Understanding needs of stakeholders and outcomes desired from a home-based intervention program for “difficult to treat” schizophrenia and related disorders : a qualitative study

Background: We aimed to understand the needs of service users – families and patients with schizophrenia and related disorders, and mental health professionals (MHPs) and expectations from a home-based psychosocial intervention program in Indian setting. Materials and Methods: We conducted four focus group discussions (FGDs) with families, patients with schizophrenia and related disorders and MHPs. Two FGDs were conducted with families and one each with the patients and MHPs. Participants in families and MHP group were asked about their primary concerns in caring for the patients, perceived needs of patients and the areas that can be targeted through a home-based psychosocial intervention program. All FGDs were audio-recorded and verbatim transcribed. Content analysis of the data was done to obtain a final list of needs and expected outcomes from a psychosocial intervention supported by families. Results: Six key priority needs were identified for intervention: medication adherence, activities of daily living, promoting physical health, engagement in meaningful work, building of social and support networks and information about all aspects of illness. Priority outcomes identified by MHPs were mostly clinical like symptom reduction, fewer rehospitalisation while families and patients focused more on psychosocial outcomes, such as improvement of wellbeing, having relationships, engagement in meaningful activities, better organization of the day, increased self-respect, reduced stress, lesser interference, and critical comments. All groups suggested that book or mobile app or video could be used. Conclusion: This qualitative study shows that while both clinicians and service users consider recovery from schizophrenia and related disorders to be important, they differ on what they prioritise

Medium optimization for the production of lipstatin by Streptomyces toxytricini using full factorial design of experiment

Abstract: Full factorial design of experiment for medium optimization was employed for lipstatin production by Streptomyces toxytricini in shake flask study. The full factorial DOE was very much effective in screening of nutritional parameters within the stipulated time frame in a limited number of experiments. A maximum lipstatin production was achieved 3.290 g/l with the following optimized factors: soya flour 35g/l and soya oil 25g/l. Validation experiments were also carried out to verify the adequacy and the accuracy of the model. The results also give a scope for large scale fermentation of lipstatin production. [Luthra, U., Kumar, H., Kulshreshtha, N., Tripathi, A., Trivedi, A., Khadpekar, S., Chaturvedi, A. and Dubey, R.C. Medium optimization for the production of lipstatin by Streptomyces toxytricini using full factorial design of experiment. Nat Sci 2013;1

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Systematic Literature Review on Search Based Mutation Testing

Search based techniques have been widely applied in the domain of software testing. This Systematic Literature Review aims to present the research carried out in the field of search based approaches applied particularly to mutation testing. During the course of literature review, renowned databases were searched for the relevant publications in the field to include relevant studies up to the year 2014. Few studies for the year 2015-16, gathered by performing snowball search, have also been included. For reviewing the literature in the field, 43 studies were evaluated, out of which 18 studies were thoroughly studied and analysed. The result of this SLR shows that search based techniques were applied to mutation testing primarily for two purposes, either for mutant optimisation or for test case optimisation. The future directions of this SLR suggests the application of search based techniques for other issues related to mutation testing, like, solution to equivalents mutants, generation of non-trivial mutants, multi-objective test data generation and non-functional testing

A novel locus DFNA59 for autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss maps at chromosome 11p14.2-q12.3

Autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss (ADNSHL) accounts for about one-fifth of hereditary hearing loss in humans. In the present study, we have analyzed a three-generation family with 14 of its members manifesting ADNSHL, using a genome-wide linkage mapping approach. We found a novel locus DFNA59 between the D11S929 and D11S480 markers in the chromosome location 11p14.2-q12.3. The highest two-point lod score of 5.72 at recombination fraction = 0 was obtained for D11S4152, D11S4154, D11S1301, D11S905 and D11S1344. The critical genomic region comprising about 37 megabases of DNA is proposed to carry a gene for ADNSHL in the family. About 50 cochlear-expressed genes mapping to the region are strong candidates which we propose to examine to identify the gene responsible for the hearing impairment

The study of the role of insulin resistance as etiological factor in polycystic ovarian syndrome: a case control study

The relationship between insulin resistance (IR) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been consistently shown by several studies but what is the cause and what is the effect remained an unsolved issue. In recent years, IR has been suggested to be a key etiological factor which contributes to the severity of metabolic and reproductive features in PCOS. The aim of the present study is to determine the etiological role of IR in PCOS

La resistencia a la insulina como factor etiológico en el síndrome del ovario poliquístico: un estudio de casos y controles

Aunque la relación entre la resistencia a la insulina (RI) y el síndrome del ovario poliquístico (SOP) ha sido demostrada en diversos estudios, los mecanismos subyacentes de causa y efecto aún no han sido dilucidados. En los últimos años, se ha señalado que la RI podría ser un factor etiológico clave, asociado a la gravedad de los desórdenes metabólicos y reproductivos de las pacientes con SOP. El objetivo del presente estudio es determinar el papel de la RI en la etiología del SOP

Multidimensional Scope, Current Status, Uses and Contribution of Green Gold Bamboo: A Comprehensive Review

Bamboo is a versatile group of fastest growing plant which is capable of providing ecological, economical, environmental and livelihood security to the people. The study investigates uses, contribution, scope of the green gold plant bamboo. The review of this study showed that bamboo has evolved into a highly valuable and superior plant which serves for food, fodder and many more also bamboo-based products have the potential to replace wood, plastics in a variety of industrial uses without harming the nature by maintaining sustainability. So in this review paper comprehensive overview of the recent literatures about multidimensional scope of bamboo in form of its greatest potential is being discussed