Effect of supportive therapy on the incidence of post-partum depression

Background: Postpartum non-psychotic depression (PND) is the most common complication of childbirth with approximately 10-42% prevalence across the globe. Especially in rural south Indian population, fear of stigma, superstitions, poverty and poor medical access by the pregnant women leads to a large number of un-diagnosed and poorly treated cases of post-partum depression. Objective of study was to study the effect of Supportive therapy on the incidence of post-partum depression in women attending the Obstetrics Department of SDUMC, Kolar using the Edinburgh Depression Rating Scale and to compare the findings with that with a control population.Methods: 200 ladies in their second trimester of pregnancy were taken up for the study; 100 out of these were psycho-educated about the risks and signs of Post-partum depression and subjected to supportive therapy sessions. On the 5th day after their delivery, they were assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The other 100 patients (control group) were directly interviewed using the EPDS on day 5 post-partum.Results: The overall depression among treatment group (17 %) is significantly lower when compared to the control group (41 %). The Mean depression score of treatment group (5.41) was significantly lower when compared to control group (8.65) which is statistically significant. Amongst the treatment group, marital status, occupation, education and bad obstetric history were found to have a significant influence on depression.Conclusions: The overall depression among treatment group (17 %) is significantly lower when compared to the control group (41 %). The Mean depression score of treatment group (5.41) was significantly lower when compared to control group (8.65) which is statistically significant. Amongst the treatment group, marital status, occupation, education and bad obstetric history were found to have a significant influence on depression

Triple Band Textile Array Antenna with Enhanced Gain and Low SAR for Off Body Communication Applications

A triple band wearable microstrip patch antenna array has been designed and analyzed in this work. The designed antenna can be operated in ISM, LAES and X-Band with moderate average gain of 4.2 dB. The antenna gain has been improved by constructing array structure of 1X2 and 1X4 with good impedance feeding by quarter wave transformer. The proposed array antennas are providing moderate gain of 5.7 dB (1X2) and 8.3 dB (1X4) with efficiency more than 90% in the operating bands. The antenna model and the array has been constructed on wearable substrate with conductive textile as radiating element in the design for off body wearable communication applications. SAR analysis also providing acceptable values below 1.6 w/kg at triple operating bands with body placement experimentation. &nbsp

Surveillance for Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Disease among an Industrial Population in Southern India

We assessed (i) the risk of cardiovascular disease in an industrial population in Chennai, southern India and (ii) whether the status of treatment and control of diabetes and hypertension would be different in an industrial population, which is provided free healthcare, compared with the general population of Chennai. Subjects residing in the residential areas of 2 industries (Indian Airlines and Integral Coach Factory) in Chennai in southern India were recruited. The subjects were employees (n=440) selected by an age- and sex-stratified random sampling method, and their family members (n=727) in the age group of 20–69 years; a total of 1167 subjects. Fasting plasma glucose, lipid estimations and anthropometric measurements were done in all the subjects. Information on demographic and lifestyle determinants was obtained using a questionnaire. Diabetes was diagnosed using the American Diabetes Association criteria and metabolic syndrome was defined by the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria with modified waist definition for Asian Indians. Results. Age-adjusted prevalence of major risk factors for cardiovascular disease using the 2001 Census of India were as follows: diabetes 11.9%; hypertension 25.4%; dyslipidaemia 40.2%; hypertriglyceridaemia 28.3%; overweight (body mass index ³23 kg/m2) 60.2%; and metabolic syndrome 34.1%. Use of tobacco in any form was present in 22.9% of men and 0.5% of women; 79% of the subjects followed a sedentary lifestyle. Among subjects receiving medication, 42.1% of subjects with diabetes and 55.3% of subjects with hypertension had their disease under adequate control. A comparison of these results with the general population of Chennai showed that the industrial population had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in spite of having better access to healthcare facilities. Conclusions. The prevalence of cardiovascular disease was high in this industrial population of Chennai. Although the overall treatment and control of diabetes and hypertension was better than that in the general population, it was still inadequate and this emphasizes the need for greater awareness about non-communicable diseases

Green Synthesis of 2-amino-3-cyano-4H-chromen-4-ylphosphonates

A facile and highly efficient and green synthetic protocol is developed for the bioactive 2-amino-3-cyano-4H-chromen-4-ylphosphonates by the one-pot reaction of various salicylaldehydes, malononitrile, and diethyl phosphite using sulfamic acid as an efficient, reusable and heterogeneous solid acid catalyst. All the synthesized compounds were characterized by their 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 31P-NMR, and Mass spectral studies. © 2020 Author(s).The authors are thankful to Prof. C. Devendranath Reddy, Department of Chemistry, S.V. University, Tirupati for his helpful discussions and acknowledge DST-PURSE 2nd Phase Programme in S.V. University, Tirupati funded by DST-New Delhi, India for providing instrumentation facility and funding to Mr. Gundluru Mohan through SRF (File No: 17118-UGC-III(3)/ DST-PURSE 2nd Phase/2017, Dt: 23-08-2018)

Studies in biogas technology. Part I. Performance of a conventional biogas plant

This paper gives an account of a conventional 5.66 m3/day (200 cubic ft/day) biogas plant which has been instrumented, operated and monitored for 2 ½ years. The observations regarding input to the plant, sludge and biogas outputs, and conditions inside the digester, have been described. Three salient features stand out. First, the observed average daily gas yield is much less than the rated capacity of the plant. Secondly, the plants show ease of operation and a very slow response to reductions and cessations of dung supply. Thirdly, the unexpectedly marked uniformity of density and temperature inside the digester indicates the almost complete absence of the stratification which is widely believed to take place; hence, biogas plants may be treated as isothermal, 'uniform' density, most probably imperfectly mixed, fed-batch reactors operating at the mean ambient temperature and the density of water

A SCALABLE APPROACH TOWARDS SIGNIFICANCE OF RICE HUSK ASH IN VARIOUS APPLICATIONS

In numerous countries which are rice producing, rice husk is one of most extensively obtainable agricultural wastes. Rice husk is extraordinarily high in ash when considered to other biomass fuels. Rice husk ash is used in several applications. Because of less importance, removal of rice husk during the process of rice refining, produce disposal problem Commercial usage of rice husk as well as its ash is considered as an alternative solution for the problem of disposal. Rice husk burning in ambient condition will leave a residue recognized as rice husk ash. In our work we make a study on various properties and advantages of rice husk as well as its ash. An attempt was made for collection of information from a variety of research work that is related to rice husk and its ash. The usage of rice husk ash significantly gets better the strength of cement mortar

Androgen Receptor CAG Repeat Polymorphism and Epigenetic Influence among the South Indian Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

The present study was carried out to assess the role of androgen receptor CAG repeat polymorphism and X chromosome inactivation (XCI) pattern among Indian PCOS women and controls which has not been hitherto explored and also to test the hypothesis that shorter CAG alleles would be preferentially activated in PCOS. CAG repeat polymorphism and X chromosome methylation patterns were compared between PCOS and non-PCOS women. 250 PCOS women and 299 controls were included for this study. Androgen receptor CAG repeat sizes, XCI percentages, and clinical and biochemical parameters were measured. The mean CAG repeat number is similar between the cases (18.74±0.13) and controls (18.73±0.12). The obese PCOS women were significantly more frequent in the <18 and >20 CAG repeat category than the lean PCOS women, yielding a highly significant odds (p = 0.001). Among the women with non-random X-inactivation, alleles with <19 repeats were more frequently activated among cases than controls (p = 0.33). CAG repeat polymorphism by itself cannot be considered as a useful marker for discriminating PCOS. We observed a trend of preferential activation of the shorter allele among the PCOS cases with non random XCI pattern. In the obese PCOS women, this microsatellite variation may account for the hyperandrogenicity to a larger extent than the lean PCOS women

Ultrasound-Assisted PSA Catalyzed One-Pot Green Synthesis of Pyrazolyl Pyrrole Derivatives

A fast, efficient and environmentally benign synthesis of pyrazolyl pyrrole derivatives has been developed by the one-pot multicomponent reaction of an aldehyde, nitroalkane, amine, and enolizable reactant with active C-H group, using Phosphosulfonic acid (PSA) as reusable solid acid catalyst under mild, solvent-free, ultra-sonication conditions. In comparison to the existing conventional methods, this green and efficient protocol provides remarkable advantages such as good to excellent yields, lower reaction time, less cost, easy work-up and solvent-free. © 2020 Author(s).The authors are thankful to Prof. C. Devendranath Reddy, Department of Chemistry, S.V. University, Tirupati for his helpful discussions and acknowledge DST-PURSE 2nd Phase Programme in S.V. University, Tirupati funded by DST-New Delhi, India for providing instrumentation facility and funding to Mr. Gundluru Mohan through SRF (File No: 17118-UGC-III (3)/ DST-PURSE 2nd Phase/2017, Dt: 23-08-2018)