Menopausal syndrome: clinical presentation and management

Background: Menopause is physiological stage in woman’s life. Although most of women accept them, some do have a disturbed life due to various symptoms, mostly because of estrogen deprivation.Methods: This is a prospective clinical study of 200 menopausal women attending the gynaecology OPD or admitted in the wards with various symptoms as well as some gynaecological problems. Young women with surgically induced menopause and women with psychiatric disorders were excluded.Results: The duration between menopause and appearance of symptoms varied from 1yr to 10 yrs. The average age of menopause in our study was 46.5 yrs. Vasomotor symptoms (65%) were common followed by psychosomatic symptoms (62%), vaginal dryness (45%) and urinary symptoms (40%). Stress, irritability, sleep problem, weight gain were some of common presentations to OPD. Urinary incontinence and atrophic vaginitis were also seen predominantly. The management consists mainly of counseling and life style modification, exercise, yoga meditation etc. Some of the women required estrogen cream, 70 women required surgical treatment. Overall the response to various medications was satisfactory and on follow up the symptoms was found to be much less.Conclusions: There is need of setting menopausal clinics and centres to help women with symptoms and signs of estrogen deprivation. Counseling and education are main treatment modalities

Defects-enhanced flexoelectricity in nanostructures

AbstractRecent studies show that low dimensional nanostructures may exhibit nonlocal electromechanical effects such as flexoelectricity. Despite the recent progress in nanostructure growth techniques imperfections such as defects are practically unavoidable. These imperfections may enhance flexoelectric effects. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to analyze the effects of these imperfections on linear electromechanical properties and on flexoelectricity. The constitutive relations for the adiabatically insulated reversible system are derived from the total differential of the general thermodynamic Gibbs potential. The mechanical and electrical balance equations coupled through the constitutive equations are then solved with finite element method for the defective nanostructures. We focus in our study on GaN-based nanostructures which are important in electronic and optoelectronic applications. They exhibit higher magnitudes of electric field compared to other semiconductors in similar contexts. Our results are presented for GaN quantum dots embedded in an AlN matrix

Awareness of over the counter antibiotics to combat antimicrobial resistance

Background: In India there is wide use of over the counter (OTC) antibiotics and unawareness of its harmful effects. In India dispensing antibiotics without prescription is a major contribution factor in development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The objectives of the present study were to evaluate awareness and proper use of OTC antibiotics in the community.Methods: Responses to a questionnaire covering various aspects on awareness and usage of OTC antibiotics were obtained from 100 families and 100 pharmacy shops in the community by second year MBBS students after permission from institutional ethical committee. The study period was from January 2019 to June 2019.Results: Among 100 responders 78% used OTC antibiotics for frequently reported illness like common cold (58%), body- ache (19%), fever (13%) and cough (10%). Most common reason for using OTC antibiotic is to avoid high consultation fees (64%).76% pharmacy dispense antibiotics without prescription. 60% pharmacy unaware of increase chance of developing resistance due to OTC antibiotics. 80% pharmacy maintain register book and were aware of laws and regulations of OTC prescription but still 70% dispense drugs due to fear of losing sales and profit. 50% pharmacy said they encourage patients to consult the physician and get the prescription. Most common antibiotic sold without prescription is amoxicillin (51%) and azithromycin (38%).Conclusions: We have identified unawareness among people about use and harmful effects of using OTC antibiotics. Also pharmacies are not following rules and regulations for OTC drugs. So our aim is to increase public knowledge of proper use and harmful effects of OTC antibiotics and help our global program to reduce AMR

Risk Management and Mitigation for Building Construction Project in Sangli District

Risk analysis as the title suggests this is related to the construction management. Risk analysing technique is used for the purpose of risk management. Which type of risk is occurring and how it is analysed what are various mitigatory methods available. Risk management involves assessing the risk sources and designing strategies and procedures to mitigate those risks to an acceptable level. Measurement of risk factors plays an important role in the assessment of risk. This research proposes to develop risk assessment frameworks and mathematical model to identify the risk factors. Quantification and prioritization of risk factors will help to design controls, resource allocation policies and minimize the total cost. The proposed model can be applied to a complex system that is representative of actual business situations

Enhanced product recovery from glycerol fermentation into 3-carbon compounds in a bioelectrochemical system combined with in situ extraction

Given the large amount of crude glycerol formed as a by-product in the biodiesel industries and the concomitant decrease in its overall market price, there is a need to add extra value to this biorefinery side stream. Upgrading can be achieved by new biotechnologies dealing with recovery and conversion of glycerol present in wastewaters into value-added products, aiming at a zero-waste policy and developing an economically viable process. In microbial bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), the mixed microbial community growing on the cathode can convert glycerol reductively to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO). However, the product yield is rather limited in BESs compared with classic fermentation processes, and the synthesis of side-products, resulting from oxidation of glycerol, such as organic acids, represents a major burden for recovery of 1,3-PDO. Here, we show that the use of an enriched mixed-microbial community of glycerol degraders and in situ extraction of organic acids positively impacts 1,3-PDO yield and allows additional recovery of propionate from glycerol. We report the highest production yield achieved (0.72 mol1,3-PDO mol−1glycerol) in electricity-driven 1,3-PDO biosynthesis from raw glycerol, which is very close to the 1,3-PDO yield reported thus far for a mixed-microbial culture-based glycerol fermentation process. We also present a combined approach for 1,3-PDO production and propionate extraction in a single three chamber reactor system, which leads to recovery of additional 3-carbon compounds in BESs. This opens up further opportunities for an economical upgrading of biodiesel refinery side or waste streams

Incidence and risk factors of polycystic ovary syndrome among women in reproductive age group attending a tertiary health care hospital in Western Maharashtra

Background: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder affecting women of reproductive age group. Though its incidence is markedly increasing, the awareness is still low; as a result it remains undiagnosed. Aim of this study was to find the incidence and risk factors of PCOS among women in reproductive age group, so as to encourage young women to seek timely treatment and prevent its long term complications.Methods: A study was conducted over a period of 1 year amongst 100 women attending the Gynecology OPD using a paper based questionnaire. General examination and the required laboratory tests were done to confirm the diagnosis.Results: It was found that the incidence of PCOS among the study population was 21%. Risk factors include lack of physical activity, irregular menstrual cycle, body mass index more than 25, and Waist-hip ratio above 0.86.Conclusions: It is seen that there is a need to educate women at an early stage to prevent the development of this syndrome and its early detection by them. This will facilitate the health professionals to start the treatment at a stage where the complications have not yet set in