COMPARATIVE STUDY ON RAMIPRIL AND TELMISARTAN-ASSOCIATED HYPONATREMIA

Objectives: This study was planned to study the association of ramipril and telmisartan with hyponatremia and to compare the hyponatremia effect of ramipril and telmisartan. Methods: The study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital. Serum sodium levels were assayed in patients taking ramipril and telmisartan. Fifty-one patients were recruited. The patient’s age, gender, drug dosage, and frequency of drug administration were collected using a pro forma. Statistical analysis of data was performed using SPSS version 23.0. Results: About 35.3% (28 out of 51) of the study population administered with ramipril and telmisartan developed hyponatremia. Predisposition to develop hyponatremia was high in males compared to females. Incidence of hyponatremia was 43.8% (7 out of 16) in the age group of 50–60 years. Although, incidence of hyponatremia was 56.5% (13 out of 23) in ramipril group compared to 17.9% (5 out of 28) in telmisartan group, it was not statistically significant. Conclusion: The current study laid emphasis on the requisite for monitoring of serum sodium level in patients on ramipril and telmisartan administration to avoid morbidity and mortality due to unexpected adverse reactions

Fin Field Effect Transistors Performance in Analog and RF for High-k Dielectrics

The high-k is needed to replace SiO2 as the gate dielectric to reduce the gate leakage current. The impact of a high-k gate dielectric on the device short channel performance and scalability of nanoscale double gate Fin Field Effect Transistors (FinFET) CMOS is examined by 2-D device simulations. DG FinFETs are designed with high-k at the high performance node of the 2008 Semiconductor Industry Association International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). DG FinFET CMOS can be optimally designed to yield outstanding performance with good trade-offs between speed and power consumption as the gate length is scaled to < 10 nm. Using technology computer aided design (TCAD) tools a 2-D FinFET device is created and the simulations are performed on it. The optimum value of threshold voltage is identified as VT=0.653V with e=23(ZrO2) for the 2-D device structure. For the 2-D device structure, the leakage current has been reduced to 9.47´10-14 A. High-k improves the Ion/Ioff ratio of transistors for future high-speed logic applications and also improves the storage capability.Defence Science Journal, 2011, 61(3), pp.235-240, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.61.69

Diversity of fungal endophytes and their bioactive metabolites from endemic plants of Tirumala hills-Seshachalam biosphere reserve

This study investigates the endophytic fungal diversity of three endemic plants of Tirumala hills also their capabilities for the production of hydrolysing enzymes and secondary metabolites. Our study provides the first evidence on the diversity, enzyme and metabolite charecterisation of fungal endophytes from the untapped endemic plants of Tirumala Hills of Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve, Easternghats, Andhra Pradesh, India. A total of 13 endophytic fungi isolates were obtained and grouped into seven genera based on the morphological traits, indicating endophytic fungi in Shorea thumbuggaia, Boswellia ovalifoliolata, Pterocarpus santalinus were diverse and abundant. Fusarium, Penicillium, Aspergillus and Colletotrichum were the dominant genera, whereas the remaining genera were less frequent. The 13 representative species of the distinct genera were capable of producing hydrolysing enzymes. Phytochemical analysis showed the production of various secondary metabolites that included saponins, carbohydrates, phenolics, glycosides and flavonoids. This investigation also reveals that the metabolites produced by a variety of endophytic fungi can be a potential source of novel natural therapeutic agents.Keywords: Endemic plants, fungal endophytes, hydrolyzing enzymes, secondary metabolites, Tirumala Hills.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(27), pp. 4317-432

Assessment of antimicrobial prescribing and rationality of drug usage in general practitioners in Pune city, India

Background: Most of the common ailments are managed by general practitioners (GPs). GPs prescribe major bulk of the drugs sold in the market. Naturally, irrational use of drugs at this level could lead to disastrous consequences. So this study was undertaken to determine prescribing pattern of Antimicrobials (AMA) and the rationality of drug usage by GPs in Pune city.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. Pune city was divided into 5 zones. MBBS, BAMS and BHMS GPs doing Allopathic practice were selected randomly. 2 GPs of each specialty per zone were selected; this gave us 10 GPs of each degree – so total 30 GPs.30 Prescriptions at each GP were collected – total 900 prescriptions. The following parameters were studied- Diagnosis of patient, Average no. of drugs/prescription Percentage of AMAs prescribed, Rationality of AMA, Selection of AMAs diagnosis wise, Rationality of Prescription.Results: More than 75% patients coming to GPs were suffering from communicable diseases. Average no. of drugs / prescription and percentage of prescription with AMAs was high in all GPs. Macrolides was the most common group of AMA used by MBBS whereas Cephalosporins was used by BAMS and BHMS. Irrational use of AMAs was high in BHMS GPs. Use of irrational FDCs, banned drugs, steroids was high in BAMS GPs.Conclusions: There are deficiencies in prescription practices among all GPs. Not only are GPs prescribing the highest number of  AMAs  per prescription anywhere, their prescription practices for common health problems are highly inappropriate. High level of irrational use of drugs by BAMS and BHMS GPs are cause of concern

Cognitive Radio Relay Network Performance Analysis by using Game Theory

Cognitive radio plays a vital role in wireless communication system. The cognitive radio consists of a transceiver which is used to check the availability of channel for communication and avoids busy channels by shifting into a unused channel. The scope for spectrum availability and area of coverage is increased by using cognitive radio. In cooperative cognitive relay network the primary traffic the primary users (PUs) will nominate some of the secondary users (SUs) as a relay. To make the secondary users co-operate with the primary user, primary user have to allocate some channel to the secondary user for data transmission. This significantly reduces the performance of the primary users and secondary users. Therefore, performance can be significantly increased by using MIMO in co-operative cognitive radio. By using beam forming technique in spatial domain over the multiple inputs multiple output antenna permits multiple data streams and suppression of interference. Using Nash Equilibrium (NE) to control the power among SUs, the PUs utilities and SUs utilities are obtained in MIMO-CCRN. By using MIMO technique the secondary users can co-operatively relay the data for the primary users while concurrently accessing the same channel to transmit its data. Time domain and spatial domains are examined to improve the efficiency of the spectrum for arranging the MIMO co-operative cognitive radio networks. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.16043

Screening for non-communicable diseases

Background: This study was conducted to enumerate the results of screening for non-communicable diseases in the NCD clinic over a period of one year in a tertiary health centre.Methods: The results from screening tests conducted in the NCD clinic, for detecting hypertension, diabetes mellitus, breast cancer and cervical cancer, in Government tertiary care Hospital for Women, Chennai, were recorded. The flowchart and screening methods followed were those recommended by the NHM - NPCDCS. Data thus obtained was analyzed using standard statistical methods.Results: Of 42,519 women screened for common non communicable diseases - hypertension, diabetes mellitus, breast cancer and cervical cancer, nearly 5.55% women (n = 2359) had positive results, for any one of the diseases screened. Of 11,708 women screened for diabetes mellitus and 13,971 screened for hypertension, positive results were found in 856 women and 1,216 women respectively. Around 7,568 women were screened for cervical cancer and 175 women tested positive. A large number of 9,272 women were screened for breast cancer and 112 women had positive results. As per the guidelines, women who tested positive for screening tests were referred to the concerned departments in RGGGH.Conclusions: Nearly 42,519 women were screened for common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) - hypertension, diabetes mellitus, breast cancer and cervical cancer, and 5.55% women had positive test results for any one of the diseases screened. The screening revealed, 8.7% of women had raised blood pressure, 7.31% had raised blood sugar levels, 1.21% women had positive screening test results for breast cancer, and 2.31% women for cervical cancer

A Heuristic Based Multi-Objective Approach for Network Reconfiguration of Distribution Systems

This paper presents an algorithm for network reconfiguration based on the heuristic rules and fuzzy multi-objective approach with an improved Fast Decoupled load flow algorithm. Multiple objectives are considered to minimize the real power loss, deviation in bus voltages, branch current violation and for load balancing among feeders, while subjected to a radial network structure in which all loads kept energized. These four objectives are modeled with fuzzy sets to evaluate their imprecise nature. Heuristic rules are also incorporated in the algorithm for drastically minimizing the number of tie-switch operations. An improved Fast Decoupled load flow algorithm with Single Matrix Model (FDC-SMM) has been proposed for distribution networks. The proposed algorithm is very effective in dealing with reconfiguration problems of single and multi-feeder networks Keywords: Multi-objective approach, Reconfiguration, Fuzzy set theory, Fast decoupled load flo