To study the painless labour by epidural analgesia and its effects on cardiotocographic parameters and labour

Background: Epidural analgesia is a central nerve block technique achieved by injection of a local anesthetic close to the nerves that transmit pain and is widely used as a form of pain relief in labor. The objective was to study the effect of epidural analgesia on cardiotocographic parameters and relief of pain, effect on course of labor and its outcome in terms of duration, any complications and mode of delivery.Methods: A prospective observational study was done on 100 subjects. They were randomly divided into study and control groups, study group (50) were given epidural analgesia after 3cm dilatation while control group (50) did not receive any analgesic. NST was taken before and after analgesia, course of labor, duration of labor, mode of delivery.Results: The study shows no significant effect of epidural analgesia on the duration of labor, mode of delivery, and CTG parameters.Conclusion: Epidural analgesia group shows better pain relief. It favors normal course of labor, no effect on cardiotocographic parameters. Subjects in study group were more satisfied

LOW-GRADE INFLAMMATION IN SUBCLINICAL HYPOTHYROIDISM: ROLE OF HIGHSENSITIVE C-REACTIVE PROTEIN

Objective: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) patients may present with abnormal lipid profile more specifically in patients having thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) >10 mIU/L. Since the contradiction still lies with patients having TSH <10 mIU/L, so the role of high-sensitive C-reactive protein (Hs- CRP) may be important with the prediction of inflammatory cardiovascular risk.Methods: Recently diagnosed 30 SCH patients both male and female were recruited and compared 30 normal healthy adults. Age and body mass index (BMI) of the study population were noted. Thyroid profile including TSH, FT4, and T3 was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were measured by the CHOD-POD method, GPO-PAP method, and CHOD-POD/phosphotungstic method. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and very low-density cholesterol were measured by Friedewald formula. Lipoprotein ratios were also calculated. An ELISA was also used for the estimation of Hs-CRP.Results: The significant results were obtained in this study. BMI was significantly (<0.01) elevated in patients' group compared to the control group. In the thyroid profile, TSH was significantly (<0.05) different between the groups. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL-cholesterol were significantly (<0.01) elevated in the case group. A significantly lower concentration of HDL cholesterol was observed in SCH patients when compared with control subjects. There was an elevated concentration of lipoprotein ratios in patients group. The mean concentration of Hs-CRP was highly significant between the groups. The level was higher in the case group compared to the control group. In patients' group, there was a positive association (β- 0.36) (confidence interval 95%–0.002–0.536) between TSH and Hs-CRP. This association was highly significant.Conclusion: SCH patients having TSH <10 μIU/ml were characterized by dyslipidemia and elevated Hs-CRP. Increased lipoprotein ratios and Hs-CRP may promote low-grade inflammation in SCH patients, by which cardiovascular risk can be developed

Effect of anaemia on maternal and fetal outcome: an observational study

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy is a globally health-related issue that affects both mothers and their new-born. Hence an observational study to see the effect of anaemia on maternal and foetal outcome was conducted. Methods: 15024 mothers coming in OPD or IPD in past 4 years were recruited and their haemoglobin measured. Descriptive statistics was used for baseline characteristics. This observational study was conducted in department of obs and gynae, GSVM Medical College Kanpur from August 2018 to August 2022. All the data gathered was processed by SPSS version 25. Results: The main outcomes included 4 maternal outcomes (postpartum haemorrhage, shock, ICU admission, and maternal mortality) and 4 neonatal outcomes (foetal growth restriction, birth weight, NICU admission, stillbirth). 60.03% of the mothers were anaemic in our study. Maternal and foetal complications were more in anaemic than non-anaemic mothers with incidence of PPH, shock, ICU admission, and maternal mortality being 14.07%, 11.33% ,4.30 and 1.31% respectively than non-anaemic mothers with incidence of 11.22%, 7.26%, 1.76%, and 7.28% respectively. Foetal outcome was also poorer in anaemic mothers with incidence of FGR, LBW, NICU admission, Still birth being 3.15%, 8.85%, 12.96%, and 1.09% higher than non-anaemic group with incidence being 1.80%, 3.43%, 9.75%, and 0.30 % respectively. Conclusions: This observational study provides valuable insights into the effect of anaemia on both maternal and foetal outcomes. It emphasizes the importance of early detection and management of anaemia to mitigate the risks associated with this condition

A method for the experimental measurement of bulk and shear loss angles in amorphous thin films

Brownian thermal noise is a limiting factor for the sensitivity of many high precision metrology applications, among other gravitational-wave detectors. The origin of Brownian noise can be traced down to internal friction in the amorphous materials that are used for the high reflection coatings. To properly characterize the internal friction in an amorphous material, one needs to consider separately the bulk and shear losses. In most of previous works the two loss angles were considered equal, although without any first principle motivation. In this work we present a method that can be used to extract the material bulk and shear loss angles, based on current state-of-the-art coating ring-down measurement systems. We also show that for titania-doped tantala, a material commonly used in gravitational-wave detector coatings, the experimental data strongly favor a model with two different and distinct loss angles, over the simpler case of one single loss angle

A method for the experimental measurement of bulk and shear loss angles in amorphous thin films

Brownian thermal noise is a limiting factor for the sensitivity of many high precision metrology applications, among other gravitational-wave detectors. The origin of Brownian noise can be traced down to internal friction in the amorphous materials that are used for the high reflection coatings. To properly characterize the internal friction in an amorphous material, one needs to consider separately the bulk and shear losses. In most of previous works the two loss angles were considered equal, although without any first principle motivation. In this work we present a method that can be used to extract the material bulk and shear loss angles, based on current state-of-the-art coating ring-down measurement systems. We also show that for titania-doped tantala, a material commonly used in gravitational-wave detector coatings, the experimental data strongly favor a model with two different and distinct loss angles, over the simpler case of one single loss angle

Quantum-Enhanced Advanced LIGO Detectors in the Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has been directly detecting gravitational waves from compact binary mergers since 2015. We report on the first use of squeezed vacuum states in the direct measurement of gravitational waves with the Advanced LIGO H1 and L1 detectors. This achievement is the culmination of decades of research to implement squeezed states in gravitational-wave detectors. During the ongoing O3 observation run, squeezed states are improving the sensitivity of the LIGO interferometers to signals above 50 Hz by up to 3 dB, thereby increasing the expected detection rate by 40% (H1) and 50% (L1)

Optically Targeted Search for Gravitational Waves emitted by Core-Collapse Supernovae during the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

We present the results from a search for gravitational-wave transients associated with core-collapse supernovae observed within a source distance of approximately 20 Mpc during the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. No significant gravitational-wave candidate was detected. We report the detection efficiencies as a function of the distance for waveforms derived from multidimensional numerical simulations and phenomenological extreme emission models. The sources with neutrino-driven explosions are detectable at the distances approaching 5 kpc, and for magnetorotationally driven explosions the distances are up to 54 kpc. However, waveforms for extreme emission models are detectable up to 28 Mpc. For the first time, the gravitational-wave data enabled us to exclude part of the parameter spaces of two extreme emission models with confidence up to 83%, limited by coincident data coverage. Besides, using ad hoc harmonic signals windowed with Gaussian envelopes, we constrained the gravitational-wave energy emitted during core collapse at the levels of 4.27×10⁻⁴ M⊙c² and 1.28×10⁻¹  M⊙c² for emissions at 235 and 1304 Hz, respectively. These constraints are 2 orders of magnitude more stringent than previously derived in the corresponding analysis using initial LIGO, initial Virgo, and GEO 600 data

All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the second Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo run

We present the results of a search for short-duration gravitational-wave transients in the data from the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. We search for gravitational-wave transients with a duration of milliseconds to approximately one second in the 32–4096 Hz frequency band with minimal assumptions about the signal properties, thus targeting a wide variety of sources. We also perform a matched-filter search for gravitational-wave transients from cosmic string cusps for which the waveform is well modeled. The unmodeled search detected gravitational waves from several binary black hole mergers which have been identified by previous analyses. No other significant events have been found by either the unmodeled search or the cosmic string search. We thus present the search sensitivities for a variety of signal waveforms and report upper limits on the source rate density as a function of the characteristic frequency of the signal. These upper limits are a factor of 3 lower than the first observing run, with a 50% detection probability for gravitational-wave emissions with energies of ∼10^(−9)  M⊙c^2 at 153 Hz. For the search dedicated to cosmic string cusps we consider several loop distribution models, and present updated constraints from the same search done in the first observing run