Drug utilisation evaluation in patients with osteoarthritis in tertiary care hospital

Background: The principle aim of our study is to assess the prescribing pattern of drugs used in treatment of osteoarthritis patients. Methods: A prospective and empirical study was carried out at department of orthopaedics-Shadan teaching and general hospital, for 6 months.Results: During the study period, a total 120 patients were enrolled, of which 57% were females, 43% were males and common age group was ≥60 years. It was found that 56% of OA patient have history of trauma and 62% of obese individual contribute to occurrence of OA. It was found that subjects developed comorbidities like CV disorders which is 36%. It was found that 63% have OA for a duration of >2 years, 56% had no knowledge about their medications, 59% have co-morbidity, 61% have treatment complexity. NSAID’s, calcium, vitamin D3, glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate were the most frequently prescribed drugs in OA accounting for 50%. It was reported that 55% were adherent to OA medication, adherence to physical activity was 64%, adherence to weight loss was 62%.Conclusions: Our study manifest that majority of the patients had duration of >2 years of OA. The reasons for the uncontrolled pain was due to absence of awareness about osteoarthritis-related difficulties, drugs, low calcium diet, increased stress, obesity, and advanced age. Continuous health education, patient counselling, information about medication adherence and satisfaction at follow-ups is essential to avoid the problems

Efficiency of thin film photovoltaic paint: a brief review

The integration of thin film solar paint in the field of photovoltaics has received much attention because of its potential to replace the conventional solar cells. The solar paint has shown enormous potential due to its tunable size characteristics, flexibility and cost-effective way of manufacturing. However, there is still a need for the improvement in the power conversion efficiencies of these paints, which emphasise this study to do further for characterizing the optimum materials for the paint. The aim of this study is to find the materials for the paint from reviewing the related published materials, which would have high electrical and thermal conductivities. This study also focuses on the techniques to improve the solar power conversion efficiency by using the paint just applying on any conductive surface. The manuscript presents the recent developments of materials and synthesis techniques for developing photovoltaic paints. Consequently, it describes the suitable material and deposition technique to improve the efficiency of thin film photovoltaic paint

Systemic Arterial-to-Pulmonary Artery Shunt Utilization

Background: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a significant cause of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. Treatment often involves systemic arterial-to-pulmonary artery shunts (SAPAS); local data is sparse. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi (Kenya) between January 1st 2006 and December the 31st 2012. All patients who received a SAPAS at the institution during the study period were included. Results: Twenty-four SAPAS were performed on 22 patients. Ten of 24 SAPAS’s (41.7%) were central shunts and 14 of 24 SAPAS’s (58.3%) were modified Blalock-Taussig shunts. The median age and median weight were 20 months (range 3-120) and 11.6 kilograms (range 4.7-23) respectively. The median pre-operative and post-operative arterial oxygen saturations were 68% (range:29-92) and 89% (range 52-100) respectively. Postoperative heparin was used in 4 of 23 shunt procedures (17.4%). The in-hospital operative mortality was 25%. Median length of post-operative follow-up was 1 year; 95% were lost to follow-up. Four out of 22 patients (18.2%) had a subsequent definitive palliative procedure. Conclusion: The utilization of SAPAS’s is not optimal; this may be related to the poor post-operative follow up of our patients. Further study is required to determine the reasons for poor follow-up.Key words: Blalock Taussig, Shun

Autoantibodies in Viral Infections

The immune system’s ability to distinguish self from nonself is essential for initiating host defense against microbial antigens and protection of self-antigens from autoimmune-associated destruction. Virus infections have been implicated in the initiation of multiple human autoimmune diseases. This chapter aims to summarize the main principles for some specific viral infections and the subsequent production of autoantibodies resulting in the initiation, progression, and perpetuation of autoimmune diseases. Various mechanisms by which virus infections can induce autoimmune responses including molecular mimicry and epitope spreading are discussed with respect to these viruses, and evidence implicating virus infections in the pathogenesis of various human autoimmune diseases is reviewed. A better understanding of the viral origin of autoimmune diseases is an important step in the identification of high-risk patients as well as designing prevention and disruption strategies

Clinical and biochemical profile of hyponatremia and the role of vaptans in comparison to other standard modalities of therapy

Background: This study, conducted from August 2014 to August 2015, investigated hyponatremia in 228 in-hospital patients, aiming to discern its clinical and biochemical features and compare the efficacy of vaptans against standard treatments. The null hypothesis assumed no significant disparity in outcomes, while the alternate hypothesis posited otherwise. Methods: Using an open-label, non-blinded, observational, prospective comparative design, we assessed 228 hyponatremia patients. We scrutinized their clinical and biochemical profiles and made comparisons between moderate and profound hyponatremia cases, along with different treatment approaches. Results: Our findings revealed that patients aged 61-80, primarily females, dominated the cohort. Moderate hyponatremia occurred in 56.6% of cases, with severe hyponatremia in 43.4%. Common symptoms included drowsiness, nausea, and vomiting. Euvolemic hyponatremia was predominantly due to SIADH, while heart failure led to most hypervolemic cases. Various treatments were employed, with fluid restriction and normal saline being common. Tolvaptan and 1.6% hypertonic saline significantly increased serum sodium levels at 24 and 48 hours. Hospital stay duration didn’t significantly differ, and no osmotic demyelination cases emerged. Mortality stood at 10.5%, notably higher in profound hyponatremia cases. Conclusions: This study provides insights into hyponatremia’s clinical and biochemical aspects and compares vaptans to standard treatments. Tolvaptan and hypertonic saline displayed promise in raising serum sodium levels. Nevertheless, further research is warranted to validate these findings and explore additional factors impacting hyponatremia treatment outcomes

Flow-Aware Elephant Flow Detection for Software-Defined Networks

Software-defined networking (SDN) separates the network control plane from the packet forwarding plane, which provides comprehensive network-state visibility for better network management and resilience. Traffic classification, particularly for elephant flow detection, can lead to improved flow control and resource provisioning in SDN networks. Existing elephant flow detection techniques use pre-set thresholds that cannot scale with the changes in the traffic concept and distribution. This paper proposes a flow-aware elephant flow detection applied to SDN. The proposed technique employs two classifiers, each respectively on SDN switches and controller, to achieve accurate elephant flow detection efficiently. Moreover, this technique allows sharing the elephant flow classification tasks between the controller and switches. Hence, most mice flows can be filtered in the switches, thus avoiding the need to send large numbers of classification requests and signaling messages to the controller. Experimental findings reveal that the proposed technique outperforms contemporary methods in terms of the running time, accuracy, F-measure, and recall

ON (p, q)-STANCU-SZÁSZ-BETA OPERATORS AND THEIR APPROXIMATION PROPERTIES

In the present paper, we introduce the generalized form of (p; q)-analogue of the Szász-Beta operators with Stancu type parameters. We derived the local approximation properties of these operators and obtained the convergence rate and weighted approximation

Camel Milk as Adjuvant to Treat Alloxan Diabetes: Effect of Heat Treatment on this Property

Diabetes is one of the most frequent and serious chronic diseases in humans all over the world. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of heat treatment on antidiabetic activity of camel milk on serum glucose and lipid profile of alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced in Wistar albino rats by intraperitoneal injection of alloxan (120 mg/kg BW once). Albino rats each weighing 180-230g were divided into 3 equal groups (n=4) as following: G1- normal rats fed on normal diet, G2 - diabetic rats fed on normal diet, and G3 - diabetic rats were fed with raw camel milk. Fasting blood glucose was measured lipid profile was assessed. Results: Our study showed a significant effect of raw camel milk on blood glucose and lipid profile parameters in alloxan induced diabetic rats, there was a significant reduction in lipid profile of T. Cholesterol, Triglycerides, LDL-C in (Diabetic+ Raw camel milk) comparing to (Diabetic+ Pasteurized camel milk) and Positive control group with values 121.4 mg/dl, 80.4 mg/dl, 17.9 mg/dl and 141.5 mg/dl, 90.7 mg/dl, 28.7 mg/dl and 181.6 mg/dl, 113.8 mg/dl, 48.9 mg/dl respectively. Diabetic+ Boiled camel milk group died at the end of experiment. Conclusion: Raw camel milk improved the glycemic and lipid profile in diabetic rats but not in Diabetic+ Boiled camel milk group. These findings indicate that boiling of raw camel milk may have reducing potential benefits in the treatment of diabetes. Future studies will be needed to establish its safety and mechanism of action