Cladding Pumped Thulium-Ytterbium Short Pulse Fiber Lasers

This chapter describes double clad fiber along with cladding pump technique in which pump light is coupled in the inner cladding of fiber thereby interacting with doped core through total internal reflection. Lasers operating in continuous wave mode have limited output power. Their output power can be enhanced to a great extent by concentrating the available energy in a single or in a periodic sequence of optical pulses. This is achieved by Q-switch and modelock techniques. Q-switched and modelocked lasers can be realized by active and passive means. Active technique is based on active loss modulation by using mechanical, electro-optic or acousto-optic based modulators. However, such techniques require complicated electronic circuits and have limited gain bandwidth. The attention then moves towards the passive technique which is low cost, compact in size, gives reliable operation without high voltages and provides simple cavity design without need for external electronics. Passive technique employs a saturable absorber, based on materials like carbon nanotubes, graphene, molybdenum di-sulfide etc. A brief description of pulsed fiber lasers and solitons in view of modelocking are described in the text. Moreover examples of Q-switched and modelocked lasers are also presented by using Thulium-Ytterbium co-doped double clad fiber. A cladding pump technique is employed for the purpose

FREQUENCY OF BONE FRACTURES DETECTED BY PLAIN RADIOGRAPHY AND KEEPING CT AS GOLD STANDARD

Background: The main cause of bone fracture is traffic accidents are (72.2%), falls (11.6%), blunt injuries are (7.7%) and others (5.8%)). About 84 patients were included in our studies. Out of which 21 (25.0%) were females and 63(75.0%) were males. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the frequency of bone fractures detected by plain radiography and keeping CT as gold standard. Methodology: In our cross-sectional study all the patients with fracture undergoing CT and X-Ray were included. Patients with bone surgery were excluded as well as patients who declined to give consent and those who were uncooperative were all excluded. X-ray performed for all the fractures and the complex one sent to CT. The consent form was obtained by patients in this study. We reviewed our data of patients who underwent CT and X-ray. CT (Toshiba 64) was performed from the exact area of fracture and images reconstructed at 3mm and for reporting 5mm for filming. X-ray performed according to the appropriate range of kVp and mAs. All findings of CT were considered by the advice of consultant radiologist. Data was represented with means of standard deviation of frequency and percentage where appropriate. Chi square testing was used to compare CT and X-ray qualitative data. Data was entered into IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0. P-value <0.05 considered the significant. Results: In our study 84 patients were included. Out of which 21 (25.0%) were females and 63 (75.0%) were males and the standard deviation was 0.436. There causes of fracture were 18(21.4%) injury, 8(9.5%) were compression fractures, 54(64.3%) RTA, 2(2.4%) pathologic fractures and 1(1.2%) was sports injury fracture and the standard deviation was .997. Conclusion: Our study concluded that the bone fractures are more common in males than females. The most common cause of bone fractures is RTA (Road Traffic Accidents). Study also concludes that most common type of bone fracture is Transverse bone fracture. CT was more efficient in detecting bone fractures than plain radiography because more fractures were detected on CT than plain radiography. Keywords: Non-enhanced CT, X- ray, Bone fracture, Road Traffic Accidents DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/93-09 Publication date:September 30th 202

Wheat in the Era of Genomics and Transgenics

Wheat, as one of the most important cereal crops in the world and second major caloric source in the world after rice, is the major staple food in South Asia and many other countries of the world. Prior to onset of “Green Revolution,” South Asian countries were facing the threat of severe famine. Green Revolution wheat genotypes brought out these countries from the crisis they were facing and has helped them to sustain their productions for more than half a century. With the emergence of molecular biology and biotechnology, another window of opportunity is opened to sustain wheat yields by using modern techniques of genes identification and utilization. Through this chapter, we have tried to gather information that was generated for wheat improvement in last 3 decades. These afforest included the development of molecular markers, mapping of genes, sequencing of markers genes, and their utilization through marker-assisted selection. The other part recorded various efforts to genetically transform wheat for traits improvements and/or to study their molecular control

Current state of knowledge of basic life support in health professionals of the largest city in Pakistan: A cross-sectional study

Background: Basic Life Support (BLS) is the recognition of sudden cardiac arrest and activation of the emergency response system, followed by resuscitation, and rapid defibrillation. According to WHO, Pakistan has one of the highest mortality rates from accidental deaths therefore assessment and comparison of BLS knowledge in health professionals is crucial. We thereby aim to assess and compare the knowledge of BLS in doctors, dentists and nurses. Methods: A multi-centric cross-sectional survey was conducted in Karachi at different institutions belonging to the private as well as government sector from January to March 2018. We used a structured questionnaire which was adapted from pretested questionnaires that have been used previously in similar studies. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using SPSS v22.0, where adequate knowledge was taken as a score of at least 50%. P \u3c 0.05 was considered as significant. Logistic regression was used to identify the factors affecting the knowledge regarding BLS in health care professionals. Results: The responders consisted of 140 doctors, nurses and dentists each. Only one individual (dentist) received a full score of 100%. In total, 58.3% of the population had inadequate knowledge. Average scores of doctors, dentists and nurses were 53.5, 43.3 and 38.4% respectively. Doctors, participants with prior training in BLS and those with 6 to 10 years after graduation were found to be a significant predictor of adequate knowledge, on multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Even though knowledge of BLS in doctors is better than that of dentists and nurses, overall knowledge of health care professionals is extremely poor. Present study highlights the need for a structured training of BLS for health care workers

Genome-Wide Diversity of MADS-Box Genes in Bread Wheat is Associated with its Rapid Global Adaptability

MADS-box gene family members play multifarious roles in regulating the growth and development of crop plants and hold enormous promise for bolstering grain yield potential under changing global environments. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a key stable food crop around the globe. Until now, the available information concerning MADS-box genes in the wheat genome has been insufficient. Here, a comprehensive genome-wide analysis identified 300 high confidence MADS-box genes from the publicly available reference genome of wheat. Comparative phylogenetic analyses with Arabidopsis and rice MADS-box genes classified the wheat genes into 16 distinct subfamilies. Gene duplications were mainly identified in subfamilies containing unbalanced homeologs, pointing towards a potential mechanism for gene family expansion. Moreover, a more rapid evolution was inferred for M-type genes, as compared with MIKC-type genes, indicating their significance in understanding the evolutionary history of the wheat genome. We speculate that subfamily-specific distal telomeric duplications in unbalanced homeologs facilitate the rapid adaptation of wheat to changing environments. Furthermore, our in-silico expression data strongly proposed MADS-box genes as active guardians of plants against pathogen insurgency and harsh environmental conditions. In conclusion, we provide an entire complement of MADS-box genes identified in the wheat genome that could accelerate functional genomics efforts and possibly facilitate bridging gaps between genotype-to-phenotype relationships through fine-tuning of agronomically important traits

Multidisciplinary Approach for the Management of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations

Objective: The main Objective of this study was to evaluate the significance of multimodality treatment of AVMs.Material and Methods: The data for this study was collected from the four years audit of surgical management of Arterio-venous Malformation in King Faisal Specialist Hospital and research center Jeddah, from year 2014 to 2017 which include 24 patients with brain AVMs.Results: In our study equal no. of male and female patients were recorded i.e. 12 patients in each group (50.00%). Seventeen (70.83%) patients were found in the first three decades of life indicating that the disease affects the younger age group. Main presenting complaint was seizures that was noted in 16 patient (66.66%) while headache was present in 15 patients (62.50%) followed by other signs and symptoms. Treatment of the patient was tailored according to the type of AVM its grade and the best possible way to take the complex disease. It included combination of pre-surgical or post-operative embolization, Complete of partial surgical resection of the lesion and stereotactic radiosurgery. The combination of these modalities were employed according to the situation of the patient to keep the plan of treatment safe, affective and ending finally in exclusion of the disease from the brain circulation. Pre-surgical embolization was successfully done in 7(29.16%) patients wile surgical resection was done in all patients at different stages of treatment. With use of multidisplanary approach in this series; Improvement was seen in 16 (66.66%) of the patient, 6 (25.00%) revealed no improvement while one patient (04.16%) was deteriorated.Conclusion: It was concluded that tailoring the treatment plan and use of multidisciplinary Approach for the management of Brain AVM depending upon their initial grades according to Spetrelz Martin grading system results in maximum favorable results

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Measuring routine childhood vaccination coverage in 204 countries and territories, 1980-2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020, Release 1

Background Measuring routine childhood vaccination is crucial to inform global vaccine policies and programme implementation, and to track progress towards targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and Immunization Agenda 2030. Robust estimates of routine vaccine coverage are needed to identify past successes and persistent vulnerabilities. Drawing from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2020, Release 1, we did a systematic analysis of global, regional, and national vaccine coverage trends using a statistical framework, by vaccine and over time. Methods For this analysis we collated 55 326 country-specific, cohort-specific, year-specific, vaccine-specific, and dosespecific observations of routine childhood vaccination coverage between 1980 and 2019. Using spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, we produced location-specific and year-specific estimates of 11 routine childhood vaccine coverage indicators for 204 countries and territories from 1980 to 2019, adjusting for biases in countryreported data and reflecting reported stockouts and supply disruptions. We analysed global and regional trends in coverage and numbers of zero-dose children (defined as those who never received a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis [DTP] vaccine dose), progress towards GVAP targets, and the relationship between vaccine coverage and sociodemographic development. Findings By 2019, global coverage of third-dose DTP (DTP3; 81.6% [95% uncertainty interval 80.4-82 .7]) more than doubled from levels estimated in 1980 (39.9% [37.5-42.1]), as did global coverage of the first-dose measles-containing vaccine (MCV1; from 38.5% [35.4-41.3] in 1980 to 83.6% [82.3-84.8] in 2019). Third- dose polio vaccine (Pol3) coverage also increased, from 42.6% (41.4-44.1) in 1980 to 79.8% (78.4-81.1) in 2019, and global coverage of newer vaccines increased rapidly between 2000 and 2019. The global number of zero-dose children fell by nearly 75% between 1980 and 2019, from 56.8 million (52.6-60. 9) to 14.5 million (13.4-15.9). However, over the past decade, global vaccine coverage broadly plateaued; 94 countries and territories recorded decreasing DTP3 coverage since 2010. Only 11 countries and territories were estimated to have reached the national GVAP target of at least 90% coverage for all assessed vaccines in 2019. Interpretation After achieving large gains in childhood vaccine coverage worldwide, in much of the world this progress was stalled or reversed from 2010 to 2019. These findings underscore the importance of revisiting routine immunisation strategies and programmatic approaches, recentring service delivery around equity and underserved populations. Strengthening vaccine data and monitoring systems is crucial to these pursuits, now and through to 2030, to ensure that all children have access to, and can benefit from, lifesaving vaccines. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Development of short pulse Erbium-Ytterbium and Thulium-Ytterbium Co-doped cladding pumped fiber lasers / Ibrahim Muhammad Babar

This research work focuses on the development of fiber lasers operating in both continuous wave (CW) and short pulse modes by using two differentYtterbium co-doped double-clad fibers; Erbium-Ytterbium co-doped fiber (EYDF) and Thulium-Ytterbium co-doped fiber (TYDF) as a gain medium. Both fibers are characterized in both linear and ring cavity configurations by using cladding pumping technique with different fiber lengths. In linear configuration, the EYDF laser operates at 1545.6 nm with slope efficiency of 18.4% at the optimum length of 5m. With the ring configuration, the EYDFL operates at lower efficiency of 4.6%. The TYDF laser (TYDFL) achieves the maximum slope efficiency of 0.88% operating at 1961.4 nm when the gain medium is fixed at 10 m. A multi-wavelength TYDFL operating at 2 μm region is also demonstrated based on nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) effect. The laser generated triple-wavelength outputs at 1982.12 nm, 1986.69 nm and 1991.26 nm. Q-switched EYDFL is demonstrated by employing Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film as saturable absorber (SA). The laser operates at around 1563 nm with repetition rate in the range of 6.4 kHz to 113.4 kHz as the pump power is varied from 100 to 1250 mW. Q-switched TYDFL is demonstrated by utilizing multi-walled carbon nanotubes PVA film as SA. The laser operates at 1977.5 nm with pulse repetition rate from 18.8 to 50.6 kHz, and corresponding pulse width from 8.6 to 1.0 μs, by varying the pump power from 1591.3 to 2261.5 mW. Finally, EYDFL and TYDFL operating in mode-locking mode are demonstrated by using a graphene PVA film based SA. The EYDFL operates at about 1562.5 nm with repetition rate of 0.92 MHz and pulse width of 387 ns. The mode-locked TYDFL operates around 1942.95 nm with repetition rate of 11.76 MHz when the fiber is pumped from 1487 to 1964 mW. The EYDF and TYDF lasers operate in eye-safe regions of 1.5 and 2 μm, respectively and thus they find potential applications in optical communication, spectroscopy, material processing, metrology and medicine