The raising epidemic of COPD in women

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) represents an important public health challenge that is both preventable and treatable. Although it is more frequently observed in males, the number of females with COPD is on the rise due to either active smoking or passive exposure and biomass fuel combustion.Methods: It is a cross sectional study comprising forty female patients with signs and symptoms of COPD and graded according to Global association for obstructive lung diseases (GOLD) spirometry strategy. For all the enrolled patients, clinical history was taken and investigations like chest X-ray, Spirometry, Six minute walk distance test (6MWD) and BODE index was assessed.Results: The majority of cases (72.5%) belong to fifth to sixth decade. Most of cases were from rural area. 85% of the COPD females were smokers. Among non smokers biomass fuel is major risk factor. COPD is common in patients with smoking history of more than 20 years. Duration of exposure to biomass fuel exceeded 45 years in the COPD subjects. The mean 6MWD was 311 meters suggesting low exercise capacity. Most of the patients with severe COPD have BODE score >7 with poor prognosis.Conclusions: This study recognizes the prevalence of reverse chutta smoking among the COPD females and the risk of biomass exposure in the development of COPD in women, especially from rural areas. Identification and control of the risk factors are important steps in prevention and treatment of COPD.

Identifying the Safety Impact of Signal Coordination Projects along Urban Arterials Using a Meta-analysis Method

The safety impact of changes to roadway operations have been of interests in recent years with the publication of the Highway Safety Manual. One area that is in need of further study is the safety impact of traffic signal coordination projects in urban areas. Specifically, this study seeks to identify the safety benefit from traffic signal coordination projects on major arterial roadways through urban areas using a before and after study with a comparison groups approach and a meta-analysis method. The findings suggest that traffic signal coordination could decrease total crashes by 21 percent, injury crashes by 52 percent and property-damage-only crashes by 21 percent. The results can be utilized by engineering practitioners to estimate the safety benefits for projects that seek to coordinate traffic signals along an urban corridor. Because these projects can both improve the safety of roadways while improving traffic flow, the application of these findings could be broad

Understanding of research, genetics and genetic research in a rapid ethical assessment in north west Cameroon

BACKGROUND There is limited assessment of whether research participants in low-income settings are afforded a full understanding of the meaning of medical research. There may also be particular issues with the understanding of genetic research. We used a rapid ethical assessment methodology to explore perceptions surrounding the meaning of research, genetics and genetic research in north west Cameroon. METHODS Eleven focus group discussions (including 107 adults) and 72 in-depth interviews were conducted with various stakeholders in two health districts in north west Cameroon between February and April 2012. RESULTS Most participants appreciated the role of research in generating knowledge and identified a difference between research and healthcare but gave varied explanations as to this difference. Most participants' understanding of genetics was limited to concepts of hereditary, with potential benefits limited to the level of the individual or family. Explanations based on supernatural beliefs were identified as a special issue but participants tended not to identify any other special risks with genetic research. CONCLUSION We demonstrated a variable level of understanding of research, genetics and genetic research, with implications for those carrying out genetic research in this and other low resource settings. Our study highlights the utility of rapid ethical assessment prior to complex or sensitive research

Effects of brassinosteroid, auxin, and cytokinin on ethylene production in Arabidopsis thaliana plants

Inflorescence stalks produced the highest amount of ethylene in response to IAA as compared with other plant parts tested. Leaf age had an effect on IAA-induced ethylene with the youngest leaves showing the greatest stimulation. The highest amount of IAA-induced ethylene was produced in the root or inflorescence tip with regions below this producing less. Inflorescence stalks treated with IAA, 2,4-D, or NAA over a range of concentrations exhibited an increase in ethylene production starting at 1 μM with increasingly greater responses up to 100 μM, followed by a plateau at 500 μM and a significant decline at 1000 μM. Both 2,4-D and NAA elicited a greater response than IAA at all concentrations tested in inflorescence stalks. Inflorescence leaves treated with IAA, 2,4-D, or NAA exhibited the same trend as inflorescence stalks. However, they produced significantly less ethylene. Inflorescence stalks and leaves treated with 100 μM IAA exhibited a dramatic increase in ethylene production 2 h following treatment initiation. Inflorescence stalks showed a further increase 4 h following treatment initiation and no further increase at 6 h. However, there was a slight decline between 6 h and 24 h. Inflorescence leaves exhibited similar rates of IAA-induced ethylene between 2 h and 24 h. Light and high temperature caused a decrease in IAA-induced ethylene in both inflorescence stalks and leaves. Three auxin-insensitive mutants were evaluated for their inflorescence's responsiveness to IAA. aux2 did not produce ethylene in response to 100 μM IAA, while axr1-3 and axr1-12 showed reduced levels of IAA-induced ethylene as compared with Columbia wild type. Inflorescences treated with brassinolide alone had no effect on ethylene production. However, when brassinolide was used in combination with IAA there was a dramatic increase in ethylene production above the induction promoted by IAA alone

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A STABILITY INDICATING REVERSE PHASEHIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF CLINDAMYCIN, METRONIDAZOLE, AND CLOTRIMAZOLE IN PHARMACEUTICAL COMBINED DOSAGE FORMS

Objective: The objective of present work was to develop and validate a simple, fast, precise, selective, and accurate reverse phase high-performanceliquid chromatography method for the simultaneous determination of Clindamycine, Metronidazole and Clotrimazole in a pharmaceutical dosage form.Methods: The separation of these three drugs was achieved on ODS 250×4.6 mm, 5 mm C18 column. Mobile phase containing 0.1% ortho phosphoricacid buffer and acetonitrile in the ratio of 55:45 v/v was pumped through column at a flow rate of 1 ml/minute. Temperature was maintained at 30°Cand ultraviolet detection at 238 nm.Results: The retention times were observed to be 2.591, 3.584, and 4.221 minutes for Clindamycine, Metronidazole, and Clotrimazole, respectively.Linearity was found to be 25-150 μg/ml Clindamycine, Metronidazole, and Clotrimazole, respectively. The method was statistically validated forlinearity, recovery, the limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy, and precision. The stress testing of the drugs individually andtheir mixture are carried out under acidic, alkaline, oxidation, photostability, and thermal degradation conditions and its degradation products arewell resolved from the analyte peaks.Conclusion: This method was successfully validated for accuracy, precision, and linearity, LOD, and LOQ.Keywords: Clindamycine, Metronidazole, Clotrimazole, Reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography, Simultaneous determination,Degradation studies

Fundus2Angio: A Conditional GAN Architecture for Generating Fluorescein Angiography Images from Retinal Fundus Photography

Carrying out clinical diagnosis of retinal vascular degeneration using Fluorescein Angiography (FA) is a time consuming process and can pose significant adverse effects on the patient. Angiography requires insertion of a dye that may cause severe adverse effects and can even be fatal. Currently, there are no non-invasive systems capable of generating Fluorescein Angiography images. However, retinal fundus photography is a non-invasive imaging technique that can be completed in a few seconds. In order to eliminate the need for FA, we propose a conditional generative adversarial network (GAN) to translate fundus images to FA images. The proposed GAN consists of a novel residual block capable of generating high quality FA images. These images are important tools in the differential diagnosis of retinal diseases without the need for invasive procedure with possible side effects. Our experiments show that the proposed architecture outperforms other state-of-the-art generative networks. Furthermore, our proposed model achieves better qualitative results indistinguishable from real angiograms.Comment: 14 pages, Accepted to 15th International Symposium on Visual Computing 202

Bilateral macular hole formation secondary to sclopetaria caused by shockwaves transmitted by a posterior vector: case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sclopetaria is a rare ophthalmic finding in trauma</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>This is a report of a patient who developed macular holes from sclopetaria induced by indirect trauma. A 22-year-old male, suffered a gunshot wound that passed behind his eyes, resulting in bilateral macular hole formation</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in which trauma posterior to the globes caused bilateral macular hole formation</p