Comparative study between Bileaflet and Tilting Disc Mechanical Valve Prosthesis: A Retrospective Analysis

BACKGROUND When a patient needs a valve replacement today, there are several options for the valve substitute. The most often used mechanical valve prosthesis is “bileaflet” or “tilting disc’’. Considering high volume valve replacements being done in our centre, it is imperative to conduct a study to find an ideal mechanical valve prosthesis between “bileaflet” and “tilting disc’’. AIM OF THE STUDY: In our department 60% of all open heart procedures per annum are valve replacements. Among these 70% are isolated mitral valve replacements, 20% isolated aortic valve replacement, 10% double valve replacements. Valve replacements done by using mechanical valve prosthesis either “bileaflet” or “tilting disc’’ from different marketing companies. Considering high volume valve replacements being done in our center, it is imperative to conduct a study to find an ideal mechanical valve prosthesis between “bileaflet” and “tilting disc’’. With above concepts in mind, aims of this trial are, 1. To compare the ease of procedure on valve orientation and placement, 2. To compare the immediate post-operative hemodynamics, 3. To compare the gradient across of valve on post op echocardiography, 4. To compare the post op left ventricular function, 5. To compare the incidence of valve thrombosis, 6. Embolic and hemorrhagic complications, 7. To compare the valve related mortality, 8. Freedom from complications for 6 months after discharge. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective analysis was under taken as an observational evaluation on “bileaflet” and “tilting disc’’ mechanical valve performance and outcome for isolated mitral(333) and aortic valve replacement(60) in Department of Cardio Thoracic Surgery at Government General Hospital, Chennai, using a descriptive method of analysis over a period of 24 months from September 2009 to September 2011. RESULTS: Statistical difference found only in mitral valve group in terms of ease of procedure bileaflet superior than tilting disc, where as in respect to post operative hemodynamic , tilting disc superior than bileaflet. Other variables in mitral group, all parameters in aortic group did not show the differences. CONCLUSION: Comparing the results between “bileaflet” and “tilting disk’’ offer similar excellent clinical performance for both MVR and AVR

PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION AND IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT STUDIES OF LEAF AND STEM BARK EXTRACTS OF POLYALTHIA FRAGRANS (DALZ.) BEDD.–AN ENDEMIC SPECIES OF WESTERN GHATS

Objective: Phytochemical constituents of various solvent extracts of leaf and stem bark of Polyalthia fragrans (Dalz.) Bedd were screened. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the extracts were evaluated.Methods: Crude extracts of methanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform and aqueous of leaf and stem bark were evaluated for antimicrobial activity by disc diffusion method and antioxidant activity by DPPH (diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging and reducing power assay. Quantitative analysis of total phenolics was done by the Folin-Ciocalteau method and total flavonoids by aluminum chloride method.Results: The study revealed the presence of several physiologically active phytochemicals such as alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids and tannins. The highest antibacterial activity of methanol extract of the leaf was observed against Bacillus subtilis with 14.33±0.57 mm inhibition zone and water extract of stem bark against Proteus vulgaris with 17.67±1.52 mm inhibition zone among other extracts. The lowest activity of leaf methanol and leaf water extract was observed against Bacillus subtilis. The IC50 values of 58.18±2.04 µg/ml, 116.58±2.43 µg/ml, 134.78±3.64 µg/ml and 387.28±2.9 µg/ml for DPPH activity were observed in methanol stem bark, ethyl acetate stem bark, methanol leaf and ethyl acetate leaf extracts respectively. The reducing power of extracts was very potent which increased with increasing concentrations of the sample.Conclusion: The results indicate that phytochemicals like alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids and tannins may be responsible for the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. The results suggest that P. fragrans can be further researched to be used as a natural source of a potent drug by mankind

Synthesis, Antimicrobial and Antitubercular Activities of Some Novel Trihydroxy Benzamido Azetidin-2-one Derivatives

Purpose: To synthesize and characterize novel trihydroxy benzamido azetidin-2-one derivatives and screen them for antimicrobial and antitubercular activities.Methods: A series of novel 4-aryl-3-chloro-N-(3,4,5-trihydroxy benzamido)-2-azetidinones, 3a-o, were synthesized by reacting various Schiff bases of galloyl hydrazide, 2a-o, with chloroacetyl chloride in thepresence of dioxan and triethylamine. Schiff bases of galloyl hydrazide, 2a-o, were synthesized from galloyl hydrazide. The newly synthesized compounds were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR),mass spectroscopy (MS) and proton nuclear magnetic spectroscopy (1H NMR) and elemental analysis; they were also screened for in vitro antibacterial, antifungal and antitubercular activities. Ciprofloxacinand ketoconazole were used as reference standards for antibacterial and antifungal activities, respectively, while isoniazid was used as reference standard for antitubercular activity.Results: Compounds 3f, 3g and 3o with chlorophenyl group and compound 3k with 4-dimethyl amino phenyl group exhibited good antimicrobial activity. Also, compounds 3f, 3g, 3k and 3o showed antitubercular activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values equivalent to the standard drug (isoniazid). MIC values of 3f, 3g, 3k and 3o were 0.76, 0.57.0.62 and 0.83 ìg/ml, respectively, while the MIC of isoniazid was 0.56.Conclusion: We report the successful synthesis, spectral characterization, as well as in vitro antimicrobial and antitubercular evaluation of a series of novel trihydroxy benzamido azetidin-2-one derivatives. The work shows the emergence of new antimicrobial and antitubercular compounds

Evaluating the processed beans of different cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) accessions for quality parameters

The objective of this study was to evaluate the variability in quality parameters of different identified cocoa plus trees from Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu. Thirty five (35) plus trees in two different farmers field were evaluated for their quality traits. The quality parameters like fat content (%), carbohydrate content (mg/g), protein content (mg/g), theobromine content (mg/g), caffeine content (mg/g), catechin content (mg/g) and caffeic acid content (mg/g). A rapid method like high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method is used for the determination of theobromine, caffeine, catechin and caffeic acid in cocoa beans. Among the 35 plus trees evaluated for bean quality, highest fat content was recorded in Tc (Vedapatti) 94, while highest carbohydrate content was recorded in Tc (Vedapatti) 64 and highest protein content was recorded in Tc (Vedapatti) 76. The highest theobromine was recorded in Tc (Vedapatti) 63, caffeine was recorded in Tc (Vedapatti) 91, while the amount of caffeic acid and catechin was the highest in Tc (Vedapatti) 76. This evaluation study showed wide variation for quality parameters. These variability may be used in further breeding program enhance the quality traits and improve flavours of the final product

Study on awareness of human papillomavirus vaccine

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in India. Despite the various interventions, prevention is always better than cure. vaccination is the most effective way of preventing it. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice related to HPV vaccination among adolescents and reproductive age women.Methods: The data collected were used for the study. It was a community based cross sectional study involving 201 women as study participants who attended the obstetrics and gynecology department of Saveetha Medical College Hospital during the period of January 2022-March 2022 using a pretested, semi structured questionnaire tool.Results: Among the study population, 64.7% had knowledge about cervical cancer and 62.2% knew about vaccines and their effects. More than 60% of the study population were willing to get vaccinated.Conclusions: As a primordial prevention, we should create awareness among young population to get vaccinated against HPV, and sexually active women to take pap smear. This will prevent the incidence of cervical cancer in India

TESTING AS A SERVICE (TAAS) – AN ENHANCED SECURITY FRAMEWORK FOR TAAS IN CLOUD ENVIRONMENT

Testing becomes an important process not only in terms of exposure but also in terms of performance, safety, usability. Test Environment that directly represents the production environment is too expensive in terms of hardware, software licenses and more people. Cloud computing supports an everything as a service (XaaS) Delivery model. Testing-as-a-service (TaaS) is a new model to provide testing capabilities to end users. Users save the cost of complicated maintenance and upgrade effort, and service providers can upgrade their services without impact on the end-users. Due to uneven volumes of concurrent request, it is important to address lack of security policy and evaluating the right tool for application of TaaS platform in a cloud environment

Source localization in shallow ocean using a vertical array of acoustic vector sensors

This paper introduces a new approach to 3D localisation of a narrowband acoustic source in a shallow ocean using acoustic vector sensors (AVS). Assuming a horizontally stratified and range-independent model of the ocean, it is shown that the azimuth of the source can be determined from the estimates of the horizontal components of the acoustic intensity vector obtained from the measurements of an AVS. The range and depth of the source could then be estimated through a 2D search to match the computed complex acoustic intensity vector expressed as a function of these parameters with its estimate obtained from the AVS measurements. However the search in range is computationally intensive as the range parameter is unbounded. We propose an alternative approach employing a vertical array of AVS, based on eigen-decomposition of the spatial correlation matrix of the data vector, leading to a closed form solution for the range parameter. The source depth is then estimated through a 1D search of this bounded parameter