Career effectiveness and its determinants

Study of careers has become an important aspect in the fast changing organizational context. It has come to be increasingly recognized at present, that career management is the responsibility of both the individual as well as the organization. This empirical study tries to understand the important elements of individual and organizational career practices that affect an employee’s career effectiveness. Most of the previous studies have used the objective terms of career success such as remuneration and position as the criterion variable. But since career outcome expectations vary across individuals and also since the concept of career itself has evolved over time, it was decided to use a more comprehensive concept of career outcome namely career effectiveness as the outcome variable. Career effectiveness as defined by Hall (2002) has both long-term orientation such as identity and adaptability as well as short-term orientation such as career attitudes and performance. Further both behavioral aspects such as performance and adaptability and individual subjective aspects such as identity and attitudes make it a more comprehensive way of assessing career outcome. The results of this research study indicate that individual determinants such as career planning and knowledge of organizational politics and organizational level determinants such as training and development support, quality of performance feedback and supervisory support explain significant variances in the determination of employee career effectiveness.

Association between Microalbuminuria and Risk Factors and complications among patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus, the most common endocrine disorder is characterised by metabolic abnormalities and long-term microvascular and macrovascular complications. The prevalence of diabetes is on the rise, more alarming in the developing countries. Besides multiplying risk for coronary heart disease, diabetes enhances the incidences of cerebrovascular accidents. Moreover it is the leading cause of acquired blindness and accounts for about a quarter of the cases with end stage renal disease as well as half of the cases of non-traumatic lower limb amputations. OBJECTIVES: To find the association between microalbuminuria and its risk factors and complications in south Indian type II Diabetes population attending PSGIMS&R, Peelamedu, Coimbatore. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred patients of Type II DM admitted to PSGIMS & R were studied. The patients were taken from both IP and OP of the hospital, based on random selection. Patients were considered to be diabetic based on WHO (2) criteria for diagnosis of diabetes mellitus which is : - 1) Symptoms of diabetes mellitus plus a random glucose concentration >200 (11.1mmol/l). The classic symptoms of diabetes mellitus include polyuria, polydipsia and unexplained weight loss OR 2) Fasting blood glucose >126 mg/dl (7.0mmol/l). Fasting is defined as no caloric intake for at least 8 hours OR 3) 2 hour post prandial glucose > 200mg/dl (11.1 mmol/l). Among diabetics, the above criteria were considered to include the patients for the study. OR 4)HbA1C> 6.5. Inclusion criteria for case selection: 1) Urine sugar – positive. 2) Fasting blood sugar > 126 mg/dl. Exclusion criteria for case selection: 1) Patients with macroalbuminuria, 2) Patients with congestive cardiac failure, urinary tract infection, 3) Ketonuria, 4) Pregnant patients, 5) Patients with overt diabetic nephropathy, The selected patients were studied in detail with history and physical examination. SUMMARY: We studied 100 Type II DM patients for detection of microalbuminuria through the dipstick method. The mean age between male and female and the mean age detection of DM is not statistically significant. 9 patients had severe microalbuminuria between 100 and 300 mg/dl. Incidence of microalbuminuria is 2.5 times more likely for the age group more than 50 years. All patients with HbA1C 7 with duration of DM > 15 years were positive for Microalbuminuria. Incidence of microalbuminuria is significantly associated with BMI > 25 kg/m^2. Incidence of microalbuminuria is 1.9 times more in patients with HDL < 30 mg /dl. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of microalbuminuria is estimated to be 38% in this study. Microalbuminuria shows a direct relationship with increasing age of patients and increasing duration of diabetes mellitus since diagnosis. A HbA1c value above 7% is associated with 50% or higherincidence of microalbuminuria. Patients with a body mass index of more than 25kg/m2 have significant increasein the incidence of microalbuminuria. Incidence of microalbuminuria is significantly associated with presence of hypertension, neuropathy, Ischemic heart disease, retinopathy and high body mass index. Microalbuminuria is inversely associated with HDL

Ultrafast photoinduced enhancement of nonlinear optical response in 15-atom gold clusters on indium tin oxide conducting film

We show that the third order optical nonlinearity of 15-atom gold clusters is significantly enhanced when in contact with indium tin oxide (ITO) conducting film. Open and close aperture z-scan experiments together with non-degenerate pump-probe differential transmission experiments were done using 80 fs laser pulses centered at 395 nm and 790 nm on gold clusters encased inside cyclodextrin cavities. We show that two photon absorption coefficient is enhanced by an order of magnitude as compared to that when the clusters are on pristine glass plate. The enhancement for the nonlinear optical refraction coefficient is ~3 times. The photo-induced excited state absorption using pump-probe experiments at pump wavelength of 395 nm and probe at 790 nm also show an enhancement by an order of magnitude. These results attributed to the excited state energy transfer in the coupled gold cluster-ITO system are different from the enhancement seen so far in charge donor-acceptor complexes and nanoparticle-conjugate polymer composites.Comment: To appear in Optics Express (2013); http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.21.00848

DWT-DCT-Based Data Hiding for Speech Bandwidth Extension

The limited narrowband frequency range, about 300-3400Hz, used in telephone network channels results in less intelligible and poor-quality telephony speech. To address this drawback, a novel robust speech bandwidth extension using Discrete Wavelet Transform- Discrete Cosine Transform Based Data Hiding (DWTDCTBDH) is proposed. In this technique, the missing speech information is embedded in the narrowband speech signal. The embedded missing speech information is recovered steadily at the receiver end to generate a wideband speech of considerably better quality. The robustness of the proposed method to quantization and channel noises is confirmed by the mean square error test. The enhancement in the quality of reconstructed wideband speech of the proposed method over conventional methods is reasserted by subjective listening and objective tests

Evaluation of Cactus as Alternate Fodder Resource in Semi Arid Region of India

Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica (L) Mill) is spineless and offers several benefits to both man and livestock. It is a succulent, xerophytic, spiny or spineless plant of multiple uses (Felker et al., 1997). Cactus is a drought resilient feed, introducing cactus as alternate livestock feed in dryland ecosystems fulfill the deficiency of feed to livestock. Cactus requires little moisture which used to gets from the rainy season to produce large quantities of forage. It has a higher carrying capacity than any other drought tolerant fodder in arid and semi-arid areas. It remains green and succulent during drought thus supplying the much needed energy, water and vitamins to livestock in drought periods. It withstands severe defoliation and has good regeneration ability. A unique anatomic and physiological character of cactus makes to withstand a wide range of soil types as well as harsh climatic conditions. Some of these unique features make it a perfect plant to incorporate into productive forage based systems. The soils of Budelkhand region of India are medium to low in fertility with low organic matter content and poor water holding capacity that limits the fodder and food productivity. Rainfall is also erratic, unreliable and scarce, so non-conventional forages are urgently required. Therefore, Cactus could be a good source of food and water for livestock during drought. Keeping this in view, ICARDA-IGFRI collaborative project is initiated to utilize the Opuntia species as an alternate source of feed and fodder in different land use management systems and enabling the stake holders to increase the agricultural production and profitability in dry areas

Pyrazinamide induced photodermatitis: a case report

Photosensitivity reactions due to pyrazinamide are rare. In this report, a case of pyrazinamide induced photodermatitis has been reported in a patient who is one anti-tuberculosis treatment. The patient developed rashes with burning sensation which are worsened on exposure to sun. These rashes had developed since 5 days following 15 days of start of anti-tubercular drugs. Thus these kinds of adverse reactions can be prevented on early detection and reporting these can help in decrease the morbidity rate of tuberculosis with use of pyrazinamide in the treatment regimens

Burning mouth syndrome (stomatodynia) sensile to duloxetine-a case report

Introduction. Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic, idiopathic, intraoral mucosal pain condition in the absence of specific oral lesions and systemic disease. Among evidence-based pharmacological treatments for this disorder, topical and systemic clonazepam, levosulpiride, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been used with partial results. Case: We report a case of a 65-year-old healthy woman with a 3-year history of oral burning. Clinical and laboratory evaluations allowed us to make a diagnosis of burning mouth syndrome. She was treated with duloxetine [DLX] &nbsp;(60 mg PO qd), a selective serotonin, and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, obtaining a complete remission of symptoms, evaluated via standardized clinical rating scales [BPRS], and an improvement of her quality of life and level of functioning. Discussion: The pathogenesis of BMS still remains unclear. Recently, it has been suggested an underlying neuropathic mechanism, demonstrating a dysfunction in the trigeminal nociceptive pathways at peripheral and/or central nervous system level. The rationale behind the administration of duloxetine resides in its central mechanism of action, and analgesic effects previously demonstrated in diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and fibromyalgia. Also, it has been shown to reduce painful physical symptoms associated with depression. Conclusion: We hypothesize that duloxetine might represent a useful, effective, and additional therapeutic option in the treatment of BMS

Clinical characteristics and laboratory profile of childhood systemic lupus erythematosus in a tertiary care center

Objectives: To study the clinical characteristics and laboratory profile of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in children in a tertiarycare center. Methods: Children presenting to our tertiary care center with suspected SLE, fulfilling at least 4 out of 11 American Collegeof Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for the diagnosis of SLE were reviewed retrospectively. The study period was from June 2012 to May2015. The clinical presentation and laboratory parameters were analyzed. Results: A total of 14 patients fulfilled the ACR criteria; therewere 12 girls and 2 boys with a sex ratio of 1:6 favoring girls. The mean age on presentation was 9.8 years with a range of 3-15 years.At presentation, 70% of the children had features not suggestive of SLE. The most common symptom was fever seen in 100% of thepatients, followed by hematological abnormalities in 78%, and renal involvement in 57% patients. Arthritis, skin lesions, and pulmonaryinvolvement were seen in 42% of the patients. The gastrointestinal presentation was seen in 21% of the patients. Conclusion: SLE has avaried clinical presentation depending on the predominant organ involved. A high index of suspicion is required for the early diagnosisof SLE in children

Ant species richness at selected localities of Bangalore

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