A prospective study of hearing impairment in school going children of Ghaziabad city attending a tertiary care hospital

Background:Overcrowding, poor hygiene, socio-economic status, climate, lack of resources to avail medical facilities, poor medical awareness have their bearing on the incidence of hearing loss. The family of each hearing-impaired child has its own cultural, social, educational, and financial background, and its own special needs. The aim of this study is to determine the percentage of hearing impaired school going children in Ghaziabad city.Methods:The material for the present study were a representative sample constituting 1000 school children selected from various localities of Ghaziabad city within age group of 6-12 years. The children belonged to all the strata of society and children from both sexes were evaluated for hearing loss and its underlying etiological factors. Children were subjected to detailed ENT examination in our OPD.  Results:In the present study sample the incidence of hearing loss is 9.3%. The maximum cases 60.22% belonged to the low socio-economic strata. A statistically significant difference of distribution by gender was noticed with a male preponderance (61.29%) as against 38.71% for females. The hearing loss in majority of cases was of a mild degree i.e., 26 to 45 dB (34.41%) of which majority of cases (87.10%) had conductive loss. Wax was the commonest cause of hearing loss (41.94%). CSOM was found in 21.50 % of all cases. Peak prevalence of hearing loss was found at 8 years of age, again declining after that from 20.43 % to 5.38 % by 12 years of age. Also it was observed that 59.14% children were living in crowded localities of city & 40.86% were living in non- crowded/open locality which is again statistically significant (P ≤0.05).Conclusion:The inferences drawn from the present study substantiates the view point of earlier workers that school screening is the most effective method of diagnosing deafness in school going children and should be extended to all schools in all the areas. Proper assessment and diagnosis of hearing loss in children at a very early age is important because an early diagnosis determines the efficacy of methods used for the correction of the hearing loss. Also early diagnosis of hearing impairment is a key to proper rehabilitation. The cases reporting to the hospital for treatment and rehabilitation can be regarded as the tip of the ice-berg and can have more management difficulties when compared to sub-clinical cases.

Histomorphology of germ cell tumors at various anatomic sites: a 5 years study at a tertiary care centre

Background: Germ cell tumors (GCTs) are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms, which occur in the gonads, and at extra gonadal sites of the body. The aim of the study was to observe the different histopathological patterns of various GCTs in the body at all possible sites and to know their IHC staining patterns.Methods: The study was conducted for a period of 5 years from 2015 to 2019 and was an observational study. The recorded data was compiled and entered in a spreadsheet and then exported to data editor of SPSS Version 20.0. Continuous variables were expressed as mean SD and categorical variables were summarized as frequencies and percentages. Graphically the data was presented by bar and pie diagrams Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was applied for comparing categorical values. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. All p values were 2 tailed.Results: A total of 93 cases were analyzed and the mean age of the patients was 27.8 years. Mature cystic teratoma was the most common histopathological variant and was mostly seen in the ovaries. There was a difference in age predilection of benign and malignant tumors. Most of the malignant GCTs were gonadal while EGCTs were likely to be benign. MGCTs (mixed GCTs) were mostly testicular in origin with only one MGCT being extragonadal.Conclusions: Mature cystic teratomas were the most frequent GCTs with frequent site being in ovaries. Out 0f 18 EGCTs only 2 were malignant, rest all were mature cystic teratomas.

Foreign Aid, Public Expenditure And Economic Growth: The Nigerian Case

Foreign aid represents an important source of finance in most countries in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA), including Nigeria, where it supplements low savings, narrow export earnings and thin tax bases. In fact, foreign aid is considered to be a major supplement to government expenditure in Nigeria. As a result, foreign aid can have positive effect on economic growth, through public expenditure if properly channeled to the productive sectors of the economy. This paper therefore seeks to investigate the impact of foreign aid and public expenditure on economic growth in Nigeria. It reveals that foreign aid and public expenditure impact positively on the economic growth in Nigeria, with foreign aid indicating a very significant impact on growth

Review of Classical Methods in Supersaturated Designs (SSD) for factor Screening

Supersaturated designs are fractional factorial designs that have too few runs to allow the estimation of the main effects of all the factors in the experiment. There has been a great deal of interest in the development of these designs for factor screening in recent years. A review of supersaturated design is presented, including criteria for design selection, with reference to the popular E(s2) criterion and classical methods for constructing supersaturated designs. Classical methods have been suggested for the analysis of data from supersaturated designs and these are critically reviewed and illustrated. Keywords: Supersaturated, Classical method, Screening, fractional factorial and E(S2

Comparative assessment of quality of life of patients with schizophrenia attending a community psychiatric centre and a psychiatric hospital

Background: Over the past few decades, there has been an emphasis on the de-institutionalisation of psychiatric care with a focus on community care. With Quality of Life (QoL) as an outcome measure, this study compared the QoL of patients with schizophrenia attending a psychiatric hospital and a community psychiatric centre.Design: This was a cross-sectional study in two psychiatric facilitiesMethods: Data were obtained through a socio-demographic and clinical questionnaire; the QoL was assessed with the WHOQOL-BREF and patient satisfaction with care with CPOSS. Total and domain scores of WHOQOL-BREF for each group were calculated and compared with each other and other group characteristics. Diagnosis of schizophrenia was based on ICD-10.Results: Participants from the two centres did not differ significantly on any of the socio-demographic characteristics measured. Similarly, there was no significant difference in their overall mean WHOQOL-BREF scores as well as the mean WHOQOL-BREF of domain scores. However, the married and females from both centres significantly had higher mean WHOQOL-BREF scores than their male counterparts. Patients in remission for more than two years or those on a single type of medication (either oral or depot preparation) from both centres significantly had higher mean WHOQOL-BREF score compared with those who had less than two years of remission or on both oral and depot preparations.Conclusion: Overall QoL of patients managed at the two centres was comparable, with similar socio-demographic as well as clinical variables influencing QoL. This suggests that patients with schizophrenia can be well managed at community psychiatric centres.Keywords: schizophrenia, quality of life, community psychiatric care, psychiatric hospital, patient satisfaction, treatment outcomesFunding: None declared

Evaluating the performance of some Primitive Wheat Triticum dicoccum Genotypes

Seven wheat genotypes (Triticum dicoccum) and the local check sham5 variety were planted during&nbsp; growing season 2010/2011under rainfed conditions using RCBD with three replications. Yield components (number of total and fertile tillers, number and weight of grains per spike, weight of thousand grain and individual plant grain yield) were studied in two sites in order to define the differences between the studied genotypes in both sites and to provide the superior genotypes for breeding programs. Results showed that the genotype PW70 was significantly superior in (grain yield, number and weight of grain per spike) comparing to check. While, the genotypes (PW96, PW119, PW123) were significantly superior in thousand grain weight comparing to check, as well as the genotype (PW81, PW127) were significantly superior in total and fertile tillers number comparing to check. Most traits were significantly superior in Al-Ghab site

Correlation, Regression and Path analysis among yield and yield traits in Triticum dicoccum

Seven wheat genotypes (Triticum dicoccum) and the local check sham5 were planted all at Al-Ghab and Izra Research centers in The General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research in Syria during growing season 2010/2011. Yield components (number of total and fertile tillers per plant, number and weight of grains per spike, weight of thousand grain and individual plant grain yield) were studied in two sites in order to predict their effect and to determine their effects on grain yield in order to define selection criteria for grain yield. Results revealed all studied traits except total tillers number were positively correlated with grain yield, and only (fertile tillers number and grain number per spike and grain weight per spike) had a significant regression with grain yield and these traits can explain about (27.6, 67.7, 62.2)% respectively of the variation final grain yield. Results of path analysis indicated that the direct effect of fertile tillers per plant and grain weight per spike on grain yield was positive and high (0.6178, 0.7563) respectively, so that we can depend on them in breeding program as selection criteria to increase grain yield in plant

Preparation, Surface active properties, and Anticorrosion Application of some novel surfactants based on cottonseed oil and diethanolamine on carbon steel in CO2 environments

Novel surfactants were synthesized based on cottonseed oil and diethanolamine and the structures of these compounds were confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. The surface and thermodynamic properties of these compounds have been investigated. The corrosion behavior of the synthesized surfactant corrosion inhibitors was evaluated by using potentiodynamic (Tafel) polarization curves, linear polarization resistance corrosion rate techniques. The experimental results showed that these inhibitors revealed a very good corrosion inhibition even at low concentrations. The protection efficiency increased with increasing inhibitor concentration, getting maximum values ranged between 87.37 and 97.91 % at 100 ppm after 20 hour of exposure. The adsorption process was found to obey the Langmuir adsorption isotherm

The Use of Waste Management Techniques to Enhance Household Income and Reduce Urban Water Pollution

Appropriate waste management options are major concerns in the developing world. Current methods include incineration in the open and accumulation of wastes in designated places where they constitute nuisance to the environment. Apart from air pollution from the incinerators, leachates from decomposed wastes are either washed off where they serve as source of pollutants to the adjourning streams and rivers or contaminate groundwater through deep percolation. We present viable options for managing agricultural wastes in this chapter. The options presented are so simple and sustainable such that it can be managed by individuals. Hence, they are independent of the government bureaucratic bottlenecks that have been the bane of the previous government interventions. If embraced, it will also serve as sources of income for the concerned household, hence enhance their livelihood