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Overdosing of drugs sometimes produce fatal consequences. We report such a case of premedication dosing error in neonates with Glycopyrrolate leading to central anticholinergic syndrome (CAS) as in Dhatura poisoning. Accidental overdosing with glycopyrrolate resulted in symptoms like tachycardia, tachypnea, shock, hyperpyrexia, irritability and excessive crying. These symptoms resolved with symptomatic treatment. Errors can occur at any step of the path from drug prescription to administration. Medication errors are common and it should be immediately suspected in neonates with abnormal symptoms after injecting some drug, so that early diagnosis and treatment can be started timely. Identifying such medication errors is a challenge in neonatal care and should be a priority among caregivers in order to prevent future incidents and for patients’ safety. Keywords: Dhatura like poisoning, Premedication error in neonates, Neonatal anesthesia, Glycopyrrolate.

OBJECTIVE Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is rarely associated with coronary artery anomalies (CAA). This confluence makes it difficult to identify and treat the culprit lesion with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Our objective was to evaluate trends and predictors of revascularization in patients with CAA and AMI using a large national database. METHODS We included adult patients with CAA presenting as ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and undergoing coronary angiography from Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2000 to 2011, using ICD-9 diagnosis code of 746.85 for CAA. Chi-square test for trend was used to compare revascularization rates over time. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors of revascularization. RESULTS There were almost 4.7 million subjects with AMI undergoing coronary angiography from 2000 to 2011. Of these, there were 8131 patients with CAA, including 3425 STEMI and 4706 NSTEMI patients. Mean age of the CAA population was 59 years with 63.6% males. Overall PCI rate was 47.8% and coronary artery bypass grafting rate was 8.8%. In STEMI patients with CAA, PCI rate increased from 49.9% in 2000 to 77.8% in 2011 (P < 0.001). In NSTEMI patients with CAA, PCI rate remained unchanged from 33.3% in 2000 to 37.3% in 2011 (P = 0.34). Revascularization trends in AMI patients with CAA mirrored those in AMI patients without CAA. CONCLUSION Despite the technical challenges associated with PCI in CAA, PCI rates in STEMI patients with CAA continue to increase over time. On the contrary, PCI rates continue to remain low in CAA patients with NSTEMI, reflecting overall contemporary NSTEMI treatment trends.

Pseudoprogression (PsP) is a diagnostic clinical dilemma in cancer. In this study, we retrospectively analyse glioblastoma patients, and using their dynamic susceptibility contrast and dynamic contrast-enhanced perfusion MRI images we build a classifier using radiomic features obtained from both Ktrans and rCBV maps coupled with support vector machines. We achieve an accuracy of 90.82% (area under the curve (AUC) = 89.10%, sensitivity = 91.36%, 67 specificity = 88.24%, p = 0.017) in differentiating between pseudoprogression (PsP) and progressive disease (PD). The diagnostic performances of the models built using radiomic features from Ktrans and rCBV separately were equally high (Ktrans: AUC = 94%, 69 p = 0.012; rCBV: AUC = 89.8%, p = 0.004). Thus, this MR perfusion-based radiomic model demonstrates high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity in discriminating PsP from PD, thus provides a reliable alternative for noninvasive identification of PsP versus PD at the time of clinical/radiologic question. This study also illustrates the successful application of radiomic analysis as an advanced processing step on different MR perfusion maps., MRI scans of glioblastoma patients can be misleading and some patients appear to show features of progressive disease although they respond to treatment. Here, the authors use MRI images of progressive disease or pseudoprogression and build a classifier using machine learning to distinguish the two.

Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) ablation can result in injury to the atrioventricular (AV) node causing complete heart block requiring permanent pacemaker (PPM) implantation. Few studies have examined the impact of hospital PSVT ablation volume and PPM implantation rates post ablation.We included adult patients from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database, from 1998 to 2011, using ICD-9 diagnoses codes 427.0 and 427.89 for PSVT and ICD-9 procedure code 37.34 for ablation. Patients with concomitant arrhythmias, prior pacemaker/defibrillator implants, or pre-existing sinus node dysfunction were excluded. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of PPM implantation.There were 119,938 PSVT ablations from 1998 to 2011 with a mean age of 54.6 ± 17.5 years and 64.1% females. The overall PPM implantation rate was 3.2%. PPM implantation rates in the first (1-14 ablations/year), second (15-32 ablations/year), and third ( 32/ablations/year) tertiles of annual PSVT ablation volume were respectively 4.4, 3.3, and 1.9% (p 0.001). Increasing age, female gender, bifascicular, or trifascicular block and teaching hospital status were independent predictors of PPM implantation. The adjusted odds ratio for PPM implantation in hospitals performing 32 PSVT ablations/year compared to hospitals performing ≤ 14 PSVT ablations/year was 0.54 (95% confidence interval 0.3-0.9, p = 0.026).PPM implantation rates are significantly lower in hospitals performing 32 PSVT ablations/year, indicating that hospital experience is an important determinant of outcomes after PSVT ablation.

Aim The aim of this study was (i) to evaluate the formation of air bubbles in the apical region of root canal (apical vapor lock) during syringe irrigation, using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and (ii) comparative evaluation of the elimination of an established vapor lock by EndoActivator, ultrasonics, and manual dynamic agitation (MDA), using CBCT. Materials and methods A total of 60 extracted human singlerooted teeth were equally divided into three groups of 20 teeth each. The samples were decoronated 17 mm from the apex, cleaned, and shaped to size F4 Protaper using 3% sodium hypochlorite. Samples were irrigated with 3% sodium hypochlorite + cesium chloride radiopaque dye, and preoperative CBCT images were obtained. After formation of apical vapor lock in the scanned teeth, EndoActivator (group I), passive ultrasonic irrigation (group II), and MDA with K-file (group III) were performed and the teeth were again placed in CBCT scanner and results analyzed using the chi-square test. Results The apical vapor lock was formed in all the samples. Out of the 20 teeth in each group, the apical vapor lock was eliminated in 18 samples of EndoActivator group (90%), 16 samples of ultrasonic group (80%), while it was eliminated in 10 samples by MDA (50%). Conclusion It is concluded that (1) apical vapor lock is consistently formed during endodontic irrigation in closed canal systems and (2) sonic activation performs better than the ultrasonics and MDA in eliminating the apical vapor lock, with statistically significant difference between all the three groups (p < 0.05). Clinical significance The results suggest that the apical vapor lock (dead water zone) is consistently formed during endodontic irrigation which impedes irrigant penetration till the working length, thereby leading to inefficient debridement. Hence, to eliminate this vapor lock, techniques, such as sonics or ultrasonics should be used along with the irrigant after shaping and cleaning of the root canal. How to cite this article Agarwal A, Deore RB, Rudagi K, Nanda Z, Baig MO, Fareez MA. Evaluation of Apical Vapor Lock Formation and comparative Evaluation of its Elimination using Three different Techniques: An in vitro Study. J Contemp Dent Pract 2017;18(9):790-794.

Normal bone remodeling is a continuous process orchestrated by bone-resorbing osteoclasts and bone-forming osteoblasts, which an imbalance in bone remodeling results in metabolic bone diseases. RANKL, a member of the TNF cytokine family, functions as a key stimulator for osteoclast differentiation and maturation. Here, we report that RNF114, previously identified as a psoriasis susceptibility gene, plays a regulatory role in the RANKL/RANK/TRAF6 signaling pathway that mediates osteoclastogenesis. Our results demonstrated that RNF114 expression was significantly down-regulated in mouse osteoclast precursor cells undergoing RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation. RNF114 knockout did not affect development or viability of the subpopulation of bone marrow macrophages capable of differentiating into osteoclasts in culture. However, in the presence of RANKL, RNF114 knockout bone marrow macrophages exhibited enhanced cell proliferation and augmented osteoclast differentiation, as shown by an increased expression of mature osteoclast markers, increased osteoclastic TRAP activity and bone resorption. Conversely, ectopic expression of RNF114 inhibited CTSK expression, TRAP activity, and bone resorption in RANKL-treated pre-osteoclasts. RNF114 also suppressed RANKL-activated NFATc1 expression and NFAT-regulated promoter activity. RNF114 suppressed TRAF6-, but not TAK1/TAB2-mediated NF-κB activation downstream of RANKL/RANK. In particular, TRAF6 protein levels were down-regulated by RNF114, possibly via K48-mediated proteasome-dependent degradation. These data suggested that RNF114's inhibitory effect on RANKL-stimulated osteoclastogenesis was mediated by blocking RANK/TRAF6/NF-κB signal transduction. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:159-166, 2018.

Internal disc disruption and annular tears are some of the causes of back and leg pain. It is difficult to observe location of internal damage and its distribution and propagation in cadaveric experiments or via imaging in clinical scenarios. Finite element analysis is useful for understanding the effects of different loading conditions on the location of initiation and propagation of tears in the annulus. In this study, a hyperelastic anisotropic material model in conjunction with biaxial properties was used for modelling annulus fibrosus material under a variety of loading conditions. The loading conditions considered included compression, flexion, extension, and their combinations. Tsai-Wu criterion was used to evaluate the damage, considering strength anisotropy and asymmetry. Damage predictions based on this criterion are in better agreement with available experimental studies and clinical observations, as compared to other approaches. Therefore, the use of Tsai-Wu criterion is suggested as an appropriate mechanical parameter to quantify damage, its initiation locations, and its distribution in annulus fibrosus under different loading conditions. © 2016 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 35:113-122, 2017.

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) infants are at high risk of zinc deficiency, but there is a paucity of data on their zinc status. Objective: To evaluate zinc status of LBW (BW Methods: A total of 339 infants (LBW, n = 220; NBW, n = 119) were enrolled, and venous blood samples of mother-infant dyad were taken within 48 h of birth. Infants’ levels were repeated between 2 and 10 months of age. Serum zinc levels were estimated using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. Primary outcome was zinc deficiency, defined as serum zinc Results: Zinc results were available for 182 LBW and 103 NBW infants at birth and for 100 LBW and 66 NBW infants at follow-up with a median postnatal age of 14 and 15.5 weeks, respectively. Median zinc levels were low and comparable at birth as well as at follow-up, with zinc deficiency being present in 51.0% of LBW and 42.4% of NBW infants at birth and in 79.0% of LBW and 66.7% of NBW infants at follow-up. Zinc levels decreased significantly in both groups from birth to follow-up, irrespective of zinc multivitamin supplementation. Zinc levels of infants with BW Conclusion: Zinc status was poor in many infants at birth irrespective of BW. Zinc status worsened significantly during early infancy, with infants with BW

Introduction Teardrop fractures of the axis are infrequently seen within our spinal unit. And are attributed to a hyperextension type mechanism of injury often associated with trauma. With this injury there may also be posterior displacement of the vertebral body, with anterior longitudinal ligament displacement and anterior rotation of the anterior inferior vertebral body fragment. Many authors have questioned the stability of this injury and thus, the choice of management.

BACKGROUND: Treatment-related imaging changes are often difficult to distinguish from true tumor progression. Treatment-related changes or pseudoprogression (PsP) subsequently subside or stabilize without any further treatment, whereas progressive tumor requires a more aggressive approach in patient management. Pseudoprogression can mimic true progression radiographically and may potentially alter the physician's judgment about the recurrent disease. Hence, it can predispose a patient to overtreatment or be categorized as a non-responder and exclude him from the clinical trials. This study aims at assessing the potential of radiomics to discriminate PsP from progressive disease (PD) in glioblastoma (GBM) patients. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 304 GBM patients with new or increased enhancement on conventional MRI after treatment, of which it was uncertain for PsP versus PD. 149 patients had the histopathological evidence of PD and 27 of PsP. Remaining 128 patients were categorized into PD and PsP based on RANO criteria performed by a board-certified radiologist. Volumetrics using 3D slicer 4.3.1 and radiomics texture analysis were performed of the enhancing lesion(s) in question. RESULTS: Using the MRMR feature selection method, we identified 100 significant features that were used to build a SVM model. Five texture features (E, CS, SA, MP, CP) were found to be most predictive of pseudoprogression. On Leave One Out Cross-Validation (LOOCV), sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 97%, 72%, and 90%, respectively. Using 70% of the patient data for training and 30% for validation, an AUC of 94% was achieved, with the sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 75%. CONCLUSION: 3D radiomic texture features of conventional MRI successfully discriminated pseudoprogression from true progression in a large cohort of GBM patients. Citation Format: Srishti Abrol, Aikaterini Kotrotsou, Ahmed Hassan, Nabil Elshafeey, Tagwa Idris, Naveen Manohar, Anand Agarwal, Islam Hassan, Kamel Salek, Nikdokht Farid, Carrie McDonald, Shiao-Pei Weathers, Naeim Bahrami, Samuel Bergamaschi, Ahmed Elakkad, Kristin Alfaro-Munoz, Fanny Moron, Jason Huse, Jeffrey Weinberg, Sherise Ferguson, Evangelos Kogias, Amy Heimberger, Raymond Sawaya, Ashok Kumar, John de Groot, Meng Law, Pascal Zinn, Rivka R. Colen. Radiomics discriminates pseudo-progression from true progression in glioblastoma patients: A large-scale multi-institutional study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3040.

Purpose: To study the effect of cataract extraction on the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, and assessment by scanning laser polarimetry (SLP), with variable corneal compensation (GDx VCC), at the glaucoma service of a tertiary care center in North India. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two eyes of 32 subjects were enrolled in the study. The subjects underwent RNFL analysis by SLP (GDx VCC) before undergoing phacoemulsification cataract extraction with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation (Acrysof SA 60 AT) four weeks following cataract surgery. The RNFL thickness parameters evaluated both before and after surgery included temporal, superior, nasal, inferior, temporal (TSNIT) average, superior average, inferior average, and nerve fiber index (NFI). Results: The mean age of subjects was 57.6 ± 11.7 years (18 males, 14 females). Mean TSNIT average thickness (μm) pre- and post-cataract surgery was 49.2 ± 14.1 and 56.5 ± 7.6 ( P = 0.001). There was a statistically significant increase in RNFL thickness parameters (TSNIT average, superior average, and inferior average) and decrease in NFI post-cataract surgery as compared to the baseline values. Mean NFI pre- and post-cataract surgery was 41.3 ± 15.3 and 21.6 ± 11.8 ( P = 0.001). Conclusions: Measurement of RNFL thickness parameters by scanning laser polarimetry is significantly altered following cataract surgery. Post the cataract surgery, a new baseline needs to be established for assessing the longitudinal follow-up of a glaucoma patient. The presence of cataract may lead to an underestimation of the RNFL thickness, and this should be taken into account when analyzing progression in a glaucoma patient.

Low density parity check (LDPC) codes are a class of very powerful error correcting codes. While LDPC codes already have a rich theory, issues specific to implementation are an active area of research. In this paper we look at the issue of designing LDPC codes for multi File-channel communication scenarios. We have proposed a new description of LDPC codes that utilizes the a priori information about noise behavior in such scenarios for performance analysis of LDPC codes. We show that this new description has a better predictive ability than the conventional description.

Respiratory failure due to lung immaturity is a major cause of mortality in preterm infants. Although the use of intermittent positive pressure ventilation in neonates with respiratory failure saves lives, its use is associated with lung injury and chronic lung disease (CLD). A newer form of ventilation called high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) has been shown to result in less lung injury in experimental studies.The objective of this review is to determine the effect of the elective use of HFOV as compared to conventional ventilation (CV) on the incidence of CLD, mortality and other complications associated with prematurity and assisted ventilation in preterm infants who are mechanically ventilated for respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).Searches were made of the Oxford Database of Perinatal Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, previous reviews including cross-references, abstracts, conferences and symposia proceedings, expert informants, journal hand searching by the Cochrane Collaboration, mainly in the English language. The search was updated in January 2009.Randomized controlled trials comparing HFOV and CV in preterm or low birth weight infants with pulmonary dysfunction, mainly due to RDS, who required assisted ventilation. Randomization and commencement of treatment needed to be as soon as possible after the start of CV and usually in the first 12 h of life.The methodological quality of each trial was independently reviewed by the various authors. The standard effect measures are relative risk (RR) and risk difference (RD). From 1/RD the number needed to treat to produce one outcome were calculated. For all measures of effect, 95% confidence intervals were used. In subgroup analyses the 99% CIs are also given for summary RRs in the text. Meta-analysis was performed using a fixed effect model. Where heterogeneity was over 50%, the random effects RR is also given.Seventeen eligible studies of 3,652 infants were included. Meta-analysis comparing HFOV with CV revealed no evidence of effect on mortality at 28-30 days of age or at approximately term equivalent age. These results were consistent across studies and in subgroup analyses. The effect of HFOV on CLD in survivors at term equivalent gestational age was inconsistent across studies and the reduction was of borderline significance overall. The effect was similar in trials with a high lung volume strategy for HFOV targeting at very low FiO(2) and trials with a high lung volume strategy with somewhat higher or unspecified target FiO(2). Subgroups of trials showed a significant reduction in CLD with HFOV when no surfactant was used, when piston oscillators were used for HFOV, when lung protective strategies for CV were not used, when randomization occurred at two to six hours of age, and when inspiratory:expiratory ratio of 1:2 was used for HFOV. In the meta-analysis of all trials, pulmonary air leaks occurred more frequently in the HFOV group. In some studies, short-term neurological morbidity with HFOV was found, but this effect was not statistically significant overall. The subgroup of two trials not using a high-volume strategy with HFOV found increased rates of grade 3 or 4 intraventricular hemorrhage and of periventricular leukomalacia. An adverse effect of HFOV on long-term neurodevelopment was found in one large trial but not in the five other trials that reported this outcome. The rate of retinopathy of prematurity is reduced overall in the HFOV group.

Background: Many scoring systems have been found useful in predicting the outcome in critically ill patients, amongst them acute physiology and chronic health evaluation score (APACHE II) appeared to be the most widely used and had a general acceptance in assessing the critically ill patients, for its easy applicability and ability to predict outcome.Methods: To predict the surgical outcome in patients of perforation peritonitis APACHE II scoring done in every diagnosed case of perforation peritonitis in a prospective study from January 2015 to June 2016 was done. 100 patients with perforation peritonitis fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criterion underwent exploratory laparotomy in Mahatma Gandhi hospital, Dr. S.N. Medical college, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.Results: In current study, 69 patients were in the low risk group (apache score 0-5) and 24 patients were in the medium risk group (Apache score 6-10) and 7 patients were in the high-risk group (Apache score 11-16). Of these 100 % patients in low risk group and 95.8% patients in medium risk group were discharged in satisfactory manner and 100% patients expired in high risk group.Conclusions: APACHE II score correlated well with the outcome in current study, it also correlated well with the hospital and ICU stay.

Surface structural relaxation of silica glass takes place more rapidly than bulk structural relaxation when the glasses are heat-treated in the presence of water vapor at temperatures below the glass transition temperature. It appears that water enters into silica glass and accelerates the structural change. When silica glass with high hydroxyl content is heated in a relative dry atmosphere, the hydroxyl concentration in the surface decreases. Yet, surface structural relaxation still occurs more rapidly than bulk structural relaxation during such dehydration experiments. For commercially available silica glasses, water exists in the glass predominantly as hydroxyl, but a small fraction can exist as molecular water. The observed surface structural relaxation phenomena are consistent with the postulation that surface structural relaxation is promoted by the presence of this immeasurably small quantity of molecular water rather than the hydroxyl water.

The fictive temperature of glass samples influences many glass properties including mechanical strength and fatigue characteristics. A distribution in fictive temperature on a cross-section of a commercial silica glass communications fiber was determined by measuring the profile of the IR reflection band wavenumber of the silica fundamental structural band at ∼ 1122 cm −1 as a function of radial position using an FTIR with a microscope attachment. Results showed a lower peak wavenumber which corresponds to a higher fictive temperature near the surface of the as-received fiber. Upon annealing, this surface characteristic disappeared and a nearly constant peak wavenumber was obtained across the fiber cladding indicating that the high fictive temperature of the commercial fiber surface was produced during the fiber drawing process. The different mechanical fatigue behavior of silica fibers from those of bulk silica glasses may be due to the observed high fictive temperature of the fiber surface.

The structural relaxation kinetics of a silica glass were measured by following the IR structural band positions, which are directly correlated with the average Si–O–Si bond angle as well as with the fictive temperature of the glass, as a function of heat-treatment time, temperature and the water vapor pressure. Both surface relaxation and bulk relaxation kinetics were determined by measuring the IR reflection and absorption band positions, respectively. The surface relaxation was much faster than the bulk relaxation and had a smaller activation energy. Also, both relaxation kinetics were faster in the presence of water vapor. The apparent bulk relaxation time determined from the IR absorption band shift was a composite relaxation time consisting of both the relaxation time of the water-catalyzed near surface layer and the true bulk relaxation time of the glass interior which is unaffected by water vapor. The true bulk relaxation time was evaluated and found to have an activation energy consistent with that of the viscous flow.

Infrared (IR) spectroscopy has been used to interpret structural changes in silica glasses. Specifically, a shift of the Si–O stretching band in IR spectra is used to monitor changes in average Si–O–Si bond angle in the glass structure. A similar structural change is induced by the change of fictive temperature, hydrostatic pressure or compressive stress, with the average Si–O–Si bond angle decreasing with the increase of these parameters. It is anticipated that these similar structural changes would produce a similar change in glass properties. In order to confirm this expectation, HF etch rates of silica glasses were measured as a function of fictive temperature and stress. The experimental results on HF etch rates, together with changes in other glass properties in the literature, were compared with the change in glass structure revealed by IR spectroscopy. It was found that the similar structural change is accompanied by the consistent changes in a variety of glass properties. Monitoring the IR spectra of a silica glass sample, therefore, can be used to deduce changes in glass properties.

This study evaluates the effect of two macular birefringence protocols (bow-tie retardation and irregular macular scan) using GDx VCC on the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness parameters in normal eyes and eyes with macular lesions. In eyes with macular lesions, the standard protocol led to significant overestimation of RNFL thickness which was normalized using the irregular macular pattern protocol. In eyes with normal macula, absolute RNFL thickness values were higher in irregular macular pattern protocols with the difference being statistically significant for all parameters except for inferior average thickness. This has implications for monitoring glaucoma patients who develop macular lesions during the course of their follow-up.

Serum ferritin levels of low birth weight (LBW; BW < 2,500 g) and normal birth weight (NBW; BW ≥ 2,500 g) infants were evaluated at birth and at 3 mo using electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. At birth, levels were 318.6 (31.0–829.5) ng/mL in LBW (n = 217) and 366.2 (122.4–858.5) ng/mL in NBW infants (n = 116; p < 0.01), with 1.4 % of LBW and none of the NBW infants having levels

Infrared (IR) spectroscopic analysis of high hydroxyl content silica glasses was compared with both weight loss measurements and nuclear reaction analysis (Helmich and Rauch, 1993) to obtain the molar absorptivity of the 3673 cm−1 hydroxyl band in silica glass. Agreement between the resulting molar absorptivity values (76.4 ± 2.8 and 77 ± 6 1glass/molOHcmglass for weight loss and nuclear reaction the experiments, respectively) and those from the literature gives a best estimate of the molar absorptivity to be 77.5 ± 1.5 1glass/molOHcmglass. Proportionality between the amplitudes of the fundamental OH stretching band at 3673 cm−1 and the combination SiOH bending-OH stretching band at 4522 cm−1 allowed the molar absorptivity of the combination band to be determined (1.53 ± 0.03 1glass/molOHcmglass) and comparison of the amplitudes and areas for both the 3673 and 4522 cm−1 bands gives the integrated molar absorptivities to be 10,100 ± 200 and 232 ± 5 1glass/molOHcmglass2, respectively. Nonlinear absorbance loss versus weight loss per surface area curves observed for some batches of type III silica glass suggest that hydroxyl can be simultaneously removed via multiple mechanisms.

The dynamic fatigue characteristics of silica glasses with fictive temperatures of 1000°, 1100°, and 1300°C and soda-lime glasses with fictive temperatures of 470° and 530°C were measured in air. For both glasses, samples with higher fictive temperatures had a greater fatigue resistance. Inert strength of silica glasses with flctive temperatures of 1000° and 1300°C was also measured at liquid nitrogen temperature. Glass with higher flctive temperature had a greater inert strength.

Infrared spectroscopy was used to determine fictive temperature of silica glasses. Positions of both the fundamental structural band at ∼ 1122 cm−1 monitored in infrared (IR) reflection mode and an overtone of this band at ∼ 2260 cm−1 monitored in IR transmission mode were found to be directly correlated with the glass fictive temperature. At any particular fictive temperature, the equilibrium structural band positions were found to be independent of the impurity content, such as hydroxyl, in different types of silica glass. From band shifts, the average SiOSi bond angle was computed to decrease by about 1.3° when the fictive temperature increased from 950 to 1400°C. Using this method, fictive temperatures of various as-received silica glasses were determined.

Objective: To evaluate vitamin D status of preterm and term low birthweight (LBW) and term normal birth weight (NBW; weight ≥ 2500 g) infants at birth and in early infancy. Methods: We enrolled 220 LBW and 119 NBW infants along with their mothers. Blood samples of both infants and mothers were taken within 48 h of birth, and that of infants were repeated at 3 months. Serum levels of calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase, 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and parathormone (PTH) were estimated using standard tests. Our primary outcome was vitamin D deficiency (VDD; serum 25OHD < 20 ng/ml in mothers and < 15 ng/ml in infants). Other outcomes were raised PTH (>46 pg/ml), raised AlkP (>120 U/l in mothers and 420 U/l in infants), and clinical rickets. Findings: VDD was present in 186 (87.3%) of LBW and 103 (88.6%) of NBW infants at birth, and in 77 (60.6%) of LBW and 55 (71.6%) of NBW infants at a median corrected age of 12 and 15 weeks, respectively. VDD was almost universal (93–97%) among mothers of both groups. Raised PTH was present in 138 (63.6%) of LBW and 48 (41.4%) of NBW infants at birth, and in 58 (45.7%) of LBW and 38 (49.3%) of NBW infants at follow-up. Clinical rickets was present in 17 (13.4%) of LBW and 4 (4.9%) of NBW infants at 12–14 weeks of corrected age. Conclusions: High prevalence of VDD in LBW as well as NBW infants with clinical rickets at an early age underlines the need to study the effect of various vitamin D supplementation regimens in these infants to identify the optimal dose.

Effects of stress on diffusion of water into silica glass were studied at several temperatures by hydrothermally treating the glass under applied stress. The surface hydrogen concentrations were determined using nuclear reaction analysis and the hydroxyl concentration profiles were analyzed with a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer. It was found that the effects of stress on water diffusion into silica glass strongly depend upon temperature; specifically the concentration of water in the glass surface is higher in glass under compression than in glass under tension at low temperatures (e.g., 250°C), while an opposite behavior was observed at high temperatures (e.g., 650°C). On the other hand, the effective diffusion coefficient of water was higher under tension than under compression at low temperatures, while the opposite behavior was observed at higher temperatures. The low temperature behavior was attributed to the effect of stress on the kinetics of water uptake, and the high temperature behavior was attributed to the effect of applied stress on the glass-water reaction equilibrium.

Brain natriureticpeptide (BNP) levels are elevated in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS) and decrease after a successful percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC).In 37 consecutive patients of symptomatic MS (mean age 30 +/- 8.6 years) NTpro BNP levels were determined pre and 24-hours post PTMC. We seek to determine whether NT-pro-BNP levels be used as a marker of success of PTMC.PTMC was successful orpartial successful in 33 (89 %) cases. The mean NT-pro- BNP levels decreasedfrom 771 +/- 456 pg/ml to 700 +/- 595 pg/ml (p0.05) following PTMC. The mean NT-pro-BNP levels decreased by 20.6% in patients with a successful PTMC and decreased by 10.8% in patients with a partially successful PTMC, while the levels increased by 33.4% in patients with an unsuccessful procedure. Patients with associated aortic regurgitation failed to show a decline in NT-pro-BNP levels despite a successful procedure.NT-pro-BNP levels fall significantly after a successful PTMC, and a significant decrease in levels is a good marker of success of PTMC. It may not decrease in patients with associated aortic regurgitation despite a successfiul PTMC.

Increasing prevalence of childhood obesity calls for comprehensive and cost-effective educative measures in developing countries such as India. School-based educative programmes greatly influence children's behaviour towards healthy living. We aimed to evaluate the impact of a school-based health and nutritional education programme on knowledge and behaviour of urban Asian Indian school children. Benchmark assessment of parents and teachers was also done. We educated 40 196 children (aged 8–18 years), 25 000 parents and 1500 teachers about health, nutrition, physical activity, non-communicable diseases and healthy cooking practices in three cities of North India. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to assess randomly selected 3128 children, 2241 parents and 841 teachers before intervention and 2329 children after intervention. Low baseline knowledge and behaviour scores were reported in 75–94 % government and 48–78 % private school children, across all age groups. A small proportion of government school children gave correct answers about protein (14–17 %), carbohydrates (25–27 %) and saturated fats (18–32 %). Private school children, parents and teachers performed significantly better than government school subjects (P P P

Interrupted type B aortic arch was repaired using aberrant right subclavian artery. In order to gain the full length of this vessel it was mobilised from a left thoracotomy. The aberrant vessel provides autogenous patch material with which to enlarge the ascending aorta and left common carotid artery.

Peak positions of silica structural bands, both in infrared absorption and reflection modes, were used earlier to measure the fictive temperature of silica glass. In the present study, the method was applied to determine the fictive temperatures of a soda-lime silicate glass. For the silicate glass, the IR absorption spectra produced a broad structural band which made the precise determination of peak position difficult, and only the IR reflection band was used. Equilibrium peak positions of ∼1056 cm−1 IR band, due to Si-O stretching, were found to be directly correlated with the fictive temperature of the soda-lime silicate glass. The soda-lime glass exhibited an opposite dependence of the IR band position on the glass fictive temperature as compared to silica glass.

The surface of a glass is expected to have structure and properties different from those of the bulk. The structural state of the silica glass surface is important in determining a variety of silica properties, such as the mechanical and chemical properties of optical fibers and the electrical and optical properties of thin silica films. In general, the structural state of a glass changes with time through the relaxation process. Our results indicate that the surface relaxation takes place much more rapidly than the bulk relaxation. Furthermore, unlike the bulk relaxation, the surface relaxation was promoted by water vapor and an applied tensile stress. It is suggested that the surface structural relaxation promoted by water vapor and tensile stress may be a mechanism of the mechanical fatigue of silica glasses. Two different modes of surface relaxation appear to exist under a constant external condition.