Randomised trials relevant to mental health conducted in low and middle-income countries: protocol for a survey of studies published in 1991, 1995 and 2000 and assessment of their relevance

BACKGROUND A substantial proportion of the psychiatric burden of disease falls on the world's poorest nations. Despite this, relatively little is known about the quality and content of clinical research undertaken in these countries, or the relevance of the interventions evaluated and specifically that of randomised trials. This project aims to survey the content, quality and accessibility of a sample of trials relevant to mental health conducted within low and middle-income countries; to compare these with studies conducted in high-income countries; and to assess their relevance for the needs of low and middle-income countries. METHODS An extensive search for all trials, or possible trials, published in 1991, 1995 and 2000 with participants in low and middle-income countries has already been conducted. Studies evaluating prevention or treatment of a mental health problem within these three years will be identified and further searches conducted to assess completeness of the initial search. Data on study quality and characteristics will be extracted from each report. Accessibility will be estimated based on whether each citation is available on MEDLINE. Trials relevant to schizophrenia will be compared with a random sample of schizophrenia trials from high-income countries in the same years. Topics covered by the trials will be compared with the estimated burden of disease. CONCLUSION Trials and systematic reviews of trials are the gold standard of evaluation of care and increasingly provide the basis for recommendations to clinicians, to providers of care and to policy makers. Results from this study will present the first assessment of the scope, quality and accessibility of mental health trials in low and middle-income countries

On the Suitability of the Bandler–Kohout Subproduct as an Inference Mechanism

Fuzzy relational inference (FRI) systems form an important part of approximate reasoning schemes using fuzzy sets. The compositional rule of inference (CRI), which was introduced by Zadeh, has attracted the most attention so far. In this paper, we show that the FRI scheme that is based on the Bandler-Kohout (BK) subproduct, along with a suitable realization of the fuzzy rules, possesses all the important properties that are cited in favor of using CRI, viz., equivalent and reasonable conditions for their solvability, their interpolative properties, and the preservation of the indistinguishability that may be inherent in the input fuzzy sets. Moreover, we show that under certain conditions, the equivalence of first-infer-then-aggregate (FITA) and first-aggregate-then-infer (FATI) inference strategies can be shown for the BK subproduct, much like in the case of CRI. Finally, by addressing the computational complexity that may exist in the BK subproduct, we suggest a hierarchical inferencing scheme. Thus, this paper shows that the BK-subproduct-based FRI is as effective and efficient as the CRI itself

Intersections between some families of (U,N)- and RU-implications

(U,N)-implications and RU-implications are the generalizations of (S,N)- and R-implications to the framework of uninorms, where the t-norms and t-conorms are replaced by appropriate uninorms. In this work, we present the intersections that exist between (U,N)-implications and the different families of RU-implications obtainable from the well-established families of uninorms

UNDERGROUND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION CHANNEL MODELING AND SIMULATION USING 0.3GMSK MODULATION CONSIDERING PENETRATION AND SCATTERING LOSS

Wireless communication inside mines and tunnels is very different from that in terrestrial environment because of the strong attenuation of signals. Here, we are developing an empirical model for the underground wireless communication channel based on experimental data which help in predicting the average received signal strength at a given distance from transmitter. The model aims at adding correction factors to the available outdoor and indoor propagation models such as Okumara-hata model, cost231 model, ITU indoor propagation models etc. Modeling is done by choosing the most appropriate model among the available ones and performing regression methods to the model based on experimental data. Correction factors are then added based on two parameters which we are considering namely- Penetration and Scattering loss for 0.3GMSK

Auditory processing in individuals with auditory neuropathy

BACKGROUND: Auditory neuropathy is a disorder characterized by no or severely impaired auditory brainstem responses in presence of normal otoacoustic emissions and/or cochlear microphonics. Speech perception abilities in these individuals are disproportionate to their hearing sensitivity and reported to be dependent on cortical evoked potentials and temporal processing abilities. The disproportionate loss of auditory percept in presence of normal cochlear function is suggestive of impairment of auditory neural synchrony. METHODS: We studied the auditory evoked potentials and psychophysical abilities in 14 adults with auditory neuropathy to characterize their perceptual capabilities. Psychophysical tests included measurement of open set speech identification scores, just noticeable difference for transition duration of syllable /da/ and temporal modulation transfer function. Auditory evoked potentials measures were, recording of P(1)/N(1), P(2)/N(2 )complex and mismatch negativity (MMN). RESULTS: Results revealed a significant correlation between temporal processing deficits and speech perception abilities. In majority of individuals with auditory neuropathy P(1)/N(1), P(2)/N(2 )complex and mismatch negativity could be elicited with normal amplitude and latency. None of the measured evoked potential parameters correlated with the speech perception scores. Many of the subjects with auditory neuropathy showed normal MMN even though they could not discriminate the stimulus contrast behaviorally. CONCLUSION: Conclusions drawn from the study are 1. Individuals with auditory neuropathy have severely affected temporal processing. 2. The presence of MMN may not be directly linked to presence of behavioral discrimination and to speech perception capabilities at least in adults with auditory neuropathy

Efficacy of Communication Strategies in Augmenting Quality of Life and Participation in Individuals with Aphasia

Use of communication strategies are recommended frequently to individuals with aphasia in order to enhance their communication and societal participation. This study aims to explore the efficacy of communication strategy usage in persons with chronic aphasia and their communicative partners. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with five women and six men with chronic aphasia (N =11) and a qualitative analysis of the same was done. Different factors related to individuals with aphasia, their caregivers and topics of conversation were found to affect the efficacious use of communication strategies. The most important among this was the care givers awareness regarding the need and usage of communication strategies. It was evident from the current research that caregiver training on communication strategies should be an integral goal of aphasia rehabilitation. This will inturn enhance rehabilitation and integration of individuals with aphasia for societal participation

Antimicrobial Activity of the Extracts of Salacia oblonga Wall.

Salacia oblonga Wall. belonging to the family celastraceae is used in the treatment of diabetes, rheumatism, gonorrhoea, itches, asthma, wound healing, amenorrhea and ear diseases. It is a woody climber distributed in Sri Lanka and Southern regions of India. In the present study antimicrobial activity of Salacia oblonga was evaluated against pathogenic strains, gram +ve Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis, Listeria monocytogenes and gram -ve Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium. Ethyl acetate (EtOAc) aerial and root part extracts of Salacia oblonga have shown good activity towards all the pathogenic species. The zones of inhibition in the acidic EtOAc aerial and root extracts were measured to assess the antimicrobial activity

HI in Abell 3128

We discuss Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) HI 21cm data for the galaxy cluster A3128. Our observations are intentionally relatively shallow, and a blind search through our data cube yields (tentative) detections of only two galaxies, of which one is probably spurious. A3128 is part of the ESO Nearby Abell Cluster Survey (ENACS); redshifts are available for 193 galaxies in the A3128 region. For 148 of these galaxies the redshifts are such that the HI emission (if any) would lie within our data cube. We use the known redshifts of these galaxies to coadd their spectra and thus improve our sensitivity to HI emission. The technique is fairly successful -- the coadded spectra allow detection of an average mass content of ~ 9x10^8 Msun, almost an order of magnitude lower than for direct detection of individual objects. By dividing the total galaxy sample into subsamples we find that the gas content of late type galaxies that lie outside the X-ray emitting core of the cluster is substantially higher than that of those within the core. Even outside the X-ray emitting region the distribution of gas-rich galaxies in the cluster is not uniform, we find that gas-rich galaxies are concentrated in the east of the cluster. This is consistent with earlier analyses of the kinematics of the galaxies in A3128 which indicate the presence of subclustering. In summary we find that coadding spectra is a powerful tool for the study of HI in cluster galaxies, and suggest that this technique could be applied to substantially increase the redshift range over which such observations could be carried out.Comment: 8pages, 7 figures accepted for publication in A&

The Combined Impact Of IgLON Family Proteins Lsamp And Neurotrimin On Developing Neurons And Behavioral Profiles In Mouse

Cell surface neural adhesion proteins are critical components in the complex orchestration of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and neuritogenesis essential for proper brain construction and behavior. We focused on the impact of two plasticity-associated IgLON family neural adhesion molecules, Neurotrimin (Ntm) and Limbic system associated membrane protein (Lsamp), on mouse behavior and its underlying neural development. Phenotyping neurons derived from the hippocampi of Lsamp−/−, Ntm−/− and Lsamp−/−Ntm−/− mice was performed in parallel with behavioral testing. While the anatomy of mutant brains revealed no gross changes, the Ntm−/− hippocampal neurons exhibited premature sprouting of neurites and manifested accelerated neurite elongation and branching. We propose that Ntm exerts an inhibitory impact on neurite outgrowth, whereas Lsamp appears to be an enhancer of the said process as premature neuritogenesis in Ntm−/− neurons is apparent only in the presence of Lsamp. We also show interplay between Lsamp and Ntm in regulating tissue homeostasis: the impact of Ntm on cellular proliferation was dependent on Lsamp, and Lsamp appeared to be a positive regulator of apoptosis in the presence of Ntm. Behavioral phenotyping indicated test-specific interactions between Lsamp and Ntm. The phenotypes of single mutant lines, such as reduced swimming speed in Morris water maze and increased activity in the elevated plus maze, were magnified in Lsamp−/−Ntm−/− mice. Altogether, evidence both from behavioral experiments and cultured hippocampal cells show combined and differential interactions between Ntm and Lsamp in the formation of hippocampal circuits and behavioral profiles. We demonstrate that mutual interactions between IgLON molecules regulate the initiation of neurite sprouting at very early ages, and even cell-autonomously, independent of their regulation of cell-cell adhesion