Risk Factors for Acquiring Scrub Typhus in an Adult Population in South India

OBJECTIVES: To determine the behavioral and environmental risk factors for acquiring scrub typhus among adults who present to a tertiary care hospital in South India. METHODS: This was a hospital based case control study comparing the exposure of known cases of Scrub typhus to a geographical and clinical control arm in a 1:1:1 ratio. 75 patients were enrolled in each arm. Data was gathered by administration of questionnaires. Conditional univariate and multivariable logistic regression were performed for relating Scrub typhus with the risk factors concerned. RESULTS: On univariate analysis patients with Scrub typhus were found to be more likely to - live in Kuchcha houses (OR and 95 % CI 4.12(1.10-15.44), spend more than 7 hours per week sowing (OR and 95% CI(7.61(0.91-63.52), lie-down or sit on mud or grass OR and 95% CI 3.43(1.47-7.96), lie down directly on the ground OR and 95% CI 2.44(1.12-5.30) and lie down on the ground for more than 7 hours a week OR and 95 %CI 3(1.1-8.30), as compared to their geographical controls. They were more likely to – not have a toilet inside their house OR and 95% CI 2(1-4), use an outdoor toilet OR and 95% CI 3.61(1.4-9.3), have fire wood in or around their house OR and 95% CI 1.78(0.92-3.43), involved in sowing OR and 95% CI 8 (1.00-63.96), spend more than 7 hours per week sowing OR and 95% CI 7.61(0.91-63.52), be involved in tilling OR and 95 % CI 7.61(0.91-63.52), be involved in harvesting OR and 95% CI 3.00(1.19-7.557), be involved in watering plants OR and 95 % CI 3.33(0.91-12.11), and not use footware OR and 95% CI 2.13(0.91-4.92) as compared to their clinical controls. However on multivariate analysis, these factors were not independently co-related to acquisition of Scrub typhus. Further studies, preferably in the community may help gain more accurate information and hence facilitate preventive strategies

Primordial magnetic helicity constraints from WMAP nine-year data

If a primordial magnetic field in the Universe has nonzero helicity, the violation of parity symmetry results in nonzero correlations between cosmic microwave background temperature and B-mode polarization. In this paper we derive approximations to the relevant microwave background power spectra arising from a helical magnetic field. Using the cross-power spectrum between temperature and B-mode polarization from the WMAP nine-year data, we set a 95% confidence level upper limit on the helicity amplitude to be 10  nG² Gpc for helicity spectral index nH=−1.9, for a cosmological magnetic field with effective field strength of 3 nG and a power-law index nB=−2.9 near the scale-invariant value. Future microwave background polarization maps with greater sensitivity will be able to detect the helicity of an inflationary magnetic field well below the maximum value allowed by microwave background constraints on the magnetic field amplitude

Glass fracture surface energy calculated from crystal structure and bond-energy data

We present a novel method to predict the fracture surface energy of oxide glasses, {\gamma}, using readily available crystallographic structure data of their isochemical crystal and tabled diatomic chemical bond energies, D0. The method assumes that {\gamma} equals the fracture surface energy of the most likely cleavage plane of the crystal. Calculated values were in excellent agreement with those calculated from measured glass density and D0 in an earlier work. This finding demonstrates a remarkable equivalence between crystal cleavage planes and glass fracture surfaces

Full Thickness Macular Hole Closure after Exchanging Silicone-Oil Tamponade with C3F8 without Posturing

Purpose: To report a case of macular hole closure after the exchange of a silicone-oil tamponade with gas C3F8 14%. Method: A 64-year-old female patient with a stage IV macular hole underwent a three-port pars-plana vitrectomy and internal limiting membrane peeling. Due to the patient’s chronic illness (respiratory problems), a silicone-oil tamponade was preferred. However, the macula hole was still flat opened four months postoperatively. Therefore, the patient underwent an exchange of silicone oil with gas C3F8 14%. No face-down position was advised postoperatively due to her health problems. Results: Macular hole closure was confirmed with optical coherence tomography six weeks after exchanging the silicone oil with gas. Conclusions: Macular hole surgery using a silicone-oil tamponade has been proposed as treatment of choice for patients unable to posture. In our case, the use of a long-acting gas (C3F8 14%), even without posturing, proved to be more effective

Impact of class III obesity on outcomes and complications of transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte pickup

Objective: To assess the impact of class III obesity on outcomes and complications of transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte pickup (OPU). Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Hospital-based fertility clinic. Patient(s): All women undergoing OPU procedures during autologous in vitro fertilization (IVF) and oocyte banking cycles, grouped by patient body mass index (BMI: \u3c25, 25–29.9, 30–34.9, 35–39.9, ≥40 kg/m2). Intervention(s): Transvaginal OPU under conscious sedation. Main Outcome Measure(s): Sedation and procedure-related parameters and complications. Result(s): A total of 2,141 OPU procedures in 1,579 patients were analyzed, including 121 OPU procedures in 94 patients with BMI ≥40 kg/m2. There was a statistically significant increase in total fentanyl and midazolam doses and procedure duration as BMI increased. Compared with patients with BMI \u3c25 kg/m2, those with BMI ≥40 kg/m2 were more likely to require additional sedation during the procedure (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14–3.49). The rate of difficult access was 28.9% for procedures with BMI ≥40 kg/m2 compared with 5.2% with BMI \u3c25 kg/m2 (aOR 7.57; 95% CI, 4.66–12.29). The OPU was incomplete due to inaccessible follicles through a transvaginal approach in 18.2% of procedures with BMI ≥40 kg/m2 compared with 1.3% with BMI \u3c25 kg/m2 (aOR 16.94; 95% CI, 8.24–34.84). The rates of sedation and procedure-related complications were low, and none occurred in patients with BMI ≥40 kg/m2. Conclusion(s): There was no increased risk of complications for women with class III obesity undergoing OPU with conscious sedation. However, the operator was more likely to encounter difficult access and to incompletely aspirate follicles through a transvaginal approach

Osteogenic potential of external mechanical loading during walking in sedentary and non-sedentary adults

Sedentary behaviour is generally regarded as having deleterious effects on cardiometabolic health, although little is known about its specific association with bone health. Impact forces generated as the foot contacts the ground during activity have the potential to act as a stimulus for bone maintenance and development. Therefore, increased sedentary behaviour may reduce the time available to gain osteogenic benefits from impact-based activity. Peak ground reaction force is commonly used as an estimate of loading intensity when determining the osteogenic potential of activity [1]. Dynamic, high impact, high frequency activities have been shown to be most effective at applying an osteogenic stimulus [1], although low level impacts have been shown to beneficially modify bone geometry [2]. Therefore, differences in the characteristics of low impact activity have potential to influence bone health. As impact forces are attenuated as they travel up the body, exploration of mechanical loading at regions such as the spine, require further investigation. External force due to impact is related to acceleration; therefore an accelerometer attached to the spine can provide an estimation of the mechanical loading. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate associations between sedentary and nonsedentary behavior on the osteogenic potential of walking, and bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine