Promoting Nuclear Security Education and Training Activities at Amity University, India

In the present era of global nuclear governance, it is the responsibility of every individual not only the security personals to be accountable for the security of nuclear materials, facilities and radioactive materials. Amity university and other universities of India are the largest educational networks for young professionals who will enter the nuclear programme in India and will be involved in the management of nuclear and other radioactive materials in a wide variety of applications such as hospitals, industrial applications and nuclear facilities. Amity University Uttar Pradesh is taking leading part to sensitize the importance of nuclear security amongst the students and faculty members of various Indian institutions and research organization. Amity University is also motivating women academicians to take lead in nuclear security. This paper describes details of various events organized in India with the initiative of INSEN, IAEA; Texas A&M University, USA and WINS Academy, Vienna, Austria

Utility of fasting plasma glucose test as screening tool for gestational diabetes mellitus based on International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group criteria

Background: The International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria have recently been endorsed by various bodies for screening and diagnosing Gestational Diabetes (GDM). The present study was done to diagnose gestational diabetes (GDM) by the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria in a North Indian Population and to evaluate the performance of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) in screening and diagnosis of GDM.Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study on 417 pregnant women. The women were screened for GDM between 24 weeks and 28 weeks of gestation by 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and GDM diagnosed by the IADPSG criteria.Results: The prevalence of GDM was 17.7% [95% Confidence interval (CI) 21.4 -14.1%] using the IADPSG criteria. Amongst the women diagnosed to have GDM, 64.9% had abnormal fasting plasma glucose (FPG). FPG cut-off value of 92 mg/dL identified 11.5% pregnant women with GDM. FPG cut-off value of 80 mg/dL ruled out GDM in 54.7% women. If 80 mg/dL were made the cut point to decide who should have the 75-g OGTT, then 56.8% (45.3 % with values 5.1 mmol/L) of pregnant women could avoid the 75-g OGTT with the probability that 1.9% of patients with GDM may be missed.Conclusions: FPG at 24-28 weeks’ gestation could be used as a screening test to identify GDM patients. Women with an FPG between ≥ 80 mg/dL and ≤ 92 mg/dL would require a 75-g OGTT to diagnose GDM

Prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism in North-Indian pregnant women

Background: It is now well established that not only overt but subclinical thyroid dysfunction can also have adverse effects on fetal and maternal outcomes. In recent years several studies show a much larger prevalence of SCH and marked variation between different ethnic groups. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism during first trimester in a teaching hospital in North India.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in all the consecutive first trimester pregnant women attending Santosh Medical College, Hospital, Ghaziabad from June 2014 to April 2015 after institutional ethics approval and consent from the study subjects. Morning samples of serum were tested for TSH. If serum TSH value was more than 2.5mIU/L then Free T4 and TPO Antibody level were estimated.Results: Serum TSH level was normal in 66.2 % women, 32.5 % women had subclinical hypothyroidism and 1.3 % women had overt hypothyroidism using a first trimester normal reference range of 0.1 to 2.5 mU/l suggested by American Thyroid Association or by the American Endocrine Society.Using 5 mIU/L as upper limit of TSH suggested by some Indian studies serum TSH level was normal in 90.6 % women, 8.1 % women had subclinical hypothyroidism and 1.3 % women had overt hypothyroidism.Conclusion: The prevalence of SCH is very high in our study population. We feel that the use of thyroid function reference values based on studies using different populations and different backgrounds can introduce bias in the evaluation of a local population

Women in Nuclear Science & Technology in India: Challenges & Opportunities

Women have been actively contributing toward frontline research and development of various advanced technologies in the nuclear domain and playing a crucial role in key positions. However, proportional representation of women in various decision-making positions at higher levels in politics, diplomacy, military affairs, science, and technology remains low, and most of these positions remain male-dominated. We see that women often find it difficult to achieve leadership roles for several reasons, but often from an implicit bias in society. The stereotypical image of women in society is still propagated very discreetly. In recent times, Indian women have made big strides in several frontline sectors like Information Technology (IT), Biotechnology, and on corporate levels. More recently, organizations, including the Indian government, have been promoting an awareness of gender equality in various fields including nuclear technology. Amity University has also been motivating women academicians to take a lead in various fields including nuclear technology and nuclear security. This paper describes various initiatives that the Government of India has taken, along with many Indian organizations, including Amity University, to promote women in various fields especially in nuclear technology. This paper also discusses the opportunities for Indian women, their contributions, and challenges

Developing and Promoting a Nuclear Security Curriculum at Amity University, India: Beginnings, Successes and Challenges

Amity University is one of India’s leading research- and innovation-driven private universities. The Amity Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (AINST), established in 2009, contribute to Amity’s mission to promote national development through philanthropy, education and research. Very recently, courses related to nuclear security and security culture have been added to the existing AINST curriculum. The purpose of introducing this course was to enhance the understanding of technical, policy, and regulatory challenges associated with nuclear security and to create a nuclear security culture among relevant local institutions. This paper describes the process involved in establishing nuclear security as an elective course in the Engineering and Technology Domain for undergraduate-level and postgraduate-level engineering students at the Institute, discusses both challenges faced in these early stages as well as achievements and successes, and outlines future plans for the program

Outcome in twin gestations: A prospective observational study

Background: Incidence of twinning has increased due to the widespread use of assisted reproductive techniques. Twin gestation is associated with many maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications. Objective: The objective of the study is to study the fetal and neonatal complications and outcome of twin pregnancies. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study conducted in a tertiary referral neonatal intensive care unit. 50 consecutive pairs of twins were recruited at the time of admission of the mother to the labor ward. Demographic details of the mother and of the infants were recorded. The outcome of the pregnancy was noted, and the live born infants were followed during the hospital stay and then up till 6 months of corrected gestational age. Results: Incidence of prematurity was 60%. Moderate to severe discordancy was identified in 17 (34%) pairs of twins and 43% infants were born small for gestational age (SGA). Intrauterine Fetal Death was noted in 6 out of 54 infants with discordant growth and 1 out of 46 infants with concordant growth (p=0.046). The overall mortality in our study was 13.9%. Mortality in SGA infants was 23% and 6% in appropriate for gestational age infants (p=0.036). Conclusion: Twinning is associated with high incidence of prematurity, growth discordance, congenital anomalies, intrauterine fetal death, and neonatal mortality

Atlas of Nuclear Isomers -- Second Edition

We present an updated version of the 2015-Atlas of Nuclear Isomers \cite{jain2015}, compiling and evaluating experimental data for the isomers with half-life $\ge 10$ $\it{ns}$, together with their spectroscopic properties such as excitation-energies, half-lives, decay modes, spins and parities, energies and multipolarities of isomeric transitions, along with the relevant original references in literature. The current version of Atlas presents many re-evaluated half-lives as compared to the 2015 edition, where values were referred to Nuclear Data Sheets publications, when no new data existed. The ENSDF database \cite{Ensdf}, together with the XUNDL \cite{Xundl} and the NUBASE2020 \cite{Kondev2021} databases have been consulted for completeness, yet, data from original papers from journals were considered in the present evaluation, and the NSR bibliographic database \cite{Nsr} has been searched to ensure that this work is as complete and current as possible. Several useful systematic features of nuclear isomers covered in this Atlas have been discussed. Literature cutoff date for the extraction of data is July 21, 2022.Comment: 272 pages, 10 figures, submitted to ADND

Frailty and chronic kidney disease: associations and implications

ABSTRACT Introduction: Frailty and its association with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been established previously. The present study examined this association further by studying the distribution of frailty among groups defined by different stages of the disease. It also identified associated health deficits and explored their association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urine albumin creatinine ratio (UACR). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 90 non-dialysis dependent CKD Stage 1–4 patients, recruited in three stratified groups of 30 participants each based on the stage of disease. Frailty was assessed using Fried’s frailty criteria and associated health deficits were recorded using a pre-determined list. Depression was screened using a 4-point depression scale. Results: 21.1% of the participants were frail and 43.3% were pre-frail. The proportion of frailty in CKD groups A (Stages 1 and 2), B (Stage 3a), and C (Stages 3b and 4) was 10%, 13.3%, and 40%, respectively. The association of health deficits including co-morbidities, physical parameters, mental status, daily activities, etc. with UACR, eGFR, and CKD stages was not statistically significant. Nearly one in two frail participants was depressed compared with 14% among non-frail participants. Conclusion: The skewed distribution of 21% frail subjects identified in our study indicates an association between frailty and advancing kidney disease. Frail individuals had a lower eGFR, higher UACR, were more likely to be depressed, and had higher count of health deficits and poorer performance on Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living and WHOQOL. Early identification of depression would improve care in these patients

Revisiting the role of n-p residual interaction and the Newby shift in K = 0 bands in the odd-odd actinides

We present an analysis of all the known $K=0$ bands in the deformed odd-odd actinide nuclei using the two quasiparticle plus rotor model to obtain the values of Newby shift. The Newby shift so obtained is expected to be free from the Coriolis mixing effects. A total of 11 bands of 238Np, 234Pa, 240-244Am and 250Bk have been analyzed. We find that the staggering pattern in all the cases is properly reproduced. We also examine the validity of an empirical rule to obtain the sign of the Newby shift. We find that for the 8 cases when $\Omega_{n} = \Omega_{p} \neq 1/2$, the rule predicts correct sign but the rule does not work in rest of the 3 cases when $\Omega_{n} = \Omega_{p} =1/2$. As an important outcome of our study, we propose the spin parity assignments and level energies of the $K=0$ and $K=5$ G-M partner bands in 240Am, $\{5/2[523]_{p}\otimes 5/2[622]_{n}\}$. We resolve the tentative nature of the assignments and present a unique level scheme. Also, we predict the band-head energy of $K=0$ bands in four cases, namely three $K=0$ bands of 238Np and one $K=0$ band of 240Am , where the band-head energy is not known experimentally. These results may be useful for future experiments