Utilization of Reproductive and Child Health Services and Client Satisfaction from Urban Primary Health Centers by Recently Delivered Women Living in Urban Slums of Lucknow, India

Background: Due to rapid urbanization, there is an increase in population in slums often lacking access to basic health services. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the utilization of reproductive and child health services by recently delivered women and their children residing in catchment areas of urban PHCs, to evaluate their level of satisfaction and to determine the factors associated with utilization of these services by recently delivered women. Settings and Design: The study was conducted in the catchment areas of urban primary health centre of Lucknow. Methods and Material: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 320 women having children less than 24 months in the slums covered under selected U-PHCs, sampled through a multi-stage random sampling technique using a semi-structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis used: SPSS-26 and MedCalc software were used for data analysis. Results: Utilization of RCH services by recently delivered women from UPHC was 39%. About 24% of recently delivered women availed ANC services from UPHC and 56.7% utilized family planning services and 95.8% immunization services for children. Child care services for diarrhea and ARI were availed by 9.9 and 3.1% of women, respectively. Satisfaction regarding maternal care and immunization services was seen in 84 and 95.8% of women. Poor satisfaction regarding child care was seen in 56.5% of women. Conclusions: The utilization of RCH services was found to be poor in the study population. Most recently delivered women were satisfied with all services except child care

Nutritional status vis-a-vis iodine deficiency in children of "Save Our Soul"children’s village in rural Varanasi: a micro-level study

Background: There is paucity of data with regard to the Iodine deficiency in an organized sector like SOS children’s village which is an independent, non-governmental, social development organization located in urban Varanasi. Uttar Pradesh is one of the endemic states for goiter. It is expected that similar situation of goiter may prevail in children as well. It is a matter of concern that micro nutrient deficiency and under-nutrition may exist side by side. The objectives of the study were to assess nutritional status and find out the extent of Iodine deficiency in the study subjects, to find out the association between under nutrition and Iodine deficiency and to find out the Iodine content of salt used for cooking in the family.Methods: 118 children of age group 6 to 15 years, from a Non-Governmental Organization (Save Our Soul) in Rural Varanasi constituted materials of the study. Consent from the director of the institution and assent from the individual children was taken prior to examination. All the subjects were examined clinically for the Presence of Goiter. They were subjected to weight and height recording following standard technique. Salt samples from the houses were tested by spot Iodine detection kit.Results: In case of 72.6% female and 91.3% male subjects, BMI for age was <100% of the respective reference values; in all 76.3% subjects belonged to this category. Presence of Goiter among male children was 34.7% and among female children it was 22.2% and overall it was 24.6%. Significant association was observed between nutritional status and iodine deficiency (p<0.05). In 37.5% of salt samples, iodine content was 7 ppm and rest 62.5% shows iodine content 15ppm.Conclusions: Nutritional status of the children under reference was far from being satisfactory. High prevalence of Goiter is matter of serious concern. Iodized salt consumption in the houses was up to the mark but Iodine content of the salt samples from houses was not satisfactory

Numerical Investigations of Two-phase Flows through Enhanced Microchannels

Microfluidic devices are quite important for process industries, as these devices can intensify heat and mass transfer in two-phase reaction systems. Two-phase reaction systems, such as gas-liquid and liquid-liquid reactions with certain limitations have already been carried out in microfluidic systems by a few authors. However, these concepts are still under development and a detailed understanding of the hydrodynamics involve is required. Hydrodynamics studies are inherently crucial to provide precise reaction conditions and identify asymptotic performance limits. In the present work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation was carried out to investigate the hydrodynamics involved in the T-junction enhanced microchannel. The slug formation, slug size, slug shape, and pressure drop in the enhanced microchannel were predicted using the volume of fluid (VOF) for water-cyclohexane system. The effects of obstruction spacing on pressure drop, slug lengths, and mixing within the slug were also examined. This study revealed that mixing enhances tremendously within the slug and at the interface in the enhanced microchannel, but with slightly greater pressure drop. However, an increase in obstruction spacing affects the slug formation, unit slug length, and pressure drop

Parametrized tests of post-Newtonian theory using Advanced LIGO and Einstein Telescope

General relativity has very specific predictions for the gravitational waveforms from inspiralling compact binaries obtained using the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation. We investigate the extent to which the measurement of the PN coefficients, possible with the second generation gravitationalwave detectors such as the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the third generation gravitational-wave detectors such as the Einstein Telescope (ET), could be used to test post-Newtonian theory and to put bounds on a subclass of parametrized-post-Einstein theories which differ from general relativity in a parametrized sense. We demonstrate this possibility by employing the best inspiralling waveform model for nonspinning compact binaries which is 3.5PN accurate in phase and 3PN in amplitude. Within the class of theories considered, Advanced LIGO can test the theory at 1.5PN and thus the leading tail term. Future observations of stellar mass black hole binaries by ET can test the consistency between the various PN coefficients in the gravitational-wave phasing over the mass range of 11-44 Msun. The choice of the lower frequency cut off is important for testing post-Newtonian theory using the ET. The bias in the test arising from the assumption of nonspinning binaries is indicated.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, Matches with the published versio

The 2.5PN linear momentum flux and associated recoil from inspiralling compact binaries in quasi-circular orbits: Nonspinning case

Anisotropic emission of gravitational waves (GWs) from inspiralling compact binaries leads to the loss of linear momentum and hence gravitational recoil of the system. The loss rate of linear momentum in the far-zone of the source (a nonspinning binary system of black holes in quasicircular orbit) is investigated at the 2.5 post-Newtonian (PN) order and used to provide an analytical expression in harmonic coordinates for the 2.5PN accurate recoil velocity of the binary accumulated in the inspiral phase. We find that the recoil velocity at the end of the inspiral phase (i.e at the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO)) is maximum for a binary with symmetric mass ratio of \nu~0.2 and is roughly about ~4.58 km/s. Going beyond inspiral, we also provide an estimate of the more important contribution to the recoil velocity from the plunge phase. Again the recoil velocity at the end of the plunge, involving contributions both from inspiral and plunge phase, is maximum for a binary with \nu~0.2 and is of the order of ~180 km/s.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure; This version includes the changes appearing in the Erratum published in Phys. Rev.

Impact of basic psychological support on stigma and mental well-being of people with disabilities due to leprosy and lymphatic filariasis:a proof-of-concept study

Background: People with leprosy and lymphatic filariasis (LF)-related disabilities experience higher levels of poor mental well-being compared with the general community. Mental health services are often not available. This study was conducted to provide proof of concept that basic psychological support for people affected by neglected tropical diseases (BPS-N) can be given by peer supporters to reduce stigma, improve mental well-being and participation among clients. Methods: The BPS-N approach was tested in a quasi-experimental design using mixed methods. To provide psychological support using the BPS-N, peer supporters were selected and trained. They supported people with leprosy- and LF-related disabilities. Preintervention and postintervention, stigma, mental well-being, depression and participation were measured through standard scales within 4 wk of the intervention; differences were tested using standard tests of significance. Results: After 3 mo of intervention, the mean level of stigma had decreased (30.3 to 24, p&lt;0.001); high mental well-being increased (0% to 13.3%, p&lt;0.001); and moderate to severe depression decreased (88% to 47%, p&lt;0.001). No significant change occurred in participation restrictions (87% to 92%, p=0.497). Conclusions: Psychological peer support using the BPS-N guideline appears effective in reducing stigma and improving mental well-being and can be operationalised. However, this should be confirmed through a randomised controlled trial. </p

Rice allelopathy in weed management : an integrated approach

The intensive use of pesticides with low biodegradability and high persistence in soil, surface and ground waters, represents a considerable environmental risk, especially under high weed pressure conditions. Furthermore, the number of herbicide-resistant weeds is increasing. Against this background, the investigation of alternative weed control strategies has taken on considerable importance. Among these, allelopathy as a negative effect of one plant on another due to the direct or indirect (including microorganisms) release of chemicals in the environment can be a useful tool for the integrated management of weeds in agroecosystems. In particular, the paddies have been considered in this work by reviewing the data both on rice allelopathy and rice weed agronomic control methods developed to improve the crop yield

Numerical Study on Bubble Dynamics and Two-Phase Frictional Pressure Drop of Slug Flow Regime in Adiabatic T-junction Square Microchannel

In this study, bubble dynamics and frictional pressure drop associated with gas liquid two-phase slug flow regime in adiabatic T-junction square microchannel has been investigated using CFD. A comprehensive study on the mechanism of bubble formation via squeezing and shearing regime is performed. The randomness and recirculation profiles observed in the squeezing regime are significantly higher as compared to the shearing regime during formation of the slug. Further, effects of increasing gas velocity on bubble length are obtained at fixed liquid velocities and simulated data displayed good agreement with available correlations in literature. The frictional pressure drop for slug flow regime from simulations are also obtained and evaluated against existing separated flow models. A regression correlation has also been developed by modifying C-parameter using separated flow model, which improves the prediction of two-phase frictional pressure drop data within slug flow region, with mean absolute error of 10 %. The influences of fluid properties such as liquid viscosity and surface tension on the two-phase frictional pressure drop are also investigated and compared with developed correlation. The higher liquid viscosity and lower surface tension value resulted in bubble formation via shearing regime. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

LISA as a dark energy probe

Recently it was shown that the inclusion of higher signal harmonics in the inspiral signals of binary supermassive black holes (SMBH) leads to dramatic improvements in parameter estimation with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). In particular, the angular resolution becomes good enough to identify the host galaxy or galaxy cluster, in which case the redshift can be determined by electromagnetic means. The gravitational wave signal also provides the luminosity distance with high accuracy, and the relationship between this and the redshift depends sensitively on the cosmological parameters, such as the equation-of-state parameter $w=p_{\rm DE}/\rho_{\rm DE}$ of dark energy. With a single binary SMBH event at $z < 1$ having appropriate masses and orientation, one would be able to constrain $w$ to within a few percent. We show that, if the measured sky location is folded into the error analysis, the uncertainty on $w$ goes down by an additional factor of 2-3, leaving weak lensing as the only limiting factor in using LISA as a dark energy probe.Comment: 11pages, 1 Table, minor changes in text, accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravity (special issue for proceedings of 7th LISA symposium

ANALYSIS OF PSYCHO-SOCIAL RISK FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH RECENT ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

ABSTRACTObjective: Although psycho-social factors are reported to be independently associated with myocardial ischemia in many studies, the majority ofthese were done in the western population. This was conducted in India to determine the impact of psycho-social factors in subjects with the recentacute coronary syndrome (ACS).Methods: Patients with the first episode of ACS within 4 weeks of onset at LPS Institute of Cardiology, Kanpur, India between 2013 and 2015 wereenrolled as cases. Control was community-based individuals without coronary artery disease. Both were compared for demographic variables,the psycho-social profile including annual income, education status, depression, stressful life events (using presumptive stressful life events scale,i.e. PSLES), and independent predictors were determined using multiple logistic regression analysis and were computed as odds ratio (OR).Results: Between 200 cases and 200 controls, respectively, statistically significant difference was observed in mean annual income (2.74±1.95 vs.2.23±1.22 lac rupees; p&lt;0.05), smoking exposure (13.93±16.17 vs. 4.88±3.10 pack years; p&lt;0.05), mean number of stressful life events (8.18±2.57 vs.4.14±1.63; p&lt;0.05). Depression (48% vs. 27%; p&lt;0.05) while education status was comparable. Further, odds of having myocardial infarction werehigher for subjects with mild-to-moderate depression (OR: 2.45), family history of heart disease (OR: 2.25), hypertensive males (OR: 1.43), anddiabetic females (OR: 1.22).Conclusion: Psycho-social factors, particularly depression may have a significant role in the prognosis of ACS. Further systematic studies arewarranted to provide more important insights regarding the magnitude of the association between psycho-social factors and the onset of ACS.Keywords: Coronary artery disease, Depression, Psycho-social factors, Presumptive stressful life events scale, Stressful life events