Skin capillary density in pregnancy induced hypertension and normotensive pregnant participants

Background: Pre-eclampsia is a vascular related disorder of pregnancy, Despite the increasing research efforts in the field, the etiology and pathogenesis of this disorder remain elusive, resulting in failure to develop specific screening, preventive and treatment strategies. Peripheral vasodilatation and angiogenesis are critical components of physiological adaptation in normal pregnancy. Women who have later developed preeclampsia had significant structural capillary density rarefaction early in the pregnancy before the onset of preeclampsia.Methods: Case control, comparative study was carried out at our institute. 30 pregnant participants were recruited in each group after satisfying the inclusion criteria. Data was collected by using dermatoscope (200X magnification). Statistical analysis was done by non-parametric test- Mann-Whitney test as blood pressure was not normally distributed among participants. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to make correlation between skin capillary densities and blood pressures.Results: On applying Mann-Whitney test, mean rank for systolic and diastolic blood pressure at 20 weeks for both groups were not significant statistically, mean rank for systolic and diastolic blood pressure between 28-36 weeks of gestation for both groups were significant statistically. After testing, skin capillary density came significantly less in hypertensive group as compare to normotensive pregnant participant of same gestational ages. Spearman’s correlation coefficient came negative for systolic and positive for diastolic blood pressure at 28-36 weeks of gestation.Conclusions: Authors conclude that estimating the skin capillary density provides a potentially useful clinical marker in the prediction of preeclampsia and dermatoscope is an especially attractive clinical tool

VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF PUMP WI TH VFD TECHNOLOGY

A Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) regulates the speed of a 3-phase AC electric motor by controlling the frequency and voltage of the power it delivers to the motor. Today, these devices (also known as Adjustable Speed Drives or Variable Speed Drives) are becoming prevalent in a wide range of applications throughout industry, from motion control applications to Cooling Towers, from water treatment facilities to machining areas, and many others. Considering the Economical and Environmental factors, it is advisable to modify the existing system rather than replacing it with new one. This project exercises this concept of vibration control in order to obtain smooth running by soft water pump and cooling tower pump

Prolactin level in umbilical cord blood of newborn and its relation to respiratory distress syndrome

Background: Production of lower concentrations of prolactin in fetus is considered as one of the major contributor for the development of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in newborns considerably in pregnants with maternal complications. Hence the present study was conducted with the objective to measure the serum level of cord blood prolactin in normal pregnancy and in pregnancy with maternal complications and its association with development of RDS in newborn.Methods: In this prospective study of 100 women, 28 with normal pregnancy (Group A) and 72 with abnormal pregnancies (Group B) were included in the study. Umbilical cord blood was collected and serum prolactin level was estimated using radio-immuno assay. The obtained values were correlated with prevalence of RDS in neonates and maternal complications.Results: The average age of pregnant women participated in Group A was 26 years and Group B was 27 years. In Group A 2 babies with birth weight of 2001-3000 gm had a cord serum prolactin level of 216±137.8 ng/mL developed RDS. In Group B the level of prolactin was 285±276 and 326±132 ng/mL in 4 RDS babies with birth weight of <1000 gm and 1000-2000 gm respectively. It was observed that cord serum prolactin levels had no correlation with the mode of delivery, sex of newborn, steroid therapy. In Group A, 2 neonates developed RDS which were of gestational age between 32-35 weeks with mean prolactin level of 216 ng/ml, while in Group B, 1 neonate with gestational age less than 32 weeks and mean prolactin level of 480 and 4 neonates of 32-35 weeks with mean prolactin level of 266 ng/mL developed RDS. Out of 27 mothers with complications of PIH, 3 developed RDS. 1 case each from IUGR and twins developed RDS respectively.Conclusions: The risk of RDS is less in newborn with high prolactin level than in newborns with low prolactin levels. So prolactin might have a role in fetal lung maturation

महाराष्ट्र की डोल जाल मात्स्यिकी

महाराष्ट्र की डोल जाल मात्स्यिक

Association of Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) identified SNPs and risk of breast cancer in an Indian population

To date, no studies have investigated the association of the GWAS-identified SNPs with BC risk in Indian population. We investigated the association of 30 previously reported and replicated BC susceptibility SNPs in 1,204 cases and 1,212 controls from a hospital based case-control study conducted at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. As a measure of total susceptibility burden, the polygenic risk score (PRS) for each individual was defined by the weighted sum of genotypes from 21 independent SNPs with weights derived from previously published estimates of association odds-ratios. Logistic regression models were used to assess risk associated with individual SNPs and overall PRS, and stratified by menopausal and receptor status. A total of 11 SNPs from eight genomic regions (FGFR2, 9q31.2, MAP3K, CCND1, ZM1Z1, RAD51L11, ESR1 and UST) showed statistically significant (p-value = 0.05) evidence of association, either overall or when stratified by menopausal status or hormone receptor status. BC SNPs previously identified in Caucasian population showed evidence of replication in the Indian population mainly with respect to risk of postmenopausal and hormone receptor positive BC. © 2017 The Author(s)

Automatic Identification System (AIS): An initiative in purse seine fisheries along Mumbai coast

Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a significant development in navigation safety since the introduction of RADAR. It was originally developed as a collision avoidance tool for commercial vessels to improve the helmsman’s information about his surrounding environment. AIS does this by continuously transmitting a vessels identity, position, speed and course along with other relevant information to all other AIS equipped vessels within range

Tumor radiomic features complement clinico-radiological factors in predicting long-term local control and laryngectomy free survival in locally advanced laryngo-pharyngeal cancers

OBJECTIVE: To study if pre-treatment CT texture features in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of laryngo-pharynx can predict long-term local control and laryngectomy free survival (LFS). METHODS: Image texture features of 60 patients treated with chemoradiation (CTRT) within an ethically approved study were studied on contrast-enhanced images using a texture analysis research software (TexRad, UK). A filtration-histogram technique was used where the filtration step extracted and enhanced features of different sizes and intensity variations corresponding to a particular spatial scale filter (SSF): SSF = 0 (without filtration), SSF = 2 mm (fine texture), SSF = 3-5 mm (medium texture) and SSF = 6 mm (coarse texture). Quantification by statistical and histogram technique comprised mean intensity, standard-deviation, entropy, mean positive pixels, skewness and kurtosis. The ability of texture analysis to predict LFS or local control was determined using Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate cox model. RESULTS: Median follow-up of patients was 24 months (95% CI:20-28). 39 (65%) patients were locally controlled at last follow-up. 10 (16%) had undergone salvage laryngectomy after CTRT. For both local control & LFS, threshold optimal cut-off values of texture features were analyzed. Medium filtered-texture feature that were associated with poorer laryngectomy free survival were entropy ≥4.54, (p = 0.006), kurtosis ≥4.18; p = 0.019, skewness ≤-0.59, p = 0.001, and standard deviation ≥43.18; p = 0.009). Inferior local control was associated with medium filtered features entropy ≥4.54; p 0.01 and skewness ≤ - 0.12; p = 0.02. Using fine filters, entropy ≥4.29 and kurtosis ≥-0.27 were also associated with inferior local control (p = 0.01 for both parameters). Multivariate analysis showed medium filter entropy as an independent predictor for LFS and local control (p < 0.001 & p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Medium texture entropy is a predictor for inferior local control and laryngectomy free survival in locally advanced laryngo-pharyngeal cancer and this can complement clinico-radiological factors in predicting prognosticating these tumors. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Texture features play an important role as a surrogate imaging biomarker for predicting local control and laryngectomy free survival in locally advanced laryngo-pharyngeal tumors treated with definitive chemoradiation

Bivalve Fishery of Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri Coast, Maharashtra, India

Estimated bivalve landing of Maharashtra was 1,237 t in 2017. Oysters dominated the fishery (79%) followed by clams (17%) and mussel (4%). The Indian rock oyster, Saccostrea cucullata locally known as ‘Kalva’ contributed 90% to the oyster catch. The fishery was observed mainly in Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri Districts. Clam landing comprised of Meretrix meretrix (44%), M. casta (30%), Paphia malabarica (18%), Katelysia opima (7%) and Polymedosa erosa (1%). Green mussels (Perna viridis) were harvested along the coastal waters of Ratnagiri. Meretrix meretrix showed dominance in all month followed by M. casta and P. malabarica. Catch per unit efforts for clams and oyster were highest during June and July month. There was good demand for bivalves in local markets during the mechanised fishing ban period. Mostly women were handpicking the clams during low tide. There was good demand for bivalves in local markets during the mechanised fishing ban period (June-July). The correlation matrix shows condition index and percentage edibility correlated with the water temperature in the creek