Design of SkSP-R Plan for Popular Statistical Distributions

The design of a Skip-lot sampling plan of type SkSP-R is presented for time truncated life test for the Weibull, Exponentiated Weibull, and Birnbaum-Saunders lifetime distributions. The plan parameters of the SkSP-R plan under these three distributions are determined through a nonlinear optimization problem. Tables are also constructed for each distribution. The advantages of the proposed plan over the existing sampling schemes are discussed. Application of the proposed plan is explained with the help of an example. The Birnbaum-Saunders distribution is economically superior to other two distributions in terms of minimum average sample number

HIV and respiratory illness in the antiretroviral therapy era

Respiratory illness is a common manifestation of HIV infection. The availability of effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) has changed the pattern of respiratory ill-health experienced by people living with HIV (PLWH). Among populations with good access to ART, opportunistic respiratory infections such as Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) are becoming less frequent. However, there is evidence to suggest that these populations may be at greater risk of serious non-AIDS illness including chronic respiratory disease. Although there is remaining uncertainty about the extent to which HIV represents an independent risk-factor for respiratory illness in individuals with a suppressed HIV viral load and immune reconstitution, in many settings PLWH have greater exposure to risk factors for respiratory illness (in particular tobacco smoking), which contribute to this burden of disease. As HIV-positive populations age, management of these conditions will therefore become increasingly important. Healthcare services need to manage this growing burden of chronic respiratory illness and provide access to preventative measures including smoking cessation and immunisation against vaccine-preventable respiratory infections in a way that is appropriate to the populations served

Dependence of gamma-ray absorption coefficient on the size of lead particle

In this study, dependence of gamma-ray absorption coefficient on the size of Pb particle size ranging from 200µm up to 2.5mm, using different weights of each particle size. The results show that gamma-ray attenuation coefficient is inversely proportional with the size of Pb particle size due to the reduction of the spaces between the lead particles

Role of necroptosis in the pathogenesis of solid organ injury

Necroptosis is a type of regulated cell death dependent on the activity of receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein (RIP) kinases. However, unlike apoptosis, it is caspase independent. Increasing evidence has implicated necroptosis in the pathogenesis of disease, including ischemic injury, neurodegeneration, viral infection and many others. Key players of the necroptosis signalling pathway are now widely recognized as therapeutic targets. Necrostatins may be developed as potent inhibitors of necroptosis, targeting the activity of RIPK1. Necrostatin-1, the first generation of necrostatins, has been shown to confer potent protective effects in different animal models. This review will summarize novel insights into the involvement of necroptosis in specific injury of different organs, and the therapeutic platform that it provides for treatment

A clinico- mycological appraisal of Dermatophytosis

Introduction: Cutaneous fungal infections have been reported worldwide as one of the most common dermatological disease in clinical practice. In spite of therapeutic advances in the last decade, the prevalence of cutaneous mycoses is still increasing and 10-15% of the human population is at risk of developing these infections. Objectives: To study the clinical types of dermatophytosis and to isolate and identify the causative agent with focus on sites of affliction. Materials & Methods: One hundred and fifty consecutive patients with clinical suspicion of dermatophytosis, who consented and fulfilled the inclusion criteria attending Skin & STD outpatient department of Prathima Hospital attached to Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, during January 2010 to June 2011 were enrolled for this observational study. Results: Dermatophytosis was more common in males from rural areas between the age group of 21-30years. Tinea corporis was the most common clinical type followed by Tinea cruris. Fungal elements could be demonstrated in 79% of cases. The commonest isolate was Trichophyton rubrum followed by Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Limitations: A high percentage of study subjects were from rural areas though selection of subjects was randomized. Hence, the epidemiological trends in urban areas was poorly reflected. Conclusion: The most common causative agents isolated were Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes, which continue to be the major etiological agents for the past four decades across India despite changes in environment

Maintaining relevance in HIV systematic reviews: an evaluation of Cochrane reviews

Background Research turnover in the HIV field is rapid, and as a result, maintaining high-quality, up-to-date, and relevant systematic reviews is a challenge. One approach is to frequently update published reviews. Methods We evaluated the methods and relevance of all HIV systematic reviews and protocols published in the Cochrane Library over a 16-year period (2000–2016) to determine the need to update published reviews or complete of reviews in progress. Results Of 148 published reviews and protocols, 129 (87%) were identified as not for updating or progression to publication, mostly due to research questions which were either entirely outdated or addressed questions in an outdated manner (N = 89; 60%); this was anticipated for older reviews, but was found also to be the case for recent publications. Some research questions were also inadequately conceptualized, particularly when complex pragmatic trials or behavioral interventions were included. Conclusions We suggest that authors clearly characterize interventions and synthesis approaches in their review protocols. In research fields, such as HIV, where questions change frequently, systematic reviews and protocols should be regularly re-evaluated to ensure relevance to current questions. This process of re-evaluation should be incorporated into the methods of living systematic reviews

Cooked Rice and Oat Meal Similarly Reduce Hypercholesterolemia in Rats

Five groups of rats were given five different diets for 4 weeks after one week adaptation with standard casein. These diets include: casein diet as a control group (C), cooked rice ( R), cooked rice with 1% exogenous cholesterol (RC), oat meal (O), and oat meal with 1% exogenous cholesterol (OC) (Different analysis was determined on animals of these groups at the end of the experiment). The rats weights at the end of experiment showed that weight gain of control group rats was significantly higher (p.0.01) than other groups but there were no differences among other groups. The concentration of serum total cholesterol for (O) group (64.6 mg/100 ml) and that of (R) group (67.7 mg/100 ml) were significantly lower (p.0.01) than those of other groups and the control group was the highest one in all groups (112.42 mg/100 ml). The results also showed significant differences among mean relative weights of Liver, spleen and heart of different groups. The highest and lowest values of mean relative weight of rat's liver, spleen and heart in experimental groups were : (O) group (3.87) and R group (3.29) for liver, (R) group (0.48) and (O) group (0.38) for spleen, both RC and R groups (0.37) and (O) group (0.33) for heart respectively. The (R) and (O) diets significantly lowered the total fat content (24.0, 26.16 mg/kg respectively) while (O) diet lowered the cholesterol content (1.36 mg/kg) of the liver compared to the control diet (51.9 and 2.47 mg/kg for total fat and cholesterol respectively). For bile acid content in the feces, there were significant differences (p.0.01) among the different groups; (OC) group showed the highest (10.4 mg/gm of feces) and the control group showed the lowes

Factors affecting engagement in web-based health care patient information: narrative review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Web-based content is rapidly becoming the primary source of health care information. There is a pressing need for web-based health care content to not only be accurate but also be engaging. Improved engagement of people with web-based health care content has the potential to inform as well as influence behavioral change to enable people to make better health care choices. The factors associated with better engagement with web-based health care content have previously not been considered. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study are to identify the factors that affect engagement with web-based health care content and develop a framework to be considered when creating such content. METHODS: A comprehensive search of the PubMed and MEDLINE database was performed from January 1, 1946, to January 5, 2020. The reference lists of all included studies were also searched. The Medical Subject Headings database was used to derive the following keywords: "patient information," "online," "internet," "web," and "content." All studies in English pertaining to the factors affecting engagement in web-based health care patient information were included. No restrictions were set on the study type. Analysis of the themes arising from the results was performed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: The search yielded 814 articles, of which 56 (6.9%) met our inclusion criteria. The studies ranged from observational and noncontrolled studies to quasi-experimental studies. Overall, there was significant heterogeneity in the types of interventions and outcome assessments, which made quantitative assessment difficult. Consensus among all authors of this study resulted in six categories that formed the basis of a framework to assess the factors affecting engagement in web-based health care content: easy to understand, support, adaptability, accessibility, visuals and content, and credibility and completeness. CONCLUSIONS: There is a paucity of high-quality data relating to the factors that improve the quality of engagement with web-based health care content. Our framework summarizes the reported studies, which may be useful to health care content creators. An evaluation of the utility of web-based content to engage users is of significant importance and may be accessible through tools such as the Net Promoter score. Web 3.0 technology and development of the field of psychographics for health care offer further potential for development. Future work may also involve improvement of the framework through a co-design process