PHYSICOCHEMICAL, PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY AGAINST CLINICAL PATHOGENS OF MEDICINALLY IMPORTANT ORCHID GEODORUM DENSIFLORUM (LAM) SCHLTR

Objective: To evaluate the Physicochemical, Preliminary Phytochemical analysis and Antibacterial activity of Geodorum densiflorum against clinical pathogens and to prove the orchid will target to meet the therapeutic demands. Methods: The physicochemical parameters and Preliminary Phytochemical analysis of the orchid were studied. The antibacterial properties using the following bacterial strains, ie., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Klebseilla pneumoniea, Pseudomonas aeruginosa were studied. Streptomycin were used as a control and study was conducted using disc diffusion method and the MIC value also be evaluated. Results: The Physicochemical parameters show the presence of bioactive compounds. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of Alkaloids, Tannins, Flavonoids, Sopanins, Steroid and Terpenoids. The ethanol extract showed significant total activity against Staphylococcus aureus than other extracts. Conclusion: The ethanol extract of Geodorum densiflorum can successfully used as a pharmaceutical agents as antibacterial drug

Reactive Thrombocytosis in Febrile Infants and Children with Serious Bacterial Infection

INTRODUCTION: Serious bacterial infection is common in infants and children. Many children with serious bacterial infection at presentation have no identifiable cause other than fever. Simple, rapid inexpensive diagnostic test that identify serious bacterial infection among febrile children is unattainable. Reactive thrombocytosis secondary to infection is a common finding in children. Platelet will behave as an acute phase reactant through the stimulation of platelet production by Interleukin-6. AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. To estimate the incidence of reactive thrombocytosis among young infants and children with serious bacterial infection. 2. To assess the utility of platelet count as a potential predictor of serious bacterial infection. METHODS: It was a prospective study conducted on infants and children aged between 2 months and 3 years admitted as inpatients in PICU and IMCU of the Pediatric department in Tirunelveli Medical College and Hospital during May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019. RESULTS: The general incidence of thrombocytosis was 42% in children with febrile illness. In children with thrombocytosis, 53.6% had SBI. Among children with SBI, 80% had thrombocytosis. In babies with non SBI, only 27.1% had thrombocytosis. The P value was statistically significant when the platelet count was compared between SBI and non SBI group. The mean platelet count was higher in SBI group. P value showed statistical significance between mean platelet count in SBI and non SBI group. The sensitivity and specificity of platelet in diagnosing SBI was 80.4% and 72% respectively. Other parameters that helps in early recognition of febrile infants at risk of serious bacterial infection are total WBC count, CRP, pyuria. CONCLUSION: The incidence of thrombocytosis was high in babies with SBI. Among babies with SBI, 80.3% had thrombocytosis. In babies with non SBI, only 27.1% had thrombocytosis. Thus thrombocytosis can be used as a predictor of serious bacterial infection

Prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients on metformin therapy in a tertiary care hospital

Background: The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency and presence of peripheral neuropathy in type 2 diabetes patients on metformin treatment.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in Department of Biochemistry and Medicine in a tertiary care teaching hospital in south India. Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients diagnosed based on World Health Organization (WHO) criteria treated with metformin for more than 6 months were included in the study. B12 levels were estimated and DNS scoring, vibration perception test and 10 gm Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test done.Results: A total of 55 participants were identified. Most of them were on 1500 mg of metformin once a day in divided dose. In this study maximum number of participants are in the age group of 50-70 years. Peripheral neuropathy is seen in 43.9% of persons with normal B12 levels and 28.5% of persons with low B12 levels. A Chi square test showed a chi square statistic value of 1.8221 with a p value of 0.312 which is not significant. Univariate analysis showed vitamin B12 deficient patients are of significantly higher age (63 years versus 57 years p=0.01) and with higher duration of treatment (9 years versus 6 years p=0.01).Conclusions: Prolonged metformin therapy is associated with deficiency of vitamin B12. The prevalence of B12 deficiency among diabetic patients on metformin was found to be 25.45%. Routine B12 estimation and correction of low B12 levels will be beneficial to these patients. Earlier initiation of B12 in patients on metformin may prevent the onset of neurological damage

Oppdragervold – den nedre grensen for straffansvar etter straffeloven § 282 første ledd bokstav b, d og e

Tema for denne avhandlingen er straffeloven § 282 om mishandling i nære relasjoner. Nærmere bestemt rettes fokus mot hvordan straffeloven § 282 om mishandling i nære relasjoner kan anvendes i forbindelse med oppdragervold. Avhandlingen har som siktemål å klarlegge den nedre grensen for når reaksjoner og irettesettelse av barn i oppdragelsesøyemed går over til oppdragervold, som rammes av bestemmelsen om mishandling i nære relasjoner av strl. § 282. Hovedproblemstillingen i avhandlingen er hvor den nedre grensen for straffansvar etter strl. § 282 første ledd bokstav b, d og e er ved oppdragervold. Det vil også undersøkes om når medvirkningsansvaret anses overtrådt etter strl. § 282, jf. § 15

Scalable Microfabrication Procedures for Adhesive-Integrated Flexible and Stretchable Electronic Sensors.

New classes of ultrathin flexible and stretchable devices have changed the way modern electronics are designed to interact with their target systems. Though more and more novel technologies surface and steer the way we think about future electronics, there exists an unmet need in regards to optimizing the fabrication procedures for these devices so that large-scale industrial translation is realistic. This article presents an unconventional approach for facile microfabrication and processing of adhesive-peeled (AP) flexible sensors. By assembling AP sensors on a weakly-adhering substrate in an inverted fashion, we demonstrate a procedure with 50% reduced end-to-end processing time that achieves greater levels of fabrication yield. The methodology is used to demonstrate the fabrication of electrical and mechanical flexible and stretchable AP sensors that are peeled-off their carrier substrates by consumer adhesives. In using this approach, we outline the manner by which adhesion is maintained and buckling is reduced for gold film processing on polydimethylsiloxane substrates. In addition, we demonstrate the compatibility of our methodology with large-scale post-processing using a roll-to-roll approach

An Evolved Wavelet Library Based on Genetic Algorithm

As the size of the images being captured increases, there is a need for a robust algorithm for image compression which satiates the bandwidth limitation of the transmitted channels and preserves the image resolution without considerable loss in the image quality. Many conventional image compression algorithms use wavelet transform which can significantly reduce the number of bits needed to represent a pixel and the process of quantization and thresholding further increases the compression. In this paper the authors evolve two sets of wavelet filter coefficients using genetic algorithm (GA), one for the whole image portion except the edge areas and the other for the portions near the edges in the image (i.e., global and local filters). Images are initially separated into several groups based on their frequency content, edges, and textures and the wavelet filter coefficients are evolved separately for each group. As there is a possibility of the GA settling in local maximum, we introduce a new shuffling operator to prevent the GA from this effect. The GA used to evolve filter coefficients primarily focuses on maximizing the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR). The evolved filter coefficients by the proposed method outperform the existing methods by a 0.31 dB improvement in the average PSNR and a 0.39 dB improvement in the maximum PSNR

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and Associated Bleeding Risks: A Narrative and Clinical Review.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a major cause of disability worldwide and is associated with serious lasting impairment. A leading hypothesis of the pathophysiology of MDD is the monoamine deficiency hypothesis which suggests that depression is caused by depletion of serotonin, norepinephrine, or dopamine in the central nervous system. Serotonin is the most widely studied neurotransmitter in the pathophysiology of depression, with studies showing that reduced central serotonin synthesis leads to depressive symptoms in individuals at risk for depression. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) inhibit serotonin reuptake and subsequently increase the amount of serotonin available in synapses. Common side effects of SSRIs include increased suicidality of patients under the age of 25, sexual dysfunction, anxiety, dizziness, weight gain, gastrointestinal distress, and headache. Other side effects include prolonging the QT interval, coagulopathy, and the risk of serotonin syndrome, as well as SSRI discontinuation syndrome. Sites of increased bleeding related to SSRI use have been reported to occur in the upper gastrointestinal tract, as well as intracranially. Based on the current literature, three studies have found that SSRIs are not associated with increased bleeding and/or increased perioperative risk, while others have demonstrated that SSRIs are associated with an increased risk in perioperative use. The inhibition of serotonin reuptake can affect platelet aggregation since platelets also express the serotonin transporter. SSRIs can result in decreased storage of serotonin in platelet dense granules. Increased serotonin can also increase gastric acid secretion, which increases the risk for ulceration. SSRIs in combination with NSAIDs also show a significantly increased risk of upper GI bleeding. Some studies show an increased bleeding risk from 30% to 70% when taking a combination of vitamin K antagonists and SSRIs in hospitalized patients. Related to the high prevalence of conditions that are treated with SSRIs, the bleeding risk associated with this class of medication merits further study

Electrochemical bicarbonate reduction in the presence of Diisopropylamine on sliver oxide in alkaline sodium bicarbonate medium

In this study, the reduction of bicarbonate in the presence four amines on a silver oxide/ carbon nanotube (Ag2O/CNT) composite electrode has been investigated. The studied amines include ethanolamine (MEA), diethylenetriamine (DETA), diisopropylamine (DIPA) and aminoethylpiperazine (AEP). Regardless of amine type, in the absence of a bicarbonate solution, no reduction/oxidation peaks were observed. However, in the presence of bicarbonate, a single reduction peak along with simultaneous H2 evolution was clearly observed. The cyclic voltammetry measurements showed that only diisopropylamine (DIPA) had a significant catalytic effect toward bicarbonate reduction on the composite electrode. No peak was observed in the anodic direction of the reverse scans, suggesting the irreversible nature of the electrochemical process. The effect of scan rate revealed that the irreversible reduction mechanism is governed by both diffusion and adsorption pathways. In addition of carbonate ions, format ions also have been detected in liquid phase. In order to study the mechanism of bicarbonate reduction in the DIPA solution on Ag2O/CNT electrode, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was employed. The EIS results showed that the charge transfer resistance decreased when the potential decreased from -0.1 to -0.9 V then faded with a further rise in potential to up to -1.9 V. In addition, an inductive loop under certain conditions was observed in the complex plane due to the formation of adsorbed intermediates onto the electrode surface.Chulalongkorn Universit

Oppdragervold – den nedre grensen for straffansvar etter straffeloven § 282 første ledd bokstav b, d og e

Tema for denne avhandlingen er straffeloven § 282 om mishandling i nære relasjoner. Nærmere bestemt rettes fokus mot hvordan straffeloven § 282 om mishandling i nære relasjoner kan anvendes i forbindelse med oppdragervold. Avhandlingen har som siktemål å klarlegge den nedre grensen for når reaksjoner og irettesettelse av barn i oppdragelsesøyemed går over til oppdragervold, som rammes av bestemmelsen om mishandling i nære relasjoner av strl. § 282. Hovedproblemstillingen i avhandlingen er hvor den nedre grensen for straffansvar etter strl. § 282 første ledd bokstav b, d og e er ved oppdragervold. Det vil også undersøkes om når medvirkningsansvaret anses overtrådt etter strl. § 282, jf. § 15