Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in rural population of Mullana, district Ambala, Haryana, India

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major cause of avoidable blindness in developing and developed countries. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF)’s Diabetes Atlas reports that India has the highest number of people with diabetes (nearly 25%) in the world, and hence considered to be the “Diabetes Capital of the World”.Methods: This is a hospital record based study was planned to estimate the prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in various age groups in rural population of Mullana, District Ambala(Haryana).Results: Out of 1050 patients screened 50 were found to be having Diabetes mellitus (DM) 1000 were non-diabetic i.e. prevalence of Diabetes mellitus (DM) was found to be 4.76%. Out of 362 males screened 22 were suffering from Diabetes mellitus (DM) i.e. prevalence of 6.07%. Whereas out of 688 females screened 28 were suffering from Diabetes mellitus (DM) i.e. prevalence of 4.06%. Prevalence of Diabetes mellitus (DM) in males was found to be maximum in age group of more than 70 years i.e. 6.97% as compare to female i.e.5.29%.Conclusions: Thus, the current study recorded high prevalence of Diabetes mellitus (DM) among rural population which should be a cause of concern for health care providers.

Knowledge, Attitude and Perceived Confidence in Handling Medical Emergencies among Dental Practitioners in Dakshina Kannada, India

Abstract Introduction: Medical Emergencies may arise on the dental chair despite efforts to minimize them. Lack of training and inability to cope with these can lead to tragic consequences. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the perceived level of competency among dental practitioners in handling medical emergencies. Materials and Methods: A structured survey consisting of 13 questions pertaining to knowledge, attitude and perceived confidence of dental practitioners in handling medical emergencies was developed, and 282 dental practitioners holding at least a Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree and practicing in Dakshin Kannada district, Karnataka, India were approached. Statistical analysis used: The data collected was tabulated and analysed by using the Epi-info version 5.0 and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. The results were expressed in terms of proportion, chi-square test, odds ratio and its 95% confidence interval were applied for comparison purpose, a p-value<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Over 70% of the specialists responded that they record medical history and follow the universal precaution guidelines. Training as well as perceived confidence of most dentists was statistically low in administering Cardio-Pulmonary-Resuscitation, intravenous drugs and Heimlich maneuver. The training and perceived confidence was highest for measuring blood pressure and managing syncope. Conclusions: Dentists do have a gap in their knowledge, awareness and practice; hence a curriculum related to handling medical emergency should be enforced in dentistry to provide safe healthcare

Like Mother(-in-Law) Like Daughter? Influence of the Older Generation’s Fertility Behaviours on Women’s Desired Family Size in Bihar, India

This paper investigates the associations between preferred family size of women in rural Bihar, India and the fertility behaviours of their mother and mother-in-law. Scheduled interviews of 440 pairs of married women aged 16–34 years and their mothers-in-law were conducted in 2011. Preferred family size is first measured by Coombs scale, allowing us to capture latent desired number of children and then categorized into three categories (low, medium and high). Women’s preferred family size is estimated using ordered logistic regression. We find that the family size preferences are not associated with mother’s fertility but with mother’s education. Mother-in-law’s desired number of grandchildren is positively associated with women’s preferred family size. However, when the woman has higher education than her mother-in-law, her preferred family size gets smaller, suggesting that education provides women with greater autonomy in their decision-making on childbearing

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in rural population of Mullana, district Ambala, Haryana, India

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major cause of avoidable blindness in developing and developed countries. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF)’s Diabetes Atlas reports that India has the highest number of people with diabetes (nearly 25%) in the world, and hence considered to be the “Diabetes Capital of the World”.Methods: This is a hospital record based study was planned to estimate the prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in various age groups in rural population of Mullana, District Ambala(Haryana).Results: Out of 1050 patients screened 50 were found to be having Diabetes mellitus (DM) 1000 were non-diabetic i.e. prevalence of Diabetes mellitus (DM) was found to be 4.76%. Out of 362 males screened 22 were suffering from Diabetes mellitus (DM) i.e. prevalence of 6.07%. Whereas out of 688 females screened 28 were suffering from Diabetes mellitus (DM) i.e. prevalence of 4.06%. Prevalence of Diabetes mellitus (DM) in males was found to be maximum in age group of more than 70 years i.e. 6.97% as compare to female i.e.5.29%.Conclusions: Thus, the current study recorded high prevalence of Diabetes mellitus (DM) among rural population which should be a cause of concern for health care providers.

Borocarbonitride, (BN)(x)(C)(1-x,) nanosheet-reinforced polymer nanocomposites for high mechanical performance

The enhancement in mechanical and thermal properties of polymer matrices upon reinforcing with nanoparticles strongly depends on the extent of molecular-level interactions and interfacial adhesion between the nanofiller and the matrix material, which are, in turn, governed by the surface functionalities on the nanofiller. Herein, we examine the reinforcing effect of nanosheets of borocarbonitide, (BN)(x)(C)(1-x) , which are analogues to graphene (x = 0) and boron nitride sheets (x = 1), whose surface functional groups vary with the composition, on the mechanical and thermal properties of poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA. Results show that substantial improvement in hardness and elastic modulus of PVA is achieved by adding just 0.2 wt% of BCN. A significant enhancement in the thermal stability was also noted. These results are rationalized by recourse to detailed structural characterization, which shows a substantial enhancement in the degree of crystallinity in PVA upon BCN addition, and improved interfacial adhesion between the nanofiller and the polymer matrix via strong intermolecular interactions. Overall, our results show that it is possible to engineer polymer matrix nanocomposites with exceptional mechanical and thermal properties via the addition of a small amount of BCN. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Weight Optimization of Plastic Injection Moulded Electrical Wire Casing Thermoplastic using Hybrid RSM-Tunicate Swarm Algorithm

The need for fire-retardant material for electrical wire covers and cases is increasing as the global population continues to expand at an alarming rate. In addition to having good fire and chemical resistance, CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride) is widely accessible in a assortment of forms and sizes, comprising rods, sheets, and tubes. Plastic injection moulding (PIM) provides a method that allows for the production of CPVC items at a rapid pace and at a low cost. When these mouldings are lightweight, they may reduce the amount of non-biodegradable materials that are used in their construction. The present research gives an insight into the CPVC material moulding for electrical wire casing elbows using an injection moulding machine, which was previously unexplored. Four plastic injection moulding parameters were considered in order to reduce the weight of the elbow, including injection pressure, mould closing speed, mould pressure, and backpressure. The 27 tests were piloted in line with Response Surface Methodbased Box-Behnken Design, and the factors were optimised using Tunicate Swarm Algorithm, which was recently developed. In the case of the plastic injection-moulded item, the analysis of variance revealed that the most significant parameter in the weight reduction was the material used. It has been determined that mould pressure is the most critical factor impacting the weight of the item when it is manufactured. As a result, the optimum manufacture of injection-moulded CPVC components will be facilitated, resulting in optimised weight while also minimising production time and raw material waste for electrical wire casing

Parametric Appraisal of Electrochemical Machining of AISI 4140 Chromoly steel using Hybrid Taguchi - WASPAS - Sunflower optimization algorithm

Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a significant technique for getting rid of metal that employs anodic dissolution to get complex contours and deep, precise holes, mostly in the components used in automotive or aerospace sectors. To achieve such high surface characteristics, the selection of factors is important. This work deals with the ECM of AISI 4140 Chromoly steel to investigate the surface roughness and material removal rate (MRR) on the machined specimen using a copper tool electrode. Factors like voltage, signal, and feed rate were optimized by hybrid optimization techniques. To acquire optimal factor configurations, the Taguchi-based WASPAS approach was utilised, accompanied by the Sunflower optimisation methodology. ANOVA was then used to determine the component that was the most impactful factor. A confirmation test is used to signify the outcomes of electrochemical machining. It was revealed that feed rate was among the most significantly relevant factors in affecting surface roughness and MRR. Also, all the optimization approaches provided similar predictions and agreed with the results fetched by the previous research