31 research outputs found

    Family-led rehabilitation after stroke in India (ATTEND): a randomised controlled trial

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    Background Most people with stroke in India have no access to organised rehabilitation services. The effectiveness of training family members to provide stroke rehabilitation is uncertain. Our primary objective was to determine whether family-led stroke rehabilitation, initiated in hospital and continued at home, would be superior to usual care in a low-resource setting. Methods The Family-led Rehabilitation after Stroke in India (ATTEND) trial was a prospectively randomised open trial with blinded endpoint done across 14 hospitals in India. Patients aged 18 years or older who had had a stroke within the past month, had residual disability and reasonable expectation of survival, and who had an informal family-nominated caregiver were randomly assigned to intervention or usual care by site coordinators using a secure web-based system with minimisation by site and stroke severity. The family members of participants in the intervention group received additional structured rehabilitation training—including information provision, joint goal setting, carer training, and task-specific training—that was started in hospital and continued at home for up to 2 months. The primary outcome was death or dependency at 6 months, defined by scores 3–6 on the modified Rankin scale (range, 0 [no symptoms] to 6 [death]) as assessed by masked observers. Analyses were by intention to treat. This trial is registered with Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI/2013/04/003557), Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12613000078752), and Universal Trial Number (U1111-1138-6707). Findings Between Jan 13, 2014, and Feb 12, 2016, 1250 patients were randomly assigned to intervention (n=623) or control (n=627) groups. 33 patients were lost to follow-up (14 intervention, 19 control) and five patients withdrew (two intervention, three control). At 6 months, 285 (47%) of 607 patients in the intervention group and 287 (47%) of 605 controls were dead or dependent (odds ratio 0·98, 95% CI 0·78–1·23, p=0·87). 72 (12%) patients in the intervention group and 86 (14%) in the control group died (p=0·27), and we observed no difference in rehospitalisation (89 [14%]patients in the intervention group vs 82 [13%] in the control group; p=0·56). We also found no difference in total non-fatal events (112 events in 82 [13%] intervention patients vs 110 events in 79 [13%] control patients; p=0·80). Interpretation Although task shifting is an attractive solution for health-care sustainability, our results do not support investment in new stroke rehabilitation services that shift tasks to family caregivers, unless new evidence emerges. A future avenue of research should be to investigate the effects of task shifting to health-care assistants or team-based community care

    An integral method of solution for unsteady heat conduction in cylindrical insulations

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    Unsteady heat conduction in cylindrical thermal insulation has been analysed using the integral method. The time domain considered is after the inner surface has reached steady state and when the temperature distribution through the insulation is undergoing changes towards the steady state. The temperature profile assumed is a product of a polynomial and a logarithmic function. Closed-form solutions in terms of dimensionless parameters have been obtained. The results are presented in graphical form for ready use. The solution can also be used for thick cylinders

    A Markov chain model for a turbomolecular pump--theory and experiments

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    The random flow of molecules in turbomolecular pump is proved to be of Markovian type stochastic process. Two new variables-mean fast passage time and long range equilibrium probability-are related to the maximum compression ratio and the maximum flow, theoretically. An enumeration method to identify the flow pattern is adopted. The overall effective compression ratio is proved to be equal to the partial pressure ratio due to the molecules taking any one of the first passage time flow pattern for either direction of flow. A unified concept to make a selection of flow events is suggested to be included in the calculation of the probability and for the comparison of results. The influence of the backing pump and the flow at the ultimate vacuum level are quantified for the design purpose and are experimentally verified

    An improved maximum power point tracker using a step-up converter with current locked loop

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    lt is well known that for a given solar radiation intensity and solar cell temperature there exists a Maximum Power Point at which the power generated from the PV panel is at its maximum. A system designer is interested in optimal matching of the load to the PV generator so that the maximum power can be obtained during operating period. A Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) using a step up converter with a current locked loop is developed. Its performance is compared with the literature (the step down power converter using PWM technique), under different solar irradiance and ambient temperatures. It showed an improvement in the output power by 22.5% (average) over a wide range of solar irradiation in a day

    Photovoltaic-powered cold store and its performance

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    A photovoltaic-powered cold store plant, the first of its kind, has been developed to store 10 tons of frozen fish at -153C. It consists of a photovoltaic array (4kW peak), a battery bank (96VDC, 180AH), a vapour compression refrigeration system (1 ton), electronic controls for automatic operation of plant and an insulated cold chamber. Experiments were conducted on the system to evaluate its performance with no heat load (frozen fish at -153C) and with di!erent heat loads. It is observed that the system can be operated with a maximum heat load of 2350W to maintain the walk-in-cooler temperature below the freezing point of fish (-23C). The performance studies conducted on these subsystems viz., photovoltaic array and battery bank showed that their output has deteriorated in 5 years

    Combined natural convection heat and mass transfer from vertical fin array

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    Natural convection transport processes play an important role in many applications like ice-storage air-conditioning. A mathematical formulation of natural convection heat and mass transfer over a shrouded vertical fin array is developed. The base plate is maintained at a temperature below the dew point of the surrounding moist air. Hence there occurs condensation of moisture on the base plate, while the fins may be partially or fully wet. A numerical study is performed by varying the parameters of the problem. The local and average Nusselt numbers decrease in streamwise direction and tend to approach fully developed values for sufficiently large values of the fin length. The results show that beyond a certain streamwise distance, further fin length does not improve the sensible and latent heat transfer performance, and that if dry fin analysis is used under moisture condensation conditions, the overall heat transfer will be underestimated by about 50% even at low buoyancy ratios

    Thermal conductivity and thermal contact conductance studies on Al2O3/AlAlNAl_{2}O_{3}/Al-AlN metal matrix composite

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    Al2O3/AlAlNAl_{2}O_{3}/Al-AlN is a metal matrix composite (MMC) used for making heatsink of electronic devices. This paper presents the detailed investigations carried out on thermal contact resistance across this MMC contact in vacuum at different contact pressures. The experimental results are compared with the theoretical models available in the literature for metallic contacts and they are found to be in good agreement with each other
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