Factorisation of generalised theta functions. I

We prove a version of "factorisation", relating the space of sections of theta bundles on the moduli spaces of (parabolic, rank 2) vector bundles on curves of genus g and g-1

Spectrum of malignant skin adnexal tumors – a single institution study of 17 cases with clinicopathological correlation

Background: Skin adnexal tumors are a rare, assorted group of tumors with differentiation towards hair follicle, sebaceous glands or sweat glands. A vast majority of them are benign. But for every benign adnexal tumor, a malignant counterpart exists. Many histological subtypes of these malignant tumors been described, but only in short series or individual case reports. So, not much is known about their incidence or prognosis simply because of the limited number of cases available for analysis. This study was undertaken to contribute towards this less traversed area of dermatopathology. Methods: In the present study, a total of 60 cases with a histopathological diagnosis of skin adnexal tumors were studied. The slides and blocks were retrieved from the archives and were reviewed and were reclassified and subtyped as per WHO classification of skin tumors, 2006. Results: Among the 60 cases of adnexal tumors documented and reviewed over the four year study period, 17 cases of malignant adnexal tumors were encountered. Of these, 10 (58%) were tumors with eccrine or apocrine differentiation, 5 (29%) were of follicular differentiation and two (12%) were of sebaceous differentiation. Mammary paget disease (MPD) was the most frequent malignant tumor encountered both overall and among the tumors with eccrine and apocrine differentiation. Other tumors encountered in their order of frequency were Malignant proliferating trichelemmal tumor, apocrine carcinoma, sebaceous carcinoma and extramammary paget disease, trichelemmal carcinoma and eccrine carcinoma. These tumors were evaluated with regard to their age, site, gender distribution, clinical characters and histopathological features. Conclusion: Malignant adnexal tumors are extremely rare with indistinct clinical characteristics. They are locally aggressive, and have the potential for nodal involvement and distant metastasis, with a poor clinical outcome. A high index of suspicion is necessary to establish a diagnosis in most cases.

Yang-Mills theory for bundle gerbes

Given a bundle gerbe with connection on an oriented Riemannian manifold of dimension at least equal to 3, we formulate and study the associated Yang-Mills equations. When the Riemannian manifold is compact and oriented, we prove the existence of instanton solutions to the equations and also determine the moduli space of instantons, thus giving a complete analysis in this case. We also discuss duality in this context.Comment: Latex2e, 7 pages, some typos corrected, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. and Ge

Drug utilization study of antihypertensive drugs and prevalence of blood pressure control in adult hypertensive patients based on JNC VIII guidelines in a tertiary care hospital: a cross sectional study

Background: Hypertension is a major independent risk factor for coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, chronic kidney disease and peripheral vascular diseases if left untreated. Drug utilization study of antihypertensive drugs and the study on prevalence of blood pressure control would help in reducing the burden of the disease and health expenditure.Methods: The study was conducted in the Outpatient Department of Medicine in Government Medical College, Thrissur. Patients aged 18yrs or above diagnosed with hypertension, on antihypertensive drugs were enrolled in the study. Patients suffering from secondary hypertension and acutely ill were excluded. Patients were enrolled after taking an informed consent. Demographic data, present treatment for hypertension, associated co- morbid conditions if any, and treatment of the same were recorded. BP was recorded, and cost of treatment was calculated using CIMS.Results: A total of 250 patients were included in the study. Mono therapy was used in 64.8% patients and combination therapy in 35.2%. Overall drug utilization pattern showed that CCBs (42.8%) were most commonly prescribed, followed by ACEIs (32.4%) and ARBs (29.2%). Most commonly prescribed combination therapy was ACE I + BB (29.3%), followed by ARB + CCB (21.3%). Mean cost of antihypertensive drug therapy was 3057.8 Rs / yr. Recommended target BP was achieved in 49.6% of patients.Conclusions: The prescription pattern of antihypertensive drug was in accordance to the JNC-VIII guidelines. The blood pressure target was achieved only in less than 50% of patients

Experimental and simulation characterisation of flexural vibration modes in unimorph ultrasound transducers

A unimorph flexural transducer design is proposed and tested with regard to mode shapes and frequencies. The transducers consist of a passive metal cap structure, and a thin piezoelectric disc, rigidly bonded to the inside. Extensive finite element (FE) modelling, and experimental 2D, time-resolved displacement measurements were done to characterise the transducers flexural properties, and to compare them to the analytical solutions of thin vibrating plates. Emphasis was put on characterising the passive layer of the unimorph structure, before bonding the piezoelectric element, to understand how the active element affects the behaviour of the flexing plate. A high power Nd:YAG laser was used to actuate the metal plate (non-contact), and the frequency content of the resulting displacement signal was analysed to identify the flexural modes. The non-axisymmetric modes, which are conventionally disregarded because of their unfavourable acoustic properties, were also taken into account. There was excellent agreement between the experimental results and the FE simulation data. There was good agreement with the analytical edge clamped plate model, but with some notable deviations, which have not previously been identified or commented upon. Specifically, the second axisymmetric mode is split into three separate modes, which is not explained by the traditional theory of vibrating plates

Psammomatous ossifying fibroma of frontal sinus: a case report with review of literature

Psammomatoid Ossifying Fibroma (POF) is a rare, slowly progressive benign tumor of the extragnathic craniofacial bones representing a subgroup of related fibro-osseous lesions with a tendency towards locally aggressive behaviour unique to the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, orbit and is often misdiagnosed. Histologically they are benign, but clinically they are locally aggressive. We report a case of a 17 year-old boy who presented with psammamatous ossifying fibroma of the frontal sinus. The location of this tumor made this case unusual

On metaheuristics for solving the parameter estimation problem in dynamic systems: A comparative study

This paper presents an experimental study that aims to compare the practical performance of well-known metaheuristics for solving the parameter estimation problem in a dynamic systems context. The metaheuristics produce good quality approximations to the global solution of a finite small-dimensional nonlinear programming problem that emerges from the application of the sequential numerical direct method to the parameter estimation problem. Using statistical hypotheses testing, significant differences in the performance of the metaheuristics, in terms of the average objective function values and average CPU time, are determined. Furthermore, the best obtained solutions are graphically compared in relative terms by means of the performance profiles. The numerical comparisons with other results in the literature show that the tested metaheuristics are effective in achieving good quality solutions with a reduced computational effort.The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of CIDEM, R&D Unit, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology (FCT), Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, under the Project UID/EMS/0615/2016, and of COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT within the Projects UID/CEC/00319/2013 and UID/MAT/00013/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Roman and inverse roman domination in network of triangles

In graph G (V, E), a function f : V → {0, 1 2} is said to be a Roman Dominating Function (RDF). If ∀u ∈ V, f(u) = 0 is adjacent to at least one vertex v ∈ V such that f(v) = 2. The weight of f is given by w(f) = P v∈V f(v). The Roman Domination Number (RDN) denoted by γR(G) is the minimum weight among all RDF in G. If V −D contains a RDF f 1 : V → {0, 1, 2}, where D is the set of vertices v, f(v) > 0, then f 1 is called Inverse Roman Dominating Function (IRDF) on a graph G with respect to the RDF f. The Inverse Roman Domination Number (IRDN) denoted by γ 1 R(G) is the minimum weight among all IRDF in G. In this paper we find RDN and IRDN of few triangulations graphs.Publisher's Versio

A randomized, comparative, open clinical trial for evaluating the efficacy of PP/JLN/107/09-10 Syrup in the management of Functional Constipation

Context: Functional constipation which has no underlying organic causes is difficult to be allopathic treatment for long term due to its side effects and undeniable effect, thus a natural balanced and compatible formulation needs to be validated. Objectives: Current study aimed to assess a poly-herbal formulation in management of functional constipation. Material and Methods: This study was 28 days, two armed, randomized, open labeled, prospective clinical study. 60 clinically confirmed cases of functional constipation patients randomized to receive orally either 2 teaspoonful of PP/JLN/107/09-10 Syrup or 1 teaspoonful of 5- 6 gm of Isabgol powder. Results were analyzed as per Rome II criteria and other associated symptoms like headache, acidity, belching, barborgysmy, flatulence and abdominal distension or bloating which are recorded on VAS score. Results: PP/JLN/107/09-10 scored over Isabgol on four out of six parameters of Rome II Criteria viz., frequency of bowel movement, straining at defecation, lumpy I hardstool formation, feeling of incomplete evacuation, feeling of ano-rectal blockage and manual maneuvers (p < 0.001). Trial drugs showed comparable effects (p > 0.05) in reducing the mean scores of associated symptoms like headache, acidity, belching, borgorgysmy, flatulence and abdominal distension. However, trial drug was found to perform statistically significant result in more number of parameters in comparison to Isabgol. Conclusion: PP/JLN/107/09-10 was found to be effective and safe in reliving functional constipation

The APC-EPCR-PAR1 axis in sickle cell disease

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a group of inherited hemoglobinopathies. Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is caused by a homozygous mutation in the β-globin generating sickle hemoglobin (HbS). Deoxygenation leads to pathologic polymerization of HbS and sickling of erythrocytes. The two predominant pathologies of SCD are hemolytic anemia and vaso-occlusive episodes (VOE), along with sequelae of complications including acute chest syndrome, hepatopathy, nephropathy, pulmonary hypertension, venous thromboembolism, and stroke. SCD is associated with endothelial activation due to the release of danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) such as heme, recurrent ischemia–reperfusion injury, and chronic thrombin generation and inflammation. Endothelial cell activation is mediated, in part, by thrombin-dependent activation of protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1), a G protein coupled receptor that plays a role in platelet activation, endothelial permeability, inflammation, and cytotoxicity. PAR1 can also be activated by activated protein C (APC), which promotes endothelial barrier protection and cytoprotective signaling. Notably, the APC system is dysregulated in SCD. This mini-review will discuss activation of PAR1 by APC and thrombin, the APC-EPCR-PAR1 axis, and their potential roles in SCD