Elliptical flow and isospin effects in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

The elliptical flow of fragments is studied for different systems at incident energies between 50 and 1000 MeV/nucleon using the isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (IQMD) model. Our findings reveal that elliptical flow shows a transition from positive (in-plane) to negative (out-of-plane) values in the midrapidity region at a certain incident energy known as the transition energy. This transition energy is found to depend on the model ingredients, size of the fragments, and composite mass of the reacting system as well as on the impact parameter of the reaction. A reasonable agreement is observed for the excitation function of elliptical flow between the data and our calculations. Interestingly, the transition energy is found to exhibit a power-law mass dependence.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Effect of the symmetry energy on nuclear stopping and its relation to the production of light charged fragments

We present a complete systematics (excitation function, impact parameter, system size, isospin asymmetry, and equations of state dependences) of global stopping and fragment production for heavy-ion reactions in the energy range between 50 and 1000 MeV/nucleon in the presence of symmetry energy and an isospin-dependent cross section. It is observed that the degree of stopping depends weakly on the symmetry energy and strongly on the isospin-dependent cross section. However, the symmetry energy and isospin-dependent cross section has an effect of the order of more than 10% on the emission of light charged particles (LCP's). It means that nuclear stopping and LCP's can be used as a tool to get the information of an isospin-dependent cross section. Interestingly, the LCP's emission in the presence of symmetry energy is found to be highly correlated with the global stopping.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Medium mass fragments production due to momentum dependent interactions

The role of system size and momentum dependent effects are analyzed in multifragmenation by simulating symmetric reactions of Ca+Ca, Ni+Ni, Nb+Nb, Xe+Xe, Er+Er, Au+Au, and U+U at incident energies between 50 MeV/nucleon and 1000 MeV/nucleon and over full impact parameter zones. Our detailed study reveals that there exist a system size dependence when reaction is simulated with momentum dependent interactions. This dependence exhibits a mass power law behavior.Comment: 5 figure

Awareness of glaucoma among non-medical students in South India

Background: Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. According to World health organization glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. The objective was to study the level of awareness about glaucoma among students (non-medical).Methods: A questionnaire based study was conducted among 430 students (non-medical) which tests the basic knowledge about glaucoma.Results: Out of 430 students 94.18% (405/430) did not know what glaucoma was. 3.95% (17/430) have heard about glaucoma and they knew that it was a disease of the eye. Only 8 students 1.86% (8/430) were aware of the fact that glaucoma can lead to blindness.Conclusions: The level of awareness of glaucoma is very low among students (non-medical). Efforts should be made to increase the awareness among them so that not only they will subject themselves for screening but also persuade their family members, friends and relatives for the same

A study of awareness of ocular complications of diabetes among students

Background: Diabetes mellitus has become a major public health problem throughout the world. The aim was to study the awareness of ocular complications due to diabetes mellitus among students.Methods: A questionnaire based study was conducted among 430 students (non-medical). The questions tested their awareness about diabetes mellitus and also about the potential ocular complications of the disease.Results: Out of 430 students 73.02% (314/430) have heard about diabetes mellitus but they did not know that it can affect the eye and can lead to blindness. They were unaware that regular eye check-up is important in diabetes mellitus. 18.83% (81/430) were aware about the disease and its potential to cause vision threatening complications. 8.13% (35/430) were not aware about diabetes mellitus. Overall only 18.83% had some basic knowledge about diabetes and its complications.Conclusions: The level of awareness about ocular complications due to diabetes mellitus is low among students. Therefore steps should be taken to increase the awareness about diabetes and inculcate some basic knowledge about its potential complications especially vision threatening diabetic retinopathy. It should be strongly emphasized that periodic eye check-up is important to prevent needless blindness and visual dysfunction. Keywords: Glaucoma, Non-medical students, Awarenes

Perception of refractive surgery among undergraduate medical students and their preferred method of refractive correction

Background: Refractive errors are a major cause of defective visual acuity in all age groups. Spectacles are the traditional and most widely used method of optical correction among all age groups. The main objective was to study the perception about refractive surgery among undergraduate medical students with refractive errors and their preferred method of refractive correction.Methods: A questionnaire based study was conducted among 227 undergraduate medical students with refractive errors.Results: Among 227 students, the prevalence of myopia was 89.42% and hypermetropia was 10.13%.There was one case of keratoconus (0.44%). None of them had undergone refractive surgery. 84.14 % were using only spectacles for correction of refractive error. 13.21% were using contact lenses. 0.88% was using both. Among spectacle users, 71.35% were satisfied with the use of spectacles, the reasons being ease of use and maintenance. 35.41% were not satisfied with spectacles and the main reason was dependency. Among the spectacle users, 23.56% wanted to switch over to contact lenses and the main reason was cosmetic. 92.51% were aware of refractive surgery, out of which 36.66% were willing to undergo refractive surgery. 65.92% were not willing to undergo refractive surgery, the main reason being risk of complications.Conclusions: The preference and willingness to undergo refractive surgery was less due to the fear of complications and the cost of the procedure. Spectacles remain the most preferred method the main reason being ease of use and it is maintenance free. Contact lenses are the next preferred method and the main reason was cosmetic.

A study of awareness and knowledge about cataract among students

Background: Cataract can cause visual dysfunction ranging from mild to severe loss of vision. The rate of development of senile cataract is generally slow and the vision loss is usually gradual but can result in blindness if treatment is delayed. The main objective was to study the awareness about cataract among students (non-medical).Methods: A questionnaire based study was conducted among 430 students (non-medical). The questions tested their awareness about cataract and also about the potential ocular complications of the disease and the treatments available currently.Results: 65.81% (283/430) have heard about cataract. 50 students out of 283 students were aware about the basic facts about cataract. The rest 233 students have just heard of the term cataract. Overall only 11.62% (50/430) were aware about the basic facts about cataract. 34.10% (147/430) was not aware about cataract.Conclusions: The awareness of one of the leading cause of treatable blindness like cataract is low among students. Steps should be taken to increase the awareness about cataract and also about the various treatment options available for cataract. More focus should be on cataract in health education programmes

New Economic Strategies to Leave No One Behind: A Case Based on Himachal Pradesh of India

The tag line of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to ‘leave no one behind’. The basic thrust and need today is, if not eradicate, then at least take steps to alleviate poverty. The common goals given by the United Nations has been the most unique and mammoth achievement to which 193 countries, including India, pledged to work to attain the SDGs goals. Inclusive Sustainable Development depends upon the relief of poverty of the marginalised and the extremely poor. This is not to undermine the fact that the other indicators like health, education, clean water, environment and other SDGs can be ignored but the masses living in misery without a square meal a day cannot fathom life beyond the basic needs. The SDGs require rapid and absolute transformation of societies across the world to achieve the SDGs by 2030. The Government of India has initiated many programmes and as directed the states to formulate their budgets in alignment with the SDGs. The main purpose of this paper is to discusses poverty alleviation attempts initiated by the State of Himachal Pradesh in India. This study is mainly based on the secondary data. Himachal Pradesh has successfully maintained a balanced economic growth by minimizing the poverty rate through appreciable development results. The state managed to decrease poverty four times in between the years 1993-94 and 2011. In Himachal Pradesh, approximately 90 % of the population lives in the rural areas. It is commendable that the state has achieved a reduction in the rural poverty from 36.8% to 8.5%. This shows that the state has achieved the goals of SDG to a considerable extent and its 73 methods must be considered as good practices for the other developing nations

Awareness and perception of contact lens usage and refractive surgery among first year undergraduate medical students

Background: Refractive error occurs when the parallel rays of light coming from infinity are focused either in front or behind the retina, in one or both the meridians resulting in blurred image. The purpose of this study is to assess the level of awareness and perception of contact lens usage and refractive surgery among first year undergraduate medical students.Methods: A cross sectional, observational questionnaire-based study was done on students studying in Saveetha medical college near Sriperumbudur between February 2021 to April 2021 to assess student’s awareness and perception of contact lens usage and refractive surgery.Results: Totally 250 students were studied, of which 39.76% were under 20 years, 61.85% are not contact lens users, 51.41% think that appropriate time of wearing contact lens was 8 hours per day, 64.66% think that soft contact lens should be used, 70.28% think that contact lens should be renewed every 3 months, 38.96%  are not aware of refractive surgery, 54.62% think that dry eye is the complication of long term usage of contact lens, 44.18% think that contact lens are required even after surgery, 38.55% think that there will be complications even after refractive error surgery. Conclusions: The awareness of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding contact lenses usage and refractive surgery was evaluated among the participants to identify the points of weakness and construct a proper health education among the students