Dyslipidemia and its relation with body mass index versus waist hip ratio

To study the magnitude of dyslipidemia in asymptomatic subjects and its relation to body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip-ratio (WHR), 88 subjects attending the health analysis programme were examined and their age, sex, BMI, WHR, fasting blood glucose and lipids were measured. The distribution of the lipid levels and the frequency of dyslipidemia were noted. Forty-eight percent had a total cholesterol of \u3e 200 mg/dl and 50% had an HDL-cholesterol of \u3c 40 mg/dl. On comparing the means of total cholesterol to BMI and WHR, it was found that total cholesterol level was statistically significant for WHR above and below 0.9 for males and 0.8 for females, whereas not so for BMI above and below 27 kg/m2. The prevalence of dyslipidemia in asymptomatic people in this group emphasizes the need for routine health screening for early institution of preventive measures. The correlation with WHR rather than BMI points towards importance of measuring parameters of central obesity rather than body weight and height only

Study of a Laboratory-based Gamma Spectrometry for Food and Environmental Samples

A comprehensive study on a laboratory-based Gamma Spectrometry has been presented in this paper for food and environmental samples. The system comprises of HPGe detector with proper cooling for minimizing thermal generation of charge-carriers and appropriate shielding to reduce background emission; associated processing electronics and acquisition as well as analysis software. The choice of HPGe detector for laboratory-based Gamma Spectrometry, its radiation interaction mechanism and system optimization have been presented

Microcontroller based Constant Voltage Maximum Power Point Tracking for Solar inverter applications

Microcontroller based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) has been presented for single phase stand alone or grid connected solar inverter applications. The PV array consists of only 12V cell arrangement, thereafter, Discrete Comparator Circuit, The PIC microcontroller P16F676 controls the high power switching devices in the proposed MPPT scheme. The Constant Voltage (CV) algorithm continuously searches for the PV voltages in the rapidly changing weather conditions. The less pin and housing microcontroller does it all for the proposed Constant Voltage (CV) MPPT algorithm. The MPAB Simulation proves a very good agreement with the discrete comparator and switching devices for grid voltage, back-up battery charging and temporary load shedding operation. Therefore, until and unless MPPT voltages are in the operating region, the scheme allows grid voltage and back-up battery charging

Knowledge of basic life support among the students of Jazan University, Saudi Arabia: Is it adequate to save a life?

Background: Basic Life Support [BLS; including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)] is a part of medical skills utilized in case of an emergency medical care to save human lives. It is well established that the young students can become major healthcare supportive workforce for a community including the cases of emergency. Therefore, adequate knowledge of BLS is necessary for all the university attending students. This study evaluated the awareness of BLS knowledge and attitude towards BLS training among the students of Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.Methods: A self-administered survey questionnaire using cross-sectional design was employed.Results: Out of 360 participants, the majority were male students (84.2%). The participants have mediocre knowledge of BLS, and their mean score was 7.83 out of 14. The knowledge score, i.e., correct response of male and female students was almost similar. Not a single student answered all the questions correctly. About 28% participants had received BLS training previously during their study course and showed better BLS knowledge (mean score 10.41) in comparison with the other participants. In contrast with the students of health science related courses, the highest mean knowledge score (11.5) was opted by the students of emergency medical services, whereas the lowest score (6.58) was opted by the students of nursing background.Conclusions: Overall, a majority of the students of Jazan University did not have complete knowledge of BLS (CPR). The outcomes of this study will be helpful for education and healthcare service providers of the Saudi kingdom as a whole and for Jazan region.Keywords: Basic life support, Health occupations, Students’ knowledge, Medical education, Saudi Arabi

Objective No-Reference Stereoscopic Image Quality Prediction Based on 2D Image Features and Relative Disparity

Stereoscopic images are widely used to enhance the viewing experience of three-dimensional (3D) imaging and communication system. In this paper, we propose an image feature and disparity dependent quality evaluation metric, which incorporates human visible system characteristics. We believe perceived distortions and disparity of any stereoscopic image are strongly dependent on local features, such as edge (i.e., nonplane areas of an image) and nonedge (i.e., plane areas of an image) areas within the image. Therefore, a no-reference perceptual quality assessment method is developed for JPEG coded stereoscopic images based on segmented local features of distortions and disparity. Local feature information such as edge and non-edge area based relative disparity estimation, as well as the blockiness and the edge distortion within the block of images are evaluated in this method. Subjective stereo image database is used for evaluation of the metric. The subjective experiment results indicate that our metric has sufficient prediction performance

Antiplatelet Therapy Changes for Patients With Myocardial Infarction With Recurrent Ischemic Events: Insights Into Contemporary Practice From the TRANSLATE-ACS (Treatment With ADP Receptor Inhibitors: Longitudinal Assessment of Treatment Patterns and Events After Acute Coronary Syndrome) Study

BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend P2Y12 inhibitor therapy for 1 year after myocardial infarction (MI), yet little guidance is provided on antiplatelet management for patients with recurrent ischemic events during that year. We describe changes in P2Y12 inhibitor type among patients with recurrent ischemic events in the first year after MI. METHODS AND RESULTS: The TRANSLATE-ACS (Treatment With ADP Receptor Inhibitors: Longitudinal Assessment of Treatment Patterns and Events After Acute Coronary Syndrome) study enrolled 12 365 patients with MI treated with percutaneous coronary intervention. We examined whether P2Y12 inhibitor choice changed among patients with recurrent MI, stent thrombosis, and/or unplanned revascularization during the first year after MI, and modeled factors associated with P2Y12 inhibitor intensification (changing clopidogrel to prasugrel or ticagrelor). In the first year after MI, 1414 patients (11%) had a total of 1740 recurrent ischemic events (771 recurrent MIs, 969 unplanned revascularizations, and 165 stent thromboses). Median time to the first recurrent ischemic event was 154 days (25th-75th percentiles, 55-287 days). Of those with recurrent ischemic events, 101 of 1092 (9.3%) occurring in clopidogrel-treated patients led to P2Y12 inhibitor intensification. Recurrent events involving stent thrombosis or MI were the strongest factors associated with P2Y12 inhibitor intensification, yet only 40% of patients with stent thrombosis and 14% of patients with recurrent MI had P2Y12 inhibitor intensification. Increasing age and longer time from the index MI were associated with lower likelihood for intensification. CONCLUSIONS: Few patients after MI with a recurrent ischemic event who were taking clopidogrel switched to a more potent P2Y12 inhibitor, even after stent thrombosis events. Specific guidance is needed for patients who have recurrent ischemic events, particularly when closely spaced. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01088503

Development of Artificial Geochemical Filter to Treat Acid Mine Drainage for Safe Disposal of Mine Water in Salt Range Portion of Indus Basin—A Lab to Pilot Scale Study

Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.Copyright © 2022 by the authors. Several passive and active treatment approaches are available for dealing with Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). Despite a range of newly emergent techniques for the treatment of AMD, pH control using low-cost neutralizing reagents has been the most common and economical technique for the treatment of AMD. Thereby, owing to their widespread availability, ease of use, and cost effectiveness, active treatment techniques utilizing calcium-based reagents (particularly limestone) are considered the prime choice for treating AMD. Limestone is a well-known option worldwide for AMD neutralization thanks to its easy availability, low cost, and excellent efficiency. Generally, acidity is reduced by the presence of CaCO3 and alkalinity (i.e., HCO−3) is increased. pH can be increased from 2.5 to 7.5 by using limestone as a treating agent, resulting in the precipitation of heavy metals, which can then be removed by precipitation and sorption. Wargal limestone, a well-known limestone from the Salt Range, Indus basin, Pakistan, has high potential for neutralization and treatment of PTEs present in mine water or AMD. After selecting a suitable neutralization material at pilot scale, two different filters were designed using selected Wargal limestone: Filter 1 A (Oxic-based, Vertical bed-type Wargal Limestone Filter) and Filter 1 B (Anoxic-based Vertical bed-type Wargal Limestone Filter with Compost). The pH of the AMD under study was elevated from 2.5 to 7.65 and 7.60, respectively, in uncoated and coated media of limestone. Although the neutralization potential decreased over time, as an overall phenomenon the Ca concentration and net alkalinity (280–360 mg/L) were increased with the removal of metals such as Fe, Cu, Pb and Mn. The respective removal efficiency of these metals was 98%, 99%, 99% and 60%, with a threshold residence time of 5 h. in all columns of the developed filters.Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative (Grant No. 2021VCA0010); International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (2018YFE0100100)

In silico CD4+, CD8+ & humoral immunity associated antigenic epitope prediction and HLA distribution analysis of HTLV-I

Purpose: The linkage of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) to fatal diseases is a well known fact for many years. However, there has been no significant progress in the field of the treatment that can lead to the development of a successful vaccine. Furthermore, there are no means of assessing the risk of disease and its prognosis in the infected people. Methods:The current study has taken the cognizance of the importance of host’s immune response in reducing the risk of infectious diseases to carry out immunoinformatics driven epitope screening strategy of vaccine candidates against HTLV-1. In this study, a genetic variability and HLA distribution analysis among the documented HTLV-1 genotypes I, II, III, IV, V & VI was performed to ensure the coverage of the vast majority of population, where vaccine would be employed. The meticulous screening of effective dominant immunogens was done with the help of ABCPred and Immune Epitope Database. Results: The results showed that the identified epitopes might be protective immunogens with high conservancy and potential of inducing both protective neutralizing antibodies and Tcell responses. The peptides “PSQLPPTAPPLLPHSNLDHI”, “PCPNLVAYSSYHATY”, and “YHATYSLYLF”, were 100% conserved among different isolates from far and wide separated countries, suggesting negligible antigenic drift in HTLV-1. Conclusions: Overall, the mentioned epitopes are soluble, non-toxic suitable candidates for the development of vaccine against HTLV-1 and warrant further investigation and experimental validation