DPOAE in HIV infected adults

HIV infection is associated with impairment of hearing function, at any stage of disease causing complication to the external, middle, inner ear and CNS. Audiological manifestation of HIV is a direct consequence of virus or secondary to the pharmacological treatment or viral complication. \ud Objectives: There is paucity of information pertaining to hearing status in HIV. As the deafness can occur at any stage of HIV with varying degree and people with HIV live longer, there is need to address the hearing problems in these individuals. So this study aimed detecting the outer hair cell functioning by doing DPOAE in normal hearing HIV infected adults.\ud Method: The experimental group comprised of 12 HIV infected (24 ears) within 20 to 40 years. The age matched control group comprised of 15 subjects (30 ears). All the subjects had normal hearing sensitivity. Initially puretone audiometry and immittance was performed for the subject selection. Subsequently DPOAE procedure was done. \ud Results: The DPOAE was abnormal in 50% of the subjects.\ud Conclusion: It can be concluded that the cochlear involvement is a common observation in HIV infected individuals. DPOAE test can be used as a tool for early identification of cochlear pathology in HIV infected

Aerodynamic Analysis Of Voice In Persons With Laryngopharyngeal Reflux

Objectives of the study: The individuals with laryngopharyngeal reflux are prone for aspiration of refluxed contents and so there is a need for aerodynamic evaluation in these individuals. Hence, the present study investigated the aerodynamic characteristics in individuals with Laryngopharyngeal reflux. Study design: Prospective control group design. Method: Thirty laryngopharyngeal reflux subjects and 30 normal subjects participated in the study. Aerodynamic parameters such as vital capacity, mean air flow rate, maximum phonation duration and phonation quotient were measured using Aero Phone Instrument ((Model 6800). Independent t test was employed for statistical inference. Results: The results revealed that the vital capacity and maximum phonation duration values were lower for laryngopharyngeal reflux subjects when compared to normal controls. No significant differences were observed for mean air flow rate and phonation quotient. Conclusions: The results revealed that the laryngopharyngeal reflux individuals showed significant deviations in aerodynamic parameters when compared to normal individuals. Thus study confirms aerodynamic abnormalities in laryngopharyngeal reflux subject

Exploring the possibility of enhancing the figure-of-merit ( >> 2) of Na0.74_{0.74}CoO2_{2}: A combined experimental and theoretical study

Search of new thermoelectric (TE) materials with high \textit{figure-of-merit} (ZT) is always inspired the researcher in TE field. Here, we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of TE properties of Na$_{0.74}$CoO$_{2}$ compound in high-temperature region. The experimental Seebeck coefficient (S) is found to vary from 64 to 118 $\mu$V/K in the temperature range $300-620$ K. The positive values of S are indicating the dominating p-type behaviour of the compound. The observed value of thermal conductivity ($\kappa$) is $\sim$ 2.2 W/m-K at 300 K. In the temperature region $300-430$ K, the value of $\kappa$ increases up to $\sim$ 2.6 W/m-K and then decreases slowly till 620 K with the corresponding value of $\sim$ 2.4 W/m-K. We have also carried out the theoretical calculations and the best matching between experimental and calculated values of transport properties are observed in spin-polarized calculation within DFT+\textit{U} by chosen \textit{U} = 4 eV. The maximum calculated value of ZT is found to be $\sim$ 0.67 at 1200 K for p-type conduction. Our computational study suggests that the possibility of n-type behaviour of the compound which can lead to a large value of ZT at higher temperature region. Electron doping of $\sim$ 5.1$\times$10$^{20}$ cm$^{-3}$ is expected to give rise the high ZT value of $\sim$ 2.7 at 1200 K. Using these temperature-dependent ZT values, we have calculated the maximum possible values of efficiency ($\eta$) of thermoelectric generator (TEG) made by p and n-type Na$_{0.74}$CoO$_{2}$. The present study suggests that one can get the efficiency of a TE cell as high as $\sim$ 11$\%$ when the cold and hot end temperature are fixed at 300 K and 1200 K, respectively. Such high values of ZT and efficiency suggest that Na$_{0.74}$CoO$_{2}$ can be used as a potential candidate for high-temperature TE applications

Dynamical Expansion of H II Regions from Ultracompact to Compact Sizes in Turbulent, Self-Gravitating Molecular Clouds

The nature of ultracompact H II regions (UCHRs) remains poorly determined. In particular, they are about an order of magnitude more common than would be expected if they formed around young massive stars and lasted for one dynamical time, around 10^4 yr. We here perform three-dimensional numerical simulations of the expansion of an H II region into self-gravitating, radiatively cooled gas, both with and without supersonic turbulent flows. In the laminar case, we find that H II region expansion in a collapsing core produces nearly spherical shells, even if the ionizing source is off-center in the core. This agrees with analytic models of blast waves in power-law media. In the turbulent case, we find that the H II region does not disrupt the central collapsing region, but rather sweeps up a shell of gas in which further collapse occurs. Although this does not constitute triggering, as the swept-up gas would eventually have collapsed anyway, it does expose the collapsing regions to ionizing radiation. We suggest that these regions of secondary collapse, which will not all themselves form massive stars, may form the bulk of observed UCHRs. As the larger shell will take over 10^5 years to complete its evolution, this could solve the timescale problem. Our suggestion is supported by the ubiquitous observation of more diffuse emission surrounding UCHRs.Comment: accepted to ApJ, 40 pages, 13 b/w figures, changes from v1 include analytic prediction of radio luminosity, better description of code testing, and many minor changes also in response to refere

Spider Monkey Optimization Based Optimal Sizing of Battery Energy Storage for Micro-Grid

The ever-increasing need for power in today\u27s environment calls for a secure and effective energy supply network. Distributed renewable options such as Diesel Generator (DG), wind turbine (WT) and photovoltaic (PV) solar energy may be integrated inside a micro grid (MG) to supply electricity to customers in a sensible manner. In order to provide a more efficient and affordable source of electricity, the battery storage device is built into the micro grid. This article identifies the cost-based approach to calculate the optimum size of the Battery energy storage (BES) for MG operations. Some constraints, i.e., the power output of the Distributed Generators (DGs), the power and energy capacity of BES, the charging/discharge performance of BES, the working reserve and the fulfilment of the load requirement, should also be considered. In this article the Spider Monkey (SM) algorithm is a modern evolutionary technology that is used to build correction policies and to execute less costly dispatch. Four different cases have been studied. The results are compared with recently developed Fire Fly (FF) algorithm to corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The results show that the proposed algorithm has low power loss and the operating cost of the proposed SM technique is 0.0129% less than existing FF algorithm based micro-grid system. Here, IEEE 33 bus system performed to prove the effectiveness of the proposed SM algorithm over the FF algorithm

Electrochemically codeposited reduced graphene oxide and palladium nanoparticles: An efficient heterogeneous catalyst for Heck coupling reaction

AbstractThe catalytic activity of electrochemically codeposited reduced graphene oxide and palladium (ERGO-Pd) was examined for Heck coupling reactions. It showed excellent catalytic activity and stability for Heck coupling reaction. The prepared catalyst (ERGO-Pd) can be used up to the 5th cycle with negligible loss in activity

ASPECTS OF EMOTIONAL PROSODY IN MALAYALAM AND HINDI

Emotional prosody is considered as the ability to express emotions. Intonation is one parameter of prosody that gives information on the production aspects of emotions. The aim was to study the intonation patterns in two languages, Malayalam and Hindi, from two different language groups in India and also to document if there are differences in the patterns produced across gender groups. Eight native speakers of Malayalam and Hindi, in the age range of 18-40 years were considered for the study (two males and two females for each of the languages). Simple sentences with five basic emotions were used as the stimuli and the samples were recorded in Motor Speech Profile software (MSP) of Computerized Speech Lab 4150. The patterns were plotted using the PHH model. Acoustic data were subjected to statistical analysis, using Mann Whitney U Test (SPSS Version 16).The results of this study reveal that across the five emotions, the terminal intonation pattern has a falling contour, except for the emotion of anger in females, which has a raising contour. This was observed in both the languages. On subjective observation, there were instances of differences in the patterns across the genders, but these were not statistically significant

Blood loss assessment in abdominal hysterectomy: how accurate?

Background: Precise estimation of blood loss is the key to optimal transfusion practice in surgery. Many studies done in various fields of surgery infer that clinical assessment of blood loss by the surgeon or anesthesiologist is inaccurate. The purpose of this study is to see if there is any difference in visual estimation of blood loss and actual blood loss calculated using modification of gross formula in abdominal hysterectomy.Methods: Fifty four patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy for various indications at JSS Hospital, Mysore were included in the study. Baseline characteristics, pre-operative haematocrit, clinically estimated blood loss (EBL) and post-operative haematocrit were noted. Actual blood loss (ABL) was calculated from a modification of the Gross formula. The number of cases where the blood loss was clinically underestimated and overestimated; and the relationship between the difference in actual and estimated blood loss and accuracy of clinical assessment of blood loss was determined. The data obtained was analysed using descriptive statistics and Crammer’s V test.Results: In the 54 cases of abdominal hysterectomy which we studied, there was overestimation of blood loss in 28 (51.9%) cases and underestimation of blood loss in 26 (48.1%) cases. The more the inaccuracy in clinical assessment of blood loss, more was the possibility of clinicians underestimating the blood loss.Conclusions: Clinical estimation of blood loss is an inaccurate method of assessing blood loss in abdominal hysterectomy

Cervical Auscultation: A Systematic Review

Cervical auscultation refers to the technique of listening to the sounds of swallowing using a stethoscope or other measurement device such as placing microphone on the surface of the neck. This is based on the assumption that the normal biological sounds will be different from the abnormal biological sounds. The clinical applications of cervical auscultation were reviewed and discussed Keywords: Cervical auscultation, swallow sounds, swallowing assessment, biological sound

Total laparoscopic hysterectomy versus vaginal hysterectomy: a retrospective study

Background: Total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) is now emerging as a safe procedure even in patients suitable for vaginal hysterectomy (VH) due to its advantages like better visualisation, less post-operative pain and shorter hospital stay. This study was done to compare the duration of surgery, intra-operative and postoperative complications, hospital stay and post-operative analgesia requirement in TLH and VH.Methods: A retrospective study of women undergoing TLH and VH between June 2013 and September 2014 in JSS Hospital, Mysore was done. Patients with suspected genital malignancy and uterine prolapse were excluded. Baseline characteristics like age, BMI, parity, indication for hysterectomy, uterine size and previous pelvic surgeries were noted. Intra-operative and post-operative parameters like duration of surgery, complications, post-operative analgesic dosage and hospital stay were compared between the two surgeries and the results were analysed using Chi square test and independent t test.Results: The mean time taken to perform TLH was significantly longer, i.e. 113.46 minutes compared with VH, i.e. 61.18 minutes ( p <0.0001). But the duration of stay in the hospital was shorter for the women undergoing TLH, mean duration being 3.74 days as opposed to 5.85 days in women undergoing VH  (p<0.0001). Also, women undergoing VH required more analgesic doses (mean 1.79) than those undergoing TLH (mean 1.36). When we studied the rate of complications in both the groups, we found no statistically significant difference.Conclusions: TLH was as safe as VH and had advantages like shorter hospital stay and reduced analgesia dose.