Defluoridation of Ground Water Using Activated Carbon of Ber (Indian Jujube) Leaves

The present study deals with defluoridation of ground water using activated carbon of ber (Indian jujube) leaves. In this study, Activated Ber leaves carbon (ABLC) prepared by heating the leaves in electric furnace was found to be useful for the removal of fluoride. Batch experiments were applied on water sample to study the influence of pH, adsorbent dose and contact time on adsorption efficiency. Fluoride removal reached a maximum of 72.5% by particle size 0.3mm of ABLC at pH 6.0. The adsorption of fluoride from aqueous solution with ABLC followed Freundlich equation. The values of adsorption capacity (K) and intensity of adsorption (1/n) indicate greater affinity for fluoride. Thermally activated Ber leaves carbon (ABLC) was good adsorbent

Clinical Profile of Patients with Pseudo-Exfoliation Syndrome Undergoing Small Incision Cataract Surgery

Background and Aim: Pseudoexfoliation (PXF) syndrome is an age-related process of unknown etiology characterized by the deposition of distinctive fibrillar material in the anterior segment of the eye. The material is commonly deposited in the anterior chamber, angle of the eye, iris, trabecular meshwork, anterior capsule of the lens, and also the cornea. The current study set out to determine the prevalence of pseudoexfoliation in all patients aged 40 and above, as well as the degree of pseudoexfoliation\u27s involvement in the eyes. Material and Methods: The current study is a cross-sectional analysis hospital-based study conducted at the ophthalmology department of the medical college and its affiliated hospital. There were hundred patients in the research. The professionals in the field of the research issue produced the structure questioner. Sociodemographic information about the patient, including age, sex, and a thorough medical history, was noted. The following were included in the visual clinical examination: Visual Acuity testing utilizing Snellen\u27s chart to determine the distance to and proximity to an object, Refraction, An external examination of the eyes and Biomicroscopy with Slit Lamp. Intraocular Pressure (IOP) was measured using an on-contact tonometer following surgery. Results: Fifty Six patients had bilateral distribution, 44 patients had unilateral pseudo exfoliation material. Four of the individuals had an IOP between 11 and 13 mmHg. Twenty-two patients had an IOP ranging from 13 to 15 mmg. There were 4 patients with an IOP in the range of 15–17 mmHg and 48 patients with an IOP in the range of 17–19 mmHg. Twenty-two patients fell between 19 and 21 mmHg in the IOP range. Conclusion: Preoperative risk factors such as zonular weakness, inadequate mydriasis, phacodonesis, and subluxation/dislocation of the cataractous lens should be closely monitored in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome and cataract scheduled for short incision cataract surgery, as they have the potential to impact the surgical result

Predicting the long-term impact of antiretroviral therapy scale-up on population incidence of tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on long-term population-level tuberculosis disease (TB) incidence in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: We used a mathematical model to consider the effect of different assumptions about life expectancy and TB risk during long-term ART under alternative scenarios for trends in population HIV incidence and ART coverage. RESULTS: All the scenarios we explored predicted that the widespread introduction of ART would initially reduce population-level TB incidence. However, many modelled scenarios projected a rebound in population-level TB incidence after around 20 years. This rebound was predicted to exceed the TB incidence present before ART scale-up if decreases in HIV incidence during the same period were not sufficiently rapid or if the protective effect of ART on TB was not sustained. Nevertheless, most scenarios predicted a reduction in the cumulative TB incidence when accompanied by a relative decline in HIV incidence of more than 10% each year. CONCLUSIONS: Despite short-term benefits of ART scale-up on population TB incidence in sub-Saharan Africa, longer-term projections raise the possibility of a rebound in TB incidence. This highlights the importance of sustaining good adherence and immunologic response to ART and, crucially, the need for effective HIV preventive interventions, including early widespread implementation of ART

A Survey on Brain Tumor Classification & Detection Techniques

A cancerous or non-cancerous mass or growth of abnormal cells in the brain. The research shows that in developed countries the main cause of death of people having brain tumor is incorrect detection of brain tumor. The X-ray, CT, MRI is used for initial diagnostic of the cancer. Today Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is widely used technique for the detection of brain tumor because it provides the more details then CT. The classification of tumor as a cancerous (malignant) or non cancerous (benign) is very difficult task due to the complexity of brain tissue. In this paper, review of various techniques of classification and detection of brain tumor with the use of Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) is discussed

Drug utilization study of anti-hypertensive drugs and prescription pattern adherence with joint national committee-8 guideline

Background: Hypertension is a major and serious non-communicable disease. It is also a major risk factor for cerebrovascular strokes, coronary artery thrombosis, and renal failure. The overall prevalence of hypertension in India is 29.8%. Joint national committee-8 guidelines on prevention, detection, evaluation, and treatment of high blood pressure highlight that aggressive blood pressure control is essential for the reduction of hypertension-associated morbidity and mortality.Methods: It was a cross-sectional, observational study. Prescriptions were collected from four pharmacy stores located in four different areas of Ahmedabad over a period of 2 months. These were analysed along with relevant co-morbidities and, the level of prescription pattern adherence was assessed as per JNC 8 guidelines. Appropriate statistical tests were applied for analyses of collected data.Results: A total of 321 prescriptions were collected. Out of them, 186(57.9%) were prescribed to male patients while 135 (42.1%) were for female patients. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure was found to be 152 mmHg and 91 mmHg respectively. The mean age of the patients was found to be 44.63 years. A total of 209 (65.1%), 91 (28.34%), 21 (6.54%) prescriptions had monotherapy, dual therapy, and polytherapy for treating hypertension respectively. Amlodipine (CCBs) was found to be the most commonly prescribed medicine as a monotherapy. The overall adherence rate was found to be 77.88%.Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that medical professionals are not completely adhering to standard guidelines while prescribing antihypertensive drugs. There is substantial scope for improvement, particularly the utilization of antihypertensive agents in patients of the pre-hypertension category, where non-pharmacological measures play an important role to treat the condition.

Avoidance, biomass and survival response of soil dwelling (endogeic) earthworms to OECD artificial soil: potential implications for earthworm ecotoxicology

Soil dwelling earthworms are now adopted more widely in ecotoxicology, so it is vital to establish if standardised test parameters remain applicable. The main aim of this study was to determine the influence of OECD artificial soil on selected soil-dwelling, endogeic earthworm species. In an initial experiment, biomass change in mature Allolobophora chlorotica was recorded in Standard OECD Artificial Soil (AS) and also in Kettering Loam (KL). In a second experiment, avoidance behaviour was recorded in a linear gradient with varying proportions of AS and KL (100% AS, 75% AS + 25% KL, 50% KS + 50% KL, 25% AS + 75% KL, 100% KL) with either A. chlorotica or Octolasion cyaneum. Results showed a significant decrease in A. chlorotica biomass in AS relative to KL, and in the linear gradient, both earthworm species preferentially occupied sections containing higher proportions of KL over AS. Soil texture and specifically % composition and particle size of sand are proposed as key factors that influenced observed results. This research suggests that more suitable substrates are required for ecotoxicology tests with soil dwelling earthworms

Non-Hermitian skin effects on many-body localized and thermal phases

Localization in one-dimensional interacting systems can be caused by disorder potentials or non-Hermiticity. The former phenomenon is the many-body localization (MBL), and the latter is the many-body non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE). In this work, we numerically investigate the interplay between these two kinds of localization, where the energy-resolved MBL arises from a deterministic quasiperiodic potential in a fermionic chain. We propose a set of eigenstate properties and long-time dynamics that can collectively distinguish the two localization mechanisms in the presence of non-Hermiticity. By computing the proposed diagnostics, we show that the thermal states are vulnerable to the many-body NHSE while the MBL states remain resilient up to a strong non-Hermiticity. Finally, we discuss experimental observables that can probe the difference between the two localizations in a non-Hermitian quasiperiodic fermionic chain. Our results pave the way toward experimental observations on the interplay of interaction, quasiperiodic potential, and non-Hermiticity.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Routine versus early nasogastric decompression in gastrointestinal surgeries: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Traditionally nasogastric decompression is carried out in post operatively in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. The purpose of the study is to assess the benefits of nasogastric decompression in the early postoperative period as compared to routine nasogastric decompression in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgeries. Objectives: To assess the benefits of nasogastric decompression in the early postoperative period as compared to routine nasogastric decompression in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgeries, to assess the complications associated with nasogastric tube insertion, and to assess the effect of early nasogastric tube removal on the patients’ postoperative morbidity and comfort level.Methods: This was a randomized control trial done in the Shree Sayajirao General Hospital, Vadodara.  According to patient flow and previous study details the estimated sample size was 300 patients. Patient allotment was 150 patients in each group. Patients admitted on odd dates will be followed for routine nasogastric decompression, and patients admitted on even dates will be followed for early nasogastric decompression. Inclusion criteria for the study include laparotomies performed by any abdominal incisions on emergency as well as elective bases. Variables to be studied were patient comfort (according to patient’s opinion), vomiting (episodes, type, amount, content, on which post-operative day), abdominal distension, appearance of normal bowel sounds, passage of flatus and/or stools (according to patient’s history), incidence of aspiration pneumonia and total duration of the hospital stay with wound complications. Data will be processed and analyzed by chi square test and t-test.Results: In the study total 300 patients were included. No significant difference between both the groups in case of postoperative vomiting with p- value of 0.6028 (i.e. p > 0.05) and abdominal distension with p- value of 0.5183 (i.e. p > 0.05). Significant difference seen in the appearance of the bowel sound in post-operative period with p- value of 0.0002 (i.e. p < 0.05) and passage of flatus or stool with p-value of <0.0001. In case of early decompression group mean postoperative day for the suture removal was 11.9 days and for routine decompression group it was 12.3 days, the difference was statistically significant with p- value of 0.0006 (i.e. p < 0.05). The mean for the total hospital stay for early decompressed group was 10.04 days and for routine decompression group it was 10.47 days which was highly statically significant with p- value of 0.0001 (i.e. p < 0.05). Post-operative wound complication which was statically significance with p-value of 0.0394 (i.e. p < 0.05) and respiratory complications was also significant with p-value of 0.0367 (i.e. p < 0.05). In case of early decompression post-operative nausea, vomiting and abdominal distention were higher but not significant statistically.Conclusions: Early removal of Ryle’s tube leads to less incidence of respiratory complications and wound complications ultimately early suture removal and less hospital stay. Early removal of Ryle’s tube leads to early resolution of postoperative paralytic ileus indicated by early appearance of bowel sounds and early passage of flatus and stool.

Interferon regulatory factor-1 (irf-1) shapes both innate and cd8 + t cell immune responses against west nile virus infection

Interferon regulatory factor (IRF)-1 is an immunomodulatory transcription factor that functions downstream of pathogen recognition receptor signaling and has been implicated as a regulator of type I interferon (IFN)-αβ expression and the immune response to virus infections. However, this role for IRF-1 remains controversial because altered type I IFN responses have not been systemically observed in IRF-1 -/- mice. To evaluate the relationship of IRF-1 and immune regulation, we assessed West Nile virus (WNV) infectivity and the host response in IRF-1 -/- cells and mice. IRF-1 -/- mice were highly vulnerable to WNV infection with enhanced viral replication in peripheral tissues and rapid dissemination into the central nervous system. Ex vivo analysis revealed a cell-type specific antiviral role as IRF-1 -/- macrophages supported enhanced WNV replication but infection was unaltered in IRF-1 -/- fibroblasts. IRF-1 also had an independent and paradoxical effect on CD8 + T cell expansion. Although markedly fewer CD8 + T cells were observed in naïve animals as described previously, remarkably, IRF-1 -/- mice rapidly expanded their pool of WNV-specific cytolytic CD8 + T cells. Adoptive transfer and in vitro proliferation experiments established both cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic effects of IRF-1 on the expansion of CD8 + T cells. Thus, IRF-1 restricts WNV infection by modulating the expression of innate antiviral effector molecules while shaping the antigen-specific CD8 + T cell response

Occurrence of depression, anxiety and stress among medical students working during COVID Pandemic

Background: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, medical students have been allotted various duties like rapid antigen testing, Sanjivani corona ghar seva (service provided by the government for home quarantine people), RTPCR swab collection, and posting in wards and intensive care units (ICUs). While executing the COVID-19 duties, students had a significant degree of a significant degree of ambiguity and apprehension. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychological impact of COVID-19 on medical students performing COVID-19 duties.Methods: A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional observational study was conducted among undergraduate and postgraduate students of a tertiary care teaching hospital, who were deployed on COVID-19 duty during pandemic. A google form-based questionnaire was structured, encompassing demographic details, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire and other (additional) COVID-19 duty related questions. The analysis of data was done by using unpaired t-test and chi-square test in Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0Results: In our research study, we found that occurrence of depression, anxiety, and stress was 40.46%, 48.37%, and 30.69% among the medical students during COVID -19 duty, respectively. Higher occurrence and more severity (p<0.01) of depression, anxiety and stress was seen in female medical students during COVID-19 duty in pandemic.Conclusions: We observed a higher occurrence of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical students while performing their COVID-19 duty in a pandemic. Medical students played a significant role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, measures should be taken to ensure the psychological wellbeing of medical students.