Assessment of cyclone risk and case study of Gaja cyclone using GIS techniques and machine learning algorithms in coastal zone of Tamil Nadu, India.

Cyclones can cause devastating impacts, including strong winds, heavy rainfall, storm surges, and flooding. The aftermath includes infrastructure damage, loss of life, displacement of communities, and ecological disruptions. Timely response and recovery efforts are crucial to minimize the socio-economic and environmental consequences of cyclones. To accelerate the time-consuming risk assessment process, particularly in geographically diverse regions, a blend of multi-criteria decision-making and machine learning models was utilized. This novel approach swiftly assessed cyclone risk and the impact of the Gaja cyclone in Nagapattinam, India. The method involved assigning weights to distinct criteria, unveiling notable vulnerability aspects like elevation, slope, proximity to the coast, distance from cyclone tracts, Lu/Lc, population density, proximity to cyclone shelters, household density, accessibility to healthcare facilities, NDVI, and levels of awareness. Daddavari, Ettugudi, Kodikarai, Vedharanyam, Velankanni, and Thirupoondi face high/extreme cyclone risk. Nagore, Nagapattinam, Pillai, Enangudi, and Sannanllur have low/no threat. To further enhance the precision of the study, machine learning algorithms like SVM, SAM, and MLC were deployed. These models were instrumental in generating pre- and post-cyclone land use maps. The influence of Gaja cyclones effects shows decreasing of agriculture land from 34% to 30%, aquaculture increase 1%, barren land decrease from 8% to 6%, Built-up land decrease from 15% to 13%, land with scrub and salt pan also decrease from 21% to 17% and 10%-8%. Mostly effect of Gaja cyclone is dramatic increase of water body from 8% to 21%. Conducting cyclone risk zone analysis and pre/post-cyclone Land Use Land Cover (LULC) detection in Nagapattinam offers valuable insights for disaster preparedness, infrastructure planning, and climate resilience. This study can enhance understanding of vulnerability and aid in formulating strategies to mitigate cyclone impacts, ensuring sustainable development in the region.

Trends in oral anticoagulant use - A 10-year retrospective analysis from a general medicine department of a tertiary care hospital in south India.

Background: The prescribing practice of newer oral anticoagulants (NOACs) has not been adequately studied in the Indian scenario. Aims: We aimed to describe the prescribing practices of oral anticoagulants, the patient profile and medical comorbidities among patients admitted in a general medicine unit. Methods: In this retrospective study of the 2742 patients prescribed vitamin- K antagonists (VKAs), during the study period, 150 cases were randomly taken for analysis to match the 105 NOACs cases. Their demographic details, clinical characteristics and treatment details were analyzed. Results: More than 95% of anticoagulants prescribed were VKAs. The prescription of anticoagulants was more common in men (median age 63 years) for prescription of NOACs and 52 years for VKAs. Dabigatran (60.9%) and warfarin (81.3%) were the most prescribed drugs in their respective classes. The most common indication was for cardiovascular diseases with atrial fibrillation (32%). Diabetes and hypertension were the most common comorbidities in patients prescribed oral anticoagulants with a larger proportion of patients with heart failure being prescribed VKAs (P < 0.01). Patients in the NOACs group had a higher HAS-BLED high-risk score (33.3% vs. 17.3%; P = 0.002). Logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with co-morbidities of congestive heart failure were more likely to be prescribed VKAs while diabetics were more likely to receive NOACs. Conclusions: VKAs were the most prescribed anticoagulants; congestive heart failure, diabetes, and hypertension were the commonest comorbidities; and atrial fibrillation was the commonest indication. Patients with a high HAS-BLED score were prescribed NOACs more often.

Comparison of Cardiovascular Parameters and Cardiac Autonomic Activity of Obese and Normal Weight School Children in Puducherry.

Background and Aim: Worldwide, incidence of childhood obesity is on the rising trend and obese children are more vulnerable to various health disorders. This study was done to assess and compare the cardiovascular parameters and Heart rate variability (HRV) parameters of obese school children with children with normal Body Mass Index (BMI). Methods: Thirty obese children (BMI  95th percentile) aged 9-12 years and 30 age and sex matched children with normal BMI (BMI 5th to below 85th percentile) were included in test and control groups respectively. Mann Whitney U test was done to detect the difference between the two groups with respect to systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and HRV parameters. Sub-analyses were also done to compare the data of boys of control and test groups and the data of girls of control and test groups. Results: SBP, DBP and Mean arterial pressure (MAP) were significantly high in the test group. However, there was no significant difference between test and control groups with respect to HRV parameters. Subanalyses revealed that the obese boys had a significantly high SBP, DBP, MAP, rate pressure product (RPP) and a significantly low total HRV while the obese girls had a significantly raised SDNN, RMSSD, pNN50, LF power, HF power and total HRV. Conclusion: The obese children had a significantly raised blood pressure. There was no difference in the HRV parameters of normal weight and obese children. However, obese boys had a significantly reduced total HRV when compared to normal weight boys while the obese girls had a significantly raised total HRV when compared to normal weight girls. The various physiological changes during puberty and the time of onset of puberty may have a varying impact on the cardiac autonomic status of obese male and female children.

Healthcare professionals' perspective of support from public health department: a study in the primary health centers of Tamil Nadu.

BACKGROUND: Perceived organizational support (POS) measures the employee perception of support from the organization and helps to understand the employer-employee relationship better. The aim of the study is to understand the healthcare professionals' perception of support from public health department and to examine thehealthcare professionals' difference in perception of support across various demographics variables. METHODS: A survey is conducted among healthcare professionals including medical officers and staff nurses working in primary health centres (PHC) in the state of Tamilnadu. In the study, public health department refers to the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis H test are used to assess the difference in POS across demographic variables. RESULTS: The results of the study indicated that the healthcare professionals perceive a moderate levelof support from public health department. The healthcare professionals' POS is found to differ across their age, role and total work experience but not across gender and work experience in the current PHC. Further, the POS of healthcare professionals is found to differ with respect to PHC location and does not differ with respect to PHC type. CONCLUSION: The results emphasize the need to enhance POS of healthcare professionals. The health policy makers and mangers have to consider the difference in POS of healthcare professionals and make amendments in the human resource policies related to selection and training.

SorghumWeedDataset_Classification and SorghumWeedDataset_Segmentation datasets for classification, detection, and segmentation in deep learning.

The intuition behind this data acquisition is to encourage research for addressing the problem of weeds in agriculture through computer vision applications. Data is acquired in the form of images from uniform and random crop-spacing fields. In other words, we have taken a step forward to identify weeds from fields that follow any method of sowing, which ultimately leads to the transformation of traditional agriculture into precision agriculture. Sorghum crop and its associated weeds are chosen as the research objects during this process. These acquired data are used in framing two datasets. The first dataset termed 'SorghumWeedDataset_Classification' is a crop-weed classification dataset created with 4312 data samples for addressing crop-weed classification problems. The second dataset termed 'SorghumWeedDataset_Segmentation' is a crop-weed segmentation dataset that contains 5555 manually pixel-wise annotated data segments from 252 data samples for addressing crop-weed localization, detection, and segmentation problems. All data samples are acquired in April and May 2023 from Sri Ramaswamy Memorial (SRM) Care Farm, Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu, India. Manually annotated data samples and data segments are verified by agronomists. The datasets are made publicly available to the research community to solve the crop-weed problems using state-of-the-art image processing, machine learning, and deep learning algorithms. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first open-access crop-weed research datasets from Indian fields for classification and segmentation to deal with weed issues in uniform and random crop-spacing fields. However, other available datasets (from Indian fields) are either non-research datasets or available on subscription/request.

Knowledge of prevention and first aid in burn injuries among health care workers and non-health care persons in India.

Appropriate and timely first aid reduces morbidity in burns. This study aims to assess the knowledge of first aid in burns among healthcare workers (HCW) and nonhealthcare workers. (NHCW). METHODS: A survey, distributed in both paper and Google survey formats, presented five sample cases with multiple-choice answers. Participants recorded the most suitable first aid management for each scenario. Correct answers were provided on completion. RESULTS: Out of the total 753 participants, only 89 (11.8%) got all five answers correct. 16% HCW and 6% NHCW could answer all 5 questions correctly (with a true HCW:NHCW ratio of 2.67:1). Providing care for individuals with burns substantially raised the probability of giving accurate responses (p = 0.0001). While attending the general First Aid Course did not affect the responses (p = 0.08), participation in the Burns First Aid Course demonstrated slightly improved results (p = 0.052). The scenario involving liquid petroleum gas leakage saw a high proportion of correct responses, likely influenced by media coverage. CONCLUSION: We find a clear need for adequate training in burns first aid due to low awareness among healthcare workers (HCW) and non-healthcare workers (NHCW). Factors such as participation in burn first aid courses and gaining firsthand experience in treating burns were found to be linked to improved knowledge of burns prevention and first aid. Utilizing various media channels could be a valuable strategy to reach a broader audience, especially in remote and inaccessible areas.

Comparative studies on the cultivation, yield, and nutritive value of an edible mushroom, Pleurotus tuber-regium (Rumph. ex Fr.) Singer, grown under different agro waste substrates.

In the present study, Pleurotus tuber-regium (Rumph. ex Fr.) Singer collected from Keeriparai forest of Kanyakumari district, South India was cultivated using environmentally benign, low-cost agricultural waste residues (paddy straw, sugarcane bagasse, rice husk, and sawdust) as growth substrates. The main goal of this study was to assess the cultivation, yield, and nutritional value of P. tuber-regium fruiting bodies grown under different growth substrates. Spawn running time and time for primordia formation were found to be shorter in mushroom growing with paddy straw substrate compared to sawdust and sugarcane bagasse. A quick spawn run time was observed in paddy straw substrate (12 ± 1 day) followed by sugarcane bagasse (15 ± 1 day) and sawdust (23 ± 1 day). The primordia was well developed in the macrofungus grown with paddy straw substrate on 18 ± 1 day followed by sugarcane bagasse (22 ± 1 day) and sawdust (32 ± 1 day). Significantly higher yield of fruiting bodies with increased contents of protein and carbohydrate and low level of fat was obtained when P. tuber-regium was cultivated with paddy straw substrate. While, cultivation of P. tuber-regium in sawdust and sugarcane bagasse resulted in increased contents of K, Na, Ca, and Mg along with highest energy value. On the other hand, rice husk did not support the cultivation of this macrofungus. Therefore, it is of significant interest to initiate the commercial production of this macrofungus so as to fight against the problems of malnutrition found in few African and south Asian countries.

Factors associated with high-risk behaviour among migrants in the state of maharashtra, India.

Studies among migrants show that they are more susceptible to HIV infection than the general population and thereby spread the epidemic from high prevalence to low prevalence areas. It is therefore critical to enhance the body of knowledge on factors associated with condom use among migrants. This study, conducted in 2009 in the State of Maharashtra, covers 4595 single in-migrants aged 15-49 years and aims at understanding the factors associated with non-use of condoms consistently. Information was collected using a Structured Interview Schedule covering demographic, socioeconomic profile, sexual history, knowledge, behaviour and stigma and discrimination indicators. Logistic regression analysis was used to understand the association between unprotected sex and various socio-demographic and environmental factors. The models were run using the Enter method. The goodness-of-fit of the model was assessed using Hosmer and Lemeshow chi-squared statistics. A significant association is observed between sex with sex workers and older migrants (>24 years), the literate, those who are mobile, unmarried, employed in the textile, quarry and construction industries, who often consume alcohol and who watch pornographic films. The factors associated with unprotected sex are age between 30 and 34 years and no literacy. Migrants who are mobile and consume alcohol show a significant association with unprotected sex. The findings suggest a need for a comprehensive HIV prevention programme including strategies to address the stressful work conditions. The prevention programmes should focus not only on skills for safer sex practices, but also on alcohol use reduction.

Ethyl 3-[2-(3,4-dimeth-oxy-benz-yl)-1-phenyl-sulfonyl-1H-indol-3-yl]acrylate chloro-form hemisolvate.

In the title compound, C(28)H(27)NO(6)S·0.5CHCl(3), the ethyl acrylate substituent adopts an extented conformation with all torsion angles close to 180°. The chloro-form solvent mol-ecule is disordered across an inversion centre and is therefore half occupied. The mol-ecular packing is controlled by inter-molecular C-H⋯O inter-actions.

Dibromidobis(1-ethyl-2,6-dimethyl-pyridinium-4-olate-κO)zinc(II).

In the bioactive title compound, [ZnBr(2)(C(9)H(13)NO)(2)], the Zn(II) atom is coordinated in a distorted tetra-hedral arrangement by two Br(-) anions and the O atoms of two zwitterionic organic ligands. The pyridinium rings are almost planar [maximum deviations = 0.004 (4) and 0.003 (4) Å]. The ethyl groups are approximately perpendicular to the corresponding pyridinium ring planes [N-C-C-C = 88.8 (4)° in each ligand]. The packing of the mol-ecules is controlled by π-π inter-actions, with centroid-centroid distances of 3.625 (3) and 3.711 (2) Å, forming chains approximately parallel to (102). The crystal studied was non-merohedrally twinned (twin relationship between the domains 1 0 0, 0 1 0, -0.4672 -0.1864 -1 and batch scale factor of 7.39%).

Dichloridobis(1-ethyl-2,6-dimethyl-pyridinium-4-olate-κO)zinc(II).

In the title compound, [ZnCl(2)(C(9)H(13)NO)(2)], the Zn(II) ion is coordinated by two Cl(-) anions and two O atoms of two zwitterionic organic ligands in a distorted tetra-hedral arrangement. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked into sheets parallel to the bc plane by C-H⋯Cl and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and weak π-π inter-actions [centroid-centroid distance = 3.669 (1) Å].

8,9-Dimeth-oxy-5-phenyl-sulfonyl-5H-benzo[b]carbazole.

In the title compound, C(24)H(19)NO(4)S, the benzocarbazole ring system is planar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.016 Å) and forms a dihedral angle of 78.54 (4)° with the sulfonyl-bound phenyl ring. Intra-molecular C-H⋯O inter-actions are observed. A C(8) chain running along the b axis is formed via inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The chains are linked via weak C-H⋯ π inter-actions.

Cyclo-hexane-1-spiro-2'-imidazolidine-5'-spiro-1''-cyclo-hexan-4'-one.

In the title compound, C(13)H(22)N(2)O, the central imidazolidine ring is in an envelope conformation and the two cyclo-hexane rings adopt chair conformations. In the crystal structure, the mol-ecules are linked into centrosymmetric R(2) (2)(8) dimers by pairs of N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

(E)-N-Benzyl-idene-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-amine.

The title compound, C(9)H(8)N(4), crystallizes with three independent mol-ecules (A, B and C) per asymmetric unit. The independent mol-ecules differ slightly in their conformations, the dihedral angles between the triazole and phenyl rings in mol-ecules A, B and C being 4.8 (2), 9.7 (2) and 7.2 (2)°, respectively. In the crystal, the independent mol-ecules are linked into a trimer by C-H⋯N hydrogen bonds.

1-Chloro-acetyl-r-2,c-6-bis-(4-methoxy-phen-yl)-c-3,t-3-dimethyl-piperidin-4-one.

In the title compound, C(23)H(26)ClNO(4), the piperidine ring adopts a distorted boat conformation. The two methoxy-phenyl groups at the 2 and 6 positions of the piperidine ring are in axial and equatorial orientations. An intra-molecular C-H⋯Cl inter-action is observed. In the crystal, the mol-ecules are linked into zigzag chains along the b axis by C-H⋯π inter-molecular inter-actions.

c-3,t-3-Dimethyl-r-2,c-6-diphenyl-piperidin-4-one.

In the title compound, C(19)H(21)NO, the piperidine ring adopts a chair conformation. The two phenyl rings attached to the piperidine ring at 2 and 6 positions occupy equatorial orientations and the dihedral angle between them is 57.53 (11)°. In the crystal, the mol-ecules are connected via weak inter-molecular C-H⋯π inter-actions, leading to a zigzag chains.

1,1'-[4-(4-Methoxy-phen-yl)-2,6-dimethyl-1,4-dihydro-pyridine-3,5-di-yl]diethanone.

In the title compound, C(18)H(21)NO(3), which belongs to the family of calcium channel blockers, the dihydropyridine ring assumes a flattened boat conformation. The two carbonyl units adopt a synperiplanar conformation with respect to the double bonds in the dihydro-pyridine ring. The methoxy-phenyl ring is almost perpendicular to the prydine ring [dihedral angle = 89.01 (7)°]. In the crystal, the mol-ecules are connected by inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

tert-Butyl 3-[2,2-bis-(ethoxy-carbon-yl)vin-yl]-2-bromo-methyl-1H-indole-1-carboxyl-ate.

In the title compound, C(22)H(26)BrNO(6), the indole ring system is planar [maximum deviation 0.029 (2) Å]. The tert-butyl bound carboxyl-ate group forms a dihedral angle of 17.54 (8)° with the indole ring system. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked into centrosymmetric R(2) (2)(10) dimers by paired C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

c-3,t-3-Dimethyl-4-oxo-r-2,c-6-diphenyl-piperidine-1-carboxamide.

In the title compound, C(26)H(26)N(2)O(2), the piperidinone ring adopts a distorted boat conformation. The two phenyl rings substituted at positions 2 and 6 of the piperidinone ring occupy axial and equatorial orientations, which are approximately perpendicular to each other [89.14 (8)°]. The phenyl-carbamoyl group adopts an extended conformation. The crystal structure is stabilized by inter-molecular C-H⋯O inter-actions.

Trimethyl 1-(2-methyl-1-phenylsulfonyl-1H-indol-3-yl)propane-1,2,3-tricarbox-ylate.

In the title compound, C(24)H(25)NO(8)S, the indole unit is planar and makes a dihedral angle of 79.73 (11)° with the phenyl ring of the sulfonyl substituent. The mol-ecules in the unit cell are stabilized by C-H⋯O and C-H⋯π inter-molecular inter-actions in addition to van der Waals forces.