Treatment-independent live birth after in-vitro fertilisation : a retrospective cohort study of 2,133 women

Acknowledgements We acknowledge the data management support of the Grampian Data Safe Haven (DaSH) and the associated financial support of NHS Research Scotland, through NHS Grampian investment in the Grampian DaSH. For more information, visit the DaSH website http://www.abdn.ac.uk/iahs/facilities/grampian-data-safe-haven.php. We would like to thank all the staff at Aberdeen Fertility Clinic for their help with database queries and case note searching. Funding This work was funded by a Chief Scientist Office Postdoctoral Training Fellowship in Health Services Research and Health of the Public Research (Ref PDF/12/06). The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Chief Scientist Office. The funder did not have any role in the study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report nor in the decision to submit the paper for publication.Peer reviewedPostprin

Mortality of olive ridley turtles during nesting season along Chennai coast

Sporadic nesting activities of olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) are often reported along the Chennai coast in northern Tamil Nadu. These turtles approach the beaches for nesting in the Tamil month of Panguni and have thus derived the local name “Panguni aamai”. As in every year, with the onset of annual nesting season in early 2017, mortality of turtles along the Chennai coast was recorded. From 02.01.2017 to 07.01.2017, a total of seven adult turtle carcasses were observed in 20km stretch of beach between Marina beach and Kanathur Reddykuppam

Evaluating Healthcare Governance Using Knowledge-based System to Enhance Quality Management

YesGovernance perspective plays a vital role in the success of Quality Management in Healthcare Environment (QMHE). In fact QMHE has adopted and applied different quality tools and models in recent times, with some even developing their own quality‐based initiatives. This paper will present an original and novel approach (KB/ES coupled with GAP analysis) to evaluate the effectiveness of governance body in QMHE. The KB system inserts GAP for benchmarking and evaluating the current practices with the desired ones. The KB system will benchmark the current position of governance perspective as part of QMHE with the ideal benchmark one. The results will help healthcare practitioners to improve the governance boy’s gaps and take the correct decisions.Sultan Qaboos University, Oma

The financial interconnectedness between global equity markets and crude oil : evidence from the GCC

This paper investigates the interconnectedness between the GCC region, crude oil prices, and global equity markets of the US, Europe, and China. We use DCC-GARCH models and the Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) approach to examine the dynamic connectedness and the net directional flow of spillovers. Consistent with previous studies, we find that the US and European markets are net global contributors of return and volatility shocks, whilst the Chinese equity markets are gradually becoming influential. Meanwhile, the GCC equity markets have been anet recipient of shocks from oil prices. Our empirical results provide some important insights. Firstly, the net transmission of shocks from oil prices to the GCC markets has been reducing over time. Secondly, the total connectedness nearly doubled in response to the global pandemic. Thirdly, the Chinese stock markets are gradually transforming into net transmitters of spillovers to other global equity markets

Synthesis, spectral characterization and antioxidant activity of a supramolecular copper (II) complex obtained from pyridine-2, 6- dicarboxylic acid and 3,5-diamino - 1, 2, 4-triazole.

A supramolecular copper (II) compound, (HdatrzH)[Cu (Hdipic) (dipic)].3H2O (1) (Hdatrz = 3,5-diamino-1,2,4- triazole, dipic = pyridine- 2,6-dicarboxylic acid) was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Visible spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), thermal analysis, and magnetic susceptibility measurement. The room temperature magnetic susceptibility measurement showed a magnetic moment of 1.67 BM for compound 1, deviating slightly from the spin-only magnetic moment value for Cu (II) ion. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed three decomposition stages for compound 1. The compound showed no activity against all the tested microorganisms. Interestingly, compound 1 exhibited a significant radical scavenging activity (RSA)

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Peptic Ulcer Patients of Highly Endemic Kashmir Valley

Objective This study aimed to find out prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in peptic ulcer disease (PUD) which is highly endemic disease in Kashmir

Athermal annealing of Si-implanted GaAs and InP

GaAs and InP crystals ion implanted with Si were athermally annealed by exposing each crystal at a spot of ~2 mm diameter to a high-intensity 1.06 μm wavelength pulsed laser radiation with ~4 J pulse energy for 35 ns in a vacuum chamber. As a result a crater is formed at the irradiated spot. The crater is surrounded by a dark-colored ring-shaped region which is annealed by mechanical energy generated by rapidly expanding hot plasma that formed on the exposed spot. The electrical characteristics of this annealed region are comparable to those of a halogen-lamp annealed sample. No redistribution of impurities due to transient diffusion is observed in the implant tail region. In x-ray diffraction measurements, a high angle side satellite peak due to lattice strain was observed in the crater and near crater regions of the athermally annealed sample in addition to the main Bragg peak that corresponds to the pristine sample. This high angle side satellite peak is not observed in regions away from the crater (≥5 mm from the center of the crater in GaAs)

Assessing quality management system at a tertiary hospital in Oman using a hybrid knowledge-based system

YesThe cost of medical care is snowballing at an alarming and unmaintainable rate universally. Consequently, the need for a trusted quality management (QM) system at healthcare organizations is a must. Such system will aid the healthcare governance to increase the effectiveness and decrease the cost. It will help in minimizing the risk and enhancing patient safety. Several challenges facing healthcare QM in Oman are creating computerizing monitoring tool and confirming commitment of decision makers at all levels. The Report of Quality and Patient Safety (RQPS) in Oman 2016 highlighted the low level of patient safety and quality culture among staff. It recommended to inaugurate a well-defined organizational chart based on each healthcare organization’s vision and mission. Therefore, it is important to design a national accreditation system that is accredited by an international accreditation body. Such step will help in prioritizing the needs and minimizing the cost of maintaining and upgrading systems. To overcome these challenges, this article is presenting a novel methodology of hybrid knowledge-based (KB) system to assess QM in healthcare environment (QMHE) using gauging absence of prerequisites tool for benchmarking and analytical hierarchy process for prioritizing. The KB-QMHE model can be used as a standard to assess QM at any healthcare organization around the globe. The results showed that 852 questions were answered by the quality managers in a tertiary hospital in Oman; the percentage of bad points in this hospital was 32%. The KB-QMHE model has clearly shown that the priority 1, in level 0, is to focus on the patient-centered dimension in the healthcare quality dimensions submodule. Output, also, suggested a prioritized action plan covering healthcare governance module, healthcare leadership module and healthcare organization’s resources module in level 1–3