A Study of Somatic Status and Complications Among Female Diabetic Patients from Mysore Urban Area

In recent years, India has undergone rapid urbanization and socioeconomic development. Changes in time trends have resulted in erratic lifestyle, characterized by physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits and resultant increase in obesity and diabetes. Diabetes is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in India and its prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate. Chronic complications of diabetes, especially coronary artery diseases and chronic renal diseases results in frequenthospitalization. The main aim of the investigation was to study the somatic status and diabetic complications among the female hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients. A total of 80 female volunteers (40 hospitalized and 40 non-hospitalized) of a private hospital in Mysore, with known history of type 2 diabetes mellitus for more than 2 years, were recruited for the study. The tools were developed to collect information on personal history, demography, socioeconomic status, dietary habits and anthropometric measurements. Suitable statistical analysis was applied to the data. The results projected that majority of the patients were hospitalized on an average of at least three times a year. More than 90% of the subjects exhibited blood sugar >300 mg on admission. The reason for high morbidity status included poor dietary habits and erratic lifestyle practices among the female hospitalized patients as compared to non-hospitalized patients. Adapting a healthy lifestyle and maintenance of normal blood sugar level can reduce the incidence of complications and hospitalization among the subjects

A Study of Somatic Status and Complications Among Female Diabetic Patients from Mysore Urban Area

In recent years, India has undergone rapid urbanization and socioeconomic development. Changes in time trends have resulted in erratic lifestyle, characterized by physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits and resultant increase in obesity and diabetes. Diabetes is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in India and its prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate. Chronic complications of diabetes, especially coronary artery diseases and chronic renal diseases results in frequent hospitalization. The main aim of the investigation was to study the somatic status and diabetic complications among the female hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients. A total of 80 female volunteers (40 hospitalized and 40 nonhospitalized) of a private hospital in Mysore, with known history of type 2 diabetes mellitus for more than 2 years, were recruited for the study. The tools were developed to collect information on personal history, demography, socioeconomic status, dietary habits and anthropometric measurements. Suitable statistical analysis was applied to the data. The resultsprojected that majority of the patients were hospitalized on an average of at least three times a year. More than 90% of the subjects exhibited blood sugar >300 mg on admission. The reason for high morbidity status included poor dietary habits and erratic lifestyle practices among the female hospitalized patients as compared to non-hospitalized patients. Adapting a healthy lifestyle and maintenance of normal blood sugar level can reduce the incidence of complications and hospitalization among the subjects

DIAGNOSIS OF MYOCARDIAL ISCHEMIA USING PLASMA FREE FATTY ACID AS A BIOMARKER

Objective: Diagnosis of myocardial ischemia (MI) in patients attending emergency intensive care unit (ICU) with symptoms of an acute coronarydisease is often difficult. Biochemical markers such as cardiac troponin (cTn) and creatinine kinase MB (CK-MB) may not rise during reversible MI.Previous studies suggest unbound free fatty acid (FFA) increased significantly in ischemic related events. Thus, plasma FFA has shown to be an earlybiochemical marker. To diagnose MI using plasma FFA as a biomarker.Methods: Blood samples were collected from 30 ischemic heart disease (IHD) patients admitted to ICU and 30 healthy volunteers for plasma FFA.Patients were diagnosed as IHD based on the clinical presentation, electrocardiogram (ECG), and coronary angiography findings, cTn, CK-MB. PlasmaFFA was measured enzymatically with (acyl-CoA synthetase- acyl-CoA oxidase) non-esterified fatty acid kit (Randox Laboratories Ltd., Co.Antrium,United Kingdom) on Bayer RA 50 analyzer in both normals and IHD patients.Results: Around 93.3% of the patients presented with the chest pain as a major symptom and 6.7% of the patient presented with dyspnea. Allthe patients showed a positive ECG change and angiographic findings suggestive of IHD. Plasma FFA (1.134±0.21) in IHD was significantly higher(p<0.0001) than the control (0.5233±0.13). With respect to lipid profile triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), very LDL was significantly higherin MI when compared to normal with p<0.001, whereas HDL was significantly higher in normals than the study group with p<0.05. There was nostatistical difference in total cholesterol and hemoglobin value between the study group and the normals. Further standard biomarker like cTn waselevated in 60% (18) and CK-MB in 63% (19) of the patients when compared to FFA, which was elevated in 86% (26) of the patients.Conclusion: Thus, plasma FFA can be used as a simple, quick, and early marker of MI. However, should FFAs be measured routinely as a standarddiagnostic marker of ischemia still warrants further studies?Keywords: Myocardial ischemia, plasma FFA, cardiac troponin, creatinine kinase M

GREEN SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES FROM WITHANIA SOMNIFERA (L.) DUNAL

The metal nanoparticle synthesis is highly explored the field of nanotechnology. The biological methods seem to be more effective because of slowreduction rate and polydispersity of the final products. The main aim of this study is too the rapid and simplistic synthesis of silver nanoparticlesby Withania somnifera Linn. at room temperature. The exposure of reaction mixtures containing silver nitrate and dried leaf powder of W. somniferaresulted in reduction of metal ions within 5 minutes. The extracellular synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized by ultraviolet-visible,infrared (IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction studies, zeta potential, Fourier transform IR, and scanning electron microscopy. The antibacterial andantifungal studies showed significant activity as compared to their respective standards. From the results, W. somnifera sliver nanoparticle has attainedthe maximum antimicrobial against clinical pathogens and also seen very good stability of nanoparticle throughput processing. As we concluded, thistype of naturally synthesized sliver nanoparticle could be a better green revolution in medicinal chemistry.Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, Silver nanoparticles, Withania somnifera

EVALUATION OF PREHYPERTENSION, HYPERTENSION AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG I YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS

  Background and Objectives: Pre-hypertension is associated with increased progression to hypertension and cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension, as well as the associated factors among Ist year medical students who are from a similar socioeconomic status, dietary habits and lifestyle.Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 137 Ist year medical students using digital blood pressure (BP) monitor on three different occasions and the average was taken and also a questionnaire was obtained to assess the associated factors and other demographic details. Data were analyzed with the use of SPSS software and results were demonstrated using descriptive tables where Chi-square test and one-way analysis was used.Result: The prevalence of elevated BP (pre-hypertension and hypertension) as per JNC 7 criteria, among the medical students was 46.7%. There was a significant association of pre-hypertension with the individual risk factor like the family history of diabetes mellitus, diet and stress.Conclusion: The study shows a significant proportion of individuals with elevated BP at a younger age, associated with risk factors such as family history of diabetes, diet and stress. Elevated BP increases the risk for the development of hypertension during adolescence. Hypertension being a disease of iceberg goes unnoticed leading to chronic disease, therefore identification at the earliest can curb the disease.Keywords: Pre-hypertension, Adolescents, Prevalence, Hypertension

Design and Implementation of Triple DES Encryption Scheme

The speed of exhaustive key searches against DES after 1990 began to cause discomfort amongst users of DES. However, users did not want to replace DES as it takes an enormous amount of time and money to change encryption algorithms that are widely adopted and embedded in large security architectures. The DES algorithm was replaced by the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The pragmatic approach was not to abandon the DES completely, but to change the manner in which DES is used. DES is often used in conjunction with Triple DES. It derives from single DES but the technique is used in triplicate and involves three sub keys and key padding when necessary, such as instances where the keys must be increased to 64 bits in length. Known for its compatibility and flexibility, software can easily be converted for Triple DES inclusion. Therefore, it may not be nearly as obsolete as deemed by NIST. This led to the modified schemes of Triple DES (sometimes known as 3DES).3DES is a way to reuse DES implementations, by chaining three instances of DES with different keys. 3DES is believed to still be secure because it requires 2^112 brute-force operations which is not achievable with foreseeable technology. While AES is a totally new encryption that uses the substitution-permutation network, 3DES is just an adaptation to the older DES encryption that relied on the balanced Feistel network. But since it is applied three times, the implementer can choose to have 3 discrete 56 bit keys, or 2identical and 1 discrete, or even three identical keys. This means that 3DES can have encryption key lengths of 168, 112, or 56 bit encryption key lengths respectively. But due to certain vulnerabilities when reapplying the same encryption thrice, it leads to slower performance. In this paper we present a pipelined implementation in VHDL, in Electronic Code Book (EBC) mode, of this commonly used Cryptography scheme with aim to improve performance. We achieve a 48-stage pipeline depth by implementing a TDES key buffer and right rotations in the DES decryption key scheduler. We design and verify our implementation using ModelSim SE 6.3f and Xilinx ISE 8.1i. We gather cost and throughput information from the synthesis and Timing results and compare the performance of our design to common implementations presented in other literatures

Motivational factors towards fast-food joint selection in under-developed country setting: A Partial Least Square and Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach

The abrupt rise in the fast food business the world over calls for research attention to the phenomenon, especially, in underdeveloped and developing economies. Research is scanty regarding the phenomenon; especially what motivates patrons to select fast food joints in under developed economies such as Ghana. The study sought to ascertain the motivational factors that actuate (or stimulate) consumers' intent to select a fast-food joint in an under-developed country setting, particularly, in Ghana, a sub-Sahara African region. Additionally, the partial goal of this survey is to examine the mediating role of convenience (CONV), and taste and preference (TASPRE) given the indirect effect of traditional advertising communication medium (ACM); Radio/Tv and word-of-mouth. Using a quantitative research approach, a structured survey questionnaire was used to intercept buyers of fast-food at vantage points in the Cape Coast metropolis in the Central region of Ghana. A non-randomized sampling technique, precisely, the convenience sampling, was adopted to consider popular fast-food joints that aided the researchers to intercept customers/buyers for the study. Results from the application of partial least square and structural equation modelling (PL-SEM) of 305 valid responses revealed that the mediation (indirect) analysis supported all the mediate-hypotheses. The research implications and future study directions are discussed in the concluding part of the paper.Internal Grant Agency of FaME through Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic [IGA/FaME/2019/008

Investigation of physicochemical properties, nutritional status, and volatile compounds profiling of four underutilized spices of Cameroon origin

In this study, four underutilized spices (fruit and ulb of Aframomum sulcatum, fruit of Xylopia africana, and bark of Hypodaphnis zenkeri) were analyzed for their physical properties, nutrients composition, and profile of volatile compounds using standard analytical methods. The protein, fat, sugar, and dietary fiber contents were analyzed. The spices were revealed to be a good source of essential amino acids and fatty acids including pentadecanoic acid. Several minerals (Mn, Mg, Ca, Fe, and K) of nutritional importance were found at various proportions. Electronic nose analysis revealed the presence of fifty-six different compounds, belonging to ten major classes (phenylpropenes, acids, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ketones, terpenes, pyrazine, sulfur-containing compounds, and ether) and also some flavor-characterizing compounds responsible for a variety of sensory descriptors. Bioactive volatile compounds like terpinen-4-ol, dimethyl trisulphide, and P-cymene were found in these spices, which can be further applied in the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals