Proton pump inhibitors are associated with increased risk of development of chronic kidney disease

Background Acute interstitial nephritis secondary to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) frequently goes undiagnosed due to its subacute clinical presentation, which may later present as chronic kidney disease (CKD). We investigated the association of PPI use with the development of CKD and death. Methods Two separate retrospective case–control study designs were employed with a prospective logistic regression analysis of data to evaluate the association of development of CKD and death with PPI use. The population included 99,269 patients who were seen in primary care VISN2 clinics from 4/2001 until 4/2008. For evaluation of the CKD outcome, 22,807 with preexisting CKD at the first observation in Veterans Affairs Health Care Upstate New York (VISN2) network data system were excluded. Data obtained included use of PPI (Yes/No), demographics, laboratory data, pre-PPI comorbidity variables. Results A total of 19,311/76,462 patients developed CKD. Of those who developed CKD 24.4 % were on PPI. Patients receiving PPI were less likely to have vascular disease, COPD, cancer and diabetes. Of the total of 99,269 patients analyzed for mortality outcome, 11,758 died. A prospective logistic analysis of case–control data showed higher odds for development of CKD (OR 1.10 95 % CI 1.05–1.16) and mortality (OR 1.76, 95 % CI 1.67–1.84) among patients taking PPIs versus those not on PPIs. Conclusions Use of proton pump inhibitors is associated with increased risk of development of CKD and death. With the large number of patients being treated with proton pump inhibitors, healthcare providers need to be better educated about the potential side effects of these medications

The Role of Δ(1232)\Delta(1232) in Two-pion Exchange Three-nucleon Potential

In this paper we have studied the two-pion exchange three-nucleon potential $(2\pi E-3NP)$ using an approximate $SU(2) \times SU(2)$ chiral symmetry of the strong interaction. The off-shell pion-nucleon scattering amplitudes obtained from the Weinberg Lagangian are supplemented with contributions from the well-known $\sigma$-term and the $\Delta(1232)$ exchange. It is the role of the $\Delta$-resonance in $2\pi E-3NP$, which we have investigated in detail in the framework of the Lagrangian field theory. The $\Delta$-contribution is quite appreciable and, more significantly, it is dependent on a parameter Z which is arbitrary but has the empirical bounds $|Z| \leq 1/2$. We find that the $\Delta$-contribution to the important parameters of the $2\pi E-3NP$ depends on the choice of a value for Z, although the correction to the binding energy of triton is not expected to be very sensitive to the variation of Z within its bounds.Comment: 14 pages, LaTe

Psychosocial Consequences of Intensive Internet Use among Undergraduates of Universities in Ilorin Metropolis

This study was carried out to investigate the psychosocial consequences of intensive internet use among undergraduate of universities in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. This study sought to determine the psychosocial consequences of intensive internet use on the basis on gender, age, level of study and marital status (University of Ilorin and AL-HIKMAH University) universities within Ilorin metropolis. A self-developed questionnaire tagged questionnaire on psychosocial consequences of intensive internet use (PCIIU) was used to collect data from the respondents for the study. Five research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance, data collected were analyzed through analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study revealed that psychosocial consequences of intensive internet use are establishing using new relationship with fellow online users; incur more financial cost on internet; spending more time online than going out with others and there was significant gender difference in the psychosocial consequences of intensive internet use among undergraduate students of universities in Ilorin metropolis base on age, level, gender and marital status. Therefore, the following recommendations were made that counsellors should develop strategies to handle internet addiction among the youth and counsellor should encourage the formation of club that will promote safe and responsible internet use among students (peer counselling) and school administrators, teachers and school counsellors should work collaboratively to identify and assist students with or prone to internet addiction before it will have devastating consequences on the addicts and the society at large

Review of Domiciliary Newborn-care Practices in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, high proportions of infant deaths (two-thirds) and deaths among children aged less than five years (38%) occur in the neonatal period. Although most of these deaths occur at home due to preventable causes, little is known about routine domiciliary newborn-care practices and care-seeking for neonatal illness. As an initial step in strategic planning for the implementation of interventions in Bangladesh to improve neonatal outcomes, a review of the literature of antenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum care practices for mothers and newborns in Bangladeshi communities and homes was conducted. A dearth of information was found and summarized, and priority areas for future formative research were identified. The information gained from this review was used for informing development of a guide to formative research on maternal and neonatal care practices in developing-country communities and forms a cornerstone for formulation of behaviour change-communication strategies and messages to advance neonatal health and survival in Bangladesh

Time Domain Ultrasonic Signal Characterization for Defects in Thin Unsurfaced Hardwood Lumber

One of the major users of thin, unsurfaced hardwood lumber is the pallet manufacturing industry. Almost all manufactured products spend part of their life cycle on a pallet during transportation. This makes pallets a critical component of both the transportation and manufacturing sectors of the economy. Many newly constructed wooden pallets, however, are not currently manufactured to deliver the best performance (strength, durability, and safety)—despite interest by pallet users and pallet manufacturers—because manual grading and sorting of parts is impractical due to processing speeds and volume, labor costs, and laborer skill. This paper describes initial work aiming to create an automated grading/sorting system for hardwood pallet parts using ultrasonic. Experiments were conducted on yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera, L.) and red oak (Quercus rubra, L.) deckboards using pressure-contact, rolling transducers in a pitch-catch arrangement. Sound and unsound knots, cross grain, bark pockets, holes, splits, and decay were characterized using six ultrasound variables calculated from the received waveforms. Our scanning system shows good data-collection repeatability, and scanning rate has little effect on the calculated variables. For each defect type, at least one ultrasonic variable demonstrated significant capability to discriminate between that defect and clear wood. Energy loss variables exhibited the greatest sensitivity to many defect types. Based on the empirical relationships identified in this study, we are now developing models to classify defects using ultrasonic signal characteristics. Scanning properties of the prototype apparatus suggest that it can readily be translated into a commercial product

Time Reversal Invariance Violating and Parity Conserving effects in Neutron Deuteron Scattering

Time reversal invariance violating parity conserving effects for low energy elastic neutron deuteron scattering are calculated for meson exchange and EFT-type of potentials in a Distorted Wave Born Approximation, using realistic hadronic wave functions, obtained by solving three-body Faddeev equations in configuration space.Comment: There was a technical mistake in calculations due to singular behavior of Yukawa functions at short range. We corrected the integration algorithm. There were some typos which are corrected. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1104.305

Nanoscale color control of TiO2 films with embedded Au nanoparticles

Article in pressWe demonstrate an efficient nanoscale control of the optical properties of TiO2 films by tuning the Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) in the embedded Au nanoparticles. The films were grown by reactive magnetron sputtering. SPR tuning was achieved by different annealings, which affected the shape and size of the Au nanoparticles, and also the phase of the dielectric matrix. These changes promoted the variations on the optical properties. As shown by the modeling of the effective dielectric function of the TiO2/Au in the SPR region, the variation of their optical absorption spectra correlates with morphological changes.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/CTM/70037/2006