Data for the paper on "Early school failure predicts teenage pregnancy and marriage: a large population-based cohort study in Northern Malawi"

The data originate from a demographic surveillance site (DSS) in Karonga district in northern Malawi covering a population of >35,000 individuals from approx. 8000 households since 2002. This is run by MEIRU (Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit). Annual individual and household-level socio-demographic and schooling data were combined with data on participants’ sexual behaviour, including age at sexual debut, pregnancy and marriage to examine the relationship between school progression (drop-out and age-for-grade) and sexual debut, pregnancy and marriage

Importance of conduction electron correlation in a Kondo lattice, Ce2CoSi3

Kondo systems are usually described by the interaction of strong correlation induced local moment with the highly itinerant conduction electrons. Here, we study the role of electron correlations among conduction electrons in the electronic structure of a Kondo lattice compound, Ce$_2$CoSi$_3$, using high resolution photoemission spectroscopy and {\it ab initio} band structure calculations, where Co 3$d$ electrons contribute in the conduction band. High energy resolution employed in the measurements helped to reveal signature of Ce 4$f$ states derived Kondo resonance feature at the Fermi level and dominance of Co 3$d$ contributions at higher binding energies in the conduction band. The line shape of the experimental Co 3$d$ band is found to be significantly different from that obtained from the band structure calculations within the local density approximations, LDA. Consideration of electron-electron Coulomb repulsion, $U$ among Co 3$d$ electrons within the LDA+$U$ method leads to a better representation of experimental results. Signature of electron correlation induced satellite feature is also observed in the Co 2$p$ core level spectrum. These results clearly demonstrate the importance of the electron correlation among conduction electrons in deriving the microscopic description of such Kondo systems.Comment: 6 figure

Evaluation of drug promotional brochures in a tertiary teaching hospital of Kannur, India

Background: Pharmaceutical industries worldwide are heavily involved in aggressive drug promotions. WHO has framed guidelines for ethical drug promotion in 1988. The transparency of pharmaceutical advertisements is important because decision of the physician is likely to be influenced by the claims made by the pharmaceutical companies in the promotional drug brochures and pharmaceutical industries treat their marketing material as “educational material” for doctors. Authors did this study to analyze the information given on drug promotional brochures by the drug companies using ethical criteria of drug promotion by WHO 1988 and to verify the authenticity of the claims given by the pharmaceutical companies in drug promotional brochures.Methods: Cross sectional study extending from 1/8/2012 to 31/7/2013. 612 drug promotional brochures satisfied our inclusion criteria. Drug brochures were analyzed with WHO ethical criteria 1988 and further categorizing the data into type of claims, number and source of references. Validity of journal articles were checked by using a validity measure developed by Cardarelli.Results: Total 612 brochures satisfied inclusion criteria. INN was mentioned in 93.8% of collected brochures. Brand name was mentioned in 100% brochures. Content of active ingredients was mentioned in 92% of brochures. Name of the other ingredients known to cause problem 28.4% of brochures. Dosage form or regimen was mentioned in 23.2% of brochures. Approved therapeutic use mentioned in 65.7% brochures. Side effects and major adverse drug reactions were mentioned in 31.4% brochures. Precautions and contraindications and warnings were mentioned in 30.4% drug promotional brochures. Drug interactions were mentioned in 26.5% brochures. Name and address was mentioned by 69.1% brochures. There were 1144 claims and 739 references. Efficacy claims were 84.88% of the total claims. Main source of reference was from journal articles (74.1%) and among them 49.65% were randomized control trials. Only 47.94 % of the journal references were valid.Conclusions: Brochures were lacking in vital information which included contraindication, warning, precaution, name of the other ingredients known to cause problem hence companies were found violating WHO ethical criteria. Claims were not well supported with references. Less than half of the given journal references were only valid. This study highlights the need of healthcare professionals to remain cautious about promotional material presented by pharmaceutical representatives

Tetramer Orbital-Ordering induced Lattice-Chirality in Ferrimagnetic, Polar MnTi2O4

Using density-functional theory calculations and experimental investigations on structural, magnetic and dielectric properties, we have elucidated a unique tetragonal ground state for MnTi2O4, a Ti^{3+} (3d^1)-ion containing spinel-oxide. With lowering of temperature around 164 K, cubic MnTi2O4 undergoes a structural transition into a polar P4_1 tetragonal structure and at further lower temperatures, around 45 K, the system undergoes a paramagnetic to ferrimagnetic transition. Magnetic superexchange interactions involving Mn and Ti spins and minimization of strain energy associated with co-operative Jahn-Teller distortions plays a critical role in stabilization of the unique tetramer-orbital ordered ground state which further gives rise to lattice chirality through subtle Ti-Ti bond-length modulations