Soft ideals of soft ternary semigroups.

In this paper, we introduce the notions of certain classes of soft ideals in soft ternary semigroups and study some inter-relations between different types of soft ideals in a soft ternary semigroup. We also characterize completely regular soft ternary semigroups with the help of these soft ideals of soft ternary semigroups.

Modeling the effect of area deprivation on COVID-19 incidences: a study of Chennai megacity, India.

OBJECTIVES: Socio-economic inequalities may affect coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) incidence. The goal of the research was to explore the association between deprivation of socio-economic status (SES) and spatial patterns of COVID-19 incidence in Chennai megacity for unfolding the disease epidemiology. STUDY DESIGN: This is an ecological (or contextual) study for electoral wards (subcities) of Chennai megacity. METHODS: Using data of confirmed COVID-19 cases from May 15, 2020, to May 21, 2020, for 155 electoral wards obtained from the official website of the Chennai Municipal Corporation, we examined the incidence of COVID-19 using two count regression models, namely, Poisson regression (PR) and negative binomial regression (NBR). As explanatory factors, we considered area deprivation that represented the deprivation of SES. An index of multiple deprivations (IMD) was developed to measure the area deprivation using an advanced local statistic, geographically weighted principal component analysis. Based on the availability of appropriately scaled data, five domains (i.e., poor housing condition, low asset possession, poor availability of WaSH services, lack of household amenities and services, and gender disparity) were selected as components of the IMD in this study. RESULTS: The hot spot analysis revealed that area deprivation was significantly associated with higher incidences of COVID-19 in Chennai megacity. The high variations (adjusted R2: 72.2%) with the lower Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) (124.34) and Akaike's Information Criteria (AIC) (112.12) for NBR compared with PR suggests that the NBR model better explains the relationship between area deprivation and COVID-19 incidences in Chennai megacity. NBR with two-sided tests and P <0.05 were considered statistically significant. The outcome of the PR and NBR models suggests that when all other variables were constant, according to NBR, the relative risk (RR) of COVID-19 incidences was 2.19 for the wards with high housing deprivation or, in other words, the wards with high housing deprivation having 119% higher probability (RR = e0.786 = 2.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.98 to 2.40), compared with areas with low deprivation. Similarly, in the wards with poor availability of WaSH services, chances of having COVID-19 incidence was 90% higher than in the wards with good WaSH services (RR = e0.642 = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.79 to 2.00). Spatial risks of COVID-19 were predominantly concentrated in the wards with higher levels of area deprivation, which were mostly located in the northeastern parts of Chennai megacity. CONCLUSIONS: We formulated an area-based IMD, which was substantially related to COVID-19 incidences in Chennai megacity. This study highlights that the risks of COVID-19 tend to be higher in areas with low SES and that the northeastern part of Chennai megacity is predominantly high-risk areas. Our results can guide measures of COVID-19 control and prevention by considering spatial risks and area deprivation.

Experiment to Detect Dark Energy Forces Using Atom Interferometry.

The accelerated expansion of the universe motivates a wide class of scalar field theories that modify general relativity (GR) on large scales. Such theories require a screening mechanism to suppress the new force in regions where the weak field limit of GR has been experimentally tested. We have used atom interferometry to measure the acceleration of an atom toward a macroscopic test mass inside a high vacuum chamber, where new forces can be unscreened. Our measurement shows no evidence of new forces, a result that places stringent bounds on chameleon and symmetron theories of modified gravity.

Continuous Cold-Atom Inertial Sensor with 1 nrad/sec Rotation Stability.

We report the operation of a cold-atom inertial sensor which continuously captures the rotation signal. Using a joint interrogation scheme, where we simultaneously prepare a cold-atom source and operate an atom interferometer (AI), enables us to eliminate the dead times. We show that such continuous operation improves the short-term sensitivity of AIs, and demonstrate a rotation sensitivity of 100 nrad/sec/sqrt[Hz] in a cold-atom gyroscope of 11 cm^{2} Sagnac area. We also demonstrate a rotation stability of 1 nrad/sec at 10^{4} sec of integration time, which represents the state of the art for atomic gyroscopes. The continuous operation of cold-atom inertial sensors will lead to large area AIs at their full sensitivity potential, determined by the quantum noise limit.

DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 9.

Chromosome 9 is highly structurally polymorphic. It contains the largest autosomal block of heterochromatin, which is heteromorphic in 6-8% of humans, whereas pericentric inversions occur in more than 1% of the population. The finished euchromatic sequence of chromosome 9 comprises 109,044,351 base pairs and represents >99.6% of the region. Analysis of the sequence reveals many intra- and interchromosomal duplications, including segmental duplications adjacent to both the centromere and the large heterochromatic block. We have annotated 1,149 genes, including genes implicated in male-to-female sex reversal, cancer and neurodegenerative disease, and 426 pseudogenes. The chromosome contains the largest interferon gene cluster in the human genome. There is also a region of exceptionally high gene and G + C content including genes paralogous to those in the major histocompatibility complex. We have also detected recently duplicated genes that exhibit different rates of sequence divergence, presumably reflecting natural selection.

The DNA sequence and comparative analysis of human chromosome 10.

The finished sequence of human chromosome 10 comprises a total of 131,666,441 base pairs. It represents 99.4% of the euchromatic DNA and includes one megabase of heterochromatic sequence within the pericentromeric region of the short and long arm of the chromosome. Sequence annotation revealed 1,357 genes, of which 816 are protein coding, and 430 are pseudogenes. We observed widespread occurrence of overlapping coding genes (either strand) and identified 67 antisense transcripts. Our analysis suggests that both inter- and intrachromosomal segmental duplications have impacted on the gene count on chromosome 10. Multispecies comparative analysis indicated that we can readily annotate the protein-coding genes with current resources. We estimate that over 95% of all coding exons were identified in this study. Assessment of single base changes between the human chromosome 10 and chimpanzee sequence revealed nonsense mutations in only 21 coding genes with respect to the human sequence.

Long-term performance of single-pass physiological pacing.

BACKGROUND: Single-pass physiological pacing has several advantages over dual-lead physiological pacing. The present study evaluated the long-term performance of single-pass pacing using the overlapping biphasic impulse stimulation technique. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 30 patients with single-pass VDD pacing and 8 patients with single-pass DDDC pacing were followed up for 1 year by basal and magnet electrocardiograms and real-time telemetry. All the patients showed satisfactory atrial sensing and pacing capture threshold. The atrial sensing thresholds at implant and at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months of follow-up were 2.5+/-0.67 mV, 1.6+/-0.6 mV, 1.1+/-0.5 mV, 1.0+/-0.5 mV and 1.0+/-0.04 mV, respectively. The corresponding values for atrial pacing threshold at a pulse wave of 0.5 ms were 2.5+/-1.0 V, 4.4+/-0.9 V, 3.8+/-1.2 V, 3.6+/-1.4 V and 3.8+/-1.4 V. Of the patients with DDDC pacing, 88% showed stable pacing capture in the supine position, 75% in the upright position and 62% in both positions. Diaphragmatic contraction was seen in 25% of cases with DDDC pacing. No such event was seen in patients with VDD pacing. CONCLUSIONS: Single-pass pacing is safe, technically easy and cheap as compared to dual-lead systems. However, it would be prudent to recommend DDDC pacing in patients who require predominantly VDD pacing and only occasionally atrial pacing, as the latter showed a low percentage of stable atrial pacing capture in both upright and supine positions as well as a significant percentage of diaphragmatic contraction.

Venous obstruction after permanent pacing.

In a 10-year prospective study of 6,256 patients (5,812 males, 444 females) with permanent pacemaker, 25 had presented with features of venous obstruction such as pain, swelling or dilated superficial veins of face, upper limb(s) or upper chest wall without congestive heart failure. When subjected to contrast venography, 22 (0.35%) of the cases demonstrated subclavian and/or superior vena cava thrombotic/fibrotic obstruction. Each patient had non-progressive dilated veins over upper chest wall which developed after an average period of six months of implantation and none had embolic events or cephalad propagation of thrombus. Nine patients had subclavian, eight superior vena cava and five had both the vein obstructions. Seven patients of venous obstruction were treated with heparin followed by oral anticoagulants and three patients with oral anticoagulants alone. Three of seven patients got relief of obstruction with combined therapy group (heparin followed by oral anticoagulants) only. Two patients with superior vena cava obstruction needed epicardial pacing during subsequent lead revision. Therefore, before revision of permanent pacemaker leads in patients with signs of venous obstruction, venography can be useful to assess the obstruction and to determine the route of new lead insertion.

Unilateral inter-nuclear ophthalmoplegia in systemic lupus erythematosus.

We report a case of a 14 year old girl with SLE who developed neurological involvement in the form of posterior internuclear ophthalmoplegia (pINO). An MRI showed lesion involving pons which corroborated with the pINO.

Comorbidity in children with mental retardation.

This study was conducted in the child psychiatry unit of a tertiary psychiatric hospital. 60 patients diagnosed to have mental retardation according to ICD-10 (WHO, 1992) criteria constituted the study sample. A psychiatric disorder was present in 56.17% of the cases, and a medical disease was present in 35.0%. Only 13.3% cases had both a psychiatric as well as medical illness. Patients with a psychiatric illness were found to have a lesser degree of retardation. The commonest psychiatric disorder observed was behavioural and emotional disorders, while the commonest medical illness found was epilepsy. Patients with a medical illness were found to have a negative family history for a mental illness, and were much younger at the first consultation compared to the patients with a psychiatric illness. The above findings have been discussed, with emphasis on issues like dual diagnosis and diagnostic overshadowing.