and dynorphin, in the motivational aspect of feeding behavior. Prodynorphin knockout and proenkephalin knockout mouse models were presented with highly palatable chocolate-flavored pellets and tested in an operant-self administration paradigm. The results suggest that the endogenous peptides dynorphin and enkephalin are involved in the modulation of hedonic control of feeding behavior. The second aim of the study was to elucidate the impact of dynorphin in modulation in the body weight and metabolism after prolonged voluntary palatable high-fat food consumption. Prodynorphin deficient and wild-type mice were maintained for 12 weeks on a high-fat diet (60% fat) or a normal chow with either a time-restricted access (8 hours) to food or an ad libitum access to food. The outcomes from the present study demonstrate the crucial role of endogenous opioid dynorphin in the regulation and maintenance of body weight. Blood glucose levels were modulated in high-fat diet-fed female mice, whereas, food consumption in animals was unaltered. Furthermore, prodynorphin deficient animals displayed significantly reduced levels of hypothalamic orexigenic peptides NPY and orexin-A under different feeding regimens. The present study gives a first insight about the modulation of metabolic and endocrine changes associated with diet composition and feeding regimen by endogenous opioid dynorphin. The study also demonstrates the involvement of the opioid peptides dynorphin and enkephalin in hedonic control of feeding behavior