Redefining Workplace Wellness: Wearable Technology and Corporate Wellness

The recent advancements in wearable technology have changed the way we look at health and wellness. This new age development has made its way into the world of corporate and given the benefits, it is meant to stay there for some time. These technologies have been increasingly incorporated in the corporate wellness initiatives with a focus on improving the overall health and wellness of the employees. There are many advantages to a healthy workforce including increased productivity and lower health insurance premiums. A growing trend in corporate wellness programs is to offer wearable fitness trackers to employees to help them monitor their activities so that they can make better choices about their health and lifestyle. This article explores the current trend in the corporate wellness initiatives and also discusses the benefits, barriers and threats of this new age development

A Quaternionic Wavelet Transform-based Approach for Object Recognition

Recognizing the objects in complex natural scenes is the challenging task as the object may be occluded, may vary in shape, position and in size. In this paper a method to recognize objects from different categories of images using quaternionic wavelet transform (QWT) is presented. This transform separates the information contained in the image better than a traditional Discrete wavelet transform and provides a multiscale image analysis whose coefficients are 2D analytic, with one near-shift invariant magnitude and three phases. The two phases encode local image shifts and the third one contains texture information. In the domain of object recognition, it is often to classify objects from images that make only limited part of the image. Hence to identify local features and certain region of images, patches are extracted over the interest points detected from the original image using Wavelet based interest point detector. Here QWT magnitude and phase features are computed for every patch. Then these features are trained, tested and classified using SVM classifier in order to have supervised learning model. In order to compare the performance of local feature with global feature, the transform is applied to the entire image and the global features are derived. The performance of QWT is compared with discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and dual tree discrete wavelet transform (DTDWT). Observations revealed that QWT outperforms the DWT and shift invariant DTDWT with lesser equal error rate. The experimental evaluation is done using the complex Graz databases.Defence Science Journal, Vol. 64, No. 4, July 2014, pp. 350-357, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.450

Malignant nodular hidradenoma-inguinal region clinically masquerading as squamous cell carcinoma: a case report

Malignant Nodular hidradenoma is an extremely rare aggressive tumour originating from eccrine sweat glands with an incidence of <.001%. So far less than 80 cases have been reported in the literature. It’s known for its local recurrence (50%) and metastasis (60%) and hence early diagnosis and radical treatment is mandatory. But differentiating it from its benign counterparts and other skin tumour mimics is challenging, due to its histopathological similarity & lack of diagnostic immunomarkers. Authors report a case of 65-year-old female who presented with a short 4-month history of rapidly growing ulceroproliferative growth in the right inguinal region with bilateral inguinal node enlargement, associated with pain and discharge. Wedge biopsy of left inguinal lymph node showed malignant cutaneous adnexal tumour deposits, which after excision was typed as malignant nodular hidradenoma. It was confirmed with immunohistochemistry. Patient presented with recurrence 8 months after excision

IMPACT OF MICRO PLASTICS EXPOSURE ON VITELLOGENESIS AND SEX HORMONES OF FEMALE MOLE CRAB EMERITA ASIATICA

The marine ecosystem now considered as the major concern due to the contamination of micro plastics that affects the marine organisms by accidental ingestion and causes physiological, morphological and genetic profiles. The organisms also effect on endocrine system that leads to reproductive damage, hence the present investigation was focused on the effect of micro plastics exposure on reproductive system of female crab Emerita asiatica. After 24 and 48 days of the experimental periods, the female crabs then estimated for the hormonal changes in the ovaries of mussels by estimating vitellogenin, 17β-estradiol, and testosterone and some biochemical parameters such as protein and glycogen content to observe for toxic stress. The results showed that significant decrease in the vitellogenin and 17β-estradiol besides elevated level of testosterone was observed in the animals exposed for 28 days with 1000 particles mL-1. In addition to that, level of protein and glycogen level was significantly debited in the hemolymph due to toxic stress. Hence, the present study found that exposure of micro plastics would reduce the reproductive hormones of female crab and affect their reproductive system. Overall, the present study provides the importance of usage and discarding the plastics in the environment. The micro plastic contamination in the environment not only affect the aquatic crustacean’s species, which can ultimately be affecting the Human beings through the collapsing of food chain

Mitigating Blind Signature Attacks Using Daily Updated Quotes (DUQ)

No Abstrac

Theory in the short story "Sogavanam"

Damage to the environment affects not only humans, but all living beings. People get tensed when something harms their beloved and the same people don’t get tensed when birds and animals are affected. Knowingly or unknowingly, animals and birds play an important role in human living environment. A wise man knowingly destroys nature. S. Tharman's short story “Sogavanam” shows that the birds that nest in trees and stay in tree trunks and roam around happily are greatly affected by the urbanization. He has created a sad forest with his writings and mentioned about the noisy environment due to the increase in traffic and the change in the food styles of the birds. The story travels along with the ecological aspects of conservation and non-pollution of ecological factors. This article examines how ecological principles fit into narrative events and how the future society should maintain ecological factors

Curvelet and Ridgelet-based Multimodal Biometric Recognition System using Weighted Similarity Approach

Biometric security artifacts for establishing the identity of a person with high confidence have evoked enormous interest in security and access control applications for the past few years. Biometric systems based solely on unimodal biometrics often suffer from problems such as noise, intra-class variations and spoof attacks. This paper presents a novel multimodal biometric recognition system by integrating three biometric traits namely iris, fingerprint and face using weighted similarity approach. In this work, the multi-resolution features are extracted independently from query images using curvelet and ridgelet transforms, and are then compared to the enrolled templates stored in the database containing features of each biometric trait. The final decision is made by normalizing the feature vectors, assigning different weights to the modalities and fusing the computed scores using score combination techniques. This system is tested with the public unimodal databases such as CASIA–Iris-V3-Interval, FVC2004, ORL and self-built multimodal databases. Experimental results obtained shows that the designed system achieves an excellent recognition rate of 98.75 per cent and 100 per cent for the public and self-built databases respectively and provides ultra high security than unimodal biometric systems.Defence Science Journal, 2014, 64(2), pp. 106-114. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.346

A Study of Intradialytic Complications in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Hemodialysis is the process of removing solutes from the body using a semipermeable artificial membrane when blood comes in contact with the same during extracorporeal circulation. First hemodialysis was successfully done by Dr.William Kolff. The Hemodialysis procedure is associated with a number of complications. The common complications are hypotension, intradialytic hypertension, dialyzer reactions, disequilibrium syndrome, muscle cramping. Other less common complications are haemolytic, haemorrhage, hypoxia, air embolism, arrhythmias. AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. To evaluate the various intradialytic complications of hemodialysis. 2. To identify the Incidence of the intradialytic complication among the patients undergoing hemodialysis. 3. To study the association between the kidney disease and complications and age and sex distribution. METHODS: It is a prospective study done for one year in Tirunelveli medical college. About 190 patients undergoing hemodialysis who developed intradialytic complications. RESULTS: In our study, out of 190 patients 64 (34%) developed complications. Among the 15 AKI patients, 9 (60%) developed complications compared with 31.4% in CKD patients. In our study 18 patients (28%) developed cramps, 25% patients got hypotension as an intradialytic complication. There is no significant age and sex distribution relation in our study. Other complications were chest pain (9%), fever(3%), hypoglycaemia (3%), vomiting(3%), palpitation (2%) and acute pulmonary edema (2%). CONCLUSION: Hemodialysis is a better procedure for removal of toxic metabolic end products from systems in renal failure patients, but associated with many complications. We have to keep these complications in our mind and treat them accordingly will improve the quality of life in patients undergoing hemodialysis

Clinicopathologic study of childhood hansen’s disease

INTRODUCTION: Leprosy is one of the very old diseases to have afflicted man. After a great search for the etiology, it was attributed to a bacterium Mycobacterium leprae by Sir Gerhard Armauer Hansen in 1873 and he remarked wryly: “There is hardly anything on earth, or between it and heaven, which has not been regarded as the cause of leprosy; and this is but natural,since the less one knows, the more actively does his imagination works”. Leprosy is a disease with widely varied clinical manifestations and capable of affecting almost every organ of the body. The disease is considered important mainly because of its potential to cause permanent and progressive physical deformities. After a great struggle over many centuries, the disease has been brought under control. The credit goes to the advent of MDT therapy instituted from 1982. Most countries that were endemic for leprosy have achieved elimination. India achieved elimination in December, 2005. Though there is a drastic decline in the prevalence of leprosy among the endemic countries, the fall in the new case detection rate is still stable or shows increasing trends. The total number of new cases detected during the year 2011-2012 was 1.27 lakhs and children contributed 9.7% (12,305) of the new cases. Children are susceptible to leprosy as they are to many other diseases. Not all the hypopigmented skin lesions are due to leprosy. Children usually present with single hypopigmented patch especially over the face with intact or impaired sensation. Clinical features of leprosy among children are confusing and testing of sensation in them is difficult. Unless specifically looked for, the diagnosis may be missed and they will manifest in early adulthood with disabilities. The disease in children responds well to treatment if detected in early stages and the deformities can be prevented. Above all, childhood leprosy is an indicator for assessing the endemicity of the disease. The high child case rate indicates the continuous spread of the disease in the community. It is also a measure of the efficacy of the control programme. In view of the importance of detecting leprosy early among children, clinical and histopathologic profile of children who were diagnosed with leprosy at Tirunelveli medical college hospital were analysed in this study and the implications are discussed. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: This is a prospective study done on childhood leprosy patients below 14 years of age at Tirunelveli medical college hospital with the following objectives: 1. To study the incidence of childhood leprosy in Tirunelveli district. 2. To determine the age and sex distribution of the childhood leprosy cases. 3. To study the various clinical presentations, histopathological features and SSS status among children. 4. To study the incidence and pattern of nerve involvement, systemic involvement, reactions and deformity in the child cases of leprosy. 5. To find out the PB and MB proportion of child cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Children aged 0 – 14 years, 2. Both sexes, 3. Cases who are newly diagnosed as Hansen’s disease during the study period, 4. Both the direct and referred cases from the PHC s, ULC s and other hospitals in Tirunelveli district. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Children > 14 years, 2. Children who have taken anti-leprosy treatment in the past in the form of monotherapy or as MDT. Our study was a hospital based open prospective study conducted at Department of Dermatology in Tirunelveli Medical college hospital on Newly diagnosed childhood cases of Leprosy (includes the cases directly attending the OPD and those who are diagnosed in the field and referred to hospital) aged 0 –14 years to study and analyse the clinical profile and Histopathology in every aspect during the period from September 2010 to October 2012. CONCLUSION: Leprosy continues to be an important health problem in children. Though the incidence of childhood leprosy has become low, considerable proportions of children are presenting to health care at a late stage with deformities which indicates reluctance either to come forward or an inadequate detection which may be related to unawareness. Deformities occurring in children are more distressing both socially and psychologically, as they have to live their whole life with this stigma. It is imperative that our goal should be to bring all cases of leprosy in children under treatment at the earliest possible stage. Childhood leprosy reflects the status of disease control in the community and in turn efficacy of the control programme. Awareness should be raised in the society by all means including the media and the health services. Parental education, counselling, screening of household contacts of leprosy patients and school surveys form an integral part of early detection and treatment to achieve the goal of eradication of leprosy