Suspect carpal tunnel? : Try this

For best results, use the modified Phalen's test (MPT) rather than the traditional Phalen's when you suspect carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)

A safer way to prevent VTE recurrence

After patients with unprovoked venous thromboembolism (VTE) complete a 6- to 18-month course of oral anticoagulation therapy, consider a switch to aspirin. Stength of recommendation: A: Based on one well-designed, randomized controlled trial (RCT)

Flexible ultra-sensitive and resistive NO2 gas sensor based on nanostructured Zn(x)Fe(1−x)2O4

Low concentration gas detection, rapid response time and low working temperature are anticipated for a varied range of toxic gas detection applications. Conversely, the existing gas sensors suffer mostly from a high working temperature along with a slow response at low concentrations of analytes. Here, we report an ultrasensitive flexible nanostructured Zn(x)Fe(1−x)2O4 (x = 0.1, 0.5 and 0.9) based chemiresistive sensor for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) detection. We evince that the prepared flexible sensor Zn(0.5)Fe(0.5)2O4 has detection potential as low as 5 ppm at a working temperature of 90 °C in a short phase. Further, the Zn(0.5)Fe(0.5)2O4 sensor exhibits excellent selectivity, stability and repeatability. The optimized sensor sensing characteristics can be helpful in tremendous development of foldable mobile devices for environmental monitoring, protection and control

Effect of Amomum subulatum seeds against cypermethrin induced haematological changes in wistar albino rats

Background: Cypermethrin is a well know agricultural pesticide used in the developing countries. It is associated with significant toxic potential on human health. Hence the present study was aimed to evaluate the protective role of Amomum subulatum against cypermethrin induced haematalogical changes in Wistar albino rats.Methods: The albino rats were divided into five different groups of six rats each. Group I considered as normal control, group II cypermethrin control (25mg/kg body weight p.o.), group III only test drug and group IV and V administered with cypermethrin 25mg/kg body weight along test drug 1.08 and 2.16mg/kg body weight for 28 consecutive days. At the end of 28th day blood was withdrawn and total haematalogical parameters were estimated.Results: In the cypermethrin control there was significant reduction in the WBC, Platelet, MCHC and considerable reduction in the haemoglobulin concentration in comparison to normal control. The test drug administered at both dose levels was significantly reversed the cypermethrin induced changes in haematalogical parameters.Conclusions: Authors can conclude that the Amomum subulatum has potency to reverse the cypermethrin induced haematalogical changes

Prevalence and pattern of congenital heart diseases in Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India: diagnosed clinically and by trans-thoracic-two-dimensional echocardiography

Background: To find the prevalence and pattern of congenital heart diseases (CHD) at a Semi-Urban teaching hospital in Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India.Methods: A thorough history, clinical examination and Trans-Thoracic-Two-Dimensional Echocardiography (TTE) was done for all the live birth, children up to 18years of age and patients between 18 to 25 years, who were referred or presented to the Department of Medicine, Chalmeda Anand Rao Institute of Medical Sciences, Bommakal, Karimnagar (AP), over a period of 5 years from July 2008 through June 2013. Those suspected to having a CHD or referred in our department, were further evaluated with: Clinically, Twelve-Lead-Surface Electrocardiography, Chest Radiography and the diagnosis was confirmed by TTE. Trans-Thoracic-Two-Dimensional Echocardiography, M-Mode, Color flow doppler and Spectral doppler echocardiography was done in all patients in the various views.Results: Total 13,554 patients were examined and underwent TTE. Out of 13,554 patients 116 were identified as having congenital heart diseases, thus giving a prevalence of 8.55 per 1,000 live births. Isolated Ventricular septal defect (28.44%), isolated atrial septal defect (18.10%), Patent ductus arteriosus (10.34%), isolated congenital pulmonary stenosis (6.03%) and tetralogy of Fallot’s (6.03%), were the commonest defects observed and confirmed by TTE. TOF was the main cyanotic CHD (6.03%), with the prevalence of 0.51% per 1,000 live births. VSD, ASD and PDA were more prevalent in males. TOF and Complete A.V. Canal defect was prevalent in females. All small size muscular and perimembranous VSD was closed spontaneously. Spontaneous closure rate of 75.00% in Muscular VSD and 52.17% in perimembranous VSD was observed. Spontaneous closure rate of Ostium secundum type ASD was 53.33%. Conclusions: The prevalence of CHD at a tertiary teaching hospital (CAIMS, Bommakal, Karimnagar, AP, India), is 8.55 per 1,000 live births. VSD, ASD, PDA are the most common acyanotic and TOF was the commonest cyanotic congenital heart defects respectively. Non-Invasive Cardiac diagnostic technique (like TTE) plays major in the diagnosis of CHD. When clinical evidences lead to suspicion of congenital heart defect, an echocardiography should be performed immediately.

Benchmarking of provider competencies and current training for prevention and management of obesity among family medicine residency programs: a cross-sectional survey

Background U.S. physicians lack training in caring for patients with obesity. For family medicine, the newly developed Obesity Medicine Education Collaborative (OMEC) competencies provide an opportunity to compare current training with widely accepted standards. We aimed to evaluate the current state of obesity training in family medicine residency programs. Methods We conducted a study consisting of a cross-sectional survey of U.S. family medicine residency program leaders. A total of 735 directors (including associate/assistant directors) from 472 family medicine residency programs identified from the American Academy of Family Physicians public directory were invited via postal mail to complete an online survey in 2018. Results Seventy-seven program leaders completed surveys (16% response rate). Sixty-four percent of programs offered training on prevention of obesity and 83% provided training on management of patients with obesity; however, 39% of programs surveyed reported not teaching an approach to obesity management that integrates clinical and community systems as partners, or doing so very little. Topics such as behavioral aspects of obesity (52%), physical activity (44%), and nutritional aspects of obesity (36%) were the most widely covered (to a great extent) by residency programs. In contrast, very few programs extensively covered pharmacological treatment of obesity (10%) and weight stigma and discrimination (14%). Most respondents perceived obesity-related training as very important; 65% of the respondents indicated that expanding obesity education was a high or medium priority for their programs. Lack of room in the curriculum and lack of faculty expertise were reported as the greatest barriers to obesity education during residency. Only 21% of the respondents perceived their residents as very prepared to manage patients with obesity at the end of the residency training. Conclusion Family medicine residency programs are currently incorporating recommended teaching to address OMEC competencies to a variable degree, with some topic areas moderately well represented and others poorly represented such as pharmacotherapy and weight stigma. Very few program directors report their family medicine residents are adequately prepared to manage patients with obesity at the completion of their training. The OMEC competencies could serve as a basis for systematic obesity training in family medicine residency programs

What’s best for IBS?

A meta-analysis confirms the usefulness of antispasmodics and antidepressants for irritable bowel syndrome, but finds bulking agents to be of little help

Software Safety Assurance for the Boot Power Management Processor on NVIDIA’s Tegra SoC

Assist the Tegra System Software team with improving the safety of the BPMP firmware by writing unit tests, refactoring source modules, and documenting functional modules. This work will reduce the probability of a fault in the source code causing a fatal error in production