1,799 research outputs found
Protective effect of lemongrass oil against dexamethasone induced hyperlipidemia in rats: possible role of decreased lecithin cholesterol acetyl transferase activity
AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the anti-hyperlipidemic activity of lemongrass oil against in dexamethasone induced hyperlipidemia in rats.MethodsAdministration of dexamethasone was given at 10 mg/kg, sc. to the adult rats for 8 d induces hyperlipidemia characterized by marked increase in serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels along with increase in atherogenic index.ResultsLemongrass oil (100 and 200 mg/kg, po.) treatment has showed significant inhibition against dexamethasone hyperlipidemia by maintaining the serum levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and atherogenic index near to the normal levels and the antihyperlipidemic effect of the lemongross oil was comparable with atorvastatin 10 mg/kg, po. The possible mechanism may be associated with decrease in lecithin cholesterol acetyl transferase (LCAT) activity.ConclusionsThese results suggested that Lemon gross oil possess significant anti-hyperlipidemic activity
Living environment and health of under-five children in urban slums of a coastal region in South India
Objective: The primary objective of the study was to determine the association between the living environment and morbidity, nutritional status, immunization status, and personal hygiene of under-five children living in urban slums in southern India.
Methods: This study included 224 mothers of under-five children living in urban slums of Udupi Taluk, Karnataka. A total of 17 urban slums were selected randomly using random cluster sampling.
Results: Undernutrition was high among children of illiterate mothers (63.8%), and the children of working mothers were affected by more morbidity (96.6%) as compared with housewives. Morbidity was also found to be high among children belonging to families with low incomes (66.1%) and low socio-economic backgrounds (93.1%). Safe drinking water, water supply, sanitation, hygiene, age of the child, mother’s and father’s education, mother’s occupation and age, number of children in the family, use of mosquito nets, type of household, and family income were significantly associated with child morbidity, nutritional status, immunization status, and personal hygiene of under-five children living in urban slums.
Conclusion: Overall, in our study, family characteristics including parental education, occupation and income were significantly associated with outcomes among under-five children. The availability of safe drinking water and sanitation, and the use of mosquito nets to prevent vector-borne diseases are basic needs that need to be urgently met to improve child health
AWAKENING CHARACTERISTICS AND RECOVERY OF COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING SHORT SURGICAL PROCEDURES: COMPARISON BETWEEN DESFLURANE AND PROPOFOL
Objectives: Early awakening and recovery of the cognitive function improves post-operative outcome and early discharge of the patients. Desflurane and Propofol offer rapid emergence from anesthesia. We compared the awakening and recovery of cognitive function between these two agents.
Methods: A total of 50 patients aged 30–60 years belonging to ASA 1 and 2 were studied. In both the groups baseline, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was recorded and were induced with Target controlled infusion (TCI) of Propofol to achieve plasma site concentration (Cp) of 6 mcg/ml. Group P continued with TCI Propofol Cp 3 mcg ml-1 and in group D, TCI was stopped and started Desflurane 6% end tidal concentration followed by Desflurane 3%. Hemodynamic variables were noted and after stopping the agent, time to eye open, squeeze hands, removal of laryngeal mask airway, state name, and modified Aldrete score were noted. MMSE score was recorded 1, 6, and 24 h postoperatively.
Results: Awakening time was significantly shorter in duration in Desflurane group compared to Propofol. The mean time to eye open in the Propofol group was 10.41±2:31 min and Desflurane group was 06.21±01.42 min (***p=0.000). There was an increase in the mean MMSE score postoperatively at 6 h and 24 h interval when compared to the baseline within the groups. However, there was no difference in recovery of cognitive function between the two groups.
Conclusion: The use of inhalational agent Desflurane provided shorter awakening time than intravenous Propofol in short surgical procedures but the recovery of cognitive function was comparable. There were no significant side effects
Reconstructing Indian-Australian phylogenetic link
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>An early dispersal of biologically and behaviorally modern humans from their African origins to Australia, by at least 45 thousand years via southern Asia has been suggested by studies based on morphology, archaeology and genetics. However, mtDNA lineages sampled so far from south Asia, eastern Asia and Australasia show non-overlapping distributions of haplogroups within pan Eurasian M and N macrohaplogroups. Likewise, support from the archaeology is still ambiguous.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In our completely sequenced 966-mitochondrial genomes from 26 relic tribes of India, we have identified seven genomes, which share two synonymous polymorphisms with the M42 haplogroup, which is specific to Australian Aborigines.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results showing a shared mtDNA lineage between Indians and Australian Aborigines provides direct genetic evidence of an early colonization of Australia through south Asia, following the "southern route".</p
Integrated modeling and validation for phase change with natural convection
Water-ice systems undergoing melting develop complex spatio-temporal
interface dynamics and a non-trivial temperature field. In this contribution,
we present computational aspects of a recently conducted validation study that
aims at investigating the role of natural convection for cryo-interface
dynamics of water-ice. We will present a fixed grid model known as the enthalpy
porosity method. It is based on introducing a phase field and employs mixture
theory. The resulting PDEs are solved using a finite volume discretization. The
second part is devoted to experiments that have been conducted for model
validation. The evolving water-ice interface is tracked based on optical images
that shows both the water and the ice phase. To segment the phases, we use a
binary Mumford Shah method, which yields a piece-wise constant approximation of
the imaging data. Its jump set is the reconstruction of the measured phase
interface. Our combined simulation and segmentation effort finally enables us
to compare the modeled and measured phase interfaces continuously. We conclude
with a discussion of our findings
Probing ultrafast carrier dynamics and nonlinear absorption and refraction in core-shell silicon nanowires
We investigate the relaxation dynamics of photogenerated carriers in silicon
nanowires consisting of a crystalline core and a surrounding amorphous shell,
using femtosecond time-resolved differential reflectivity and transmission
spectroscopy at photon energies of 3.15 eV and 1.57 eV. The complex behavior of
the differential transmission and reflectivity transients is the mixed
contributions from the crystalline core and the amorphous silicon on the
nanowire surface and the substrate where competing effects of state filling and
photoinduced absorption govern the carrier dynamics. Faster relaxation rates
are observed on increasing the photo-generated carrier density. Independent
experimental results on crystalline silicon-on-sapphire help us in separating
the contributions from the carrier dynamics in crystalline core and the
amorphous regions in the nanowire samples. Further, single beam z-scan
nonlinear transmission experiments at 1.57 eV in both open and close aperture
configurations yield two-photon absorption coefficient \ (~3 cm/GW) and
nonlinear refraction coefficient \ (-2.5x10^-4 cm2/GW).Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Methane reforming over Ni-based pyrochlore catalyst: deactivation studies for different reactions
Allelic variants of DYX1C1 are not associated with dyslexia in India
Dyslexia is a hereditary neurological disorder that manifests as an
unexpected difficulty in learning to read despite adequate
intelligence, education, and normal senses. The prevalence of dyslexia
ranges from 3 to 15% of the school aged children. Many genetic studies
indicated that loci on 6p21.3, 15q15-21, and 18p11.2 have been
identified as promising candidate gene regions for dyslexia. Recently,
it has been suggested that allelic variants of gene, DYX1C1 influence
dyslexia. In the present study, exon 2 and 10 of DYX1C1 has been
analyzed to verify whether these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
influence dyslexia, in our population. Our study identified 4 SNPs
however, none of these SNPS were found to be significantly associated
with dyslexia suggesting DYX1C1 allelic variants are not associated
with dyslexia
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