11,274 research outputs found
Assessment of Knowledge and Practices of Referring Private Practitioners Regarding Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme in Nagpur City - A Cross Sectional Study
Objectives: To assess knowledge, diagnostic and treatment practices of the referring private practitioners of Nagpur city regarding Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). Methods: The study involved interview of 103 Private Practitioners (PPs) of Nagpur city. Knowledge of private practitioners was assessed based on questions related to diagnosis, categorization, treatment regimens & follow up. Practices of private practitioners were assessed based on which investigations and treatment regimen they advise & whether they offer supervised treatment. Their willingness to get involved in the programme was also recorded. Results: Only 49 (47.6%) private practitioners knew sputum smear examination as primary tool of diagnosis of TB. Only half, 52 (50.5%) of the private practitioners knew number of categories of tuberculosis correctly and 64 (62.1%) private practitioners did know how to categorize TB patients. Chest X-ray and Mantoux test (38.5%) was mainly used by the PPs for TB diagnosis. 42.7% of PPs were prescribing treatment for TB and among them only 8 were prescribing as per RNTCP guidelines and just one provided treatment under direct observation. Different combination of HRZE and HRZES was prescribed for variable period ranges from 2-8 months. And only 12 (11.6%) private practitioners expressed their willingness to get involved in RNTCP for TB control. Conclusion: There is lack of adequate knowledge, diagnostic and treatment practice among PPs as per RNTCP guidelines and further encouragement is required for their participation in the programme
The Role of Opacities in Stellar Pulsation
We examine the role of opacities in stellar pulsation with reference to
Cepheids and RR Lyraes, and examine the effect of augmented opacities on the
theoretical pulsation light curves in key temperature ranges. The temperature
ranges are provided by recent experimental and theoretical work that have
suggested that the iron opacities have been considerably underestimated. For
Cepheids, we find that the augmented opacities have noticeable effects in
certain period ranges (around ) even though there is a
degeneracy with mixing length. We also find significant effects in theoretical
models of B-star pulsators.Comment: 6 pages, 3 Figures, Proceeding for the "Workshop on Astrophysical
Opacities
On the Variation of Fourier Parameters for Galactic and LMC Cepheids at Optical, Near-Infrared and Mid-Infrared Wavelengths
We present a light curve analysis of fundamental-mode Galactic and Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids based on the Fourier decomposition technique.
We have compiled light curve data for Galactic and LMC Cepheids in optical
({\it VI}), near-infrared ({\it JHK}) and mid-infrared (3.6
4.5-m) bands from the literature and determined the variation of their
Fourier parameters as a function of period and wavelength. We observed a
decrease in Fourier amplitude parameters and an increase in Fourier phase
parameters with increasing wavelengths at a given period. We also found a
decrease in the skewness and acuteness parameters as a function of wavelength
at a fixed period. We applied a binning method to analyze the progression of
the mean Fourier parameters with period and wavelength. We found that for
periods longer than about 20 days, the values of the Fourier amplitude
parameters increase sharply for shorter wavelengths as compared to wavelengths
longer than the -band. We observed the variation of the Hertzsprung
progression with wavelength. The central period of the Hertzsprung progression
was found to increase with wavelength in the case of the Fourier amplitude
parameters and decrease with increasing wavelength in the case of phase
parameters. We also observed a small variation of the central period of the
progression between the Galaxy and LMC, presumably related to metallicity
effects. These results will provide useful constraints for stellar pulsation
codes that incorporate stellar atmosphere models to produce Cepheid light
curves in various bands.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures, Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journa
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