Prospective study on development of Perianal Fistula following incision and drainage for Perianal Abscess

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Perianal Fistula formation following incision and drainage of the perianal abscess is not an uncommon problem.Several factors influences the fistula formation. Younger Age, Antibiotic use following abscess drainage, Fecal organism in abscess and Antiseptic solution mixed sitz bath are associated with increased risk of fistula formation. Immunocompromized states, Skin organism in abscess and Plain tap water for sitz bath are associated with decreased risk of fistula formation. In this study we try evaluate the factors influencing fistula formation, particularly plain tap water for sitz bath vs antiseptic solution mixed sitz bath. METHODOLOGY: 45 cases of perianal abscess visited to Out Patient Department of Govt. Rajaji hospital, Madurai were included into the study. All were underwent Incision and Drainage for the abscess and followed till the wound healing or for 3 months. Patients excluded from the study are Chrons disease, known fistula, multiple abscesspatients and If the wound not healed for 3 months after drainage. Randomly plain tap water sitz bath and antiseptic mixed tap water sitz bath was recommended. Clinical and laboratory parameters were collected on the first visit. Wound evaluated on need basis till the wound heals. RESULTS: Total of 45 patients were included in the study, among them 13 patients were females and 32 were males.Among the 45 patients drained for perianal abscess 14 developed perianal fistula and the remaining 31 wound healed without fistula formation. Abscess cavity depth of >3cm after drainage associated with fistula formation 42.9%(12) compared to 11.8%(2) in patients with<3cm cavity with significant p value of 0.03. When >15m1 of pus drained associated with fistula formation 52.9%(9) compared to 17.9%(5) in <15 ml pus drained patients with significant p value of 0.01. Fecal organism in culture associated with 56.5%(13) of fistula formation compared with 4.5%(1) in skin organisms in culture with significant p value of < 0.001. CONCLUSION: We conclude that Depth of abscess cavity, amount of pus drained and Fecal organism in culture increases the chance of fistula formation. Where as Plain tap water for sitz bath redues the chance for fistula formation

Mineral Nutrient Variations in Soybean (Glycine max ) After Treatment with Exogenous Cobalt

In this experiment, we tried to explore the changes that are occurring in soybean plants due to the treatment with exogenous cobalt. A&Acirc;&nbsp; pot culture experiment was conducted and cobalt was given to Soybean (Glycine max) plants by soil drenching method. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, copper, iron, manganese and zinc contents were extracted and estimated from both control and treated plant parts (from roots and shoot). The results showed the low concentrations of cobalt (50 mg kg-1 Co level) in the soil enhanced these parameters while higher concentration (Co level (100-200 mg kg-1) in the soil) didn&acirc;&euro;&trade;t show any significant effect.&Acirc;&nbsp

Compliant Materials for Drag Reduction of High-speed Submerged Bodies

This paper briefly discusses the possibility of employing the compliant materials on underwater bodies for the drag reduction. Recent studies in the area of hydrobionics all-over the world have drawn the attention of hydrodynamicists for using the compliant materials on underwater body surfaces, similar to that found in fast aquatic animals like dolphins, towards achieving drag reduction and increased speeds of underwater vehicles and weapons'. Some basic principles of hydrohionics in drag reduction have been presented with special emphasis on the control of turbulent boundary layer characteristics of flow over the compliant material surfaces and induce delay in transition. Various researchers have estimated that the use of such compliantmaterial surfaces can lead to an overall drag reductton of the order of 10-12 per cent over drag of the rigid surface. This is a considerable drag reduction and should arouse keen interest among the underwater weapon and vehicle designers as the next stage of technological advancement in underwater hydrodynamic technology

A prospective observational study on drug safety monitoring and Pharmacoeconomics in patients with locally advanced unresectable NSCLC in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer for both men and women. The study was aimed at learning and comparing the toxicities of various chemotherapeutic regimens for the treatment of carcinoma lung, which will help in the implementation of counter measures to avoid development of toxicities, with a constant vigil on the patients during chemotherapeutic cycles. This study also aimed at searching into the added economic burden to the unfortunate patient, who is already suffering from a deadly disease. Study also targeted at evaluating the performance status of the patients receiving the chemotherapy.Methods: The Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) data was collected from 40 patients receiving chemotherapy for locally advanced unresectable carcinoma lung from the cancer wards of a tertiary care hospital over a period of 2 months. ADRs were graded according to WHO guidelines and their performance statuses were assessed using the Zubrod’s performance scale. Cost analysis of chemotherapeutic regimens was also carried out.Results: On comparison, alopecia and peripheral neuropathy were significantly more common with carboplatin-paclitaxel combination compared to other regimens (p value<0.005). Cost analysis reveals that the most commonly employed carboplatin-paclitaxel combination is more affordable when compared to the newer highly expensive agents but is costlier than cisplatin based chemotherapy. Also, carboplatin-paclitaxel combination offers a reasonably good performance status.Conclusions: Thus, carboplatin-paclitaxel combination is the preferred regimen for palliation in advanced NSCLC, especially in the older patients

Analysis of prescription pattern of antihypertensives in various stages of chronic kidney disease

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an emerging health problem and is one of the major causes of mortality. Hypertension is closely linked with CKD and both these conditions cause severe cardiovascular events. Hence blood pressure control is pertinent in all stages of CKD. This plays a major role in preventing its progression to end stage kidney disease and death. The objectives of the study were to analyse the class, dosing schedule of antihypertensive prescribed in Chronic Kidney Disease and the incidence of monotherapy and combination therapy.Methods: This study designed as a cross sectional study was conducted in Nephrology department of a tertiary care center and antihypertensive prescription pattern of 364 CKD patients was analyzed. Demographic details, the co-morbid factors and the details of drugs received by each patient were recorded from their outpatient/ inpatient charts. Data collected were entered in MS excel sheet and descriptive analysis done using SPSS software.Results: Calcium Channel Blocker (CCB) was the most commonly prescribed antihypertensive (70.6%) in all stages and the most common CCB was Cilnidipine (54%) with the dosing schedule of 20mg twice daily (56.4%). Incidence of combination therapy was 71.7% and CCB+AA (Alpha agonist) was the commonest combination prescribed in all stages except stage 1.Conclusions: CCBSs were widely prescribed as antihypertensive in CKD irrespective of the stages. Cilnidpine was the routinely prescribed CCB and seemed to be well tolerated by the patients. The protocol followed in this tertiary care center was in accordance with the standard guidelines by Kidney Disease Improving Global outcomes 2012

Single crystal diamond nanobeam waveguide optomechanics

Optomechanical devices sensitively transduce and actuate motion of nanomechanical structures using light. Single--crystal diamond promises to improve the performance of optomechanical devices, while also providing opportunities to interface nanomechanics with diamond color center spins and related quantum technologies. Here we demonstrate dissipative waveguide--optomechanical coupling exceeding 35 GHz/nm to diamond nanobeams supporting both optical waveguide modes and mechanical resonances, and use this optomechanical coupling to measure nanobeam displacement with a sensitivity of $9.5$ fm/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ and optical bandwidth $>150$nm. The nanobeams are fabricated from bulk optical grade single--crystal diamond using a scalable undercut etching process, and support mechanical resonances with quality factor $2.5 \times 10^5$ at room temperature, and $7.2 \times 10^5$ in cryogenic conditions (5K). Mechanical self--oscillations, resulting from interplay between photothermal and optomechanical effects, are observed with amplitude exceeding 200 nm for sub-$\mu$W absorbed optical power, demonstrating the potential for optomechanical excitation and manipulation of diamond nanomechanical structures.Comment: Minor changes. Corrected error in units of applied stress in Fig. 1

Socio-economic Impact Assessment of Livelihood Security in Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Aquaculture on the Tsunami-hit Lands of Andaman

Indian subcontinent is highly vulnerable to major natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods, droughts, landslides and bushfires. Tsunami, which is a recent addition to this list, had occurred in the early morning of 26th December 2004, after a massive earthquake of 9.2 magnitude on the Richter scale in Andaman & Nicobar islands, resulting in the submergence of large area of farmland, and subsequent drying up of water bodies. It caused moisture stress for the standing crops, livestock and fisheries and affected the livelihood of the people to a large extent. In this context, the present study has been carried out to make the socio-economic impact assessment of livelihood security in agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture on the tsunami-hit lands of Andaman. Data have been collected from 150 sample respondents and the survey has been conducted for two periods, pre-tsunami and post-tsunami. The results have indicated that tsunami has ravaged the households, standing crops, farm inputs such as seed, feed and implements, livestock and poultry population, their sheds, fish ponds, etc., thereby affecting the basic livelihood security of the people in Andaman. The rehabilitation measures taken by the government and NGOs have improved their livelihoods by reviving agriculture considerably in the subsequent years and by creating employment opportunities in various farm and non-farm activities. The paper has suggested creating profitable livelihood security to vulnerable sections of the society in the existing socio-economic penury with holistic intervention of the community, government and NGOs.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Efficient telecom to visible wavelength conversion in doubly resonant GaP microdisks

Resonant second harmonic generation between 1550 nm and 775 nm with outside efficiency $> 4.4\times10^{-4}\, \text{mW}^{-1}$ is demonstrated in a gallium phosphide microdisk cavity supporting high-$Q$ modes at visible ($Q \sim 10^4$) and infrared ($Q \sim 10^5$) wavelengths. The double resonance condition was satisfied through intracavity photothermal temperature tuning using $\sim 360\,\mu$W of 1550 nm light input to a fiber taper and resonantly coupled to the microdisk. Above this pump power efficiency was observed to decrease. The observed behavior is consistent with a simple model for thermal tuning of the double resonance condition.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Dissipative and Dispersive Optomechanics in a Nanocavity Torque Sensor

Dissipative and dispersive optomechanical couplings are experimentally observed in a photonic crystal split-beam nanocavity optimized for detecting nanoscale sources of torque. Dissipative coupling of up to approximately $500$ MHz/nm and dispersive coupling of $2$ GHz/nm enable measurements of sub-pg torsional and cantilever-like mechanical resonances with a thermally-limited torque detection sensitivity of 1.2$\times 10^{-20} \text{N} \, \text{m}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ in ambient conditions and 1.3$\times 10^{-21} \text{N} \, \text{m}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ in low vacuum. Interference between optomechanical coupling mechanisms is observed to enhance detection sensitivity and generate a mechanical-mode-dependent optomechanical wavelength response.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure