Numerical analysis of MHD axisymmetric rotating Bodewadt rheology under viscous dissipation and ohmic heating effects.

In present research manuscript, analysis is presented for the influences of heat transition in a bodewadt flow over a penetrable disk numerically. Estimation parameters in current mathematical flow model include magnetic field parameter [Formula: see text] wall suction [Formula: see text] prandtl number [Formula: see text] heat generation/absorption [Formula: see text] eckert number [Formula: see text] variable viscosity [Formula: see text] and thermal conductivity [Formula: see text] The repercussions of joule heating, wall suction, heat generation & absorption, magnetic field, viscous dissipation accompanying with variable characteristics of the fluid are also examined as well. Kinetics of viscous fluid with variable characteristics of fluid having solid body rotation over a permeable disk (having cylindrical geometry) are analyzed. We transformed the governing equations of heat transfer (accompanied by variable properties) and fluid motion in to self-similar non-dimensional differential equations by using the Von-Karman variables which are then further analyzed numerically by utilizing Adams Bashforth method. For a physical insight, results are manifested to scrutinize the behavior of velocity and temperature profiles for different emerging parameters graphically. Moreover, the values of nusselt number & skin friction co-efficient are also computed and physically explicated for the assorted parameters. Outcomes of current investigations are compared with prior work, to ensure the authenticity of the numerical method, and strong agreement is noted.

Evidence-Based Mechanical Ventilatory Strategies in ARDS.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients despite advancements in the field. Mechanical ventilatory strategies are a vital component of ARDS management to prevent secondary lung injury and improve patient outcomes. Multiple strategies including utilization of low tidal volumes, targeting low plateau pressures to minimize barotrauma, using low FiO2 (fraction of inspired oxygen) to prevent injury related to oxygen free radicals, optimization of positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) to maintain or improve lung recruitment, and utilization of prone ventilation have been shown to decrease morbidity and mortality. The role of other mechanical ventilatory strategies like non-invasive ventilation, recruitment maneuvers, esophageal pressure monitoring, determination of optimal PEEP, and appropriate patient selection for extracorporeal support is not clear. In this article, we review evidence-based mechanical ventilatory strategies and ventilatory adjuncts for ARDS.

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of some antimicrobials and disinfectants against bacterial pathogens from hoof lesions in dairy cattle.

BACKGROUND: Lameness in dairy cattle is prevalent worldwide and has serious economic and welfare implications. Nevertheless, it is an overlooked and least studied dairy problem in Pakistan. AIMS: This study was executed for in vivo and in vitro evaluation of antimicrobials and disinfectants against bacterial pathogens from hoof lesions of commercial dairy cattle. METHODS: For in vitro studies, 23 bacterial isolates (n=10 Staphylococcus aureus, n=8 Fusobacterium necrophorum, and n=5 Bacteroides) from hoof lesions were used for antimicrobial and disinfectants susceptibility testing. In vivo trials were carried out among 4 groups of dairy cows suffering from hoof lesions using different combinations of antimicrobials, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and disinfectants either parenterally or topically. RESULTS: Results indicated that most of the isolates of S. aureus, F. necrophorum, and Bacteroides were resistant to penicillin, amoxicillin, trimethoprim + sulphamethoxazole, oxytetracycline, and tylosin. Ciprofloxacin and gentamicin were the most effective antimicrobials (in vitro) against all three bacterial pathogens. Comparison of in vitro efficacy of disinfectants showed that copper sulfate was the most effective disinfectant against the three pathogens followed by povidone-iodine and chloroxylenol. In vivo trials revealed that ciprofloxacin at 5 mg/kg/day intramuscular (IM) for 7 days, flunixin meglumine at 2.2 mg/kg/day IM for 7 days, and copper sulfate (5% solution) as foot-bath twice daily for 21 days was the most effective treatment regimen to treat lameness in commercial dairy cows. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that in vitro antibiogram and disinfectant studies were useful tools to assess the effectiveness of routinely used antimicrobials and disinfectants for the treatment of lameness.

Expression-Based Cell Lineage Analysis in Drosophila Through a Course-Based Research Experience for Early Undergraduates.

A variety of genetic techniques have been devised to determine cell lineage relationships during tissue development. Some of these systems monitor cell lineages spatially and/or temporally without regard to gene expression by the cells, whereas others correlate gene expression with the lineage under study. The GAL4 Technique for Real-time and Clonal Expression (G-TRACE) system allows for rapid, fluorescent protein-based visualization of both current and past GAL4 expression patterns and is therefore amenable to genome-wide expression-based lineage screens. Here we describe the results from such a screen, performed by undergraduate students of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Undergraduate Research Consortium for Functional Genomics (URCFG) and high school summer scholars as part of a discovery-based education program. The results of the screen, which reveal novel expression-based lineage patterns within the brain, the imaginal disc epithelia, and the hematopoietic lymph gland, have been compiled into the G-TRACE Expression Database (GED), an online resource for use by the Drosophila research community. The impact of this discovery-based research experience on student learning gains was assessed independently and shown to be greater than that of similar programs conducted elsewhere. Furthermore, students participating in the URCFG showed considerably higher STEM retention rates than UCLA STEM students that did not participate in the URCFG, as well as STEM students nationwide.

Computationally efficient fully-automatic online neural spike detection and sorting in presence of multi-unit activity for implantable circuits.

BACKGROUND: Spike sorting is a basic step for implantable neural interfaces. With the growing number of channels, the process should be computationally efficient, automatic,robust and applicable on implantable circuits. NEW METHOD: The proposed method is a combination of fully-automatic offline and online processes. It introduces a novel method for automatically determining a data-aware spike detection threshold, computationally efficient spike feature extraction, automatic optimal cluster number evaluation and verification coupled with Self-Organizing Maps to accurately determine cluster centroids. The system has the ability of unsupervised online operation after initial fully-automatic offline training. The prime focus of this paper is to fully-automate the complete spike detection and sorting pipeline, while keeping the accuracy high. RESULTS: The proposed system is simulated on two well-known datasets. The automatic threshold improves detection accuracies significantly( > 15%) as compared to the most common detector. The system is able to effectively handle background multi-unit activity with improved performance. COMPARISON: Most of the existing methods are not fully-automatic; they require supervision and expert intervention at various stages of the pipeline. Secondly, existing works focus on foreground neural activity. Recent research has highlighted importance of background multi-unit activity, and this work is amongst the first efforts that proposes and verifies an automatic methodology to effectively handle them as well. CONCLUSION: This paper proposes a fully-automatic, computationally efficient system for spike sorting for both single-unit and multi-unit spikes. Although the scope of this work is design and verification through computer simulations, the system has been designed to be easily transferable into an integrated hardware form.

Infected Non-union of Tibia Treated with Ilizarov External Fixator: Our Experience.

Introduction: Tibia is the most common long bone fractured due its vulnerable subcutaneous location and most often associated with acquired complications of delayed union or non-union due to infection. Amongst the various treatment options to treat them, the Ilizarov external fixator application is considered superior due to its multiple advantages. The objective of this study was to analyse the role of Ilizarov fixation in infected tibial non-union, as well as to assess bony union and associated functional outcomes. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was conducted for the duration between 1st January 2005 to 31st December 2016. Total of fifty-one patients with tibial non-union associated with infection who treated with the Ilizarov fixator were included in the study. Patient records were reviewed for union of bone, bone and functional outcomes and complications. Results: The most common organism for infection was identified to be Staphylococcus Aureus. At the time of final follow-up all patients had achieved union except two, one of whom had to undergo amputation due to non-union and sepsis. Majority of the patients had an excellent score as per ASAMI grading system for bone and function results. The most common complication noted was pin track infections. Conclusion: In our experience, Ilizarov external fixator is better suited for infected non-union of tibia because it can provide a stable mechanical environment, bone transport, correct deformities, and enable weight bearing and hence we recommend its use for the same.

Numerical investigation on 2D viscoelastic fluid due to exponentially stretching surface with magnetic effects: an application of non-Fourier flux theory.

Two-dimensional flow of Casson fluid toward an exponentially stretched surface in view of Cattaneo-Christove flux theory is discoursed in current communication. Flow pattern within boundary layer under the effectiveness of magnetic field is also contemplated in the communication. Non-dimensionalized governing expressions are attained through transformation procedure. To anticipate the fascinating features of present work, solution of resulted nonlinear differential system is computed with the collaborated help of shooting scheme and Runge-Kutta method. The influence of involved variables on velocity and temperature fields is scrutinized. Contribution of thermal relaxation is explicitly pointed out. Evaluation of convective heat transfer and friction factor in the fluid flow is visualized through graphs and tables. Additionally, the assurance of present work is affirmed by developing comparison with previous findings in the literature which sets a trade mark for the implementation of numerical approach. It is inferred from the thorough examination of the analysis that present formulation reduces to classical Fourier's problem by considering Λ = 0 . Furthermore, decreasing pattern in temperature distribution is depicted in the presence of Cattaneo-Christove flux law as compared to heat transfer due to the Fourier's law.

Diversification and independent domestication of Asian and European pears.

BACKGROUND: Pear (Pyrus) is a globally grown fruit, with thousands of cultivars in five domesticated species and dozens of wild species. However, little is known about the evolutionary history of these pear species and what has contributed to the distinct phenotypic traits between Asian pears and European pears. RESULTS: We report the genome resequencing of 113 pear accessions from worldwide collections, representing both cultivated and wild pear species. Based on 18,302,883 identified SNPs, we conduct phylogenetics, population structure, gene flow, and selective sweep analyses. Furthermore, we propose a model for the divergence, dissemination, and independent domestication of Asian and European pears in which pear, after originating in southwest China and then being disseminated throughout central Asia, has eventually spread to western Asia, and then on to Europe. We find evidence for rapid evolution and balancing selection for S-RNase genes that have contributed to the maintenance of self-incompatibility, thus promoting outcrossing and accounting for pear genome diversity across the Eurasian continent. In addition, separate selective sweep signatures between Asian pears and European pears, combined with co-localized QTLs and differentially expressed genes, underline distinct phenotypic fruit traits, including flesh texture, sugar, acidity, aroma, and stone cells. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides further clarification of the evolutionary history of pear along with independent domestication of Asian and European pears. Furthermore, it provides substantive and valuable genomic resources that will significantly advance pear improvement and molecular breeding efforts.

Prevalence of foot and mouth disease virus in apparently healthy buffaloes brought to Islamabad slaughterhouse in Pakistan.

This study was conducted to determine the sero-prevalence of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) slaughtered at Islamabad slaughterhouse, Pakistan. Sera and oro-pharyngeal (OP) fluid were collected from 630 healthy buffaloes. These animals originated from various livestock markets from 14 districts of Punjab. The age of animals ranged from 1 to 15 years. Sera were analyzed using FMD virus (FMDV) nonstructural proteins (NSP) and indirect ELISA. The sero-prevalence of FMD was 47.1% (n=297). There was a strong association between age of animal and its risk of being positive for FMD NSP ELISA (Odds ratio 1.27; p<0.001; CI 1.22-1.32). The OP fluids were tested for the presence of FMDV by real time PCR. FMDV specific signals were detected in 33 samples (11.1%). Virus recovery attempts were made after treating them with tri-chloro-tri-flouroethane onto LFBK cell line and four FMD isolates were recovered. This study indicated high sero-prevalence of FMDV in buffaloes slaughtered at abattoir in Islamabad. Furthermore, the virus recovery from these animals is suggestive of their possible role in persistence and transmission of FMDV to other animals.

Seroprevalence, associated risk factors and hematological impacts of toxoplasmosis in small ruminants of Multan, Punjab-Pakistan.

Toxoplasmosis is a protozoal infection of zoonotic potential with worldwide geographical distribution which affects nearly all warm-blooded animals including mammals and birds. Keeping in view, this study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis along with associated risk factors and its haematological impacts in small ruminants of district Multan, Pakistan. In this study, a total of 250 sera samples collected from sheep (n=125) and goats (n=125) from three tehsils of Multan were examined using commercially available Latex agglutination test kit for the presence of anti-T. gondii antibodies. The haematological profiles of Toxoplasma seropositive and seronegative animals were determined by using automated haematology analyser. Overall seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in small ruminants was 42.80% with a higher prevalence rate (44.80%) in sheep as compared to goats (40.80%). Sex, existence of co-morbid conditions, feeding pattern and presence of pet cats and dogs were identified as significant (P<0.05) risk factors associated with the presence of antibodies against toxoplasmosis. The breed was found to be a significant (P=0.026) risk factor for the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in goats but not in sheep. Haematological analysis revealed significantly altered leukocytic counts (P<0.05) in seropositive sheep and goats as compared to seronegative ones. Our findings showed that small ruminants of the Multan District in Pakistan are toxoplasma seropositive and may pose a serious threat of public health concern in the region.

Seroprevalence, associated risk factors and hematological impacts of toxoplasmosis in small ruminants of Multan, Punjab-Pakistan

@#Toxoplasmosis is a protozoal infection of zoonotic potential with worldwide geographical distribution which affects nearly all warm-blooded animals including mammals and birds. Keeping in view, this study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis along with associated risk factors and its haematological impacts in small ruminants of district Multan, Pakistan. In this study, a total of 250 sera samples collected from sheep (n=125) and goats (n=125) from three tehsils of Multan were examined using commercially available Latex agglutination test kit for the presence of anti-T. gondii antibodies. The haematological profiles of Toxoplasma seropositive and seronegative animals were determined by using automated haematology analyser. Overall seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in small ruminants was 42.80% with a higher prevalence rate (44.80%) in sheep as compared to goats (40.80%). Sex, existence of co-morbid conditions, feeding pattern and presence of pet cats and dogs were identified as significant (P<0.05) risk factors associated with the presence of antibodies against toxoplasmosis. The breed was found to be a significant (P=0.026) risk factor for the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in goats but not in sheep. Haematological analysis revealed significantly altered leukocytic counts (P<0.05) in seropositive sheep and goats as compared to seronegative ones. Our findings showed that small ruminants of the Multan District in Pakistan are toxoplasma seropositive and may pose a serious threat of public health concern in the region.

MRI based automated diagnosis of Alzheimer's: Fusing 3D wavelet-features with clinical data.

This paper presents a novel algorithm for classification of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) from the healthy controls (HC) using structural MRI. Feature extraction is based on discrete 3D wavelet transform followed by PCA for transforming the feature space into linearly uncorrelated variables. Linear SVM is used for classification purposes with clinical dementia rating used as the target vector. Proposed methodology is fully automated and independent of the annotation of region of interest. The importance of MRI, demographical data, neuro-psychiatric test scores and statistics calculated over the wavelet coefficients for the classification is studied. Proposed methodology is applied on 197 subjects from a public database. A classification accuracy of 95% was achieved for the case of HC vs AD. For the case of HC vs MCI, and MCI vs AD the classification accuracy of 78% and 81% were achieved. The results are compared with an existing state of the art technique.

Decoding brain cognitive activity across subjects using multimodal M/EEG neuroimaging.

Brain decoding is essential in understanding where and how information is encoded inside the brain. Existing literature has shown that a good classification accuracy is achievable in decoding for single subjects, but multi-subject classification has proven difficult due to the inter-subject variability. In this paper, multi-modal neuroimaging was used to improve two-class multi-subject classification accuracy in a cognitive task of differentiating between a face and a scrambled face. In this transfer learning problem, a feature space based on special-form covariance matrices manipulated with riemannian geometry are used. A supervised two-layer hierarchical model was trained iteratively for estimating classification accuracies. Results are reported on a publically available multi-subject, multi-modal human neuroimaging dataset from MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge. The dataset contains simultaneous recordings of electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). Our model attained, using leave-one-subject-out cross-validation, a classification accuracy of 70.82% for single modal EEG, 81.55% for single modal MEG and 84.98% for multi-modal M/EEG.

Cost-effectiveness of exercise stress testing performed as part of executive health examinations.

BACKGROUND: An executive health examination is offered at many hospitals for "busy executives" that comprises of a typical history and examination along with screening tests for major cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses. Exercise stress tests are also frequently included in such packages, though the appropriateness of such stress testing remains uncertain. AIM: To assess the appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of exercise stress tests performed as part of executive health examinations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Records of all individuals who underwent an executive health examination at our institution between January, 2007 and December, 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Data were collected pertaining to demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, indication of stress testing and results of exercise stress tests. RESULTS: Of a total of 1650 subjects who underwent exercise stress tests as part of executive health examinations, indication for exercise stress testing was class IIb or III (as per American College of Cardiology's appropriateness criteria) in 96.1 % of subjects. The cumulative cost and time burden of testing for these subjects were Rs. 11,419,200/- PKR (≈$114,192 USD) and 2 weeks and 4 days, respectively. Exercise stress tests were not positive for ischemia in any such cases. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, exercise stress tests should not be routinely offered as part of executive health examinations.

Comparative efficacy of Prolene and Prolene-Vicryl composite mesh for experimental ventral hernia repair in dogs.

In this study, efficacy of two hernia mesh implants viz. conventional Prolene and a novel Prolene-Vicryl composite mesh was assessed for experimental ventral hernia repair in dogs. Twelve healthy mongrel dogs were selected and randomly divided into three groups, A, Band C (n=4). In all groups, an experimental laparotomy was performed; thereafter, the posterior rectus sheath and peritoneum were sutured together, while, a 5 × 5 cm defect was created in the rectus muscle belly and anterior rectus sheath. For sublay hernioplasty, the hernia mesh (Prolene: group A; Prolene-Vicryl composite mesh: group B), was implanted over the posterior rectus sheath. In group C (control), mesh was not implanted; instead the laparotomy incision was closed after a herniorrhaphy. Post-operative pain, mesh shrinkage and adhesion formation were assessed as short term complications. Post-operatively, pain at surgical site was significantly less (P<0.001) in group B (composite mesh); mesh shrinkage was also significantly less in group B (21.42%, P<0.05) than in group A (Prolene mesh shrinkage: 58.18%). Group B (composite mesh) also depicted less than 25% adhesions (Mean ± SE: 0.75 ± 0.50 scores, P≤0.013) when assessed on the basis of a Quantitative Modified Diamond scale; a Qualitative Adhesion Tenacity scale also depicted either no adhesions (n=2), or, only flimsy adhesions (n=2) in group B (composite mesh), in contrast to group A (Prolene), which manifested greater adhesion formation and presence of dense adhesions requiring blunt dissection. Conclusively, the Prolene-Vicryl composite mesh proved superior to the Prolene mesh regarding lesser mesh contraction, fewer adhesions and no short-term follow-up complications.

Automatic threshold optimization in nonlinear energy operator based spike detection.

In neural spike sorting systems, the performance of the spike detector has to be maximized because it affects the performance of all subsequent blocks. Non-linear energy operator (NEO), is a popular spike detector due to its detection accuracy and its hardware friendly architecture. However, it involves a thresholding stage, whose value is usually approximated and is thus not optimal. This approximation deteriorates the performance in real-time systems where signal to noise ratio (SNR) estimation is a challenge, especially at lower SNRs. In this paper, we propose an automatic and robust threshold calculation method using an empirical gradient technique. The method is tested on two different datasets. The results show that our optimized threshold improves the detection accuracy in both high SNR and low SNR signals. Boxplots are presented that provide a statistical analysis of improvements in accuracy, for instance, the 75th percentile was at 98.7% and 93.5% for the optimized NEO threshold and traditional NEO threshold, respectively.

Utility of complete trauma series radiographs in alert pediatric patients presenting to Emergency Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital.

PURPOSE: To assess the utility of trauma series radiographs in the management of alert pediatric patients with traumatic injury and to ascertain whether it is necessary to acquire the entire trauma series in these children. METHODS: A total of 176 consecutive children below the age of 15 years and having Glasgow Coma Scale score greater than 12, who presented to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital with a history of recent trauma, were retrospectively reviewed. All the children had undergone a thorough clinical examination followed by complete trauma series radiographs, according to the American College of Surgery guidelines. RESULTS: A total of 558 radiographs were reviewed by a consultant pediatric radiologist including 528 trauma series radiographs and 30 additional radiographs. Among the trauma series radiographs, 35 (6.63 %) had evidence of injury; 24 (4.54 %) and 11 (2.08 %) involving the chest and pelvic regions, respectively. All children with normal physical examination had normal cervical spine and chest radiographs. Among the 11 positive pelvic X-rays, only two had radiological signs of injury in the absence of localizing physical signs, and all these children were less than 3 years of age. In all the remaining cases, children had localizing signs on physical examination. Out of the 30 additional X-rays, 27 (90 %) had radiological evidence of injury. CONCLUSIONS: The routine use of entire radiological trauma series in alert pediatric patients with a normal physical examination has a very low yield. In these children, the localizing signs and symptoms can help us in determining the specific radiological examination to be utilized.

Adaptive Threshold Neural Spike Detector Using Stationary Wavelet Transform in CMOS.

Spike detection is an essential first step in the analysis of neural recordings. Detection at the frontend eases the bandwidth requirement for wireless data transfer of multichannel recordings to extra-cranial processing units. In this work, a low power digital integrated spike detector based on the lifting stationary wavelet transform is presented and developed. By monitoring the standard deviation of wavelet coefficients, the proposed detector can adaptively set a threshold value online for each channel independently without requiring user intervention. A prototype 16-channel spike detector was designed and tested in an FPGA. The method enables spike detection with nearly 90% accuracy even when the signal-to-noise ratio is as low as 2. The design was mapped to 130 nm CMOS technology and shown to occupy 0.014 mm(2) of area and dissipate 1.7 µW of power per channel, making it suitable for implantable multichannel neural recording systems.

A configurable realtime DWT-based neural data compression and communication VLSI system for wireless implants.

This paper presents the design of a complete multi-channel neural recording compression and communication system for wireless implants that addresses the challenging simultaneous requirements for low power, high bandwidth and error-free communication. The compression engine implements discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and run length encoding schemes and offers a practical data compression solution that faithfully preserves neural information. The communication engine encodes data and commands separately into custom-designed packet structures utilizing a protocol capable of error handling. VLSI hardware implementation of these functions, within the design constraints of a 32-channel neural compression implant, is presented. Designed in 0.13µm CMOS, the core of the neural compression and communication chip occupies only 1.21mm(2) and consumes 800µW of power (25µW per channel at 26KS/s) demonstrating an effective solution for intra-cortical neural interfaces.