Study of effectiveness, tolerability and safety of intravenous iron sucrose in iron deficiency anaemia in postnatal women

Background: Iron deficiency anaemia is the most common type of reversible anemia encountered during pregnancy and postpartum period. The present study was done with the objective to find out the efficacy and safety of intravenous iron sucrose in the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in the postpartum period.Methods: Fifty (50) postnatal patients both after vaginal and caesarean section with iron deficiency anaemia within the first 48 hours with haemoglobin percentage between 6 g/dl and 8g/dl were studied prospectively at the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Madras Medical College, Chennai. The patients were given 100 mg of elemental iron diluted in 100 ml of 0.9% normal saline and infused over 15 minutes every alternate day (not more than 3 days in a week) until the required dosage is infused. The blood samples of all the patients were collected and analyzed for haemoglobin (g/dl), hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and compared before and after therapy.Results: The mean age group of the patients was 24.94 years. Majority of the patients were multipara (68%) and belongs to the class V socio economic status (84%). All the blood parameters were increased significantly (p=0.000) when compared from baseline values to end of the treatment. Mean raise in haemoglobin% after 30 days of treatment was 3.60. Average raise in the mean hematocrit was 8.73. The mean difference in the mean corpuscular volume, total iron binding capacity and the percent saturation was 129.77, 13.55, was 22.26 respectively.Conclusions: Our data confirm that the intravenous iron sucrose was very effective, well tolerated and safe than other forms of iron preparations for treating iron deficiency anaemia in postnatal women

Computed tomography scan findings in eclampsia: a prospective study

Background: Eclampsia is a leading cause of maternal death, with classical neurological symptoms that include headache, nausea, vomiting, cortical blindness, coma and convulsions. Computed tomography (CT) scan helps in diagnosing and management of eclampsia in pregnant women. The present study was done with the objective to analyse the findings of CT scan of brain in eclampsia, to identify the prevalence of neurovascular complications in these cases and to determine if these findings can be of value in determining the prognosis of this disorder.Methods: This was a prospective study done on 100 patients with eclampsia. All of the 100 patients were screened with CT scan brain at Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Egmore, Chennai during the period from August 2008 to August 2009. All the data were analyzed and compared between the groups of positive CT scan and negative CT scan observations.Results: Out of 100 patients, positive CT scan findings were noticed in 15 patients. Of them, 7 patients expired, and 8 patients survived after treatment. Of the expired patients (7), 5 of them expired due to brain haemorrhage, and 1 patient died with cerebral oedema and 1 with brain infarction. Cerebral odema (46%) was the most common positive CT finding.  Parietal region of brain was the most common (40%) affected area.Conclusions: CT scan of brain provides valuable information in determining the prognosis and the prevalence of neurovascular complications in Eclampsia

A Criminological Study on Family Environmental Factors Affecting Child Sexual Abuse in Sri Lanka

Child sexual abuse is a serious crime prohibited by Sri Lankan criminal law, which is discussed under child abuse. There are various factors that contribute to the sexual abuse of children. This research has conducted a criminological study of the family environmental factors affecting child sexual abuse in Sri Lanka. The research was conducted in the Kalutara and Colombo districts of the Western Province and 228 sexually abused children were used as the main sample in 2015-2020. Two separate samples were also used for officers on duty with regard to parents and children from the victims. The data obtained from the research have been extensively analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. 87% of victims of sexual abuse are girls. The majority of 42% represent the 15-17 category. 47% of the majority are victims of corruption. The boyfriend (42%) is responsible for most of the abuse. 33% of victims have been sexually abused in their own home and 32% in the home of the abuser. Family vulnerabilities such as family economic difficulties, parental ignorance, extramarital affairs, single parent family, parental separation, family disputes, parental emigration, paternal and drug abuse, various physical and mental disorders of the parents, family moral decline, and breakdown of parent-child cooperation And various problems of children, problems in the social environment can be identified as factors contributing to sexual abuse. A child faces many problems when he or she is sexually abused. This physical, mental and social impact is detrimental not only to the child affected but also to his family, society and the country as a whole. It can be pointed out that an integrated approach is more effective in controlling and preventing child sexual abuse.    DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v07i02.08 &nbsp

REVIEW ON CLINICALLY DEVELOPING ANTIBIOTICS

The world is running out of antibiotics. Between 1940 and 1962, more than 20 new classes of antibiotics were marketed. Since then, only two new classes of antibiotics were marketed. Now, not enough analogues are reaching the market to stem the tide of antibiotic resistance, particularly among gram-negative bacteria which indicates the need of novel antibiotics for their effective action. This review describes those antibiotics in late-stage clinical development. Most of them belong to existing antibiotic classes and a few with a narrow spectrum of activity are novel compounds directed against novel targets. The reasons for some of the past failures to find new molecules and a path forward to help attract investments to fund the discovery of new antibiotics are described

Screening for plant growth promoting fungi and their ability for growth promotion and induction of resistance in pearl millet against downy mildew disease

A total of forty nine plant growth promoting fungi (PGPF) were successfully isolated from the rhizosphere of various grass species in Karnataka State, India. All the PGPF isolates were tested for their ability to enhance pearl millet seed quality parameters and to induce resistance against downy mildew disease in pearl millet. Susceptible pearl millet seeds 7042S were treated with PGPFs conidial suspension (1 x 108 cfu ml-1) and barley grain inocula (BGI) at 5%, 10% and 20% concentrations. Only six isolates among the forty nine tested recorded significant (P < 0.001) enhancement of seed germination and vigor when compared with the untreated control. Of the PGPF, Penicillium sp. (UOM PGPF 27) at 5% (w/w) concentration recorded highest seed germination of 92% and 1701.9 seedling vigor. The in planta colonization of the six PGPF isolates determined successfully in re-isolating the fungus from the basal root segments of 6 cm and 4 cm plated on PDA plates and also from the rhizosphere serial dilution of 10 3 to 10 5. Among the PGPFs tested in two modes, in BGI treatments, Penicillium sp. (UOM PGPF 27) at 5% (w/w) and Pythium sp. (UOM PGPF 41) at 10% (w/w) showed maximum disease protection of 67% and 61% respectively against downy mildew disease of pearl millet In case of conidial suspension treatments Penicillium sp. (UOM PGPF 27) and Trichoderma sp. (UOM PGPF 37) recorded highest disease protection of 71% and 66%, respectively under greenhouse conditions. Thus, the present study suggests that the tested PGPF, both as BGI inocula and conidial suspensions, can be used for pearl millet downy mildew disease management and also for plant growth. &nbsp

Characterization and classification of major coconut growing soils in South Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India

Six soil series representing major coconut growing soils of the Eastern Ghats in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu State, India, were evolved from granite gneiss and alluvium parent materials. Characterization of different soil properties was done using a detailed soil survey at 1:10000 scale. The soils were neutral to moderately alkaline in reaction (7.31 to 9.19), non-saline, poor to moderately well-drained and moderately shallow (<75 cm) to very deep (>150 cm) in depth. The soils were sandy to clay in texture, sub-angular blocky to crumb in structure, dark reddish-brown to brown, very low to high in OC content (0.06 to 2.70%), low to medium in AWC (3.44 to 22.39%), low to high in CEC (4.70 to 54.0 cmol (p+) kg-1) and having high base saturation (77 to 100%). The soils also had sizable amounts of exchangeable sodium (4.29 to 33.46%), which was maximum in P5, P6 and P1, and high clay content in P5 and P2. The distribution of CaCO3 in different depths was found to be maximum in P4 and P1. The soil orders identified in the coconut area were Inceptisols, Entisols, Alfisols and Vertisols. Assessment of soil resources and identification of yield-limiting soils factors on coconut could be by way of better management and improved productivity

Context Matters: Intertextuality and Voice in the Early Modern English Controversy about Women

This dissertation examines three clusters of works from the early modern English controversy about women--the debate about the merits and flaws of womankind--in order to argue that authors in the controversy took advantage of the malleability of women's voices to address issues beyond the worth of women. I depart from standard treatments of the controversy by giving priority to the intertextual contexts among works that engage with one another. Attending to the intertextual elements of this genre reveals the metapoetic concerns of the authors and the way such authors fashion their feminine apologists as discursive agents in order to express those concerns. Chapter 1 examines Edward Gosynhyll's sixteenth-century works in tandem with Geoffrey Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women and "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale," arguing that Gosynhyll's revisions of Chaucer--revisions embodied by the feminine apologists in the texts--are integral to his project of establishing the controversy genre as multivalent and dialectical. The resulting metacommentary examines in a new light the age-old rhetorical tradition of exemplarity, a persuasive tool used in diverse literary genres. Chapter 2 considers the way the anonymous play Swetnam the Woman-Hater uses cross-voicing and cross-dressing to establish the performative nature of controversy conventions. In doing so, the play argues for the social benefits of abandoning essentialist logic in favor of gender performance, as such performance makes the role of apologist available to men and women alike. This cluster reconsiders the very processes by which a person--male or female--can be known to others. Finally, I trace John Taylor's use of the marginal woman in his controversy works in order to demonstrate the extent to which Taylor makes these women instrumental in establishing his own poetic and social identity. This project contributes to studies on the English controversy as well as to the field of early modern women and women's writing by arguing that authors found the genre generally and the woman's voice specifically to be fit vehicles for articulating poetic agendas beyond the immediate task of debating the nature of womankind

Race, resistance and translation: the case of John Buchan’s UPrester John

In postcolonial translation studies, increasing attention is being given to the asymmetrical relationships between dominant and indigenous languages. This paper argues that John Francis Cele’s UPrester John (1958), is not simply a subordinated and obeisant translation of John Buchan’s adventure thriller Prester John (1910), but a more complex form of textuality that is both oppositional and complicit with the workings of apartheid. Although Cele’s translation reproduces Buchan’s story of a daring young Scotsman who single-handedly quells a black nationalist uprising, it also ameliorates the novel’s racist language and assumption. Cele’s translation practice is examined in the context of apartheid publishing and Bantu education.Web of Scienc

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici causal agent of vascular wilt disease of tomato: Biology to diversity– A review

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is one of the widely grown vegetables worldwide. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) is the significant contributory pathogen of tomato vascular wilt. The initial symptoms of the disease appear in the lower leaves gradually, trail by wilting of the plants. It has been reported that FOL penetrates the tomato plant, colonizing and leaving the vascular tissue dark brown, and this discoloration extends to the apex, leading to the plants wilting, collapsing and dying. Therefore, it has been widely accepted that wilting caused by this fungus is the result of a combination of various physiological activities, including the accumulation of fungal mycelia in and around xylem, mycotoxin production, inactivation of host defense, and the production of tyloses; however, wilting symptoms are variable. Therefore, the selection of molecular markers may be a more effective means of screening tomato races. Several studies on the detection of FOL have been carried out and have suggested the potency of the technique for diagnosing FOL. This review focuses on biology and variability of FOL, understanding and presenting a holistic picture of the vascular wilt disease of tomato in relation to disease model, biology, virulence. We conclude that genomic and proteomic approachesare greater tools for identification of informative candidates involved in pathogenicity, which can be considered as one of the approaches in managing the disease

Molecular phylogeny, pathogenicity and toxigenicity of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici

The present study aimed at the molecular characterization of pathogenic and non pathogenic F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici strains isolated from tomato. The causal agent isolated from symptomatic plants and soil samples was identified based on morphological and molecular analyses. Pathogenicity testing of 69 strains on five susceptible tomato varieties showed 45% of the strains were highly virulent and 30% were moderately virulent. Molecular analysis based on the fingerprints obtained through ISSR indicated the presence of wide genetic diversity among the strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS sequences showed the presence of at least four evolutionary lineages of the pathogen. The clustering of F. oxysporum with non pathogenic isolates and with the members of other formae speciales indicated polyphyletic origin of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Further analysis revealed intraspecies variability and nucleotide insertions or deletions in the ITS region among the strains in the study and the observed variations were found to be clade specific. The high genetic diversity in the pathogen population demands for development of effective resistance breeding programs in tomato. Among the pathogenic strains tested, toxigenic strains harbored the Fum1 gene clearly indicating that the strains infecting tomato crops have the potential to produce Fumonisin