Archives-December 

Totally 120 numbers of the fungal isolates includes dermatophytes, non dermatophyte molds and candida has been tested for their susceptibility pattern to eight different antifungal drugs. Disc diffusion method has been followed to study their susceptibility pattern. The fungal isolates varied in their antifungal susceptibility pattern to the tested anti-fungal drugs. Some of the antifungal drugs which were not acted against candida isolates, found to shown their antifungal activity to dermatophytes and non dermatophytic molds. From our study we can conclude, that the necessities of doing anti-fungal sensitivity test for each fungi isolated from the fungal infections. In view of effective treatment, we can suggest that the periodical surveillance of the antifungal sensitivity of the fungal isolates which are primarily isolated from the clinical specimens, since they vary with their sensitivity pattern to the commercially available antifungal drugs.

Copepods are the most abundant metazoans in marine ecosystems. They can be regarded as a keystone component of biogeochemical cycles and functioning of pelagic food webs. Their dynamic changes may affect the biomass of many fish stocks. Therefore, it’s critical to assess their distribution in this changing climate. The aim of this study was to assess the copepods distribution patterns in relation to environmental factors in the most productive upwelling ecosystem in the world: Canary Current Ecosystem (CCLME) between Cape Blanc (21°N) and Cape Bojador (26°N). Overall, we counted 19 mesozooplankton groups. Copepods constituted the highest fraction in all sampled layers during both investigated seasons (autumn and summer) since they represented at least 65% of the total mesozooplankton community. A cluster analysis allowed the definition of five main species assemblages during each season. The total copepods abundances projected on T/S, T/DO and T/chl-a diagrams showed no clear pattern in densities variation. However, when dominant species were individually projected on T/chl-a diagrams showed different distribution patterns according to their thermic and diet preferences. Multiple Analysis Factorial analysis performed between dominant species densities and major environmental factors revealed a clear positive correlation between most of species and chl-a concentration during both seasons; most of these species were phytophagous. Our finding shows that temperature and chl-a concentration seem to be the most important environmental factors and thus strongly influence the distribution of the copepod population in the CCLME. To further investigate the relationship between copepods and environmental factors we suggest adding upwelling index, which may be responsible for the major changes found in copepod distribution.

Hyperlipidemia is an elevation of one or more fat proteins in the blood i.e., too much cholesterol in the blood. It is one of the leading causes of various cardiovascular diseases resulting in 40% deaths annually in USA. The aim is to assess and improve the knowledge attitude & practice in hyperlipidaemia patients.  A prospective observational study was conducted in Karuna Medical College Hospital, Palakkad from November 2016 to April 2017. The questionnaire was basically divided in to three sections (Knowledge, Attitude and Practice) with 15 questionnaires. Out of these 15 questionnaires 5 were related to knowledge, 5 were related to attitude and 5 were related to practice. Each positive answer was given a score of ‘one’ and the negative answer was given a score of ‘zero’. Marks scored 4 to 5 considered as good scorer, score 3 considered as average and 2 or below 2 considered as poor scorer.  A total of 107 cases were collected of which 101 cases were available for post intervention. All patients with hyperlipidemia in the age group 30-70 yrs, willing to participate were included in the study. Among the 101 completed cases, 63.3% was male and 37.7% was female patients. 53.5% of patients were from the age group 61-70yrs. 87.1% followed a mixed diet where as 12.9% followed a vegetarian diet. Before intervention, 9.9 % had good knowledge, 15.8% had good attitude and 4.9% had good practice; whereas after intervention 85.1% had good knowledge, 87.1% had good attitude and 37.6% had good practice in hyperlipidemia. Factors beyond knowledge and attitude contribute to disease management. Plausible factors could be poor self-management, lack of motivation, inadequate social support or lack of resources that are necessary for sustained life style modification or behavior change.

Present study deals with the bed load transport and shear stress with uniform and non-uniform sediments in an open channel under different experimental conditions. Effort has been made to analyse extensive experimental results in comparison with the existing theories given by the various eminent researchers for both the types of sediment materials. Empirical relations are proposed by dimensionless approach with the help of Buckingham-? theorem in terms of dimensionless shear stress and bed load transport parameter. Results are compared and vaidated with Meunier (2006) and Roorkee’s approach [i.e. Gilbert (1914), Pazis & Graf, Paintal (1977), Misri et. al (1984), Ranga Raju & R. J. Garde (1986)] for both uniform and non uniform sediment material.

Titanium (Ti) is a major impurity in the economic Carboniferous and Cretaceous sedimentary kaolin deposits in Egypt. It is found that Ti is present as an independent mineral phase rather than in the crystal structure of kaolinite. Ti occurs mainly as uniform very fine-grained and rounded anatase crystals in pockets within the kaolin mass of all deposits. The optical properties of kaolin (brightness, Lab color, whiteness and yellowness) are improved only when the coloring impurities are removed. In this paper, the role of micro-organisms on the surface properties of titanium dioxide (anatase mineral) has been studied through zeta potential and adhesion measurements as well as the adsorption experiments. Complete characterization of both single mineral and bacteria isolated from its surface has been done using XRD, SEM, and FTIR as well as morphological and biochemical identification of bacterial isolates.

The effect of rice bran in reducing the weight of the overweight / obese individuals was carried out with the following objectives: to conduct the feeding trial for overweight / obese adults for a period of three months and assess the impact of feeding on the body composition, anthropometry and biochemical profile of the adults. Forty overweight / obese women (each 20) in the age group of 30 to 60 years with no other complications formed the basis for inclusion in the study. Assessment of body composition for the selected women was carried out using Biospace Inbody 720. Each adult was fed with 75 grams (uncooked) of rice bran pasta in the form of recipes during the lunch. Biochemical parameters among the overweight and obese adults before and after the feeding trial was analysed. Statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant change after the feeding trial. The body protein increased from 7.04 to 7.09 kg among the overweight and from 7.41 to 7.48 kg among the obese adults. Soft lean mass had increased from 33.9 to 34.05 kg in overweight adults and from 35.74 to 36.04 kg in obese adults. Body fat mass among the overweight adults reduced to 29.09 kg after the feeding trial. A high degree of positive correlation (P<0.01) was observed between fat free mass and protein, total body water, soft muscle mass and mineral among overweight and obese adults. In conclusion, the results indicate that the feeding trials with rice bran incorporated pasta at 15 per cent level for overweight and obese adults did not significantly contribute to the reduction of overweight and obesity.

In this paper experimental investigation has been carried out on kevlar/glass angle ply hybrid composites to characterize interlaminar shear strength. With the aim of determining the influence that the structure, a reinforcement type and a sort of resin exert upon the interlaminar strength. Hybrid composites are considered materials of great potential for engineering applications. One advantage of hybrid composite materials for the designer is that the properties of a composite can be controlled to a considerable extent by the choice of fibers and matrix and by adjusting the orientation of the fiber. The scope for this tailoring of the properties of the material is much greater, however, when different kinds of fiber orientations are incorporated in the same resin matrix. Three orientations viz 0?/90?, ±45?and 60?/30? were considered for studies. Mechanical properties such as interlaminar strength, interlaminar stiffness, & peak load of the hybrid composites were determined as per ASTM standards. Vacuum bagging technique was adopted for the fabrication of hybrid specimens. It was observed that orientation at 0?/90?showed significant increase in ILSS properties as compared to other orientation.

The purpose of this study was to compare various teaching methods used by university level teachers in public sector universities in Pakistan, study the common influences on choice of teaching method, and use this knowledge to enhance the quality of Instruction and therefore education in general. To encourage the student participation in the teaching learning process, their preferences of the teaching methods were also studied. The researcher used descriptive research to fulfill the requirements of the objective of the study. Major objective of the study was to compare the teaching methods favored by the teachers of various disciplines Social Sciences, Management Sciences, International Relations and Information Technology. Another objective was to study the student awareness of the methodologies used by their teachers. The sample of the study comprised of 38 teachers and 97 students from the above-mentioned departments. The instruments used by the researcher in the study were self-developed questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of 26 items using five-point scale. The collected data was tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted in the light of the objectives of the study. From the finding of the study it was revealed that the most commonly practiced method of teaching is Lecture followed by project method. The least used method was Reflective Inquiry. There were some discrepancies among the teachers and student opinions of what teaching methods are most commonly used in the classrooms. When the teachers were asked to rank teaching methods according to the effectiveness of the method, the variables like ‘gender’ and ‘department’ did not have significant differences whereas ‘qualification’ of the teachers did. The teachers with PhD ranked Reflective Inquiry as the most effective and preferred method. The teachers with M. Phil and M.A degrees ranked Lecture method at the top.

Pectin was extracted from fruits such as orange, apple, guava and grapes using different acids. Hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and nitric acid were used for extraction of pectin from dried fruit pieces. The level of pectin differed in the fruits depending on the acids added during the process of extraction. Generally fruits are dried to determine the yield of pectin. Various drying methods were adopted in this study to extract pectin from above mentioned fruits. The resulting pectin content of fruits was compared with drying methods adopted.

This study compared self-regulation in 80 middle school athlete and non- athlete boys students (seventh and eighth grade). An ex post facto design was used. Statistical population comprised of all students in middle schools in, harsin, Iran, during the 2012-2013 academic year. Students selected by randomly multi-cluster sampling. The student completed the Self-Regulation Scale (SRS). Data were analyzed using analysis of variance. Differences were found between the groups on the self-regulation.