Charged analogue of Finch-Skea stars

We present solutions to the Einstein-Maxwell system of equations in spherically symmetric gravitational fields for static interior spacetimes with a specified form of the electric field intensity. The condition of pressure isotropy yields three category of solutions. The first category is expressible in terms of elementary functions and does not have an uncharged limit. The second category is given in terms of Bessel functions of half-integer order. These charged solutions satisfy a barotropic equation of state and contain Finch-Skea uncharged stars. The third category is obtained in terms of modified Bessel functions of half-integer order and does not have an uncharged limit. The physical features of the charged analogue of the Finch-Skea stars are studied in detail. In particular the condition of causality is satisfied and the speed of sound does not exceed the speed of light. The physical analysis indicates that this analogue is a realistic model for static charged relativistic perfect fluid spheres.Comment: 17 pages, To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Antidepressant effect of atypical antipsychotic ziprasidone in albino rats

Background: Depression is a common psychiatric illness but conventional antidepressants are often shows unpredictable response. Pharmacological profiles of many atypical antipsychotics have potential antidepressant effect. Ziprasidone is an atypical antidepressant with 5HT1A agonistic activity and 5HT1D, 5HT2A and D2 receptors antagonistic activity. It’s a potential candidate for evaluating possible antidepressant activity.Methods: Behavioural despair test are widely used for evaluation of potential antidepressant molecule. Tail suspension test is a variant of behavioural despair test. Healthy male Wistar albino rat 18 in number and weighing between of 150-200 grams were divided in 3 groups with 6 rats in each group. Group A was treated with 0.9% Normal Saline, Group B with Fluoxetine and Group C with Ziprasidone for 28 days. Tail suspension test was done on day 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days.Results: In comparison to Normal saline both the drugs shows significant antidepressant activity after 28 days of treatment. While antidepressant activity of fluoxetine started to appear from day 7; that of ziprasidone started to appear from 14th day.Conclusions: Ziprasidone can be suitable candidate for clinical trials of Major Depressive Disorders not responding to conventional antidepressant.

Security Requirement Analysis of Blockchain-based E-Voting Systems

In democratic countries such as India, voting is a fundamental right given to citizens of their countries. Citizens need to physically present and cast their vote in ballot-paper-based voting systems. Most of the citizens fail to fulfill this constraint and have stayed away from their fundamental duty. Electronic-voting systems are often considered one efficient alternative in such situations. Blockchain Technology is an emerging technology that can provide a real solution as it is characterized by immutable, transparent, anonymous, and decentralized properties. This paper presents a security requirement analysis for e-voting systems and evaluates blockchain technology against these requirements

Lie symmetries for equations in conformal geometries

We seek exact solutions to the Einstein field equations which arise when two spacetime geometries are conformally related. Whilst this is a simple method to generate new solutions to the field equations, very few such examples have been found in practice. We use the method of Lie analysis of differential equations to obtain new group invariant solutions to conformally related Petrov type D spacetimes. Four cases arise depending on the nature of the Lie symmetry generator. In three cases we are in a position to solve the master field equation in terms of elementary functions. In the fourth case special solutions in terms of Bessel functions are obtained. These solutions contain known models as special cases.Comment: 19 pages, To appear in J. Phys.

Classes of exact Einstein-Maxwell solutions

We find new classes of exact solutions to the Einstein-Maxwell system of equations for a charged sphere with a particular choice of the electric field intensity and one of the gravitational potentials. The condition of pressure isotropy is reduced to a linear, second order differential equation which can be solved in general. Consequently we can find exact solutions to the Einstein-Maxwell field equations corresponding to a static spherically symmetric gravitational potential in terms of hypergeometric functions. It is possible to find exact solutions which can be written explicitly in terms of elementary functions, namely polynomials and product of polynomials and algebraic functions. Uncharged solutions are regainable with our choice of electric field intensity; in particular we generate the Einstein universe for particular parameter values.Comment: 16 pages, To appear in Gen. Relativ. Gravi

How do validated measures of functional outcome compare with commonly used outcomes in administrative database research for lumbar spinal surgery?

Clinical interpretation of health services research based on administrative databases is limited by the lack of patient-reported functional outcome measures. Reoperation, as a surrogate measure for poor outcome, may be biased by preferences of patients and surgeons and may even be planned a priori. Other available administrative data outcomes, such as postoperative cross sectional imaging (PCSI), may better reflect changes in functional outcome. The purpose was to determine if postoperative events captured from administrative databases, namely reoperation and PCSI, reflect outcomes as derived by validated functional outcome measures (short form 36 scores, Oswestry disability index) for patients who underwent discretionary surgery for specific degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine such as disc herniation, spinal stenosis, degenerative spondylolisthesis, and isthmic spondylolisthesis. After reviewing the records of all patients surgically treated for disc herniation, spinal stenosis, degenerative spondylolisthesis, and isthmic spondylolisthesis at our institution, we recorded the occurrence of PCSI (MRI or CT-myelograms) and reoperations, as well as demographic, surgical, and functional outcome data. We determined how early (within 6 months) and intermediate (within 18 months) term events (PCSI and reoperations) were associated with changes in intermediate (minimum 1 year) and late (minimum 2 years) term functional outcome, respectively. We further evaluated how early (6–12 months) and intermediate (12–24 months) term changes in functional outcome were associated with the subsequent occurrence of intermediate (12–24 months) and late (beyond 24 months) term adverse events, respectively. From 148 surgically treated patients, we found no significant relationship between the occurrence of PCSI or reoperation and subsequent changes in functional outcome at intermediate or late term. Similarly, earlier changes in functional outcome did not have any significant relationship with subsequent occurrences of adverse events at intermediate or late term. Although it may be tempting to consider administrative database outcome measures as proxies for poor functional outcome, we cannot conclude that a significant relationship exists between the occurrence of PCSI or reoperation and changes in functional outcome

Canagliflozin and Renal Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes and Nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to 300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m 2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years