An evaluation of pelvic organ prolapses in perimenopausal and menopausal Chinese females.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and correlate the various factors including, but not limited to, educational status, socio-economic condition, body mass index (BMI), menstrual history, with the status and severity of POP. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted between August 2021 and September 2022 and suspected patients of POP were considered from the outpatient Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The study has mainly used 3 indicators of socio-economic status, namely, occupation, education, and income. These factors were correlated and statistically analyzed with that of POP. RESULTS: The study findings revealed that there are more symptomatic patients who are illiterate as compared to asymptomatic POP and with increasing education status, there is a decrease in symptomatic POP patients (p<0.05). Also, there is a significant proportion of symptomatic POP patients in the lower class and lower middle class as compared to asymptomatic patients in each class, respectively (p<0.05). It also found that micturition difficulty and vaginal bulging are significantly correlated with the stages of POP (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Educational status and socio-economic condition are significant indicators of the presence of symptoms or severity of POP. The study further concluded that menopausal females have more symptomatic POP as compared to pre-menopausal females.

Expanding the Goddard CSH Algorithm for GPM: New Extratropical Retrievals.

The Goddard Convective-Stratiform Heating (CSH) algorithm has been used to retrieve latent heating (LH) associated with clouds and cloud systems in support of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The CSH algorithm required the use of a cloud-resolving model (CRM) to simulate LH profiles to build look-up tables (LUTs). However, the current LUTs in the CSH algorithm are not suitable for retrieving LH profiles at high latitudes or winter conditions that are needed for GPM. The NASA Unified-Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) model is used to simulate three eastern continental US (CONUS) synoptic winter and three western coastal/offshore events. The relationship between LH structures (or profiles) and other precipitation properties (radar reflectivity, freezing level height, echo-top height, maximum radar reflectivity height and surface precipitation rate) is examined, and a new classification system is adopted with varying ranges for each of these precipitation properties to create LUTs representing high latitude/winter conditions. The performance of the new LUTs is examined using a self-consistency check for one CONUS and one West Coast offshore event by comparing LH profiles retrieved from the LUTs using model-simulated precipitation properties with those originally simulated by the model. The results of the self-consistency check validate the new classification and LUTs. High latitude retrievals from the new LUTs are merged with those from the CSH algorithm to retrieve LH profiles over the GPM domain using precipitation properties retrieved from the GPM combined algorithm.

Impacts of aerosol-monsoon interaction on rainfall and circulation over Northern India and the Himalaya Foothills.

The boreal summer of 2008 was unusual for the Indian monsoon, featuring exceptional heavy loading of dust aerosols over the Arabian Sea and northern-central India, near normal all-India rainfall, but excessive heavy rain, causing disastrous flooding in the Northern Indian Himalaya Foothills (NIHF) regions, accompanied by persistent drought conditions in central and southern India. Using NASA Unified-physics Weather Research Forecast (NUWRF) model with fully interactive aerosol physics and dynamics, we carried out three sets of 7-day ensemble model forecast experiments: 1) control with no aerosol, 2) aerosol radiative effect only and 3) aerosol radiative and aerosol-cloud-microphysics effects, to study the impacts of aerosol-monsoon interactions on monsoon variability over the NIHF during the summer of 2008. Results show that aerosol-radiation interaction (ARI), i.e., dust aerosol transport, and dynamical feedback processes induced by aerosol-radiative heating, plays a key role in altering the large-scale monsoon circulation system, reflected by an increased north-south tropospheric temperature gradient, a northward shift of heavy monsoon rainfall, advancing the monsoon onset by 1-5 days over the HF, consistent with the EHP hypothesis (Lau et al. 2006). Additionally, we found that dust aerosols, via the semi-direct effect, increase atmospheric stability, and cause the dissipation of a developing monsoon onset cyclone over northeastern India/northern Bay of Bengal. Eventually, in a matter of several days, ARI transforms the developing monsoon cyclone into meso-scale convective cells along the HF slopes. Aerosol-Cloud-microphysics Interaction (ACI) further enhances the ARI effect in invigorating the deep convection cells and speeding up the transformation processes. Results indicate that even in short-term (up to weekly) numerical forecasting of monsoon circulation and rainfall, effects of aerosol-monsoon interaction can be substantial and cannot be ignored.

cDNA and genomic structures of arrowhead proteinase inhibitors.

Arrowhead double-headed proteinase inhibitors A and B consist of 150 amino acid residues with three disulfide bonds. Based on their primary structures, three cDNA fragments of the inhibitors were amplified in vitro by the PCR method using a constructed arrowhead cDNA library as a template. With the overlapping sequences, the full-length cDNA sequences of the inhibitors were then ascertained. The open reading frame encodes a pre-inhibitor, including a 24 residue signal peptide. The deduced amino acid sequences are consistent in principle with those determined by primary structure analysis, except that there are seven extra residues in the C-terminal part of the inhibitors, which might be cleaved off by proteinase post-processing immediately after protein synthesis. It is worth pointing out that cDNAs of both inhibitors A and B contain an 87 bp intron in the AAG codon of residue Lys-97. According to the elucidated cDNA sequences, the structural genes of inhibitors A and B were amplified using the total cDNA or genomic DNA of arrowhead as a PCR template. It was indicated that both the cDNA and genomic structures of inhibitors A and B have the same sequences.