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Background Non-adherence is major factor in failure of any drug regimen. The significance of non-adherence is so much that WHO states that increasing the effectiveness of Adherence Interventions may have far greater impact on health of population than any improvement in specific medical treatments. Incidence of non-adherence to Anti Tubercular Treatment (ATT) usually ranges from 8.4% to 55.8%. This study aims to find out the reasons of Non-adherence to ATT in patients receiving anti-tubercular treatment at DIRECTLY OBSERVED TREATMENT SHORTCOURSE (DOTS) Centre at District Tuberculosis Centre (DTC), Kalibadi, Raipur during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Pharmacology, Pt. JNM Medical College and DTC Kalibadi Raipur. 55 Patients taking ATT fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria were interviewed using structured questionnaire. The data obtained was analysed to know causes of non-adherence. Results Study was carried out between March & April 2020. In our study, 80% subjects were male and 20% were female. The main reasons for Non-adherence were Side-effects of drug in 36% cases, missing medication intentionally in 34% cases, lack of encouragement by family members in 32% cases, patient's unawareness of consequences of skipping medication in 25% cases, unaware of treatment duration in 22%, not feeling any change, forgetting to take medication, and burden of concomitant medication besides ATT, each in 20% cases, 13% cases had difficulty in procuring medication due to lockdown, 5% cases did not go to collect their medicine due to fear of contracting COVID-19 infection. Conclusions Our study shows reasons for Non-adherence are multi-factorial with drug side –effects & intentionally skipping medication being major factors.

Introduction Surgical site infection (SSI) is the commonest preventable health care–associated infection among postoperative cases. Several guidelines are available for surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP) and other measures which prevent SSI. National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), India, has also provided a guideline for prevention of SSI in 2016. In this study we have compared the NCDC, India, guideline with WHO (World health organization) and American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) guidelines. The timing of antimicrobial agent administration is the only parameter which is included in all the three guidelines. As per NCDC and ASHP it should be within 60 minutes of incision while as per WHO it is within 120 minutes of incision. Materials and Methods This was a prospective observational study—104 patients undergoing surgery in general surgical ward between January 2016 and June 2017 were included in this study. The NCDC guideline was compared with WHO and ASHP guidelines. Real data comparison was done for those parameters which were included in all the three guidelines. Statistical Analysis Data were analyzed using descriptive methods and chi-square test. Results None of the patients in our study received SAP within 60 minutes of incision. In 70% cases it was administered within 2 hours of incision and in the remaining 30% it was administered after more than 2 hours. There was no significant difference in the incidence of SSI among these two groups. Conclusion NCDC SAP guideline helps in rational use of antimicrobials. Increasing the duration for SAP may be added in the NCDC guidelines. Inclusion of certain additional parameters like weight-based doses and consideration for other comorbidities will help in patient- and procedure-specific SAP. Antimicrobial stewardship should be encouraged in all the hospitals and should follow local antimicrobial resistance pattern. This will assist in therapy decision, policy making, and evidence-based treatment.

Background: Cognitive functions are mental series of activities that allow us to carry out any activity. The most important cognitive functions are orientation, attention, memory, executive functions, language, and visuospatial skills. Cognitive impairment is a prevalent consequence of stroke. The prognosis of stroke recovery can be estimated through the severity of cognitive impairment. The objective of this research work was to compare the changes in cognitive functions of post-stroke patients with the computerbased cognitive intervention (CBCI) using the PABLO system and conventional cognitive intervention (CCI) using the paper-pencil method. Methods: A total of 80 stroke patients with cognitive impairment were selected and divided into two groups. Group A received intervention through PABLO System (CBCI), and Group B received the cognitive intervention through the Paper Pencil method (CCI). Pre and post-assessment of cognitive functions like verbal fluency, language, orientation and attention, memory, visuospatial, and mini-mental state examination for both groups were done by Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination-revised (ACE-R) scale. Result: After the intervention of 4 weeks, patients of both groups showed improvement in cognitive functions. However, group A scored higher in comparison to group B. Conclusion: Data suggest that both the interventions will bring changes in cognitive functions of post-stroke patients, but CBCI may be much more effective in improving the cognitive functions of stroke patients.

Background: All drugs profoundly modify our biological processes and may manifest as adverse drug reactions (ADRs), which are unpredictable and inevitable consequences. Antibiotics are a common cause of ADR, necessitating stopping or change of antibiotics. The incidence of ADRs increases with the number of drugs prescribed in a prescription, and antibiotics are rarely prescribed as monotherapy.Aim: The study aimed to assess frequency, class of antibiotics, symptoms, causality, the severity of antimicrobial-associated ADRs, and see the demographic distribution.Methods: ADRs were collected and filled in suspected ADR forms and sent via vigiflow to the National Coordination Centre-Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (NCC-PvPI). These ADR reports, termed individual case safety reports (ICSRs), were analyzed from Jan 2016 to Dec 2019.Results: A total of 414 (54.33%) ICSRs of 762 were identified as antimicrobial-associated. Adults in the age group 19–65 years accounted for 345 (83.09%) of ADRs. A total of 192 (46.38%) were males, and 222 (53.14%) were females. Skin and subcutaneous tissue System organ class was involved in 54% of cases. In the causality assessment, 268 (64.49%) were “probable,” 123 (29.71%) were “possible,” and 23 (5.56%) were “certain.” On severity assessment, 256 ADRs (61.83%) were mild, 133 (32.12%) were moderate, and 25 (6.03%) were severe. A total of 54 antimicrobial agents, excluding anti-tubercular drugs, were identified, and antibacterial accounted for 268 (64.73%) ADRs, followed by antiviral 90 (21.73%), antiprotozoal agents 33 (7.97%) antimalarials anti-scabicidal, antifungal accounting for the remaining.Conclusion: Antimicrobials play a crucial role in treating infections, and utmost vigilance during antimicrobials prescription reduces the frequency and severity of the ADRs, thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality and the pharmacoeconomic burden to the health care system. Pharmacovigilance must be boosted to ensure the safe and effective use of antibiotics and reduce the occurrence of ADRs.

Background: Cognitive impairment as a consequence of stroke is a major cause affecting the patient’s functional independence, activity participation, daily living skills, and occupation. Almost 75% of post-stroke patients are diagnosed with significant cognitive impairment, which includes problems with attention, orientation, memory, language, and perception. Along with effective pharmaceutical cures, cognitive intervention as a part of rehabilitation approaches that may prevent, delay, or treat cognitive impairment is becoming increasingly important. Many studies have reported improvement in cognitive functions of post-stroke patients after using computer-based cognitive intervention (CBCI). CBCI can be an effective add-on to available rehabilitation programs. Objective: This article provides reviews related to relevant literature and, represents a structure to specify the efficacy of CBCI for the rehabilitation of post-stroke patients for future research. Methods: We searched many search engines namely MEDLINE, Web of Science, clinical key and The Cochrane Library, for studies investigating the effect of cognitive intervention based on a computer program for post-stroke patients. The results of selected studies were summarized. Total 19 publications from January 2007 to January 2019 are included in this review. The search terms entered were a combination of these search areas that defined (1) the population as adults who had suffered a stroke and cognitive dysfunction, (2) intervention search term included cognitive abilities, cognitive training, and computer-based training; computer-based cognitive intervention for rehabilitation. Results: The results after computer-based training showed improvement in various cognitive functions such as; memory, attention and executive functions of post-stroke patients. However, a significant difference between the study groups has not been observed in all the studies. Most studies analyzed in this research project indicated that such interventions might contribute to the improvement of cognitive function, especially attention concentration and memory. Of the 19 kinds of research that discussed CBCI outcomes 18 found significant improvements for one or more cognitive functions. When the effect size for CBCI was reported, effects were large in comparison to other traditional cognitive interventions of post-stroke patients. Conclusion: Studies related to cognitive functions strongly support CBCI except few have reported a significant difference. The review of all the studies suggests that CBCI may help to change the functional aspect of post-stroke patients by improving their cognitive functions. In this field, it is a challenge to conduct well designed and sufficiently powered studies due to low budgets availability, the limited number of available patients, heterogeneity of the population, and ethical considerations. Future studies should examine all the challenges, limitations, and valuable insights into the study and emphasize the need for a carefully designed computer-based cognitive intervention program for the future. Future studies should target to compare CBCI with active and passive control conditions and include a larger sample size.

Background: The objective of the present study was to examine the etiological factors, both maternal and fetal, that caused IUFD. Methods: It was a hospital based prospective observational study conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Jhalawar Medical College from January 2020 to December 2020. 120 cases of IUFD of ?24 weeks of gestation or foetuses weighing ?500 gramswere included in the study. Results: The incidence of IUFD was 37.8/1000 total birth. IUFD occurredmainly in 25-35yrs age group (55%), unbooked cases (70%),multigravida (59.2%), preterm (

This study examined the relationship between music preferences (MP), listening styles (LS), functions of music (FoM), perceived rasa (music) and personality traits (PT – Big Five Factors). A sample of 77 young adults (M = 39; F = 38; M = 22.7 years) completed measures of the above constructs and data were analysed via correlations, one-way ANOVA, post hoc tests, and T-tests. Significant correlations were found between LS and PT; MP and PT; FoM and PT; FoM and emotion; and LS and FoM. Findings indicated stronger preferences for genres namely Romantic songs, Soft songs and Filmy (Sad) songs. Gender difference existed in terms of MP, perceived emotions and LS. Music listening mainly served as a ‘source of pleasure and enjoyment’ and which ‘calms, motivates, or reminds of past events’. Musical genres inducing santoṣa rasa were perceived significantly higher in female participants. Based on the findings, a ‘music engagement model for Young Adults’ describing their music behaviour, have been proposed.

INTRODUCTION: Pharmacogenomics is a growing field of science that explores the genetic contributions in an individual's response to the drug, so as to choose the right drug in the right doses tailored to a patient's genetic makeup. Although pharmacogenomics information is incorporated in chapters discussing relevant drugs, it has not been materialized into clinical practice yet and still, it remains a challenge due to limited knowledge and accessibility of the pharmacogenomic tests to diagnose these polymorphisms. With this background, the objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and perception of pharmacogenomics among second-year MBBS students and to sensitize them regarding pharmacogenomics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done in which 138 medical students responded to a preformed semi-structured assessment tool. It comprised two main components (1) knowledge and (2) relevance of pharmacogenomics in medical education and clinical practice. RESULTS: Ninety-five percent students defined pharmacogenomics correctly, but only 54% were aware of genetic variations in drug targets, metabolizing enzymes, and transporters affecting drug therapy. Only 15% knew about the availability of pharmacogenomics tests in India. Eighty-four percent of students felt that incorporating pharmacogenomics education in the MBBS curriculum is a must for precision medicine. CONCLUSION: Second-year MBBS students had good knowledge of pharmacogenomics, but knowledge about the application in clinical practice and interpretation of pharmacogenomics was limited. Therefore, we recommend (1) basic pharmacogenomic education at all levels of medical curricula, (2) development of case-based knowledge application modules, (3) regular continuing medical education to update about available screening tools/biomarkers, and (4) patient and public awareness programs so that they receive personalized/precision medicine with optimum efficacy and reduced side effects and health-care costs.

© 2017 Regional Studies AssociationA sub-national economic complexity analysis of Australia’s states and territories. Regional Studies. This paper applies economic complexity analysis to the Australian sub-national economy (nine regions with 506 exported goods and services). Using a 2009 Australian multi-regional input–output table for base data, we determine the number of export goods or services in which each state and territory has a revealed comparative advantage, and visualize the complexity of Australia’s interstate and international exports. We find that small differences in industrial capability and knowledge are crucial to relative complexity. The majority of states (especially Western Australia) export primarily resource-intensive goods, yet interstate trade has many complex products that are not currently internationally exported.

The paper introduces a positive psychotherapy called Participative Appreciative Therapy® (PAT). It is based on principals of Appreciative Inquiry combined with the power of visualization. It has two phases. Phase one is called CREAM having five components and phases two is called DESERT having six stages. The five components of CREAM phase are Catharsis, Rapport building, Empathy, Affirmative Topic and Motivational environment and the six stages of DESERT phase are Discovery, Exploring the Dream, Seeing the dream implemented, Emotional Glue, Representative actions and behaviour, Transformation and discussion. It can also be called Cream and Dessert Therapy. The most significant aspect of the therapy is positive outcomes are visible from the very first session as probing and inquiry are in themselves therapeutic because of its nature of setting goal and asking questions. Secondly development of insight for solutions is fast. PAT is actually not just a therapy but should actually be adopted as a lifestyle.

Trauma during pregnancy is an important cause of nonobstetrical cause of maternal mortality & morbidity. Apart from type of injury affecting the maternal & fetal outcome there are several life threatening complications unique to pregnancy like abruption placentae, uterine rupture, amniotic fluid embolism, & direct fetal trauma which needs immediate interventions. Maternal assessment & management during pregnancy needs special consideration to physiological changes during pregnancy as well as fetal surveillance to improve the maternal & fetal outcome. All pregnant trauma patient needs multi disciplinary approach involving obstetrician, neonatologist, obstetric anaesthetist & trauma surgeons.

The burn patients need a very special care as besides skin burn; they can have associated mechanical injuries, inhalational injury and altered physiology with the risk of hypothermia. Once the patient survives from the acute phase, the appropriate wound management is the further challenge. The psychological trauma starts from time of injury to long after survival. Thus focused approach of burn patients allows critical care support, early surgical excision and closure of the burn wounds, patient and family psychosocial support, patient and family education, continuous long-term rehabilitation, re-entry into the society and reconstructive surgical needs.

The study focuses on exploring the job satisfaction and job stress of bank employees. The sample of the study comprised of respondents selected purposively. Job Satisfaction Scale (Abdul Khaleque, 1995) and Occupation Stress Index (Md. Abdul Latif and Sabina Sultana) were used for data collection. Results revealed that two-third of the participants are satisfied with their jobs and almost one-third of the bank employees have low job stress. The result also revealed that there is no significant correlation between job stress and job satisfaction.

Background: Empirically chosen antibiotics based on the local resistance pattern of uropathogens remain the principle treatment of urinary tract infections (UTI).Methods: Antibiogram of most frequent uropathogen was determined. Based on the antibiogram result, authors compared effectiveness of drugs recommended for UTI by National centre for disease control (NCDC), India, and assessed age and gender based variability in the effectiveness of these drugs.Results: 1278 urine samples were accounted, of which 405 samples showed significant growth. E. coli was the most common uropathogen (n=146, 36%) followed by enterococcus species (31%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (10%). Using McNemar’s test authors found that nitrofurantoin (90% sensitivity) was statistically the most effective drug among drugs recommended by NCDC for uncomplicated cystitis. Furthermore, authors used Fisher’s exact test on adults and paediatrics and found that significant difference in effectiveness was observed for nitrofurantoin (p-value

Background: As per Indian pharmacopoeia, package inserts are part of a label that provides information on the article. It may be the sole source of information for drugs, which are available in the pharmacies without the prescription and it may include both prescription and over the counter (OTC) drugs. So, to aid in safety and efficacy of these drugs, package inserts must follow the standard guidelines (The Drugs and Cosmetics rule, 1945). The objective of this study was to observe the status of the standard guidelines for package insert in drugs accessible as OTC drugs.Methods: Based on the inquiries made with pharmacies, list of drugs commonly bought without prescription was made. 256 drugs were evaluated. Their package inserts were observed for the extent to which the guidelines given by The Drugs and Cosmetics rule 1945, section 6.2 and 6.3 are being followed. Secondary objectives were made to assess if package inserts are physician friendly or patients friendly.Results: Package inserts were missing in 180 (70%) of the drugs. Therapeutic indications were present in 71% of the available package inserts (76). Pharmaceutical information was given in 57% of the package inserts. English was the preferred language and medicinal terms were used. Only one package insert was patient friendly.Conclusions: Package inserts should be made available in every drug. There should be a separate patient oriented package insert guideline, as per US food and drug administration (FDA), in India as well. This will aid in their safe and effective use.

The purpose of this study was to find out whether songs (with lyrics) of various genres had any effect on the thoughts (cognitive), feelings (affective) and actions (conative) of young adults with varied personality traits. This study further examined which personality factor was more associated with thoughts, feelings and action tendencies generated through songs of various genres. A sample of 60 young adults (30 boys and 30 girls) of age group 18-27 years, pursuing graduation and post-graduation degrees from Amity University, Lucknow campus were selected. Tools used were Big Five Inventory (by John & Srivastava) and a 4-point Cognitive, Affective and Conative (CAC) scale (developed by Authors). Findings provide insights about the significance of music as media in day-to-day lives of young adults, particularly on their cognition and the amount of affect based on their personality factors. The time phrase i.e. young adulthood, what has been called the most crucial age, needs to be exposed to such music which does not only prove to be a source for chills and enjoyment but also which fosters its well-being.

We postulate that reasonable notions of sustainability must include a time-scale synchronization of both the processes of human development and those of the natural environment. We perform our analysis within a simple system of five differential equations where non-renewable and renewable resources are coupled with production capacities, abatement and human capital as functions of time. A 'sustainability screw' phenomenon is demonstrated describing a spiral like trajectory of three key variables-the non-renewable resources, the renewable resources and the production capital. This spiral may tend to an undesirable steady state, however, by adjusting a ratio of intensity parameters, time scales of production and natural recovery processes can be altered to produce more sustainable trajectories. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Gold has been regarded as a valuable precious metal and the most popular commodity as a healthy return investment. Hence, the analysis and prediction of gold price become very significant to investors. This study is a preliminary analysis on gold price and its volatility that focuses on the performance of hybrid Box-Jenkins models together with GARCH in analyzing and forecasting gold price. The Box-Cox formula is used as the data transformation method due to its potential best practice in normalizing data, stabilizing variance and reduces heteroscedasticity using 41-year daily gold price data series starting 2nd January 1973. Our study indicates that the proposed hybrid model ARIMA-GARCH with t-innovation can be a new potential approach in forecasting gold price. This finding proves the strength of GARCH in handling volatility in the gold price as well as overcomes the non-linear limitation in the Box-Jenkins modeling.

Background: Pharmacovigilance has evolved as an important tool for dealing with Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) both in pre-marketing and post-marketing scenario. Underreporting of ADRs at our Adverse drug reaction Monitoring Centre (AMC) led us to conduct this study to assess Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of the practicing clinicians at our tertiary care Pt. J.N.M. Medical College associated Dr. B.R.A.M. Hospital, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India, towards ADRs reporting.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using pretested questionnaires consisting of 29 questions related to KAP of the practicing clinicians at Pt. J.N.M. Medical College associated Dr. B.R.A.M. Hospital, Raipur towards ADRs reporting. The percentage of responders for each question was calculated. All statistical analysis was performed in Microsoft Office Excel 2007.Results: Out of 135 questionnaires distributed only 100 were considered for analysis, so the overall response rate was 74.07%. We calculated the result from the 100 responders. Overall 77% responders were aware of existence of ADR monitoring system in India, while only 40% were aware of its existence at their hospital. Only 8% responders had reported ADRs to the National Pharmacovigilance Centre and 10% to the Adverse drug reaction Monitoring Centre (AMC) at their hospital. Lack of knowledge about where, how and whom to report ADRs, lack of time, inability to decide what to report (known or unknown ADRs) and unavailability of ADR reporting form were the important factors discouraging them reporting ADRs.Conclusions: Creating awareness regarding ADR reporting through CMEs among practicing clinicians and early sensitization at medical undergraduate level for medical students may improve the current ADR reporting rate.

BACKGROUND: India is a developing country and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) influence most of the diseases in our population, and monitoring is required due to the paucity of ADRs. The present study was done to analyze the ADRs at the ADR monitoring center (AMC) of tertiary care hospital in Raipur during 1 year. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study of ADR monitoring of outpatient and inpatient was a prospective and observational study carried out between September 2015 and August 2016. The ADRs in the form of Individual Case Safety Report (ICSR) was sent to the Indian database (Vigiflow®). RESULTS: Total ICSRs reported to Vigiflow® were 232 during 1 year. Among them, 63.79% were found to be nonserious and 36.21% were serious. Nearly 45% of ADRs were implicated only due to antimicrobials, which is highest among all other groups of drugs. A maximum number of ADRs were observed in 31–60 years of age group (52.15%). In causality assessment, the probable cases had a higher incidence (67.24%), followed by possible (27.58%) and certain (4.74%). The frequency of ADR reporting at our AMC was low (0.043%) compared to national average. Our AMC shared 0.35% of total ICSRs, which is insignificant (P < 0.001) compared to the JSS, Mysore and PGIMER, Chandigarh, AMCs, which have shared most of the ICSRs in Vigiflow®. CONCLUSIONS: The frequencies of ADRs reporting in our study are less compared to those reported with other similar studies. Underreporting is a very serious concern in Raipur, and Pharmacovigilance Programme of India must intercede to pick up ADRs across the country.

In the financial year 2011–2012, wind farms supplied 26% of South Australia’s electricity demand according to the Australian Energy Market Operator's report. This contribution has risen from zero in 2003. The operation of the electricity grid depends heavily on knowledge of the variability of supply. Wind farm output displays similar conditional volatility as financialmarket variables. In this paper, a new method of estimating wind farm output volatility on a 5-min time scale is developed through the use of higherfrequency wind farm output data. First, an autoregressive model for the high-frequency data is developed, and it is used to derive a volatility measure for 5-min data. The results are also true in certain general situations when the high-frequency data follow an autoregressive moving average process or exhibits long memory features. The methods described here are analogous to realised volatility measures used in financial series, except that wind farm output data are measured at uniform intervals, unlike random trading times for financial transactions. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The trends of solar radiation are not easy to capture and become especially hard to predict when weather conditions change dramatically, such as with clouds blocking the sun. At present, the better performing methods to forecast solar radiation are time series methods, artificial neural networks and stochastic models. This paper will describe a new and efficient method capable of forecasting 1-h ahead solar radiation during cloudy days. The method combines an autoregressive (AR) model with a dynamical system model. In addition, the difference of solar radiation values at present and lag one time step is used as a correction to a predicted value, improving the forecasting accuracy by 30% compared to models without this correction. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

While wind farm development has advanced at a great rate in Australia, driven by the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, the high volatility of wind energy is still a big challenge to the operators of the electricity grid. It is, therefore, important to obtain accurate estimates of the volatility and hence the prediction of the wind farms' output so that wind energy can enter fully and reliably into the competitive electricity market. With the motive of getting an accurate measure of wind energy variability, and given the fact that high frequency data for the wind farm energy output is available at the level of ten second intervals, we develop a method to estimate the variance of the five minute wind energy output using the ten second data. This "five minute" dispatch interval is important for the Australian Electricity Market Operators. Our mathematical results are applicable not only to the wind farm output but also to a wide range of situations, where the high frequency time series data are serially correlated. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Eight patients who had taken accidental overdose of Isoniazid were followed in relation to its clinical manifestations, EEG changes and management. All cases survived without any residual effect.

The aim of this paper is to identify certain important population trends among heroin users in Australia for the period 1971 - 97, such as: population growth, initiation, i.e. the number who were initiated to heroin in a given year, and quitting, i.e. the number that quit using heroin. For this purpose, we summarize and extract relevant characteristics from data from National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS 1998) conducted in Australia in 1998. We devise a systematic procedure to estimate historical trends from questions concerning past events. It is observed from our findings that the size of the heroin user population in Australia is in a sharp increase, especially from the early 1980s onwards. The general trend obtained for the period 1971 - 97 is strikingly similar to that obtained by Hall et al. (2000) for the dependent heroin user population in Australia, even though their study was based on different datasets and a different methodology. In our reconstruction of the time history we also detect a levelling-off prior to 1990. Initiation is also observed to be on a sharp increase. The latter trend is accompanied by a similar trend of quitting, perhaps indicating a relatively short heroin use career. A sharp decrease in both initiation and quitting is observed after 1990. In conclusion, in the case of the trend in the population of heroin users a high rate of growth has been identified that is consistent with the existing literature. In the process, we demonstrated that even a static survey such as NDSHS 1998 can, sometimes, be used to extract historical (dynamic) trends of certain important variables.

Seventy male, Hindu Myocardial Infarction (MI) patients were interviewed twice--4 to 5 days after their first heart attack (Time 1) and a month after their first heart attack (Time 2). The patients' beliefs about the world (world beliefs), about the causes of the disease (causal beliefs), and about the factors contributing to their recovery (recovery beliefs) were measured. Each category of beliefs was concerned with three domains: karma, God, and just world (or self). The patients' physical and psychological recovery was evaluated. World and recovery beliefs were intercorrelated, but these beliefs were only weakly correlated with causal beliefs. Furthermore, world beliefs and recovery beliefs were positively associated with recovery from MI at both Time 1 and Time 2. Attribution of causality to God was negatively correlated with medical recovery, perceived recovery, and mood state at Time 2. This trend was in the reverse direction for attribution of causality to self.

The effect of DL-7-azatryptophan, an analogue of tryptophan, has been studied on the heterocyst spacing pattern and the probability of proheterocyst regression inAnabaena doliolum. 7-azatryptophan suppressed growth and induced heterocyst differentiation in nitrogen-free medium. In ammonium (1 mM), nitrite (2 mM) and nitrate (2 mM) supplemented media, it caused proheterocyst regression with a frequency of 100%, 35% and 10% respectively. The role of azatryptophan in nitrogen metabolism has been discussed in relation to ammonia-uptake study.