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Background: Teachers are the foundation of any civilized society, as they preserve information, wisdom, and ideals. The study was conducted to analyze the Health-Related Quality Of Life among private school teachers and associate the findings with various demographic and occupational parameters. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 private school teachers in Chengalpattu district from March-to May 2024.Sample size was determined by multistage random sampling technique. A semi-structured questionnaire consisting of background, occupation related details, and SF-36 to assess the HRQOL were used to collect data. Data was entered in excel and analysed using SPSS version 26. Results: Out of 300 teachers,233 were female and 152 were above the age of 40. Most affected domains were Bodily Pain and General Health Perception. In both these domains, very low mean levels of quality of life were significantly associated with teachers age more than 40 years old, those who got monthly income of more than 40k, married, teaching experience more than 20 years, those who travelled more than 60 minutes to reach school and those who had comorbidities. Conclusions: At least one variable across all domains analysed was associated with lower quality of life scores. Administrators and policymakers must provide appropriate health education or health promotion programs and comprehensive prevention strategies for improving their HRQOL.

Introduction: In head and neck cancer (HNC) radiotherapy, parotid, submandibular, and minor salivary glands are often incidentally irradiated. Hence, Xerostomia is the most significant disabling side-effect, to improve the quality of life, it should be reduced. The study was to evaluate the parotid dose and PTV coverage in post operated Oral cancer patients using Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) technique.Material and Methods: The authors generated VMAT plans for 14 post operated oral cancer patients, where primary disease crossed midline or nodal stage ≥ 2. The doses to the moderate high-risk volume of the clinical target volume (CTV) and planning target volume (PTV) were 60Gy in 30 fractions. The low-risk volume received a dose to the CTV and PTV of 54Gy in 30 fractions. Plans were made for each patient, and the dose to D95 and D98 of target volumes was analyzed. The mean dose of the parotid and parotid minus PTV volumes were analyzed and compared with target doses (D98 & D95). Results: Median dose to the ipsilateral parotid gland was 54.45Gy and to the ipsilateral parotid gland minus PTV was 45.60Gy while to the contralateral parotid gland median dose was 16.31Gy, (mean is ranging from 14.01 to 17.06Gy) and to the contralateral parotid gland minus PTV was 14.92 (mean is ranging from 12.42 to 15.18Gy) after achieving the 95% coverage of PTV.Conclusion: Better sparing of contralateral parotid glands with the help of VMAT technique in post-operative HNC patients is possible, which can prevent xerostomia in most patients.

This research looks on the effectiveness of using nano-mineral admixtures in place of some cement for making self-compacting concrete (SCC). The goal is to improve concrete’s mechanical qualities while resolving the environmental issues raised by the manufacture of cement. Using an experimental approach, the study looks at several percentages (0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 30%) of nano-sized materials as partial replacements for regular Portland cement, including fly ash, silica fume, phospho-gypsum, and alccofine. Slump flow, J-ring, and L-box tests are used to evaluate the concrete’s fresh properties, including flowability, passing ability, and separator resistance. Evaluation of the toughened properties by tensile, flexural, and compressive strength tests provides insight into the achieved performance gains. Additionally, durability properties such as RCPT, water absorption and alkaline test were examined in terms of durability. The results point to the potential of nano minerals as sustainable alternatives in concrete by indicating a considerable improvement in the mechanical characteristics and durability of concrete with adequate nano mineral additive content. By giving a thorough analysis of nano mineral admixtures in SCC, this study advances the field and provides insightful information for the researchers to find the optimum replacement.

Background: Patient satisfaction is crucial for research, administration, and planning. Since it reveals the effectiveness of the provider, customer happiness is of utmost importance as a gauge of the quality of service. Inpatient satisfaction is an essential tool to identify the level of patient satisfaction and it is one of the important goals of any healthcare system. The objective of the study is to validate the questionnaire developed and to assess the inpatient satisfaction level among patients admitted to OBG ward in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among 160 women inpatients admitted in the OBG ward in a tertiary care hospital, Chengalpattu. Patient satisfaction was measured by a validated questionnaire with seven domains, the data were collected by face-to-face interview method. Results: The mean age of the respondent were 28 years. 60% of respondents were highly satisfied with the effectiveness of the treatment. Only 33.8% of respondents were highly satisfied with the diet food served and 56.3% were highly satisfied with the cleanliness of wards, and restrooms. Conclusions: The results obtained from the present study can serve as a baseline to compare the future survey and helps to provide healthcare services that fulfil patient desires and expectations.

Abstract Background IRCU is traditionally considered as lifestyle disease (associations with, among others, overweight, obesity, hypertension, type-2 diabetes), arising from excess, in 24 h urine, of calcium (Ca) salts (calcium oxalate (CaOx), calcium phosphate (CaPi)), supersaturation of, and crystallization in, tubular fluid and urine, causing crystal-induced epithelial cell damage, proteinuria, crystal aggregation and uroliths. Methods Another picture emerges from the present uncontrolled study of 154 male adult IRCU patients (75 stone-bearing (SB) and 79 age-matched stone-free (SF)), in whom stone-forming and other parameters in fasting urine and plasma were contrasted with five biomarkers (see footnote) of oxidative metabolism (OM), without and with variation of markers. Results 1) In SB vs. SF unstratified OM biomarkers were statistically unchanged, but the majority of patients was overweight; despite, in SB vs. SF urine pH, total and non-albumin protein concentration were elevated, fractional urinary uric acid excretion and blood bicarbonate decreased, whereas urine volume, sodium, supersaturation with CaOx and CaPi (as hydroxyapatite) were unchanged; 2) upon variation of OM markers (strata below and above median) numerous stone parameters differed significant!)', among others urine volume, total protein, Ca/Pi ratio, pH, sodium, potassium, plasma Ca/Pi ratio and parathyroid hormone, blood pressure, renal excretion of non-albumin protein and other substances; 3) a significant shift from SF to SB patients occurred with increase of urine pH, decrease of blood bicarbonate, and increase of diastolic blood pressure, whereas increase of plasma uric acid impacted only marginally; 4) in both SF and SB patients a strong curvilinear relationship links a rise of urine Ca/Pi to urine Ca/Pi divided by plasma Ca/Pi, but in SB urine Ca/Pi failed to correlate significantly with urine hydroxyapatite supersaturation; 5) also in SB, plasma Ca/Pi and urinary nitrate were negatively correlated, whereas in SF plasma Ca/Pi ratio, PTH and body mass index correlated positively; 6) multivariate regression analysis revealed that PTH, body mass index and nitrate together could explain 22 (p = 0.002) and only 7 (p = 0.06) per cent of variation of plasma Ca/Pi in SF and SB, respectively Conclusions In IRCU a) numerous constituents of fasting urine, plasma, blood and blood pressure change in response to variation of OM biomarkers, suggesting involvement of OM imbalance as factor in functional deterioration of tissue; b) in the majority of patients a positive exponential relationship links urine Ca/Pi to urine Ca/Pi divided by plasma Ca/Pi, presumably to accumulate Ca outside tubular lumen, thereby minimizing intratubular and urinary Ca salt crystallization; c) alteration of interactions of low urine nitrate, PTH and Ca/Pi in plasma may be of importance in formation of new Ca stone and co-regulation of dynamics of blood vasculature; d) overweight, combined with OM-modified renal interstitial environment appears to facilitate these processes, carrying the risk that CaPi mineral develops within or/and close to blood vessel tissue, and spreads towards urothelium. For future research focussing on IRCU pathogenesis studies are recommended on the role of affluent lifestyle mediated renal ischemia, mild hypertensive nephropathy, rise of uric acid precursor oxypurines and uricemia, clarifying also why loss of significance of interrelationships of OM biomarkers with traditional Ca stone risk factors is characteristic for SB patients. OM biomarkers Plasma uric acid - Discussed as scavenger of reactive oxygen species, but also as donator (via the xanthine oxido-reductase reaction) Urinary malonedialdehydc - Accepted as indicator of peroxidation of lipids within biological cell membranes Urinaiy nitrate - Accepted as indicator of vasodilation-mediating nitric oxide production by blood vessel endothelium Urinary malonedialdehyde/Plasma uric acid - Tentative markers of oxidant/antioxidant imbalance Urinary nitrate/Plasma uric acid - Tentative markers of oxidant/antioxidant imbalance

This article addresses stress-strength reliability estimation in s-out-of-k systems under progressive type-II censoring. The system consists of components facing common stress, where stress and strength variable follows independent new flexible exponential (NFE) distributions, sharing a common parameter. The estimation procedure is carried out using MLE, Bayesian estimation and uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimation (UMVUE) techniques. MLE is derived for known and unknown common parameters. Bayesian estimates are obtained using Lindley's approximation and Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques due to the complexity of obtaining the exact Bayesian estimates, when the common parameter is unknown. Moreover, UMVUE is derived when the common parameter is known. The 95% asymptotic confidence interval, highest posterior density credible intervals, and Bayesian credible intervals, are constructed. An extensive simulation study is carried out to compare the performance of various censoring schemes and estimation methods. Finally, two progressively censored real datasets are analyzed for illustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Are we asking the right questions?” seems cliché, but for ChatGPT, it is a pivotal tool to ensure the accuracy of responses. While ChatGPT-3.5’s training on the vast database promises to revolutionize STEM education and research, this investigation shows the importance of precise communication and prompt engineering in guiding ChatGPT-3.5 toward reliable and accurate responses, particularly in chemistry. For instance, emphasizing context, clearly defining symbols, and focusing on field-specific instructions can dramatically improve its performance. Furthermore, avoiding open-ended prompts and strategically using repetition can further enhance its accuracy. The iterative prompt design, demonstrated through a series of adjustments, illustrates how seemingly minor refinements, such as substituting “least” for “lowest”, profoundly impact the output. This study highlights the essential role of human oversight, including the construction of well-crafted prompts, in guarding reliable information and nurturing a productive “Human–AI” (HAI) partnership.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Hyperglycaemia is commonly observed in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) while receiving enteral nutrition (EN) in hospital, and hyperglycaemia has been shown to be associated with poor clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the glycaemic status of patients with DM who received EN during hospital admission and evaluate the impact of intervention by a specialist diabetes team (SDT) on glycaemic control and clinical outcomes of these patients. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A retrospective review of patients with DM who required EN during hospital admission was conducted. We compared patient characteristics, glycaemic profile and clinical outcomes between patients who were managed by SDT and those who were managed by the admitting team. RESULTS: Seventy-four patients with DM on EN were included in this study, of whom 27 were managed by SDT while on EN. Compared with patients managed by the admitting team, those who were reviewed by SDT had better glycaemic control during the period of EN as well as during the 24 h after EN was ceased. These patients also had shorter length-of-stay in hospital and lower in-patient mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirmed that there was a role for SDT in managing patients with DM who received EN during their hospital admission. These patients had improved glycaemic control while receiving EN and had better clinical outcomes. Further prospective studies will be required to validate the findings of this study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2014) 68, 1305-1308; doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2014.229; published online 22 October 2014, INTRODUCTION Managing in-patient hyperglycaemia is a problem commonly faced by clinicians in hospital, and this may be related to the growing prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) worldwide. In 2009-2010, the [...]

Introduction: In head and neck cancer (HNC) radiotherapy, parotid, submandibular, and minor salivary glands are often incidentally irradiated. Hence, Xerostomia is the most significant disabling side-effect, to improve the quality of life, it should be reduced. The study was to evaluate the parotid dose and PTV coverage in post operated Oral cancer patients using Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) technique. Material and Methods: The authors generated VMAT plans for 14 post operated oral cancer patients, where primary disease crossed midline or nodal stage ≥ 2. The doses to the moderate high-risk volume of the clinical target volume (CTV) and planning target volume (PTV) were 60Gy in 30 fractions. The low-risk volume received a dose to the CTV and PTV of 54Gy in 30 fractions. Plans were made for each patient, and the dose to D95 and D98 of target volumes was analyzed. The mean dose of the parotid and parotid minus PTV volumes were analyzed and compared with target doses (D98 & D95). Results: Median dose to the ipsilateral parotid gland was 54.45Gy and to the ipsilateral parotid gland minus PTV was 45.60Gy while to the contralateral parotid gland median dose was 16.31Gy, (mean is ranging from 14.01 to 17.06Gy) and to the contralateral parotid gland minus PTV was 14.92 (mean is ranging from 12.42 to 15.18Gy) after achieving the 95% coverage of PTV. Conclusion: Better sparing of contralateral parotid glands with the help of VMAT technique in postoperative HNC patients is possible, which can prevent xerostomia in most patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The module with multijunction solar cells (MJSC) is an excellent solution for converting solar radiation into electrical energy. Several methods are applied to extract the parameters of the multijunction solar cell. Most of them are analytical and numerical. Metaheuristic algorithms have lately been used for the parameters’ extraction. In specialized literature, only a few multijunction solar cells have been performed to extract the parameters. Therefore, two metaheuristic algorithms are proposed in this paper: the Chameleon Swarm Algorithm (CSA) and the Black Widow Optimization Algorithm (BWOA). The first algorithm (CSA) is applied for the first time to estimate the solar cell and panel parameters, and both algorithms (CSA & BWOA) are employed for the first time for the multijunction solar cell. They are applied considering two models: the single diode model (SDM) and the double diode model (DDM) for the multijunction solar cell, and three work temperatures of the multijunction solar cell. Four statistical tests are used to analyze the performance of the algorithms, the main being root mean square error (RMSE). A comparative study was performed using the other analytical and metaheuristic algorithm. The obtained RMSE is 8.9120260701E-5 for BWOA and 8.9123932518E-5 for CSA model, respectively, in the case of SDM model and 41.5°C, 1.0186359636E-4 for BWOA and 1.0088314434E-4 for CSA model, respectively, in the case of DDM model and 41.5°C. In the case of the solar panel the RMSE is 3.62E-3 for BWOA, 3.6250156794E-3 for CSA model, respectively, in the case of SDM model and 25°C. The best root mean square error results are obtained using the Black Widow Optimization Algorithm for the single-diode model. The lowest value for root mean square error is 8.9120260701E-5. The special feature and merits of the proposed algorithms are that they have better exploration and exploitation ability; thus, they provide the optimal results with reduced computational time. Further, the performance of the two algorithms (BWOA andCSA) is validated using the dataset of the CTJ 30 panel. The BWOA algorithm has a root mean square error that is two times lower than the one in the research literature. The computational time is also calculated. It is around 2 s, which is very competitive for all considered cases. CSA has the lowest computing time for all four cases considered, varying from 1.882829 s to 2.277469 s. Furthermore, variation in the temperature function is studied using the extracted parameters.