Vegetarian Diet and Cardiometabolic Risk among Asian Indians in the United States

Research studies have shown that plant-based diets confer cardiovascular and metabolic health benefits. Asian Indians (AIs) in the US (who have often followed plant-based diets) have elevated risk for chronic diseases such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity suggesting ethnic vulnerability that imply genetic and/or lifestyle causative links. This study explored the association between this ethnic group and diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome after controlling for demographics, acculturation, family history of diabetes, and lifestyle and clinical risk factors. The sample comprised of 1038 randomly selected adult AIs in seven US sites. Prevalence and metabolic syndrome was estimated, and obesity was calculated using the WHO Asian criteria. Multivariate analysis included multinomial logistic regression. The mean age and length of residency in the US were 47 and 18.5 years, respectively. The majority of respondents were vegetarians (62%) and educated. A vegetarian lifestyle was associated with females, food label users, respondents with poor/fair current health status, less acculturated, and those who reported their diet had not changed after coming to the US. Vegetarian status was a protective factor and lowered the risk for diabetes but not for metabolic syndrome and obesity in the regression model. Results provide a firm basis for educational programs

Coordination properties of vic-isonitrosoimines in their copper (II) and palladium (II) complexes

Preparation and structural characterization of palladium (II) complexes of ligands III-V and copper (II) complexes of III are reported. The elemental analyses of the complexes show that the metal: ligand ratio is 1:2. The electrical conductance in acetone shows the non-electrolytic nature of the complexes. The diamagnetic character suggests a gross square-planar geometry for the palladium (II) complexes. Copper (II) complexes are paramagnetic with μeff.~1·90 B.M. Spectral data suggest that in all the complexes the ligand coordinates to the metal (II) symmetrically through isonitroso-nitrogen and imine-nitrogen, forming a five membered chelate ring. Amine-exchange reactions of the complexes are discussed and compared on the basis of their structures

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF HAIR GEL FOR THE TREATMENT OF DANDRUFF

Dandruff is a very serious problem today; various treatments are available in the market but show temporary effect. An attempt has been made to formulate an antidandruff hair gel of carbopol 940 containing ketoconazole (Antidandruff drug) and Aloe vera (Natural antifungal agent), which are effective for number of hours as compared to other marketed hair oils. Hair gel increases the retaining time of drug and improve the effectiveness of antifungal agents. Aloe vera keep your hair moisturized, prevent from damage and drying. Aloe vera is used in formulation to reduce the dose of ketoconazole and also reduces the adverse and side effect of same

Acute viral Hepatitis E in antenatal women: a multicenter prospective study

Background: Hepatitis E has poor prognosis in pregnancy and leads to 20-30% mortality in term cases. The Aim of the study was to observe the trend of maternal and perinatal outcome in acute viral hepatitis E.Methods: A prospective study conducted in two high risk obstetric center of Jabalpur district in January 2015 to December 2017. The inclusion criteria were all antenatal women diagnosed with acute viral Hepatitis E entering to the Intensive care unit of any gestational age who later delivered in the same center. Other than acute hepatitis E all acute hepatitis cases and women missed in follow up in delivery were excluded from the study. The data collected on demographic, clinical and biochemical variables in excel sheet and descriptive analysis done by SPSS system.Results: There were 72 antenatal women enrolled with mentioned criteria in study duration. Out of these only 67 were in follow up and alive till their delivery in the same set ups. Out of these 70.14% were Primigravida of median age 27 year. The mean gestational age at detection of hepatitis E was 30.3week. The maternal mortality observed was 17.9% (12/67) in the total study population. The high grade of mortality was significantly associated with high grade of disease. There were 19.4% (13/67) perinatal (mortality seen which included intrauterine (14.9%) and neonatal (4.4%).Conclusions: The severity of Hepatitis and high grade of hepatic encephalopathy following poor primary care in the beginning of disease results in poor perinatal and maternal outcome

Effect of land configuration and fertilizer dosage on growth and yield of African marigold under vertic ustochrept soil regimes

Adopting proper land management systems and nutrient levels could improve growth, yield and quality by rendering better soil physical structure and mineral nutrition under heavy rainfall areas. An experiment was conducted to identify appropriate land configuration and fertilizer dose for African marigold var. Punjab Gainda-1, in split plot design with three land configuration methods viz., flat bed, raised bed and ridge & furrow system as main plots, and three fertilizer doses (RDF/ha) viz., 100%, 80% and 60% as subplots with recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) being 10 t FYM + 150:100:100 kg/ha NPK. Results showed that adopting raised bed method of land configuration with the application of 8 t FYM + 120:80:80 kg/ha NPK exhibited enhanced vegetative growth and flower yield (16.26 t/ha) with greater benefit cost ratio (2.88) and, hence, found economically best for commercial production of African marigold

Non-specialist health worker interventions for the care of mental, neurological and substance-abuse disorders in low- and middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: Many people with mental, neurological and substance-use disorders (MNS) do not receive health care. Non-specialist health workers (NSHWs) and other professionals with health roles (OPHRs) are a key strategy for closing the treatment gap. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of NSHWs and OPHRs delivering MNS interventions in primary and community health care in low- and middle-income countries. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (including the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group Specialised Register) (searched 21 June 2012); MEDLINE, OvidSP; MEDLINE In Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, OvidSP; EMBASE, OvidSP (searched 15 June 2012); CINAHL, EBSCOhost; PsycINFO, OvidSP (searched 18 and 19 June 2012); World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Library (searched 29 June 2012); LILACS; the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO); OpenGrey; the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (searched 8 and 9 August 2012); Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index (ISI Web of Knowledge) (searched 2 October 2012) and reference lists, without language or date restrictions. We contacted authors for additional studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised and non-randomised controlled trials, controlled before-and-after studies and interrupted-time-series studies of NSHWs/OPHR-delivered interventions in primary/community health care in low- and middle-income countries, and intended to improve outcomes in people with MNS disorders and in their carers. We defined an NSHW as any professional health worker (e.g. doctors, nurses and social workers) or lay health worker without specialised training in MNS disorders. OPHRs included people outside the health sector (only teachers in this review). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Review authors double screened, double data-extracted and assessed risk of bias using standard formats. We grouped studies with similar interventions together. Where feasible, we combined data to obtain an overall estimate of effect. MAIN RESULTS: The 38 included studies were from seven low- and 15 middle-income countries. Twenty-two studies used lay health workers, and most addressed depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The review shows that the use of NSHWs, compared with usual healthcare services: 1. may increase the number of adults who recover from depression or anxiety, or both, two to six months after treatment (prevalence of depression: risk ratio (RR) 0.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.14 to 0.64; low-quality evidence); 2. may slightly reduce symptoms for mothers with perinatal depression (severity of depressive symptoms: standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.42, 95% CI -0.58 to -0.26; low-quality evidence); 3. may slightly reduce the symptoms of adults with PTSD (severity of PTSD symptoms: SMD -0.36, 95% CI -0.67 to -0.05; low-quality evidence); 4. probably slightly improves the symptoms of people with dementia (severity of behavioural symptoms: SMD -0.26, 95% CI -0.60 to 0.08; moderate-quality evidence); 5. probably improves/slightly improves the mental well-being, burden and distress of carers of people with dementia (carer burden: SMD -0.50, 95% CI -0.84 to -0.15; moderate-quality evidence); 6. may decrease the amount of alcohol consumed by people with alcohol-use disorders (drinks/drinking day in last 7 to 30 days: mean difference -1.68, 95% CI -2.79 to -0.57); low-quality evidence).It is uncertain whether lay health workers or teachers reduce PTSD symptoms among children. There were insufficient data to draw conclusions about the cost-effectiveness of using NSHWs or teachers, or about their impact on people with other MNS conditions. In addition, very few studies measured adverse effects of NSHW-led care - such effects could impact on the appropriateness and quality of care. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Overall, NSHWs and teachers have some promising benefits in improving people's outcomes for general and perinatal depression, PTSD and alcohol-use disorders, and patient- and carer-outcomes for dementia. However, this evidence is mostly low or very low quality, and for some issues no evidence is available. Therefore, we cannot make conclusions about which specific NSHW-led interventions are more effective

Hemoglobin receptor in Leishmania is a hexokinase located in the flagellar pocket

Hb endocytosis in Leishmania is mediated through a 46-kDa protein located in the flagellar pocket. To understand the nature of the Hb receptor (HbR), we have purified the 46-kDa protein to homogeneity from Leishmania promastigote membrane. Purified HbR specifically binds Hb. The gene for HbR was cloned, and sequence analysis of the full-length HbR gene indicates the presence of hexokinase (HK) signature sequences, ATP-binding domain, and PTS-II motif. Four lines of evidence indicate that HbR in Leishmania is a hexokinase: 1) the recombinant HbR binds Hb, and the Hb-binding domain resides in the N terminus of the protein; 2) recombinant proteins and cell lysate prepared from HbR-overexpressing Leishmania promastigotes show enhanced HK activity in comparison with untransfected cells; 3) immunolocalization studies using antibodies against the N-terminal fragment (Ld-HbR-ΔC) of Ld-HbR indicate that this protein is located in the flagellar pocket of Leishmania; and 4) binding and uptake of 125I-Hb by Leishmania is significantly inhibited by anti-Ld-HbR-ΔC antibody and Ld-HbR-ΔC, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that HK present in the flagellar pocket of Leishmania is involved in Hb endocytosis

A Cross-Sectional Study to Assess the Prevalence of Obesity among Second Professional MBBS Students of One of the Medical Colleges of Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Introduction:Obesity is a complex multifactorial preventable disease. The problem of obesity is important to discuss because it is closely associated with an increasing risk to many diseases. Objective: To assess the prevalence of obesity among Second MBBS students and find the anthropometric parameters of obesity.Method: This was a cross-sectional, observational study conductedamong 100 second MBBS students. Demographic data and anthropometric measures, such as Height, Weight, Body mass index, Waist circumference, and Waist/Hip ratio of the students were collected. Results: BMI was 0.95) and16% female (>0.86) students were categorized as at risk for obesity (p-value 0.86. Conclusion: Almost half of the male and female students were having normal BMI. More number of female students had BMI lower than normal. Students falling in the category of overweight were higher as compared to obese students. Such students were advised for non-pharmacological measures of weight reduction through proper exercise, consuming a healthy balanced diet, and role of physical activity, so as to maintain proper bodyweight and to prevent future complications of obesity were advised to the students

An innovative model using Promotores or Community Health Workers for home based dementia care

Background: Health disparities and issues with trust building and relationship building are prominent in Hispanic and underserved populations in south Texas. Community health workers can play a bridging role with underserved communities and may be essential in improving the quality and value of health care. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission certifies the training Community Health Workers under the label of “promotores”. Method: Community health workers were integrated into the primary health care team to serve as a bridge between patient/caregiver dyads and the health care team. Result: Community health workers (CHWs) connected patients to social determinants of health resources such as transportation, food pantries and/or social benefits, Medicaid services, and home care provider services. Caregiver education and resources for respite care, caregiver support in person and virtually. Additionally, CHW\u27s provided education on dementia care resources, caregiver support, recruiting and engaging Hispanic underserve participants in research. Our team was able to increase home visits by 229% to homebound patients throughout several underserved zip codes in Bexar County. This is a success as our team was able to increase health care access to persons with dementia that are homebound that may have not been seen by a healthcare provider until they required emergency care. In fact, we saw roughly 11% decrease of inpatient admissions between 2021 and 2022. Conclusion: Trust and familiarity allows the promotores to easily communicate interventions with cultural sensitivity and experiential knowledge of community values, leading to foster rapport with patients and families. The rapport and trust developed with the patients also helped to engage, and recruit Hispanic and underserved participants for research in dementia