Perception of Japanese Encephalitis and Its Vaccination: An Experience from a Rural Area of Hooghly District, West Bengal

Background: Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is endemic in Hooghly district of West Bengal. A mass vaccination program among 15–65 year old people was planned and implemented during the month of December, 2015. In this background, the present study was conducted to find out the knowledge regarding JE, and the perceived reasons for receiving vaccination among the beneficiaries.Materials and Methods: 135 beneficiaries were interviewed during vaccination sessions (held in December, 2015) at three camps located at three different villages of Singur block of Hooghly district using structured Bengali questionnaire. After obtaining informed consent, each person was approached for interview at the entry point for receiving the vaccine.Results: Majority (36%) came to receive vaccine because others in the neighborhood did so. Only 59 persons (43.7%) had ever heard of the disease. A little over 50% of those 59 participants perceived themselves susceptible to JE and felt that vaccination would help. Major sources of JE-related information were from teachers (45.7%) and health personnel (22%).Conclusion: Perception regarding the basic aspects of JE among those for whom the vaccination program was targeted was unsatisfactory. Therefore, any such public health initiative should be preceded by appropriate and effective community awareness program

Does Women Empowerment Predict Contraceptive Use? A Study in a Rural Area of Hooghly District, West Bengal

Background: India launched the world’s first national family planning programme in 1952. Unfortunately, considerable numbers of eligible couples in India are still not using any method of contraception in spite of the fact that knowledge related to contraceptives are not lacking. Studies reported that the status of the women in the family and largely in the community, represented by a measure ‘women empowerment’ plays a role in determining contraceptive use. However, there is dearth of literature in this regards especially among women of reproductive age of West Bengal. Aims & Objectives: To find out the current contraceptive use and its relationship, if any with women empowerment among adult married women of reproductive age group in a rural area of West Bengal. Material & Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 151 WRA using interviewer-administered questionnaire. Current use of contraceptive was the outcome variable. The main explanatory variable was ‘empowerment score’-a summed measure of four domains: ‘financial autonomy’, ‘freedom of movement’, ‘involvement in household level decision making’ and ‘woman’s power in sexual and reproductive decision making’. Results: 63.6% study participants were using any method of contraception at the time of study. Women empowerment [AOR (CI): 1.11 (1.02-1.22)] and education of women [AOR (CI): 2.56 (1.13-5.85)] were significantly associated with contraceptive use, even after adjustment with other independent variables. Conclusion: Educating women and empowering them will improve the family planning practices. This will, in long run play a pivotal role in improving family and community health

Domestic unintentional injury of 1 to 5-year-old children in a rural area of West Bengal, India: a community-based study

Background: Childhood unintentional injury, a major public health problem in India, is largely preventable. The aim of this study was to determine the burden and determinants of unintentional injury of 12 to 59 months old child at household level.Method: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted at Singur block, Hooghly district, West Bengal, India among randomly chosen children using a predesigned and pretested interviewer administered questionnaire and a checklist for assessing household level injury hazard during the period of November 2015 to February 2016. Parental supervisory behaviour was assessed using PSAPQ questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression was performed using SPSS 19.0 software.Result: A total of 163 were involved in the study. Over one-third (37.4%) of the children underwent any type of injury during last 3-month time period, predominant body part being upper limb. Parental supervisory behaviour [AOR-2.6, (95% CI-1.2-4.9)] and household level injury hazard (AOR-1.55, 95% CI- 1.3-1.7)] were found to be significant predictors of unintentional injury.Conclusion: Unintentional injury among children is prevalent in West Bengal in India. Dissemination of injury prevention information with special focus on household modification and increased parental supervision are effective strategies to prevent unintentional injury

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurement of B-c(2S)(+) and B-c*(2S)(+) cross section ratios in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurement of the W gamma Production Cross Section in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=13 TeV and Constraints on Effective Field Theory Coefficients

A fiducial cross section for W gamma production in proton-proton collisions is measured at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 137 fb(-1) of data collected using the CMS detector at the LHC. The W -> e nu and mu nu decay modes are used in a maximum-likelihood fit to the lepton-photon invariant mass distribution to extract the combined cross section. The measured cross section is compared with theoretical expectations at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics. In addition, 95% confidence level intervals are reported for anomalous triple-gauge couplings within the framework of effective field theory.Peer reviewe

Search for dark photons in Higgs boson production via vector boson fusion in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

A search is presented for a Higgs boson that is produced via vector boson fusion and that decays to an undetected particle and an isolated photon. The search is performed by the CMS collaboration at the LHC, using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 130 fb−1, recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016–2018. No significant excess of events above the expectation from the standard model background is found. The results are interpreted in the context of a theoretical model in which the undetected particle is a massless dark photon. An upper limit is set on the product of the cross section for production via vector boson fusion and the branching fraction for such a Higgs boson decay, as a function of the Higgs boson mass. For a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV, assuming the standard model production rates, the observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit on the branching fraction is 3.5 (2.8)%. This is the first search for such decays in the vector boson fusion channel. Combination with a previous search for Higgs bosons produced in association with a Z boson results in an observed (expected) upper limit on the branching fraction of 2.9 (2.1)% at 95% confidence level

Performance of the CMS muon trigger system in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

The muon trigger system of the CMS experiment uses a combination of hardware and software to identify events containing a muon. During Run 2 (covering 2015-2018) the LHC achieved instantaneous luminosities as high as 2 × 10 cm s while delivering proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV. The challenge for the trigger system of the CMS experiment is to reduce the registered event rate from about 40 MHz to about 1 kHz. Significant improvements important for the success of the CMS physics program have been made to the muon trigger system via improved muon reconstruction and identification algorithms since the end of Run 1 and throughout the Run 2 data-taking period. The new algorithms maintain the acceptance of the muon triggers at the same or even lower rate throughout the data-taking period despite the increasing number of additional proton-proton interactions in each LHC bunch crossing. In this paper, the algorithms used in 2015 and 2016 and their improvements throughout 2017 and 2018 are described. Measurements of the CMS muon trigger performance for this data-taking period are presented, including efficiencies, transverse momentum resolution, trigger rates, and the purity of the selected muon sample. This paper focuses on the single- and double-muon triggers with the lowest sustainable transverse momentum thresholds used by CMS. The efficiency is measured in a transverse momentum range from 8 to several hundred GeV