Correlation of disability with anxiety and depression in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain: a cross-sectional observational study

Background: Neck Pain is a prevalent musculoskeletal condition usually associated with disability. Psychological illnesses like anxiety and depression are commonly seen in chronic pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between anxiety, and depression with disability in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain.Methods: 87 patients with chronic non-specific neck pain were recruited in this cross-sectional study. The disability was evaluated with neck disability index, anxiety with the generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-7), and depression with patient health questionnaire (PHQ9).Results: Out of 87, 60 were females and 27 were male. For correlation, Spearman’s test was applied for the outcome measures. There was a moderate positive correlation found between disability and anxiety (r=0.55) and between neck pain and depression (r=0.63).Conclusions: There is a moderate positive correlation between self-reported disability and anxiety (GAD7) and also between self-reported disability and depression (PHQ9) in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain.

Simulations of a weakly conducting droplet under the influence of an alternating electric field

We investigate the electrohydrodynamics of an initially spherical droplet under the influence of an external alternating electric field by conducting axisymmetric numerical simulations using a charge-conservative volume-of-fluid based finite volume flow solver. The mean amplitude of shape oscillations of a droplet subjected to an alternating electric field for leaky dielectric fluids is the same as the steady-state deformation under an equivalent root mean squared direct electric field for all possible electrical conductivity ratio $(K_r)$ and permittivity ratio $(S)$ of the droplet to the surrounding fluid. In contrast, our simulations for weakly conducting media show that this equivalence between alternating and direct electric fields does not hold for $K_r \ne S$. Moreover, for a range of parameters, the deformation obtained using the alternating and direct electric fields is qualitatively different, i.e. for low $K_r$ and high $S$, the droplet becomes prolate under alternating electric field but deforms to an oblate shape in the case of the equivalent direct electric field. A parametric study is conducted by varying the time period of the applied alternating electric field, the permittivity and the electrical conductivity ratios. It is observed that while increasing $K_r$ has a negligible effect on the deformation dynamics of the droplet for $K_r<S$, it enhances the deformation of the droplet when $K_r>S$ for both alternating and direct electric fields. We believe that our results may be of immense consequence in explaining the morphological evolution of droplets in a plethora of scenarios ranging from nature to biology.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Plastic menace faced by fishers of Satpati, Maharashtra

Small conical stationary bag nets (Bokshi) are operated by artisanal fishers mostly in creeks, with strong tidal currents in certain regions of Maharashtra. The net is set using wooden pole (Khunt) driven at creek bottom against the flood or ebb tide. At Satpati, Bokshi nets are operated in the near shore creek for about 16 days in a month at a rate of 2 hauls per day. Here, fishermen are concerned about the increasing quantity of plastic debris entering their nets during fishing operations adversely affecting their livelihood

भारतातील आणि महाराष्ट्रातील पिंजऱ्यातील मत्स्यपैदास : सद्य आणि भविष्यातील प्रगतीच्या संधी

Sea farming is a popular area of aquaculture practice throughout the world. In Asian countries, it is rapidly growing to meet the increasing demand of high value marine fishes. Although India has a tradition of aquaculture, sea farming ventures on commercial scale were lacking. In this context, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute started open sea floating cage culture activities in 2006-07 with Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD&F), Government of India assistance. Indigenous cage of 15 m diameter was fabricated following Norwegian open sea floating cage design and launched at Visakhapatnam. There was a technical setback with the design of cage, and consultation with Indian Institute of Technology, West Bengal helped to overcome technical issues with the cage structure. Open sea floating cage diameter was reduced to 6 m and 14 new open sea floating cages were launched at Sutrapada (Gujarat), Vasai (Maharashtra), Mangalore (Karnataka), Cochin (Kerala), Pulicat (Tamil Nadu), Nellore, Kakinada, Baruva (Andhra Pradesh) and Balasore (Odisha) in participation with National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB)

An objective based classification of aggregation techniques for wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks have gained immense popularity in recent years due to their ever increasing capabilities and wide range of critical applications. A huge body of research efforts has been dedicated to find ways to utilize limited resources of these sensor nodes in an efficient manner. One of the common ways to minimize energy consumption has been aggregation of input data. We note that every aggregation technique has an improvement objective to achieve with respect to the output it produces. Each technique is designed to achieve some target e.g. reduce data size, minimize transmission energy, enhance accuracy etc. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of aggregation techniques that can be used in distributed manner to improve lifetime and energy conservation of wireless sensor networks. Main contribution of this work is proposal of a novel classification of such techniques based on the type of improvement they offer when applied to WSNs. Due to the existence of a myriad of definitions of aggregation, we first review the meaning of term aggregation that can be applied to WSN. The concept is then associated with the proposed classes. Each class of techniques is divided into a number of subclasses and a brief literature review of related work in WSN for each of these is also presented

Mass mortality of stingrays at Uran, Maharashtra

Mass mortality of stingrays was observed at Mankeshwar Beach near Kharkhand village, Uran, District Raigad on 22-08-2010. About 100 – 150 fishes were reported to have stranded in rocky embankments of the intertidal zone. These ‘bundh’ like structures of stones are about 1 to 1.5 m in height, which is used by the local fishermen to fix nets to catch fishes during tidal movement. The species was identified as Himantura uarnak, (Forsskål 1775) commonly called ‘Honeycomb sting ray’

Preeclampsia and COVID-19: results from the INTERCOVID prospective longitudinal study

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Hipertensió gestacional; PreeclampsiaCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Hipertension gestacional; PreeclampsiaCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Gestational hypertension; PreeclampsiaBackground It is unclear whether the suggested link between COVID-19 during pregnancy and preeclampsia is an independent association or if these are caused by common risk factors. Objective This study aimed to quantify any independent association between COVID-19 during pregnancy and preeclampsia and to determine the effect of these variables on maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Study Design This was a large, longitudinal, prospective, unmatched diagnosed and not-diagnosed observational study assessing the effect of COVID-19 during pregnancy on mothers and neonates. Two consecutive not-diagnosed women were concomitantly enrolled immediately after each diagnosed woman was identified, at any stage during pregnancy or delivery, and at the same level of care to minimize bias. Women and neonates were followed until hospital discharge using the standardized INTERGROWTH-21 st protocols and electronic data management system. A total of 43 institutions in 18 countries contributed to the study sample. The independent association between the 2 entities was quantified with the risk factors known to be associated with preeclampsia analyzed in each group. The outcomes were compared among women with COVID-19 alone, preeclampsia alone, both conditions, and those without either of the 2 conditions. Results We enrolled 2184 pregnant women; of these, 725 (33.2%) were enrolled in the COVID-19 diagnosed and 1459 (66.8%) in the COVID-19 not-diagnosed groups. Of these women, 123 had preeclampsia of which 59 of 725 (8.1%) were in the COVID-19 diagnosed group and 64 of 1459 (4.4%) were in the not-diagnosed group (risk ratio, 1.86; 95% confidence interval, 1.32–2.61). After adjustment for sociodemographic factors and conditions associated with both COVID-19 and preeclampsia, the risk ratio for preeclampsia remained significant among all women (risk ratio, 1.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.25–2.52) and nulliparous women specifically (risk ratio, 1.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.17–3.05). There was a trend but no statistical significance among parous women (risk ratio, 1.64; 95% confidence interval, 0.99–2.73). The risk ratio for preterm birth for all women diagnosed with COVID-19 and preeclampsia was 4.05 (95% confidence interval, 2.99–5.49) and 6.26 (95% confidence interval, 4.35–9.00) for nulliparous women. Compared with women with neither condition diagnosed, the composite adverse perinatal outcome showed a stepwise increase in the risk ratio for COVID-19 without preeclampsia, preeclampsia without COVID-19, and COVID-19 with preeclampsia (risk ratio, 2.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.63–2.86; risk ratio, 2.53; 95% confidence interval, 1.44–4.45; and risk ratio, 2.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.67–4.82, respectively). Similar findings were found for the composite adverse maternal outcome with risk ratios of 1.76 (95% confidence interval, 1.32–2.35), 2.07 (95% confidence interval, 1.20–3.57), and 2.77 (95% confidence interval, 1.66–4.63). The association between COVID-19 and gestational hypertension and the direction of the effects on preterm birth and adverse perinatal and maternal outcomes, were similar to preeclampsia, but confined to nulliparous women with lower risk ratios. Conclusion COVID-19 during pregnancy is strongly associated with preeclampsia, especially among nulliparous women. This association is independent of any risk factors and preexisting conditions. COVID-19 severity does not seem to be a factor in this association. Both conditions are associated independently of and in an additive fashion with preterm birth, severe perinatal morbidity and mortality, and adverse maternal outcomes. Women with preeclampsia should be considered a particularly vulnerable group with regard to the risks posed by COVID-19.The study was supported by the COVID-19 Research Response Fund from the University of Oxford (Ref 0009083). A.T.P. is supported by the Oxford Partnership Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre with funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre funding scheme. The funding organization had no involvement in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript, and decision to submit the manuscript for publication

Tumor radiomic features complement clinico-radiological factors in predicting long-term local control and laryngectomy free survival in locally advanced laryngo-pharyngeal cancers

OBJECTIVE: To study if pre-treatment CT texture features in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of laryngo-pharynx can predict long-term local control and laryngectomy free survival (LFS). METHODS: Image texture features of 60 patients treated with chemoradiation (CTRT) within an ethically approved study were studied on contrast-enhanced images using a texture analysis research software (TexRad, UK). A filtration-histogram technique was used where the filtration step extracted and enhanced features of different sizes and intensity variations corresponding to a particular spatial scale filter (SSF): SSF = 0 (without filtration), SSF = 2 mm (fine texture), SSF = 3-5 mm (medium texture) and SSF = 6 mm (coarse texture). Quantification by statistical and histogram technique comprised mean intensity, standard-deviation, entropy, mean positive pixels, skewness and kurtosis. The ability of texture analysis to predict LFS or local control was determined using Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate cox model. RESULTS: Median follow-up of patients was 24 months (95% CI:20-28). 39 (65%) patients were locally controlled at last follow-up. 10 (16%) had undergone salvage laryngectomy after CTRT. For both local control & LFS, threshold optimal cut-off values of texture features were analyzed. Medium filtered-texture feature that were associated with poorer laryngectomy free survival were entropy ≥4.54, (p = 0.006), kurtosis ≥4.18; p = 0.019, skewness ≤-0.59, p = 0.001, and standard deviation ≥43.18; p = 0.009). Inferior local control was associated with medium filtered features entropy ≥4.54; p 0.01 and skewness ≤ - 0.12; p = 0.02. Using fine filters, entropy ≥4.29 and kurtosis ≥-0.27 were also associated with inferior local control (p = 0.01 for both parameters). Multivariate analysis showed medium filter entropy as an independent predictor for LFS and local control (p < 0.001 & p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Medium texture entropy is a predictor for inferior local control and laryngectomy free survival in locally advanced laryngo-pharyngeal cancer and this can complement clinico-radiological factors in predicting prognosticating these tumors. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Texture features play an important role as a surrogate imaging biomarker for predicting local control and laryngectomy free survival in locally advanced laryngo-pharyngeal tumors treated with definitive chemoradiation

Surge in number of the Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis) washed up on Juhu and Girgaum beaches, Mumbai, Maharashtra

After the onset of South-west monsoon along the west coast of India, swarming of blue bottle jelly fish the Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis) is observed at Juhu and Girgaum beaches, Mumbai almost every year. Portuguese man-of-war, though often mistaken as a jellyfish, is a marine Cnidarian of the family Physalidae. Its venomous tentacles can deliver painful sting. In July, 2013 sudden strong winds and high tide had brought in several bluebottle jelly fish (Fig 1). For several people, a walk by the seaside at Juhu and Girgaum beaches during first week of July, 2013 ended in redness of skin, swelling, irritation, itching, blisters and severe body ache. The daily news papers carried news items on the marine venomous creature, Portuguese man-of-war and their venomous sting threat to public