A clinical study of pediatric hypomelanotic dermatoses at tertiary care center

Background: Hypopigmentary and depigmentary lesions are frequently encountered in pediatric age group which can be alarming and distressing to parents. They may be insignificant or denote an underlying multisystem disorder. Hence, a thorough medical history, clinical, Wood’s lamp examination, and an interdisciplinary consultation may aid in the correct diagnosis of these dermatoses. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the various hypopigmentary and depigmentary dermatoses in children attending the outpatient department of a tertiary care center in South India. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at the outpatient department of dermatology at the tertiary care center of South India, where 121 patients aged between 0 and 18 years presenting with hypopigmentary and depigmentary skin lesions from August 2018 to August 2019 were included in the study irrespective of gender. A detailed history, clinical examination, and basic investigations were done. Results: Out of 121 children included in our study, 67 (55.37%) were girls and 54 (44.62%) were boys. The mean age of the study group was 9.8 years. The most common dermatosis observed was pityriasis alba (28.9%), followed by primary disorders of hypopigmentation (vitiligo, lichen striatus, nevus depigmentosus, nevus anemicus, halo nevus, hypomelanosis of Ito, progressive macular hypomelanosis, and blaschkoid dermatitis), post-inflammatory hypopigmentation (19.8%), pityriasis versicolor (8.2%), Hansen’s disease (3.3%), and morphea (2.4%). Conclusion: The most common hypomelanotic dermatosis noted in the present study was pityriasis alba followed by primary disorders of hypopigmentation and depigmentation. Most of the dermatoses were either self-limiting or benign in nature and required only reassurance and managed with only medical line of management. These diseases may be the reason for undue concern and anxiety in parents; hence, a thorough evaluation and management of these dermatoses are necessary

Rural finance policies for food security of the poor

The objective of IFPRI's multicountry research program on rural financial policies for food security of the poor is to identify policies and institutional arrangements that help the poor integrate themselves into sustainable savings and credit systems such that they have an increased capacity to invest, bear risk, and smooth consumption. The focus of the research on policy and program design and their effects on household investment and consumption requires field data collection at the institutional and household level. This paper presents the underlying conceptual framework and various methodological approaches that have been reviewed and tested by the team at IFPRI and at collaborating institutions. Methodologies are presented for analysis at the institutional level, mainly focusing on the determinants of the formation of financial institutions and the analysis of effects of program design on institutional conduct and performance, and at the household level, thereby addressing determinants of access to and participation in financial markets and related effects on household welfare.Food security Developing countries. ,Financial institutions. ,Households Economic aspects. ,

4-Bromo-3-{N-[2-(3,4-dimethoxy­phen­yl)eth­yl]-N-methyl­sulfamo­yl}-5-methyl­benzoic acid monohydrate

In the title compound, C19H22BrNO6S·H2O, the dihedral angle between the planes of the two benzene rings is 3.1 (1)°. These rings are stacked over one another with their centroids separated by 3.769 (2) Å, indicating weak π–π inter­actions. In the crystal structure, mol­ecules are linked by O—H⋯O and O—H⋯(O,O) hydrogen bonds involving the water mol­ecule, forming a two-dimensional network parallel to (001)

Status of Serum and Salivary Levels of Superoxide Dismutase in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with Oral Manifestations: A Case Control Study

BACKGROUND: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is a very well known metabolic disorder that has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. Evidence suggests that oxidative stress increases in Diabetes Mellitus because of the excessive production of reactive oxygen species and an impaired antioxidant defence mechanism. This study estimated, compared and correlated the serum and salivary Superoxide dismutase levels in healthy subjects and subjects with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus having oral manifestations.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, serum and salivary Superoxide dismutase levels were estimated in 45 healthy subjects and 45 patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with oral manifestations.RESULTS: The mean serum and salivary Superoxide dismutase levels were significantly decreased in subjects with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with oral manifestations compared to the healthy subjects. Positive correlation in both healthy and diabetics was observed between serum and salivary samples.CONCLUSION: This study highlights that the abnormally high levels of oxidative stress in diabetics coupled with simultaneous decline in antioxidant defence mechanism results in complications in Diabetes mellitus. Thus exploring saliva for antioxidant markers that accurately reflect the redox status of the body is worthwhile.KEYWORDS: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Superoxide dismutase, antioxidan

Supermodels for early LHC

We investigate what new physics signatures the LHC can discover in the 2009-2010 run, beyond the expected sensitivity of the Tevatron data by 2010. We construct "supermodels", for which the LHC sensitivity even with only 10 inverse picobarn is greater than that of the Tevatron with 10 inverse femtobarn. The simplest supermodels involve s-channel resonances in the quark-antiquark and especially in the quark-quark channels. We concentrate on easily visible final states with small standard model backgrounds, and find that there are simple searches, besides those for Z' states, which could discover new physics in early LHC data. Many of these are well-suited to test searches for "more conventional" models, often discussed for multi-inverse femtobarn data sets.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; v2, references adde

From transition magnetic moments to majorana neutrino masses

It is well known that a majorana mass induces a (small) transition magnetic moment. The converse is also true; in this paper we estimate the loop contribution of transition magnetic moments $[\mu]_{\alpha \beta}$ to the neutrino mass matrix $[m]_{\alpha \beta}$. We show that for hierarchical neutrino masses, the contribution of $[\mu]_{e \tau}$ to $[m]_{e \tau}$ can exceed the experimental value of $[m]_{e \tau}$.Comment: 9 pages, final version (improved notation, some mention of the dimension 5 mass operator

A prospective study on assessment of risk factors and impact of patient counselling in health-related quality of life of patients with coronary artery diseases

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the most frequent cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. The aim of the study was to determine assessment of risk factors and impact of patient counseling in health-related quality of life of the patient.Method: This was a prospective observational study conducted in the department of cardiology. A suitably designed standard SF-36 questionnaire was given to all patients enrolled in the study before and after counseling. All information relevant to the study were collected in suitably designed proforma from case records and discussions conducted with the patients and bystanders during ward rounds. Proper counseling was given to patients and bystanders and the score was analyzed using SAS descriptive analysis.Result: The most common risk factors encountered in the study are diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, irregular exercise, smoking, alcoholism, obesity and family history. The health-related quality of life of the patients were assessed, a total of 67 patients QOL was improved after counseling and 27 patients with no improvement. We found that patient counseling was effective for majority of patients.Conclusions: We can conclude that the role of clinical pharmacist has a significant role in improving the health-related quality of life of patients through proper counseling. And more than half of the patients have a modifiable risk factor which can be managed through lifestyle modifications

1-Naphthyl 9H-carbazole-4-sulfonate

In the title compound, C22H15NO3S, the plane of the carbazole ring system forms a dihedral angle of 65.06 (4)° with the naphthalene ring system. In the crystal structure, a weak intra­molecular C—H⋯O inter­action is observed between the naphthalene ring system and the sulfonate group. Two weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions are also observed

Axial compression tests on CFRP strengthened CFS plain angle short columns

A comprehensive test program was performed to experimentally investigate the effect of CFRP strengthening on the axial strength and stability of CFS plain angle short columns subjected to monotonic axial compression. A total of 28 specimens were tested by varying the CFRP strengthening configurations for different column heights. Both uni-directional (CF_UD) and bi-directional (CF_BD) CFRP were considered. The influence of various parameters such as the type of CFRP, fiber orientation, and number of CFRP layers was investigated and discussed in detail. For single layer (ply) of CFRP, CF_UD-0° strengthening configuration resulted in maximum increase of axial capacity by 58.33% and 45.72% (in comparison to bare steel specimens), corresponding to 0.5 m and 1.0 m column lengths respectively. All the bare steel and skin-strengthened specimens failed predominantly due to torsional–flexural buckling mode. Additional layer of CFRP wrapping was found to enhance the axial capacity further and CF_UD-0°/BD was found to possess greater capacity in the case of double layer of CFRP. Adopting cardboard in-fill in addition to CF_UD-0° wrap has prevented the torsional mode of buckling and resulted in a peak increase of axial capacity by 192.55% and 240.61% corresponding to 500 mm and 100 mm long specimens, respectively