Dialogue in Community : Essays in Honour of Stanley J.Samartha

Indiaxii, 259 p.; 22 c

Quality of life among nurses working in different health care setting in the state of Karnataka, India

Context: Nurses reactions on stressors can be physiological, psychological and behavioral leading to stress related to mental and physical diseases that decrease well-being, satisfaction and quality of life. Aim: To investigate the quality of life (QOL) among nurses working in different healthcare settings in hospitals of Karnataka State, India. Settings and Design: This is a cross-sectional study carried out in two regions of Karnataka State, India with a total sample size of 501. Subjects and Methods: WHO evaluation instrument on Quality of Life World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) is the tool used for collecting and analysing data. It composed of four domains: Physical health, psychological health, social relationships and the environmental domain. Statistical Analysis Used: The mean score of items within each domain is used to calculate the domain score. Transformed scores were estimated using the tables for standardizing scores from 0-100. SPSS 16.0 Version is used for statistical analysis. Results: For overall physical health status of nurses was "ill" in both the hospitals (34%; 23%) with significance at 0.01 levels. The mean score for psychological domain was least (41.83). Overall perception of QOL result showed significance at 0.01 level for all domains except for psychological domain. Conclusions: Hospital authorities and health managers of any type of health care setting need to plan for enhancing better quality of life for nurses by planning for better working environment by providing facilities for coping mental demands, software systems and work-rest schedules to reduce the jobs physical demands. Thus, enhance QOL of nurses resulting in better healthcare services to the community

Comparison of insect biodiversity between organic and conventional plantations in Kodagu, Karnataka, India

We undertook a comparative analysis of ground insects and fruit eating butterflies on 29 different plantations in Kodagu District of Karnataka which is one of the rich biodiversity zones of the Western Ghats. These included organic and conventional coffee and cardamom plantations using different levels of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. A total number of 457 ground insect species were collected using pit-fall traps which included 92 species of ants and 123 species of beetles, among other insect taxa that we measured. Similarly, 25 species of butterflies belonging to the family Nymphalidae were collected using bait traps. We found a clear negative effect on the ground insect species diversity (Shannon index) and evenness (Shannon evenness index) in pesticide treated plantations as compared to the organic plantations. A similar negative effect was observed for butterfly diversity in plantations using pesticides. Our results corroborate the value of organic plantations in supporting higher levels of biodiversity

Assessment of self-medication among dental students in Pune city, Maharashtra: A cross-sectional survey

Introduction: In the recent years, there has been an increasing trend in self-medication with nonprescription (over-the-counter) drugs available in pharmacies and retail outlets. There are both advantages and disadvantages of self-medication. Data pertaining to the prevalence of self-medication among dental students in India is scarce. Aim: To determine the level of self-medication among the dental students. Materials and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted on 548 dental students from I BDS to IV BDS, interns, and postgraduate students, in classroom setting in census type, hand delivery of questionnaires was done. Out of that, 494 questionnaires were returned duly filled and analyzed. Data analysis were done using SPSS software (v 22.0, IBM). Results: A total of 40.9% of respondents indulged in self-medication. Both male and female dental students equally had a habit of taking medicines on their own. The most common drugs used for self-medication were antipyretics (46.56%), followed by analgesics (40.08%), and cough syrups (18.02%). Cold (19.43%) was the major indication for self-medication, followed by (18.02%) a cough, and (16.19%) was a fever. Most common reason not to see a doctor was that there is no need to see a doctor because of a simple disease (31.58%) followed by the need for a quick relief (20.45%). The predominant guiding sources of information for students was media (magazines and internet) (38.06%) and books (39.88%). Conclusion: The majority of students indulged in the practice of self-medication though they had poor knowledge of the benefits and risks

The Nottingham Ischaemic Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance resource (NotIs CMR): a prospective paired clinical and imaging scar database—protocol

Introduction Research utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is rapidly evolving with various objectives, however AI model development, generalisation and performance may be hindered by availability of robust training datasets including contrast enhanced images. Methods NotIs CMR is a large UK, prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study to guide the development of a biventricular AI scar model. Patients with ischaemic heart disease undergoing clinically indicated contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging will be recruited at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Mid-Yorkshire Hospital NHS Trust. Baseline assessment will include cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, demographic data, medical history, electrocardiographic and serum biomarkers. Participants will undergo monitoring for a minimum of 5 years to document any major cardiovascular adverse events. The main objectives include (1) AI training, validation and testing to improve the performance, applicability and adaptability of an AI biventricular scar segmentation model being developed by the authors and (2) develop a curated, disease-specific imaging database to support future research and collaborations and, (3) to explore associations in clinical outcome for future risk prediction modelling studies. Conclusion NotIs CMR will collect and curate disease-specific, paired imaging and clinical datasets to develop an AI biventricular scar model whilst providing a database to support future research and collaboration in Artificial Intelligence and ischaemic heart disease

Densidade populacional de raposa-do-campo Lycalopex vetulus (Carnivora, Canidae) em \ue1reas de pastagem e campo sujo, Campin\ue1polis, Mato Grosso, Brasil

Diante da crescente descaracterização do Bioma Cerrado em função da expansão da fronteira agropecuária na região central do Brasil, torna-se importante avaliar a capacidade de adaptação das espécies ao ambiente antropizado. Neste sentido, este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de estimar e comparar a densidade populacional da raposa-do-campo Lycalopex vetulus (Lund, 1842) em duas áreas com diferentes graus de alteração, pastagem e campo sujo, em Campinápolis, Mato Grosso. Para tanto, no período entre agosto a novembro de 2005, foram efetuados censos noturnos ao longo de transectos lineares, totalizando percursos de 129,8 km na área de campo sujo e 62,08 km na área de pastagem. Estimativas de densidade populacional foram geradas utilizando o programa Distance 5.0, sendo que o modelo e ajuste mais adequados aos dados foram half-normal + hermite. Foram obtidas 23 e 52 detecções de raposas-do-campo nas áreas de campo sujo e pastagem, respectivamente. A densidade populacional de raposa-do-campo na área de pastagem (D=4,28 indivíduos/km²; IC=2,69 - 6,82) foi maior que na área de campo sujo (D=1,21 indivíduos/km²; IC=0,73 - 2,01), fato que deve estar relacionado, principalmente, com a disponibilidade de alimento e redução de potenciais predadores. Por apresentar uma dieta composta principalmente de cupins, especialmente os dos gêneros Syntermes e Cornitermes, a raposa-do-campo encontra na área de pastagem uma base alimentar abundante e estável. Além disto, a simplificação ambiental, em função da implantação de pastagens acaba por reduzir, ou até mesmo eliminar, animais que são potenciais predadores de raposas-do-campo, como Chrysocyon brachyurus (Illiger, 1815), favorecendo o aumento da densidade populacional da espécie neste tipo de ambiente. Por fim, características adaptativas apresentadas pela raposa-do-campo têm permitido que esta espécie sobreviva, inclusive apresentando elevada densidade populacional, em áreas de pastagem utilizadas para a criação de gado, em Campinápolis, Mato Grosso, onde a vegetação original era Cerrado

Estimating Asian Elephant, Elephas Maximus

To determine abundance, density and distribution of wild animals, it is crucial to estimate populations using reliable sampling techniques. In most earlier studies, elephant populations were estimated employing block counts or dung counts, which provide biased estimates due to limitations of the methods. We estimated an Asian elephant population using distance sampling, a quantitatively robust technique, in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve, a critical elephant conservation area in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in south India. We laid 33 transects with a total length of 93 km. We walked these transects five to 11 times amounting to a total of 795.5 km of walks. We collected data on location, number and age-sex classes through direct elephant sightings, using rangefinders, global positioning systems and compass. We used DISTANCE software for analysis. We estimated per km2 cluster density as 0.69 elephant herds, mean cluster size as 2.44, and elephant density as 1.7 animals. This amounts to a total of 713 elephants in 610 km2 of the sanctuary. A high percentage of males less than 30 years old and a low immature:adult female ratio indicated the severity of poaching in the recent past in the study region