The paperless partograph: can it be effective to replace the WHO modified partograph

Background: The partograph is a graphical representation of the various events of labour plotted against time. The main aim was to determine whether the paperless partograph can replace the WHO partograph to monitor labour and aid in decision making.Methods: It is a hospital based prospective analytical study. The course of labour in 400 women with term singleton uncomplicated pregnancies were studied by using either partographs. 12 resident doctors were included to assess the user friendliness and asked to fill 240 separate partographs (120 each of WHO Modified and Paperless partograph).Results: The maternal and perinatal outcome was comparable between both the partographs. The Paperless partograph was however more user-friendly than the WHO partograph (p<0.0001).Conclusions: The Paperless partograph was found to be as effective as the WHO partograph in the effective management of labour. It is more user-friendly and has promising prospects to replace the WHO partograph

A Multi-Country, Single-Blinded, Phase 2 Study to Evaluate a Point-of-Need System for Rapid Detection of Leishmaniasis and Its Implementation in Endemic Settings

With the advancement of isothermal nucleic acid amplification techniques, detection of the pathogenic DNA in clinical samples at point-of-need is no longer a dream. The newly developed recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay incorporated in a suitcase laboratory has shown promising diagnostic efficacy over real-time PCR in detection of leishmania DNA from clinical samples. For broader application of this point-of-need system, we undertook a current multi-country diagnostic evaluation study towards establishing this technique in different endemic settings which would be beneficial for the ongoing elimination programs for leishmaniasis. For this study purpose, clinical samples from confirmed visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) patients were subjected to both real-time PCR and RPA assay in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. Further skin samples from confirmed cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) patients were also included from Sri Lanka. A total of 450 clinical samples from VL patients, 429 from PKDL patients, 47 from CL patients, and 322 from endemic healthy/healthy controls were under investigation to determine the diagnostic efficacy of RPA assay in comparison to real-time PCR. A comparative sensitivity of both methods was found where real-time PCR and RPA assay showed 96.86% (95% CI: 94.45–98.42) and 88.85% (95% CI: 85.08–91.96) sensitivity respectively in the diagnosis of VL cases. This new isothermal method also exhibited promising diagnostic sensitivity (93.50%) for PKDL cases, when a skin sample was used. Due to variation in the sequence of target amplicons, RPA assay showed comparatively lower sensitivity (55.32%) than that of real-time PCR in Sri Lanka for the diagnosis of CL cases. Except for India, the assay presented absolute specificity in the rest of the sites. Excellent concordance between the two molecular methods towards detection of leishmania DNA in clinical samples substantiates the application of RPA assay incorporated in a suitcase laboratory for point-of-need diagnosis of VL and PKDL in low resource endemic settings. However, further improvisation of the method is necessary for diagnosis of CL

The paperless partograph: can it be effective to replace the WHO modified partograph

Background: The partograph is a graphical representation of the various events of labour plotted against time. The main aim was to determine whether the paperless partograph can replace the WHO partograph to monitor labour and aid in decision making.Methods: It is a hospital based prospective analytical study. The course of labour in 400 women with term singleton uncomplicated pregnancies were studied by using either partographs. 12 resident doctors were included to assess the user friendliness and asked to fill 240 separate partographs (120 each of WHO Modified and Paperless partograph).Results: The maternal and perinatal outcome was comparable between both the partographs. The Paperless partograph was however more user-friendly than the WHO partograph (p<0.0001).Conclusions: The Paperless partograph was found to be as effective as the WHO partograph in the effective management of labour. It is more user-friendly and has promising prospects to replace the WHO partograph

Synthesis of Cu-YSZ and Ni-Cu-YSZ cermets by a novel electroless technique for use as solid oxide fuel cell anode: Application potentiality towards fuel flexibility in biogas atmosphere

A novel electroless technique is employed for synthesizing Cu-YSZ cermet with discrete deposition of Cu onto 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and alloyed with 90 weight % Ni using electroless Ni-YSZ cermet by mechanical mixing and heat treatment under controlled atmosphere for the application as solid oxide fuel cell anode. X-ray diffractograms using Lorentzian fits revealed a shift of Ni-Cu (111) and Ni-Cu (200) peaks suggesting the solid solution of the bimetallic phases. Unique core-shell microstructures for both CuYSZ and Ni-Cu-YSZ with YSZ as core and Cu/Ni-Cu as shell are observed. EDAX analyses confirms 90:10 weight ratios (Ni:Cu) in the shell position for the alloy cermet. While only 23 vol% of metal content in Cu-YSZ gives electrical conductivity of 700 S cm(-1), a reasonably high value of 490 S cm(-1) is obtained with 32 vol% of metal in Ni-Cu-YSZ. Electroless Ni-CuYSZ exhibits 98% efficiency towards methane reforming in simulated biogas environment and also shows significant tolerance to H2S (upto 25 ppm) in the input stream of the gas. Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Synthesis of Thienopyrimidines and their Antipsychotic Activity

A series of thienopyrimidines and related heterocycles were synthesized by refluxing related imidoyl chloride with primary and secondary amines under microwave irradiation and classical heating. The imidoyl chlorides were synthesized from corresponding cyclic imides with phosphorus oxychlorides under microwave irradiation and classical heating. The structures of the compounds were confirmed by FT-IR, NMR. The synthesized compounds were screened for anti psychotic activity

Study of proportion and determinants of depression among college students in Mangalore city

Background: Onset of depression is occurring earlier in life today than in past decades. Adolescence being transitional period from childhood to adulthood is a stage of emotional instability resulting from demand for separation and independence. Evidence suggests that early intervention for depression in children can improve long-term outcomes. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done in January 2010 to find out the prevalence of depression among pre university students in Mangalore city. Prevalence of depression was assessed using Beck′s Depression Inventory II. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Out of 308 participants, depression was seen among 79.2% students. A majority (41.2%) were found to be suffering from moderate followed by mild (26.6%) depression. Prevalence of depression (P = 0.027) and severity of depression (P = 0.0357) was found to significantly increase with age of the participants. Students of commerce were found to be significantly more depressed than students of science stream (P = 0.002). No association of depression with gender of participants or with the type of college they were studying in was observed. Conclusion: There is a need for college students to be educated about depression in order to improve recognition and diagnosis. Also student counselling service offering mental health assistance needs to be established at colleges

Mycobacteria-infected bystander macrophages trigger maturation of dendritic cells and enhance their ability to mediate HIV transinfection

Synergistic interplay between Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and HIV in coinfected ind-ividuals leads to the acceleration of both tuberculosis and HIVdisease. Mtb, as well as HIV, may modulate the function of many immune cells, including DCs. To dissect the bystander impact of Mfs infected with Mtb on DC functionality, we here investigated changes in DC phenotype, cytokine profiles, and HIV-1 transinfecting ability. An in vitro system was used in which human monocyte-derived DCs were exposed to soluble factors released by Mfs infected with mycobacteria, including virulent clinical Mtb isolates and nonvirulent BCG. Soluble factors secreted from Mtb-infected Mfs, and to a lesser extent BCG-infected Mfs, resulted in the production of proinflammatory cytokines and partial upregulation of DC maturation markers. Interestingly, the HIV-1 transinfecting ability of DCs was enhanced upon exposure to soluble factors released by Mtb-infected Mfs. In summary, our study shows that DCs exposed to soluble factors released by mycobacteria-infected Mfs undergo maturation and display an augmented ability to transmit HIV-1 in trans. These findings highlight the important role of bystander effects during the course of MtbHIV coinfection and suggest that Mtb-infected Mfs may contribute to an environment that supports DC-mediated spread and amplification of HIV in coinfected individuals