Using simplified indices to forecast the seismic vulnerability of New Zealand unreinforced masonry churches

Unreinforced masonry churches are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because they are often deteriorated and damaged, they were built with comparatively low strength materials, they are heavy, and the connections between the various structural components are often insufficient to resist loads generated during earthquakes. A simplified method for seismic assessment of large span masonry churches is presented and data from 44 churches located in Italy, Portugal and Spain are used to provide lower bound limits for different simplified geometrical indexes. Subsequently, the proposed thresholds are validated with data from the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes, including 48 clay brick and stone unreinforced masonry churches. Finally, data collected for 40 unreinforced masonry churches in Wellington and Dunedin are used to identify churches in these cities requiring priority detailed seismic evaluation

Report of the ICES\NAFO Joint Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC), 11–15 March 2013, Floedevigen, Norway.

On 11 February 2013, the joint ICES/NAFO WGDEC, chaired by Francis Neat (UK) and attended by ten members met at the Institute for Marine Research in Floedevi-gen, Norway to consider the terms of reference (ToR) listed in Section 2. WGDEC was requested to update all records of deep-water vulnerable marine eco-systems (VMEs) in the North Atlantic. New data from a range of sources including multibeam echosounder surveys, fisheries surveys, habitat modelling and seabed imagery surveys was provided. For several areas across the North Atlantic, WGDEC makes recommendations for areas to be closed to bottom fisheries for the purposes of conservation of VMEs

Cerebral venous thrombosis: a changing landscape

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is an uncommon cause of stroke and is mainly a disease of the young. The aims of the study were to summarize the change in the clinical profile of CVT and provide an update regarding the current management of the same. A literature search was conducted using Pubmed and Google scholar using the desired terms. Studies were analysed and review was formulated. The median age of CVT in most studies was 32 years. There has been a shift from female pre-ponderence to equal gender predilection. Several studies are confirming the efficacy of D-dimer as a diagnostic marker of CVT. Newer oral anticoagulants have been found to be as efficient as warfarin. There have been several cases of CVT reported in association with COVID-19. This review confirmed the traditional understanding of age and risk factors of CVT. It also noted a change from the female pre-ponderence. NOACS are emerging as the preferred drug for the long-term management of CVT

A correlative study of homocysteine levels and dementia: an Indian perspective

Background: The prevalence of dementia is increasing worldwide and with India experiencing an epidemiological transition with increasing ageing population, the prevalence in India is expected to double by 2030 adding to the already high burden of significant health care costs and caregiver fatigue. Indian population has a higher burden of elevated homocysteine levels due to multiple factors. However, studies correlating the homocysteine levels and severity of dementia in the Indian subcontinent is lacking. This study is aimed to analyse the diagnostic utility of serum total homocysteine in dementia and to examine the association between serum total homocysteine levels and severity of dementia.Methods: This was a cross-sectional hospital-based study on patients attending neurology out-patient department who satisfied the DSM-V criteria. Each participant underwent an interview of general health and function followed by a standard assessment including medical history, physical and neurological examination as well as a neuropsychological battery.Results: A total of 30 patients fulfilling the DSM-Vcriteria for Dementia were included in the study. Increasing S. Homocysteine levels were associated with lower neuropsychological compound scores with MMSE score of 20.78±2.98 and ACE-3 score of 77.40±5.60 in patients with Serum Homocysteine less than 22 Umoles/L and 18.85±2.50 and 75.55±5.06 respectively in patients with serum homocysteine levels above 22 Umoles/L. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between neurocognitive scores and serum homocysteine levels (p value 0.06 for MMSE and 0.19 for ACE-3). Also, no correlation was found between severity of dementia and serum homocysteine levels with p≥0.05 and Pearson’s correlation coefficient r=0.06.Conclusions: This study shows no significant association between serum total homocysteine levels and severity of dementia. Thus, the association of homocysteine as an independent risk factor with the diagnosis and severity of dementia needs to be re-evaluated as it might undermine the multiple mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of dementia

Neuropathy in the setting of alcoholism-an entity less thought of

Disulfiram is a commonly used adjunctive treatment in the management of alcohol dependency.  It has been noted that disulfiram can induce peripheral neuropathy, the mechanism of which has not been clearly determined. A 35-year-old patient, reformed alcoholic, on disulfiram presented with complaints of painful distal dysesthesias and foot drop. Clinical examination revealed bilateral foot drop without any objective sensory loss. Patient was evaluated for the same and routine blood investigations including vitamin B-12, inflammatory and virological markers were found to be normal. Nerve conductions studies revealed in excitable bilateral common peroneal and tibial nerves. Possibility of disulfiram induced peripheral neuropathy was thought of and drug was withdrawn. Patient was followed up and after two months improvement in motor power and reduction in paraesthesia’s was noted. Disulfiram is a commonly used drug, the uncommon side effect of which is distal predominant axonal neuropathy. This must be kept be kept in mind when evaluating a patient presenting with features of peripheral neuropathy, on a background of alcohol abuse

Examining the initial usability, acceptability and feasibility of a digital mental health intervention for college students in India

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156228/2/ijop12640_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156228/1/ijop12640.pd

Drug‐induced increase in lysobisphosphatidic acid reduces the cholesterol overload in Niemann–Pick type C cells and mice

Most cells acquire cholesterol by endocytosis of circulating lowdensity lipoproteins (LDLs). After cholesteryl ester de-esterification in endosomes, free cholesterol is redistributed to intracellular membranes via unclear mechanisms. Our previous work suggested that the unconventional phospholipid lysobisphosphatidic acid (LBPA) may play a role in modulating the cholesterol flux through endosomes. In this study, we used the Prestwick library of FDAapproved compounds in a high-content, image-based screen of the endosomal lipids, lysobisphosphatidic acid and LDL-derived cholesterol. We report that thioperamide maleate, an inverse agonist of the histamine H3 receptor HRH3, increases highly selectively the levels of lysobisphosphatidic acid, without affecting any endosomal protein or function that we tested. Our data also show that thioperamide significantly reduces the endosome cholesterol overload in fibroblasts from patients with the cholesterol storage disorder Niemann–Pick type C (NPC), as well as in liver of Npc1-1- mice. We conclude that LBPA controls endosomal cholesterol mobilization and export to cellular destinations, perhaps by fluidifying or buffering cholesterol in endosomal membranes, and that thioperamide has repurposing potential for the treatment of NPC

Self-Organizing Maps for Pattern Recognition in Design of Alloys

A combined experimental\u2013computational methodology for accelerated design of AlNiCo-type permanent magnetic alloys is presented with the objective of simultaneously extremizing several magnetic properties. Chemical concentrations of eight alloying elements were initially generated using a quasirandom number generator so as to achieve a uniform distribution in the design variable space. It was followed by manufacture and experimental evaluation of these alloys using an identical thermo-magnetic protocol. These experimental data were used to develop meta-models capable of directly relating the chemical composition with desired macroscopic properties of the alloys. These properties were simultaneously optimized to predict chemical compositions that result in improvement of properties. These data were further utilized to discover various correlations within the experimental dataset by using several concepts of artificial intelligence. In this work, an unsupervised neural network known as selforganizing maps was used to discover various patterns reported in the literature. These maps were also used to screen the composition of the next set of alloys to be manufactured and tested in the next iterative cycle. Several of these Pareto-optimized predictions out-performed the initial batch of alloys. This approach helps significantly reducing the time and the number of alloys needed in the alloy development process