Study of the distribution profile of piperidine alkaloids in various parts of Prosopis juliflora by the application of Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS)

[Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s13659-012-0069-1 and is accessible for authorized users

Gamification at Workplace: Theories, constructs and conceptual frameworks

Gamification has been an active area of interest for both academicians and practitioners for the last decade. Gamification has extended its application to many areas, including the workplace. This study aims to shed light on the theoretical scenario of the gamification literature at the workplace. The article reviews the recent literature on gamification in this context and analyses the theories, constructs, and frameworks used to study the phenomenon. There is a lack of focus on the theoretical framework in the existing reviews. We create a broad taxonomy of theories used in the literature of gamification of the workplace. Further, we also propose a causal-chain framework to explain how gamification influences employees in the workplace. The results indicate that gamification at the workplace is still in its nascent stage and requires more rigorous and in-depth research. We believe that the insights generated provide research avenues for future research studies

Exploring Themes, Trends, and Frameworks: A Meta-Analysis of Online Business Education Research

The growth of online education has become a global phenomenon driven by emergence of new technologies, widespread adoption of the Internet, and intensifying demand for a skilled workforce for a digital economy. Online education is no longer a trend; it is slowly but surely becoming mainstream by 2025. This paper explores all efforts, accomplishments, issues, challenges, conclusions, and recommendations on this theme through meta-analysis of over 100 published papers since 2000. Through thorough content analysis, we provide useful recommendations for researchers and practitioners working in academia, industry, or government. We also propose a holistic model of interactions between diverse entities and stakeholders in the online tertiary business discipline education industry. This model will certainly be applicable with minor changes to other disciplines and other levels of education—primary and secondary. This model can be tested in piecemeal fashion by researchers using appropriate research methodology

Clinical Utility of Acute-phase Reactants in Medicine

Acute-phase response is the sum of the systemic and metabolic changes occurred by release of acute-phase proteins in response to an inflammatory stimulus. The most important ones of these acute-phase reactants are erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, procalcitonin and ferritin. The most widely used ones are ESR and CRP while fibrinogen and ferritin are less commonly used. The other acute-phase reactants have limited role in routine clinical use. ESR and C-reactive protein have traditionally been used as markers for inflammation in infectious and noninfectious conditions. These markers have significant role in early diagnosis, in differentiating infectious from noninfectious causes, as a prognostic marker and in antibiotic guidance strategies. Procalcitonin and CRP are most commonly used in this regard. Although CRP is more specific than ESR, yet because of the high cost and limited availability, it has restricted clinical usage in developing countries. Not all acute-phase reactants behave the same way when stimulated; the concentration of some increases while others decrease in plasma

Glycemic Guardianship: World Health Organization Leads the Way

The prevalence of diabetes is rapidly increasing globally in epidemic proportions, but many people with diabetes remain undiagnosed or untreated. In view of this escalating prevalence, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the Global Diabetes Compact (GDC) campaign to improve the diagnosis and management of people with diabetes. To this end, a set of diabetes coverage targets, focusing on 80% of people living with diabetes, to be achieved by the year 2030, were defined at the 75th World Health Assembly for the first time in May this year. These targets aim to achieve not just glycemic control, but also blood pressure and lipid management at all levels of the health care system. India has the second largest number of people with diabetes in the globe. In this article, we have proposed the concept of “glycemic guardianship”, which means activities carried out by the health care team and the health care system in partnership with the patient to ensure optimal care of diabetes. Recognizing and acknowledging our role as “glycemic guardians” of the nation will automatically pave the way to realize the targets set by the GDC

Assessment of levetiracetam and valproic acid as monotherapy for quality of life in partial epilepsy patients

Background: Quality of life (QOL) is important in patients of epilepsy as it is affected both by disease as well as therapy. QOL is the most overlooked component of antiepileptic treatment.Methods: An observational analytical study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology in collaboration with Department of Neurology of Himalayan Institute of Medical Science, Dehradun over 12 months. 80 patients satisfying inclusion criteria were enrolled and divided into two groups based on physician discretion and followed up for 12 weeks. Patients were evaluated at 0 and 12 weeks for quality of life using QOLIE-10 self-administered questionnaire, they were also assessed for seizure control and drug related adverse effects.Results: 60 patients were enrolled and divided into two treatment groups as per physician discretion, levetiracetam (30) and valproic acid (30) groups. Study groups showed significant improvement in QOL (mean change in QOL17.95±2.527 for LEV and 11.56±3.540 for VPA). Levetiracetam (LEV) group showed significant improvement over valproic acid (VPA) group (p=0.05) at 12 weeks. Patients who achieved total seizure control at 6 weeks were 93.33% patients in levetiracetam and 90% in valproic acid group, reason being non adherence which was 6.67% and 10% respectively. Adverse event recorded with levetiracetam (03), most common being drowsiness and with valproic acid (08), with most common being anorexia.Conclusions: Levetiracetam therapy has led to better quality of life and has the same seizure control as valproic acid, and has shown to have lower incidence of adverse effect

Insulin is Essential: The National List of Essential Medicines, India, 2022

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Improvement in New Grades of Work Roll for Hot Strip Mill through NDE

Due to increase in market demand and stringent quality demand of hot rolled flat product, it is very essential to increase the productivity without comprising on the prod-uct quality of hot strip mill. To increase the product-ivity and reduce the mill down time it is also very essen-tial for hot strip mill to increase campaign length of rolling. To fulfill the mill requirement new grades of rolls have been developed. This development has been done through NDE like analyzing microstructure, ferritoscope value and ultrasonic testing results of previously cast rolls and new grades of rolls. These new grades of rolls will not only increase the mill productivity but at the same time also take care of the quality of the product

Significant perceived stressors in irritable bowel syndrome: a stress interventional module analysed

Background: Psychological stress is an important factor for the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). More and more clinical and experimental evidences are showing that IBS is a combination of irritable bowel and irritable brain. As IBS is a stress sensitive disorder, its treatment should focus on managing stress and stress-induced responses.Methods: This is a hospital based longitudinal study. 72 patients fulfilling the Rome IV criteria for irritable bowel syndrome were enrolled into the study. Perceived stress was assessed using student stress dimension questionnaire (SSDQ) while IBS severity was assessed using IBS severity scoring system (IBS-SSS). The stress interventional module (SIM) consist of specific domain targeted psychological interventions given to the patients weekly based on the stress domain mapping. The effectiveness of these interventions on reducing stress as well as IBS severity was assessed at baseline, and weeks 2, 4 and 6 follow-ups.Results: Of the studied IBS patients, most had SPS in multiple life domains while familial and interpersonal domains were affected in 78%. Also, total stress load in form of mean cumulative stress load at baseline was 451.1 which decreased significantly to 274.4 over 6 weeks. This SIM brought about a reduction in mean irritable bowel syndrome severity score from 27.5 to 20.6 in 6 weeks. This reduction in IBS severity score overtime was significant (p=0.001).Conclusions: Patients of irritable bowel syndrome show significant stress in multiple domains of life, which require proper assessment and management. Authors propose that individual-specific interventions aimed at reducing stress in all psychosocial life domains are efficacious and should be an integral part of managing IBS

Mapping the Research Publications Pattern of Faculties of Library and Information Science Department, Mizoram University, Aizawl From 2008-2017: A Bibliometric Study

The paper focuses on the mapping of library and information science research publication output of the faculty member of the department of library and information science (DLIS), Mizoram University (MZU) during the period of ten years i.e. (2008-2017). The detailed curriculum vitae of faculty members of DLIS were obtained and bibliographic information of their papers was recorded. The study deals with 279 publications of DLIS, MZU. The present study examines and analysis that the DLIS output by different patterns such as the form of publication, the relative growth rate of publications, doubling time for publications, annual growth rate (AGR) of the publications and compound AGR of publications during the period of study