Assessing attitude towards condom use among truck drivers at transhipment location, Meerut District, India, using multidimensional condom attitude scale

Background: In India, unsafe sex has been documented among truck drivers. This study explores the factors influencing their attitude of trucker towards condom use.Methods: A cross-sectional study design was adapted for this study in which 25 factors were chosen to assess attitude toward condom use on 7 point validated Likert scale UCLA Multidimensional Condom Attitude Scale on 5 subcomponents –Reliability, Pleasure, Stigma associated with condom use, embarrassment about negotiation and use of condom and about purchasing condom. Hundred truck drivers were recruited using convenient sampling and Mann-Whitney U and Kruskall Wallis Test were used to validate the subcomponents among those practicing unsafe sex. Results: Positive attitudes regarding reliability and effectiveness of condom were significantly higher among adult entrants and those resting more than 10 hours during journey whereas positive attitude regarding pleasure associated with condoms and stigma towards it is significantly higher among truck drivers travelled long distances and resting more than 10 hours. Conclusion: Adolescent entrants, those who have not travelled long distances and not rested more than 10 hrs requires improvement in the attitude towards condom use. Keywords: Unsafe sex; condom use; India

Exploring unsafe sexual practices among truck drivers at Meerut District, India: a cross-sectional study

Background: Despite implementation of HIV prevention programmes for truck drivers in India, unsafe sex behavior among truck drivers has been documented. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess knowledge about HIV Transmission and modes of prevention, pattern of condom use with high risk partners and explore the practice of unsafe sex and its risk factors among truck drivers. Methods: This exploratory cross-sectional study design was conducted on a recruited convenient sample of 100 truck drivers above 18 years from March to May 2015. Binary logistic regression was used to compute unadjusted odds ratio [95% Confidence Interval] for establishing association of risk factors with unsafe sex. Results: Overall, only 7% had complete knowledge about HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention. 54% of truck drivers have sex with a high risk partner (commercial sexual worker or men having sex with men) and thirty-eight percent reported unsafe sexual practices due to inconsistent condom use with them. The various risk factors found significantly associated with unsafe sex were mean age of first intercourse (OR= 0.92, 95% CI: 0.75 \u2013 0.97), access to pornography (OR = 4.4, 95% CI: 1.8 \u2013 10.7) and conuming psychoactive substance before sex (OR = 4.06, 95% CI: 1.09 \u2013 15.02). Conclusion: Socio-demographic, occupational factors, pornography access and consuming psychoactive substances seems to influence the sexual behaviour of truckers

Assessing the climate change adaptability of buildings

Buildings present a significant amount of opportunity for climate mitigation. Since they are long-lived assets, they also present great challenges for adaptation to projected as well as unexpected climate change impacts. These impacts will have consequences for building design and fabric, as well as for people in and around buildings and for their health and well-being. It is essential that we identify the nature and extent of their vulnerabilities and resilience if they are to be adapted in a timely and effective manner. There are many assessment tools and methods being developed and used for identifying vulnerability and adaptive capacity of various systems from planning to urban governance. However, there appears to be a knowledge and policy gap in the area of assessment of buildings in particular measuring their vulnerability and aiding in creating climate-adaptable and resilient buildings. This paper aims to identify knowledge and policy gaps for climate-adaptable buildings. The specific objectives of this research are: ▪ To identify major issues and challenges with regard to existing and new buildings ▪ To identify what measures have already been proposed or implemented ▪ To outline past, current and planned research activities ▪ To identify knowledge gaps and priority areas of research and polic

Foliar chemical attributes of the hybrid bred from Eucalyptus citriodora x E. torelliana and its parental taxa, and implications for fungal resistance

<span>One of the important aspects of hybridization is to understand the interaction between hybrid plants and the pests and diseases of the parental taxa. The foliar chemical attributes were compared between the hybrid of </span><em>Eucalyptus citriodora</em><span> and </span><em>E. torelliana</em><span> and its parental taxa. The fungus, </span><em>Cylindrocladium quinqueseptatum</em><span>, to which the hybrid and one parent </span><em>E. torelliana</em><span> have been observed resistant in the field, was used to examine patterns of resistance in relation to foliar constituents found active in labo-ratory bioassays. Concentration of active constituents of the hybrid was higher (monoterpenes- a-pinene, ß-pinene and citronellal, and total phenolics) than either parent or equivalent (ursolic acid) to parent E. torelliana thus suggesting an resistance pattern of hybrid. Beta-pinene, ursolic acid and total phenolics were found to be heritable. The findings suggest a chemical basis for fungal resistance and also indicate that the constituents could be used for screening of the disease resistant progeny in this tree system. </span

Health educational intervention is an effective tool for control the dengue disease as current menace

Background: Dengue has become a global problem since the second world war and is endemic in more than 110 countries. Apart from eliminating the mosquitoes, work is ongoing on a vaccine, as well as medication targeted directly at the virus. Objective: To ascertain the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding Dengue. Among students in urban and rural areas of Meerut District. Materials and Methods: A quasi interventional study was conducted among 320 students, (200 from urban and 120 from rural students) were randomly selected. Chi –square test used for significant differences between before and Post Intervention response. Results: The knowledge, attitudes and practices of students was inadequate regarding dengue before the educational session and better improvement was observed after the educational session. Conclusion: There is better improvement found in knowledge attitude and practice for the control dengue after educational session. This study concludes that health educational intervention is an effective tool for prevention and controls the Dengue as disease

Acute Transverse Myelitis (Ascending Myelitis) as the Initial Manifestation of Japanese Encephalitis: A Rare Presentation

Japanese encephalitis, an inflammatory brain disease prevalent in Southeast Asia, usually presented with fever, headache, convulsions, brain stem signs with pyramidal and extrapyramidal features, and altered sensorium. Acute transverse myelitis, as the initial manifestation of Japanese encephalitis, is an unusual manifestation and is seldom reported. We hereby report a case of 13-year-old adolescent boy who presented to us with fever and acute onset paraparesis with urinary retention initially, progressing to quadriparesis and then followed by headache and altered sensorium. Brain MRI revealed bilateral basal ganglia that were grossly swollen with vasogenic edema tracking along internal capsule and midbrain. Adjacent ventrolateral thalamus and internal capsule also showed mild abnormal intensities. Spinal screening showed abnormal cord intensities in entire cord with gross edema in cervical and conus regions. He had elevated IgM titres against JE virus in cerebrospinal fluid. The patient was treated conservatively along with intravenous methyl prednisolone for 5 days. He regained near normal power at 3 months in followup, but hesitancy, dysarthria, and slowness of movement still persisted. To conclude, a young boy presenting with ATM in an endemic region of JE, then a possibility of Japanese encephalitis, should be sought by clinicians as early use of immunomodulator shows survival benefit

Body mass index for age criteria: a school based study in Meerut (U. P)

Background: Under nutrition, overweight and obesity are important determinants of health leading to adverse metabolic changes and increase the risk of non communicable diseases, with the adoption of western lifestyle the problem of overweight and obesity is gradually increasing in children and adolescents. With this background a school based cross sectional study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status of school going children of urban area Meerut City UP, India Methods: A school based cross sectional study was conducted. A total of 4202 school students (05-18 years) were examined from one government and one private schools that were selected by simple random sampling method. Pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to elicit the information on individual characteristics. Height and weight of the children were measured, BMI and other parameters were calculated. Results: On applying the BMI –for- age criteria 22.8% boys and 19.9% girls were found under weight while 04.1 % boys and 03.04 % girls were overweight , and 05.06% boys and 04.08% girls were found obese . 22.8% government and (16.00%) private school children were found under weight while 03.4 % government and 5.6 % private school students were overweight , and 03.8 % government and 11.8 % private school students were found obese . Conclusions: Proper dietary habits and lifestyle modification must be advised to children to prevent occurrence of under nutrition, overweight and obesity in them. Family environment plays important role in predisposing the children tounder nutrition, overweight/obesity and hence the interventions need to be directed towards the families

Prevalence of dental caries among school children in Meerut

Background: Healthy teeth and oral tissues and the need for oral health care are important for any section of society. Dental caries, the product of man's progress towards civilization, has a very high morbidity potential and thus, is coming into focus of the mankind. The prevalence and incidence of dental caries in a population is influenced by a number of risk factor such as sex, age, socioeconomic status, dietary patterns and oral hygiene habits. Despite credible scientific advances and the fact that caries is preventable, the disease continues to be a major public health problem. This present study was designed to assess the prevalence of dental caries amongst school children between 05-18 age in Meerut city, UP India. Objective: To assess the prevalence of dental caries among 05-18 years school students of Meerut city. Methods: A school based cross sectional study was conducted. A total of 4433 school students (05-18 years) were examined from one government and one private schools that were selected by simple random sampling method among all the schools in Meerut city. Results: The prevalence of dental caries was found 1366 (30.9%). Prevalence of Dental stains, dental crowding &amp; Ellis fracture were 12.03%, 08.00% and 01.01% respectively. Conclusion: Dental caries was found to be very high in both the schools of Meerut city. Regular dental checkups and education on routine oral hygiene procedures is the need of hour for better dental health of school children