FUTURE CARDIAC EVENTS IN NORMALLY DIAGNOSED GATED MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION SPECT (GSPECT)

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in Europe and USA and its management consumes a large proportion of national healthcare budgets. Many studies had tested the prognostic value of a normal myocardial perfusion scintigraphy; they concluded that a normal MPI study is associated with a very low rate of future cardiac events. In view of the above this study is designed to determine the risk of future cardiac events after normal MPS in local population. Methods: This was a retrospective observational registry performed in a single center in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The data were collected from the nuclear medicine database identifying all the reported normal myocardial perfusion scans between January 2008 and December 2011 . Results: There were 290 patients identified with normal cardiac nuclear scans in the pre-specified time frame. Basic patient demographics were outlined and the patients’ charts were reviewed looking for any major cardiac events such as MI or sudden death. Mean follow up was 14.8 months. There were 2 patients that were admitted with NSTEMI and went on to have diagnostic angiograms. One of those two patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting. The other patient had nonobstructive CAD and was advised for medical management only. These findings are consistent with a 0.7% risk of cardiac events after a negative scan Conclusion: The above findings demonstrate that the risk of major cardiac events after a negative nuclear cardiac scan is low and is in keeping with the international statistics available

FUTURE CARDIAC EVENTS IN NORMALLY DIAGNOSED GATED MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION SPECT (GSPECT)

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in Europe and USA and its management consumes a large proportion of national healthcare budgets. Many studies had tested the prognostic value of a normal myocardial perfusion scintigraphy; they concluded that a normal MPI study is associated with a very low rate of future cardiac events. In view of the above this study is designed to determine the risk of future cardiac events after normal MPS in local population. Methods: This was a retrospective observational registry performed in a single center in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The data were collected from the nuclear medicine database identifying all the reported normal myocardial perfusion scans between January 2008 and December 2011 . Results: There were 290 patients identified with normal cardiac nuclear scans in the pre-specified time frame. Basic patient demographics were outlined and the patients’ charts were reviewed looking for any major cardiac events such as MI or sudden death. Mean follow up was 14.8 months. There were 2 patients that were admitted with NSTEMI and went on to have diagnostic angiograms. One of those two patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting. The other patient had nonobstructive CAD and was advised for medical management only. These findings are consistent with a 0.7% risk of cardiac events after a negative scan Conclusion: The above findings demonstrate that the risk of major cardiac events after a negative nuclear cardiac scan is low and is in keeping with the international statistics available

Dynamics investigation on motorcycle chassis based on Finite Element (FE) modelling and updating

Motorcycles built from multiple materials such as steel and aluminium that formed a welded of beams to construct the chassis. The frame is designed by combining the part-by-part saddle, handlebar and wheel that are attached together. In this study, the identification of structural dynamics study for motorcycle chassis was conducted to identify modal properties such as natural frequencies and mode shapes. This could be achieved by using two different analysis approaches; Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA). For FEA analysis, 3D modeling of the chassis frame is needed and modelled using CAD software. Normal mode analysis was run on modelled structure to determine modal properties after meshing type and properties of materials declared. Impact hammer testing using roving accelerometer method was conducted for EMA study and comparison of modal properties with FEA is carried out. Discrepancies that appeared after correlation among two approaches attempted to be reduced by performing model updating procedure and it was successfully reduced the average percentage of error to be less than 10%. The results show that the model updating was an effective technique for improving the discrepancy that may exist due to modelling issue and material properties prediction in FEA. This study clearly shows that model updating technique is an effective way of reducing the discrepancies between EMA and FEA

Influencers and preference predictors of HPV vaccine uptake among US male and female young adult college students

Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of male and female college students in Kentucky about HPV associated diseases and vaccines, and to determine which parameters predicted self-reported uptake of HPV vaccination. Materials and methods: A self-selected cross-sectional sample of college students completed an evidence-based online survey. Results: Of approximately 1200 potential respondents, 585 completed the survey. The average age was 20.6 (SD 3.15) and 78% were female; 84% of the population had had one or more sexual partners. Concern for HPV vaccine safety and potential need for boosters did not significantly deter vaccine uptake. Likewise, knowledge about HPV associated cancers was not predictive of vaccine uptake. On the other hand, parental influence for vaccination was a strong predictor for vaccine uptake (aOR = 5.32, 2.71–13.03), and free vaccine nearly doubled the likelihood of being vaccinated (aOR 1.90, 1.05–3.41). In addition, the strong preference for the respondent\u27s partner to be HPV vaccinated predicted vaccine uptake (aOR = 4.04, 95% CI: 2.31–7.05), but the lack of preference for partner vaccination predicted an unvaccinated self (aOR = 0.50, 0.27–0.93). Conclusions: HPV vaccination has been successful in young adult college students in Kentucky. Young adults prefer their partners to be HPV vaccinated regardless of whether they themselves are vaccinated. Parental influence and free vaccine were positive predictors for vaccine uptake in this population

Observed Gender Differences in African American Mother‐Child Relationships and Child Behavior

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90334/1/j.1741-3729.2011.00688.x.pd

Fatty acid profile and antioxidant properties of oils extracted from dabai pulp using supercritical fluid extraction

The present work was aimed to optimise the supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of dabai oil from dabai pulp and defatted pulp using RSM in comparison with hexane extraction method. Fatty acid profile and antioxidant properties of the extracted dabai oil were also determined. Optimal RSM conditions were 36 MPa pressure, 40°C temperature and 21 min of extraction time. The extracted yields ranged between 14.13% and 15.42%. Supercritical carbon dioxide extracted oils had lower total phenolics, total flavonoids, and antioxidative activities than the hexane-extracted oils. High-performance liquid chromatography results showed that only vanillic, protocatechuic and gallic acids were identified in both hexane and supercritical carbon dioxide extracted oils of defatted dabai pulp. The total saturated fatty acids were higher in hexane-extracted dabai oil as compared to the supercritical carbon dioxide extracted oil, and vice versa for the unsaturated fatty acid. Although supercritical carbon dioxide extracted dabai oils are inferior to the hexane-extracted oils, they are preferred as they are extracted using green technology

Finite Element Modelling and Updating of Motorcycle Structure with Suitable Length of Connecting Element

This paper attempts to present an appropriate way to model welded joints in a motorcycle structure using the finite element method. Joint modelling strategy was implemented in this study since the joint itself has a significant influence as local effect on dynamic behavior of a structure. The objective of the paper is to investigate the suitable length of connecting element for joints of the structure. The length of the gaps of the parts is a 3mm, 10mm and 15mm was created in 3D model of structure for this joint modelling purpose. The element connectors that available in the FEA software were utilized to model the welded at assembled parts on test structure in this study. Two locations were used on the FE model for modelling of welded joints such as CBAR element connector used to replicate spot weld joint. Ahead of the updating process, sensitivity analysis is made to select the most sensitive parameter for updating purpose. Optimization algorithm in MSC Nastran is used in FE model updating process. The results show that employing a gap connecting element as an updating parameter (3mm) offers greater convergence than using significant parameters. This paper concluded that suitable length of connecting element for joint structure with CBAR element connector is attainable to replicate the real welded motorcycle structure since it has the lowest discrepancy in correlation analysis

Dynamic ham-sandwich cuts in the plane

We design efficient data structures for dynamically maintaining a ham-sandwich cut of two point sets in the plane subject to insertions and deletions of points in either set. A ham-sandwich cut is a line that simultaneously bisects the cardinality of both point sets. For general point sets, our first data structure supports each operation in O(n1/3+ε) amortized time and O(n4/3+ε) space. Our second data structure performs faster when each point set decomposes into a small number k of subsets in convex position: it supports insertions and deletions in O(logn) time and ham-sandwich queries in O(klog4n) time. In addition, if each point set has convex peeling depth k , then we can maintain the decomposition automatically using O(klogn) time per insertion and deletion. Alternatively, we can view each convex point set as a convex polygon, and we show how to find a ham-sandwich cut that bisects the total areas or total perimeters of these polygons in O(klog4n) time plus the O((kb)polylog(kb)) time required to approximate the root of a polynomial of degree O(k) up to b bits of precision. We also show how to maintain a partition of the plane by two lines into four regions each containing a quarter of the total point count, area, or perimeter in polylogarithmic time.Engineering and Applied Science

LIPH Expression in Skin and Hair Follicles of Normal Coat and Rex Rabbits

Natural mutations in the LIPH gene were shown to be responsible for hair growth defects in humans and for the rex short hair phenotype in rabbits. In this species, we identified a single nucleotide deletion in LIPH (1362delA) introducing a stop codon in the C-terminal region of the protein. We investigated the expression of LIPH between normal coat and rex rabbits during critical fetal stages of hair follicle genesis, in adults and during hair follicle cycles. Transcripts were three times less expressed in both fetal and adult stages of the rex rabbits than in normal rabbits. In addition, the hair growth cycle phases affected the regulation of the transcription level in the normal and mutant phenotypes differently. LIPH mRNA and protein levels were higher in the outer root sheath (ORS) than in the inner root sheath (IRS), with a very weak signal in the IRS of rex rabbits. In vitro transfection shows that the mutant protein has a reduced lipase activity compared to the wild type form. Our results contribute to the characterization of the LIPH mode of action and confirm the crucial role of LIPH in hair production

A Deletion in Exon 9 of the LIPH Gene Is Responsible for the Rex Hair Coat Phenotype in Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

The fur of common rabbits is constituted of 3 types of hair differing in length and diameter while that of rex animals is essentially made up of amazingly soft down-hair. Rex short hair coat phenotypes in rabbits were shown to be controlled by three distinct loci. We focused on the “r1” mutation which segregates at a simple autosomal-recessive locus in our rabbit strains. A positional candidate gene approach was used to identify the rex gene and the corresponding mutation. The gene was primo-localized within a 40 cM region on rabbit chromosome 14 by genome scanning families of 187 rabbits in an experimental mating scheme. Then, fine mapping refined the region to 0.5 cM (Z = 78) by genotyping an additional 359 offspring for 94 microsatellites present or newly generated within the first defined interval. Comparative mapping pointed out a candidate gene in this 700 kb region, namely LIPH (Lipase Member H). In humans, several mutations in this major gene cause alopecia, hair loss phenotypes. The rabbit gene structure was established and a deletion of a single nucleotide was found in LIPH exon 9 of rex rabbits (1362delA). This mutation results in a frameshift and introduces a premature stop codon potentially shortening the protein by 19 amino acids. The association between this deletion and the rex phenotype was complete, as determined by its presence in our rabbit families and among a panel of 60 rex and its absence in all 60 non-rex rabbits. This strongly suggests that this deletion, in a homozygous state, is responsible for the rex phenotype in rabbits