Effectiveness of lifestyle related interventions to improve quality of life among postmenopausal women in selected slums of Bhubaneswar: A community based quasi experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Postmenopausal women considered as risk population, due to estrogen deficiency, 80% of women reduce physical and mental well-being in their menopausal years. Menopausal symptoms are not always reasons for any life-intimidating situations, but it disturbs quality of life (QoL) of middle-aged women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This non-randomized control trial was conducted among slum women in the age group of 40 to 60 years who were in their postmenopausal period (within 5 years). Study group was intervened by lifestyle-related interventional module about concept of menopause, symptoms, health issues, dietary habit for reducing menopausal symptoms with a practical demonstration of yoga, exercises and pranayama, group and individual counseling to the participants. Independent t-test, paired t-test, Chi-squared test, and Fisher's exact test were analyzed by SPSS software version 28 licensed to the institute. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 51.02 ± 2.94 years ranging from 47 to 58 years. As per anthropometric and blood pressure measurements data, significant differences were found in weight (P < 0.02), body mass index (P < 0.001), waist/Hip Ratio (P < 0.001), SBP (P < 0.001) and DBP (P < 0.001) between both the groups. Comparing the mean difference score of vasomotor, psychosocial, physical and sexual domains of the MENQOL questionnaire pre- and post-intervention found that, there was significant reduction of QoL score in study group. CONCLUSION: The lifestyle related interventions as an alternative therapy are safe, free from side effects, cost-effective and government program may be implemented for the betterment of the menopausal women.

Translation, Reliability, and Validity Test of Odia Version of Menopause-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire Among Postmenopausal Women for Menopausal Symptoms.

Introduction: The Menopause-specific Quality of Life (MENQOL) questionnaire was developed in 1996 to assess the health-related quality of life (QOL) in the menopausal transition and it addresses the degree to which menopausal symptoms had bothered women. The objective of this study was to translate the MENQOL questionnaire in the Odia- regional language of India and validate it for usage in the Odia-speaking menopausal women. Methods: The original English questionnaire MENQOL with 1-month recall period was translated by the researchers. According to instructions by Mapi Research Trust, the questionnaire was forward and backward translated, followed by participant testing and proofreading. Validity and reliability were evaluated by the following tests: internal consistency (reliability), stability (test-retest reliability) with Cronbach's alpha correlations, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and content validity index. Results: A total of 80 postmenopausal women participated in the study. The ICC score and Cronbach's alpha value of all the four domains such as vasomotor, psychosocial, physical, and sexual of both MENQOL English and Odia (MENQOL-E and MENQOL-O) versions recommended excellent homogeneity. The internal consistency using the Cronbach's alpha showed high reliability (0.993) between the MENQOL-E and MENQOL-O questionnaires. Conclusion: The MENQOL-O questionnaire will be used at the individual to community health-care settings to measure QOL and those identified with lower menopause-related QOL, they may get support and care.

Immunotherapy: The future of cancer treatment.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are one of the most common cancers worldwide. A large number of patients are diagnosed with locally advanced disease and require multimodal treatment approaches. Standard treatment modalities ranging from surgery to chemotherapy and radiation are yielding mixed results. To overcome this hurdle, newer innovative approaches are required to reduce the morbidity and mortality of the patients. In the last few decades, immunotherapy has become an important part of treating some types of cancer. The immune system plays a key role in the development, establishment and progression of HNSCC. A greater understanding of the dysregulation and evasion of the immune system in the evolution and progression of HNSCC provides the basis for improved therapies and outcomes for patients. Newer types of immune treatments are now being studied, and they will impact how we treat cancer in the future. This article provides a brief overview of the current immunotherapeutic strategies for cancer with emphasis on HNSCC.

Nanocrystalline Antiferromagnetic High-κ Dielectric Sr2NiMO6 (M = Te, W) with Double Perovskite Structure Type.

Double perovskites have been extensively studied in materials chemistry due to their excellent properties and novel features attributed to the coexistence of ferro/ferri/antiferro-magnetic ground state and semiconductor band gap within the same material. Double perovskites with Sr2NiMO6 (M = Te, W) structure type have been synthesized using simple, non-toxic and costless aqueous citrate sol-gel route. The reaction yielded phase-pure nanocrystalline powders of two compounds: Sr2NiWO6 (SNWO) and Sr2NiTeO6 (SNTO). According to the Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction data at room temperature, Sr2NiWO6 is tetragonal (I4/m) and Sr2NiTeO6 is monoclinic (C12/m1), with average crystallite sizes of 49 and 77 nm, respectively. Structural studies have been additionally performed by Raman spectroscopy revealing optical phonons typical for vibrations of Te6+/W6+O6 octahedra. Both SNTO and SNWO possess high values of dielectric constants (341 and 308, respectively) with low dielectric loss (0.06 for SNWO) at a frequency of 1 kHz. These values decrease exponentially with the increase of frequency to 1000 kHz, with the dielectric constant being around 260 for both compounds and dielectric loss being 0.01 for SNWO and 0.04 for SNTO. The Nyquist plot for both samples confirms the non-Debye type of relaxation behavior and the dominance of shorter-range movement of charge carriers. Magnetic studies of both compounds revealed antiferromagnetic behavior, with Néel temperature (TN) being 57 K for SNWO and 35 K for SNTO.

Dielectric, conductivity and ferroelectric properties of lead-free electronic ceramic:0.6Bi(Fe0.98Ga0.02)O3-0.4BaTiO3.

This paper presents the fabrication of a polycrystalline sample of the above electronic system by a mixed-oxide technique. The X-ray diffraction pattern show the evolution of perovskite phase (including some impurity phase). The rhombohedral symmetry and crystallite size of 42 nm were also found from the XRD. The distribution of grains in the microstructure suggests the formation of high density ceramics. The role of grains, grain boundaries and interface on resistive (impedance, electrical modulus and electrical transport) and insulating (dielectric) has been investigated over a wide range of frequencies (103-106 Hz) and temperatures (25-400 °C) using spectroscopy (dielectric, modulus and impedance) techniques. The Nyquist plot illustrates the presence of effects such as grain and grain boundary over selected temperatures. Analysis of conductivity spectra reveals that the electrical transport process of the material is influenced by charge transfer by hopping. The complex modulus spectrum also describes the dielectric relaxation of the material. The study of field dependent polarization reveals the existence of ferroelectricity in the material.

Cytomorphometric analysis of gingival epithelium and buccal mucosa cells in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

BACKGROUND: The global prevalence of type 2 diabetes continues to rise. Interest has been increasing recently in noninvasive diagnostic procedure. Hence, an attempt has been made by the present study to analyze the changes in cytomorphometry in exfoliated buccal and gingival mucosa cells in type 2 diabetic patients. AIM: The aim of this study was to analyze the cytomorphometric changes in exfoliated cells of gingiva and buccal mucosa as an adjunct to diagnosis of diabetes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the present study, fifty known type 2 diabetic patients were taken as study group, and the control group was comprised of fifty healthy individuals. Smear was prepared from buccal mucosa and gingival epithelium of both study and control groups and was stained by rapid Papanicolaou (Pap) stain. Stained smears were subjected to cytomorphometric analysis using Lynx Biolux (Lawrence and Mayo) image analysis software. In each Pap smear, 100 cells were evaluated for nuclear area (NA), cytoplasmic area (CA) and cytoplasm to nuclear ratio (CNR). RESULTS: Mean NA was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in study group whereas mean CA did not exhibit any statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). The mean CNR was significantly lower in the study group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study contributes to the general understanding of the alterations in the cellular pattern of buccal and gingival mucosa cells in diabetic patients and can be used as an additional tool to aid in the evaluation of oral mucosal alterations in diabetes mellitus.