Take Charge of Your Happiness by Taking Charge of Your Self: Enhancing Well-being Through Greater Self-awareness

The pursuit of happiness is an age-old human quest; so is the axiom of “know thyself”. This book proposal explores the link between these two ancient ideas, relevant even in modern times. Using the backdrop of my personal quest for happiness in combination with findings from various scientific disciplines, I argue that our happiness, at least in part, is under our control, and that self-awareness can be an empowering tool in finding lasting happiness. There are three parts to this book proposal: Part I reviews the scientific literature on well-being and explores answers to the question: What makes us happy? Part II presents a new definition of self-awareness along with challenges associated with knowing our selves, and also offers ways to become more self-aware. Part III provides specific suggestions for people to use their self-awareness to enhance their well-being. The objective of the proposed book is to inspire people to take charge of their happiness by taking charge of themselves, instead of blaming other people or circumstances for their unhappiness. I believe that if everyone in this world used their limited time and attention to focus on aspects of well-being within their control, not only would we all be happier, we may also contribute to a better world, one filled with more love, compassion, and happiness

Role of serum anti mullerian hormone as a predictor for miscarriage

Background: Recurrent Miscarriage is defined as three or more failed clinical pregnancies at less than 20 weeks of gestation or fetal weight less than 500 grams that ends spontaneously. Ovarian reserve demonstrates reproductive potential and includes FSH, estradiol, inhibin B, and S. AMH levels. Women with very low AMH levels may have altered folliculogenesis that may influence early implantation to increase the risk of miscarriage. This study aimed to determine the serum AMH levels in patients with recurrent miscarriage and pregnancy outcomes in low (3.5 ng/ml) AMH groups and to evaluate the role of serum ovarian biomarkers in prediction of miscarriages.Methods: This was a case-control study conducted over a time period of 1 year, on 120 women attending the antenatal clinic in department of obstetrics and gynecology, Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital, Prayagraj. The patients were divided into two groups, Group 1 (n=80) included women with previous history of abortions and Group 2 (n=40) included women with no history of abortions. S. AMH levels were analyzed and compared in both the groups.Results: In the present study, a significant negative correlation was seen between S. AMH and rate of miscarriages (p <0.05). Low AMH values were observed in patients with history of previous pregnancy loss.Conclusions: Diminished ovarian reserve contributes to recurrent pregnancy loss and should be considered part of the work-up for RPL. AMH levels in recurrent miscarriage patients were lower than those in a normal population

Maternal mortality assessment in a tertiary care hospital in Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: Objective of this study was to calculate the maternal mortality rate in our hospital and to assess the epidemiological aspects and causes of maternal mortality to further analyse ways to reduce the maternal mortality rate (MMR).Methods: This was a retrospective analytical study done in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, MLN Medical College and District Women Hospital, Prayagraj over a time period of 10 years i.e., October 2009 to October 2019. Retrospective analysis and evaluation of the medical records and statistics was done to find out and collect specific causes of maternal deaths in the give time period.Results: There were 357 maternal deaths from October 2009 to October 2019. Maternal mortality rate in the study was calculated to be 498.42 per 1 lakh live births. Maximum deaths were in 21-30 years age group with multipara, unbooked and illiterate cases. Majority of the deaths reported were from direct causes of maternal mortality i.e., hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders and sepsis.Conclusions: In the selected hospitals, the mean maternal mortality rate in the study period was 498.42/100000 births. 71.4% had direct cause and 21.56% had indirect cause of maternal mortality several factors like regular antenatal visits, early identification of high-risk cases, timely referral, institutional deliveries, adequate post-partum care and follow-up can contribute to decrease the maternal mortality rate effectively

Maternal near miss: a surrogate indicator of obstetrics care

Background: A maternal near miss (MNM) is an event in which a pregnant woman is on the verge of dying but doesn't die. Despite the fact that most maternal deaths can be avoided, efforts to reduce maternal mortality have not always been successful. This study aimed to identify and analyze the frequency of maternal near-misses (MNMs) cases and causes of maternal near miss due to severe obstetric complications. Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Heritage Institute of Medical Sciences, Varanasi. The study duration was from January 2021-June 2022. Purposive sampling was used to collect the total of 2053 samples. Results: The study involved in total of 56 maternal near miss cases which includes total of ten maternal deaths. The majority of the respondents have more than 20 years of the age (82.1%) where near miss cases were higher in multiparous women (73.2%). First delays (delay in women seeking help) were almost a third in numbers to affect the maternal mortality and morbidity. Hypertension (32%). hemorrhage (20%) and anemia (14%) were the major leading cause of obstetrical complications. About 66% of the maternal near miss cases needed the interventional management that was ICU admission, mechanical ventilation (41.1%) and blood transfusion (32.1%). Conclusions: Pregnancy hypertension, postpartum hemorrhage, and severe anemia continue to be important determinants of maternal morbidity. First-referral unit facilities and training should be improved so that they can better respond to basic obstetric emergencies such as hypertension, anemia and hemorrhage

Analysis of caesarean section using Robson’s ten group classification in a tertiary care centre

Background: Caesarean section is the most common obstetric operation that saves lives of countless mother and babies. In the past few decades, caesarean section rates have been continuously increasing worldwide. WHO declared that there is no justification for any region to have a caesarean section rate higher than 10-15% and added that CS rates higher than 10% is not associated with reduction in newborn and maternal mortality rates. In 2015, WHO proposed Robson classification as a global standard of assessing, monitoring comparing and auditing the determinants of caesarean sections rates. Methods: This Retrospective study was done in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Heritage institute of medical Sciences, Varanasi. The study duration was from July 2021 to June 2022. Results: A total of 2039 cases underwent delivery during the study duration. The caesarean rate calculated was 46.3%. Group 5 (previous CS, single, cephalic, &gt;37weeks) made the greatest contributor to total CS rate followed by Group 1 (nulliparous, single, cephalic, &gt;37 weeks in spontaneous labor). 100% of women with abnormal lie (group 9) and 87.9% women with breech presentation underwent CS. Conclusions: The overall rate of Caesarean sections is on an increasing trend. Robson’s Group 5 and 1 were the major contributors to caesarean section in this study. RTGCS is a simple useful tool which is a starting point for meaningful analysis of CS both at facility level and across different facilities

Role of imaging modalities in diagnosis of silent caesarean scar ectopic pregnancy after ovulation induction: a case report

There has been an increased prevalence of ectopic pregnancies in the present scenario attributing to 1.5-2% of all pregnancies. Caesarean scar pregnancies are rare, occurring in approximately 1 in 2000 pregnancies, although the incidence is increasing. The increasing rate of caesarean scar ectopic pregnancies mirrors the increasing rate of caesarean delivery. Disruption of the endometrium and myometrium after caesarean delivery predisposes to improper implantation at the site of the prior hysterotomy. Without normal surrounding myometrium, untreated caesarean scar ectopic pregnancies can result in uterine rupture with severe maternal hemorrhage and death. Although ultrasound remains the primary imaging modality for this diagnosis, MRI may be useful in the setting of equivocal cases and also may aid in the detection of possible placental implantation or bladder wall invasion. An MRI may provide additional confirmation of the ultrasound findings and characterize the myometrial interface if the pregnancy is difficult to distinguish from other pregnancy complications such as a cervical ectopic pregnancy or consideration for expectant management of pregnancy is considered

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of bioactive components present in virgin coconut oil

The hot and cold extracted virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been subjected to the various quality parameters. There was a no significant difference in iodine value, saponification value, refractive index, fatty acid profile, specific gravity, and moisture content of hot extracted virgin coconut oil (HEVCO), cold extracted virgin coconut oil (CEVCO), and copra oil (CCO) samples. The phenolic components of the HEVCO, CEVCO, and CCO were found to be 650.35 ± 25.11 μg/g, 401.23 ± 20.11 μg/g, and 182.82 ± 15.24 μg/g, respectively. The antioxidant activity ranged from 80 to 87% in HEVCO, 65 to 70% in CEVCO, and 35 to 45% in CCO. The results showed that VCO obtained from hot extraction process contained more total polyphenol, antioxidant activity, tocopherol, phytosterol, monoglycerides, and diglyceride content in comparison to CEVCO and CCO samples

Metal-insulator-metal capacitors based on lanthanum oxide high-k dielectric nanolayers fabricated using dense plasma focus device

Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors with lanthanum oxide (La2O3) high-κ dielectric, for potential applications in mixed-signal integrated circuit (IC), have been fabricated using a dense plasma focus device. The electrical characteristics and morphological properties of the fabricated nanodevices are studied. The MIM capacitors were further annealed to enhance the electrical properties in terms of the low leakage current density, the high capacitance density, and the improved capacitance voltage linearity. The minimum leakage current densities of ∼1.6 × 10−9 A/cm2 and ∼2.0 × 10−10 A/cm2 at −1 V are obtained along with the maximum capacitance densities of ∼17.96 fF/μm2 at 100 kHz and ∼19.10 fF/μm2 at 1 MHz, 0 V for as-fabricated and annealed MIM capacitors having 15 nm thick dielectric layers as measured using ellipsometry. The nanofilms with the minimum root mean square roughness of ∼10 nm are examined using atomic force microscopy. The results are superior compared to some other MIM capacitors and can be optimized to achieve the best electrical parameters for potential applications in radio frequency (RF)/mixed signal ICs. The high frequency C-V measurements indicate an increase in the capacitance density upon increasing the frequency which supports the possibility of potential high-frequency/RF applications of the MIM capacitors