Effect of exercise on heart rate recovery index in normotensive offspring with family history of hypertension

Background: The relationship between autonomic system and cardiovascular mortality is significant and this study can be used to study the hereditary risk that an individual carries to develop any autonomic dysfunction and its effect on cardiovascular status. In this study, we aimed to investigate the heart rate recovery index and prevalence of cardiovascular risks in subjects with hypertensive parents.Methods: A total of 30 subjects and 30 healthy controls were recruited in the study. Their anthropometrical and cardiovascular parameters were recorded. Heart rate, blood pressure, weight and height of subjects were measured and BMI calculated. After 3 min step test heart rate will be measured in 1, 2, 3 and 5 minute and heart rate recovery index calculated by subtracting maximum heart rate achieved during exercise by heart rate measured in 1,2,3 and 5 minute. The heart rate recovery index (HRRI) is calculated by extracting the maximum heart rate during treadmill stress testing from the heart rate.Results: The 1st minute HRRI was not significantly different in the groups (43.87±11.54 and 43.00±18.77 respectively, p=0.88). Likewise, the 2nd minute HRRI (50.07±10.38and49.07±16.32 respectively, p=0.843), 3rd minute HRRI (53.33±12.72 and 53.60±17.56 respectively, p=0.962), 4th minute HRRI (55.07±13.25 and 54.60±14.73 respectively, p= 0.928) and 5th minute HRRI (56.33±14.58 and 54.87±14.93 respectively, p=0.788) were also not significantly different.Conclusions: Findings of this study suggest that in the absence high arterial pressure and other comorbidities, a family history of hypertension is not accompanied by dysfunction of autonomic system

Representation of Gender Violence in Jaishree Misra’s Afterwards

Gender violence is one of the major social issues which needs proper attention. It is one of the worst crimes of human society. ‘Gender Violence’ is an umbrella term that includes a large number of crimes directly or indirectly posed against a person’s sexuality. Several crimes like domestic violence, marital rape, human trafficking, honor killing, and other such abuses are heinous realities of the contemporary Indian society. To a large extent, the trauma of gender violence is not only physical but also psychological. Sadly, it has remained neglected for a very long period. However, by the twentieth century, voices fighting against such issues have gained wide recognition. The literary representation of sexual violence in Indian English literature is a way of giving voice to silent unheard victims and is worth critical attention. Jaishree Misra is a contemporary Indian English novelist delineating various socio-cultural issues of the contemporary Indian society through her large gamut of literary works. Her novel Afterwards (2004) deals with the life of a woman named Maya, trapped in a loveless and suffocating marriage. This research paper attempts to study the textual representation of sexual violence in the contemporary Indian English fictions with special attention to the selected literary work

Concept of lipid droplet biogenesis

Lipid droplets (LD) are functionally conserved fat storage organelles found in all cell types. LDs have a unique structure comprising of a hydrophobic core of neutral lipids (fat), triacylglycerol (TAG) and cholesterol esters (CE) surrounded by a phospholipid monolayer. LD surface is decorated by a multitude of proteins and enzymes rendering this compartment functional. Accumulating evidence suggests that LDs originate from discrete ER-subdomains, demarcated by the lipodystrophy protein seipin, however, the mechanisms of which are not well understood. LD biogenesis factors together with biophysical properties of the ER membrane orchestrate spatiotemporal regulation of LD nucleation and growth at specific ER subdomains in response to metabolic cues. Defects in LD formation manifests in several human pathologies, including obesity, lipodystrophy, ectopic fat accumulation, and insulin resistance. Here, we review recent advances in understanding the molecular events during initial stages of eukaryotic LD assembly and discuss the critical role of factors that ensure fidelity of this process

A study of acceptability & feasibility of integrating humanities based study modules in undergraduate curriculum

Background & objectives: The field of medical education in our country remains deeply fragmented and polarised between the biomedical technical domains which are overrepresented and the humanitarian domains which are under-represented within the universe of medical pedagogy. To overcome this imbalance, we designed a module that integrates the two domains in a holistic biomedical and socio-cultural framework with the objective of providing unified field of learning experience to the undergraduate medical students attending rotatory clinical postings in a medical college in New Delhi, India. Methods: Undergraduate medical students of 6 th and 8 th semesters were enrolled in humanities based study module (HSM) on voluntary basis for a total duration of six months. During their compulsory rotatory medicine ward posting, they were introduced and exposed to learning bedside experience of HSM with various tools of art and literature in the form of poem, short narratives, paintings, sketches and group discussions to express their feelings about patients′ sufferings. Students′ feed-back was recorded through an anonymized questionnaire. Result: Of the 235 students, 223 (95%) enrolled themselves voluntarily and 94 per cent (210 of 223) of them completed the total six month duration of the study module. Seventy three per cent of the students found HSM effective in improving their affective motivational behavior, 82 per cent found it effective in motivating them to learn more about core medical subjects, and 85 per cent wanted its continuation as part of medical curriculum. Interpretation & conclusions: The positive response of the students towards the HSM was an indicator of the potential for integrating the module within the undergraduate medical curriculum

Effect of exercise on heart rate recovery index in normotensive offspring with family history of hypertension

Background: The relationship between autonomic system and cardiovascular mortality is significant and this study can be used to study the hereditary risk that an individual carries to develop any autonomic dysfunction and its effect on cardiovascular status. In this study, we aimed to investigate the heart rate recovery index and prevalence of cardiovascular risks in subjects with hypertensive parents.Methods: A total of 30 subjects and 30 healthy controls were recruited in the study. Their anthropometrical and cardiovascular parameters were recorded. Heart rate, blood pressure, weight and height of subjects were measured and BMI calculated. After 3 min step test heart rate will be measured in 1, 2, 3 and 5 minute and heart rate recovery index calculated by subtracting maximum heart rate achieved during exercise by heart rate measured in 1,2,3 and 5 minute. The heart rate recovery index (HRRI) is calculated by extracting the maximum heart rate during treadmill stress testing from the heart rate.Results: The 1st minute HRRI was not significantly different in the groups (43.87±11.54 and 43.00±18.77 respectively, p=0.88). Likewise, the 2nd minute HRRI (50.07±10.38and49.07±16.32 respectively, p=0.843), 3rd minute HRRI (53.33±12.72 and 53.60±17.56 respectively, p=0.962), 4th minute HRRI (55.07±13.25 and 54.60±14.73 respectively, p= 0.928) and 5th minute HRRI (56.33±14.58 and 54.87±14.93 respectively, p=0.788) were also not significantly different.Conclusions: Findings of this study suggest that in the absence high arterial pressure and other comorbidities, a family history of hypertension is not accompanied by dysfunction of autonomic system

Measurement of Intact Serum Parathormone and Corrected Serum Calcium after Thyroid Surgery

Postoperative hypocalcemia is an important complication of thyroid surgery. The present study was undertaken to measure the serum levels of intact parathormone (iPTH) and corrected serum calcium (CSC) in the immediate postoperative period and then sequentially till 1 month after thyroid surgery. A total of 36 patients undergoing total thyroidectomy and 44 undergoing hemithyroidectomy had measurement of the level of iPTH and CSC at 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after surgery. A mean drop of 9.3% in CSC, 40% in iPTH, and 10% in ionic calcium levels was noted 1 hour after total thyroidectomy. All the patients recovered to near preoperative levels at the 1-month follow-up. Among hemithyroidectomy patients, significant postsurgery drop in levels was not observed. The importance of the study is early recognition of a hypoparathyroid state at 1 hour after surgery and institution of calcium replacement, thereby sparing the patient from unpleasant symptoms of hypocalcemia. Furthermore, patients with a drop in the iPTH levels below the defined hypoparathyroidism levels should have careful evaluation of their thyroidectomy specimen for identification and possible autotransplantation of the parathyroid gland intraoperatively or in the immediate postoperative time frame

Improving Polyp Segmentation in Colonoscopy using Deep Learning

Colorectal cancer is one of the major causes of cancer-related deaths globally. Although colonoscopy is considered as the gold standard for examination of colon polyps, there is a significant miss rate of around 22-28 %. Deep learning algorithms such as convolutional neural networks can aid in the detection and describe abnormalities in the colon that clinicians might miss during endoscopic examinations. The "MedAI: Transparency in Medical Image Segmentation" competition provides an opportunity to develop accurate and automated polyp segmentation algorithms on the same dataset provided by the challenge organizer. We participate in the polyp segmentation task of the challenge and provide a solution based on the dual decoder attention network (DDANet). The DDANet is an encoder-decoder-based architecture based on a dual decoder attention network. Our experimental results on the organizers' dataset showed a dice coefficient of 0.7967, Jaccard index of 0.7220, a recall of 0.8214, a precision of 0.8359, and an accuracy of 0.9557. Our results on unseen datasets suggest that deep learning and computer vision-based methods can effectively solve automated polyp segmentation tasks.Colorectal cancer is one of the major causes of cancer-related deaths globally. Although colonoscopy is considered as the gold standard for examination of colon polyps, there is a significant miss rate of around 22-28 %. Deep learning algorithms such as convolutional neural networks can aid in the detection and describe abnormalities in the colon that clinicians might miss during endoscopic examinations. The "MedAI: Transparency in Medical Image Segmentation" competition provides an opportunity to develop accurate and automated polyp segmentation algorithms on the same dataset provided by the challenge organizer. We participate in the polyp segmentation task of the challenge and provide a solution based on the dual decoder attention network (DDANet). The DDANet is an encoder-decoder-based architecture based on a dual decoder attention network. Our experimental results on the organizers' dataset showed a dice coefficient of 0.7967, Jaccard index of 0.7220, a recall of 0.8214, a precision of 0.8359, and an accuracy of 0.9557. Our results on unseen datasets suggest that deep learning and computer vision-based methods can effectively solve automated polyp segmentation tasks

Unlocking the Potential of N-Doped SnO₂ for Sustainable Photocatalytic Degradation of Carcinogenic Dyes

Environmental adulteration is an emerging concern due to the discharge of wastewater effluents from several sources. Several carcinogenic dyes are the major contaminants in these water bodies. These could cause long-lasting and detrimental effects to humans as well as aquatic ecosystems. For efficient degradation of such dyes, the exploration of nanotechnology has demonstrated huge potential. Herein, the degradation of dyes (MB, CV, and MO) has been carried out photocatalytically using N-doped SnO2 nanoparticles (N:SnO2 NPs) as well as in presence of a sacrificial agent, EDTA. These NPs were synthesized at an ambient temperature. Different characterization techniques were used throughout the analysis of the synthesized NPs. The PXRD analysis reveals formation of single-phase rutile structure with tetragonal symmetry. Using the Scherrer formula, the size of the NPs was found to be less than 5 nm, exhibiting increases in size with N doping. Further, morphological analysis through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examined the existence of highly agglomerated, spherical NPs. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results depict the thermal stability of the synthesized NPs up to a temperature of 800 °C. These synthesized N:SnO2 NPs exhibit potent efficiency for the photocatalytic degradation of MB, MO, and CV dyes with an efficiency of 93%, 83%, and 73% degradation, respectively, under UV light irradiation. Additionally, the effect of the sacrificial agent, EDTA, was observed on the degradation process and resulted in a degradation of ~90% MB dye, 88% CV dye, and 86% MO dye within 15 min of UV light irradiation

Data_Sheet_1_Barriers and enablers of breastfeeding in mother–newborn dyads in institutional settings during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study across seven government hospitals of Delhi, India.docx

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic disrupted newborn care and breastfeeding practices across most healthcare facilities. We undertook this study to explore the barriers and enablers for newborn care and breastfeeding practices in hospitals in Delhi, India for recently delivered mother (RDM)–newborn dyads during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) and inductively design a “pathway of impaction” for informing mitigatory initiatives during the current and future pandemics, at least in the initial months.Materials and methodsWe used an exploratory descriptive design (qualitative research method) and collected information from seven leading public health facilities in Delhi, India. We conducted separate interviews with the head and senior faculty from the Departments of Pediatrics/Neonatology (n = 12) and Obstetrics (n = 7), resident doctors (n = 14), nurses (labor room/maternity ward; n = 13), and RDMs (n = 45) across three profiles: (a) COVID-19-negative RDM with healthy newborn (n = 18), (b) COVID-19-positive RDM with healthy newborn (n = 19), and (c) COVID-19 positive RDM with sick newborn needing intensive care (n = 8) along with their care-giving family members (n = 39). We analyzed the data using grounded theory as the method and phenomenology as the philosophy of our research.ResultsAnxiety among clients and providers, evolving evidence and advisories, separation of the COVID-positive RDM from her newborn at birth, providers' tendency to minimize contact duration and frequency with COVID-positive mothers, compromised counseling on breastfeeding, logistic difficulties in expression and transportation of COVID-positive mother's milk to her baby in the nursery, COVID restrictions, staff shortage and unavailable family support in wards and nursery, and inadequate infrastructure were identified as major barriers. Keeping the RDM–newborn together, harmonization of standard operating procedures between professional associations and within and between departments, strategic mobilization of resources, optimization of human resources, strengthening client–provider interaction, risk triaging, leveraging technology, and leadership-in-crisis-situations were notable enablers.ConclusionThe separation of the RDM and newborn led to a cascade of disruptions to newborn care and breastfeeding practices in the study institutions. Separating the newborn from the mother should be avoided during public health emergencies unless there is robust evidence favoring the same; routine institutional practices should be family centered.</p