Prevalence of hypertension and associated risk factors in urban slums: A community based cross sectional study in India.

Hypertension is a global public health issue. Being a silent killer, very rarely symptoms are seen in the early stages till a severe medical crisis (heart attack, stroke, or chronic kidney disease) occurs. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of hypertension in urban slums and to evaluate the association of hypertension with various modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors. Data were collected by house-to-house visits in the slums. Pro forma created in the Magpi app was used to collect demographic characteristics and record anthropometric findings. SPSS version 25 was used for statistical analysis. Of the 534 participants, 71.91% were female. The prevalence of hypertension was found to be 15.36%. The risk of hypertension increased with age >50 years, female gender, and habits such as tobacco and alcohol. Awareness programs to reduce modifiable risk factors such as smoking and alcohol, promoting healthy lifestyles, as well as early diagnosis and treatment, will benefit the community.

Optical Identification of Materials Transformations in Oxide Thin Films.

Recent advances in high-throughput experimentation for combinatorial studies have accelerated the discovery and analysis of materials across a wide range of compositions and synthesis conditions. However, many of the more powerful characterization methods are limited by speed, cost, availability, and/or resolution. To make efficient use of these methods, there is value in developing approaches for identifying critical compositions and conditions to be used as a priori knowledge for follow-up characterization with high-precision techniques, such as micrometer-scale synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction (XRD). Here, we demonstrate the use of optical microscopy and reflectance spectroscopy to identify likely phase-change boundaries in thin film libraries. These methods are used to delineate possible metastable phase boundaries following lateral-gradient laser spike annealing (lg-LSA) of oxide materials. The set of boundaries are then compared with definitive determinations of structural transformations obtained using high-resolution XRD. We demonstrate that the optical methods detect more than 95% of the structural transformations in a composition-gradient La-Mn-O library and a Ga2O3 sample, both subject to an extensive set of lg-LSA anneals. Our results provide quantitative support for the value of optically detected transformations as a priori data to guide subsequent structural characterization, ultimately accelerating and enhancing the efficient implementation of micrometer-resolution XRD experiments.

ROP examination of premature babies at an eye hospital referred from urban and semi-urban NICUs.

INTRODUCTION: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is seen in low gestational age (GA) and birth weight (BW) babies leading to retinal vascular damage. Screening of preterm would help in early identification of this, sight-threatening disease. Multiple factors play an important role in planning screening strategies for these preterm. The objective of this study was done to find the differences and the reasons affecting the proportion of ROP distribution between urban and semi-urban regions in North India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective, comparative study, all babies referred for ROP examination by paediatricians or other general ophthalmologists between 2013 to 2016 were included in the study. Demographic, clinical and treatment related findings were recorded. RESULTS: Five hundred and fifty eight babies (467: urban and 91: semi urban) were examined for ROP. The mean BW in urban and semi-urban settings was 1348.6 ± 395.21 gm and 1703.77 ± 401.76 gm respectively. The mean GA was 30.99 ± 2.93 weeks and 30.73 ± 2.08 weeks in the urban and semi-urban cohorts respectively. The average time for first ophthalmic examination following birth was 23.82 ± 13.69 (range: 3-77) days in urban and 101.16 ± 238.26 (range: 13- 330) days in semi-urban settings. 94% of the babies completed all screening examination visits. Any ROP was identified in 12% and 33.0% of urban and semi-urban cohorts respectively; Type 1 was detected in 7.5% of urban babies and 24% of semi-urban babies. CONCLUSION: Proportion of ROP in the urban region was 3 times lesser than the semiurban region. Differences in proportion of babies developing any ROP and Type 1 ROP between semi-urban and urban groups is likely due to selection bias, as a high proportion of semi-urban babies did not attend for examination or failed to complete all the examinations necessary. This was particularly true for females. More needs to be done to increase access to regular, systematic screening of preterm babies within neonatal units.

Screening for Thalassemia Carrier Status in Pregnancy and Pre-Natal Diagnosis.

This hospital-based study reports the results of antenatal screening for thalassemia in pregnant women visiting a hospital in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. Eighty-eight (5.9%) of 1500 women screened for thalassemia had thalassemia trait. Twenty at-risk couples were identified and two fetuses were detected to be having thalassemia major.

Role of acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II scoring system in determining the severity and prognosis of critically ill patients in pediatric intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to validate the use of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scoring system in pediatric population in predicting the risk of mortality and to compare the predicted death rate (using APACHE II) with the actual death rate of the patients. DESIGN: Hospital-based prospective study. SETTING: Tertiary care Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Western Rajasthan, India. METHODS: A total of 100 critically ill children between 1 and 18 years of age admitted to PICU and fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled. APACHE II score was calculated in each patient on the day of admission. The predicted mortality was calculated on the basis of this score. RESULTS: The mean APACHE II score was 21.35 ± 5.76. Mean APACHE II score among the survivors was 16.60 ± 6.12, and mean APACHE II score among the nonsurvivors was 26.11 ± 5.41, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.00). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for APACHE II score was found to be 0.889 (P = 0.008) indicating good discrimination. CONCLUSION: APACHE II scoring system has a good discrimination and calibration when applied to a pediatric population.