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"Eliminate rheumatic fever (RF) and minimize the burden of rheumatic heart disease by 2025" is the goal of World Heart Federation (WHF). The most important step to achieve the goal of WHF is the implementation of the prevention and control of RF in India. The program can be implemented with minimal fund allocation from government making use of the existing manpower in the government and private health sector and schools with the concurrence of National Health Mission, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Public Education and under the guidance of Cardiological Society of India, National Rheumatic Heart Consortium, Rheumatic Heart Club India, Association of Physicians of India, Indian Academy of Pediatrics, and Association of Otolaryngologists of India. By the successful implementation of this program, the children of 5--15 years in India can be protected from RF. India eradicated smallpox in 1980 and Polio 2012. With this program, we can start our efforts to eliminate RF by 2025. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The world’s biggest killer is ischemic heart disease, responsible for 16% of the world’s total deaths. Transient alterations in the hematological and biochemical profile are known to occur of patients admitted with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction. Some of these parameters may help to identify high risk patients with increased likelihood of developing adverse cardiac events. Identifying such high-risk patients help the treating physician to plan more aggressive treatment strategies for these patients resulting in improved clinical outcome. Objective. To study the baseline hematological and biochemical laboratory parameters in patients admitted with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction and correlate with their in-hospital outcome. Methodology. 554 consecutive patients admitted to the Intensive Coronary Care Unit, Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam with first Acute ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction during a period of one year were included in the study. Blood samples were drawn at the time of admission for estimation of hemoglobin, total and differential WBC counts, blood sugar, blood urea, serum creatinine, serum electrolytes and lipid profile. Patients were treated according to the standard protocol and any adverse cardiac events during the hospitalization period was documented and correlated with the laboratory parameters. Results. There was statistically significant association between the following laboratory parameters and development of in-hospital complications: lower hemoglobin values (p =0.003), higher total white blood corpuscle count (p =0.05), higher Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (p =0.02) and impaired renal function (p =0.0). Conclusion. In the present study, hematological and biochemical profile in 554 consecutive cases of first Acute ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction were analyzed and found to have significant correlation with major adverse cardiac events during the hospitalization period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Türkiye is located in a seismically active region, where the Anatolian, African, and Arabian tectonic plates converge. High seismic hazards cause the region to be struck repeatedly by major earthquakes. On February 06, 2023, a devastating MW7.7 earthquake struck Türkiye at 01:17 am local time (01:17 UTC). In this regard, near and far-field ground motion data within the distance of 120 km are compiled and later characterized to identify the key ground motion intensity measures. Additionally, the vertical components of ground motions were examined to capture the complete three-dimensional nature of the seismic event. Moreover, the effect of Pulse-Like (PL) and Non-Pulse-Like (NPL) ground motion on a representative RC frame structure built as per the Türkiye code was investigated. The results indicate that PL behavior was observed in both horizontal and vertical components of ground motions and PL behavior were noted both near the epicenter and at higher distances from the epicenter. Moreover, the ratio of the peak vertical acceleration to peak horizontal acceleration at certain stations was found to be close to 1. Finally, the non-linear time history analysis of the representative reinforced concrete frame structure for ground motions recorded at stations located equidistant from the epicenter, indicated that PL ground motions led to more significant damage compared to NPL ground motions.

The continued increase in urbanisation and industrialisation across the world has dramatically increased the amount and variety of waste, and, in particular, wastewater, being generated. Wastewaters contain a large variety of both organic and inorganic contaminants. Various wastewater treatment technologies have been developed over the last few decades to address the increasing concern around effective contaminant removal from wastewater. Electrocoagulation (EC) is one such technology that is broad-based, highly reliable, and cost-effective. It also has a high pollutant removal efficiency and generates less sludge when compared with other techniques. However, despite being effectively used to treat a wide range of wastewater, a thorough examination of its efficiency under various process variables has not been critically examined. Various operating factors, such as pH, current density, the conductivity of the solution, electrode material, and mixing conditions, impact the electrocoagulation system. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the electrocoagulation technique and examine the current challenges to the efficiency of the technique due to the various operating conditions. Some recent advances in the EC technology that present opportunities to improve treatment efficiency and increase the scope to treat newer varieties of wastewater are addressed.

During severe seismic events, the dynamic response of the structure is affected not only by the behavior of the superstructure but also by the nature and behavior of the soil present in and around the substructure. The conventional structural design process usually assumes the base of the foundation to be completely restrained, i.e., in a fixed condition. However, this assumption is inaccurate as it neglects the effect of flexibility offered by the interaction of the soil with the structure. There is no clear consensus on either the beneficial or detrimental effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the seismic response of structures. The main objective of this paper is to study the effect of SSI on a multi-story (G + 10) building resting on a mat foundation. The building is modeled using Finite Element Method (FEM) software and SSI is incorporated using Winkler's (un-coupled) and pseudo-coupled approaches. A case study is done to understand the non-linear dynamic response of building with different soil bearing capacities. The results are represented in terms of fundamental period, base shear, and story drift.

Unreinforced masonry (URM) made with soft bricks comprises a large percentage of the building stock in developing countries. However, the poor performance of URM piers during earthquakes has led to renewed interest in understanding their behavior under lateral loads. Little experimental data is available on the seismic response, analysis, and design of URMs made of soft bricks. In this study, the micro-modeling technique is used to simulate the in-plane behavior of load-bearing, soft-brick URM piers. The parameters required in the constitutive models are obtained from material tests and used to develop a calibrated numerical model of the URM piers. Piers with various aspect ratios subjected to various axial stresses are numerically modeled to obtain monotonic and cyclic responses, and their critical displacement limit states are identified. Changes in the failure modes of masonry piers with variations in the aspect ratio and axial stress are established. Load-bearing piers exhibit three distinct failure modes: bed sliding, diagonal shear cracking, and flexure, depending on the aspect ratio and axial stress. The seismic fragility of each pier failure type is examined using nonlinear time history analyses. The results show that bed-sliding piers collapse at extremely low PGA levels. Piers failing through diagonal shear cracking also fail at low PGA levels. Flexural piers can resist seismic forces up to a slightly higher PGA level and thus are the last to collapse. The results also indicate that the effect of uncertainty in ground motions is more significant than the effect of variability in the masonry pier capacities.