PROPHYLACTIC MEASURES AGAINST COMMUNICABLE DISEASES W.S.R TO COVID-19: AN AYURVEDIC APPROACH

Ayurveda, the ancient treasure of medical knowledge descended to earth with two aims to serve human beings i.e Swsathasya swasthya rakshanam (Promotive and Preventive measure) and Aturasya vikara prashamanam (curative measures). Ayurveda categorized diseases into two Nija (diseases caused by endogenous factors) and Agantuja (diseases caused by exogenous factors). The term Agantuja implied in broad spectrum under which external trauma and organisms such as bacteria, virus, fungi all been incorporated. Ayurveda described communicable diseases and their causes, mode of transmission, prevention as well as cure under Janapadodhwamsa (Epidemics), Aupasargika roga (infectious diseases), Sankramika roga (Communicable diseases). In promotion of health and in prevention of diseases, Ayurveda prescribed prophylactic measures like Dinacharya (daily regimen), Ritucharya (seasonal regimen), Sadvritta (good personal and social conducts), Rasayana (Rejuvenation therapy) etc. In this article an honest attempt has been made to review systematically the prophylactic measures against communicable diseases with special reference to COVID-19 pandemic- a challenging task for medical fraternity all over the world

Ant Colony Optimization for Efficient Resource Allocation in Cloud Computing

Resource scheduling and energy consumption is an important issue of Cloud Computing. The intention of optimization for scheduling resources is an important issue to be considered in scheduling of different resources among heterogeneous users. The resources are placed in a distributed location in cloud and the major task is to distribute the resources effectively such that the processing time and energy is reduced. In this paper, Ant Colony optimization technique is proposed to optimize the resources in an efficient manner. ACO is used to choose one among the different alternative paths to determine the processing order of each resource. The search space is reduced to provide a better solution. Travelling Salesman Problem(TSP) is the application that is used here to find the shortest path to the destination. This reduces the delay in allocating resources to the user by providing a global search technique. The energy conservation which is the main objective of Green Computing, can also be achieved using this technique

Interview with Beena D B

Beena D B works as a Resource Person at the School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. In this interview, she shares her experiences and insights on a life in science

A rare case of heterotopic pregnancy: an avalanche of catastrophe

An ectopic pregnancy is the development of an embryo outside the uterus, a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. Heterotopic pregnancy is when an intrauterine implanted embryo develops simultaneously along with an extra uterine implantation. With rising incidence of assisted reproductive technology (ART), incidence of ectopic pregnancy is on a rise. We report a case of an elderly patient, conceived by in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET), who had a catastrophe of events following conception, where she had an intrauterine twin gestation and an ectopic gestation in the left fallopian tube. She presented with vomiting and on ultrasound scan, we found a twin intra uterine gestation, with demise of one twin with no sign of ectopic implantation. Initially we decided to continue pregnancy. However, she had persistent spotting per vagina, and on a repeat ultrasound scan there was intrauterine demise of the other foetus also. Her uterus was then evacuated under anaesthesia. Post operatively, she became hemodynamic ally unstable and ultrasound was inconclusive of the cause. So, we subjected her to an MRI which showed a left adnexal ruptured ectopic pregnancy with hemoperitoneum. She was immediately taken up for exploratory laparotomy and left salpingectomy was done hemoperitoneum evacuated. Due to timely intervention and use of advanced techniques for diagnosis, she recovered successfully. Thus, heterotopic pregnancy can be a rare, life threatening complication of IVF, a vigilant eye and not shying away from the use of novel and advanced techniques for diagnosis, can help in early diagnosis and timely intervention and thus prove to be lifesaving.

Effects of Carbohydrates on in vitro axillary shoot initiation and multiplication of Bambusa pallida Munro.

The purpose of the current study was to optimize the carbohydrate sources and sucrose concentrations for mass clonal propagation of B. pallida. Sucrose in MS liquid medium consisting additives (ascorbic acid, 50mg/l + citric acid, 25 mg/l + cysteine, 25 mg/l) was found to be the best carbohydrate source for shoot induction and shoot multiplication.  NAA 0.25mg/l in combination with TDZ 0.25mg/l in the medium exhibited high frequency shoot induction and NAA 0.25mg/l with BAP 1.0mg/l helped for further multiplication of quality shoots.  IBA pulse treated shoots were rooted in the MS half strength agar gelled medium fortified with sucrose (2%) and glucose (1%). Rooted plantlets were well established in the green house with more than 95% survivability within four weeks period.&nbsp

Ingestion of a Nutritional Supplement Pre-Workout Will Increase Exercise Time-to-Fatigue

Everyone fatigues at the end of an intense exercise bout. However, previous research has indicated that ingestion of a mixed nutrient supplement one hour pre-exercise will increase exercise time-to-fatigue¹. For this experiment, four females between the ages 20-50 participated in a controlled pilot study. Exercise was performed using a row machine, where time- to-fatigue was measured from a baseline of 80% max HR (220 minus age). The nutrient supplement was ingested 1 hour pre-rowing and contained 30g of protein, 5g carbohydrate, and 3g of fat. Results showed that pre-exercise ingestion of a mixed protein supplement did increase row time-to-fatigue

Gender differences in perceived health related quality of life among persons living with HIV

In the era of HlV/AlDS and in the context of the developing world HIV/AIDS has led to a pandemic. HIV antiretroviral drugs are inaccessible and unaffordable and the only choice that health care providers have is to work towards improving the quality of life of individuals as long as they live with this dreaded disease. This study on 203 seropositive individuals, 102 women and 101 men, was undertaken to find out the differences in the quality of life perceived by women and men living with HIV/AIDS. The WHOQOL-BREF scale was used to assess the quality of life. The findings from this study reveal that men report a poor quality of life in the psychological domain (p<0.01) while women in the sociological domain (p=0.03). The stage of illness does not seem to influence quality of life among women and men. The findings emphasize the need for health providers to assess the QOL among people living with HIV/AIDS. This information would be helpful in planning effective intervention strategies for men and women living with HlV/AlDS in order to be ensured of a quality of life

Is awareness of HIV enough to alter high-risk behaviour? What do HIV positive individuals have to say? A study from south India

This study was done to find out the awareness of HIV among HIV positive individuals before being diagnosed HIV positive. The study also provides information on whether their knowledge influenced their risk behavior if any. This is a descriptive study and data has been collected from 108 HIV positive individuals from Chennai, South India. Awareness of HIV and its mode of transmission were as high as 85%. Gender and literacy has not been a barrier to awareness. In spite of awareness of HIV/AIDS and its spread, 73% of the respondents continued risk behaviour. The respondents included men and women and their reasons for risk behavior and their manifold misconceptions have been reported. The findings call for the need to address these issues in preventive programmes aimed at HIV control

IN VITRO STUDY OF THE CONTRACEPTIVE SPERMICIDAL ACTIVITY OF ENSETE SUPERBUM ON HUMAN SPERM

Objective: The present study was conducted to determine the spermicidal and contraceptive efficacy of ethanolic extract of Ensete superbum seeds on human sperm in vitro. Methods: The hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) and the sperm viability test were used to detect the integrity of sperm membrane and vitality. The sperm revival test was also done to check the recovery of the sperm motility. Results: Ensete superbum extract at 100 mg/ml concentration, induced complete immobilization of human spermatozoa and kill 100% spermatozoa within 20s in vitro. The sperm revival test did not show any spermatozoa that recovered their motilities. In the 100 mg/ml extract and N-9 treated groups, the rate of the normal HOS (swollen tails) and the viable sperms (unstained) was 0%, and the rate of the abnormal HOS (unswollen tails) and nonviable sperms (stained) was 100% indicating the plasma membrane degradation of the sperm. Conclusion: The current study indicates that ethanolic seed extract of Ensete superbum possesses appreciable spermicidal potential, which may be explored as an effective vaginal contraceptive

Generalized Lévy walks and the role of chemokines in migration of effector CD8+ T cells.

Chemokines have a central role in regulating processes essential to the immune function of T cells, such as their migration within lymphoid tissues and targeting of pathogens in sites of inflammation. Here we track T cells using multi-photon microscopy to demonstrate that the chemokine CXCL10 enhances the ability of CD8+ T cells to control the pathogen Toxoplasma gondii in the brains of chronically infected mice. This chemokine boosts T-cell function in two different ways: it maintains the effector T-cell population in the brain and speeds up the average migration speed without changing the nature of the walk statistics. Notably, these statistics are not Brownian; rather, CD8+ T-cell motility in the brain is well described by a generalized Lévy walk. According to our model, this unexpected feature enables T cells to find rare targets with more than an order of magnitude more efficiency than Brownian random walkers. Thus, CD8+ T-cell behaviour is similar to Lévy strategies reported in organisms ranging from mussels to marine predators and monkeys, and CXCL10 aids T cells in shortening the average time taken to find rare targets