Breastfeeding practices among mothers of infants in Peringara Panchayat in Pathanamthitta District

The study was aimed to assess the breastfeeding practices among mothers of infants in Peringara Gramapanchayat in Kerala. Study was a community based cross-sectional study among mothers of infants in Peringara gramapanchayat using a pretested questionnaire. 142 breastfeeding mothers of infants in Peringara gramapanchayat were studied and mothers who were not present at home during the study were excluded from the study. Study period consisted of 18 days between December 2015 and January 2016. Study variables includes type of delivery, initiation of breastfeeding, breastfeeding practices and role of ASHAs in promoting good breastfeeding practices. Statistical analysis was done using Pearson’s Chi-square test and T test. The study found that exclusive breastfeeding has been done by 68.3% of mothers. There is no practice of giving pre-lacteal feed, 95.8% of mothers have given colostrum to the new born. Statistically significant association was found between the type of delivery and time of initiation of breastfeeding (p< 0.05). Time of initiation of breastfeeding was prolonged in case of Caesarean section. 49.3% of mothers have breastfed the baby within one hour. 55.6% of mothers were informed about importance of breastfeeding by ASHAs and only 20.4% of mothers were informed about period of exclusive breastfeeding and period of complimentary feeding by ASHAs

The dynamics of fibers dispersed in viscoelastic turbulent flows

This study explores the dynamics of finite-size fibers suspended freely in a viscoelastic turbulent flow. For a fiber suspended in Newtonian flows, two different flapping regimes were identified previously by Rosti et al (2018). Here we explore, how the fiber dynamics is modified by the elasticity of the carrier fluid by performing Direct Numerical Simulations of a two-way coupled fiber-fluid system in a parametric space spanning different Deborah numbers, fiber bending stiffness and the linear density difference between fiber and fluid. We examine how these parameters influence various fiber characteristics such as the frequency of flapping, curvature, and alignment with the fluid strain and polymer stretching directions. Results reveal that the neutrally-bouyant fibers, depending on their flexibility, oscillate with large and small time scales transpiring from the flow, but the smaller time-scales are suppressed as the polymer elasticity increases. Polymer stretching is uncommunicative to denser-than-fluid fibers, which flap with large time scales from the flow when flexible and with their natural frequency when rigid. Thus, the characteristic elastic time scale has a subdominant effect when the fibers are neutrally-bouyant, while its effect is absent when the fibers become more inertial. Additionally, we see that the inertial fibers have larger curvatures and are less responsive to the polymer presence, whereas the neutrally-bouyant fibers show quantitative changes. Also, the neutrally-bouyant fibers show a higher alignment with the polymer stretching directions compared to the denser ones. In a nutshell, the polymers exert a larger influence on neutrally-bouyant fibers compared to the denser ones. The study comprehensively addresses the interplay between polymer elasticity and the fiber structural properties in determining its response behaviour in an elasto-inertial turbulent flow

Measurement of technical efficiency in marine fishing

Measurement of technical efficiency in marine fishin

Anisotropic critical currents in FeSe0.5Te0.5 films and the influence of neutron irradiation

We report on measurements of the superconducting properties of FeSe05Te05 thin films grown on lanthanum aluminate. The films have high transition temperatures (above 19 K) and sharp resistive transitions in fields up to 15 T. The temperature dependence of the upper critical field and the irreversibility lines are steep and anisotropic, as recently reported for single crystals. The critical current densities, assessed by magnetization measurements in a vector VSM, were found to be well above 10^9 Am-2 at low temperatures. In all samples, the critical current as a function of field orientation has a maximum, when the field is oriented parallel to the film surface. The maximum indicates the presence of correlated pinning centers. A minimum occurs in three films, when the field is applied perpendicular to the film plane. In the forth film, instead, a local maximum caused by c-axis correlated pinning centers was found at this orientation. The irradiation of two films with fast neutrons did not change the properties drastically, where a maximum enhancement of the critical current by a factor of two was found

Perfusion index as a predictor of hypotension following induction of general anaesthesia with propofol-An observational study

Background: Perfusion index (PI) is a somewhat novel parameter evaluating the pulsatility of blood in the extremities, calculated using the infrared spectrum as a component of plethysmography waveform processing. Aims and Objectives: To obtain a cutoff value of pre-anesthesia PI, which may be helpful for the prediction of hypotension following anesthetic induction with propofol. Materials and Methods: This descriptive observational research was carried out at the Sree Gokulam medical college and research foundation, Venjaramoodu, Trivandrum, Kerala, from June 2020 to June 2021. A total of 174 patients of age group 17–60 years, with ASA 1 or 2 scheduled for surgery under general anesthesia, were included. The parameters (systolic blood pressure [SBP], diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, PI, and SPO2) were recorded until 5 min of induction. Intravenous (IV) fentanyl 2 μg/kg was administered, propofol injected was given slowly at a rate of 10 mg per every 5 s, titrated to loss of verbal communication responseuronium 0.1 mg/kg IV was administered. The calculation for hypertension was done 5 min after anesthesia. The predictive validity of PI was calculated, keeping SBP as the standard gold test. For statistical analysis coGuide software. Results: The cutoff value for PI at 5 min was low (≤2.45) for 27 (90%) participants and high (>2.45) for 3 (10%) participants. With a sensitivity of 90% in predicting hypotension and specificity of 87.50%, false-positive rate was 12.50%, false-negative rate was 10, positive predictive value was 60% (95 CI 44.43–74.30%), the negative predictive value (NPV) was 97.67%, and the total diagnostic accuracy was 87.93%. Conclusion: With the current study’s findings, we conclude that PI cutoff value 2.45 can be used to predict hypotension following anesthetic induction with propofol. It has a high NPV with fair diagnostic accuracy

An approach of clinical pharmacist pertaining to solve drug related problems in pediatric patients

Background: The objectives of the study were to assess the outcomes of clinical pharmacist intervention in solving drug related problems in pediatric patients and to identify the drug related problems in accordance with the causes observed.Methods: It was a prospective observational study done over a period of six months (October 2019 to March 2020) at Apollo children’s hospital in Chennai.Results: Total of 480 subjects were enrolled into the study, out of which 248 were male children and 232 were female children. The patients were divided into 4 age groups. In this study 60.41% pediatric patients were prescribed with less than 5 drugs 290 (60.41%). Drug related problems which were identified during the study was classified according to Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) and drug-related problem (DRP) classification (v9.00). The most frequent DRP was drug choice problem 37 (33.33%). The total number of caused drug related problems was 73 and same number of interventions was given by clinical pharmacist. The most frequent cause of drug related problems was identified as dose selection 31 (42.46%). Outcomes of interventions revealed that 70 (95.89%) problems were solved overall.Conclusions: In this study, clinical pharmacist’s level of involvement has shown interesting results. Moreover, they play an essential role in improving patient safety and outcome, reducing cost and providing quality of care for ill patients

Assessment of biogeochemical processes of Ashtamudi Lake ecosystem in relation to clam fishery

The Ashtamudi Lake ecosystem in Kerala (southwest coast of India) is well known for its clam resources. This estuarine system contributes approximately 80% of the total clam export trade of India besides providing livelihoods for at least 3,000 local people. Among bivalves, clams are an important source of meat for human consumption while its shells are used in the cement industry

Performance, diversity analysis and character association of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) accessions in the high altitude of Idukki district, Kerala

The experiment was conducted to evaluate black pepper accessions for growth parameters, yield attributing characters and yield. Out of the ten accessions tested, Karimunda recorded the highest fresh (1.61 kg) and dry (508.7 g) yield of berries plant-1. Fresh weight showed significant positive genotypic correlation to dry weight and while negative correlated to 100 berry volume, 100 berry weight and number of berries spike-1. Hence, selection based on number of berries spike-1, 100 berry volume and 100 berry weight may not lead to the high yielding black pepper variety. The results showed that Karimunda is the most suitable black pepper variety for high altitude areas of Idukki district

Harbour Based Fisheries Management in Thoothukudi District – A Case of Thoothukudi Fishing Harbour

Thoothukudi District having a coastal line of 163.5 km stretches from Vembar in the north to south of Manappad (i.e., between 8° 9' 00" to 9° 7' 30" N latitude and 78° 2' 30" to 78° 25' 00" E longitude). Thoothukudi fishing harbour (TFH) is one of the oldest fishery ports in the east coast of India. Due to its commercial and economic importance from the marine fisheries point of view, nowadays it is considered as one of the major fishing harbours on the east coast of India. For the sake of easy management the fishing areas are divided into north of Thoothukudi and southern Thoothukudi. Of which the southern area cover up to Chinna muttom in Kanyakumari district and northern side covers up to Ervadi in Ramanathapuram district

Effect of biofertilizers and organic supplements on the growth of black pepper rooted cuttings (Piper nigrum L.)

An experiment was conducted at the Cardamom Research Station, Kerala Agricultural University, Pampadumpara (Kerala) with an objective to study the effect of different biofertilizers (Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, Azospirillum and Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria Mix I) and organic supplements (fish extract and humic acid) on the growth of black pepper rooted cuttings. The results of the experiment indicated that application of Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (5 g) along with Azospirillum (5 g), humic acid (0.2%) and fish extract (0.5%) was the best combination for the production of black pepper rooted cuttings with improved vegetative characters (plant height, number of leaves, number of roots, length of roots and leaf area) compared to theirindividual inoculation.This innovative information can be effectively utilized and advocated for the commercial production of black pepper rooted cuttings with lusty growth