Morbidity following Surgical Management of Vulval Cancer.

The objective of this study was to know the complications following vulvectomy and inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy including the time taken to complete wound healing. 42 patients who were subjected to either radical or modified radical vulvectomy for primary and inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy (80 groins) for groin metastases were analysed retrospectively. The complications analysed were wound breakdown, wound cellulitis or infection, lymphocyst, limb edema and the time to wound healing. In a total of 80 inguinofemoral lymphadenectomies 55% had wound breakdown, 17.5% had wound infection/cellulitis, lymphocyst in 31%, limb edema in 36% and time taken for complete wound healing ranged from 10-134 (average 46 days). Overall post operative morbidity was 85%

Magneto-convection of water-based nanofluids inside an enclosure having uniform heat generation and various thermal boundaries

AbstractInvestigation of two-dimensional steady laminar magneto-convection heat transfer of (Ag,TiO2) water based nanofluids with variable properties inside a heat generating square enclosure having different thermal boundaries is done numerically in this paper. The governing equations are solved utilizing the finite volume method with power-law scheme and SIMPLE algorithm is used for handling the pressure-velocity coupling. The algorithm and the computer code have been also compared with numerical results in order to verify and validate the model. By using the developed fortran code, the effects of Hartmann number, heat generation (or absorption), Reyleigh number and solid volume fraction on the flow and thermal fields and heat transfer inside the enclosure are studied. Results are demonstrated in the form of streamlines, isotherms and average Nusselt number

IN VITRO HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF YELLOW LEAF EXTRACTS OF THESPESIA POPULNEA AGAINST CARBON TETRACHLORIDE INDUCED TOXICITY

Objective: The study was aimed to evaluate in vitro hepatoprotective activity of yellow leaf extracts of Thespesiapopulnea. Methods: Hepatoprotective activity is studied by carbon tetrachloride-induced hepato-toxicity in isolated rat hepatocytes. The biochemical parameters observed in serum were serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT/AST), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT/ALT) levels. The extracts exhibited a dose-dependent reduction in AST, ALT levels. Results: Methanolic extract was found to exhibit higher hepatoprotection. T. populnea extract was found to be antihepatotoxic at a concentration of 125 mcg with a significant decrease in ALT (P<0.001) and AST (P<0.0001). Conclusion: The results suggest that the methanolic extract has produced significant (p<0.001) hepatoprotection by decreasing the activity of serum enzymes which is comparable to that of standard drug silymarin

EFFECT OF ACTINOMYCETES ON GROWTH OF OCIMUM SANCTUM

Objective: The study was aimed to isolate and identify Actinomycetes from rhizosphere soil of Malik deenar college of pharmacy, Kasaragod, Kerala, and to screen the plant growth promoting the activity of isolated actinomycetes on Ocimum sanctum. Methods: The Actinomycetes were isolated from rhizosphere region soil by serial dilution and pour plating method. Then they were identified to a generic level based on morphological characters, and biochemical characters. Plant growth promoting activity was screened by placing 3 sets of Ocimum sanctum seedlings in different pots and the shoot length was measured after 10 d and compared with control. Results: 19 different types of isolates were chosen based on their morphological characteristics and used for assessments of plant growth promoting activity. Among the 19 isolates, 17 isolates were identified as Streptomyces spp. And 2 were belongs to Nocardia spp. The actinomycetes isolates which belong to Streptomyces spp were shown plant growth promoting activity. Conclusion: The result of this study revealed that the rhizosphere soil has different types of actinomycetes, among these Streptomyces spp. are more abundant and common. These Streptomyces spp. have predominant activity on plant growth promotion with respect to Ocimum sanctum

A comparative study of the effect of body mass index on pregnancy outcomes in normal and overweight women

Background: Maternal obesity has been reported as a risk factor for various antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and neonatal complications. Increasing rates of overweight among pregnant women are a significant public health concern with various implications for prenatal care and supervision of delivery. Therefore, the present study is to determine the adverse materno-fetal outcome in primigravid overweight and obese women delivering singleton babies.Methods: A prospective comparative study was conducted for a year at IMCH, Medical College, Calicut. Primigravid women with a singleton uncomplicated pregnancy with cephalic presentation at ≥37 weeks of gestation with accurate information regarding height and weight recorded at the booking visit were included in the study. Comparisons were made between 100 women with BMI >25 and 200 women with BMI 18.5-24.9. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 16.0. Data was analysed by Pearson Chi square test and Fisher’s exact test.Results: Overweight mothers are at increased risk quoted as relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of adverse materno-fetal outcomes. Gestational hypertension RR 2.39 (CI 1.65-3.47), Gestational diabetes RR 2.67(CI 0.95-7.48), induction of labour RR 2.35 (CI 1.4-3.95), Cesarean section RR 5.73 (CI 3.76-8.73), macrosomia RR 14 (CI 1.75-112.23), NICU admissions RR 4.51(CI 2.61-7.84),perineal lacerations RR 4.72 (CI 1.15-20.4), wound infection RR 2.97 (CI 1.06-8.41), and prolonged hospital stay.Conclusions: It is clearly evident from the study that maternal overweight and obesity is associated with adverse materno-fetal outcome

Anticancer potential evoked by Pleurotus florida and Calocybe indica using T24 urinary bladder cancer cell line

Cancer is the second largest non-communicable disease and it has a sizable contribution in the total number of deaths. Cancer of the urinary bladder ranks fourth in men and eighth in women with an alarming increase in cancer patients of this type every year. Tobacco smoking is considered to be one of the causes of bladder cancer and a number of organic chemicals used in the industry are known to be carcinogenic to the bladder. Chemical and dyestuff manufacturers are at particularly high risk of bladder cancer. Edible fungi are used as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancers. This study was employed to find out the therapeutic potential of two medicinal mushroom varieties namely Pleurotus florida and Calocybe indica against T24 urinary bladder cancer cell lines. The therapeutic potential of the two medicinal mushroom varieties, P. florida and C. indica against T24 urinary bladder cancer cell lines were determined by the MTT assay and DNA fragmentation assay. The results obtained from the MTT assay and DNA fragmentation assay in this study showed the anti-tumour potential of these two mushroom varieties against T24 bladder cancer cell lines. Thus, the mushroom varieties P. florida and C. indica can be employed as potential anticancer drugs against bladder carcinoma.Key words: Bladder cancer, MTT, DNA fragmentation, mushroom, antitumour

A Novel Hybrid K-Means and GMM Machine Learning Model for Breast Cancer Detection

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among a large number of women worldwide. It may be challenging for radiologists to diagnose and treat breast cancer. Consequently, primary care improves disease prevention and death. Early detection increases treatment options and saves life, which is the major target of this research. This research indicates the versatility of the methodology by integrating contemporary segmentation approaches with machine learning methods, which are developing areas of research. In the pre-processing process, an adaptive median filter is utilized for noise removal, enhancement of image quality, conservation of edges, and smoothing. This research makes a significant contribution by proposing a new parameter for evaluating K-means and a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) performance. A hybrid combination of segmentation and detection was applied to breast cancer. The proposed technique is significant for classifying benign and malignant tumors. The simulated results are discussed and evaluated to determine the competence of this method for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. This method allows medical experts to recognize breast cancer at a faster rate and provide higher accuracy. An ANOVA test was used to determine the multi-variant analysis and prediction rate for the proposed method

Sero Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in Children Using Two ELISA Kits

The diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis is based on circumstantial evidence in the absence of a gold standard in the majority of cases. Sero-diagnosis offers scope for an early diagnosis in a variety of clinical conditions and is simple to perform. A number of mycobacterial antigens have been used for antibody detection assays and several are available as kits in the market. This study was done to evaluate the value of antibody detection kits (ELISA) against the A60 antigen and 38kDa antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis at the outpatient department of the Institute of Social Paediatrics, Government Stanley Hospital in collaboration with Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai. Thirty five children with pulmonary tuberculosis, 7 with TB lymphadenitis and 22 healthy controls were studied. In addition to routine investigations including gastric lavage for AFB culture, serum antibodies against the A60 and 38kDa antigens were assayed using commercially available ELISA kits. With A60, IgM serum levels were positive in 74% of pulmonary TB cases, 57% of TB lymphadenitis cases and 50% of controls. A60 IgG was positive in 17% of pulmonary TB, 86% of TB lymphadenitis and 14% of controls. The 38 kDa IgG antibody was positive in 37% of pulmonary and 86% of TB lymphadenitis cases and 27% of controls. Among 10 culture confirmed cases, A60 IgM was positive in 8, A60 IgG in 3 and 38kDa IgG in 5 patients. The sensitivity of the tests ranged between 29% and 71% and specificity between 50% and 86%. Although the numbers are small, the results suggest that serodiagnosis using the currently available antigens of M. tuberculosis is unlikely to be a confirmatory test for tuberculosis in children

Influence of LD slag on iron ore sinter properties and productivity

Large amounts of slags from steel plants are produced through basic oxygen furnace and LD furnace. The main purpose of LD process is to convert the molten pig iron and steel scraps into high quality steel. In India, the generation of steel melting slag is over 4 to 4.5 Mt per annum. The amount of steel slags from different steel industries are 150–200 kg/t of steel produced. Disposal of large quantities of slag becomes a big environmental concern. JSW Steel Limited is a 7.0 Mtpa integrated steel plant and produces 3200 tons of total steel making slag per day and in that LD slag is 2000 to 2500 t/day. This LD slag consists of 45.75% CaO, 22.0 % Fe and 8.22% MgO. Thus, recycling of LD slag through the sintering process recovers lime, iron and magnesia and thereby saving of flux material and iron ore. Due to high content of CaO one can replace LD slag by limestone in sintering process. Detail investigation was carried out through lab scale studies for estimating the maximum permissible limits of usage of LD slag in sinter making and to know the influence of LD slag addition on sinter productivity and properties. Experiments were conducted using the LD slag in sinter making from 0 to 60kg/t of sinter. FeO content of the sinter decreased, sinter productivity increased with increase in LD slag addition. Decrease in FeO content is due to decrease in sinter bed temperature and increase in productivity is due to decrease in LOI content of the sinter mix and absence of weight loss due to calcination process. The sinter strength and RDI of the sinter deteriorated due to non availability of free CaO in LD slag and this reduces the formation of calcium ferrites phase and more Fe2O3 remains as free phase due to less reaction with CaO. From the test results it was found that 30 to 35 kg LD slag can be used per ton of sinter to get desired properties of the sinter