Effectiveness of a community-based intervention on nutrition education of mothers of malnourished children in a rural coastal area of South India.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of evidence on improvement in malnutrition status after follow-up intervention among malnourished under-five children. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to assess the effect of community-based follow-up health education intervention on the awareness level of mothers, calorie intake, protein intake, and weight gain of malnourished children. METHODS: This intervention study was conducted from December 2012 to October 2014 in three phases at rural Puducherry, coastal South India. The intervention group (57 mothers of 64 children) and control group (60 mothers of 64 children) included moderate and severely malnourished children aged 13-60 months. Children in the control group were taken from different areas and matched for age (±6 months) and sex. Health education intervention and follow-up supervision for 15 months were given to the mothers. RESULTS: Awareness level in all domains increased significantly in the intervention group. In the intervention group, 81% (52) of malnourished children turned out to normal, whereas in the control group, 64% (41) of them became normal. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean changes in the protein intake among boys (15.34 g to 19.91 g in the intervention group against 13.6 g to 16.24 g in the control group) and girls (15.09 g to 19.57 g in the intervention group against 13.36 g to 16.51 g in the control group) and calorie intake among girls (993.86 kcal to 1116.55 kcal in the intervention group against 992.65 kcal to 1078.75 kcal in the control group) between the two groups. CONCLUSION: There was comparatively marginal increase in protein intake, calories' intake, and weight gain in the intervention group.

A randomized controlled trial of topical benzoyl peroxide 2.5% gel with a low glycemic load diet versus topical benzoyl peroxide 2.5% gel with a normal diet in acne (grades 1-3).

BACKGROUND: The improvement in insulin resistance and acne lesions on low glycemic load diets in various studies suggests that diet plays a significant role in acne pathogenesis. AIMS: To compare the efficacy of a low glycemic load diet plus topical benzoyl peroxide 2.5% gel with that of only topical benzoyl peroxide 2.5% gel in grades 1, 2 and 3 of acne vulgaris. METHODS: In a randomized controlled trial, 84 patients with grades 1, 2 and 3 acne vulgaris were divided into two groups, to receive a low glycemic load diet and no dietary intervention respectively. Acne lesions (face) were scored and graded at baseline and 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and body mass index were measured during the first and last visits. Statistical analysis was done with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 17.0. RESULTS: Both groups showed significant reduction in acne counts at 12 weeks (P = 0.931) with no statistically significant difference between the groups. The differences in body mass index and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance between the groups were statistically significant (P = 0.0001). Group 1 showed reductions in body mass index and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance values at the end of the study, whereas group 2 did not. LIMITATIONS: Application of mild topical cleanser in both the groups might have contributed to the improvement in epidermal barrier function, and topical application of 2.5% of benzoyl peroxide gel in both groups contributed to the improvement in acne counts. CONCLUSIONS: A low glycemic load diet did not result in any significant improvement in acne counts.

Crystal structure of 3-(thio-phen-2-yl)-5-p-tolyl-4,5-di-hydro-1H-pyrazole-1-carbo-thio-amide.

In the title compound, C15H15N3S2, the central pyrazole ring adopts a twisted conformation on the -CH-CH2- bond. Its mean plane makes dihedral angles of 7.19 (12) and 71.13 (11)° with those of the thio-phene and toluene rings, respectively. The carbothi-amide group [C(=S)-N] is inclined to the pyrazole ring mean plane by 16.8 (2)°. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by N-H⋯S hydrogen bonds, forming chains propagating along [010]. Within the chains, there are N-H⋯π inter-actions present. Between the chains there are weak parallel slipped π-π inter-actions involving inversion-related thio-phene and pyrazole rings [inter-centroid distance = 3.7516 (14) Å; inter-planar distance = 3.5987 (10) Å; slippage = 1.06 Å].

Effect of In doping on the properties and antibacterial activity of ZnO films prepared by spray pyrolysis.

Pure and In-doped ZnO thin films were deposited onto glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique. XRD results showed that all films were polycrystalline in nature with the wurzite structure. A change in preferential orientation from (002) to (101) plane was observed with increase in content of Indium. A reduce in crystallite size was observed with increase of In content. The small sized grains with the porous nature of the film was observed from SEM analysis. AFM study depicted polycrystalline nature and uniformly distributed grains with small pores in the doped film. A decrease in band gap was noticed with increase in In content. The absence of green emission in PL spectra indicated the decreased oxygen defects. The decrease in the resistivity with increase of Hall mobility was noted for the doped film. A better antibacterial activity was observed against Staphylococcus aureus by doped ZnO thin film.

Properties of spray pyrolised ZnO:Sn thin films and their antibacterial activity.

Tin doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Sn) thin films were deposited onto glass substrates by the spray pyrolysis technique with the substrate temperature 400 °C. The structural, optical, photoluminescence (PL) properties and morphological studies were investigated for the films deposited with various doping concentration (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 at.%) of tin. The XRD results had shown that the films were polycrystalline ZnO with hexagonal wurtzite type structure and the crystallites in the films were oriented along (002) direction. Surface morphology of the films obtained by scanning electron microscope (SEM) exhibited the change in morphology with doping concentration and porous nature for the film with 6 at.% of tin. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed nanometer sized particles with decreased surface roughness for Sn doping. Optical analysis exhibited the band gap value of 2.8 eV for ZnO:Sn (6 at.%) which was lower than the band gap value for undoped ZnO film (3.2 eV). The resistivity of 6 at.% of Sn doped film was 1.28×10(2) Ω cm with increase in the hall mobility and carrier concentration. The ZnO and Sn doped ZnO thin films exhibited antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus.