A Study on Serum Prolactin in reduced Bone Mineral Density.

Reduced bone mineral density is a universal problem of modern society; It may not be the commonest of all diseases, but it is sufficiently common to be Important. Osteopenia and osteoporosis are the two different grades of the Condition with the density being much more reduced in osteoporosis which is a Systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and micro Architectural increase in bone fragility that renders bone more susceptible to Fracture. Osteoporosis is now considered as a major health care problem in india With an estimated 50% of healthy women and 30% of men over 50 years Having low bone mass. It is preventable and treatable, but there are no warning Signs until fracture occurs. It is a silent risk factor for fracture just as Hypertension is for `stroke'. Hyperprolactinemia is found to be commonly associated with reduced Bone mineral density. The osteoporotic effect of excessive prolactin are said to Be due to hypoestrogenism, calcium mobilization from bone and direct effect of Prolactin on bone. By the year 2050, osteoporosis is likely to be a major demographic Factor due to changes in the life style and the increase in the survival rate of the Elderly. The incidence of fracture of the hip is likely to rise across the world to 6.26 millions and 71% of these fractures are likely to occur in the developing World. Therefore the determination of bone mass has to be done constantly. At Present bone mass determination is done only with the help of dexa scan. (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry). A developing nation like india cannot afford to diagnose fracture risk in The general population with the help of dexa scan due to the high cost. Therefore a test which will be less expensive and reliable should be opted for in Our country. As hyperprolactinemia has been found to be associated with Osteoporosis, determination of serum prolactin can be an useful assessment in The determination of reduced bone mineral density. Hence the interest Developed to determine this hormone in the elderly who are `high risk' Individuals prone to develop osteopenia and osteoporosis and the ensuring Complication `fracture'. The present study is to find out the association of hyperprolactinemia With reduced bone mineral density and plan preventive and treatment protocols To reduce the burden of osteoporosis on society

A clinical study of ocular motor nerve palsies

INTRODUCTION: The designation “Ocular motor system” refers to the entire somatic motor system that controls the position and movements of the eyes. This system includes the extraocular muscles, the cranial nerves and nuclei that innervate them and the forces that stimulate and inhibit their actions. Restricted Ocular mobility could be the result of paralysis of the nerves supplying the extra ocular muscles (neurogenic) or due to the pathology in the muscle itself (myogenic) or there may be the pathology at the myoneural junction (neuro muscular). Since the treatment for these conditions is different from one another, it becomes clinically important to differentiate them, thus avoiding elaborate neurological investigations it is not necessary. AIM OF STUDY: • To find out the common etiology and incidence of the infra nuclear neurological lesions of III, IV and VI cranial nerves. To study the pattern of recovery in each type of nerve palsy in these cases. To emphasize the importance of non invasive techniques in these cases to clinch the localization of involvement and probable aetiology according to localization. To find out the mode of treatment to be followed in cases of both recent and established cases of neurological palsies involving III, IV and VI cranial nerves. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted in department of ophthalmology, Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, Coimbatore. The study period was from august 2007 to august 2009. All patients attending to ophthalmology department and referred cases from other departments, who are having neurologic lesion of III, IV and VI cranial nerves mainly infra nuclear neuropathic ocular movement disorder were included in this study. Patients with supra nuclear, nuclear, inter nuclear and myogenic types were excluded from the study by doing suitable examination and investigations. SUMMARY: Of the 170 cases of ocular cranial nerve palsies, 82.35% occurred between 20 – 70 years, the range being 1 ½ - 70 years. The maximum number of III nerve palsies were found only between 60 – 69 years. All trochlear nerve palsies are between 20 to 44 years of age. There is a wide distribution of cases of VI nerve palsies, from 2nd to 7th decade and multiple cranial nerve palsies 50% of cases fell between 40 – 60 years of age. CONCLUSION: From this study of 170 cases of cranial nerve palsies it is concluded that. 1. The VI cranial nerve is the most commonly affected nerve followed by III nerves and multiple cranial nerves and lastly the IV cranial nerve. 2. All these Ocular motor nerves can be affected by various pathological conditions. 3. Commonest presenting symptoms were diplopia, drooping of eye lid, pain and headache especially on the affected side. 4. Among the systemic conditions, diabetes followed by hypertension form the most commonly occurring association. 5. Closed head trauma even trivial is associated with trochlear nerve palsies while forcible head trauma as in cases of RTA leading III & VI cranial nerve palsies also. 6. There is no specific preponderance of infection in this series. 7. In 73 cases no specific cause could be made out 8. patients belonging to older age group were suffering from ocular motor cranial nerve palsies due to micro angiopathic lesions while trauma was the main cause in younger age group; 9. Non invasive procedures like CT & MRI were invaluable in diagnosis in selected cases. 10. Cases due to non specific neuritis or due to micro angiopathic lesions secondary to diabetes, hypertension etc recovered with in 4 months regardless of the nerve affected. 11. Longer follow-up, better facilities to do MRI may help in finding out specific aetiologies in these cases classified as nonspecific neuritis

A High Secured Steganalysis using QVDHC Model

Data compression plays a vital role in data security as it saves memory, transfer speed is high, easy to handle and secure. Mainly the compression techniques are categorized into two types. They are lossless, lossy data compression. The data format will be an audio, image, text or video. The main objective is to save memory of using these techniques is to save memory and to preserve data confidentiality, integrity. In this paper, a hybrid approach was proposed which combines Quotient Value Difference (QVD) with Huffman coding. These two methods are more efficient, simple to implement and provides better security to the data. The secret message is encoded using Huffman coding, while the cover image is compressed using QVD. Then the encoded data is embedded into cover image and transferred over the network to receiver. At the receiver end, the data is decompressed to obtain original message. The proposed method shows high level performance when compared to other existing methods with better quality and minimum error

Toxicity characterization and long-term stability studies on copper slag from the ISASMELT process

Detailed studies on the toxicity and long-term stability of copper slag of varying heavy metal concentration generated over a 14-week period in an Indian copper plant through the ISASMELT process was carried out using USEPA's toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), multiple extraction procedure and sulfuric acid leaching of granulated and mechanically activated slag as a function of pH at two different temperatures. The TCLP, acid leaching and multiple extraction test results carried out on a large number of slag samples of varying compositions derived from the use of several copper concentrates indicate poor leachability of the heavy metals and assures long-term stability even in extreme atmospheres. Leaching tests on mechanically activated samples gives an idea of the resistance to leaching of the heavy metals even upon weathering. The multiple extraction leaching tests indicate that the heavy metals present in the slag are stable and are not likely to dissolve significantly even through repetitive leaching under acid rain in a natural environment. The highest concentration of all the elements is far below the prescribed limits in USEPA 40CFR Part 261

Durability study on ambient cured geopolymer concrete made with various molarities of NaOH

Geopolimerni beton inovativna je varijacija konvencionalnog građevnog materijala koja smanjuje utjecaj proizvodnje običnog portlandskog cementa (OPC) na okoliš, a istovremeno poboljšava učinkovitu primjenu industrijskih nusproizvoda. Promjenom molariteta natrijevog hidroksida na 4M, 6M, 8M, 10M i 12M, za ovo je istraživanje pripremljeno pet kombinacija geopolimernog betona. Nakon 28 dana njegovanja na sobnoj temperaturi, procijenjena su svojstva čvrstoće, tj. tlačna čvrstoća (DT i NDT), vlačna čvrstoća cijepanjem i čvrstoća na savijanje. Potom su ispitana i svojstva trajnosti kao što su početno upijanje vode, upijanje vode do zasićenja, sorptivnost, prosječna efektivna poroznost, otpornost na habanje i otpornost na kemijsko djelovanje. Rezultati istraživanja geopolimernog betona uspoređeni su s rezultatima istraživanja betona OPC razreda M35. Rezultati eksperimentalnog ispitivanja pokazali su da, s iznimkom GPC-4M, ostale geopolimerne mješavine betona zadovoljavaju zahtjeve ciljane čvrstoće betona razreda M35. Rezultati istraživanja otkrili su da su se GPC-8M betonski uzorci pokazali kao najbolji u smislu svojstva čvrstoće i trajnosti. Stoga se umjesto OPC betona preporučuje raširenija uporaba geopolimernog betona, koji se priprema s letećim pepelom i mljevenom granuliranom zgurom iz visokih peći te njeguje na temperaturi okoline.Geopolymer concrete is an innovative variation of the conventional construction material that reduces the environmental impact of producing Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) while simultaneously improving the efficient use of industrial by-products. By altering the molarities of sodium hydroxide to 4M, 6M, 8M, 10M, and 12M, five combinations of geopolymer concrete were prepared for this study. After 28 days of curing at room temperature, the strength properties, viz., the compressive strength (DT and NDT), the splitting tensile strength, and the flexural strength were evaluated. Additionally, the durability properties such as the initial water absorption, saturated water absorption, sorptivity, average effective porosity, abrasion resistance, and chemical attack resistance were studied as well. All the findings of the geopolymer concrete were compared to those of the M35 grade OPC concrete. The experimental test results showed that, with the exception of GPC-4M, the other Geopolymer concrete mixtures met the target strength requirements of the M35 grade concrete. The findings revealed that the GPC-8M concrete specimens performed the best in terms of strength and durability. Consequently, widespread use of geopolymer concrete, which is prepared with fly ash (FA) and ground granulated blast-furnace slag and cured in ambient air, is recommended instead of OPC concrete

Biosurfactant as the next antimicrobial agents in pharmaceutical applications

The number of patients with antimicrobial resistance is growing as a result of new emerging microbes or overuse of antibiotics. A new substitute to the existing antimicrobial agents is important in time to come to control the mortality rate in the global population. Natural substances, like biosurfactants or commonly known as microbial surfactants could be a potential antimicrobial agent to medical personnel’s consideration as some biosurfactants exhibits antimicrobial activity. Hence, this paper will briefly highlight some of the findings from contemporary researchers who have tested different biosurfactants for potential antimicrobial activity

Cloning and characterization of the Plasmodium falciparum adenylosuccinate synthetase gene

The cloning and deduced amino acid sequence of Plasmodium falciparum adenylosuccinate synthetase (PfADSS) are reported. PfADSS exhibited 67% homology with the human enzyme. On expression in Escherichia coli, enzymatically active ADSS was produced as deduced by functional complementation analysis. The PfADSS activity was inhibited by hadacidin, a known competitive inhibitor of this enzyme. Nucleotide sequence data are available at GenBank under accession number AF095282