A new method for solving linear multi-objective transportation problems with fuzzy parameters

AbstractThere are several methods in the literature for solving transportation problems by representing the parameters as normal fuzzy numbers. Chiang [J. Chiang, The optimal solution of the transportation problem with fuzzy demand and fuzzy product, J. Inform. Sci. Eng. 21 (2005) 439–451] pointed out that it is better to represent the parameters as (λ,ρ) interval-valued fuzzy numbers instead of normal fuzzy numbers and proposed a method to find the optimal solution of single objective transportation problems by representing the availability and demand as (λ,ρ) interval-valued fuzzy numbers. In this paper, the shortcomings of the existing method are pointed out and to overcome these shortcomings, a new method is proposed to find solution of a linear multi-objective transportation problem by representing all the parameters as (λ,ρ) interval-valued fuzzy numbers. To illustrate the proposed method a numerical example is solved. The advantages of the proposed method over existing method are also discussed

Outcome of Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre based care for children with Severe Acute Malnutrition in Uttar Pradesh, India: Cross sectional Study

Background and Aim: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for the facility-based management of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The present study was conducted in two such centres in Uttar Pradesh, India to understand the epidemiological and clinical profile of admitted children and their outcome of treatment. Materials and Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Nutritional Rehabilitation centres at Lucknow and Barabanki district hospitals. All Children aged one to fifty-nine months admitted to these centres from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 were included in the study. Results: Around 28% infants diagnosed with SAM were less than 6 months of age. Majority (64.9%) of the admitted children were discharged with more than 15% of weight at admission, 28.9% were non-responders, 6.2% were defaulters and there were no deaths during the study period. Referrals directly from the community were seen in only 25.8% cases. Conclusion: Considering that around one-fourth of the children were discharged without adequate weight gain, measures to promote follow up should be given more focus. Referral from community level should be strengthened and more attention should be given for prevention of malnutrition in infants less than 6 months

Screening for G6PD deficiency among neonates with neonatal jaundice admitted to tertiary care center: a need in disguise

This study was conducted to determine the association of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency among neonates admitted with jaundice at the neonatal intensive care unit, well baby nursery and neonatal step down nursery of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, from January to June 2010. A total of 205 neonates following the selection criteria were included. All selected neonates have their venous blood drawn, saved in EDTA bottle and sent to laboratory of The Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH). The laboratory results of whether G-6-PD deficiency was present or not was recorded in the proforma. G-6-PD was deficient in 19 neonates (9.3%). All neonates were male

Community Medicine Outpatient Department: Patient profile and reasons for bypass of lower-level public health facilities

Background: The General OPD under the department of Community Medicine at LLRM Medical College, Meerut was inaugurated with the vision to improve quality of OPD services by reducing the patient burden and waiting time at specialist OPDs. Aim & Objective: To describe the profile of patients attending the Community Medicine OPD in LLRM Medical College, Meerut and to estimate the extent and reasons for bypass of lower-level public health facility by patients attending the general OPD. Settings and Design: A hospital based descriptive study was conducted in the general OPD. Methods and Material: Data of all patients from 1st July,2023 to 31st August,2023 was collected from the registers maintained in the OPD. A sample of 215 patients were selected by systematic random sampling to study the objective to assess bypass of lower-level public health facility. Statistical analysis used: Descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 2570 patients attended the general OPD from 1st July,2023 to 31st August,2023. Around 12.8% patients required referral to specialist OPDs. Most common presenting complaints were respiratory symptoms (29.8%). It was seen that 58.8% patients had bypassed the lower-level public health system and the most common reasons were non-availability of a facility nearby (26.8%), not satisfied with previous experience (23.7%), non-availability of treatment (21.6%) and investigations (17.5%), and lack of awareness of services available at the public health facility (15.4%). Conclusions: The general OPD serves as a model for other medical colleges to emulate and improve the quality of services at tertiary care centres

An in vitro study of probiotic activity exhibited by Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus rhamnosus on oral isolates of Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans

Background: Oral infections caused by microorganisms have led to increased risk of oral health problems like dental caries (DC). Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans are the organisms responsible for DC. The goal of the presented study was to investigate the potential of probiotics to prevent and treat DC. An in vitro assay was developed to investigate several probiotic strains for their ability to inhibit the aforementioned oral pathogens. Methods: 40 oral isolates of Streptococcus mutans and 51 oral isolates of Candida albicans were tested for probiotic activity against Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus rhamnosus using agar overlay interference technique as prescribed by Fleming et al. Results: The zone of inhibition shown by L. acidophilus was higher than L. rhamnosus against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans. Conclusions: In conclusion the two probiotic strains L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus exhibited inhibitory activity on S. mutans and C. albicans respectively in vitro

Design of 1-(furan-2-yl)-N-(5-substituted phenyl-1, 3, 4-thiadiazol-2-yl) methanimine derivatives as Enoyl-ACP reductase inhibitors: Synthesis, molecular docking studies and antitubercular activity

A series of 5-phenylsubstiuted 1, 3, 4 thiadiazoles clubbed with furan moiety (Fa-Fe) by means of azomethine linkage have been synthesized. All the newly synthesized compounds were characterized by IR,1HNMR and Mass analyses. All the synthesized molecules have been predicted as antitubercular in nature by PASS in silico approach. In vitro antitubercular screening was performed by alamar blue assay method on Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain. Among the synthesized derivatives Fb and Fe were active at 3.125 µg/mL against M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain. The mechanism of action of the active compounds was carried out by docking of receptor enoyl-ACP reductase. It has been concluded that both Fb and Fe posses a significant interaction of hydrogen bonding and electrostatic attraction with Tyr 158 and Met103 in the active site of enzyme

Causes of Epilepsy in Elderly Patients Presenting in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi

Background: Epilepsy is fairly a frequent occurrence in the elderly. It is commonly diagnosed after the episode of two or more unprovoked seizures. Unprovoked seizures in elderly are recurrent rather than younger individuals. This study was designed to estimate the concrete burden of frequent causes of epilepsy. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with a total of 153 patients diagnosed case of epilepsy were included in this study at Jinnah Medical College Hospital from February 2018-August 2018. Mean was calculated for age, duration of disease of the patients. Causes of epilepsy, gender, and education was calculated and presented as percentages. Electrolyte readings were taken i.e., Sodium, Calcium and Magnesium levels and imaging was planned to rule out stroke, primary neurodegenerative disorders and tumors. Post stratification Chi square test was applied and p-value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age of the patients was 63.91±5.68 years and mean duration of the disease was 4.61± 1.07 months. The common causes of epilepsy were found to be cerebrovascular disease 56.9%, cryptogenic 54.2%, neurodegenerative disorder 20.3%, traumatic head injury 11.8%, metabolic abnormalities or electrolyte disturbances 10.5% and brain tumor 7.8%. Conclusion: Elderly patients with first seizure should present to a facility designed in a way that neurologist, cardiologist, rehabilitation and geriatrics work together to identify and treat the condition in a better way. Keywords: Epilepsy; Seizures; Cerebrovascular Disease; Neurodegenerative Disorder

A Single-Tube, Functional Marker-Based Multiplex PCR Assay for Simultaneous Detection of Major Bacterial Blight Resistance Genes Xa21, xa13 and xa5 in Rice

AbstractIn marker-assisted breeding for bacterial blight (BB) resistance in rice, three major resistance genes, viz., Xa21, xa13 and xa5, are routinely deployed either singly or in combinations. As efficient and functional markers are yet to be developed for xa13 and xa5, we have developed simple PCR-based functional markers for both the genes. For xa13, we designed a functional PCR-based marker, xa13-prom targeting the InDel polymorphism in the promoter of candidate gene Os8N3 located on chromosome 8 of rice. With respect to xa5, a multiplex-PCR based functional marker system, named xa5FM, consisting of two sets of primer pairs targeting the 2-bp functional nucleotide polymorphism in the exon II of the gene TFIIAɤ5 (candidate for xa5), has been developed. Both xa13-prom and xa5FM can differentiate the resistant and susceptible alleles for xa13 and xa5, respectively, in a co-dominant fashion. Using these two functional markers along with the already reported functional PCR-based marker for Xa21 (pTA248), we designed a single-tube multiplex PCR based assay for simultaneous detection of all the three major resistance genes and demonstrated the utility of the multiplex marker system in a segregating population