Preventive gynecology: attitude and practice among gynecologists of Central Kerala

Background: Carcinoma breast and carcinoma cervix are leading causes for cancer deaths in India. However, they get detected only in late stages of the disease. Preventive measures and early detection of disease will decrease the burden from these cancers. We evaluated the strategies followed by practising gynaecologists of Central Kerala to reduce this burden.Methods: A survey was conducted among 270 practising gynaecologists of Central Kerala, using a questionnaire. This evaluated implementation of screening and preventive measures used by them for self-protection as well as for the women seeking their services. Their attitude regarding HPV vaccine as a preventive measure was also noted.Results: Pap smear was done by only 84(32.8%) out of 256 gynaecologists or their spouses. Routine Pap smear was recommended by 60.5% of private practitioners and 84% of government practitioners. Counselling regarding the HPV vaccine was offered to young women by 37.8% of gynaecologists only. Use of HPV vaccine for their daughters was also quite infrequent (24.1%).Conclusions: The utilization of existing preventive strategies and measures for early detection of premalignant and malignant lesions is far from optimum. There is a need to step up in service training and continuing medical education for health care personnel in this direction

From the ISR to RHIC--measurements of hard-scattering and jets using inclusive single particle production and 2-particle correlations

Hard scattering in p-p collisions, discovered at the CERN ISR in 1972 by the method of leading particles, proved that the partons of Deeply Inelastic Scattering strongly interacted with each other. Further ISR measurements utilizing inclusive single or pairs of hadrons established that high pT particles are produced from states with two roughly back-to-back jets which are the result of scattering of constituents of the nucleons as desribed by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), which was developed during the course of these measurements. These techniques, which are the only practical method to study hard-scattering and jet phenomena in Au+Au central collisions at RHIC energies, are reviewed, as an introduction to present RHIC measurements.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the workshop on Correlations and Fluctuations in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions, MIT, Cambridge, MA, April 21-23, 2005, 10 pages, 9 figures, Journal of Physics: Conference Proceeding

Information Technology Innovation and Organizational Policy: Implications on Employee Privacy

Issues relating to workplace privacy and how organizations address privacy have sparked a lot of public debate in recent years. Research reveals that potential employers have exploited employees seeking job opportunities by asking information to do with: disclosure of confidential information about the past employer’s work, financial background, and family intimate issues not relevant to the job being sought among others. This paper establishes the implications of information technology innovation on organization policies with emphasis on employees’ privacy. The study was done in two organizations and it adapted a case study approach. Data was collected from 74 respondents using questionnaires. Respondents were sampled using purposive technique. Frequency distribution tables were used in data presentation followed by discussions. The findings of this study are critical in informing the policy makers in organizations on procedures and strategies of inclusive policy formulation and implementation as well as provide HR managers with insight on managing privacy issues in dynamic organizational setups. Key words: Employees’ Privacy policy, Information Technology, Surveillanc

Transverse Energy Measurement in Au+Au Collisions by the STAR Experiment

Transverse energy ($E_T$) has been measured with both of its components, namely hadronic ($E_T^{had}$) and electromagnetic ($E_T^{em}$) in a common phase space at mid-rapidity for 62.4 GeV Au+Au collisions by the STAR experiment. $E_T$ production with centrality and $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ is studied with similar measurements from SPS to RHIC and is compared with a final state gluon saturation model (EKRT). The most striking feature is the observation of a nearly constant value of $E_T/N_{ch} \sim 0.8$ GeV from AGS, SPS to RHIC. The initial energy density estimated by the boost-invariant Bjorken hydrodynamic model, is well above the critical density for a deconfined matter of quarks and gluons predicted by lattice QCD calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 10 figures, Presented in Quark Matter 2008, Jaipur, India. To be published in Indian Journal of Physic

Thermo-mechanical sensitivity calibration of nanotorsional magnetometers

We report on the fabrication of sensitive nanotorsional resonators, which can be utilized as magnetometers for investigating the magnetization dynamics in small magnetic elements. The thermo-mechanical noise is calibrated with the resonator displacement in order to determine the ultimate mechanical torque sensitivity of the magnetometer.Comment: 56th Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Material

Mapping isoprene emissions over North America using formaldehyde column observations from space

We present a methodology for deriving emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) using space-based column observations of formaldehyde (HCHO) and apply it to data from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) satellite instrument over North America during July 1996. The HCHO column is related to local VOC emissions, with a spatial smearing that increases with the VOC lifetime. Isoprene is the dominant HCHO precursor over North America in summer, and its lifetime (≃1 hour) is sufficiently short that the smearing can be neglected. We use the Goddard Earth Observing System global 3-D model of tropospheric chemistry (GEOS-CHEM) to derive the relationship between isoprene emissions and HCHO columns over North America and use these relationships to convert the GOME HCHO columns to isoprene emissions. We also use the GEOS-CHEM model as an intermediary to validate the GOME HCHO column measurements by comparison with in situ observations. The GEOS-CHEM model including the Global Emissions Inventory Activity (GEIA) isoprene emission inventory provides a good simulation of both the GOME data (r2 = 0.69, n = 756, bias = +11%) and the in situ summertime HCHO measurements over North America (r2 = 0.47, n = 10, bias = −3%). The GOME observations show high values over regions of known high isoprene emissions and a day-to-day variability that is consistent with the temperature dependence of isoprene emission. Isoprene emissions inferred from the GOME data are 20% less than GEIA on average over North America and twice those from the U.S. EPA Biogenic Emissions Inventory System (BEIS2) inventory. The GOME isoprene inventory when implemented in the GEOS-CHEM model provides a better simulation of the HCHO in situ measurements than either GEIA or BEIS2 (r2 = 0.71, n = 10, bias = −10%)

Maternal and neonatal outcome in second stage cesarean section versus first stage: a comparative study

Background: Cesarean Section is the most commonly performed abdominal operation in women all over the world. Variable rates of cesarean section are reported between and within countries. Cesarean section at full cervical dilatation with an impacted fetal head can be technically difficult and is associated with increased trauma to the lower uterine segment and adjacent structures, as well as increased hemorrhage and infection.Methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study comparing maternal and neonatal outcome between first stage and second stage cesarean section performed at Govt Medical College Thrissur.Results: In present study out of 90 cesarean sections 30 were performed in second stage and 60 in first stage.74 % were primigravida in second stage cs group. Arrest due to malposition was major indication for second stage (76% of cases). The most important complication among second stage cs group was PPH (76.7%) and majority of them needed blood transfusion. These complications were less in first stage cs group. Other Complications like increased duration of surgery (mean=53.3 min), post op fever (36% post op Wound infection (13.3%) was seen in second stage group. Fetal complications like low APGAR scores were seen in 16.7% of cases compared to first stage group and most of them needed resuscitation.Conclusions: Women undergoing cesarean section in second stage of labour had increased maternal and fetal morbidity. They required special care and hence Operation should ideally perform and supervised by an experienced obstetrician. Timely decision for cesarean section should be made especially when risk factors for failure to progress are present

Novel type of phase transition in a system of self-driven particles

A simple model with a novel type of dynamics is introduced in order to investigate the emergence of self-ordered motion in systems of particles with biologically motivated interaction. In our model particles are driven with a constant absolute velocity and at each time step assume the average direction of motion of the particles in their neighborhood with some random perturbation ($\eta$) added. We present numerical evidence that this model results in a kinetic phase transition from no transport (zero average velocity, $| {\bf v}_a | =0$) to finite net transport through spontaneous symmetry breaking of the rotational symmetry. The transition is continuous since $| {\bf v}_a |$ is found to scale as $(\eta_c-\eta)^\beta$ with $\beta\simeq 0.45$

Sharp interface limits of phase-field models

The use of continuum phase-field models to describe the motion of well-defined interfaces is discussed for a class of phenomena, that includes order/disorder transitions, spinodal decomposition and Ostwald ripening, dendritic growth, and the solidification of eutectic alloys. The projection operator method is used to extract the ``sharp interface limit'' from phase field models which have interfaces that are diffuse on a length scale $\xi$. In particular,phase-field equations are mapped onto sharp interface equations in the limits $\xi \kappa \ll 1$ and $\xi v/D \ll 1$, where $\kappa$ and $v$ are respectively the interface curvature and velocity and $D$ is the diffusion constant in the bulk. The calculations provide one general set of sharp interface equations that incorporate the Gibbs-Thomson condition, the Allen-Cahn equation and the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure