PLIGHT OF FEMALE CONSTRUCTION WORKERS OF SURAT CITY

Background: With the rapid increase in construction sector, the number of female construction workers is increased. The problems of women worker is still not addressed adequately by health sector. Aims and objective: The present study is aimed to explore problems of female workers at construction sites in working environment and to document issues like gender bias, living conditions, vulnerability and slackness of health among female working in construction field. Methodology: This was a Cross sectional study conducted in May 2011in which all females working at the randomly selected construction site were enrolled. The pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire was prepared to study the participant’s response. In-depth interview technique was also used to strengthen the findings. Results: Total of 118 female construction workers participated in the study with mean age found to be 22 years with SD of 6 years. Mean daily wages of female was 120 Rs while for male it was 245 Rs which is double than what female getting. Major health complaints were fatigue/weakness (61 %), backache (30 %), cough (17.5 %), fever (17 %), skin itching (10.5 %) and diarrhoea (7 %). They were not even using the government medical facility due to lack of awareness and knowledge about this. No safety measures provided to female as compare to male except at 2 sites where female were provided ‘gloves’. Some (6%) of the working females has abuse of chewing tobacco daily or smoking ‘bidi’. The living condition was merely enough to provide any privacy for female. Conclusion: As migratory and floating population, female working in construction field needs attention. Lack of social security and family support make them a vulnerable group for addiction and violence. Alternate way for providing healthcare for these women should be sort out early

Study of Vagendriya with its Related Structures - A Review

According to Ayurveda classic texts Indriyas are the apparatus to attain knowledge for Atma. Acharya Charaka described Indriya as basic instrument in differentiating the living and non-living matters. Whereas in contemporary science Indriyas are dealt only with structure i.e. sense organ where the actual transduction process takes place. Indriyas are composed of five elements still specific Mahabhuta dominates precise Indriya. This is the reason behind reception of specific sensation by its respective Indriya. Many sensory and motor functions are performed by Indriyas. Indriyas of human body plays a very vital role in carrying out day to day activites of human body. Modern science also accepts the same concept in the form of sensation and perception that allows the human to detect and understand the various stimuli and collect information from internal or external environment of an organism and send them to CNS. All Indriyas work will be meaningless if Vayu will not work hand to hand with these Indriyas. Vagendriya a motor organ which act as a passive partner on receiving command from its higher centre located in Shira, which is ultimately a site for location of control center of all motor as well as sense organs and thus it is said to be ‘Uttamaang.’ Ayurvedic approach towards speech production is reflected as Vak Pravrutti. Speech is multiphase unique phenomenon and is believed to be outcome of combined effort of Acoustic signals, Articulatory signals and Muscle coordination along with Nervous assistance viz. Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area

Higher yields and profits from new crop rotations permitting integration of mediculture with agriculture in the Indo-Gangetic plains

The results of a survey conducted in 100 villages of 7 districts located in Uttar Pradesh in the central Indo-Gangetic plains on the land cropping pattern and profits to the farmers per unit land and area are presented. It is shown that sugarcane is cultivated in about 19.5% of the land. Rice remains the principal kharif crop in the area, occupying about 76% of land. Conventional rice-wheat/Brassica/legume, rice-potato and rice-mint rotations benefitted farmers to the extent of roughly Rs 30,000 ha−1 year−1. Introduction of new rotations based upon newly available short duration Kosi variety of mint is permitting practice of rice-wheat/Brassica/legume-mint and rice-potato-mint rotations, bringing a profit of approximately Rs 61,000 ha−1 year−1 to the farmers of the area. Future prospects of integration of short duration medicinal and aromatic crops (mediculture) between food grain crops (agriculture) like the above, for the development of agriculture, industry and employment are discussed

Relative susceptibility of some common mosquito vector larvae to synthetic insecticidal compounds in northwestern Rajasthan.

Abstract: Relative susceptibility of three important mosquito vector larvae viz., Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus, prevalent in the arid region was determined against four organophosphates (malathion, fenitrothion, fenthion, temephos) and three synthetic pyrethroid (alphamethrin, deltamethrin and fanvalerate) compounds. Studies were carried out on late 3 rd or early 4 th instar larvae of these species using standard WHO technique. Based on concentration mortality data LC 50 and LC 90 values along with their fiducial limits, regression equation, chi-square (x 2 )/ heterogeneity of the response have been determined by log probit regression analysis. LC 50 values as observed for the above seven insecticides were 0. 8097, 0.0398. 0.0432, 0.0035, 0.0025, 0.0092, 0.1006; 1.2370, 0.0531, 0.0655, 0.0076, 0.00004, 0.00004, 0.0046 and 1.4980, 0.0719, 0.0817, 0.0056, 0.00021, 0.00073, 0.0112 mg/l for the above three mosquito species respectively. Among the four organophosphates tested temephos was the most effective followed by fenitrothion, fenthion and malathion. In general, Anopheles was found more susceptible as compared to the other two culicines to the above four compounds. The results also showed that larvae of Ae. aegypti were most susceptible followed by Cx. quinquefasciatus and An. stephensi to all the three pyrethroids tested. Among the three compounds tested alphamethrin was found to be the most toxic followed by deltamethrin while fanvalerate was the least toxic. The study would be of great importance while planning use of these insecticides for the control of different vector species in this area. Key words: Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, Vector mosquitoes, Desert Rajasthan PDF file of full length paper is available with author Introduction Vector control, which includes both anti-larval and antiadult measures constitutes an important aspect of any mosquito control programmes. Mosquitoes, the best known group among dipteran insects, are of great importance to man as vectors of many communicable diseases such as malaria, filaria, dengue/dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) etc. Among the anophelines, Anopheles stephensi and An. culicifacies are the important vector of malaria while among the culicines, Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti are the vectors of filaria and dengue/DHF respectively. All these mosquito species have been identified as primary vectors of the above communicable diseases in this region of Rajasthan (Bansal and Singh, 1993

Cationic Amino Acids Specific Biomimetic Silicification in Ionic Liquid: A Quest to Understand the Formation of 3-D Structures in Diatoms

The intricate, hierarchical, highly reproducible, and exquisite biosilica structures formed by diatoms have generated great interest to understand biosilicification processes in nature. This curiosity is driven by the quest of researchers to understand nature's complexity, which might enable reproducing these elegant natural diatomaceous structures in our laboratories via biomimetics, which is currently beyond the capabilities of material scientists. To this end, significant understanding of the biomolecules involved in biosilicification has been gained, wherein cationic peptides and proteins are found to play a key role in the formation of these exquisite structures. Although biochemical factors responsible for silica formation in diatoms have been studied for decades, the challenge to mimic biosilica structures similar to those synthesized by diatoms in their natural habitats has not hitherto been successful. This has led to an increasingly interesting debate that physico-chemical environment surrounding diatoms might play an additional critical role towards the control of diatom morphologies. The current study demonstrates this proof of concept by using cationic amino acids as catalyst/template/scaffold towards attaining diatom-like silica morphologies under biomimetic conditions in ionic liquids

Comparative bioequivalence studies of tramadol hydrochloride sustained-release 200 mg tablets

Suhas S Khandave1, Satish V Sawant1, Santosh S Joshi1, Yatish K Bansal2, Sonal S Kadam21Accutest Research Laboratories (I) Private Limited, Koparkhirne, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; 2Ipca Laboratories Limited, Kandivli Mumbai, Maharashtra, IndiaBackground: Tramadol hydrochloride is available as 50 mg immediate-release (IR) and 100 mg, 200 mg, and 300 mg sustained-release (SR) tablets. The recommended dose of tramadol is 50–100 mg IR tablets every 4–6 hours. The tramadol SR 200 mg tablet is a better therapeutic option, with a reduced frequency of dosing, and improved patient compliance and quality of life. The present study evaluated the bioequivalence of a generic tramadol SR 200 mg tablet.Methods: A comparative in vitro dissolution study was performed on the test and reference products, followed by two separate single-dose bioequivalence studies under fasting and fed conditions and one multiple-dose bioequivalence study under fasting conditions. These bioequivalence studies were conducted in healthy human subjects using an open-label, randomized, two-treatment, two-period, two-sequence, crossover design. The oral administration of the test and reference products was done on day 1 for both the single-dose studies and on days 1–5 for the multiple-dose study in each study period as per the randomization code. Serial blood samples were collected at predefined time points in all the studies. Analysis of plasma concentrations of tramadol and O-desmethyltramadol (the M1 metabolite) was done by a validated liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analytical method. The standard acceptance criterion of bioequivalence was applied on log-transformed pharmacokinetic parameters for tramadol and its M1 metabolite.Results: The ratios for geometric least-square means and 90% confidence intervals were within the acceptance range of 80%–125% for log-transformed primary pharmacokinetic parameters for tramadol and its M1 metabolite in all the three studies.Conclusion: The test product is bioequivalent to the reference product in terms of rate and extent of absorption, as evident from the single-dose and multiple-dose studies. Both the treatments were well tolerated.Keywords: tramadol, multiple-dose, steady state, bioequivalenc

Implement development for SAT Alfisols

Field operations in Alfisols and related soils require timeliness and precision for the early establishment of a crop in the rainy season. Animal-drawn, multipurpose wheeled tool carriers (WTCs) have been found to be the most appropriate machinery for this purpose. Three designs discussed in this paper covered 1 ha in 3-4 hours for different tillage operations, and could be drawn by a pair of oxen of average size. A WTC fitted with a planter-and-fertilizer applicator, consisting of an inclined plate for seed metering and1416 oscillating mechanisms for fertilizer metering and a double-shoe furrow opener, gave excellent results in sowing various crops, and covered 1 ha in 4-5 hours with an average draft of 1530 N (156 kgf) for four rows. A rolling crust breaker, developed to enhance seedling emergence through the surface crust, gave good results. Intensive primary tillage of Alfisols showed advantages in the early stages of crop growth, but they tended to disappear late in the season. Results of tillage studies conducted for 4 years indicate a need for further research to find out the comparative advantages of different intensities of primary tillage during the cropping season and off-season

Alkali ratio control for lead-free piezoelectric thin films utilizing elemental diffusivities in RF plasma

High performance piezoelectric thin films are generally lead-based, and find applications in sensing, actuation and transduction in the realms of biology, nanometrology, acoustics and energy harvesting. Potassium sodium niobate (KNN) is considered to be the most promising lead-free alternative, but it is hindered by the inability to control and attain perfect stoichiometry materials in the thin film form while using practical large area deposition techniques. In this work, we identify the contribution of the elemental diffusivities in the radio frequency (RF) plasma in determining the alkali loss in the KNN thin films. We have also examined the effect of the substrate temperature during the RF magnetron sputtering deposition on the crystal structure of the substrate and KNN thin films, as well as the effect of the postannealing treatments. These results indicate the need for well-designed source materials and the potential to use the deposition partial pressure to alter the dopant concentrations