Evaluation of Acceptable Weight of Bag For Students in School: A Fuzzy Logic Approach

Overweight schools bags will bring additional stress and fatigue to primary and junior secondary students. The Department of Health recommends that, as a precautionary measure, students should avoid carrying school bags which exceed 15% of their body weight for long periods of time. Around 60 per cent of Indian schoolchildren may suffer back pain by carrying schoolbags. For example, a heavy bag that’s slung over one shoulder can, over the 12 years of schooling, cause chronic back problems that linger into adulthood. Risks include muscle strain, distortion of the natural ‘S’ curve of the spine and rounding of the shoulders. The low back pain as a result of carrying of school bag by students has necessitated the attention given to the determination of limits of weight of school bag carrying by students in the school. It was however noted by that no Occupational Safety and Health organization exist regarding what constitutes the maximum acceptable or safe weight of school bag. After this observation, several researchers have worked on the subject of weight of school bag using three main approaches namely: Physiological, Psychophysical and Biomechanical. Author has applied the Fuzzy logic approaches for setting weight limit (WL) of school bag to be carried by students in school in the analysis the strengths and the weaknesses with the height are taken in to consideration. The approach may probably lead to reduce the problem of low back pain of students caused by heavy weight of school bag

Bound To Shock: Protection from Lethal Endotoxemic Shock by a Novel, Nontoxic, Alkylpolyamine Lipopolysaccharide Sequestrant

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or endotoxin, a structural component of gram-negative bacterial outer membranes, plays a key role in the pathogenesis of septic shock, a syndrome of severe systemic inflammation which leads to multiple-system organ failure. Despite advances in antimicrobial chemotherapy, sepsis continues to be the commonest cause of death in the critically ill patient. This is attributable to the lack of therapeutic options that aim at limiting the exposure to the toxin and the prevention of subsequent downstream inflammatory processes. Polymyxin B (PMB), a peptide antibiotic, is a prototype small molecule that binds and neutralizes LPS toxicity. However, the antibiotic is too toxic for systemic use as an LPS sequestrant. Based on a nuclear magnetic resonance-derived model of polymyxin B-LPS complex, we had earlier identified the pharmacophore necessary for optimal recognition and neutralization of the toxin. Iterative cycles of pharmacophore-based ligand design and evaluation have yielded a synthetically easily accessible N1,mono-alkyl-mono-homologated spermine derivative, DS-96. We have found that DS-96 binds LPS and neutralizes its toxicity with a potency indistinguishable from that of PMB in a wide range of in vitro assays, affords complete protection in a murine model of LPS-induced lethality, and is apparently nontoxic in vertebrate animal models.This work was supported by NIH grant 1R01 AI50107

Benefit of lymph node dissection in cN+ patients in the treatment of upper tract urothelial carcinoma: Analysis of NCDB registry

OBJECTIVES: The benefits of lymph node dissection (LND) in surgically treated upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) patients who present with clinically positive nodes at diagnosis remain unclear. The aim of this study was to assess survival differences in cN+ patients who underwent radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) with LND vs. without LND. METHODS: The National Cancer Database was used to identify a total number of 423 cN+ patients from 2004 to 2016 with UTUC that underwent RNU. Of the 423 patients, 310 received LND. Kaplan-Meier (KM) plots were used to estimate survival in cN+ patients who received RNU with LND vs. without. Cox proportional hazards regression tested the impact of LND status on overall survival (OS) after adjusting for all available covariates. RESULTS: Median age of the patient population was 68 years (IQR 61-76), and 56.74% were male. Median follow-up was 1.8 years (IQR 0.9-3.5). For the entire cohort, the 2-year OS rate was 51.8%, and it was 52.1% vs. 51.1% in patients who underwent LND vs. not (log-rank p-value=0.2). On multivariable analysis, performing LND had no statistically significant impact on OS (HR 0.93 95%CI 0.696-1.235, P = 0.9). Repeating the analysis in patients who had exclusively cN1 (HR 0.76 95%CI 0.469-1.223, P = 0.26) or cN2/3 (HR 0.844 95%CI 0.556-1.28, P = 0.43) disease also failed to demonstrate a significant impact of LND on survival. CONCLUSION: In cN+ patients with UTUC, performing LND in addition to RNU at any clinical stage does not seem to have a significant impact on OS

Husband’s involvement in utilization of maternal health services by their spouse in district Rohtak, Haryana

Introduction: Husband and wife as a couple are fully responsible for their current and future. In our society, the husband is mostly responsible for making the decision regarding any expenses. In India, there is a need to reduce the maternal mortality rate, and Husband’s involvement in antenatal care could be a key to success as it will enable them to support their partner in adequate preparation for birth and to utilize emergency obstetric care early if complications arise. Aim and Objectives: To find out about male involvement in the utilization of maternal healthcare services by their spouse and various factors affecting male involvement in the utilization of maternal healthcare services. Methods: This study was conducted in urban and rural field practice areas attached to the Department of Community Medicine, PGIMS, Rohtak. The study included 400 couples where 200 each were recruited from rural and urban areas. Out of 17 subcenters under CHC Chiri eight, subcenters were selected randomly by lottery method. A line list of these couples was prepared at each subcenter using ANC and birth register. Couples were enrolled from this line list till a sample size of 25 was reached at each of these eight subcenters. In this way, a total of 200 couples were enrolled from rural areas in which women delivered and availed maternal health services in the last 6 months. In urban areas, an equal number of couples were enrolled from each of these three urban health posts till the sample size of 200 was reached in an urban area. Results: The majority of the husbands (73%) reported that they participated in their wives’ utilization of maternal health services. Twenty-seven percent did not participate in their wives’ utilization of maternal health services. It also showed that 71.0% of the husbands did not know about the investigations that needed to be performed during a woman’s pregnancy. Only 29% were aware of it. On analysis, it was observed that 73% of the husbands had good participation in their spouses’ maternal and child health (MCH) care, while the rest had poor participation (27%). It also showed that as the education level of the participants’ husbands increased, their participation in their spouses’ MCH care increased, with the highest being observed among graduates (91.3%) and the lowest among those with primary schooling level education (66.7%) which were statistically significant

Bound To Shock: Protection from Lethal Endotoxemic Shock by a Novel, Nontoxic, Alkylpolyamine Lipopolysaccharide Sequestrant▿

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or endotoxin, a structural component of gram-negative bacterial outer membranes, plays a key role in the pathogenesis of septic shock, a syndrome of severe systemic inflammation which leads to multiple-system organ failure. Despite advances in antimicrobial chemotherapy, sepsis continues to be the commonest cause of death in the critically ill patient. This is attributable to the lack of therapeutic options that aim at limiting the exposure to the toxin and the prevention of subsequent downstream inflammatory processes. Polymyxin B (PMB), a peptide antibiotic, is a prototype small molecule that binds and neutralizes LPS toxicity. However, the antibiotic is too toxic for systemic use as an LPS sequestrant. Based on a nuclear magnetic resonance-derived model of polymyxin B-LPS complex, we had earlier identified the pharmacophore necessary for optimal recognition and neutralization of the toxin. Iterative cycles of pharmacophore-based ligand design and evaluation have yielded a synthetically easily accessible N1,mono-alkyl-mono-homologated spermine derivative, DS-96. We have found that DS-96 binds LPS and neutralizes its toxicity with a potency indistinguishable from that of PMB in a wide range of in vitro assays, affords complete protection in a murine model of LPS-induced lethality, and is apparently nontoxic in vertebrate animal models