A Hypothesis Testing Procedure Designed for Q-Matrix Validation of Diagnostic Classification Models

Cognitive diagnosis models have become very popular largely because these models provide educators with an explanation for a student not performing well based on skills that have not yet been mastered, making it possible for educators to provide targeted remediation and tailor instruction to address individual strengths and weaknesses. However, in order for these procedures to be effective, the Q-matrix which establishes the relationships between latent variables representing knowledge structures (columns) and individual items on an assessment (rows) must be carefully considered. The goal of this work is to develop a new test statistic for the detection of model misspecifications of the Q-matrix, which include both underfitting the Q-matrix and overfitting the Q-matrix. In addition to the development of this new test statistic, this dissertation evaluated the performance of this new test statistic and developed an estimator of the asymptotic variance based on the Fisher Information Matrix of the slip and guess parameters. The test statistic was evaluated by two simulation studies and also applied to the fraction subtraction dataset. The first simulation study investigated the true Type-I error rates for the test under four levels of sample size, three levels of correlation among attributes and three levels of item discrimination. Results showed that as the sample size increases the Type I error reduces to 5%. Surprisingly, the results for the relationship between Type I error and Item discrimination show that the most discriminating items (Item Discrimination of 4) have the largest Type I error rates. The power study showed that the statistic is very powerful in the detection of under-specification or over-specification of the Q-matrix with large sample sizes and/or when items are highly discriminating between students that have mastered or have not mastered a skill. Interestingly, the results when the Q matrix has multiple misspecifications the detection of under-specification is better than for over-specification when two misclassifications are being tested simultaneously. The analysis of the fraction subtraction dataset found 15% of the q-entries had enough evidence to reject the Null hypothesis. This clearly indicates that the test finds misfit in the original expert designed Q-matrix

Formulation and Evaluation of Protein Bound Paclitaxel Nanoparticles for Injectable Suspension

Aims: The aim of present study is to develop Paclitaxel nanoparticles for injectable suspension, an anti-neoplastic drug formulation. Study design:  Mention the design of the study here. Place and Duration of Study: Sagar Institute of Research & Technology- Pharmacy, Ayodhya Bypass Road, Bhopal, between June 2017 and June2018. Methodology: The Human serum albumin (HSA) is the most abundant plasma protein in the human blood with a half-life of 19 days. It can reversibly bind hydrophobic drug substances, transport them in the body and release drugs at cell surface. The formulation is prepared by homogenization at high-pressure of paclitaxel in the presence of human serum albumin into a nanoparticle colloidal suspension. Paclitaxel nano particles have been stabilized by human albumin and maintain the average size of 100 nm Results: The particle size of the reconstituted solution is checked using the laser diffraction Technique the particle is White to yellow lyophilized after reconstitution the particle become homogeneous milky suspension without visible particulates. Reconstitution time NMT 25 minutes 20.45 sec. The assay was performed by HPLC and found to be 90.0% to 110.0% of label. The retention time of Paclitaxel peak obtained in sample corresponds to the respective standards obtained from standards the pH NLT 6.00 to NMT 8.00 Particle size NLT 100 nm – NMT 200 nm. Sterility test was comply as per USP <71> Conclusion: The nano-delivery systems could have the potential to be free of Cremophor EL and ethanol, enhance Paclitaxel solubility, improve Paclitaxel pharmacokinetic profiles in vivo, decrease its side effects, passively or actively target to tumor sites due to the EPR (Enhanced Permeability and Retention) effect and the use of targeting ligands, respectively, nanotechnology is a very active research area in both academic and industrial settings. Keywords: paclitaxel, Anti-cancer, nanotechnology, Injectable, Suspensio

SARS – COV-2 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Critical Review on Novel Coronavirus Pathogenesis, Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment

The 2019-nCoV is officially called SARS-CoV-2 and the disease is named COVID-19. The Novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) caused pneumonia in Wuhan, China in December 2019 is a highly contagious disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it as a global public health emergency. This is the third serious Coronavirus outbreak in less than 20 years, following SARS in 2002–2003 and MERS in 2012. Currently, the research on novel coronavirus is still in the primary stage. It is currently believed that this deadly Coronavirus strain originated from wild animals at the Huanan market in Wuhan by Bats, snakes and pangolins have been cited as potential carriers. On the basis of current published evidence, we systematically summarize the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of COVID-19. This review in the hope of helping the public effectively recognize and deal with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and providing a reference for future studies. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Coronavirus, pneumonia, Respiratory infectio

Prevalence of smart phone addiction, sleep quality and associated behaviour problems in adolescents

Background: World is ever changing due to advancement in realm of science and technology, one such advancement is in field of smart phones. The ubiquity of smart phone technology raises concern for its addiction among adolescents and its relationship with quality of sleep, mental and physical health problems. Objective of the study was to investigate magnitude of smart phone addiction and evaluate the impact of smart phone addiction on their mental health and sleep quality.Methods: A cross‑sectional study was conducted on sample comprising of 587 students of repudiated school. Students were assessed with a specially designed proforma and Smart phone addiction scale (SAS) which was self‑administered by the students. Subjects were classified into smartphone non-user group, a low smartphone user group and a high smartphone user group. Subsequently depression anxiety and stress sub scores (DASS-21) scale were administered to asses associated behaviour problems, investigate sleep quality Pittsburgh sleep quality inventory was administered (PSQI).Results: Out of 587 subjects who completed the questionnaires 12.9% (n=76) were not using smart phones, (n=315) 53.62% were low users and (n=196) 33.3% were high users of Smart phone as estimated by Smart Phone addiction scale. Those who used smart phone excessively had high Global PSQI scores and DASS-21scores in terms of depression, anxiety and stress.Conclusions: With increasing popularity of smart phones, youths spend significant time on smart phone thereby developing addictive tendencies. This study concludes that youths are not only addicted but are also developing significant sleep and behaviour problems owing to excessive smart phone usage

PREVALENCE OF COMMON MENTAL DISORDERS AND ASSOCIATED COMORBID CONDITIONS IN AN URBAN SLUM OF INDORE, M.P – A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Introduction: Epidemiology plays an important role in providing interpretation of disease occurrence in populations, change of disease rate, and the associated factors related to occurrence. Physical health problems not only coexist with mental disorders such as depression, but can also predict the onset and persistence of depression. A study of a nationally representative sample of the United States showed 79% of all ill people were comorbid. Aims and Objectives: The aims of this study were to study the comorbid condition in subjects with common mental disorders (CMD). Methods: It was a community-based and cross-sectional study carried out in an urban Slum. Slum was divided into four quadrants and 10% of the population was taken. A total of 150 houses were visited by random sampling and the sample size was calculated to be 294. The study was recorded in a pilot tested pre-designed validated semi-structured questionnaire. Four hundred and twenty-three out of 467 people were included in the study which was conducted in two phases. First phase was the screening phase which included history, general examination, and demographic profile along with self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20) to measure the presence of mental illness. Socioeconomic status of family and quality of life was evaluated using Kuppuswami socioeconomic status scale. Subjects scored 7 and above selected for the study and further evaluated using mini international neuropsychiatric interview plus in the second phase. Results: In the present study, highest percentage of CMD was 26.47%, belonging to 16–25 age group and distress was found in 16.07% and severe distress in 7.80% with SRQ-20 scoring between 7 and 13 and >14, respectively, with higher proportion of females. The prevalence of CMD was 238.77/1000 and 11.88% and 8.91% subjects were found hypertensive and diabetic respectively. Conclusion: There is need to consider the impact of common psychological health problems that urban slum communities are facing today and CMD can be a major contributor to slum’s overall burden of functional impairment

Optimization of energy parameters in buildings

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 34).When designing buildings, energy analysis is typically done after construction has been completed, but making the design decisions while keeping energy efficiency in mind, is one way to make energy-efficient buildings. The conscious design of building parameters could decrease or completely eliminate the need for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems, and thus, optimizing building parameters could help conserve a great amount of energy. This work focuses on two buildings - a passive solar house and an apartment in Beijing. The Beijing apartment is used to study natural ventilation in a space. Both buildings are modeled using EnergyPlus, and analyzed using VBA in Excel. The Genetic Algorithm Optimization Toolbox (GAOT) is used to optimize the parameters for the solar house. The program was run for 150 generations, with there being 20 individuals in each population. The optimized parameters for the solar house resulted in a mean internal temperature of 20.1 C, 7 C lower than that for randomly chosen parameters. The extreme temperatures in both cases were also markedly different, with the optimized parameters providing a more comfortable atmosphere in the house.(cont.) The apartment parameters were not optimized due to the inherent difficulty in quantifying an objective function. Through the simulation however, it was determined that each window has mass inflow and outflow occurring at the same time. In order to check that mass was conserved through the flow of air in and out of the apartment, the net flow in or out through each window had to be considered. This comparison did show the conservation of mass, which provided confidence in the EnergyPlus model used.by Ruchi V. Jain.S.B

A prospective study of association of inflammatory markers with BMI in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome

Background: Many studies have demonstrated the association between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and chronic low-grade inflammation to be of unknown mechanism or an unclear cause; which could either be due to the underlying obesity, insulin resistance, or the polycystic ovary syndrome itself. The aim of our study was to find if there was any correlation between the inflammatory markers and body mass index (BMI) in women with PCOS. Methods: Our study included 100 women aged between 18-45 years with PCOS and were recruited for the study in the obstetrics and gynecology department, Pacific Medical College and Hospital, Rajasthan from October 2020 to April 2022. The enrolled patients then underwent a series of clinical, ultrasonographic and biochemical investigations. Results: WBC was positively correlated with BMI (r=0.453, p<0.000) Along with that, we were also able to establish a moderate degree positive correlation between BMI and serum CRP levels (r=0.396, p<0.000). A high degree significant positive correlation was found between ESR count and BMI (r=0.537, p<0.000) and platelet count and BMI (r=0.386, p<0.000). Conclusions: We discovered that higher WBC concentration, ESR count, platelet count, and serum CRP levels are linked to PCOS. Increase in serum inflammatory cardiovascular risk markers are brought on by PCOS and obesity. In order to determine the relative contributions of various factors, such as insulin resistance, androgen status, and BMI, further studies need to be carried out with a larger sample size as the mechanism for the chronic low-grade inflammation still remains unclear

Phytochemical and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Analysis of Extract of Vernonia cinerea

The present study aims to screen and quantify hydroalcoholic extract for phytochemical content and HPLC profiles for standardization. HPLC was carried out using a RP-C18 analytical column with a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile: methanol (50:50 v/v) and was isocratically eluted at a flow rate of 1 mL min-1. A small sample volume of 20 μL was used for each sample run, being injected into the HPLC system. The chromatogram was monitored with UV detection at a wavelength of 256 nm. Phytochemical screening of the extract showed the presence of flavonoids, amino acids, carbohydrates and protiens in hydroalcoholic extract. Quantification of total flavonoids showed that hydroalcoholic extract of Vernonia cinerea had flavonoid content 0.547 mg/100mg equivalent to quercetin. The data presented here could be used for the standardization of hydroalcoholic extract of Vernonia cinerea, either for future studies or in herbal drug formulations. Keywords: Vernonia cinerea, HPLC profiling, Phytochemical analysis, Hydroalcoholic extract

Visual Field Mapping by Tangent Screen and Humphrey Perimetry: A Comparative Study

Background and Objectives: (a) To compare manual tangent screen perimetry and automated Humphrey perimetry for visual field testing, and (b) to analyze whether manual tangent screen perimetry still has a role or it should be replaced by computerized automated Humphrey perimetry in physiology labs and clinical diagnostic settings.Methods: Study was done on 45 patients between 18 and 65 years of age that included 30 eyes of patients suffering from glaucoma/ other eye diseases giving rise to visual field defects, 5 eyes of patients suffering from neurological diseases and 10 eyes of normal subjects.All patients underwent perimetry examination by tangent screen at 1 meter distance (and 2 meter distance, if required) and automated Humphrey perimetry by Humphrey visual field analyzer (HFA) using 30-2 ‘white on white’ full threshold strategy. Tangent screen consists of black screen 2 meter square or 1 meter square. Accordingly, patient is seated at a distance of 2 meter or 1 meter respectively. A patient with organically constricted visual fields will show an increase in the size of the visual field when moved to a farther distance while a patient with functional visual field loss will often report the same absolute size of the field (tubular or gun-barrel field) to be consistent with their first field. This is clear evidence of functional visual field impairment.Results: Out of 45 patients, 29 were male and 16 were female. The age cases in the study ranged from 40-79 years with mean age of 60.70 years. Tangent screen perimetry was able to detect about 5 patients with early field defects and 15 patients with moderate/ advanced field defects. On the other hand, Humphrey automated perimetry was able to detect 10 patients with early field defects and 18 patients with moderate/ advanced field defects. While only 13.33% technicians preferred tangent screen perimetry, around three-fourths of the technicians found Humphrey automated perimetry more preferable. 91.11% technicians found HVF to be technically easier because the automated perimeter eliminates observer bias, is easier to perform and also overcomes the tedium of manual perimetry. Moreover, automated perimetry also uses quantified parameters while manual perimetry does not. On evaluating sensitivity and specificity of manual tangent screen perimeter using the Humphrey automated perimeter as the standard, the tests showed that the tangent screen perimeter had 75.75% sensitivity and 88.88% specificity. Since the mean time taken was more in automated perimetry: 474.5 sec, 474 sec and 459.9 sec versus 340.5 sec, 339.1 sec, and 339.1 sec in glaucoma, neurological and normal patients respectively; more patients-66% preferred tangent screen perimetry.Interpretation and Conclusions: Our results suggest that visual field testing with automated perimetry is superior to visual field testing with tangent screen perimetry. The automated perimeter picked up visual field defects in a larger number of eyes than the tangent screen perimeter. Visual field defects were more extensive on automated perimetry compared to tangent screen perimetry.The advantage of the HVF analyzer also lies in its ability to make use of quantified parameters like mean deviation and corrected pattern standard deviation to detect subtle worsening of visual field defect, with statistical level of confidence