Search

Patients are frequently exposed to failure from several mutually exclusive causes, leading to a competing risk setting. Standard methods concerning the effects of covariates on the cause-specific hazards assume constant hazard ratios across time. This assumption, however, is violated in several applications. To address this issue and test the effect of covariates on multiple risks, we develop a new regression model allowing for nonconstant hazard ratios over time. The proposed model allows explicit specification of the short-term and long-term covariate effects, which can be of clinical interest. We develop a statistically efficient nonparametric likelihood methodology for estimation and inference concerning the parameters of interest and compare it to the existing methods. We investigate the performances of the proposed methods using simulations and apply them to a European study on a registry cohort of patients with acute leukemia undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Our proposed model detects the differences in short-term and long-term risks of primary relapse between patients with and without acute lymphoblastic leukemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diplazium maximum (D. Don) C. Chr. is a wild edible fern, traditionally consumed in the tribal areas of western Himalayas. The edible part of the plant (young fronds) was analyzed for its nutritional and phytochemical composition. The dried young fronds (DYF) were found to have high contents of dietary fibre (38.32 g/100 g dry basis) and crude protein (25.39 g/100 g dry basis). Branched-chain-essential-amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (constituting more than 50% of total fatty acids), dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (unique omega-6 PUFA) and phenolics like epicatechin, myricetin, catechin and procatechuic acid were present in nutritionally significant amounts. Hydro-alcoholic extracts of the DYF contained maximum distribution of polyphenols and flavonoids and exhibited high antioxidant capacities. Analysis of functional properties of DYF such as water and oil absorption capacity, dispersibility and swelling capacity indicated its potential application in instant convenience food products such as soup mixes. Sensory scores of soup mix prepared using DYF was similar to that of commercially available soups. In conclusion, D. maximum is nutritious enough to be popularized for domestication, wide consumption and inclusion in the form of instant food products in existing food basket. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porphyridium purpureum biomass was assessed for its acute and subchronic safety in albino Wistar rats and for its use as animal feed/human food application. P. purpureum contained 29.9 % protein, 7.99 % lipid, and 2.98 % phycoerythrin on dry basis. Polyunsaturated fatty acids constituted >50 % of the total fatty acids (53.9 % w/ w), with eicosapentaenoic acid as the predominant ω3 (21.9 %) and arachidonic acid as the predominant ω6 fatty acid (15.7 %) with an overall ω6/ω3 ratio of 0.42. The essential amino acids (EAAs) constituted 37.97 % ( w/ w) of proteins with leucine as the predominant amino acid (10.99 %). The EAA index was similar to casein and soybean proteins. Water absorption capacity (WAC; 3.86 ± 0.01 g water g biomass) and oil absorption capacity (OAC; 3.57 ± 0.04 g oil g biomass) were six times higher compared to the basal diet (WAC 0.66 ± 0.007 g water g feed and OAC 0.57 ± 0.02 g oil gfeed). The acute toxicity study showed that the biomass was safe at acute doses and LD exceeded 5.0 g kg body weight, the highest dose used in the study. In a subchronic study, rats were fed a diet containing 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0 % levels ( w/ w) for a period of 13 weeks. The biomass fortification did not induce any untoward changes in physiology such as body weight gain, relative organ weights, histopathology, and hematological and serum biochemical indices. However, supplementation of P. purpureum biomass resulted in decreased serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels compared to control groups indicating its high nutritional value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twelve indigenous microalgae, comprising of three fresh water and nine marine strains, were evaluated for their potential as source of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) under autotrophic growth conditions. The microalgal lipids showed higher content of omega-3 PUFAs as reflected in lower omega-6 to omega-3 ratios between 0.1 and 0.75. Alpha linolenic acid (ALA), was the predominant omega-3 PUFA in fresh water green algal strains. Scenedesmus dimorphus and Chlorococcum sp. showed higher content of ALA with an average productivity of 3 mgL day. Long chain omega-3 PUFAs, eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were observed in marine strains. Nannochloropsis and Chlorella sp. had higher content of EPA with Chlorella sp. showing an average productivity of 2 mgL day. Isochrysis sp. showed higher DHA content with average productivity of 0.37 mgL day. Presence of EPA and DHA contributed to higher degree of unsaturation in lipids of marine strains. Among the marine strains, the growth and lipid profile of Nannochloropsis sp. and Chlorella sp. remained unaffected by growth medium, whereas strains like T. theli showed a differential response to media. Spirulina platensis SP6 from CFTRI algal culture repository was also included as a reference strain since its nutritional benefits have been well elucidated. Gamma Linolenic acid (GLA) was the predominant PUFA in Spirulina sp. with an average productivity of 0.73 mgL day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defatted microalgal biomass (DAB) of a local Scenedesmus dimorphus strain was characterised as animal feed in an experimental Wistar rat model. The DAB contained 21.5 % protein, 28 % dietary fibre and 21 % ash on dry basis. The DAB was rich in calcium (1208 mg 100 g biomass) followed by magnesium (400.6 mg 100 g) among the tested mineral elements. The essential amino acids (EAA) constituted 48 % ( w/ w) of proteins, and the EAA index was similar to casein and soybean. The protein was limiting in sulphur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine. The algal biomass showed 5-6-fold higher water absorption capacity (3.44 ± 0.06 g g biomass) compared with basal diet (0.67 ± 0.06 g g biomass). The DAB was found to be safe in both short-term (14 days), single-dose feeding (20 % ( w/ w) feed) and long-term (90 days) repeated-dose feeding (at 5 and 10 % ( w/ w) feed). In the short-term feeding trial, faecal output and water intake increased by 2-fold during the initial 4 days, mainly attributed to higher ash and fibre content of biomass. The long-term repeated-dose feeding of DAB did not induce any physiological changes in rats such as feed intake, haematology profile, serum biochemical parameters, histopathology and relative organ weight. The feed conversion ratio and quotient of protein efficiency ratio in DAB-fed groups were similar to control. However, animals required a longer adaptation period to DAB-mixed feed, as indicated by slower body weight gain and feed intake. The study suggests that DAB can be used as animal feed up to 10 % ( w/ w) replacement levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strongylus vulgaris is the most pathogenic helminth parasite of horses, causing verminous endarteritis with thromboembolism and infarction. A serum enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been validated for detection of antibodies to an antigen produced by migrating larvae of this parasite. The aim was to evaluate ELISA responses to anthelmintic treatment in cohorts of naturally infected horses. Fifteen healthy horses harboring patent S. vulgaris infections were turned out for communal grazing in May 2013 (day 0). On day 55, horses were ranked according to ELISA titers and randomly allocated to the following three groups: no treatment followed by placebo pellets daily; ivermectin on day 60 followed by placebo pellets daily; or ivermectin on day 60 followed by daily pyrantel tartrate. Fecal and serum samples were collected at ∼28-day intervals until study termination on day 231. Increased ELISA values were observed for the first 53 days following ivermectin treatment. Titers were significantly reduced 80 days after ivermectin treatment. Horses receiving daily pyrantel tartrate maintained lower ELISA values from 137 days post ivermectin treatment until trial termination. These results illustrate that a positive ELISA result is indicative of either current or prior exposure to larval S. vulgaris infection within the previous 5 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a methodology for robust Bayesian inference through the use of disparities. Metrics such as Hellinger distance and negative exponential disparity have a long history in robust estimation in frequentist inference. We demonstrate that an equivalent robustification may be made in Bayesian inference by substituting an appropriately scaled disparity for the log likelihood to which standard Monte Carlo Markov Chain methods may be applied. A particularly appealing property of minimum-disparity methods is that while they yield robustness with a breakdown point of 1/2, the resulting parameter estimates are also efficient when the posited probabilistic model is correct. We demonstrate that a similar property holds for disparity-based Bayesian inference. We further show that in the Bayesian setting, it is also possible to extend these methods to robustify regression models, random effects distributions and other hierarchical models. These models require integrating out a random effect; this is achieved via MCMC but would otherwise be numerically challenging. The methods are demonstrated on real-world data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effect of intermittent overload cycles on fatigue behavior of NiTi shape memory alloy wire during thermomechanical cycling (TMC) has been evaluated. Results showed that fatigue life of NiTi is enhanced when the intermittent overload is above certain minimum level. An enhancement in fatigue life by ~50 pct is observed when the overload ratio is 2.0. Accumulation of plastic strain in the material under such TMC condition is found to be relatively high compared to that of TMC with no overload cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying multiple models from both static and dynamic data is an important problem in several engineering fields. Clustering based on Euclidean distance measure has been proposed to solve this problem. However, since Euclidean distance is not directly related to model fidelity, these approaches can lead to suboptimal results even when the number of models is known. In this work, through a three step algorithm that includes initialization, prediction error based fuzzy clustering and model rationalization, we evaluate the possibility of uncovering multiple model structures from data. The three step algorithm is also assessed for the identification of piecewise auto regressive exogenous systems with unknown number of models and their (unknown)orders. The basic approach can be extended for trend analysis and generalized principal component analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish limit theorems involving weak convergence of multiple generations of critical and supercritical branching processes. These results arise naturally when dealing with the joint asymptotic behavior of functionals defined in terms of several generations of such processes. Applications of our main result include a functional central limit theorem (CLT), a Darling-Erdös result, and an extremal process result. The limiting process for our functional CLT is an infinite dimensional Brownian motion with sample paths in the infinite product space ( C[0,1]), with the product topology, or in Banach subspaces of ( C[0,1]) determined by norms related to the distribution of the population size of the branching process. As an application of this CLT we obtain a central limit theorem for ratios of weighted sums of generations of a branching processes, and also to various maximums of these generations. The Darling-Erdös result and the application to extremal distributions also include infinite-dimensional limit laws. Some branching process examples where the CLT fails are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The V-Ti magnetite layers (lodestone) occur within the layered gabbro-anorthosites-ultramafic rocks emplaced into the migmatitic gneisses close to the high grade Archeaen Sargur supracrustal rocks in the Kurihundi area. The ore petrographic studies of the lodestone reveal the presence of primary Ti-magnetite, ilmenite, ulvospinel, pleonaste, hematite and pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and secondary Ti-maghemite, martite and goethite as well as secondary covellite. These layers contain Ti-magnetite (60%) and ilmenite (30%) with silicates (<5%) exhibiting granular mosaic texture with well-defined triple junctions and are classified as adcumulus rocks. The grain-boundary relationships in the ores indicate considerable postcumulus growth and readjustment due to combined effects of sintering and adcumulus growth. Intergrowth textures (ulvospinel, ilmenite and pleonaste in Ti-magnetite and hematite in ilmenite) reflects exsolution features crystallized from solid-solutions compositions under different conditions of oxygen fugacities. Larger bodies of pleonaste and ilmenite in Ti-magnetite become lensoid or rounded in outline and these morphological modifications took place during the regional upper amphibolite to lower granulite facies metamorphism at 2.6 Ga ago. The lodestone contains high TiO2 (20 to 22.59 wt%), with V2O5 (0.85 to 1.15%) and Fe2O3 t (72.03 to 74.25%). Ti-magnetite shows alteration to Ti-maghemite, martite and goethite due to low temperature oxidation and hydration during weathering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To determine the role of different modalities available and draw guidelines for the treatment of acute ischaemia of the upper limb. Materials and Method: This is a retrospective study carried out over a period of 7 years between 1994-2000 comparing embolectomy with thrombolytic therapy for upper limb ischaemia. Twenty-two patients presenting with acute upper limb ischaemia admitted in this hospital were studied. Their age, sex distribution, symptoms and associated medical illnesses were documented. Pain was the predominant symptom in most of them. The underlying causes were treated accordingly in the form of excision of cervical rib or high first rib, angioplasty and stenting. Results: The overall success rate was 91% (n = 20) with an amputation rate of 9%. In the surgical group (ten patients), seven patients responded well. Two patients recovered with further thrombolytic therapy. One patient underwent amputation. In the thrombolytic therapy group (ten patients), six patients responded to thrombolytic therapy alone. The rest of them recovered with further embolectomy. Conclusion: Thrombolytic therapy can thus be the first modality of treatment for acute nontraumatic upper limb ischaemia if the limb is viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on several online resources on pediatrics. The online journal "Contemporary Pediatrics" offers review articles, clinical tips and parent guides. The Web site Modern Medicine at www.modernmedicine.com provides information for healthcare professionals. The "Journal of Pediatric Health Care" at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/ymph/home is indexed in major databases.

To study the clinical, laboratory profile and outcome of juvenile Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (jSLE) patients at a tertiary care centre in South India. A retrospective review of the medical records of all jSLE patients visiting the Pediatric Immunology and Rheumatology Unit, Aster CMI Hospital, India from February 2017 to December 2023 was performed. The clinical characteristics, treatment and outcomes were recorded and tabulated. Seventy patients diagnosed with jSLE were included in the study. The female-to-male ratio was 4.4:1. Mean age at onset and delay in diagnosis were 120.1 (+/- 56.8) and 11.7 (+/- 22.7) months respectively. The median follow-up period was 13 months (range 4, 29 months). Nine patients presented with early onset SLE (< 5 years). Most common manifestations were constitutional symptoms (n = 56), followed by haematologic (n = 55), and mucocutaneous(n = 50) involvement. Immunological workup showed SLE-specific antibody positivity in 38 patients, hypocomplementemia in 40 patients, and anti-phospholipid antibody positivity in 13 patients. Mortality was observed in five patients with LN while there was no mortality in the non-nephritis group (p 0.004). C1q deficiency was the most common cause of monogenic lupus seen in 5/9 patients; protein kinase C delta (PRKCD) defect and chronic granulomatous disease (CYBB mutation) were seen in one patient each. We describe a large cohort of jSLE from Southern India. Lupus nephritis was noted in 35.7% of our cohort and had a direct correlation with mortality. 10% of patients had monogenic lupus. Serious infections were more frequent in patients with monogenic lupus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]