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INTRODUCTION: During the COVID-19 lockdown, India saw a major restriction in the movement of people. Patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) required early interventions and follow-up of independent predictors like symptom-to-balloon (STB) time and door-to-balloon (DTB) time. This study aimed to determine changes in STB and DTB time before and after the COVID-19 lockdown and its associated risk factors. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study of 105 patients admitted to the cardiac care units (CCU) of two tertiary care centers in a district of Southern India for six months was conducted to compare the changes in STB and DTB time before and after the COVID-19 lockdown (three months before March 2020 and three months after March 2020), and data was collected from medical records. The data collected was then entered into Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Washington, USA), numerically coded, and analyzed using SPSS Statistics version 21 (IBM Corp. Released 2012. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). The Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests assessed the association between the dependent and independent variables. The STB/DTB time (before and after the COVID-19 lockdown) was the dependent variable, while the age, gender, co-morbidities, smoking status, and date of admission of patients (before and after the COVID-19 lockdown) were taken as the independent variables. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The predictor variables were identified using the regression method, where all variables with a significance of <0.2 were taken. RESULTS: The overall mean (±SD) STB time was 408.7 (±307.1) minutes, and the mean (±SD) DTB time was 161.7 (±261.6) minutes. The pre-lockdown mean STB time was 404.6 minutes, and the mean DTB time was 153 minutes, whereas the post-lockdown mean STB and DTB time were higher at 413.3 minutes and 171.6 minutes, respectively. Out of the total 105 patients, 95 (90.5%) had an STB time of ≥120 minutes, and 77 (73.3%) had an ideal DTB time of <90 minutes. There was no statistically significant variation in the STB and DTB time before and after the lockdown. Only the age group >60 years (38 (97.4%)) was found to be statistically significant with an STB time of ≥120 minutes after the lockdown (p-value=0.040), and patients referred from primary and secondary care centers (AOR (95% CI)=4.669 (1.129-19.298)) were found to be an independent factor in reducing DTB time before and after the COVID-19 lockdown. CONCLUSION: The efficiency of the health system, irrespective of the COVID-19 lockdown, was observed; nevertheless, a delay in the overall recognition of symptoms of MI was perceived. The importance of time factors in identifying the symptoms of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), especially MI and stroke, has to be ascertained among the general population.
RESUMO
Globally, the demand for energy from renewable sources is growing due to the increasing electricity consumption and the pollution of fossil fuels. The government has framed various policies to facilitate green energy generation, encouraging renewable energy source usage through PV installations in multiple sectors, including educational institutions. The primary objective of this paper is to propose a methodological approach for analysing the performance of the installed PV system on the rooftop of a university building in Tamil Nadu, India. The site selected is favourable for electricity generation from PV systems with an average global solar radiation of 5.82 kWh/m2day. Solar energy changes periodically with annual and daily variations and is not steady due to seasonal changes. The step-by-step performance assessment and the annual performance of the 100-kW solar PV system, which was instituted in 2019, with the forecasted parameters, are presented in this paper. Therefore, the assessment analysis is carried out in four phases: feasibility assessment, Energy yield assessment, Life cycle assessment, and Power quality assessment. To improve the solar PV output and efficiency, considering the solar irradiation, temperature, wind velocity, etc., PV yield is measured to evaluate the PV system's energy metrics. This paper also considers the carbon credits earned, solar power generated in the location, and the payback period. The power quality assessment is carried out in this paper to test the PV plant's compliance with effective grid integration.
RESUMO
Introduction Geohelminthic infections are the most common infections worldwide and affect the poorest and most deprived communities. School-age children typically have the highest intensity of worm infection. Currently, information on the prevalence of geohelminthic infestations among schoolchildren is scarce in Kerala. As a result, it would be worthwhile to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of a geohelminthic infestation among schoolchildren in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district. Materials and methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 454 primary school children (5-10 years) in the Thiruvananthapuram district. Samples were selected by stratified multi-stage sampling, and the data were collected using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. The stool examination was performed for each study subject, and the data were recorded. Results The overall prevalence of geohelminthic infections was 9.69% (95% confidence interval: 5.62-14.61), with Ascaris (A.) lumbricoides accounting for 5.7%, Trichuris (T.) trichiura accounting for 3.3%, and hookworm accounting for 0.7%. Children residing in rural areas (odds ratio (OR): 40.16; 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.28-305.3), studying in government schools (OR: 3.06 with 95% CI: 1.55-6.05), and using piped water as a source of drinking water (OR: 1.96; 95% CI: 1.01-3.77) were found to be significant and had emerged as risk factors for geohelminthic infestation. Children wearing footwear while playing outside (OR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.39-1.5) and having personal hygiene class in school (OR: 0.34; 95% CI: 0.14-0.83) were found to be significant and had emerged as protective factors for geohelminthic infestations. Conclusion The prevalence of geohelminthic infestations among schoolchildren in this study was 9.7%. The individual species prevalence of A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and hookworm were 5.7%, 3.3%, and 0.7%, respectively. In addition to geohelminthic infestation, this study discovered a prevalence of 0.9% with Enterobius vermicularis. The factors found to be significantly associated with geohelminthic infestation after doing multivariate analysis were children belonging to government schools, residing in rural areas, and using piped water as a source of drinking water.
RESUMO
Anticancer approaches may employ change of molecular structure to enhance preventive influence of chemical agents. The present examination concerned the potential anticancer impact of modified heterocyclic compounds. A strategy was developed to combine tetrazole moieties from different diamines with 2-aminobenzoic and substituted benzoyl chloride compounds with attention to synthesis, characterization and assessment of cancer preventive activity, applying IR, 1HNMR, 13CNMR and Mass spectra.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In India, indigenous cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) are mainly confined to the northwestern region. But now, more and more case reports are coming in from other parts of India. In January 2009, a 26-year-old lady residing in a forest area in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala State presented with bluish red nodules on her upper extremities, of six months duration, which was clinically more in favor of cutaneous leishmaniasis. She had never gone out of the district of Thiruvananthapuram in her life. AIM: To investigate whether the patient hails from a new endemic focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis. SETTING AND DESIGN: An epidemiological investigation in the form of a survey was carried out in March 2009 by a multidisciplinary team among 63 persons residing in the Mele Aamala and Aayiramkala forest tribal settlements in Kuttichal Panchayat of Thiruvananthapuram district. MATERIAL AND METHODS: History taking and clinical examination of 38 persons in the area with special consideration to skin lesions was undertaken. Microbiological and histopathological examination of the skin lesions was done. Breeding places of sand fly and possible reservoirs of Leishmania were also simultaneously investigated. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: The data obtained was tabulated as frequency and percentage. Chi-square test was done to find out the statistical significance of differences in distributions. RESULTS: Out of the 38 persons examined, active lesions were found in 12 persons and six had healed lesions. Tissue samples were obtained from seven out of the 12 suspected cases. Four of them showed Leishman Donovan (LD) bodies in tissue smears. Out of the cultures taken from three patients, one showed promastigote forms in Novy McNeal Nicolle (NNN) medium. Histopathological study was done in five patients and two patients had LD bodies, one had epithelioid cell granuloma and the other two had mixed infiltrate with predominantly macrophages. All the three investigations were carried out in three patients and out of them one showed positivity in all the three investigations and the rest two were positive in tissue smear and histopathological examination. Sandflies collected from the area gave an indirect evidence of its role in the disease transmission in the area. CONCLUSION: The clinical, microbiological and histopathological evaluation of the skin lesions was consistent with cutaneous leishmaniasis. But none of the patients gave history of travel outside the district before the onset of the disease and no one had newly moved into this area within the last two years. So this may be considered as probably a new focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis.
