Global Assessment of Urological Endoscopic Skills (GAUES):development and validation of a novel assessment tool to evaluate endourological skills

Objective: To develop and evaluate an assessment tool for endourological skills during simulation including cystoscopy, ureteroscopy (URS) and transurethral resection (TUR) procedures. Methods: We designed a Global Assessment of Urological Endoscopic Skills (GAUES) tool, comprised of nine endourology task-specific and two global-rating skills items. The tool was developed through two rounds of the Delphi process. The GAUES tool was used to assess acquisition of URS and TUR skills of novices (Year 2 core surgical trainees, CT2) and intermediate level trainees (residents at the start of the UK higher surgical training programme in Urology, Speciality Trainee Year 3, ST3) at the Urology Simulation Boot Camp (USBC) between 2016 and 2018. Validity was evaluated by comparing scores between trainees with different levels of urological experience. Inter-rater reliability was also assessed. Results: We evaluated 130 residents, 52% of trainees were at an intermediate stage of training and 39% were novices. In all, 9% of the anonymous forms were missing demographics. The completion rate of the GAUES tool during the USBC for URS and TUR was 85% and 89%, respectively. Our analysis demonstrated a significant difference in all domains between intermediates and novices at assessment in URS, except for one domain more suited to clinical assessment (P\ua0=\ua00.226). There was excellent intraclass correlation (ICC) overall between the two experts’ judgements, ICC\ua0=\ua00.841 (95% confidence interval 0.767–0.893; P\ua

Science with the Daksha High Energy Transients Mission

We present the science case for the proposed Daksha high energy transients mission. Daksha will comprise of two satellites covering the entire sky from 1~keV to $>1$~MeV. The primary objectives of the mission are to discover and characterize electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave source; and to study Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). Daksha is a versatile all-sky monitor that can address a wide variety of science cases. With its broadband spectral response, high sensitivity, and continuous all-sky coverage, it will discover fainter and rarer sources than any other existing or proposed mission. Daksha can make key strides in GRB research with polarization studies, prompt soft spectroscopy, and fine time-resolved spectral studies. Daksha will provide continuous monitoring of X-ray pulsars. It will detect magnetar outbursts and high energy counterparts to Fast Radio Bursts. Using Earth occultation to measure source fluxes, the two satellites together will obtain daily flux measurements of bright hard X-ray sources including active galactic nuclei, X-ray binaries, and slow transients like Novae. Correlation studies between the two satellites can be used to probe primordial black holes through lensing. Daksha will have a set of detectors continuously pointing towards the Sun, providing excellent hard X-ray monitoring data. Closer to home, the high sensitivity and time resolution of Daksha can be leveraged for the characterization of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to ApJ. More details about the mission at https://www.dakshasat.in

Photopolymerization by binary systems containing carbon tetrachloride

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Ultrafast intramolecular electronic energy-transfer dynamics in a bichromophoric molecule

Intramolecular electronic energy-transfer (intra-EET) dynamics has been investigated in 2-(9-anthryl)-1H-imidazo [4,5-f] [1,10]-phenanthroline (AIP), a newly synthesized bichromophoric molecule, using the steady-state and time-resolved absorption and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. In AIP, anthracene (AN) and 1H-imidazo [4,5-f] [1,10]-phenanthroline (IP) molecules are directly linked to each other through a C-C σ bond and without any intervening molecular bridge. Two constituent chromophoric moieties of this bichromophoric molecule interact relatively weakly in the ground state. In the excited singlet state, however, the AN moiety transfers its excitation energy quantitatively (the efficiency of energy transfer, φEET, is near unity) and rapidly (the rate of energy transfer, kEET, is 1.8×1011 s-1 in methanol) to the unexcited IP moiety. kEET decreases linearly with increase in viscosity of the solvents, and the process is significantly retarded in rigid glass matrixes. These observations suggest that, for an efficient EET process, the molecule needs to attain a conformational geometry, which is different from that of the ground state, by undergoing a conformational relaxation process following photoexcitation. The theoretically calculated energy-transfer rate (5.1×109 s-1) due to the Förster dipole-dipole-induced resonance-interaction mechanism is about 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the experimentally determined energy-transfer rate. Hence, the Dexter through-space exchange-interaction mechanism, which becomes predominant at shorter interchromophoric separation (R ~6.3 Å in AIP) and requires specific conformation for efficient orbital overlap, should have the major contribution to the intra-EET process in AIP. Viscosity dependence of kEET suggests that we possibly measure the rate of the conformational relaxation process using the intra-EET process as the probe

Arsenic contamination of groundwater and its health impact on residents in a village in West Bengal, India

An in-depth study was carried out in Rajapur, an arsenic-affected village in West Bengal, India, to determine the degree of groundwater contamination with arsenic and the impact of this contamination on residents. The flow injection hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (FI-HG-AAS) method was used to measure arsenic concentrations in water and biological samples. Dermatologists recorded the dermatological features of arsenicosis. Out of a total of 336 hand-pumped tube-wells in Rajapur, 91% (307/336) contained arsenic at concentrations > 10 mg/l, and 63% (213/336) contained arsenic at > 50 mg/l. The type of arsenic in groundwater, the variation in concentrations of arsenic as the depth of tube-wells changed, and the iron concentration in the wells were also measured. Altogether 825 of 3500 residents were examined for skin lesions; of these, 149 had lesions caused by exposure to arsenic. Of the 420 biological samples collected and analysed, 92.6% (389) contained arsenic at concentrations that were above normal. Thus many villagers might be subclinically affected. Although five arsenic-filtering devices had been installed in Rajapur, it appears that villagers are still exposed to raised concentrations of arsenic in their drinking-water. Detailed village-level studies of arsenic-affected areas in West Bengal are required in order to understand the magnitude of contamination and its effects on people. Villagers are ill-informed about the dangers of drinking arsenic-contaminated water. The contamination could be brought under control by increasing community awareness of the dangers and implementing proper watershed management techniques that involve local people