Function Outcome Analysis with regards to Cup Inclination, Femoral and Acetabular Versions in Total Hip Arthroplasty

INTRODUCTION: Acetabular and femoral components positioning is critical to a successful total hip arthroplasty. This dissertation examines 35 hips to study the effect of acetabular and femoral components position and reported patients outcome using Harris hip score. AIM OF THE STUDY: To analyze the functional outcome in total hip arthroplasty patients in relation to cup positioning and femoral versions by radiologically by CT measurements and clinically by Harris hip score. MATERIALS & METHODS: Patients admitted for total hip arthroplasty (cemented and uncemented) without associated lower limb fractures or other factors like arthritis knee etc. All patients will undergo X ray pelvis with both hip, CT hip post operatively for clinical and radiological assessment. Preoperative clinical examination is recorded and Harris hip score is done. Patients are counselled regarding advantages, disadvantages and possible complications of this procedure and a written consent is obtained. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Age >18 years, Isolated neck of the femur – Avascular necrosis of femoral head, Non-union neck of the femur, displaced fractures neck of femur, monoarticular arthritis hip etc. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Patients with congenital deformities of hip, those with cognitive impairments affecting their ability to follow instructions, unable to walk, patients with lower limb neurovascular damages, medical comorbidities, age <18 years. Design of study is both prospective and retrospective analytical study. RESULTS: Excellent outcome 40%, Good outcome 49%, Poor outcome 11%. DISCUSSION: Absolute and relative acetabular position was found to be weakly correlated with functional outcomes but the results are not clinically significant. While specific intraoperative targets for acetabular position may be important for hip stability, there may be no change in patient outcomes. CONCLUSION: In extreme positions (>2SD) acetabular cup remains an important factor in the outcome of total hip arthroplasty which influences the dislocation rate, wear rate, patient outcome. Variation in the positions of the acetabular and femoral components has shown significant correlation radiologically. But within the studied ranges the functional outcome score difference is not clinically significant. Specific intraoperative perfection of safe zones in positioning the acetabular and femoral components may be important for hip stability, but there may be no change in patient outcomes with defining such zones

Probing the Surfaces of Interstellar Dust Grains: The Adsorption of CO at Bare Grain Surfaces

A solid-state feature was detected at around 2175 cm-1 towards 30 embedded young stellar objects in spectra obtained using the ESO VLT-ISAAC. We present results from laboratory studies of CO adsorbed at the surface of Zeolite wafers, where absorption bands were detected at 2177 and 2168 cm-1 (corresponding to CO chemisorbed at the Zeolite surface), and 2130 cm-1 (corresponding to CO physisorbed at the Zeolite surface), providing an excellent match to the observational data. We propose that the main carrier of the 2175-band is CO chemisorbed at bare surfaces of dust grains in the interstellar medium. This result provides the first direct evidence that gas-surface interactions do not have to result in the formation of ice mantles on interstellar dust. The strength of the 2175-band is estimated to be ~ 4 x 10-19 cm molecule-1. The abundance of CO adsorbed at bare grain surfaces ranges from 0.06 to 0.16 relative to H2O ice, which is, at most, half of the abundance (relative to H2O ice) of CO residing in H2O-dominated ice environments. These findings imply that interstellar grains have a large (catalytically-active) surface area, providing a refuge for interstellar species. Consequently the potential exists for heterogeneous chemistry to occur involving CO molecules in unique surface chemistry pathways not currently considered in gas-grain models of the interstellar medium.Comment: 19 pages inc. 3 figures 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Sea turtle nesting grounds identification and its conservation status of Southern Tamil Nadu

581-589Five non reported new nesting grounds of Olive ridley turtles were recognized by beach surveying along the coast of southern Tamil Nadu covering 201.75 km. The survey indicates that the study areas have apposite beaches for turtle nesting however; the nesting incidences were declined due to predation and habitat alterations. The observed nest site temperature; perpendicular distance from high tide line; egg diameter and weight at Kanyakumari was well suited than the other study sites. The conservation awareness among stakeholders was found to be 41.7 % and mass awareness program has been created through 16 field visits to various fish landing centers and folders and booklets were distributed to 150 stakeholders. Similarly, 650 students belonging to eight schools were enlightened about the importance of sea turtles and their conservation awareness through audio visual aids. From the study it could be concluded that the turtle nesting grounds are found along the southern coast of Tamil Nadu and conservation initiatives need to be strengthened to protect them

Vibrio splendidus biovar II as the causative agent of bacillary necrosis of Japanese oyster Crassostrea gigas.

Recurrent outbreaks of a disease leading to mass mortalities in an oyster (Crassostrea gigas) hatchery located in western Japan were investigated. The disease occurred regularly in 2- to 8-d-old larvae and has been experimentally controlled in the hatchery by treating the larval rearing water with streptomycin, without ascertaining the etiological agent. The signs of the disease and the course of infection resembled bacillary necrosis reported in oysters and other bivalve molluscs in the USA and Europe. Quantitative and qualitative examinations of the bacterial flora of hatchery samples including source water, broodstock, larval feed and larvae revealed a very high total bacterial load and presumptive vibrios in diseased larvae. Further, the bacterial profile revealed that Vibrio spp. constituted approximately 60 to 95% of the bacteria isolated from infected larvae and most isolates were identified as V. splendidus biovar II and V. harveyi, suggesting their possible role in the disease. However, experimental challenges proved the pathogenicity of V. splendidus II. Several isolates of V. splendidus II from infected larvae were highly pathogenic, producing 100% mortality at levels of 105 cfu ml-1 in 24 h, while isolates from other sources demonstrated a low degree of virulence. Detection of V. splendidus II from broodstock, especially in the gonad of a few breeders, suggests the probability that broodstock could be the source and route of transmission of this pathogen

Challenges in machine learning based approaches for real-time anomaly detection in industrial control systems

Data-centric approaches are becoming increasingly common in the creation of defense mechanisms for critical infrastructure such as the electric power grid and water treatment plants. Such approaches often use well-known methods from machine learning and system identification, i.e., the Multi-Layer Perceptron, Convolutional Neural Network, and Deep Auto Encoders to create process anomaly detectors. Such detectors are then evaluated using data generated from an operational plant or a simulator; rarely is the assessment conducted in real time on a live plant. Regardless of the method to create an anomaly detector, and the data used for performance evaluation, there remain significant challenges that ought to be overcome before such detectors can be deployed with confidence in city-scale plants or large electric power grids. This position paper enumerates such challenges that the authors have faced when creating data-centric anomaly detectors and using them in a live plant

Absence of the common Insulin-like growth factor-1 19-repeat allele is associated with early age at breast cancer diagnosis in multiparous women

Multiparity decreases the risk of breast cancer in white women, whereas it is a risk factor in black women <50 years. Early-onset breast cancer (<50 years) has been associated with high insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels. Absence of the common IGF1 19 cytosine-adenine (CA)-repeat allele (IGF1-19/-19) inverts the effect of several non-genetic factors on breast cancer risk but the interaction between IGF1-19/-19 and multiparity on breast cancer risk is unknown. As IGF1-19/-19, multiparity and early-onset breast cancer are more common in black than in white women, we aimed to study whether multiparity combined with IGF1-19/-19 increases the risk of early-onset breast cancer. Four hundred and three breast cancer patients diagnosed in Lund, Sweden, at age 25–99 years were genotyped for the IGF1 CA-repeat length using fragment analysis. Overall, 12.9% carried the IGF1-19/-19 genotype. There was a highly significant interaction between multiparity and IGF1-19/-19 on age at breast cancer diagnosis (P=0.007). Among IGF1-19/-19 patients, multiparity was associated with a 9.2 year earlier age at diagnosis compared with uniparity or nulliparity (P=0.006). Multiparity combined with IGF1-19/-19 was associated with an early age at breast cancer diagnosis. If confirmed, IGF1-19/-19 may help identify a subgroup of women for earlier breast cancer screening

Socially and biologically inspired computing for self-organizing communications networks

The design and development of future communications networks call for a careful examination of biological and social systems. New technological developments like self-driving cars, wireless sensor networks, drones swarm, Internet of Things, Big Data, and Blockchain are promoting an integration process that will bring together all those technologies in a large-scale heterogeneous network. Most of the challenges related to these new developments cannot be faced using traditional approaches, and require to explore novel paradigms for building computational mechanisms that allow us to deal with the emergent complexity of these new applications. In this article, we show that it is possible to use biologically and socially inspired computing for designing and implementing self-organizing communication systems. We argue that an abstract analysis of biological and social phenomena can be made to develop computational models that provide a suitable conceptual framework for building new networking technologies: biologically inspired computing for achieving efficient and scalable networking under uncertain environments; socially inspired computing for increasing the capacity of a system for solving problems through collective actions. We aim to enhance the state-of-the-art of these approaches and encourage other researchers to use these models in their future work

Diabetic gastroparesis: Therapeutic options

Gastroparesis is a condition characterized by delayed gastric emptying and the most common known underlying cause is diabetes mellitus. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal fullness, and early satiety, which impact to varying degrees on the patient’s quality of life. Symptoms and deficits do not necessarily relate to each other, hence despite significant abnormalities in gastric emptying, some individuals have only minimal symptoms and, conversely, severe symptoms do not always relate to measures of gastric emptying. Prokinetic agents such as metoclopramide, domperidone, and erythromycin enhance gastric motility and have remained the mainstay of treatment for several decades, despite unwanted side effects and numerous drug interactions. Mechanical therapies such as endoscopic pyloric botulinum toxin injection, gastric electrical stimulation, and gastrostomy or jejunostomy are used in intractable diabetic gastroparesis (DG), refractory to prokinetic therapies. Mitemcinal and TZP-101 are novel investigational motilin receptor and ghrelin agonists, respectively, and show promise in the treatment of DG. The aim of this review is to provide an update on prokinetic and mechanical therapies in the treatment of DG