The socio-demographic profile and clinical correlation of Chlamydia trachomatis among infertile women at a tertiary care center in North India

Background: The frequency of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in infertile Indian women and potential risk factors associated with the infection is not well understood. To improve the primordial prevention C. trachomatis infection in developing countries, there is an urgent need to understand the prevalence of the infection among women with infertility and establish the common risk factors associated with this. This study was conducted to determine prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in infertile women attending an infertility clinic in north India and the associated socio-demographic and clinical features associated with it. Methods: Endocervical swabs, collected from 105 infertile women were tested for C. trachomatis by real time-PCR and direct gram’s stain. A detailed clinical history and examination was done on each subject during sample collection. The study group was then divided into two comparison groups and p factor was determined and factors with significant correlation were established. Results: Total 9 out of 105 infertile women visiting infertility clinic were RT-PCR positive for Chlamydia trachomatis. The socio-demographic factors that significantly correlated with Chlamydia trachomatis infection were lower age group, rural locality and illiteracy. The clinical history and examination findings that significantly correlated with the infection were past history of RTI/STI in the subject, history of RTI/STI in husband, cervical/ vaginal discharge, lower abdominal pain, burning micturition, erythema of genitalia, backache, dyspareunia and dysmenorrhea. The gram’s stain finding confirmed the active infection by presence of pus cells. Conclusions: The study concluded that the socio-demographic risk factor for Chlamydia trachomatis infection among infertile women is lower age group, rural locality and illiteracy while several clinical features that are red flags for the presence of such infection are past history of reproductive tract infection along with partner, cervical/vagina discharge, lower abdominal pain, burning micturition, erythema of genitalia, backache, dyspareunia and dysmenorrhea that should never be overseen

Pixel Count Based Yield Estimation Model, to Reduce Input feature required in Machine Learning System for Major Agricultural Crop

Traditionally, the crop analysis and agricultural production predictions were done based on statistical models. However, with the climate of the world changing to drastic degrees, these statistical models have become very ambiguous. Hence, it becomes prudent that we resort to other less vague methods. Through a traditional model, user interacts primarily with a mathematical computations and its results and helps to solve well-defined and structured problems. Whereas, in a data driven model, user interacts primarily with the data and helps to solve mainly unstructured problems. At this point, enters the concept of Machine Learning. In this work we tried to find a new approach to reduce the input feature to reduce the processing power needed. We have attempted at predicting the agricultural outputs of rice production in an area by implementing a pixel count based classification machine learning model. Through this model, we tried to predict the approximate crop yield based on NDVI values analyzed for a particular season and area

Serological and molecular approaches for leptospirosis at a tertiary care centre in northern India

Background: Aims and objectives of the study was to determine prevalence rate of leptospirosis and recognition of common epidemiological situation and clinical manifestations of leptospirosis in patients with pyrexia of unknown origin at a tertiary care centre.Methods: This was a hospital based prospective observational study. The duration of study was from August 2015 to July 2016. Patients with clinical symptoms of pyrexia of unknown origin attending Gandhi Memorial and Associated Hospital, King George’s Medical University Lucknow during the study period were enrolled in this study. We performed the IgM ELISA and PCR for the leptospirosis at our centre and for the Micro Agglutination Test (MAT), we sent the serum samples to regional medical research centre Department of Health Research Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India Port Blair.Results: A Total of 104 symptomatic patients were recruited. Of total, IgM ELISA for leptospirosis were positive in 25 patients, PCR in 20 patients and MAT shows significant titres in 3 samples. The ROC curve analysis revealed significant diagnostic accuracy of IgM ELISA with 100.00% sensitivity and 78.22% specificity however showed less positive predictive value (12.0%) but high negative predictive value (100.0%). Most common presentation were fever, jaundice and rashes (40.4%) followed by fever and jaundice (29.8%).Conclusions: Leptospirosis IgM ELISA and PCR showed good detection accuracy. Age, sex, occupation is not significantly associated to the leptospirosis

Acoustic emission during tensile deformation of pre-strained nuclear grade AISI type 304 stainless steel in the unnotched and notched conditions

Acoustic emission (AE) generated during tensile deformation of notched specimens with varying notch lengths has been compared with those from unnotched specimens of a nuclear grade AISI type 304 stainless steel in the 5 and 30% pre-strained conditions. The results indicate that (a) nature of AE generation is different for different stages of deformation and (b) amount of cold work or pre-strain influences the magnitude of such AE generation. The observed results have been explained using the phenomena of varied localized deformation at the notch tip and deformation-induced α'-martensite formation in cold worked AISI type 304 stainless steel. An examination of the correlation between total AE counts (N) and stress intensity factor (K) has shown that the value of the exponent (m) in the relationship N = AKm decreases with increasing pre-strain. The formation of α'-martensite in unnotched specimens has been confirmed by equivalent δ-ferrite (%) content measurements. The examination of fracture surfaces by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has indicated that the localized plastic deformation at the notch tip depends on the level of pre-strain

Molecular Characterization of Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase Producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolates and Their Antibiotic Resistance Profile in Health Care-Associated Urinary Tract Infections in North India

Background Healthcare-associated urinary tract infections (HAUTIs) caused by gram-negative pathogens have emerged as a global concern. So far, little is known about the epidemiology of extended-spectrum β lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae in HAUTIs in India. The study was carried to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern and ESBL-producing genes in E. coli and K. pneumoniae strains isolated from HAUTIs in a tertiary institute in North India. Methods A total of 200 consecutive, nonduplicate clinical isolates of E. coli and 140 isolates of K. pneumoniae from hospitalized patients with UTI were collected during a period of 1 year. Strains were studied for the presence of ESBL genes (blaCTX-M1, blaCTX-M2, blaCTX-M9, blaCTX-M15, blaSHV, blaTEM, blaOXA-1, blaVEB, blaPER-2, and blaGES) by multiplex polymerase chain reaction using gene-specific primers. Results ESBL was detected in 82.5% (165 out of 200) isolates of E. coli and 74.3% (104 out of 140) isolates of K. pneumoniae by phenotypic confirmatory testing. From 269 phenotypically positive ESBL isolates, blaTEM (49.4%) was the most common genotype followed by blaCTX-M1 (31.97%), blaOXA-1 (30.1%), and blaSHV(11.9%) either alone or in combination. In the present study, blaCTX-M-15 (84.89%) was the most common blaCTX-M1-type ESBL. In total, 2.6 and 5.2% of the isolates were positive for PER-2 and VEB genes, respectively. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on ESBL resistance patterns and ESBL-producing genes in HAUTIs in North India. Our study reports high occurrence with ESBL types CTX-M-1, CTX-M-15, TEM, and SHV. Minor ESBL variants OXA-1, VEB-type, and PER-2-type β-lactamase are also emerging in HAUTIs infections in North India

Numerical simulation of a hydrocarbon fuelled valveless pulsejet

Jet propulsion technology has been limited to being identified largely with turbojets and turbo-machinery driven jet engines. Of late there has been a renewed interest in pulsejet technology and it has once again caught the imagination of academia. The specific characteristics of the pulsejet, such as easy scalability, absence of moving parts, reduced combustion temperatures; lower NOX formation and the like make it possess varied capabilities for use in the field of jet propulsion and the most viable option for small-scale jet propulsion. In the current work, a numerical analysis encompassing feasibility and validation of a valveless pulsejet engine was attempted using CD-adapco׳s STAR-CCM+ CFD package. Due to lack of comprehensive established mathematical laws to govern the working of a pulsejet, most experimental work being performed is done by trial and error. This necessitates in-depth computational studies in order to shed more light on the understanding of valveless pulsejets. The results have been encouraging and in agreement with observed experimental conclusions such as, i) changes in dimensions affect the working of a pulsejet, ii) presence of a flare enhances the working of a pulsejet, and the close agreement in the frequency of operation. Through continuous study, an optimum initial condition was achieved which enabled the pulsejet to begin operation even before 0.05 s, thereby greatly reducing computational costs if a higher time-scale were to be used

Chloramine-T-induced oxidation of Rizatriptan Benzoate: An integral chemical and spectroscopic study of products, mechanisms and kinetics

Oxidation is a prominent degradation route of biological molecules that produces a wide variety of degradation products through complex mechanisms and hence qualifies to be a vital pharmaceutical process. This article presents the kinetic and spectral study of the oxidation of an antimigraine drug rizatriptan benzoate (RTB) in an acid medium with the aid of a mild biocidal oxidant N-chloro-p-toluenesulfonamide, referred to as chloramine-T (CAT). The kinetic experimental studies reported here, such as fractional order dependency on RTB, pseudo-first-order dependency on CAT, negative fractional order dependency on the acid medium, independent of the rate on the ionic concentration and increasing rate with increasing dielectric constant, have led to the evaluation of stoichiometry, thermodynamic properties, and derivation of a rate equation. Effective interpretation of UV–Vis, IR, 1H and 13C NMR investigation was performed to identify and confirm the identity of the oxidation products and discuss the involved plausible mechanism. This study provides an extended insight into the products of oxidation formed during the metabolism of RTB

Evaluation of Tensile Properties Using Uni-Axial Testing and Correlation with Microstructure of AA2014 alloy

AA2014 is most widely used metal among the aluminium alloy series due to its exceptional corrosion resistance, low density rate, and it can maintain high strength and toughness at various temperatures. So, these materials have their application in the aerospace, military and the automotive sector. The present work focuses on evaluating the mechanical properties such as ultimate Tensile strength (UTS), Yield strength (YS), and percentage of elongation using Uniaxial Tensile test. The three controllable factors used in the present study are temperature ranging from 200 to 300°C with 50°C increment, orientation 0,45,90 degree relative to the rolling direction and strain rate 0.001,0.01 and 0.1mm/sec. A total of 27 experiments were planned and conducted based on the design of experiments. Experimental results show that with increase in strain rate increasing of material properties furthermore with increase in temperature decrease of material properties and increase in the percentage of elongation was observed. In addition to that ANOVA analysis was carried out and noticed that strain rate is most effecting parameter for UTS and temperature is most effecting parameter for YS and percentage elongation. The fracture specimens from uniaxial test are investigated for type of fracture through microstructural studie