Fat graft myringoplasty: A clinical study and review of literature

Objectives: There are numerous surgical techniques that have been demonstrated and utilized to repair small perforations in the tympanic membrane (TM) with various graft materials such as veins, perichondrium, periosteum, and others. In our study, fat was taken as the graft material and the main aim of the study was to evaluate the success rate of graft uptake, assessment of hearing improvement, and complications of the operative procedure. Material and Methods: In this single-center study, 46 patients underwent fat myringoplasty, 52 ears were operated from October 2016 to September 2017 for a period of 1 year. A detailed history, general physical, and a through ear, nose, and throat examination were done. Audiometric assessment was done using pure tone audiometry. Patients between the age group of 15 and 50 years were included in the study. Results: A total of 46 patients were included in the study who met the inclusion criteria. Six patients had bilateral perforations and 40 patients had unilateral perforation, a total of 52 perforations were operated. Forty-three (82.69%) patients had successful graft uptake and graft failure was seen in 9 (17.30%) patients. Maximum gain in hearing was seen in in patients with hearing loss between 20 and 30 dB, that is, 24 patients (46.1%). Conclusion: Fat myringoplasty is a methodized, precise, inexpensive, mini-invasive, and cosmetic outpatient procedure for small perforations of TM. It can be done under local anesthesia and has a good success rate if the patient selection is done appropriately.

Adaptive Language Processing Unit for Malaysian Sign Language Synthesizer

Language Processing Unit (LPU) is a system built to process text-based data to comply with the rules of sign language grammar. This system was developed as an important part of the sign language synthesizer system. Sign language (SL) uses different grammatical rules from the spoken/verbal language, which only involves the important words that Hearing/Impaired Speech people can understand. Therefore, it needs word classification by LPU to determine grammatically processed sentences for the sign language synthesizer. However, the existing language processing unit in SL synthesizers suffers time lagging and complexity problems, resulting in high processing time. The two features, i.e., the computational time and success rate, become trade-offs which means the processing time becomes longer to achieve a higher success rate. This paper proposes an adaptive Language Processing Unit (LPU) that allows processing the words from spoken words to Malaysian SL grammatical rule that results in relatively fast processing time and a good success rate. It involves n-grams, NLP, and Hidden Markov Models (HMM)/Bayesian Networks as the classifier to process the text-based input. As a result, the proposed LPU system has successfully provided an efficient (fast) processing time and a good success rate compared to LPU with other edit distances (Mahalanobis, Levensthein, and Soundex). The system has been tested on 130 text-input sentences with several words ranging from 3 to 10 words. Results showed that the proposed LPU could achieve around 1.497ms processing time with an average success rate of 84.23% for a maximum of ten-word sentences.

Surgical Outcome of Dacrystorhinostomy in Fistulous Dacryocystitis

Purpose: To study the surgical outcomes of Dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) in fistulous dacryocystitis. Study Design: Quasi Experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: The detailed study was carried out in the Institute of Ophthalmology, Liaquat University Hospital Jamshoro, between September 2018 to August 2020. Material and Methods: We analyzed the histories of 30 patients taking the DCR procedure and noted their mean age, standard deviation, follow-up time, complications and other details. We also reported the intraoperative anatomical results, postoperative analysis, and variable groups vs. outcomes post-surgery using SPSS Version 20. Results: The mean patient's age was 44.2 ± 4.13years, where males to female percentages were 27% to 73%. We noted significant changes in patients with a success rate of 87% displayed by no relieved epiphora and lacrimal patency in 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months. The mean time of the patients was 4 months varying between 1 to 8 (months) and the variable group values vs. surgical outcomes showed no significant association between the variables (p-value ranging from 0.195 to 0.935). Conclusion: Complications resulting in some patient’s post-surgery are manageable and the surgical technique has a good success rate. Key Words: (DCR) Dacryocystorhinostomy, lacrimal Patency, fistulous Dacryocystitis, Scarring.

Cloud Implementation to Assist Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages in HEI’s in Sultanate of Oman

Cloud Computing has been implemented in diverse fields and sector, including education sector with a very good success rate. The cloud deployments enhance the learning experience and provisions appropriate IT resources critical for a specific learning environment. This research study exploits a service model to deliver appropriate learning resources to foundation students and teachers that otherwise is not available with the current cloud service architectures. Language should not be a barrier to learning, teaching subjects in English to those who are not native English speakers, most of the times is a challenging job especially in circumstances where the English Language is introduced late in the school academic curriculum. There are several challenges faced by students, and teachers. Several mechanisms have been suggested and adopted to deal with such situations so that student learning experience is not affected in a significant manner, and at the same time, teachers are also not facing problems while explaining concepts or topics to students. This research paper is a study on helping teachers and students in these situations by providing cloud-based knowledge base related to TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), repositories, and apps that may help and assist teacher and students.

Cloud Implementation to Assist Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages in HEI’s in Sultanate of Oman

Cloud Computing has been implemented in diverse fields and sector, including education sector with a very good success rate. The cloud deployments enhance the learning experience and provisions appropriate IT resources critical for a specific learning environment. This research study exploits a service model to deliver appropriate learning resources to foundation students and teachers that otherwise is not available with the current cloud service architectures. Language should not be a barrier to learning, teaching subjects in English to those who are not native English speakers, most of the times is a challenging job especially in circumstances where the English Language is introduced late in the school academic curriculum. There are several challenges faced by students, and teachers. Several mechanisms have been suggested and adopted to deal with such situations so that student learning experience is not affected in a significant manner, and at the same time, teachers are also not facing problems while explaining concepts or topics to students. This research paper is a study on helping teachers and students in these situations by providing cloud-based knowledge base related to TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), repositories, and apps that may help and assist teacher and students.

Acupoint Massage Therapy Alters the Composition of Gut Microbiome in Functional Constipation Patients

Objective and Background. Constipation is under high incidence globally. Current drug treatment on constipation, especially chronic functional constipation (CFC), lacks of efficiency and has an adverse reaction. Acupoint Massage Therapy (AMT) is traditionally applied to CFC with a good success rate and without unfavorable reaction in China. The underline mechanism of AMT remains unclear. Recent studies revealed that gut microbiome is involved in constipation development and treatment. Our aim is to evaluate the composition of gut microbiome of CFC patients after AMT. Patients and Methods. 104 CFC patients were enrolled in the study, including 49 males and 55 females. We investigated the gut microbiome of CFC patients after AMT through 16SrDNA sequencing. Results. Results showed the overall structure of gut microbiome has no significant difference between experimental and control groups. In the genus level, the abundance of Pseudobutyrivibrio and Ruminiclostridium is higher in the experiment group than in the control, whereas that of Fusicatenibacter is less. The 16S KEGG function prediction suggested that Parkinson disease, retinol metabolism, and arachidonic acid metabolism could explain the biological function of different gut microbiome. Furthermore, cytokines in the serum showed a correlation with the abundance of Pseudobutyrivibrio in CFC. Conclusion. AMT could change the composition of gut microbiome which is associated with cytokines in CFC patients.

Intrapleural Streptokinase in Parapneumonic / Complicated Pleural Effusion/Empyema: Experience in Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital

Background: Parapneumonic effusion/complicated pleural effusion/empyema thoracis in children causes significant morbidity. Standard treatment of pleural effusion includes tube drainage and antibiotics. But the tube drainage often fails. Intrapleural Streptokinase has been used in empyema thoracis as well as complicated pleural effusion with good success rate. Though its efficacy is documented in Western literatures and textbooks, there are no clinical trials in children has been reported from Bangladesh. Objectives: We evaluated the efficacy of intra-pleural Streptokinase in the management of Parapneumonic effusion / complicated pleural effusion/ empyema thoracis even in advanced stages. Patients and Methods: A total of 3 patients with parapneumonic effusion requiring intercostal tube drainage, aged 4 year 6 month to twelve years were included in the study who were admitted in Pediatric respiratory medicine unit in Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital. Intercostal chest tube drain was given in all patients and inj: Streptokinase (10,000 units/kg/dose) was instilled into the pleural cavity and kept the Streptokinase for 4 hour in pleural cavity. Response was assessed by clinical outcome, after unclamping and serial chest ultrasounds and subsequent chest radiography. Results: Streptokinase enhanced drainage of pleural fluid and complete resolution of effusion in all the 3 patients. Conclusions: Intrapleural Streptokinase is the preferred treatment for treating pediatric empyema/parapneumonic effusion/complicated pleural effusion even in advanced stages and can avoid surgery. Bangladesh J Child Health 2020; VOL 44 (2) :104-108

Direct Vision Internal Urethrotomy (DVIU) and Regular Clean Self Intermittent Catheterization (CSIC) For Short Bulbar Urethral Strictures: A Durable Solution

Background: To evaluate durability of DVIU results and recurrence of stricture if the CSIC was done regularly up to one year and weekly thereafter. Subjects and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Urology at tertiary care teaching hospital of Rajasthan, India. Files of all patients operated between January 2015 and July 2018 for single bulbar urethral strictures of less than 1-1.5cm size in length, iatrogenic, idiopathic, traumatic or inflammatory origins were evaluated. Patient with multiple or complicated strictures of post urethroplasty, post hypospadias repair, previous radiation or multiple DVIU were excluded from the study. Data of all patients who were on CSIC following direct vision internal urethrotomy were evaluated at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months. Results: Mean age of patients was 41.13 years with range in between 26-74 years. Most common cause of urethral strictures were idiopathic 66 (58.92%) followed by iatrogenic 27 (24.11%) causes. After 24 months of follow up 95 (84.82%) patients maintained urethral caliber up to 16 Fr. Failure or recurrence was found in 17 (15.18%) patients who required intervention. Conclusion: Direct vision internal urethrotomy (DVIU) with regular clean intermittent self-catheterization (CSIC) was found good success rate in bulbar urethral strictures upto 1 cm in selected patients.

Mobile digital x-ray and portable cartridge based nucleic acid amplification test machines for point-of-care diagnosis of TB in rural India

Background There is no experience of point-of-care (POC) microbiological confirmation for TB in India in field settings. Methods Under the TB-Free Haryana project, a mobile van-mounted digital x-ray and portable GeneXpert system screened all presumptive TB patients with strong clinic-radiological suspicion for TB. Results Of 1673 x-rays, 215 (13%) had findings suggestive of TB, 109 had strong clinical suspicion and were eligible for POC GeneXpert, in whom a test was performed in 82 (75%) cases; 59 (72%) tested positive and were initiated on treatment within 24 h. Conclusions A mobile van equipped with digital x-ray and POC GeneXpert is feasible and has a good success rate with potential for replication.

Electrical Probing Role in 14nm SOI Microprocessor Failure Analysis

Failure analysis plays a very important role in semiconductor industry. Photon Emission Microscopy (PEM) has been extensively used in localization of fails in microelectronic devices. However, PEM emission site is not necessarily at the location of the defect. Thus, it has limitation for the success rate of the follow-up physical failure analysis focusing on the emission site. As semiconductor technology advanced in the 3D FinFET realm and feature size further shrank down, the invisible defects during SEM inspection are tremendously increased. It leads to the success rate further decreasing. To maintain good success rate of failure analysis for advanced 3D FinFET technology, electrical probing is necessary to be incorporated into the failure analysis flow. In this paper, first, the statistic results of PEM emission sites versus real defect locations from 102 modules of microprocessors manufactured by 14nm 3D FinFET technology was present. Then, we will present how to wisely design electrical probing plan after PEM analysis. The electrical probing plans are tailored to different scan chain and ATPG failures of microprocessors for improving failure analysis success rate without increasing too much turn-around time. Finally, two case studies have been described to demonstrate how the electrical probing results guide the follow-up physical failure analysis to find the defect.