Prevalence and risk factors for vitamin C deficiency in north and south India: a two centre population based study in people aged 60 years and over.

BACKGROUND: Studies from the UK and North America have reported vitamin C deficiency in around 1 in 5 men and 1 in 9 women in low income groups. There are few data on vitamin C deficiency in resource poor countries. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of vitamin C deficiency in India. DESIGN: We carried out a population-based cross-sectional survey in two areas of north and south India. Randomly sampled clusters were enumerated to identify people aged 60 and over. Participants (75% response rate) were interviewed for tobacco, alcohol, cooking fuel use, 24 hour diet recall and underwent anthropometry and blood collection. Vitamin C was measured using an enzyme-based assay in plasma stabilized with metaphosphoric acid. We categorised vitamin C status as deficient (28 µmol/L). We investigated factors associated with vitamin C deficiency using multivariable Poisson regression. RESULTS: The age, sex and season standardized prevalence of vitamin C deficiency was 73.9% (95% confidence Interval, CI 70.4,77.5) in 2668 people in north India and 45.7% (95% CI 42.5,48.9) in 2970 from south India. Only 10.8% in the north and 25.9% in the south met the criteria for adequate levels. Vitamin C deficiency varied by season, and was more prevalent in men, with increasing age, users of tobacco and biomass fuels, in those with anthropometric indicators of poor nutrition and with lower intakes of dietary vitamin C. CONCLUSIONS: In poor communities, such as in our study, consideration needs to be given to measures to improve the consumption of vitamin C rich foods and to discourage the use of tobacco

Modification of the Koyanagi technique for the single stage repair of proximal hypospadias

Purpose: We describe a modification of the Koyanagi technique for hypospadias. Use of opposing parameatal-based skin flaps that extend distally to incorporate the inner layer of the prepuce was modified to preserve blood supply to the flaps in an attempt to reduce complications and improve results

Optimization and Modelling of the Removal of Groundwater Turbidity by Nanomagnetic Adsorbent Composite

Abstract Groundwater pollution with turbidity problem is a matter of concern because at least 50 % of global population consume groundwater. The presence of suspended particles comprise of clay and silts as well as organic and inorganic particles is the main cause for the water to be turbid. A nanomagnetic adsorption composite (NMAC) was applied in this study to purify turbid polluted groundwater. A 3k full factorial design was used to investigate five factors; dosage of adsorbent (0.02, 0.04, and 0.06 g), time of agitation (15, 30, and 60 min), rate of adsorption (150, 200, and 250 rpm), size of adsorbent (&lt;45 μm and &gt;300 μm), and initial concentration of sample (&lt;21.3 and &lt; 48.8 NTU). The optimum parameters were found to be 0.02 g, 249 rpm, 46 min, &lt;45 μm and &lt;21.3 NTU with 94.13 % turbidity removal efficiency. The turbidity of purified groundwater complies with the Drinking Water Quality Standard.</jats:p