Spiral-wave Dynamics Depends Sensitively on nhomogeneities in Mathematical Models of Ventricular Tissue

Every sixth death in industrialised countries occurs because of cardiac arrhythmias like ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF). There is growing consensus that VT is associated with an unbroken spiral wave of electrical activation on cardiac tissue but VF with broken waves, spiral turbulence, spatiotemporal chaos and rapid, irregular activation. Thus spiral-wave activity in cardiac tissue has been studied extensively. Nevertheless many aspects of such spiral dynamics remain elusive because of the intrinsically high-dimensional nature of the cardiac-dynamical system. In particular, the role of tissue heterogeneities in the stability of cardiac spiral waves is still being investigated. Experiments with conduction blocks in cardiac tissue yield a variety of results: some suggest that blocks can eliminate VF partially or completely, leading to VT or quiescence, but others show that VF is unaffected by obstacles. We propose theoretically that this variety of results is a natural manifestation of a fractal boundary that must separate the basins of the attractors associated, respectively, with VF and VT. We substantiate this with extensive numerical studies of Panfilov and Luo-Rudy I models, where we show that the suppression of VF depends sensitively on the position, size, and nature of the inhomogeneity.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

Mortality post inpatient alcohol detoxification: a descriptive case series

<br>Background: Individuals with alcohol dependence often die prematurely. Scotland in particular has high rates of alcohol misuse compared to the rest of the UK and Europe. Although there is some evidence that rates of alcoholrelated harm and alcohol-related deaths are reducing in Europe, there is little evidence of this trend occurring in Scotland. Inpatient detoxification is an important, but expensive, option in the management of alcohol dependence. Little work has been done with regard possible clinical characteristics associated with mortality post discharge in this cohort of patients.</br> <br>Methods: Retrospective electronic records were used to identify patients admitted electively for alcohol detoxification into a psychiatric ward in a district general hospital under the care of a single consultant addiction psychiatrist between 1/1/05 and 31/12/07 inclusively. Demographic and clinical factors were recorded. 5-year mortality data was obtained by linkage to the National Records of Scotland.</br> <br>Results: 25.2% of patients admitted for elective alcohol detoxification died during the 5-year follow up period. 42.9% of deaths (n=12) were due to alcoholic liver disease, one death (3.6%) was of undetermined intent. A higher proportion of the deceased cohort was likely to have continued disulfiram (93% vs. 80%) and acamprosate (81% vs. 60%) than those surviving. There was no statistically significant difference in survival between individuals on medication and those not on medications in our cohort. The average consumption of units of alcohol per week in the deceased cohort was significantly higher than that calculated for the surviving cohort (298.8 units vs. 233.3 units p=0.0137).</br> <br>Conclusion: Inpatient detoxification was associated with significant mortality at 5-year follow up post- discharge. The majority of deaths were due to liver disease while deaths due to accidents and of undetermined intent were relatively infrequent. Increased education and practical strategies such as “space and pace” aimed both at an individual and societal level to reduce alcohol consumption may help to reduce mortality associated with alcohol dependence post inpatient detoxification.</br&gt

Tibetan Buddhism and Feminism in an In-between Space: A Creative-Critical Autoethnography in a Non-Western Woman’s Voice

As a religion and spiritual practice, Tibetan Buddhism is focused on training the mind to achieve inner tranquility, peace, and compassion. On the other hand, the feminist goal is to liberate women from patriarchal oppression. The possibility for exploring new feminist experiences through Tibetan Buddhist practice calls for a deeper conversation between feminism and Tibetan Buddhism on the basis of real life experiences, heterogeneity, particularity, differences and human conditions. The existing scholarly conversation between feminism and Tibetan Buddhism tends to be grounded in the perspective of Western women. Non-Western women like me have remained almost silent in expressing their reality through feminist-Buddhist lenses. My thesis presents the voice, representations, and experience of a non-Western woman through a creative-critical autoethnography. As a non-Western woman I found that without an epistemic disobedience to colonial aspects of knowledge I cannot speak in the academic area where Eurocentric and masculine approaches dominate in producing knowledge. Taking an arts-based and bricolage approach, I have expressed an epistemic disobedience to this hegemony through performative uses of images, story telling, archetypes, “fictocriticism”, and performative writing. Through this alternative paths, I explored how Tibetan Buddhism and feminism interact in an in-between space where the categories, binaries, cultural dichotomy and identities become fluid and non-dual. This is a space of multiplicity and ambivalence, a space that cannot be completely captured or defined; but can be demonstrated, articulated and interpreted. This in-between space gives birth to more open-ended questions, thoughts and possibilities for an enriched ongoing conversation between feminism and Tibetan Buddhism

A study on prevalence of smoking on peptic ulcer: a survey

Cigarette smoking appears to be a risk factor for the development, maintenance, and recurrence of peptic ulcer disease. Peptic ulcer is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes long-lasting inflammation and ulcers (sores) in our digestive tract. Ulcerative colitis affects the innermost lining of your large intestine (colon) and rectum. Smoking has an inconsistent effect on gastric acid secretion, but it does have other effects on upper gastrointestinal function that could contribute to the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease. The purpose of the study was to assess the role of cigarette smoking in ulcer. An online prospective questionnaire based survey was carried out in 100 individuals who were selected in random and their responses were recorded and the results were analysed. The present study suggests that now, most ulcer perforations may arise among individuals (especially mens) aged above 25 are caused by smoking. We found a very strong association between current cigarette smoking and ulcer perforation from these surve

A REVIEW ON AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE OF CAUSATIVE FACTORS LEADING TO STRESS AMONG INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

Being a public health oriented medical science, Ayurveda has high responsibility in addressing job related health problems in different sectors. Stress has become an important aetiopathological factor in a good number of psychosomatic diseases. Stress, in general, is a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation. In other words, stress is defined as the disruption of internal biological equilibrium triggered by external physical, mental or other types of stimuli. IT professionals are prone to develop stress and related health issues because of their high pressure job culture. Stress is never a single pathogenesis, but a wide spectrum of interconnected events, which may result in specific diseases affecting different systems. Ayurveda has a unique tool of Nidanapanchaka to unveil the aetiopathogenesis of any clinical condition. Ayurveda considers Nidana - causative factors as very important in the development of a disease. The nature and strength of Nidana determine the severity of every health problem. Here in the case of stress among IT professionals, multidimensional causative factors have defined role in different stages of pathogenesis. As per Ayurveda, treatment itself is avoiding the Nidana. A detailed understanding of these causative factors in Ayurvedic language will help to explore the stress related diseases in a better way. Classical Ayurvedic understanding of various causative factors related with stress among IT professionals will help to derive specific preventive and management protocols against stress and related clinical conditions

Development of a design feature database to support design for additive manufacturing (DfAM)

This research introduces a method to aid the design of products or parts to be made using Additive Manufacturing (AM), particularly the laser sintering (LS) system. The research began with a literature review that encompassed the subjects of design and AM and through this the need for an assistive design approach for AM was identified. Undertaking the literature review also confirmed that little has been done in the area of supporting the design of AM parts or products. Preliminary investigations were conducted to identify the design factors to consider for AM. Two preliminary investigations were conducted, the first investigation was conducted to identify the reasons for designing for AM, the need for a design support tool for AM and current challenges of student industrial designers designing parts or products for AM, and also to identify the type of design support they required. Further investigation were conducted to examine how AM products are developed by professional industrial designers and to understand their design processes and procedures. The study has identified specific AM enabled design features that the designers have been able to create within their case study products. Detailed observation of the case study products and parts reveals a number of features that are only economical or possible to produce with AM. A taxonomy of AM enabled design features was developed as a precursor for the development of a computer based design tool. The AM enabled design features was defined as a features that would be uneconomical or very expensive to be produced with conventional methods. The taxonomy has four top-level taxons based on four main reasons for using AM, namely user fit requirements, improved product functionality requirements, parts consolidation requirements and improvement of aesthetics or form requirements. Each of these requirements was expanded further into thirteen sub categories of applications that contained 106 examples of design features that are only possible to manufacture using AM technology. The collected and grouped design features were presented in a form of a database as a method to aid product design of parts or products for AM. A series of user trials were conducted that showed the database enabled industrial designers to visualise and gather design feature information that could be incorporated into their own design work. Finally, conclusions are drawn and suggestions for future work are listed. In summary, it can be concluded that this research project has been a success, having addressed all of the objectives that were identified at its outset. From the user trial results, it is clear to see that the proposed tool would be an effective tool to support product design for AM, particularly from an educational perspective. The tool was found to be beneficial to student designers to take advantage of the design freedom offered by AM in order to produce improved product design. As AM becomes more widely used, it is anticipated that new design features will emerge that could be included in future versions of the database so that it will remain a rich source of inspirational information for tomorrow s industrial designers

A REVIEW ON THE ROLE OF AVARANA (OCCLUSION OF BODY CHANNELS) IN METABOLIC SYNDROME

In Ayurvedic classics, the diseases caused by Vatha are considered as very serious diseases (Mahagada). One of the two pathological processes for the vitiation of Vatha is Avarana. Avarana is the disturbed movement of Vatha due to obstruction by other factors in the body. In the present social scenario, majority of diseases of Vatha are the result of Avarana, but the pathogenesis related to Avarana is least explored. Metabolic syndrome is one such lifestyle disease comprised of obesity, hyperglycemia, hypertension, hyper triglyceridemia and low HDL level. Majority of the symptoms of different Avarana conditions can be identified in patients presenting with metabolic syndrome. The general treatment protocol for Avarana is pacification of Vatha along with cleansing of channels and treatment of encroaching Dosha. Since metabolic syndrome is a disease with Avarana as the main pathophysiology, the treatment proposed by Acharyas for Avarana will be useful in metabolic syndrome. Since the vitiation is predominantly of Kapha and Meda, the drugs pacifying Kapha and Meda, cleansing of the channels, strengthening the tissues and not vitiating Vatha will be beneficial. The drugs may also be disease specific, like Pramehahara and Medodoshahara. Tinospora cordifolia (Guduchi) and Commiphora mukul (Guggulu) may be effective in metabolic syndrome since they are satisfying the above properties. Serious disease will develop, if the Avarana pathology is left untreated as evident in coronary artery disease.

GUT BRAIN AXIS IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS - AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) constitutes a group of brain developmental disorders, and it is defined by stereotyped behaviour and deficits in communication and social interaction. The prevalence of ASD has shown an alarming increase in the recent decades ending up to 1 in 90 children. The exact cause of ASD is still not known. Research studies have focused on genetic causes, dysregulation of the immune system, inflammation, exposure to environmental toxicants, and the defective gut microbiota. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that gastrointestinal symptoms, such as abdominal pain, gaseousness, diarrhea, constipation and flatulence, are a common comorbidity in patients with ASD. The gut consists of millions of microbiota, and we hypothesize that the microbiota and its metabolites might be involved in the pathophysiology of ASD. In Ayurveda all Psycho social abnormalities have been included under the category of Unmada. A defective digestive and metabolic function is postulated as the root cause of Unmada, leading to systemic accumulation of metabolic wastes (Dhatugataama). The metabolic wastes act as systemic toxins and impair the functional integrity of brain. An observational study was carried out in the outpatient section of the Department of Kaumarabhrithya, Govt. Ayurveda College Hospital for Women and Children, Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram in 122 children with ASD. Data pertaining to Socio demographic aspects and clinical manifestations were recorded and its prevalence rate was calculated. It was noted that 54% of the cases showed an evident disturbance in the digestive mechanism. Constipation was complained by 28% of cases, bloated abdomen by 16%, irritable bowel by 8%, increased flatulence by 7% and recurrent diarrhoea by 3%. Although these studies did not show a cause-effect relationship between GI symptoms and ASD, the findings suggest that the gut plays an important role in the etiology of ASD. Ayurvedic treatment strategies that modulate the gut microbiota might constitute a potential therapy for patients with ASD