Improving HPV Vaccination Initiation and Completion Rates: A QI Project

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted infection in the United States and is the cause of most cervical cancers in women, as well as anogenital cancers, oropharyngeal cancer, and genital warts in both men and women (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2014b). The HPV vaccine is recommended for preteen girls and boys to protect against HPV infections (CDC, 2011). In line with the goal of Healthy People 2020, the purpose of this evidence-based quality improvement (QI) project was to implement a text message reminder system, and calculate the completion rate of the 3-dose HPV vaccination series among adolescents in a pediatric clinic in a small city in Texas. The results were compared to the vaccination rates from a previously used reminder system. The project was of a single-group. pre-test–post-test design. Participants were adolescents aged 9–18 years who had begun, or were set to begin, the 3-dose HPV vaccine series during the project implementation period (October 2015–April 2016). Data from a random review of 100 charts of adolescents reminded using the prior system (prior to implementation) for the same vaccine appointments were used for comparison with the new reminder system data. Enrollees received up to 3 text message reminders for each appointment. They were surveyed to evaluate their preference of a reminder system. Using data from the prior system (n = 100), 11% of adolescents completed the three-dose HPV vaccine series compared to 46.9% from the text messaging system group (n = 49). Both groups showed a better completion rate among females. Based on surveys, 24 (80%) were in favor of text message reminders. This project shows that text message reminders offer an effective method of sending appointment reminders to increase the initiation and completion rates of the HPV vaccine series

Effects of amnioinfusion in meconium-stained amniotic fluid complicating pregnancy

Background: In our country a major cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity is MAS (MAS) in new-born. The aim of the study was to assess feto-maternal outcome following intrapartum amnioinfusion in patients with meconium-stained amniotic fluid and Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission following intrapartum amnioinfusion in patients with meconium stained amniotic fluid.Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted on 200 patients with pregnancy at or beyond 37 weeks in active labour with moderate to thick meconium stained liqour following spontaneous rupture or Artificial rupture of membranes (ARM). In 100 patients amnioin fusion was performed and rest 100 were in control group. Continuous electronic fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring was performed. Emergency lower segment caesarean section (LSCS) was done when fetal bradycardia was recorded or in case of non-progress of labor. Fetomaternal outcome will be noted.Results: In present study there were more cases of fetal distress in the control group (38) compared with the amnioinfusion group (24). 34 patients in the amnioinfusion group and 38 patients in the control group were delivered by LSCS. The incidence of MAS in amnioinfusion group was 3 in number where as 14 in number of control group. Similarly, in our study 13 neonates of amnioinfusion group and 31 neonates of control group were needed admission in NICU.Conclusions: Intrapartum amnioinfusion in meconium-stained amniotic fluid by diluting the meconium and by decreasing the cord compression decreases the incidence of foetal distress and there by decreases incidence of MAS in neonates and NICU admission, these all leads to decrease the incidence of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality

A Survey on Privacy Preserving Data Aggregation Protocols forWireless Sensor Networks

The data aggregation is a widely used mechanism in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to increase lifetime of a sensor node, send robust information by avoiding redundant data transmission to the base station. The privacy preserving data aggregation is a challenge in wireless communication medium as it could be eavesdropped; however it enhances the security without compromising energy efficiency. Thus the privacy protecting data aggregation protocols aims to prevent the disclosure of individual data though an adversary intercept a link or compromise a node’s data. We present a study of different privacy preserving data aggregation techniques used in WSNs to enhance energy and security based on the types of nodes in the network, topology and encryptions used for data aggregation.</p

Petri Net Based Reliable Work Flow Framework for Nephrology Unit in Hospital Environment

The 21st century has witnessed a revolution in Biology and Medicine that has radically changed the way health, diagnosis, prognosis, etc., of a disease is monitored nowadays. Accordingly, hospital redesign, workforce planning and scheduling, patient flow, performance management, disease monitoring, and health care technology assessment need to be modeled efficiently. Mathematical modeling and computer simulation techniques have been shown to be increasingly valuable in providing useful information to aid planning and management. Petri Net (PN) is considered as a powerful model since it combines well-defined mathematical theory with a graphical representation which reflects the dynamic behavior of systems of interest. Due to dynamic characteristics, it is found to be more suitable for modeling Hospital Management System (HMS). In this paper, a Petri net model-based reliable workflow framework for Nephrology unit in hospital environment is proposed to track the movement of patients in the unit. The key objective of the proposed reliable workflow framework is to provide a well-organized health care unit to reduce the waiting time of the resource/ patient. The performance of the proposed Petri net model-based reliable workflow framework is simulated and validated through reachability graph using HPSim tool. The proposed Petri net workflow framework for the Nephrology unit can be used to deliver highly efficient and reliable healthcare services

INHIBITORS FROM MELIA DUBIA AGAINST SDIA MEDIATED QUORUM SENSING OF UROPATHOGENIC E. COLI

Objective: To investigate the potentiality of Meliadubiastem extracts for quorum sensing (SdiA-selective) inhibitory activity against uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC).Methods: The antimicrobial (cell-density) and anti-virulent (swarming motility, protein, protease, hemolysis, hemagglutination, hydrophobicity and biofilm inhibition) properties of the Meliadubia stem extracts were performed.Results: The biofilm, hemolysis, swarming motility were inhibited by 45.71%, 12.97 % and 33.33% respectively when the media were supplemented with 30 mg/ml of ethanolic extract. The GC-MS spectrum of ethanolic extract showed an array of 49 structurally unrelated compounds with the natural ligand, AHL. Their interaction with the quorum regulator, SdiA, was predicted by Glide module of Schrödinger suite and the ligands C 7, C 20, C 28 showed appreciable activity with the following G-Score 11.4, 10.7, 9.9 respectively. In vitro and in silico molecular docking analysis data showed fairly good correlation, suggesting that the ethanolic extract has the potential to attenuate the quorum sensing of UPEC. Further investigation is desired to study the antagonistic effect of the above ligand by in vitro and in vivo strategies.Conclusion: The quorum quenching activity of Meliadubia stem was proven from the overall analysis and its effect towards the inhibition of biofilm and virulence factors were analyzed.Â

Spectrofluorimetric Quantification of Furazolidone and Nitrazepam in Tablet Formulations – Development of Sensitive Fluorescence Techniques for Non Fluorescent Drugs by Quenching Approach.

Fluorescence is a photoluminescence process in which atoms or molecules are excited by absorption of electromagnetic radiation. The excited species then relax to the ground state, giving up their excess energy as photons. One of the most attractive features of molecular fluorescence is its inherent sensitivity, which is often one to three orders of magnitude better than absorption spectroscopy .For selected species under controlled conditions, single molecules have been detected by Fluorescence spectroscopy. Another advantage is the large linear concentration range of fluorescence methods, which is significantly greater than those encountered in absorption spectroscopy. An electronically excited molecule, that does not undergo any chemical reaction, has to get rid of its excess energy in order to return to the ground state. The ways of energy release are divided in to two categories; Radiative and non-radiative transitions according as energy is released as light. The energy of the emitted radiation is usually lower than the excitation energy since in solution the energy resulting in vibrational excitation is rapidly absorbed by the solvent. When the molecules arrives at the lowest vibrational level and the solvent is not capable of accepting such a big quantum of energy as would be necessary in order to return to the ground state, the energy is emitted as photons. Furazolidone and Nitrazepam were selected for the indirect fluorimetric determination. Furazolidone is official in IP, BP, and USP. Determination of furazolidone in official method is based on the measurement of absorbance in aqueous DMF at 367nm and use of specific extinction coefficient value. Literature review reveals that, different technique such as second-derivative spectrophotometry, quenchofluorimetric methods, ELISA and chromatographic methods like HPLC and GC have been utilised for the determination of furazolidone in formulations and in biological matrix. Nitrazepam is official in IP and in BP. Pharmacopoeial methods use UV spectrophotometric method, absorbance being measured at 280nm in methanolic HCl medium. The literature survey reveals that, different analytical techniques for the determination of nitrazepam in pure form, formulated drugs and the drug in biological samples by PCFA, UV, colorimetric method, chromatographic methods such as HPLC, GC and hyphenated techniques like LC-MS, UPLC- MS/MS are available. Furazolidone and nitrazepam were selected for the quenchofluorimetric determination. It is an indirect spectrofluorimetric method. The method has been found to be sensitive one, as the technique is being a type of spectrofluorimetric method These developed methods could be used in establishing the quality control of furazolidone tablet and nitrazepam tablet

Design of Filter Using MOS Current Mode Logic

MCML (MOS Current Mode Logic) is a method used for the purpose of reducing the delay and power of the circuit. In high speed application this method is used to reduce the power. In this method the sleep transistor is inserted in series with the supply voltage (or) current source to reduce the power. Different power gating techniques are been used to reduce the static power and to improve the speed and efficiency of the circuit. In this paper, the filter can be designed by using MCML logic. The fourth order band pass filter by using MCML logic is introduced. In order to reduce the power and delay this method is proposed

Comparing the antiepileptic effects of atorvastatin, celecoxib, ashwagandha, clove oil, and Sodium valproate on chemo-shock induced seizures in male Wistar albino rats

Background: Antiepileptic potential of statins, COX inhibitors and other herbal medications are to be evaluated in experimental animals so that the most efficacious can be translated for human use as an adjunct to the commonly used anti-epileptic drugs. Methods: This experimental animal study grouped 30 male Wistar albino rats into 6 groups with each containing 5 rats of which one group was control, one was the standard drug and the other 4 were treatment groups which received Atorvastatin, Celecoxib, Ashwagandha and Clove oil. These drugs were administered 30 minutes prior to administering Pentylene-tetrazole which induced convulsions and the various seizure parameters were analysed. The blood samples of the animals were also assessed for anti-oxidant activity by measuring superoxide dismutase and catalase levels in the blood. Results: The onset of seizure was significantly delayed by Ashwagandha (2.55±0.94), similar to the latency shown by the standard drug (2.09±1.21). The duration of convulsions was very significantly reduced in all the 5 drug groups in comparison to the control (p&lt;0.001). The clonic jerk duration was not reduced as effectively as the standard drug. The duration of recovery time amongst the various groups was also significant (p&lt;0.05). The SOD and Catalase levels of no groups showed any possible association between the anti-epileptic efficacy of these drugs and the anti-oxidant enzyme levels. Conclusions: Ashwagandha has good anti-epileptic efficacy not less than the standard drug when the various drug groups were compared

PROBING THE BROAD-SPECTRUM THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF AIP II MIMICS TO COMBAT LYSOZYME MEDIATED STAPHYLOCOCCAL INVASION ON CONTACT LENS

Objective: Molecular recognition of AIP II mimics as a global inhibitor against the AgrC variants and to undertake a real-time clinical applications to treat the lysozyme mediated (tear protein) S. aureus adherence on contact lens.Methods: Structure activity relationship of the mimic peptides against the receptor AgrC variants were studied to score the global inhibitor. Further, the activity of the mimics as inhibitors was validated through in vitro and in vivo analysis.Results: Inhibition of agr expression of interstrains by the mimic compounds gained insight to recognize a global inhibitorâ€. Further, the in vitro data were designed in such a way to provide a natural eye environment (artificial tears) to see the effect of mAIP IIa (IC50) showed a greater significance of eradicating the clinical isolate, S. aureus biofilm and various other secreted toxins.Conclusion: The mimic peptide (mAIPII a) revealed to be a potential mimic of AIPII to show a broad range inhibition of all AgrC variants without any cytotoxic effects.Â