Fishery Oceanographic Conditions off the Coast of Maharashtra

The major fishery resouices of Maharashtra being constituted by the primary and secondary carnivores such as Bombay duck, prawns, croakers, pomfrets, ribbon fish, catfish etc., it should be possible to realise nearly twice the present fish catch from the sea off Maharashtra. The fishery of Maharashtra, as elsewhere in the world is influenced by abiotic oceanographic factors suchas temperature, salinity, currents, monsoons, storms, light, dissolved oxygen content, inorganic nutrients like phosphates, nitrates, silicates and biotic factors like phytoplankton, zooplankton and benthos. The waters of Maharashtra are fertile and support high plankton production. The primary productivity of EEZ off Maharashtra amounts to about 60 million tonnes of carbon. The present exploitation of fish from this area is around 0.36 million tonnes only i.e. out of every 167 units of phytoplankton, only one unit is being harvested as fish

Estimation and Determinants of Chronic Poverty in India : An Alternative Approach

The paper conceptualizes chronic poverty by using the spaces of income and nutrition and estimates its incidence among states and social groups. It also aims to improve our understanding of the determinant of chronic poverty by considering economic, demographic and social factors. It attempts to answer the following questions : How important a determinant of chronic poverty is household income? What factors inhibit escape from chronic poverty? How different are the other poor from chronic poor? The analysis uses the unit level NSS and NFHS data.Chrinic Poverty, India

Estimation and determinants of chronic poverty in India: An Alternative approach

The paper conceptualizes chronic poverty by using the spaces of income and nutrition and estimates its incidence among states and social groups. It also aims to improve our understanding of the determinant of chronic poverty by considering economic, demographic and social factors. It attempts to answer the following questions: How important a determinant of chronic poverty is household income? What factors inhibit escape from chronic poverty? How different are the other poor from chronic poor? The analysis uses the unit level NSS and NFHS data.

Unusually heavy catches of ribbon fish close to the shore at Visakhapatnam

Very heavy catches of ribbonfish were observed quite close to the shore at Visakhapatnam for a very short duration. Observations were made on this fishery and certain important biological aspects Ribbonfish do not generally come very close to the shore. As such they are vei7 rarely caught in the shore-seines. They are normally caught in boatseines operating 3-4 km away from the shore and in trawl nets. It is possible that the ribbon fish shoal after spawning hit the shore chasing their food consisting of Stolephorus sp, Leiognathus sp. Etc. Which might have been moving closer to the Shore to avoid the cold upwelled water

Road traffic accidents attending casualty in a tertiary care hospital : a 03 year study from South Western India

Background: Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is any vehicular accident occurring on the roadway i.e. originating on, terminating on, or involving a vehicle partially on the roadway. Road traffic accidents are a human tragedy which has an immeasurable impact on the families affected. The WHO estimates that over 1.2 million people pass away every year on the world’s roads, and between 20 and 50 million fall victims to non-fatal injuries.  The incidence of RTA remains poorly measured in India.Methods: The present study is conducted at casualty department of a tertiary care hospital in South Western India among victims of road traffic accident. This cross sectional study was conducted to elucidate the role of various factors involved in road traffic accidents and to study demographic profile and injury pattern among RTA victims. All the reported RTA cases from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2018 were included in the study.Results: A total of 875 cases of RTA were studied. There were 83.77%(n=733) male and 16.23%(n=142) female accident victims. Most of the patients were aged between 21 and 30 years. Monsoons witnessed 46.63%(n=408) cases. Most cases occurred between 6 and 12pm (54.4%, n=476). Commonest injury was a simple injury (72.91%, n=638), dangerous injuries (27.09% percent, n=237) and dead was (7.43%, n=65). The highest number of accidents took place in the month of June (19.09%, n=167) and on Sundays (22.17%). Among the motorized vehicles, two-wheeler drivers were more (76.91%, n=673) involved in accidents. In this study 17.60% (n=154) were under influence of alcohol while driving.Conclusions: This study shows there are multiple factors associated with road traffic accidents. Most of the factors responsible for RTA and its fatal consequences are preventable. India, as a signatory to the Brasilia declaration, intends to reduce road accidents and traffic fatalities by 50% by 2022. A comprehensive multipronged approach can mitigate most of them

IS ACQUISITION OF METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS - AN OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS IN INDIA?

  Objective: The incidence of community-acquired and hospital-acquired Staphylococcus aureus infections has been rising with increasing emergence of drug-resistant strains called methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of carriage rate of MRSA among the interns of tertiary care teaching hospital in Mangalore.Methods: A total of 150 interns were participated, thereby swabs from both anterior nares were collected and processed for S. aureus. The isolated strains of S. aureus were screened for methicillin susceptibility by modified Kirby–Bauer method using cefoxitin (30 μg) disc. Further, antibiotic susceptibility testing for all isolates of S. aureus was also done against selected appropriate antibiotics. Vancomycin susceptibility testing for MRSA was done by E test.Results: The number of strains of S. aureus isolated from our 150 participants was 71 with a percentage rate of 47.3. Of the 71 isolates of S. aureus, one (1.4%) was MRSA. The overall MRSA carriage rate was 0.66%. The S. aureus and MRSA carriage rates recorded in this study were at par and significantly lower, respectively, when compared with other reported studies. It was observed that risk factors such as the use of antibiotics in the past 6 months and smoking were found to be statistically significant in nasal carriage status of S. aureus (<0.05). The only one isolate of MRSA was found to be sensitive to vancomycin, linezolid, and teicoplanin.Conclusion: It was concluded that the acquisition of S. aureus and MRSA would not be an occupational hazard for medical students of developing countries like India

The effect of rural-to-urban migration on renal function in an Indian population: cross-sectional data from the Hyderabad arm of the Indian Migration Study.

BACKGROUND: Urban migration is associated with an increased risk of hypertension, obesity and diabetes in Indian migrants. This study assessed the relationship between internal migration and renal function in the Hyderabad arm of the Indian Migration Study. METHODS: We assessed 841 subjects; urban non-migrants (n = 158), urban migrants (n = 424) and rural non-migrants (n = 259). Muscle mass was ascertained from DXA scanning. We derived urban life years for urban migrants and rural non-migrants. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the association between tertiles of urban life years and 4-variable MDRD eGFR using Stata 11. RESULTS: Mean eGFR was lower in urban non-migrants and urban migrants compared to rural non-migrants. The prevalence of CKD 3-5 was higher in the rural non-migrant population (5.0%) than in the urban non-migrant populations (2.5%) due to a negatively skewed distribution of eGFR in rural non-migrants. As urban life years increased, eGFR declined (p = 0.008) though there was no obvious dose response effect. After adjustment for muscle mass, the association was attenuated and the trend was consistent with chance (p = 0.08). Further adjustment for vascular risk factors weakened the association to a small degree (p = 0.11). CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of reduced eGFR in rural areas requires further research. Urbanization was associated with reduced eGFR. This association appears mostly to be due to higher muscle mass with a small contribution from adverse vascular disease risk factors

An improved method for the synthesis of cyclopropyl ketoesters

A simple and versatile method for the synthesis of cyclopropyl ketoesters starting from chalcones and ethyl cyanoacetate in benzene using sodium powder as base is described

Residual Service Life Estimation and its Importance for Pretensioned Concrete (PTC) Bridges in Coastal Cities

Many pre-tensioned concrete (PTC) bridges are experiencing premature chloride-induced corrosion. Hence, it is crucial to estimate their residual service life and update it with newer data on a periodic basis - to plan for corrosionpreventionorcontrolmeasuresandensuresafetyofexistingbridges.Criticalchloridethreshold(Cl th) is one of the parameters necessary to estimate the corrosion initiation period. However, quantitative estimates on Clth for prestressing (PS) steel are not well-reported in literature. This paper presents experimental data on the Clth of PS steel, the chloride diffusion coefficient (Dcl), and surface chloride concentration (Cs) of concrete samples obtained from a PTC bridge girder in a coastal city in India. For estimation of Clth, 5 specimens were cast with PS steel wires embedded in ordinary Portland cement (OPC) mortar containing 30% of Class F fly ash (similar composition as that of the bridge girder). They were cured for 28 days and then subjected to cyclic wet-dry exposure using simulated concrete pore solution containing 3.5%sodiumchloride.(Linear polarization resistance (LPR) tests were performed at the end of each exposure cycle, corrosion initiation was detected using statistical methods, and Clth was determined). Using the determined Clth and Dcl, and other relevant parameters, the cumulative distribution functions of time to corrosion initiation was developed. It was found that the average time to corrosion initiation was about 40 years, whereas the structure was designed for 120 years. Also, it was estimated that the corrosion products will accumulate within the interstitial space between the 7 wires in a strand and will not flow through the concrete cover and reach the concrete surface (showing rust stains) until about 5% of strand is corroded (about 10 years). This indicates a dire need for regular data collection, updating the residual life estimates, which will help in developing corrosion prevention strategies for PTC structures

The Diet, Physical Activity and Accommodation of Patients with Quiescent Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a Poor South Indian Community

A previous report from the Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Centre, Madras, has shown that, if standard chemotherapy is given for one year, the response of patients treated at home in very poor environmental circumstances is nearly as good as that of those treated in sanatorium under much more favourable conditions. This paper reports on a four-year follow-up of all the patients whose disease was bacteriologically quiescent at the end of the year’s treatment. During this period, all the patients were managed on a domiciliary basis : about a quarter of them received chemotherapy with isoniazid alone for two years, another quarter received the drug for one year and the rest received no specific chemotherapy. Despite adverse environmental factors (poor diet ; long hours of work often involving strenuous physical activity ; overcrowded living conditions ; and, for the sanatorium patients, the stresses of returning suddenly to the unfavourable home environment), the great majority of patients in both series maintained quiescent disease throughout the follow-up period. Furthermore, the few patients whose disease relapsed bacteriologically were at no special dietary disadvantage in comparison with those who maintained quiescent disease throughout, nor did they show any appreciable differences in occupation, physical activity or living accommodation. These findings, together with the earlier ones, indicate that, despite adverse environmental circumstances, standard chemotherapy for an adequate period of time is sufficient in the great majority of patients for the attainment of bacteriological quiescence and its maintenance thereafter