Menstrual cup: awareness among reproductive women

Background: Menstrual cup is an alternative to sanitary pads, which has received attention in relatively small-scale studies in high income, and low- and middle-income countries, including among schoolgirls. Made of high-grade medical grade silicone (biodegradable) have the advantage of reuse, and can potentially last up to 10 years. Objective of this study was to assess and analyse the awareness regarding menstrual cup among the women of reproductive age group.Methods: Data collected from the selected eligible participants by an interviewer administered study proforma. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study over 1 month in women in reproductive age in A. J. Institute Mangalore, Karnataka, India.Results: A total 82% were aware about menstrual cup but only 2.6% have used it.Conclusions: One challenge of menstruation that is taken for granted in affluent countries is the simple question of how to manage or contain the menstrual flow and what happens to a girl or woman who is not able to do this successfully. Menstrual hygiene management is therefore an increasingly important (yet often unrecognized) issue that is heavily intertwined with girls’ education, empowerment, and social development

Enhancing Construction Site Safety: Natural Language Processing for Hazards Identification and Prevention

Construction sites are well known for the inherent risks that negatively impact the safety and well-being of workers. Identifying and minimising these hazards is critical for preventing accidents and creating a safe working environment. Traditional techniques of hazards identification in construction rely on visual assessments and professional expertise, which can be time-consuming and subjective. The goal of this research is to identify traits that indicate potential dangers in the construction industry by extracting meaningful information from accident narratives. This will be achieved through the application of a rule-based iteration approach, using the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) for keyword extraction and text tokenization. It is a branch of artificial intelligence and computational linguistics concerned with the interaction of computers and human language. The research methodology involves the utilization of NLTK and the application of a rule-based iteration approach to extract hazards from construction-related accident narratives. The proposed approach includes gathering accident narratives, pre-processing data, and textual analysis with NLP tool for information extraction and training the algorithm with identified attributes. The textual analysis eventually leads to the extraction of significant sources of dangers that cause accidents. The study contributes to the developing subject of construction safety management by utilizing the capabilities of NLP to enhance hazard detection, resulting in safer construction practices and lower occupational hazards. The findings emphasise the accuracy with which NLP approaches detect dangers, allowing construction professionals to proactively decrease risks and enhance overall safety on construction sites

Retrospective analysis of intrauterine granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in controlled ovarian stimulation with intrauterine insemination cycle

Background: Persistent thin endometrium affects <1% of patients. Various treatments have been proposed with no satisfactory results. GCSF is one such treatment modality which improves endometrial thickness and implantation. Aim of this study was to analyse the effects of dose and the site of instilling intrauterine G-CSF in COS IUI cycles in patients with unexplained infertility and to note the pregnancy rates among them.Methods: It is a 3-year retrospective study done in obstetrics and gynecology department of AJ Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, that included all unexplained infertility cycles with controlled ovulation stimulation-IUI protocols where for a thin endometrium GCSF was used. The method of ovarian stimulation, the drug and dose used, the trigger for ovulation and the ovarian and endometrial response was noted. The day of the intrauterine GCSF and the dose and the site of instillation was noted. The endometrial response to GCSF the outcome for pregnancy was noted. All the data was analyzed statistically.Results: Significant endometrial response was seen with a dose of 100 mg,150 mg and 300 mg. Pregnancy outcome was better when GCSF was instilled just above the level of the os. GCSF instilled at the level of the fundus increases the possibility of ectopic pregnancy.Conclusions: Instillation of GCSF of 100 mg dosage just above the os; is a safe and effective method for improving the endometrial thickness and increasing pregnancy rate

Effect of growing cotton in rotation with different crops on structure of black cotton soil

Results of an investigation carried out to study the effect of growing cotton in rotation with juar and groundnut on the structure of black cotton soil are presented and discussed. The rotations studied were:- (a) Cotton grown continuously year after year; (b) Cotton and juar grown in alternate years; and (c) Cotton-juar-groundnut in three course rotation. Determinations made for evaluation of structure and the ranges of values obtained were:- (i) Degree of aggreation - 64.4-69.3 (ii) Single value figure for surface area - 587.6-595.7 (iii) Dispersion coefficient - 805-9.0 (iv) Volume weight - 1.11-1.14 (v) Total pore space - 58.3-60.1% (vi) Volume of large pores - 20.2-21.6% (vii) Rate of percolation through undistrubed soil core samples - 1.9-3.9 inch per hr. (viii) Rate of percolation through distrubed soil samples - 2.7-2.9 inch per hr. No significant differences in the structural condition of the soil were observed in plots under the three different rotations, both in 0-6" and 6-12" layers. The lower 6-12" layer did not show any structural difference from the surface 0-6" layer. None of the standing crops of the year,i.e., cotton, juar and groundnut showed any pronounced effect on the structure of the soil

Expression and possible role of stress-responsive proteins in Anabaena

Nitrogen-fixing Anabaena strains offer appropriate model systems to study the cellular and molecular responses to agriculturally important environmental stresses, such as salinity, drought and temperature upshift. Sensitivity to stresses results primarily from reduced synthesis of vital cellular proteins such as phycocyanin and dinitrogenase reductase leading to impairment of photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation. Exposure to stresses induces the synthesis of a large number of general stress proteins and a few unique stress-specific proteins through transcriptional activation of stress-responsive genes. Using a subtractive RNA hybridization approach a large number of osmoresponsive genes have been cloned fromAnabaena torulosa. The expression of general stress proteins has been shown to form the basis of adaptation and cross-protection against various stresses inAnabaena. Prominent among such proteins are the K+-scavenging enzyme, KdpATPase, and the molecular chaperone, GroEL. Unlike heterotrophs, carbon starvation does not appear to evoke a global stress response inAnabaena. Supplementation of combined nitrogen or K+ improves inherent tolerance ofAnabaena strains to many environmental stresses

BERBERINE HYDROCHLORIDE COULD PROVE TO BE A PROMISING BULLET AGAINST CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE INFECTION: A PRELIMINARY STUDY FROM SOUTH INDIA

Objective: Recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and the emergence of strains with reduced susceptibility to metronidazole and vancomycinwarrants alternative therapy. Hence, we tested the potential efficacy of the natural compound berberine hydrochloride (BBRHCl) against toxigenicC. difficile.Methods: Three representative polymerase chain reaction confirmed, toxin-positive strains were included in the study. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis(PFGE) profile and antibiogram of the strains were analyzed along with 10 other toxin positive isolates. Efficacy of BBRHCl against toxigenic C. difficilewas determined using agar diffusion by punch well method.Results: PFGE grouped the test strains into three clusters with unique susceptibility pattern toward standard antibiotics. BBRHCl was efficaciousagainst the test strains at a concentration ranging between 6.25 μg/ml and 10 mg/ml. BBRHCl's breakpoint point inhibitory zone diameter wasequivalent (p&lt;0.001) to the epidemiological cutoff values for teicoplanin, vancomycin and 2% black seed oil. Although the predicted concentration ofBBRHCl for breakpoint zone diameter equivalent to European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing's epidemiological cutoff value formetronidazole was observed to fall outside the tested concentration range; it was still within the safe dosage for humans.Conclusion: The present study is promising in considering BBRHCl as a potent substitute or adjunct not only for metronidazole, vancomycin andteicoplanin but also for natural compounds like 2% black seed oil for managing resistant cases of CDI. Owing to BBRHCl's direct antibacterial and antiinflammatoryaction, further investigations will aid in the proper characterization of the therapeutic effects of similar plant compounds, to developsafe and effective drugs against the epidemiological outbreak of CDI

Geometric Mixing, Peristalsis, and the Geometric Phase of the Stomach

Mixing fluid in a container at low Reynolds number - in an inertialess environment - is not a trivial task. Reciprocating motions merely lead to cycles of mixing and unmixing, so continuous rotation, as used in many technological applications, would appear to be necessary. However, there is another solution: movement of the walls in a cyclical fashion to introduce a geometric phase. We show using journal-bearing flow as a model that such geometric mixing is a general tool for using deformable boundaries that return to the same position to mix fluid at low Reynolds number. We then simulate a biological example: we show that mixing in the stomach functions because of the "belly phase": peristaltic movement of the walls in a cyclical fashion introduces a geometric phase that avoids unmixing.Comment: Revised, published versio

Purification and characterization of prophenoloxidase from cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera

Phenoloxidases are oxidative enzymes, which play an important role in both cell mediated and humoral immunity. Purification and biochemical characterization of prophenoloxidase from cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) were carried out to study its biochemical properties. Prophenoloxidase consists of a single polypeptide chain with a relative molecular weight of 85 kDa as determined by SDS–PAGE, MALDI–TOF MS and LC–ESI MS. After the final step, the enzyme showed 71.7 fold of purification with a recovery of 49.2%. Purified prophenoloxidase showed high specific activity and homology with phenoloxidase subunit-1 of Bombyx mori and the conserved regions of copper binding (B) site of phenoloxidase. Purified prophenoloxidase has pH optima of 6.8 and has high catalytic efficiency towards the dopamine as a substrate in comparison to catechol and L-Dopa. The PO activity was strongly inhibited by phenylthiourea, thiourea, dithiothreitol and kojic acid

One pot synthesis of luminescent Mn doped ZnSe nanoparticles and their silica based water dispersible formulation for targeted delivery of doxorubicin

348-355The manganese doped zinc selenide nanoparticles (ZnSe:Mn NPs) have been synthesized by thermolysis method using oleic acid and oleylamine as capping agents, and 1-octadecene as solvent. Coating of mesoporous silica is done on ZnSe:Mn (ZnSe:Mn@mSilica) which is further functionalized with amine functional groups by treating with (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane. Further pegylation is done to achieve water dispersibility by conjugating carboxyl groups of poly(ethylene glycol) diacid with the amine groups. These pegylated NPs are subsequently treated with ethylenediamine followed by acrylic acid. Conjugation of tris-(hydroxymethyl-aminomethane) is performed by Michael-type addition reaction to afford ZnSe:Mn@mSilica-PEG-Tris-OH. These tris functionalized NPs have exhibited broad emission ranging from 590-620 nm that is an indicative for their suitability in diagnosis and monitoring progress of cancer treatment. To explore the usefulness of increased surface area because of mesoporosity, doxorubicin is loaded on ZnSe:Mn@mSilica-PEG-Tris-OH NPs through silyl ether linkage and evaluated for cytotoxicity against WEHI-164 mouse fibrosarcoma and RAJI human hematopoietic origin cancer cell lines. A decrease in 12% of cell viability of WEHI-164 cells while 30% decrease in RAJI cell lines (IC50 ≈ 45 nM) are observed. This shows that our formulation has more cytotoxic in RAJI cancer cell lines than that of WEHI-164 cancer cells. These results reveal that the formulation has potential for the application in drug delivery and diagnosis in chemotherapeutics

One pot synthesis of luminescent Mn doped ZnSe nanoparticles and its silica based water dispersible formulation for targeted delivery of doxorubicin

The manganese doped zinc selenide nanoparticles (ZnSe:Mn NPs) were synthesized by thermolysis method using oleic acid and oleylamine as a capping agent, 1-octadecene as solvent. Coating of mesoporous silica was done on ZnSe:Mn (ZnSe:Mn@mSilica) which was further functionalized with amine functional groups by treating with (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane. Further pegylation was done to achieve water dispersibility by conjugating carboxyl groups of poly(ethylene glycol) diacid with the amine groups. These pegylated NPs were subsequently treated with ethylenediamine followed by acrylic acid. Conjugation of tris-(hydroxymethyl-aminomethan) was performed by Michael-type addition reaction to afford ZnSe:Mn@mSilica-PEG-Tris-OH. These TRIS functionalized NPs exhibited broad emission ranging from 590-620 nm that is an indicative for their suitability in diagnosis and monitoring progress of cancer treatment. To explore the usefulness of increased surface area because of mesoporosity, doxorubicin was loaded on ZnSe:Mn@mSilica-PEG-Tris-OH NPs through silyl ether linkage and evaluated for cytotoxicity against WEHI-164 mouse fibrosarcoma and RAJI human hematopoietic origin cancer cell lines. A decrease in 12 % of cell viability of WEHI-164 cells while 30% decrease in RAJI cell lines (IC50 ≈ 45 nM) were observed.  This shows that our formulation has more cytotoxic in RAJI cancer cell lines than that of WEHI-164 cancer cells. These results revealed that the formulation has potential for the application in drug delivery and diagnosis in chemotherapeutics