374 research outputs found
A double bounded key identity for Goellnitz's (big) partition theorem
Given integers i,j,k,L,M, we establish a new double bounded q-series identity
from which the three parameter (i,j,k) key identity of Alladi-Andrews-Gordon
for Goellnitz's (big) theorem follows if L, M tend to infinity. When L = M, the
identity yields a strong refinement of Goellnitz's theorem with a bound on the
parts given by L. This is the first time a bounded version of Goellnitz's (big)
theorem has been proved. This leads to new bounded versions of Jacobi's triple
product identity for theta functions and other fundamental identities.Comment: 17 pages, to appear in Proceedings of Gainesville 1999 Conference on
Symbolic Computation
Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease presenting as pyrexia of unknown origin
Background: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease, a benign self-limited lymphadenopathy is an uncommon cause of pyrexia of
unknown origin (PUO).
Methods: We retrospectively studied the case-records of 13 patients presenting with PUO who were diagnosed to have Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease on peripheral lymph node excision biopsy and report the salient clinical manifestations and histopathological findings in them. All of them received symptomatic treatment.
Results: Their median age was 28 [interquartile range (IQR) 18.5-38.0] years. Women (11/13, 84.6%) were more frequently affected. All of them were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seronegative. Prior to presenting to us, two were being treated for lymph node tuberculosis with DOTS. Cervical lymph nodes were predominantly involved, the distribution being: right cervical (n=10, 76.9%); left cervical (n=4); and bilateral cervical (n=2). Axillary and generalized lymphadenopathy were rare being seen in 2 and 1 patient respectively. The median (IQR) erythrocyte sedimentation rate (n=11) was 53 (35-89) mm at the end of first hour. Salient histopathological features were paracortical patchy zones of eosinophilic fibrinoid necrosis with karyorrhectic debris, large numbers of histiocytes, including histiocytes with peripherally placed “crescentic” nuclei. Spontaneous regression of fever and lymphadenopathy was observed over a median (IQR) period of 8 (6.75-10.25) months in all of them.
Conclusions: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease is a rare but important cause of PUO presenting with peripheral lymphadenopathy. Women are most often affected and cervical lymph nodes are the most frequently involved site. Clinical suspicion and thoughtful collaboration between clinicians and pathologists are essential for accurate diagnosis, and to minimize unnecessary investigations and inappropriate aggressive treatment
A comparative study of efficacy and tolerability of doxofylline over other methylxanthenes in mild to moderate persistent bronchial asthma patients in a tertiary care hospital
Background: Studies have shown that doxofylline is endowed with a remarkable bronchodilator activity with less extra respiratory effects than other methylxanthines. To compare the efficacy and tolerability of doxofylline over other methylxanthines in mild to moderate persistent bronchial Asthma patients.Methods: It is a comparative study conducted in patients of mild to moderate persistent bronchial Asthma in the outpatient department of regional chest hospital. The subjects were randomly assigned into 2 groups, one group treated with oral doxofylline and the other with theophylline oral or Deriphylline. Efficacy was measured objectively using spirometric parameters like FEV1 (Forced Expiratory Volume at the end of 1 second), FVC (Forced Vital Capacity), FEV1/FVC and PEFR (Peak Expiratory flow Rate), Subjectively by the Asthma control test questionnaire, subjective rating of Asthma control and the need for use of rescue medications like β2 agonists in the previous four weeks. Tolerability were done at base line and at the end of study.Results: Doxofylline compared to other methylxanthines groups was statistically better with respect to subjective parameters like Asthma control tests questionnaire, subjective rating of Asthma control. Doxofylline had equal efficacy with spirometric parameters compared to other methylxanthines. Doxofylline was significantly better tolerated with adverse drug reactions noted in 10% compared to 28% in other methylxanthins group.Conclusions: Doxofylline with better tolerability profile and equivalent efficacy seemed to be a good alternative to other methylxanthines in the treatment of bronchial Asthma
Family-led rehabilitation after stroke in India (ATTEND): a randomised controlled trial
Background:
Most people with stroke in India have no access to organised rehabilitation services. The effectiveness of training family members to provide stroke rehabilitation is uncertain. Our primary objective was to determine whether family-led stroke rehabilitation, initiated in hospital and continued at home, would be superior to usual care in a low-resource setting.
Methods:
The Family-led Rehabilitation after Stroke in India (ATTEND) trial was a prospectively randomised open trial with blinded endpoint done across 14 hospitals in India. Patients aged 18 years or older who had had a stroke within the past month, had residual disability and reasonable expectation of survival, and who had an informal family-nominated caregiver were randomly assigned to intervention or usual care by site coordinators using a secure web-based system with minimisation by site and stroke severity. The family members of participants in the intervention group received additional structured rehabilitation training—including information provision, joint goal setting, carer training, and task-specific training—that was started in hospital and continued at home for up to 2 months. The primary outcome was death or dependency at 6 months, defined by scores 3–6 on the modified Rankin scale (range, 0 [no symptoms] to 6 [death]) as assessed by masked observers. Analyses were by intention to treat. This trial is registered with Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI/2013/04/003557), Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12613000078752), and Universal Trial Number (U1111-1138-6707).
Findings:
Between Jan 13, 2014, and Feb 12, 2016, 1250 patients were randomly assigned to intervention (n=623) or control (n=627) groups. 33 patients were lost to follow-up (14 intervention, 19 control) and five patients withdrew (two intervention, three control). At 6 months, 285 (47%) of 607 patients in the intervention group and 287 (47%) of 605 controls were dead or dependent (odds ratio 0·98, 95% CI 0·78–1·23, p=0·87). 72 (12%) patients in the intervention group and 86 (14%) in the control group died (p=0·27), and we observed no difference in rehospitalisation (89 [14%]patients in the intervention group vs 82 [13%] in the control group; p=0·56). We also found no difference in total non-fatal events (112 events in 82 [13%] intervention patients vs 110 events in 79 [13%] control patients; p=0·80).
Interpretation:
Although task shifting is an attractive solution for health-care sustainability, our results do not support investment in new stroke rehabilitation services that shift tasks to family caregivers, unless new evidence emerges. A future avenue of research should be to investigate the effects of task shifting to health-care assistants or team-based community care.
Funding:
The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
Low Cost, Efficient Output- Only Infrastructure Damage Detection with Wireless Sensor Networks
Sensor network comprises of sensors and actuators with universally useful processing components to agreeably screen physical or ecological conditions, for example, temperature, pressure, and so on. Wireless Sensor Networks are particularly portrayed by properties like the constrained power they can reap or store, dynamic network topology, expansive size of the arrangement. Sensor networks have an enormous application in fields which incorporates territory observing, object tracking, fire detection, landslide recognition and activity observing. Given the network topology, directing conventions in sensor networks can be named at based steering, various levelled based directing and area-based directing. Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) is a vitality productive various levelled based steering convention. Our prime spotlight was on the examination of LEACH given specific parameters like network lifetime, soundness period, and so forth and furthermore the impact of particular sending assault and level of heterogeneity on LEACH convention
On the decomposition of the Feynman propagator
The Feynman propagator, in momentum representation, is a four-dimensional transform over space and time variables. If the space and time integrations are performed separately, the propagator can be decomposed into two parts, one corresponding to positive and the other to negative energy intermediate state. By the use of this decomposed propagator, the relative contributions of the positive and negative energy intermediate states to the matrix element can be estimated. For example in Compton scattering it leads to the apparently paradoxical result that in the "non-relativistic approximation" it is only the negative energy intermediate state that contributes to the matrix element
Cognitive Reserve and the Prevention of Dementia: the Role of Physical and Cognitive Activities
Purpose of Review: The article discusses the two most significant modifiable risk factors for dementia, namely, physical inactivity and lack of stimulating cognitive activity, and their effects on developing cognitive reserve. Recent Findings: Both of these leisure-time activities were associated with significant reductions in the risk of dementia in longitudinal studies. In addition, physical activity, particularly aerobic exercise, is associated with less age-related gray and white matter loss and with less neurotoxic factors. On the other hand, cognitive training studies suggest that training for executive functions (e.g., working memory) improves prefrontal network efficiency, which provides support to brain functioning in the face of cognitive decline. Summary: While physical activity preserves neuronal structural integrity and brain volume (hardware), cognitive activity strengthens the functioning and plasticity of neural circuits (software), thus supporting cognitive reserve in different ways. Future research should examine whether lifestyle interventions incorporating these two domains can reduce incident dementia
Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries
Music is present in every known society but varies from place to place. What, if anything, is universal to music cognition? We measured a signature of mental representations of rhythm in 39 participant groups in 15 countries, spanning urban societies and Indigenous populations. Listeners reproduced random ‘seed’ rhythms; their reproductions were fed back as the stimulus (as in the game of ‘telephone’), such that their biases (the prior) could be estimated from the distribution of reproductions. Every tested group showed a sparse prior with peaks at integer-ratio rhythms. However, the importance of different integer ratios varied across groups, often reflecting local musical practices. Our results suggest a common feature of music cognition: discrete rhythm ‘categories’ at small-integer ratios. These discrete representations plausibly stabilize musical systems in the face of cultural transmission but interact with culture-specific traditions to yield the diversity that is evident when mental representations are probed across many cultures
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