Intra-household evaluations of alcohol abuse in men with depression and suicide in women: A cross-sectional community-based study in Chennai, India.

BACKGROUND: Harmful effects of alcohol abuse are well documented for drinkers, and adverse effects are also reported for the physical and emotional well-being of family members, with evidence often originating from either drinkers or their families in clinic-based settings. This study evaluates intra-household associations between alcohol abuse in men, and depression and suicidal attempts in women, in community-based settings of Chennai, India. METHODS: This community-based cross-sectional study of chronic disease risk factors and outcomes was conducted in n = 259 households and n = 1053 adults (aged 15 years and above) in rural and urban Chennai. The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) score was used to classify alcohol consumption into 'low-risk', 'harmful', 'hazardous' and 'alcohol dependence' drinking and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score to classify depression as 'mild', 'moderate', 'moderate-severe' and 'severe'. Multivariate logistic regression models estimated the association of depression in women with men's drinking patterns in the same household. RESULTS: A significant 2.5-fold increase in any depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 5) was observed in men who were 'alcohol-dependent' compared to non-drinkers (OR = 2.53; 95% CI: 1.26, 5.09). However, there was no association between men's drinking behavior and depression in women of the same household, although suicidal attempts approached a significant dose-response relationship with increasing hazard-level of men's drinking (p = 0.08). CONCLUSION: No significant intra-household association was observed between men's alcohol consumption and women's depression, though an increasing (non-significant) trend was associated with suicidal attempts. Complex relationships between suicidal attempts and depression in women and male abusive drinking require further exploration, with an emphasis on intra-household mechanisms and pathways

The Geographical Surroundings and Development of Cultural Civilization of Mewar

The historical developments in Mewar State were accompanied with cultural and artistic activities leading to provide historic Mewar a prominent place in terms of efforts contributed to the development and preservation of human civilization and especially Indian culture. It is evident on the basis of archeological evidence from excavation in the terrain of morrains, river vallegs and rocks that about a million years ago, human began to move from the time of ancient stone age to the pre-historic era of human civilization

Simulating Noisy, Nonparametric, and Multivariate Discrete Patterns

Requiring no analytical forms, nonparametric discrete patterns are flexible in representing complex relationships among random variables. This makes them increasingly useful for data-driven applications. However, there appears to be no software tools for simulating nonparametric discrete patterns, which prevents objective evaluation of statistical methods that discover discrete relationships from data. We present a simulator to generate nonparametric discrete functions as contingency tables. User can request strictly many-to-one functional patterns. The simulator can also produce contingency tables representing dependent non-functional and independent relationships. An option is provided to apply random noise to contingency tables. We demonstrate the utility of the simulator by showing the advantage of the FunChisq test over Pearson’s chi-square test in detecting functional patterns. This simulator, implemented in the function simulate_tables in the R package FunChisq (version 2.4.0 or greater), offers an important means to evaluate the performance of nonparametric statistical pattern discovery methods

Quality Of Life and Depression among Patients with Type I Diabetes: A Study of Gender Differences

Diabetes is a progressive chronic condition which places a significant burden of self management on the individual, such as daily monitoring and medications management, worry about the future and distress about the impact of diabetes on various aspects of life. It is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by elevated blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. The present study aimed to assess gender differences in quality of life and depression in patients suffering from type I diabetes. A sample of 70 participants (44 male and 26 female) in the age range of 40-80 years was collected from Jammu region, India. WHO Quality of life questionnaire and Beck’s Depression inventory-II were used as tools. Results indicated a significant difference on physical and psychological dimensions of quality of life and on depression across gender. The mean scores indicated that female participants had increased level of depression compared to the male participants. No significant difference was found between male and female on social and environmental dimensions of quality of life

A catastrophic case of venous air embolism in a patient undergoing posterior fossa surgery

Posterior cranial fossa surgeries pose increased risk of venous air embolism (VAE) due the associated pressure gradient. Early detection of VAE is of paramount importance to avoid the disastrous consequences. We, hereby report a case of catastrophic VAE in a 47-year-old male undergoing surgery for glioblastoma

Effect of concentration and temperature variations on interactions in (L-serine/L-valine + aqueous glucose/sucrose/lactose) systems: Viscometric and activation parametric study

Viscosities of (L-serine/L-valine + 0.1 mol dm-3 aqueous glucose/sucrose/lactose) systems have been measured as a function of molal concentration of amino acids at different temperatures; 293.15 K, 298.15 K, 303.15 K, 308.15 K and 313.15 K. The viscosity data has been utilized to determine viscosity B-coefficients employing Jones-Dole equation. The viscosity B-coefficients of transfer (ΔtrB), variation of B with temperature (dB/dT) and solvation number (Sn) of L-serine/L-valine have been obtained using the experimental viscosity values. Further, Gibbs free energy of activation of viscous flow per mole of solvent (Δµ°) as well as per mole of solute (Δµ°) along with activation enthalpy (ΔH°) and entropy (ΔS°) have been computed using Feakin’s transition state theory to throw light on the mechanism of viscous flow. The results have been discussed in terms of solute-solvent interactions; and structure making tendency of amino acid molecules in aqueous saccharides solutions

Comparative Studies on Callus Induction from Different Explants of Vanilla planifolia Andrews

ABSTRACT: An efficient callus induction protocol has been developed for Vanilla planifolia using young leaf segment, shoot tip and nodal segment as explant source. The explants were cultured after surface sterilization on modified MS medium supplemented with various combinations and concentrations of 2,4-D, NAA and BAP and tested for the callus development. Nodal segments proved to be the best explants as compared to young leaf segment and shoot tip. Maximum callus development was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mgL -1 BAP and 2.0 mgL -1 NAA

Assessment of clinical methods and ultrasound in predicting fetal birth weight in term pregnant women

Background: Birth weight is the greatest single factor in the survival of fetus and important factor of neonatal problems. Thus estimating fetal weight antenatally is important to the obstetricians to prevent respiratory morbidity and anticipate problems of shoulder dystocia. The objectives of this study were to assess the fetal weight in term pregnancies by various clinical methods and Ultrasound and to correlate these methods of estimation of fetal weight with the actual birth weight of the baby after delivery.Methods: Between January 2013 to June 2014 a prospective cross-sectional hospital based study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Central Referral Hospital, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences Gangtok. All subjects with singleton pregnancy with reliable date/dating scan, with no fetal anomalies, undergoing obstetric scan at term one week prior to delivery were included. Estimated fetal weight (EFW) was calculated by clinical method AG×SFH (Abdominal girth x Symphysiofundal height) and Johnson’s formula. Hadlock formula using Ultrasound was used. EFW were compared with the actual birth weight.Results: Two hundred women were recruited during the study period. Mean age of the women were 25.24 ±3.32 years and mean gestational age was 38.83 ± 1.10 weeks. For all the cases scan delivery interval was less than seven days. Sixty nine percent of birth weights were distributed between 2000-3500 grams. Mean birth weight of Hadlock’s formula (3240 grams) was closest to the mean of actual birth weight (3100 grams). Hadlock Formula was more accurate for birth range between 2500-3500 grams followed by AG×SFH. For Large for Gestational age babies Johnson’s Formula was found to be better. Average error in estimating fetal weight was 190.34 grams by Hadlock’s formula, 208.78 grams by AG x SFH and 290.29 grams by Johnson’s method. The difference between Hadlock’s and AG×SFH was not statistically significant (p>0.01); but for Johnson’s it was statistically significant (p<0.01). Prediction of birth weight within 10% of actual birth weight was in 81% of Cases by AG x SFH formula, 79% by Hadlock’s formula, and 47% by Johnson’s formula.Conclusions: Clinical estimation of birth weight clearly has a role in management of labour and delivery in a term pregnancy. Clinical estimation especially by SFH×AG method is as accurate as routine USG estimated in average birth weight. SFH × AG clinical formula can be of great value in developing countries like ours, where ultrasound is not available at many health care centers especially in a rural area