Realistic Chemotherapeutic policies for Tuberculosis in India

A series of controlled studies carried out at the Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Centre have revealed that ambulatory chemotherapy for tuberculosis based on a well-organized clinic service for a year, is virtually as effective as sanatorium treatment for the same period, not only in the immediate therapeutic response in terms of overall radiographic improvement, cavity closure and sputum conversion (Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Centre, Madras, 1959) but also in the likelihood of relapse in a subsequent 4-year period of follow-up (Dawson et al, 1966). Further, principally owing to the rapid sputum conversion of patients receiving effective chemotherapy there was no increased risk of contracting the disease to close family contacts of the patients treated at home, the main risk to them being before treatment had begun (Andrews et al, 1960; Kamat et al, 1966). These studies also clearly showed that the traditionally held virtues of sanatorium treatment namely, prolonged bed-rest, good diet, good airy accommodation, nursing and isolation were remarkably unimportant provided adequate chemotherapy was administered. There have been 5 other controlled trials based on random allocation . reported in the world medical literature which compared either sanatorium treatment with clinic treatment (Tyrell, 1956 ; Bell, 1960) or rest with ambulation (Kay, 1957 ; Tuberculosis Society of Scotland, 1960; Wier et al, 1957 ; Wynn-Williams and Shaw, 1960) and not one demonstrated any advantage either of sanatorium treatment over clinic treatment or of rest over ambulation. Because of these findings and because of the gross shortage of hospital beds for tuberculosis, ambulatory chemotherapy for the major or the entire period of treatment has become the accepted practice in the tuberculosis control programmes in India as well as in many other developing countries of the world

Indian seas: a megadiversity hotspot

Marine biological research in India dates back to the 18th century, and the surveys and expeditions conducted by Europeans, particularly the British. The most notable among these pioneers were great naturalists such as Francis Day (1829-1889) , Nelson Annandale (1876-1924) and Herbert Robinson (1874-1929) who worked during the latter part o f the 19th century and early 20th century. This foundation helped India to create a network o f marine research laboratories in government funded institutions and universities all along the coastline

Distress debt and suicides among agrarian households : findings from three village studies in Kerala

This paper examines the factors and process underlying agrarian distress in Kerala by undertaking the case studies of three villages situated in Wayanad and Idukki districts namely, Cherumad, Kappikkunnu and Upputhara. The impact of distress on household livelihoods and indebtedness and how they cope up with the situation are examined with entire village and intra village analysis of data. The process of agrarian distress which resulted in suicides were analysed through a few in-depth studies. Decline in crops yield, coupled with sharp fall in their prices, created severe distress in all sections of agricultural population. Many household cope with these distresses by reducing household expenditure, diversifying their household incomes and searching for jobs in other places. Meanwhile, government interventions in terms of PDS, health care provision, education and supply of drinking water gave some relief to the affected persons. However, these measures could not completely prevent the occurrence of suicides among the members of agrarian households. The paper shows that the villages in which household income are more diversified and social networks much stronger, the distress conditions did not result in suicides. Mitigation of agrarian distress requires not only for debt relief but also implementation of long term strategies containing policies to promote price stability, ecological sustainability of agriculture, strengthening of formal rural credit and support networks, and income and employment generation programmes. Key words: Distress debt, Suicides, Agrarian Households, Livelihood risk, Coping Strategies, Livelihood, Livelihood Assets, Institutions, Kerala JEL Classification: Q, Q0

Lease farming in Kerala : findings from micro level studies

Land Reforms Act in Kerala rendered tenancy invalid and prohibited the creation of future tenancies in the State, but tenancy very much exists. It is a consequence of the simultaneous increase in two categories of people, “those who have land but unable to cultivate’ and ‘those who have the labour and skills, but no lands or not enough lands of their own to cultivate’. Macro state-level data on tenancy from sources such as the NSS appear to be gross under-estimations, going by the data provided by micro-level studies in the state. This paper examines some micro-level studies on tenancy in Kerala, more specifically, its prevalence across locations and crops, characteristics of lessors and lessees, the terms of lease, and the income derived from lease cultivation and in the light of the analysis, argues for institutionalised arrangements for the expansion of lease cultivation, rather than sterner measures to check it. Among other factors, large-scale entry of self-help groups into the lease market to take up lease cultivation, often bringing hitherto fallowed lands into production, has prompted such a positioning. Key Words: Lease farming, Commercial Cultivation, Sustainable Agriculture JEL Classification: Q10, Q1

The destruction of young fish and its impact on inshore fisheries

The annual average loss of catfish due to eggs and larvae destruction is estimated at an alarming 5250t valued at Rs. 4.12 crore

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कृपया पूरा लेख पढे

Xenobiotic induced functional alterations in Hepatopancreas of the Penaeid shrimp Metapenaeus dobsoni (Miers)

Xenobiocic-induced imbalance between production and ulilisation of cylosolic lipid provides biochemical evidence of structural and functional alaerations in animal tissues . The present study investigates metal induced accumulalion of unsaturated neutral lipid inthe hepatopancreas of the penaei

Length - weight relationship of a mesopelagic shrimp, Oplophorus typus from the west coast of India

The length weight relationship of Oplophorus typus (Oplophoridae) was studied from samples by Isaac Kid - Mid water Trawl (IKMT)operated onboard FORV Sagar Sampada off west coast of india during October 1998 to May 2001. The relationship between total length and total weight and other dimentional relationship were also worked out. The relationships are not significantly different between male and female

Effect of sublethal copper on growth efficiency of the shrimp Metapenaeus dobsoni (Miere)

In this investigation, an attempt is made to elucidate the effect of copper sublethal concentrations, on the energy conversion and growth efficiency of a commercially important Penaeid shrimp Metapenaeus dobsoni (Miere

Doping, density of states and conductivity in polypyrrole and poly(p-phenylene vinylene)

The evolution of the density of states (DOS) and conductivity as function of well controlled doping levels in OC_1C_10-poly(p-phenylene vinylene) [OC_1C_10-PPV] doped by FeCl_3 and PF_6, and PF_6 doped polypyrrole (PPy-PF_6 have been investigated. At a doping level as high as 0.2 holes per monomer, the former one remains non-metallic, while the latter crosses the metal-insulator transition. In both systems a similar almost linear increase in DOS as function of charges per unit volume c* has been observed from the electrochemical gated transistor data. In PPy-PF_6, when compared to doped OC_1C_10-PPV, the energy states filled at low doping are closer to the vacuum level; by the higher c* at high doping more energy states are available, which apparently enables the conduction to change to metallic. Although both systems on the insulating side show log(sigma) proportional to T^-1/4 as in variable range hopping, for highly doped PPy-PF_6 the usual interpretation of the hopping parameters leads to seemingly too high values for the density of states.Comment: 4 pages (incl. 6 figures) in Phys. Rev.