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Background: Non-communicable diseases like hip fractures are a significant problem in a developing country like India. The risk factors for hip fractures vary according to local practices and the availability of preventive health care delivery systems. There is paucity of data on risk factors for hip fracture in the south Indian population. Aim: This study was undertaken to assess risk factors associated with femoral neck (FN) fracture in South Indian postmenopausal women along with subsequent one year mortality. Materials and Methods: One hundred four postmenopausal women with FN fracture and 104 age and BMI matched controls were included. Sedative use, visual impairment and other relevant risk factors were assessed. Bone biochemistry and Bone Mineral Density (BMD) were evaluated. A telephonic interview was done at the end of one year to ascertain the well-being. Results: Sedative use, visual impairment, low FN BMD and vitamin-D deficiency (<20 ng/ml) were seen more in fracture subjects compared to controls (p≤0.05). At the end of one year, 20% of the fracture subjects and 5% of the controls had died (p=0.001). Conclusion: Risk factors identified in our study are potentially correctable, and needs special attention in an Indian context to prevent hip fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitroimidazole compounds are widely used antibiotics to encounter anaerobic bacterial and parasitic infections. The wide usage of antibiotic drugs became an ecological contaminant which in turn into potential monitoring. In this regards, we have designed and developed a new electrochemical sensing probe to monitor an antiprotozoal drug, ornidazole (ODZ), with the aid of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) integrated with manganese molybdate nanorods (MnMoO 4 ) decorated graphene nanosheets (GNS) hybrid materials that prepared by feasible probe sonochemical method (parameters: 2-4 W, 5 mV amp, 20 kHz). The electrochemical investigations of the developed probe were performed by using rapid scan electrochemical workstations namely cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometric (i-t) techniques. The as-prepared MnMoO 4 /GNS nanocomposite was characterized and its purity of nanocomposite formation was confirmed by various analytical techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Raman spectroscopy. In addition to that, the textural morphology of the MnMoO 4 /GNS nanocomposite was examined with the aid of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The MnMoO 4 /GNS nanocomposite rotating disk glassy carbon electrode (RDGCE) plays a crucial role in electrochemical detection of ODZ, which results in excellent anti-interference ability, a lower detection limit of 845 pM, massive linear ranges from 10 to 770 nM, and good sensitivity of about 104.62 μA μM -1 cm -2 . From the acquired electrochemical studies, we have developed a disposable electrochemical sensor probe using a low-cost screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) with MnMoO 4 /GNS nanocomposite. The MnMoO 4 /GNS/SPCE are capably employed in real-time sensing of ODZ in water and urine samples. These electrochemical studies revealed the integral new vision on the electrocatalytic performance of the modified SPCE and also shown excellent amplification results in ultra-trace levels., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Flutamide is a non-steroidal antiandrogen drug and widely used in the treatment of prostatic carcinoma. Nevertheless, the excessive intake and improper disposal could affect the living organisms. In this work, we have synthesized a new nanocomposite based on ZnMn 2 O 4 nanoparticles and porous reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (ZnMn 2 O 4 -PGO) for the electrocatalytic detection of flutamide (FLU) drug. The crystallinity and morphological properties of ZnMn 2 O 4 -PGO composite examined by different characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and so on. The fabricated ZnMn 2 O 4 -PGO nanocomposite modified electrode exhibited superior electrocatalytic performance to FLU drug in an optimized pH electrolyte. Fascinatingly, the electrode received a wide linear range (0.05-3.5 µM) with limit of detection of 8 nM. Besides, the developed ZnMn 2 O 4 -PGO nanocomposite electrode showed good sensitivity 1.05 µAµM -1 cm -2 and excellent selectivity for FLU detection in presence of various interfering species. A developed disposable electrode was scrutinized to determine FLU level in human urine samples by spiking method and the results achieved good recoveries in real sample analysis., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)