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The present paper is an announcement of first absolute age dating directly on fossilized bones and teeth of the Pleistocene mammalian fauna from the Manjra valley, District Latur, Maharashtra, India. The fossilized samples were measured using the AMS facility at Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi, India. The results gave the time frame of 21,423 BP to 24,335 BP that correspond close to and the threshold of LGM and sheds important light on the palaeoecology of the area that supported diverse megafaunal species in the Upper Manjra valley. These calendar dates not only have wider significance in terms of first ever approximate chronological frame for the Pleistocene fauna in Peninsular India but also offer methodological innovations especially when the adequate bioapatite is absent in the fossilized bones and teeth from the fossil record.
Acceptance and willingness to pay for the COVID-19 vaccine are unknown.
Aims
We compared attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination in people suffering from depression or anxiety disorder and people without mental disorders, and their willingness to pay for it.
Method
Adults with depression or anxiety disorder (n = 79) and healthy controls (n = 134) living in Chongqing, China, completed a cross-sectional study between 13 and 26 January 2021. We used a validated survey to assess eight aspects related to attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccines. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed by the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale.
Results
Seventy-six people with depression or anxiety disorder (96.2%) and 134 healthy controls (100%) reported willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. A significantly higher proportion of people with depression or anxiety disorder (64.5%) were more willing to pay for the COVID-19 vaccine than healthy controls (38.1%) (P ≤ 0.001). After multivariate adjustment, severity of depression and anxiety was significantly associated with willingness to pay for COVID-19 vaccination among psychiatric patients (P = 0.048). Non-healthcare workers (P = 0.039), health insurance (P = 0.003), living with children (P = 0.006) and internalised stigma (P = 0.002) were significant factors associated with willingness to pay for COVID-19 vaccine in healthy controls.
Conclusions
To conclude, psychiatric patients in Chongqing, China, showed high acceptance and willingness to pay for the COVID-19 vaccine. Factors associated with willingness to pay for the COVID-19 vaccine differed between psychiatric patients and healthy controls.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to significant strain on front-line healthcare workers.
Aims
In this multicentre study, we compared the psychological outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in various countries in the Asia-Pacific region and identified factors associated with adverse psychological outcomes.
Method
From 29 April to 4 June 2020, the study recruited healthcare workers from major healthcare institutions in five countries in the Asia-Pacific region. A self-administrated survey that collected information on prior medical conditions, presence of symptoms, and scores on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised were used. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relating to COVID-19 was compared, and multivariable logistic regression identified independent factors associated with adverse psychological outcomes within each country.
Results
A total of 1146 participants from India, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam were studied. Despite having the lowest volume of cases, Vietnam displayed the highest prevalence of PTSD. In contrast, Singapore reported the highest case volume, but had a lower prevalence of depression and anxiety. In the multivariable analysis, we found that non-medically trained personnel, the presence of physical symptoms and presence of prior medical conditions were independent predictors across the participating countries.
Conclusions
This study highlights that the varied prevalence of psychological adversity among healthcare workers is independent of the burden of COVID-19 cases within each country. Early psychological interventions may be beneficial for the vulnerable groups of healthcare workers with presence of physical symptoms, prior medical conditions and those who are not medically trained.
An analytical formalism of laser absorption in a nanorod embedded dielectric surface has been developed. Nanorods lie in the plane of the dielectric, in the form of a planar array. A laser, impinged on them with an electric field perpendicular to the lengths of the nanorods, imparts oscillatory velocity to nanorod electrons. As the free electrons of a nanorod are displaced, a space charge field is developed in the nanorod that exerts restoration force on the electrons and their drift velocity shows a resonance at ${\rm \omega} = {\rm \omega} _{\rm p}/\sqrt 2 $, where ωp denotes the plasma frequency of free electrons inside the nanorod. It is inhibited by collisions and nanorod expansion. At the resonance, the electrons are efficiently heated by the laser and laser energy is strongly absorbed, resulting in significant reduction in laser transmissivity. The transmissivity decreases with laser intensity.
The goal of this work is to study the properties of magnetically aligned CNT/PC nanocomposites towards the development of hydrogen gas separation membranes. A fraction (0.1 weight %) of synthesized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been dispersed homogeneously throughout polycarbonate (PC) matrix by ultrasonication. The alignment of CNT in PC matrix has been accomplished by applying an external magnetic field of 1200 Gauss. These nanocomposites have been studied by gas permeation using H2, N2 and Co2 electrical and dielectric constant measurements. Experimental results of gas permeability measurements exhibit here that H2 is more selective than N2 and Co2 in magnetically aligned nanocomposite membranes which can be used as good hydrogen separating media. I-V characteristics show the electron hopping like behavior and dielectric constant shows the enhancement in permittivity of these nanocomposites.
To compare the contours and dose volume histograms (DVH) parameters of the high-risk clinical target volume (HRCTV) contoured on computed tomography (CT) using clinical findings at brachytherapy, clinical findings at brachytherapy with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at diagnosis and HRCTV defined on MRI at brachytherapy in cervical cancer patients.
Materials and methods
Fifteen patients undergoing MRI-guided image-based brachytherapy underwent both CT and MRI after applicator insertion. Two sets of contours were defined on CT. In the first set, the HRCTV was defined with the help of clinical findings at brachytherapy (CT-HRCTV). In the second set, HRCTV was defined with MRI at diagnosis and clinical findings at brachytherapy (CT-HRCTVdmri). This was compared with the HRCTV defined on MRI at brachytherapy (MR-HRCTV). The doses to the organs at risk (OARs) were compared for CT and MRI.
Results
A significant overestimation of the maximum width and width at point A was observed for CT-HRCTV (p −0·00; 0·00) and CT-HRCTVdmri (p −0·03; 0·01), respectively. The height was underestimated with CT-HRCTV in patients with intrauterine disease extension. For a single fraction, the mean difference in the D90 for the CT contours was <1 Gy. The doses to the OARs were comparable.
Conclusions
CT may be an alternative when facilities for MRI image-based brachytherapy are lacking, provided at least one MRI is available before brachytherapy.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were compared with and without the addition of a brief processing speed test, the symbol digit modalities test (SDMT), for vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) screening at three to six months after stroke.
Methods:
Patients with ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack were assessed with MoCA and MMSE, as well as a formal neuropsychological battery three to six months after stroke. VCI was defined by impairment in any cognitive domain on neuropsychological testing. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to compare test discriminatory ability.
Results:
One hundred and eighty-nine patients out of 327 (58%) had VCI, of whom 180 (95%) had vascular mild cognitive impairment (VaMCI), and nine (5%) had dementia. The overall AUCs of the MoCA and MMSE scores and performance at their respective cut-off points were equivalent in detecting VCI (AUCs: 0.87 (95% CI 0.83–0.91) vs. 0.84 (95% CI 0.80–0.88), p = 0.13; cut-offs: MoCA (≤23) vs. MMSE (≤26), sensitivity: 0.78 vs. 0.71; specificity: 0.80 vs. 0.82; positive predictive value: 0.84 vs. 0.84; negative predictive value: 0.72 vs. 0.67; and correctly classified 78.6% vs. 75.5%; p = 0.42). The AUCs of MMSE and MoCA were improved significantly by the SDMT (AUCs: MMSE+SDMT 0.90 (95% CI 0.87–0.93), p <0.001; MoCA+SDMT 0.91 (95% CI 0.88–0.94), p < 0.02).
Conclusions:
The MoCA and MMSE are equivalent and moderately sensitive, and can be supplemented with the SDMT to improve their accuracy in VCI screening.
The noctuid moth Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) is the most damaging pest of chickpea worldwide. Plant resistance is an important component for the management of this pest. To develop cultivars with resistance to insects, it is important to understand the role of different components associated with resistance to insects. Therefore, we characterized a diverse array of chickpea genotypes for organic acid profiles in the leaf exudates that are associated with resistance to H. armigera. Chickpea leaf exudates contained five major organic acids that were identified as malic, oxalic, acetic, citric and fumaric acids. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) profiles of the leaf exudates of nine chickpea genotypes showed that amounts of malic acid were negatively correlated with leaf feeding by H. armigera larvae at flowering and maturity, and with pod damage. Oxalic acid showed a negative association with leaf damage in the detached leaf assay. Additionally, the amounts of acetic acid were negatively correlated with larval weights and damage rating at the flowering and maturity stages. Citric acid levels were negatively associated with damage rating at the flowering stage. Implications of using the HPLC profiles of organic acids in the leaf exudates of chickpea to breed for resistance to H. armigera are discussed.
The present paper presents the design and development of a dual-channel microwave rotary joint using coaxial waveguide as primary waveguide and rectangular waveguide as the secondary waveguide. Design is presented at 5.85–7.02 GHz with 20% bandwidth and at 14–14.5 GHz bands with 3.6% bandwidth using dual channel mode transducers exciting transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode in the coaxial waveguide. Rectangular to coaxial waveguide transitions employing multi-stepped doorknob transitions are used to excite the TEM mode from the rectangular waveguide. The measured results for electrical parameters such as return loss, insertion loss of the dual-channel rotary joint are presented with 360° rotation of the rotary part with respect to the stator part.
This chapter shows that circadian rhythms have a tendency to become less robust with increasing age, i.e. they generally exhibit decreases in amplitude and less stability. Some obvious consequences of such reductions in rhythm amplitude are fragmentation of rhythms, complete loss of temporal order and structure, loss of stability of entrainment, and responsiveness to zeitgebers. Other consequences include changes in clock period and its stability, and inappropriate phase relationships among behavioral and metabolic oscillations. Age-related decreases in the amplitude of circadian rhythms in humans and other mammals have been linked to a deterioration of rhythmic behaviors such as those seen in locomotor activity, feeding and drinking. Anatomical and electrophysiological studies have shown that age-related changes occur within the biological clocks of mammals including humans. There is increasing evidence for age-related changes in the structure and neurochemistry of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), including alterations in cells producing vasopressin.
Edited by
Braj B. Kachru, University of Illinois, Chicago,Yamuna Kachru, University of Illinois, Chicago,S. N. Sridhar, State University of New York, Stony Brook
In South Asia, law and language are inextricably intertwined not only in the construction and consumption of sociolegal relationships and in the authorization of sociopolitical and individual actions but also in the creation of social structures, the nurturing and shaping of political ideologies, and the negotiation of social and individual identities. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of the role and function of language in legal systems, it is necessary to specify the complexity of interpretations of some of the terms and issues arising from this dynamic relationship, especially in the contexts of multilingual and multicultural contexts.
First, although legal systems are invariably influenced by religion and culture, they have an inseparable relationship with language, which is typically used as an instrument of legal expression, both in spoken and written forms. We are more familiar with the use of written language as a vehicle for the communication of legal content in modern times, but the use of speech in legal settings was common in ancient times. The ancient Indian legal systems provide good examples of such uses of speech in legal contexts. The legal system during the Vedic period created social norms to regulate human behavior, but there were no facilities to record these rules and regulations in the written form. The social code embodied in the Shruti was memorized and handed down from one generation to another.
Interpretation of cognitive test performance among individuals from a given population requires an understanding of cognitive norms in that population. Little is known about normative test performance among elderly illiterate non-English-speaking individuals. An age-stratified random sample of men and women, aged 55 years and older, was drawn from a community-based population in the rural area of Ballabgarh in northern India. These Hindi-speaking individuals had little or no education and were largely illiterate. A battery of neuropsychological tests, specially adapted from the CERAD neuropsychological battery, which was adminstered to this sample, is described. Subjects also underwent a protocol diagnostic examination for dementia. Norms for test performance of 374 nondemented subjects on these tests are reported across the sample and also by age, gender, and literacy.
A case of plasmacytoma arising from the hyoid bone is described, this is a distinctly unusual site, as the marrow-containing flat bones are more commonly affected. On a review of the literature this appears to be the first report of plasmacytoma occurring in the hyoid bone. The patient underwent a CT scan and plain radiographs. Histopathology was diagnostic.
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