Effects of kenaf bast fibres on hydration behaviour of cement

The compatibility between cement and kenaf bast fibre and its improvement with various types of accelerators were investigated by observation and analysis on hydration behaviour in terms of hydration characteristics, namely, maximum hydration temperature and required time to reach maximum temperature. Five extraction methods (crude, water retting, decortication, NaOH retting and benzoate retting), four accelerators (CaCl2, AlCl3, Na2SO4, CaO), three concentrations (2, 4 and 6%) and three particle sizes (0.5, 0.8 and 4.0 mm) were used. The hydration behaviour of mixtures demonstrated that NaOH and benzoate were unsuitable with cement. Meanwhile, CaCl2 and CaO were found to be effective accelerators for restraining inhibitory influences. In addition, 2% accelerator was available and acceptable for quick-curing cement. Particle sizes of 0.5 and 0.8 mm required addition of accelerators to reach maximum cement setting

Physical-mechanical characteristics of cement-bonded kenaf bast fibres composite boards with different densities

This study was carried out to explore the potential of kenaf bast fibres (KBFs) for production of cement-bonded kenaf composite boards (CBKCBs). More than 70% of the KBFs were of size >3.35 mm and length of 31±0.4 mm, therefore, they were used for CBKCBs production. The CBKCBs with the dimensions of 450 × 450 × 12 mm were produced using cement (C): KBF with proportion of (2:1) and different board densities (BD) namely 1100, 1300 and 1500 kg/m3The CBKCBs were first cured in a tank saturated with moisture for 7days, and then kept at room temperature for 21 days. Mechanical and physical properties of the CBKCBs were characterized with regards to their modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), internal bond (IB), water absorption (WA), and thickness swelling (TS). Results of the tested CBKCBs revealed that the MOR increased while the MOE decreased due to uniform distribution of KBFs. It was found that loading of KBFs has a negative influence on the internal bond (IB) of the CBKCBs; the IB was reduced as KBFs tend to balling and making unmixed aggregates with the cement. These results showed that the CBKCB is a promising construction material that could potentially be used in different structural applications due to their good mechanical characteristics

Assessment of discharge after 24 hours following elective caesarean section in Omdurman Maternity Hospital, Sudan, 2010

Objective: to assess patient satisfaction and morbidity associated with 24 hours hospital stay after elective caesarean section.Methodology: A descriptive study done in Omdurman maternity hospital (OMH) in 2010. All women admitted for elective C/S were counselled for discharge after 24 hours from C/S. Those with medical or obstetrical problems necessitating admission for longer time were excluded.Women who refused to be discharged were included as control after an informed consent. All women were operated on by trained registrars or consultants under similar conditions & were followed till discharge from hospital.Results: The total number of deliveries in OMH during 2010 was 28975. Out of them 21022(72.6%) had spontaneous vaginal delivery and 7953 (27.4%) delivered by caesarean section. Elective C/S comprised 3204(11.1%) while emergency C/S 4749(16.4%). The study included1439.716(49.8%) as study group and 723(50.2%) as control. Readmission was needed for 41(2.8%), 15(1.1%) from study group and 26(1.8%) from control group. The reason in 24(1,7%) was wound infection, 5(0.3%) DVT, two with endometritis and eight (0.6%) due to non- pregnancy related infection. Although, there is slight increase in rate of readmission due to wound infection and DVT in control group, there is no significant statistical difference between the two groups. However there is significant statistical difference in the rate of satisfaction between the two groupsIn the study group, 613(85.6%) ladies were satisfied with the short hospital stay compared to 269(37.2%) in the control group who were satisfied with longer hospital stay after elective C/S (P = 0.0001).Conclusion: Short hospital stay after elective C/S was associated with more patients’ satisfaction, without increase in maternal mortality or morbidity, compared to control.Key words:endometritis, vaginal delivery,maternal mortality

Knowledge and attitudes towards appropriate antibiotics usage among students-a survey

Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections. WHO estimates that more than half of all medicines are prescribed, dispensed or sold inappropriately, and that half of all patients fail to take them correctly. The overuse, underuse or misuse of medicines results in wastage of scarce resources and widespread health hazard. The objective of the study is to evaluate the knowledge and Attitude towards appropriate antibiotic use among students. A 15 item web based questionnaire was developed and employed to collect data from pharmacy students at Ezhuthachan College of pharmaceutical sciences. The survey will gather demographic information and collect data on knowledge, expectations and current antibiotic usage among students.A total of 55 students participated in the study, among the respondents about 60% of respondents believed that they could stop taking antibiotics if their symptoms of infection improved. over a half of the respondents (68%) believed that antibiotics are effective for most of the colds and around half of  them (40%) stated that, they prefer to keep antibiotics at home for emergencies. About 58% would give their antibiotics to a family member if they caught an infection, 44% of respondents identified that, they have bought an antibiotic from community pharmacies without a prescription.The study shows that the pharmacy students has a number of misconceptions relating to appropriate antibiotic use, particularly relating to use of antibiotics for treatment of viral infections. As antibiotics are widely used in students, proper education should be given about rational use of antibiotics

Effect of clindamycin in acne among college students

Acne is a chronic, self-limiting, inflammatory disease of adolescents and young adults. Acne and its associated problems affects as many as 80% of adolescents and young adults. Only one third affected teenagers could consult with their physician about acne. Clindamycin is a lincosamide antibiotic, developed in 1966 by chemically modifying the naturally occurring lincomycin.. Topical antibiotics such as erythromycin and clindamycin are the most popular in the management of acne. Side effects though minor includes erythema, peeling, dryness, and burning, pseudomembranous colitis which is rare, but has been reported itching, with clindamycin .The objective of the study is to evaluate efficacy of topical clindamycin in treating acne among students and to monitor the adverse effects encountered during the therapy. It was a cross-sectional questionnaire study carried out among 55 students of both sex group of age varying from 18 to 25 years suffering from acne. Knowledge of safe and effective use of clindamycin among students was to be assessed with a 17 pre-validated questionnaire and the data is analyzed using descriptive statistics. Among the respondents, about 79.6% had an outbreak of acne.71.4% believe that their acne is due their food habits. 87% are using clindamycin and was effective in 76.7%. Among them, about 61.9% use without prescription and 48.8% claimed to have no side effect and patients without recurrence is 55%.This study is to demonstrate the efficacy of clindamycin in the treatment of moderate to severe acne. The relevant data obtained through this study will help to aware about safe and effective use clindamycin in acne patients and provides information about the perception of acne among young adults with or without acne

Outbreak of encephalitic listeriosis in red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)

An outbreak of neurological disease was investigated in red-legged partridges between 8 and 28 days of age. Clinical signs included torticollis, head tilt and incoordination and over an initial eight day period approximately 30–40 fatalities occurred per day. No significant gross post mortem findings were detected. Histopathological examination of the brain and bacterial cultures followed by partial sequencing confirmed a diagnosis of encephalitis due to Listeria monocytogenes. Further isolates were obtained from follow-up carcasses, environmental samples and pooled tissue samples of newly imported day-old chicks prior to placement on farm. These isolates had the same antibiotic resistance pattern as the isolate of the initial post mortem submission and belonged to the same fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism (fAFLP) subtype. This suggested that the isolates were very closely related or identical and that the pathogen had entered the farm with the imported day-old chicks, resulting in disease manifestation in partridges between 8 and 28 days of age. Reports of outbreaks of encephalitic listeriosis in avian species are rare and this is to the best of our knowledge the first reported outbreak in red-legged partridges

JPD-Coloring of the Monohedral Tiling for the Plane

We introduce a definition of coloring by using joint probability distribution “JPD-coloring” for the plane which is equipped by tiling I. We investigate the JPD-coloring of the r-monohedral tiling for the plane by mutually congruent regular convex polygons which are equilateral triangles at r = 3 or squares at r = 4 or regular hexagons at r = 6. Moreover we present some computations for determining the corresponding probability values which are used to color in the three studied cases by MAPLE-Package

The difference among the local postage stamp technique and the newPOC(point of connection) charging approach method

This paper summarizes the difference among the regional postage stamp technique and the new poc(factor of connection) charging approach used for fee allocation for the transmission device in accordance to the utilization. Troubles related with the modeling of HVDC traces are also mentioned. Comparison and analysis has been completed on the Indian gadget and the end result indicates good sized variations inside the prices

DNA sequence-selective C8-linked pyrrolobenzodiazepine-heterocyclic polyamide conjugates show anti-tubercular-specific activities.

New chemotherapeutic agents with novel mechanisms of action are in urgent need to combat the tuberculosis pandemic. A library of 12 C8-linked pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine (PBD)-heterocyclic polyamide conjugates (1-12) was evaluated for anti-tubercular activity and DNA sequence selectivity. The PBD conjugates were screened against slow-growing Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guérin and M. tuberculosis H37Rv, and fast-growing Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas putida and Rhodococcus sp. RHA1 bacteria. DNase I footprinting and DNA thermal denaturation experiments were used to determine the molecules' DNA recognition properties. The PBD conjugates were highly selective for the mycobacterial strains and exhibited significant growth inhibitory activity against the pathogenic M. tuberculosis H37Rv, with compound 4 showing MIC values (MIC=0.08 mg l-1) similar to those of rifampin and isoniazid. DNase I footprinting results showed that the PBD conjugates with three heterocyclic moieties had enhanced sequence selectivity and produced larger footprints, with distinct cleavage patterns compared with the two-heterocyclic chain PBD conjugates. DNA melting experiments indicated a covalent binding of the PBD conjugates to two AT-rich DNA-duplexes containing either a central GGATCC or GTATAC sequence, and showed that the polyamide chains affect the interactions of the molecules with DNA. The PBD-C8 conjugates tested in this study have a remarkable anti-mycobacterial activity and can be further developed as DNA-targeted anti-tubercular drugs