A roller-coaster ride:Introduction of pentavalent vaccine in India

Petitioners in High Court cite low disease burden due to Hib and safety concerns as main reasons for opposing the introduction of the vaccine

A study on contraceptive use among married women of reproductive age group in a rural area of Tamilnadu, India

Background: India was the first country in the world to formulate the national family planning programme in the year 1952 with the objective of “reducing the birth rate to the extent necessary to stabilize the population at a level consistent with requirement of national economy. The objective of this study was to study contraceptive use among married women of reproductive age group in a rural area of Tamilnadu.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from December 2014 to January 2015 in Sree Mookambika institute of medical Sciences, Kulasekharam among the married women in eligible couples group attending the hospital. Sample size was calculated to be 84. Inclusion criteria: married couple with female in age group of 15 - 45 years and sexually active and having the ability to communicate in local language.Results: The mean age was 30.95 years (SD = 6.421). Formal education was received by 100% women. Majority are Christians (48.8%) followed by Hindu (46.4%) and Muslim (4.8%). Among the respondents (n = 84), 33.7%, 41.7%, 2.4% and 22.6% had parity of 1, 2, 3 or more and none respectively Most of the women (71.4%) belonged to middle class group. 94% of women were aware of sterilization. This study shows a significant association between number of children and contraception usage (p<0.05). As parity increases contraception usage rate increases. Similar association is seen between number of male children and contraception practice (0.006). Also acceptance for permanent method of family planning increased with increasing parity (0.00) and number of male children (0.04).Conclusions: The study reveals good knowledge and favorable attitude of rural couples towards contraception. Contraceptive knowledge and practice was influenced by exposure to family planning messages

Knowledge, attitude, and practices of nursing mothers toward breastfeeding in a tertiary care center in Navi Mumbai

Objective: Breastfeeding (BF) has been accepted as the most vital intervention for reducing infant mortality and ensuring optimal growth and development of a child. A major barrier to successful BF is inconsistency in information and improper cultural practices. To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices toward BF among nursing mothers following up in a tertiary care center in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 512 mothers in Navi Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra, India, between January 2016 and June 2016 using a pre-set questionnaire. The mothers with children under the age of 2 years were interviewed following which descriptive statistics were obtained. Results: Our study highlights the growing awareness of the advantages of BF. Of the 512 mothers enrolled in our study, 78.9% believed in exclusive BF (EBF) till 6 months while 51% actually practiced EBF. Nearly 78% mothers felt shy to feed in public places. BF was initiated &lt;1 h of delivery in 35.9% mothers while insufficient milk was the predominant reason (41.4%) in mothers to stop BF before 2 years. Conclusion: The majority of our participants had adequate knowledge and a positive attitude toward EBF, with right posture practiced while feeding

Dizajniranje i evaluacija oralnih raspadajućih tableta dekstrometorfan hidrobromida s maskiranim okusom

The present study is aimed to develop dextromethorphan hydrobromide (DXM) oral disintegrating tablets (ODT) with acceptable palatability to help patients of all age group. The bitter taste of the drug was masked by binding the drug to ion exchange resin. The effect of particle size of resin on drug loading was studied. In vitro and in vivo disintegration time and in vitro drug release studies were performed. Drug loading increased significantly with a decrease in the particle size of the resin. DSC and XRPD studies reveal that the molecular state of the drug changed from crystalline to amorphous form. The dissolution efficiency calulated for optimized ODT and conventional directly compressed tablet were almost comparable, indicating free dissociation of the drug from the resinate. The bitter taste of DXM can be masked by binding with ion exchange resin and the resinate can be successfully formulated into oral disintegrating tablets.Cilj rada bio je pripraviti raspadajuće tablete dekstrometorfan hidrobromida (DXM) za oralnu primjenu (ODT) prihvatljivog okusa s namjerom da se pomogne pacijentima svih dobnih skupina. Gorki okus ljekovite tvari maskiran je vezanjem lijeka na ionsko-izmjenjivačku smolu. Proučavan je utjecaj veličine čestica smole na količinu ljekovite tvari koja se može na nju vezati, vrijeme raspadanja in vitro i in vivo, te oslobađanje lijeka in vitro. Količina vezanog lijeka značajno se povećava sa smanjenjem veličine čestica smole. DSC i XRPD studije pokazuju da prilikom vezanja kristalinični oblik lijeka prelazi u amorfni. Oslobađanje ljekovite tvari izračunato za optimizirane ODT i izravno komprimirane tablete vrlo je slično, što ukazuje na slobodno oslobađanje lijeka iz smole. Gorki okus DXM može se maskirati vezanjem ljekovite tvari na ionsko-izmjenjivačku smolu iz koje se mogu pripraviti raspadajuće tablete za oralnu primjenu

Salivary levels of TNF-α in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a disorder characterized by recurring ulcers involving the oral mucosa in patients with no other signs of disease. The current concept of etiopathogenesis is that RAS is a clinical syndrome with several possible etiologies. The process seen in RAS is probably initiated through an as yet unidentified antigenic stimulation of the mucosal keratinocytes, which stimulates secretion of T- cell activation cytokines- Interleukins and Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). TNFα causes inflammation by its effect on endothelial cell adhesion and neutrophil chemotaxis. The relevance of TNFα to the pathogenesis of RAS has stemmed from the observations that anti- TNFα drugs such as thalidomide and pentoxifylline have been found to be effective in the treatment of RAS. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to measure the levels of salivary TNFα in patients with RAS which will reflect the local production of cytokines at the site of the disease. Aim: To evaluate the salivary levels of TNFα in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis. Materials and Methods: The study comprised of 60 subjects, of whom 30 clinically proven RAS patients of either sex were selected as cases and 30 healthy, age & gender-matched subjects were selected as controls. After taking informed consent, 5 ml of unstimulated saliva was collected from both the study and control group. Determination of salivary TNFα levels was done by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and expressed in picograms per milliliter (pg/ml). The statistical analysis of the RAS group and the control group were done using unpaired t-test. Gender wise comparison of salivary TNFα levels in the study and control groups was done using one-way ANOVA test. Results: There was statistically highly significant increase in the mean salivary TNFα levels in the RAS group compared to the control group (p < 0.001). It was also revealed that the mean salivary TNFα levels in females were more than males in the study group and this difference was statistically significant (p <0.05). Conclusion: It is fair to suggest that TNFα plays a very important mediatory role in the pathogenesis of RAS and may play an important role in the search for a definitive treatment for the disease

Effect of calcination temperature on the properties of CZTS absorber layer prepared by RF sputtering for solar cell applications

In present work, we report synthesis of nanocrystalline Kesterite copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) films by RF magnetron sputtering method. Influence of calcination temperature on structural, morphology, optical, and electrical properties has been investigated. Formation of CZTS has been confirmed by XPS, whereas formation of Kesterite-CZTS films has been confirmed by XRD, TEM, and Raman spectroscopy. It has been observed that crystallinity and average grain size increase with increase in calcination temperature and CZTS crystallites have preferred orientation in (112) direction. NC-AFM analysis revealed the formation of uniform, densely packed, and highly interconnected network of grains of CZTS over the large area. Furthermore, surface roughness of CZTS films increases with increase in calcination temperature. Optical bandgap estimated using UV–Visible spectroscopy decreases from 1.91 eV for as-deposited CZTS film to 1.59 eV for the film calcinated at 400 °C which is quite close to optimum value of bandgap for energy conversion in visible region. The photo response shows a significant improvement with increase in calcinations temperature. The employment these films in solar cells can improve the conversion efficiency by reducing recombination rate of photo-generated charge carriers due to larger grain size. However, further detail study is needed before its realization in the solar cells

Classical transport equation in non-commutative QED at high temperature

We show that the high temperature behavior of non-commutative QED may be simply obtained from Boltzmann transport equations for classical particles. The transport equation for the charge neutral particle is shown to be characteristically different from that for the charged particle. These equations correctly generate, for arbitrary values of the non-commutative parameter theta, the leading, gauge independent hard thermal loops, arising from the fermion and the gauge sectors. We briefly discuss the generating functional of hard thermal amplitudes.Comment: 11 page

Diversifying vegetable production systems for improving the livelihood of resource poor farmers on the East Indian Plateau

Failure of the rice crop, or low rice yield has dire consequences for rice-dependent households, including food insecurity and malnutrition, for India’s poorest farmers in the East Indian Plateau region. Crop diversification could reduce the risks of rice production from the vagaries of rainfall and provide cash income which is not generated from subsistence rice. Being the primary household laborers women bear the brunt of these difficult conditions in patriarchal societies. For this reason we engaged with the women farmers in Bokaro and West Singhbhum in the State of Jharkhand, and Purulia in West Bengal who participated in experiments conducted with vegetable crops and legumes in the upland and medium uplands where the traditional crop is broadcasted paddy rice. We explored four different vegetable systems, (i) cucurbits (rainy/kharif) (season—June to September), (ii) growing tomatoes in the “off season” (rainy season—July to October), (iii) growing legume crops in rotation with direct sown rice (dry/rabi season—November to January), and (iv) intercropping beans with maize (rainy season—June to September). The results showed that all the above crops proved much better in terms of income to the farmers, return per person day, although the input cost varied it was higher with the new systems explored. The research with the small-holding women farmers enabled them to try new options and make informed decisions about these opportunities. This study showed that farmers can increase crop diversity and expand the area sown to non-paddy crops. The farmers are now looking for new crops where the demand exceeds the supply. Importantly this study has demonstrated that the direct involvement of communities’ in research enables the farmers to sustainability explore solutions to the future problems with limited support from the external agencies

Transport equation for the photon Wigner operator in non-commutative QED

We derive an exact quantum equation of motion for the photon Wigner operator in non-commutative QED, which is gauge covariant. In the classical approximation, this reduces to a simple transport equation which describes the hard thermal effects in this theory. As an example of the effectiveness of this method we show that, to leading order, this equation generates in a direct way the Green amplitudes calculated perturbatively in quantum field theory at high temperature.Comment: 13 pages, twocolumn revtex4 styl

HIV Testing among Patients with Presumptive Tuberculosis: How Do We Implement in a Routine Programmatic Setting? Results of a Large Operational Research from India.

BACKGROUND: In March 2012, World Health Organization recommended that HIV testing should be offered to all patients with presumptive TB (previously called TB suspects). How this is best implemented and monitored in routine health care settings in India was not known. An operational research was conducted in Karnataka State (South India, population 64 million, accounts for 10% of India's HIV burden), to test processes and learn results and challenges of screening presumptive TB patients for HIV within routine health care settings. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study conducted between January-March 2012, all presumptive TB patients attending public sector sputum microscopy centres state-wide were offered HIV testing by the laboratory technician, and referred to the nearest public sector HIV counselling and testing services, usually within the same facility. The HIV status of the patients was recorded in the routine TB laboratory form and TB laboratory register. The laboratory register was compiled to obtain the number of presumptive TB patients whose HIV status was ascertained, and the number found HIV positive. Aggregate data on reasons for non-testing were compiled at district level. RESULTS: Overall, 115,308 patients with presumptive TB were examined for sputum smear microscopy at 645 microscopy centres state-wide. Of these, HIV status was ascertained for 62,847(55%) among whom 7,559(12%) were HIV-positive, and of these, 3,034(40%) were newly diagnosed. Reasons for non-testing were reported for 37,700(72%) of the 52,461 patients without HIV testing; non-availability of testing services at site of sputum collection was cited by health staff in 54% of respondents. Only 4% of patients opted out of HIV testing. CONCLUSION: Offering HIV testing routinely to presumptive TB patients detected large numbers of previously-undetected instances of HIV infection. Several operational challenges were noted which provide useful lessons for improving uptake of HIV testing in this important group