Dark Looks: Sensory Contours of Racism in India

This chapter explores the intersections of caste, color, and class that become visible on the bodies of brown and black women moving through public spaces in India. The authors argue that a pervasive “haptic gaze,” that deploys staring as a prosthetic of touch, informs the varied registers of violence sensed and felt by different women. Drawing from Dalit and Black feminist theories, the authors draw a conceptual map of relations between caste-based patriarchy and anti-blackness, furthering an understanding of intersectional identities as shifting, fluid, and locational, specifically in relation to the global south

In situ probing of electromechanical properties of an individual ZnO nanobelt

We report here, an investigation on electrical and structural-microstructural properties of an individual ZnO nanobelt via in situ transmission electron microscopy using an atomic force microscopy (AFM) system. The I-V characteristics of the ZnO nanobelt, just in contact with the AFM tip indicates the insulating behavior, however, it behaves like a semiconductor under applied stress. Analysis of the high resolution lattice images and the corresponding electron diffraction patterns shows that each ZnO nanobelt is a single crystalline, having wurtzite hexagonal structure (a=0.324 nm, c=0.520 66 nm) with a general growth direction of (1010)

Characteristics of Patients with Tuberculous Pleural Effusion in Rural Nepal

  Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in developing countries. TubercularPleural effusion is the second most common form of extra pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB), superseded in Prevalence only by lymph node tuberculosis. Pleural effusion occurs in approximately 5% of patients with TB. The purpose of this study was to assess the demographic characteristics of patients presenting with pleural effusion in rural Nepal.   Methods: A retrospective study was conducted with all the cases diagnosed and admitted with pleural effusion at Lumbini Medical College And Teaching Hospital from April 2011 to March 2013 of all the cases diagnosed andadmitted with pleural effusion were included in the study. Hundred cases diagnosed with pleural effusion by clinical Examination or chest X-ray or ultrasonography’s (USG) of the chest were included in the studied. The following parameters patients demographic profile, causes of pleural effusion, location (unilateral/bilateral), hemoglobin and complete blood count, sputum stain and culture sensitivity, Monteux test, chest X-ray and USG findings and Pleural fluid analysis (biochemical, hematological, microbiological and cytological) were analyzed by using SPSS 21.   Results: Out of 100 cases, the cause of pleural effusion in 59 patients was tuberculosis, 14 by malignancy, next 14 by Para pneumonic Effusion, 12 by congestive cardiac failure and three cases by alcoholic liver disease. Patients with tuberculous pleural effusion were younger, predominantly males, had unilateral effusion, lower blood hemoglobin, lower Pleural fluid neutrophils, higher pleural fluid Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) levels and higher level of pleural fluid to serum protein ratio as compared to the patients with non-tuberculous effusion.   Conclusion: Tuberculosis is the most common cause of pleural effusion in patients of rural Nepal

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF PREVALENCE OF ANEMIA AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS IN A RURAL COMMUNITY; A HOME-BASED SCREENING

Objective: The prevalence of anemia is disproportionately high in developing countries due to poverty, inadequate diet, certain diseases, pregnancy and lactation, and poor access to health services. It is a risk factor for cardiovascular health and early death in adult.  To estimate the prevalence of anemia and its associated risk factors in a rural a community in India.Methodology: Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, an observational house-to-house survey was conducted for a period of 6 months, by screening for anemia, using digital strip type hemoglobin meter. Result: Out of 200 people, 146 were anemic of which 77 were with mild anemia, 67 with moderate anemia and only 3 had severe anemia. There were more number of anemic patients in the group of normal and underweight (Normal=86, 58.90%; Underweight=27, 18.49%) than that of overweight and obese (Overweight=22, 15.06%; Obese=11, 7.53%). The newly diagnosed cases of anemia were 138 and previously diagnosed cases of anemia were 8. Out of 146 anemic populations, 13 were hyperlipidemics, 20 were hypertensives, 18 were diabetics, 5 were thyroid patients and 4 were cardiac patients. Conclusion: This screening program helps to diagnose anemia in a selected population and benefit avoiding further complications by offering adequate patient counseling. Study population was enriched with information on nutrition intake and importance of maintaining hemoglobin concentration at normal level in day-to-day life of an individual.Keywords: Anemia, Nutrition, Screening, Hemoglobin

ADOPTING INNOVATIVE METHOD AND COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF SWETHA PARPATI MENTIONED IN AYURVEDIC LITERATURE

In Ayurveda, the study of the therapeutic uses and effects of drugs means Pharmaco-therapeutic is described under the branch of Rasashastra which mainly incorporates inorganic, herbo-mineral and metallic pharmaceutical preparations namely Khalviya Rasayana, Parpati Rasayana, Pottali Rasayana and Kupipakwa Rasayana. This article aims for the comparative assessment of Swethaparpati coming under Parpatikalpa mentioned as per reference of Sidhayogasangraha, AFI with another reference of Rasodharatantra. According to the first two references the ingredients used for the preparation are Suryakshara, Sphatika and Navasadara and as per the third reference ingredients like Tankana and Karpura are added. Here a detailed review of literature has been collected regarding the potential of the above mentioned individual ingredients along with the recent research updates regarding individual ingredients used in the production of Swetha Parpati according to both the references it also incorporate research updates on the formulation Swetha Parpati. This article also aims pharmaceutical standardization of standard method adopted in process of production of Swethaparpati with the alteration made from the usual method adopted in preparation of Parpati Kalpana that will help for developing new improved SOP regarding the formulation. This paper also aims in projecting the improved therapeutic value which could be generated by addition of new ingredients mentioned as per reference of Rasodharatantra

Evaluation of Indian Durum Wheat Genotypes for Yield and Quality Traits Using Additive Main-Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) Biplot Analysis under Terminal Heat Stress Conditions

The abrupt increase of temperatures during and after the flowering period of wheat is defined as terminal heat stress, and it causes severe reductions in productivity. One hundred two durum wheat lines were evaluated against this stress for three consecutive cropping seasons (2014–2017) in Indore, Madya Pradesh (India). The main objectives were to assess their grain yield potential, stability, and rheological quality characteristics under these conditions, and identify other contributing traits to adaptation. Combined ANOVA across environments showed significant differences (P < 0.01) for all factors, and high broad sense heritability was recorded for hectoliter weight, 1000-grains weight, grain yield, number of grains per spike, spike length, days to maturity, total carotene and sedimentation values. Grain yield showed significant (P < 0.01) positive associated with biomass, harvest index, hectoliter weight and significant negative associations with day to heading and maturity. Genotypes showed explicit variation to environmental condition as supported by significant (P < 0.01) for genotype × environment interaction (GEI). The traits like early heading, maturing, high biomass and hectoliter weight were the most critical traits for adaptation under terminal heat stress. To determine effects of GEI data were subjected to GGE biplot analysis, which identified as the most stable and performing across seasons G-30 (GW 1240) for hectoliter weight and G-98 (Vijay) for grain yield. These entries can now be combined via breeding to develop superior heat stress tolerant varieties

A CRITICAL AYURVEDIC LITERARY REVIEW OF THE PLANT PANASA (ARTOCARPUS HETEROPHYLLUS LAM.)

Panasa (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam), the well known jackfruit tree is widely distributed all over the world. It is a treasure trove of various ethnomedical uses which are yet to be proven scientifically. Its fruit is very delicious and its leaves, root, latex, seed and wood are reported to have many medicinal properties. Though the plant is renowned for its nutritive values, the useful parts of the plant with rich medicinal values are less utilized for medicinal purposes. The plant is well described in Ayurvedic classics where prime importance has been given to its fruit whereas least references are available concerned to its other useful parts especially the leaf. This forms the literature gap concerned with this drug that hinders its further clinical researches. A compiled review of the classical literature of Panasa is not yet available as a ready reference. Hence it is a herculean task for the researcher to compile the literature which is scattered in various classical books of different era. In this work focus has been made to compile the literature of the plant Panasa (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam) from the Ayurvedic classics. As this work provides the literature of this plant under a single roof it will be helpful for the scholars in future research works

Differentiable Spline Approximations

The paradigm of differentiable programming has significantly enhanced the scope of machine learning via the judicious use of gradient-based optimization. However, standard differentiable programming methods (such as autodiff) typically require that the machine learning models be differentiable, limiting their applicability. Our goal in this paper is to use a new, principled approach to extend gradient-based optimization to functions well modeled by splines, which encompass a large family of piecewise polynomial models. We derive the form of the (weak) Jacobian of such functions and show that it exhibits a block-sparse structure that can be computed implicitly and efficiently. Overall, we show that leveraging this redesigned Jacobian in the form of a differentiable "layer" in predictive models leads to improved performance in diverse applications such as image segmentation, 3D point cloud reconstruction, and finite element analysis.This is a proceeding preprint from Cho, Minsu, Aditya Balu, Ameya Joshi, Anjana Deva Prasad, Biswajit Khara, Soumik Sarkar, Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Adarsh Krishnamurthy, and Chinmay Hegde. "DIFFERENTIABLE SPLINE APPROXIMATIONS." arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.01532 (2021). doi: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2110.01532. Copyright 2021 The Authors

Water and sanitation hygiene knowledge, attitude, and practices among household members living in rural setting of India

Background: Rural population in developing countries face water, sanitation, and hygiene-related health issues. To objectively highlight these issues, we studied the knowledge, attitude, and practices-related to drinking water and sanitation facilities among the rural population of Chennai, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed involving individuals over 18 years of age living in Thandalam village, Chennai, India. Basic information about sociodemographic profile and existing drinking water and sanitation related knowledge, attitude, and practices was collected using a modified version of previously validated questionnaire and analyzed. Results: Forty-five percent of the participants were not following any methods of water treatment and among them half of the participants felt that water available to them was clean and did not require any additional treatment. Twenty-five percent of the participants surveyed did not have access to toilets inside their household. Conclusion: There is a need for intervention to educate individuals about drinking water treatment methods, sanitation, and hand washing practices

WAFER trial: a study protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial comparing wide-awake local anaesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) to general and regional anaesthesia with tourniquet for flexor tendon repair

Introduction: Flexor tendons are traditionally repaired under either general anaesthesia (GA) or regional anaesthesia (RA), allowing for the use of an arm tourniquet to minimise blood loss and establish a bloodless surgical field. However, the use of tourniquets exposes the patient to certain risks, including skin, muscle and nerve injuries. A recent advancement in anaesthesia delivery involves the use of a wide-awake approach where no sedation nor tourniquets are used (wide-awake local anaesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT)). WALANT uses local anaesthetic with epinephrine to provide pain relief and vasoconstriction, reducing operative bleeding. Several studies revealed potential benefits for WALANT compared with GA or RA. However, there remains a paucity of high-quality evidence to support the use of WALANT. As a result of this uncertainty, the clinical practice varies considerably. We aim to evaluate the feasibility of WALANT as an alternative to GA and RA in patients undergoing surgical repair of flexor tendon injuries. This involves addressing factors such as clinician and patient support for a trial, clinical equipoise, trial recruitment and dropout and the most relevant outcomes measures for a future definitive trial. // Methods and analysis: WAFER is a multicentre, single-blinded, parallel group, randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess the feasibility of WALANT versus RA and GA. The target population is patients with acute traumatic flexor tendon injuries, across 3 major hand surgery units in England involving a total of 60 participants. Outcome assessors will be blinded. The primary outcome will be the ability to recruit patients into the trial, while secondary outcomes include difference in functional outcome, patient-reported outcome measures, health-related quality of life, cost-effectiveness and complication rates. // Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval was obtained from the London—City and East Research Ethics Committee (22/PR/1197). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication, conferences, patient information websites and social media networks