Association Between Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) Use and Radiographic Emphysema Risk

Emphysema, a form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease of significant public health importance that remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality within the US population and elsewhere in the industrialized world. An emerging body of literature appears to suggest gender differences in susceptibility to emphysema, with women showing significantly less emphysematous changes on high resolution Computed Tomography radiography compared to men. A pertinent but yet to be addressed question in the literature however, is whether these apparent differences in emphysematous structural lung disease result from differential exposures and or lifestyle choices on the one hand, or if on the other hand, these gender differences in CT-emphysema are related to certain biological mechanisms such as female hormonal influences or genetic differences in toxin metabolism. The present study evaluated differences in CT-emphysema status among 1834 women with different hormone replacement therapy (HRT) exposure profiles. In an unadjusted generalized logistic regression model, current use of HRT was statistically significantly associated with a 38% reduction in the risk of moderate to severe CT-emphysema, OR 0.62 (95% CI=0.39-0.99). After adjusting for the effects of age and smoking dose intensity, current HRT-users had a 34% reduction in the risk of mild to moderate CT-emphysema compared to never-users. Although this effect is quite sizable, it was marginally statistically insignificant, OR=0.66 (95% CI=0.41-1.07). We conclude that current use of hormone replacement therapy may be associated with a lower risk of moderate to severe CT-emphysema

A crack originating from a semicircular notch in a non homogeneous sheared half-plane

An interfacial crack originates from a semi circular notch in a non-homogeneous semi infinite elastic material subjected to constant shear loads of magnitudes Tj, j = 1, 2. Asymptotic deformation fields near the crack tip are derived in a closed form. The stress intensity factor is shown to depend on material constants except when equal and opposite tractions are applied on load sites of equal length. Our results agree with known ones

Malignant Ovarian Tumours in South-East Nigeria

Aim: To describe the clinico-pathologic characteristics of ovarian tumors in Owerri and classify the tumors according to WHO classification of ovarian tumors. Methodology: The archives of the Department of Pathology, FMC Owerri were the source of the data used for this study. The period under review was between September 2010 and October 2016. Results: A total of 32 ovarian tumors were received in the department within the period under review. The mean age was 40.65±12.05 years with a range of 6 to 70 years. The commonest ovarian malignancy was the surface epithelial tumors which made up 46.87% (15 cases) followed by the germ cell tumors which constituted 34.37% (11 cases), sex-cord stromal tumors 12.5% (4 cases) and metastatic carcinoma 6.25% (2). The commonest symptom was abdominal mass or swelling which was present in 90.62% (29 cases) followed by abdominal pain 59.37% (19 cases). The mean size was 7.63cm with a range of 2.6 to 23cm. Keywords: Ovary, Malignancy, Owerr

Targeting oncogenic K-Ras G12C and G13C via covalent drug design

Ras proteins are part of a large superfamily of small monomeric GTPases that act as molecular switches to regulate cell signaling. Dysfunctional Ras signaling is implicated in 30% of human cancers. Of the 3 protein isoforms, H-, K-, and N-Ras, K-Ras is the most commonly mutated, particularly at residues 12 and 13. K-Ras(G12C) and K-Ras(G13C) are acquired mutations in lung and colorectal cancer, which are among the most common and deadly malignancies worldwide. Furthermore, G12C and G13C are potentially druggable mutations that are close to the switch II pocket of K-Ras. Biochemical studies reveal that K-Ras(G13C) is a fast exchanging mutant, with a potentially destabilized nucleotide binding pocket, indicating that G13C is structurally different from G12C. Despite these differences, K-Ras(G12C) and K-Ras(G13C) are both amenable to covalent drug design via computational and empirical screening methods

A crack originating from a semicircular notch in a non homogeneous sheared half-plane

An interfacial crack originates from a semi circular notch in a non-homogeneous semi infinite elastic material subjected to constant shear loads of magnitudes Tj, j = 1, 2. Asymptotic deformation fields near the crack tip are derived in a closed form. The stress intensity factor is shown to depend on material constants except when equal and opposite tractions are applied on load sites of equal length. Our results agree with known ones

Indecent Dressing in the Catholic Church: A Misdirected Enthusiasm

Our society is experiencing decline in morality. The moral lives of our people these days are in its lowest ebb. This moral laxity especially on our dressing code nowadays is nothing but a show of shameless generation. The indecent dressing of our youths seems as if modesty is no longer valued. It is just enough to see what some boys and girls wear in public, half-naked, to display their private parts, pants and bra, to attract the opposite sex and then we know that morality has collapsed. Many of us keep quiet over immoral/indecent, sexually provoking wears, either because they enjoy such or they are encouraging it or it does not matter to them. The Catholic Church of St. Peter’s Chaplaincy of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) frowns over such indecent dressing especially when coming to the church. It is a sin and we should not allow others commit sin because of our dressing. This paper discusses indecent dressing as it concerns the Catholic Church within its environs and the implication of such indecent dressing to the society if it continues

Palliative Care: The Nigerian Perspective

Palliative care is an area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients. It utilizes a multidisciplinary team approach to ensure a “holistic” care of the patient. It is a relatively new concept in medicine and the Nigerian experience has not been widely studied. Despite its introduction into the nation over two decades ago, it still faces a lot of challenges in terms of integration into the health care system, implementation and governmental policy. With increasing longevity, urbanization, high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and chronic diseases including malignancies, there will be an increasing number of Nigerians requiring palliative care

Environmental/Climatic Effect on Stand-Alone Solar Energy Supply Performance for Sustainable Energy

This paper investigates the climatic eects and environmental variations on the performance of a stand-alone photovoltaic system. The eects of partial shading with dierent climate conditions and load resistance variations were examined. A survey of some of the work done in this eld of environmental eect on solar panel was included. Also PV cell was modeled from which MATLAB simulations were carried out to investigate some of the climatic and environmental eects on PV system. A discussion of results obtained from simulations is also included in this paper. Simulated results are given and comparisons were made between simulated results and earlier works done. Simulation results obtained tries to justify the findings

A low-cost printed circuit board design technique and processes using ferric chloride solution

This paper presents a low-cost printed circuit board (PCB) design technique and processes using ferric chloride () solution on a metal plate for a design topology. The PCB design makes a laboratory prototype easier by reducing the work piece size, eliminating the ambiguous connecting wires and breadboards circuit errors. This is done by manual etching of the designed metal plate via immersion in ferric chloride solutions for a given time interval 0-15mins. With easy steps, it is described on how to make a conventional single-sided printed circuit board with low-cost, time savings and reduced energy from debugging. The simulation and results of the printed circuit is designed and verified in the Multisim software version 14.0 and LeCroy WJ35Aoscilloscope respectively. Keywords: Etching, Ferric Chloride, Insertion, Multisim, Metal Plate, Printed Circuit Board&nbsp