Role of CT enterography in evaluation of small bowel disorders

Background: Small bowel pathologies are an enigma for clinicians and difficult to assess and evaluate for clinicians. In order to establish the efficacy of MDCT Enterography in diagnostic characterisation of small bowel lesions, the current study was undertaken.Methods: A prospective observational cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital. 30 patients with clinically suspected small bowel disease underwent CT enterography using iso-osmotic mannitol as neutral enteral contrast. CT enterography diagnoses were compared with clinical, surgical and histopathological results.Results: CT enterography showed a sensitivity (95.83%), specificity (100%), positive predictive value (100%), negative predictive value (85.71%), accuracy (96.66%) in diagnosis of small bowel diseases.Conclusions: CTE is a non-invasive well tolerated and reliable imaging modality for the depiction of small-bowel diseases. It provides excellent visualization of luminal, mural and extraintestinal findings

ON KENMOTSU MANIFOLDS WITH SEMI-SYMMETRIC METRIC CONNECTION

The aim of the present paper is to study the properties of locally and globally $\phi$-concircularly symmetric Kenmotsu manifolds endowed with a semi-symmetric metric connection. First, we will prove that the locally $\phi$-symmetric and the globally $\phi$-concircularly symmetric Kenmotsu manifolds are equivalent. Next, we will study three dimensional locally $\phi$-symmetric, locally $\phi$-concircularly symmetric and locally $\phi$-concircularly recurrent Kenmotsu manifolds with respect to such connection and will obtain some geometrical results. In the end, we will construct a non-trivial example of Kenmotsu manifold admitting a semi-symmetric metric connection and validate our results. 

Study of compliance to prescribed lighting standards in hospitals of Delhi NCR, India

Background: An adequate level of lighting is essential for clinical, diagnostic and other processes in hospitals. This study has been conceptualised to assess the existing lighting standards in Indian hospitals. Carefully designed lighting can transform the appearance of a space, making it attractive, welcoming and either restful or stimulating depending on the effect created. It can enhance the architectural appearance of the space and contribute to orientation and way finding.Methods: Select hospitals of Delhi NCR were visited and the existing level of luminance in various areas of the hospital were recorded and analysed against prescribed National and International standards. The existing lighting standards in different areas of the hospital were assessed against the prescribed Indian standards given under National Lighting Code 2010 of India (2) and IS 4347: Code of practice for hospital lighting in India.Results: There has been a gap in the existing and prescribed lighting standards in all the hospitals considered in this study. This study revealed that none of the Hospital was having 100% compliance to the prescribed lighting standards. The best compliance was with hospital ‘A’ (56.5%), which is a private Corporate Hospital and worst with hospital ‘E’ (8.7%), a govt. hospital. The areas where compliance was  highest was OT complex (100%)  and  circulation areas (60% ) while service areas have least compliance rate (20%), with only hospital ‘A’ having 50% compliance and others having 0% compliance. As far as wards are concerned, 80% of the Hospitals adhere to the   prescribed lighting standards for general lighting and lighting at nursing station, but none of the hospitals adhere to the prescribed lighting standards for patient examination, reading lights for patients and night lighting. At the entrance 100% hospitals adhere to the prescribed lighting standards. The major reason cited by the concerned hospital authorities was the unawareness on the prescribed lighting levels and standards.Conclusions: Major conclusions drawn from this study are there are identified gaps in the existing lighting standards in the Hospitals and the recommended lighting levels and standards. Compliance to lighting standards in Indian Hospitals range from 8.7% to 56.7%, with majority of the hospitals in the range of 26% to 35%.There is as urgent need to sensitise the environment regarding recommended lighting standards.

The effect of clonidine with bupivacaine on perioperative hemodynamics and post-operative analgesia in cesarean section cases

Background: Cesarean section is the commonest procedure in Obstetric practice and postoperative pain can be a major factor for wound healing as well as mother and baby bonding. Spinal anesthesia is considered to be safest and easiest modality for cesarean section cases. Bupivacaine is the commonest drug given in spinal anesthesia, but many additive drugs have been introduced to cover post-operative analgesia. Clonidine is an alpha 2 agonist which can be used as an adjunct to heavy bupivacaine to extend analgesic effects.Methods: A randomized double-blind study was performed in 100 women undergoing elective cesarean section under spinal anaesthesia. After proper informed written consent patient undergoing cesarean section were divided by computerized method into group A (Given 10.0 mg 0.5% hyperbaric Bupivacaine) and Group B (Given 9.0 mg 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine and 30 μg clonidine).Results: Intraoperative hypotension is the most worrisome factor but it is transient and can be managed by ephedrine effectively. Intraoperative nausea and vomiting are slightly higher with clonidine as occurrence of hypotension is more. VAS scoring in post-operative period was better and need of first analgesic dose was much delayed in women been given clonidine with bupivacaine.Conclusions: Clonidine can be considered as adjunct in spinal anesthesia to extend post-op analgesic cover.

Physical properties of an Indian Ayurvedic medicine (<em>Shankh Bhasma</em>) as nano materials for its application

178-183The aim of present study is to describe Physical properties of an Indian Ayurvedic medicine (Shankh Bhasma) as nano materials for its applications. Shankh Bhasma has been synthesized by using method mentioned in an Ayurvedic text using conch shell and characterized by the modern scientific tools such as; X-ray diffractomter (XRD), Fourier Transform spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM).When we treated shankh bhasma on C. elegans and E. coli. C elegans produces more egg than normal calcium and there is no effect on E. coli. X-ray diffraction pattern and SEM analysis revealed that this Bhasma is in agglomerated nano crystalline materials and be considered as nanomedicine. An FTIR measurement reveals the bond stretching during the incineration process and found peaks of carboxylic group, Carbon with chloride and fluroide. Magnetization-Hysteresis (MH) loop study by the Vibrating sample magnetometer reveals that the di-magnetic nature of the Bhasma. Investigation of Shankh bhasma nanoparticles on C. elegen shows slightly increasing in egg production with compare to normal calcium oxide. There is not bacterial static effect was found on E.coli

Antiulcer Potential of the Ethanolic Extract of Aerva Persica Merrill Root in Rats

AbstractThe ethanol extract of the roots of Aerva persica (Burm f) Merrill (Amaranthaceae) was investigated to determine its antiulcer and in vivo antioxidant activities in albino Wistar rats. Ulcers were induced by ethanol and pylorus ligation. The extract was administered at the dose of 200mg/kg orally, p.o. for 15 consecutive days. The ulcer index of the ethanol extract was found to be significantly reduced compared with control animals. The effect was also assessed by determining the free acidity, pepsin activity, total carbohydrate (TC), and protein content (PK) in control, standard, and test group animals. The in vivo antioxidant activity was evaluated by determining the reduced glutathione level (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) level in the tissue homogenates. The results reveal the significant reduction in the level of malondialdehyde and the increase in the level of reduced glutathione in the rats that received the ethanolic extract. Furthermore, histopathological studies have shown that pretreatment with the ethanolic extract of the roots of A persica reduces (100%) ethanol- and pylorus ligation-induced hemorrhagic necrosis in rats

An Alternative approach to Temporary Memory Management in Databases using Object Oriented Systems

Abstract Regardless of the supremacy of relational database management systems (RDBMS) in the databases, object-oriented database management systems (OODBMS) continue to play crucial role in the management of data. Generally, the complex data are often found in telecommunications, business, engineering and web based applications. The most common approach of accessing such data is navigation. However, the approach of navigational access of data has the potential of generating excessive disk IO because objects in the path of navigation may be placed in different disk pages. Excessive disk IO is becoming increasingly undesirable because disk IO performance improves at only 5-8% per year whereas CPU performance doubles approximately every 18 months. Thus disk IO is likely to be a bottleneck in an increasing number of OODB applications. This paper focuses on reducing disk IO effects to improve OODBMS performance. In database environment effective buffer management of the main memory is the key in increasing efficiency through reducing the disk IO bottleneck in OODBMSs. There has been much existing work, namely in the areas of: static clustering; dynamic clustering; buffer replacement; and pre-fetching. All of these techniques can be used together in a complimentary manner. Most existing research has focused on finding the best solution for each area with little regard on how solutions from the different areas affect each other. We believe synergy exists between the areas, and that exploiting the synergy leads to the best overall solution. This paper focuses on exploring whether synergistic techniques are both feasible to implement and outperform their non-synergistic counterparts

Enhancing the knowledge level of dog owners using an electronic self-learning module

The present study was taken up to assess the knowledge about dog health and management among the pet owners and the effectiveness of a need based electronic self learning module “Dog Health Management Trainer” (DHMT) for enhancing their knowledge. The DHMT was developed and tested on 100 dog owners visiting the polyclinic at IVRI. Results revealed that dog owners were mainly facing problems related to diseases of skin, gastrointestinal system and parvoviral infection besides various other problems. Majority of the owners had medium knowledge about dog diseases while low knowledge about dog breeding and reproduction. Results revealed that DHMT was highly effective in enhancing the knowledge level and dog owners found it very much interesting and user friendly with an overall utility index of 0.87. The price proposed was negatively and significantly correlated with the pre-test knowledge scores for dog health indicating that those dog owners who were having low knowledge quoted higher price for procuring the DHMT

POTENTIAL APPLICATION OF DENDRIMERS IN DRUG DELIVERY: A CONCISE REVIEW AND UPDATE

This review gives concise information about the application of dendrimers in the field of drug delivery. Due to their unique architecture these have improved physical and chemical properties. Due to their terminal groups these show high solubility, miscibility and reactivity. Dendrimers have well defined size, shape, molecular weight and monodispersity. These properties make the dendrimers a suitable carrier in drug delivery application. Dendrimers are unimolecular miceller in nature and due to this enhances the solubility of poorly soluble drugs. Their compatibility with DNA, heparin and polyanions make them more versatile. Dendrimers, also referred as modern day polymers, they offer much more good properties than the conventional polymers. Due to their multivalent and mono disperse character dendrimers have stimulated wide interest in the field of chemistry biology, especially in applications like drug delivery, gene therapy and chemotherapy. Self assembly produces a faster means of generating nanoscopic functional and structural systems. But their actual utility in drug delivery can be assessed only after deep understanding of factors affecting their properties and their behavior in vivo. Key words: Dendrimers, Drug targeting, nanoscale carriers

A Novel Cre Recombinase Imaging System for Tracking Lymphotropic Virus Infection In Vivo

BACKGROUND:Detection, isolation, and identification of individual virus infected cells during long term infection are critical to advance our understanding of mechanisms of pathogenesis for latent/persistent viruses. However, current approaches to study these viruses in vivo have been hampered by low sensitivity and effects of cell-type on expression of viral encoded reporter genes. We have designed a novel Cre recombinase (Cre)-based murine system to overcome these problems, and thereby enable tracking and isolation of individual in vivo infected cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) was used as a prototypic persistent model virus. A Cre expressing recombinant virus was constructed and characterised. The virus is attenuated both in lytic virus replication, producing ten-fold lower lung virus titres than wild type virus, and in the establishment of latency. However, despite this limitation, when the sEGFP7 mouse line containing a Cre-activated enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was infected with the Cre expressing virus, sites of latent and persistent virus infection could be identified within B cells and macrophages of the lymphoid system on the basis of EGFP expression. Importantly, the use of the sEGFP7 mouse line which expresses high levels of EGFP allowed individual virus positive cells to be purified by FACSorting. Virus gene expression could be detected in these cells. Low numbers of EGFP positive cells could also be detected in the bone marrow. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:The use of this novel Cre-based virus/mouse system allowed identification of individual latently infected cells in vivo and may be useful for the study and long-term monitoring of other latent/persistent virus infections