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Chlorine applied at only source provides uneven distribution of residual chlorine at various locations in Drinking Water Distribution System (DWDS), whereas the booster chlorination which reapplies chlorine at strategic locations achieves the uniform chlorine concentration at all locations. The objective of the present work is to optimize the location of booster stations along with minimization of total mass rate of chlorine by developing coupled simulation optimization model using EPANET for hydraulic and water quality simulation and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for optimization. The critical nodes are identified within DWDS by developing impulse response coefficient using EPANET. Manjalpur DWDS network, Vadodara, Gujarat, India is selected for the application of model. Maximum two booster stations are proposed to be selected by the model to find their locations and mass rate of chlorine injection in conjunction with the source chlorination. The optimum solution gives minimum lied dose of chlorine at the same time satisfying the constraint of residual chlorine of 0.2 mg/l (IS 10500 2012) at all the locations within DWDS. Optimization model suggests that reduction of about 30-33% is achieved in booster chlorination along with uniform distribution of chlorine over conventional approach which gives indirect benefit of reducing disinfection by products and overall cost reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an Adolescent as "an individual between 10-19 years of age". As adolescents are not a homogenous group, their needs vary with their sex, stage of development, life circumstances & their socioeconomic conditions. Inspite of existing Adolescent Friendly Health Services (AFHS), adolescents are reluctant to utilize them because of lack of privacy & confidentiality. Aims of this study are (1) To study reproductive health needs of adolescent girls (2) To assess awareness & utilization of AFHS. Methodology: Community based cross sectional study was conducted in Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC) field practice area of Govt. Medical College, Bhavnagar among 532 Adolescent girls during February 2014 to August 2014. Information about their reproductive health needs, awareness about AFHS & its utilization were collected by pretested prestuctured questionnaire. Data entry & analysis done in Epi info software (version3.2). Results: In the present study regarding reproductive health needs, more than half (54.71%) girls desired correct information about reproductive health system, problems & hygiene & most of the girls (53.20%) choose seminar as best source to provide such information. 21.99% girls desired supply of sanitary pads at lower cost than market. An important finding was that very few (14.1%) girls were aware of AFHS. Among those who were aware of AFHS, 38.67% girls had visited & satisfied with services. The major reason for not utilizing AFHS was shyness among 54.35% girls. Conclusion: Information about reproductive health (54.71%) & supply of sanitary pad at lower prices than market (21.99%) are two important reproductive health needs of adolescent girls. Awareness & utilization of AFHS is very less among adolescent girls due to various barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Objectives: Besides spiritual achievements, the practice of yoga is accompanied by a number of beneficial physiological effects in the body. The regular practice of yoga integrates the mind and the body. It produces many systemic psycho-physical effects in the body, besides its specific effects on the respiratory functions. The aim of the present study was to assess the beneficial effects of yoga in the improvements in the pulmonary functions of young healthy adults. Methods: The study group consisted of 30 young adults (19 males and 11 females) who were students of first year M.B.B.S.,medical college Baroda. They were motivated to participate in yoga workshop for one hour daily for four weeks. The first phase of the recording of the pulmonary parameters (M.V.V, FVC, FEV1, PEFR) was done at the beginning of their course. The second phase of the recording was done after 4 weeks of the regular yoga practice. The data were analyzed using student's Paired T - test. Results: Participants had a mean±SD age of 17.81 ± 0.48 years, height of 164.21±5.09 cm and weight of 54.34±5.63kg. The MVV(L/MIN) - before yoga practice showed a value of 97.4±24.4 and after, it showed a value of 119±28. The FVC(ml) - before yoga practice showed a value of 2575 ±631and after, it showed a value of 2768 ±618. The FEV1(ml) - before yoga practice showed a value of 2270± 636 and after, it showed a value of 2476 ±570. The PEFR(L/MIN) - before yoga practice showed a value of 479±103 and after, it showed a value of 585±120. For all the parameters, a P value of <0.01 was considered as statistically significant. Conclusion: There was a statistically significant increase in all the above lung parameters in the regular yoga practitioners. This study proposes that regular practice of yoga can improve health related aspects of physical fitness and general wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crossbred cattle was recorded with small cauliflower like growth on nictating membrane of right eye since last six months. Physical examination confirmed pinkish mass covering half of eye from medial canthus with normal vision. Histopathological examination confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of nictating membrane. The cow was restrained in standing position and surgical removal of mass was performed under sedation and local analgesia. The animal recovered uneventfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: The two scaffold Quinazoline analogues (Compound 21, NSC: 95112/753439 and Compound 12, NSC: D-104834/758270) in three different concentrations were evaluated for their anti-tumor activity against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) and two different concentration were evaluated for their anti-tumor activity against Dalton's ascites lymphoma (DLA) bearing Swiss albino mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The in vivo anti-tumor potency of Quinazoline bases was assessed in EAC model by measuring the increase in mean survival time of the drug treated over untreated control mice and treated standard (Gefitinib) mice. Their toxicity was assessed in vivo in normal, standard, and EAC-bearing mice by measuring the drug-induced changes in haematological parameters. The in vivo anti-tumor potency of Quinazoline bases was assessed in DLA model by measuring solid tumor volume, solid tumor weight and % inhibition of the tumor weight of the drug treated over untreated control mice and treated standard (Gefitinib) mice. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Among the two quinazoline bases studied, 3-(2-chloro benzylideneamine)-2-(furan-2-yl) quinazoline-4(3h)-one (Compound 21) at an optimal dose of 20 mg/kg body weight was found to enhance the mean survival time of infected mice. Haematological parameters and mean survival time in tumor bearing mice were found to be significantly restored towards normal after treatment with Compound 21 at 20 mg/kg body weight of mice in EAC model. Tumor volume and tumor weight in tumor bearing mice were found to be significantly restored towards normal after treatment with Compound 12 at 20 mg/kg body weight of mice in DLA model. Compound 21 at a prime dose of 20 mg has shown promising anticancer activity in vivo against EAC and DLA models when compared to standard drug with minimum toxic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megazol is a highly active compound against Trypanosoma cruzi, and has become a core structure for the design of new trypanocidal agent. Recently, a new potent trypanocide agent Brazilizone A (a derivatives of megazol), was identified which presents an IC50 two fold more potent than the prototype megazol. This result has encouraged us to perform QSAR study on structurally-related 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-arylhydrazone derivatives (Brazilizones), in order to get a better understanding of their structural features and antiprotozoal activity. The k-Nearest Neighbor Molecular Field Analysis (kNN-MFA), a three dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship (3D-QSAR) method has been used in the present case to study the correlation between the molecular properties and the Trypanosoma cruzi inhibitory activities on a series of 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-arylhydrazone derivatives. kNN-MFA calculations for both electrostatic and steric field were carried out. The master grid maps derived from the best model has been used to display the contribution of electrostatic potential and steric field. The statistical results showed significant correlation coefficient r2 (q2) of 0.9455, r2 for external test set (preḏr2) 0.8087, coefficient of correlation of predicted data set (preḏr2se) of 0.5873, degree of freedom 20 and k nearest neighbor of 2. Therefore, this study not only casts light on binding mechanism between Trypanosoma cruzi and its inhibitors, but also provides new hints for the design of antitrypanosomal agents with observable structural diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method has been developed for determination of roxithromycin in its pharmaceutical dosage forms. In the proposed method, roxithromycin is oxidized with potassium permanganate to liberate formaldehyde, which is determined in situ using acetyl acetone in the presence of ammonium acetate to give a yellow-coloured chromogen with absorption maxima at 412 nm. The method is found to be linear in the concentration range of 10-75 µg/ml with regression coefficient of 0.9987. No significant difference was found between the proposed method and the reported method when two-tailed t-tests are applied. Various reaction parameters, such as concentration of potassium permanganate and reagent, time required for oxidation and maximum colour intensity, were optimized. The method was validated and can be used successfully to assay roxithromycin in its pharmaceutical dosage form, viz, tablets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]