On certain equations of arbitrary length over torsion-free groups

Let $G$ be a non-trivial torsion free group and $t$ be an unknown. In this paper we consider three equations (over $G$) of arbitrary length and show that they have a solution (over $G$) provided two relations among their coefficients hold. Such equations appear for all lengths greater than or equal to eight and the results presented in this article can substantially simplify their solution.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1903.0650

Analysis and Modeling Experiment Performance Parameters of Routing Protocols in MANETs and VANETs

In this paper, a framework for experimental parameters in which Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), effect of link duration over End-to-End Delay (E2ED) and Normalized Routing Overhead (NRO) in terms of control packets is analyzed and modeled for Mobile Ad-Hoc NETworks (MANETs) and Vehicular Ad-Hoc NETworks (VANETs) with the assumption that nodes (vehicles) are sparsely moving in two different road. Moreover, this paper contributes the performance comparison of one Proactive Routing Protocol; Destination Sequenced Distance vector (DSDV) and two reactive protocols; DYnamic Source Routing (DSR) and DYnamic MANET On-Demand (DYMO). A novel contribution of this work is enhancements in default versions of selected routing protocols. Three performance parameters; PDR, E2ED and NRO with varying scalabilities are measured to analyze the performance of selected routing protocols with their original and enhanced versions. From extensive simulations, it is observed that DSR outperforms among all three protocols at the cost of delay. NS-2 simulator is used for simulation with TwoRayGround propagation model to evaluate analytical results

DSDV, DYMO, OLSR: Link Duration and Path Stability

In this paper, we evaluate and compare the impact of link duration and path stability of routing protocols; Destination Sequence Distance vector (DSDV), Dynamic MANET On- Demand (DYMO) and Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) at different number of connections and node density. In order to improve the efficiency of selected protocols; we enhance DYMO and OLSR. Simulation and comparison of both default and enhanced routing protocols is carried out under the performance parameters; Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), Average End-to End Delay (AE2ED) and Normalized Routing Overhead (NRO). From the results, we observe that DYMO performs better than DSDV, MOD-OLSR and OLSR in terms of PDR, AE2ED, link duration and path stability at the cost of high value of NRO

Local anaesthetics as antibacterial agents

Local anaesthetics as antibacterial agent

Oral health care for patients undergoing therapy for head and neck cancer in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa - A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: There is limited published evidence in KwaZulu-Natal on access to oral health care for patients undergoing cancer therapy in the head and neck region. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess patients' oral health-related perceptions, practices and needs during cancer therapy. METHODS: This was a descriptive case study. A semi-structured face-to-face interview was conducted with volunteers (n=12) undergoing cancer therapy in head and neck region. Purposive sampling was used to select study participants who were recruited from a public tertiary central referral hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. A semi-structured interview was also conducted with the eThekwini district coordinator for oral health services to gain better insight into oral health service delivery for patients with special needs. RESULTS: The results indicated that oral health care in the sample population was not prioritised. Some of the emergent themes included: participants' knowledge and oral health self-care practices, support for participants to cope with head and neck cancer, barriers in accessing facility-based oral health care (poor access to dental services, failure of the local clinic to provide appropriate care), lack of referral by oncology care practitioners for patients to access dental care, and existing gaps in oral health service delivery The reported non-existence of a specific oral health policy to address cancer and the absence of a risk factor intervention program highlighted some of the shortcomings for quality oral health service delivery in this population group. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that oral health care is important for patients undergoing cancer therapy. There is an urgent need for oral health planning in the province to take into account the specific oral health needs of this vulnerable population

Self-reported oral health status: Perspectives of patients undergoing therapy for cancer of the head and neck region, in the eThekwini District, KZN

There is a dearth of published evidence related to understanding oral health needs for patients undergoing therapy for cancer of the head and neck region in South Africa. This study aimed to assess perceived oral health status of patients undergoing therapy for cancer of the head and neck region, in eTthekwini district, KwaZulu-Natal. This was a cross-sectional case study using quantitative data to determine patients’ perspectives of oral health status and need. The study population comprised 235 voluntary patients (aged between 20-70 years old), undergoing treatment or follow up for cancer therapy of the head and neck region, in a public tertiary referral hospital in the eThekwini district, KwaZulu-Natal. Purposive sampling technique was used for participant selection. The research instrument comprised a combination of two previously validated questionnaires: a core questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30, Version 3.0) and the head and neck cancer specific module (EORTC H&N-35). Data was analysed using the statistical package for software sciences (SPSS), version 24. More than half of the study population were male (60%;n= 141). The mean age was 54.38 (SD= 12.30). The results indicate that 14.5% (n=34) were employed, 46.4% (n=109) were unemployed because of cancer and 39.1% (n=92) were unemployed due to other reasons (old age, housewife). Oral cavity cancer was the most common (n=91; 38.7%), followed by laryngeal cancer (n= 53; 22.6%) among all the other head and neck cancers. Males(n=50; 21.3%) were more affected by oral cavity cancer as compared to females (n=41; 17.4%). With reference to treatment, 20.4% (n=48) were on radiotherapy, 28.5% (n=67) were on chemotherapy and 9.8% (n=23) were on CCRT, 17.4% (n=41) had surgery, 8.5% (n=20) were recently diagnosed with cancer of the head and neck and 23.4% (n=55) were on follow up. Oral health-related symptoms were experienced to varying degree by the participants. The majority of participants (n=125; 53.2%) did not report any pain and discomfort. More female participants (n=7; 7.4%) in the age group of 41-60 reported of severedifficulty in swallowing liquids than males of the same age group. Most participants (n=148; 63.0%) had difficulty in swallowing solid foods. Similarly, the majority of participants experienced problems with their teeth (n=162; 69.0%), reported xerostomia (n=159; 67.7%). With reference to trismus, a higher proportion of females (n=27; 28.7%) reported severe trismus compared to male participants (n=33; 23.4%). With reference to increased viscosity of saliva, 34.0% (n=32) of females reported extremely sticky saliva as compared to 29.8% males (n=42)

Effects of Economic and Population Factors on Health Expenditures: Special Case of Pakistan

This paper aims to explore the factors affecting the health care expenditures of Pakistan by employing the Multivariate techniques for the annual data series from 1960 to 2010 .The variables we considered are Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as an economic indicator, Population of age 65 and above (P≥65), Population of age 0 to 14 (P(0-14)), Life expectancy at Birth (LE), Crude Birth rate (CBR) and population growth rate (GR) as population indicator and Total Health Expenditure (THE) as an influencing factor. Multiple regression considering Total Health Expenditure (THE) is applied as dependent on the variables mentioned above. Since Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) for all independent variables are very high, the smallest VIF is around 11 goes up to 65. The results obtained by Principal components reveal the effect of population structure and the age factor effect oppositely on Total Health Expenditures (THE). Factor Analysis suggests that the behavior of Health Expenditures is common with Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population of age 65 and above (P≥65) and life expectancy at Birth (LE) in Pakistan while population of age 0 to 14 (P (0-14)), population growth rate (GR) and Crude Birth rate (CBR) are moving in opposite direction i.e. as GDP, P≥65 and LE of Pakistan increases P (0-14), GR and CBR will decreases

21-Hy­droxy­pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione

The title compound, C21H28O3, is a fungal transformed metabolite of decoxycorticosterone acetate, consisting of four fused rings A, B, C and D. Ring A is nearly planar, with a maximum deviation of 0.010 (3) Å from the least-squares plane, while the trans-fused rings B and C adopt chair conformations. The five-membered ring D is in an envelope conformation. The orientation of the side chain is stabilized by an intramolecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bond. In the crystal, adjecent mol­ecules are linked by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into extended zigzag chains along the a axis