Surat 2006 Floods: A Citizens’ Report

Surat is situated at the mouth of the river Tapi where it meets the Arabian Sea and has for centuries been a flood-affected area. The most recent floods however, were different because of the magnitude of their effect. Nearly 90 per cent of the households were affected; six of the seven wards of the city had water standing for days. It crippled the economy and affected people's coping abilities. In the wake of the floods the Department of Human Resource Development of the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and the Centre for Social Studies conducted a study looking at how people coped with the disaster and the impact of the flood on their lives and the economy. It offers some pointers about how the impact can be mitigated in similar situations in the future

Surat 2006 Floods: A Citizens’ Report

Surat is situated at the mouth of the river Tapi where it meets the Arabian Sea and has for centuries been a flood-affected area. The most recent floods however, were different because of the magnitude of their effect. Nearly 90 per cent of the households were affected; six of the seven wards of the city had water standing for days. It crippled the economy and affected people's coping abilities. In the wake of the floods the Department of Human Resource Development of the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and the Centre for Social Studies conducted a study looking at how people coped with the disaster and the impact of the flood on their lives and the economy. It offers some pointers about how the impact can be mitigated in similar situations in the future

A NOVEL APPROACH TO INCREASE THE BIOAVAILABILITY OF CANDESARTAN CILEXETIL BY PRONIOSOMAL GEL FORMULATION: IN-VITRO AND IN-VIVO EVALUATION

Objective: The oral bioavailability of Candesartan cilexetil is less (<15%), so in this study an approach has been made to increase its bioavailability by proniosomal gel formulation.Methods: The proniosomal formulation of Candesartan cilexetil was prepared by slurry method, using span 60 and Tween 60 as non-ionic surfactants, maltodextrin as carrier and cholesterol and soya lecithin as stabilizers. Prepared gel formulations were evaluated for compatibility study, entrapment efficiency, vesicle size, surface morphology, in-vitro diffusion studies, in-vitro skin permeation studies, in-vivo pharmacokinetics studies, various release kinetic studies and stability studies.Results: FT-IR study showed no interaction between drugs and other excipients, drugs and excipients are compatible. Mean vesicles size of proniosome derived niosome was found in the range of 16.34 µm-32.48 µm and 7.25-16.45 µm before and after shaking. An optimized formulation A3 containing a 2:1 ratio of span 60 and cholesterol showed maximum entrapment (86.17%) and in-vitro drug release (93.8%) compared to other formulations. In-vitro skin permeation studies were carried out using Albino rat skin and results showed that formulation A3 exhibited 88.65% drug permeation in a steady-state manner over a period of 24 h with a flux value of 1.94 µg/cm2/h and enhancement ratio of 3.73. In-vivo pharmacokinetics studies of proniosomal gel formulation A3 showed a significant increase in bioavailability (1.425 folds) compared with an oral formulation of Candesartan cilexetil. Stability studies showed that proniosomal gel formulation was stable throughout its study period.Conclusion: Physiochemically stable Candesartan cilexetil proniosomal gel was formulated, which could deliver significant amount of the drug across the skin in a steady-state manner for the prolong period of time in the treatment of hypertension.Â

Effect of Life-Style Modification Intervention Programme on Bone Mineral Density among Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Objectives: Osteoporosis is one of the major public health problems worldwide among postmenopausal osteoporotic women. Lifestyle modification interventions along with pharmacotherapy helps to revert the bone loss and prevent the complications. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal from January 2019 to December 2021 among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The postmenopausal women who attended the osteoporosis clinic and were within the age group of 45-65 years, could speak and understand English or Kannada, and whose Bone Mineral Density (BMD) score was between -1 and -3 were included for the study. The total sample size of the study was 120 with 60 in each of the experimental and control group. After obtaining the informed consent, stratified block randomization method was used to allocate the participants to intervention and control group. The BMD was monitored by the portable ultrasound densitometer by a technician at the outpatient departments. The baseline information was collected by a structured demographic questionnaire. Intervention group participants received Lifestyle Modification Intervention Program (LMIP) whereas control group received the standard regular care by the physician.  Follow up was done at three and six months. Results: The results revealed that the increase in the BMD median score among the experimental group was from -2.2 [(-2.5, -1.8)] to -1.5 [(-1.8, -0.65)] where as in the control group it was from -2.3 [(-2.6, -1.9)] to -2.0 [(-2.4, -1.5)].  The increase in the median score of the experimental group (0.7) was higher than in the control group (0.3). The results of Mann Whitey U test showed a statistical significance between the intervention and control groups in the post test after 6 months (U =.505.5, p<0.05). Wilcoxon signed rank test showed the significant change in both the intervention and control groups from pre-test to post-test I (3 months) and Post-test II (6 months) (p<0.001). Conclusion: The lifestyle modification intervention was found to be effective in improving the bone health status of postmenopausal women. Hence it is very important to integrate in regular therapy. Keywords: LMIP, postmenopausal women, bone health status, bone mineral density

Surat 2006 Floods: A Citizens’ Report

Surat is situated at the mouth of the river Tapi where it meets the Arabian Sea and has for centuries been a flood-affected area. The most recent floods however, were different because of the magnitude of their effect. Nearly 90 per cent of the households were affected; six of the seven wards of the city had water standing for days. It crippled the economy and affected people's coping abilities. In the wake of the floods the Department of Human Resource Development of the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and the Centre for Social Studies conducted a study looking at how people coped with the disaster and the impact of the flood on their lives and the economy. It offers some pointers about how the impact can be mitigated in similar situations in the future.Surat flood; floods; SMC;

Tooth Mobility among Patients visiting a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that results in the destruction of supporting tissue and bone leading to tooth mobility. Tooth mobility if untreated can lead to tooth loss. However, very few studies exist for its assessment. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of tooth mobility among patients visiting a tertiary care centre. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among individuals visiting a tertiary care dental hospital from 1st April to 30th June 2022 after obtaining ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 2202202202). Individuals more than 13 years who gave consent and fulfilled the study criteria were enrolled. Tooth mobility was assessed using Lindhe and Nyman’s classification. Proforma also included demographics, simplified oral hygiene index, gingival index, body mass index, and smoking status. Convenience sampling was done. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Among 163 patients, 65 (39.88%) patients (32.36-47.40, 95% Confidence Interval) had tooth mobility. Conclusions: The prevalence of tooth mobility was higher than in studies done in similar settings

Role of an Agro Technique for the Development of Medicinal Plant: Shalparni

Vrikshayurveda a classical science of botanical field, this science deals with growth and development of plants. This science mainly suggests uses of Kunapa jala and Pancha gavya for the high productivity of crops. This concept works around organic farming for effective plant growth. Vrikshayurvedha mentioned Kunapajala as organic liquid manure which is a fermentation product and acts as plant nutrients. There are two types of Kunapajala mainly in practices viz; herbal and non-herbal which is prepared according to the procedures described in Vrikshayurvedha. Considering importance of this we planned a study to investigate role of Vrikshayurvedha concept for the development of medicinal plant; Shalparni. Present study investigated role of Kunapajala in the growth and % yield of plant Shalparni. This study observed that Kunapajala treatment offered best response with respect to root yield and soil physico-chemical parameters. Kunapajala increased plant yield quantitatively as well as qualitatively

Impact of Land Cover Change on Ecosystem Services in a Tropical Forested Landscape

Ecosystems provide a wide range of goods, services or ecosystem services (ES) to society. Estimating the impact of land use and land cover (LULC) changes on ES values (ESV) is an important tool to support decision making. This study used remote sensing and GIS tools to analyze LULC change and transitions from 2001 to 2016 and assess its impact on ESV in a tropical forested landscape in the southern plains of Nepal. The total ESV of the landscape for the year 2016 is estimated at USD 1264 million year−1. As forests are the dominant land cover class and have high ES value per hectare, they have the highest contribution in total ESV. However, as a result of LULC change (loss of forests, water bodies, and agricultural land), the total ESV of the landscape has declined by USD 11 million year−1. Major reductions come from the loss in values of climate regulation, water supply, provision of raw materials and food production. To halt the ongoing loss of ES and maintain the supply and balance of different ES in the landscape, it is important to properly monitor, manage and utilize ecosystems. We believe this study will inform policymakers, environmental managers, and the general public on the ongoing changes and contribute to developing effective land use policy in the region

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe