Rural buyers' perception about mosquito repellants

Mosquito repellants prevent mosquito bites and prevention of "man-mosquito contact" is a critical factor in transmission and spread of any disease through mosquitoes particularly in rural area. There has been a long standing 'bias' towards rural buyers. The rural markets are considered rigid in the nature but it is not the case in real sense. Marketing to rural buyers is not only a challenge to the marketers but to the manufacturers, communicators, national planners and economists as well. That is why it has been necessary to understand the various aspects of selected rural areas and consumption pattern for such a fast growing market i.e. mosquito repellants and rural buyers’ perception towards such urban products. The present paper aims to find out the factors influencing the purchase decisions of rural buyers for mosquito repellants and to study the perceptions of present and potential rural buyers' of selected mosquito repellant brands.mosquito, repellent, malaria, rural market, buyers

A quality improvement project to assess the feasibility and practicability of training women and their relatives about home blood pressure monitoring

Background: Women with hypertensive pregnancies have a higher chance of developing subsequent hypertension, chronic renal disease and stroke. Lack of blood pressure (BP) monitoring in the postpartum period, only augments this risk. Keeping this is mind, this study was formulated, to enable women to timely detect any such complication later on in their life.Methods: In a tertiary healthcare hospital, postpartum women with hypertension in pregnancy and their relatives were sought consent from, enrolled into the study and trained on self-BP monitoring using an electronic BP measuring device. The feasibility outcome measures were “ease of use” of device by the participant, and the ability to correctly measure blood pressure with appropriate reporting of the value.Results: A total 47 pairs of women and their relatives participated in this study, at the end of which, 89.4% of the patients and 78.7% of the relatives were able to handle the device properly and take their own BP, with appropriate interpretation of the value. Participants who had a higher level of education were more likely to have understood the significance of the practice and comply with it. Moreover, about 70% of patients’ and 72% of relatives were willing for home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM).Conclusions: Feasibility and practicability of training women/relatives about home blood pressure monitoring were demonstrated in this study. Thus, a postpartum remote hypertension monitoring programme, which involves educating the patient and their family members to enable them to monitor their BP at home or a nearby primary centre, is the need of the hour

Characterization of color cross-talk of CCD detectors and its influence in multispectral quantitative phase imaging

Multi-spectral quantitative phase imaging (QPI) is an emerging imaging modality for wavelength dependent studies of several biological and industrial specimens. Simultaneous multi-spectral QPI is generally performed with color CCD cameras. However, color CCD cameras are suffered from the color crosstalk issue, which needed to be explored. Here, we present a new approach for accurately measuring the color crosstalk of 2D area detectors, without needing prior information about camera specifications. Color crosstalk of two different cameras commonly used in QPI, single chip CCD (1-CCD) and three chip CCD (3-CCD), is systematically studied and compared using compact interference microscopy. The influence of color crosstalk on the fringe width and the visibility of the monochromatic constituents corresponding to three color channels of white light interferogram are studied both through simulations and experiments. It is observed that presence of color crosstalk changes the fringe width and visibility over the imaging field of view. This leads to an unwanted non-uniform background error in the multi-spectral phase imaging of the specimens. It is demonstrated that the color crosstalk of the detector is the key limiting factor for phase measurement accuracy of simultaneous multi-spectral QPI systems.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

The role of vortices in the formation of the solar system

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-119).An important part of explaining planet formation is understanding how small particles accumulate into larger bodies. Gas vortices are suggested as a mechanism to enhance the coagulation of dust particles in the solar nebula. An inviscid, barotropic, two-dimensional form of the vorticity equation is derived to study the gas flow. A pseudospectral numerical model uses this equation to calculate the evolution of the vorticity field. The calculations show that locally prograde elliptical vortices with the major axis parallel to the angular axis can persist for at least 103 years with less than 1% change in peak vorticity. The shape of the vortex depends on the strength, similar to analytical expressions for elliptical vortices in a linear shear. Stronger vortices are rounder while weaker vortices are elongated; With ratios of the peak vorticity to the background vorticity of 1.0 and 0.2, the aspect ratios are approximately 0.5 and 0.25. The vortex area is mostly constant, and the linear dimensions change as the shape changes. Two negative vortices within the same radial band tend to merge, forming a larger, stronger vortex in a few orbit periods. A random viscosity field tends to have a few strong vortices form, although not as efficiently as with merging vortices. Dust particles interact with the gas through the Stokes drag force, with the relaxation time specifying how quickly the particle velocity approaches the gas velocity. The particles tend to converge in high pressure vortices and drift out of low pressure systems. The convergence time is dependent on the vortex strength and the particle relaxation time. If the relaxation time is short compared to the period, the particles do not have an appreciable differential velocity compared to the gas, and the Stokes drag force is small. If the relaxation time is long, then the Stokes drag force is not large enough to have a significant effect. If, however, the relaxation time is of the same order as the period, so the dynamical and frictional timescales are similar, then the particles will have the shortest convergence times. This result can be seen analytically in the simple case of an axisymmetric pressure band and numerically in calculations involving the robust vortex. With a robust vortex, the convergence times are approximately 3-4 yr for relaxation times of 0.1-0.2 yr. For typical values of properties of the solar nebula, this relaxation time applies for particles with diameters of around 20 cm. Other particles, both smaller and larger, converge more slowly, but the different times result in more collisions, enhancing the coagulation of larger bodies.by Anand Vivek Mehta.Ph.D

Microbial dissolution of a low grade Indian chalcopyrite ore using mixed culture of Mesophiles

An enriched culture of mesophiles namely, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans derived from mine water of Malanjhkhand Copper Project (MCP), India in the ratio of 4:1, and adapted on 5%(w/v) ore at 35oC was used for the bioleaching of a low grade chalcopyrite ore (0.27% Cu). Optimum copper recovery of 91% was achieved at 1.5pH and 10% (w/v) pulp density in 30days using <50μm particles. Copper recovery decreased to 82% when pH was raised to 2.5 under similar conditions. Higher copper recovery at pH 1.5 may be attributed to the improved bacterial activity (7.0x108 cells/mL), higher redox potential (666mV) and formation of minimum amount of hydronium jarosite, which was prominent at higher pH. Copper recovery was 41.2% in sterile control leaching conditions at 1.5pH. However, unadapted bacterial consortium yielded copper recovery of 69.4% only in 30 days at pH 1.5 under the above conditions. Higher metal recovery with adapted mixed culture may be attributed to increased rate of iron bio-oxidation. The biorecovery of copper from the MCP lean grade ore appeared to follow direct as well as indirect mechanism

Evaluation of antiproliferative and hepatoprotective effects of wheat grass (Triticum aestivum)

This study was aimed to evaluate the pharmacological potential of various extracts (hexane, chloroform, methanol and aqueous) of dried shoots of Triticum aestivum (wheat grass) in terms of antiproliferative and hepatoprotective potential of T. aestivum. The total chlorophyll content in dried shoots of T. aestivum was 0.54 ± 0.016 g/L (chlorophyll-a: 0.288 ± 0.05 g/L; and chlorophyll-b; 0.305 ± 0.05 g/L), while total carotene content was 0.42 ± 0.066 g/L. In addition, the chloroform extract of dried shoots of T. aestivum (250 μg/mL) exhibited 87.23% inhibitory effect with potent cytotoxicity against human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cancer cell line. Moreover, chloroform and methanol extracts significantly reduced the levels of SGOT, and SGPT enzymes, as well as total bilirubin content, while raised the level of total protein in a concentration-gradient manner, confirming the potent hepatoprotective effect of T. aestivum. A possible mechanism of apoptosis of the chloroform extract of dried shoots of T. aestivum in terms of its potent antiproliferative activity against HepG2 cancer cell line can also be proposed in this study. Our findings clearly demonstrate that T. aestivum has a significant pharmacological potential that night be used for antiproliferative and hepatoprotective purposes

Modulation of the Association Between Age and Death by Risk Factor Burden in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19.

UNLABELLED: Older age is a key risk factor for adverse outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID-19. However, few studies have investigated whether preexisting comorbidities and acute physiologic ICU factors modify the association between age and death. DESIGN: Multicenter cohort study. SETTING: ICUs at 68 hospitals across the United States. PATIENTS: A total of 5,037 critically ill adults with COVID-19 admitted to ICUs between March 1, 2020, and July 1, 2020. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The primary exposure was age, modeled as a continuous variable. The primary outcome was 28-day inhospital mortality. Multivariable logistic regression tested the association between age and death. Effect modification by the number of risk factors was assessed through a multiplicative interaction term in the logistic regression model. Among the 5,037 patients included (mean age, 60.9 yr [± 14.7], 3,179 [63.1%] male), 1,786 (35.4%) died within 28 days. Age had a nonlinear association with 28-day mortality ( CONCLUSIONS: In a large population of critically ill patients with COVID-19, age had an independent exponential association with death. The number of preexisting comorbidities and acute physiologic ICU factors modified the association between age and death, but age still had an exponential association with death in subgroups according to the number of risk factors present. Additional studies are needed to identify the mechanisms underpinning why older age confers an increased risk of death in critically ill patients with COVID-19

A non-interventional, prospective, multicentric real life Indian study to assess safety and effectiveness of un-denatured type 2 collagen in management of osteoarthritis

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal condition affecting the quality of life. Undenatured collagen type II has emerged as one of the promising treatment options in treatment of OA. Despite being available in India, clinical safety and efficacy have not been evaluated. We performed a non-interventional, real-life study to determine its safety and efficacy in Indian population.Methods: A non-interventional, real-life study was performed in patients with OA of knee by 18 orthopaedicians in India. Patients enrolled were followed-up at day 30 (visit 2), day 60 (visit 3) and day 90 (visit 4). Efficacy was assessed by Western Ontario McMaster Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) and Visual Analogue scale (VAS) on each visit. Safety was assessed by incidence of suspected adverse events (AEs), and abnormal laboratory parameters.Results: Among 291 enrolled patients 226 patients completed the study. Mean age of the population was 56.2±8.7 years and 53.3% of them were females. In 291 patients included in safety analysis, at least one treatment emergent adverse event (TEAE) was seen in 4.47% patients. None of the AEs were serious or resulted in termination of patient from the study. Nausea (1.37%) and headache (1.03%) were the common AEs. Treatment with undenatured collagen type II was associated with significant reduction in WOMAC score (p&lt;0.0001) and VAS scores (p&lt;0.0001) from baseline to day 90.Conclusions: Undenatured collagen type II is safe and efficacious in Indian patients with OA. This can be considered early in the initial management of OA