Exploring the Link Between Urinary Albumin Excretion and Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disease characterized by persistent hyperglycemia resulting from insulin resistance and inadequate insulin production. A critical aspect of T2DM is its microvascular complications, notably diabetic nephropathy, which progresses from microalbuminuria to overt proteinuria, and eventually End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Inflammation-induced endothelial dysfunction is a key factor in the progression of diabetic nephropathy. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an easily measurable marker derived from routine leukocyte analysis, reflecting systemic inflammation. Despite the known association between chronic inflammation and diabetic nephropathy, studies exploring this relationship remain limited. This study aims to investigate the correlation between urine albumin levels and the NLR in patients with T2DM. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional pilot study, approved by IEC, examined 150 uncomplicated T2DM patients at a Chennai hospital over six months. Urine albumin and NLR were measured, and data analyzed using Pearson\u27s correlation in SPSS. Results: A strong positive correlation was observed between urine albumin levels and NLR in individuals with T2DM, with a r-value of 0.7. Conclusions: This study finds a significant link between elevated NLR and increased urine albumin levels in T2DM. This finding suggests that chronic inflammation in T2DM contributes to the development of albuminuria, which may progress to Diabetic Kidney Disease (DKD)

Failure Investigation of the Steel Strut of Paseo Suspension Bridge

A vertical strut of the 1232-foot long, self-anchored Paseo Suspension Bridge fractured when the temperature hit at a record low of 9°F below zero. During inspection the following day, it was found that its lower pin was frozen and did not allow for free movement of the superstructure. The objective of this study is to pinpoint one of the four reasons for this incidence or their combination: overstressing, thermal contraction, fatigue, and reduction in fracture toughness at low temperatures. To achieve this objective, material property and fatigue testing was performed on samples of strut material while the bridge and strut were analyzed under service loading conditions. This study indicated that the strut material practically has an infinite life under normal conditions. The root cause of the failure is overstressing of the vertical strut due to a frozen pin that became frozen because the design of the bridge did not allow the pin to be maintained. The mechanically frozen pin condition was attributable to salt and sand accumulation in the strut housing. To prevent this to the new struts and other similar structures, it is recommended that both upper and lower pins be greased during special inspections and the lower housings be partially sealed to prevent salt and sand accumulation near the pins. Alternatively, a rotation monitoring system can be installed to remotely monitor the rotation of all four vertical struts and alert officials should the pins become mechanically frozen

Load shifting and peak clipping for reducing energy consumption in an indian university campus

This paper analyzes the intelligent use of time-varying electrical load via developing efficient energy utilization patterns using demand-side management (DSM) strategies. This approach helps distribution utilities decrease maximum demand and electrical energy billing costs. A case study of DSM implementation of electric energy utility for an educational building Alagappa Chettiar Government College of Engineering and Technology (ACGCET) campus was simulated. The new optimum energy load model was established for peak and off-peak periods from the system's existing load profile using peak clipping and load shifting DSM techniques. The result reflects a significant reduction in maximum demand from 189 kW to 170 kW and a reduction in annual electricity billing cost from $11,340 to$10,200 (approximately 10%) in the upgraded system. This work highlights the importance of time of day (TOD) tariff structure consumers that aid reduction in their distribution system's maximum demand and demand charges. Copyright

Medicine Research in India: A Scientometric Assessment of Publications during 2009 – 2018

The purpose of this paper is to qualitative analyse of medicine research output using select scientometric indicators with the aim of identifying top preparing countries, subject subthemes, organisations, authors and journals in the area. The present study has examined 29153 publications in medicine research, the present study deals with the Assessment of Indian medicine research output as reflected in Web of Science (WOS) database for the period 2009 to 2018 for identifying the research output in the field of medicine literature. It also provides a comparative evaluation and performance of different types of scientometric indicators, such as number of publications, number of citations, relative growth, doubling time, activity index and collaboration from India. The Indian medicine research has increased exponentially over the last decade

Energetic neutron identification with pulse shape discrimination in pure CsI crystals

Pulse shape discrimination with pure CsI scintillators is investigated as a method for separating energy deposits by energetic neutrons and photons at particle physics experiments. Using neutron data collected near the European XFEL XS1 beam window the pulse shape discrimination capabilities of pure CsI are studied and compared to CsI(Tl) using near-identical detector setups, which were operated in parallel. The inelastic interactions of 100 MeV neutrons are observed to produce a slower scintillation emission in pure CsI relative to energy deposits from cosmic muons. By employing a charge-ratio method for pulse shape characterization, pulse shape discrimination with pure CsI is shown to be effective for identifying energy deposits from neutrons vs. cosmic muons, however, pure CsI was not able resolve the specific type of neutron inelastic interactions as can be done with CsI(Tl). Using pulse shape discrimination, the rate of energetic neutron interactions in a pure CsI detector is measured as a function of time and shown to be correlated with the European XFEL beam power. The results demonstrate that pulse shape discrimination with pure CsI has significant potential to improve electromagnetic vs. hadronic shower identification at future particle physics experiments

Harnessing remote sensing for smart agriculture

Remote sensing technologies are transforming smart agriculture by delivering real-time data for decision-making in several spheres of crop health monitoring, precision irrigation, soil analysis and pest control. Crop growth stage monitoring, disease diagnosis and measurement of soil moisture are all made possible through these technologies which rely on advanced image processing algorithms and machine learning techniques. With this integration, farmers can implement precision agriculture practices, which in turn reduces resource waste and maximizes crop yields. Geographic information system (GIS) is also used to create detailed maps of agricultural areas, enabling the implementation of location-specific management practices. However, there are significant barriers that need to be addressed, including the requirement for high -resolution data, weather dependency and the need for technical capability. Despite these challenges, remote sensing technology has the potential to significantly improve agricultural productivity and sustainability. It is expected that further developments in remote sensing technology will lead to extensive application of the technology as well as tremendous impact on the agriculture sector

Proactive Indoor Air Quality Monitoring System

In recent times indoor air quality has attracted the attention of policy makers and researchers similar to that of external air pollution. The indoor environments are confined and closed compared to external environments providing less opportunity for the pollutants to dilute. Our everyday devices emit various solids and gases into the environment during their operation. These emissions contain many substances that are harmful to human health, when exposed to them for a prolonged period of time. Here we propose an air quality monitoring system that allows us to monitor and check live air quality in particular areas through IOT. The System uses air sensors to sense presence of harmful gases/compounds in the air and constantly transmit this data to microcontroller PIC16F877A. The sensors interact with microcontroller which processes this data and transmits it over internet. The gas levels can be viewed through a webpage from anywhere in the world. This allows authorities to monitor air pollution in different areas and take action against it

Prevalence of menstrual morbidity in adolescents girls: a cross sectional study

Background: Menstruation is said to be a physiological process in women. The word ‘menstruation’ was derived from a Latin word ‘menses’. Menstrual dysfunction was found to affect 75% of adolescent girls which includes dysmenorrhoea, menorrhagia and irregular cycles. Premenstrual syndrome constitutes a group of physical and emotional symptoms which occurs one week before menstrual cycle. It was found to be a cycle disorder which appears in the luteal phase. Adolescent girls are at high risk of developing premenstrual syndrome. Because of menstrual dysfunction and premenstrual syndrome, the adolescent girls are at high risk of menstrual morbidity.Methods: After getting approval from institutional ethical committee of Madras Medical College, the study was carried out in adolescent girls. The study was carried out by giving questionnaire in nearly 505 students for the duration of 6 months. The study participants were explained about the study. The questionnaire was structured so as to obtain information regarding the age at menarche, duration of cycle, awareness about menstruation, source of information regarding menstruation, practices during menstrual cycles, regarding menstrual problems and treatment practices.Results: The average age of participants was 17 years with an SD of 1.5. of 505 participants, about 6% had 45 days frequency, 10% had 38 days frequency and 2% had 60 days frequency of menstrual cycle. It was found around 1% had 8 days duration and 3% had 9 days duration of menstrual cycle. About 13% of Participants had mild flow, 7% had severe flow and 20% had variable quantity of menstrual flow.Conclusions: From this study, it was found that menstrual dysfunction were prevalent among adolescent girls. These were found to cause menstrual morbidity among adolescent girls. Hence it is necessary to educate and create awareness about menstrual morbidity among adolescent girls.

A prospective study on the use of anesthetic agents in modern surgical practice at a tertiary care hospital, Karnataka, India

Background: The choice of local anesthetic is based on potency of the agent, onset and duration of anesthesia, and side effects of the drug Objectives of the study were, the study proposes to analysis the pattern, trend, rationality and frequency of use of anesthetic agents in modern surgical procedures.Methods: The study records relevant data obtained from surgical case records of patients from department of General surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Orthopedics during the period December 2014 to May 2015 including first one month of pilot study, at KVGMC, Sullia (D.K), Karnataka.Results: A total of 744 cases were collected and screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria and finally 348 cases were recorded and critically analysed. Sub-arachnoid block is the most common type of anesthetic procedure (75.28%) performed by the anesthetists. Of 348 cases undergoing anesthesia using local anesthetic agents, 228 cases required only a single agent and 120 cases required a combination anesthetic agents. 206 underwent sub-arachnoid block, 16 epidural block (EPID) and only 2 brachial block. The most commonly used agent for maintainence of general anesthesia is Isoflurane (68%) followed by Halothane (32%) and the combination of skeletal muscle relaxants were Succinylcholine with either Atracurium (39.8%) or Vecuronium (37.16%). Analgesics were the most commonly used adjuvants followed by ondansetron.Conclusions: The study showed that the most common anesthetic procedure performed using local anesthetic agents is SA/SAB block and the most common agent used is bupivacaine which was frequently employed at the dose range of 3-4 ml. There was significant association found between the no. of anesthetic agents used and the type of anesthetic procedure performed and also between the concerned department and the type of anesthetic procedure performed. Thus, the rationality in the usage of relevant anesthetic agents with appropriate adjuvants is evident

Molecular profiling of circulating tumor cells links plasticity to the metastatic process in endometrial cancer

Background About 20% of patients diagnosed with endometrial cancer (EC) are considered high-risk with unfavorable prognosis. In the framework of the European Network for Individualized Treatment in EC (ENITEC), we investigated the presence and phenotypic features of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC) in high-risk EC patients. Methods CTC isolation was carried out in peripheral blood samples from 34 patients, ranging from Grade 3 Stage IB to Stage IV carcinomas and recurrences, and 27 healthy controls using two methodologies. Samples were subjected to EpCAM-based immunoisolation using the CELLection™ Epithelial Enrich kit (Invitrogen, Dynal) followed by RTqPCR analysis. The phenotypic determinants of endometrial CTC in terms of pathogenesis, hormone receptor pathways, stem cell markers and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) drivers were asked. Kruskal-Wallis analysis followed by Dunn’s post-test was used for comparisons between groups. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results EpCAM-based immunoisolation positively detected CTC in high-risk endometrial cancer patients. CTC characterization indicated a remarkable plasticity phenotype defined by the expression of the EMT markers ETV5, NOTCH1, SNAI1, TGFB1, ZEB1 and ZEB2. In addition, the expression of ALDH and CD44 pointed to an association with stemness, while the expression of CTNNB1, STS, GDF15, RELA, RUNX1, BRAF and PIK3CA suggested potential therapeutic targets. We further recapitulated the EMT phenotype found in endometrial CTC through the up-regulation of ETV5 in an EC cell line, and validated in an animal model of systemic dissemination the propensity of these CTC in the accomplishment of metastasis. Conclusions Our results associate the presence of CTC with high-risk EC. Gene-expression profiling characterized a CTC-plasticity phenotype with stemness and EMT features. We finally recapitulated this CTC-phenotype by over-expressing ETV5 in the EC cell line Hec1A and demonstrated an advantage in the promotion of metastasis in an in vivo mouse model of CTC dissemination and homing