Are clinicopathological factors predictive of bactibilia in biliary tract diseases?

Background: Biliary tract disease is very common in Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir and because of this we got prompted to undertake a study to find out the association between presenting features and bactibilia.Methods: The study was conducted prospectively on 121 patients of various biliary tract disorders in the Department of Surgery, Government Medical College Jammu, India prospectively over a period of one year from March 2003-February 2004. Details of age, history, radiology, operation and postoperative course were noted and information obtained recorded on special forms. All the patients included in this study were given single shot of preoperative antibiotic at the induction of anaesthesia and antibiotics modified postoperatively on the culture report.Results; After recording the observations made while managing these patients of biliary tract disease the results were analysed and entered into the individual patient’s protocol. The age range of our series of 121 patients was 15-74 years with a mean age of 42.5 years. There were 100 females and 21 males with male to female ratio of 4.7:1. Abdominal pain was the commonest symptom (98.3%) followed by dyspepsia (47.1%), abdominal lump (16.5%), jaundice (9.9%) and cholangitis (3.3%).Most of the patients had more than one presentation. Out of 121 cases 42(34.7%) turned out to be culture positive and rest of the cases turned out to be culture negative. In culture positive cases aerobes were identified in 38 (34.1%) and anaerobes were identified in 10 (8.2%) patients. The results of gram stain of bile were compared with bile cultures. Out of 121 patients gram staining was positive in 51(42.1%) patients. Among these patients bile cultures were positive in 42 (82.3%) patients.Conclusion: It was concluded that the presence or absence of bactibilia can predict possibility to stratify patients in low and high risk group so that necessary pre-emptive measures be taken

Breast Cancer Awareness among Females in a Developing world- A Study from Kashmir

Background: Breast cancer is a major health issue and in developing regions, where the early cancer detection facilities are unavailable awareness about this disease can lead to early detection and thereby potentially decrease the morbidity and mortality.Methods: A self designed questionnaire was used to study the level of awareness regarding breast cancer among 864 Kashmiri females. The questionnaire had 18 questions and on the basis on score attained, the subjects were classified as having poor, average or good breast cancer awareness.Results: Out of 864 participants, 703(81.37%) had poor breast cancer awareness and 103(11.92%) had average awareness. Only 58(6.71%) had good awareness about breast cancer.Conclusion: The level of awareness regarding breast cancer in Kashmiri females is very low and there is a need to spread awareness about this disease among the general population

Optimisation of osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation potential using clonal mesenchymal stem cell populations derived from synovial fat pad

Mesenchymal stem cells are a potential source of cells for the repair of bone and articular cartilage defects. We have previously demonstrated that the infrapatellar synovial fat pad is a rich source of mesenchymal stem cells and these cells are able to undergo osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation. Although synovial fat pad derived mesenchymal stem cells may represent a heterogenous population, clonal populations derived from the synovial fat pad have not previously been studied

Keadilan penilaian prestasi dalam kalangan guru dan hubungannya dengan kepuasan kerja dan pencapaian akademik

Kajian ini bertujuan meninjau persepsi guru terhadap keadilan penilaian prestasi dari segi keadilan pengagihan dan keadilan prosedur. Di samping itu, kajian ini juga meninjau hubungan antara kedua-dua keadilan penilaian prestasi dengan prestasi organisasi sekolah yang diukur melalui kepuasan kerja guru dan pencapaian akademik sekolah. Daripada 110 buah sekolah yang disampelkan dalam kajian ini, sebanyak 86 buah sekolah telah mengembalikan set borang soal selidik yang lengkap dan mencukupi untuk kajian ini, iaitu sebanyak 78% kadar respon. Hasil kajian mendapati aspek keadilan penilaian prestasi berada pada tahap yang sederhana. Sebaliknya dari aspek kepuasan kerja pula didapati responden guru tidak begitu mempunyai kepuasan kerja yang tinggi. Dari segi perkaitaan antara keadilan penilaian prestasi dengan pencapaian akademik, didapati secara keseluruhannya kedua-dua aspek adalah berkait secara positif dan signifikan. Secara keseluruhannya, keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa keadilan penilaian prestasi boleh menyumbang kepada usaha organisasi pendidikan dalam meningkatkan kepuasan kerja dalam kalangan guru serta pencapaian akademik sekolah

Keadilan penilaian prestasi dalam kalangan guru dan hubungannya dengan motivasi kerja dan prestasi akademik sekolah

Purpose - This study investigated teachers’ perception on fairness of performance appraisal with respect to procedural justice and distributive justice. This study also explored the possible relationship between both aspects of justice and their impact on school achievement measured by teacher work motivation and school academic performance. Design/Methodology/Approach - The survey was carried out in 110 secondary schools selected randomly from a listing of secondary schools in Kedah and Perlis. The final number of participants for this study was 86 schools, with a response rate of 78%. Findings - Correlation analysis indicated that (a) procedural justice has significant positive correlation with distributive justice; (b) work motivation has significant positive correlation with distributive justice; and(c) school academic performance has significant positive correlation with both procedural and distributive justice. Furthermore, results of regression analysis also indicated that both aspects of justice have a significant positive relationship with work motivation and school academic performance. Originality/Value - Findings of this study demonstrated that fairness of performance appraisal could contribute to the effort of educational organisations in enhancing work motivation and academic performance. Paper type - Research Paper

A snake robot with mixed gaits capability

Snake robots are mostly designed based on single mode of locomotion. However, single mode gait most of the time fails to work effectively when they are required to work in different cluttered environment with different measures of complexity. As a solution, mixed mode locomotion is proposed in this paper by synchronizing serpentine gait for unconstricted workspace and wriggler gait for narrow space environment through development of a simple gait transition algorithm. This study includes the investigation on kinematics analysis followed by dynamics analysis while considering related structural constraints for both gaits. This approach utilized speed of the serpentine gait for open area operation and exploits narrow space access capability of the wriggler gait. Hence, this approach in such a way increases motion flexibility in view of the fact that the snake robot is capable of changing its mode of locomotion according to the working environment

Concept, Design and Implementation of Automatic Waste Management System

One of the main concerns with our environment has been solid waste management which in addition to disturbing the balance of the environment also has adverse effects on the health of the society. The detection, monitoring and management of wastes is one of the primary problems of the present era. The traditional way of manually monitoring the wastes in waste bins is a complex, cumbersome process and utilizes more human effort, time and cost which is not compatible with the present day technologies in any wa y. This paper proposes an advanced method in which waste management is automated. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is one of the most promising and anticipated technologies in recent years. The system makes use of radio frequency (RF) tags and web sup port. This work presented here certainly provides a novel approach in handling and disposing off the day to day solid wastes in an efficient and easy way. The system consists of four main subsystems namely Smart Trash System (STS), Local Base Station (LBS) , Smart Vehicle System (SVS) and Smart Monitoring and Controlling Hut (SMCH). The proposed system would be able to automate the solid waste monitoring process and management of the overall collection process. The technologies that would be used in the prop osed system are good enough to ensure the practical and perfect for solid waste collection process monitoring and management for green environment

Esophageal tuberculosis; A rare cause of odynophagia: A case report

AbstractWe present a rare case of esophageal tuberculosis causing odynophagia. Tuberculosis of the esophagus is a rare condition, even in countries with a high incidence of tuberculosis (TB) and studies estimate that it constitutes about 0.3% of gastrointestinal TB cases. The case emphasizes the diverse ways tuberculosis can present

Management of commode injuries of Achilles tendon: a newly established tertiary care hospital-based study

Background: The Achilles tendon is the largest and strongest tendon in the body, formed by the union of gastrocnemius and soleus. Despite its strength, the Achilles tendon is vulnerable to injury, due to its subcutaneous position and the high tensions placed on it. Common mode of Achilles tendon injury nowadays in India is slipping of the foot in Indian type of commode and is often fraught with complications due to the potential contamination of wound at the time of injury. The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical outcome and complications of open Achilles tendon injury with an Indian type commode.Methods: 30 patients who presented with open Achilles tendon injury between the ages of 10 to 55 years were included. All the patients were treated with emergency debridement, thorough washing and primary repair within 24 hours using Krackow technique.Results: Out of the 30 patients meeting the inclusion criteria, there was 1 case of superficial infection which resolved with antibiotics and serial dressings. Foreign body sensation was present in 3 patients at final follow-up. Hypertrophic scar formation was seen in one patient. There were no cases of re-rupture in our study. Mean ROM at ankle in saggital plane at final follow-up was 66.13 degrees.Conclusions: Commode injury is the most common cause of open Achilles tendon injury in Indian population. The complications can be minimized by early primary repair and should only be undertaken after thorough washing and debridement under proper antibiotic cover to contain the infection