Telecommunications and Data Networking Course: Balancing Theory and Practice

This teaching tip addresses the faculty preparation, course design, and resource allocation undertaken to teach an undergraduate course in telecommunications and data networking to business students with a concentration in Information Systems. There are special difficulties in designing such a course because of the hardware preparation involved and the assignment of supervisor rights to a large number of students. The course lectures are integrated with problem-solving oriented laboratory based assignments. The author believes that hands-on experience with networking hardware and software for the students is essential to grasp the data networking concept

Role of schools in community mobilisation to improve IYCF practices in 6-24-month-old tribal children in the Banswara district, India: findings from the qualitative PANChSHEEEL study

OBJECTIVE: India has been struggling with infant malnutrition for decades. There is a need to identify suitable platforms for community engagement to promote locally feasible, resource efficient Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) interventions. This study aims to explore if and how schools could represent a site for community engagement in rural India, acting as innovation hubs to foster positive change in partnership with the Angawadi centres. DESIGN: Five-phase formative study; A parallel mixed methods approach structured by a socioecological framework was used for data collection at individual, household and community levels. This paper focuses on the qualitative findings. SETTING: This study was undertaken in nine villages within two blocks, 'Ghatol' and 'Kushalgarh', in the Banswara district of Rajasthan, India. PARTICIPANTS: 17 schools were identified. Interviews were conducted with local opinion leaders and representatives in the education sector, including principals, schoolteachers, block and district education officers. Across the nine study villages, information was gathered from 67 mothers, 58 paternal grandmothers using Focus Discussion Groups (FDGs) and 49 key respondents in Key Informant Interviews. RESULTS: Schools were considered an important community resource. Challenges included limited parental participation and student absenteeism; however, several drivers and opportunities were identified, which may render schools a suitable intervention delivery site. Enrolment rates were high, with schools and associated staff encouraging parental involvement and student attendance. Existing initiatives, including the mid-day meal, play opportunities and education on health and hygiene, further highlight the potential reliability of schools as a platform for community mobilisation. CONCLUSIONS: Schools have been shown to be functional platforms frequently visited and trusted by community members. With teachers and children as change agents, schools could represent a suitable setting for community mobilisation in future wider scale intervention studies. Expanding the supportive environment around schools will be essential to reinforce healthy IYCF practices in the long term

An Epidemological study on Low Back Ache (Kati Shool)

The prime causative factors for all the disease is faulty life style and dietetics which is being followed frequently, leads to many diseases. Low back pain is one among them. Low back pain (Katishoola) is most expensive & benign condition in industrialized countries. It is one of the most frequent symptoms encountered by adults. The annual prevalence of LBP is 15-45%. Aims and objective-To evaluate the role of dietetics & life style modern era and working pattern in progression of low back ache. Material and method- Survey work was carried out on working group of Gujarat ayurveda university employees, OPD and IPD patients having low back ache on the basis of specially prepared proforma and questionnaires including present era lifestyle, working pattern and diet pattern. Total 91 patients were surveyed. Maximum numbers of patients were in age between 31-40 yr. The person doing mainly labour and/or clerical work, having shift and night duty, long time sitting on one place with improper posture, excessive walking (>3hr daily), bending posture, Standing type work (>3hr daily), >2hr travelling daily were affected more. Vishamashana, abhishyandi aaharsevan, consuming oily food, stress, irregular bowel habit, disturbed sleep, ratrijagaran, vegdhaarana etc. were observed as nidana. Conclusion- Faulty life style and diet pattern leads to accumulation and provocation of respective dosha and development of various life style related diseases and one of them is low back ache

Risk stratification in pediatric perforated appendicitis: Prospective correlation with outcomes and resource utilization.

PURPOSE: Despite a wide spectrum of severity, perforated appendicitis in children is typically considered a single entity in outcomes studies. We performed a prospective cohort study to define a risk stratification system that correlates with outcomes and resource utilization. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted of all children operated for perforated appendicitis between May 2015 and December 2016 at a tertiary free-standing university children\u27s hospital. Surgical findings were classified into one of four grades of perforation: I. localized or contained perforation, II. Contained abscess with no generalized peritonitis, III. Generalized peritonitis with no dominant abscess, IV. Generalized peritonitis with one or more dominant abscesses. All patients were treated on a clinical pathway that involved all points of care from admission to final follow-up. Outcomes and resource utilization measures were analyzed using Fisher\u27s exact test, Kruskal-Wallis test, One-way ANOVA, and logistic regression. RESULTS: During the study period, 122 patients completed treatment, and 100% had documented follow-up at a median of 25days after operation. Grades of perforation were: I, 20.5%; II, 37.7%; III, 10.7%; IV, 31.1%. Postoperative abscesses occurred in 12 (9.8%) of patients, almost exclusively in Grade IV perforations. Hospital stay, duration of antibiotics, TPN utilization, and the incidence of postoperative imaging significantly increased with increasing grade of perforation. CONCLUSION: Outcomes and resource utilization strongly correlate with increasing grade of perforated appendicitis. Postoperative abscesses, additional imaging, and additional invasive procedures occur disproportionately in patients who present with diffuse peritonitis and abscess formation. The current stratification allows risk-adjusted outcome reporting and appropriate assignment of resource burden. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: I (Prognosis Study)

Standardization of care for pediatric perforated appendicitis improves outcomes.

BACKGROUND: The treatment of perforated appendicitis in children is characterized by significant variability in care, morbidity, resource utilization, and outcomes. We prospectively studied how minimization of care variability affects outcomes. METHODS: A clinical pathway for perforated appendicitis, in use for three decades, was further standardized in May 2015 by initiation of a disease severity classification, refinement of discharge criteria, standardization of the operation, and establishment of criteria for use of postoperative total parenteral nutrition, imaging, and invasive procedures. Prospective evaluation of all children treated for 20months on the new fully standardized protocol was conducted and compared to a retrospective cohort treated over 58months prior to standardization. Differences between outcomes before and after standardization were analyzed using regression analysis techniques to adjust for disease severity. RESULTS: Median follow-up time post discharge was 25 and 14days in the post- and prestandardization groups, respectively. Standardization significantly reduced postoperative abscess (9.8% vs. 17.4%, p=0.001) and hospital stay (p=0.002). Standardization reduced the odds of developing a postoperative abscess by four fold. CONCLUSION: Minimizing variability of care at all points in the treatment of perforated appendicitis significantly improves outcomes. TYPE OF STUDY: Prospective Cohort Study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II

Why India is struggling to feed their young children? A qualitative analysis for tribal communities

Objective This interdisciplinary qualitative study aims to explore the health, education, engineering and environment factors impacting on feeding practices in rural India. The ultimate goal of the Participatory Approach for Nutrition in Children: Strengthening Health Education Engineering and Environment Linkages project is to identify challenges and opportunities for improvement to subsequently develop socioculturally appropriate, tailored, innovative interventions for the successful implementation of appropriate infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices locally.Design Qualitative research method, involving five phases: (1) identification of local feeding practices; (2) identification of the local needs and opportunities for children aged 6–24 months; and (3–5) analysis of the gathered qualitative data, intervention design, review and distribution.Setting Nine villages in two community development blocks, that is, Ghatol and Kushalgarh, located in the Banswara district in Rajasthan, India.Participants 68 participants completed semistructured interviews or focus group discussions including: mothers, grandmothers, auxiliary nurse midwife, Anganwadi worker, ASHA Sahyogini, school teachers and local elected representative.Phenomenon of interest IYCF practices and the factors associated with it.Analysis Thematic analysis.Results Our results could be broadly categorised into two domains: (1) the current practices of IYCF and (2) the key drivers and challenges of IYCF. We explicate the complex phenomena and emergent model focusing on: mother’s role and autonomy, knowledge and attitude towards feeding of young children, availability of services and resources that shape these practices set against the context of agriculture and livelihood patterns and its contribution to availability of food as well as on migration cycles thereby affecting the lives of ‘left behind’, and access to basic health, education and infrastructure services.Conclusions This interdisciplinary and participatory study explored determinants impacting feeding practices across political, village and household environments. These results shaped the process for cocreation of our context-specific intervention package