Long-term performance of Canadian acquiring firms

This study investigates the long-term stock return and operating performances of Canadian acquiring firms in the post event period by using 1300 M&A events between 1993-2002 period. We use both event-time and calendar-time approach to detect long-term abnormal stock return. Consistent with market efficiency hypothesis, we do not find any strong support for long-term abnormal return following an acquisition event. We also do not find any improvement in long-term operating performance once we use matching firm approach

Melimine-coated antimicrobial contact lenses reduce microbial keratitis in an animal model

PURPOSE. To determine the ability of antimicrobial peptide melimine-coated contact lenses to reduce the incidence of microbial keratitis (MK) in a rabbit model of contact lens wear. METHODS. In vitro antimicrobial activity of melimine-coated contact lenses was determined against Pseudomonas aeruginosa by viable count and a radiolabeled assay. The amount of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) associated with bacteria bound to melimine-coated and control lenses was determined. Ocular swabs from rabbit eyes were collected for assessment of ocular microflora. A rabbit model for MK was developed that used overnight wear of contact lenses colonized by P. aeruginosa in the absence of a corneal scratch. During lens wear, detailed ocular examinations were performed, and the incidence of MK was investigated. Bacteria associated with worn lenses and infected corneas were determined by viable plate count. RESULTS. Inhibition in viable and total P. aeruginosa adhesion by melimine-coated contact lenses was 3.1 log10 and 0.4 log10, respectively. After colonization, the amount of LPS on lenses was approximately the same with or without melimine. Gram-positive bacteria were found in all the ocular swabs followed by fungus (42%). Melimine-coated lens wear was protective and significantly (odds ratio 10.12; P = 0.012) reduced the incidence of P. aeruginosa-driven MK in the rabbit model. The antimicrobial lenses were associated with significantly (P < 0.001) lower ocular scores, indicating improved ocular signs compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS. This study showed that contaminated contact lenses can produce MK without corneal epithelial defect in an animal model. Melimine-coated contact lenses reduced the incidence of MK associated with P. aeruginosa in vivo. Development of MK requires viable bacteria adherent to contact lenses, and bacterial debris adherent at the lens surface did not cause keratitis

Recent scenario on psychotropic drug usage pattern among patients attending psychiatric outpatient department of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Nepal

Background: Due to increasing burden of psychiatric illnesses, it is essential to study the psychotropic drug utilization pattern in actual clinical practice. The objective of the study was to study the psychotropic drug usage pattern among patients attending psychiatric OPD of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Nepal.Methods: This observational retrospective study was conducted in Nepal Gunj Medical College, Nepal for a period of 6 months from January 2016 to June 2016. A total of 282 prescriptions from Psychiatric OPD were analysed for drug usage pattern. Prescriptions containing at least one psychotropic drug were included. Data was measured for number and percentage of prescriptions or drugs, using selected World Health Organization (WHO) drug use indicators.Results: A total of 282 prescriptions from Psychiatric OPD were analysed. Patients had a mean age of 35.01±1.17 years. Male and Female %age was 41.49% and 58.51% respectively. Majority of the patients (47.52%) were in 31-45 years age group. 70.57% patients were literate. Depression was the leading psychiatric illness seen in 144 (51.06%) patients followed by Anxiety disorders which were seen in 60 (21.28%) patients. A total of 2463 drugs were prescribed which included 591 (23.99%) antipsychotic drugs followed by 462 (18.76%) antidepressants, 390 (15.83%) antiepileptics, 312 (12.67%) supplements, 276 (11.21%) antianxiety, 171 (6.94%) antacids, 165 (6.7%) anticholinergics, 96 (3.9%) drugs in miscellaneous category. Drugs prescribed per prescription were 8.73 and psychotropic drugs per prescription were 6.09. Number of oral and injectable drugs were 2313 (93.91%) and 150 (6.09%) respectively. 87 fixed dose combinations (FDCs) of psychotropic drugs were prescribed. 903 (36.66%) drugs were prescribed from WHO’s 18th List of Essential Medicines.Conclusions: Depression was the most common psychiatric illness and antipsychotics were the most commonly prescribed medicines in psychiatry OPD. Majority of the prescriptions revealed polypharmacy

Design of an Rf Baw Resonator

Band pass filters for microwave frequencies realized with thin film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBAR) are a promising alternative to current dielectric or surface acoustic wave filters for use in mobile telecommunication applications. With equivalent performance FBAR filters are significantly smaller than dielectric filters and allow for a larger power Operation than SAW filters . In addition FBARs offer the possibility of on-chip integration which will result in substantial volume and cost reduction. First part of the thesis consists of an overview of different types of resonators and their advantages and disadvantages, followed which the design of film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) and its characterization . Second part of thesis consists of the design of ladder filter from the designed series and shunt resonators and its characterization

Comparative evaluation of amisulpride and escitalopram on Hamilton anxiety rating scale among depression patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Nepal

Background: Depression is an important global public health problem and is a major cause of disability and premature death. The present study was conducted to compare efficacy and safety of amisulpride and escitalopram on Hamilton anxiety rating scale (HAM-A) among depression patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Nepal.Methods: The study was conducted in patients for 1-year in the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Nepalgunj Medical College and Teaching Hospital. A total of 117 depression patients were divided into two groups. Group I (58 patients) received amisulpride tablet at a dose of 50 mg/day and Group II (59 patients) were given escitalopram at a dose of 10 mg/day. The patients were required to follow-up at 4, 8 and 15 weeks. The efficacy of the drugs was calculated by HAM-A. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were monitored at every follow-up. Appropriate statistical tools using Graphpad instat 3.0 were used for analysis p<0.05 was considered significant.Results: HAM-A score in group receiving amisulpride at 0 and 15 weeks was 19.83±0.33 and 8.17±0.32 (p<0.0001). HAM-A score in group receiving escitalopram at 0 and 15 weeks was 20.76±0.28 and 8.98±0.24 (p<0.0001). Gastrointestinal disturbances, sexual disturbances, amenorrhea, lactation, agitation, and insomnia were the commonly encountered ADRs.Conclusion: Both amisulpride and escitalopram were highly effective in the treatment of anxiety in depression patients during the study period. Further, more clinical studies with longer follow-up duration are needed to substantiate the therapeutic effects of amisulpride

Remedy: Network-Aware Steady State VM Management for Data Centers

Abstract. Steady state VM management in data centers should be network-aware so that VM migrations do not degrade network performance of other flows in the network, and if required, a VM migration can be intelligently orchestrated to decongest a network hotspot. Recent research in network-aware management of VMs has focused mainly on an optimal network-aware initial placement of VMs and has largely ignored steady state management. In this context, we present the design and implementation of Remedy. Remedy ranks target hosts for a VM migration based on the associated cost of migration, available bandwidth for mi-gration and the network bandwidth balance achieved by a migration. It models the cost of migration in terms of additional network traffic generated during mi-gration. We have implemented Remedy as an OpenFlow controller application that detects the most congested links in the network and migrates a set of VMs in a network-aware manner to decongest these links. Our choice of target hosts ensures that neither the migration traffic nor the flows that get rerouted as a result of migration cause congestion in any part of the network. We validate our cost of migration model on a virtual software testbed using real VM migrations. Our simulation results using real data center traffic data demonstrate that selective network aware VM migrations can help reduce unsatisfied bandwidth by up to 80-100%

Energy Expenditure and Nutritional Status of Sailors and Submarine Crew of the Indian Navy

Nutritional requirements of sailors and submariners are different from those of ground forces as they work under confined environment as well as due to logistic constraints of cooking and storage of food. Study was conducted for a period of three months at Eastern Naval Command to evaluate nutrient requirements, nutritional status of Indian Navy personnel and adequacy of the existing ration scales. The study volunteers were from crew of two warships (n = 35) and submariners (n = 20) who were attached to their mother ships during time of data collection and offshore during rest of the period. Energy expenditure, nutrient intake, level of nutrients in body, and urinary excretion were measured along with changes in body composition. All variables were analysed before and after three months of nutritional monitoring. Energy expenditure at ship was in the range of 2449-4907 kcal/day with a mean of 3313 + 578 kcal/day, while in the case of submariners, it was 3168 + 282 (2606-3907) kcal/day. The energy intake in the case of sailors and submariners was not different either on shore establishment or at ship. Energy intake was found to be 3518 + 286 kcal/day. The energy contribution from carbohydrates, fats, and protein was 59.9 per cent, 27.8 per cent and 12.3 per cent, respectively. No sign and symptoms of any nutritional deficiency were observed either initially or after three months. Status of micronutrients present in their blood and in their urinary excretions along with body composition were maintained, indicating adequacy of existing ration scales of Indian Navy.Defence Science Journal, 2011, 61(6), pp.540-544, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.61.93

Nimble@ITCEcnoGrid: A Grid in Research Domain for Weather Forecasting

ABSTRAC

COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF AMISULPRIDE AND ESCITALOPRAM ON SHEEHAN’S DISABILITY SCALE AMONG DEPRESSION PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL IN NEPAL

Introduction and Aim: Depression is an important global public health problem due to its relatively high lifetime prevalence and significant disability caused by it. The present study was conducted to compare improvement in functional outcome by Amisulpride and Escitalopram among depression patients using Sheehan’s Disability Scaling.Material and methods: The study was conducted in depression patients for 1 year in the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Nepalgunj Medical College &amp; Teaching Hospital. A total of 117 depression patients were divided into 2 groups. Group I (58 patients) received Amisulpride tablet at a dose of 50 mg/day and Group II (59 patients) were given Escitalopram at a dose of 10 mg/day. The patients were required to follow up at 4, 8 and 15 weeks. The efficacy of the drugs was calculated by Hamilton depression rating scale (HAM-D). The improvement in functional outcome was compared between the two groups by using Sheehan’s Disability Scale (SDS). Appropriate statistical tools using GraphPadInstat 3.0 were used for analysis. p value &lt; 0.05 was considered significant.Results: HAM-D score in group receiving Amisulpride at 0 and 15 weeks was 16.92±0.35 and 7.87±0.29 (p&lt;0.0001). HAM-D score in group receiving Escitalopram at 0 and 15 weeks was 17.09±0.39 and 6.63±0.39 (p&lt;0.0001). Sheehan’s Disability Score in group receiving Amisulpride at 0 and 15 weeks was 20.35±0.31 and 11.08±0.60 (p&lt;0.0001). SDS score in group receiving Escitalopram at 0 and 15 weeks was 21.53±0.55 and 11.49±0.46 (p&lt;0.0001). Intergroup comparison at 15 weeks was insignificant (p&gt;0.05). Gastrointestinal disturbances, sexual disturbances, amenorrhea, lactation, agitation and insomnia were the commonly encountered adverse drug reactions.Conclusion: Both Amisulpride and Escitalopram showed improvement in Sheehan’s Disability Scale at the end of study period. But intergroup comparison showed no significant difference in the two groups.Key words: Depression, Amisulpride, Escitalopram, Sheehan’s Disability Scale (SDS)