Diagnosis of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma by insurance type before and after the Affordable Care Act: a national database study

The Affordable Care Act (ACT) was implemented to increase health care access and reduce the uninsured in the age group between pediatric and Medicare populations (18-64). The association of the ACA with insurance type upon diagnosis (uninsured, Medicaid, non-Medicaid) has been investigated for otolaryngologic, gynecologic, and the top five non-skin malignancies. Such studies for cutaneous malignancies are lacking. We conducted a retrospective analysis of the prospective National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer database to assess the impact of the ACA on new diagnoses of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) by insurance type. Unlike prior studies of other malignancies, we did not observe significant differences between rate of diagnosis of CTCL by insurance type before and after full implementation of the ACA in all states, expansion states, and non-expansion states. Skin cancers do not have screening guidelines and CTCL is an uncommon malignancy, both of which may contribute to these findings. However, Medicaid-expansion states were much closer to reducing the percentage of newly diagnosed uninsured patients with CTCL than non-expansion states. As such, it may be prudent to investigate intrinsic socioeconomic barriers to care in Medicaid patients to improve their access to care to decrease the uninsured population and improve outcomes

A Real time ZigBee Based Locating System

Embedded Systems based on ARM processors are used extensively in mobile devices like PDA’s and MP3 players.ARM is 32bit Reduced Instruction Set Computer(RISC).Windows CE is real time, multi-task operating system that works on a 32-bit processor. This paper suggests Windows CE embedded operating system, and how to build a platform for Windows CE operating system embedded in a LS5310 ARM11 microprocessor S3C6410 and also the design of Windows CE embedded applications based on Embedded VC++ 4.0. Here we are employing RS232 serial port of ARM 11 processor and ZigBee wireless data communications module to design an application for a ZigBee location system with an easy-to-use interface. It performs multiple functions like information and data receiving, saving, processing and display. It has advantages of high performance, low cost, and low power consumption and is an important component of the network locating system

Macro and microscopic evaluation of Gmelina arborea Roxb. – A botanical pharmacognostic approach for quality control of raw drug material

Gmelina arborea Roxb. of family Verbenaceae, is one of the highly valued medicinal plant used in numerous traditional medical formulations. It belongs to the ‘Dasamoola’ group of ayurvedic medicinal plants and hence widely exploited. Pharmacognostic techniques involving macroscopic, microscopic and also dry powder analysis serve as botanical methods which help in the correct identification of the crude drug. Leaf constants such as stomatal number, stomatal index, vein islet number, vein termination number also have been determined. Better quality control practices in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries demand the correct identification of the dried plants or powdered drug thereby detects and prevents the adulterations, if any. The challenge ahead of this investigation is to validate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of the plant following standard methodology

Micromagnetic Simulation of Spin Transfer Torque Switching of Full-Heusler Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 Alloy Thin Elliptical Disc

AbstractWe report micromagnetic simulation of spin transfer torque (STT) switching of a thin elliptical disc made of full-Heusler Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 alloy. The STT results in switching the direction of initial magnetization of the disc to a new state based on the spin-polarization factor (ƞ) of the material and magnitude of current density (J) applied. The value of J required for magnetization switching need to be reduced in the order of 106 A/cm2. In our simulation we obtained 3 × 105 A/cm2 as the critical current density (Jc) required for complete magnetization switching of the disc. We analyzed the effect of ƞ on magnetization switching time by reducing the value of ƞ by 0.10 from the actual value of 0.76. The decrement in ƞ results in the increment of time taken to switch the direction of magnetization. The change in switching time for variable disc thickness was also studied. This simulation result holds a key factor in the study of STT switching in spin-valve nanopillar

Results on Möbius index for standard graphs

This paper is concerned with calculating the Möbius index values and arrived results for a few standard graphs. Some standard graphs which we considered are Path graph, Cycle graph, Complete Graph, Star Graph, Shell graph, Wheel Graph, Gear graph, Helm Graph, the Web graph, Flower Graph.Publisher's Versio

Autonomous Traffic Signal Control using Decision Tree

The objective of this paper is to introduce an effective and efficient way of traffic signal light control to optimize the traffic signal duration across each lanes and thereby, to minimize or completely eliminate traffic congestion. This paper introduces a new approach to resolve the traffic congestion problem at junctions by making use of decision trees. The vehicle count in the real time traffic video is determined by Image Processing technique. This information is fed to the decision tree based on which the decision is made regarding the status of traffic signal lights of each lane at the junction at any given instant of time

VLSI Implementation of Barrel Distortion Correction in Endoscopic Images based on Least Squares Estimation

An efficient VLSI Implementation of Barrel Distortion Correction (BDC) in Endoscopic Images based on Least Squares Estimation is presented in this paper. Computational complexity is reduced by employing Odd order polynomial, as an approximation to Back-mapping expansion polynomial. This polynomial can be solved in monomial form, by Estrin\u27s algorithm. In Estrin’s algorithm, a high order expression can be factorized in to sub-expression, which can be evaluated in parallel. In our simulation, on comparison with some existing distortion correction techniques, 75% of hardware cost and 70% of memory requirement is reduced by using TSMC 0.18μm technology

Examination of the Mechanical, Corrosion, and Tribological Behavior of Friction Stir Welded Aluminum Alloy AA8011

Aluminum alloy AA8011 is emerging as a promising material for modern engineering applications in which improved tensile strength, hardness, corrosion-resistance, and wear-resistance of materials are required. Typically, AA8011 alloys are utilized in air-conditioning ducts and heat exchanger fins in ships, leisure boats, luxury vessels, workboats, fishing vessels, and patrol boats. However, the conventional welding of AA8011 is a challenging procedure. In this context, this paper focuses on the development of an effective solid-state welding methodology for AA8011 alloy welding. The AA8011 alloy was friction stir welded by varying the tool rotation speed, traverse speed, and shoulder diameter. The microhardness, tensile strength, joint efficiency, elongation, corrosion rate, and wear rate of the friction stir welded specimens were compared with the base material. Fractography analysis was conducted after the tensile test and surface morphology analysis after corrosion and wear tests, using scanning electron microscopy. The compositional elements in the corroded and worn section of the specimens were analyzed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Based on the joint efficiency as a primary constraint, the optimum process parameters for friction stir welding of aluminum alloy AA8011 have been established as follows: tool rotation speed of 1200 rpm, tool traverse speed of 45 mm/min, and tool shoulder diameter of 21 mm

Formulations and Evaluation of Sitagliptin Phosphate Loaded Transdermal Microspheres Gel

In this present study was to formulate and evaluate sustained release microsphere gel loaded sitagliptin phosphate in order to maintain a sustained drug concentration in serum for longer period of time, which may result in enhanced absorption and thereby improved bioavailability. The results of compatibility studies by infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry showed no interaction between the drug and polymers. The microgel of sustained release microspheres of sitagliptin phosphate were successfully prepared by non-aqueous solvent evaporation technique. All formulations F1 to F15 micropheres were evaluated for particle size analysis mean particle size range 54.51 to 92.62 μm. Mean particle size range of sitagliptin microspheres were in the range of suitable size range The F8-EH shows the maximum drug content values of 97.92% Percentage Encapsulation efficiency of the F8 – 88.88 %. As the polymer concentration was increased the drug entrapment efficiency % was increased due to increase in the viscosity of the solution. The present investigation state that if the drugs are soluble in the solvent system, it results in high drug encapsulation efficiency than that of dispersed in the solvent system. The elimination of the drugs from the prepared microspheres highly dependent on the concentration of the polymer used, as the amount of the polymer increased the encapsulation efficiency of the microsphere increased because of the good matrix formation. Scanning electron microphotographs showed that the microspheres were spherical with a smooth to rough surface. In-vitro release study of all the formulations were showed a sustained drug release with increase in concentration of different rate retardant polymers (EUDRAGIT RS 100, HPMC E15, CHITOSAN). Dissolution rate of all the formulations were sustained when compared to pure drug. The selected best formulation was formulated into gel using carbopol 934 by loading sitagliptin phosphate microspheres in carbomer gel. The dissolution study was carried out in phosphate buffer pH 7.2 for 12 hours. The formulations shows sustained release of drugs up to 12 hours and all formulations showed more than 90% drug release. CONCLUSION: Sustained release microspheres of sitagliptin phosphate prepared with the rate retardant polymers successfully by the non-aqueous solvent evaporation technique. From the results it was observed that drug: polymer ratio influences the particle size, drug content, encapsulation efficiency and in-vitro drug release of sustained release microspheres. The formulated microspheres showed good drug-loading. The gel formulation, which consisted of drug-loaded sitagliptin microspheres, showed sustained release of for 12 h, thus indicating their suitability for the sustained delivery of the drugs for the treatment of DM. However, further studies, including clinical tests are required to confirm the gel’s therapeutic efficacy