A retrospective review of low-birth-weight cases in a tertiary care hospital in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) is a serious public health problem and a leading cause of death in the first month of life. The present study aimed to study the trends of low birth weight in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, India.Methods: Retrospective review of records of Kamla Nehru Hospital, Shimla covering the period January 2016 to December 2020 was done. The total number of low-birth-weight babies each year were retrieved.Results: A total of 34769 live births took place in Kamla Nehru Hospital, Shimla from 2016 to 2020. Among the total live births, 8479 (24.39%) were having low birth weight (<2500 gm) while 26290 (75.61%) were having normal birth weight (>2500 gm). Out of total 8479 LBW Babies, 7148 (84.3%) were LBW (<2500 gm),1167 (13.76%) were very low birth weight (1000-1500 gm) and 164 (1.93%) were of extremely low birth weight There was continuous decrease in low birth weight from 35.14% in 2016 to 17.51% in 2019. After that it start increasing slightly to 18.9% in 2020.Conclusions: Over the span of five years, there was continuous decrease in incidence of LBW. Nutritional education during pregnancy and proper Antenatal care (ANC) services needs to be addressed to reduce prevalence of LBW in Himachal Pradesh

The Influence of VAT Variation on the Damages Resulting from Fraud in the Romanian Economy

The purpose of this article is to determine the influence of the VAT rates variation, on different fields of activity of national economy, on the damage caused to the state's consolidated budget, from the point of view of the damage caused and damage recovered the damage that is caused by economical-financial offenses. Between 2011 and 2019, the VAT rate registered a continuous decrease from 24% to 19%, which significantly reduces the amount of damage caused and recovered.Our study intends to point out the fact that in Romania, the various VAT rate had a major income on the damage caused as well as the damage recovered, thus leading to a decrease in several fields of activity. On the opposite side, there were fields of activity where a major increase of damage was registered, considering that the VAT rate decreased all along the period of time analyzed, such is the case of recycled materials. In some cases, the VAT decrease determined significant diminution of the damage caused and not of the damage recovered and in other cases, it had an effect only on the damage recovered or had no effect at all.

Safe choice of structural steels in a region of ultra-high number of load cycles

In this paper the authors introduce their own selected experimental results in the field of the investigation of fatigue resistance of structural steels. The experiments were carried out on the nine structural steels including high strength steels, DOMEX 700MC, HARDOX 400, HARDOX 450, 100Cr6 (UTS from 446 MPa to 2462 MPa) at high-frequency cyclic loading (f = 20 kHz, T = 20 ± 5 °C, R = -1) in the region of number cycles ranged from N ≈ 2×106 to N ≈ 2×109 cycles of loading. The continuous decrease of fatigue strength in dependence on the number of loading cycles was observed with the average value of ratio σa2×109/σa2×106 = 0.69.

Distinguishing mummified thyroid nodules from malignant thyroid nodules

Aim: To study the ultrasonographic (US) differences between “mummified” thyroid nodules and malignant thyroid nodules in order to achieve a more accurate imaging-based diagnosis and to avoid unnecessary biopsy.Material and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the US features of mummified thyroid nodules, as confirmed by fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), in 193 cases. The US features included content, echo, shape, margin, microcalcification, suspicious lymph nodes and some characteristic features, including the cystic wall shrinkage sign, the concentric configuration or finger sign, calcification and halo. All of these features were classified and compared with those of 109 malignant lesions. The changes of these mummified nodules during the follow-up period were also examined.Results: The cystic wall shrinkage sign and the concentric configuration or finger sign were highly specific indicators of mummified thyroid nodules and could be used to distinguish mummified nodules from thyroid cancer with a specificity of 91.7% and 99.9%, respectively. A continuous decrease in the cyst size was observed during follow-up.Conclusions: Mummified thyroid nodules are characterized by the cystic wall shrinkage sign and the concentric configuration or finger sign on US and a continuous decrease in size during follow-up. These features may be useful for the differential imaging-based diagnosis of mummified versus malignant thyroid nodules.

The betting market over time: overround and surebets in European football

Sports betting is an important industry that generates billions of euros of revenue in Europe, and attracts the attention of sports economists. The recent entry of new companies could influence the market regarding the prices (overround), and hence, cross-bookmaker arbitrage opportunities. This paper investigates the movements of major betting companies in European football during the period from 2000-2001 to 2016-2017 with respect to these two issues. The results show a continuous decrease in the prices of the odds, which is especially noticeable in the top five leagues. In this line, the number of surebets have increased among major bookmakers in recent years, which offers bettors more possibilities to make a profit.

DECREASE IN LABOR INPUT OF PRODUCTION DUE TO RATIONAL USE OF A MANPOWER

The indicator of labor input is considered. Connection of labor input and labor productivity is given. Major factors of decrease in labor input are formulated. Necessity of continuous decrease in labor input is proved. Options of organizational – technical actions to reduce labor input on an example the steel-wire shops of OJSC «BSW» – Management Company of Holding «BMC» are offered.

Development and performance of EUV pellicles

In a lithography process, an image on a mask (reticle) is projected onto a wafer. Continuous decrease in feature sizes also led to a reduction in the wavelength used for exposing. The next step is the move from 193-nm light to extreme ultra-violet (EUV) at 13.5 nm. This poses a lot of challenges that have been overcome in the past years. One of these challenges is the protection of the reticle from front side defects. This protection can be achieved by the use of an EUV pellicle. This is a thin membrane that protects particles from landing on the reticle surface, as will be explained in more detail later. With multiple semiconductor manufacturers preparing for volume EUV manufacturing, the need for a volume production-ready pellicle solution is here today. This article gives an overview of the performance of the current EUV pellicle solution and the status of the development of future EUV pellicles.