A Rare Case Report of Idiopathic Abdominal Cocoon Presenting as Acute Intestinal Obstruction-Management Challenges

The idiopathic variant of sclerosing Intraperitoneal fibrosis is a rare pathological entity causing intestinal obstruction. Even though it is described since the beginning of the last century, we are still clueless about the aetiology of this problem. The presentation is often confusing and the clinical and laboratory values will be not confirmatory to establish a diagnosis. A Contrast-enhanced CT scan is a vital investigation of choice. Here we discuss a case of intestinal obstruction with a preop diagnosis of internal herniation, which turned out to be a case of massive intraperitoneal fibrosis. The histopathology was not significant, and no secondary cause was identified. The case report throws wisdom into the existence of this entity and how with a CT scan we can suspect it before surgery. With adequate and meticulous enterolysis we can surgically rehabilitate these patients so that they can lead a normal life

A Case Report on the Spontaneous Intraperitoneal Rupture of Urinary Bladder Presenting as Acute Intestinal Obstruction – Lessons Learnt

Acute intestinal obstruction is a common surgical emergency. Most of the time, the cause lies in the gastrointestinal track. A 19 year old boy presented with clinical features of acute intestinal obstruction and radiological features suggestive of large bowel obstruction was taken up for surgery. During evaluation we found extravasation of urine inside pelvic cavity. Exploratory laparotomy showed intraperitoneal rent in dome of urinary bladder with dense adhesion of omentum kinking the transverse colon causing acute intestinal obstruction. We were surprised to see the resolution of obstruction with excision of omental band. The bladder was repaired and he was relieved of the problem. This article is a rare example of nongastrointestinal cause for intestinal obstruction. Most of these cases are seen by a general surgeon in an emergency setting. Hence this report is to enlighten the medical caregivers about the existence of this rare entity

Risk factors for mortality among children under 5 years of age with severe diarrhea in low- and middle-income countries: Findings from the WHO-coordinated Global Rotavirus and Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance Networks.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children under five years of age globally. The burden of diarrheal mortality is concentrated in low-resource settings. Little is known about the risk factors for childhood death from diarrheal disease in low and middle-income countries. METHODS: Data from the WHO-coordinated Global Rotavirus and Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance Networks, which are composed of active, sentinel, hospital-based surveillance sites, were analyzed to assess mortality in children less than five years of age who were hospitalized with diarrhea between 2008-2018. Case fatality risks were calculated, and multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify risk factors for mortality. RESULTS: This analysis is comprised of 234,781 cases, including 1,219 deaths, across 57 countries. The overall case fatality risk was found to be 0.5%. Risk factors for death in the multivariable analysis included younger age (for <6 months compared with older ages, OR = 3.54; 95% CI = 2.81-4.50), female sex (OR = 1.18; 95% CI= 1.06-1.81), presenting with persistent diarrhea (OR = 1.91; 95% CI= 1.01-3.25), no vomiting (OR = 1.13, 95% CI= 0.98-1.30), severe dehydration (OR = 3.79; 95% CI = 3.01-4.83), and being negative for rotavirus on an ELISA test (OR = 2.29; 95% CI= 1.92-2.74). Cases from the African Region had the highest odds of death compared with other WHO Regions (OR = 130.62 comparing the African Region to the European region; 95% CI= 55.72-422.73), while cases from the European region had the lowest odds of death. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support known risk factors for childhood diarrheal mortality and highlight the need for interventions to address dehydration and rotavirus-negative diarrheal infections

Aetiology and incidence of diarrhoea requiring hospitalisation in children under 5 years of age in 28 low-income and middle-income countries: findings from the Global Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance network.

Introduction: Diarrhoea remains a leading cause of child morbidity and mortality. Systematically collected and analysed data on the aetiology of hospitalised diarrhoea in low-income and middle-income countries are needed to prioritise interventions. Methods: We established the Global Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance network, in which children under 5 years hospitalised with diarrhoea were enrolled at 33 sentinel surveillance hospitals in 28 low-income and middle-income countries. Randomly selected stool specimens were tested by quantitative PCR for 16 causes of diarrhoea. We estimated pathogen-specific attributable burdens of diarrhoeal hospitalisations and deaths. We incorporated country-level incidence to estimate the number of pathogen-specific deaths on a global scale. Results: During 2017–2018, 29 502 diarrhoea hospitalisations were enrolled, of which 5465 were randomly selected and tested. Rotavirus was the leading cause of diarrhoea requiring hospitalisation (attributable fraction (AF) 33.3%; 95% CI 27.7 to 40.3), followed by Shigella (9.7%; 95% CI 7.7 to 11.6), norovirus (6.5%; 95% CI 5.4 to 7.6) and adenovirus 40/41 (5.5%; 95% CI 4.4 to 6.7). Rotavirus was the leading cause of hospitalised diarrhoea in all regions except the Americas, where the leading aetiologies were Shigella (19.2%; 95% CI 11.4 to 28.1) and norovirus (22.2%; 95% CI 17.5 to 27.9) in Central and South America, respectively. The proportion of hospitalisations attributable to rotavirus was approximately 50% lower in sites that had introduced rotavirus vaccine (AF 20.8%; 95% CI 18.0 to 24.1) compared with sites that had not (42.1%; 95% CI 33.2 to 53.4). Globally, we estimated 208 009 annual rotavirus-attributable deaths (95% CI 169 561 to 259 216), 62 853 Shigella-attributable deaths (95% CI 48 656 to 78 805), 36 922 adenovirus 40/41-attributable deaths (95% CI 28 469 to 46 672) and 35 914 norovirus-attributable deaths (95% CI 27 258 to 46 516). Conclusions: Despite the substantial impact of rotavirus vaccine introduction, rotavirus remained the leading cause of paediatric diarrhoea hospitalisations. Improving the efficacy and coverage of rotavirus vaccination and prioritising interventions against Shigella, norovirus and adenovirus could further reduce diarrhoea morbidity and mortality

The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization-Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014-2019.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network to support vaccine introduction decisions and use. The network was established to strengthen surveillance and laboratory confirmation of meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis. METHODS: Sentinel hospitals report cases of children 137 000 suspected meningitis cases were reported by 58 participating countries, with 44.6% (n = 61 386) reported from countries in the WHO African Region. More than half (56.6%, n = 77 873) were among children <1 year of age, and 4.0% (n = 4010) died among those with reported disease outcome. Among suspected meningitis cases, 8.6% (n = 11 798) were classified as probable bacterial meningitis. One of 3 bacterial pathogens was identified in 30.3% (n = 3576) of these cases, namely S. pneumoniae (n = 2177 [60.9%]), H. influenzae (n = 633 [17.7%]), and N. meningitidis (n = 766 [21.4%]). Among confirmed bacterial meningitis cases with outcome reported, 11.0% died; case fatality ratio varied by pathogen (S. pneumoniae, 12.2%; H. influenzae, 6.1%; N. meningitidis, 11.0%). Among the 277 children who died with confirmed bacterial meningitis, 189 (68.2%) had confirmed S. pneumoniae. The proportion of pneumococcal cases with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) serotypes decreased as the number of countries implementing PCV increased, from 77.8% (n = 273) to 47.5% (n = 248). Of 397 H. influenzae specimens serotyped, 49.1% (n = 195) were type b. Predominant N. meningitidis serogroups varied by region. CONCLUSIONS: This multitier, global surveillance network has supported countries in detecting and serotyping the 3 principal invasive bacterial pathogens that cause pediatric meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common bacterial pathogen detected globally despite the growing number of countries that have nationally introduced PCV. The large proportions of deaths due to S. pneumoniae reflect the high proportion of meningitis cases caused by this pathogen. This global network demonstrated a strong correlation between PCV introduction status and reduction in the proportion of pneumococcal meningitis infections caused by vaccine serotypes. Maintaining case-based, active surveillance with laboratory confirmation for prioritized vaccine-preventable diseases remains a critical component of the global agenda in public health.The World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network reported data from 2014 to 2019, contributing to the estimates of the disease burden and serotypes of pediatric meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis

Man-Hour Estimations in ETO : A case study involving the use of regression to estimate man-hours in an ETO environment

The competition in the manufacturing industry has never been higher. Owing to the technological changes and advancements in the market, readily available data is no longer a thing of the past. Numerous studies have discussed the impact of industry 4.0, digital transformation as well as better production planning methods in the manufacturing industry.  The Mass-Manufacturing industry, in specific, has gained efficiency levels in production that were previously unimaginable. Industry 4.0 has been discussed as the ‘next big thing’ in the manufacturing context. In fact, it is seen as a necessity for manufacturing companies to stay competitive. However, efficient production planning methodologies are a preliminary requirement in order to successfully adopt the new manufacturing paradigms. The Engineering-to-order (ETO) industry is still widely unexplored by the academia ETO industries, barely have any production planning methodologies to rely on owing to their complex production processes and high reliance on manual-labour. Regression techniques have repeatedly been used in the production planning context. Considering its statistical prowess, it is no surprise that even the newer machine-learning techniques are based on regression. Considering its success in the mass-manufacturing industry for production planning, is it possible that its usage in the ETO industry might lead to the same results? This thesis involves a case study that was performed at an electrical transformer manufacturing plant in Sweden. After understanding the several operations that are performed in the production process, regression techniques are employed to estimate man-hours. The results from the study reconfirm the statistical prowess of regression and show the possibility of using regression in order to estimate man-hours in the ETO industry. In addition, several factors that can affect successful adoption of this tool in the production planning context are discussed. It is hoped that this study will lay the foundation for better production planning methodologies for the ETO industries in the future which might subsequently result in more data-driven decision making rather than instincts

Man-Hour Estimations in ETO : A case study involving the use of regression to estimate man-hours in an ETO environment

The competition in the manufacturing industry has never been higher. Owing to the technological changes and advancements in the market, readily available data is no longer a thing of the past. Numerous studies have discussed the impact of industry 4.0, digital transformation as well as better production planning methods in the manufacturing industry.  The Mass-Manufacturing industry, in specific, has gained efficiency levels in production that were previously unimaginable. Industry 4.0 has been discussed as the ‘next big thing’ in the manufacturing context. In fact, it is seen as a necessity for manufacturing companies to stay competitive. However, efficient production planning methodologies are a preliminary requirement in order to successfully adopt the new manufacturing paradigms. The Engineering-to-order (ETO) industry is still widely unexplored by the academia ETO industries, barely have any production planning methodologies to rely on owing to their complex production processes and high reliance on manual-labour. Regression techniques have repeatedly been used in the production planning context. Considering its statistical prowess, it is no surprise that even the newer machine-learning techniques are based on regression. Considering its success in the mass-manufacturing industry for production planning, is it possible that its usage in the ETO industry might lead to the same results? This thesis involves a case study that was performed at an electrical transformer manufacturing plant in Sweden. After understanding the several operations that are performed in the production process, regression techniques are employed to estimate man-hours. The results from the study reconfirm the statistical prowess of regression and show the possibility of using regression in order to estimate man-hours in the ETO industry. In addition, several factors that can affect successful adoption of this tool in the production planning context are discussed. It is hoped that this study will lay the foundation for better production planning methodologies for the ETO industries in the future which might subsequently result in more data-driven decision making rather than instincts

Description of the male of Distoleon sambalpurensis Ghosh, 1984 (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) from India

Kaur, Simarjit, Pandher, Manpreet Singh, Chandra, Kailash (2019): Description of the male of Distoleon sambalpurensis Ghosh, 1984 (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) from India. Zootaxa 4661 (3): 587-593, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4661.3.1