Voltage Profile Improvement of Distribution System via Integration of Distributed Generation Resources

This study attempts to identify the causes and possible solutions for voltage profile issues in the lower land of Nepal, and is specifically focused on Laukahi feeder, a radial distribution system with an approximate length of 65 km and distributed at 11KV system voltage. Currently, the end-users feeding through this feeder are getting extremely poor voltage along with frequent interruptions in the power supply. In this study, a forward/ backward sweep algorithm is used to analyze the load flow of the distribution system, whereas ant colony optimization (ACO) technique is used to identify the best location for the Distributed Generator (DG) penetrations. After completion of this study, it is found that, the branch loss of the feeder can be reduced up to 87.22%, and voltage profile can be improved from 0.828 pu to 0.982 pu by integrating some form of DGs

Assesment of electricity excess in an isolated hybrid energy system: A case study of a Dangiwada village in rural Nepal

The increasing demand of power can be fulfilled through different architectures and electricity supply models by utilizing the available local resources. But most of the isolated energy system suffers from high energy cost and unreliable energy supply. This study identifies different electricity supply models to fulfill the dynamic demand of power in a remote area, which is analyzed in terms of cost of energy and causes for the high cost of energy. Among different factors, the presence of unusable energy (Electricity Excess) produced by the energy system during fulfillment of the demand is found to be major one cause for the high cost of energy. Further, the importance of energy storage system in isolated energy system is discussed. In this case, up to 83.4 % of electricity excess is observed, which can be utilized in different manners to reduce the total energy cost. Electricity excess profile for different energy model, their impacts and possible techniques of the solution with open views are discussed

Outcome of gastrointestinal surgery during COVID-19 lockdown in a tertiary care hospital, Nepal

Introduction: Perioperative strategies have been changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the risk of postoperative complications and transmission of infection. This study was aimed to assess the outcome of gastrointestinal surgery and the risk of transmission by implementing COVID-19 testing criteria and surgical strategy. Method: This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted at the department of surgery at Patan Hospital, Nepal, during COVID-19 lock-down from 24 march to 15 June 2020. All patients who underwent gastrointestinal (GI) surgery were included. High-risk patients (as defined by the Hospital Incident Command System, HICS) were tested for COVID-19 preoperatively. Surgery was performed in COVID operating room with full protective gear. Low-risk patients were not tested for COVID-19 preoperatively and performed surgery in non-COVID OR. Data from patient’s case-sheets were analyzed descriptively for age, gender, comorbidities, hospital stay, RT-PCR results, surgeries, and postoperative complications. Result: There were total 44 GI surgeries performed; 31(70.5%) were emergency, 5(11.3%) semi-emergency and 8(18.2%) oncology. There were 11(25%) patients tested for COVID-19 preoperatively and were negative. Nine HCWs tested for COVID-19 randomly were negative. Severe postoperative complications developed in 3 patients, with one mortality. Conclusion: Among GI surgeries, there was no increase in postoperative complications and transmission of COVID-19 to the patients or HCWs following the implementation of standard testing criteria and surgical strategy

Community seed banks as seed producers: Cases from India, Nepal, Uganda and Zimbabwe

Community-based seed producers are a relatively under-researched and under-documented category of seed producers, but have the potential to cater to the diverse seed needs and interests of smallholder farmers. This working paper presents a number of such community-seed producers, with a focus on community seed banks. The case studies from India, Nepal, Uganda and Zimbabwe point to the viability of community seed banks as seed producers and distributors, but becoming successful is not easy and depends on several factors, including initial technical guidance and support, sufficient time, adherence to a seed value chain perspective and the development of a sound business plan from the very start

Osjetljiva spektrofotometrijska metoda za određivanje sulfonamida u farmaceutskim pripravcima

A new, simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of some sulfonamide drugs has been developed. The method is based on the diazotisation of sulfacetamide, sulfadiazine, sulfaguanidine, sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole and coupling with 8-hydroxyquinoline in alkaline media to yield red coloured products, with absorption maximum at 500 nm. The Beer’s law is obeyed from 0.17.0 µg mL1. The limits of quantification and limits of detection were 0.110.18 and 0.030.5 µg mL1, respectively. Intraday precision (RSD 0.10.5%) and accuracy (recovery 97.3100.8) of the developed method were evaluated. No interference was observed from common adjuvants. The method has been successfully applied to the assay of sulpha drug in the pharmaceutical formulations.U radu je opisana nova, jednostavna i osjetljiva spektrofotometrijska metoda za određivanje sulfonamida. Metoda se temelji na prevođenju sulfacetamida, sulfadiazina, sulfagvanidina, sulfamerazina, sulfometazina i sulfametoksazola u diazoderivate koji kondenzacijom s 8-hidroksikinolinom u alkalnom mediju daju crveno obojene produkte s maksimumom apsorpcije pri 500 nm. Beerov zakon vrijedi u koncentracijskom rasponu 0,17,0 µg mL1. Granice kvantifikacije i granice detekcije su 0,11-0,18, odnosno 0,03-0,05 µg mL-1. Za predloženu metodu procijenjene su intermedirska preciznost (RSD 0.1-0,5%) i točnost (analitički povrat 97,3-100,8). Uobičanjene pomoćne tvari u tabletama ne interferiraju tijekom određivanja. Metoda je uspješno primijenjena za analizu sulfonamida u farmaceutskim pripravcima

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Iron Profile and Status of Anemia with the Associated Factors in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Background: One of the main complications of chronic kidney disease is anemia. Disorders of iron homeostasis seen in such patients make the management of anemia more challenging and risky. To obtain the desired result, erythropoietin and iron dose must be carefully regulated. The aim of the study is to find out the prevalence of anemia and level iron indices in patients of chronic kidney disease at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on chronic kidney disease patients at a tertiary care center. Demographic data like age, sex, height and weight were collected with the help of using Performa. The hematological and biochemical study variables were assayed by blood sample of the patients in the clinical laboratory services. Data were analyzed by statistical package for the social sciences Version 20.0 Results: Out of 171 patients with chronic kidney disease, 162 (94.7%) were anemic, with the highest percentage 54 (31.5%) having hypertension. The median value with inter-quartile range of hemoglobin, serum iron, serum ferritin, TIBC and transferring saturation were 8.9 gm/dl (6.7-10.0), 115.0 (µg/dl) (60.0-140.0), 599.0 ng/ml (142.6-973.0), 279.0 µg/dl (250.0-342.0) and 41.0 % (22.0-53.0) respectively. Serum creatinine and eGFR were significantly correlated with hemoglobin and iron indices. Conclusions: The current study showed that anemia was more prevalent in patients of chronic kidney disease in our setting as compared to similar studies. Hypertension was the most common disease among them. The median value of parameters of iron profile except ferritin among them was within the reference limit. Keywords: Anemia; chronic kidney disease; iro

Assessment of Quality of Life in Patients of End Stage Renal Disease on Different Modalities of Treatment

This study was conducted to measure quality of life of patients with end stage renal disease on different modalities of treatment. A total of 30 diagnosed cases of end stage renal disease (ESRD) attending BPKIHS were included in the study. Group 1 included 10 patients on regular maintenance hemodialysis, group 2 included 10 patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and group 3 included 10 patients on regular conservative drugs. The inclusion criteria were all diagnosed cases of ESRD based on the guidelines given by K/DOQI, 2002. A detailed history relating to the disease condition as per the designed proforma was taken, which included demographic data and clinical characteristics of the patients. For assessment of quality of life, KDQOL-SF questionnaire was used. Strata 8.0 software program was used for the analysis of collected data. Physical health was found to be the most severely affected domain of the KDQOL. The mean score for physical health was least in group 1 (33.36 ± 16.14). Mental health was better in group 2 (54.93 ± 9.92) than in group 1 (39.50 ± 14.27) ( “p” value 0.01). Variables like haemoglobin, hematocrit and adequacy of dialysis have positive correlation with all the four domains of the KDQOL. There was a statistically signifi cant correlation of physical health with mental health (p value 0.001), physical health with kidney disease issues (p value 0.001) and mental health with kidney disease issues (p value 0.007). Our study has shown that patients of ESRD have a poor quality of life despite being in some form of dialysis and the most affected domain of the KDQOL scale is physical health. Patients on CAPD have better quality of life than patients on maintenance haemodialysis especially in terms of mental health. Variables like haemoglobin, hematocrit and adequacy of dialysis have a positive correlation with all the four domains of the KDQOL scale i.e. optimizing these variables improves the overall quality of life. Key Words: dialysis, end stage renal disease, quality of life Correspondence