5,037 research outputs found
Deep neck space infections: comparison of outcomes between diabetic and non-diabetic patients
Background: The objective of the study was to study the clinical presentation, microbiological profile, treatment protocol of deep neck space infections in diabetics and non diabetics.Methods: This was a prospective study conducted on 76 patients (diabetics and non diabetics) admitted in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, TD Medical college, Alappuzha over a period of 18 months from January 2012 to June 2013.Results: The age distribution was 15-75 years. Male to female ratio was 2:1. Fever, pain, neck swelling and odynophagia were the common symptoms with dyspnoea and chest pain indicative of complications. The most common etiology was odontogenic (68.4%) followed by tonsillopharyngeal infection and foreign bodies. No etiological factor was found in 34.2%. The commonest site was submandibular space (64.2%) followed by parapharyngeal space (26.6%). Abscess was present in majority needing surgical drainage. The most common organism isolated was streptococcus viridans (37.5%). Preponderance of klebsiella species was noted in diabetics. Streptococcus showed susceptibility to pencillin (83.33%), ampicillin (92%), cefotaxime (60.526%). Klebsiella showed susceptibility to gentamicin (42.3%) and ciprofloxacin (28.57%). The complication rate was more in diabetics (34.21%). Contrast enhanced CT was done in cases suspected to have complication. The mean hospital stay was longer in diabetics (19.6 days) than non diabetics (6.4 days).Conclusions: Deep neck space infection still remains life threatening if not heeded promptly. Senescence and diabetes demand surgical intervention and meticulous glycemic control to prevent complications. Judicious use of antimicrobials and timely radiological and surgical interventions have come a long way in the management and in providing a cure to this dreaded condition
DARIS : a low-frequency distributed aperture array for radio astronomy in space
The frequency band below 30 MHz is one of the last unexplored bands in radio astronomy. This band is well suited for studying the early cosmos at high hydrogen redshifts, the so-called dark ages, extragalactic surveys, (extra) solar planetary bursts, and high energy particle physics. In addition, space research such as space weather tomography, are also areas of scientific interest. \ud
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Due to ionospheric scintillation (below 30MHz) and its opaqueness (below 15MHz), earth-bound radio astronomy observations in these bands are either severely limited in sensitivity and spatial resolution or entirely impossible. A radio telescope in space obviously would not be hampered by the Earth's ionosphere. In the past, several (limited) studies have been conducted to explore possibilities for such an array in space. These studies considered aperture synthesis arrays in space, at the back-side of the Moon, or a satellite constellation operating in a coherent mode. \u
Impact of migration on Kerala's economy and society
This research is first of its kind for Kerala, being the first migration
study that covers the entire state and encompasses both measurement as
well as analysis of the various types and facets of migration. Migration
has been the single-most dynamic factor in the otherwise dreary
development scenario of Kerala in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Kerala is approaching the end of the millennium with a little cheer in
many people's homes, a major contributing factor for which has been
migration. Migration has contributed more to poverty alleviation in Kerala
than any other factor, including agrarian reforms, trade union activities
and social welfare legislation.
The study shows that nearly 1.5 million Keralites now live outside
India. They send home more than Rs.4,000 million a year by way of
remittances. Three-quarters of a million former emigrants have come
back. They live mostly on savings, work experience, and skills brought
with them from abroad. More than a million families depend on internal
migrants'earnings for subsistence, children's education and other
economic requirements. Whereas the educationally backward Muslims
from the Thrissur-Malappuram region provide the backbone of
emigration, it is the educationally forward Ezhawas, Nairs and Syrian
Christians from the former Travancore-Cochin State who form the core
of internal migration. The paper also analyses the determinants and
consequences of internal and external migration. It offers suggestions
for policy formulation for the optimum utilization of remittances sent
home by the emigrants and the expertise brought back by the return
migrants.
Migration in Kerala began with demographic expansion, but it
won't end with demographic contraction. Kerala has still time to develop
itself into an internally self-sustaining economy. The prevailing cultural
milieu of Kerala in which its people believe that anything can be achieved
through agitation and any rule can be circumvented with proper political
connections, must change and be replaced by a liberalised open economy
with strict and definite rules of the game.
JEL Classification: J21, J2
White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection in tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon: A non-lethal histopathological rapid diagnostic method using paraffin and frozen sections
White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection was induced in tiger shrimp, Penaeus
monodon, under laboratory conditions, and histopathological changes in subcuticular epithelial
cells of the eye stalk and pleopod were studied sequentially at different time post-challenge. Routine
histological techniques using paraffin embedded tissues, as well as frozen tissues, were used to
document WSSV infection. Histological manifestations such as cellular hypertrophy in the subcuticular
epithelial cells of the eyestalk and pleopod could be detected as early as 18 h postinfection
(p.i.) before the manifestation of clinical signs of the diseas
EXCESSIVE FERTILIZER USAGE DRIVES AGRICULTURE GROWTH BUT DEPLETES WATER QUALITY
By 2050 most parts of India will be water stressed zones as most of the water resources are under heavy stress due to increasing nutrient contamination in their waters. In this scenario, studying the changes occurring in the freshwater nutrient contamination levels over a temporal scale is extremely important. This study focuses on monitoring the changes occurring in the nutrient contamination levels over a decade in a large reservoir known as Nagarjuna Sagar (NS) using remote sensing data. In this study, Landsat (5 & 8) data for the year 2005, 2009, 2015 and Sentinel (2A and 2B) data for the years 2016 and 2018 is used to study nutrient contamination in NS. The spatial spread of chlorophyll - a (chl-a) area is used as a proxy to estimate the extent of nutrient contamination in NS. In this study, only October images of NS are used as they exhibit the maximum spatial spread of Chl-a and hence help assess the contamination levels over the period 2005–2018. The analysis shows that during this period, chl-a spatial spread area has increased from 21 Km2 to 205 Km2, indicating a decrease in water quality in the reservoir. The study shows that this is accompanied by an increase in the agricultural land use area by 1000 Km2 in addition to a steep increase in the use of agricultural inputs, primarily fertilisers like urea, P and K. Thus, while the combined effect of excessive usage of fertilizers with agricultural intensification has increased crop yields, it has also contributed to damaging the freshwater resources
Molluscan shell deposits along Pinnakkayal—Valinokkom coast and their exploitation
Marine molluscan shell deposits are distributed at different places between Pinnal(ayal and Valmoltkom
on the southwest coast of India and support a good shell lima Indutsry. The different areas where the
lime shell deposits occur have been surveyed and the nature and extent of the deposits, the species
composition, the methods of exploitation, magnitude of production, utilization and annual turnover are
dealt with
Impact of environmental threats on marine fishery resources of coastal Kerala: an economic assessment
Competition and commercialization in marine fisheries have generated
discrepancies and imbalances in marine ecology, sustainable production and
distributive justice. The private capital investment made on crafts-gears in
capture fisheries does not any way compensate the social cost of overexploitation
of certain resources, uncontrolled juvenile fishing and discards. The common
property nature of marine fisheries coupled with market driven catching
strategies and technological changes led to overexploitation of varieties such
as elasmobranchs, catfish and goatfish along Kerala coast. However, the
analysis of production trends for a period of four decades reveals increasing
trends in the landings of species such as oilsardine, anchovies, lizardfish,
perches, carangids, tunnies, barracudas, flat fish and cephalapods. The study
on the environmental economics of inshore fishery resource utilisation of coastal
Kerala has been undertaken in four southern Districts (Ernakulam, Alappuzha,
Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram) during the year 2001-2003 with focus on
environmental hotspots of industrial pollution and sea erosion along with details
of economic loss of juvenile fishing by trawl fisheries
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