Biodegradation of phenol by bacterial strain isolated from paper sludge

The objective of this project work is to study the degradation of phenol by bacterial strain isolated from paper sludge. Biodegradation is one of the cheapest methods without any production of hazardous by-products. The growth and phenol biodegradation study was carried out in MSM broth with phenol as the sole carbon source and energy. The strains were designated as S1, S2 and S3 and examined for colony morphology, Gram staining and biochemical tests. Phenol degrading performance of all the strains was evaluated initially. One of the strains namely S2 was found to be highly effective for the removal of phenol. The effect of temperature, pH and phenol concentration on the rate of phenol degradation by that particular strain was carried out. Observations revealed that the rate of phenol biodegradation was significantly affected by pH, temperature of incubation and phenol concentration. The optimal conditions for phenol removal were found to be pH of 8, temperature of 30°C and concentration of phenol of 200 ppm

Survey on Lightweight Primitives and Protocols for RFID in Wireless Sensor Networks

The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies is becoming widespread in all kind of wireless network-based applications. As expected, applications based on sensor networks, ad-hoc or mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) can be highly benefited from the adoption of RFID solutions. There is a strong need to employ lightweight cryptographic primitives for many security applications because of the tight cost and constrained resource requirement of sensor based networks. This paper mainly focuses on the security analysis of lightweight protocols and algorithms proposed for the security of RFID systems. A large number of research solutions have been proposed to implement lightweight cryptographic primitives and protocols in sensor and RFID integration based resource constraint networks. In this work, an overview of the currently discussed lightweight primitives and their attributes has been done. These primitives and protocols have been compared based on gate equivalents (GEs), power, technology, strengths, weaknesses and attacks. Further, an integration of primitives and protocols is compared with the possibilities of their applications in practical scenarios

A comparison of manual vacuum aspiration with medical method of abortion in termination of pregnancy up to 9 weeks of gestational age

Background: Objective of present study was to compare efficacy and complications of medical method versus manual vacuum aspiration in early pregnancy termination and to determine whether medical method of termination of pregnancy represent a reasonable alternative to surgical method (MVA) in terms of complete evacuation of products of conception and their side effects.Methods: A comparative study was carried out on 184 pregnancies in women who were willing for termination of pregnancy up to 9 weeks (63 days) of gestational age, in Group A: women who opted for medical method for termination, Group B: women who opted for manual vacuum aspiration for termination.Results: Mean age of Group A was 27.63±3.60 years and Group B was 26.87±3.83 years. Majority 169 (92%) of women were Hindu. 165 (90%) of the patients lived in urban area and 176 (96%) were married women. Majority 130 (71%) of them were para 2 and more. Average age of gestation at which termination was performed was 46.79±6.29 days in Group A and 49.13±6.67 days in Group B. Average duration of vaginal bleeding among Group A was found to be 8.9±3.5 days (p value<0.05) and in Group B was 6.837+2.928 days which was significantly longer in Group A. 72 (78.3%) patients considered vaginal bleeding to be heavier than their normal period in Group A where as in Group B 8 (8.7%)perceived it to be heavier (p value <0.001). Incidence of pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and incomplete abortion (78.26%, 32.60%, 16.3%, 19.56% and 4.43%) in group A and (52%, 7.6% ,4.3%, nil and 2.17%) in group B which were found to be higher in Group A as compare to Group B. Patient satisfaction was 95.65% in medical method and 84.78% in MVA group. Success rate was 95.65% for medical and 97.82% for MVA group.Conclusions: Duration and amount of bleeding per vaginum is more in medical method as compare to surgical method. Side effects like pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea were more in medical group, but majority of these symptoms were self-limiting. There was high satisfaction rate (95.65%) among medical abortion group because less surgical and anaesthetic complication, offer them more privacy and treatment is taken at home. The effectiveness of medical method of abortion in present study was 95.65% and success rate in MVA was 97.82%. Medical method of abortion for first trimester termination of pregnancy upto 9 weeks of gestation can be better alternative method to surgical evacuation. Medical method of abortion proves to be more effective, safe and economical method that avoid complication associated with surgical evacuation like uterine perforation, cervical laceration and anaesthtic complication. The only disadvantage with medical method of abortion is lack of predictability and variable success rate

Hemoglobin status in pregnant women for diagnosis of anemia, assessment of severity and its socio-demographic determinants in rural area of Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: Anaemia is one of the most common nutritional deficiency disorders affecting the pregnant women in the developing countries. In India anaemia in pregnancy is a major health issue with adverse maternal and foetal outcome. Nutritional anaemia in pregnant women continues to be a cause of concern despite the fact that this problem is largely preventable and easily treatable. Objectives was to determine the prevalence and severity of anaemia in the pregnant women.Methods: Around 350 pregnant women in different trimesters of pregnancy were enrolled coming for the 1st time in outpatient department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in Rama Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Kanpur from Janurary 2016 to December 2016. Information regarding age, age at marriage, age at 1st pregnancy, parity, Interval between previous and index pregnancy, no of abortions, educational status, dietary habits, Type of family, Socioeconomic status was collected in pre-designed structured schedule after taking written consent from pregnant women attending out-patient department. Haemoglobin estimation was done by auto analyser and anaemia was graded according to WHO criterion. Statistical analysis was done by percentages and proportions.Results: A high prevalence of anaemia, (87.71%) was observed in pregnant women. The current study shows (24.7%) cases of mild anaemia, (54.5%) cases of moderate anaemia, and (7.9%) of severe anaemia.Conclusions: A very high prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy needs awareness about late marriage, birth spacing, one or two child norm, antenatal care, green leafy vegetable in diet, mandatory regular supply of iron folic acid (IFA) tablets to adolescent and pregnant women along with correction of other nutritional deficiencies

Acceptance for Human Papilloma virus vaccines, experience at tertiary care centre of northern india: a hospital-based survey

Background: Acceptance of HPV vaccine is varying widely worldwide in   range of 10-70%. For increasing the acceptability for HPV vaccine, finding the obstacles and catering them diligently is required. The aim of the study was to find out acceptability rate for HPV vaccine in northern India and various obstacles and facilitators affecting acceptance of HPV vaccine.Methods: A questionnaire based descriptive study was done in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of King George Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India from June 2016 to June 2017.  Questionnaire was filled by doctor after taking face to face interview of individuals. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Ethical Committee of the KGMU, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. (1689/Ethics/R cell/17) acceptability rate and various facilitators and obstacles for HPV vaccine were studied. For continuous variables mean with standard deviation was used. For categorical variables frequencies and percentages were used. IBM SPSS statistics applied.Results: A total of 302 cases were face to face interviewed, amongst which, 70 cases (23%) showed acceptability and 232 did not accept the vaccine. The most common obstacles were lack of knowledge and high monetary cost being the cause of nonacceptance in 48.3% and   33.6% of cases respectively.Conclusions: Higher level of awareness and knowledge about HPV vaccine and inclusion in government immunization programmed may increase acceptability

Factors influencing the utilization of health facilities for childbirth in a disadvantaged community of Lalitpur, Nepal

Background: In Nepal, half of deliveries take place at home (HMIS 2014), while institutional birth assisted by skilled birth attendants (SBAs) are still infrequent. Objectives: This study explores factors influencing the utilization of health facilities for childbirth in a disadvantaged community of rural Nepal. Method: A qualitative study with two focus groups: mothers-in-law and husbands, and female community health volunteers. 28 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with selected participants 20 mothers and 8 grass-root and policy level stakeholders. Data were analysed by three delays model of conceptual framework. Results: The main reasons for giving birth at home included cultural tradition, lack of awareness about danger signs during pregnancy and childbirth, about importance of skilled birth attendants and lack of knowledge about availability of free 24-hours delivery sites/birthing centers, inability to afford two way transportation costs despite transport incentives provided by government for institutional delivery, fear of episiotomy/surgery/physical abuse and health service provider’s attitude for home delivery. Health facilities were mostly used by women who experienced complications during childbirth Policy Implications: Significant gaps from policy to grass root levels were identified which -suggests that dissemination of information about free delivery must be more effective. The health workers should convincingly inform families about benefits of institutional delivery, especially in marginalized/disadvantaged communities

Gamma Radiation Induced Intestinal Proteomic Modulation in Mice: A Two Dimensional Electrophoretic Analysis

Exposure to high doses of radiation causes serious injuries in gastrointestinal tract, by affecting biomolecules of the tissue. To demonstrate the modulation of intestinal proteome by ionising radiations, we analysed changes in protein expression in 9 Gy irradiated C57BL/6 mice at 24 h and 72 h by using two dimensional electrophoresis technique. A total of 19 protein spots with statistical significance (fold change&gt;1.5 and P&lt;0.05) were found to be differentially expressed. Of these 07 spots were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and peptide mass fingerprinting techniques which matched with the known proteins documented in the online database. These proteins belong to biological-functional categories like cytoskeleton system, molecular chaperones, DNA damage response, and stress response. These identified radiation induced proteins can help in understanding the mechanisms behind the intestinal injuries and thus can become potential targets for therapeutics and also aid in drug development

Podophyllum hexandrum-Mediated Survival Protection and Restoration of Other Cellular Injuries in Lethally Irradiated Mice

This study aims at the development of a safe and effective formulation to counter the effects of lethal irradiation. The sub-fraction (G-001M), prepared from Podophyllum hexandrum has rendered high degree of survival (>90%) at a dose of 6 mg kg−1 body weight (intramuscular) in lethally irradiated mice. Therapeutic dose of G-001M, at about 20 times lower concentration than its LD100, has revealed a DRF of 1.62. Comet assay studies in peripheral blood leukocytes have reflected that, treatment of G-001M before irradiation has significantly reduced DNA tail length (P < .001) and DNA damage score (P < .001), as compared to radiation-only group. Spleen cell counts in irradiated animals had declined drastically at the very first day of exposure, and the fall continued till the 5th day (P < .001). In the treated irradiated groups, there was a steep reduction in the counts initially, but this phase did not prolong. More than 60% decline in thymocytes of irradiated group animals was registered at 5 h of irradiation when compared with controls, and the fall progressed further downwards with the similar pace till 5th day of exposure (P < .001). At later intervals, thymus was found fully regressed. In G-001M pre-treated irradiated groups also, thymocytes decreased till the 5th day but thereafter rejuvenated and within 30 days of treatment the values were close to normal. Current studies have explicitly indicated that, G-001M in very small doses has not only rendered high survivability in lethally irradiated mice, but also protected their cellular DNA, besides supporting fast replenishment of the immune system