Mussel culture in mulky estuary, Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka during 1997-'99

During 1997-'98 seasons, the mussel culture activities were carried out at Mulky estuary with the active participation of local fishermen and the growth rate was studied. Culture work was continued at two places in Mulky estuary during 1998-'99 seasons. The growth rate of mussels in Chitrapu area was higher than that observed in Mulky area. During 1998-'99 seasons, the meat content of the harvested mussel was low as they had spawned before the harvest. The culture works carried out at Mulky estuary reveal that mussel culture can be profitabily done during October-May months in Mulky estuary. The fishermen group can take up the culture activities as a part-time venture as the culture involves minimum labour only during the initial period and thereafter it needs little husbandry work. There is good demand for mussels in monsoon months when supply of marine fish is less due to ban on mechanized fishing. Mussels harvested in May can be processed and marketed for sale during the lean season, for which infrastructural facilities have to be developed. Once the marketing infrastructure is developed mussel culture activities can be taken up by more fishermen group in a profitable manner

Diabetes mellitus and smoking among tuberculosis patients in a tertiary care centre in Karnataka, India

Supported by the TB Union/MSF Course on Operational Researc

The Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes of (Z)-N'((1H-indol-3-yl)methylene)nicotinohydrazide Schiff base: synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation

Schiff bases being biological moieties possess diverse biological and pharmaceutical applications. Metal ions play an important role in various functions of the biological system as well as the human body. The importance of Schiff base and their metal complexes have been acknowledged in the field of bioinorganic chemistry. The current investigation hence focuses on the synthesis and characterization of a bidentate indole-based ligand(Z)-N'((1H-indol-3-yl)methylene)nicotinohydrazide (L) derived from indole-3-carboxaldehyde (1), nicotinic acid hydrazide (2) and their metal complexes of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II), (4a-d) in 2:1 stichiometric ratio. All the synthesized ligand and complexes were characterized by IR, UV-Visible, H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, Mass, Powder XRD analysis. Further, the ligand and their metal complexes were screened for antimicrobial, antioxidant and DNA cleavage studies. Among the synthesized complexes, Ni(II) (4c) showed highest antimicrobial activity against tested Gram -ve and Gram +ve bacterial strains and fungal microorganism, better than the ligand (L). The antioxidant activity results showed that the metal complexes (4a-d) were observed to be more active than the parent ligand. Furthermore, the ligand (L) and their respective metal (II) complexes (4a-d) were found to cleave the pBR322 DNA, during gel electrophoresis studies

Rural Load Management Using Information Technology

The mismatch between the generation and demand for electrical power is increasing at an alarming rate. This is mainly due shortage of conventional resources, use of appropriate technology for alternate energy sources and lack of awareness about energy conservation. Power supply to domestic, commercial and industrial consumers is a difficult task to the utilities controlled by the government. In rural India, irrigation pump sets are the major loads. The technical aptitude, attitude and co operation of the consumers helps a lot in energy management. The strategic power supply is affected if the consumers are not complying with the norms. A strategy is framed to provide power to domestic appliances around the clock and agricultural consumers on time division basis. But the local technicians play a corruptive role to violate this which is leading to overloading/failure of the distribution transformers frequently. Here, an attempt is made to devise a method to overcome the problem of agricultural consumers who are getting power on time division basis. A control unit is installed at each distribution station to automatically monitor and control the power supply to domestic and agricultural consumers as per the pre defined schedule. This paper explains the use of electronics and information technology in rural areas for better management of the power supply and consumption. The unauthorized connection leading to failure of distribution transformers is also taken care

Retention in pre-antiretroviral treatment care in a district of Karnataka, India: how well are we doing?

Setting: Antiretroviral treatment (ART) Centre in Tumkur district of Karnataka State, India. There is no published information about pre-ART loss to follow-up from India. Objective: To assess the proportion lost to follow-up (defined as not visiting the ART Centre within 1 year of registration) and associated socio-demographic and immunological variables. Design: Retrospective cohort study involving a review of medical records of adult HIV-infected persons (aged ⩾15 years) registered in pre-ART care during January 2010–June 2012. Results: Of 3238 patients registered, 2519 (78%) were eligible for ART, while 719 (22%) were not. Four of the latter were transferred out; the remaining 715 individuals were enrolled in pre-ART care, of whom 290 (41%) were lost to follow-up. Factors associated with loss to follow-up on multivariate analysis included age group ⩾45 years, low educational level, not being married, World Health Organization Stage III or IV and rural residence. Conclusion: About four in 10 individuals in pre-ART care were lost to follow-up within 1 year of registration. This needs urgent attention. Routine cohort analysis in the national programme should include those in pre-ART care to enable improved review, monitoring and supervision. Further qualitative research to ascertain reasons for loss to follow-up is required to design future interventions

Spin-density-functional theory of circular and elliptical quantum dots

Using spin-density-functional theory, we study the electronic states of a two-dimensional parabolic quantum dot with up to N=58 electrons. We observe a shell structure for the filling of the dot with electrons. Hund's rule determines the spin configuration of the ground state, but only up to 22 electrons. At specific N, the ground state is degenerate, and a small elliptical deformation of the external potential induces a rotational charge-density-wave (CDW) state. Previously identified spin-density-wave (SDW) states are shown to be artifacts of broken spin symmetry in density-functional theory.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Survey of green mussel seed resources of Kerala and Karnataka

Farming of marine mussels Is practiced extensively in the temperate and Southeast Asian countries. In India two species of mussels, Perna viridis and Perna indica commonly known as the green and brown mussels respectively have been reported

Estimation of conditional laws given an extreme component

Let $(X,Y)$ be a bivariate random vector. The estimation of a probability of the form $P(Y\leq y \mid X >t)$ is challenging when $t$ is large, and a fruitful approach consists in studying, if it exists, the limiting conditional distribution of the random vector $(X,Y)$, suitably normalized, given that $X$ is large. There already exists a wide literature on bivariate models for which this limiting distribution exists. In this paper, a statistical analysis of this problem is done. Estimators of the limiting distribution (which is assumed to exist) and the normalizing functions are provided, as well as an estimator of the conditional quantile function when the conditioning event is extreme. Consistency of the estimators is proved and a functional central limit theorem for the estimator of the limiting distribution is obtained. The small sample behavior of the estimator of the conditional quantile function is illustrated through simulations.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figur

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS HOSPITALS A STUDY ON SELECTED HOSPITALS AT SHIVAMOGGA CITY

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS HOSPITALS A STUDY ON SELECTED HOSPITALS AT SHIVAMOGGA CITY The opening of Indian economy since 1991 has given a new dimension to the economic structure of the country. The service sector is contributing more than 50% to the GDP. In service sector the contribution of healthcare sector towards GDP is significant.  India will spend a huge          Rs 200,000 crore on healthcare in the next five years as the country witnessing changes in its demographic profile accompanied with lifestyle diseases and increasing medical expenses. Nearly 80 per cent of the required investment is coming from the private sector. The government spending on healthcare is around 0.9 per cent of the total GDP, which limits the extent and effectiveness of the coverage it can provide. Private healthcare will continue to be the largest component in 2012 and is likely to double to    Rs 156,000 crore.  Therefore the study focuses on services provided by private hospitals.   Â