Conceptual Understanding of the Role of Human Resource Development in Road Safety

Human resource development (HRD) involves improving the knowledge, skills and attitude of people for personal growth and excellence. Using the same analogy of HRD, it can be applied to safety management on the roads. People can be taught the knowledge, skills and attitude required for the safe use of roads. It is very important because the analysis of the various causes of road accidents clearly demonstrates the preponderant role played by the human factor. This aspect thus constitutes a fundamental component of danger on the roads and has become even more important in relative terms due to the significant progress achieved in recent years in the other relevant spheres of action which are traditionally, the improvement of the road network and of the designing safe vehicles. Road users include, pedestrians, luggage carriers, horse riders, bullock carts as well as those who ride bicycles, tricycles, motorized two wheelers, cars, vans, trucks, tractors, and buses

Effectiveness of Childbirth Education on Nulliparous Women’s Knowledge of Childbirth Preparation, Pregnancy Anxiety and Pregnancy Outcomes

Background: The emerging number of cesarean sections among nulliparous women due to high pregnancy-related anxiety is a major concern of maternity care providers. Childbirth preparations enable women to cope with pregnancy anxiety and enhance pregnancy outcomes. Limited studies evaluated the impact of childbirth educational interventions on pregnancy-specific anxiety and pregnancy outcomes. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of childbirth educational intervention on nulliparous women’s knowledge on childbirth preparation, pregnancy anxiety, and pregnancy outcomes. Methods: A randomized controlled trial approach with a two-group pretest/ posttest design was used among hundred nulliparous third trimester pregnant women. All participants were pretested for their knowledge on childbirth preparation and pregnancy anxiety level using knowledge questionnaire, state trait anxiety inventory, and pregnancy-specific anxiety inventory. The experimental group (n = 50) received three sessions of childbirth education. All participants were post- tested before delivery, and their pregnancy outcomes were noted from labor records. Data were collected from a major maternity hospital in Kerala, India. GLM repeated measures analysis and paired t-test were used for data analysis. Results: The experimental group demonstrated a significantly higher level of knowledge on childbirth preparation (P < 0.001), with high reported mean knowledge scores of (54.30 ± 3.86) childbirth preparation than the control group (31.08 ± 1.96). A lower mean scores of pregnancy-specific anxiety among experimental group (102 ± 4.65) (P < 0.001) compared to control group (139.96 ± 4.9) signifies the relevance of childbirth education in reducing pregnancy-specific anxiety. Significant reductions of caesarean birth (50%) among nulliparous women along with a 12% increase in newborn’s birth weights were the main positive birth outcomes. Conclusions: Childbirth education significantly reduced pregnancy-specific anxiety and the adverse pregnancy outcomes. The emerging number of cesarean sections on maternal request due to childbirth anxiety could be reduced by empowering nulliparous women through childbirth education

Environmental and genetic influences on neurocognitive development: the importance of multiple methodologies and time-dependent intervention

Genetic mutations and environmental factors dynamically influence gene expression and developmental trajectories at the neural, cognitive, and behavioral levels. The examples in this article cover different periods of neurocognitive development—early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood—and focus on studies in which researchers have used a variety of methodologies to illustrate the early effects of socioeconomic status and stress on brain function, as well as how allelic differences explain why some individuals respond to intervention and others do not. These studies highlight how similar behaviors can be driven by different underlying neural processes and show how a neurocomputational model of early development can account for neurodevelopmental syndromes, such as autism spectrum disorders, with novel implications for intervention. Finally, these studies illustrate the importance of the timing of environmental and genetic factors on development, consistent with our view that phenotypes are emergent, not predetermined

The antiviral drug ribavirin reversibly affects the reproductive parameters in the male Wistar rat

The present study was planned to evaluate the toxic effects of ribavirin on the reproductive parameters in the male Wistar rat. Rats (11&#8211;13 weeks old) were treated with 5 injections (i.p.) of 20, 100 or 200 mg/kg/day ribavirin at intervals of 24 h. The testes were processed for histopathological analysis on days 14, 35, 70 and 105 after the last exposure. The parameters studied were body weight, the weights of the testis, epididymis, seminal vesicle and prostate, seminiferous tubular diameter (STD), epithelial height (SE), epithelial sloughing, incidence of stage XIV tubules, sperm abnormality and total serum level of testosterone. Data were analysed by ANOVA and the Bonferroni post hoc test for significances between different groups. There was a decrease in body weight and organ weights, excluding those of the testis and epididymis, against control at higher dose-levels. Ribavirin induced the formation of vacuoles, gaps and sloughing of the seminiferous epithelium. The STD, SE and the incidences of stage XIV tubules decreased on days 14 and 35. Ribavirin also induced the formation of sperm with microcephaly and cephalocaudal junction defects, with or without fibrils jetting out. All these morphological defects recovered to control limit by day 105. The serum level of testosterone was decreased at all dose-levels and time points, although recovery had started by day 105. In conclusion, ribavirin is gonadotoxic in male rats but the effects are reversible after a period of 105 days. However, the endocrine-disrupting properties of ribavirin persist beyond this period

Preon Prophecies by the Standard Model

The Standard Model of quarks and leptons is, at first sight, nothing but a set of {\it ad hoc} rules, with no connections, and no clues to their true background. At a closer look, however, there are many inherent prophecies that point in the same direction: {\it Compositeness} in terms of three stable preons.Comment: 13 pages, 8 eps-figures, invited talk at Beyond the Desert '03, Schloss Ringberg, Bavaria, June 2003; to be published in the Proceeding

The Stability of Double White Dwarf Binaries Undergoing Direct Impact Accretion

We present numerical simulations of dynamically unstable mass transfer in a double white dwarf binary with initial mass ratio, q = 0.4. The binary components are approximated as polytropes of index n = 3/2 and the initially synchronously rotating, semi-detached equilibrium binary is evolved hydrodynamically with the gravitational potential being computed through the solution of Poisson's equation. Upon initiating deep contact in our baseline simulation, the mass transfer rate grows by more than an order of magnitude over approximately ten orbits, as would be expected for dynamically unstable mass transfer. However, the mass transfer rate then reaches a peak value, the binary expands and the mass transfer event subsides. The binary must therefore have crossed the critical mass ratio for stability against dynamical mass transfer. Despite the initial loss of orbital angular momentum into the spin of the accreting star, we find that the accretor's spin saturates and angular momentum is returned to the orbit more efficiently than has been previously suspected for binaries in the direct impact accretion mode. To explore this surprising result, we directly measure the critical mass ratio for stability by imposing artificial angular momentum loss at various rates to drive the binary to an equilibrium mass transfer rate. For one of these driven evolutions, we attain equilibrium mass transfer and deduce that effectively q_crit has evolved to approximately 2/3. Despite the absence of a fully developed disk, tidal interactions appear effective in returning excess spin angular momentum to the orbit.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures. Please see http://www.phys.lsu.edu/faculty/tohline/astroph/mftd07/ for animations and full resolution figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Combined protein C and protein S deficiency with pregnancy

A 35 year old female patient, married since 8 years, G6P1L1SA4 was registered with our unit since 8th week of gestation. She was a known case of protein C and protein S deficiency diagnosed 7 years ago (thrombotic profile- protein C: 70% normal: 70-100%, protein S: 55% normal: 70/140%, AT-III: 116% normal 70/140%, factor V leiden: no mutation detected) which was detected on evaluation for her bad obstetric history. ACLA was also positive. She was started on injection low molecular weight heparin 0.6 mg s/c OD, in addition to continuing Tb. Aspirin 75 mg which had been started when the pregnancy was registered. Foleys induction was done at 39 weeks of gestation in view of previous LSCS with pre-eclampsia. Emergency LSCS was done in view of previous LSCS with non-progress of labour. Male child weighing 2.4 kg was born which is doing well. A patient having combined deficiency of both factors protein C and protein S is very rare. Anticoagulation therapy is the cornerstone in the management of patients with inherited coagulation defects

Dijagnosticiranje invazije trakavicom Echinococcus granulosus u pasa dokazivanjem koproantigena sendvič imunoenzimnim testom.

Echinococcosis is a near-cosmopolitan zoonosis caused by the adult or larval stages of tapeworms belonging to the genus Echinococcus. Cystic echinococcosis in food animals is highly prevalent in India in general and in the Karnataka state in particular. A sandwich ELISA was standardized and evaluated in field conditions for coproantigen detection of Echinococcus granulosus infection in dogs. Field fecal supernatants were titrated against positive dog serum. A total of 368 fecal supernatants were tested and 16 samples were found to be positive in sandwich ELISA. Sensitivity and specificity was calculated by taking necropsy as the standard. The sensitivity was found to be 100 percent and the specificity was 96.94 percent.Ehinokokoza je zoonoza proširena diljem svijeta, uzrokovana odraslim i larvalnim oblicima trakavica roda Echinococcus. Cistična ehinokokoza u farmskih životinja vrlo je česta u Indiji, i to osobito u državi Karnataka. Standardiziran je sendvič imunoenzimni test te je ocijenjena njegova vrijednost u terenskim uvjetima u cilju otkrivanja koproantigena podrijetlom iz trakavice Echinococcus granulosus u pasa. Nadtalog suspenzije izmeta titriran je u odnosu na pozitivan uzorak pasjega seruma. Od 368 uzoraka nadtaloga izmeta, koproantigeni su bili dokazani u 16 uzoraka. Osjetljivost i specifičnost testa određene su usporedbom s razudbenim nalazom i nalazom trakavica. Dokazano je da test otkriva sve invadirane životinje. Osjetljivost testa iznosila je 96,94%

The clinicopathological spectrum and driver mutation profile in classic BCR-ABL1 negative myeloproliferative neoplasms: a three-year study from a tertiary care center in Kerala, South India

Background: Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders primarily of the adults. The 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) classification of MPNs include the molecular landscape as one of the diagnostic criteria. JAK2 exon14 (JAK2 V617F), JAK2 exon12, Myeloproliferative leukemia virus oncogene exon 10 (MPL 515), and calreticulin exon 9 (CALR) mutations are the main somatic driver mutations detected in classic BCR-ABL1 negative MPNs. Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted including 99 patients diagnosed with classic BCR-ABL1 negative MPNs during a 3-year time period, from March 2018 to February 2021 in the departments of pathology and clinical haematology- haemato oncology of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Clinical, haematological and morphological features were analysed and correlated with MPN associated mutation studies done in blood/bone marrow samples. Results: The prevalence of polycythaemia vera (PV) was found to be higher than other MPN, two third of which were JAK2 positive. More than half of the cases of primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) also showed JAK2 mutation. CALR was positive in 17.4% of ET and 31.3% of PMF; MPL in 4.4% of ET and 3.1% of PMF. Conclusions: The prevalence of triple-negative MPN point towards the need for whole-exome sequencing of triple-negative MPN