Housing for All in India and Its Future in Sustainable Development

The Government of India has been challenged with a growing housing demand for more than half a century, since its independence in 1947. The shift in the country’s population from rural to urban creates an emerging dynamic in the housing gap. While India continues to move forward, already the world’s fastest growing economy, in the realm of manufacturing and services, the housing demand continues to increase. This paper investigates the causes and consequences of the housing shortage in India, by examining the country’s past policies that have been public housing, sites and services, slum upgrading and self-help programs, and their limitations. It addresses the future discourse of housing policies in the framework of the global ‘sustainability’ concept and concludes that a self-help model based on people, planet and prosperity can create cost efficient and environment friendly housing through participatory actions, for the sustainable growth of India’s urban areas. The article highlights the need to understand the complexities within the framework of self-help and self-build projects in informal settlements of India by exploring both the process and products

Nutritional and lifestyle risk behaviors and their association with mental health and violence among Pakistani adolescents: results from the National Survey of 4583 individuals

Background: Unhealthy behaviors are associated with mental health problems and violence in adolescents, yet their combined association has been understudied. Using the Global School Health Survey, this study examined the association between combined unhealthy behaviors (including fast food, soft drink, smoking, other tobacco products and physical inactivity) and anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight among Pakistani adolescents. Methods: Data were obtained from the Global School Health Survey conducted in Pakistan (2009). The study population consisted of school going adolescents aged 13 to 15 years. Association of combined unhealthy behaviors with anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight were studied through secondary analysis. We used univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis by complex sample method, accounting for cluster sampling technique used for data collection. Results: Of the total 4583 students, weighted percentage and unweighted count for one, two, three and four or more unhealthy behaviors was 39.4% (n = 1770), 22.1% (n = 963), 5.9% (n = 274) and 1.2% (n = 62) respectively. The weighted prevalence for anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight were 8.4%, 7.3% and 37.4% respectively. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis after adjustment showed that students who had four or more unhealthy behaviors had higher odds of; being anxious (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.31-4.59, p value 0.004), suicide ideation (OR 4.56, 95% CI 2.58-8.07, p value &lt;0.001) and being involved in physical fight (OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.63–6.08, p value &lt;0.001) as compared to those who had not adopted any unhealthy behaviors. Conclusions: This study suggests that the co-occurrence of unhealthy behaviors is associated with anxiety, suicidal ideation and physical fight among adolescents. These findings should be considered when developing interventions to combat detrimental outcomes of unhealthy behaviors during adolescence.</p

Utility of Positive Suction Drain Tip Culture in Early Detection of Infection After Total Knee Replacement

Introduction: To compare the frequency of wound infection in positive and negative drain tip culture in patients after primary total knee replacement. Methods: In this descriptive study patients undergoing primary total knee replacement for osteoarthritis were included. Early postoperative wound infection was defined as patient developing redness, pain, heat or swelling at surgical site; or drainage of pus within 7 postoperative days. Positive culture was considered as bacterial growth within 48 hours after suction drain tip was cultured on media. Negative culture was defined as no bacterial growth in 48 hours after placing the suction drain tip on culture media. Closed suction drain tips were sent for culture and sensitivity on 3rd postoperative day. Patients were followed for 7 days for any signs of infection. Effect modification was catered to by stratification for malnutrition defined as serum albumin less than 3.5g/dl; and obesity that was considered when BMI was equal to or more than 30kg/m2. Results: The mean age of patients was 57.28±7.37 years. Positive suction drain was found in 9.17% , while 6.67% had infection among all cases. Among 8 cases with infection there were 6(75%) who were positive on suction drain tip and among 112 non-infected cases there were 5(4.5%) who had positive suction drain tip. There was significant association between infection and suction drain tip positivity, p-value being &lt; 0.001. Conclusion: Suction drain tip culture analysis can predict infection after primary total knee replacement

Areca nut chewing and the risk of re-hospitalization and mortality among patients with acute coronary syndrome in Pakistan

Objectives: Areca nut is widely consumed in many parts of the world, especially in South and Southeast Asia, where cardiovascular disease (CVD) is also a huge burden. Among the forms of CVD, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity. Research has shown areca nut chewing to be associated with diabetes, hypertension, oropharyngeal and esophageal cancers, and CVD, but little is known about mortality and re-hospitalization secondary to ACS among areca nut users and non-users. Methods: A prospective cohort was studied to quantify the effect of areca nut chewing on patients with newly diagnosed ACS by categorizing the study population into exposed and non-exposed groups according to baseline chewing status. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the associations of areca nut chewing with the risk of re-hospitalization and 30-day mortality secondary to ACS. Results: Of the 384 ACS patients, 49.5% (n=190) were areca users. During 1-month of follow-up, 20.3% (n=78) deaths and 25.1% (n=96) re-hospitalizations occurred. A higher risk of re-hospitalization was found (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.29 to 3.27; p=0.002) in areca users than in non-users. Moreover, patients with severe disease were at a significantly higher risk of 30-day mortality (aHR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.67 to 4.59; p&lt;0.001) and re-hospitalization (aHR, 2.72; 95% CI, 1.73 to 4.26; p&lt;0.001). Conclusions: The 30-day re-hospitalization rate among ACS patients was found to be significantly higher in areca users and individuals with severe disease. These findings suggest that screening for a history of areca nut chewing may help to identify patients at a high risk for re-hospitalization due to secondary events

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Self-Perceived Oral Health Among College-Going Students in Karachi, Pakistan

Background: Oral health inequalities are becoming a major threat to public health, and they excessively burden disadvantaged communities, especially within low and middle-income countries. This study explored the socioeconomic inequalities in self-perceived oral health behaviors among college-going students in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 328 college-going students using a convenient sampling technique from three different socioeconomic groups including urban slums, middle, and rich class neighborhoods. Oral health was assessed using three measures: daily tooth brushing, weekly sweet consumption, and substance abuse. Socio-economic inequalities were measured using binary logistic regression (odds ratios), relative index of inequality, and slope index of inequality. Results: Out of 328 participants, 56.4% perceived their oral health as fair, 24.1% good, 14.9% poor, while only 4.6% had an excellent perception of oral health. Significant inequalities were found regarding oral health behaviours with fraternal income, occupation, and education level. Education-related absolute inequalities among college-going students were1.28(95% CI -2.19, -0.36 p-value\u3c0.01), -1.34(95% CI -2.16, -0.52, p-value\u3c0.01), -1.43(95% CI -2.70, -0.15, p-value\u3c0.01) with tooth brushing, high sweet consumption, and substance abuse respectively. Similarly, income and occupation-related absolute inequalities were also existent. Conclusions: In Pakistan, data among college-going students regarding oral healthcare is scarce. Significant inequalities were found in oral health behaviours among college-going students. Thus, there is a need to design equity-based health system provisions specifically to address the needs of poor segments of society

Investigation of 1-alkanols in organised solutions

Conductometric behaviour of 1-alkanols (C5-C10) in organised solutions of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) is investigated. Interaction of each alkanol with anionic surfactant is reflected in terms of association constants, Kc. It is observed that self-assembly of SDBS is induced by the alkanol addition. The depression in critical micelle concentration (CMC) of SDBS caused by each alkanol is translated to partition coefficient, Kc by using interaction coefficient. The dimensionless partition coefficient, Kx is utilized to highlight the energy efficiency of the solubilization process. The results indicate that even longer chain alkanols prefer interfacial area for their residence. The relative solubility of each alkanol is enhanced with increasing SDBS concentration. Such basic information could be vital for development of nano-scale assemblies for specific delivery of water soluble drugs.KEY WORDS: SDBS, Alcohols, Partition coefficient, Relative solubility, Conductometry Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2011, 25(3), 469-474

Relationship Between Violence, Empathy and Aggression

One of the basic purpose of this study is to determine gender differences and relationship of violence with that of empathy and aggression. The total sample of the study contained sixty-four (N=64) University students with the age range on 20-25 years. The sample included thirty-two (n=32) male and thirty-two (n=32) female students of University of Peshawar. The results revealed the significant difference on violence between male and female university students males scored significantly higher on violence scale as compared to females. A negligible negative correlation was found between violence and empathy. It was concluded from the finding of the present study that males are more violent than females but there is no significant relation between violence, empathy and aggression

Next Generation Data Analytics: Text Mining in Library Practice and Research

Text mining is the process and technique used for searching, retrieving and extracting high quality, useful and purposeful information from the ocean of unstructured and unclassified data and information in the form of text written in natural language. It is also referred to as text engineering, text data mining or text analytics. Text mining is an emerging field of research. The purpose of this paper is to review text mining in general and with special context to library and information science. Text mining involves artificial intelligence. Hence, this system is very efficient in its work as compared to human capabilities in terms of time constraints and the counts of frequency which involves accuracy. This field has many prospects to offer and in the context of the library and information science. This technique can be very helpful in managing ever-growing and proliferating information in every field of knowledge. Moreover, this technique can also be used for research in the field of LIS. Researchers and librarians may find it useful to put efforts in this field for being better adapted to future. This review is useful for the motivation of LIS researchers to involve in text mining aimed at contributing new knowledge to the improvement of library profession and services. Since text mining is an emerging field in research, less literature is available particularly related to library and information science

The Incidence of Burns Among Sex-Trafficking Victims in India

Sex trafficking remains a flagrant violation of human rights, creating many public health concerns. During the initiation period, these victims experience acts of violence including gang rapes, subjecting them to traumatic injuries that include burns. Furthermore, lack of access to health care, particularly surgical, keeps them from receiving treatment for these functionally debilitating contractures caused by burns. This piece provides an overview of burns among sex-trafficked victims in India and the efforts by Cents of Relief to address the associated surgical burden of disease