FREQUENCY OF TIBIA VARA AMONG OBESE ADOLESCENTS: DESCRIPTIVE CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background of the study: Tibia Vara is defined as a growth abnormality which leads to Varus malalignment of the lower limb. It is caused by excessive loading on the medial part of proximal tibia. Progressive Tibia Vara can result in a bowleg deformity which is most noticeable in posteromedial part of upper tibial physis. Other than that, it gives rise to in toeing of feet and lateral knee thrust, altering the normal biomechanics of an individual. This study aim to determine the frequency of Tibia Vara among obese adolescents (13-18years). Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done using non probability convenient sampling. Total 214 obese adolescents of age range 13 to 18 years were recruited from different parks and schools of Lahore. Adolescents with BMI less than 30 and with history of fracture or dislocation in the lower limb were excluded from the study. Manual goniometer was used to assess tibia vara in obese adolescent which had an intra-rater reliability of 0.75. Results: Out of 214 obese adolescents, 128 were male and 86 were female. The percentage of Tibia Vara in this population was found to be 38% (n= 82). Whereas; on the basis of gender, male participants presenting with Tibia vara was found to be 26% (n= 56) and the percentage of females reported with Tibia vara was only 12% (n= 26). Conclusion: Tibia vara had been reported in 38% of the obese adolescents in Lahore, Pakistan. Whereas, on the basis of gender most frequently tibia vara was reported among male participants.

Study of Dielectric Properties of Various Graphene/Metal/Polymer Nanocomposites

The aim of the present research work is to synthesize flexible polymer based nanocomposites with excellent dielectric properties. Compounds and composites with high dielectric constant are in demand in electronic industry due to their ability to store more charge, while energy dissipation is low there. So it is needed to synthesize materials with ability to store more and more charge. In presented research work, flexible three phase nanocomposite films of graphene/metal/polymer were synthesized with reasonably high dielectric constant or real part of permittivity and very low dielectric loss or imaginary part of permittivity. Ternary nanocomposite films were synthesized by using three different polymers i.e., poly(vinyl alcohol), polyvinylidene fluoride and polydimethysiloxane as matrix. Graphene and two ceramic metals oxides i.e., titania and barium titanate were reinforced in the polymers as conducting and metal additives, respectively. In this way six different types of ternary nanocomposite films with different combinations of fillers and polymers were synthesized. Each ternary nanocomposite series was synthesized by varying w/w of graphene while keeping concentrations of ceramic and polymer constant. After setting optimized conditions for concentrations of graphene, w/w of ceramic filler was varied and concentrations of ceramic and polymer were kept fixed. Each ternary graphene/metal/polymer nanocomposite film was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, raman spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermal gravimetrical analysis to study their morphology, structures, presence of functional groups and thermal stability respectively. Dielectric characterization of each ternary graphene/metal/polymer nanocomposite film was carried out at room temperature. Ternary nanocomposite with highest dielectric constant and lowest dielectric loss were explored for each ternary nanocomposites series. Dielectric constant of poly(vinyl alcohol), Polyvinylidene fluoride and polydimethysiloxane was increased from 13.3, 20.5 and 6.5 to 330, 159.8 and 108.3, respectively, with addition of graphene and titania. While dielectric constant of poly(vinyl alcohol), Polyvinylidene fluoride and polydimethysiloxane was increased from 13.3, 20.5 and 6.5 to 66, 199.9 and 116.9, respectively, with addition of graphene and barium titanate. Even with such high dielectric constant, dielectric loss of all ternary nanocomposites was still very low i.e., less than 5 which is required for energy storage devices. AC conductivity and complex electric modulus of all neat polymers and ternary graphene/metal/polymer nanocomposite films were also calculated and compared. The superiority of this method is that synthesized three phase graphene/ceramic/polymer nanocomposite films have hybrid properties like high dielectric permittivity and low dielectric loss of fillers and flexibility and mechanical strength of polymers. All analyses of graphene/metal/polymer nanocomposite films confirm their excellent capacitive performance. On the basis of results it is concluded that synthesized ternary graphene/metal/polymer nanocomposite films are fairly good candidate to be used as dielectric medium in energy storage devices like capacitors.