bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pregravid Liver Enzyme Levels and Risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus During a Subsequent Pregnancy
Authors: Sridhar Sneha B. , Xu Fei , Darbinian Jeanne , Quesenberry Charles P. , Ferrara Assiamira , Hedderson Monique M.
Published: May 2014

OBJECTIVE

Liver enzymes are independent predictors of type 2 diabetes. Although liver fat content correlates with features of insulin resistance, a risk factor for developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the relationship between liver enzymes and GDM is unclear. The objective of this study was to assess whether pregravid liver enzyme levels are associated with subsequent risk of GDM.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

A nested case-control study was conducted among women who participated in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California multiphasic health checkup (1984–1996) and had a subsequent pregnancy (1984–2009). Case patients were 256 women who developed GDM. Two control subjects were selected for each case patient and matched for year of blood draw, age at examination, age at pregnancy, and number of intervening pregnancies.

RESULTS

Being in the highest quartile versus the lowest quartile of γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) levels was associated with a twofold increased risk of subsequent GDM (odds ratio 1.97 [95% CI 1.14–3.42]), after adjusting for race/ethnicity, prepregnancy BMI, family history of diabetes, and alcohol use. This result was attenuated after adjusting for homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), fasting status, and rate of gestational weight gain. There was significant interaction between GGT and HOMA-IR; the association with GGT was found among women in the highest tertile of HOMA-IR. Aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were not associated with increased GDM risk.

CONCLUSIONS

Pregravid GGT level, but not alanine aminotransferase or aspartate aminotransferase level, predicted the subsequent risk of GDM. Markers of liver fat accumulation, such as GGT level, are present years before pregnancy and may help to identify women at increased risk for subsequent GDM.
Incremental Layer Shear Bond Strength of Low-shrinkage Resin Composites Under Different Bonding Conditions
Authors: Musa AH Al , Nahedh HNA Al
Published: May 2014

The purpose of this study was to determine the incremental shear bond strength of a silorane-based composite (Filtek Silorane) repaired with silorane or a methacrylate-based composite (Filtek Z250) under various aging conditions. Also, the incremental bond strength of the silorane-based composite was compared with that of another low-shrinkage methacrylate-based composite (Aelite LS Posterior) under fresh and aged conditions, with and without the use of an adhesive resin between successive layers. The two brands of low-shrinkage composites were compared with a microhybrid, Filtek Z250, which served as the control. Substrate discs were fabricated and second layers were adhered to them immediately, after two weeks of aging, or after four weeks of aging and with and without an adhesive resin. Shear bond strengths were measured and failure modes were evaluated. The incremental bond strength of silorane to the silorane-based composite was not significantly different from that of the methacrylate-based composite. However, repairing a silorane-based composite with a methacrylate-based composite significantly reduced the bond strength. Aelite showed a lower incremental bond strength than Z250 and silorane, but the use of an adhesive significantly improved the bond strength. The absence of an oxygen-inhibited layer did not affect the bond strength of the consecutive layers of the silorane-based composite.
Helicoidal surfaces in Minkowski space with constant mean curvature and constant Gauss curvature
Authors: López Rafael , Demir Esma
Published: May 2014

We classify all helicoidal non-degenerate surfaces in Minkowski space with constant mean curvature whose generating curve is a the graph of a polynomial or a Lorentzian circle. In the first case, we prove that the degree of the polynomial is 0 or 1 and that the surface is ruled. If the generating curve is a Lorentzian circle, we prove that the only possibility is that the axis is spacelike and the center of the circle lies on the axis.
Medical Ethics in Bangladesh
Authors: Mahbub RE
Published: May 2014

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18771 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 7
Parent Stress in Childhood Cancer
Authors: Basher MAK , Karim MR , Sultana N , Hossain KJ , Kamal MM
Published: May 2014

The objective of the study was to assess level of stress of the parents with a child suffering from cancer. A total of 396 parents of which 146 fathers and 250 mothers were recruited from the National Institute of Cancer Research & Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheik Mujib Medical University, Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Dhaka Shishu Hospital (DSH), Dhaka from January 2011 to November 2011. They were selected consecutively on the basis of the defined criteria. The research instruments were interviewer questionnaire and stress measuring standard scales. Results showed that all of the parents were found educated. In graduate and above, fathers were comparatively higher educated than that of mothers. In profession, 48.7%(n=193) were household workers, 33.7%(n=133) service holders and 17.6%(n=70) were businessmen. The monthly family income of the respondent were Tk. 10,000 to 20,000 in 77.0%(n=305). Results also showed that 86.8%(n=344) of them in both sexes had age in between 18 to 40 years of which 44.9%(n=178) had age 31-40 years and 41.9%(n=166) were 18-30 years respectively. Only 13.2%(n=52) of both sexes had age above 40 years. The mean age of them were 33 ± 8 years. The type of cancers among the children of the respondents was described in the Table 2. The results showed that 61.4%(n=243) of the children had been suffering form leukemia, 17.4%(n=69) lymphoma, 8.3%(n=33) reticuloblastoma, 2.5%(n=10) neuroblastoma, 1.1%(n=4) solid tumors and 9.3%(n=48) were from other cancers such as embryoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, testicular tumors etc. The age of the children who had been suffering from different type of cancers was summarized in the Table-3. About 44.4%(n=176) of the children had age 1-5 years, 35.6%(n=141) age 6-10 years and 20.0%(n=79) were of age 11-15 years respectively.Leukemia was found the highest incidence among all age groups of the boys and girls. Results also showed that 63.8%(n=253) of the parents had certainly affected due to the stress. About 6.7%(n=26) of the parents had severely affected and 28.7%(n=114) may be affected induced by the cancers of their children. The poorly educated, up to class-X, fathers and mothers constituted 49.8%(n=197) were found certainly affected with the stress. Middle age group (31-40 years) having middle class socioeconomic status had also similar characteristics of the stress among the respondents. In duration of the disease at the time of assessment, results showed that 21.8%(n=86) of the parents with one child suffering from cancer in between 7-12 months were found certainly and severely affected with the stress. Careful designed investigations of the long-term psychological and behavioral consequences of the parents are vital important for early interventions to assess and treat psychological distress of them. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18773 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 8-13
Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices upto Two Years of Age and Their Nutritional Status
Authors: Salim M , Mita SA , Uddin MN , Jahan NWB , Ali MZ , Rahman MM , Haque MA , Begum HA , Bhuian MR
Published: May 2014

This cross sectional study was conducted during the period of May 2008 to June 2009, a total of 455 mothers having their children of less than two years of age were interviewed in paediatric OPD of Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital to know the infants and young child feeding practices and their nutritional status. The mothers were mostly from the lower middle and poor socioeconomic condition. About one forth of the mothers had no institutional education. Most of the mothers live in a joint family. Pre-lacteal feeding rate were 60% and most common pre-lacteal food were honey and sugar water. More than 98% mothers gave colostrums to their newborn babies. Over 24% mothers initiated breast feeding within one hour and 18% did so within 30 minutes after birth. Exclusive breastfeeding rate up to 6 completed months of age was found in only 24.4% cases and it was more in educated mothers. Continued breast feeding rate was 34.5% in 19 - 24 months age group of children. About 24% mothers started complementary feeding timely at 6 completed months of age and about 50% mothers started early before 6 months. Most common complementary foods were carbohydrate rich cooked suji, barley or rice powder mixed with either cow's milk or powdered milk. Only 18.5% mother gave khichuri as a complementary food. Bottle feeding was still higher and it was 59.3% cases. In this study, 17.4% children were severely underweight and more than twenty four percent (24.4%) was severely stunted and 2.0% were severely wasted. Malnutrition was common in those children who were nonexclusively breast fed and start complementary feeding either early or late with carbohydrate rich food. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18774 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 14-20
Assessing Patient Care Indicators in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Bangladesh
Authors: Alam MM , Parveen F , Iqbal MJU , Noor N , Begum SA
Published: May 2014

A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among individuals attending the Out Patient Department (OPD) of Medicine, Surgery and Gynaecology & Obstetrics from February 1, 2010 to April 30, 2010 in Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh to see the patterns of drug dispensing using World Health Organization core patient care indicators. The result of the study showed that the overall average consultation time and dispensing time were too short (2.5 minutes and 30 seconds per patient respectively). Of the drugs prescribed, only 20.15% were actually dispensed, whereas no appropriate labeling (0%) was observed and 37.3% of patients knew how to administer drugs correctly after receiving the drugs from the dispenser. So the finding from current study shows a trend towards inappropriate dispensing practice. Hence, there is a need for effective intervention programme to encourage the physicians and dispensing pharmacists in promoting patient care as well as health care facilities. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18776 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 21-24
Reproductive Health Problems in Adolescent Female Garment Workers of Dhaka City
Authors: Huq ME , Rahman MR , Shermin S , Choudhury KA , Afrin S , Afrin L , Islam MS , Ahmed MS , Uddin MN
Published: May 2014

This cross sectional study was carried out at a selected garment industry in Dhaka city during the period from July 2010 to December, 2010. The study was conducted to find out the pattern of reproductive health problems among the adolescent female garment workers. A total of 100 adolescent female workers were included in the study purposively. Data was collected by using a semi-structured questionnaire. Majority respondents were in between 16 -18 years of age group and 80% of them were illiterate and up to primary level with equal proportion. Most of the female adolescents were unmarried and Muslim by religion. Majority of the adolescents (68%) suffered from menstruation problems like dysmenorrhoea (42%), menorrhogea (11%), irregular bleeding (8%) and oligomenorrhoea (7%). More than one third (39%) of the workers had genital tract problems and majority (61%) had no problems. Majority of them (65%) were practicing hygienic measures during menstruation. The study findings recommended for wide scale survey to identify common reproductive health problems among the female adolescent garment workers. It also suggests for formulation and implementation of necessary measures to improve reproductive health status of adolescent female workers in Dhaka city as well as in Bangladesh. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18777 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 25-27
Prevalence of Bronchial Asthma Among Secondary School Students in Dhaka City
Authors: Sarkar S , Mumu SJ , Mia MS , Flora MS , Hafez MA
Published: May 2014

Asthma is a substantial health problem among children and adults worldwide, many countries having increasing prevalence of bronchial asthma. Within our knowledge no epidemiological studies have addressed the burden of bronchial asthma among secondary school students in Bangladesh. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of bronchial asthma and its associated factors among secondary school students. A cross sectional study was conducted from January 2010 to June 2010. Two hundred and fifty secondary school students from class VI to class X were randomly selected from a purposively selected secondary school at Mirpur in Dhaka city. International Studies of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) core asthma questionnaire was self administered for diagnosis of asthma. Out of 250 students male was 128(51%) and female was 122(49%), mean age of the respondents was 12.9±1.2 years. Minimum education level of respondents' parents were primary, half of the respondents' father's education level was graduate and above (52.8%) and half of the respondents' mother's education level was high school (58.4%). The prevalence of bronchial asthma was 11.6% (95%CI: 7.64% to 15.56%). The proportion of bronchial asthma was higher in male than female (15.6% vs 7.4%, p<0.05). Bronchial asthma was found significantly higher among the students who had attacks of pneumonia during their childhood (under class VI) compared to children who did not (23.8% vs 9.1%, p<0.05). About 11% students were exposed to passive smoking. Passive smoking significantly associated with bronchial asthma (p<0.038). Risk indicators associated with bronchial asthma included history of pneumonia (OR=3.109, 95%CI: 1.32 to 7.29), maternal asthma (OR=2.73, 95% CI: 1.05 to 7.11) and male sex (OR=2.32, 95%CI: 1.01 to 5.33).This study showed that the prevalence of bronchial asthma was high among secondary school students than common people. Passive smoking, history of pneumonia, maternal asthma and male sex were found to be significant risk indicators for bronchial asthma. So that greater efforts are needed to prevent childhood pneumonia and passive smoking to reduce the chances of subsequent development of bronchial asthma. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18778 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 28-31
Histological Subtypes of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Different Age and Sex Groups
Authors: Akhter A , Rahman MR , Majid N , Shermin S , Saleheen MS , Rajib RC , Ullah SMA , Haque N , Akond AK
Published: May 2014

Non Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) constitute a heterogeneous group of neoplasm of the lymphoid system. There are many histological subtype of NHL based on WHO classification of haemotopoietic and lymphoid neoplasm. This cross-sectional study was carried out in the department of Pathology, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka from January 2009 to December 2010 to observe the different subtypes of NHL in different age and sex groups. A total of 50 microscopically diagnosed case of NHL irrespective of age and sex were included in the study. The diagnostic morphologic criteria of each lymphoma subcategory were compiled and diagnoses were made. Mean age of the study subjects were 42.0±19.7 years with range 3-75 years and male female ratio was 1.8:1. Maximum number of histolgic subtypes belonged to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and male was predominant in all histological subtypes, except peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). The most childhood patients belonged to lymphoblastic lymphoma. Regarding cell lineage B-cell NHL case was more common than T-cell NHL (88% vs. 12%), but high grade pattern was more predominant in T-cell type (83.3% vs. 65.9%). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18779 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 32-36
Tetanus Toxoid Vaccination Coverage Among Women of Reproductive Age: Experience From a Rural Community
Authors: Islam MZ , Ahmed MS , Ahmed N , Farjana S , Mazumder SK
Published: May 2014

Tetanus Toxoid (TT) is a routine vaccination activity under Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in Bangladesh. The women of reproductive age (15-49 years) are the target population for five doses of TT vaccine to protect them from tetanus. The study was a cross-sectional study in context of a rural community. The study was conducted to assess TT vaccination coverage among the women of reproductive age in a rural community of Bangladesh. A total of 224 women of reproductive age were randomly included in the study following selection criteria. Data was collected by recall history and reviewing immunization card by using a semi-structured questionnaire and checklist respectively. Data was processed and analyzed considering both descriptive and inferential statistics. Mean age of the women was 27.22 ± 6.87 years and major part (30.4%) was illiterate. Most of the women were married (87.6%) and housewives (81.3%). Mean age at marriage was 17+2.37 years and mean age at first child birth was 18+2.24 years. On the basis of recall history and vaccination card, 83.5% women received first dose of TT (TT1), while 16.5% didn't receive any TT vaccine. Among the women received all five doses of TT, 'Crude Vaccination Rate" was 37.0% and ''Valid Vaccination Rate' was 33.0%. By card, these rates were 18.5% and 14.2% respectively. The invalid doses found 6.2% for TT2, 7.3% for TT3, 12.5% for TT4 and the lowest 10.8% for TT5 dose. The dropout rate was 5.3% for TT1-TT2, 14.7% for TT2-TT3, the highest 31.1% for TT3-TT4 and 20.2% for TT4-TT5 while 55.6% was for TT1-TT5. Vaccination coverage was significantly higher among the women aged 25-29 years (91.0%) and having HSC level education (92.3%) (x2 test, p<0.05). An incredible segment of rural women didn't receive any dose of TT5 vaccine and dropout rate was significantly higher among poor and illiterate women. Painstaking interventions and strategies should be taken to increase TT5 vaccination coverage among the rural women to protect them from tetanus. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18780 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 37-41
Implementation of Partograph and Its Effect on Outcome of Spontaneous Labour at Term
Authors: Sharmin S , Rashid M , Hazra SC , Khondker L
Published: May 2014

A cross sectional study was carried out in the department of Obstetrics and Gynae of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). Two hundred thirty two cases who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were studied. This study aimed to assess the outcome of implementation of WHO modified partograph in labour management with special interest to evaluate the fetomaternal outcome. Among the 232 cases, engaged fetal head had more vaginal delivery, 78.8% than unengaged head. The rate of caesarean section was 26.9% in women with unengaged head vs 11.5% in women with engaged head in this study. This study showed that there was no LUCS when cases remained within alert line and outside the action line in partograph all were delivered by caesarean section. The rate of spontaneous delivery was more 58.6% who did not require any augmentation. On the other hand 80 percent cases of LUCS needed augmentation. In this study, 84.1 percent babies cried spontaneously, 12.9 percent cried after resuscitation and only 3 percent needed admission to neonatal care unit. The frequency of neonatal resuscitation was higher for the group who crossed the alert line (27.8%) or action line (23.1%), than the group which remained within alert line (8.6%) in partograph. Thus with proper monitoring and maintenance of partograph in labour prolonged labour or obstructed labour and their sequelae can be avoided, operative interventions will be reduced and thus fetomaternal outcome will be improved. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18781 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 42-44
Free Revascularized Fibula Graft for Reconstruction of Mandibular Continuity Defects
Authors: Rahman QB , Karmakar R , Aftabuddin M
Published: May 2014

Mandibular reconstruction represents a challenge to the oral and maxillofacial surgeon and has been revolutionized by the modern microvascular techniques Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of the free vascularized fibula graft for reconstruction of discontinuity defects of Mandible after resections of benign aggressive odontogenic tumours. The results of 7 vascularized free fibula graft without a skin paddle that were used for mandibular reconstruction is presented. The "double barrel" technique was used in 1 case. The donor site was closed directly in all cases. All procedures were performed by the same surgical team in oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department of BSMMU and Health & Hope Hospital from January, 2006 to December 2011. A total of patients (3 males, 4 females) were treated. All flaps except 1 were viable. Success rate was 85.71% .The average length of the fibula graft was 10.96 cm, and the number of osteotomies ranged from 0 to 3. There were no long-term functional complications in the lower leg. The fibula flap provides a successful bone graft for mandibular restoration with an acceptably low complication rate. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18782 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 45-49
Pattern of Skin Diseases: Experience from a Rural Community of Bangladesh
Authors: Ahmed N , Islam MZ , Farjana S
Published: May 2014

Disease pattern in a given population is generally determined by different ecological factors. Thus the objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the pattern of skin diseases in a selected rural community of Dhamrai Upazila under Dhaka district. Out of 2645 patients attending a medical camp showed 410(15.5%) patients with dermatological problems. Among all, 260(63.4%) patients were males and 150(36.6%) were females with a male to female ratio of 1.7:1. Of these patients, 178(43.4%) had cutaneous infections and 234(56.6%) had non-infectious dermatoses. Few patients (2.7%) had more than one dermatoses. Fungal infection was the commonest infection seen (22.9%) and eczemas took an upper hand in non-infectious group (32.2%). Improvement in the standard of living, health education, improvement in the environmental sanitation and good nutritious food may help the people to bring down the skin disease in the rural part of country. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18784 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 50-52
Diagnostic Efficacy of HbA1c in Diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus in a Bangladesh Population
Authors: Rahman MR , Saiedullah M , Shermin S , Begum S , Hayat S
Published: May 2014

American Diabetic Association (ADA) affirms HbA1c with cut off value of 6.5% as a diagnostic criteria of diabetes mellitus. World Health Organization (WHO) also supports but recommended that a value <6.5% does not exclude diabetes which is diagnosed by glucose test. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of HbA1c in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value and accuracy in a selected group of Bangladeshi subjects. This cross-sectional study included 761 adult Bangladeshi subjects of both sex attending the outdoor in a tertiary healthcare center during the period of September 2009 to September 2010. Fasting, postprandial (2 hours after glucose load) plasma glucose and HbA1c were measured. Diabetes is defined according to HbA1c and plasma glucose. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of HbA1c were 90.00% (CI 86.48-92.86%), 76.21% (CI 71.68-80.35%), 78.17% (CI 73.94-82.00%) and 88.96% (CI 85.10-92.10%) respectively. Accuracy was 82.92% with odds ratio (OR) 28.84 (CI 19.10-43.54%); p < 0.001. Though HbA1c revealed remarkable diagnostic efficacy and ease of performance, still it can not over rule the role of plasma glucose in diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18785 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 53-54
Physician-Patient Relationship: The Present Situation and Our Responsibilities
Authors: Islam MS , Jhora ST
Published: May 2014

The "doctor-patient" relationship (DPR) or the "physician-patient" relationship (PPR) has long been recognized as a complex, multifaceted, and complicated balance of engagement between the care-seeker and the care-giver. The physician-patient relationship is central to the practice of healthcare and is essential for the delivery of high-quality health care in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The doctor-patient relationship forms one of the foundations of contemporary medical ethics. In the present moment doctor-patient relationship (DPR) or physician-patient relationship (PPR) is one of the major issues in health-care throughout the world. The most common complains about the physicians of Bangladesh is their attitude towards the patients. The patients must have confidence in the competence of doctors and should feel that they can confide in him or her. For physicians, the establishment of a good relationship with the patients is also important. In developed countries students are taught from the beginning, even before they set foot in hospitals, to maintain a professional relationship with the patients, to uphold patients' dignity, and respect their privacy. These are deficient in Bangladesh. In addition to service factors, perceived treatment cost is another factor that patients may perceive as excessive. This special article reflects the importance as well as the necessary elements to establish this sacred relationship. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18786 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 55-58
Congenital Hypothyroidism: A Severely Neglected Case Report in Bangladesh
Authors: Hamid F , Islam R , Paul N , Nusrat N
Published: May 2014

A 6 year old girl presented with not growing well, delayed milestone of development, feeding difficulty, constipation since birth and breathing difficulty for last 3 months. The diagnosis was congenital hypothyroidism which was confirmed by Serum FT4 & TSH. The patient was put on oral thyroxin and showed little improvement initially and discharged on request after 15 days but unfortunately she died after 1 month at her residence. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18787 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 59-61
Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus (NDI): a Rare Presentation in Early Infancy- A Case Report
Authors: Akteruzzaman M , Islam Z , Afroza S , Kabir ARML , Paul SK , Rahman M
Published: May 2014

A 30 months old boy presented with polyuria and polydipsia since 6 months of age. There was no family history of similar illness. Investigations revealed serum hyperosmolarity and normal renal function. Diagnostic findings correlated with nephrogenic diabetis insipidus (NDI) as the patient was non-responsive to vasopressin in water deprivation test. MRI of brain was normal and ultrasonogram of kidney, ureter, and urinary bladder was normal and other investigations showed no abnormality. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v41i1.18788 Bangladesh Medical Journal 2012 Vol. 41 No. 1; 62-63
Development and in vitro evaluation of polyurethane microparticles as carrier for bevacizumab: an alternative treatment for retinopathy of prematurity
Authors: Albulescu Ramona C , Borcan Florin , Paul Corina , Velea Iulian , Puiu Maria
Published: May 2014

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is known as an abnormal development of the blood capillaries from the eyes retina, and it is met to those infants that were born too early (premature) as its name suggests. Bevacizumab or Avastin belongs to the class of monoclonal antibodies and it is a possible treatment for those patients who have been diagnosed with a recurrent malignant glioma or other cancers due to its behavior to bind selectively to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In this study, eye drops based on a polyurethane carrier used for bevacizumab were obtained and the degradation of this carrier was studied for three weeks in two different media: simulated body fluid (SBF) and phosphate buffered saline (PBS); the influence of ultrasounds on the degradation of polyurethane carrier was also evaluated. The obtained results suggest that the polyurethane carrier presents a very slow degradation which is beneficial for drugs which require low release rates and on the other hand, the concentrations of the degradation products remain at a low level.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/icpj.v3i6.18759 International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, May 2014, 3(6): 275-279
Pharmacognostic and phytochemical investigation of young leaves of Triticum aestivum Linn.
Authors: Jain Gaurav , Argal Ameeta
Published: May 2014

ABSTRACT The aim of the work is to perform the pharmacognostic study of the leaves of plant Triticum aestivum Linn., Family Poaceae, commonly known as Wheatgrass. It is cultivated on large scale all over India and also occasionally cultivated in garden. For the present study samples of the Wheatgrass leaves were collected over a specific period of nine days. The drug was cultivated with specific type of hybrid seeds obtained from most reputed institution of India and were scrupulously analysed. For standardization of the herbal drug morphological, phytochemical, physicochemical and microscopical examination was done. The leaves grown were found to be lax, cauline, flat, 0.6 to 0.25 inches (4 to 6 mm) wide, 6-9 inches long and green in color. The chemical compositions of the leaves are proteins, flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, terpenoides, saponins, fibers, tannins and phenolic compounds. The specific variety of seeds, specific time of collection made it more specific to be used for further pharmacological studies.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/icpj.v3i6.18760 International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, May 2014, 3(6): 280-285
Formulation and in-vitro bioequivalence evaluation of verapamil hydrochloride matrix tablets with Calan R
Authors: Bashir Irfan , Sethi Ayesha , Zaman Muhammad , Qureshi Junaid , Sarfraz Rai M. , Mahmood Asif , Sajid Muhammad I. , Jamshaid Talha , Akram Muhammad A.
Published: May 2014

The purpose of the current work was to formulate Verapamil Hydrochloride (VH) sustained release matrix tablets by using natural polymers and comparison with leading national brand Calan SR of Searle Pharmaceuticals. Tragacanth and pectin were used in various concentrations. Pre compression studies i.e. angle of repose, bulk density, tapped density, Carrs compressibility index and Hausners ratio were also performed and found within the Pharmacopoeial limits. Eight formulations (F1-F8) of (VH) were prepared by direct compression method. Post compression studies i.e. Thickness, Hardness, Diameter, Friability and Dissolution studies were conducted. Different kinetic models i.e. zero order, first order, Highuchi model and Korsmeyer Peppas were applied to study release patterns and similarity index was calculated. Dissolution studies were carried out in phosphate buffer of pH 6.8 showed that formulations (F4 and F8) formulated with higher polymers concentration showed comparatively better drug retardation. F5 was the most comparable with the reference product. Verapamil hydrochloride released was observed non-fickian as diffusion following Higuchi model.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/icpj.v3i6.18761 International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, May 2014, 3(6): 286-290
A, an and the environments in Spoken Korean English
Authors: Hadikin Glenn
Published: May 2014

This paper contains an analysis of small corpora of spoken Korean English – a burgeoning New English that is rarely discussed in published articles. With a theoretical framework based on Hoey's (2005) Theory of Lexical Priming, the lexical environment surrounding the items a, an and the in two Korean corpora (one comprising Korean English speakers in Liverpool, England, and the other, speakers in Seoul, Korea) are compared with two British comparator corpora. The results show a balance of differences and similarities between the Korean corpora, and this may suggest that, while Korean English is distinct from British varieties, recent priming effects and the L1 are interacting in complex ways that give each corpus a unique identity.
CANELC: constructing an e-language corpus
Authors: Knight Dawn , Adolphs Svenja , Carter Ronald
Published: May 2014

This paper reports on the construction of the Cambridge and Nottingham e-language Corpus (CANELC).33 This corpus has been built as part of a collaborative project between the University of Nottingham and Cambridge University Press with whom sole copyright of the annotated corpus resides. CANELC comprises one-million words of digital English taken from SMS messages, blogs, Tweets, discussion board content and private/business e-mails. Plans to extend the corpus are under discussion. The legal dimension to corpus ‘ownership’ of some forms of unannotated data is a complex one and is under constant review. At present, the annotated corpus is only available to authors and researchers working for CUP and is not more generally available. CANELC is a one-million word corpus of digital communication in English, taken from online discussion boards, blogs, tweets, e-mails and Short Message Services (SMS). The paper outlines the approaches used when planning the corpus: obtaining consent, collecting the data and compiling the corpus database.

This is followed by a detailed analysis of some of the patterns of language used in the corpus. The analysis includes a discussion of the key words and phrases used, as well as the common themes and semantic associations connected with the data. These discussions form the basis of an investigation into how e-language operates in ways that are both similar to and different from spoken and written records of communication (as evidenced by the British National Corpus, BNC).
Evaluation of five single-word term recognition methods on a legal English corpus
Authors: Marín María José
Published: May 2014

Specialised texts are characterised by, amongst other features, the presence of terminology which conveys domain-specific concepts that are essential for the specialist who is interested in analysing such texts. Automatic Term Recognition methods (ATR) are employed to identify those terms automatically, which is especially helpful in view of the large size of corpora nowadays. However, they tend to concentrate on the identification of Multi-Word Terms (MWTs) neglecting Single-Word Terms (SWTs) to a certain extent. This might be related to the greater number of the former found in fields such as biomedicine. However, so far as legal English is concerned, testing has shown that SWTs represent 65.22 percent of the items in the specialised glossary employed for the evaluation of the ATR methods examined herein. This paper presents the evaluation of five SWT recognition methods, namely, those of Chung (2003) , Drouin (2003) , Kit and Liu (2008) , Keywords (2008), and TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency). These were tested on the United Kingdom Supreme Court Corpus (UKSCC), a legal corpus of 2.6 million words which was compiled for this purpose. The results indicate that Drouin's TermoStat software is the best performing method, achieving 73.45 percent precision on the top 2,000 candidate terms.
Public/Private BIM
Authors: Deeney John , Hore Alan , McAuley Barry
Published: May 2014

The current economic difficulties have affected most practitioners within the industry and, as a result, many firms and contractors are bidding for fewer projects, resulting in below-cost tenders. It is clear that, many firms and contractors are now operating on thin margins; which makes it increasingly difficult for them to commit to the introduction of new software applications and system upgrades. The transition to Building Information Modelling (BIM) from traditional 2D CAD by Irish firms and contractors has been a relatively slow process compared with the international colleagues. There are many reasons for this, including lack of resources, lack of awareness, ignorance, misunderstanding and adversity. The lack of BIM promotion and BIM training opportunities within the industry has meant that very few people possess the basic requirement to successfully embrace BIM at a level which would be considered efficient. BIM is the new way of operating and it is gaining momentum; the industry simply cannot turn a blind eye to the technology or it will be left behind. The industry must therefore adapt and change current working practices in order to compete with other established and recognized BIM nations. This paper will evaluate BIM in the international context and, investigate if these methodologies can be transferred to the Irish construction industry. This paper will also aim to identify obstacles and drivers for Irish firms, contractors and Government Departments with regard to BIM adoption, as well as the behavioral and cultural elements which are preventing BIM adoption in Ireland. It is hoped that the research findings will demonstrate a business case for the implementation of BIM, for both public and private sector organizations.
A Perturbation Method Based on Singular Value Decomposition and Feature Selection for Privacy Preserving Data Mining
Authors: Keyvanpour Mohammad Reza , Moradi Somayyeh Seifi
Published: May 2014

In this study, a new model is provided for customized privacy in privacy preserving data mining in which the data owners define different levels for privacy for different features. Additionally, in order to improve perturbation methods, a method combined of singular value decomposition (SVD) and feature selection methods is defined so as to benefit from the advantages of both domains. Also, to assess the amount of distortion created by the proposed perturbation method, new distortion criteria are defined in which the amount of created distortion in the process of feature selection is considered based on the value of privacy in each feature. Different tests and results analysis show that offered method based on this model compared to previous approaches, caused the improved privacy, accuracy of mining results and efficiency of privacy preserving data mining systems.
Making the Move
Authors: Gautreau Cynthia S. , Stang Kristin K. , Street Chris , Guillaume Andrea
Published: May 2014

This paper is intended for new faculty and faculty who are new to using digital technologies and a learning management system in their instruction. As experienced faculty in the College of Education, the authors make a concerted effort to support faculty in their use of instructional technology. In this paper, the authors share their experiences with faculty who are taking early the early steps in the journey to integrate digital technologies into their instruction. The authors hope this article will help faculty on their journey by supporting them in teaching with technology. The authors focus on faculty development, adoption of new technologies into faculties' instructional practices, and introductory online teaching practices. The authors' ultimate goal is to support student learning by helping faculty encourage learning for the entire continuum of students: students who need to be supported as they develop digital literacy and those who come to us embracing technologies wholeheartedly.
Reflections on Designing for Learning
Authors: McNaught Carmel
Published: May 2014

This paper is a narrative of key lessons learnt over a decade by the Director of Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research (CLEAR) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). The paper is structured around ten published papers – one from each year for 2002 to 2011. The first section outlines the nature of CUHK and its policy for teaching and learning, and the structure of CLEAR. This section provides the landscape in which the research studies were situated. The ten key ideas are then stated, linked to the ten papers. The growth of evidence is a cumulative process and other institutions are encouraged to chart their own journey and develop their own narratives.
Structural and Functional Correlates of Enhanced Antiviral Immunity Generated by Heteroclitic CD8 T Cell Epitopes
Authors: Trujillo Jonathan A. , Gras Stephanie , Twist Kelly-Anne , Croft Nathan P. , Channappanavar Rudragouda , Rossjohn Jamie , Purcell Anthony W. , Perlman Stanley
Published: May 2014

Peptides that bind poorly to MHC class I molecules often elicit low–functional avidity T cell responses. Peptide modification by altering the anchor residue facilitates increased binding affinity and may elicit T cells with increased functional avidity toward the native epitope (“heteroclitic”). This augmented MHC binding is likely to increase the half-life and surface density of the heteroclitic complex, but precisely how this enhanced T cell response occurs in vivo is not known. Furthermore, the ideal heteroclitic epitope will elicit T cell responses that completely cross-react with the native epitope, maximizing protection and minimizing undesirable off-target effects. Such epitopes have been difficult to identify. In this study, using mice infected with a murine coronavirus that encodes epitopes that elicit high (S510, CSLWNGPHL)– and low (S598, RCQIFANI)–functional avidity responses, we show that increased expression of peptide S598 but not S510 generated T cells with enhanced functional avidity. Thus, immune responses can be augmented toward T cell epitopes with low functional avidity by increasing Ag density. We also identified a heteroclitic epitope (RCVIFANI) that elicited a T cell response with nearly complete cross-reactivity with native epitope and demonstrated increased MHC/peptide abundance compared with native S598. Structural and thermal melt analyses indicated that the Q600V substitution enhanced stability of the peptide/MHC complex without greatly altering the antigenic surface, resulting in highly cross-reactive T cell responses. Our data highlight that increased peptide/MHC complex display contributes to heteroclitic epitope efficacy and describe parameters for maximizing immune responses that cross-react with the native epitope.
Whale Watching as Ecotourism: How Sustainable is it?
Authors: Wearing Stephen Leslie , Cunningham Paul A. , Schweinsberg Stephen , Jobberns Chantelle
Published: May 2014

Australia has long tried to portray itself as an environmentally responsible state and has consistently been a strong supporter of Whale Watching as an alternative to the practice of commercial and ‘scientific’ whaling. This paper explores whale watching in an effort to determine the economic and social viability of it as a sustainable marine tourism activity —and whether in the future the whale and the tourist can coexist or will the latter as with previous human activities such as whaling yet again create a ‘tragedy of the commons’ and displace the former. As an ecotourism product, whale watching holds the potential for sustainable practice, one that is both ecological and profitable. Responsible whale watching is seen as a clean, green industry that simultaneously supports local economies and promotes whale education and conservation. The question is can it live up to these expectations?
A horizontal mobile measuring system for atmospheric quantities
Authors: Hübner J. , Olesch J. , Falke H. , Meixner F. X. , Foken T.
Published: May 2014

Abstract. A fully automatic Horizontal Mobile Measuring System (HMMS) for atmospheric quantities has been developed. The HMMS is based on the drive mechanism of a garden railway system and can be installed at any location and with any measuring track. In addition to meteorological quantities (temperature, humidity and short/long-wave down/upwelling radiation), HMMS also measures trace gas concentrations (carbon dioxide and ozone). While sufficient spatial resolution is a problem even for measurements on distributed towers, this could be easily achieved with the HMMS, which has been specifically developed to obtain higher information density about horizontal gradients in a heterogeneous forest ecosystem. There, horizontal gradients of meteorological quantities and trace gases could be immense, particularly at the transition from a dense forest to an open clearing, with large impact on meteorological parameters and exchange processes. Consequently, HMMS was firstly applied during EGER IOP3 project (ExchanGE processes in mountainous Regions – Intense Observation Period 3) in the Fichtelgebirge Mountains (SE Germany) during summer 2011. At a constant 1 m above ground, the measuring track of the HMMS consisted of a straight line perpendicular to the forest edge, starting in the dense spruce forest and leading 75 m into an open clearing. Tags with bar codes, mounted every meter on the wooden substructure, allowed (a) keeping the speed of the HMMS constant (approx. 0.5 m s−1) and (b) operation of the HMMS in a continuous back and forth running mode. During EGER IOP3, HMMS was operational for almost 250 h. Results show that – due to considerably long response times (between 4 s and 20 s) of commercial temperature, humidity and the radiation sensors – true spatial variations of the meteorological quantities could not be adequately captured (mainly at the forest edge). Corresponding dynamical (spatial) errors of the measurement values were corrected on the basis of well defined individual response times of the sensors and application of a linear correction algorithm. Due to the very short response times (≤ 1 s) of the applied commercial CO2 and O3 analysers, dynamical errors for the trace gas data were negligible and no corrections were done.
Rapid Determination of Sucrose in Fruit Juices: A New Sensitive Carbon Nanotube Paste Osmium-Polymer Mediated Biosensor
Authors: Antiochia Riccarda , Gorton Lo , Mannina Luisa
Published: May 2014

The aim of the present work was the development of a novel amperometric biosensor for rapid detection of sucrose in fruit juices samples. Two enzymes, invertase and fructose dehydrogenase (FDH), were immobilized onto a single-walled carbon nanotube paste (SWCNTP) electrode by wiring with a highly original osmium-polymer hydrogel. A second biosensor, for fructose only, was constructed containing inactive invertase and used for signal subtraction.

The biosensor exhibits a detection limit for sucrose of 2 mM, linearity up to 5 mM, good sensitivity of 1.98 mA cm-2 mM, good reproducibility (RSD = 2.5%), fast response time (8s) and a stability of 4 months if kept under wet conditions at 4 °C.

The biosensor was successively tested for specific detection of sucrose and fructose in several commercial fruit juice samples and the results were compared with those obtained with a commercial spectrophotometric enzymatic kit.