Outdoor Air Pollution and Adolescent: Upcoming Public Health Issue

Background: In India, as in the rest of the world, young people face several challenges to their well-being. One of the important challenges is air pollution; however, the impact of air pollution on adolescents’ health is not fully explored.Objective: This article represents an attempt to explore impact of air pollution on adolescents’ health through available width of information.Method: For this study we utilized the rapid review methodology that allows comprehensive review of the literature that describes urgent public health issue in the relatively short period.Result: It has been found that air pollution not only leads respiratory ailments of adolescents, but also has an impact on cardiovascular system, development of hyperactivity disorder, cancer, and many other conditions. Moreover, exposure to air pollution could increase susceptibility to chronic diseases later in life. This article can play a key part in raising the awareness of adolescents’ health issues related to air pollution, initiate discussions and actions on preventing future damaging health effect for this subset of population

Outcomes of Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy in Locally Advanced Non-small cell Carcinoma Lung : A Single Institutional Experience

Introduction: Radical treatment in locally advanced non small cell carcinoma lung presents a management dilemma in patients with compromised performance status. Hypofractionated EBRT resolves this by confering high efficacy while avoiding excessive early toxicity. Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of hypofractionated radiotherapy in locally advanced lung cancer patients with compromised performance status. Methods: From January 2019 to January 2020,62 patients were enrolled to receive hypofractionated radiotherapy with 40Gy in 16 fractions with 5 fractions per week (2.5Gy per fraction) because of compromised performance status. Follow-up was conducted at 6 weeks and 3 months for symptomatic and radiological response (RECIST Criteria 1.1) .All results were evaluated statistically. Results: Mean age was 72.7years (+ 6.66) with 66.12% (n=41) above 70 years and 85% in ECOG PS 3. Out of 61 patients, 20% had complete response, 75% had partial response and 3% had stable disease at 6 weeks which progressed to 33% with complete and 62% with partial response at 3 months. 85% achieved symptom palliation. Radiation pneumonitis of grade 2 and above war observed in 60.65% and 62.29% and esophagitis of grade 2 and above was observed in 40.98% and 13.11% at 6 week and 3 months respectively. Conclusions: Hypofractionated RT confers the benefit of avoiding excessive early toxicity while maintaining high efficacy and be a finer alternative in patients with compromised performance status and/or advanced age

Addressing the growing burden of non-communicable disease by leveraging lessons from infectious disease management.

Despite advances in decreasing morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases and poor maternal– and child–health low– and middle–income countries now face an additional burden with the inexorable rise of non–communicable diseases

Assessment of bacterial diversity in the chicken litter: A potent risk to environmental health

Using chicken litter as an organic fertilizer on land is the most common, cheapest and environmentally safest way to manage the latter generated swiftly from the poultry industry.  Raw chicken litter has been applied to field soils where various vegetables are cropped to increase yield or productivity. However, the chicken litter frequently come in contact with different environments, such as water, soil, microbes and vegetation. When chickens defecate, their litters, in a few countries, are particularly reused for the next flock, potentially causing cross-contamination. Due to various contact points in the environment, a high probability of bacterial transmission is predicted, which could lead to infection spread in animals and humans. Consumption of contaminated water, food, and meat could lead to the transmission of deadly infections. Microbes in the chicken litter also affect the grazing animals while feeding on fields duly applied with chicken litter as manure. The maximum permissible limits (MPLs) in the chicken litter for land application should not exceed 106-108 CFU/g for Coliform bacteria. Antibiotics are regularly mixed in the diet or drinking water of chicken grown in marketable poultry farms for treating bacterial diseases. Rampant usage of antimicrobials also results in resistant bacteria's survival in animal excreta. Herein, we surveyed the literature to identify the major bacterial genus harboured in the fields applied with chicken manure to increase soil fertility. Our detailed survey identified different bacterial pathogens from chicken litter samples from different investigations. Most studies showed the prevalence of Campylobacter, Salmonella, Enterococcus, E. coli, Bacillus, Comamonas, Proteus and Citrobacter, including many other bacterial species in the chicken litter samples. This article suggested that chicken litter does not meet the standard parameters for direct application as organic fertilizer in the fields. Before being applied to the ground, chicken litter should be treated to lessen the danger of polluting crops or water supplies by reducing the prevalence of harmful bacteria carrying antibiotic-resistance genes

Drying and dehydration of native ornamental plants of Arunachal Pradesh and its value addition

383-388Wild and underutilized plant species, particularly ornamental flowers and foliage, can be converted into value added products using the drying and dehydration techniques. The present study has been carried out to explore the potential of wild ornamental plants of Arunachal Pradesh for the purpose of dry flower making. The plant parts were collected from different places viz., Pasighat, Bodak, Renging, Menchuka, Bomdilla, Tenga Valley, Yingkiong, etc. A total of 14 potential plant species has been identified for drying and dehydration without any loss in quality and appearance. The species identified included viz., Pteridium aquilinum (Eagle Fern/Western Bracken Fern), Lycopodium clavatum (Stag‘s Horn Clubmoss/Ground pine), Nicandra physalodes (Apple of Peru), Scirpus cyperinus (Wool grass), Barleria cristata (Phillipine violet), Cortaderia selloana (Pampas grass), Anaphilis busua (Tall pearly everlasting), Miscanthus spp. (Silver grass), lichens, Phragmites spp. (common reed grass), Davallia bullata (Rabbit foot fern), Tillandsia spp. (Spanish moss), Elsholtzia cristata (Crested late summer mint) and Setaria parviflora (Bristly foxtail). Maximum number of genera belongs to the family of Poaceae followed by Cyperaceae. Seed heads of Cortaderia selloana, Miscanthus spp., Phragmites spp., Erioscirpus comosus, Scirpus cyperinus, Setaria parviflora; leaves of Pteridium aquilinum, Lycopodium clavatum, Davallia bullata; fruits of Nicandra physalodes, Elsholtzia cristata; flower of Anaphilis busua; dried calyx of Barleria cristata and stem of Tillandsia spp. has also been used for drying and value addition. Value added products that were prepared included wall décor, greeting cards, photo frames, dried flower arrangements, table décor, bouquet, paper bags, buttoniere and corsage, etc. A cottage industry based on floral craft can become a new area for self-employment of rural youths and women through this creative occupation. The quest for searching new materials which can be utilized as dried flowers never ends and in fact is the demand of the hou

Promoting gender equity as a strategy to reduce HIV risk and gender-based violence among young men in India

The Horizons Program, CORO for Literacy, MAMTA, and Instituto Promundo developed, piloted, and scaled-up a behavior-change intervention in India to examine the effectiveness of interventions to improve young men’s attitudes toward gender roles and sexual relationships, and to reduce HIV risk behaviors and partner violence. The results of this study suggest that young men became less supportive of inequitable gender norms after participating in the interventions. Similarly, there were significant improvements among intervention participants in key outcome indicators, including condom use, partner communication, partner violence, and attitudes toward PLHIV. To maximize the chances of long-term sustainability of these positive changes, there is a need to regularly reinforce the messages related to alternative forms of masculinity and to further facilitate a supportive environment for these changes. While findings suggest that the interventions were successful in a variety of ways, the study showed that change in attitudes and behaviors is a complex process. Promoting gender equity takes ongoing effort, but led to some important changes that resulted in reduced HIV risk for the young men and their partners

Addressing adolescent girls\u27 vulnerability to HIV/AIDS: Lessons from the Meri Life Meri Choice project

This report details findings from an assessment of the Meri Life Meri Choice (MLMC) project in India, implemented by MAMTA—Health Institute for Mother and Child, with the support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The MLMC project sought to reduce the vulnerability of rural adolescent girls to HIV by enhancing their knowledge about sexual and reproductive matters and equipping them with skills that enable them to address vulnerability to HIV; increasing their utilization of sexual and reproductive health services from the public sector; and developing a supportive environment that enables adolescent girls to adopt protective actions to reduce vulnerability to HIV. The Population Council’s evaluation of the MLMC project demonstrates that a safe space model and a peer educator model can be effective and acceptable. There exists a great potential for up-scaling and sustaining projects like MLMC by drawing links with other available programs. The report highlights a few recommendations emerging from the evaluation that have relevance for adolescent programming in the country, including for scaling up interventions for adolescents

The relation between the producer and consumer price indices: a two-country study

© 2017, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature. Marketing managers are often in a dilemma about which pricing index to rely on while calculating the annual increase in the prices for their product. To provide insights that can reduce this dilemma, a critical comparison of the Producer Price index and consumer price index is called for. In this study, the relation between the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) was investigated through a comparison between Turkey and UK. Unlike many other previous studies, this study tried to determine the dominant pricing approach in an economy by examining the relation between the producer and consumer prices. In this context, VAR, impulse-response, variance decomposition, and Granger causality tests were used for the analyses of time series data. The results of study showed that there was bidirectional causality between the producer and consumer prices in both countries. Therefore, it was asserted that businesses in both countries generally apply mixed pricing approach. The results thus provide some interesting insights that can aid marketing managers in their pricing decisions

The political, research, programmatic, and social responses to adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights in the 25 years since the International Conference on Population and Development

Among the ground-breaking achievements of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was its call to place adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) on global health and development agendas. This article reviews progressmade in low- and middle-income countries in the 25 years since the ICPD in six areas central to ASRH-adolescent pregnancy, HIV, child marriage, violence against women and girls, female genital mutilation, and menstrual hygiene and health. It also examines the ICPD's contribution to the progress made. The article presents epidemiologic levels and trends; political, research, programmatic and social responses; and factors that helped or hindered progress. To do so, it draws on research evidence and programmatic experience and the expertise and experiences of a wide number of individuals, including youth leaders, in numerous countries and organizations. Overall, looking across the six health topics over a 25-year trajectory, there has been great progress at the global and regional levels in putting adolescent health, and especially adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights, higher on the agenda, raising investment in this area, building the epidemiologic and evidence-base, and setting norms to guide investment and action. At the national level, too, there has been progress in formulating laws and policies, developing strategies and programs and executing them, and engaging communities and societies in moving the agenda forward. Still, progress has been uneven across issues and geography. Furthermore, it has raced ahead sometimes and has stalled at others. The ICPD's Plan of Action contributed to the progress made in ASRH not just because of its bold call in 1994 but also because it provided a springboard for advocacy, investment, action, and research that remains important to this day. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine