Clinical study of factors affecting outcome of tubal recanalization using microsurgical techniques: a retrospective study

Background: In India, many couples complete their families by the age of 25 to 30 years and opt for tubal sterilization as a method of family planning in spite of availability of other spacing methods. Due to unforeseen circumstances, 10 % of them regret their decision and about 1% want to restore their fertility due to various reasons like loss of only child, loss of male child, desire to have more children, loss of children in natural calamities, remarriage and other socioeconomic factors. The objective of the present study was to analyze various factors which are involved in pregnancy rate in tubal recanalization.Methods: 31 women undergoing microsurgical tubal recanalization by mini laparotomy in RRMCH, Bengaluru during a study period of 2 year from 2014 -2016 were followed up for a period of 2 years by telephonic conversation.Results: An overall 67.7 % pregnancy rate was achieved with microsurgery technique.Conclusions: The important factors determining the success of operation were age of the patient, method of previous ligation and the remaining length of tube after recanalization. The microsurgical technique should be available at specialized centres to improve the success of family planning services and also this could be the hope for hopeless

Validation of Edinburgh post natal depression scale in post-natal woman from a tertiary referral center in South India

Background: Pregnancy and childbirth are two most important life-changing events. Post-partum depression can affect mother and has a wide spectrum of presentation depending upon various social factors. Studies suggest that the incidence of postnatal depression among women of high social strata is 13-19% while the incidence is 11-42% among women with limited social support. The present study aims to study postnatal depression and its causes in a postnatal mother in all the aspects of social, physical, cultural and psychiatric grounds in the Indian scenario with the help of the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS).Methods: From 1st July 2019 to 31st December 2019, a total 300 postnatal women between 1 to 6 weeks of the postpartum period participated and during their stay in the hospital responded to EPDS. The study was purposive sampling, and full consent of the study subjects was taken before the start of the study.Results: In this study, we found 20.1% of a woman affected by post-partum in South India. The higher percentage of severe depression was seen in the primary gravida (20%). The risk factors such as availability of postnatal care (with NICU admission), the woman with medical complications, late childbirth or delayed childbirth after marriage, multiparity, delivery via caesarean and nuclear family showed significant relationship (p<0.005) with depression.Conclusions: The present study, with a Post-natal depression of 20.1% along with the enumerated risk factors, suggest that the causes for postpartum depression (PPD) among working Indian woman, reflect a change to an urban-centric lifestyle. Further evaluation of these risk factors needs to be made and a routine screening of Postpartum depression (PPD) can help in improving maternal and child health

Effect of Thermal Annealing on Boron Diffusion, Micro-structural, Electrical and Magnetic properties of Laser Ablated CoFeB Thin Films

We report on Boron diffusion and subsequent crystallization of Co$_{40}$Fe$_{40}$B$_{20}$ (CoFeB) thin films on SiO$_2$/Si(001) substrate using pulsed laser deposition. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy reveals Boron diffusion at the interface in both amorphous and crystalline phase of CoFeB. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals a small fraction of nano-crystallites embedded in the amorphous matrix of CoFeB. However, annealing at 400$^\circ$C results in crystallization of CoFe with \textit{bcc} structure along (110) orientation. As-deposited films are non-metallic in nature with the coercivity (H$_c$) of 5Oe while the films annealed at 400$^\circ$C are metallic with a H$_c$ of 135Oe.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Von Willebrand disease in pregnancy: a case report

Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is a hereditary bleeding disorder that can be severe and potentially life-threatening, particularly in pregnant women during labor and subsequently during early puerperium. There is no optimal treatment or management for this disorder. Hence, all efforts aim at early diagnosis and the focus is mainly on minimising and controlling blood loss. We described the case of a woman in the post-partum period with severe VWD, admitted in the obstetrics and gynaecology ward at Rajarajeswari Medical College and Hospital, Bangalore. Prompt diagnosis, initiation of pre-partum and intra-partum Von Willebrand factor (VWF)/clotting factor replacement therapy, vigilant post-partum monitoring of blood loss and systematic follow up will help expedite recovery and prevent adverse outcomes

QI initiative to improve utilization of centchroman: a non-steroidal contraceptive

Background: The nonsteroidal contraceptive centchroman is manufactured in India. It was included in family welfare programme in April 2016 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. However, national statistics indicated its low utilization at all levels of healthcare. Objective was to identify the reasons for underutilization of centchroman in the family planning clinic, and in the postpartum period, and to implement corrective measures to improve its utilization at a tertiary hospital.Methods: The study was conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at a tertiary care hospital from September 2019 to January 2022. A quality improvement action team was constituted to undertake root cause analysis. Important corrective factors were insufficient focused counselling for centchroman as contraceptive, insufficient sensitization of doctors and nurses, inconsistent supply of tablets, lack of clarity about side effects of centchroman among healthcare workers. Tablets were not readily available to postpartum women at home, which was also a contributing factor. There were the following changes implemented: sensitization of the healthcare workers, daily focused FP counselling of women in outpatient clinics and postnatal wards, and measures to ensure a continuous supply of tablets. At discharge, eligible postpartum women were given a three-month supply of tablets for ready access. ASHA (accredited social health activist) workers who are engaged in other governmental health initiatives were included in the loop to maintain contact and supply tablets to women initiated on centchroman.Results: Contraceptive utilization increased from 0.5-0.7% at beginning of the study to 29% by incorporating the solutions. Failure of contraception occurred in one user. Pearl index for centchroman in our study was 0.22%.Conclusions: Simple, practical solutions identified through quality improvement initiatives resulted in improved coverage and utilization of contraceptive. This study can be an important example for problem solving of challenges in low resource settings

Growth and productivity of Tectona grandis Linn. f. in plantations and farmlands in coastal zone of Karnataka (India)

The present study was conducted to understand the growth performance and productivity potential of Tectona grandis grown in plantation as well as in the farmlands at coastal zone of Karnataka. The growth of teak tree grown in farmland was significantly higher than tree grown in pure plantation. For instance, the overall height(11.95 m), diameter (23.69 cm), clear bole height (6.20 m), tree volume (0.61 m3) and timber volume (0.33 m3) was higher in farmland than trees grown in pure plantation (11.60 m, 20.33 cm, 4.90 m, 0.42 m3 and 0.18 m3, respectively). However, crown parameters did not show significant difference among trees grown in pure plantations and farmlands. There was a strong influence of age on growth of teak trees grown in both farmland and pure plantation. For instance, tree height (14.72 m) and diameter (30.52 cm) of higher age class (A4: 21-25 years) was maximum as compared lower age class (A1: 5-10 years) with values of 8.29 m and 17.14 cm, respectively. Similar trend was also recorded for volume, clear bole height, crown height, crown length and crown diameter in teak. It was concluded that teak grown in farmland may produce higher growth and volume as compared to pure plantation

Partial Purification and Biochemical Characterization of Extracellular Pectinase from Aspergillus Niger Isolated from Groundnut Seeds

To produce and partially purify pectinases from Aspergillus niger isolateJGIm2, characterize the enzymes for potential industrial applications in clarifying fruit juices. Methodology and results: Isolates of Aspergillus niger were screened for ability to produce pectinases by the enzymatic index method. All the 34 isolates screened were producers with isolates JGIm2, JGIm3 and JGIm5 being the best. Optimum enzyme production was found with medium containing 1.5% pectin after 48 h of fermentation. Partial purification of the enzyme was carried out by ethanol precipitation to give two fold purification and 56% yield. The enzyme had pH & temperature optima of 4.0 and 45°C, Km and Vmax values of 0.178 g/dl & 11.62 IU/mg protein, respectively. Clarification of banana and pineapple juice using the partially purified enzyme resulted in 38 and 41% reduction in viscosity as determined spectroscopically

Effect of Herbal Mycotoxin Binders in Amelioration of Induced Mycotoxicosis in White Leghorn Laying Hens

Efficacy of herbal mycotoxin binders in ameliorating induced mycotoxicosis was evaluated in white leghorn laying hens. Birds were randomly divided into six groups containing 15 birds in each group. Group I was served as control fed with basal diet, group II birds were fed with aflatoxins and ochratoxin A at 100 ppb each. Group III, IV, V and VI birds were fed with aflatoxins and ochratoxin A at 100ppb each and herbal mycotoxin binders Vilocym®, Toxiroak®,Vilocym-Z® in feed at 1 kg/tonne and AV/LBP/20® at 1 ml/litre in drinking water respectively for 10 weeks. The cultured rice and wheat samples were screened for presence of mycotoxins by LC-MS/MS method. Aflatoxins concentration in cultured rice sample was 826 ppb. Ochratoxin A concentration in cultured wheat sample was 8990 ppb. The hematological parametes viz., Hb, TEC, PCV showed signmificant decreased level in (Group II, III, IV, V and VI) compared to their respective control group. Similarly biochemical parameters viz., aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase showed significantly decreased level in treatred groups (Group II, III, IV, V and VI) compared to their respective control group. Serum albumin and serum total protein level significantly decreased in treatred groups (Group II, III, IV, V and VI) compared to their respective control group(Group I). Histopathology of Group II birds revealed toxic effects on liver and kidney. Supplementation of herbal mycotoxin binders in mycotoxicated feed showed improvement in all the parameters indicating that herbal mycotoxin binders reduce the severity of toxicity.Keywords: White leghorn laying hens Aspergillus flavus Aspergillus ochraceous Aflatoxins &amp; ochratoxin A Herbal mycotoxin binder

The purpose, adaptability, confidence, and engrossment model: A novel approach for supporting professional trainees’ motivation, engagement, and academic achievement

Trainees often decide to pursue a career in the professions because they see it as a means to attain their life goals: to become the kind of person they want to be, to live the kind of life they want to lead, and to make the kind of impact they want to have on the world. The life goals trainees pursue through a professional career are derived from their conception of their ideal self and are thus the most important and self-defining goals that they possess. In this article, we propose a novel approach for designing training activities to harness the motivational potential of professional trainees’ life goals, toward supporting their deep engagement in training activities. We propose that activities can be designed to help trainees make links between (1) the concepts and skills covered in an activity, (2) the professional practice behaviors that an activity prepares them to enact, and (3) the life goals that are served by enacting these professional practice behaviors. Informed by Control Theory and Self-Determination Theory, we predict that this design may promote trainees’ adoption of activity-specific goals that emphasize deep understanding, long-term retention, and transfer, and enhance their autonomous motivation to attain their goals. However, there are some situations when this design may be less effective for, or even harmful to, trainees’ motivation. Specifically, we predict that helping trainees establish a purpose for learning by linking an activity to their life goals may be most effective when they can adapt an activity to best align with their purpose, when they are confident in their ability to attain their activity-specific goal, and when they become engrossed in an activity because it affords interest- and curiosity-stimulating actions. We package our theoretical analysis into the PACE model of motivational design. When our predictions are supported by more empirical evidence, the model can help educators set the PACE for trainees, thereby motivating them to engage deeply in training activities

Reproducibility, stability, and accuracy of microbial profiles by fecal sample collection method in three distinct populations.

The gut microbiome likely plays a role in the etiology of multiple health conditions, especially those affecting the gastrointestinal tract. Little consensus exists as to the best, standard methods to collect fecal samples for future microbiome analysis. We evaluated three distinct populations (N = 132 participants) using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data to investigate the reproducibility, stability, and accuracy of microbial profiles in fecal samples collected and stored via fecal occult blood test (FOBT) or Flinders Technology Associates (FTA) cards, fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) tubes, 70% and 95% ethanol, RNAlater, or with no solution. For each collection method, based on relative abundance of select phyla and genera, two alpha diversity metrics, and four beta diversity metrics, we calculated intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) to estimate reproducibility and stability, and Spearman correlation coefficients (SCCs) to estimate accuracy of the fecal microbial profile. Comparing duplicate samples, reproducibility ICCs for all collection methods were excellent (ICCs ≥75%). After 4-7 days at ambient temperature, ICCs for microbial profile stability were excellent (≥75%) for most collection methods, except those collected via no-solution and 70% ethanol. SCCs comparing each collection method to immediately-frozen no-solution samples ranged from fair to excellent for most methods; however, accuracy of genus-level relative abundances differed by collection method. Our findings, taken together with previous studies and feasibility considerations, indicated that FOBT/FTA cards, FIT tubes, 95% ethanol, and RNAlater are excellent choices for fecal sample collection methods in future microbiome studies. Furthermore, establishing standard collection methods across studies is highly desirable