Female Psychology in Sangam Era and in Velliveediyar songs

Sangam literary works are very good and among those works the feminine features given by male writers are completely different from female writers. Writings about women by women is unique both emotionally and socially. Feminist songs are often about demanding identity. It is appropriate to assume that Velliveethiyar is unique among Sangam women singers in her choice of song and style of singing. Sangam era writers in their writings destroys a woman's personal feelings, likes, dislikes, sexual desires, etc. and makes her just as a body. But Velliveethiyar is different from all these writers and she unabashedly poeticises love and lust

Prevalence of Lifestyle Risk Factors in Noncommunicable Diseases

INTRODUCTION: Noncommunicable diseases are emerging rapidly. It is present all over the world. 50% of the deaths due to chronic diseases deaths are due to obesity, hypertension, coronary artery disease and diabetes. A huge population is affected worldwide and nowadays there is significant contribution from younger generation also (1). The increase in deaths due to NCD’s in developing countries is mainly because of changes in lifestyle by industrialization, urbanization, recent increase in life expectancy and changes in diet habits and sedentary behavior. Adolescence is aimportant period in human life and they are more vulnerable to risks associated with health behaviors. Adolescents were influenced by parents as long as they were children. Now they are capable of making their own choices regarding their health and practice in their own way and those behaviors are susceptible to be carried on into adulthood. These behaviors affect their present wellbeing and also pose risks for NCD’s in future life. This is the period where they are more susceptible to explore things according to their choices. Therefore adolescence is a period where they can be motivated to develop healthy attitude and pro-social behaviors. The future of a nation is said to be dependent on adolescent’s health and safety. Adolescents being the future parents, workforce and leaders of the nation, it is worth investing on them. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To study the prevalence of lifestyle risk factors like eating behavior, physical activity, on screen time in non communicable diseases like obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus in adolescent school children. To study 1) The prevalence of lifestyle risk factors like eating behavior which includes fruits, vegetables and junk foods, physical activity, on screen time like television watching, computer and internet use, playing videogames. 2) Prevalence of obesity using BMI as indicator, prevalence of hypertension and type 2 diabetes and its association with obesity. 3) And the association of lifestyle risk factors with NCD’s like obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus in adolescent school children. DISCUSSION: This was a cross sectional study framed to estimate the prevalence of risk factors for NCD’s in 12-18 year old students selected from a school located in the urban part of Chennai. The school had students from 6th to 12th grades. In our study, only 17.99% (26.8% of boys and 10.9% of girls) were engaged in physical activity for >/= to 3 days in a week for a maximum of one hour per day. The rest were either not at all engaged or had physical activity for less than 3 days/week. Only 1/10th of girls were engaged in physical activity when compared to boys(1/4th). Physical activity was found to be more common among boys(0.001). A similar study was conducted by Akhil Kant Singh et al(27)in Delhi which showed that 2/5th(18.3% of males and 22.2% of females) were engaged in physical activity. Also this in contrast to the study conducted by Abhiruchi Galhotra(1) in Chandigarh in which physical activity was found to be present in 32% of study population. Low level of physical activity was found to be present in our study. This can be attributed to the lack of physical space and due to the academic pressure. CONCLUSION: This study shows that there is a higher prevalence of risk factors in our school children. Childhood is the period when healthy lifestyle can be developed since those behaviors are going to be continued throughout life and have an impact on future health and wellbeing of the individual as well as the community. So it is essential to apply primary prevention in the childhood itself so that morbidity can be prevented later in life. It is important that the primary prevention should be at all levels including family, school, community. The intervention should be in all aspects like dietary patterns, physical activity and onscreen time. The government should give more importance and develop policies and allocate more funds to promote positive health in children and adolescents since the future growth of the country is dependent on this population

A study to assess the effectiveness of laughter therapy on stress among school teachers in selected schools at Chennai

Teaching profession has been regarded as the noble profession. Teaching was no longer merely hard work; become a highly stressful profession. Every coin has two faces and this thing goes with stress also. Stress can have both positive and negative aspects. Laughter is surely the best medicine! Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use. With work stress on the rise, laughter therapy sessions are gaining more attention worldwide Laughter promotes positive emotions that can enhance – not replace -- conventional treatments. Hence it was a tool available to fight the stress level. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: “A study to assess the effectiveness of laughter therapy on stress among school teachers in selected schools at Chennai”. OBJECTIVES: To assess the pre test and post test level of stress and find out the effectiveness of laughter therapy, and to associate the post test stress score with their selected demographic variables. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A pre experimental design was chosen. Non probability purposive sampling technique used to select the sample. Sixty school teachers were the sample. Perceived stress scale was used to assess the teachers stress level. RESULTS: In pre test, the school teachers stress score was 22.37, after administration of laughter therapy, the post test stress score was 13.77.So the mean difference was 8.95.It was statistically significant at p < 0.001 level. CONCLUSION: Statistical significance was calculated by using chi square test and student independent t-test. So Laughter therapy has significant impact in reducing the stress among school teachers. Laughter therapy is safer and more effective intervention in all settings

Role of C-Reactive Protein in Fever without Focus in Children Between 1 To 36 Months of Age

INTRODUCTION: FEVER WITHOUT FOCUS: Fever without localizing signs or symptoms, usually of acute onset and present for less than one week.1It is more common in children less than 36 months of age. FEVER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN: Children with fever in whom cause could not be identified after 3 week of evaluation as an outpatient or after 1 week of evaluation in hospital. Fever is a common manifestation of infectious diseases but is not predictive of severity.1 Many common viral and bacterial infections are usually benign in normal hosts and respond well to appropriate antimicrobial or supportive therapy. Other infections such as sepsis, meningitis, pneumonia, osteoarticular infections, pyelonephritis, if untreated, may have significant morbidity or mortality. They are considered to be serious bacterial infections. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a) The diagnostic value of C - reactive protein (CRP) by semiquantitative method in predicting occult serious bacterial infection in febrile children between 1-36 months of age. b) Compare it with other diagnostic tests like WBC, ANC and ESR. c) Various combinations of these tests in predicting occult serious bacterial infection among children between 1-36 months of age hospitalized in an urban referral centre. DISCUSSION: The management of febrile young children without apparent source of infection remains controversial, we need a test with adequate sensitivity and specificity to distinguish what type of children are at risk for bacterial infection. Occult bacteremia, urinary tract infection and pneumonia are considered as serious bacterial infection in children(SBI). Because majority of febrile young children do not have SBI, laboratory tests and expectant antibiotic therapy of these children adds to cost, time, discomfort, parental anxiety and may contribute to antibiotic resistance. Recent prospective studies of febrile young children have found CRP to be a more sensitive and specific predictor of serious bacterial infection compared to WBC counts21. C reactive protein is a classic acute phase reactant. It is a serum protein which is synthesized in the liver . CRP levels are increased in the serum as a result of infection and inflammation. CRP estimation is a rapid diagnostic test. As CRP is easily available, less expensive, less time consuming and a better laboratory test in delineating children with and without SBI24,25,26,27 , this study was conducted. The diagnostic utility of semiquantitative CRP is evaluated in this study. CONCLUSION: 1. Semiquantitative CRP is useful in predicting occult serious bacterial infection in children between 1 month to 36 months. 2. CRP is considered to be better predictive test than total white blood cell count and absolute neutrophil count. 3. CRP and ANC or CRP, ANC &WBC combination is more useful than isolated CRP concentration. 4. CRP determines more selective strategy for children with SBI for additional diagnostic studies and appropriate antibiotic therapy

Transmigration of copper T presenting as abdominal wall mass: a case report

Copper T is one of the widely used intra uterine contraceptive devices due to its safe, effective and reversible nature. It has also been widely used as it is cost effective too. Copper T is usually inserted immediate post-partum, post abortal, during the proliferative phase of any menstrual cycle or 6 to 8 weeks following post-partum. Complications associated with use of Copper T include heavy menstrual bleeding, pelvic inflammatory disease, uterine perforation, displacement and rarely, transmigration. Post-insertion of copper T, women need to have regular follow up visits to prevent such complications. Patients should be advised to check for the presence of threads periodically. Considerable number of patients with transmigration of copper T has been reported in literature. Sites into which transmigration has been reported include broad ligament, ovarian fossa, urinary bladder, sigmoid colon, rectum, peritoneum, omentum, pouch of douglas, retro peritoneal space, iliac veins, ovaries, appendix and rarely in the abdominal wall. Transmigrated copper T may be diagnosed with ultrasonogram, X-ray and CT scan. Copper containing intra-uterine devices are known to provoke inflammatory reactions and symptoms depending upon the sites to which they have been transmigrated. Hence, we should resort to early intervention and remove the misplaced copper IUCD at the earliest. Here, we are reporting a rare case of transmigration of copper T into the anterior abdominal wall elaborating on various facets of copper T including its advent, incidence of use, efficient diagnosis and well-planned retrieval.

Catalytic activity of niobia supported graphene oxide for esterification of oleic acid

Biodiesel has been obtained from esterification of oleic acid with methanol using niobia loaded graphene oxide (GO). Different weight percentages of niobia (1, 3, 5 and 7 wt.%) have been loaded on GO by the wet impregnation method. The synthesized materials have been characterized by XRD, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, TGA, BET surface area, NH3-TPD, ICP-OES, SEM and HR-TEM studies. The catalytic activity of niobia supported on GO has been tested for esterification of oleic acid with methanol for biodiesel production. The maximum yield of methyl oleate (96.4%) is obtained at the reaction conditions of 150 °C, 0.5 g of 5 wt% of niobia on GO catalyst, 1:9 molar ratio of oleic acid:methanol and time 4 h. Influence of solvents (ethanol, propanol, butanol) has been tested for comparative study with same reaction conditions. Based on the catalytic studies, niobia supported GO has good catalytic activity for esterification of oleic acid reaction with good reusability

TONE MAPPING AND IMAGE ENHANCEMENT USING RECURSIVE MEAN SEPARATE HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION (RMSHE) TECHNIQUE

ABSTRACT This work aims to develop a Novel Image Enhancement technique to enhance contrast and tone of digital imagery. Contrast Enhancement and White Balancing used for Image Enhancement. Contrast Enhancement is achieved by Recursive Mean Separate Histogram Equalization (RMSHE). White Balancing is used for Tonal correction. Parameter such as PSNR, MSE, MAE are calculated to identify the better Histogram Equalization for contrast enhancement. Keywords: contrast enhancement, white balancing, histogram equalization, mean absolute error, mean square error, meak signal to noise ratio, RMSHE

Lymphocytic Mastitis with Fibroadenoma – A Case Report

Diabetic mastopathy is an uncommon fibrous tissue lesion of the breast which is usually seen in patients with longstanding type 1 diabetes mellitus. We report a case of diabetic mastopathy in an insulin dependent type 2 diabetes mellitus patient. 47-year-old postmenopausal woman, presented with two lumps, one firm mobile mass and another, a firm-hard mass in the upper inner quadrant of the left breast. Mammography and ultrasonography came out to be BIRADS III lesion. Fine-needle aspiration cytology [FNAC] was performed showing features of fibroadenoma with fibrocystic change. Histopathological examination and Immunohistochemistry studies revealed it to be fibroadenoma along with lymphocytic mastopathy. Keywords: Fibroadenoma, Lymphocytic mastitis, Mimicker, Diabete