Effects of intra articular steroids, hyaluronic acid and combination of both among patients with knee osteoarthritis

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disorder of articular cartilage accompanied by hypertrophic changes of the bone. In the management of OA, though use of intra articular (IA) injection of steroids, hyaluronic acid (HA) separately plays an important role, their effects in terms of reducing pain, joint stiffness and movement restriction when it is used in combination remains a question. Hence this study was planned to assess the effects of HA and steroids alone with combination of both Ha and steroids.Methods: Prospective randomized comparative study, among patients with osteoarthritis knee attending the outpatient department of Orthopedics in a tertiary care hospital during January 2017 to May 2018, were included. Patients were randomized in three groups (steroids, HA and combination of both) and a total of 96 patients were included and the outcome was assessed by WOMAC scale. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS Version 20.Results: Pain and movement restriction, at the end of fourth week and pain, joint stiffness and movement restriction, were found to be statistically improved in combined steroids and HA group than the group with steroids alone. Similarly at the end of third month, pain and movement restriction were found to be statistically improved in combined steroids and HA group than HA group alone.Conclusions: This study demonstrates that HA together with corticosteroid provides pain relief, reduction of joint stiffness and helps in improving joint movements within three months after treatment

Effects of tranexamic acid in major orthopedic surgical procedures: a randomized comparative study

Background: Despite modern healthcare system, major surgeries always cause economical constraints. Complications due to blood loss, long hospital stay are most common in major surgical procedures. Tranexamic acid (TXA), a synthetic derivative of lysine is used instead of blood transfusion to control bleeding peri and post operatively. Hence this study was planned to assess the effects of tranexamic acid on various orthopedic surgical procedures, in terms of blood loss, duration of surgical procedure and hospital stay.Methods: Prospective randomized comparative study, among patients undergoing elective and emergency orthopedic surgery. Patients with multiple fractures, organ injury and CKD were excluded from this study. Patients were randomized to tranexamic acid (TXA) group and colloids, blood transfusion group based on computer generated random numbers. Thirty two patients were randomized to tranexamic acid group and thirty two in control group. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS V 20.Results: The mean age group was 38.41±11.4 and 36.83±13.5 in TXA group and control group respectively. The mean SD for blood loss in TXA group was 321.5±124.7 and control group 482.7±189.6, the difference was found to be highly statistically significant with p=0.0002. Likewise the difference in postoperative Hb was found to be statistically significant with p<0.01. The p value for surgical site infection and hematoma was not statistically significant.Conclusions: TXA significantly reduces blood loss and blood transfusion requirements in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery

Stock assessment and exploitation status of Lethrinus nebulosus (Lacepede, 1802) exploited off Thoothukudi coast, Tamil Nadu, India

825-828Lethrinus nebulosus (Lacepede, 1802), although a commercially important fish species, has not been studied (population studies) in Thoothukudi coast of Tamil Nadu, India. Research on recruitment pattern, virtual population analysis and exploitation status of L. nebulosus off Thoothukudi coast was conducted from July 2011 to June 2012. During the study period, 4590 specimens of L. nebulosus were collected for studying the above said parameters by using FiSAT software. Recruitment pattern of the species expressed continuously with one peak each in April and August. The fishing pressure occurred more in the length group of 43 cm onwards. The results revealed that the total annual catch of 7566.28 tonnes was obtained from 52210 boat days. The maximum catch per unit was during December and January. The maximum sustainable yield (MSY) was estimated at 12203.68 tonnes. The discrepancy between MSY and annual catch was 4664.399. The present fishing effort may be increased to 61.29% to achieve MSY with 19310 boat days. It was revealed that L. nebulosus is underexploited in this region

Fishery and length based population parameters of little tuna, Euthynnus affinis (Cantor, 1849) from Gulf of Mannar, Southwestern Bay of Bengal.

1708-1714Little tuna is the third major tuna species landed along Tuticorin coast after Yellow fin and Skipjack tuna. The species is mostly harvested by large meshed drift gillnets where minor and seasonal catches comes from trawls and lines. Few months post fishing ban period are peak fishing season with high catch rates. There does exist, a seasonal shift in fishing ground in response to changing wind and current pattern. The species showed a positive allometric growth with ‘b’ estimated as 3.1989. Asymptotic length (L∞) and growth coefficient (K) were 79.0 cm and 0.63 yr-1, respectively. The natural, fishing and total mortality were calculated as 1.03 yr-1, 1.37 yr-1 and 2.40 yr-1, respectively. The current exploitation ratio of 0.57 is considerably lower than Emax indicating the possibility of enhancing the production from the capture fisheries

Length based population characteristics and fishery of skipjack tuna, <em>Katsuwonus pelamis</em> (Linnaeus, 1758) from Tuticorin waters, Tamil Nadu, India.

52-59Fishery and population characteristics of skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) along Tuticorin coast were studied for the period of one year from June 2016 to May 2017. Population parameters of Katsuwonus pelamis based on the length frequency data collected from fish landing centers of Tuticorin. Lengths ranging from 25 to 80 cm total length were observed and analyzed in current study. The population parameters L∞, K, M, Z and F were estimated as 95.70 cm, 0.40 year-1, 0.73, 1.63 and 0.90 respectively. Virtual Population Analysis (VPA) indicated that noticeable fishing mortality starts from 35-39 cm class interval and continued increasing till 50-54 length class. Afterwards a general decline in fishing mortality was observed with a relatively heavy fishing pressure on penultimate length class. The exploitation ratio (E) of 0.55 was derived from present study which is less than the maximum exploitation ratio (Emax = 0.805) indicating a scope for potential increase in production

Occurrence of Oratosquilla oratoria (De Haan, 1844) and Oratosquillina gravieri (Manning, 1978) from the trawl bycatches of Nagapattinam region, Tamil Nadu

Six species of mantis shrimps were recorded in the trawl catches of Nagapattinam region during January – December, 2018. The occurrence of two species namely Oratosquilla oratoria (De Haan, 1844) and Oratosquillina gravieri (Manning, 1978) were reported for the first time in the trawl bycatches of Nagapattinam region. The morphometrics of these two species is reported in this paper. Presence of inferodistal spine in the merus of the raptorial claw, rostral plate short and trapezoid to square in shape, 5th abdominal segment without submedian patch, 4th abdominal segment submedian carinae unarmed in Oratosquilla oratoria and rostral plate elongate and rectangle, lateral process of 6th thoracic somite with slender, triangular anterior lobe and dactylus of the raptorial claw with 6 teeth in Oratosquillina gravieri are chief characters to differentiate from other species

Stock assessment and reproductive biology of Puntius sarana (Hamilton, 1822) in Tamiraparani River basin of south Tamilnadu, India

Length weight frequency data were collected on weekly intervals for studying the length frequency analysis, species composition, catch and effort and reproductive biological aspects of puntius sarana in Tamiraparani riverine system (8° 42’N and 77.15° 24’E) of Western Ghats of India. The estimated b and z value was found 2.246 and 1.16 respectively. As per Virtual Population Analysis the maximum fishing mortality occurs at 30.3 cm. Reasonable fishing mortality started from 22.8 cm. The maximum steady state biomass was observed in the size group of 21.3 cm. The catch per unit effort (CPUE) was found to be high during the month of January and February. The decayed organic matter, algae and sand grains were also recorded in this species. The number of ova was found to vary 34,218 to 43,296 in the size range of 170 mm - 260 mm for P. sarana. The length at 50% maturity was estimated was 200 mm in total length for females. We observed that the fecundity was relatively low which indicates that, this species should be exploited carefully. To avoid growth over fishing and conservation of this species, the minimum legal size (MLS) for capture can be fixed below 200 mm for female

Occurrence of Oratosquilla oratoria (De Haan, 1844) and Oratosquillina gravieri (Manning, 1978) from the trawl bycatches of Nagapattinam region, Tamil Nadu

1029-1036Six species of mantis shrimps were recorded in the trawl catches of Nagapattinam region during January – December, 2018. The occurrence of two species namely Oratosquilla oratoria (De Haan, 1844) and Oratosquillina gravieri (Manning, 1978) were reported for the first time in the trawl bycatches of Nagapattinam region. The morphometrics of these two species is reported in this paper. Presence of inferodistal spine in the merus of the raptorial claw, rostral plate short and trapezoid to square in shape, 5th abdominal segment without submedian patch, 4th abdominal segment submedian carinae unarmed in Oratosquilla oratoria and rostral plate elongate and rectangle, lateral process of 6th thoracic somite with slender, triangular anterior lobe and dactylus of the raptorial claw with 6 teeth in Oratosquillina gravieri are chief characters to differentiate from other species

Topology Driven And Soft Phonon Mode Enabled Na-ion Diffusion In Quaternary Chalcogenides, Na3ZnGaX4 (X = S, And Se)

The compounds Na3ZnGaX4 (X = S, Se) are potential solid electrolyte materials in sodium-based batteries, which have certain advantages over oxide materials and have shown significant ionic conductivity at ambient temperature. In this paper, we bring out atomic-level features of the diffusion process in these new materials using the microscopic techniques of inelastic neutron scattering (INS), Quasi elastic neutron scattering (QENS), and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. The insights obtained from these techniques are unique and not available from other macroscopic experiments. Neutron scattering experiments have been performed at temperatures from 100 to 700 K. The simulations have been carried out up to 900 K. We have calculated the phonon spectra and the space-time correlation functions and found good agreement with the results of the neutron scattering experiments. The simulations enable detailed analysis of the atomic-site dependent dynamical information. We observe low-energy phonon modes of ∼6 meV involving the vibrations of certain Na atoms in the lattice. This reveals that the Na at 32g Wyckoff sites (Na2) has sufficiently shallow potential among the two available crystallographic sites. This shallow potential facilitates diffusion. Furthermore, the specific structural topology of the network of interconnected zig-zag chains of the Na2 atomic sites provides the low-barrier energy pathways for diffusion. A small fraction of vacancy defects appears essential for diffusion. We further observe that the Na2 atoms undergo jump-like diffusion to the vacant next or the 2nd next Neighbour sites at ∼4 Å. While the QENS experiments reveal the jump-like diffusion and its time scale, detailed analysis of the AIMD simulations shows that the jumps appear mostly along zig-zag chains of the Na2 sites in the tetragonal ab-plane, as well as between the chains along the c-axis. The net diffusion is essentially 3-dimensional, with little anisotropy despite the anisotropy of the tetragonal crystal structure

Understanding Lignin-Degrading Reactions of Ligninolytic Enzymes: Binding Affinity and Interactional Profile

Previous works have demonstrated that ligninolytic enzymes mediated effective degradation of lignin wastes. The degrading ability greatly relied on the interactions of ligninolytic enzymes with lignin. Ligninolytic enzymes mainly contain laccase (Lac), lignin peroxidase (LiP) and manganese peroxidase (MnP). In the present study, the binding modes of lignin to Lac, LiP and MnP were systematically determined, respectively. Robustness of these modes was further verified by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Residues GLU460, PRO346 and SER113 in Lac, residues ARG43, ALA180 and ASP183 in LiP and residues ARG42, HIS173 and ARG177 in MnP were most crucial in binding of lignin, respectively. Interactional analyses showed hydrophobic contacts were most abundant, playing an important role in the determination of substrate specificity. This information is an important contribution to the details of enzyme-catalyzed reactions in the process of lignin biodegradation, which can be used as references for designing enzyme mutants with a better lignin-degrading activity