Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding emergency contraceptives among married women of urban slum area

Background: Unprotected sexual intercourse & contraceptive failure lead to unintended pregnancies & unsafe abortions. Emergency contraceptives offer safe & effective emergency care intervention. The objective was to assess the knowledge, attitude & practice regarding emergency contraceptives among married women of reproductive age group and to study the influence of educational status on the awareness & willingness to use emergency contraceptives.Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st May 2011- 30th Jan 2012 in 286 married women in age group 15-45 yrs residing in the field practice area of Urban Health Centre attached to Department of Community Medicine, Bagalkot, Karnataka. Data was collected by personal interview method with house-to-house visit by administering structured, pre-tested questionnaire to elicit information on knowledge, attitude & practice regarding emergency contraceptives. Chi square test was used to estimate statistical significant differences.Results: Out of total 286 females, majority were in the age group of 20-30 yrs, 94.40% were Hindus, majority i.e. 81.74% were homemakers & 59.79% were illiterate, 72.48% belonged to lower social class (class IV & V) according to modified B.G. Prasad classification. We found that 56% women had accepted one or other contraceptives. Only 12% women were aware about EC while among literates, 29% were aware about EC out of which only 4.38% had idea about the correct dosage, availability and side effects of the pills. Willingness to use EC was seen among 29% of women out of which majority i.e. 54.78% were literate and 68.32% were employed. Among the study population 3% of the women actually practiced emergency contraceptives. Educational status of females had significant association with awareness about EC pill (χ2=29.46) and positive attitude towards usage of EC pill (χ2=27.32).Conclusion: The awareness as well as the usage of emergency contraceptives is very low in our society. Still we are facing the problem of illiteracy in our country which is predominant in slum areas. More emphasis should be given to female education and empowerment in order to make them capable of taking decisions regarding their own reproductive health

Adaptive Channel Coding and Modulation Scheme Selection for Achieving High Throughput in Wireless Networks

Modern wireless communication demands reliable data communication at high throughput in severe channel conditions like narrowband interference, frequency selective fading due to multipath and attenuation of high frequencies. Traditional single carrier systems address this set of problems by the use of complex, computationally intensive equalization filters. The Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based system, as opposed to single-carrier systems, is considered to be the future of the wireless communication and is being used to achieve high data rate by overcoming severe channel conditions without the use of these complex filters.This paper discusses the problem of Adaptive Modulation scheme selection through an OFDM based system over parallel frequency selective fading channels. An adaptive coding scheme is proposed by using Generalized Concatenated Codes (GCC), which have simple structure and are designed in such a way that they are best suited for fading channels. GCC are based on binary cyclic codes. The criterion of the proposed research is to optimize the throughput of a wireless system. Depending on the quality of sub-channels an adaptive modulation selection scheme and code assigning method is proposed. The proposed research combats against channel impairments better than those used in conventional systems by exploiting individual sub-channel condition. Results show better performance in terms of higher throughput by minimizing the bit error rate

Information Processing view of Electricity Demand Response Systems: A Comparative Study Between India and Australia

Background: In recent years, demand response (DR) has gained increased attention from utilities, regulators, and market aggregators to meet the growing demands of electricity. The key aspect of a successful DR program is the effective processing of data and information to gain critical insights. This study aims to identify information processing needs and capacity that interact to improve energy DR effectiveness. To this end, organizational information processing theory (OIPT) is employed to understand the role of Information Systems (IS) resources in achieving desired DR program performance. This study also investigates how information processing for DR systems differ between developing (India) and developed (Australia) countries. Method: This work adopts a case study methodology to propose a theoretical framework using OIPT for information processing in DR systems. The study further employs a comparative case data analyses between Australian and Indian DR initiatives. Results: Our cross case analysis identifies variables of value creation in designing DR programs - pricing structure for demand side participation, renewable integration at supply side, reforms in the regulatory instruments, and emergent technology. This research posits that the degree of information processing capacity mediates the influence of information processing needs on energy DR effectiveness. Further, we develop five propositions on the interaction between task based information processing needs and capacity, and their influence on DR effectiveness. Conclusions: The study generates insights on the role of IS resources that can help stakeholders in the electricity value chain to take informed and intelligent decisions for improved performance of DR programs

Processing of low level signals in mixed signal environment - a hardware design for better performance

The low level signals faces many problems during their processing and digitization. The main affecting factor is the added noise during its propagation in mixed signal environment which makes very difficult to extract exact information from the signal. Additionally hardware requirement increases when we want to process these kinds of signals. In this paper, we proposed a customized hardware for this purpose. This hardware caters the problems of noise, signal integrity issues and crosstalk which directly effectsembedded circuit efficiency. The board has all the options to cater the situation where the requiredsignal is buried in the noise or having very low level amplitude. Noise elimination and crosstalk isavoided in this hardware which include high speed Field Programmable gate Array (FPGA)

Immunohistochemical and Molecular Detection of pH1N1 in NecropsiedPulmonary Tissues of Fatal Cases with Indeterminate Conventional Testing

The rapid emergence of a novel influenza A/H1N1 virus designated pH1N1 2009 caused one of the fastest pandemics of the twentieth century. The rapid development of an accurate detection test for this pandemic virus using reverse transcription-real time polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) helped in timely diagnosis. In India this pandemic peaked between August to October 2009. The r-RT PCR for pH1N1 2009 was the main diagnostic test used on throat/nasopharyngeal swabs in all cases. While in majority of the cases this test provided reliable confirmation of the virus, it gave negative or indeterminate results in a subset of cases meeting the standard case definition for the pandemic infection and negative for seasonal flu. In the present study we examined 4 such fatal cases where microscopic pathology of the lung was consistent with viral bronchopneumonia for the presence of pH1N1 2009 using r-RT PCR on nucleic acid extracted from the paraffin sections that showed presence of viral antigens by immunohistochemistry. In all 4 cases pH1N1 sequences could be identified. These findings therefore emphasize the important role of microscopic pathology techniques in conjunction with molecular tools in the diagnostic confirmation of novel agents during a public health emergency

Human Tumor-Derived Matrix Improves the Predictability of Head and Neck Cancer Drug Testing

In vitro cancer drug testing carries a low predictive value. We developed the human leiomyoma–derived matrix “Myogel” to better mimic the human tumor microenvironment (TME). We hypothesized that Myogel could provide an appropriate microenvironment for cancer cells, thereby allowing more in vivo–relevant drug testing. We screened 19 anticancer compounds, targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), MEK, and PI3K/mTOR on 12 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines cultured on plastic, mouse sarcoma–derived Matrigel (MSDM), and Myogel. We applied a high-throughput drug screening assay under five different culturing conditions: cells in two-dimensional (2D) plastic wells and on top or embedded in Matrigel or Myogel. We then compared the efficacy of the anticancer compounds to the response rates of 19 HNSCC monotherapy clinical trials. Cancer cells on top of Myogel responded less to EGFR and MEK inhibitors compared to cells cultured on plastic or Matrigel. However, we found a similar response to the PI3K/mTOR inhibitors under all culturing conditions. Cells grown on Myogel more closely resembled the response rates reported in EGFR-inhibitor monotherapy clinical trials. Our findings suggest that a human tumor matrix improves the predictability of in vitro anticancer drug testing compared to current 2D and MSDM methods</p

Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Signaling Networks Define Sensitivity to ERBB Inhibition and Stratify Kras Mutant Lung Cancers

Most non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) contain nontargetable mutations, including KRAS, TP53, or STK11/LKB1 alterations. By coupling ex viva drug sensitivity profiling with in vivo drug response studies, we aimed to identify drug vulnerabilities for these NSCLC subtypes. Primary adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) or adenocarcinoma (AC) cultures were established from Kras(G12D/+);Lkb1(fl/fl) (KL) tumors or AC cultures from Kras(G12D/+);p53(fl/fl) (KP) tumors. Although p53-null cells readily propagated as conventional cultures, Lkb1-null cells required conditional reprograming for establishment. Drug response profiling revealed short-term response to MEK inhibition, yet long-term clonogenic assays demonstrated resistance, associated with sustained or adaptive activation of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK): activation of ERBBs in KL cultures, or FGFR in AC niltures. Furthermore, pan-ERBB inhibition reduced the clonogenidty of KL cultures, which was exacerbated by combinatorial MEK inhibition, whereas combinatorial MEK and FGFR inhibition suppressed clonogenicity of AC cultures. Importantly, in vivo studies confirmed KL-selective sensitivity to pan-ERBB inhibition, which correlated with high ERBB ligand expression and activation of ERBB receptors, implying that ERBB network activity may serve as a predictive biomarker of drug response. Interestingly, in human NSCLCs, phosphorylation of EGFR or ERBB3 was frequently detected in ASCs and squamous cell carcinomas. We conclude that analysis of in situ ERBB signaling networks in conjunction with ex vivo drug response profiling and biochemical dissection of adaptive RTK activities may serve as a valid diagnostic approach to identify tumors sensitive to ERBB network inhibition.Peer reviewe

Variations in the Hemagglutinin of the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Virus: Potential for Strains with Altered Virulence Phenotype?

A novel, swine-origin influenza H1N1 virus (H1N1pdm) caused the first pandemic of the 21st century. This pandemic, although efficient in transmission, is mild in virulence. This atypical mild pandemic season has raised concerns regarding the potential of this virus to acquire additional virulence markers either through further adaptation or possibly by immune pressure in the human host. Using the mouse model we generated, within a single round of infection with A/California/04/09/H1N1 (Ca/04), a virus lethal in mice—herein referred to as mouse-adapted Ca/04 (ma-Ca/04). Five amino acid substitutions were found in the genome of ma-Ca/04: 3 in HA (D131E, S186P and A198E), 1 in PA (E298K) and 1 in NP (D101G). Reverse genetics analyses of these mutations indicate that all five mutations from ma-Ca/04 contributed to the lethal phenotype; however, the D131E and S186P mutations—which are also found in the 1918 and seasonal H1N1 viruses—in HA alone were sufficient to confer virulence of Ca/04 in mice. HI assays against H1N1pdm demonstrate that the D131E and S186P mutations caused minor antigenic changes and, likely, affected receptor binding. The rapid selection of ma-Ca/04 in mice suggests that a virus containing this constellation of amino acids might have already been present in Ca/04, likely as minor quasispecies