Study of relationship between serum magnesium and carotid atherosclerosis in hemodialysis versus non-hemodialysis dependent CKD patients

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in CKD mainly due to accelerated atherosclerosis. Mg2+ possesses an anti-atherosclerotic effect, because of its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Mg2+ deficiency promotes hydroxyapatite formation and calcification of VSMC thus leading to accelerated plaque formation. To evaluate relationship between serum Mg2+ level and atherosclerotic changes in CKD patients who are hemodialysis dependent versus who have not undergone hemodialysis. Methods: This hospital based observational cross-sectional study has been carried out in Department of K.P.S Institute of Medicine, GSVM Medical College, Kanpur.58 subjects (29 being dialysis dependent and other 29 who have not undergone dialysis sessions yet. All the subjects underwent routine tests and intima media thickness (IMT) of carotid artery was measured via Doppler study. Results: In our study the mean value of Mg was 2.25 mg/dl + 0.81 with 17 patients had hypomagnesemia. IMT of carotid artery with a mean value of 0.91mm + 0.24, was found to be increased in 16 patients, these were the patients who were on hemodialysis and had lower magnesium levels. Serum Mg2+ was negatively correlated (Pearson correlation coefficient was -0.677 and -0.704) with CIMT with statistical significance as (P<0.001) , only in patients who have underwent series of hemodialysis sessions. Conclusions: We concluded that serum Mg might be considered as a modifiable risk factor of atherosclerosis (and thus, cardiovascular mortality) in Hemodialysis dependent CKD patients

Risk analysis of machine maintenance using Markov chains

Maintenance and risk management are important issues in any manufacturing company. In order to keep equipment running efficiently and reduce maintenance cost for better profit margin, manufacturing plants have always been seeking a effective way to replace Corrective Maintenances (CM) that occur after unscheduled downtimes with more cost-effective Predictive Maintenance (PdM). Most often, sensors are used at crucial parts of a machine to gather data. Therefore, the effectiveness of predictive maintenance is enhanced by using historical measured event data that exists in most manufacturing equipment log database. This report, utilizing a log database from a semiconductor company plant as a study example, investigates a Recipe Based Approach (PBA) for failure risk analysis. For this approach, three different analyzing methods are used to perform a risk analysis of the system; these are – Statistical Regression Analysis, Back-Propagation Neural Network Analysis and Markov Chain analysis. The significance of this project is to create a platform to perform risk profiling of a system. Another feature of the program is its ease of use to update and understand data. The main program is designed using Visual Basic for Applications and neural network algorithm is implemented using MatLabScripts.Bachelor of Engineerin

IJCM_246A: Estimating the prevalence of seat belt usage in motor cars: A descriptive cross-sectional study in Mangalore

Background: Every year 1.25 million people die of road traffic accidents. Several safety measures can be taken to prevent RTAs. The SDG 2030 set the target to halve the number of global death and injuries from road traffic accidents by the year 2020. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of seat belt use and factors influencing it including driver characteristics, type of car and time of day and distractions while driving. Methodology: This Descriptive cross-sectional study was set on the major roads and intersections of Mangalore, recruiting the drivers and front-seat passengers in the motor cars at the time and site of observation. Results: A total of 6165 motor cars were observed. 15 (0.2%) of these cars had completely tinted car windows, therefore out of the total, 6150 motor cars could be properly observed. 70.91% (4361) of drivers were wearing seat belts. Seat belt usage among drivers was found to be higher on highways (76.6%) as compared to on residential and city roads (69.3%). In vicinity of traffic police, 76.5% of drivers were observed to be wearing seat belts in contrary only 67.8% of them were wearing seatbelts in the absence of traffic police. Prevalence of mobile phone use and other distractions amongst drivers was 2.1%. Out of 2646 adult front seat passengers observed, only 10.9% were wearing seat belts. Conclusion: Among drivers, type of motor car, traffic zone and type of road and presence of traffic police in vicinity are significantly associated factors with seatbelt usage. Among adult front seat passengers, type of motor car, traffic zone, type of road and presence of traffic police in vicinity are significantly associated. Among front seat child passengers, type of road and traffic zone are significantly associated with seat belt usage