Simulated Trading-An Analysis of Pairs Trading

In this report, we explain and analyze a trading strategy, popularly known as Pairs trading. We begin by explaining what a pair trading strategy entails. Since there are various ways of implementing the strategy, we describe the methodology selected by us in section 3. Thereafter, we look at the returns from the strategy and benchmark it to the S&P 500 index in Section 4. In section 5, we examine the risks involved in pairs trading. Section 6 looks at some of the limitations we faced while trading and Section 7 points out some mistakes we made. Finally, we discuss some risk control measures in Section 8 and conclude in Section 9 with comments on whether we would implement the strategy in real life and if so, with what changes.

Primary arthroplasty as an option for surgical treatment of unstable intertrochanteric fracture femur in elderly patients: a retrospective study

Background: An unstable intertrochanteric fracture in osteoporotic elderly patients presents a very challenging problem to the surgeons. This category of patients if kept in bed for long tends to have many complications like deep vein thrombosis, pneumonia, bed sores, etc. Surgeon’s worldwide face difficulty in getting a good anatomical reduction and do not allow early mobility to these patients because of risk of loss of reduction and implant cut out. The purpose of our study is to study the usefulness of arthroplasty in these patients in terms of better functional outcomes and no increase in complication rates.Methods: It was a retrospective study involving 25 patients (17 females, 8 males) with mean age of 76±2.3 years having intertrochanteric femur fractures (AO type A 2.2 and above) with osteoporosis operated upon with bipolar hemiarthroplasty at IQ City Medical College and NM Hospital between January 2015 and January 2017.Results: All the patients were followed up for a period of 1 year. We had a mean operative time of 75 min (range 55-125 min) with an average blood loss of 450 ml. 4 of our patients required postoperative blood transfusion. All patients walked on 2nd postoperative day. We had a mean Harris hip score of 82 and mean VAS of 1 at the end of 1 year.Conclusions: Hemiarthroplasty done in cases of unstable intertrochanteric femur fractures in elderly patients with osteoporotic bones allows early weight bearing thus improves the final functional outcomes. Further randomized trials are required before deriving any conclusions

New and improved method of bamboo cultivation in semi arid areas of Indian Thar desert

Bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus Roxb.) is widely utilized in construction, pulp and paper, furniture, food and medicine, fuel and handicrafts for a long time. Due to its wider application, a field experiment was carried out to check its cultivation requirements besides its success rate in semi arid area of Indian Thar desert. In the present work, Guggul (Commiphora wightii Arnott.) which is a resident plant of Thar desert has been proved as a potential intercrop in bamboo cultivation. Improved growth was observed in bamboo with plant height (8.92 to 20.74 feet), number of culms (19 to 38), culm diameter (2.2 to 4.3 cm) during intercropping of guggul. Among different methods of irrigation, highest growth was recorded in drip irrigated plants where 50% recommended N:P:K and organic manure were given in combination followed by N:P:K sole. This study indicates that Guggul may play a role in microclimate development in the bamboo cultivation. This is the first report on successful bamboo cultivation in semi arid area of desert using an intercrop.Key words: Dendrocalamus, soil enzymes, fertilization, guggul, nitrogen

A comparative study of serum calcium and magnesium levels in women with pre-eclampsia and normotensive women

Background: Pre-eclampsia is transient but potentially dangerous complication of pregnancy. Despite of pre-eclampsia's prevalence and severity, the pathophysiology of this multisystem disorder is still poorly understood and its aetiology has not yet been fully elucidated. Recently, nutritional deficiency especially micronutrients deficiency is gaining prominence in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. Hypocalcaemia and hypomagnesaemia have been implicated in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. This study has been done to compare serum calcium and magnesium levels in women with pre-eclampsia and normotensive women and their association with severity of pre-eclampsia.Methods: 50 women with pre-eclampsia and 50 normotensive women were included in the study and serum calcium and magnesium levels were measured. Data were analyzed.Results: The serum ionic calcium concentration was significantly lower in the pre-eclamptic cases compared to the normotensive controls (3.34±1.35 versus 4.37±0.74, p=0.0000) similarly serum magnesium concentration was significantly lower in the pre-eclamptic cases compared to the normotensive controls (1.68±0.41 versus 1.94±0.42, p-0.002). Mean serum ionic Ca levels in severe pre-eclampsia group was significantly lower than normotensive pregnant women (p=0.0000) as well as mild pre-eclampsia group (p=0.001). Mean serum Mg in severe pre-eclampsia was significantly lower than normotensive pregnant women (p=0.0008) as well as mild pre-eclampsia group (p=0.03). Serum ionic Ca and Mg had a negative correlation with systolic and diastolic blood pressure.Conclusions: Based on this study, measurements of serum ionic calcium and magnesium among women at risk of for pre-eclampsia may be used to predict the onset and severity of pre-eclampsia

Secondary Seizures in the Pediatric Population in Two Tertiary Hospitals in India

Objective: To evaluate the clinical pattern of secondary seizures which includes acute and remote symptomatic seizures among hospitalized patients in two healthcare centers and to assess the outcomes among hospitalized patients having secondary seizures. Methods: This multicentric cross-sectional study was conducted in two tertiary hospitals in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, India, for a period of four years. A total of 274 patients in the age group between 6 months to 12 years participated in the study. A structured proforma was used to document the clinical pattern and causes of the secondary seizures. Results: Among the participants in Odisha and Tamil Nadu hospitals, focal seizures constituted 67.5%. Generalized seizures were present in 32.4%. The key causes of seizures in Odisha were malaria, cerebral palsy, and viral meningitis, while in Tamil Nadu, the causes were neurocysticercosis, cerebral palsy, and viral meningitis. Conclusion: Since the majority of the causes are preventable, it is important to address the issue at the public health level, by providing improved sanitation and adequate awareness on the secondary seizure and its causes. It is also important that the physicians are well conversant with the early case detection and treatment of primary diseases causing secondary seizures

Heat shock protein 70-2 (HSP70-2) overexpression in breast cancer

Supplementary Methods, Supplementary table, Supplementary Figure Legends. (DOCX 41 kb

LEARN: A multi-centre, cross-sectional evaluation of Urology teaching in UK medical schools

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the status of UK undergraduate urology teaching against the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) Undergraduate Syllabus for Urology. Secondary objectives included evaluating the type and quantity of teaching provided, the reported performance rate of General Medical Council (GMC)-mandated urological procedures, and the proportion of undergraduates considering urology as a career. MATERIALS AND METHODS: LEARN was a national multicentre cross-sectional study. Year 2 to Year 5 medical students and FY1 doctors were invited to complete a survey between 3rd October and 20th December 2020, retrospectively assessing the urology teaching received to date. Results are reported according to the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). RESULTS: 7,063/8,346 (84.6%) responses from all 39 UK medical schools were included; 1,127/7,063 (16.0%) were from Foundation Year (FY) 1 doctors, who reported that the most frequently taught topics in undergraduate training were on urinary tract infection (96.5%), acute kidney injury (95.9%) and haematuria (94.4%). The most infrequently taught topics were male urinary incontinence (59.4%), male infertility (52.4%) and erectile dysfunction (43.8%). Male and female catheterisation on patients as undergraduates was performed by 92.1% and 73.0% of FY1 doctors respectively, and 16.9% had considered a career in urology. Theory based teaching was mainly prevalent in the early years of medical school, with clinical skills teaching, and clinical placements in the later years of medical school. 20.1% of FY1 doctors reported no undergraduate clinical attachment in urology. CONCLUSION: LEARN is the largest ever evaluation of undergraduate urology teaching. In the UK, teaching seemed satisfactory as evaluated by the BAUS undergraduate syllabus. However, many students report having no clinical attachments in Urology and some newly qualified doctors report never having inserted a catheter, which is a GMC mandated requirement. We recommend a greater emphasis on undergraduate clinical exposure to urology and stricter adherence to GMC mandated procedures

Adaptive Multi-source Streaming in Heterogeneous Peer-to-Peer Networks

This paper presents design and evaluation of an adaptive streaming mechanism from multiple senders to a single receiver in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, called P2P Adaptive Layered Streaming, or PALS. PALS is a receiver-driven mechanism. It enables a receiver peer to orchestrate quality adaptive streaming of a single, layer encoded video stream from multiple congestion controlled senders, and is able to support a spectrum of non-interactive streaming applications. The primary challenge in design of a multi-source streaming mechanism is that available bandwidth from each peer is not known a priori, and could significantly change during a session. In PALS, the receiver periodically performs quality adaptation based on aggregate bandwidth from all senders to determine (i) overall quality (i.e. number of layers) that can be collectively delivered from all senders, and more importantly (ii) specific subset of packets that should be delivered by each sender in order to gracefully cope with any sudden change in its bandwidth. Our detailed simulation-based evaluations illustrate that PALS can effectively cope with several angles of dynamics in the system including: bandwidth variations, peer participation, and partially available content at different peers. We also demonstrate the importance of coordination among senders and examine key design tradeoffs for the PALS mechanism. Keywords: Quality adaptive streaming, Peer-to-peer networks, Congestion control, Layered encoding 1