Efficacy of continuous wear PureVision contact lenses for therapeutic use.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the Bausch and Lomb PureVision contact lens as continuous wear contact lens for therapeutic and medical indications in a prospective open-ended non-randomized trial. METHODS: Patients who required therapeutic contact lens wear for various indications such as pain relief, corneal protection, persistent epithelial defects, corneal perforation and chemical burns were fitted with PureVision continuous wear contact lenses (balafilcon A, 36% water content). Success or failure of specific treatment indication was assessed in each case with evaluation of ocular and lens related complications. RESULTS: 30 eyes of 28 patients were fitted with PureVision continuous wear contact lenses. A successful fit was seen in 27 of 30 eyes with therapeutic success in 26 of 30 eyes. However, all patients reported symptomatic relief. Duration of lens use ranged from 3 days to 3 months. Dry eye was the most frequent cause of contact lens associated therapeutic failure. Complications included lens loss (two eyes), tight lens (one eye) and infective keratitis (two eyes). CONCLUSIONS: PureVision contact lenses were found to be safe and efficacious for continuous wear therapeutic use to a maximum of 90 days. The contact lens was also easier to handle by virtue of its resilient nature. There were no significant corneal complications of hypoxia, i.e. corneal oedema. Lens losses and deposits were minimal. The lens performance and fitting characteristics compares favorably with previous therapeutic lenses used by the investigators. This new lens may be considered as a safe and effective alternative for use as bandage contact lens.     

Puerperal infections

This case report focuses on the communication difficulties of a 21-year-old medical student with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. The greatest difficulties reported by the patient were for stethoscope use and slide presentations in darkened rooms. Successful audiologic management was accomplished for this patient via use of a behind-the-ear (BTE) FM system for classroom use and a "homemade" amplified stethoscope that enabled him to hear diagnostic heart sounds for clinical use. The amplified stethoscope provided greater low-frequency gain for this patient than was available through other commercial units.     

Performance Evaluation of Symmetric 8 × 10 Gbps TWDM-PON Incorporating Polarization Division Multiplexed Modulation Techniques Under Fiber-Impairments

Today’s access networks are in high demand to fulfill the high bandwidth requirement because of extensive improvement in high transmission rate applications for cloud computing, big data analytics, and other next-generation 5G smart applications. This exponential growth of high capacity and broadband access technologies comprise an essential trend in the development of a passive optical network (PON) access network. In this paper, 80/80 Gbps time wavelength division multiplexing PON (TWDM-PON) incorporating polarization division multiplexing (PDM) based Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) and electroabsorption modulator (EAM) techniques have been proposed. The performance of the system consisting of different polarized multiplexed modulation techniques is investigated in both downstream and upstream data transmission for variable transmission distance and received optical power in terms of bit error rate (BER), eye diagrams, power budget (PB) and receiver sensitivity. The results show that the 4?×?20/20 Gbps PDM-EAM modulated signals over 100 km fiber distance at ??60 dBm RS and 70 dB PB are successfully transmitted under fiber non-linearities. The proposed TWDM-PON system provides a next-generation long-reach access network from urban to rural areas.

     

Design of a novel CMOS/MTJ-based multibit SRAM cell with low store energy for IoT applications

ABSTRACT

With rapid growth of Internet of Things, more and more devices are getting connected, which results in generation of large amount of data. To convert this collected raw data into useful information, it needs to be processed. However, during processing a significant amount of energy is spent in bringing data from off-chip non-volatile memory to on-chip memory. In addition, these devices are generally operated in ‘Normally OFF’ mode, which requires energy intensive boot process for waking up. Addressing these issues, Magnetic Tunnel Junction offers features like non-volatility and high integration density, which allows storage of data and instruction closer to the core. Therefore, this work proposes a hybrid multibit SRAM cell, which integrates MTJ with conventional 6T SRAM cell. The proposed SRAM cell supports multiple bit storage within a single cell. However, one of the critical issues with the MTJ is high-energy consumption while storing data. Hence, we also propose a store assist circuit for multibit SRAM cell, which asynchronously terminates the store operation after its completion to reduce the power consumption. Our simulation results show that the store assist circuit results in reduction of store energy by 35% and 72% when compared with existing multibit non-volatile SRAM.     

Analysis of space- and ground-based parameters prior to an earthquake on 12 December 2009

The present study includes observations of anomalies at ionospheric and ground levels using data from global positioning system (GPS)-based total electron content (TEC), ionospheric electron density by Detection of Electromagnetic Emissions Transmitted from Earthquake Regions (DEMETER), and ground-based ultra-low-frequency (ULF) emission prior to an earthquake that occurred on 12 December 2009. The analysis of the data from these three different techniques show relations with preseismic activities. The GPS-based TEC showed enhancement three days prior to the day of the earthquake. On converting the satellite azimuth into latitude and longitude, a large number of passes giving anomalous TEC values were observed covering a zone 17–23° N and 70–74° E (i.e. around the epicentre). Electron density and temperature as measured by DEMETER also show enhancement of the tracks around the epicentre one day prior to the earthquake. For ground-based ULF emission, we used different analysis techniques for the detection of abnormal changes in ULF emission before the earthquake. We observed changes in different parameters such as polarization ratio and fractal dimension. Clear enhancement is observed for polarization parameters (Z/X, Z/Y) and fractal analysis (for the Z component). The results provide useful information in acquiring data prior to earthquakes.     

Mastodynon(R) bei weiblicher Sterilit?t

Mastodynon(R) for Female Infertility. Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Clinical Double-Blind Study OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: The effects of Mastodynon(R), an Agnus castus-containing preparation, were investigated in 96 women with fertility disorders in a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 38 women with secondary amenorrhoea, 31 women with luteal insuffciency and 27 women with idiopathic infertility received 30 drops of Mastodynon or placebo twice a day over a period of 3 months. OUTCOME MEASURE AND RESULTS: The outcome measure, which was pregnancy or spontaneous menstruation in women with amenorrhoea and pregnancy or improved concentrations of luteal hormones in both other groups, was achieved in 31 out of 66 women who were suitable for evaluation. It was achieved more often in the Mastodynon group compared to the placebo group (57.6% versus 36.0%, p = 0.069). 15 women conceived during the observation period (n = 7 with amenorrhoea, n = 4 with idiopathic infertility, n = 4 with luteal insufficiency). In women with amenorrhoea or luteal insufficiency, pregnancy occurred in the Mastodynon group more than twice as often as in the placebo group. Under therapy no hormonal changes were found at a 5% significance level. Only very few undesirable drug effects were observed. CONCLUSION: In women with sterility due to secondary amenorrhoea and luteal insufficiency, a treatment with Mastodynon can be recommended over a period of 3 to 6 months.