Validation of body fat measurement by skinfolds and two bioelectric impedance methods with DEXA - the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study [CURES-3]

Background and Objective: Although Asian Indians have been shown to have increased body fat compared to Europeans, there have been very few studies in Asian Indians validating the various methods available for body fat measurement. The aim of this study was to test the validity of body fat measured by two commercial impedance analyzers (leg-to-leg and hand-held) as well as by skinfolds with Dual Energy Xray Absorptiometry (DEXA) as the reference method in a population based study in southern India. Methods: Body fat percentage (BF%) was measured in 162 South Indian urban men (n=76) and women (n=86) randomly selected from the "Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study" (CURES), an ongoing population based study of a representative population of Chennai. The mean age of the subjects was 45.1 ± 9.0 years and the body mass index ranged from 16.4 - 34.4 kg/m2. Percentage body fat was measured using DEXA, segmental impedance (leg-to-leg: BF%IMP-LEG; and hand-held BF%IMP-HAND) using the manufacturer's software and skinfolds using the prediction equation from the literature (BF%SKFD). Results: Body fat (%) determined by the leg-to-leg method (BF%IMP-LEG 35.10 ± 7.26) and the skinfolds (BF%SKFD 35.77 ± 6.06) did not differ significantly from the reference method DEXA (BF%DEXA 35.82 ± 8.33), but the hand-held impedance method (BF%IMP-HAND 31.38 ±6.24) showed significant difference (p < 0.001). The bias for estimation of body fat (%) for the bioimpedance leg-to-leg, hand-held and skinfolds were 0.73 ± 5.70, 4.45 ± 4.83 and 0.06 ± 5.86 respectively. All the three methods showed a fairly good correlation with DEXA (BF%IMP-LEG : r = 0.741, p<0.001; BF%IMP-HAND : r = 0.817, p< 0.001; BF%SKFD : r = 0.710, p< 0.001). Conclusion: The study shows that in urban south Indians, measurement of body fat by the leg-to-leg impedance and the skinfold method have better agreement (lower bias) with DEXA than the hand-held impedance. However, all three methods (skinfolds, the leg-to-leg bioelectric impedance and hand-held impedance) show a fairly good correlation with DEXA

COMMMERCIAL BANK'S LENDING PERFORMANCE IN PRIORITY SECTORS DEVELOPMENT IN TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT

Nowadays banks are offering various services through different schemes. The segment wise schemes are sorted by commercial banks. Activity of bank in every sector is the heart beat of the development of human as well as the nation. So, the banks are disbursing equal priority to all the sectors. Even though different industries spread across the nation, agriculture is the leading sector of the nation. The banks are targeting the agricultural activities, based on that several schemes are introducing to the benefits of the agriculture activity. The schemes of banks for agriculture priority are such as agriculture loan, agriculture mortgage, crop loan, crop subsidy, and agriculture vehicle subsidy etc. In this paper discuss in detail about the commercial bank’s lending performance to agriculture sector

A large fibroma polyp of labia majora

Fibroepithelial stromal polyps are benign proliferations which are usually polypoid or pedunculated, and less than 5cm in size. They are generally single lesions but can be multiple during pregnancy. They can be polypoid or pedunculated and are usually solitary. Symptoms usually include bleeding, discharge and general discomfort with sensation of a mass. They typically have a central fibrovascular core and contain stellate and multinucleated stromal cells which are best seen beneath the surface epithelium. True myxoid stroma is absent. Although vulvovaginal fibroepithelial stromal polyps are well documented, a giant variant such as the one authors report here is rather rare. To the knowledge, present case is the largest fibroepithelial stromal polyp compared to others reported in the literature

Mechanical harvesting in tea: A case study of Pasuparai estate

Tea cultivation is a highly labour intensive and more than 2.0 lakh people are directly or indirectly involved in south India. Normally, women workers are deployed to harvest the crop manually at an interval of 10-12 days. By the turn of the century, usage of hand held shears became inevitable to increase the labour productivity. An interval of 14-16 days is mandatory to obtain good quality and regular crop production when hand held shears are used. Employing more labour is not practically and economically viable and hence adoption of mechanical harvesting is the only option to achieve the sustainability of the crop. The case study deals with continuous mechanization over a period of 6 years and its impact on crop productivity besides the adoption of improved agronomic practices. Significant improvement in plucking average was recorded after the introduction of machines. Timely harvesting of the crop improved the quality parameters of made tea and reduced the cost of harvesting. Deliberate addition of a new tier of maintenance foliage was followed during January-March, every year after the machine harvesting. Furthermore, foliar application of micronutrients, plant growth regulators and potassium nitrate also given to minimize the ill effects of mechanization. Mechanization enabled to achieve sustained crop productivity, and the case study narrates the impact of mechanization and the importance of adopting good agronomic practices to sustain the productivity in south Indian tea plantations

Restoration and natural revival of clam populations at Tuticorin Bay, Tamil Nadu after a mass mortality incident

Bivalves play key role in ecosystem stabilisation due to inherent filter feeding capability and clams are important components of soft bottom benthic communities. In the Tuticorin Bay, mass mortality of fishes and shellfishes was observed in Februay 2008. The probable cause for the large scale mortality has been indicated as increased levels of ammonia (Asha et al., 2009). A rapid survey was conducted in the bay to assess the impact on the bivalve fauna

FABRICATION OF MANUALLY OPERATED SEED DRILL FOR ARACHIS HYPOGEAE AND ZEA MAYS

Oil seeds plays vital role in furthering sustainable agriculture as they are the major source of nutrients. Groundnut is a major oil seed crop grown in the areas receiving 50-120cm of well distributed rainfall. So pulses and cereals have been a choice for the farmers for cultivation due to soil management techniques. The farming sector in India primarily of small scale farmers, the inability of small farmers to purchase and adopt improved technology of reduces the yield of production. The main objective of sowing operation is to place seed at proper position as well as reduce the cost of labors. Thus this paper, design and develop a manually operated seed drill for groundnut and maize which is suitable for marginal land holdings and plant the seed at specific distance with specific quantity and reduce the drudgery involved in manual planting method and increases the efficiency and also reduce the cost of sowing the seed by using the machine. The seed counting machine is used to count the seed and the revolution of the seed drill. The field trials reveal that the seed drill was performed well and found suitable for the small and marginal farmers. View Article DOI: 10.47856/ijaast.2022.v09i06.00

Bio-efficacy of pumpkin phloem lectin on red spider mite, Oligonychus coffeae (Nietner) infesting tea

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