A comparative study of frequency of postnatal depression among subjects with normal and caesarean deliveries

Background: Prevalence of postnatal depression (PND) is 12-15%. Recent studies are equivocal about the earlier inference that PND is higher among caesarian than normal delivery. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the frequency of PND among the Indian women and the association between the mode of delivery and PND. Material and method: Fifty subjects each; having delivered normally and by caesarian section was chosen. All the women were within 3 months post delivery and could understand Kannada language. Those who consented were asked to complete the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Those found to have scores suggestive of depression on EPDS were assessed for depression according to ICD-10. The data was analyzed using paired t test and chi square test. Result and conclusion: Among Post caesarean subjects, depression was diagnosed in 20% (n=10) as compared to 16% (n=8) in subjects that delivered normally. However there was no significant difference in the frequency of depression among the two groups. Due to the small sample size the results cannot be generalized

Pattern Approximation Based Generalized Image Noise Reduction Using Adaptive Feedforward Neural Network

The problem of noise interference with the image always occurs irrespective of whatever precaution is taken. Challenging issues with noise reduction are diversity of characteristics involved with source of noise and in result; it is difficult to develop a universal solution. This paper has proposed neural network based generalize solution of noise reduction by mapping the problem as pattern approximation. Considering the statistical relationship among local region pixels in the noise free image as normal patterns, feedforward neural network is applied to acquire the knowledge available within such patterns. Adaptiveness is applied in the slope of transfer function to improve the learning process. Acquired normal patterns knowledge is utilized to reduce the level of different type of noise available within an image by recorrection of noisy patterns through pattern approximation. The proposed restoration method does not need any estimation of noise model characteristics available in the image not only that it can reduce the mixer of different types of noise efficiently. The proposed method has high processing speed along with simplicity in design. Restoration of gray scale image as well as color image has done, which has suffered from different types of noise like, Gaussian noise, salt &peper, speckle noise and mixer of it

Huffman Coding as a Non-linear Dynamical System

In this paper, source coding or data compression is viewed as a measurement problem. Given a measurement device with fewer states than the observable of a stochastic source, how can one capture the essential information? We propose modeling stochastic sources as piecewise linear discrete chaotic dynamical systems known as Generalized Lur\"{o}th Series (GLS) which dates back to Georg Cantor's work in 1869. The Lyapunov exponent of GLS is equal to the Shannon's entropy of the source (up to a constant of proportionality). By successively approximating the source with GLS having fewer states (with the closest Lyapunov exponent), we derive a binary coding algorithm which exhibits minimum redundancy (the least average codeword length with integer codeword lengths). This turns out to be a re-discovery of Huffman coding, the popular lossless compression algorithm used in the JPEG international standard for still image compression.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Role of Rasayana in Geriatric Care - A Review

The growth of any country or society depends on the number of youth dwelling in that country but according to recent statistical data we soon will have older people more than children and more people at extreme old age than ever before. The number of people aged 65 or older is projected to grow from an estimated 524 million in 2010 to nearly 1.5 billion in 2050. Geriatrics (Jarachikitsa) is the branch of medicine dealing exclusively with the problems of aging and the diseases of elderly. The term Rasayana (rejuvination) refers to nourishment or nutrition. Rasayana therapy act essentially on nutrition dynamics and rejuvenate the body on both physical and mental levels. The problems of health due to modernization can be solved by increasing resistance against diseases and psychological improvement by implementing Rasayana therapy. Aging (Jara) is one among the Swabhavika Vyadhis. Jara Chikitsa is one among the Astanga of Ayurveda which is specifically dedicated for geriatric care. As per estimation, India currently has around 75 million persons over 65 years. By proper administration of Rasayana therapy as preventive tool one can delay Jara Janita Vyadhis to occur. This paper highlights the role of Rasayana in geriatric care

EESMR: Energy Efficient BFT-SMR for the masses

Modern Byzantine Fault-Tolerant State Machine Replication (BFT-SMR) solutions focus on reducing communication complexity, improving throughput, or lowering latency. This work explores the energy efficiency of BFT-SMR protocols. First, we propose a novel SMR protocol that optimizes for the steady state, i.e., when the leader is correct. This is done by reducing the number of required signatures per consensus unit and the communication complexity by order of the number of nodes n compared to the state-of-the-art BFT-SMR solutions. Concretely, we employ the idea that a quorum (collection) of signatures on a proposed value is avoidable during the failure-free runs. Second, we model and analyze the energy efficiency of protocols and argue why the steady-state needs to be optimized. Third, we present an application in the cyber-physical system (CPS) setting, where we consider a partially connected system by optionally leveraging wireless multicasts among neighbors. We analytically determine the parameter ranges for when our proposed protocol offers better energy efficiency than communicating with a baseline protocol utilizing an external trusted node. We present a hypergraph-based network model and generalize previous fault tolerance results to the model. Finally, we demonstrate our approach's practicality by analyzing our protocol's energy efficiency through experiments on a CPS test bed. In particular, we observe as high as 64% energy savings when compared to the state-of-the-art SMR solution for n=10 settings using BLE.Comment: Appearing in Middleware 202

Eco-Friendly and Biodegradable Green Composites

Natural fibers, are environmental friendly, biodegradable, abundantl, renewable and cheap with low density. Plant fibers are light compared to glass, carbon and aramid fibers. The biodegradability of plant fibers contribute to a healthy ecosystem while their low cost and high performance fulfills the economic interest. The effect of fiber content on the properties of natural fiber reinforced composites is particularly significance. Important factor that significantly influences the properties and interfacial characteristics of the composites is the processing parameters used. Biocomposites offers a significant market in automotive and decking market but application in other sectors has been limited. Green composites are promising because they are renewable, biodegradable and sustainable for non-renewable composites

Hydroimidazolone Modification of the Conserved Arg12 in Small Heat Shock Proteins: Studies on the Structure and Chaperone Function Using Mutant Mimics

Methylglyoxal (MGO) is an α-dicarbonyl compound present ubiquitously in the human body. MGO reacts with arginine residues in proteins and forms adducts such as hydroimidazolone and argpyrimidine in vivo. Previously, we showed that MGO-mediated modification of αA-crystallin increased its chaperone function. We identified MGO-modified arginine residues in αA-crystallin and found that replacing such arginine residues with alanine residues mimicked the effects of MGO on the chaperone function. Arginine 12 (R12) is a conserved amino acid residue in Hsp27 as well as αA- and αB-crystallin. When treated with MGO at or near physiological concentrations (2–10 µM), R12 was modified to hydroimidazolone in all three small heat shock proteins. In this study, we determined the effect of arginine substitution with alanine at position 12 (R12A to mimic MGO modification) on the structure and chaperone function of these proteins. Among the three proteins, the R12A mutation improved the chaperone function of only αA-crystallin. This enhancement in the chaperone function was accompanied by subtle changes in the tertiary structure, which increased the thermodynamic stability of αA-crystallin. This mutation induced the exposure of additional client protein binding sites on αA-crystallin. Altogether, our data suggest that MGO-modification of the conserved R12 in αA-crystallin to hydroimidazolone may play an important role in reducing protein aggregation in the lens during aging and cataract formation