Takotsubo Syndrome and COVID-19: Associations and Implications.

Incidence of cardiovascular complications has increased during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, both population-wide and in patients diagnosed with the disease. This increase has presented complications in patient care, leading to increased hospitalizations, adverse outcomes, and medical costs. A condition of interest is takotsubo syndrome, which may be associated with the novel coronavirus. To understand this connection, a narrative review was performed by analyzing primary studies and case reports available. The findings showed increased incidence of takotsubo cardiomyopathy in both the general population and COVID-19 patients. Proposed mechanisms for the linkage include generalized increases in psychological distress, the cytokine storm, increased sympathetic responses in COVID-19 patients, and microvascular dysfunction. Moreover, natural disasters are noted as likely being associated with increases of takotsubo syndrome. As the pandemic continues, treating COVID-19 as a systemic condition is imperative, with the increase in takotsubo syndrome marking a significant impact of the novel coronavirus

Treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in a remote, conflict-affected area of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a high-burden country for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Médecins Sans Frontières has supported the Ministry of Health in the conflict-affected region of Shabunda since 1997. In 2006, three patients were diagnosed with drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) and had no options for further treatment. An innovative model was developed to treat these patients despite the remote setting. Key innovations were the devolving of responsibility for treatment to non-TB clinicians remotely supported by a TB specialist, use of simplified monitoring protocols, and a strong focus on addressing stigma to support adherence. Treatment was successfully completed after a median of 24 months. This pilot programme demonstrates that successful treatment for DR-TB is possible on a small scale in remote settings

Deformed Complex Hermite Polynomials

We study a class of bivariate deformed Hermite polynomials and some of their properties using classical analytic techniques and the Wigner map. We also prove the positivity of certain determinants formed by the deformed polynomials. Along the way we also work out some additional properties of the (undeformed) complex Hermite polynomials and their relationships to the standard Hermite polynomials (of a single real variable).Comment: 12 page

Cataract How Important Is Age of Intervention?

Purpose: To study effect of age of intervention on visual outcome following treatment of pediatric patients with cataract. Setting: Tertiary eye care centre in Dahod at the trijunction of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan states in central western India. Participants: 705 eyes of 1047 patients Methods: This is a prospective cohort study. We studied a consecutive series of pediatric patients with congenital, developing, or COMPLICATED cataracts who underwent surgery between January, 1999 and April, 2012 at our center. Patient demographics, cataract type, presenting symptoms, surgical intervention, postoperative visual acuity, and follow-up refractive changes were recorded. Primary Outcome measures: vision. Results: In total, 1305 eyes of 1047 children were included: unilateral cataracts were present in 786 (60.2%) eyes. There were 600 (46.7%) traumatic and 705 (53.3%) non-traumatic cases. Ages at surgery ranged from 1 to 215 months. Eyes were grouped by the age of surgical intervention performed: Group 1,</= 5 years including 177 (25.1%) eyes, and Group 2, >5 years, including 528 (74.9%) eyes either by anterior or pars plana route ± IOL placement. The mean follow-up time was 117 days. Ultimately, 128 (18.2%) Group 1 and 213 (30.2%) Group 2 patients achieved a visual acuity better than 20/80 (P < 0.001). Age at intervention was significantly related (all P < 0.001) to visual outcome. Conclusions: Age of intervention affects visual outcome significantly (p<0.001)

Corporate Debt Policy—Pre- and Post-financial Market Reforms: The Case of the Textile Industry of Pakistan

The literature provides evidence that the capital structure of a firm is often a combination of several securities; it can arrange (1) Bank loan (2) issue debentures/bonds, (3) issue shares (4) lease financing, or (5) utilise its retained earnings. Eventually number of ideas and theories has been developed to discuss the optimal capital structure. Optimum is the trade-off between the benefit of tax and costs of financial distress; a firm faces due to the borrowed money. Although extensive research work has been done on the capital structure but still it remains one of the unsettled topics in finance. Optimal capital structure has an impact on corporate profits. Debt is considered as the cheapest source of financing due to tax shield, higher the firm’s tax bracket more the debt is advantageous to a firm. The trade off theory states that higher debt is associated with higher profitability. Three reasons support this theory; one debt allow tax shield. Second, more trust is built on profitable companies considering more sustainable and less prone to bankruptcy; hence high profitable companies are able to seek more debt. Third, agency cost, for the profitable firms, lenders/creditors give relaxation in monitoring charges, which reduces the debt cost. This motivates profitable firms to go for more debt