Modeling maternal mortality in Bangladesh: the role of misoprostol in postpartum hemorrhage prevention.

BackgroundBangladesh is one of the few countries that may actually achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in time, despite skilled birth attendance remaining low. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential role misoprostol can play in the decline of maternal deaths attributed to postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in Bangladesh.MethodsUsing data from a misoprostol and blood loss measurement tool feasibility study in Bangladesh, observed cause specific maternal mortality ratios (MMRs) were estimated and contrasted with expected ratios using estimates from the Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Survey (BMMS) data. Using Crystal Ball 7 we employ Monte Carlo simulation techniques to estimate maternal deaths in four scenarios, each with different levels of misoprostol coverage. These scenarios include project level misoprostol coverage (69%), no (0%), low (40%), and high (80%) misoprostol coverage. Data on receipt of clean delivery kit, use of misoprostol, experience of PPH, and cause of death were used in model assumptions.ResultsUsing project level misoprostol coverage (69%), the mean number of PPH deaths expected was 40 (standard deviation = 8.01) per 100,000 live births. Assuming no misoprostol coverage (0%), the mean number of PPH deaths expected was 51 (standard deviation = 9.30) per 100,000 live births. For low misoprostol coverage (40%), the mean number of PPH deaths expected was 45 (standard deviation = 8.26) per 100,000 live births, and for high misoprostol coverage (80%), the mean number of PPH deaths expected was 38 (standard deviation = 7.04) per 100,000 live births.ConclusionThis theoretical exercise hypothesizes that prophylactic use of misoprostol at home births may contribute to a reduction in the risk of death due to PPH, in addition to reducing the incidence of PPH. If findings from this modeling exercise are accurate and uterotonics can prevent maternal death, misoprostol could be the tool countries need to further reduce maternal mortality at home births

Face Recognition using Segmental Euclidean Distance

In this paper an attempt has been made to detect the face using the combination of integral image along with the cascade structured classifier which is built using Adaboost learning algorithm. The detected faces are then passed through a filtering process for discarding the non face regions. They are individually split up into five segments consisting of forehead, eyes, nose, mouth and chin. Each segment is considered as a separate image and Eigenface also called principal component analysis (PCA) features of each segment is computed. The faces having a slight pose are also aligned for proper segmentation. The test image is also segmented similarly and its PCA features are found. The segmental Euclidean distance classifier is used for matching the test image with the stored one. The success rate comes out to be 88 per cent on the CG(full) database created from the databases of California Institute and Georgia Institute. However the performance of this approach on ORL(full) database with the same features is only 70 per cent. For the sake of comparison, DCT(full) and fuzzy features are tried on CG and ORL databases but using a well known classifier, support vector machine (SVM). Results of recognition rate with DCT features on SVM classifier are increased by 3 per cent over those due to PCA features and Euclidean distance classifier on the CG database. The results of recognition are improved to 96 per cent with fuzzy features on ORL database with SVM.Defence Science Journal, 2011, 61(5), pp.431-442, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.61.117

Burden, timing and causes of maternal and neonatal deaths and stillbirths in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: Protocol for a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: The AMANHI mortality study aims to use harmonized methods, across eleven sites in eight countries in South Asia and sub–Saharan Africa, to estimate the burden, timing and causes of maternal, fetal and neonatal deaths. It will generate data to help advance the science of cause of death (COD) assignment in developing country settings. METHODS: This population–based, cohort study is being conducted in the eleven sites where approximately 2 million women of reproductive age are under surveillance to identify and follow–up pregnancies through to six weeks postpartum. All sites are implementing uniform protocols. Verbal autopsies (VAs) are conducted for deaths of pregnant women, newborns or stillbirths to confirm deaths, ascertain timing and collect data on the circumstances around the death to help assign causes. Physicians from the sites are selected and trained to use International Classification of Diseases (ICD) principles to assign CODs from a limited list of programmatically–relevant causes. Where the cause cannot be determined from the VA, physicians assign that option. Every physician who is trained to assign causes of deaths from any of the study countries is tested and accredited before they start COD assignment in AMANHI. IMPORTANCE OF THE AMANHI MORTALITY STUDY: It is one of the first to generate improved estimates of burden, timing and causes of maternal, fetal and neonatal deaths from empirical data systematically collected in a large prospective cohort of women of reproductive age. AMANHI makes a substantial contribution to global knowledge to inform policies, interventions and investment decisions to reduce these deaths

Scale Invariant Feature Transform Based Fingerprint Corepoint Detection

The detection of singular points (core and delta) accurately and reliably is very important for classification and matching of fingerprints. This paper presents a new approach for core point detection based on scale invariant feature transform (SIFT). Firstly, SIFT points are extracted ,then reliability and ridge frequency criteria are applied to reduce the candidate points required to make a decision on the core point. Finally a suitable mask is applied to detect an accurate core point. Experiments on FVC2002 and FVC2004 databases show that our approach locates a unique reference point with high accuracy. Results of our approach are compared with those of the existing methods in terms of accuracy of core point detection.Defence Science Journal, 2013, 63(4), pp.402-407, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.63.270

A Review on Different Techniques of Mutual Coupling Reduction Between Elements of Any MIMO Antenna. Part 1: DGSs and Parasitic Structures

This two-part article presents a review of different techniques of mutual coupling (MC) reduction. MC is a major issue when an array of antennas is densely packed. When the separation between the antennas i

A Review on Different Techniques of Mutual Coupling Reduction Between Elements of Any MIMO Antenna. Part 2: Metamaterials and Many More

This two‐part article presents a review of different techniques of mutual coupling (MC) reduction. MC reduction is a primary concern while designing a compact multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna where the separation between the antennas is less than λ0/2, that is, half of the free‐space wavelength. The negative permittivity and permeability of artificially created materials/structures (Metamaterials) significantly help reduce MC among narrow‐band compact MIMO antenna design elements. In this part two of the review paper, we will discuss techniques: Metamaterials; Split‐Ring‐Resonator; Complementary‐Split‐Ring‐Resonator; Frequency Selective Surface, Metasurface, Electromagnetic Band Gap structure, Decoupling and Matching network, Neutralization line, Cloaking Structures, Shorting vias and pins and few more

Fractional Order High Pass Filter Based on Operational Transresistance Amplifier with Three Fractional Capacitors of Different Order

Design, realization and performance evaluation of fractional order high pass filter based on Operational Transresistance Amplifier (OTRA) using three fractional elements of different order α, β, γ are presented in this paper. The projected circuit uses a single active current mode device i.e. OTRA and utilizes fractional capacitors of varying orders to boost the design flexibility. The design equations for fractional order high pass filter are computed from the transfer function. The paper elaborates the impact of fractional order elements of varying order on the frequency response of the filter. Subsequently, the sensitivity and stability of the transfer function of the proposed filter are also analyzed. The potential usefulness of the proposed filter is additionally incontestable through the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), Power Supply Rejection Ratio (PSRR), Temperature sweep, Corner, Supply Voltage variation and Noise Analysis. It has been observed that the proposed pass filter in fractional domain supported OTRA provides greater flexibility in controlling the magnitude characteristics

Low Power Non-Volatile 7T1M Subthreshold SRAM Cell

A new modified 7T1M non-volatile SRAM cell is presented in this paper for low power applications at subthresholdvoltage (very low voltage) simply by connecting the memristor directly with storage node which is acting as storage elementand adding a transistor in between the two storage nodes with feedback connection gives better performance in terms ofaverage delay, read /write operations and RSNM/WSNM. The memristor based circuits are simulated at subthreshold is anew insight and a new effort in technology made with improvement of approximately 61% and 23% of RSNM and WSNMrespectively compared to existing memory cell 7T1M and power dissipation is decreased by 66% whereas read delay andwrite delay obtained is nominal. Moreover, It has also simulated an adjusting 6T2M and conventional 6T at subthresholdvoltage i.e. VDD=0.3V to compare its stability behaviour at lower supply voltage