Connecting Geographically Dispersed Classrooms for Computer Supported Collaborative Work

Today\u27s increasingly global economy is changing the way businesses communicate. Technology to facilitate business communications and operations continues to advance and set the pace for these changing needs. Educational institutions that are building tomorrow\u27s workforce should create opportunities for students where they can apply this technology to future business needs. This paper presents an inter-university project that provided practical experience to two groups of students at two different universities. Through information technology, both groups experienced first-hand the value of computer technology and inherent problems with using computer technology to solve problems over great distances

Using CSCW Technology to Connect Classrooms

This paper describes the details and results of a pilot study in which students at two geographically dispersed institutions of higher education were linked together using communication technologies and the Internet. Experiments were designed to require student groups at both universities to collaborate locally and with their remote partners using electronic mail, the Internet, and other computing technologies to output Joint solutions to class assignments. The successful results of these Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) experiments suggest future Implementations of similar inter- and Intra-university projects will enhance the quality of IS education, benefiting both students and prospective employers

A Convenient Approach for the Synthesis of Ingenous Imidazole Derivatives Using Microwaves

Imidazole  is  a  planar, five  membered  heteroaromatic  molecule  with  pyrrole  type  and  pyridine  type  annular  nitrogens.  It  is  the  constituent  of  several natural  compounds  like histamine,  histidine,  biotin,  alkaloids  and  nucleic acid  and  a  very  important  class  among  the  medicinal  compounds. Imidazole  moiety  has  been  established  as  the  potential  entity  in  the  large  growing  chemical  world  of  heterocyclic  compounds  possessing  promising  pharmacological  characterstics,  therefore  this  article  aims  to review  the  work  reported  on  the  synthesis  of  imidazole  derivatives  using microwave  reactions  as  a  modern  method  for  synthesis,  to  get  better yield,  economic  and  environment  friendly  reaction. Keywords:  Heterocycle,  Imidazole  ,  Microwave Techniques,  Green Chemistry, Ecofriendl

Estimation of maternal serum vitamin D levels and its correlation with gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: Several studies in the past two decades have proved beyond doubt that there is a high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D worldwide including India which has almost taken the shape of a pandemic. The study aims to determine the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in the pregnant population of Delhi and its correlation with gestational diabetes mellitus.Methods: This prospective cross sectional observational study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Dr R.M.L Hospital, New Delhi over a period of 1 year and 4 months. Four hundred term patients were enrolled randomly from amongst the patients admitted in labor room or antenatal ward at PGIMER, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. 3-4ml of fasting blood samples were collected of all the enrolled women and were analysed for total serum calcium levels and serum vitamin D levels. History of presence of gestational diabetes mellitus was noted along with any treatment history. The 25(OH)D levels for each subject was recorded and correlation of vitamin D levels with gestational diabetes mellitus was analysed. Statistical analysis was done using ANOVA/ Kruska Wallis test and Chi-Square test/ Fisher’s exact test. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The overall prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the present study was 86.25%. The overall mean serum vitamin D level was 14.06±9.43 ng/ml. Thirty five out of 37 GDM patients had hypovitaminosis D i.e. 94.59%. The prevalence of hypovitaminosis D among non-GDM population was 85.40%. The association between GDM and Vitamin D deficiency was statistically non- significant in the present study with p value=0.186.Conclusions: There is a very high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in pregnant females attending present institute i.e. 86.25%. Although 94.59 % of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus patients had vitamin D deficiency, there is no statistically significant association between Gestational diabetes mellitus and serum vitamin D levels

Therapeutic Approaches of Some Novel Glyoxaline Derivatives

Gloxaline have occupied a unique position in heterocyclic chemistry, and its derivatives have attracted considerable interests in recent years for their versatile properties in chemistry and pharmacology. Gloxaline is nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring which possesses biological and pharmaceutical importance. Thus, Gloxaline compounds have been an interesting source for researchers for more than a century.   The Gloxaline ring is a constituent of several important natural products, including purine, histamine, histidine, and nucleic acid. Being a polar and ionisable aromatic compound, it improves pharmacokinetic characteristics of lead molecules and thus is used as a remedy to optimize solubility and bioavailability parameters of proposed poorly soluble lead molecules. There are several methods used for the synthesis of gloxaline -containing compounds, and also their various structure reactions offer enormous scope in the field of medicinal chemistry. The Gloxaline derivatives possess extensive spectrum of biological activities such as antibacterial, anticancer, antitubercular, antifungal, analgesic, and anti-HIV activities. This paper aims to review the biological activities of gloxaline during the past years

A Double Truncated Binomial Model to Assess Psychiatric Health through Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale: When is Intervention Useful?

A double truncated binomial distribution model with ‘u’ classes truncated on left and ‘v’ classes truncated on right is introduced. Its characteristics, namely, generating functions; and the measures of skewness and kurtosis have been obtained. The unknown parameter has been estimated using the method of maximum likelihood and the method of moments. The confidence interval of the estimate has been obtained through Fisher’s information matrix. The model is applied on cross sectional data obtained through Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) administered on a group of school going adolescent students; and the above-mentioned characteristics have been evaluated. An expert, on the basis of the BPRS score values, suggested an intervention program. The BPRS scores of the students who could be administered the intervention program lied in a range (which was above the lowest and below the highest possible values) suggested by the expert. Whereas the complete data suggested the average number of problem areas is four (which was not in consonance with the observations given by the expert), the double truncated model suggested the number of such areas as five which was consistent with the observations made by the expert. This establishes the usefulness of double truncated models in such scenarios

Role of dual biomarkers and uterine artery doppler study in predicting PIH and IUGR in antenatal patients registered in a tertiary care centre

Background: The incidence of IUGR is between 3 to 7%, whereas that of Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is about 10% of pregnant women around the world. These conditions are associated with a high rate of perinatal morbidity and mortality, posing a need for the detection of the potential causes of maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality and for the prediction of these conditions early during pregnancy.Methods: Patients with first antenatal visit before 10 weeks gestation underwent routine NT scan between 11–13 weeks with bilateral UAD-RI of the maternal uterine arteries. The placental volume was assessed. Serum dual biomarker test (β hCG and PAPP-A) was performed after this scan and analysed as multiples of median (MoM). Blood pressure was recorded at every ANC visit till 2 weeks after delivery. Neonatal head and chest circumference, birth length and weight were recorded.Results: The mean values of PAPP-A levels of Non-PIH and PIH groups were 1.32±0.91 MoM and 0.68±0.39 MoM respectively, showing statistically significant difference.  The serum PAPP-A levels showed statistically significant difference between Non-IUGR and IUGR groups (1.24±0.87 MoM and 0.46±0.20 MoM respectively).Conclusions: In our study, PAPP-A level is observed as a good indicator for possible prediction of PIH and IUGR whereas levels of β hCG and UAD-RI were not good predictors. The role of Placental volume in prediction of IUGR needs to be explored further with larger sample size. Future studies are needed with a larger group with inclusion of measurement of PI values

Malaria in Pregnancy

Malaria infection during pregnancy is an important public health problem with substantial risks to both the mother and foetus. Pregnant women are the most vulnerable group of malaria‐associated morbidity and mortality. A pregnant woman has an increased risk (up to four times) of getting malaria and twice the chances of dying from malaria, compared to a non‐pregnant adult, becuase the immune system is partially suppressed during pregnancy. Malaria in pregnancy not only affects the mother but also has a dangerous sequel for the developing foetus, resulting in premature delivery or intrauterine growth retardation. Diagnosis of malaria in pregnancy remains a challenge due to the low parasite density and placental sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum. Thus, there is an urgent need for new diagnostic methods to detect malarial parasites in the pregnant women. Though antimalarial drugs are available, which can be safely given in the pregnancy, increasing drug resistance of malarial parasite may pose a big problem in the future. In this chapter, we review the burden of pregnancy‐associated malaria (PAM), its pathogenesis, diagnostic issues during pregnancy and recent guidelines for chemoprophylaxsis and treatment

A comparative study between magnetic resonance imaging and transvaginal sonography for evaluation of uterine fibroid using histopathology as a gold standard

Background: Uterine fibroids constitute a substantial bulk of patients presenting to Gynaecology department. Many newer imaging modalities have evolved for their correct evaluation, but in a developing country like India, ultrasound is still being used as a screening as well as diagnostic modality. So, this study was done to compare ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of uterine fibroids in terms of their sensitivity, specificity Trans vaginal  and positive predictive value using Histopathology as a gold standard so as to improvise on current clinical practices in this country.Methods: An ethically approved prospective study was done upon 50 patients with suspected uterine masses at SMS Hospital Jaipur. All included patients underwent Trans vaginal Ultrasound (TVS) and Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and were accordingly treated surgically. Histopathology report was traced postoperatively. Data was collected and subjected to various statistical tests including Cohen’s kappa.Results: Most of the patients were <50 years and presented with complains of pain abdomen. Among total 50 cases, the sensitivity of TVS and MRI was 44% and 92%, specificity was 96% and 88%, PPV was 91.67% and 88.46%, NPV was 63.16% and 91.67% respectively, kappa was 0.40 and 0.80 i.e. agreement between TVS and MRI v/s HPE was 40% and 80% respectively. The diagonal agreement between transvaginal USG and MRI, was 63%.Conclusions: TVS is a good screening modality but MRI is definitely better for proper characterization and localization of fibroids enabling clinicians to select the most appropriate management in everyday clinical practice