A comparative study of oral iron and intravenous iron in iron deficient antenatal mothers

Background: The aim of the study is to compare the efficacy, tolerance and compliance between oral iron and intravenous infusion of iron in iron deficient antenatal mother.Methods: This is a prospective randomised clinical and interventional study in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Vinayaka Mission Kirupananda Variyar Medical College and Hospital. The antenatal women attending the antenatal op were screened for Hb status. Those antenatal women of gestational age 16-34 weeks with Hb level between 7-10g% and diagnosed to have iron deficiency anemia by peripheral smear and serum ferritin were included in this study after getting informed consent. The total numbers of 100 mothers were allotted into two major groups, group A and group B of 50 subjects each. Group A: 50 pregnant women given oral iron supplementation (carbonyl iron 100 mg twice a day). Group B: 50 pregnant women given intravenous iron sucrose therapy after calculating the total iron requirement. The rise in hemoglobin in both the groups were comparedResults: In this study the mean rise of hemoglobin in carbonyl iron was 0.914±0.20 gm% whereas in iron sucrose group was 2.43±0.20gm%. This showed that iron sucrose (i.v) had better rise in Hb than carbonyl iron (oral).Conclusions: The present study revealed that intravenous iron sucrose therapy was bettertolerated with higher increase in mean haemoglobin compared to oral iron therapy. There were no serious side effects with intravenous iron sucrose therapy. Intravenous iron sucrose is a good substitute to oral iron therapy in moderate anaemia

Lady nurtures mangrove trees

At this time when the depletion ofl mangroves is a hotly debated issue, a woman in Kerala, India fosters the care o f hundreds ofl mangrove trees in a tourist hamlet. For the past 35 years, Ms. Mariamma and her family at Kumarakom, Kottayam have planted and nurtured these trees as if they were her childre

Prospective study on sonographic measurement of umbilical cord thickness, foetal fat layer, interventricular septal thickness as predictors of macrosomia in fetus of women with gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: The objectives of the study were to evaluate the Prediction of foetal macrosomia based on sonographic measurements of foetal fat layer, Interventricular septal thickness and umbilical cord thickness in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus at term.Methods: After assessment of inclusion and exclusion criteria 100 antenatal women of gestational age more than 37 weeks selected for study in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Vinayaka Mission’s Kirupananda variyar medical college and hospital, Salem. Participants underwent a third trimester scan and three extra measurements i.e. Umbilical cord thickness, Interventricular septal thickness and foetal fat layer are measured in addition to the normal examination.Results: In present study umbilical cord thickness had good sensitivity and negative predictive value. Hence, if umbilical cord thickness is less than 90th centile the chance of macrosomia is less, the cut off of foetal fat layer ≥5 mm as predictor of macrosomia had sensitivity of 84.2% and specificity of 86.4% and cut off of Interventricular septal thickness ≥3.9mm as a predictor of macrosomia had sensitivity of 84.2%, specificity of 64.2%, negative predictive value of 95.9%. Thus, interventricular septal thickness and foetal fat layer is a reliable predictor of macrosomia.Conclusions: From this study authors concluded that Umbilical cord thickness, foetal fat layer and Interventricular septal thickness are good predictors of foetal macrosomia. In the assessment of risk of macrosomia in addition to the ultrasonographic measurements the clinical risk factors must be considered

Effect of pretreatment on Cd2+ biosorption by mycelial biomass of Pleurotus florida

The effect of pretreatment on the Cd2+ biosorption capacity of mycelial biomass of Pleurotus florida was investigated. For this purpose, the biomass was subjected to physical treatments such as heat, autoclaving and freeze drying and chemical treatments using acids, alkali and organic solvents. All the pretreatment methods improved the biosorption of Cd2+ in comparison with live biomass of P. florida. Among physical treatments, freeze drying showed significant improvement in Cd2+ sorption capacity.Pretreatment of biomass with NaOH showed maximum cadmium biosorption followed by formaldehyde and methanol treatment

Determination of gestational age: correlation between foetal biometry and transverse cerebellar diameter in women with uncomplicated pregnancy

Background: Transverse Cerebellar Diameter (TCD) serves as a reliable predictor of gestational age in foetus and is a standard against which aberrations in other foetal parameters can be compared, especially when the GA cannot be determined by the date of last menstrual period or early pregnancy scan, TCD is one foetal parameter that has remained consistently superior in predicting gestational age in both singleton and twin gestation. Aim of the study was to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of transverse cerebellar diameter by using ultrasonography for determining the gestational age of the foetus.Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in 100 uncomplicated pregnant patients between the 15th week of gestation to term referred from routine antenatal clinic in outpatient and in-patient department of Obstetrics and Gynecology department of Vinayaka Mission Krupananda Variyar medical college and hospital, Salem during study period April 2015-March 2016. TCD is obtained in the axial plane in the cerebellar view i.e. with a slight rotation of the transducer approximately 30° from the conventional thalamic plane where the biparietal diameter is measured using the cavum septi pellucidi, third ventricle and thalami as landmarks.Results: The correlation of transcerebellar diameter (TCD) with that of BPD (bi-parietal diameter) had shown a perfect positive correlation (r = 0.978) and a similar type of correlation was also seen with HC (head circumference) (r = 0.979), AC (abdominal circumference) (r = 0.966), FL (femur length) (r = 0.976) and USG GA (ultrasonogram gestational age) (r = 0.983).Conclusions: In the normally developing foetus, the TCD increases in a linear fashion with advancing gestational age. The data of this study suggest foetal TCD on ultrasound is a reliable predictive biometric parameter of gestational age

Shrimp Seed - A Critical Problem Faced by Shrimp Farmers - A Cross Sectional Analysis

Seed is a major input in shrimp farming and all the farmers and entrepreneurs depend on hatchery seeds. For expansion of brackishwater shrimp farming, a regular and steady supply of quality shrimp seeds in large quantities at a given time for stocking Is essential. Hatcheries are the source for the supply of quality hatchery seeds and stocking wild seeds Is banned. Presently, in Tamll Nadu there ore 68 shrimp hatcheries with a production capacity of 3000 million post-larvae. The survey was carried out In Nagapattinam and Thanjavur In two districts of Tamil Nadu. A sample of 300 shrimp farmers was Interviewed randomly for the study. This paper presents the prbblems pertaining to shrlmp seed encountered by the farmers and suggestions to overcome the same. The problems encountered by the farmers in both districts were lack of assurance on quality seeds, non-existence of government agency for regulating the price of seeds, high cost of seeds, non-availability of seeds from research institutes, inadequate supply of hatchery seeds, mortality of seeds during transportation, mixed seeds and deceptive method of counting the seeds. Suggestions given by them to overcome the problems were that the government research institutes should set up some mare hatcheries and virus free Nauplius shoutd be supplied to the farmers, assurance about seed quality from research institute and production of improved broodstock from government research laboratories. Since wjthout a heaithy broodstock shrimp farmers cannot hope to get quality seed, PCR was suggested as a sensitive diagnostic tool for detecting viral infection but due to various gaps in training this tool has not been used with consistent results

Time series modeling for forecasting the adoption behaviour of shrimp farmers

Commercial shrimp culture has emerged as a prominent sector of the coastal economy of India by virtue of the foreign exchange returns, rural employment it generates, and the economic viability of the enterprise and high market demand for the produce. The present study was conducted in Nellore and Nagapattinam districts a/India 10 forecast the adoption a/scientific technologies for a period of 17 years from 2004-2020, by the shrimp farmers using time series statistical modeling. The background data collected from 1997 to 2003 on the adoption behaviour of the farmers formed the database for predicting the adoption behaviour of the technologies. The study revealed that of the two statistical methods employed, namely Holt linear model and Holt exponential smoothing model, the goodness of fit generated by the Holt linear model with an R2 value 0/0.97 exhibited a higher degree of model adequacy over the Holt exponential smoothing model which revealed that in the years 2019 and 2020, the overall extent of adoption exceeded 100 percent which implies the development of new technologies by the research system and its subsequent adoption by the farmers. Besides factors such as changes in demography, demands in the export and local markets would motivate the shrimp fanners in future to adopt more of the improved technologies for getting higher yields

Factors responsible for discriminating between high and low adopter categories of shrimp farmers

Shrimp farming on a commercial scale has come to be the main stay, of the coastal economy of the country. Scientific shrimp farming is characterised by the adoption of improved technologies for getting a better yield both in terms of quantity and quality. Adoption of improved technologies is dependent upon a host of factors such as the perceived attributes of the technologyr the cost of the technologies and the policy environment in which the technologies are adopted

Kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamic modelling of reactive blue 52 and reactive orange 107 dyes from aqueous solution using PANI-CoCl2 as adsorbent

904-913In this work decolourisation of organic dyes such as Reactive Blue 52 and Reactive Orange 107 from aqueous solution by PANI-CoCl2 composite have been studied. Polyaniline (PANI) is a viable conducting polymer because of its unique proton dopability, excellent redox recyclability, chemical stability, variable electrical conductivity, low cost and ease of synthesis. The morphology of PANI-CoCl2 composite have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It is also shown that many factors affected the adsorption rate, such as adsorbent mass, contact time, variation of pH, agitation speed, dye concentration and temperature. The capacity of the adsorbent is tested using recyclability process. Adsorption of Reactive Blue 52 and Reactive Orange 107 by PANI-CoCl2 follows pseudo-second-order kinetics and the best-fit isotherm is the Langmuir model which is confirmed by using correlation coefficients in ANOVA technique. The thermodynamic parameters like changes in free energy, enthalpy and entropy have been also calculated