How many zeros of a random sparse polynomial are real?

We investigate the number of real zeros of a univariate $k$-sparse polynomial $f$ over the reals, when the coefficients of $f$ come from independent standard normal distributions. Recently B\"urgisser, Erg\"ur and Tonelli-Cueto showed that the expected number of real zeros of $f$ in such cases is bounded by $O(\sqrt{k} \log k)$. In this work, we improve the bound to $O(\sqrt{k})$ and also show that this bound is tight by constructing a family of sparse support whose expected number of real zeros is lower bounded by $\Omega(\sqrt{k})$. Our main technique is an alternative formulation of the Kac integral by Edelman-Kostlan which allows us to bound the expected number of zeros of $f$ in terms of the expected number of zeros of polynomials of lower sparsity. Using our technique, we also recover the $O(\log n)$ bound on the expected number of real zeros of a dense polynomial of degree $n$ with coefficients coming from independent standard normal distributions

A study on clinical, etiological and laboratory profile in patients with jaundice at a tertiary care centre in south bihar

Introduction: Jaundice is a major components of the syndrome of liver failure, which can be acute, subacute or chronic. Subacute and chronic liver failure are well-recognized syndromes with known causes of liver disease. While viral hepatitis and acetaminophen overdose are major causes of acute liver failure, there are many other infections and non-infectious causes that can mimic this presentation especially in a tropical country like India. Aim and objective: To study the clinical profile, etiology and laboratory findings in different patients with jaundice. Methodology: An observational study was conducted in General Medicine department in Narayan Medical College and Hospital, Jamuhar. Total 100 patients were selected from OPD and IPD of Narayan medical college and hospital with jaundice being treated and fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study was conducted between  Dec 2019 to June 2020. Result: Most common cause of jaundice came out to be viral hepatitis making a total of 60 cases (60%), with 23 cases of females (23%) and 37 cases of males (37%). Among the viral hepatitis the highest number of cases were of HEV (26%), followed by HBV (21%), HAV(16%) and HCV(1%). Next most common cause of jaundice came out to be Malaria (12%), Dengue (5%), and drug induced hepatitis (15%).Conclusion: Jaundice is very common disease with male predominance, varied etiology most common being viral hepatitis, Alcoholic liver diseases. Most common presentation is anorexia followed by myalgia, fatigue. Keywords: Jaundice, viral hepatitis, SGOT, SGPT

Bronchiectasis in India:results from the European Multicentre Bronchiectasis Audit and Research Collaboration (EMBARC) and Respiratory Research Network of India Registry

BACKGROUND: Bronchiectasis is a common but neglected chronic lung disease. Most epidemiological data are limited to cohorts from Europe and the USA, with few data from low-income and middle-income countries. We therefore aimed to describe the characteristics, severity of disease, microbiology, and treatment of patients with bronchiectasis in India. METHODS: The Indian bronchiectasis registry is a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study. Adult patients ( 6518 years) with CT-confirmed bronchiectasis were enrolled from 31 centres across India. Patients with bronchiectasis due to cystic fibrosis or traction bronchiectasis associated with another respiratory disorder were excluded. Data were collected at baseline (recruitment) with follow-up visits taking place once per year. Comprehensive clinical data were collected through the European Multicentre Bronchiectasis Audit and Research Collaboration registry platform. Underlying aetiology of bronchiectasis, as well as treatment and risk factors for bronchiectasis were analysed in the Indian bronchiectasis registry. Comparisons of demographics were made with published European and US registries, and quality of care was benchmarked against the 2017 European Respiratory Society guidelines. FINDINGS: From June 1, 2015, to Sept 1, 2017, 2195 patients were enrolled. Marked differences were observed between India, Europe, and the USA. Patients in India were younger (median age 56 years [IQR 41-66] vs the European and US registries; p<0\ub70001]) and more likely to be men (1249 [56\ub79%] of 2195). Previous tuberculosis (780 [35\ub75%] of 2195) was the most frequent underlying cause of bronchiectasis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common organism in sputum culture (301 [13\ub77%]) in India. Risk factors for exacerbations included being of the male sex (adjusted incidence rate ratio 1\ub717, 95% CI 1\ub703-1\ub732; p=0\ub7015), P aeruginosa infection (1\ub729, 1\ub710-1\ub750; p=0\ub7001), a history of pulmonary tuberculosis (1\ub720, 1\ub707-1\ub734; p=0\ub7002), modified Medical Research Council Dyspnoea score (1\ub732, 1\ub725-1\ub739; p<0\ub70001), daily sputum production (1\ub716, 1\ub703-1\ub730; p=0\ub7013), and radiological severity of disease (1\ub703, 1\ub701-1\ub704; p<0\ub70001). Low adherence to guideline-recommended care was observed; only 388 patients were tested for allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and 82 patients had been tested for immunoglobulins. INTERPRETATION: Patients with bronchiectasis in India have more severe disease and have distinct characteristics from those reported in other countries. This study provides a benchmark to improve quality of care for patients with bronchiectasis in India. FUNDING: EU/European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations Innovative Medicines Initiative inhaled Antibiotics in Bronchiectasis and Cystic Fibrosis Consortium, European Respiratory Society, and the British Lung Foundation

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Tubercular uterocutaneous fistula after caesarean section: A case report

A 29-year-old patient had undergone an elective lower-segment caesarean section (LSCS) five months previously at a district hospital. The operation and the immediate postoperative period were uneventful. After five months she presented back with a fistulous opening. A fistulogram revealed a connection between the uterus and the skin. Fistulous tract excision was planned. Intraoperatively there was communication between the skin and the uterine cavity, with extensive necrosis of the uterine wall. The patient gave her informed consent for excision of the fistulous tract and/or total abdominal hysterectomy. During surgery, it was deemed that there was no scope for excision, so the decision was made for a total abdominal hysterectomy. Histopathological examination confirmed tuberculosis and the patient responded well to anti-tubercular drugs. This case report describes a rare presentation of tubercular uterocutaneous fistula after caesarean section. Keywords: Uterocutaneous fistula, Tuberculosis, Lower-segment caesarean sectio

Failure of siblings to thrive beyond 5 years of age

We describe a family in which parents had consanguinity, being children of real sisters. They had given birth to five children. In their family, children remained healthy from birth to pre-school age and then started having symptoms around the age of 5 years and two of them succumbed to this illness. Polyglandular autoimmune syndrome Type-1 is a rare sporadic autosomal recessive disease. It is characterized by the existence of two or more endocrinal disorders. Patients may require lifelong hormone replacement therapy for survival

Computer Vision-Based Approach for Automatic Detection of Dairy Cow Breed

Purpose: Identification of individual cow breeds may offer various farming opportunities for disease detection, disease prevention and treatment, fertility and feeding, and welfare monitoring. However, due to the large population of cows with hundreds of breeds and almost identical visible appearance, their exact identification and detection become a tedious task. Therefore, the automatic detection of cow breeds would benefit the dairy industry. This study presents a computer-vision-based approach for identifying the breed of individual cattle. Methods: In this study, eight breeds of cows are considered to verify the classification process: Afrikaner, Brown Swiss, Gyr, Holstein Friesian, Limousin, Marchigiana, White Park, and Simmental cattle. A custom dataset is developed using web-mining techniques, comprising 1835 images grouped into 238, 223, 220, 212, 253, 185, 257, and 247 images for individual breeds. YOLOv4, a deep learning approach, is employed for breed classification and localization. The performance of the YOLOv4 algorithm is evaluated by training the model on different sets of training parameters. Results: Comprehensive analysis of the experimental results reveal that the proposed approach achieves an accuracy of 81.07%, with maximum kappa of 0.78 obtained at an image size of 608 × 608 and an intersection over union (IoU) threshold of 0.75 on the test dataset. Conclusions: The model performed better with YOLOv4 relative to other compared models. This places the proposed model among the top-ranked cow breed detection models. For future recommendations, it would be beneficial to incorporate simple tracking techniques between video frames to check the efficiency of this work