Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and its effects on fetomaternal outcome in pregnant women of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy and its impact on obstetrical outcome in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.Methods: This was a prospective observational study undertaken at antenatal clinics and indoor of BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur. Total 720 antenatal women, ≤20 weeks of gestation were recruited for the study. In all patients’ routine obstetrical investigations and thyroid function tests were done. All patients were followed up to delivery. Maternal and perinatal outcome were ascertained.Results: Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among pregnant was found to be 21.1% and subclinical hypothyroidism (15.9%) was the commonest thyroid disorder. Most common complication observed in subclinical and overt hypothyroidism was preeclampsia (9.56 % versus 20%) followed by preterm labour (7.82% versus 10%). Major fetal complications in hypothyroid mothers included intrauterine growth restriction, low birth weight and stillbirth.Conclusions: Prevalence of hypothyroidism was found to be high in our study and was associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes; hence, thyroid screening should be included in routine antenatal investigations

Multimapper: Data Density Sensitive Topological Visualization

Mapper is an algorithm that summarizes the topological information contained in a dataset and provides an insightful visualization. It takes as input a point cloud which is possibly high-dimensional, a filter function on it and an open cover on the range of the function. It returns the nerve simplicial complex of the pullback of the cover. Mapper can be considered a discrete approximation of the topological construct called Reeb space, as analysed in the $1$-dimensional case by [Carriere et al.,2018]. Despite its success in obtaining insights in various fields such as in [Kamruzzaman et al., 2016], Mapper is an ad hoc technique requiring lots of parameter tuning. There is also no measure to quantify goodness of the resulting visualization, which often deviates from the Reeb space in practice. In this paper, we introduce a new cover selection scheme for data that reduces the obscuration of topological information at both the computation and visualisation steps. To achieve this, we replace global scale selection of cover with a scale selection scheme sensitive to local density of data points. We also propose a method to detect some deviations in Mapper from Reeb space via computation of persistence features on the Mapper graph.Comment: Accepted at ICDM

Environmental Challenge due to Climate Change in Bihar, Developing State of India

As detailed in the Vulnerability Atlas of India, 27 districts in Bihar are fully affected by high-speed winds of 47 m/s intensity due to climatic change. The area of districts—Banka, Jahanabad, Arwal, and Nalanda is nearly 90 percent affected. Other districts of South Bihar except Nawada are partly affected by high-speed winds of 44 m/s. In all 86 percent of the total area of Bihar is prone to high-speed winds of 47 m/s intensity and only 14 percent of the area prone to high-speed winds of lesser intensity. The five major district, in all 21.1 % of Bihar fall under seismic zone-V. The Himalayan tectonic plate near the Bihar-Nepal Border is having six subsurface fault lines penetrating through its Gangetic planes in four directions, Bihar is vulnerable to the worst kind of disaster caused by earthquake. Available evidence shows that there is high probability of increase in the frequency and intensity of climate related natural hazards due to climate change and hence increase in potential threat due to climate change related natural disasters in India, and Bihar is no exception to this. It is highly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological natural disasters, with North Bihar in general being highly flood-prone, and South Bihar being highly drought prone due to the recent climatic change. Keywords: Climatic change, Natural Disaster, Earthquake, Flood, Drought, Cyclone

Understanding Code Semantics: An Evaluation of Transformer Models in Summarization

This paper delves into the intricacies of code summarization using advanced transformer-based language models. Through empirical studies, we evaluate the efficacy of code summarization by altering function and variable names to explore whether models truly understand code semantics or merely rely on textual cues. We have also introduced adversaries like dead code and commented code across three programming languages (Python, Javascript, and Java) to further scrutinize the model's understanding. Ultimately, our research aims to offer valuable insights into the inner workings of transformer-based LMs, enhancing their ability to understand code and contributing to more efficient software development practices and maintenance workflows.Comment: Accepted at GenBench, EMNLP 2023. All authors are co-first authors and have equal contribution

Comparative evaluation of test characteristics of acetic acid, lugol’s iodine and toluidine blue stains in cervical cancer screening

Background: Cervical cancer rank second in female cancer and India alone account for one fourth of the global cervical cancer burden. The study was aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of acetic acid (3%), lugol’s iodine and toluidine blue (1%) in detection of abnormal cervical lesions.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur over a period of one year from July 2016 to June 2017. The study included 200 women in age group 20-60 years with signs and symptoms suspicious of abnormal cervical lesion. The cases were subjected to detailed history, clinical examination, Pap smear, Visual inspection test, colposcopy followed by cervical biopsy.Results: Out of total 200 patients, 114 patients had acetowhite area on VIA (visual inspection with acetic acid) test, 113 were VILI (visual inspection with lugol’s iodine) positive and 107 women stained positive with Toluidine blue but only 88 showed biopsy proven pre-invasive and invasive lesions. So, sensitivity of acetic acid, lugol’s iodine and Toluidine blue was 81.8%, 84.09% and 90.9% respectively. Similarly, the specificity of the three stains were 62.5%, 65.17% and 75.8% respectively.Conclusions: Toluidine blue (1%) has proved to be significantly more sensitive and specific stain as compared to acetic acid (3%) and lugol’s iodine (50% dilution) in diagnosing pre-invasive and invasive cervical cancer. Hence, it may aid as an important tool in screening and treating precancerous and cancerous lesions

Preventive role of cinnamaldehyde against tenuazonic acid- and Freund’s adjuvant-induced histopathological and biochemical alterations in the mouse model

IntroductionThis study was designed to assess the protective role of cinnamaldehyde (Cin) against the synergistic effect of tenuazonic acid (TeA) and Freund’s adjuvant on different organs of Swiss albino mice.MethodsTeA was administered singly and in combination with Freund’s adjuvant intra-peritoneally. The mice were divided into control (vehicle treated), mycotoxicosis-induced (MI) groups, and treatment groups. The route of administration of TeA was intra-peritoneal. The treatment group (FAICT) received Cin orally as a protective agent against TeA-induced mycotoxicosis. The effects on performance, differential leukocyte counts (DLC), and pathological measurements in eight organs (liver, lungs, kidney, spleen, stomach, heart, brain, and testis) were taken into consideration.ResultsThe body weight and feed consumption decreased significantly in the MI groups, which were reversed in the FAICT group. The necropsy observations revealed an increase in the relative organ-to-body weight percentage in the MI groups, which was restored to normal in the FAICT group. Freund’s adjuvant enhanced the effects of TeA on DLC. The antioxidant enzymes SOD and CAT decreased, while MDA increased in the MI groups. Caspase-3 activity was reduced in all organs and remained stable in the treatment group. TeA elevated the ALT concentration in the liver and kidneys and the AST in the liver, kidney, heart, and brain tissues. The oxidative stress induced by TeA in the MI groups was ameliorated in the treatment group. Histopathological observations consisted of NASH, pulmonary oedema and fibrosis, renal crystals and inflammation, splenic hyperplasia, gastric ulceration and cyst, cerebral axonopathy, testicular hyperplasia, and vacuolation in the MI groups. However, no such pathology was recorded in the treatment group.DiscussionsThus, it can be concluded that the toxicity of TeA was found to be enhanced when combined with Freund’s adjuvant. However, Cin exhibited promising protective effects against TeA + Freund’s adjuvant toxicity and reverted the pathological alterations caused by them. Additionally, this study emphasizes Freund’s adjuvant’s ability to increase mycotoxicity rather than just acting as an immunopotentiator

Hypovitaminosis D in pregnancy and its correlation with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: Hypovitaminosis D has been associated with a number of adverse pregnancy outcomes, and has been recognised as a public health concern. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of Vitamin D deficiency on maternal complications like gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and preeclampsia (PE) among pregnant women.Methods: This was a case control study undertaken at antenatal clinics and indoor of BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. Two maternal blood samples, one at <20 weeks and other at term along with cord blood at delivery were taken. Patients were classified into preeclampsia (n=60), gestational diabetes mellitus (n=35) and control group (n=180) after abstracting past medical records at delivery. Vitamin D was estimated by 25- Hydroxyvitamin D125 RIA kit and categorized according to ACOG criteria. Statistical analysis was done by using chi square test, binary logistic regression and Pearson’s correlation coefficient to compare between two variables. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Out of 275 women included in the study, 78% of women were Vitamin D deficient. Mean serum vitamin D was significantly lower among preeclamptic women 11.53±6.22 ng/ml and GDM women 12.62±6.69 ng/ml as compared to controls 24.25±14.44 ng/ml (median=18.2 ng/ml) (P<0.05). Vitamin D deficiency was significantly higher in pregnant women GDM (94.28% vs 68.3%) and preeclampsia (96.67% vs 68.3%) when compared to uncomplicated group.Conclusions: Maternal vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in early pregnancy and is significantly associated with elevated risk for GDM and preeclampsia

ROLE OF PROBIOTICS IN GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT DISEASES: INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE AND NECROTIZING ENTEROCOLITIS

Bacterial microflora which is present in gastrointestinal tract cause various disorders. Probiotics provides beneficial effects in gut related disease. Previously probiotics are used as alternative medicine but now entering in mainstream medicine. Probiotics help in restoring normal bacterial microflora and regulate the gastrointestinal tract functioning through different mechanisms. There are only few evidences available which show potential benefits of probiotics. The efficiency of probiotics used as a single strain or multiple formulation is tested in various diseases such oral health, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, necrotising enterocolitis and many more. The purpose of this paper is to focus on diseases related to gastrointestinal tract including inflammatory bowel disease and necrotising enterocolitis based on the literature review available and propose future perspective to reduce the translocation of bacterial microflora in gastrointestinal tract and reducing subsequent inflammation of gut. Keywords were searched in goggle scholar, academic research, PubMed and Embase databases

LIQUISOLID TECHNIQUE: AN APPROACH FOR ENHANCEMENT OF SOLUBILITY

Liquisolid technique is also known as powder solution technology. It is the technique which deals with the solubility enhancement of poorly soluble drugs. As these days there are many drugs in the market with poor solubility which leads to poor dissolution and bioavailability, so solubility is becoming rate limiting factor in the development of new drugs. To overcome this problem there are many techniques but liquisolid technique is most promising technique which is discussed in this article. Liquisolid is mainly composed of drug, non volatile solvent, carrier material, coating material, and disintegrant. In liquisolid technique carrier and coating material which should be in the ratio of 20:1 is mixed into the non volatile solvent and then disintegrant is added and final material is compressed into tablets. Hence, the liquisolid technology allows the transformation of liquid systems into solid drug delivery systems. Both immediate and sustained release of drug can also be achieved with the help of liquisolid technique. For sustained release of drug hydrophilic polymer like Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose can be the best option. The purpose of this article is to describe about the liquisolid technique like basics, classification, preformulation studies, characterisation, precompression studies, formulation of tablet, postcompression studies, advantages, disadvantages, applications

Identifying the risk factors of antepartum haemorrhage and to evaluate the feto maternal outcome in antepartum haemorrhage cases

Background: Antepartum haemorrhage is an obstetric emergency contributing to a significant percentage of perinatal and maternal morbidity and mortality. Approximately 30% of maternal deaths are caused by ante-partum haemorrhage. In spite of a lot of improvement in antenatal care and intrapartum surveillance, antepar-tum haemorrhage has not reduced. Present study was conducted to assess the causes of APH and to compare the fetomaternal outcome among placenta previa and abruptio placenta group.Methods: The study was conducted in BRD medical college Gorakhpur, over a period of 1 year (October 2019 to September 2020) in which 100 cases of APH were taken and classified into placenta previa and abruptio placenta group and their fetomaternal outcome were compared.Results: In our study, out of 100 cases of APH 69% cases were of placenta previa followed by abruptio placen-ta in 29% cases and rest 2% cases were unclassified APH. Multigravida is the major risk factor in both placenta previa and abruptio placenta group. Second major risk factor in placenta previa group was h/o LSCS and in abruptio placenta group was HDP. Stillbirth was significantly seen in abruptio placenta group whereas Low birth weight babies (1.5-2.5 kg) were more in placenta previa group. Though the maternal outcome is poor in placenta previa group but the fetal outcome is worse in abruptio placenta group.Conclusions: APH neither can be reliably predicted nor can be prevented but only a comprehensive focused experienced team work can reduce maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality