Selected risk factors of infertility in women: case control study

Background: Infertility implies apparent failure of a couple to conceive. If a couple fails to achieve pregnancy after one year of unprotected intercourse, it is an indication to investigate the couple. This is based on the observation that, 80% of the normal couples achieve conception within a year.Methods: A case control study on the selected risk factors of female infertility among fifty females attending the Tertiary care centre was conducted. The data was collected from fifty cases and fifty controls, matched for age, using a pre-structured questionnaire. The data collected included menstrual details, uterine or ovarian disorders, genito-urinary infections, systemic illness, hyperprolactinemia and weight gain. Data was analysed to find out risk factors and its association using Odds ratio, chi-square and logistic regression.Results: The factors include age, duration of menstrual cycles, dysmenorrhea, Hyperprolactinemia, recent weight gain, body mass index (BMI), ovarian dysfunctions, thyroid disorders and uterine abnormalities.Conclusions: Early screening and diagnosis of menstrual disorders and diseases like hyperprolactinemia, Thyroid disorders, uterine abnormalities, ovarian dysfunctions and correcting them by appropriate treatment

Estimation of fetal weight in utero by Dawn's formula and Johnson's formula: a comparative study

Background: Survival of the premature infant has been shown to be related more to fetal weight than to any other consideration. A lot of work has been done to find out accurate methods for estimation of fetal size and weight in utero.Methods: This study consists of total 200 case studies included patient of different parity all delivered in these hospitals either vaginally or by caesarian section. Two methods of estimation of birth weight were assessed and compared.Results: 33.5% of cases were within ±100gms by Johnson's formula, whereas in Dawn's formula 51.5% cases were within +100 gm of actual birth weight.73% of cases by Johnson's formula were within ±250 gms and 88.5% of cases by Dawn's formula were within ±250 gms of actual birth weight.91% of cases by Johnson's formula and 99% of cases by Dawn's formula were within ±500 gms of actual birth weight.Conclusions: Dawn's formula was found to be more accurate (88.5% within ±250 gms) than Johnson's formula (53.5% within ±250 gms) in prediction of antenatal fetal weight

Soret and Dufour effects on mixed convection along a vertical wavy surface in a porous medium with variable properties

AbstractThe results of mixed convective heat and mass transfer flow along a wavy surface in a Darcy porous medium are presented in the presence of cross diffusion effects. The viscosity and thermal conductivity of the fluid are assumed to be varying with respect to temperature. The governing, flow, momentum, energy and concentration equations are transformed into a set of ordinary differential equations using the similarity transformation and then solved numerically. The present results are compared with previously published work and are found to be a very good agreement. The numerical results of velocity, temperature and concentration as well as Nusselt number and Sherwood number are reported graphically for various values of variable viscosity, variable thermal conductivity, Soret number, Dufour number and amplitude of the wavy surface in two different cases, buoyancy-aiding flow and buoyancy-opposing flow

Molecular mapping of flowering time genes in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Flowering time is an important component of adaptation and productivity of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in semi-arid environments characterized by terminal drought stress. The present study was aimed at identifying molecular markers linked to flowering time genes in four F2 populations of chickpea. Genetic studies revealed that flowering time was determined by a single major gene in the crosses ICCV 96029 × CDC Frontier, BGD 132 × CDC Frontier and ICC 16641 × CDC Frontier. Whereas in the cross ICC 5810 × CDC Frontier, it was under digenic control with complementary gene action. The intra-specific genetic map developed consisted of 77 markers, spanning 262.25 cM in the cross ICCV 96029 × CDC Frontier and 76 markers with 335.74 cM map distance in the cross ICC 5810 × CDC Frontier. The genetic map of BGD 132 × CDC Frontier consisted of 68 markers covering 311.10 cM map distance and that of ICC 16641 × CDC Frontier had 67 SSRs with 385.13 cM genome coverage. Consensus map developed from four populations consisted 111 SSRs and covered the map distance of 364.44 cM. QTL analysis detected altogether seven major (Qefl1-2, Qefl2-1, Qefl2-2, Qefl2-3, Qefl2-4, Qefl3-3, Qefl4-1) and three minor QTLs (Qefl1-1, Qefl3-1, Qefl3-2) for flowering time that are distributed on linkage groups CaLG01, CaLG03, CaLG04, CaLG06 and CaLG08 of chickpea genetic map. Analysis of QTL regions provided important candidate genes like SUVR5, SET6, HOS1, TEM1, EFL6, JMJ11 and homeotic genes like AP2, ANT, SPT, AHL27 and PTL, that are known to be involved in various functions like regulation of flowering time and flower development. Flowering time was positively correlated with key phenological traits and showed no correlation with grain yield in all the crosses. Flowering time showed positive correlation with 100 seed weight in all the crosses except in the cross ICC 16641 × CDC Frontier, where the correlation was non-significant. Harvest index was negatively associated with flowering time. The identified genomic regions with linked markers can be deployed for introgressing early flowering trait into elite chickpea cultivars through marker-assisted selection (MAS) to develop early maturing cultivars better adapted to terminal stress conditions

Hepatoprotective and antioxidant capacity of Melochia corchorifolia extracts

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate hepato protective and antioxidant capacity of Melochia corchorifolia (M. corchorifolia) aerial part extracts.MethodsAntioxidant activity was evaluated by using three free radicals (Superoxide, Hydroxyl and DPPH) and hepatoprotective activity was assessed against CCl4 induced liver intoxication in rats.ResultsThe extracts produced concentration dependent percentage protection in decrease of serum enzymes and percentage inhibition on free radicals. Among all extracts methanol extract showed better activity with percentage protection of SGOT (78.98%), SGPT (79.65%), ALP (82.48%) and total bilirubin (80.0%) levels against CCl4 liver intoxication and also methanolic extract showed better activity with IC50 values on superoxide, hydroxyl and DPPH radicals were 127 μ g, 240 μ g and 179 μ g.ConclusionsFrom the results obtained during the study it could be concluded that M. corchorifolia aerial part extracts have antioxidant and hepatoprotective components. Further study is necessary for isolation and characterization of bioactive molecules which are responsible for hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity

Bronchodilator activity of Ocimum sanctum Linn. (tulsi) in mild and moderate asthmatic patients in comparison with salbutamol: a single-blind cross-over study

Background: Bronchial asthma is one of the commonest chronic inflammatory diseases. The drugs available to treat bronchial asthma such as, beta-2 agonists, though very effective are associated with adverse effects. Therefore, the Ocimum sanctum (Tulsi) which was shown to have antiasthmatic activity in Ayurveda, is evaluated in this study.Objectives: To evaluate the bronchodilator activity of Ocimum sanctum Linn. in mild and moderate asthma and compare its efficacy with the standard bronchodilator drug, Salbutamol.Methods: This is a single-blind cross-over study. Capsules of Ocimum sanctum Linn. (200 mg, twice daily) and Salbutamol sulphate (2 mg, twice daily) were administered in 41 patients. Each drug was administered for a period of one week with a washout period of one week between the two drug schedules. FEV1 and PEFR were recorded in these patients to assess the bronchodilator activity before the drug administration, on 4th and on 7th day of administration of Ocimum sanctum and the parameters obtained were compared with that of the standard drug, Salbutamol.Results: Ocimum sanctum 200mg twice daily produced significant improvement in both FEV1 and PEFR values, on 4th and 7th day and also produced improvement in symptoms of asthma. On comparing the results with that of Salbutamol 2mg twice daily, the bronchodilator activity of Ocimum sanctum was found to be less efficacious, where Salbutamol produced very highly significant improvement in FEV1 and PEFR values on both 4th and 7th day.Conclusions: Our results suggest that Ocimum sanctum Linn. possesses significant bronchodilator activity in mild and moderate bronchial asthma

Cardiovascular Disease Prediction using Machine Learning Ensemble Methods

Recently the main cause of death occurring due to cardiovascular disease has happened even in the past. Early diagnosis of the disease can be assessed to reduce the high risk and ensure healthiness. Data mining techniques have been significantly used as it helps in zero or less intervention of humans and it is seen as the best technique as it gives precise result with the best accuracy. The study is conducted on ensemble methods and built a model using boosting and bagging classifiers. The objective of this work is to design and implement a heart disease prediction system using machine learning ensemble methods namely, Random Forest, Adaptive Boosting, Gradient Boosting, and XGBoost. The effective performance of the applied ensemble techniques is analyzed, and a mobile application is developed for the same. The proposed mobile application is built as a user interface that accepts data based on clinical attributes concerning heart disease. This mainly helps in the medical field such as laboratories that incorporate the developed model. The outcome of the proposed model predicts the probability of a person suffering from heart disease. The accuracy of the models is evaluated