Examining the relationship between chronic kidney disease, dyslipidaemia, and dysglycemia: a prospective study

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) results in profound lipid disorders, which stem largely from dysregulation of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and triglyceride-rich lipoprotein metabolism. Objectives were to evaluate the correlation between chronic kidney disease, dyslipidaemia and dysglycemia. Methods: In-patient and outpatient department (OPD) of department of medicine, COM and JNM Hospital, Kalyani. Cases are defined as patients (>20 years of age) with a diagnosis of CKD (non-oedematous). The controls are defined as age and gender-matched patients (>20 years) attending medicine OPD/indoor without diagnosis of CKD. Results: Among the CKD cases, 30 individuals were diagnosed as overtly diabetic, whereas in the control group, 22 participants had fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels equal to or exceeding 126 mg/dl. The mean FBS was 111 mg/dl (standard deviation (SD) 44 mg/dl) in the CKD group and 91 mg/dl (SD 31 mg/dl) in the control group. The difference in FBS levels between the CKD patients' group and the control group was statistically significant (p value=0.001). Conclusions: Hyperglycaemia is also significantly associated with CKD in form of increased fasting blood sugar (47% among cases as compared to 30% in control) and increased post-prandial blood sugar (49% in cases as compared to 36% in controls). Dyslipidaemia occurs in CKD cases (39% among CKD cases and in 24% of controls) in the form of increased triglycerides (TG), LDL and low HDL

Organic Food Business in India: A Survey of Companies

In recent years, the Government of India has come up with policy initiatives to promote organic food for domestic market and exports. Such measures are expected to increase investment in organic food manufacturing and retailing, and create employment. Indian entrepreneurs have responded positively to these initiatives and a number of start-ups have come up in this sector. Many conventional food manufacturers, retailers, and exporters have diversified their businesses to include organic food products. India’s trade in organic food products has also increased. This paper, based on a primary survey of companies engaged in organic food business in India, analyses their reasons for entering the organic business, their business models and sourcing process, how they work with organic farmers, what opportunities and risks they perceive, and what they want from the Indian government in terms of policies and incentives. It also examines the companies’ perception about the growth of this sector, and makes policy recommendations on how organic food can attract investment across the food supply chain and continue on a high growth trajectory

DIGITAL CAMPAIGN TRACKING WITH RESPECT TO APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Digital campaigns are often derailed from their goals due to amiss or often miscalculated aspects of the impact of the campaign on application infrastructure. To mitigate this problem, an approach is described herein which unifies these otherwise disjoint domains of digital marketing and application monitoring analytics. A solution is provided whereby a user may perform capacity planning for upcoming campaigns and perform real time correlation on campaign and infrastructure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), thus maximizing revenue and optimizing infrastructure cost. Through machine learning algorithms which are running on top of correlated data from both the domains, a plethora of actionable and valuable insights may be unraveled

A Digital Image Processing Tool for size and number density distribution of precipitates in creep exposed material

Present paper deals with developing an advanced digital image processing tool for determination of size and number density of precipitates present in creep exposed P92 steel. The image processing tool box in MATLAB is usually employed for noise detection and removal, edge detection, cropping, histogram of region of interest as well as size wise distribution of the desired objects from the micrograph. This tool helps in fast and accurate acquisition of information. In this investigation, creep testing has been carried out on two P92 steel specimens at temperature of 650C and stress of 120MPa till rupture. Scanning electron microscopy was used to capture images of the specimen in as-tempered condition and in the near rupture gage region after creep rupture. The developed software has been used to analyze the micrographs for quantification of precipitates in terms of area fraction, size and number density. The use of edge detection technique in the developed software helps in avoiding human intervention during image thresholding thereby increasing accuracy in precipitate sizing. Findings from this investigation have been used to evaluate the role of precipitation morphology for specimen failure due to creep especially in precipitate strengthened steel like P92 steel

Renewable Hybrid Power Generation System

Abstract— In parallel to developing technology, demand for more energy makes us seek new energy sources. Wind and solar energy are the most popular ones owing to their abundance, ease of availability and convertibility to electric energy. This work covers realization of a hybrid renewable energy system. The scheme involves conversion of solar power and wind power into usable electrical energy using solar panel and by designing a wind turbine with appropriate calculations and specifications. Battery in this system is charged by both solar and wind power, the DC output is then converted to AC using an inverter and fed to the load. The idea of water conservation through rain water collection and storage with the use of solar panel is also implemented. The main aim of the design is to create a system suitable to provide continuous power by utilization of non-conventional energy resources and making use of the additional advantage of the solar panel in the conservation of water. Power resources and load in the system are monitored and controlled in real time

Universal and language-specific connected speech characteristics of bilingual speakers with Alzheimer’s Disease: insights from case studies of structurally distinct languages

Purpose: Connected speech analysis has been effectively utilized for the diagnosis and disease monitoring of individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Existing research has been conducted mostly in monolingual English speakers with a noticeable lack of evidence from bilinguals and non-English speakers, particularly in non-European languages. Using a case study approach, we characterized connected speech profiles of two Bengali-English bilingual speakers with AD to: determine the universal features of language impairments in both languages, identify language-specific differences between the languages, and explore language impairment characteristics of the participants with AD in relation to their bilingual language experience. Method: Participants included two Bengali-English bilingual speakers with AD and a group of age-, gender-, education- and language-matched neurologically healthy controls. Connected speech samples were collected in L1 (Bengali) and L2 (English) using a novel storytelling task (i.e., “Frog, where are you?”). These samples were analyzed using an augmented Quantitative Production Analysis and Correct Information Unit analyses for productivity, fluency, syntactic and morpho-syntactic features, lexical and semantic characteristics. Results: Irrespective of the language, AD impacted speech productivity (speech rate and fluency) and semantic characteristics in both languages. Unique language-specific differences were noted on syntactic measures (reduced sentence length in Bengali), lexical distribution (fewer pronouns and absence of reduplication in Bengali) and inflectional properties (no difficulties with noun or verb inflections in Bengali). Among the two participants with AD, the individual who showed lower proficiency and usage in L2 (English) demonstrated reduced syntactic complexity and morpho-syntactic richness in English. Conclusion: Evidence from these case studies suggest that language impairment features in AD are not universal across languages, particularly in comparison to impairments typically associated with language breakdowns in English. This study underscores the importance of establishing connected speech profiles in AD for non-English speaking populations, especially for structurally different languages. This would in turn lead to the development of language-specific markers that can facilitate early detection of language deterioration and aid in improving diagnosis of AD in individuals belonging to underserved linguistically diverse populations