Genetic Disease Burden, Nutrition and Determinants of Tribal Health Care in Chhattisgarh State of Central-East India: A Status Paper

Tribal health is an important aspect of development and progress of the people. This study pertaining to genetic disease burden, nutritional status and biomedical anthropological assessment with particular reference to determinants of tribal health care has been carried out among the four tribes, namely, Bhatra, Gond, Kondh and Paraja of Orissa residing adjacent to the bordering districts of Chhattisgarh The population genetic structure of a tribe is the outcome of socio-cultural practices, bio-psychological behavior, genetic constitution, and eco-environmental conditions. Tribal communities in India, in general and of Chhattisgarh state in particular, are highly vulnerable to various genetic diseases, nutritional deficiencies and unrealistic practices and lack of access to basic health facilities. A total of 815 blood samples comprising of 166 Bhatra, 219 Gond, 254 Kondh and 176 Paraja tribes were collected randomly under aseptic conditions. The frequency of sickle cell hemoglobinopathy (3.2-22.5%), β-thalassemia trait (0.5-8.5%), and G6PD enzyme deficiency (6-16%) is very high among the tribes of Chhattisgarh. However, the prevalence of Rhesus negative blood group is very low (0-0.6%). The frequency of hereditary hemolytic anemia is also high among the tribals of Chhattisgarh. Both communicable and non-communicable diseases harbor the tribal population. The nutritional deficiencies are rampant. Tribal people are engrossed with superstitions and have faith in traditional healers who practice magico-religious rites along with indigenous herbal treatment for the common ailments. Traditional folk medicine and health culture play a significant role in shaping tribal life. These health practices differ from one tribe to another. Unless locality specific, tribe specific and need-based health care system is evolved which should be appropriate, acceptable, accessible, and affordable, the true goal of health for all cannot be achieved in India

Health Informatics, Sustainable Health Care Development and Malnutrition in India

Health informatics aims at studying the principal computer applications related to technology in developing human health care and solving the existing problems to facilitate efficient management. It helps in decision making process, hospital administration and system management and in catering the needs of clients/patients and doctors. However, the inadequacy of skilled manpower, resources and economy are the major hurdles to exploit the full potential of the technology and medical health facilities. Malnutrition and related causes are adversely affecting the nation from several angles. An integral approach would be able to mitigate the human sufferings

Health Scenario of Major Tribals of Northern Orissa in Relation to Human Growth, Development and Nutrition and the Role of Genetic Factors in Smell and Tasting Abilities in Children

The nature of physical growth and development of children depends primarily upon the genetic endowments, nutritional status, psychosocial attitude and surrounding physical environmental conditions. School going children are the most important segment of the society who are affected by under- and mal-nutrition. Good nutrition is an indispensable component of healthy life. Tribal children studying in Ashram schools can be taken as representatives of the predominant tribes of the area. This study was aimed at evaluating the health profile in relation to growth, development and nutrition of a randomly selected cross section of 1038 Ashram school children aged six through 15 years in the state of Orissa. Following the standard methodology, it was noticed that nutritional complications are compounded due to ignorance, bad food habits, food fads, and poverty. About 71% of the Ashram school children showed mild to moderate anemia. According to different grades of malnutrition, the frequency of grade III malnutrition was very low in Ashram-school boys (1.4%) and girls (3.5%), with an average of 2.3%. The grade I as well as grade II malnutrition was also higher in girls (grade II =24.3%; grade I= 37.6%) as compared to boys (grade II=16.7%; grade I=31.5%) with an average of 19.9% and 34.1%, respectively for grade II and grade I malnutrition. There was a consistent pattern of increase in height and weight in the year six through fifteen of age, showing that height and weight of the Ashram school children increases with the corresponding advancement of age in both boys and girls. In general, the girls were shorter and lighter in weight than the boys. This pattern is consistent in the present study of Ashram school children in Orissa. It has been observed that apart from the genetic potential, the intra-uterine environment, mother’s nutritional status before, during and post pregnancy, and neonatal nutrition and associated traditional behavior drastically influence the growth and development of individuals. Adequate physical and mental fitness of parents is a marker for physical and mental fitness of the progeny. Heritable genetic factors are responsible for the ability to detect and identify smell and taste of food items of liking and disliking and for the fussy behavior toward different foods in children

Intervention and Prevention of Hereditary Hemolytic Disorders in Two Ethnic Communities of Sundargarh District of Orissa, India: An Experience from KAP Studies

Hereditary hemolytic disorders are important public health challenges in India. They cause a high degree of morbidity, mortality and fetal wastage in vulnerable communities. Tradition-bound-psychosocial influences are detrimental to the process of prevention. This study was designed to create awareness, motivate, and sensitize two major vulnerable tribal communities: Bhuyan and Kharia for hemoglobin and allied hemolytic disorders in addition to imparting prospective and retrospective genetic/marriage counseling. Bhuyan and Kharia tribal people in Orissa live in clusters practicing inter-village tribal endogamy and clan exogamy. For the present study, random sampling procedure for the selection of whole village was followed. Imparting of education, motivation and sensitization for carrier detection were carried out through IEC materials, holding interactive meetings and discussions at district, block and village levels. Both prospective and retrospective intervention and genetic/marriage counseling was done through the local PHC doctor. The pre- and post-intervention knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) studies were conducted. Tribal people were not knowing the signs and symptoms of sickle cell disease (2.1%) and beta-thalassemia (1.0%), but after IEC, their knowledge was considerably improved (67.8%, 56.4%, respectively). Sickle cell patient needs treatment (37.6%) like folic acid, blood transfusion, etc. Beta-thalassemia is disease causes bloodlessness and is a transfusion dependent (73.2%). All patients of thalassemia major or sickle cell disease have carrier parents and carriers do not suffer from any clinical ailments. After intervention, it was known that G-6-PD is an enzyme, which helps in glucose metabolism of red cells (76.4%) and its hereditary deficiency causes hemolytic anemia, jaundice and black urination (73.8%) in malaria cases when anti-malarials are administered. Methodical and prudent intervention and preventive strategies found positive and encouraging impact on the affected people. Success of strategy showed apparent overwhelming response of the tribal people towards changing the traditional mindset and improving their health and quality of life

Health Care Challenges of Hereditary Common Hematological Disorders in Odisha, India

Medical Genetics over the past few decades have emerged as an important and powerful medical specialty with increasing appreciation of its role and function in the biomedical sciences. This emergence is related to a great extent to the progress in the Human Genome Project, which promises wide-ranging applications in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human diseases. Nevertheless, the discussion on the role of genetics as the preventive medicine and public health care also lead to ethical, legal and social concerns about general applicability of genetic testing in the ethnic communities. The interpretation of prevention in the context of genetic diseases leads to the unavoidable discussions of genetic engineering, stem cell transplantation, prenatal diagnosis and selective termination of pregnancy, as well as broader concerns about discrimination in health care coverage, gender bias, employment and insurance in the society. In Indian communities where consanguineous marriage is widely practiced, recessive/x-linked genetic disorders such as sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia, will continue to gain greater prominence in the overall spectrum of ill health. Developing an understanding of these changes will require a wide-ranging and multidisciplinary investigative approach for which public health genetics is ideally suited to conditions in Odisha

Inherited hemolytic disorders with high occurrence of b-thalassemia in Sindhi community of Jabalpur town in Madhya Pradesh, India

Hereditary hemolytic disorders such as hemoglobin disorders, β-thalassemia syndrome, G6PD deficiency, and ABO and Rhesus blood groups are the most common public health problems in India. Community genetic screening provides multifaceted information for finding prevalence, level of health education, preventive strategies such as genetic/marriage counseling to relieve the burden of vulnerable communities. However, such genetic screening studies are scanty in India. This study aims to find the prevalence of inherited hemolytic disorders in Sindhi community, identify the persons for genetic/marriage counseling and to suggest the relevant strategies for prevention and control to the affected families. A cross-sectional random study of 508 persons of Sindhi community belonging to all ages and both sexes was conducted for screening of hemoglobin disorders, G6PD deficiency and ABO and Rhesus (D) blood groups following the standard procedures and techniques from Jabalpur town in Central India. High frequency of β-thalassemia trait (20.5%), Hb D trait (2.2%) and hemoglobin D/β-thalassemia (0.2%), G6PD deficiency (0.8%), and a low prevalence of Rhesus negative (3.0%) blood group was observed in Sindhi community of Jabalpur town in Madhya Pradesh. A case of β-thalassemia major and Hb D-thalassemia were also encountered. Double heterozygosity of Hb D/β-thalassemia showed hypochromic and microcytic red cell morphology with mild anemia. Inherited hemolytic disorders are an important public health challenge in Sindhi community. Preventive genetics program needs to be vigorously taken up to ameliorate the sufferings of at risk communities in India

Phenotypic evidence for local adaptation to heat stress in the marine snail Chlorostoma (formerly Tegula) funebralis

Southern California (USA) populations of the intertidal marine snail Chlorostoma (formerly Tegula) funebralis generally occupy warmer climates and are exposed to high air temperatures during low tides more often than northern California populations. Available genetic data suggest there is extensive gene flow across a broad range of C. funebralis populations, so it is unclear if populations can adapt to differences in local environments. To test for population-specific responses to heat stress, three phenotypic assays were performed on three northern and on three southern populations of C. funebralis, after acclimation to common-garden conditions in the laboratory. Thermal drop-down, heat stress mortality, and heat stress reattachment assays were designed to evaluate ecologically relevant phenotypic responses to heat stress; these assays assessed tolerance during, mortality following, and speed of recovery following heat stress. The latter two tests indicate that southern populations consistently suffer significantly lower mortality and recover significantly more quickly following heat stress compared to northern populations. Hierarchical cluster analysis of stress response data clearly identified northern California and southern California regional groupings of populations. Thus, these results indicate that southern populations have higher tolerance to heat stress than northern populations and suggest that adaptation to local environmental differences can evolve despite moderate potential for larval dispersal in this species. Accounting for intraspecific population variation in thermal tolerance may provide important insights for predicting how species distributions will respond to global warming. © 2013 Elsevier B.V

Parton distributions for LO generators

We present a study of the results obtained combining LO partonic matrix elements with either LO or NLO partons distributions. These are compared to the best prediction using NLO for both matrix elements and parton distributions. The aim is to determine which parton distributions are most appropriate to use in those cases where only LO matrix elements are available, e.g. as in many Monte Carlo generators. Both LO and NLO parton distributions have flaws, sometimes serious, for some processes, so a modified optimal LO set is suggested. We investigate a wide variety of process, and the LO* pdf works at least as well as, and often better than, both LO and NLO pdfs in nearly all cases.The LO* pdf set is now available in the LHAPDF package

Design Features And Stress Analysis Of A 0.686-Scale Standard Dynamics Model

A 0 .686-Scale Standard Dynamics Model Incorporating Some Tpecial Features Was Designed And Built At NAL .A Brief . Description Of The Various Design And Construction Features, Load Estimations And A Detailed Stress Analysis Of The Model Are Presented In The Report To Provide An Idea Of The Current Practice Adopted At NAL For The Design And Construction Of Wind Tunnel Models For Dynamic Stability Testing . The Model Was Successfully Employed For Check-Out And Validation Of A Forced-Oscillation Rig At Mach Numbers Up to 1.3 And Angles Of Attack Up to 20 Deg In The NAL 1.2m Blowdown Tunne

Future therapeutic strategies: Implications for Brk targeting

The official published article can be found at the link below - Copyright @ 2011 InTech. This Article has been provided by the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Rajpal Burmi was supported by a Breast Cancer Campaign project grant