A study to assess the post traumatic stress symptoms and anxiety among patients after discharge from ICU at KMCH, Coimbatore

A study entitled “A study to assess the Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms and Anxiety after discharge from ICU at KMCH, Coimbatore.” OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to assess the Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms and Anxiety after discharge from ICU, to correlate PTSS and Anxiety and to associate PTSS and Anxiety with selected Demographic and Clinical Characteristics. Design: Descriptive correlational design. Setting: Step down wards of Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, Coimbatore. Sample Size: 60 subjects both male and female above the age of 17 years weaned from mechanical ventilator and discharged from ICU were recruited for the study. Conceptual Framework: Modified Roy’s Adaptation theory. Data Collection Procedure: After getting the verbal consent, the demographic data and clinical characteristics were assessed and after discharge from ICU they were asked to complete the PTSS-14 Questionnaire and STAI Inventory. RESULTS: Among 60 participants, 33.3% of them were having less PTSS score and 66.7% were having greater level of PTSS score with a mean score of 47.3. 13% of the patients are having mild level of state anxiety, 64% of the patients are having moderate level of state anxiety and 23% of them are having severe level of state anxiety. The mean score of STAI state anxiety was 50.38. 35.0% of the patients are having mild level of trait anxiety, 61.7% of the patients are having moderate level of trait anxiety and 3.3% of them are having severe level of trait anxiety with a mean score of 46.31. CONCLUSION: The study results showed that there is a high level of PTSS and moderate to severe levels of anxiety after discharge from ICU

Harmonic Amplitude Measures to Note Gender Difference

The present study was taken up with an objective to find whether harmonic amplitude measures can be used to note gender differences. A total of sixty subjects were divided into two groups. Group I consisted of 30 male subjects and group II consisted of 30 female subjects. They were instructed to produce three trials of sustained vowels (/a/, /i/ and /u/). The harmonic amplitude difference measures (H1-H2; H1-A1; H1-A2 and H1-A3) were extracted from Praat software. Results revealed significant difference between male and female subjects for all the harmonic amplitude difference measures. On measuring the difference between male and female subjects, the values ranged from 3.09 to 24.04. The results are discussed with respect to the underlying physiological differences and glottal chink during phonation across gender. Keywords: Spectrum, FFT, Speech synthesis, Gender, Praa

Manual for Operation of Mini Secchi Disc and the Mobile App TurbAqua Developed as Part of Revival Project

The Secchi disc measures transparency of water bodies in a fast, easy and precise way. The Secchi disc is a white disc that is lowered into the water and the depth at which this disc disappears from sight is logged as Secchi depth in the App. Transparency is the depth at which disc reappears, i.e., or how deep the sunlight can penetrate into a lake. The mini Secchi disc is basically a manually-operated tape measure with a white Secchi 10 cm disk and a brass weight of 100g attached to the tape end. The weight is manufactured using a metal lathe and the disc is made of white polypropylene sheet. The measuring tape is approximately 8m long wrapped around a 3D printed bobbin. For the easy handling of the device a polypropylene finger strap and nylon lanyard are attached to the casing. For prediction of colour of the water body, a vinyl-laminated Forel Ule colour scale sticker (with colour ranging from Indigo blue to Cola brown) is placed on the outside of the casing and the entire device is held together using stainless steel or brass fixings. In addition to this, an i-Button housed in a Thermochron water proof capsule ((DS9107) is attached to one of the weights, designed for measuring the water temperature

Survey on functionally diverse bacterial strains from marine finfishes and crustaceans

Prokaryotic microorganisms compromise a large portion of the organic biomass of the world’s ocean and play an important role in the biogeochemical cycles and food webs of this ecosystem. Surface colonization by microorganisms is ubiquitous in marine systems with a large proportion of microbes occurring as complex communities. Despite their importance, comparatively little is known about the phylogenetic composition of this complex microbial population and the functional roles of their members. Living surfaces are ideal to explore colonization by microorganisms because eukaryotes are subject to a constant bombardment from the millions of microbial cells typically found in a millilitre of seawater

Effect of Electron Beam Irradiation on Optical Properties of Manganese Tungstate Nanoparticles

Manganese tungstate (MnWO4) nanoparticles were synthesized at room temperature by chemical precipitation method. The effect of high energy electron beam (EB) irradiation on the optical properties of MnWO4 nanoparticles was investigated. The absorption spectra, photoluminescence intensity, and Raman bands of the irradiated samples were modified, which has been attributed to defects and particle size variation. The present investigation found that the beam irradiation is a new and efficient method to enhance the optical absorption performance and photoactivity of MnWO4 nanoparticles

Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study

18% of the world's population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. Action to effectively improve population health in India requires availability of reliable and comprehensive state-level estimates of disease burden and risk factors over time. Such comprehensive estimates have not been available so far for all major diseases and risk factors. Thus, we aimed to estimate the disease burden and risk factors in every state of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication