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Coir fiber is a natural fiber extracted from the husk of coconut. Coir geotextiles made from coir fibers which are biodegradable and eco-friendly are a good alternative to polymeric geotextile. Biodegradation is a factor which limits its civil engineering applications. Hence this study is made to explore the degradation rate of coir geotextiles embedded in different soils. Coir geotextiles composed of lignocelluloses fiber found to be more durable compared to other natural geotextiles. Coir geotextiles improves the CBR values of subgrades, reduces the settlement and are effective in road pavements. But in some soil conditions, coir was powdered or decayed off. In this study, coir geotextile used in field study is embedded in five different types of soil having different compressibility characteristics and chemical constituents. The soil used in the study is collected from different test sites. . Laboratory studies were conducted and rate of degradation is reported. The embedment period is varied from 0 to 135 days. The degradation rate is evaluated by conducting wide width tensile strength test and CBR test using coir samples before and after embedment. The surface morphological characteristics of raw and degraded coir samples and chemical analysis of soil samples are also reported. From the study it is clear that coir geotextile embedded in soil from road 3 with clay of high compressibility degraded at a slower rate compared to other soils.

India has one of the largest road networks in the world, aggregating to about 56 lakh km at present. At sites with inadequate CBR, problems of excessive rutting are very common. In order to overcome this ground improvement techniques such as inclusion of coir geotextile is a good option. Coir geotextiles are manufactured with coir fibers, extracted from the husk of coconut, and are more durable than other natural fibers due to high lignin content. Construction of pavements strengthened with coir geotextiles makes it cost-effective and eco-friendly. In this paper, the results of the performance study conducted on five coir geotextile reinforced and unreinforced roads in different parts of Kerala, after three to 6 years of construction are reported. Coir geotextile had been placed in between subgrade and sub base. The performance was evaluated by conducting Benkelman Beam Deflection (BBD), Field CBR and Dynamic Cone Penetration (DCP) test on reinforced and unreinforced roads. A reduction in characteristic deflection thereby decrease in bituminous Macadam overlay, decrease in DCP Index and improvement in in-situ CBR values ranging from 22% to 178% were obtained for roads on all types of soil. A correlation was also developed between field CBR and field DCPI.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have become the leading cause of death among Indian population. It has been directly linked to hypercholesterolemia, particularly elevated plasma low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and low plasma high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. The lipid tetrad index (LTI) and lipid pentad index (LPI) have been recently described as a new form of assessment of lipid profiles. Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and other lipid indices such as LTI and LPI in young myocardial infarction (MI) patients from North India.Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry and Cardiology at GB Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, New Delhi. A total of 240 individuals were included in the study in which 135 were patients of ST-elevation MI of the age 15–45 years, along with 105 age-matched controls during the period of July 2019 till December 2019. LTI was calculated as TC*TG*Lp(a)/HDL and LPI as TC*TG*Lp(a)*ApoB/ApoA1. AIP is calculated according to the formula: log (TG/HDL-C). Results: The lipid parameters including total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-C, and non-HDL-C were significantly increased in the acute MI cases in comparison to controls. HDL-C was significantly decreased in the cases. Lipoprotein (a), ApoB levels, and ApoB/ApoA1 were also significantly increased in the cases. On the other hand, ApoA1 levels were significantly decreased in the patients. LTI and LPI were significantly increased in the acute MI cases as compared to controls. On correlating lipid parameters with LTI and LPI, a significant positive correlation was observed with all lipid parameters – total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-C, Lp(a), and ApoB/ApoA1 except HDL-C which showed a negative correlation with LTI and a nonsignificantly negative correlation with LPI. HDL-C shows a significantly negative correlation with AIP in both cases and controls. Conclusions: This present study has evaluated Role of AIP along with lipid indices such as LTI & LPI which helps in early identification of individuals with higher risk of premature CAD. AIP can be used as a better biomarker than other lipid indices in young MI patients, especially those associated with cardiovascular risk. At present, no Lp(a)-lowering drugs have been approved, hence early identification and intervention to modify risk factor may be helpful in prevention of development of MI in these patients with the help of LTI and LPI levels.

Objective: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common etiology of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (EF). Coronary angiography is usually not done in patients with severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) without a history of acute coronary syndrome or angina, due to fear of increased risk. Hence, the prevalence of CAD in such cases remains unknown. This study aimed at analyzing the clinical and angiographic profile of the patients with severe LVSD (EF ≤35%) without established CAD. Methods: This was a prospective, observational study conducted from January 2018 to July 2019. One hundred consecutive patients (≥18 years) with severe LVSD (EF ≤35%) without established CAD were assessed for underlying CAD by coronary angiography. Patients were divided into those with no CAD and CAD. Patients having CAD were further classified into those with significant CAD and severe CAD based on angiographic lesion severity. The risk factors contributing to significant CAD were analyzed. Results: Sixty-four patients had no CAD and 36 patients had CAD, of which 34 and 26 patients had significant CAD and severe CAD, respectively. 41.7% patients had double-vessel disease followed by 33.3% and 25% patients having triple-vessel disease and single-vessel disease, respectively. The risk factors for significant CAD were male >55 years/female >65 years, male gender, diabetes mellitus, smoking, and dyslipidemia. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed diabetes and dyslipidemia to be the independent risk predictors for significant CAD. Conclusion: Occult CAD is present in high proportions in patients with severe LVSD without established CAD specially in presence of risk factors such as diabetes, male >55 years/female >65 years and dyslipidemia. Hence, coronary angiography should be considered strongly in such patients having one or more of these risk factors.

In this paper, pavement proposed on soft subgrade (SG) that requires improvement is studied and reported. One of the methods of improvement is reinforcing SG with geotextile. Laboratory studies were conducted on both paved and unpaved sections, whereas field performance studies were conducted only on paved roads. Three types of woven and one type of nonwoven coir geotextiles were used as reinforcement in the laboratory study, out of which one woven geotextile was used in the field. Effects of reinforcements were studied by placing the geotextiles at different positions of the section in the lab model, and cyclic load tests were conducted and resistance to permanent deformation was reported. Field performances were evaluated by the Benkelman beam deflection (BBD) test, the dynamic cone penetration (DCP) test, and the field California bearing ratio (CBR) test. Test results indicate that the reinforced roads have less distress compared to the unreinforced one. Change in characteristic deflection, DCP indices, and about 50% improvement in field CBR values were obtained for the reinforced one.

Background: Establishing good hygiene habits are valuable for present and future oral health. Below 6 years, tooth brushing should be performed by parents, as increasing dexterity and cognition may permit supervised brushing until the child is capable of independent brushing. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of modified oral irrigation device in children in terms of plaque control and to compare the effectiveness of plaque control with manual brushing with the modified oral irrigation device in children. Materials and Methods: A randomized clinical trial was performed on 12 subjects who were allocated to the two study groups. After obtaining the consent, the control group was instructed tooth brushing with regular pediatric commercially available toothbrush and the intervention group with modified oral irrigation device. Plaque scores in both groups were assessed pre- and post-brushing using modified navy plaque index. Results: The data were subjected to Descriptive statistics and Paired t-test using SPSS version 22. Intragroup comparison of mean difference of plaque score in control group and intervention group pre- and post-brushing was statistically significant. Intergroup comparison of manual brushing group with modified oral irrigation group shows P < 0.05 was statistically significant. Conclusion: Within the limitation of the present study, it has been found novel pediatric oral hygiene need Station is more effective than manual brushing since it combined the effect of brushing, flossing (water floss), and rinsing in children simultaneously and at the same time did not demand any special motor skill.