Surat 2006 Floods: A Citizens’ Report

Surat is situated at the mouth of the river Tapi where it meets the Arabian Sea and has for centuries been a flood-affected area. The most recent floods however, were different because of the magnitude of their effect. Nearly 90 per cent of the households were affected; six of the seven wards of the city had water standing for days. It crippled the economy and affected people's coping abilities. In the wake of the floods the Department of Human Resource Development of the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and the Centre for Social Studies conducted a study looking at how people coped with the disaster and the impact of the flood on their lives and the economy. It offers some pointers about how the impact can be mitigated in similar situations in the future

Surat 2006 Floods: A Citizens’ Report

Surat is situated at the mouth of the river Tapi where it meets the Arabian Sea and has for centuries been a flood-affected area. The most recent floods however, were different because of the magnitude of their effect. Nearly 90 per cent of the households were affected; six of the seven wards of the city had water standing for days. It crippled the economy and affected people's coping abilities. In the wake of the floods the Department of Human Resource Development of the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and the Centre for Social Studies conducted a study looking at how people coped with the disaster and the impact of the flood on their lives and the economy. It offers some pointers about how the impact can be mitigated in similar situations in the future

A NOVEL APPROACH TO INCREASE THE BIOAVAILABILITY OF CANDESARTAN CILEXETIL BY PRONIOSOMAL GEL FORMULATION: IN-VITRO AND IN-VIVO EVALUATION

Objective: The oral bioavailability of Candesartan cilexetil is less (<15%), so in this study an approach has been made to increase its bioavailability by proniosomal gel formulation.Methods: The proniosomal formulation of Candesartan cilexetil was prepared by slurry method, using span 60 and Tween 60 as non-ionic surfactants, maltodextrin as carrier and cholesterol and soya lecithin as stabilizers. Prepared gel formulations were evaluated for compatibility study, entrapment efficiency, vesicle size, surface morphology, in-vitro diffusion studies, in-vitro skin permeation studies, in-vivo pharmacokinetics studies, various release kinetic studies and stability studies.Results: FT-IR study showed no interaction between drugs and other excipients, drugs and excipients are compatible. Mean vesicles size of proniosome derived niosome was found in the range of 16.34 µm-32.48 µm and 7.25-16.45 µm before and after shaking. An optimized formulation A3 containing a 2:1 ratio of span 60 and cholesterol showed maximum entrapment (86.17%) and in-vitro drug release (93.8%) compared to other formulations. In-vitro skin permeation studies were carried out using Albino rat skin and results showed that formulation A3 exhibited 88.65% drug permeation in a steady-state manner over a period of 24 h with a flux value of 1.94 µg/cm2/h and enhancement ratio of 3.73. In-vivo pharmacokinetics studies of proniosomal gel formulation A3 showed a significant increase in bioavailability (1.425 folds) compared with an oral formulation of Candesartan cilexetil. Stability studies showed that proniosomal gel formulation was stable throughout its study period.Conclusion: Physiochemically stable Candesartan cilexetil proniosomal gel was formulated, which could deliver significant amount of the drug across the skin in a steady-state manner for the prolong period of time in the treatment of hypertension.Â

Effect of Life-Style Modification Intervention Programme on Bone Mineral Density among Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Objectives: Osteoporosis is one of the major public health problems worldwide among postmenopausal osteoporotic women. Lifestyle modification interventions along with pharmacotherapy helps to revert the bone loss and prevent the complications. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal from January 2019 to December 2021 among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The postmenopausal women who attended the osteoporosis clinic and were within the age group of 45-65 years, could speak and understand English or Kannada, and whose Bone Mineral Density (BMD) score was between -1 and -3 were included for the study. The total sample size of the study was 120 with 60 in each of the experimental and control group. After obtaining the informed consent, stratified block randomization method was used to allocate the participants to intervention and control group. The BMD was monitored by the portable ultrasound densitometer by a technician at the outpatient departments. The baseline information was collected by a structured demographic questionnaire. Intervention group participants received Lifestyle Modification Intervention Program (LMIP) whereas control group received the standard regular care by the physician.  Follow up was done at three and six months. Results: The results revealed that the increase in the BMD median score among the experimental group was from -2.2 [(-2.5, -1.8)] to -1.5 [(-1.8, -0.65)] where as in the control group it was from -2.3 [(-2.6, -1.9)] to -2.0 [(-2.4, -1.5)].  The increase in the median score of the experimental group (0.7) was higher than in the control group (0.3). The results of Mann Whitey U test showed a statistical significance between the intervention and control groups in the post test after 6 months (U =.505.5, p<0.05). Wilcoxon signed rank test showed the significant change in both the intervention and control groups from pre-test to post-test I (3 months) and Post-test II (6 months) (p<0.001). Conclusion: The lifestyle modification intervention was found to be effective in improving the bone health status of postmenopausal women. Hence it is very important to integrate in regular therapy. Keywords: LMIP, postmenopausal women, bone health status, bone mineral density

Surat 2006 Floods: A Citizens’ Report

Surat is situated at the mouth of the river Tapi where it meets the Arabian Sea and has for centuries been a flood-affected area. The most recent floods however, were different because of the magnitude of their effect. Nearly 90 per cent of the households were affected; six of the seven wards of the city had water standing for days. It crippled the economy and affected people's coping abilities. In the wake of the floods the Department of Human Resource Development of the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and the Centre for Social Studies conducted a study looking at how people coped with the disaster and the impact of the flood on their lives and the economy. It offers some pointers about how the impact can be mitigated in similar situations in the future.Surat flood; floods; SMC;

Tooth Mobility among Patients visiting a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that results in the destruction of supporting tissue and bone leading to tooth mobility. Tooth mobility if untreated can lead to tooth loss. However, very few studies exist for its assessment. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of tooth mobility among patients visiting a tertiary care centre. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among individuals visiting a tertiary care dental hospital from 1st April to 30th June 2022 after obtaining ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 2202202202). Individuals more than 13 years who gave consent and fulfilled the study criteria were enrolled. Tooth mobility was assessed using Lindhe and Nyman’s classification. Proforma also included demographics, simplified oral hygiene index, gingival index, body mass index, and smoking status. Convenience sampling was done. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Among 163 patients, 65 (39.88%) patients (32.36-47.40, 95% Confidence Interval) had tooth mobility. Conclusions: The prevalence of tooth mobility was higher than in studies done in similar settings

Role of an Agro Technique for the Development of Medicinal Plant: Shalparni

Vrikshayurveda a classical science of botanical field, this science deals with growth and development of plants. This science mainly suggests uses of Kunapa jala and Pancha gavya for the high productivity of crops. This concept works around organic farming for effective plant growth. Vrikshayurvedha mentioned Kunapajala as organic liquid manure which is a fermentation product and acts as plant nutrients. There are two types of Kunapajala mainly in practices viz; herbal and non-herbal which is prepared according to the procedures described in Vrikshayurvedha. Considering importance of this we planned a study to investigate role of Vrikshayurvedha concept for the development of medicinal plant; Shalparni. Present study investigated role of Kunapajala in the growth and % yield of plant Shalparni. This study observed that Kunapajala treatment offered best response with respect to root yield and soil physico-chemical parameters. Kunapajala increased plant yield quantitatively as well as qualitatively

Impact of Land Cover Change on Ecosystem Services in a Tropical Forested Landscape

Ecosystems provide a wide range of goods, services or ecosystem services (ES) to society. Estimating the impact of land use and land cover (LULC) changes on ES values (ESV) is an important tool to support decision making. This study used remote sensing and GIS tools to analyze LULC change and transitions from 2001 to 2016 and assess its impact on ESV in a tropical forested landscape in the southern plains of Nepal. The total ESV of the landscape for the year 2016 is estimated at USD 1264 million year−1. As forests are the dominant land cover class and have high ES value per hectare, they have the highest contribution in total ESV. However, as a result of LULC change (loss of forests, water bodies, and agricultural land), the total ESV of the landscape has declined by USD 11 million year−1. Major reductions come from the loss in values of climate regulation, water supply, provision of raw materials and food production. To halt the ongoing loss of ES and maintain the supply and balance of different ES in the landscape, it is important to properly monitor, manage and utilize ecosystems. We believe this study will inform policymakers, environmental managers, and the general public on the ongoing changes and contribute to developing effective land use policy in the region

A mixed-mode ginger and turmeric solar dryer: design, simulation, biochemical and performance analysis

Postharvest loss of vegetables and fruits is higher in developing countries due to the lack of post-processing equipment. Although the production of ginger and turmeric is high in Nepal, farmers practices open sun drying, which leads to poor quality, and the products do not get to the market at reasonable prices. In this study, a simple, easy to assemble and disassemble mixed-mode solar dryer has been designed, fabricated, and biochemical and performance analyses were done. The dryer was designed considering the solar irradiation, sunshine hours, latitude of the location, locally available materials, moisture content (MC) of the product, and drying capacity. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed using ANSYS Fluent simulation software to predict the dryer’s temperature and air flow behavior. The experiment was carried out in November in the harvesting season of ginger. The dryer performance is compared with the open sun drying using ginger and turmeric. The biochemical properties such as Oleoresin and Essential oil were determined using Soxhlet and Steam distillation methods and compared with the product of open sun drying. The experiment results showed that ginger and turmeric took only about 14 sunshine hours to reach from 88% to 10-12% moisture content. The maximum collector and drying efficiency were recorded at about 45.32% and 31.364%, respectively. The temperature distribution inside the dryer obtained from the experiment correlated with the results obtained from the CFD analysis. The retention of essential oil was found more in product drying with dryer than open sun drying. Among the various drying models, Wang and Singh model was found suitable for describing the drying model. It is concluded that the designed dryer is suitable for ginger and turmeric drying into a safe moisture level, ensuring product quality. BIBECHANA 19 (2021) 40-6

A mixed-mode ginger and turmeric solar dryer: design, simulation, biochemical and performance analysis

Postharvest loss of vegetables and fruits is higher in developing countries due to the lack of post-processing equipment. Although the production of ginger and turmeric is high in Nepal, farmers practices open sun drying, which leads to poor quality, and the products do not get to the market at reasonable prices. In this study, a simple, easy to assemble and disassemble mixed-mode solar dryer has been designed, fabricated, and biochemical and performance analyses were done. The dryer was designed considering the solar irradiation, sunshine hours, latitude of the location, locally available materials, moisture content (MC) of the product, and drying capacity. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed using ANSYS Fluent simulation software to predict the dryer’s temperature and air flow behavior. The experiment was carried out in November in the harvesting season of ginger. The dryer performance is compared with the open sun drying using ginger and turmeric. The biochemical properties such as Oleoresin and Essential oil were determined using Soxhlet and Steam distillation methods and compared with the product of open sun drying. The experiment results showed that ginger and turmeric took only about 14 sunshine hours to reach from 88% to 10-12% moisture content. The maximum collector and drying efficiency were recorded at about 45.32% and 31.364%, respectively. The temperature distribution inside the dryer obtained from the experiment correlated with the results obtained from the CFD analysis. The retention of essential oil was found more in product drying with dryer than open sun drying. Among the various drying models, Wang and Singh model was found suitable for describing the drying model. It is concluded that the designed dryer is suitable for ginger and turmeric drying into a safe moisture level, ensuring product quality. BIBECHANA 19 (2021) 40-6