Patterns of Resistance to Antiretroviral Therapy among HIV+ Patients in Clinical Care

HIV-1 antiretroviral resistance has posed major challenges to treatment advances of the last decade. However, few studies have analyzed the prevalence and time trends of drug resistance among HIV+ patients on antiretroviral therapy followed longitudinally in clinical care. The purpose of this study is to determine the cumulative prevalence of HIV genotypic drug resistance and the dynamics of resistance development in HIV+ patients in care. We hypothesized that a \u3e5% increase in resistance would occur per 6-month period and a \u3e15% increase in drug resistance would occur over 18 months. This retrospective longitudinal study consisted of patients from the two largest HIV clinics in Connecticut who were enrolled in the Options Project Study from 2000-2003. HIV+ patients were consented and enrolled in the resistance substudy. HIV genotypic resistance testing was done on plasma samples available for each patient at study baseline and at ~6 month intervals for 18 months. HIV viral load and resistance data were matched to behavioral and demographic data for each patient. Genotypic drug resistance was defined according to the International AIDS Society 2004 guidelines. The chi-square test for linear trends was used to assess resistance trends. 396 HIV+ patients enrolled in the study and had archived plasma available for analysis. The cumulative prevalence of drug resistance increased from 32.1% to 46.3% for patients with 18 consecutive months of data, 31.9% to 50.7% for patients with 12 consecutive months of data, and 30.2% to 41.3% for patients with 6 consecutive months of data. During the period of study for this HIV+ patient care population, the cumulative prevalence of HIV genotypic drug resistance rose dramatically. The findings emphasize the need for addressing antiretroviral resistance in a clinical setting through physician education, reduction of transmission risks, regimen adjustments, newer agents, and utilization of genotype testing

IceBreaker: Solving Cold Start Problem for Video Recommendation Engines

Internet has brought about a tremendous increase in content of all forms and, in that, video content constitutes the major backbone of the total content being published as well as watched. Thus it becomes imperative for video recommendation engines such as Hulu to look for novel and innovative ways to recommend the newly added videos to their users. However, the problem with new videos is that they lack any sort of metadata and user interaction so as to be able to rate the videos for the consumers. To this effect, this paper introduces the several techniques we develop for the Content Based Video Relevance Prediction (CBVRP) Challenge being hosted by Hulu for the ACM Multimedia Conference 2018. We employ different architectures on the CBVRP dataset to make use of the provided frame and video level features and generate predictions of videos that are similar to the other videos. We also implement several ensemble strategies to explore complementarity between both the types of provided features. The obtained results are encouraging and will impel the boundaries of research for multimedia based video recommendation systems

The Morpheus Visualization System : a general-purpose RDF results browser

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-72).As the amount of information available on the deep web grows, finding ways to make this information accessible is growing increasingly problematic. As some have estimated that the content in the deep web is several orders of magnitude greater than that in the shallow web, there is a clear need for an effective tool to search the deep web. While many have attempted a solution, none have been successful in effectively addressing the problem of deep web searching. The Morpheus project presents a unique approach to the problem as it integrates the deep web with the shallow web while preserving the semantics of the deep web sites it accesses. At the heart Morpheus is its visualization system which allows users to access the deep web information. The visualization system makes use of clustering algorithms, visual information techniques, as well as the semantics of the deep web sites stored by Morpheus to present deep web results to users in an effective manner. User testing was also conducted to identify problematic areas of the system during development as well as to evaluate the usability of the system's design. Results indicate that users find that the Morpheus visualization system is a highly usable and learnable interface for searching the deep web for results as well as for processing those results.by Akash G. Shah.M.Eng

Traumatic 6th Nerve Palsy Managed with Medial Rectus Recession with Hangback Sutures and Hummelsheim Procedure

Traumatic paralytic esotropia due to 6th nerve palsy is not uncommon but difficult to manage. We reported a case of 38‑year‑old male who sustained head injury in road traffic accident 15 years ago and inward deviation of his left eye. His vision in right eye was 20/20 and counting fingers at one foot in the left eye. He had >70 prism diopters esotropia in the left eye with restriction of movements in all directions of gaze except adduction. His forced duction test was positive. Examinations of the anterior and posterior segments of both eyes were within normal limits. Magnetic resonance imaging suggested old traumatic insult in the left eye. Diagnosis of left eye traumatic 6th nerve palsy with medial rectus contracture was made. Left medial rectus recession with hangback sutures and Hummelsheim procedure were performed. Postoperatively, the patient’s vision in the left eye had improved to 20/80 the esotropia had reduced to 15 prism diopters (delta).Keywords: Abducent nerve, esotropia, traum

Modeling and Optimization of Ultrasonic Welding Process for Low Density Polymer: A Review

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of various weld and machine parameters on ultrasonic weld strength. In this we are going to use thermosetting material named epoxy which is one of the low density polymers. By considering three main parameters that is amplitude, pressure and weld time we are going to conduct the experiment. After doing the welding, we will check the tensile strength of the welded pieces by using UTM. (Universal testing machine).Further with the help of MINITAB software we will optimize the number of experiments

Maternal and perinatal outcome in severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia: a study of 120 cases at a tertiary health care center in Western India

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity worldwide. Pre-eclampsia accounts for the majority of referrals in a tertiary care center as it stands one of the major causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. It complicates 6-10% of all pregnancies. In India, they account for the third most important cause of maternal mortality. Patients with PIH are at a greater risk of abruptio placenta, cerebrovascular events, organ failure and DIC. Fetuses are at a greater risk of IUGR, preterm birth, small for gestational age and IUD. This study aimed to determine the maternal and perinatal outcomes of hospitalized pregnant cases with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia.Methods: This was a single year retrospective study conducted in a tertiary care center of Western India from May 2019 to May 2020. Maternal and perinatal outcomes were analyzed among the severe preeclampsia and eclampsia groups.Results: A total 52 (43.33%) of the cases were in the age group of 21-25 years, 64 (53.33%) were primigravidae and the majority were referred from peripheral hospitals. Liver function tests were deranged in 26.68% of the patients and 32.5% had abnormal renal function. Labetalol was the most commonly used antihypertensive and magnesium sulphate was the anticonvulsant used in all the cases. Lower segment caesarean section was the mode of delivery in 62 (51.67%) of the cases. Commonest maternal complication was atonic PPH (12.5%). There was one maternal mortality due to aspiration pneumonia. 85 (70.83%) of the babies needed NICU admission. There were 5 (4.16%) perinatal deaths.Conclusions: Accessible health care and health education and awareness regarding antenatal check-ups for all women will lead to early detection of severe preeclampsia. Prompt treatment and management of its complications will certainly improve the maternal and fetal outcome

Co-fabrication of chitosan and epoxy photoresist to form microwell arrays with permeable hydrogel bottoms

Microfabrication technology offers the potential to create biological platforms with customizable patterns and surface chemistries, allowing precise control over the biochemical microenvironment to which a cell or group of cells is exposed. However, most microfabricated platforms grow cells on impermeable surfaces. This report describes the co-fabrication of a micropatterned epoxy photoresist film with a chitosan film to create a freestanding array of permeable, hydrogel-bottomed microwells. These films possess optical properties ideal for microscopy applications, and the chitosan layers are semi-permeable with a molecular exclusion of 9.9 ± 2.1 kDa. By seeding cells into the microwells, overlaying inert mineral oil, and supplying media via the bottom surface, this hybrid film permits cells to be physically isolated from one another but maintained in culture for at least 4 days. Arrays co-fabricated using these materials reduce both large-molecular-weight biochemical crosstalk between cells and mixing of different clonal populations, and will enable high-throughput studies of cellular heterogeneity with increased ability to customize dynamic interrogations compared to materials in currently available technologies