Teachers’ Attitude towards Corporal Punishment: Elementary Schools of the Central Zone of Tigray Region in Ethiopia in Focus

Despite the plethora of policy and legal instruments banning corporal punishment (CP) in schools and the sea of knowledge about the negative consequences of CP in children, CP occupies a significant place in the scheme of affairs of schools across the globe. Ethiopia too is not an exception. Teachers’ attitude towards CP can predict their application of it. This investigation thus was designed to assess the magnitude and nature of teachers’ attitude towards CP and its association with various teacher variables. Data were collected through an individually administered instrument pack with three sections including a CorpAtt Scale from a sample of 199 first cycle government elementary school teachers of the Central Zone of Tigray Region in Ethiopia drawn using multistage cluster sampling procedure. The results revealed that teachers hold predominantly positive attitude towards CP. Teacher variables such as duration of service, perceived knowledge about problem behavior and its school based management, confidence in managing problem behavior with and without applying CP and the locale of schools are found to be associated with their attitude towards CP. Gender, age and status of training in special needs education were found not to be associated with their attitudes. Implications of the revelations are discussed against teacher education and training and policy management in the Ethiopian context.Keywords: attitude, behavior management, corporal punishment, elementary school, Ethiopi

Empowerment and engagement of SHGs against RTI/STI in Karnataka, India: an interventional study

Background: Reproductive Tract Infections (RTIs) including Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are ‘silent’ epidemics and are recognized as public health problem and rank second as the cause of healthy life lost among women of reproductive age after maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Development and use of IEC material along with active participation by the community ensures delivery of appropriate information and knowledge to people which in turn empowers them to make informed decisions about their health.Methods: This was a ‘Multi-centric action research demonstration study’ to empower and engage the Self Help Groups (SHGs) women by creating awareness and sustaining interest through lesson plans in the IEC material regarding prioritized problem, required interventions and their access for syndromic recognition of the RTI/STIs. As an intervention, series of workshops were conducted with the help of pre-developed IEC material. 400 households (200 from each intervention and control sites) of SHG women were interviewed for baseline and endline each.Results: Intervention was found effective in the form of a significant improvement in the level of awareness about RTI/STI, correct knowledge about white discharge, capability to identify the symptoms of RTI/STI and health seeking behavior of the respondents.Conclusion: This study provides experience of the feasibility, efficacy and impact of health education interventions and point out that cost-effective strategies for prevention of RTI/STI are needed through information, education, and behavior change.

An intervention to empower and engage the self-help groups for menstrual hygiene in Karnataka, India

Background: This paper was a part of ‘Multi-centric action research demonstration study’ with the aim to sensitize, mobilize and engage women regarding reproductive health through empowerment and engagement of the Self Help Groups (SHGs) women. The paper focuses on the effect of intervention on menstrual hygiene and health of women in Kolar district of Karnataka.Methods: As an intervention, a total of fifteen workshops, targeting 75 SHGs in each, were conducted using pre-developed IEC material in intervention taluk. A total of 400 households (200 from each intervention and control sites) of SHG women were interviewed for baseline and endline eachResults: The intervention was found effective in the form of a significant improvement in the level of awareness regarding use of Napkins/sanitary pads and its disposal. Apart from this, the level of awareness regarding menstrual discharge abnormalities was also significantly improved. However, the intervention was insignificant in molding area specific misconceptions and practices during menstruation such as access to worship, entry into kitchen, mingle with people etc.Conclusions: The results of the present study clearly indicate the feasibility, efficacy and significant impact of health education interventions in improving the level of knowledge, attitude and practices of women regarding menstrual hygiene and point out that cost-effective strategy through information, education, and behavior change are needed in this regard.

Rapid and Efficient Arsenic Removal by Iron Electrocoagulation Enabled with in Situ Generation of Hydrogen Peroxide.

Millions of people are exposed to toxic levels of dissolved arsenic in groundwater used for drinking. Iron electrocoagulation (FeEC) has been demonstrated as an effective technology to remove arsenic at an affordable price. However, FeEC requires long operating times (∼hours) to remove dissolved arsenic due to inherent kinetics limitations. Air cathode Assisted Iron Electrocoagulation (ACAIE) overcomes this limitation by cathodically generating H2O2 in situ. In ACAIE operation, rapid oxidation of Fe(II) and complete oxidation and removal of As(III) are achieved. We compare FeEC and ACAIE for removing As(III) from an initial concentration of 1464 μg/L, aiming for a final concentration of less than 4 μg/L. We demonstrate that at short electrolysis times (0.5 min), i.e., high charge dosage rates (1200 C/L/min), ACAIE consistently outperformed FeEC in bringing arsenic levels to less than WHO-MCL of 10 μg/L. Using XRD and XAS data, we conclusively show that poor arsenic removal in FeEC arises from incomplete As(III) oxidation, ineffective Fe(II) oxidation and the formation of Fe(II-III) (hydr)oxides at short electrolysis times (<20 min). Finally, we report successful ACAIE performance (retention time 19 s) in removing dissolved arsenic from contaminated groundwater in rural California

Untargeted Lipidomic Analysis to Broadly Characterize the Effects of Pathogenic and Non-Pathogenic Staphylococci on Mammalian Lipids

Modification of the host lipidome via secreted enzymes is an integral, but often overlooked aspect of bacterial pathogenesis. In the current era of prevalent antibiotic resistance, knowledge regarding critical host pathogen lipid interactions has the potential for use in developing novel antibacterial agents. While most studies to date on this matter have focused on specific lipids, or select lipid classes, this provides an incomplete picture. Modern methods of untargeted lipidomics have the capacity to overcome these gaps in knowledge and provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of lipid metabolism in the pathogenesis of infections. In an attempt to determine the role of lipid modifying enzymes produced by staphylococci, we exposed bovine heart lipids, a standardized model for the mammalian lipidome, to spent medium from staphylococcal cultures, and analyzed lipid molecular changes by MS/MSALLshotgun lipidomics. We elucidate distinct effects of different staphylococcal isolates, including 4 clinical isolates of the pathogenic species Staphylococcus aureus, a clinical isolate of the normally commensal species S. epidermidis, and the non-pathogenic species S. carnosus. Two highly virulent strains of S. aureus had a more profound effect on mammalian lipids and modified more lipid classes than the other staphylococcal strains. Our studies demonstrate the utility of the applied untargeted lipidomics methodology to profile lipid changes induced by different bacterial secretomes. Finally, we demonstrate the promise of this lipidomics approach in assessing the specificity of bacterial enzymes for mammalian lipid classes. Our data suggests that there may be a correlation between the bacterial expression of lipid-modifying enzymes and virulence, and could facilitate the guided discovery of lipid pathways required for bacterial infections caused by S. aureus and thereby provide insights into the generation of novel antibacterial agents

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF VOLATILE COMPOUNDS BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY FROM “NEPHROLEPIS EXALTATA”

Objective: Plants contain various types of phytochemicals with different solvent as per solvation properties, depending on their polarity. The goal of this analysis is to compare the effects of different solvents on the phytochemical profile and the characterization of different volatile bioactive compounds of Nephrolepis exaltata, a typical fern belonging to pteridophyte species. Methods: For the screening of phytochemical, a sequential extraction was carried out using different solvent systems namely methanol (MeOH), chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, hexane, and ethyl acetate (EtAc). A varied range of phytochemicals was found in the extracts. The volatile components were analyzed using the hyphenated technique gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results: All the extracts were found to be rich in alkaloids, whereas phenols and Phytosterols were extracted only in MeOH. The MeOH extract of the fern presented positive results for six phytochemical tests and the n-Hexane (nH) extract presented positive results for seven phytochemical tests. The present investigation on the plant N. exaltata aimed to prove that pteridophytes should have various kinds of bioactive phytochemicals and the selection of solvent for extraction of phytochemicals should be based on the target compounds. Conclusion: From the % yield of different extract, it can be concluded that some the bioactive phytochemicals are more soluble in more polar solvents such as MeOH, some are soluble in moderate solvents like EtAc and mostly non-polar organic molecules can be extracted using non-polar solvents like nH. The GC-MS characterization indicates the presence of different fatty compounds and sterols in the plant extract

Scrub Typhus Presenting as Acute Mastoiditis.

Scrub typhus, a zoonosis, is known to present with varied clinical presentation. We present a case of acute mastoiditis who did not respond to conventional antibiotic therapy. The detailed repeat clinical examination revealed lymphadenopathy with eschar and IgM antibodies for scrub typhus by ELISA were positive. Patient had dramatic response to doxycycline therapy

In silico profiling of miRNAs and their target polymorphisms in leukemia associated genes

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) within microRNA (miRNA) encoding regions of the genome are a large potential source for biologically relevant variation. SNPs along with miRNA act as a powerful tool to study the biology of a disease and also have the potential in monitoring disease prognosis and diagnosis. Therefore, evaluating the functional role of target mRNA will be a major challenge of future studies in the field of cancer biomarker research in leukemia. To assess, whether miRNA target SNPs are implicated in leukemia associated genes, we conducted an in silico approach along with the availability of publicly available web based tools for miRNA prediction and comprehensive genomic databases of SNPs. In this in-depth report, we attempted to use two computational approaches: prediction of miRNA in leukemia associated genes, and identifying the functional role of mRNAs targeted by miRNA. Our results from this study suggest that the application of in silico algorithms miRdSNP, PupaSuite and UTRScan analyses might provide an alternative approach to select target untranslated region (UTR) SNPs and understand the effect of SNPs on the functional attributes or molecular phenotype of a protein

On forecasting the Indian summer monsoon: The intriguing season of 2002

This year, the rainfall over India during the first half of the summer monsoon season was 30 below normal. This has naturally led to a lot of concern and speculation about the causes. We have shown that the deficit in rainfall is a part of the natural variability. Analysis of the past data suggests that there is a 78 chance that seasonal mean rainfall this year will be 10 or more below the long-term average value. We discuss briefly how forecasts for seasonal rainfall are generated, whether this event could have been foreseen, and share our perspective on the problems and prospects of forecasting the summer monsoon rainfall over the Indian region

Experimental Investigation and Thermophysics Analysis of Joule Thomson Cooler Applicable to Infrared Imaging

Recuperative type of heat exchanger (H-E) based miniature Joule-Thomson (J-T) cooler operated in the steady-state condition is employed extensively in applications towards infrared detectors cooling, thermal imaging cameras, and homing guidance devices in a wide variety of defence projectile systems. In this study, a theoretical thermal design of recuperative H-E for determining a viable geometry using iterative methodology is discussed. A steady-state numerical analysis for the developed geometrical model of the H-E is also reported, along with the experimental studies for typical operating conditions. A custom numerical code using the Runge-Kutta method has been developed in MATLAB, and the results from the code compared with predictions of COMSOL multi-physics are in good agreement. Further, results have been validated proving the efficacy of the theoretical model and custom numerical code developed