Stochastic Dominance Approach to Evaluate Optimism Bias in Truck Toll Forecasts

Optimism bias is a consistent feature associated with truck toll forecasts, à la Standard & Poor’s and the NCHRP synthesis reports. Given the persistent problem, two major sources of this bias are explored. In particular, the ignorance of operating cost as a demand-side factor and lack of attention to user heterogeneity are found to contribute to this bias. To address it, stochastic dominance analysis is used to assess the risk associated with toll revenue forecasts. For a hypothetical corridor, it is shown that ignorance of operating cost savings can lead to upward bias in the threshold value of time distribution. Furthermore, dominance analysis demonstrates that there is greater risk associated with the revenue forecast when demand heterogeneity is factored in. The approach presented can be generally applied to all toll forecasts and is not restricted to trucks.Forecast Bias; Operating costs; Risk assessment; Savings; Stochastic Dominance; Tolls;Trucks

OPUNTIA ELATIOR MILL.–ITS PHYTOCHEMISTRY AND PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES-A REVIEW

Opuntia elatior Mill. (OE) (Family Cactaceae), commonly recognized as Red Prickly pear, is a plant of varied nutritional and medicinal benefits. The species has been scrutinized for the composition and wide array of pharmacological activities. This review is attempted with an aim to document the updated status of OE with respect to its phytochemistry and pharmacological actions. The data is collected from the extensive review of literatures from scientific articles, dissertations and books available on various web-based search engines such as Pub-med, Google-scholar and Science direct and few unpublished observations. The fruit is reported to be rich in carbohydrates, flavonoids, phenolics, betalains, vitamin C and minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, and potassium. Extract and the fruit as a whole are reported for anti-oxidant, hematinic, anti-leukemic, anti-diabetic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory, anti-fertility, broncho-dilatory, mast cell degranulation, radio-protective and anti-arthritic activities. It is reported to be safe for administration in a dose dependent manner. OE is a nutritionally and medicinally important drug with a wide range of traditional and pharmacological applications. There is a vast scope for research on the varied traditional claims of this drug. This review might help for the further research on the species

DETERMINATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PROCESS IMPURITIES IN PAZOPANIB HYDROCHLORIDE DRUG SUBSTANCE

Objective: To develop a rapid, sensitive, accurate, precise and linear Reverse-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method and validate as per ICH guidelines for the quantitative estimation of Pazopanib Hydrochloride (PBH) drug substance along with two process impurities.Methods: The developed method uses a reverse phase Zorbax RP18 column (50 mm×4.6 mm; 5.0 µm), a mobile phase of 0.015M Potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate buffer (pH 3.0 with orthophosphoric acid) and methanol in the proportion of 16:84 v/v. The mobile phase was set at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min and the volume injected was 10μl for every injection. The detection wavelength was set at 215 nm.Results: Newly developed method resulted in eluting the two process impurities of PBH at 2.998 and 23.548 min respectively. The detection limits (LOD) were about 0.0061 and 0.0062 mg/ml and quantitation limit (LOQ) were about 0.024 and 0.021 mg/ml. The relative standard deviation was found to be 0.78 % and 1.38 % respectively for the two process impurities of PBH. The % recovery of the PBH impurities ranged from 97.3 to 100 % and 94.0 % to 99.0 % respectively.Conclusion: Two new process impurities of PBH drug substance were determined and characterized by newly developed RP-HPLC method, and identified using LC–MS technique. Proposed structures of these impurities were confirmed by structural elucidation using NMR techniques. The HPLC method was validated as per ICH guidelines. The newly developed reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method was found to be accurate, simple, sensitive and selective. It was also found to exhibit excellent resolution for the two process impurities and the PBH drug substance indicating high sensitivity and selectivity of the validated method.Keywords: RPâ€HPLC, Pazopanib hydrochloride, Method development, ValidationÂ

Morphological variations of the thyroid gland

Background:The knowledge of various morphological & developmental anomalies of thyroid gland will help the surgeons in better planning of safe & effective surgery. Considering these facts we studied the variations of thyroid gland.Methods:The material for the present study was collected from the department of forensic medicine, MMC & RI, Mysore, which includes 56 male and 33 female adult postmortem cadavers aged between 18 to 80 years. A dissection was carried out to expose thyroid glands & variations were observed in the morphology of thyroid gland.Results: 1) 9% of specimens had agenesis of isthmus. 2) 46% of specimens had pyramidal lobe. 3) 41% of specimens had levator glanduli thyroidae. 4) 2.24 % of specimens had accessory thyroid tissue.Conclusion:This study highlights the various morphological anomalies of the thyroid gland which forms cornerstone to safe & effective surgery

Congenital malformations in multiple births

Objective: The present study was done to know and compare the incidence of congenital malformations in singleton and multiple births in our hospital & compare with other studies.Methods: A retrospective study done by collecting the data from parturition register from Jan 2008 to Dec 2011 (4yrs) from Cheluvamba Hospital attached to Mysore Medical College and Research Institute. Total number of the live births, still births, and abortions> 20 wks were collected. Details of multiple births such as maternal age, gestational age, sex & birth weight of the babies, U/S reports and congenital anomalies (CA) were noted.Results: The total number of singleton births were 48700 and number of babies who had congenital malformations were 235 (48.25/10,000 births).Total number of multiple births were 579 including 10 triplets and number of babies who had CA were 11 (189.98/10,000 births, P<0.0001). In the present study sex of the babies were noted in all multiple births and zygosity could not be recorded. Among 579 multiple births 404 were of the Same Sex (SS) and 165 were of Opposite Sex (OS) in twins and 6 were of the same sex and 4 were of opposite sex in triplets. According to Weinberg formula 50% of same sex (SS) twins are monozygotic and 50% are dizygotic twins. Among the 11 babies with CA, 4 monozygotic twins had anomalies related to twinning such as Acardia with TRAP sequence (3 twins), and Thoracophagus (1 twin).5 babies had CNS anomalies, 1 with cystic hygroma, 1 baby with multiple system affected.Conclusion: The incidence of birth defects is more in multiple births and especially in monozygotic twins. In the present days increase in twinning rate due to advanced maternal age, hereditary factors and use of ovulation inducing drugs, which results in premature and low birth wt babies associated with poor lung maturity

Angiosomes of medial cord of brachial plexus

This anatomical study analyzed the neurovascular relationship of the brachial plexus. Ten formalized specimens of brachial plexuses were examined after injection of lead oxide in to the subclavian artery. The vascular, anatomical features of the brachial plexus were documented .The specimens were analyzed by dissection method, subjected for microscopic study. The vascular supply was markedly rich, often with true anastomotic channels found within the nerves. There was much variation in supply, depending on the branching pattern of subclavian artery

Agonist-induced internalization and desensitization of the apelin receptor

Apelin acts via the G protein-coupled apelin receptor (APJ) to mediate effects on cardiovascular and fluid homeostasis. G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) trafficking has an important role in the regulation of receptor signalling pathways and cellular functions, however in the case of APJ the mechanisms and proteins involved in apelin-induced trafficking are not well understood. We generated a stable HEK-293 cell line expressing N-terminus HA-tagged mouse (m) APJ, and used a semi-automated imaging protocol to quantitate APJ trafficking and ERK1/2 activation following stimulation with [Pyr(1)]apelin-13. The mechanisms of [Pyr(1)]apelin-13-induced internalization and desensitization were explored using dominant-negative mutant (DNM) cDNA constructs of G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2), β-arrestin1, EPS15 and dynamin. The di-phosphorylated ERK1/2 (ppERK1/2) response to [Pyr(1)]apelin-13 desensitized during sustained stimulation, due to upstream APJ-specific adaptive changes. Furthermore, [Pyr(1)]apelin-13 stimulation caused internalization of mAPJ via clathrin coated vesicles (CCVs) and also caused a rapid reduction in cell surface and whole cell HA-mAPJ. Our data suggest that upon continuous agonist exposure GRK2-mediated phosphorylation targets APJ to CCVs that are internalized from the cell surface in a β-arrestin1-independent, EPS15- and dynamin-dependent manner. Internalization does not appear to contribute to the desensitization of APJ-mediated ppERK1/2 activation in these cells

Stochastic Dominance Approach to Evaluate Optimism Bias in Truck Toll Forecasts

Optimism bias is a consistent feature associated with truck toll forecasts, à la Standard & Poor’s and the NCHRP synthesis reports. Given the persistent problem, two major sources of this bias are explored. In particular, the ignorance of operating cost as a demand-side factor and lack of attention to user heterogeneity are found to contribute to this bias. To address it, stochastic dominance analysis is used to assess the risk associated with toll revenue forecasts. For a hypothetical corridor, it is shown that ignorance of operating cost savings can lead to upward bias in the threshold value of time distribution. Furthermore, dominance analysis demonstrates that there is greater risk associated with the revenue forecast when demand heterogeneity is factored in. The approach presented can be generally applied to all toll forecasts and is not restricted to trucks

Stochastic Dominance Approach to Evaluate Optimism Bias in Truck Toll Forecasts

Optimism bias is a consistent feature associated with truck toll forecasts, à la Standard & Poor’s and the NCHRP synthesis reports. Given the persistent problem, two major sources of this bias are explored. In particular, the ignorance of operating cost as a demand-side factor and lack of attention to user heterogeneity are found to contribute to this bias. To address it, stochastic dominance analysis is used to assess the risk associated with toll revenue forecasts. For a hypothetical corridor, it is shown that ignorance of operating cost savings can lead to upward bias in the threshold value of time distribution. Furthermore, dominance analysis demonstrates that there is greater risk associated with the revenue forecast when demand heterogeneity is factored in. The approach presented can be generally applied to all toll forecasts and is not restricted to trucks

Association of A1C with cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome in Asian Indians with normal glucose tolerance.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association of A1C with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, coronary artery disease (CAD), and metabolic syndrome in Asian Indians with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited subjects from phase III of the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES), an epidemiological study in a representative population of Chennai (formerly Madras) in South India, conducted between January 2003 and June 2004. Included were 1,644 subjects with NGT, i.e., fasting plasma glucose <100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l) and 2-h postload plasma glucose <140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l). A1C was measured using the Biorad Variant machine. Metabolic syndrome was defined based on modified Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD A1C value in the study cohort was 5.5 +/- 0.4%. A1C showed a significant association with BMI (beta = 0.017, P < 0.001), systolic (beta = 0.002, P = 0.028) and diastolic (beta = 0.202, P = 0.017) blood pressure, waist circumference (beta = 0.007, P < 0.001), serum cholesterol (beta = 0.002, P < 0.001), triglycerides (beta = 0.001, P < 0.001), LDL cholesterol (beta = 0.002, P < 0.001), fasting insulin (beta = 0.009, P < 0.001), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (beta = 0.047, P < 0.001) after adjusting for age and sex. Regression analysis showed that A1C had a strong association with metabolic syndrome that persisted after adjusting for age and sex (odds ratio [OR] 2.9 [95% CI 2.08-4.00]; P < 0.001). A1C also had a strong association with CAD (2.6 [1.23-5.63]; P = 0.01), but the significance was lost when adjusted for age and sex. CONCLUSIONS: There is a strong association of A1C with prevalent CVD risk factors in Asian-Indian subjects with NGT