Rising incidence of unwed mothers in India; associated social parameters & institutional guidelines for managing them

Background: Globally the incidence of unwed mothers is rising. While the incidence is higher in western countries, developing countries like India are soon catching up.Methods: Ours is a retrospective study from January 2009 to December 2013 analyzing 51 cases of unwed mothers for - changing incidence of unwed mothers in India, to look for predisposing social & family pressures which may have led to the pregnancy, to study neonatal outcomes in such mothers & to analyze the role of social worker intervention in the management of such pregnancies.Results: Our study showed a 50% rise in the incidence of unwed mothers in our institute over the years with a majority (49%) of them being teenaged girls. 68% unwed mothers were uneducated or had only primary education & 58.9% unwed mothers had some predisposing factor which might have contributed to the pregnancy. 52% unwed mothers (who delivered) opted for institutional admission till term and 35.4% of these underwent a caesarean section at term (higher than institute LSCS rates). 21.5% unwed mother united with father with social worker intervention.Conclusions: Social and demographic parameters play a significant role in the incidence of unwed mothers. Several of these parameters are subject to external regulation & can reduce incidence of unwed mothers. Also the role of a social worker is priceless in management of these patients

Cytogenetical studies on the effect of omnacortil on root tip cells of Allium cepa L

Abstract: Omnacortil is steroid, an allopathic drug commonly used as analgesic and suppressant in various diseases. In the present work, onion root tips were subjected with a series of omnacortil concentrations, ranging from 0.2 µg/ml, 0.4 µg/ml, 0.6 µg/ml, 0.8 µg/ml and 1.0 µg/ml for 24 hours for studying its effect on root mitosis in Allium cepa L. The roots were examined in permanent root tip squash preparations stained by the aceto-orcein. This work has confirmed that omnacortil have various effects on chromosomes and induced different mitotic abnormalities and structural aberration of chromosomes. Mitotic index (MI), relative division rate (RDR), relative abnormality rate (RAR) of treated material has been determined. Obtained results showed that all the concentrations of omnacortil showed higher MI and RDR, lower concentrations such as 0.2 µg and 0.4 µg showed higher values over rest of the concentrations and control. Among the subjected concentrations 0.8 µg concentration is most effective and showed highest RAR. Low concentrations of steroids act as stimulants while higher concentrations induced various chromosomal aberrations such as clumping and stickiness, fragmentation, C-mitotic effect, anaphase bridge, chromosomal condensation and contraction, dissolution of chromosome, which clearly showed the mutagenic, clastogenic, antimitotic and cytotoxic effect of omnacortil. This is the first report detailing the effects of omnacortil on chromosomes

LHC Magnet Tests: Operational Techniques and Empowerment for Successful Completion

The LHC magnet tests operation team developed various innovative techniques, particularly since early 2004, to complete the superconductor magnet tests by Feb. 2007. Overall and cryogenic priority handling, rapid on-bench thermal cycling, rule-based goodness evaluation on round-the-clock basis, multiple, mashed web systems are some of these techniques applied with rigour for successful tests completion in time. This paper highlights these operation empowerment tools which had a pivotal role for success. A priority handling method was put in place to enable maximum throughput from twelve test benches, having many different constraints. For the cryogenics infrastructure, it implied judicious allocation of limited resources to the benches. Rapid On-Bench Thermal Cycle was a key strategy to accelerate magnets tests throughput, saving time and simplifying logistics. First level magnet appraisal was developed for 24 hr decision making so as to prepare a magnet further for LHC or keep it on standby. Web based systems (Tests Management and E-Traveller) were other essential ideas to track & coordinate various stages of tests handled by different teams

Improved measurement of CP violation parameters in Bs0→J/ψK+K− decays in the vicinity of the ϕ(1020) resonance

The decay-time-dependent C P asymmetry in B 0 s → J / ψ ( → μ + μ − ) K + K − decays is measured using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6     fb − 1 , collected with the LHCb detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Using a sample of approximately 349 000 B 0 s signal decays with an invariant K + K − mass in the vicinity of the ϕ ( 1020 ) resonance, the C P -violating phase ϕ s is measured, along with the difference in decay widths of the light and heavy mass eigenstates of the B 0 s − ¯ B 0 s system, Δ Γ s , and the difference of the average B 0 s and B 0 meson decay widths, Γ s − Γ d . The values obtained are ϕ s = − 0.039 ± 0.022 ± 0.006     rad , Δ Γ s = 0.0845 ± 0.0044 ± 0.0024     ps − 1 , and Γ s − Γ d = − 0.005 6 + 0.0013 − 0.0015 ± 0.0014     ps − 1 , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. These are the most precise single measurements to date and are consistent with expectations based on the Standard Model and with the previous LHCb analyses of this decay. These results are combined with previous independent LHCb measurements. The phase ϕ s is also measured independently for each polarization state of the K + K − system and shows no evidence for polarization dependence

Helium identification with LHCb

The identification of helium nuclei at LHCb is achieved using a method based on measurements of ionisation losses in the silicon sensors and timing measurements in the Outer Tracker drift tubes. The background from photon conversions is reduced using the RICH detectors and an isolation requirement. The method is developed using pp collision data at √(s) = 13 TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment in the years 2016 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.5 fb-1. A total of around 105 helium and antihelium candidates are identified with negligible background contamination. The helium identification efficiency is estimated to be approximately 50% with a corresponding background rejection rate of up to Script O(1012). These results demonstrate the feasibility of a rich programme of measurements of QCD and astrophysics interest involving light nuclei

Charmonium production in pNe collisions at sNN−−−√=68.5 GeV

The measurement of charmonium states produced in proton-neon (pNe ) collisions by the LHCb experiment in its fixed-target configuration is presented. The production of J/ψ and ψ(2S) mesons is studied with a beam of 2.5TeV protons colliding on gaseous neon targets at rest, corresponding to a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy sNN−−−√=68.5GeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 21.7±1.4 nb−1. The J/ψ and ψ(2S) hadrons are reconstructed in μ+ μ− final states. The J/ψ production cross-section per target nucleon in the centre-of-mass rapidity range y⋆∈[−2.29,0] is found to be 506±8±46 nb/nucleon. The ratio of J/ψ and D0 cross-sections is evaluated to (1.06±0.02±0.09)%. The ψ(2S) to J/ψ relative production rate is found to be (1.67±0.27±0.10)% in good agreement with other measurements involving beam and target nuclei of similar sizes

Momentum scale calibration of the LHCb spectrometer

For accurate determination of particle masses accurate knowledge of the momentum scale of the detectors is crucial. The procedure used to calibrate the momentum scale of the LHCb spectrometer is described and illustrated using the performance obtained with an integrated luminosity of 1.6 fb-1collected during 2016 in pp running. The procedure uses large samples of J/ψ → μ+μ- and B+ → J/ψK+ decays and leads to a relative accuracy of 3 × 10-4 on the momentum scale