Anatomical variations of internal jugular vein as seen by site rite II ultrasound machine--an initial experience in Pakistani population

Objective: To determine the anatomical variations of the internal jugular vein (IJV) in Pakistani adult population with the help of Site Rite II ultrasound machine.Material and Method: The right IJV relation to the carotid artery was visualized at four different landmarks (angle of the mandible, thyroid cartilage, cricoid cartilage, and the supraclavicular area). Size of IJV in comparison to carotid artery was also seen. Results: In 49 cases the IJV was found in aberrant relation to carotid artery at the angle of the mandible (p value Conclusion:Care should be taken while cannulating IJV at the angle of the mandible and supra clavicular area by external landmark guided technique. Ultrasound guided technique should be used in every anticipated difficult cas

A rare case of simple hereditary recessive optic atrophy

Simple Autosomal Recessive Optic Atrophy (AROA) is a rare hereditary disorder that belongs to a group of disorders called Hereditary Optic Atrophy. Patients diagnosed with simple AROA have complete blindness since birth or from first few months of life. This blindness does not improve with age. However, no other organ or system is affected in this disorder. There is no known cause or gene mutation associated with it. Here we report a case of a two year old child diagnosed with simple AROA. Family history of the patient revealed that an older deceased relative also suffered from similar symptoms. Identification of this and similar cases of the simple AROA can help us better understand this disorder and hopefully one day help us develop a treatment for it

Effect of GABA Application on the Growth and Yield of Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia)

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of GABA (GA3 1% & SBA Brassicasteroids as STC 0.3%) application on growth, yield and yield contributing traits of bitter gourd. GABA was applied at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg L-1 as foliar spray at 30 days after sowing, while control plants received no GABA. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Result showed that GABA had positive regulatory effect on morphological growth, yield and yield related traits of bitter gourd; nonetheless GABA application at 1.5 mg L-1 was found the most effective in improving length and diameter of main vine, individual branch length, number of branches, total branch length, number of nodes per plant, vine diameter, days to first male and female flowering, numbers of male and female flower, number of fruit, weight of individual fruit, length and diameter of fruit, percentage of fruit set and number of seeds per fruit. Hence GABA application at 1.5 mg L-1 as foliar spray could be the suitable concentration for enhancing growth and yield of bitter gourd

The effects of semicon on space charge behavior under different temperature conditions for HVDC cable insulation

One of the major concerns related to HVDC applications is the presence of space charge within the dielectrics, which distorts the electric field distribution and contributes to accelerated ageing and consequent failure of the cable insulation. In this paper, an attempt is made to explore the space charge characteristics using different electrode materials and temperature conditions to highlight the variation in space charge formation and distribution in the system using pulsed electro acoustic (PEA) technique. To simulate a real cable manufacturing process, XLPE insulation was sandwiched between two layers of thermal bonded semicon material. The experimental results revealed that the semiconductive materials has a greater influence on the space charge formation. It was found the electrode materials play a vital role in determining the charge distribution in the insulation and significant dependence on the electrode materials under the same applied stress and temperature conditions. Thermal bonded semicon samples have a stronger charge injection and greater charge amount within the bulk and high temperature can greatly increase the charge mobility for both polarities as well as enhances charge injection. These findings are discussed in conjunction with unbonded sample (conventional setup) for the space charge measurements

Effect of single dose magnesium on arrhythmias in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and role of prophylactic administration of magnesium in preventing arrhythmias. METHOD: This double blind randomized placebo controlled clinical trial was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital on coronary artery bypass surgery patients. All patients were connected to holter monitor before induction of anaesthesia and this monitoring continued for 24 hours. Study drug containing either 2-grams of magnesium or normal saline was given after intubation. Levels of serum magnesium was checked preoperatively and then in ICU at 0, 6, 12, and 24 hours. Independent t-test and chi square test were used for analysis. Statistical significance was defined as p-value \u3c 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 104 patients consented to participate in the study, 53 patients were randomly allocated in magnesium (Mg) group and 51 in placebo group. Two (3.77%) patients in magnesium group and five patients (9.8%) in placebo group developed atrial fibrillation. Incidence of ventricular and supraventricular tachycardia was also slightly higher in placebo. Mg level after arrival in CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) showed mean of 2.1 in magnesium group and 1.6 in placebo group (p = 0.6). CONCLUSION: Low magnesium levels were noticed in the placebo group after cardiopulmonary bypass and although prophylactic administration of magnesium sulphate was relatively safe but significant benefit on prevention of arrhythmias could not be attained

DETERMINING CARRYING CAPACITY OF UNTREATED AND TREATED AREAS OF MARI RESERVE FOREST (POTHWAR TRACT) AFTER RESEEDING WITH CENCHRUS CILIARIS

ABSTRACT Mari Reserve Forest of Pothwar tract covers an area of 3055 ha. Due to uncontrolled grazing, the range area has degraded and supports mainly unpalatable vegetation. In 2005-06, a 911 ha area was reseeded with Cenchrus ciliaris (Dhaman/Buffel grass). Forage production on both the reseeded/treated and untreated areas was measured in 2007 at the end of the growing season during October. The reseeded area produced about 16 times (7733 kg/ha) more forage than the untreated area (491 kg/ha). General Grass coverage on an average was 27% and 78% in untreated and treated pastures, respectively. Carrying capacity (Animal Units per Year) based on dry biomass of grasses/herbs was found to be 0.07 AUY/ha and 1.18 AUY/ha in untreated and treated areas, respectively or in other words, rakh with an area of 3055 ha can provide fodder to 3605 AUY if seeded, and otherwise it will support only 214 AUY. These results indicate that reseeding may be an important management practice for improving degraded rangelands of Pakistan

Preconditioning with endoplasmic reticulum stress ameliorates endothelial cell inflammation

Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress, caused by disturbance in ER homeostasis, has been implicated in several pathological conditions such as ischemic injury, neurodegenerative disorders, metabolic diseases and more recently in inflammatory conditions. Our present study aims at understanding the role of ER stress in endothelial cell (EC) inflammation, a critical event in the pathogenesis of acute lung injury (ALI). We found that preconditioning human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAEC) to ER stress either by depleting ER chaperone and signaling regulator BiP using siRNA, or specifically cleaving (inactivating) BiP using subtilase cytotoxin (SubAB), alleviates EC inflammation. The two approaches adopted to abrogate BiP function induced ATF4 protein expression and the phosphorylation of eIF2α, both markers of ER stress, which in turn resulted in blunting the activation of NF-κB, and restoring endothelial barrier integrity. Pretreatment of HPAEC with BiP siRNA inhibited thrombin-induced IκBα degradation and its resulting downstream signaling pathway involving NF-κB nuclear translocation, DNA binding, phosphorylation at serine536, transcriptional activation and subsequent expression of adhesion molecules. However, TNFα-mediated NF-κB signaling was unaffected upon BiP knockdown. In an alternative approach, SubAB-mediated inactivation of NF-κB was independent of IκBα degradation. Mechanistic analysis revealed that pretreatment of EC with SubAB interfered with the binding of the liberated NF-κB to the DNA, thereby resulting in reduced expression of adhesion molecules, cytokines and chemokines. In addition, both knockdown and inactivation of BiP stimulated actin cytoskeletal reorganization resulting in restoration of endothelial permeability. Together our studies indicate that BiP plays a central role in EC inflammation and injury via its action on NF-κB activation and regulation of vascular permeability.Antony Leonard, Adrienne W. Paton, Monaliza El-Quadi, James C. Paton, Fabeha Faza

Catching up with Method and Process Practice: An Industry-Informed Baseline for Researchers

Software development methods are usually not applied by the book.companies are under pressure to continuously deploy software products that meet market needs and stakeholders\u27 requests. To implement efficient and effective development processes, companies utilize multiple frameworks, methods and practices, and combine these into hybrid methods. A common combination contains a rich management framework to organize and steer projects complemented with a number of smaller practices providing the development teams with tools to complete their tasks. In this paper, based on 732 data points collected through an international survey, we study the software development process use in practice. Our results show that 76.8% of the companies implement hybrid methods.company size as well as the strategy in devising and evolving hybrid methods affect the suitability of the chosen process to reach company or project goals. Our findings show that companies that combine planned improvement programs with process evolution can increase their process\u27 suitability by up to 5%