Study of sociodemographic profile, maternal, fetal outcome in preeclamptic and eclamptic women: a prospective study

Background: Preeclampsia is pregnancy specific disease, lead to maternal, perinatal morbidity and mortality. This study is conducted to identify the socio demographic profile of subjects suffering from preeclampsia and its effect on maternal and fetal health.Methods: This prospective study was conducted at department of obstetrics and gynecology, Kamla Nehru State Hospital, Shimla, in this, 100 preeclamptic women were included. Preeclampsia was diagnosed with blood pressure of ≥140/90 mmHg noted for the first-time during pregnancy, after 20 wks of gestation and proteinuria. Demographic details were collected. Investigations i.e. hemogram, liver and renal function tests, coagulation profile and fundoscopy were done. Maternal and perinatal outcomes were recorded.Results: In this study, majority of the subjects were primigravida 65. In this, 11 subjects had systolic blood pressure of 140-159 mmHg and 89 subjects had systolic blood pressure of > 160 mmHg. 25 subjects had diastolic blood pressure of 90-109 mmHg and 75 subjects had diastolic blood pressure of > 110 mmHg. In this, 82 subjects had warning symptoms, mainly headache 49. 14 subjects showed hypertensive changes in fundus. Unfavorable Bishop Score, observed in 86 subjects and 78 subjects were induced after controlling blood pressure. Majority of subjects had vaginal delivery 73. Majority of the subjects had deranged liver function 61. Maternal morbidity was reported in 54 subjects. Intrauterine death reported in 14 subjects. Birth weight was < 2.5 kg was observed in 70 babies. Out of 74 live births, 53 neonates required admission in NICU and 16 neonates died in NICU.Conclusions: It may be concluded that, maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality can be reduced by early identification of risk factors and timely intervention is the hall mark in preventing the maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality

Study of knowledge, attitude and practice of self medication among health care workers at MC Gann Teaching District hospital of Shivamogga, India

Background: Healthcare workers gain adequate knowledge related to medications used in treating illness from their work experiences which influences self medication practices.Methods: The present study was conducted in N=150 healthcare workers, divided into 2 groups with group I (nursing staff) and group II (paramedical staff) with 75 participants in each group. Data related to self medication was obtained from a pretested validated semi structured questionnaire either in Kannada or English. The responses were compared between each group with chi square test. P value ≤0.05 was considered significant. All statistical analysis was conducted with SPSS 16.Results: The mean age (mean±SD) of the participants in group I and group II is 31.79±8.309 and 34.15 (±8.168) respectively with p =0.081. The prevalence of self medication was 100% in both the groups. Both the groups knowledge related to the definition of self medication was similar (group I 63 (84.0%) and group II 62 (82.7%) p = 0.900). Group I believes that self medication is entirely safe compared to group II which was statistically significant (group I 66 (88.7%) and group II 46 (61.3%) p=0.029). Most common drugs used for self medication was NSAIDS (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) in both the groups being 75 (100%). Antibiotics was used by 26 (2.66%) in group I and 14 (18.66%) in group II.Conclusions: Self medication practice is highly prevalent in the healthcare workers, who also influence the other populations to practice self medication. Practicing responsible self medication is more appreciable

Development to a Flexible Surface acoustic Wave Sensor for Strain Sensing

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors have increasing demand in structural health monitoring due to its passive, variable bandwidth, reliable life-cycle, high accuracy, small size, and light nature. SAW sensors can not only provide the static states of the structural system, such as temperature and pressure but also enable continuous real-time monitoring of dynamic states including strains. SAW sensors are generally fabricated with a rigid piezoceramic substrate, incapable of adapting to highly curved surfaces or flexible objects. The ongoing demands of sensor adaptability with flexible substrates, which is also capable of wireless monitoring, is the basis of the research that can be applied to medical and aerospace fields. The SAW fabrication involves developing a composite substrate using hot-pressing and depositing the interdigital transducers using additive manufacturing. The substrate of the SAW sensor is fabricated by integrating lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic nanoparticles as a reinforcement into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer matrix in the 0-3 direction. This enables the substrate to attain enhanced piezoelectric properties along with improved mechanical strength. PVDF is dissolved in a strong polar solvent such as N, N- dimethyl sulfoxide to which 50 wt. % of PZT powder is added to impart optimum dielectric property maintaining flexibility. Stretching by hot-pressing this mixture above the melting point of PVDF enables the transformation of non-polar α to a polar β crystalline phase of PVDF. The amount of β crystalline phase of the substrate produced out of stretching the PVDF is observed under FTIR scanning. Research has also been conducted by using a PVDF-TrFE, a copolymer of PVDF and brief comparison study on the flexibility of the composite developed using PZT/PVDF and PZT/PVDF-TrFE is performed. Polarization is conducted by sputtering gold on both sides of the thin substrate and subjecting it to a high electric field in a silicone oil bath to prevent arcing. The dielectric properties of the sample are measured by which frequency and attenuation are calculated mathematically. Delay-line IDTs are attached to it using conventional photolithography technique. With the sensor being developed, radio frequency signal is passed through an interrogator to the antenna connected to the input transducer which transfers the signal in the form of Rayleigh waves. The frequency response of the SAW device changes in amplitude and phase when subjected to temperature, pressure, or strain changes. FEM model of the SAW sensor is conducted, and the resulting deformation simulation is performed. This thesis discusses the development process of a flexible piezocomposite SAW sensor

Ultraviolet Line-Continuum Properties of Seyfert 1 Galaxies and Quasars

Active galaxies are most luminous objects in the universe whose spectra are characterized by both permitted and forbidden emission line features. The spectra of Seyfert 1 galaxies and quasars contain strong and broad emission lines of wide ranging ionization potentials. The velocity widths of the lines range from a minimum of ˜ 500 km/s for narrow lines to a maximum of 20,000 km/sec for broad lines. The UV spectra of the active galaxies contain strong and broad emission lines such as Lyα, NV, SiIV, OIV], CIV, CIII] and MgII lines. The widths of the broad lines are attributed to the differential doppler shifts of the emission lines due to the bulk motions of individual clumpy gas clouds in the BLR region. We have anlysed UV spectra of Seyfert 1 galaxies and quasars from IUE satellite archival database to understand the nature of dependence of the emission line properties with the underlying UV continuum. We have undertaken line luminosity correlation studies for Lyα and CIV lines with their underlying UV continuum luminosity at 1125Å, 1425Å & 1625Å. The IUE archival spectra have been reduced for galactic reddening using the E(B-V) and NHI values published continuum luminosity has been observed at 1125Å, 1425Å & 1625Å. The Lyα line line has exhibited strongest linear correlation wavelengths while CIV line has shown at 1425Å and 2625Å wavelengths. These results are empirically consistent with the predictions of the general multi-component photo-ionization models suggesting that the central strong UV continuum has been reprocessed by the clumpy gas clouds of the broad emission region (BLR). A detailed account of the data reduction, UV flux measurement and the significance of line-luminosity correlations are discussed in this paper

Luminosity-Distances of Iue Observed Active Galaxies

Active galaxies are the most luminous objects observed in the Universe and are believed to be powered by mass accretion processes taking place in the vicinity of the central Super massive black hole (M BH ≥ 108M sun ). However, the details of the power generation mechanisms are not understood well yet. In this paper, we are presenting a comparative study of luminosity-distance estimations for the complete sample of active galaxies observed by IUE satellite by different methods. IUE has made UV spectroscopic observations of nearly 400 active galaxies comprising mostly Seyfert 1 galaxies and quasars. We have chosen all the active galaxies observed by IUE satellite for the study of luminosity-distance with redshift. The luminosity-distances (D L ) have been calculated using the Hubbles law under non-relativistic and relativistic limits with H0 = 73 Km/sec/Mpc and Terrell (1979) also. We have found that all D L estimations are consistent with each other for z ≤ 1 and diverge for z ≥ 1. The results of cosmological calulator I and II are found to consistent with each other and higher by several factors over cosmological calculator IV and the predictions of the Hubble's law under relativistic case. We observe a kind bimodal distributions in D L for z ≤ 3.5

Retrospective study on cost distribution of antiretroviral therapy in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is an RNA virus. The first case of AIDS in human beings was reported in 1981, and now spread of HIV infection is alarmingly high with around 20 million deaths. The objective of the study was to determine the cost distribution of antiretroviral therapy among autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patient attending the anti-retroviral therapy (ART) center of the tertiary care center.Methods: The objective of the study was to determine the cost distribution of antiretroviral therapy among AIDS patient attending the ART center of the tertiary care center. The study was retrospective, 20 patients included in different age groups and categories the cost incurred toward patients were divided under different heads: medication, laboratory diagnosis, transport, and miscellaneous costs.Results: It was found that major part of the cost is spent on drugs. The cost of transport and lab diagnosis varied based on age and stage of the disease. Miscellaneous costs were also high and were proportional to other costs.Conclusion: HIV infected population is more likely to have a lower socioeconomic status which has varied effect on the effectiveness of highly active ART. Some of the problems faced by them are access to health care, transport, economic instability, etc. all these factors have an impact on outcome of treatment. Overall it can be found that preventive measure than treating has better impact on quality of life

Drug utilization study on antidiabetic medications at SIMS-Shimoga a tertiary care hospital

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) refers to a group of common metabolic disorders that share the phenotype of hyperglycemia. DM is a leading cause of blindness, end stage renal disease, and nontraumatic lower extremity amputations. The objective of the study was to evaluate the drug utilization pattern of antidiabetic medications at a tertiary care hospital.Methods: Demographic details of the patient were noted. Evaluation of the written prescription was carried out according to the requirements in case record form followed by computerization of data and analysis.Results: DM was almost equal in male (51%) and females (49%), the risk of DM was high after 40 years of age. Out of all the case records and prescriptions reviewed it was found that 23% had Type 1 DM, and 77% had Type 2 DM. In 46.35% cases, there was a family history of DM while in 47.44% cases it was absent, 6% were unaware. The average number of drugs per prescription was 3.26±0.24 and antidiabetic drugs at 1.72±0.28. Insulin alone was prescribed in 25.54% cases. Single antidiabetic agents as lone drugs were seen in 39.05%; combined oral antidiabetic drugs accounted for 25.54% cases. The combination of insulin and oral antidiabetic agents were prescribed in 9.85% cases.Conclusion: Metformin was the oral hypoglycemic agents, which was the most frequent prescribed as was insulin and its analogs. These drugs being essential in the treatment of diabetic patients should be made available to patients all the time

Analysis of usage of diuretics in medical intensive care unit of SIMS-Shimoga a tertiary care hospital

Background: Patients are admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) with a history of various acute and chronic clinical conditions associated with organ failures. Compared to the patients admitted in the general wards the mortality and morbidity are high in ICU patients. The patients in ICU are subjected to multiple drugs; diuretic agents are liberally and deliberately used in this setup despite the lack of evidence supporting their benefits.Methods: The main aim of the study was to know the extent of use of diuretics in the ICU set up, to categorize the use of diuretics in different clinical conditions and different classes of diuretics used. The study also tried to determine adverse events and outcome in critically ill patients. The study was a retrospective cross-sectional of 3 months duration conducted in all patients admitted in the medical ICU of the tertiary care center. The study mainly concentrated on the usage of diuretics and related aspects.Results: Loop diuretics (54.81%) composed the major class, thiazides (30.84%). Potassium sparing diuretics (7%) and osmotic diuretics (7%) and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (1%) were the other class of diuretics. The classes of drugs used in ICU along with diuretics were antibiotics (30%), analgesics (9.5%), anti-inflammatory (6.36%), and drugs acting on blood (10.18%) of total drugs used in ICU. Antacids/laxatives (7.3%) and antiemetic (4.8%), the rest of drugs (15%) of drugs used in ICU.Conclusion: In almost 95% of cases, the combination of other drugs along with diuretics was considered to be rational

VHDL IMPLEMENTATION OF GENETIC ALGORITHM FOR 2-BIT ADDER

Future planetary and deep space exploration demands that the space vehicles should have robust system architectures and be reconfigurable in unpredictable environment. The Evolutionary design of electronic circuits, or Evolvable hardware (EHW), is a discipline that allows the user to automatically obtain the desired circuit design. The circuit configuration is under control of Evolutionary algorithms. The most commonly used evolutionary algorithm is Genetic Algorithm. The paper discusses on Cartesian Genetic Programming for evolving gate level designs and proposes Evolvable unit for 2-bit adder based on Genetic Algorithm

Study on organophosphate poisoning analysis and pharmacotherapeutic outcome in tertiary care hospital

Background: Organophosphate (OP) poisoning is the most common cause of poisoning and suicides in rural India as it is easily available and more often used in agriculture as a pesticide. In the present days, death due to OP is mainly due to draught, scarcity of rains and debt.Methods: The main objective of the study was to know the sociodemographic patterns, mode of presentation and outcome of treatment in the OP poisoning case that were admitted and treated in the tertiary care hospital attached to SIMS Shimoga. The study was a retrospective which included 120 patients at the point.Results: It was found that OP poisoning was commoner in males than in females. The male: female ratio was 1.5:1. OP associated deaths were the more common in agriculture based socioeconomic group than others mainly due to easy accessibility. Muscarinic manifestations were the common presentation in most of the patients. It was found that in the majority of the cases atropine and pralidoxime were the commonly used antidotes and recover rate was 93%.Conclusion: Consumption of large doses of OP and delayed treatment due to late admission were associated with increased mortality. Awareness programs regarding safe use and strict policies governing the availability of OP will help in saving many lives due to OP poisoning