Sighting of critically endangered Red-headed vulture Sarcogyps calvus (Scopoli, 1786) in Palamau Tiger Reserve, Jharkhand, India

No Abstrac

Quality of life among women with symptoms of gynecological morbidities: results of a cross‐sectional study in Karachi, Pakistan

AIMS: A population-based cross-sectional study design was used to study the effects of symptoms of various gynecological morbidities (GM) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of women, residents of squatter settlements of Karachi, Pakistan. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in squatter settlements of Karachi from September 2012 to August 2013, with 1002 married, non-pregnant women. After obtaining written informed consent from every participant, a structured questionnaire was used to collect information about symptoms of GM and their effect on four domains of HRQoL (physical, social, functional and financial domains). RESULTS: Of 1002 women who participated in the study, 578 reported suffering from one or more symptoms of GM. The most commonly reported symptoms were foul-smelling vaginal discharge, dysmenorrhea and uterovaginal prolapse while the least reported symptom was post-coital bleeding. Symptoms of GM were found to have a negative impact on HRQoL. Approximately one-third of women with the symptoms of GM reported having negative influences on the physical, financial and functional domains of HRQoL with social domain being comparatively less affected. Compared to other symptoms, dysmenorrhea and uterovaginal prolapse were reported to be mostly associated with poor HRQoL of women. CONCLUSION: The concept of HRQoL has been kept marginal and inconspicuous by clinicians. In order to achieve the psychosocial satisfaction of the patient, the focus needs to be diverted to all domains of HRQoL

Challenges in path planning of high energy density beams for additive manufacturing

As there are no cutting forces in High Energy Density (HED) beams like lasers and Electron Beam (EB), their speeds are limited only by their positioning systems. On the other hand, as the entire matrix of the 3D printed part has to be addressed by the thin beam in multiple passes in multiple layers, they have to travel several kilometers in tiny motions. Therefore, the acceleration of the motion system becomes the limiting factor than velocity or precision. The authors have proposed an area-filling strategy for EB to fill the layer with optimal squares to exploit analog and hardware computing. 3D printing requires uniform intensity slanged as flat hat shape whereas the default is Gaussian. The authors have proposed an optimal algorithm that takes into account the maximum velocity and acceleration for achieving a flat hat without any compromise on productivity

LHCb Upgraded RICH 1 Engineering Design Review Report

During the Long Shutdown 2 of the LHC, the LHCb collaboration will replace the upstream Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector (RICH 1). The magnetic shield of the current RICH 1 will be modified, new spherical and plane mirrors will be installed and a new gas enclosure will be manufactured. New photon detectors (multianode photomultiplier tubes) will be used and these, together with their readout electronics, require a new mechanical support system. This document describes the new optical arrangement of RICH 1, its engineering design, installation and alignment. A summary of the project schedule and institute responsibilities is provided

LHCb Upgraded RICH 1 Engineering Design Review Report

During the Long Shutdown 2 of the LHC, the LHCb collaboration will replace the upstream Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector (RICH 1). The magnetic shield of the current RICH 1 will be modified, new spherical and plane mirrors will be installed and a new gas enclosure will be manufactured. New photon detectors (multianode photomultiplier tubes) will be used and these, together with their readout electronics, require a new mechanical support system. This document describes the new optical arrangement of RICH 1, its engineering design, installation and alignment. A summary of the project schedule and institute responsibilities is provided

Les droits disciplinaires des fonctions publiques : « unification », « harmonisation » ou « distanciation ». A propos de la loi du 26 avril 2016 relative à la déontologie et aux droits et obligations des fonctionnaires

The production of tt‾ , W+bb‾ and W+cc‾ is studied in the forward region of proton–proton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.98±0.02 fb−1 . The W bosons are reconstructed in the decays W→ℓν , where ℓ denotes muon or electron, while the b and c quarks are reconstructed as jets. All measured cross-sections are in agreement with next-to-leading-order Standard Model predictions.The production of $t\overline{t}$, $W+b\overline{b}$ and $W+c\overline{c}$ is studied in the forward region of proton-proton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.98 $\pm$ 0.02 \mbox{fb}^{-1}. The $W$ bosons are reconstructed in the decays $W\rightarrow\ell\nu$, where $\ell$ denotes muon or electron, while the $b$ and $c$ quarks are reconstructed as jets. All measured cross-sections are in agreement with next-to-leading-order Standard Model predictions

Exploring UK medical school differences: the MedDifs study of selection, teaching, student and F1 perceptions, postgraduate outcomes and fitness to practise.

BACKGROUND: Medical schools differ, particularly in their teaching, but it is unclear whether such differences matter, although influential claims are often made. The Medical School Differences (MedDifs) study brings together a wide range of measures of UK medical schools, including postgraduate performance, fitness to practise issues, specialty choice, preparedness, satisfaction, teaching styles, entry criteria and institutional factors. METHOD: Aggregated data were collected for 50 measures across 29 UK medical schools. Data include institutional history (e.g. rate of production of hospital and GP specialists in the past), curricular influences (e.g. PBL schools, spend per student, staff-student ratio), selection measures (e.g. entry grades), teaching and assessment (e.g. traditional vs PBL, specialty teaching, self-regulated learning), student satisfaction, Foundation selection scores, Foundation satisfaction, postgraduate examination performance and fitness to practise (postgraduate progression, GMC sanctions). Six specialties (General Practice, Psychiatry, Anaesthetics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Internal Medicine, Surgery) were examined in more detail. RESULTS: Medical school differences are stable across time (median alpha = 0.835). The 50 measures were highly correlated, 395 (32.2%) of 1225 correlations being significant with p < 0.05, and 201 (16.4%) reached a Tukey-adjusted criterion of p < 0.0025. Problem-based learning (PBL) schools differ on many measures, including lower performance on postgraduate assessments. While these are in part explained by lower entry grades, a surprising finding is that schools such as PBL schools which reported greater student satisfaction with feedback also showed lower performance at postgraduate examinations. More medical school teaching of psychiatry, surgery and anaesthetics did not result in more specialist trainees. Schools that taught more general practice did have more graduates entering GP training, but those graduates performed less well in MRCGP examinations, the negative correlation resulting from numbers of GP trainees and exam outcomes being affected both by non-traditional teaching and by greater historical production of GPs. Postgraduate exam outcomes were also higher in schools with more self-regulated learning, but lower in larger medical schools. A path model for 29 measures found a complex causal nexus, most measures causing or being caused by other measures. Postgraduate exam performance was influenced by earlier attainment, at entry to Foundation and entry to medical school (the so-called academic backbone), and by self-regulated learning. Foundation measures of satisfaction, including preparedness, had no subsequent influence on outcomes. Fitness to practise issues were more frequent in schools producing more male graduates and more GPs. CONCLUSIONS: Medical schools differ in large numbers of ways that are causally interconnected. Differences between schools in postgraduate examination performance, training problems and GMC sanctions have important implications for the quality of patient care and patient safety

The Analysis of Teaching of Medical Schools (AToMS) survey: an analysis of 47,258 timetabled teaching events in 25 UK medical schools relating to timing, duration, teaching formats, teaching content, and problem-based learning.

BACKGROUND: What subjects UK medical schools teach, what ways they teach subjects, and how much they teach those subjects is unclear. Whether teaching differences matter is a separate, important question. This study provides a detailed picture of timetabled undergraduate teaching activity at 25 UK medical schools, particularly in relation to problem-based learning (PBL). METHOD: The Analysis of Teaching of Medical Schools (AToMS) survey used detailed timetables provided by 25 schools with standard 5-year courses. Timetabled teaching events were coded in terms of course year, duration, teaching format, and teaching content. Ten schools used PBL. Teaching times from timetables were validated against two other studies that had assessed GP teaching and lecture, seminar, and tutorial times. RESULTS: A total of 47,258 timetabled teaching events in the academic year 2014/2015 were analysed, including SSCs (student-selected components) and elective studies. A typical UK medical student receives 3960 timetabled hours of teaching during their 5-year course. There was a clear difference between the initial 2 years which mostly contained basic medical science content and the later 3 years which mostly consisted of clinical teaching, although some clinical teaching occurs in the first 2 years. Medical schools differed in duration, format, and content of teaching. Two main factors underlay most of the variation between schools, Traditional vs PBL teaching and Structured vs Unstructured teaching. A curriculum map comparing medical schools was constructed using those factors. PBL schools differed on a number of measures, having more PBL teaching time, fewer lectures, more GP teaching, less surgery, less formal teaching of basic science, and more sessions with unspecified content. DISCUSSION: UK medical schools differ in both format and content of teaching. PBL and non-PBL schools clearly differ, albeit with substantial variation within groups, and overlap in the middle. The important question of whether differences in teaching matter in terms of outcomes is analysed in a companion study (MedDifs) which examines how teaching differences relate to university infrastructure, entry requirements, student perceptions, and outcomes in Foundation Programme and postgraduate training