Study of predicting perinatal outcome in patients with oligohydraminos at term pregnancy

Background: Amniotic fluid plays a major role in the fetal growth and development. It provides the fetus with a protective low resistance environment suitable for growth and development, a cushion against the constricting confines of the gravid uterus, allowing the fetus room for the movement and growth and protecting it from external trauma. The abnormalities of the fluid volume can interfere directly with the fetal development or may be an indirect sign of underlying disorder such as fetal hypoxia, neural tube defect or gastrointestinal obstruction. Aim of this study was to determine whether an amniotic fluid level of 5cm or less can be predictor of adverse perinatal outcome in terms of fetal distress, birth weight, APGAR score and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Methods: Amniotic fluid index (AFI) was determined with a b-mode real time scanner with linear transducer operated at 3.5 MHz. AFI estimation done by four quadrant technique in supine position. The summation of measurement from each quadrant represented the amniotic fluid index in centimeters of each patient. Fetal outcome was assessed with respect to birth weight and gestational age; Apgar score at one and five minutes; any other neonatal complications intrapartum or postpartum during stay in hospital and maturity of baby - condition at the time of discharge of mother and baby. Results: The labor was induced in 28% women with AFI <5cm, out of which 19 women delivered vaginally and 9 women underwent LSCS for failure of induction. The mean birth weight was 2.61 kg in our study. Maximum number of babies i.e. 57% were with birth weight between 2.1-2.5 kg. The APGR score at 5 min was 9 in 71% cases and 8 in 21% cases. The mean APGR score at 5 min was 8.63. Conclusions: AFI can be used as an adjunct for fetal surveillance along with other methods to identify high risks foetuses to improve the perinatal outcome

Self-medication amongst pregnant women in a tertiary care teaching hospital in India

Background: Self-medication is a popular practice in developing countries where there is no strict regulation of drugs sold in local pharmacies. General public is usually unaware of the adverse effects of drugs used for common illness and continue using them without prescription during pregnancy. This study was carried out to know the extent of self-medication practised by pregnant women and various factors associated with it.Methods: A questionnaire based, cross-sectional study of pregnant women visiting the OB GYN-OPD of a tertiary care teaching hospital was conducted. 303 eligible subjects were questioned and statistical analysis was carried out.Results: Total 16.5% women were found to be self-medicating during pregnancy for common conditions like headache (26%), fever (23%) and common cold (19%). Odds Ratio between the self-medicating and non-self-medicating groups for variables like age (<25 years; ≥25 years), education (illiterate; literate) and gestational age (<20 weeks; ≥20 weeks) are 1.6, 2 and 1.73 respectively. Women with a history of self-medicating before pregnancy were significantly more likely to continue doing so during pregnancy (p value <0.00001).Conclusions: A significant proportion of pregnant women have been found to self-medicate without knowing the adverse effects of the drug used. Thus, spreading awareness against this health-predicament is necessary

Last Mile Delivery and Route Planning for Freight

This report analyzes anticipated list mile challenges in Indiana by using a scenario-based approach to develop forecasts of GDP growth and thus freight growth across industry clusters in Indiana counties; potential congestion implied by this growth; and a proactive plan to add capacity to alleviate the congestion. We use a quantitative approach to aggregate ramp level flows, industry cluster locations, county layout, and economic activity to develop our recommendations. We develop forecasts through the year 2050 based on long-term planning approaches used by other states (California, Ohio, and Utah). We use data from global databases that consider different possible geo-political scenarios and regulatory choices to scale it down to county-level impact. At the same time, we track industry cluster locations within each county, ramps from interstates, and distances to travel within the counties to reach freight destinations. The result is a report that combines macro trends with micro detail to develop potential capacity bottlenecks

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Towards programmable multi-element Boersch phase shifters for electron wavefront modulation

With an aim to contributing to the ongoing research of solving a well-known ‘phase problem’ in transmission electron microscopy, we fabricate a programmable device that will synthesize the phase of the incident electron wave at will. For this purpose, we target to realize a Boersch phase plate with multiple phase shifter elements that can be programmed by applying small voltages to each element. A three-layer Boersch phase shifter device is fabricated in metal-insulator-metal configuration with state-of-the-art nanofabrication methods such as electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching. The phase-shifting properties of the device are tested in a high-energy (200 keV) transmission electron microscope. The three-layer device comprised of three phase shifter elements could successfully alter the phase of the electron beam with a phase shift efficiency of ∼ 0.9π/V observed as three-beam electron interference on the detector. The phase shifter elements are micro-/nano elements capable of selectively altering the phase of the propagating electron beam by electrical biasing to the element. However, the key disadvantage of the three layer device is the parasitic deflection of the electron beam caused by the metal contact wires. The second-generation device in five-layer, metal-insulator-metal insulator-metal configuration is fabricated and tested within similar experimental conditions. The device’s phase shifting performance is improved by significant suppression of the beam deflection caused by contact wires and exhibits a phase shift efficiency of ∼ 0.55π/V. The deflection of the electron beam due to contact wire is 100 times lower for the new device. The three- and five-layer Boersch devices can operate on voltages below 5 V for a maximum of 2π phase shift. The low-voltage operation allows the integration with active electronics to program a device with an array of such phase shifter elements. The suppression of beam deflection is also very important as the complexity of the deflection increases with an increasing number of elements. Such a device would also eliminate the need to align the phase plate relative to the electron beam as is the case for thin film-based phase plates such as Zernike phase plate. A device with an array of Boersch phase shifter elements has great potential in wavefront modulation for applications ranging from real-time phase retrieval of unknown molecular structures to designing a programmable aberration corrector for electron microscopes. The electrostatic phase shifters would open another possibility to visualize transparent objects with increased resolution and also study structures of biological specimens like proteins, viruses, cells, etc

Coupled Strip-Array Waveguides for Integrated Mid-IR Gas Sensing

Non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) absorption spectroscopy is a widespread approach to gas sensing due to its selectivity and conceptual simplicity. One of the main challenges towards the development of fully integrated NDIR sensors is the design and fabrication of microstructures, typically waveguides, that can combine high sensitivity with the ease of integrability of other sensor elements (sources, filters, detectors). Here, we investigate theoretically and experimentally a class of coupled strip-array (CSA) waveguides realized on a SiO2/Si3N4 platform with mass semiconductor fabrication processes. We demonstrate that this class of waveguides shows comparable sensitivity for a wide range of presented geometries, making it a very promising platform for satisfying multiple sensor and fabrication requirements without loss of performance