Risk factors associated with development of senile cataract

Background: Cataract is the most common cause of reversible blindness worldwide, which has been associated with various causative risk factors. Hence, we aim to study the factors that might play a role in cataractogenesis. Material and methods: A total of 240 eyes of 240 subjects were included for the study, which consisted of 120 cases with age-related cataract and 120 age-matched controls, and in them various factors like blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), smoking, sun exposure, and serum cholesterol were studied. Results: A statistically significant difference between the two groups was found with respect to smoking profile (p = 0.007), sun exposure (p = 0.001), and serum cholesterol (p < 0.001). Subjects who were smokers, had a longer exposure to sun, and had higher serum cholesterol level were found to be positively associated with development of cataract. No significant association between BMI (p = 0.384) and blood pressure (p > 0.05) was observed. Conclusion: Higher cholesterol levels, increased sun exposure, and smoking habit play a role in the development of senile cataract, and these are modifiable risk factors. Hence, control of these might help in delaying formation and progression of cataract

Role of saline infusion sonography in evaluation of abnormal uterine bleeding

Background: Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) is one of the most common reasons for women seeking gynaecological advice. The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of Transvaginal sonography (TVS) and Saline Infusion Sonography (SIS) in evaluation of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (AUB) and to compare the diagnostic accuracy after hysterectomy.Methods: Prospective, comparative study of TVS and SIS in evaluation of AUB in patients who are being subjected to hysterectomy with uterus of less than 12 weeks.Results: 100 patients were included in the study. 98% were of 30-50 years. Heavy menstrual bleeding was the commonest symptom (52%) and most common finding was fibroid, and Polyp followed by abnormal endometrium. The overall sensitivity and specificity when correlated with operative and HPE were 66% and 88% respectively for TVS and 82% and 95% for SIS respectively. The false positive and false negative rates were more in TVS compared to SIS. Commonest histopathology was intramural fibroid in 42% followed by sub mucus myoma in 21%, polyp 18% and endometrial hyperplasia 10%.Conclusions: SIS is a simple highly sensitive and specific technique to detect intra uterine pathology in the evaluation of AUB when TVS findings are inconclusive

Healthy Team Healthy U: A Prospective Validation of an Evidence-Based Worksite Health Promotion and Wellness Platform

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a research tested, team-based health promotion and wellness program combined with digital technologies and implemented in a diverse worksite setting among hospital, clinic and university employees. Methods: A prospective cohort study of employees completing biometrics and questionnaires before and after the initial 12-session wellness program and its 12-session booster, one year later. Results: After both the initial intervention and booster, blood pressure and weight were reduced, with greater reductions among employees with pre-hypertension and hypertension and those with a BMI > 25. After both the initial intervention and booster, there was a significant increase in, 1) daily intake of fruit and vegetable servings; 2) days per week of > 30 minutes of exercise; 3) days per week of strength training and 4) levels of moderately vigorous and vigorous daily physical activity. Self-reported indices of depression and work related stress were reduced, while participants reported increased happiness after the initial program and booster. Post booster, average sleep quality and sleep duration increased, among higher risk employees reporting < 6 hours of daily sleep. Employees reported receiving encouragement from co-workers to engage in healthful activities, exercising with fellow employees more, and indicated they would recommend the program to co-workers. Longitudinal analysis revealed the durability of the initial intervention outcomes with further beneficial effects after the booster. Conclusion: A research-tested, comprehensive team-based health promotion and wellness program, combined with digital technologies, positively impacted employee health behaviors, mood, sleep, worker cohesion and biometrics among a diverse multi-site workforce. Positive program effects were durable, with enhanced results after the booster

Techno-economic evaluation of amine-reclamation technologies and combined CO2/SO2 capture for Australian coal-fired plants

CSIRO's patented CS-Cap process aims at reducing the costs of amine-based post-combustion capture by combining SO2 and CO2 capture using one absorbent in a single absorber column. By avoiding the need for a separate flue gas desulfurization unit, the process offers potential savings for power plants requiring CO2 capture. High-level cost estimates based on lab and pilot data are presented for two amine reclamation techniques i.e. thermal reclamation and reactive crystallisation. Only regeneration via reactive crystallisation reduces CS-Cap costs below base case FGD/SCR-PCC. Cost estimations suggest a potential reduction of 38–44% in the total plant cost when using the CS-Cap process compared to base case. However, the amine reclaimer operating cost governs the overall cost of the CS-Cap process and is highly sensitive to sulfur content. A 50% reduction is observed when SO2 levels reduce from 700 to 200 ppm. Comparing levelised cost of electricity and CO2 avoided costs for CS-Cap against our base case, low sulfur brown coal has a slight (5–7%) cost advantage; however, confirmation requires pilot data on amine recovery. © 202

Psychosocial Impact of Pandemic and State Imposed Lockdown on Caregivers of Patients Presenting with Respiratory Complaints Mimicking COVID-19: A Short-term Follow-up Study

Introduction: Pandemics and subsequent lockdowns affect mental health of different subgroups of populations. In Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), caregivers of those patients who have respiratory complaints is one such subgroup which is more vulnerable to disturbances in mental health, because of the fear that their patient’s respiratory symptoms could be because of COVID-19. Aim: To assess the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 and subsequent state imposed lockdown on the caregivers of patients presenting with respiratory complaints and also to evaluate the effect of relaxation of lockdown after following-up them over a period of time. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Government Medical College, Patiala, Punjab, India (tertiary care institute), from April 2020 to June 2020. Baseline assessment was done using socio-demographic proforma, lockdown related questionnaire {3 domains, summed as total score (lockdown)}, COVID-19 related questionnaire {total score (COVID-19)} and General Health Questionnaire-12-Hindi version (GHQ-12). Reassessment was done twice i.e., at 11-15 days and 41-45 days after relaxation of lockdown. Quality Of Life (QOL) at first and second follow-up versus prelockdown times (score A and C) and first follow-up versus unlockdown (score B) was also noted. Analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM, SPSS)version 22.0. Results: Total 65 caregivers were enrolled in the study. Mean age of the participants was 40.2±11.812 years with maximum caregivers 25 (41.7%) aged between 31-40 years. Majority (83.3%) were men. Psychological distress was experienced in 50% of caregivers at baseline and 23.7% caregivers at first follow-up (p-value=0.001). Worry for COVID-19 (p-value=0.035), Domain 1 scores (p-value <0.001), Domain 2 scores (p-value=0.003), Domain 3 scores (p-value=0.001), and Total score lockdown (p-value <0.001) decreased significantly at first follow-up. Mean C score was significantly better than mean A score (p-value <0.001). Baseline psychological distress was significantly more in those with worry for COVID-19 (p-value=0.018), poorer scores of domains 1 (p-value=0.005), domains 2 (p-value <0.001), domains 3 (p-value <0.001), total score (lockdown) (p-value <0.001) and total score (COVID-19) (p-value=0.010). Follow-up psychological distress was more in those with “worry for COVID-19” (p-value <0.001), negative thoughts (p-value=0.001), poorer follow-up scores of three domains, total score (lockdown), mean A, B and C scores (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: Caregivers experienced extreme levels of psychological distress, which decreased, but persisted even after relaxation in lockdown

Vaginal Rhabdomyosarcoma in a patient with advanced cervical cancer; a case report and review of literature

Rhabdomyosarcoma is very rare in adults accounting for less than 5% of all soft tissue tumours and less than 1% of all malignancies. Vagina is one of the least common sites for occurrence of Rhabdomyosarcoma in the genital tract. We present a case of a 53-year-old woman who is a follow up case of cervical cancer stage IIIB, managed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. She was doing well till 5 years of her treatment for cervical cancer when she presented with complaints of pain lower abdomen and discharge per vaginum for 10 days. On examination she was found to have an abdominal mass of 18 weeks size and on local examination there was 4X4 cm fixed mass on lower third of vagina arising from left side. MRI abdomen and pelvis was done. Biopsy from the vaginal mass showed features of Rhabdomyosarcoma. Further follow up of the patient was not possible due to lockdown in view of the pandemic. She was last contacted telephonically on 25th March 2020; she said she was waiting for the lockdown to be lifted so that her further management can take place. This is just one patient; there are many more with other medical conditions all over the world who are losing their lives because of not being able to access medical care due to the present pandemic. New growth in the region of local recurrence in a known malignancy cannot necessarily be the recurrence of the primary tumour. It is important to keep our mind open to other differentials apart from the recurrence of primary malignancy, sometimes it can turn out to be a very rare tumour as we encountered in our case

Evaluation of Remote Sensing and Meteorological parameters for Yield Prediction of Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Crop

Abstract In the Agriculture sector, the farmers need a reliable estimation for pre-harvest crop yield prediction to decide their import-export policies. The present work aims to assess the impact of remote sensing-based derived products with Climate data on the accuracy of a prediction model for the sugarcane yield. The regression method was used to develop an empirical model based on VCI, Historical Sugarcane Yield, and Climatic Parameters of 75 districts of six major sugar-producing states of India. The MOD13Q1 product of MODIS on Board Terra Satellite at 16-day intervals was accessed during the growing season of sugarcane crop with 36 meteorological parameters for experimentation. The accuracy of the model was evaluated using R2, Root Mean square Metric (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and mean square error (MSE). The preliminary results concluded that the proposed methodology achieved the highest accuracy with (R2 =0.95, MAE=5.18, MSE=34.5, RMSE=5.87). The conclusion of the study highlighted that the coefficient of determination can be improved significantly by incorporating maximum and minimum temperature parameters with Remote sensing derived vegetation indices for the sugarcane yield

Simulating combined SO2 and CO2 capture from combustion flue gas

The requirement to pre‐treat flue gas prior to the CO2 capture step is an economic challenge when using aqueous amine absorbents for capturing CO2 from coal‐fired power station flue gases. A potentially lower cost alternative is to combine the capture of both CO2 and SO2 from the flue gas into a single process, removing the requirement for the desulfurization pre‐treatment step. The CSIRO's CS‐Cap process uses a single aqueous amine absorbent to capture both of these acid gases from flue gas streams. This paper covers the initial simulation of this process applied to both brown and black coal flue gases. Removal of absorbed SO2 is achieved via reactive crystallization. This is simulated here using a ‘black box’ process, resulting in a K2SO4 product. Different operating conditions have been evaluated that increase the sulfate concentration of the absorbent in the SO2 capture section of the process, which is expected to increase the efficiency of the reactive crystallization step. This paper provides information on the absorption of SO2 into the amine solution, and heat and mass balances for the wider process. This information will be required for further detailed simulation of the reactive crystallization step, and economic evaluation of the CS‐Cap process. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Evaluation of Physiological Parameters in Response to Endurance Exercise of Zanskar Ponies Adapted to High Altitude of Ladakh Region

Zanskar pony, a native horse breed of Ladakh mainly used for transportation in Trans-Himalayan region of India, is well adapted to high altitude hypobaric hypoxia environment. Due to extreme conditions of the Ladakh region, better endurance of these ponies under hypoxic and extreme cold conditions is of utmost concern for their recruitment in Indian Army. In the present study, 12 young trained Zanskar ponies were evaluated during endurance exercise at an altitude of 3292 meter above mean sea level. The animals were subjected to carriage transport with 65-70Kg load or riding on a track of 5-6 Km. Physiological parameters viz., pulse rate (PR), heart rate (HR), rectal temperature (RT), respiratory rate (RR) and oxygen saturation (SaO2) were recorded in Zanskar ponies during pre-exercise (T0), post- exercise (T1) and post recovery (T2, 2 hours post resting) stages. Results showed marked increase in PR, HR, RR and RT post exercise time points. The mean values of PR increased from 49.83±4.62 to 73.67±21.54 per minute, HR from 48±13.60 to 75±15.82 beats/min, RR from 37.83±9.70 to 57.67±13.48 per min and RT from 99.62±0.34 101.04±0.53 °F from pre stress to post endurance stress. The mean SaO2 level reduced significantly (88.58±6.75 at T0 versus 64.00±18.70 at T1 and 54.42±14.79 at T2) post exercise. This indicated limited availability of arterial oxygen for tissues which could be vital factor for adverse change in some of physio-biochemical parameters. Though the trend of physiological response was similar for all the 12 animals, still variation at individual animal level was observed during endurance stress. In future, some of these physiological parameters along with biochemical and molecular parameters could be evaluated as potential biomarkers in selecting ponies with superior endurance trait specifically under hypoxic conditions

Experimental evaluation of methods for reclaiming sulfur loaded amine absorbents

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a major flue gas contaminant that has a direct effect on the performance of amine-based carbon dioxide capture units operating on power plant flue gases. In many countries, flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) is an essential upstream requirement to CO2 capture systems, thereby increasing the overall operational and capital cost of the capture system. In Australia, the efficacy of CO2 capture may be compromised by the accumulation of SO2 in the absorption solvent. CSIRO’s CS-Cap process is designed to capture of both these acidic gases in one absorption column, thereby eliminating the need for a separate FGD unit which could potentially save millions of dollars. Previous research at CSIRO’s post-combustion capture pilot plant at Loy Yang power station has shown that mono-ethanolamine (MEA) solvent absorbs both CO2 and SO2, resulting in a spent amine absorbent rich in sulfates. Further development of the CS-Cap concept requires a deeper understanding of the properties of the sulfate-rich absorbent and the conditions under which it can be effectively regenerated. In the present study, thermal reclamation and reactive crystallisation processes were investigated, allowing the parameters affecting the regeneration of sulfate-loaded amine to be identified. It was found that amine losses were considerably higher in thermal reclamation than in reactive precipitation. During thermal reclamation, vacuum conditions were more effective than atmospheric, and pH of the initial solution played a significant role in recovery of MEA from the sulfate-rich absorbent. Reactive crystallisation could be effectively accomplished with the addition of KOH. An advantage of this process was that high purity K2SO4 crystals (~99%) were formed, despite the presence of degradation products in the solvent