Sleep and Stroke

Circadian variations in conjunction with sleep-related heart rhythm changes and sleepdisordered breathing (SDB) are contributing risk factors for stroke. Strong scientificevidence now exists indicating that SDB contributes to systemic hypertension, aprominent risk factor for stroke, and compelling circumstantial evidence is presentsuggesting that SDB raises the risk for development of stroke through other circulatorymechanisms as well. Preliminary evidence indicates that post-stroke patients have ahigher prevalence of SDB, which is likely to compromise their rehabilitation outcomes.Since SDB is modifiable with the application of CPAP and other treatment modalities,there is practical value in investigating patients at risk of stroke or post stroke forpresence of SDB. Successful application of CPAP or BiPAP therapy may improve theoutcome in both instances.Key words : Sleep, Stroke, SDB, CPA

Causes of Hypersomnia – Narcolepsy

The causes of hypersomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) besides volitionalsleep deprivation and obstructive sleep apnea are principally due to primary centralnervous system abnormalities. Most common amongst these is Narcolepsy, a primarydisorder of the neural control of wakefulness and sleep. The recent discovery ofhypocretin/orexin deficiency as the main cause of narcolepsy will lead to importanttherapeutic advances for patients with narcolepsy and further to understanding of thecontrol of sleep and wakefulness in general. Importantly, the excessive daytimesleepiness is not due to psychiatric conditions, but rather is always due to sleepdeprivation or an underlying diagnosable and treatable sleep disorder.Key words : EDS, Sleep, Narcoleps

Ultra-short solitons and kinetic effects in nonlinear metamaterials

We present a stability analysis of a modified nonlinear Schroedinger equation describing the propagation of ultra-short pulses in negative refractive index media. Moreover, using methods of quantum statistics, we derive a kinetic equation for the pulses, making it possible to analyze and describe partial coherence in metamaterials. It is shown that a novel short pulse soliton, which is found analytically, can propagate in the medium.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS USING STRING TOKEN CLASSIFICATION ALGORITHM

Sentiment analysis is a type of data mining which involves computation of opinions, sentiments and to determine if an information or a piece of text conveys positive, negative or neutral opinion. Public opinion regarding various aspects can be found using sentiment analysis. Clustering and classification are the key techniques in sentiment analysis. Consensus clustering is better than existing clustering algorithms as it provides a stable and efficient final result. However, it has its own drawbacks. Instead of performing consensus clustering and selecting classifiers from the consolidated result, we try to develop a new classification algorithm in our wor

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS USING STRING TOKEN CLASSIFICATION ALGORITHM

Sentiment analysis is a type of data mining which involves computation of opinions, sentiments and to determine if an information or a piece of text conveys positive, negative or neutral opinion. Public opinion regarding various aspects can be found using sentiment analysis. Clustering and classification are the key techniques in sentiment analysis. Consensus clustering is better than existing clustering algorithms as it provides a stable and efficient final result. However, it has its own drawbacks. Instead of performing consensus clustering and selecting classifiers from the consolidated result, we try to develop a new classification algorithm in our wor

Three chemotherapy studies of tuberculous meningitis in children

Chemotherapy studies were undertaken in 180 patients with tuberculous meningitis. They were treated for 12 months withlof3 regimens: the first consisted of streptomycin, isoniazid and rifampicin daily for the first 2 months, followed by ethambutol plus isoniazid for 10 months; in the second, pyrazinamide was added for the first 2 months, and in the third, rifampicin was re-duced to twice weekly in the first 2 months. In the first regimen alone, streptomycin was also given twice weekly from the third to the sixth month. Steroids were prescribed for all the patients in thc initial weeks of treatment. Approximately 50% of the patients were aged less than 3 years. On admission, 13%of the patients were classified as stage 1,77% as stage Hand 9% as stage III. Cere-brospinal fluid (CSF) culture results were available for all the 180 patients and M. tuberculosis was isolated in 59 (33%). CSF smear results for acid fast bacilli were available only for the 103 patients admitted to the second and the third studies, and of these, in 60 (58%) the CSF was positive cither by smear or culture. The response to therapy was similar in the 3 studies. Despite administration of rifampicin for 2 months, the mortality was high. In all, 27% of the patients died of tuberculous meningitis, 39% had neurological sequelae and 34% recovered completely. There was a strong association between ilu stage on admission and the mortality rate, the deaths being highest in stage III. In the first study; when isoniazid was prescribed daily in a dosage of 20 mg/kg, 39 % of the patients developed jaundice however, when the dosage was reduced to 12 mg/kg, the incidence was only 16%. In the third study. where rifampicin was administered twice a week, the incidence of jaundice was low (5%)

Seasonality of birth in India

The conception rate in Baroda and Manipal, India, is lowest during the hottest weather. The greatest extremes are found in Baroda and, following high summer temperatures, there is a prolongation of low conception rates which may indicate that part or all of the effect is mediated through an effect on scrotal temperature. However, other factors may also be involved and a reduction of coital frequency is likely at extremes of temperature. Seasonal changes in abortion, stillbirths and prematurity are also observed. Changes in spontaneous abortion could be due to heat stress in the mother or possibly to abnormal sperm production at high temperature or to less frequent coitus, leading to embryonic defect

Kidney injury molecule-1: a urinary biomarker for contrast induced acute kidney injury.

Back ground: Urinary kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1) is early biomarker for renal damage. A few studies have been published analyzing the potential use of urinary kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) as a biomarker for acute kidney injury. However no study has been done related to Acute Kidney Injury associated with contrast administration. Aim: To search for new markers to identify Acute Kidney Injury (ARF) associated with contrast administration earlier than serum creatinine. Material and Methods: We studied 100 consecutive patients with normal serum creatinine undergoing angiographic procedure. We assessed urine KIM-1, at 4h, 8h, and 24 hours after the angiographic procedure. Serum creatinine was measured at basal, 24h and 48 hours after the procedure. Results: There was a significant rise in urinary KIM-1 levels at 24 hours after the angiographic procedure. The presence of contrast induced nephropathy associated with acute Kidney Injury was 12%. Conclusion: The present study highlighted the importance of urinary KIM-1 in detecting Acute Kidney Injury associated with contrast administration earlier than Serum creatinine. Key words: Neutrophil-gelatinase-associated lipocalin. Contrast-induced nephropathy. Cystatin C. Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR), Kidney injury molecule -1 (KIM-1)