Depressive symptoms and associated risk factors among pregnant females of low socioeconomic background.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to describe factors associated with depression during pregnancy among females of low socioeconomic background. Background: Depression during pregnancy may lead to (1) depression following delivery (2) increased likelihood of low birth weight babies and preterm deliveries and (3) longer-term effects on maternal-infant interaction. Younger women and women of African-American race are at greater risk (National Center for Health Statistics 2002). Risk factors associated with depression during pregnancy are high psychosocial stress levels, less education, preexisting medical conditions and low socioeconomic status. We describe the incidence of depressive symptomology and associated risk factors among pregnant females of low socioeconomic background. A descriptive, exploratory design was employed with data collected from participants in the MOMS2B project. The parent study uses concepts from the social determinants of health model. Pregnant women from a neighborhood in which single, predominantly African-American and low-income women reside, were recruited to participate in MOMS2B, a nutrition education and social support program, and respond to questionnaires regarding health behaviors. Methodology: Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) a 20-item instrument that is used to assess depression in general population. The CES-D was administered at weeks 2, 5, and 10 in the 10 week program. Sample: 26 women have completed CES-D, (N=26 at week 2, N=20 at week 5, and N=12 at week 10). Fewer women were available for week 10 assessments as they delivered prior to completion of all sessions. Results: The mean CES-D score for entire sample was 18.7 (SD = 10.4) with a range from 3 to 49. There was no difference in scores obtained between measurement time points (F=1.34, NS). Stressful events and low food security were significantly associated. The other factors predicted to be associated with depressive symptomology such as younger age, fewer years of formal education and number of children did not reach significance. Conclusion: The findings reinforce the importance of screening for depression and intervening to improve maternal mood and functioning.No embarg

The Improved K-Means with Particle Swarm Optimization

In today’s world data mining has become a large field of research. As the time increases a large amount of data is accumulated. Clustering is an important data mining task and has been used extensively by a number of researchers for different application areas such as finding similarities in images, text data and bio-informatics data. Cluster analysis is one of the primary data analysis methods. Clustering defines as the process of organizing data objects into a set of disjoint classes called clusters. Clustering is an example of unsupervised classification. In clustering, K-Means (Macqueen) is one of the most well known popular clustering algorithm. K-Means is a partitioning algorithm follows some drawbacks: number of clusters k must be known in advanced, it is sensitive to random selection of initial cluster centre, and it is sensitive to outliers. In this paper, we tried to improve some drawbacks of K-Means algorithm and an efficient algorithm is proposed to enhance the K-Means clustering with Particle Swarm Optimization. In recent years, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) has been successfully applied to a number of real world clustering problems with the fast convergence and the effectively for high-dimensional data. Keywords: Clustering, K-Means clustering, PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization), Hierarchical clustering.

Are we operating unnecessarily?: caesarean audit in a single unit of a private tertiary care hospital in North India

Background: Caesarean section emerged as a lifesaving surgery in situations where vaginal delivery could put the mother and fetus at risk. Over the years global rise in caesarean delivery rate has been alarming and may be attributed to changes in medical practice and societal expectations, especially in urban areas and developing countries. Rising caesarean rate is worrisome as it increases maternal morbidity, exposes the mother to future obstetric risks, besides increasing financial burden on the health care system. Caesarean audits could be an effective tool to analyse, understand and propose solutions to reduce caesarean rates. Hence, this retrospective study was conducted to audit caesarean sections done over a period of 5 years (2011 to 2015) in a single unit of a tertiary care private hospital in North India.Methods: The case records of all caesarean deliveries from January 2011 to December 2015 were analysed retrospectively for demographic profile, clinical parameters and recorded indication of caesarean section on the basis of Robson’s classification.Results: The caesarean section rate in the study was 61.8%. According to Robson’s 10 system classification, Group 2, 5 and 10 were the largest contributors. The commonest indication was previous LSCS (18.7%) followed closely by fetal distress (15.4%) and prolonged labor/failed induction (13.3%). Maternal request contributed 10.6% of the Caesarean deliveries.Conclusions: The caesarean section rate in our study is way higher than the national average. We need to re-duce caesareans in primigravidae and consider VBAC where appropriate. Use of Electronic fetal monitoring during labor needs to be optimized. Appropriate use of oxytocics, proper monitoring and using robust criterion to infer non progress of labor are important. Appropriate counselling and assured pain management during labor may help reduce caesareans on maternal request

Effect of inter-fruit competition on development of physiological disorder “Aril browning” in pomegranate (Punica granatum L.)

The quality of fruits is a major factor limiting the export of fruit. One of the important causes of quality deterioration of fruits is their physiological disorder. Present study was conducted to study the effect of inter-fruit competition on physiological disorder of pomegranate(Punica granatum L.) “Aril Browning (AB)”, incidence was higher in panicles with more number of fruits, i.e. panicles with two fruits had high intensity of both medium intensity (13%) and high intensity (2%) of AB incidence in comparison to panicle with one fruit,which had 7 % of medium intensity (MI) and 1% of high intensity (HI) of incidence. Competition among fruits was further accelerated by treating the fruits with growth regulators viz GA3 and PBZ. The GA3 treated fruit was showing fewer incidences (7 % of MI of browning affected aril and zero percentage of HI of incidence) over the control (15% of MI and 2 % of HI) in contrast to PBZ treatment, which was showing higher incidence (21 % of MI and 3 % of HI). Analysis of result suggests that interfruit competition among the fruits growing at the same time leads to development of sinks of different strength. Such differences results in unequal distribution of nutrients to developing fruits which disturbs the physiology of fruit development leading to biochemical changes which ultimately leads to initiation of aril browning. Thus, this study provides evidence for the role of interfruit competition on development of the disorder

Propagation of Plane Waves in a Generalized Thermo-magneto-electro-elastic Medium

In the present paper, the governing equations of a generalized thermo-magneto-electro-elastic medium are formulated in the x-z plane. The plane wave solution of these equations indicates the existence of three quasi plane waves, namely, quasi-P, quasi-T and quasi-SV waves. The thermo-magneto-electro-elastic medium is modeled with LiNbO3 for computing the speeds of these plane waves. Effects of the frequency, thermal relaxation time, electric coupling coefficient, magnetic coupling coefficient and angle of propagation on the speeds of these plane waves are observed and shown graphically

A study of cervical cytology in females above 21 years of age

 Background: Cancer cervix is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in developing countries like India most probably due to lack of proper screening facilities or due to the lack of awareness amongst the women of developing countries. Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common and 5th deadliest cancer in women. This study was conducted in department of obstetrics and Gynaecology, Umaid hospital, Dr. S. N. Medical College, Jodhpur Rajasthan, India. The objective of this study was to study the various high risk factors involved in premalignant and malignant lesions of cervix. To study the incidence of different epithelial abnormalities of cervix in females above 21 years of age. To study premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix in relation to the presenting complaintMethods: The study was conducted in 500 females above 21 years of age and who were not pregnant, who had been attending Umaid Hospital, Jodhpur for various gynaecological complaints, of different parity, residential status and socioeconomic class. Detailed history was taken and thorough examination was done. Pap smear was prepared and all smears were reported as per the Bethesda system.Results: Maximum numbers of patients were in the age group of 21-40 years (70.2%). Majority of patients were from rural area (52.4%) and from lower socioeconomic class (30.2%). Most of women were found to have duration of marriage between 10 to 30 years (63.4%). Most of the women in our study had age at marriage between 17 to 19 years (49.4%). Multiparity was seen in 84.2% of cases. The commonest presenting complaint was white discharge (46.8%). On Pap smear, maximum cases were of inflammatory smear (91.4%), 1.4% had ASCUS, 1.2% AGC, 1.4% LSIL, 1% HSIL and 0.4% had SCC.Conclusions: Cervical cytology is an important tool for early detection of premalignant and malignant lesions of cervix. Regular pap smear screening should be conducted in vulnerable age groups

EVALUATION OF WOUND HEALING ACTIVITY OF ACACIA AURICULIFORMIS A. CUNN. STEM BARK

Objective: To evaluate in vivo wound healing activity of ointment containing ethanol and aqueous bark extracts of Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. (Family: Mimosaceae).Methods: The presence of phytochemicals like carbohydrates, phenols, flavonoids, tannins and saponins was determined by preliminary phytochemical screening. Wound healing effect of ointment containing 5% w/w ethanol and aqueous stem bark extracts was determined by using excision and incision wound models in Swiss albino mice. Hydroxyproline content determination and histopathological studies of treated groups were carried out.Results: The results showed that both formulations possess significant wound healing activity, which was evidenced by decreased period of epithelialization, increased rate of wound contraction, tensile strength, hydroxyproline content, granulation tissue and collagen fibre formation in all treated animals. The activity may be due to presence of phenols, tannins, and flavonoids.Conclusion: The ointment containing ethanol extract showed better wound healing activity than the ointment containing aqueous extract.Keywords: Acacia auriculiformis, excision wound model, hydroxyproline, incision wound model, tensile strength, wound contractio

MANAGEMENT OF PRE-CANCEROUS LESION BY TURMERIC- AN OVERVIEW

Turmeric, “The Indian golden spice” is used since ancient times as therapeutic measure to cure disease and beauty enhancement. There are a variety of ways to use turmeric in dentistry, such as plaque detection system, pit and fissure sealant, intracanal medicament and subgingival irrigant, amongst which using it as a therapy for pre-cancerous lesion would be a pioneer in treatment modality. Pre-cancerous lesions can transform cancer, if not treated timely. Oral health being a crucial part of systemic health can be enhanced to many folds by using various parts of this medicinal plant. Present paper aims to enlighten the use of turmeric in various precancerous lesions because of its inherent property as anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and antineoplastic effects. It is simple to use and acceptable due to its taste and zero side effects. It is cost effective; hence make this herbal medicine an easy choice for patients and helps them to cure from precancerous lesions such as oral submucous fibrosis, oral lichen planus, oral leukoplakia and other tobacco-associated lesions also