Impact of standard nutrition therapy and medical nutrition therapy on the immune status i.e. complement C3 and C4 in severely acute malnourished children

Background: The objective of this study is to scientifically study and assess the levels of C3 and C4 in SAM children pre-and post-supplementation with MNT and SNT.Methods: In this comparative study we have analyzed C3 in 40 severely acute malnourished children pre and post medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and 35 severely acute malnourished children pre and post standard nutrition therapy (SNT) in the age group of 1 month to 3 years and C4 in 40 severely acute malnourished children pre and post medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and 35 severely acute malnourished children pre and post standard nutrition therapy (SNT) in the age group of 1 month to 3 years at LTM medical college and general hospital. C3 and C4 were analyzed by immunoturbidimetric assay method on RX Daytona analyzer.Results: The level of C3 was significantly low prior to the supplementation which increased after nutrition therapy, in both the groups. However, C4 levels decreased in both the groups. This decreased was found to be significant. The decrease of C4 in children supplemented with MNT was greater than those supplemented with SNT children.Conclusions: The values of C3 which increased after supplementation and the decreased values of C4 after supplementation were more significant in the MNT group this confirms MNT is a better therapy for curing malnutrition than that of the SNT

Combined oral contraceptives & cerebral venous sinus thrombosis: 2 cases and review

The incidence of venous thromboembolism with combined oral contraceptive is 20-30 per 1 lakh women years. Studies have shown that there is an increasing risk of VTE in current users and risk decreases with both time of use and decreasing estrogen dose. We report two cases in which both women had CVST triggered by combined oral contraceptive use. Before prescribing COCs, a complete personal and family history along with evaluation of risk factors for VTE and cardiovascular diseases is mandatory to ensure safe use of COCs.

Maternal and fetal outcome in pregnancy with hepatitis E virus infection

Background: Hepatitis E infection has been a major concern in the pregnant females due to its fulminant nature in pregnancy and increased mortality in pregnant females as compared the non-pregnant females and males. In spite of approximately 60 years of its discovery the cause of fulminant nature of hepatitis E in pregnancy still remains a mystery. The maternal and fetal outcomes are still unfavorable. Various studies and hypothesis have been given but still not proved. Hence the study was performed in tertiary care centre to evaluate the maternal and fetal outcome in pregnancy with hepatitis E virus infection.Methods: All cases of hepatitis E, IgM positive visiting the antenatal clinic or admitted during the period of 2012 and 2014 at the tertiary care centre were included in the study. Other cases of hepatitis (noninfectious, other causes of viral hepatitis) were excluded. Maternal outcome in terms of acute liver failure, coagulation failure, hepatic encephalopathy and maternal mortality was studied. Fetal outcome in terms of, preterm labor, low birth weight, intrauterine fetal death was studied.Results: In the study it was found that pregnant women with jaundice and acute viral hepatitis due to hepatitis E virus infection had a high mortality rate (52%), especially during third trimester and postpartum period (82%). The most common medical complication was coagulation failure (56%) and acute liver failure (27%) followed by hepatic encephalopathy (17%). The most common obstetric complication was post-partum hemorrhage (42%) followed by IUFD (24%), APH (8%).Conclusions: The study shows that pregnant women with jaundice and acute viral hepatitis due to hepatitis E virus infection had a high mortality rate especially during third trimester and postpartum period and also they had poor obstetric and fetal outcome

Influence of a magnetic field on the flow of a micropolar fluid sandwiched between two Newtonian fluid layers through a porous medium.

The present problem is concerned with the flow of micropolar/Eringen fluid sandwiched between two Newtonian fluid layers through the horizontal porous channel. The flow in both the regions is steady, incompressible and the fluids are immiscible. The flow is driven by a constant pressure gradient and a magnetic field of uniform strength is being applied in the direction perpendicular to the flow. The flow of electrically conducting fluids, in the three regions, is governed by the Brinkman equation with the assumption that the effective viscosity of each fluid is the same as the viscosity of the fluid. No-slip conditions at the end of the plates, continuity of velocity, continuity of shearing stress and constant rotational velocity at the interface have been used as the boundary conditions to get the solution of the problem considered. The numerical values of the solution obtained are used to analyse the effect of various transport parameters, such as permeability of porous region, magnetic number, viscosity ratio etc. on the velocity profile and micro rotational velocity profile graphically. Also, the variations in the flow rate and the wall shear stress, with respect to the governing parameters, are presented in tabular form

Appearance Teasing and Identity Formation Amongst Young Adults: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Appearance teasing (AT) is such a widespread phenomenon that to discount its meaning, impact, and severity on the lives of those who are teased would be a mistake. This study aims to explore the lived experiences of Indian youths who have been appearance-teased by their close friends and family, how they perceive it has impacted their senses of self and identity and to understand their coping strategies that help them manage the negative effects of AT. Data was collected via semi structured interviews with six young adults and analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Analysis of the transcripts reveals five master themes encompassing forms of exhibition of AT, causes, impact, protective factors, and coping strategies that represented the experiences for this population. Each individual voice captured in this study offers valuable insights into how teasing someone based on their appearance can have tremendous impacts on their psyche and behavior. Findings also point to the unique role played by Indian culture in these experiences of Indian youths. Based on the results, we conclude that there is a substantial need for awareness about AT in India and the impact of its normalization on Indian youth

Satisfaction Level of Patients Visiting Outpatient Department in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Delhi - A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is considered to be one of the important parameters in the assessment of quality of healthcare and overall performance of a healthcare facility.Objectives: To assess the utilization of health services and patient satisfaction for services provided by this tertiary care center.Material and Methods: The present study was a hospital-based, cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care center situated in South Delhi from March 9 to June 8, 2016 (3 months). Patients of age >18 years visiting the OPD who gave their informed written consent were interviewed by using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. The responses of patients were divided into three categories-satisfied, uncertain and dissatisfied.Statistical Analysis: The surveyed questionnaires were collected and coded in an MS Excel database and analyzed by using the SPSS statistical package, version 21.0. Descriptive statistics were performed on the sociodemographic data.Results: A total of 313 patients had participated in the present study. Most (53.4%) of the patients were of age group 21-40 years. Majority (60.1%) of them were male. Nearly 80% were literate. It was found that 89.9% patients were satisfied with the overall behavior of hospital staff. It was revealed that 87.4% of the patients were satisfied with the good healthcare services provided by the hospital. 7.1% patients were dissatisfied with the healthcare services. They found insufficient healthcare facilities in this hospital. 5.2% patients were uncertain.Conclusion: Dissatisfaction among some patients triggers an alarm for hospital management to work on those components so that quality health services can be provided to all patients to make them satisfied. Periodic patient satisfaction survey should be institutionalized to provide feedback for continuous quality improvement

Role of Doppler indices in prediction of perinatal outcome in preeclampsia

Background: Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity worldwide, particularly in developing countries. The objective of the study was to study Doppler indices in pregnancies with preeclampsia and to correlate Doppler indices with perinatal outcome.Methods: This was a prospective study conducted within a period of September 2012 to August 2014 where 100 singleton preeclampsia patients attending tertiary care hospital were recruited. These patients were followed by serial Doppler assessment and the result of the last Doppler examination within 10 days of delivery was considered in the subsequent correlation with perinatal outcomes. Perinatal outcome was studied under major and minor adverse outcome.Results: In this study out of total population 54% were primigravida patients. 43.75% caesarean sections done for fetal distress with abnormal Doppler. Bilateral uterine artery diastolic notch and umbilical artery S/D ratio have better sensitivity (72.55%) for prediction of minor adverse outcome while uterine artery diastolic notch has better sensitivity (86.67%) for major adverse outcome. Umbilical artery and middle cerebral artery RI have better specificity and positive predictive value  for prediction of both major and minor adverse outcome. Bilateral uterine artery notch and umbilical artery S/D ratio have better negative predictive value for prediction of both major and minor adverse outcome.Conclusions: In this study it is concluded that Doppler analysis helps not only earlier detection of uteroplacental and fetoplacental changes associated with the disease but also help to take decision for early intervention. Doppler technology has provided the best opportunity for repetitive non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring in pregnancy for fetal well-being evaluation and predicting perinatal outcome

Mobibush : A Cloud Enabled Mobile app for Farmers

Mobile technology is increasingly being adopted in the agricultural space as a measure to assist farmers in decision. The aim of the project is to enable farmers to have mobile access to up to date information on pesticides and further make decisions on which pesticides to refer, how to appertain them, when to use them, and so on. Due to its complexity, Mobibush is designed as a mobile distributed system that follows a three-layered deployment; mobile clients(users or farmers), middleware(proxy layer), and a database server. Since the data that is being drive to the mobile is resident on the database server, caching policy on the mobile has been proposed to support offline affordability of pesticide information. However, there are oppugn that arise due to the intermittent loss of connectivity which leads to stale data on the mobile. In this project, we have accomodate the dual caching technique where we reserve data on the mobile and on the middleware. The approach makes the Mobibush architecture now robust and reliable for offline data accessibility

DIETARY PATTERN OF COLLEGE GOING ADOLESCENTS (17-19 YEARS) IN URBAN AREA OF BELAGAVI

Introduction: In India, poor eating habits are a major public health concern among college students who experience transition into university life, during which they are exposed to stress and lack of time. Objective: To assess the dietary pattern among college going adolescents. Methodology: Cross-sectional study conducted among 400 college going adolescents (17-19 years) residing in urban area of Belagavi. Diet (consumption pattern), frequency of meals, type of meal, vegetables and fruits consumption, daily water intake, consumption of fast food, etc. were assessed using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. Results: Mean calorie consumption among boys was 1472 ±417 Kcal and in girls was 1360 ± 380 Kcal. 45.5% of boys and 51.5% of girls were underweight. Majority had regular meals and breakfast (72% &, 80.8% respectively). 46.8% consumed fruits less than three times per week, 58% had fried food twice or more per week and 40.5% consumed less than 2 liters of water a day. Conclusions: Most of the students in this study had healthy eating habits except in their consumption of fruits, water intake and consumption of fried food. A study of this type will help to provide nutrition education on healthy food habits and life styles which will help college students bridge the gap between knowledge and practice of dietary pattern

Function of the central domain of streptokinase in substrate plasminogen docking and processing revealed by site-directed mutagenesis

The possible role of the central β -domain (residues 151-287) of streptokinase (SK) was probed by site-specifically altering two charged residues at a time to alanines in a region (residues 230-290) previously identified by Peptide Walking to play a key role in plasminogen (PG) activation. These mutants were then screened for altered ability to activate equimolar "partner" human PG, or altered interaction with substrate PG resulting in an overall compromised capability for substrate PG processing. Of the eight initial alanine-linker mutants of SK, one mutant, viz. SKKK256, 257aa (SK-D1), showed a roughly 20-fold reduction in PG activator activity in comparison to wild-type SK expressed in Escherichia coli (nSK). Five other mutants were as active as nSK, with two [SKRE248.249AA and SKEK281.282AA, referred to as SK(C) and SK(H), respectively] showing specific activities approximately one-half and two-thirds, respectively, that of nSK. Unlike SK(C) and SK(H), however, SK(D1) showed an extended initial delay in the kinetics of PG activation. These features were drastically accentuated when the charges on the two Lys residues at positions 256 and 257 of nSK were reversed, to obtain SKKK256.257EE [SK(D2)]. This mutant showed a PG activator activity approximately 10-fold less than that of SK(D1). Remarkably, inclusion of small amounts of human plasmin (PN) in the PG activation reactions of SK(D2) resulted in a dramatic, PN dose-dependent rejuvenation of its PG activation capability, indicating that it required pre-existing PN to form a functional activator since it could not effect active site exposure in partner PG on its own, a conclusion further confirmed by its inability to show a "burst" of p-nitrophenol release in the presence of equimolar human PG and p-nitrophenyl guanidino benzoate. The steady-state kinetic parameters for HPG activation of its 1:1 complex with human PN revealed that although it could form a highly functional activator once "supplied" with a mature active site, the Km for PG was increased nearly eightfold in comparison to that of nSK-PN. SK mutants carrying simultaneous two- and three-site charge-cluster alterations, viz., SKRE248.249AA;EK281.282AA [SK(CH)], SKEK272.273AA;EK281.282AA [SK(FH)], and SKRE248.249AA;EK272.273AA;EK281.282AA [SK(CFH)], showed additive/synergistic influence of multiple charge-cluster mutations on HPG activation when compared to the respective "single-site" mutants, with the "triple-site" mutant [SK(CFH)] showing absolutely no detectable HPG activation ability. Nevertheless, like the other constructs, the double- and triple-charge cluster mutants retained a native like affinity for complexation with partner PG. Their overall structure also, as judged by far-ultraviolet circular dichroism, was closely similar to that of nSK. These results provide the first experimental evidence for a direct assistance by the SK β-domain in the docking and processing of substrate PG by the activator complex, a facet not readily evident probably because of the flexibility of this domain in the recent X-ray crystal structure of the SK-plasmin light chain complex