A study on birth preparedness and complication readiness in the field practice area of RHTC of a tertiary care establishment in Central India

Background: Every pregnant woman faces the risk of sudden, unpredictable complications that could end in death or injury to herself or to her infant. Birth preparedness and complication readiness is a strategy that encourages pregnant women, their families, and communities to effectively plan for births and deal with emergencies, if they occur. Objectives were to study the Knowledge of Birth Preparedness & Complication Readiness among the study subjects in the field practice area of RHTC of a tertiary care establishment in Central India. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2016 to June 2017 in the field practice area of RHTC of a tertiary care establishment in Central India. In the study d 420 women were included as per criteria. Data was recorded in the predesigned and pre tested proforma and were analysed by using SPSS V.20 software. Results: Out of the total 420 mothers, 75% belonged to the age group 20-25 years. Maximum study subjects (33.1%) belonged to General Category while 23.1% of mothers were Schedule Caste. Maximum mothers (70%) were homemakers, the rest were occupied in various capacities. The BPCR index overall was 49.86, with 85% institutional deliveries; ANC visits initiation at 68%. General awareness shows certain gaps which needs attention of health care workers. Conclusions: Lack of awareness about possible complications during the time of pregnancy, that of time of delivery or post-natal period was observed while interviewing the mothers

A compact cryogenic configurable slit unit for a multi-object infrared spectrograph:Design and Development of a prototype at TIFR

We present a cryogenic configurable slit unit (CSU) for a multi object infrared spectrograph with an effective field of view of 9.1 arcmin x 9.1 arcmin that was completely conceived and designed in the laboratory at TIFR. Several components of the CSU including the controller for the commercially procured piezo-walkers, controlled loop position sensing mechanism using digital slide callipers and a cryogenic test facility for the assembled prototype were also developed in-house. The principle of the CSU involves division of the field of view of the spectrometer into contiguous and parallel spatial bands, each one associated with two opposite sliding metal bars that can be positioned to create a slit needed to make spectroscopic observations of one astronomical object. A three-slit prototype of the newly designed CSU was built and tested extensively at ambient and cryogenic temperatures. The performance of the CSU was found to be as per specifications.Comment: 7 pages, Accepted for publication in the Journal of Astronomical Instrumentatio

Ethics, Nanobiosensors and Elite Sport: The Need for a New Governance Framework

Individual athletes, coaches and sports teams seek continuously for ways to improve performance and accomplishment in elite competition. New techniques of performance analysis are a crucial part of the drive for athletic perfection. This paper discusses the ethical importance of one aspect of the future potential of performance analysis in sport, combining the field of biomedicine, sports engineering and nanotechnology in the form of ‘Nanobiosensors’. This innovative technology has the potential to revolutionise sport, enabling real time biological data to be collected from athletes that can be electronically distributed. Enabling precise real time performance analysis is not without ethical problems. Arguments concerning (1) data ownership and privacy; (2) data confidentiality; and (3) athlete welfare are presented alongside a discussion of the use of the Precautionary Principle in making ethical evaluations. We conclude, that although the future potential use of Nanobiosensors in sports analysis offers many potential benefits, there is also a fear that it could be abused at a sporting system level. Hence, it is essential for sporting bodies to consider the development of a robust ethically informed governance framework in advance of their proliferated use