The Marginalized People from the Perspective Su Venugopal

After the nineties, the theory of postmodernism became hotly talked about in the artistic and literary contexts of Tamil. In the marginal counter-narratives posed by this theory, the marginal concepts provided many new openings. Thus, the views and records of marginalized people who were subjected to neglect and oppression gained a new lease on life. There are also contributions from many authors behind this. In this Su Venugopal is remarkable. In all his stories, humanity is at the core of it. His voice for the marginalized sections of the downtrodden is silently recorded in the stories, with a sharply critical tone towards the prevailing dominant society. Thus, this article examines Su Venugopal's fictions about agricultural labourers, women, the physically challenged, and transgenders living in the marginalized state away from the core. Su Venugopal is a storyteller with a realist background in a straightforward narrative. There are more than five volumes of his short stories and this article is the subject of his research. This article moves on to the hypothesis that Su Venugopal's stories explain marginalized people and their lives from within their own domain. The physical and mental distress and crowded acts of relationships of marginalized people who yearn for support, comfort, and warmth become central to Su Venugopal's stories

Marginalized People in a collection of short stories in Karkalam

Short story has a special place in today’s literary world. Short stories show the quality of life of the people in the society. Su.Venugopal is one of the best writers who tells the quality of life of the lower class people through short stories. In his Karkalam collection of short stories, he has clearly recorded the condition of the people who are oppressed and living on the margins of the society. The short story collection showcases the marginalized people like the economically backward and abandoned. Economic crises make these people very depressed. The life struggles of people in such a marginal position have been going on for generations. Although the social and economic changes caused by scientific developments are reflected in the lives of these people, the marginal life remains a series of problems

Implementing pediatric inpatient asthma pathways.

ObjectivePathways are succinct, operational versions of evidence-based guidelines. Studies have demonstrated pathways improve quality of care for children hospitalized with asthma, but we have limited information on other key factors to guide hospital leaders and clinicians in pathway implementation efforts. Our objective was to evaluate the adoption, implementation, and reach of inpatient pediatric asthma pathways.MethodsThis was a mixed-methods study of hospitals participating in a national collaborative to implement pathways. Data sources included electronic surveys of implementation leaders and staff, field observations, and chart review of children ages 2-17 years admitted with a primary diagnosis of asthma. Outcomes included adoption by hospitals, pathway implementation factors, and reach of pathways to children hospitalized with asthma. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariable regression. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis.ResultsEighty-five hospitals enrolled; 68 (80%) adopted/completed the collaborative. These 68 hospitals implemented pathways with overall high fidelity, implementing a median of 5 of 5 core pathway components (Interquartile Range [IQR] 4-5) in a median of 5 months (IQR 3-9). Implementation teams reported a median time cost of 78 h (IQR: 40-120) for implementation. Implementation leaders reported the values of pathway implementation included improvements in care, enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration, and access to educational resources. Leaders reported barriers in modifying electronic health records (EHRs), and only 63% of children had electronic pathway orders placed.ConclusionsHospitals implemented pathways with high fidelity. Barriers in modifying EHRs may have limited the reach of pathways to children hospitalized with asthma

Constrained RS coding for Low Peak to Average Power Ratio in FBMC -- OQAM Systems

Multi-carrier modulation techniques have now become a standard in many communication protocols. Filter bank based multi-carrier (FBMC) generation techniques have been discussed in the literature as a means for overcoming the shortcomings of IFFT/FFT based OFDM system. The Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) is a problem faced by all multi-carrier techniques. This paper discusses the methods for reducing PAPR in a FBMC system while maintaining acceptable Bit Error Rate (BER). A new PAPR minimizing scheme called Constrained Reed Solomon (CRS) coding is proposed. The hybrid techniques using coding and companding are tested for different channel models and is found to yield promising results.Comment: 6 pages,6 Figures, Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineerin

A Study of Correlation of Preoperative Ultrasonographic Airway Assessment and Clinical Assessment in Prediction of the Difficult Airway

BACKGROUND: Difficult intubation is associated with serious morbidity and mortality and cannot be always predicted by conventional clinical predictors. Ultrasonographic airway assessment could be a useful predictor of difficult airway and it thus correlates with various clinical and laryngoscopic view of airway which is the Cormack-Lehane grading. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To find out the correlation between Ultrasonographic airway assessment and clinical airway assessment for difficult airway prediction and to compare the results with CORMACK – LEHANE scoring during intubation. To find out the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population includes 150 adult patients undergoing elective surgery requiring general Anaesthesia. This is a prospective randomized observational study where both the clinical airway assessment parameters and ultrasonographic parameters are noted and correlated. In clinical assessment – Modified Mallampati class, mouth opening , dentition ,thyromental distance , Hyomental distance, Sternomental distance and neck movements were assessed. In ultrasonographic parameters - Width of the tongue, Cross sectional area of the floor of the mouth, Anteroposterior thickness of the geniohyoid muscle, Skin to hyoid distance and Skin to epiglottis distance were assessed. In mid sagittal view – cross sectional area of tongue, Mentohyoid distance were assessed. The anterior neck soft tissue thickness at the level of hyoid and vocal cord were assessed. All these parameters were compared with the Cormack – Lehane grading. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty adult patients undergoing elective surgery under general Anaesthesia by endotracheal intubation were included in my study. My study included population aged between 18 to 60 years with 74% male patients and 35.5% female patients. The BMI- Body mass index of the study population ranged from 21.63 to 34.89 kg/m2. 40% of patients belonged to Cormack Lehane grade I. 41.3% of patients belonged to Cormack Lehane grade II. 16% of the patients belonged to Cormack Lehane grade III and the remaining 2% of the population belonged to grade IV. The distribution of Cormack Lehane grade was compared with the ultrasound parameters i.e., ANS-HYOID (Anterior neck soft tissue – at the level of hyoid), ANS -VC (Anterior neck soft tissue – vocal cord), PRE-E (Pre-epiglottic space), E-VC (Epiglottis to vocal cord distance), PRE-E/E-VC. The four groups in Cormack Lehane grade were analyzed comparing with each of the parameters. The Anterior neck soft tissue at the hyoid level was not significant with p value 0.46 and hence it suggests that it does not correlate with Cormack Lehane grading. The anterior neck soft tissue at the vocal cord level was calculated and the analysis with Cormack Lehane grading suggests that it is statistically significant with p value less than 0.0001. Hence it correlates with Cormack Lehane grade. The distance from skin to epiglottis which is Pre epiglottic space distance( p value < 0.0001 ) , epiglottis to vocal cord distance ( E-VC - p value < 0.0001 ) and the ratio of Pre-Epiglottis space and epiglottis to Vocal cord distance is also statistically significant. Their ratio is also statistically significant. Hence these values are found to predict difficult intubation. The distribution of Cormack Lehane grading was compared to Mallampatti grading, thyromental distance and sternomental distance. The analysis was statistically significant and thus it indicates that there is correlation between these parameters and CL grading. Anterior Neck Soft tissue- Vocal cord level had the highest sensitivity more than the clinical parameters. But its specificity was lower than the clinical parameters. Sternomental distance had the highest specificity. Negative predictive value was highest for Anterior neck soft tissue – Vocal cord followed by Mallampatti class. Pre – Epiglottis / Epiglottis- Vocal Cord was useful in predicting difficult intubation. But it had very low sensitivity. Specificity was high. The clinical parameter Mallampatti class had high specificity and negative predictive value. The hyomental distance was calculated for all patients. It was found that out of 123 patients who had CL grade 1/2, 110 had HMD > 5.5 cm (89.4%). The patients with CL grade 3/4, HMD was less than 5.5cm for 23 population (85.2%). CONCLUSION: Ultrasonographic measurement of the Anterior neck soft tissue Vocal Cord is thus an excellent predictor of difficult intubation. This is the most sensitive parameter compared to other clinical parameters. Measurement of Anterior neck soft tissue Hyoid is not a useful indicator in predicting difficult intubation. Thus, the parameters can be used to predict the difficulty which was until now quantified by the traditional Cormack- Lehane grading

Effectiveness of foot reflexology on pain among patients with osteoarthritis in selected villages at Tirunelveli

The Research Project, “A Study to assess the effectiveness of foot reflexology on pain among patients with osteoarthritis in selected villages, at Tirunelveli”.It was conducted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of science in nursing at Sri K. Ramachandran Naidu College of Nursing which was affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R Medical University, Chennai during the year 2013-2014. The Objectives of the study were: 1. To assess the pretest and posttest level of pain among patients with osteoarthritis in experimental and control group. 2. To find out the effectiveness of foot reflexology on pain among patients with osteoarthritis in experimental group. 3. To compare the pretest and posttest level of pain among patients with osteoarthritis in experimental group. 4. To associate the posttest level of pain among patients with osteoarthritis in experimental and control group with their selected demographic variables like age, sex, education, occupation, food habits etc. All Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significant 1. The mean posttest level of pain among experimental group was significantly lower than the mean posttest level of pain in the control group. 2. The mean posttest level of pain was significantly lower than the mean pretest level of pain in the experimental group. 3. There was asignificant association between posttest level of pain among experimental and control group with their selected demographic variables like age, sex, education, occupation, food habits etc. The framework of the study was based on the Modified Wiedenbach’s Helping Art of Clinical Nursing Theory Totally sixty patients were selected from the two villages. Thirty were selected to experimental group, thirty patients were selected to control group. The sample was selected based on the criteria for sample selection. According to purposive sampling technique the patients were selected to the experimental group and control group. The experimental group received foot reflexology for about 15 minutes for each foot, two times a day for continuous five days. Posttest was carried out for the experimental group and control group on fifth day by using Numerical pain rating scale. The Research design was Quasi experimental – Pretest and Posttest control group design. The setting of the study was subbulapuram and kuvallaikanni villages at Tirunelveli. It was situated about 5kmsand 8kms from Sri.K.Ramachandran Naidu College of Nursing at Tirunelveli. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The significant Findings of the study were On analysis of frequency and percentage distribution of demographic variables, majority of the patients 11 (36.66%) were between the age group of 56-65 years and 66-75 years among osteoarthritis patients in experimental group, whereas in the control group 11(36.66%) of subjects were between the age group of 66-75 years. With regard to sex classification, majority of patients 17 (56.66%) were female in the experimental group, whereas in the control group male and females were 15(50%) of subjects. With respect to education, majority of the patients 14 (46.66%) were having primary education in the experimental group, whereas in the control group 13(43.33%) of subjects were having primary education. With regard to occupation, majority of patients 15 (50%) were belongs to moderate worker in the experimental group, whereas in the control group 14(46.66%) of subjects were belongs to moderate worker. With regard to food habits, majority of patients 17(56.66%) of them were vegetarian, in the experimental group, whereas in the control group 16(53.33%) of subjects were non vegetarian. Regarding the body weight of osteoarthritis, majority of patients 15(50%) were normal body weight in the experimental group and 14(46.66%) were normal body weight in the control group. Regarding the history of trauma, majority of patients, 17(56.66%) of them were do not have any history of trauma in the experimental group. whereas in the control group, majority of patients 16(53.33%) of them were have history of trauma. With regard to pain precipitating factors, majority of patients 13 (43.33%) were having pain at walking in the experimental group, whereas in the control group majority of patients, 16(53.33%) were having pain at walking. With regard to joint involvement, majority of patients 13(43.33%) of them had weight bearing joints in the experimental group, whereas in the control group 20(66.66%) of subjects were had weight bearing joints There was a significant difference between the mean score in the experimental group before and after the application of foot reflexology among the patients with osteoarthritis. Justification undertaken for this study was to give foot reflexology for reduction of pain and to determine its effectiveness, so that foot reflexology can be used in future for all the osteoarthritis patients for health promotion. On analysis of mean score of pain among experimental group was 0.43 and control group was 1.96 after interventions. Standard deviation after intervention among experimental group was 0.49 and control group was 0.56 and calculated “t” value was 5.62. It shows reduction of pain. There was no significant association between the posttest level of pain in the experimental group with their demographic variables such as age, sex, education, occupation, food habits, body weight, history of trauma, pain precipitating factors. Obtained chi square value was significant at 0.05 level. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that, Based on the findings of the present study the following recommendations are made: 1. The similar study can be conducted with large samples for better generalisation. 2. The study can be conducted to assess the knowledge and practice of nurses with regard to foot reflexology for control of pain in patients with osteoarthritis. 3. A comparative study can be conducted by using foot reflexology versus acupressure on reduction of pain among osteoarthritis patients. 4. The similar study can be conducted in the hospital setting. 5. The same study can be repeated by using the true experimental design. As a nurse working in hospital has a vital role to provide effective nursing care for the patients. The nurses are need to develop their knowledge and skills in management of osteoarthritis by accurately measuring the level of pain, and providing care to the osteoarthritis patients, and to use wide variety of interventions in order to control the level of pain in such patients. CONCLUSION: The key conclusion that there was a significant difference on the level of pain among patients with osteoarthritis who received foot reflexology. It was easy to apply and potentially risk free intervention. Thus an application of foot reflexology was effective to control the level of pain among osteoarthritis patients

LeMYC2 acts as a negative regulator of blue light mediated photomorphogenic growth and promotes the growth of adult tomato plants

Background: Arabidopsis ZBF1/MYC2bHLH transcription factor is a repressor of photomorphogenesis, and acts as a point of cross talk in light, abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathways. MYC2 also functions as a positive regulator of lateral root development and flowering time under long day conditions. However, the function of MYC2 in growth and development remains unknown in crop plants. Results: Here, we report the functional analyses of LeMYC2 in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). The amino acid sequence of LeMYC2 showed extensive homology with Arabidopsis MYC2, containing the conserved bHLH domain. To study the function of LeMYC2 in tomato, overexpression and RNA interference (RNAi) LeMYC2tomato transgenic plants were generated. Examination of seedling morphology, physiological responses and light regulated gene expression has revealed that LeMYC2 works as a negative regulator of blue light mediated photomorphogenesis. Furthermore, LeMYC2 specifically binds to the G-box of LeRBCS-3A promoter. Overexpression of LeMYC2 has led to increased root length with more number of lateral roots. The tomato plants overexpressing LeMYC2 have reduced internode distance with more branches, and display the opposite morphology to RNAi transgenic lines. Furthermore, this study shows that LeMYC2 promotes ABA and JA responsiveness. Conclusions: Collectively, this study highlights that working in light, ABA and JA signaling pathways LeMYC2 works as an important regulator for growth and development in tomato plants

Comparison of the antioxidant activity and total phenolic, flavonoid content of aerial part of Cleome viscosa L.

Cleome viscosa L. (Capparidaceae), commonly known as “wild mustard”, is an annual, sticky herb found as common weed all over the plains of India and throughout the tropics of the world. In traditional systems of medicine the plant is reported to possess beneficial effects as an anthelmintic, antiseptic, carminative, antiscorbutic, febrifuge, and cardiac stimulant.     The aim of the present study was to evaluate to antioxidant activity of 70% methnolic extract of leaf and stem part of Cleome viscosa (CV) by using different in vitro model such as β carotene bleaching assay, reducing power and free radical scavenging activity (DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity). Total phenolic content were estimated by the Folin–Ciocalteu colorimetric method using gallic acid as standard and expressed as mg/g gallic acid equivalent (GAE) and total flavonoid content was estimated by aluminium chloride colourimetric method. The total phenolic, flavonoid content and antioxidant activity of Cleome viscosa leaves were found to be 66.38±0.82mg/g, 0.54±0.04mg/g and 77.30% respectively. Cleome viscosa leaves showed high free radical scavenging activity as evidenced by the low IC50 values in both DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) (373.18 μg/ml) and hydroxyl radical (573.55 μg/ml) methods. Cleome viscosa leaves possess high phenolic, flavonoid content and potential antioxidant activity, reducing power and free radical scavenging activity in comparison to stem