TLR3 Deficiency Leads to a Dysregulation in the Global Gene-Expression Profile in Murine Oviduct Epithelial Cells Infected with Chlamydia muridarum

OBJECTIVE Describe the implementation and effects of Mobile Acute Care for Elders (MACE) consultation at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). DESIGN Retrospective cohort analysis. INTERVENTION Veterans aged 65 or older who were admitted to the medicine service between October 1, 2012, and September 30, 2014, were screened for geriatric syndromes via review of medical records within 48 hours of admission. If the screen was positive, the MACE team offered the admitting team a same-day consultation involving comprehensive geriatric assessment and ongoing collaboration with the admitting team and supportive services to implement patient-centric recommendations for geriatric syndromes. RESULTS Veterans seen by MACE (n = 421) were compared with those with positive screens but without consultation (n = 372). The two groups did not significantly differ in age, comorbidity, sex, or race. All outcomes (30-day readmission, 30-day mortality, readmission costs) were in the expected direction for patients receiving MACE but did not reach statistical significance. Patients receiving MACE had lower odds of 30-day readmission (11.9% vs 14.8%; odds ratio [OR] = 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.54-1.25; p = .360) and 30-day mortality (5.5% vs 8.6%; OR = 0.64; CI = 0.36-1.12; p = .115), and they had lower 30-day readmission costs (MACE $15,502; CI =$12,242-$19,631; comparison =$18,335; CI = $14,641-$22,962; p = .316) than those who did not receive MACE after adjusting for age and Charlson Comorbidity Index. CONCLUSION Our MACE consultation model for older veterans with geriatric syndromes leverages the limited supply of clinicians with expertise in geriatrics. Although not statistically significant in this study of 793 subjects, MACE patients had lower odds of 30-day readmission and mortality, and lower readmission costs. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:818–824, 2019

Service quality gap analysis in private sector bank - a customer perspective

The present study evaluates the customer perceptions of service quality in selected private sector banks. Data was collected from 200 customers of ICICI and CUB using structured questionnaire. Gap analysis and Multi regression were used fro analysis of data. The result shows that the dimension of service quality such as Empathy and Accessibility has more gap, as the customer expectations are high to their perceived service. The result also indicates that Empathy-Reliability-Assurance positively influences the service quality. The study implies that bank should reduce the service gap to deliver superior quality of service to retain existing customers as well as to attract new customers.Service quality, Service Gap, Multi Regression

Pulsar Scintillation and the Local Bubble

We present here the results from an extensive scintillation study of twenty pulsars in the dispersion measure (DM) range 3 - 35 pc cm^-3 caried out using the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) at 327 MHz, to investigate the distribution of ionized material in the local interstellar medium. Observations were made during the period January 1993 to August 1995, in which the dynamic scintillation spectra of these pulsars were regularly monitored over 10 - 90 epochs spanning 100 days. Reliable and accurate estimates of strengths of scattering have been deduced from the scintillation parameters averaged out for their long-term fluctuations arising from refractive scintillation (RISS) effects. Our analysis reveals several anomalies in the scattering strength, which suggest tht the distribution of scattering material in the Solar neighborhood is not uniform. We have modelled these anomalous scattering effects in terms of inhomogeneities in the distribution of electron dnsity fluctuations in the local interstellar medium (LISM). Our model suggests the presence of a low density bubble surrounded by a shell of much higher density fluctuations. We are able to put constraints on geometrical and scattering properties of such a structure, and find it to be morphologically similar to the Local Bubble known from other studies.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figure

Long-Term Scintillation Studies of Pulsars: III. Testing Theoretical Models of Refractive Scintillation

Refractive interstellar scintillation (RISS) is thought to be the cause behind a variety of phenomena seen at radio wavelengths in pulsars and compact radio sources. Though there is substantial observational data to support several consequences of it, the quantitative predictions from theories have not been thoroughly tested. In this paper, data from our long-term scintillation study of 18 pulsars are used to test the predictions. The fluctuations of decorrelation bandwidth ($\nu_d$), scintillation time scale ($\tau_d$) and flux density (F) are examined for their cross-correlations and compared with the predictions. The theory predicts a strong correlation between $\nu_d$ and $\tau_d$, and strong anti-correlations between $\nu_d$ and F, and $\tau_d$ and F. For 5 pulsars, we see a reasonable agreement. There is considerable difficulty in reconciling the results for the rest of the pulsars. Our analysis shows the underlying noise sources can sometimes reduce the correlation, but cannot cause an absence of correlation. It is also unlikely that the poor flux correlations arise from a hitherto unrecognized intrinsic flux variations. For PSR B0834+06, which shows anomalous behaviour of persistent drift slopes, positive correlation is found between $\tau_d$ and the drift-corrected $\nu_d$. Many pulsars show an anti-correlation between $\nu_d$ and the drift slope, and this is in accordance with the simple models of RISS. The detections of correlated variations of observables and a reasonable agreement between the predicted and measured correlations for some pulsars confirm RISS as the primary cause of the observed fluctuations. However, the complexity seen with the detailed results suggests the necessity of more comprehensive theoretical treatments for describing refractive fluctuations and their correlations.Comment: 27 pages, 6 Figures, 6 Tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Parametric investigation of nonlinear fluctuations in a dc glow discharge plasma

Glow discharge plasmas exhibit various types of self excited oscillations for different initial conditions like discharge voltages and filling pressures. The behavior of such oscillations associated with the anode glow have been investigated using nonlinear techniques like correlation dimension, largest Lyapunov exponent etc. It is seen that these oscillations go to an ordered state from a chaotic state with increase in input energy i.e. with discharge voltages implying occurrence of inverse bifurcations. These results are different from the other observations wherein the fluctuations have been observed to go from ordered to chaotic state.Comment: Submitted to Chao