An investigation on prevalence of Anemia in relation to BMI and nutrient intake among adult rural population of West Bengal, India

Background: Anemia is now globally recognized major public health problem. The present study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of anemia and interrelationship of anemia with BMI among adult rural population of West Bengal state, India. Method: Anthropometric measures, nutritional parameters, heart rate and hemoglobin were measured from 310 adult subjects by using standard technique. Results: The prevalence of anemia was high among both sexes and more than the global prevalence. The anemic individuals consumed nutritionally deficient diet than the non-anemic individuals. The prevalence of anemia was significantly high in underweight and normal groups. The Odds ratios became significantly higher in underweight group than normal and overweight/obese groups of both sexes. Conclusions: The prevalence of anemia in the adult rural population might be related to dietary deficiency and poor dietary patterns. The present study was hypothesized that the subjects with low BMI would have a higher risk of anemia compared to normal or overweight subjects

Spatial Resolution of Local Field Potential Signals in Macaque V4

A main challenge for the development of cortical visual prostheses is to spatially localize individual spots of light, called phosphenes, by assigning appropriate stimulating parameters to implanted electrodes. Imitating the natural responses to phosphene-like stimuli at different positions can help in designing a systematic procedure to determine these parameters. The key characteristic of such a system is the ability to discriminate between responses to different positions in the visual field. While most previous prosthetic devices have targeted the primary visual cortex, the extrastriate cortex has the advantage of covering a large part of the visual field with a smaller amount of cortical tissue, providing the possibility of a more compact implant. Here, we studied how well ensembles of Multiunit activity (MUA) and Local Field Potentials (LFPs) responses from extrastriate cortical visual area V4 of a behaving macaque monkey can discriminate between two-dimensional spatial positions. We found that despite the large receptive field sizes in V4, the combined responses from multiple sites, whether MUA or LFP, has the capability for fine and coarse discrimination of positions. We identified a selection procedure that could significantly increase the discrimination performance while reducing the required number of electrodes. Analysis of noise correlation in MUA and LFP responses showed that noise correlations in LFP responses carry more information about the spatial positions. Overall, these findings suggest that spatial positions could be localized with patterned stimulation in extrastriate area V4

Biological Properties and Uses of Honey: A Concise Scientific review

The global prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, atherosclerosis, cancer and Alzheimer's disease is on the rise. These diseases constitute the major causes of death globally. Honey is a natural substance with many medicinal properties such as antibacterial, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, reproductive, and antihypertensive and antioxidant. This review presents findings that indicate honey may ameliorate oxidative stress in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), liver, pancreas, kidney, reproductive organs and plasma/serum. Besides, the review highlights data that demonstrate the synergistic antioxidant effect of honey and antidiabetic drugs in the pancreas, kidney, and serum of diabetic rats. These data suggest that honey, administered alone or in combination with conventional therapy, might be a novel antioxidant in the management of chronic diseases commonly associated with oxidative stress. In view of the fact that the majority of these data emanate from animal studies, there is an urgent need to investigate this antioxidant effect of honey in human subjects with chronic or degenerative diseases

Sex Variation of Motion Stereotypic Response among Adult Bengalee Population for the Operation of Some Simple Control-Display Units

Population stereotype point out to a long-term habit and well embedded knowledge of a particular population. This study was carried out to evaluate the variation in index of reversibility, response preference and response initiation time among male and female subjects for some simple analog control-display units. A total of 999 subjects were responded, among them 591 were male and 408 were female (having the age range of 15-60 years). To conduct the study five types of analog displays viz., rotary control knob with horizontal display, rotary control knob with vertical display, and rotary control knob with circular display, horizontally aligned rocker switches and vertically aligned rocker switches for electric lights were fabricated. The subjects were asked to move the control to get the desired display and the response preference and response initiation time were noted as the results. The results showed that the best control-display unit was the rotary control-vertical display combination on the basis of index of reversibility for both sexes. Statistical analysis of the data showed that preferred response percentage or were significantly (P less than 0.05 or less) different for both sexes in case of all the rotary control analog display operations but for rocker switch-electric light unit operation it was found that both group showed similar stereotypic strength and direction. Response initiation time also found to be significantly (P less than 0.001) different, it was also found that higher preferred response percentage showed shorter response initiation time. It may be concluded that gender has a profound impact on motion stereotypic responses

Estimation of stature from hand dimensions in Bengalee population, West Bengal, India

Stature estimation from decomposing bodies and incomplete skeletons particularly in personal identification is considered as one of the biggest aspects of forensic science. This issue has gained importance in recent times due to mass disasters like terrorist attacks, mass murders, transport accidents, floods and earthquakes. Thus, the present study was undertaken to set up a standard formulae to estimate stature from hand dimensions in the Bengalee population. Measurements of different hand dimensions and statures were taken from 1662 adult Bengalee women aged from 20 to 40 years following the standard technique and appropriate landmarks. There was no statistically significant bilateral variation of the measurements. The correlation coefficients between stature and all variables were positive and statistically significant (p < 0.001). The hand length and palm length showed a better correlation with stature than the other variables. Simple linear regression equations and multiple linear regression equation were formulated for stature estimation using the hand dimensions. The derived equations were applied to the control group and it was noted that the percentage difference between true stature of the control and the estimated stature ranged from 0.01% to 0.15%. The multiple linear regression equation was more reliable than the simple linear regression equations as a lower standard error of estimate and higher value of determination coefficient and multiple correlation coefficient. From the results of the present study, it may be concluded that hand dimensions can be successfully used for estimating stature of adult Bengalee women in forensic practice by enforcement agencies and forensic scientists

Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, India

Background: Apart from cereal production (rice, wheat, etc.) agricultural labourers are engaged in vegetable cultivation in West Bengal, India. Potato cultivation is one of the important vegetable cultivation in India. The potato cultivation tasks are repetitive in nature and those are carried out mainly by manual efforts. Most of the tasks of potato cultivation are monotonous, strenuous, physiologically demanding as well as time-consuming.Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and postural stress among male workers engaged in different potato cultivation jobs. Methods: The study was conducted on 163 male potato cultivators in different districts of West Bengal state. A modified Nordic Questionnaire and Body Part Discomfort scale were applied to identify MSDs in different body parts. The postural pattern was assessed by direct observation method. The postural stress was analyzed by OWAS, REBA and QEC methods. Result: The results show that the prevalence of MSDs was very high among the workers and the most affected areas were back and upper extremity. Postural analysis indicated that the subjects had to adopt different stressful postures during performing different potato cultivation jobs. During potato harvesting operation the workers were subjected to greater postural stress than that of other tasks.Conclusion: Postural stress might be the reason of the occurrence of MSDs. From this study it has been recommended that workers should avoid bad work postures as far as possible during work for reducing job related health hazards.International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health, Vol 4 No 2 (2014) 05 – 1

Identification of a suitable working posture for female workers engaged in golden thread work

Background: The golden thread (jori) work is one of the major home based industries providing employment to thousands of artisans spread over several rural areas of the West Bengal. The study is essentially labor intensive and thus workers are prone to suffer from work related health problems. Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate the musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and postural stress of the female golden thread workers. Methods: The study was carried on 123 adult female golden thread workers in different districts of West Bengal. The prevalence of MSD, body part discomfort rating (BPD) and postural stress (by OWAS, RULA, REBA method) of the workers were evaluated by standard methods. The EMG of shoulder and back muscle was recorded with the help of the BIOPAC system. Result: The results showed that the prevalence of MSDs, BPD rating and postural stress were comparatively lower in case of sitting on the floor with folded legs than squatting and sitting on the floor with stretched legs. The EMG and RMS values of EMG voltage of shoulder and back muscle were comparatively lower in this posture than that of other two postures. Conclusion: It was therefore, concluded that sitting on the floor with folded legs was less hazardous and it imposed less postural stress in comparison to other sitting postures adopted by the golden thread workers.International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health, Vol 4 No 2 (2014) 24 – 3