Effect of mifepristone in cervical ripening for induction of labour

Background: Mifepristone is potentially a method of inducing labour in late pregnancy by increasing uterine contractility and by increasing the sensitivity of the uterus to the actions of prostaglandins. Present study was done to portrait the beneficial of mifepristone induction of labour. The objective was to study the effect of mifepristone in induction of labour with the outcome of induction of labour (IOL).Methods: 100 patients (term) were included, after their informed consent. Patients were categorized by BISHOP SCORE at the beginning of induction for comparison of BS, mode of delivery, induction delivery interval (IDI). Women undergoing induction with RU486 (200mg PO) were grouped in one and those with placebo control group into another. Statistical analysis of categorical variables was done.Results: Rate of successful IOL or vaginal delivery was 76% in study group and only 36% in control group. After induction with mifepristone for cervical ripening in study group 76% patient who had cervical score 8 within 24 hours, whereas in control group 2% female’s cervical score was>8. Among the babies, 44% in the control group required baby unit admission as compared to 36% in the study group.Conclusions: In the present study, the women who were induced with mifepristone 200 mg per orally showed drastic improvement in cervical score within 24-48 hours and decreased the cesarean rate in the study group and amount of dose requirement of augmentation of labour with Misoprostol or Oxytocin, lesser NICU admission and maternal complication

“Not a Boy, Not a Child”: A qualitative study on young people’s views on childbearing in Uganda

To understand reasons for persistent high fertility rate, we explored perceptions and influences of fertility motivation among young people from Uganda. Qualitative inquiry was used, data were organised using NVivo 2 package and latent content analysis performed. Major themes that emerged on factors that entrench high fertility included “Sustenance of ‘men’s blood’ through the male child”; “poverty, joblessness and child bearing”, and “other socio-cultural issues: religion, kin, elders and child bearing”. Factors that reduce fertility included “perception on women emancipation, job security and couple fertility communication”. Young peoples’ views on motivation for childbearing in Uganda are embedded in cultural norms and linked strongly to patriarchy, social respectability and women’s sustenance. Innovative cultural practices and programs that increase women’s social respectability such as emphasis that a girl can be heir and inherit her father’s property are needed to reduce sonpreference and fertility rates in the younger generation.(Afr J Reprod Health 2010; 14[1]:71-81)

A physical mechanism for North Atlantic SST influence on the Indian summer monsoon

A link between the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and multidecadal variability of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall is unraveled and a long sought physical mechanism linking Atlantic climate and monsoon has been identified. The AMO produces persistent weakening (strengthening) of the meridional gradient of tropospheric temperature (TT) by setting up negative (positive) TT anomaly over Eurasia during northern late summer/autumn resulting in early (late) withdrawal of the south west monsoon and persistent decrease (increase) of seasonal monsoon rainfall. On inter-annual time scales, strong North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) or North Annular mode (NAM) influences the monsoon by producing similar TT anomaly over Eurasia. The AMO achieves the interdecadal modulation of the monsoon by modulating the frequency of occurrence of strong NAO/NAM events. This mechanism also provides a basis for explaining the observed teleconnection between North Atlantic temperature and the Asian monsoon in paleoclimatic proxies

Characteristics and Outcomes of Dementia Patients Who Receive Inpatient Palliative Care Consultation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162727/2/jgs16521_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162727/1/jgs16521.pd

Analytical methods used in estimating the prevalence of HIV/AIDS from demographic and cross-sectional surveys with missing data: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Sero- prevalence studies often have a problem of missing data. Few studies report the proportion of missing data and even fewer describe the methods used to adjust the results for missing data. The objective of this review was to determine the analytical methods used for analysis in HIV surveys with missing data. METHODS: We searched for population, demographic and cross-sectional surveys of HIV published from January 2000 to April 2018 in Pub Med/Medline, Web of Science core collection, Latin American and Caribbean Sciences Literature, Africa-Wide Information and Scopus, and by reviewing references of included articles. All potential abstracts were imported into Covidence and abstracts screened by two independent reviewers using pre-specified criteria. Disagreements were resolved through discussion. A piloted data extraction tool was used to extract data and assess the risk of bias of the eligible studies. Data were analysed through a quantitative approach; variables were presented and summarised using figures and tables. RESULTS: A total of 3426 citations where identified, 194 duplicates removed, 3232 screened and 69 full articles were obtained. Twenty-four studies were included. The response rate for an HIV test of the included studies ranged from 32 to 96% with the major reason for the missing data being refusal to consent for an HIV test. Complete case analysis was the primary method of analysis used, multiple imputations 11(46%) was the most advanced method used, followed by the Heckman's selection model 9(38%). Single Imputation and Instrumental variables method were used in only two studies each, with 13(54%) other different methods used in several studies. Forty-two percent of the studies applied more than two methods in the analysis, with a maximum of 4 methods per study. Only 6(25%) studies conducted a sensitivity analysis, while 11(46%) studies had a significant change of estimates after adjusting for missing data. CONCLUSION: Missing data in survey studies is still a problem in disease estimation. Our review outlined a number of methods that can be used to adjust for missing data on HIV studies; however, more information and awareness are needed to allow informed choices on which method to be applied for the estimates to be more reliable and representative

PURIFICATION AND BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF L-AMINO ACID OXIDASE FROM WESTERN REGION INDIAN COBRA (NAJA NAJA) VENOM

Objective: Purification and biochemical characterization of LAAO from western region Indian Cobra (Naja naja) venom.Methods: LAAO was purified from Indian cobra (Naja naja) venom using sequential chromatography on Sephadex G-75 gel filtration followed by Ion exchange on CM-Sephadex C-25 column. Biochemical characterization viz., pH, Temperature, Km and Vmax were determined. Molecular weight of LAAO was determined by electrophoresis. Inhibition of LAAO from cold water extracts of Curcuma zedoria, Curcuma ceasia, Curcuma aromatic, Curcuma longa, Curcuma amada, Cucumis sativus and Benincasa hispida was done.Results: Purified LAAO showed the single band on non reducing SDS-PAGE with approximate molecular weight of 65 kDa. Further biochemical characterization revealed that, LAAO from Naja naja (western region) has an optimum pH of 7.0 and is stable at room Temperature upto 37 °C and showed an optimum enzyme concentration of 4µg/ml and Km 134.1µM and Vmax is 21.87 U/min. Cold water extract of Curcuma ceasia, Curcuma aromatic and Benincasa hispida showed comparatively significant inhibition of LAAO.Conclusion: LAAO has promising therapeutic prospects because of its effects on various biological functions. Variation in snake species and their geographical distribution also contributes to the venom properties such as composition, toxicity level, pharmacological and biological activities. The significant difference in protein profiling leads to substantial lethality among different geographical regions. Thus in this study Indian Cobra (Naja naja) venom from the western region of India was subjected to purification of LAAO and biochemical characterization. Â

“Trading daughters for livestock”: An ethnographic study of facilitators of child marriage in Lira district, Northern Uganda

Child marriage remains a significant challenge in Uganda despite national policies, legislation and programs for improved rights of girls. This ethnographic study aimed to explore underlying drivers of child marriage in Lira district, Northern Uganda. We applied a triangulation of qualitative methods; in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and observations. Data were analysed using qualitative thematic content analysis. Our study findings showed that child marriage is still prevalent in the study area and the practice was also carried out at designated markets, at which girls were traded in exchange of livestock. The main drivers of child marriage were identified as poverty and survival strategies; socio-cultural beliefs and norms; and school dropouts. Determined efforts are needed to address the socio-cultural drivers of child marriage, keep girls in school, address poverty through targeting the family and individual level with appropriate incentives to address the economic needs of girls and families to delay marriage, enforce laws prohibiting the practice of child marriage, equip teenagers with accurate information on SRHR and ensure that parents support their daughters to be educated and responsible adults.   Le mariage d’enfants reste un défi majeur en Ouganda malgré les politiques, la législation et les programmes nationaux pour l'amélioration des droits des filles. Cette étude ethnographique visait à examiner les facteurs sous-jacents du mariage d’enfants dans le district de Lira, dans le nord de l'Ouganda. Nous avons utilisé une triangulation des méthodes qualitatives; des entretiens approfondis, des groupes de discussion, des entretiens avec des informateurs clés et des observations. Les données ont été analysées à l’aide d’une thématique qualitative pour l’analyse de données. Les résultats de notre étude ont montré que le mariage d’enfants est toujours répandu dans la zone d'étude et que la pratique a été également effectuée dans des marchés désignés, où les filles étaient échangées contre du bétail. Les principaux moteurs du mariage d’enfants ont été identifiés comme étant la pauvreté et les stratégies de survie, croyances et normes socioculturelles et le décrochage scolaire. Des efforts résolus sont nécessaires pour traiter les facteurs socioculturels du mariage d’enfants, faire en sorte que les filles restent à l'école, lutter contre la pauvreté tout en ciblant des incitations appropriées pour répondre aux besoins économiques des filles au niveau individuel et familial et des familles pour retarder le mariage, faire appliquer les lois interdisant cette pratique du mariage d’enfants, fournir aux adolescents des informations précises sur la SDSR et veiller à ce que les parents donnent soutien à leurs filles à devenir des adultes éduqués et responsables

Transcriptional analysis of an immune-responsive serine protease from Indian malarial vector, Anopheles culicifacies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The main vector for transmission of malaria in India is the <it>Anopheles culicifacies </it>mosquito species, a naturally selected subgroup of which is completely refractory (R) to transmission of the malaria parasite, <it>Plasmodium vivax</it>;</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we report the molecular characterization of a serine protease (<it>acsp30</it>)-encoding gene from <it>A. culicifacies</it>, which was expressed in high abundance in the refractory strain compared to the susceptible (S) strain. The transcriptional upregulation of <it>acsp30 </it>upon <it>Plasmodium </it>challenge in the refractory strain coincided with ookinete invasion of mosquito midgut. Gene organization and primary sequence of <it>acsp30 </it>were identical in the R and S strains suggesting a divergent regulatory status of <it>acsp30 </it>in these strains. To examine this further, the upstream regulatory sequences of <it>acsp30 </it>were isolated, cloned and evaluated for the presence of promoter activity. The 702 bp upstream region of <it>acsp30 </it>from the two strains revealed sequence divergence. The promoter activity measured by luciferase-based reporter assay was shown to be 1.5-fold higher in the R strain than in the S. Gel shift experiments demonstrated a differential recruitment of nuclear proteins to upstream sequences of <it>acsp30 </it>as well as a difference in the composition of nuclear proteins in the two strains, both of which might contribute to the relative abundance of <it>acsp30 </it>in the R strain;</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The specific upregulation of <it>acsp30 </it>in the R strain only in response to <it>Plasmodium </it>infection is suggestive of its role in contributing the refractory phenotype to the <it>A. culicifacies </it>mosquito population.</p

Model Based Analysis and Test Generation for Flight Software

We describe a framework for model-based analysis and test case generation in the context of a heterogeneous model-based development paradigm that uses and combines Math- Works and UML 2.0 models and the associated code generation tools. This paradigm poses novel challenges to analysis and test case generation that, to the best of our knowledge, have not been addressed before. The framework is based on a common intermediate representation for different modeling formalisms and leverages and extends model checking and symbolic execution tools for model analysis and test case generation, respectively. We discuss the application of our framework to software models for a NASA flight mission