Factors associated with pregnancy complications during antenatal period: an extended GEE approach

The purpose of the paper is to examine the factors affecting pregnancy complications during antenatal period of mothers. The study uses data which have been repeated over time i.e., the nature of the data is longitudinal in type. Thus the generalized estimating equation (GEE) method has been employed to identify the factors associated with the pregnancy complications which constitute binary response. The study reveals important findings. Among others, education of mothers, taking special food during pregnancy and desired index pregnancy are found to be negatively associated with pregnancy related complications i.e., lower risk of complication. Patients visit to health workers during antenatal period is positively associated with identifying the causes of pregnancy related complications. Female literacy and maternal morbidity are intertwined in an inverse relationship i.e., improving the former will reduce the latter. Educated women take better care of themselves. It improves their economic power and ensures a better social and legal status. Pregnant women should take special food in order to get rid of pregnancy related complications

Hematology and serum chemistry reference values of stray dogs in Bangladesh

Hematology and serum chemistry values were obtained from 28 male and 22 female stray dogs in Chittagong Metropolitan area, Bangladesh. The goal of the study was to establish reference value for hematology and serum chemistry for these semi wild animals in relation to age, sex, reproductive stage and body condition. No significant differences were found for mean values of hemoglobin, packed cell volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, white blood cell, differential leukocyte count, total protein, albumin, glucose, cholesterol, phosphorus and potassium among or between sexes, ages, reproductive states or body conditions. Significant differences were noted for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p<0.02) between sexes. Among different age groups significant differences were found for total red blood cell count (p<0.001). Different body conditions have significant differences in red blood cell count, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (p<0.001). Pregnant and non-pregnant females differed significantly in their red blood cell count, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (p<0.001)

Force-based Cooperative Search Directions in Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization

International audienceIn order to approximate the set of Pareto optimal solutions, several evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) algorithms transfer the multi-objective problem into several independent single-objective ones by means of scalarizing functions. The choice of the scalarizing functions' underlying search directions, however, is typically problem-dependent and therefore difficult if no information about the problem characteristics are known before the search process. The goal of this paper is to present new ideas of how these search directions can be computed \emph{adaptively} during the search process in a \emph{cooperative} manner. Based on the idea of Newton's law of universal gravitation, solutions attract and repel each other \emph{in the objective space}. Several force-based EMO algorithms are proposed and compared experimentally on general bi-objective $\rho$MNK landscapes with different objective correlations. It turns out that the new approach is easy to implement, fast, and competitive with respect to a $(\mu+\lambda)$-SMS-EMOA variant, in particular if the objectives show strong positive or negative correlations

Evaluation of the effects of long-term storage of bovine ear notch samples on the ability of 2 diagnostic assays to identify calves persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhoea virus

Research aimed at optimising diagnostic laboratory procedures is central to the development of effective bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) control programmes. BVDV is a singlestranded RNA virus that crosses the placenta to infect foetuses, resulting in reproductive losses due to foetal death or persistently infected calves that die early in life. Persistently infected animals are widely accepted to be the primary reservoir of BVDV and the largest source of infection. This poses important challenges to overall animal/herd health and can cause major losses to the cattle industry. Long-term storage of bovine ear notch samples from calves persistently infected with BVDV may adversely affect the ability of diagnostic assays to detect the virus efficiently. In order to test this hypothesis, ear notch samples from 7 animals were divided into 2 groups. One set was subjected to prompt formalin fixation and the other set stored either as fresh samples without preservatives at –2 °C, or soaked overnight in phosphate buffered saline followed by freezing of the supernatant fluid at –2 °C. Frozen ear notches and ear notch supernatant yielded positive results with an antigen- capture, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (AC-ELISA) for the duration of the study (6 months) and optical density (OD) values remained significantly within range. There was no significant difference between storing fresh ear notch samples or PBS at –2 °C. However, positive immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining on formalin fixed ear notches started to fade between Day 17 and Day 29 when stored at room temperature. It was concluded that fresh ear notches could safely be stored at –2 °C for a period of 6 months prior to testing for BVD viral antigens.Sparta Beef Farm and Karan Estatehttp://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_savet.htmlab2012ab201

Modelling of the effect of scale on the compressibility parameters of fine-grained soils

The effect of sample scale represents a challenge when obtaining engineering parameters in the laboratory compared to those obtained in the field. This study aimed at contributing to existing knowledge numerically using the finite element software PLAXIS 2D. The investigations were analysed in terms of height scale (HS) and diameter scale (DS) through a series of laboratory tests. Its effect on compressibility parameters such as coefficient of consolidation (cv) was noted experimentally and showed that the sample scale greatly influences soil parameters most particularly at DS. The soil behaviour was found to be dependent on both DS and HS with a correlation factor of 0.650 and 0.062, respectively. The experimental data were validated in PLAXIS and a new proposed model was developed in PLAXIS 2D under the DS. The new proposed model developed was found to show no significant difference with the laboratory data

Effect of rhenium irradiations on the mechanical properties of tungsten for nuclear fusion applications

As-received and annealed tungsten samples were irradiated at a temperature of 400 °C with Re and W ions to peak concentrations of 1600 appm (atomic parts per million) and damage levels of 40 dpa (displacements per atom). Mechanical properties were investigated using nanoindentation, and the orientation and depth dependence of irradiation damage was investigated using Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD). Following irradiation there was a 13% increase in hardness in the as received sheet and a 23% increase in the annealed material for both tungsten and rhenium irradiation. The difference between the tungsten and rhenium irradiated samples was negligible, suggesting that for the concentrations and damage levels employed, the presence of rhenium does not have a significant effect on the hardening mechanism. Energy dependent EBSD of annealed samples provided information about the depth distribution of the radiation damage in individual tungsten grains and confirmed that the radiation damage is orientation dependant

Supermassive Black Hole Binaries: The Search Continues

Gravitationally bound supermassive black hole binaries (SBHBs) are thought to be a natural product of galactic mergers and growth of the large scale structure in the universe. They however remain observationally elusive, thus raising a question about characteristic observational signatures associated with these systems. In this conference proceeding I discuss current theoretical understanding and latest advances and prospects in observational searches for SBHBs.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of 2014 Sant Cugat Forum on Astrophysics. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, ed. C.Sopuerta (Berlin: Springer-Verlag

Unbiased, optimal, and in-betweens: the trade-off in discrete finite impulse response filtering

In this survey, the authors examine the trade-off between the unbiased, optimal, and in-between solutions in finite impulse response (FIR) filtering. Specifically, they refer to linear discrete real-time invariant state-space models with zero mean noise sources having arbitrary covariances (not obligatorily delta shaped) and distributions (not obligatorily Gaussian). They systematically analyse the following batch filtering algorithms: unbiased FIR (UFIR) subject to the unbiasedness condition, optimal FIR (OFIR) which minimises the mean square error (MSE), OFIR with embedded unbiasedness (EU) which minimises the MSE subject to the unbiasedness constraint, and optimal UFIR (OUFIR) which minimises the MSE in the UFIR estimate. Based on extensive investigations of the polynomial and harmonic models, the authors show that the OFIR-EU and OUFIR filters have higher immunity against errors in the noise statistics and better robustness against temporary model uncertainties than the OFIR and Kalman filters

Bi-allelic JAM2 Variants Lead to Early-Onset Recessive Primary Familial Brain Calcification.

Primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a combination of neurological, psychiatric, and cognitive decline associated with calcium deposition on brain imaging. To date, mutations in five genes have been linked to PFBC. However, more than 50% of individuals affected by PFBC have no molecular diagnosis. We report four unrelated families presenting with initial learning difficulties and seizures and later psychiatric symptoms, cerebellar ataxia, extrapyramidal signs, and extensive calcifications on brain imaging. Through a combination of homozygosity mapping and exome sequencing, we mapped this phenotype to chromosome 21q21.3 and identified bi-allelic variants in JAM2. JAM2 encodes for the junctional-adhesion-molecule-2, a key tight-junction protein in blood-brain-barrier permeability. We show that JAM2 variants lead to reduction of JAM2 mRNA expression and absence of JAM2 protein in patient's fibroblasts, consistent with a loss-of-function mechanism. We show that the human phenotype is replicated in the jam2 complete knockout mouse (jam2 KO). Furthermore, neuropathology of jam2 KO mouse showed prominent vacuolation in the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and cerebellum and particularly widespread vacuolation in the midbrain with reactive astrogliosis and neuronal density reduction. The regions of the human brain affected on neuroimaging are similar to the affected brain areas in the myorg PFBC null mouse. Along with JAM3 and OCLN, JAM2 is the third tight-junction gene in which bi-allelic variants are associated with brain calcification, suggesting that defective cell-to-cell adhesion and dysfunction of the movement of solutes through the paracellular spaces in the neurovascular unit is a key mechanism in CNS calcification