Effectiveness of a Hospital-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program on Several Physiological Variables

People who suffer from a cardiac event can greatly benefit from cardiac rehabilitation (CR). However, CR services are underutilized13. To help increase participation rates, the effectiveness of a traditional hospital-based CR program was evaluated in terms of several important physiological variables. Methods: Community-dwelling adults, age ranging from 46 to 85 years (n=10), were asked to complete a hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation program, with several variables being assessed. At the first and final visits, participants were asked to complete a 6-minute walk test (6 MWT) with baseline measures of resting and exercise heart rates (HR); resting and exercise blood pressures (BP) were also measured. Results: Five of the 10 participants completed the program. A significant increase was found in the distance covered in the 6 MWT (pre =1116 ± 366.6 feet, post =1499 ± 482.0; p=0.021). In addition, a significant decrease was found in resting systolic BP (pre =152.8 ± 13.6 mmHg, post =139.6 ± 15.3; p=0.045). However, no differences were found in resting diastolic BP, or exercise BP and HR. Conclusion: Improvement in some, but not all, of the variables measured, shows that cardiac rehabilitation programs can be a valuable treatment to help improve the participants’ health. Improving cardiorespiratory endurance and blood pressure can decrease the risk of future cardiac events

Influence Detection And Spread Estimation in Social Networks

A social network is an online platform, where people communicate and share information with each other. Popular social network features, which make them di erent from traditional communication platforms, are: following a user, re-tweeting a post, liking and commenting on a post etc. Many companies use various social networking platforms extensively as a medium for marketing their products. A xed amount of budget is alloted by the companies to maximize the positive in uence of their product. Every social network consists of a set of users (people) with connections between them. Each user has the potential to extend its in uence across this network. The amount of in uence propagated by some users is larger as compared to others. Companies, given a xed budget, target this subset of users to attain maximum in uence spread. We can model this as an in uence maximization problem. This subset of users then in uence the behavior or choices of other users by methods like word of mouth, actions etc. through an in uence propagation across the network. The aim of this project is to compare di erent known and new proposed algorithms for the in uence maximization problem. We measure the e ciency of each algorithm based on the number of vertices in uenced by the initial set of in uencers. In addition, a comparison of computation time required for each algorithm is done using various synthetic random graphs and real world social network datasets

Penetrating Abdominal Injury by a Large Stone

Penetrating trauma can be commonly caused by sharp objects. We report a case of penetrating injury of abdomen caused by a fairly large sized stone which is used for sharpening the objects or weapons. It pierced through the abdominal wall musculature and caused ileal transection, mesenteric tear and gastric perforation

DATA ON ARTS ORGANIZATIONS: A REVIEW AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT, WITH DESIGN IMPLICATIONS

This project describes the data resources on arts organizations that are currently available to inform the efforts of policy makers, arts managers, and researchers working in the arts field. It assesses the adequacy of different data sources for identifying the population of arts and cultural organizations in a community. The report is based on a review of more than a dozen sources of information about arts and cultural organizations, interviews with researchers and data specialists, and an empirical study of arts organizations in three metropolitan areas - Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The report concludes with recommendations for improving data quality and for establishing an ongoing national database on the arts sector.

Viral Marketing for Smart Cities: Influencers in Social Network Communities

Social networks are used by cities primarily for announcing local-area events, but also for increasing engagement of citizens in votes and elections. Given the current plethora of heterogeneous social networks, city administrators can benefit from social networks to promote initiatives, which are important to a current smart city as well use them to discover future needs in order to manage resources more efficiently. Our focus in this paper is how we can adapt commercial and viral marketing techniques to smart city systems to influence the behavior, opinion and choices of citizens in order to improve their well being and that of the whole society as well as predicting future trends and events

Pattern of diabetic foot - presentation and complications in rural Indian population

Background: Foot ulcer is one of the most common and deadest complications of diabetes mellitus. This is also a frequent cause of hospitalization and disability. Most of the patients with diabetic foot ulcers living in developing countries present to healthcare facilities fairly late with advanced foot ulcers because of poor economic status, inadequate knowledge of self-care, sociocultural reasons and poor and inadequate diabetes healthcare.Methods: A prospective study was conducted in the department of Surgery, JNMC Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha of DMIMS (DU) with the aim to evaluate the pattern of distribution of foot ulcers in diabetic foot patients and related complications. We enrolled 30 diabetic patients in the study, of these 21 (70%) were males and 9 (30%) were females with male to female ratio 2.33.  Results: The mean age of presentation was 52.93 ± 14.10 and the mean duration of diabetes was 8.20 ± 10.06. The maximum numbers of lesion was present in the region of second to fifth metatarsal (53.33%), followed by heel (26.66%) and great toe (10%). Maximum patients 9 (30%) had grade II lesions as per Wagner’s classification and 12 (40%) had II B as per University of Texas diabetic wound classification. Associated deformity was present in 36.66%, insensitivity to the 5.07 S-W monofilaments in 56.66%, impaired vibration in 43.33%, and abnor­mal Achilles tendon reflex in 40%. Ankle–brachial index <0.8 was present in 33.33%. Only 13.33% patients were using customized footwear whereas 46.66% were walking barefoot, the difference was statistically significant P = 0.0027.Conclusion: The health education to promote Knowledge, Attitude, Behavior and Practice (KABP) is essential to prevent diabetes associated foot complications.

Malnutrition in hospitalised patients; a real concern in surgical outcomes

Background:Lack of appropriate nutritional support during hospitalization may worsen patients’ nutritional status and increases risk for infection, organ failure, decreased wound healing and suboptimal response to regular medical treatment. The prevalence and intensity of hospital malnutrition have been recognized as an important parameter in the outcome of disease. The study aimed at to determine incidence of malnutrition in hospitalized patients, the change in nutrition status during hospital stay and its effects on outcome of disease.Methods: It was a prospective study and conducted at a tertiary care hospital. Total 70 patients were studied. Each patient's nutritional status was determined from anthropometric data - body mass index, triceps skinfold thickness, mid-arm circumference, mid arm muscle circumference, MNA scoring, serum protein level changes during hospital stay. The next recording was done at 15 days and 30 days after discharge. Student’s t is test used for statistical analysis.Results:The statistical difference for various parameters of nutritional status was found significant at admission and discharge.Conclusions: The change in various parameter of nutritional status was observed in hospitalized patients. The treatment should be aimed at treating specific disorders along with nutritional correction. It is recommended to have dietary plans at the time of admission in consultation with the dietician.

Predictors of urinary retention in benign prostate hyperplasia

Background: Acute urinary retention (AUR) is one of the most significant complications or long-term outcomes of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Because of the high prevalence of BPH and its effect on the patient's quality of life, additional research is needed to better predict the risk factors of AUR. The study was aimed to find out the incidence and factors responsible for retention of urine in BPH.Methods: It was a prospective study, conducted at a medical college after the approval from IEC. The study included the patients admitted to the surgical wards admitted with the symptoms of lower urinary tract symptom and presented with acute urinary retention. Duration of the study was 2 months. A total 40 patients were studied over this duration. The outcome of the study was analyzed by these factors: Age in years, Symptom severity, Prostate Volume on DRE and USG Grade.Results: The mean age of presentation was 64.87±7.85 with median age of 65 years (range 45-82 years) with mean IPSS score of 17.45and the mean PVR was 110.80 ± 85.52 with median 110 (range 0-500). Maximum number of patients having Grade 3 and 4 enlargements had PSA level 9-12 ng/ml. The PSA levels and the grade of enlargement on USG were statistically significant (p-0.004).Conclusions: Out of the four factors considered to be the independent risk factors, all of them have positive correlation with the symptom of acute urinary retention. None of these four factors i.e. age in years, symptom severity, prostate Volume on DRE and USG grade could establish significant correlation.