Sushruta - A True Pioneer in the field of Plastic Surgery

Plastic and reconstructive surgery is a branch of surgery that specializes in restoring form and function to damaged or missing tissues and skin. Plastic surgery consists of reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery / aesthetic surgery. It is a specialty which adapts surgical principles and thought processes to the unique needs of each individual patient by remolding, reshaping and manipulating bone, cartilage and all soft tissues. Plastic surgery is one among the branches of surgery that has seen peak surge of procedures conducted across the globe post-pandemic period wherein aesthetic and reconstructive surgeries being the major ones.  According to the global statistics as per ISAPS, the most commonly performed plastic surgeries are breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty and abdominoplasty.  Defective healing of the wound either leading to hypertrophied scar or keloid formation and various approaches for closure of large wounds and has always been a surgical challenge from ancient period. Acharya Sushruta had laid down the principles of plastic surgery centuries ago which are quite relevant even in the present era of advanced plastic surgery

Clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of Sandhaniya Cast in Ankle Sprain

Ankle is the most common site for acute musculoskeletal injuries and sprains. Acute ankle trauma is responsible for 10-30% of sports related injuries in young athletes. Ankle sprain is characterized by pain, swelling with or without deformity. According to the Modern science the treatment modalities adopted for the ankle sprain are ankle brace, below knee cast and ankle strap. Inadequate treatment of ankle sprain can lead to chronic problems such as decreased range of motion, pain and joint instability. Acharya Sushruta advocates Alepa with Asthisandhaniya Dravyas for the management of Bhagna. These dravyas when used in the form of Lepa have the properties of Sandhaniya, Shophahara and Vedanasthapaka action. It is a need of hour to bring up new innovative, readily available, patient friendly and time saving techniques which possess the same effect. Hence this study is taken up to bring the Manjistadi Lepa in the modified form as Sandhaniya cast. Such kind of medicated casts weren’t in use till date which makes it unique. This would not only help in immobilization like any other ankle brace or ankle binder, but also reduces localized edema and pain due to its Vedanasthapaka and Shophahara properties and also accelerates the healing

Development of a Yoga-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation (Yoga-CaRe) Programme for Secondary Prevention of Myocardial Infarction

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) after myocardial infarction is highly effective. It is unavailable in public hospitals in India due to limited resources. Our objective was to develop a scalable model of CR for India based on yoga, which could also appeal to some groups with low uptake of CR (e.g., ethnic minorities, women, and older people) globally. The intervention was developed using a structured process. A literature review and consultations with yoga experts, CR experts, and postmyocardial infarction patients were conducted to systematically identify and shortlist appropriate yoga exercises and postures, breathing exercises, meditation and relaxation practices, and lifestyle changes, which were incorporated into a conventional CR framework. The draft intervention was further refined based on the feedback from an internal stakeholder group and an external panel of international experts, before being piloted with yoga instructors and patients with myocardial infarction. A four-phase yoga-based CR (Yoga-CaRe) programme was developed for delivery by a single yoga instructor with basic training. The programme consists of a total of 13 instructor-led sessions (2 individual and 11 group) over a 3-month period. Group sessions include guided practice of yoga exercises and postures, breathing exercises, and meditation and relaxation practices, and support for the lifestyle change and coping through a moderated discussion. Patients are encouraged to self-practice daily at home and continue long-term with the help of a booklet and digital video disc (DVD). Family members/carers are encouraged to join throughout. In conclusion, a novel yoga-based CR programme has been developed, which promises to provide a scalable CR solution for India and an alternative choice for CR globally. It is currently being evaluated in a large multicentre randomised controlled trial across India

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Some Properties of Fractional Boas Transforms of Wavelets

In this paper, we introduce fractional Boas transforms and discuss some of their properties. We also introduce the notion of wavelets associated with fractional Boas transforms and give some results related to their vanishing moments. Finally, a comparative study of Hilbert transforms and fractional Boas transforms is done

Migration Barrier Estimation of Carbon in Lead for Lead–Acid Battery Applications: A Density Functional Theory Approach

Recent efforts towards developing novel lead electrodes involving carbon and lead composites have shown potential for increasing the cycle life of lead–acid (LA) batteries used to store energy in various applications. In this study, first-principles calculations are used to examine the structural stability, defect formation energy, and migration barrier of C in Pb for LA batteries. Density functional theory with the GGA-PBE functional performed the best out of various functionals used for structural stability calculations. Furthermore, with the complete incorporation of C in the Pb matrix, the results show that C is energetically preferred to be at the octahedral interstitial (CiOcta) site in the FCC structure of Pb. Additionally, climbing-image nudged elastic band calculations show a minimum energy pathway for C diffusing from a stable octahedral site to the adjacent octahedral site assisted by a tetrahedral intermediate site. Therefore, the minimum energy pathway for C migration is envisioned to be CiOcta→ CiTetra→CiOcta, where the total energy barrier is observed to be ~90% and more than 100% lower than the CiTetra→CiTetra and CiOcta→CiOcta barriers, respectively

Patient experiences and perceptions of chronic disease care during the COVID-19 pandemic in India: a qualitative study

Objective People with chronic conditions are known to be vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to describe patients’ lived experiences, challenges faced by people with chronic conditions, their coping strategies, and the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.Design, setting and participants We conducted a qualitative study using a syndemic framework to understand the patients’ experiences of chronic disease care, challenges faced during the lockdown, their coping strategies and mitigators during the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of socioecological and biological factors. A diverse sample of 41 participants with chronic conditions (hypertension, diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular diseases) from four sites (Delhi, Haryana, Vizag and Chennai) in India participated in semistructured interviews. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, translated, anonymised and coded using MAXQDA software. We used the framework method to qualitatively analyse the COVID-19 pandemic impacts on health, social and economic well-being.Results Participant experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic were categorised into four themes: challenges faced during the lockdown, experiences of the participants diagnosed with COVID-19, preventive measures taken and lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic. A subgroup of participants faced difficulties in accessing healthcare while a few reported using teleconsultations. Most participants reported adverse economic impact of the pandemic which led to higher reporting of anxiety and stress. Participants who tested COVID-19 positive reported experiencing discrimination and stigma from neighbours. All participants reported taking essential preventive measures.Conclusion People with chronic conditions experienced a confluence (reciprocal effect) of COVID-19 pandemic and chronic diseases in the context of difficulty in accessing healthcare, sedentary lifestyle and increased stress and anxiety. Patients’ lived experiences during the pandemic provide important insights to inform effective transition to a mixed realm of online consultations and ‘distanced’ physical clinic visits

Study of negative parity Bands in 136 Ce

Background: The band structures of Ce(Z=58) nuclei with A~135 were studied extensively with the physics interest such as triaxiality and rotation like-sequence i.e. shears mechanism etc. The level structures of 136Ce, with 58 protons and 78 neutrons, were predicted to arise from the interaction between valence proton particles above the Z = 50 major shell and four neutron holes in the N = 82 major shell. The γ-ray spectroscopy of 136Ce was performed here for experimental investigations.Purpose: Study the states of two negative parity bands B1 and B2 with band head Iπ = 5- andIπ = 6- with level energy 1979 keV and 2425 keV respectively. Methods: The excited states of 136Ce are populated via the 124Sn(16O, 4n ) 136Ce fusion evaporation reaction at Ebeam = 90 MeV. The emitted γ-rays from the excited nuclei were detected using the Indian National Gamma Array (INGA) spectrometer at IUAC, New Delhi India.Results: States of two negative parity bands, with band-head Iπ = 5- state at 1979 keV and Iπ = 6- state at 2425 keV have been studied in the present work. The placement of γ-ray transitions of negative parity band B1 has been changed from the earlier reported work and hence the level energy of this band revised and the systematics study of negative parity bands of isotones with N=78, the 136Ce, 134Ba, 138Nd has been carried out.Conclusions: The 806.3 keV γ-ray is found altered with the placement of 971 keV γ-ray transition in the earlier reported work and a 1015.2 keV γ-ray transition is placed in the place of the previously reported 1013 keV γ-ray transition above Iπ = 11- state in band B1. Previously, B1 and B2 bands were predicted as signature partner bands associated with two-quasiparticle, ν[h11/2⊗s1/2/d3/2] configuration. The present work does not support these bands as signature partner bands. Present results are discussed in view of systematics