Aggressive angiomyxoma vulva

Aggressive angiomyxoma is a mesenchymal tumour which is locally invasive and seen in women of reproductive age group. We present a case of 46-year-old post hysterectomy lady with swelling in left side of vulva

A Review on Expert System Applications in Power Plants

The control and monitoring of power generation plants is being complicated day by day, with the increase size and capacity of equipments involved in power generation process. This calls for the presence of experienced and well trained operators for decision making and management of various plant related activities. Scarcity of well trained and experienced plant operators is one of the major problems faced by modern power industry. Application of artificial intelligence techniques, especially expert systems whose main characteristics is to simulate expert plant operator’s actions is one of the actively researched areas in the field of plant automation. This paper presents an overview of various expert system applications in power generation plants. It points out technological advancement of expert system technology and its integration with various types of modern techniques such as fuzzy, neural network, machine vision and data acquisition systems. Expert system can significantly reduce the work load on plant operators and experts, and act as an expert for plant fault diagnosis and maintenance. Various other applications include data processing, alarm reduction, schedule optimisation, operator training and evaluation. The review point out that integration of modern techniques such as neural network, fuzzy, machine vision, data base, simulators etc. with conventional rule based methodologies have added greater dimensions to problem solving capabilities of an expert system.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v4i1.502

Acceptance of birth spacing methods and it’s determinants among postnatal women in a tertiary care setting from Kerala

Background: According to VISION FP2020 healthy birth spacing is defined as delaying the first birth by two years and maintaining the birth interval of at least three years between the two children with the help of various contraceptives.Methods: This was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted among primiparous postnatal women in the department of obstetrics and gynecology SAT hospital, Trivandrum for one year duration. 134 women who had their first delivery were included in this study. A semi structured questionnaire was used to study the sociodemographic variables, reproductive history, contraceptive knowledge, attitude towards contraception and intention to use birth spacing methods by interview technique.Results: The acceptance of birth spacing methods among the study population was 56.8%. 59.1% opted to use family planning methods 6 weeks after delivery while 40.9% planned to use after 6 months. Determinants which were significantly associated with acceptance of family planning methods were education of wife (p<0.01), husbands’ education, socioeconomic status, religion and contraceptive awareness (p<0.01). 47.1% of women preferred DMPA injections, 39.1% opted for intrauterine devices. 13.8% of women opted for condom. Convenience, long term protection, and ease of use were the important reasons cited. The reasons for non-acceptance included fear of side effects, spouse not staying together, opposition from husbands, lack of awareness and religious restrictions.Conclusions: Female literacy, accessibility, cafeteria approach, and counselling contributed to acceptance. If the availability and awareness of injectable contraceptives is made at all the points of health delivery system, the acceptance of birth spacing can further be increased and unplanned pregnancies avoided

The representation of women in Lauretta Ngcobo's And they didn't die

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.Lauretta Ngcobo’s And They Didn’t Die depicts the lives of rural African women who lived under apartheid rule in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa in the 1950s and 1960s. The dissertation examines Ngcobo’s representation of African women’s participation and their agency in the resistance struggles against colonialism, settler colonialism (apartheid), racial supremacy, African patriarchy, and literary and the dominant language systems. The primary method of analysis involves an examination of the novel which is located in the political context of the resistance struggles, the social context of patriarchy and the theoretical context of postcolonial African feminist criticism. By drawing on a range of feminist theories, the dissertation examines the specificity of African women’s lives in terms of race, class and gender roles. The dissertation will also examine the different strategies that women have used to survive and to resist race, class and gender oppressions. Ngcobo’s novel provides an apposite framework to explore women’s experiences of subordination and how they challenged and even overcame the political and social forces that worked against them. Women’s agency in the liberation struggle has been largely ignored and undocumented in literary and even in many feminist projects, which leaves an under-researched gap in African literary studies. The dissertation examines Ngcobo’s work as a literary activist articulating the challenges of representation and voice. Representation is understood to mean speaking or acting for oneself and/or others, while voice is the capacity to speak. It is the key issue reflecting empowerment and agency. These concepts form the basis for analysis and the construction of arguments. It is used to examine the challenges faced by women who have been marginalized in literary discourse, as women and writers

Obstetric outcome in twin gestation with reference to chorionicity

Background: Monochorionic twin pregnancies are at greater risk for growth abnormalities and other complications. This study aims to outline the obstetric problems faced by twins in general and also to determine the influence of chorionicity on pregnancy and perinatal outcome in twins. Objective of present study was to compare the obstetric and perinatal outcome between monochorionic and dichorionic twins.Methods: A clinical non-interventional prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital over a period of 1 year. 232cases of twin pregnancies were followed up from first trimester. The antepartum complications, mode of delivery, presentation, pregnancy outcome, condition of babies and perinatal mortality were compared between mono-chorionic and dichorionic twins.Results: Among 232 cases of twins studied, 2/3rd were dichorionic and 1/3rd were monochorionic. The mean gestational age for Monochorionic (MC) twins was 33.2 weeks whereas it was 35.6 weeks for Dichorionic (DC) twins. Preterm delivery was significantly associated with mono-chorionicity. Elective CS was done more for MC twins compared to DC twins. The mean birth weight of MC twins was 1.7 kg compared to 2.1 kg among DC twins. Low APGAR scores were seen in 31.3% of MC twins compared to 15.8% of DC twins. The number of asphyxiated babies (12.5%), stillborn (7.5%) and macerated babies (10%) were more in MC group in comparison to DC group where it was (9.9%, 2.1%, 0.7%) respectively. Risk of IBN admissions were more in MC than DC twins. (31.3% Vs 21.1%) Adverse perinatal outcome was associated more with MC pregnancies (37.5%) than DC. (11.8%).Conclusions: Mono-chorioncity was significantly associated with pregnancy complications and adverse perinatal outcome. Hence early diagnosis of chorionicity and referral to a tertiary centre with fetal medicine unit and newborn care is very important in reducing morbidity and perinatal mortality among MC twins

Risk factors for perinatal mortality: a case control study from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Background: The greatest risks to life are in its very beginning. Although a good start in life begins well before birth, it is just before, during, and in the very first hours and days after birth that life is most at risk. This prospective case control study was designed on maternal risk factors for perinatal mortality.Methods: This was a case control study conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Paediatrics, Medical College Trivandrum for one year period in 2004-2005. The cases were all the fresh and macerated still births and early neonatal death cases during the study period. The controls were chosen as the next delivery entry in the OR register.Results: During this period, the total number of deliveries was 14,796 and there were 431 perinatal deaths. The perinatal mortality rate was 29.12. This was much higher compared to Kerala’s perinatal mortality rate of 10, the reason being that the study is conducted in a tertiary referral hospital with one of the best new born care nurseries and a large number of referrals. The most significant risk factors for perinatal mortality were low socio-economic status, referrals, late registration, prematurity, low birth weight, intra-uterine growth restriction, maternal diseases like gestational hypertension and gestational diabetes and intrapartum complications like abruption.Conclusions: Perinatal mortality rate serves as the most sensitive index of maternal and neonatal care. Good antenatal care and prevention of preterm birth may play a key role in further reduction of PMR

Degradation of metaldehyde in water by nanoparticle catalysts and powdered activated carbon

Metaldehyde, an organic pesticide widely used in the UK, has been detected in drinking water in the UK with a low concentration (<1 μg L−1) which is still above the European and UK standard requirements. This paper investigates the efficiency of four materials: powdered activated carbon (PAC) and carbon-doped titanium dioxide nanocatalyst with different concentrations of carbon (C-1.5, C-40, and C-80) for metaldehyde removal from aqueous solutions by adsorption and oxidation via photocatalysis. PAC was found to be the most effective material which showed almost over 90% removal. Adsorption data were well fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model, giving a qm (maximum/saturation adsorption capacity) value of 32.258 mg g−1 and a KL (Langmuir constant) value of 2.013 L mg−1. In terms of kinetic study, adsorption of metaldehyde by PAC fitted well with a pseudo-second-order equation, giving the adsorption rate constant k2 value of 0.023 g mg−1 min−1, implying rapid adsorption. The nanocatalysts were much less effective in oxidising metaldehyde than PAC with the same metaldehyde concentration and 0.2 g L−1 loading concentration of materials under UV light; the maximum removal achieved by carbon-doped titanium dioxide (C-1.5) nanocatalyst was around 15% for a 7.5 ppm metaldehyde solution

Correlation between obstetric outcome and amniotic fluid index (AFI) in preterm prelabour rupture of membranes (PPROM)

Background: The purpose was to determine whether AFI 5 after PPROM between 24- and 37-weeks’ gestation

A case of extra hepatic portal vein obstruction in pregnancy with superimposed pre-eclampsia

Extra hepatic portal vein obstruction in pregnancy poses a clinical challenge by itself. We present here a case of a 19 year old primigravida with EHPVO who developed superimposed preeclampsia. She had a successful maternal and fetal outcome in a tertiary care centre owing to the team effort involving specialists from medical gastroenterology, nephrology, anesthesiology, and neonatology apart from senior obstetrician. EHPVO is an important cause of non-cirrhotic portal hypertension in third world countries. In pregnancy, the increased blood volume and cardiac output and mesenteric vasodilatation will increase portal flow and aggravate portal hypertension in these patients. The resultant hematemesis in such patients, can compromise the perinatal outcome. Endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) reduces the risk of variceal bleeding, and can improve the pregnancy outcome in these women. Thrombocytopenia due to splenomegaly is one of the major complications in these patients and has to be corrected before pregnancy. Platelet transfusion is required intrapartum if the count is less than 50,000/mm3 caesarean delivery is reserved only for obstetric indications