Impact of Volunteering on Cognitive Decline of the Elderly

Cognitive decline among the elderly imposes a large welfare and health care cost on the individual as well as society. Little however is known about factors that can mitigate cognitive decline. Using seven waves of the Health and Retirement Study and a fixed effects – instrumental variable methodology, this study estimates the effects of volunteering on old age cognitive decline. Although cognitive decline is an inevitable aspect of aging, our results suggest that volunteering participation significantly forestalls its progress among individuals aged 60 years and older

The Role of Marriage in the Causal Pathway from Economic Conditions Early in Life to Mortality

This paper analyzes the interplay between early-life conditions and marital status, as determinants of adult mortality. We use individual data from Dutch registers (years 1815-2000), combined with business cycle conditions in childhood as indicators of early-life conditions. The empirical analysis estimates bivariate duration models of marriage and mortality, allowing for unobserved heterogeneity and causal effects. Results show that conditions around birth and school ages are important for marriage and mortality. Men typically enjoy a protective effect of marriage on mortality, whereas women suffer during childbearing ages. Having been born under favorable economic conditions reduces female mortality during childbearing ages.death, longevity, recession, life expectancy, lifetimes, marital status, timing of events, selectivity, health

The role of marriage in the causal pathway from economic conditions early in life to mortality

This paper analyzes the interplay between early-life conditions and marital status, as determinants of adult mortality. We use individual data from Dutch registers (years 1815-2000), combined with business cycle conditions in childhood as indicators of earlylife conditions. The empirical analysis estimates bivariate duration models of marriage and mortality, allowing for unobserved heterogeneity and causal effects. Results show that conditions around birth and school ages are important for marriage and mortality. Men typically enjoy a protective effect of marriage on mortality, whereas women suffer during childbearing ages. Having been born under favorable economic conditions reduces female mortality during childbearing ages.Death; longevity; recession; life expectancy; lifetimes; marital status; timing of events; selectivity; health

Our experience on non-descent vaginal hysterectomy: a forgotten skill

Background: Hysterectomy is the most commonly performed major gynecological procedure. It can be done by different routes like abdominal or vaginal or laparoscopic route. Vaginal route of hysterectomy is undoubtedly less popular these days due to inclination towards laparoscopic route by both surgeon as well as patients. Keeping this is mind we have planned this paper to share our experience of Non Descent Vaginal Hysterectomy at a tertiary level hospital. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at the department of obstetrics and gynecology of Vardhmann Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung hospital, New Delhi over the period of one year. All the patients undergoing non -descent vaginal hysterectomy for benign indication with adequate vaginal access, without suspected adnexal pathology, who did not have any uterine descent were included in the study. In bigger size uterus morcellation techniques like bisection, debulking, myomectomy, slicing was used to remove the uterus. Intraoperative findings and post-operative complications were recorded. Statistical analysis was done. Results: During the study period total 138 hysterectomies were performed. Most of the women were in the age group of 46 to 50 years (50%). All patients were parous. In 56% patients, uterine size was 8-10 weeks. Fibroid uterus (37%) followed by adenomyosis (27%) was the commonest indication for hysterectomy. The most common complication was febrile morbidity (n=13) followed by urinary tract infection (n=9). Conclusions: Non descent vaginal hysterectomy procedure in hand of a skilled surgeon can be done upto 14 weeks uterine size

Impact of Load Based NIC-Bonding Scheduling on Out-of-order delivered TCP packets

The highest NIC bonding performance is achieved by the round-robin scheduling mode. However, we found that the performance was much lower than the theoretical limit due to out-of-order TCP packet delivery. So our work proposes a load-balanced NIC bonding scheduling approach as a significant improvement over the current state-of-the-art. We pro- pose that the outgoing packets should be queued on interfaces with the least amount of packets waiting to be sent. This allows the load to be well balanced over all interfaces thereby reducing the probability of packets arriving out-of-order at their destination. This work presents an analysis of all currently available NIC bonding modes in terms of perfor- mance. A new bonding simulation framework was developed to facilitate the development of alternate scheduling algorithms and compare their performance. This helped us analyze and propose load-based scheduling as a better alternative to the most popularly used round-robin scheduling mode

Thermal Structure of the Martian Upper Mesosphere/Lower Thermosphere from MAVEN/IUVS Stellar Occultations [Data]

The MAVEN/IUVS stellar occultation dataset is publicly available at the NASA planetary data system's atmosphere node. But it consists of only the nightside events and limited dayside observations. We have reprocessed the mission-wide dataset from March 2015 to January 2022 using an improved stray light removal algorithm to retrieve the dayside events as well, thereby expanding the usable stellar occultation dataset and enabling the study of diurnal thermal structure of the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere (~80-160 km). We have provided this reprocessed dataset and the retrieved data products according to the executed campaigns, along with the output of a global-mean 1-D numerical model.&nbsp;</p

Pregnancy outcome after antepartum diagnosis of oligohydramnios at or beyond thirty seven completed weeks in rural India

Background: Amniotic fluid volume abnormalities may reflect a problem with fluid production or its circulation, such as underlying fetal or placental pathology. These volume extremes may be associated with increased risks for adverse pregnancy outcome. Some studies show that amniotic fluid index is a poor predictor of adverse outcome and some authors have not confirmed the association of adverse perinatal outcome with oligo-hydramnios. Thus this study is conducted to find out the value of oligohydramnios in perinatal outcome and maternal outcome in pregnancies beyond 37 completed weeks.Methods: This study was done at department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, NIMS hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, from January 2013 to January 2015 for a period of 24 months. Our analysis included a total of 200 antenatal women; both booked and unbooked were included in this study. In this study 100 women with AFI <5 cm were allotted into the study group and another 100 women with normal AFI were included into the control group. Labour was either spontaneous or induced in both study and control group . During labour intermittent auscultation of fetal heart rate was done to detect any signs of fetal distress. Artificial rupture of membranes was done in active phase of labour to notice the grade of liquor and progress of labour was monitored on a partogram. Mode of delivery and intrapartum complications were noted. At birth neonate was assessed using 5 minute APGAR score , birth weight was recorded and neonate who were admitted into NICU were followed until discharge.Results: Oligohydramnios i.e., AFI <5 cm measured by ultrasonography in term pregnancies is associated with adverse perinatal outcome. The risks of meconium staining of liquor, intrapartum fetal distress,operative delivery and perinatal mortality are significantly higher in patients with AFI <5 cm , compared to those with normal AFI.Conclusions: Determination of AFI can be used as an adjunct to other fetal surveillance methods. It helps to identify those infants at risk of poor perinatal outcome. Determination of AFI is a valuable screening test for predicting fetal distress in labour requiring cesarean section

Intention to use and Adoption of IT Innovations in Organizations: A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Moderating Role of Innovation Type and Socio-Economic Context

Present paper conducts a meta-analysis of the innovation features that influence the intention to use and adoption of information technology (IT) innovation in the organizations. Previous studies that assessed the influence of innovation features on intention to use and adoption have found inconsistent results and thus created confusion among academicians and practitioners. Present study consolidates the findings of previous studies using meta-analysis to reveal the key factors behind organizations’ intention to use and adoption of IT innovations. The study takes a step further by also determining the moderating role of innovation type (product vs. service innovations) and socio-economic context (developing vs. developed countries) on the relationships of innovation features with intention to use and adoption of IT innovations. It also provides multiple insightful theoretical and practical implications

Pursuing Digital Learning Platform Success: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of User and Cultural Contingencies

Digital learning platforms (DLPs) have emerged as highly effective tools to meet contemporary organizations’ learning and knowledge-creation needs. Advanced information and communication technologies (ICT) embedded in these platforms create mobile learning workspaces that deliver ubiquitous yet targeted learning experiences. Scholars have shown a keen interest in assessing the success of DLPs, but most studies have examined only a specific aspect of DLP success. Current findings also show inconsistencies and contradictions that confound our understanding of this important topic. As a result, an integrated and accurate understanding of DLP success is missing. In this paper, we adopt rigorous meta-analytic procedures to consolidate extant findings and reconcile inconsistencies in our understanding of DLP success. Additionally, we extend our meta-analyses to investigate the contingency effects of two moderating variables—user context and cultural context. The results provide a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of DLP success. Our study contributes to the literature by extending the theory on DLPs and information systems (IS) success and by providing insightful recommendations for practitioners

Impacts of State Reopening Policy on Human Mobility

This study quantifies the effect of state reopening policies on daily mobility, travel, and mixing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. We harness cell device signal data to examine the effects of the timing and pace of reopening plans in different states. We quantify the increase in mobility patterns during the reopening phase by a broad range of cell-device-based metrics. Soon (four days) after reopening, we observe a 6% to 8% mobility increase. In addition, we find that temperature and precipitation are strongly associated with increased mobility across counties. The mobility measures that reflect visits to a greater variety of locations responds the most to reopening policies, while total time in vs. outside the house remains unchanged. The largest increases in mobility occur in states that were late adopters of closure measures, suggesting that closure policies may have represented more of a binding constraint in those states. Together, these four observations provide an assessment of the extent to which people in the U.S. are resuming movement and physical proximity as the COVID-19 pandemic continues