First record of a Leucosid crab<em> Paranursia abbreviata</em> Bell, 1855 from Devi estuary, Odisha Coast, India

117-119A leucosid crab Paranursia abbreviata Bell, 1855 is recorded for the first time from Odisha albeit from coastal waters of the Indian peninsula after half a century. Present study is an effort towards documentation of the species from Odisha, indicative of a range extension between the Coromandal coast and Gulf of Martaban, Myanmar

Iron and folic acid consumption and changing social norms: cluster randomized field trial, Odisha, India

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether improvements in social norms related to iron and folic acid consumption are associated with increased iron and folic acid consumption. METHODS: In a cluster randomized trial in Odisha, India, we implemented an intervention to improve descriptive norms (people’s perceptions about how many other people take iron and folic acid), injunctive norms (social pressures people feel to take iron and folic acid) and collective norms (actual levels of iron and folic acid consumption). We assessed changes in these norms and self-reported iron and folic acid consumption in control and intervention arms after 6 months (September 2019–February 2020). We collected data from control (n = 2048) and intervention (n = 2060) arms at baseline and follow-up (n = 1966 and n = 1987, respectively). FINDINGS: At follow-up, mean scores in self-reported iron and folic acid consumption in the control arm had decreased from 0.39 to 0.31 (21% decrease; not significant). In the intervention arm, mean scores increased from 0.39 to 1.62 (315% increase; P < 0.001). The difference between the two arms was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Each of the three norms also improved at significantly higher rates in the intervention than in the control arm (P < 0.001 for each norm). Changes in descriptive and collective norms (but not injunctive norms) were associated with changes in self-reported iron and folic acid consumption (P < 0.001 for both norms). CONCLUSION: Our results show that social norms can be improved and that these improvements are associated with positive behavioural changes. A social norms-based approach may help promote iron and folic acid consumption in India.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8542261/pdf/BLT.20.278820.pd

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an

Study of hepatic involvement in falciparum malaria: A hospital based study in South Odisha

Background: Malaria is a major hindrance to economic development. It is caused due to infection with Plasmodium and transmitted to human by bite of female anopheles mosquito. Orissa contributes to about 20% of malaria cases to the national total, out of which 85% are P. falciparum cases. 40% of country's malarial deaths occur in the state. In Odisha out of 39,556 positive case and 9 deaths in year 2019. Material and Methods: This prospective case series study was conducted to understand the clinical profile of 60 complicated malaria cases presenting with jaundice out of 450 hospitalized patients diagnosed with acute severe malaria. All cases were treated with quinine dihydrochloride IV 600 mg 8 hourly for 3-4 days, then given orally for a total of 7 days. Results: In the present study forty five cases were males and 15 were females showing a male female ratio 3:1. Maximum cases around 39 (65%) belong to age group from 15-35 years. Fever was the presenting complaint in all cases in this study. The range of temperature varied between 100-103°F. Added to these the cerebral symptoms present in 24 (40%) cases would reasonably justify a clinical diagnosis of Falciparum infection

Clinico-epidemiological profile of congenital ocular anomalies in Western Odisha: A hospital based cross sectional study

Congenital birth defects are major cause of poor health among infants affecting their survivability. Although such anomalies of the eyes are uncommon, the impact they have on the quality of life are more than significant. This study aimed to describe the clinical profile of congenital ocular anomalies with various epidemiological parameters in a tertiary health care center in western Orissa. The study screened 3674 patients, in the age group of 0 – 14 years, who were delivered or attended the out-patient Department V.S.S. Medical College, Burla, Odisha and included 151 eyes of 99 cases of various types of congenital anomalies. Detailed history and other necessary data were collected by trained ophthalmologists and descriptive analyses performed. The incidence of congenital ocular anomalies was found to be 2.69%. Nasolacrimal duct anomalies (47 eyes) were the most frequently occurring congenital ocular anomaly (31.1%); followed by congenital cataract (41 cases; 27.3%) and coloboma eye (18 cases; 11.9%).There was a slight male preponderance, constituting 56.57% of the total cases. Majority of the patients were less than 5 years old (68 %) and the incidence of congenital ocular anomalies to be highest (68.69%) in the age group of 0 – 5 years

How does a social norms-based intervention affect behaviour change? Interim findings from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Odisha, India

BACKGROUND: Behaviour change interventions targeting social norms are burgeoning, but researchers have little guidance on what they look like, and which components affect behaviour change. The Reduction in Anaemia through Normative Innovations (RANI) project designed an intervention to increase iron folic acid (IFA) consumption in Odisha, India. OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the effect of the intervention at midline to understand which components of the RANI intervention affect uptake. METHODS: Using a cluster randomised controlled design, we collected baseline data and midline data 6 months later from women of reproductive age in the control and treatment arms (n=3800) in Angul, Odisha, India. Using nested models, we analysed data from three different intervention components, monthly community-based testing for anaemia, participatory group education sessions, and videos, to determine the extent to which exposure to each of these components accounted for the overall intervention effect on haemoglobin and self-reported IFA use. RESULTS: Overall, residing in a treatment as opposed to control village had little effect on midline haemoglobin, but increased the odds of taking supplements by 17 times. Exposure to each of the intervention components had a dose-response relationship with self-reported IFA use. These components, separately and together, accounted for most of the overall effect of treatment assignment on IFA use. CONCLUSIONS: All intervention components increased iron supplement use to differing degrees of magnitude. It appears that a social norms-based approach can result in improving IFA uptake, though improvements in haemoglobin counts were not yet discernible

First and New Record of <em>Ceratium vulture v. sumatranum</em> and <em>Pediastrum species</em> from coastal waters of Paradip, Bay of Bengal, East Coast of India

1169-1171Plankton diversity studies were carried out in the coastal waters of Paradip, Bay of Bengal from January 2015 to October 2015. There was broad variation in plankton diversity and water quality indices. Higher number of plankton taxa was reported in the month of October when SST, DO and nutrient (NO3 and SiO3) concentration was also higher.  In the month of October the SST value was 30.80°C  and dissolved oxygen varied from 3.28mg/l to 5.21mg/l. Nitrate and silicate both show maximum in October month i.e., 76.89µM/l and 36.67µg/l respectively. Salinity was maximum in the month of March (37.21ppt) and minimum in the month of October (23.95ppt). Phosphate was maximum in January month (0.113mg/l) and minimum in March (0.08mg/l). Nutrients (nitrate and silicate), SST, DO and Salinity act as limiting factor in the distribution pattern of planktons