Functioning of Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees in Punjab: An Appraisal

The present study aims to assess the composition of VHSNCs; to assess the functioning of VHSNCs and find out the deviations, if any, from the prescribed framework of guidelines and, to understand awareness of VHSNC members about their roles. The proposed study is based on primary data collected with the help of structured questionnaire. The data was collected from one hundred Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees in Punjab. Four districts of the Punjab state were selected randomly from each direction i.e North, South, East and West. The districts selected were Gurdaspur, Mansa, Mohali and Firozpur from North, South, East and West direction respectively. The study reveals that sampled VHSNCs in Punjab have 12 members per VHSNC. One-fourth of the chairpersons of the VHSNCs in Punjab were illiterate Only 23 per cent of the VHSNCs claimed to have prepared the village health plan. Meetings were organized on monthly basis in only half of the expected meetings per VHSNC. Large number of members was not attending the meetings organised by VHSNCs in Punjab. Majority of the funds received by VHSNCs was utilized for sanitation and cleanliness of the village. Majority of members were not aware about the components and objectives of VHSNC. All members reported that the untied fund is always helpful in solving the issues and problems of the village and the amount of untied fund given to VHSNCs should be increased

Declining sikh space on the religious and political landscape of India

This study is devoted to highlighting the temporal trends and spatial variations in the concentration and growth of the major religious groups in India with special reference to the Sikh population. Such studies are gaining importance with the increasing penetration of both the religion and castecomposition in the political environment of the country. Although religious and caste interventions in politics are prevalent in all the elections, these become stronger as we move down from Parliamentary to Panchayat elections in which the voting pattern changes in favour of religion and caste groups. It has been observed that the share of Muslim population increased by 5.96% between 2001 and 2011, while it declined in the case of all other communities and the maximum decline (-8.02%) was noticed in the case of the Sikh population with the lowest share among all the major religious communities in India. The Sikh population also recorded the lowest growth rate of 8.42% against 24.65% and 16.76% witnessed by Muslims and Hindus respectively between2001 and 2011. The study is based on the religious data released by the Census of India

Recurrent sustained atrial arrhythmias and thromboembolism in Fontan patients with total cavopulmonary connection.

BACKGROUND: Total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) is associated with a lower risk of incident atrial arrhythmias as compared to atriopulmonary Fontan, but the risk of recurrent atrial arrhythmias is unknown in this population. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence and risk factors for recurrent atrial arrhythmias and thromboembolic complications in patients with TCPC. METHODS: This is a retrospective multicenter study conducted by the Alliance for Adult Research in Congenital Cardiology (AARCC), 2000-2018. The inclusion criteria were TCPC patients (age > 15 years) with prior history of atrial arrhythmia. RESULTS: A total of 103 patients (age 26 ± 7 years; male 58 [56%]) met inclusion criteria. The mean age at initial arrhythmia diagnosis was 13 ± 5 years, and atrial arrhythmias were classified as atrial flutter/tachycardia in 85 (83%) and atrial fibrillation in 18 (17%). The median duration of follow-up from the first episode of atrial arrhythmia was 14.9 (12.1-17.3) years, and during this period 64 (62%) patients had recurrent atrial arrhythmias (atrial flutter/tachycardia 51 [80%] and atrial fibrillation 13 [20%]) with annual incidence of 4.4%. Older age was a risk factor for arrhythmia recurrence while the use of a class III anti-arrhythmic drug was associated with a lower risk of recurrent arrhythmias. The incidence of thromboembolic complication was 0.6% per year, and the cumulative incidence was 4% and 7% at 5 and 10 years respectively from the time of first atrial arrhythmia diagnosis. There were no identifiable risk factors for thromboembolic complications in this cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Although TCPC provides superior flow dynamics and lower risk of incident atrial arrhythmias, there is a significant risk of recurrent arrhythmias among TCPC patients with a prior history of atrial arrhythmias. These patients may require more intensive arrhythmia surveillance as compared to other TCPC patients