Power Factor Improvement of Single Phase AC-DC System Using Parallel Boost Converter

The advent of controller integrated circuits has forced the development of new power factor correction techniques. A vast range of PFC circuits have been proposed with diverse operating modes to tackle the situation. These PFC circuits adjust the waveforms of the current in the input side so that maximum power can be tapped from the supplies. For every equipment the load should try to match a resistive one as closely as possible, only then the PF will be near to unity as there will be reduction of reactive power in the circuit. The current in this situation is free from all the lower as well as higher order harmonics thus copies the input voltage waveform or in other words it becomes in phase with it. So, this causes the current in the circuit to be at the lowest possible value to do the same work. As a result, the losses associated with circuit are reduced greatly. Hence the consumption in power is reduced greatly. This causes the price of distribution as well as generation to be lowered and hence improvement in the process. Since there are very less harmonics so the chances of interference with telecommunication devices are exponentially reduced. The strict regulatory enforcements has played a pivotal role in paving the way for these PFC circuits. Boost converter accomplishes this Active power-factor correction (ACMC) in discontinuous as well as in continuous modes. A good degree of accuracy is maintained in tracking the current program by average current. At first a simulation of single bridge converter without using any converter is performed. Then a current control circuit and a voltage control circuit were added to the boost converter which improved the input THD. Finally, the project concentrates on increasing the power factor by connecting two boost converters in parallel. In this method the current in one circuit has to keep up with the one in parallel to it

Herbal Home Remedies for Toothache during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the halt of proper dental care in most of the world, except for emergency cases. And, this resulted in a lot of people seek some home remedies for relieve in dental pain. So, this article aims to list down herbal home remedies which can be very helpful in such conditions. The use of medicinal herbs for dental pain can be traced back to history in some form or the other in almost every country. These herbal home remedies have no significant side effects as compared to other chemical-based alternatives, are also easy to obtain and cheaper as well. Clove, Olive, Miswak, Babool and other herbs listed in the article have significant dental properties which have been validated scientifically through various researches. These plant products can be hence used in commercial products as well but only after proper clinical trials. Further research should be encouraged in this field as herbal alternatives can be very beneficial with no such side effects. However, these home remedies are only useful for symptomatic treatment and undergoing proper dental care is advised

Coexisting pathology of ectopic pregnancy and dermoid cyst: An uncommon occurrence

Mature cystic teratomas (dermoid cysts) are common benign ovarian neoplasms. About 10% of dermoid cysts are detected duringpregnancy. Multiple gynecologic pathologies occurring together are uncommon, and both an ectopic pregnancy and dermoid cystare seen concurrently being unknown and poorly documented. Here, we report a case of ectopic pregnancy and dermoid cystoccurring simultaneously in a 30-year-old woman

Prevalence of anemia in children aged 6 months to 15 years: a hospital based study

Background: Anemia is a common problem in small children and in adolescents in Nepal. We conducted this study to estimate the prevalence of anemia in hospitalized children in our setup.Materials and Methods: Children aged 6 months to 15 years with hemoglobin &lt; 11 gm/dl were enrolled.  Clinical details of patients including the demographic characteristics, anthropometry, final diagnosis and laboratory results were recorded and retrieved for analysis.Results: Prevalence of anemia was 42.3%. Mean hemoglobin was 9.51 gm/dl. Anemia was more common in children more than five years (53.3%). 73.3% had mild, 20.9% had moderate and 5.7% had severe anemia. Grade I malnutrition was seen in 24.8%, Grade II in 20.9% and grade III in 5.7%. Pneumonia was seen more commonly in children with mild and moderate anemia.Conclusion: Anemia is a common problem in children and may be associated with respiratory infections.</p

Undifferentiated febrile illness in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Undifferentiated febrile illnesses (UFIs) are common in low- and middle-income countries. We prospectively investigated the causes of UFIs in 627 patients presenting to a tertiary referral hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Patients with microbiologically confirmed enteric fever (218 of 627; 34.8%) randomized to gatifloxacin or ofloxacin treatment were previously reported. We randomly selected 125 of 627 (20%) of these UFI patients, consisting of 96 of 409 (23%) cases with sterile blood cultures and 29 of 218 (13%) cases with enteric fever, for additional diagnostic investigations. We found serological evidence of acute murine typhus in 21 of 125 (17%) patients, with 12 of 21 (57%) patients polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive for Rickettsia typhi. Three UFI cases were quantitative PCR-positive for Rickettsia spp., two UFI cases were seropositive for Hantavirus, and one UFI case was seropositive for Q fever. Fever clearance time (FCT) for rickettsial infection was 44.5 hours (interquartile range = 26-66 hours), and there was no difference in FCT between ofloxacin or gatifloxacin. Murine typhus represents an important cause of predominantly urban UFIs in Nepal, and fluoroquinolones seem to be an effective empirical treatment

Exploring Mental Health and Academic Outcomes of Children Receiving Non-manualized, Transdiagnostic, Task-Shifted Mental Health Care From Their Teachers in a Low-and-Middle Income Country

A majority of children worldwide who face mental health difficulties, especially in low-and-middle income countries, remain undiagnosed and untreated. This deficit roots in part from a lack of trained professionals qualified to provide care. Task-shifting the provision of treatment to teachers, individuals with consistent access to children, can reduce the care gap. The current study investigated whether the implementation of a pilot trial of Tealeaf-Mansik Swastha (Teachers Leading the Frontlines—Mental Health; “Tealeaf”) was associated with improvements in child mental health and academic outcomes. Tealeaf is a transdiagnostic, non-manualized, task-shifting intervention in which teachers identify students in need of mental health care and then provide task-shifted care for them using an emerging, novel therapy modality, “education as mental health therapy” (Ed-MH). Pre-post standardized quantitative measures focused on child mental health status and academics. The measures were completed by multiple raters and compared to determine whether changes occurred. Results indicated that primary teacher raters observed significant improvements in child mental health symptoms overall, while secondary teacher raters and caregivers noted improvement for certain diagnostic categories. Caregivers observed on average a decreased impact of their children's mental health symptoms on their children's lives. Academically, math scores significantly improved while reading trended toward significance. Preliminary evidence overall supports the viability of Tealeaf and Ed-MH for positively impacting child mental health and academics. Future directions include the implementation of a formalized, randomized-controlled trial to strengthen preliminary outcomes

Azithromycin and cefixime combination versus azithromycin alone for the out-patient treatment of clinically suspected or confirmed uncomplicated typhoid fever in South Asia: a randomised controlled trial protocol.

Background: Typhoid and paratyphoid fever (enteric fever) is a common cause of non-specific febrile infection in adults and children presenting to health care facilities in low resource settings such as the South Asia.  A 7-day course of a single oral antimicrobial such as ciprofloxacin, cefixime, or azithromycin is commonly used for its treatment. Increasing antimicrobial resistance threatens the effectiveness of these treatment choices. We hypothesize that combined treatment with azithromycin (active mainly intracellularly) and cefixime (active mainly extracellularly) will be a better option for the treatment of clinically suspected and culture-confirmed typhoid fever in South Asia. Methods: This is a phase IV, international multi-center, multi-country, comparative participant-and observer-blind, 1:1 randomised clinical trial. Patients with suspected uncomplicated typhoid fever will be randomized to one of the two interventions: Arm A: azithromycin 20mg/kg/day oral dose once daily (maximum 1gm/day) and cefixime 20mg/kg/day oral dose in two divided doses (maximum 400mg bd) for 7 days, Arm B: azithromycin 20mg/kg/day oral dose once daily (max 1gm/day) for 7 days AND cefixime-matched placebo for 7 days. We will recruit 1500 patients across sites in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. We will assess whether treatment outcomes are better with the combination after one week of treatment and at one- and three-months follow-up. Discussion: Combined treatment may limit the emergence of resistance if one of the components is active against resistant sub-populations not covered by the other antimicrobial activity. If the combined treatment is better than the single antimicrobial treatment, this will be an important result for patients across South Asia and other typhoid endemic areas. Clinicaltrials.gov registration: NCT04349826 (16/04/2020)

Impact of a package of diagnostic tools, clinical algorithm, and training and communication on outpatient acute fever case management in low- and middle-income countries: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The management of acute febrile illnesses places a heavy burden on clinical services in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Bacterial and viral aetiologies of acute fevers are often clinically indistinguishable and, in the absence of diagnostic tests, the 'just-in-case' use of antibiotics by many health workers has become common practice, which has an impact on drug-resistant infections. Our study aims to answer the following question: in patients with undifferentiated febrile illness presenting to outpatient clinics/peripheral health centres in LMICs, can we demonstrate an improvement in clinical outcomes and reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescription over current practice by using a combination of simple, accurate diagnostic tests, clinical algorithms, and training and communication (intervention package)? METHODS: We designed a randomized, controlled clinical trial to evaluate the impact of our intervention package on clinical outcomes and antibiotic prescription rates in acute febrile illnesses. Available, point-of-care, pathogen-specific and non-pathogen specific (host markers), rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) included in the intervention package were selected based on pre-defined criteria. Nine clinical study sites in six countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Uganda), which represent heterogeneous outpatient care settings, were selected. We considered the expected seasonal variations in the incidence of acute febrile illnesses across all the sites by ensuring a recruitment period of 12 months. A master protocol was developed and adapted for country-specific ethical submissions. Diagnostic algorithms and choice of RDTs acknowledged current data on aetiologies of acute febrile illnesses in each country. We included a qualitative evaluation of drivers and/or deterrents of uptake of new diagnostics and antibiotic use for acute febrile illnesses. Sample size estimations were based on historical site data of antibiotic prescription practices for malarial and non-malarial acute fevers. Overall, 9 semi-independent studies will enrol a minimum of 21,876 patients and an aggregate data meta-analysis will be conducted on completion. DISCUSSION: This study is expected to generate vital evidence needed to inform policy decisions on the role of rapid diagnostic tests in the clinical management of acute febrile illnesses, with a view to controlling the rise of antimicrobial resistance in LMICs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT04081051 . Registered on 6 September 2019. Protocol version 1.4 dated 20 December 2019