A Fault Tolerant, Dynamic and Low Latency BDII Architecture for Grids

The current BDII model relies on information gathering from agents that run on each core node of a Grid. This information is then published into a Grid wide information resource known as Top BDII. The Top level BDIIs are updated typically in cycles of a few minutes each. A new BDDI architecture is proposed and described in this paper based on the hypothesis that only a few attribute values change in each BDDI information cycle and consequently it may not be necessary to update each parameter in a cycle. It has been demonstrated that significant performance gains can be achieved by exchanging only the information about records that changed during a cycle. Our investigations have led us to implement a low latency and fault tolerant BDII system that involves only minimal data transfer and facilitates secure transactions in a Grid environment.Comment: 18 pages; 10 figures; 4 table

Convective Heat Transfer Analysis on Prandtl Fluid Model with Peristalsis

The effects of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) on peristaltic transport of Prandtl fluid in a symmetric channel have been studied under the assumptions of long wave length and low-Reynolds number. Channel walls are considered compliant in nature. Series solutions of axial velocity, stream function and temperature are given by using regular perturbation technique for small values of Prandtl fluid parameter. The effects of physical parameters on the velocity, streamlines and temperature are examined by plotting graphs

Awareness about reproductive health and rights among students of a public university in Karachi, Pakistan: a cross sectional study

Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practices of Karachi University students about reproductive health and rights. Design: Cross sectional study Methods: A survey was conducted from February to May 2005 to determine the understanding and knowledge related to reproductive health and rights among the students of the department of Biochemistry, University of Karachi, Pakistan. A pre-coded questionnaire was developed and pre-tested. The questionnaire was introduced to those students, who agreed to participate in the study. Data collected was double entered and analyzed on SPSS and Epi-info latest version. Results: Fifty five percent (55%) of participants believed the reproductive rights to be as important as other human rights. About 80% of participants thought that proper birth spacing can improve maternal and child health but very few Pakistani women have birth spacing rights. Quality of life of women and men can be improved by knowing their reproductive rights in view of 71 % and 63 % of respondents respectively. Conclusion: Although one third of participants claimed to be aware of their reproductive rights but majority were unable to identify what exactly comes under the domain of reproductive rights. Majority knew that appropriate use of contraception and birth spacing can have positive impact on maternal and child health. The study recommends that awareness sessions should be conducted at all levels of society and more efforts should be made to improve reproductive health and increase awareness and the implementation of reproductive rights

Stylistic Analysis of Alfread Tennyson's Poem Tears Idle Tears

This research paper is about the stylistic analysis of Tennyson’s poem “Tears, Idle Tears”. For analysis of this poem the stylistics devices are used and analysis is made under the aspects of phonological, semantic and Lexical Pattern. The analysis would be helpful in understanding the basic concepts of the poem, which had some past memories, impact at the present. The purpose of this study is to find out the poetic techniques which poet used to enhance the emotions of the reader. This study is also helpful to analyse the structure and style of the Tennyson and his views. Key Words : Stylistic analysis, Tennyson’s poem, Tears, idle tears, Poetic Devices

COVID-19 and Pregnancy Outcome: An Experience in ‘COVID-19 Management Designated’ Tertiary Care Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost 17.3 million victims worldwide with mortality of almost 674K. Pregnancy is one of the most susceptible conditions for COVID-19 infection, but limited data is currently available about the clinical characteristics of pregnant women with the disease. Objective; to describe the clinical characteristics, co-morbidities, management, feto-maternal, and neonatal outcome in COVID-19 positive pregnant women. Methodology: A descriptive case series study was conducted in Obs/Gynae dept of Benazir Bhutto Tertiary Care Hospital, Rawalpindi, including all asymptomatic/symptomatic COVID-19 positive pregnant women and clinical suspects (COVID-19 PCR negative women) delivered in our hospital from 01st April 2020 to 31st July 2020. Their medical records were reviewed for clinical characteristics, management, feto-maternal and neonatal outcomes. Continuous variables were expressed in Mean & Range and Categorical variables as number & Percentage. Results: During the study period a total of 17 cases were reviewed. The mean maternal age was 28.94 yrs. Primigravida (07), Multipara (10). Mean gestational age was 37 wks (range; 30-41wks). Presenting symptomatology was varied. Asymptomatic; (29%), COVID-19 specific symptoms; fever & flu (12%), fever&cough (6%), shortness of breath(SOB) alone (6%), fever & SOB(6%) and pregnancy-related manifestations were labour pains (17%), eclampsia(6%), hydrocephalous fetus (6%) and hepatic encephalopathy(6%). The commonest co-morbidity was Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (24%). Five women (29%) required ICU care. Lower segment caesarean sections(LSCS) (59%), vaginal delivery (41%). Eleven babies delivered with good Apgar score and birth weight. Two were early neonatal deaths (ENND) and 04 were received intra-uterine fetal deaths (IUDs). Fetal demise was associated with strong obstetric risk factors. Out of 13 live-born babies, RT-PCR Covid-19 testing was done in 10 (77%) cases and was negative. One mother was expired due to complications of hepatic encephalopathy, sepsis, and burst abdomen. Conclusion; The clinical course of COVID-19 disease in pregnancy seems to be no different from non-pregnant women. Clinical manifestations are diverse and infection contracted in the third trimester of pregnancy is associated with good feto-maternal and neonatal outcomes

Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders, 1990–2016 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

Background: Neurological disorders are increasingly recognised as major causes of death and disability worldwide. The aim of this analysis from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 is to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date estimates of the global, regional, and national burden from neurological disorders. Methods: We estimated prevalence, incidence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs; the sum of years of life lost [YLLs] and years lived with disability [YLDs]) by age and sex for 15 neurological disorder categories (tetanus, meningitis, encephalitis, stroke, brain and other CNS cancers, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron diseases, idiopathic epilepsy, migraine, tension-type headache, and a residual category for other less common neurological disorders) in 195 countries from 1990 to 2016. DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, was the main method of estimation of prevalence and incidence, and the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) was used for mortality estimation. We quantified the contribution of 84 risks and combinations of risk to the disease estimates for the 15 neurological disorder categories using the GBD comparative risk assessment approach. Findings: Globally, in 2016, neurological disorders were the leading cause of DALYs (276 million [95% UI 247–308]) and second leading cause of deaths (9·0 million [8·8–9·4]). The absolute number of deaths and DALYs from all neurological disorders combined increased (deaths by 39% [34–44] and DALYs by 15% [9–21]) whereas their age-standardised rates decreased (deaths by 28% [26–30] and DALYs by 27% [24–31]) between 1990 and 2016. The only neurological disorders that had a decrease in rates and absolute numbers of deaths and DALYs were tetanus, meningitis, and encephalitis. The four largest contributors of neurological DALYs were stroke (42·2% [38·6–46·1]), migraine (16·3% [11·7–20·8]), Alzheimer's and other dementias (10·4% [9·0–12·1]), and meningitis (7·9% [6·6–10·4]). For the combined neurological disorders, age-standardised DALY rates were significantly higher in males than in females (male-to-female ratio 1·12 [1·05–1·20]), but migraine, multiple sclerosis, and tension-type headache were more common and caused more burden in females, with male-to-female ratios of less than 0·7. The 84 risks quantified in GBD explain less than 10% of neurological disorder DALY burdens, except stroke, for which 88·8% (86·5–90·9) of DALYs are attributable to risk factors, and to a lesser extent Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (22·3% [11·8–35·1] of DALYs are risk attributable) and idiopathic epilepsy (14·1% [10·8–17·5] of DALYs are risk attributable). Interpretation: Globally, the burden of neurological disorders, as measured by the absolute number of DALYs, continues to increase. As populations are growing and ageing, and the prevalence of major disabling neurological disorders steeply increases with age, governments will face increasing demand for treatment, rehabilitation, and support services for neurological disorders. The scarcity of established modifiable risks for most of the neurological burden demonstrates that new knowledge is required to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk–outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk–outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk–outcome associations. Methods We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk–outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017. Findings In 2017, 34·1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 33·3–35·0) deaths and 1·21 billion (1·14–1·28) DALYs were attributable to GBD risk factors. Globally, 61·0% (59·6–62·4) of deaths and 48·3% (46·3–50·2) of DALYs were attributed to the GBD 2017 risk factors. When ranked by risk-attributable DALYs, high systolic blood pressure (SBP) was the leading risk factor, accounting for 10·4 million (9·39–11·5) deaths and 218 million (198–237) DALYs, followed by smoking (7·10 million [6·83–7·37] deaths and 182 million [173–193] DALYs), high fasting plasma glucose (6·53 million [5·23–8·23] deaths and 171 million [144–201] DALYs), high body-mass index (BMI; 4·72 million [2·99–6·70] deaths and 148 million [98·6–202] DALYs), and short gestation for birthweight (1·43 million [1·36–1·51] deaths and 139 million [131–147] DALYs). In total, risk-attributable DALYs declined by 4·9% (3·3–6·5) between 2007 and 2017. In the absence of demographic changes (ie, population growth and ageing), changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs would have led to a 23·5% decline in DALYs during that period. Conversely, in the absence of changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs, demographic changes would have led to an 18·6% increase in DALYs during that period. The ratios of observed risk exposure levels to exposure levels expected based on SDI (O/E ratios) increased globally for unsafe drinking water and household air pollution between 1990 and 2017. This result suggests that development is occurring more rapidly than are changes in the underlying risk structure in a population. Conversely, nearly universal declines in O/E ratios for smoking and alcohol use indicate that, for a given SDI, exposure to these risks is declining. In 2017, the leading Level 4 risk factor for age-standardised DALY rates was high SBP in four super-regions: central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia; north Africa and Middle East; south Asia; and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania. The leading risk factor in the high-income super-region was smoking, in Latin America and Caribbean was high BMI, and in sub-Saharan Africa was unsafe sex. O/E ratios for unsafe sex in sub-Saharan Africa were notably high, and those for alcohol use in north Africa and the Middle East were notably low. Interpretation By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

Erratum: Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Interpretation: By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk-outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk-outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk-outcome associations. METHODS: We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk-outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017