Headache in pregnancy-a diagnostic dilemma: an unusual case of advanced glioblastoma multiforme in pregnancy: a case report and review of literature

This was a case report of a twenty year old patient with a obstetric score of G2P1L1 with 28 weeks of gestation presented with persistent intractable headache leading to a diagnostic conundrum. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed an advanced glioma in the right frontal lobe with a mass effect and a midline shift for which emergency surgical resection was sorted followed by chemoradiation which eventually lead to a satisfactory obstetric and perinatal outcome.Glioblastoma multiforme is a rare diagnosis during pregnancy which carries unique challenges to the mother, foetus and the health care providers. A combined effort from a multidisciplinary team is the key for a successful outcome

A study of outcome of induction of labour with foley’s balloon in previous LSCS cases

Background: Induction of labour in a scarred uterus is a controversial topic in Obstetric practice, but in carefully selected and monitored cases never the less the outcome is gratifying. When the baby is non-salvageable, or in cases of IUFD, it is always desirable to achieve a vaginal delivery. Many of the professional organizations recommend induction of labour in previous LSCS. Thus, this study was done to evaluate the success rate, determinants of failure and complications of induction of labour with foley’s catheter in patients with previous 1 LSCS.Methods: 62 patients were recruited over a period of 1 year and studied at Vani Vilas Hospital, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, all with previous 1 LSCS. 34% of them were with past h/o 1 or more vaginal delivery. 8% were term pregnancies, 64% were between 28-32 weeks. Induction was done for IUFD in 56% and, HDP warranting termination in 44%. Induction done with Foley’s catheter, expulsion of catheter with filled bulb and uterine contraction initiation was taken as successful induction. The patient profile in cases of failure was noted.Results: 83% was the success rate for induction out of which 30% cases required additional PGE2 gel. Oxytocin and ARM alone or together were used for augmentation in 90% cases. Induction to foley’s expulsion average duration was 14 hours. Post expulsion delivery happened at an average time interval of 5 hours. One patient had rupture uterus during the course of augmentation.Conclusions: Induction can be done safely in carefully selected cases of previous LSCS with Foley’s Balloon

A study on foetal outcome after diagnosis of oligohydramnios at term in tertiary care center

Background: Oligohydramnios is associated with a variety of ominous pregnancy outcomes such as foetal distress, low birth weight, perinatal morbidity and increased incidence of Caesarean section. Objective of present study was to determine the outcome of maternal and Foetal wellbeing after diagnosis of oligohydramnios at term pregnancy.Methods: 50 pregnant women aged between 18 – 27 years were screened with history of oligohydramnios by ultrasound scanning after 37 completed weeks, compared with 50 controls with no oligohydramnios.Results: The mean age of the study group was 22.7 years and of the control group was 22.4 years, respectively. Majority of the patients were primigravidae in both the groups. The mean gestational age was 39.5 weeks in study group and 39.4 in control group. The occurrence of non reactive NST was more in study group compared to the control group. The efficacy of AFI as a screening test to predict foetal distress is more significant with Positive Predictive Value of 57% and Negative Predictive Value of 80%. The mean birth weight was 2.5 kg in the study group compared to 2.75 kg in the control group which is statistically significant. 34 % of the newborns were admitted to NICU in study group compared to 14% in the control group.Conclusions: In the presence of oligohydramnios, the occurrence of non-reactive NST, meconium stained liquor, development of foetal distress are very high

Low‐loss optical waveguides made with molecular beam epitaxial In0.012Ga0.988As and In0.2Ga0.8As‐GaAs superlattices

We demonstrate for the first time low‐loss optical guiding in In‐doped GaAs. Ridge waveguides are made with single In0.012Ga0.988As ternary layers and In0.2Ga0.8As‐GaAs superlattices. Attenuation constants of ∼1.3 dB/cm are measured and the principal loss mechanism is identified to be scattering at the ridge walls. It is expected that improved fabrication techniques will lead to guides with attenuation ≤0.5 dB/cm.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70130/2/APPLAB-48-22-1507-1.pd

Prospective study of contraceptive knowledge among the patients seeking medical termination of pregnancy in 1st and 2nd trimester in a tertiary health care

Background: A rapid population growth is a burden on the resources of many developing countries. Unregulated fertility, which contributes to such situations compromise the economic development and political stability.Methods: It was a prospective, observational study over a period of 12 months at Vani Vilas hospital, attached to Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. All patients seeking medical termination of pregnancy in I and II trimester in tertiary health care were evaluated for contraceptive knowledge.Results: Majority of the patients were from 25 – 30 years, educated, and had married life of 5 years, multipara, with no relationship with religion. The major reason for seeking termination of pregnancy was V i.e. failure of contraception. Intrauterine devices are the most popular method of contraception. There were various sources for knowledge.Conclusions: This study concludes that there is considerable level of knowledge and awareness about contraception in the above studied women but actual practice of those methods is low

Abnormal uterine bleeding in relation to thyroid dysfunction

Background: Abnormal uterine bleeding is an abnormal bleeding from the uterus in absence of any organic disease of genital tract and demonstrable extra genital causes. Thyroid dysfunction is marked by large number of menstrual abnormalities. This study is aimed at detecting thyroid dysfunction in patients with provisional diagnosis of AUB (abnormal uterine bleeding).and refer positive cases to physician for further management.Methods: All patients from are from puberty to pre-menopausal age groups, presenting as menoraghia, metrorragia, polymenorrhoea, polymenorragia, hypomenorrhoea, and acyclical bleeding. Onset, duration, amount of bleeding, complaints related to thyroid dysfunction was noted in detail. A thorough clinical examination including general physical examination, neck examination, systemic and gynecological examination was carried out, with special reference to thyroid dysfunction. A provisional clinical diagnosis of DUB was made. Patients with clinical signs and symptoms of thyroid disease were excluded. All these patients were subjected to routine investigations like Hb%, blood counts, urine routine, and bleeding and clotting time to rule out coagulation defects. Then all were subjected for serum T3, T4, and TSH estimation. Patients were then grouped into 4 categories: euthyroid, subclinical lhypothyroid, hypothyroid, and hyperthyroid. Patients who had thyroid disease, on hormonal treatment, IUCD users, and bleeding disorders were excluded.Results: Among 100 patients studied with abnormal uterine bleeding, patients were distributed according to age groups from puberty to perimenopause age. Majority of patients belongs to 31-40 years of age about 40% and the least age group were between 41-45 years of age.(7%).Among different parity status AUB was more common among para three patients(26%). Out of 100 patients, 32% of patients had thyroid dysfunction of which 16% of patients had subclinical hypothyroidism. 15% of patients had hypothyroidism and only 2% of patients had hyperthyroidism. The commonest bleeding abnormality in AUB were polymenorrhoea (30%) and menorrhagia (35%). All hyperthyroid cases were oligomenorrhoeic.Conclusions: This study concludes that thyroid dysfunction should be considered as an important etiological factor for menstrual abnormality. The biochemical evaluation of T3, T4, and TSH estimations should be made mandatory in AUB cases to detect apparent and occult thyroid dysfunction

Optical Image Encryption Using Devil’s Vortex Toroidal Lens in the Fresnel Transform Domain

We have carried out a study of optical image encryption in the Fresnel transform (FrT) domain, using a random phase mask (RPM) in the input plane and a phase mask based on devil’s vortex toroidal lens (DVTL) in the frequency plane. The original images are recovered from their corresponding encrypted images by using the correct parameters of the FrT and the parameters of DVTL. The use of a DVTL-based structured mask enhances security by increasing the key space for encryption and also aids in overcoming the problem of axis alignment associated with an optical setup. The proposed encryption scheme is a lensless optical system and its digital implementation has been performed using MATLAB 7.6.0 (R2008a). The scheme has been validated for a grayscale and a binary image. The efficacy of the proposed scheme is verified by computing mean-squared-error (MSE) between the recovered and the original images. We have also investigated the scheme’s sensitivity to the encryption parameters and examined its robustness against occlusion and noise attacks

Low defect densities in molecular beam epitaxial GaAs achieved by isoelectronic In doping

We have studied the effects of adding small amounts of In (0.2–1.2%) to GaAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The density of four electron traps decreases in concentration by an order of magnitude, and the peak intensities of prominent emissions in the excitonic spectra are reduced with increase in In content. Based on the higher surface migration rate of In, compared to Ga, at the growth temperatures it is apparent that the traps and the excitonic transitions are related to point defects. This agrees with earlier observations by F. Briones and D. M. Collins [J. Electron. Mater. 11, 847 (1982)] and B. J. Skromme, S. S. Bose, B. Lee, T. S. Low, T. R. Lepkowski, R‐Y. DeJule, G. E. Stillman, and J. C. M. Hwang [J. Appl. Phys. 58, 4702 (1985)].Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69821/2/APPLAB-49-8-470-1.pd

Puzzles of excited charm meson masses

We attempt a comprehensive analysis of the low lying charm meson states which present several puzzles, including the poor determination of masses of several non-strange excited mesons. We use the well-determined masses of the ground states and the strange first excited states to `predict' the mass of the non-strange first excited state in the framework of heavy hadron chiral perturbation theory, an approach that is complementary to the well-known analysis of Mehen and Springer. This approach points to values for the masses of these states that are smaller than the experimental determinations. We provide a critical assessment of these mass measurements and point out the need for new experimental information.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Physics Letters