Maternal and birth risk factors for children screening positive for autism spectrum disorders on M-CHAT-R.

This study was carried out to screen children aged 16-30 months, attending pediatric outpatient department of JIPMER, Puducherry, during June to August 2014, for ASD using modified checklist for autism in toddlers-revised (MCHAT-R) and to find association between maternal, birth and postnatal risk factors with risk of ASD. A total of 350 mother-child pairs with children aged between 16 and 30 months were recruited. M-CHAT-R was administered to all mothers to screen for ASD along with risk checklist.

The gust-mitigating potential of flapping wings.

Nature's flapping-wing flyers are adept at negotiating highly turbulent flows across a wide range of scales. This is in part due to their ability to quickly detect and counterract disturbances to their flight path, but may also be assisted by an inherent aerodynamic property of flapping wings. In this study, we subject a mechanical flapping wing to replicated atmospheric turbulence across a range of flapping frequencies and turbulence intensities.

Physics of Fluid Transport in Hybrid Biporous Capillary Wicking Microstructures.

The mass transport capacity (i.e., the capillary limit,) of homogeneous wicks is limited by the inverse relation between the capillary pressure and permeability.

Stimuli-Responsive Gold Nanoparticles for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy.

An emerging concept is that cancers strongly depend on both internal and external signals for growth and invasion. In this review, we will discuss pathological and physical changes in the tumor microenvironment and how these changes can be exploited to design gold nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and therapy. These intrinsic changes include extracellular and intracellular pH, extracellular matrix enzymes, and glutathione concentration.

The Role of Imaging with Cardiac Computed Tomography in Cardio-Oncology Patients.

Cardiovascular diseases and cancer represent the two most common causes of morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries. With the increase in long-term survival of cancer patients, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality for many cancer survivors. In this article, we will review the most common cardiovascular toxicities of cancer therapies and will describe the role of cardiac CT in the detection and monitoring of cardiovascular disease.

A Biomechanical Comparison of Shape Design and Positioning of Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion Cages.

Study Design: Cadaveric biomechanical analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare three interbody cage shapes and their position within the interbody space with regards to construct stability for transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.

Methods: Twenty L2-L3 and L4-L5 lumbar motion segments from fresh cadavers were potted in polymethyl methacrylate and subjected to testing with a materials testing machine before and after unilateral facetectomy, diskectomy, and interbody cage insertion.

Enhanced electrochemical capacitance of polyimidazole coated covellite CuS dispersed CNT composite materials for application in supercapacitors.

Great attention has been paid to the design and synthesis of distinct core/shell heterostructures for high-performance supercapacitors. We have prepared unique heterostructures consisting of polyimidazole-coated copper sulphide over a carbon nanotube network (CuS@CNT) on nickel foam, which was accomplished through a facile and cost-effective solvothermal method combined with a dip coating process. Hexagonal covellite CuS nanoparticles were dispersed on CNTs using a solvothermal method where dimethylformamide and distilled water were used as solvents.

Two Different Pathways in the Reduction of [(S=)PCl(μ-NtBu)]2 with Na.

Reduction of the cyclodiphosphazane [(S=)ClP(μ-NtBu)]2 (1) with sodium metal in refluxing toluene proceeds via two different pathways. One is a Wurtz-type pathway involving elimination of NaCl from 1 followed by head-to-tail cyclization to give the hexameric macrocycle [(μ-S)P(μ-NtBu)2 P(=S)]6 (2). The other pathway involves reduction of the P=S bonds of 1 to generate colorless singlet biradicaloid dianion trans-[S-P(Cl)(μ-NtBu)]2 (2-) , which is observed in the polymeric structures of three-dimensional [{(S-)ClP(μ-NtBu)2 PCl(S)}Na(Na⋅THF2 )]n (3) and two dimensional [{(S-)ClP(μ-NtBu)2 PCl(S)} (Na⋅THF)2 ]n (4).

Sodium Intake, Blood Pressure, and Dietary Sources of Sodium in an Adult South Indian Population.

Background: The association between prevalence of hypertension and its relationship with dietary sodium intake has never been published from large epidemiological studies in the South Indian population before.

Objectives: To assess sodium intake and its association with blood pressure, and major dietary sources of sodium in an adult population in southeastern India.

Methods: This study included a representative population-based sample of 8080 individuals (57% women) >20 years of age.

New Zealand Joint Registry data underestimates the rate of prosthetic joint infection.

Background and purpose - Recent studies have revealed deficiencies in the accuracy of data from joint registries when reoperations for prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) are reported, particularly when no components are changed. We compared the accuracy of data from the New Zealand Joint Registry (NZJR) to a multicenter audit of hospital records to establish the rate of capture for PJI reoperations. Methods - 4,009 cases undergoing total knee or hip arthroplasty performed at 3 tertiary referral hospitals over a 3-year period were audited using multiple hospital datasets and the NZJR.

Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Depressive Symptoms in HIV-Positive Individuals: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: The antidepressant effect of omega-3 fatty acids has been described in the non-HIV population. The effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on the mood status of HIV-positive patients has not been evaluated yet.

Objective: In this study, the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on depressive symptoms was evaluated in HIV-positive individuals.

Diabetes case finding in the emergency department, using HbA1c: an opportunity to improve diabetes detection, prevention, and care.

Objective: We assessed the efficacy of routine glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) testing to detect undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes in an urban Australian public hospital emergency department (ED) located in an area of high diabetes prevalence.

Methods: Over 6 weeks, all patients undergoing blood sampling in the ED had their random blood glucose measured. If ≥5.

NIK regulates MT1-MMP activity and promotes glioma cell invasion independently of the canonical NF-κB pathway.

A growing body of evidence implicates the noncanonical NF-κB pathway as a key driver of glioma invasiveness and a major factor underlying poor patient prognoses. Here, we show that NF-κB-inducing kinase (NIK/MAP3K14), a critical upstream regulator of the noncanonical NF-κB pathway, is both necessary and sufficient for cell-intrinsic invasion, as well as invasion induced by the cytokine TWEAK, which is strongly associated with tumor pathogenicity. NIK promotes dramatic alterations in glioma cell morphology that are characterized by extensive membrane branching and elongated pseudopodial protrusions.

Design, synthesis and computational evaluation of a novel intermediate salt of N-cyclohexyl-N-(cyclohexylcarbamoyl)-4-(trifluoromethyl) benzamide as potential potassium channel blocker in epileptic paroxysmal seizures.

The narrow therapeutic range and limited pharmacokinetics of available Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have raised serious concerns in the proper management of epilepsy. To overcome this, the present study attempts to identify a candidate molecule targeting voltage gated potassium channels anticipated to have superior pharmacological than existing potassium channel blockers. The compound was synthesized by reacting (S)-(+)-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4] benzodiazepine5,11(10H,11aH)-dione with 4-(Trifluoromethyl) benzoic acid (CHFO) in DMF and N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) which lead to the formation of an intermediate salt of N-cyclohexyl-N-(cyclohexylcarbamoyl)-4-(trifluoromethyl)benzamide with a perfect crystalline structure.

Mapping the Human Platelet Lipidome Reveals Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 as a Regulator of Mitochondrial Bioenergetics during Activation.

Human platelets acutely increase mitochondrial energy generation following stimulation. Herein, a lipidomic circuit was uncovered whereby the substrates for this are exclusively provided by cPLA2, including multiple fatty acids and oxidized species that support energy generation via β-oxidation. This indicates that acute lipid membrane remodeling is required to support energetic demands during platelet activation.

Ammonia level at admission predicts in-hospital mortality for patients with alcoholic hepatitis.

Objective: Alcoholic hepatitis (AH), a unique clinical syndrome among patients with chronic and active alcohol use, is associated with high short-term mortality. An elevated ammonia level is associated with mortality in patients with acute liver failure; however, its impact in AH has not been well-studied.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed on patients admitted to a tertiary-care hospital with the discharge diagnosis of AH.

Aerodynamics, sensing and control of insect-scale flapping-wing flight.

There are nearly a million known species of flying insects and 13 000 species of flying warm-blooded vertebrates, including mammals, birds and bats. While in flight, their wings not only move forward relative to the air, they also flap up and down, plunge and sweep, so that both lift and thrust can be generated and balanced, accommodate uncertain surrounding environment, with superior flight stability and dynamics with highly varied speeds and missions. As the size of a flyer is reduced, the wing-to-body mass ratio tends to decrease as well.

A Projection free method for Generalized Eigenvalue Problem with a nonsmooth Regularizer.

Eigenvalue problems are ubiquitous in computer vision, covering a very broad spectrum of applications ranging from estimation problems in multi-view geometry to image segmentation. Few other linear algebra problems have a more mature set of numerical routines available and many computer vision libraries leverage such tools extensively. However, the ability to call the underlying solver only as a "black box" can often become restrictive.

On Statistical Analysis of Neuroimages with Imperfect Registration.

A variety of studies in neuroscience/neuroimaging seek to perform statistical inference on the acquired brain image scans for diagnosis as well as understanding the pathological manifestation of diseases. To do so, an important first step is to register (or co-register) all of the image data into a common coordinate system. This permits meaningful comparison of the intensities at each voxel across groups (e.

Use of automated irrigation pumps improves quality of bowel preparation for colonoscopy.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of automated irrigation pumps (AIPs) in improving the quality of the bowel preparation and the yield of colonoscopy.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted at a single medical center. Outpatient colonoscopies performed during a 4-mo time period when AIPs were not in use, were compared to colonoscopies performed during control period.

Fluorescence investigations on choline phospholipid binding and chemical unfolding of HSP-1/2, a major protein of horse seminal plasma.

Seminal fibronectin type-II (Fn-II) proteins interact with choline phospholipids present on the sperm plasma membrane and play a crucial role in sperm capacitation. Crystal structure of phosphorylcholine (PrC) complex of PDC-109, the major bovine Fn-II protein, together with fluorescence spectroscopic studies has shown that tryptophan residues are crucial for its specific interaction with choline phospholipids. In the present study, the heterogeneity and microenvironment of tryptophan residues in HSP-1/2, a major protein of horse seminal plasma (which is homologous to PDC-109) were investigated in the native state, in the presence of PrC and phosphatidylcholines (PCs) with short (valeryl, C-5) and long (myristoyl, C-14) chains, and upon denaturation using fluorescence quenching, time-resolved fluorescence and red-edge excitation shift (REES) measurements.

Correction to 'Aerodynamics, sensing and control of insect-scale flapping-wing flight'.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2015.

Modulatory effects of condensed tannin fractions of different molecular weights from a Leucaena leucocephala hybrid on the bovine rumen bacterial community in vitro.

Background: Condensed tannin (CT) fractions of different molecular weights (MWs) may affect rumen microbial metabolism by altering bacterial diversity. In this study the effects of unfractionated CTs (F0) and five CT fractions (F1-F5) of different MWs (F1, 1265.8 Da; F2, 1028.