Ectopic pancreatic islets in Splenic hilum and peripancreatic fat

The presence of pancreatic islets alone in the peripancreatic region and splenic hilum is an uncommon occurrence. Herein, we describe their presence in this rare location

Laparoscopic management of right paraduodenal hernia along with the correction of malrotation in a pediatric patient: a case report

Paraduodenal hernias (PDH) are rare; however, they are the most common form of internal hernias. A 11-year-old boy presented to us with a history of intermittent abdominal pain since 1 year. His physical examination was normal. Plain abdominal radiographs and ultrasonography were inconclusive. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography of the abdomen reported a right subhepatic cecum. The patient underwent diagnostic laparoscopy followed by successful laparoscopic right PDH repair (excision of hernial sac, release of Ladd’s bands, and appendectomy). Ours is the sixth report to describe laparoscopic repair of a right PDH and the third in the pediatric age group. He was discharged home on postoperative day 1. He was completely asymptomatic at the 1-year follow-up. Keywords: laparoscopic, malrotation, paraduodenal hernia, pediatri

The Impact of HIV-1 Drug Escape on the Global Treatment Landscape

The rising prevalence of HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) could threaten gains made in combating the HIV epidemic and compromise the 90-90-90 target proposed by United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to have achieved virological suppression in 90% of all persons receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) by the year 2020. HIVDR has implications for the persistence of HIV, the selection of current and future ART drug regimens, and strategies of vaccine and cure development. Focusing on drug classes that are in clinical use, this Review critically summarizes what is known about the mechanisms the virus utilizes to escape drug control. Armed with this knowledge, strategies to limit the expansion of HIVDR are proposed

On the role of different Skyrme forces and surface corrections in exotic cluster-decay

We present cluster decay studies of $^{56}$Ni$^*$ formed in heavy-ion collisions using different Skyrme forces. Our study reveals that different Skyrme forces do not alter the transfer structure of fractional yields significantly. The cluster decay half-lives of different clusters lies within \pm 10% for PCM and \pm 15% for UFM.Comment: 13 pages,6 figures and 1 table; in press Pramana Journal of Physics (2010

An overview of methods for simulating and evaluating pipeline corrosion

Steel pipelines, buried under the soil and protected by the combination of protective coatings and cathodic protection (CP), are used for oil and gas transportation. These pipelines are one of the critical infrastructures for energy transportation and therefore became lifelines of modern society. The deterioration of the external surfaces of transmission pipelines is a serious problem and is caused mainly by coating and/or CP failure leading to the loss of integrity of pipelines. To avoid such damage, there is a need of techniques which are able to locate active corrosion sites, monitor corrosion, and evaluate corrosion damage. Fundamental understanding of such processes occurring on coated pipelines (with various types of defects in coatings as well as pipe) in complex soil environment is necessary for the development of such techniques. Numerous laboratory techniques, i.e., electrochemical impedance spectroscopy based, polarisation measurements based, mathematical simulations, direct observation etc. have been used to develop fundamental understanding, simulate and evaluate corrosion occurring in oil and gas pipelines under various operating conditions. Given the complex nature of the pipeline corrosion, application of these laboratory techniques in field measurements as well as in understanding the corrosion mechanisms is lacking. This paper presents an overview of investigations, based on electrochemical techniques, for simulation and evaluation of pipeline corrosion in laboratory

Psychological well-being and burden in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia

Background: There is a definite paucity of Indian studies looking into the caregiver burden, psychological well-being, and the interface between them. Objectives: This work aims to study the correlation between these variables. Materials and Methods: The study sample included 100 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and their caregivers, randomly selected from the patients admitted in the male and female wards of psychiatric center, Jodhpur, as per inclusion and exclusion criteria. Burden Assessment Schedule and Psychological General Well-Being Index were used for the study. Results: Eighty percent of the caregivers experienced moderate levels of burden. The burden was higher among older (r = 0.334) caregivers and spouse (p o 0.0001). Psychological well-being was low in older caregivers (r = -0.44) and those with lower educational status, and higher in the siblings (p = 0.002). A strong negative correlation was found between burden and psychological well-being (r = -0.81). Conclusion: Quality of care given to the individuals with schizophrenia depends on their primary caregiver. It thus becomes essential to plan interventions that would reduce their burden of care and thus improve their psychological well-being

Exercise Responses to Metabolic Function on High Altitude Pulmonary Edema Susceptible Individuals

The study was aimed to evaluate and compare resting and exercise induced metabolic responses between acclimatized high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) susceptible (HAPE-s) and HAPE resistance (HAPE-r) volunteers at sea level. A group of 14 Indian soldiers volunteered for this study, divided into two groups, (i) HAPE-s, with past history of HAPE [n1 = 7; age = 33.3 ± 4.5 (M ± SD)] and (ii) HAPE-r, with prior history of repeated exposure to high altitude and without suffering HAPE [n2 = 7; age = 31.9 ± 4.2 (M ± SD)]. Respiratory frequency (fR), tidal volume (T), minute ventilation (E), oxygen consumption (O2), carbon dioxide output (CO2), heart rate (HR) and respiratory quotient (RQ) were recorded on all the volunteers during resting and exercise conditions. Ventilatory equivalent for oxygen (EqO2) and oxygen pulse (O2P) were calculated. Significant differences were observed between HAPE-s and HAPE-r volunteers in fRrest (25.3% higher), O2Prest (23.7% lower), Emax (50.9% lower) (all P<0.05), fRmax (55.7% lower), O2max (55.5% lower), O2Pmax (34.2% lower) (all P<0.01) and CO2max (42.1% lower, P<0.001). Rest of the parameters did not show any significant differences between the study groups. The study revealed that resting and exercise induced metabolic responses of HAPE-r volunteers was better as compared to acclimatized HAPE-s volunteers at sea level

Operating Manifold Services in Hospitals: A costly affair?

Manifold services form an important cost centre in hospitals. Most public sector hospitals do not have standard cost accounting system and therefore budget allocation is often difficult for support services such as the manifold. The study was conducted in a 1045 bedded tertiary care hospital in New Delhi, India with the objective of identifying the cost incurred in delivery of manifold services.This traditional costing exercise was conducted from 01 July to 30 Sept 2010 and included classification of costs, identification of the cost centres in the hospital, cost allocation and apportioning. Direct and indirect costs as well as capital and operational costs were calculated. The process of manifold services from delivery to the operational aspects was studied. Tender documents and supply orders were perused to arrive at expenditure on manifold gas pipeline system, equipment & accessories. Total annual cost of manifold services at the hospital was calculated to be $333,676 and per day cost was calculated to be$ 941 .Annual cost per manifold terminal unit was $207.3. The daily cost of manifold system was calculated to be$ 0.56. The annual and daily cost per bed was deduced to be $320 and$ 0.87 respectively.While manifold is a vital support service, the fact remains that it is cost intensive and underutilized and often poorly planned in terms of cost effectiveness. The focus on technology in manifold services needs to be sustained