Pulsed electric field processing of functional drink based on tender coconut water (Cococus nucifera L.) - nannari (Hemidesmus indicus) blended beverage

Tender coconut water (Cocos nucifera L.) Nannari extract (Hemidesmus indicus L.) ready-to serve (RTS) blended beverage were optimised. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the levels of independent variables (levels of tender coconut water, nannari extract and sugar). The responses of pH, ºBrix, CIE colour (L*, a* and b*) value and OAA were studied. The data obtained were analysed by multiple regression technique to generate suitable mathematical models. The developed blended beverage was processed using pulsed electric field (PEF) with electric field 31.2 kV/cm, 20 pulse widths at 100 Hz frequency to minimise nutritional and sensory attributes losses and compared with conventional thermal pasteurization (96 ºC for 360 s) with p-value of 8.03. Thermal pasteurization showed a significant (p<0.05) decrease in colour value, radical scavenging activity and overall acceptability after treatment and also during storage, when compared to PEF treated tender coconut water-nannari blended beverage. PEF treatment also achieved a 3.01 ± 0.69 log inactivation, similar to thermal pasteurization of native micro flora. PEF treated tender coconut water-nannari blended beverage was stable up to 120 days under ambient storage condition (27-30 °C)

Nutritional status of fisherwomen

Most fisher women were taking rice as it was their staple food. The mean consumption of rice was 330 gm/day. The consumption of pulses was 18•25 gm/day. The consumption of green leafy vegetables was found to be less and was observed to be 12 gm/day. The consumption of other. vegetable was also less. Consumption of fish was found to be more as it was easily available for them. Cereal consumption was found to be high in Andhra Pradesh followed by Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamilnadu

Knowledge, Aptitude and Practice (KAP) of nutrition, health and hygiene: fisher women

Nutrition education, education on ealth and hygiene and awareness on environmental sanitation and cleanliness were carried on in the surveyed places during the survey period. The response to the awareness created was between 35 - 50% in al the aspects of the nutrition education given. Changes in their life style cannot be brought at a stretch. Hence there is a need to create awareness on a continuous basis to so that they can practice the knowledge gained in day to day activitie

Partial joint processing with efficient backhauling using particle swarm optimization

In cellular communication systems with frequency reuse factor of one, user terminals (UT) at the cell-edge are prone to intercell interference. Joint processing is one of the coordinated multipoint transmission techniques proposed to mitigate this interference. In the case of centralized joint processing, the channel state information fed back by the users need to be available at the central coordination node for precoding. The precoding weights (with the user data) need to be available at the corresponding base stations to serve the UTs. These increase the backhaul traffic. In this article, partial joint processing (PJP) is considered as a general framework that allows reducing the amount of required feedback. However, it is difficult to achieve a corresponding reduction on the backhaul related to the precoding weights, when a linear zero forcing beamforming technique is used. In this work, particle swarm optimization is proposed as a tool to design the precoding weights under feedback and backhaul constraints related to PJP. The precoder obtained with the objective of weighted interference minimization allows some multiuser interference in the system, and it is shown to improve the sum rate by 66% compared to a conventional zero forcing approach, for those users experiencing low signal to interference plus noise ratio

Clinical & nutritional status of women and preschool children

Clinical examination is an important practical method for assessing the nutritional status of a community. Clinical assessment of a community gives valuable information especially in regions where malnutrition is wide spread hence a clinical examination was conducted among the fisher women and preschoole·rs in the study area. The method for clin ical examination was based on examination for changes, believed to be related to inadequate nutrition that can be seen or felt in superficial epithelia tissues, especially the skin, eyes, hair and buccal mucosa, or in organs near the surface of the body, such as parotid and thyroid gland

Metabotyping of docosahexaenoic acid - Treated alzheimer's disease cell model

10.1371/journal.pone.0090123PLoS ONE92-POLN

Stereotaxical Infusion of Rotenone: A Reliable Rodent Model for Parkinson's Disease

A clinically-related animal model of Parkinson's disease (PD) may enable the elucidation of the etiology of the disease and assist the development of medications. However, none of the current neurotoxin-based models recapitulates the main clinical features of the disease or the pathological hallmarks, such as dopamine (DA) neuron specificity of degeneration and Lewy body formation, which limits the use of these models in PD research. To overcome these limitations, we developed a rat model by stereotaxically (ST) infusing small doses of the mitochondrial complex-I inhibitor, rotenone, into two brain sites: the right ventral tegmental area and the substantia nigra. Four weeks after ST rotenone administration, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity in the infusion side decreased by 43.7%, in contrast to a 75.8% decrease observed in rats treated systemically with rotenone (SYS). The rotenone infusion also reduced the DA content, the glutathione and superoxide dismutase activities, and induced alpha-synuclein expression, when compared to the contralateral side. This ST model displays neither peripheral toxicity or mortality and has a high success rate. This rotenone-based ST model thus recapitulates the slow and specific loss of DA neurons and better mimics the clinical features of idiopathic PD, representing a reliable and more clinically-related model for PD research

Survival bias and drug interaction can attenuate cross-sectional case-control comparisons of genes with health outcomes. An example of the kinesin-like protein 6 (KIF6) Trp719Arg polymorphism and coronary heart disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Case-control studies typically exclude fatal endpoints from the case set, which we hypothesize will substantially underestimate risk if survival is genotype-dependent. The loss of fatal cases is particularly nontrivial for studies of coronary heart disease (CHD) because of significantly reduced survival (34% one-year fatality following a coronary attack). A case in point is the <it>KIF6 </it>Trp719Arg polymorphism (rs20455). Whereas six prospective studies have shown that carriers of the <it>KIF6 </it>Trp719Arg risk allele have 20% to 50% greater CHD risk than non-carriers, several cross-sectional case-control studies failed to show that carrier status is related to CHD. Computer simulations were therefore employed to assess the impact of the loss of fatal events on gene associations in cross-sectional case-control studies, using <it>KIF6 </it>Trp719Arg as an example.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ten replicates of 1,000,000 observations each were generated reflecting Canadian demographics. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks were assigned by the Framingham equation and events distributed among <it>KIF6 </it>Trp719Arg genotypes according to published prospective studies. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odds ratios between <it>KIF6 </it>genotypes. Results were examined for 33%, 41.5%, and 50% fatality rates for incident CVD.</p> <p>In the absence of any difference in percent fatalities between genotypes, the odds ratios (carriers vs. noncarriers) were unaffected by survival bias, otherwise the odds ratios were increasingly attenuated as the disparity between fatality rates increased between genotypes. Additional simulations demonstrated that statin usage, shown in four clinical trials to substantially reduce the excess CHD risk in the <it>KIF6 </it>719Arg variant, should also attenuate the <it>KIF6 </it>719Arg odds ratio in case-control studies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These computer simulations show that exclusions of prior CHD fatalities attenuate odds ratios of case-control studies in proportion to the difference in the percent fatalities between genotypes. Disproportionate CHD survival for <it>KIF6 </it>Trip719Arg carriers is suggested by their 50% greater risk for recurrent myocardial infarction. This, and the attenuation of <it>KIF6 </it>719Arg carrier risk with statin use, may explain the genotype's weak association with CHD in cross-sectional case-control studies. The results may be relevant to the underestimation of risk in cross-sectional case-control studies of other genetic CHD-risk factors affecting survival.</p

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990-2013: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

Background: The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for prevention. The GBD 2013 provides a timely opportunity to update the comparative risk assessment with new data for exposure, relative risks, and evidence on the appropriate counterfactual risk distribution. Methods: Attributable deaths, years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) have been estimated for 79 risks or clusters of risks using the GBD 2010 methods. Risk-outcome pairs meeting explicit evidence criteria were assessed for 188 countries for the period 1990-2013 by age and sex using three inputs: risk exposure, relative risks, and the theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL). Risks are organised into a hierarchy with blocks of behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks at the first level of the hierarchy. The next level in the hierarchy includes nine clusters of related risks and two individual risks, with more detail provided at levels 3 and 4 of the hierarchy. Compared with GBD 2010, six new risk factors have been added: handwashing practices, occupational exposure to trichloroethylene, childhood wasting, childhood stunting, unsafe sex, and low glomerular filtration rate. For most risks, data for exposure were synthesised with a Bayesian metaregression method, DisMod-MR 2.0, or spatial-temporal Gaussian process regression. Relative risks were based on meta-regressions of published cohort and intervention studies. Attributable burden for clusters of risks and all risks combined took into account evidence on the mediation of some risks such as high body-mass index (BMI) through other risks such as high systolic blood pressure and high cholesterol. Findings: All risks combined account for 57·2% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 55·8-58·5) of deaths and 41·6% (40·1-43·0) of DALYs. Risks quantified account for 87·9% (86·5-89·3) of cardiovascular disease DALYs, ranging to a low of 0% for neonatal disorders and neglected tropical diseases and malaria. In terms of global DALYs in 2013, six risks or clusters of risks each caused more than 5% of DALYs: dietary risks accounting for 11·3 million deaths and 241·4 million DALYs, high systolic blood pressure for 10·4 million deaths and 208·1 million DALYs, child and maternal malnutrition for 1·7 million deaths and 176·9 million DALYs, tobacco smoke for 6·1 million deaths and 143·5 million DALYs, air pollution for 5·5 million deaths and 141·5 million DALYs, and high BMI for 4·4 million deaths and 134·0 million DALYs. Risk factor patterns vary across regions and countries and with time. In sub-Saharan Africa, the leading risk factors are child and maternal malnutrition, unsafe sex, and unsafe water, sanitation, and handwashing. In women, in nearly all countries in the Americas, north Africa, and the Middle East, and in many other high-income countries, high BMI is the leading risk factor, with high systolic blood pressure as the leading risk in most of Central and Eastern Europe and south and east Asia. For men, high systolic blood pressure or tobacco use are the leading risks in nearly all high-income countries, in north Africa and the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. For men and women, unsafe sex is the leading risk in a corridor from Kenya to South Africa. Interpretation: Behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks can explain half of global mortality and more than one-third of global DALYs providing many opportunities for prevention. Of the larger risks, the attributable burden of high BMI has increased in the past 23 years. In view of the prominence of behavioural risk factors, behavioural and social science research on interventions for these risks should be strengthened. Many prevention and primary care policy options are available now to act on key risks

Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

Background Up-to-date evidence on levels and trends for age-sex-specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality is essential for the formation of global, regional, and national health policies. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) we estimated yearly deaths for 188 countries between 1990, and 2013. We used the results to assess whether there is epidemiological convergence across countries. Methods We estimated age-sex-specific all-cause mortality using the GBD 2010 methods with some refinements to improve accuracy applied to an updated database of vital registration, survey, and census data. We generally estimated cause of death as in the GBD 2010. Key improvements included the addition of more recent vital registration data for 72 countries, an updated verbal autopsy literature review, two new and detailed data systems for China, and more detail for Mexico, UK, Turkey, and Russia. We improved statistical models for garbage code redistribution. We used six different modelling strategies across the 240 causes; cause of death ensemble modelling (CODEm) was the dominant strategy for causes with sufficient information. Trends for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias were informed by meta-regression of prevalence studies. For pathogen-specific causes of diarrhoea and lower respiratory infections we used a counterfactual approach. We computed two measures of convergence (inequality) across countries: the average relative difference across all pairs of countries (Gini coefficient) and the average absolute difference across countries. To summarise broad findings, we used multiple decrement life-tables to decompose probabilities of death from birth to exact age 15 years, from exact age 15 years to exact age 50 years, and from exact age 50 years to exact age 75 years, and life expectancy at birth into major causes. For all quantities reported, we computed 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). We constrained cause-specific fractions within each age-sex-country-year group to sum to all-cause mortality based on draws from the uncertainty distributions. Findings Global life expectancy for both sexes increased from 65·3 years (UI 65·0-65·6) in 1990, to 71·5 years (UI 71·0-71·9) in 2013, while the number of deaths increased from 47·5 million (UI 46·8-48·2) to 54·9 million (UI 53·6-56·3) over the same interval. Global progress masked variation by age and sex: for children, average absolute differences between countries decreased but relative differences increased. For women aged 25-39 years and older than 75 years and for men aged 20-49 years and 65 years and older, both absolute and relative differences increased. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the prominent role of reductions in age-standardised death rates for cardiovascular diseases and cancers in high-income regions, and reductions in child deaths from diarrhoea, lower respiratory infections, and neonatal causes in low-income regions. HIV/AIDS reduced life expectancy in southern sub-Saharan Africa. For most communicable causes of death both numbers of deaths and age-standardised death rates fell whereas for most non-communicable causes, demographic shifts have increased numbers of deaths but decreased age-standardised death rates. Global deaths from injury increased by 10·7%, from 4·3 million deaths in 1990 to 4·8 million in 2013; but age-standardised rates declined over the same period by 21%. For some causes of more than 100 000 deaths per year in 2013, age-standardised death rates increased between 1990 and 2013, including HIV/AIDS, pancreatic cancer, atrial fibrillation and flutter, drug use disorders, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and sickle-cell anaemias. Diarrhoeal diseases, lower respiratory infections, neonatal causes, and malaria are still in the top five causes of death in children younger than 5 years. The most important pathogens are rotavirus for diarrhoea and pneumococcus for lower respiratory infections. Country-specific probabilities of death over three phases of life were substantially varied between and within regions. Interpretation For most countries, the general pattern of reductions in age-sex specific mortality has been associated with a progressive shift towards a larger share of the remaining deaths caused by non-communicable disease and injuries. Assessing epidemiological convergence across countries depends on whether an absolute or relative measure of inequality is used. Nevertheless, age-standardised death rates for seven substantial causes are increasing, suggesting the potential for reversals in some countries. Important gaps exist in the empirical data for cause of death estimates for some countries; for example, no national data for India are available for the past decade. Funding Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation