Informal rural healthcare providers in North and South India.

Rural households in India rely extensively on informal biomedical providers, who lack valid medical qualifications. Their numbers far exceed those of formal providers. Our study reports on the education, knowledge, practices and relationships of informal providers (IPs) in two very different districts: Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand (north) and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh (south). We mapped and interviewed IPs in all nine blocks of Tehri and in nine out of 57 blocks in Guntur, and then interviewed a smaller sample in depth (90 IPs in Tehri, 100 in Guntur) about market practices, relationships with the formal sector, and their knowledge of protocol-based management of fever, diarrhoea and respiratory conditions. We evaluated IPs' performance by observing their interactions with three patients per condition; nine patients per provider. IPs in the two districts had very different educational backgrounds-more years of schooling followed by various informal diplomas in Tehri and more apprenticeships in Guntur, yet their knowledge of management of the three conditions was similar and reasonably high (71% Tehri and 73% Guntur). IPs in Tehri were mostly clinic-based and dispensed a blend of allopathic and indigenous drugs. IPs in Guntur mostly provided door-to-door services and prescribed and dispensed mainly allopathic drugs. In Guntur, formal private doctors were important referral providers (with commissions) and source of new knowledge for IPs. At both sites, IPs prescribed inappropriate drugs, but the use of injections and antibiotics was higher in Guntur. Guntur IPs were well organized in state and block level associations that had successfully lobbied for a state government registration and training for themselves. We find that IPs are firmly established in rural India but their role has grown and evolved differently in different market settings. Interventions need to be tailored differently keeping in view these unique features

Rural Community Teachers’ Awareness and Attitude on Learning Challenges

In rural landscapes, teachers are unsung education heroes, facing challenges like limited professional growth, inadequate infrastructure, and the need to innovate teaching methods for diverse student needs. They shape their communities’ education through adaptability and evolution. A September 2022 study conducted in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu surveyed 149 rural primary school teachers, using self-developed questionnaires on background information, awareness of learning challenges, and attitudes toward them. Reliability, measured with Cronbach’s Alpha, showed scores of 0.829 for awareness and 0.854 for attitudes. Results revealed that most teachers had moderate awareness, with some displaying low awareness and manyholding neutral attitudes, which could turn unfavorable over time. Linear regression highlighted associations with age, experience, and class type. Experience emerged as the main predictor for both awareness and attitude, implying that more experience leads to improved awareness and attitude. These findings can guide stakeholders in supporting rural educators, benefitting students across geographical boundaries

Assessment of incidence of post-operative wound infection in women undergoing caesarean section: a retrospective study

Background: The surgical site infection is the second most common infectious complication occurring after caesarean section. Infections occurring after caesarean section represent a considerable burden to the healthcare systems and preventing these complications is a priority of healthcare systems especially in developing countries. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of SSI in patients undergoing a LSCS at a RIMS teaching hospital, Raichur, and to identify risk factors, common bacterial pathogens and antibiotic sensitivity.Methods: The present retrospective study was conducted in RIMS Institute, during a period of 3 years i.e. from 2013-2016. In this study a total of 50 cases were collected from MRD department. They were divided into two groups- cases and controls, each having 50 subjects each. Wound infection was defined as inflammation or sepsis with or without positive bacterial cultures. With SSI, there may be fever, redness, swelling and/or pain in the area around the incision site. Complete information regarding demographic data, the type and indication for caesarean section, duration of labour, duration of surgery and rupture of membrane were recorded. Wound infections occuring after 30 days of LSCS & other gynaecological surgeries were excluded. All the results were analyzed by SPSS software 16.0. Chi-square test and student t test were used for the assessment of level of significance. Probability value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.Results: A total of 100 subjects were included in the present study, out of which, 50 were cases and the remaining 50 were controls. The mean age of the subjects was 37.45 years. There were 7 cases and 13 controls who were aged between 20-24 years. There was no significant difference amongst cases and controls regarding age. There was a significant difference in the haemoglobin levels amongst cases and controls. The third criterion that was assessed was duration of labour. Majority of the cases had prolonged labour whereas in majority of the controls, the duration of labour of labour was less than 6 hours. There was a significant difference in duration of labour amongst cases and controls (p<0.05). Elective c section was done in 2 cases and 6 controls. C section was performed in an emergency in 48 cases and 44 controls. There was a significant difference in the operation time between cases and controls (p<0.05). E.coli infection occurred in 15 cases in the present study followed by Actinobacter species which occurred in 13 cases. Absence of growth was seen in 5 cases.Conclusions: The risk factors associated with SSI in our study were, haemoglobin levels, prolonged labour, duration of operation. The most common organisms isolated were E. coli and Actinobacter species

Effect of Annealing on Metal-Oxide Nanocluster

Recently, the development of optoelectronic devices based on metal-oxide nanocluster has attracted intensive research interest. Nanoclusters are suitable for these because of their large surface-to-volume ratio and the presence of abundant oxygen vacancies or trap states. Metal–oxides such as ZnO, In2O3, and TiO2 synthesized using different technique produces high surface area films consisting of clusters and provides complete control over the film morphology. In this chapter, some of the metal oxides nanocluster film has investigated, and the effect of annealing on the structural, optical and electrical properties of the grown films when subjected to different annealing temperatures will be studied. Theoretically, these properties are presumed to improve after the heat treatment as the crystallinity, and the grain size of the film has increased due to the diminishing of oxygen vacancies. Thus, the greater surface-to-volume ratio, the better stoichiometry and higher level of crystallinity compared to bulk materials make nanocluster-based devices very promising for the mentioned application

An integrated multiple layer perceptron-genetic algorithm decision support system for photovoltaic power plant site selection

There is a need for non-renewable energy sources in generation of power for almost every domestic and commercial purposes. This source of energy helps in the development of a country. Because of the increasing usage of the fossil fuels and depletion of these resources, our focus has been shifted towards the renewable sources of energy like solar, water and wind. Therefore, in the present scenario, the usage of renewable sources has been increasing rapidly. Selection of a solar power plant (SPP) requires environmental factor, local terrain, and local weather issues. Thus, a large amount of investment is required for installation. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is a method that identifies one in choosing the best sites among the other proposed options. This paper gives a detailed study of optimal ranking of SPP site using analytical hierarchy process (AHP), multiple layer perceptron (MLP) neural network trained with back propagation (BP) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA). Three SPP sites of India were considered and various important criteria like local weather, geographical location, and environmental factors are included in our study as SPP site selection is a multi-criteria problem. A precise comparison of these three methods is listed in this paper

SCREENING OF CHICKPEA CULTIVARS AGAINST WILT AND ROOT ROT COMPLEX DISEASE OF CHICKPEA

Ten chickpea cultivars were screened to find out the source of resistance against F. solani, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri (Foc) and R. solani causing wilt and root rot complex of chickpea. The experiment was conducted during rabi (2012-13) and (2013-14) using the varieties Dahod Yellow, Pratap Chana -1, Avrodhi, RSG-888, RAJ- 1581, BGD-72, BG-391, BG-1053, GMG-469 and P- 1080 under soil inoculation activity growing virulent cultures of F. solani (isolate SRH Fs-5), Foc (isolate BNS Foc-1) and R. solani (isolate BNS Rs-6). Pooled data revealed among the varieties, the lowest germination (61.0 %) was recorded with Dahod Yellow, followed by variety BG-391 with 62.8 % germination. BGD-72 showed 68.5 % germination, BG-1053 showed 70.0 % germination, Pratap Chana-1 showed 72.5 % germination, P-1080 showed 73.5 % germination, RAJ-1581 showed 75.6 % germination and 78.0 % germination with GNG-469. The highest germination 82.5 % was recorded with Avrodhi. The result showed Avrodhi to be highly resistant to wilt and root rot complex of chickpea. Varieties GNG-469, RAJ-1581, P-1080 and Pratap Chana-1 were moderately resistant, while BG- 1053, BGD-72, BG-391 and RSG-888 were moderately susceptible. The popular cultivar Dahod Yellow was highly susceptible

Identification and Modelling of Religious Tourism Supply Chain Enablers in Post-Covid Era Using ISM

Post-Covid-19 pandemic, the supply chains of all the trades faced a setback, but the tourism sector faced an extended jolt of this disaster. Religious tourism, which has been adding a sizeable revenue to Indian GDP, came to a downfall. This manuscript aims to identify and model the enablers of the religious tourism supply chain for reviving the economy in the post-Covid era. The research paper elucidates that post-shock of Covid-19, understanding religious tourism enablers will provide opportunities to all the stakeholders of this chain. Eleven enablers for the religious tourism supply chain were identified. The modelling of these enablers using ISM (Interpretive Structural Modelling), provides insight into their hierarchy and interdependence upon each other. The ISM model also illustrates that the enabler Pilgrims belief and value, a mandatory obligation is the most crucial enabler and influence all other enablers. Religious tourism supply chain stakeholders can employ this model to formulate strategies to overcome the post-pandemic challenges. Subsequently focusing upon the key enablers essential in reviving the tourism sector economy.

Comparative Study of Rectangular Patch Antenna using FR4 and RT Duroid Substrates

This research presents a comparative analysis between RT Duroid and FR4 substrates for microstrip patch antennas using Zealand IE3D software. Spanning 3 GHz to 5 GHz, the study assesses parameters like return loss, VSWR, Axia, Antenna Efficiency, Radiation Efficiency, Gain, Directivity and Bandwidth. Results obtained through simulation are scrutinized to understand how substrate selection influences the antenna's behaviour and physical dimensions across the specified frequency range. This research provides valuable insights for microwave engineers, facilitating the informed selection of substrate materials based on application-specific requirements and optimizing the design of microstrip patch antennas for high-frequency communication systems

Evidence for transcription attenuation rendering cryptic a sigmaS- dependent promoter of the osmotically regulated proU operon of Salmonella typhimurium

The osmotically regulated proU locus in Escherichia coli has two promoters, P1 and P2, that are recognized, respectively, by the &#963; S- and &#963; 70-bearing RNA polymerase holoenzymes. However, the equivalent of the P1 promoter does not appear to exist in Salmonella typhimurium. We demonstrate in this study that wild-type S. typhimurium has a cryptic P1 promoter that is recognized by &#963; S RNA polymerase in vitro and that a 22-bp deletion from +63 to +84 (relative to the start site of transcription) confers &#963; S-dependent in vivo expression of a reporter gene fusion to P1. Primer extension analysis of RNA isolated from cells carrying the wild-type and mutant S. typhimurium proU constructs indicated that a primer which hybridizes proximal to +60 is able to detect P1-initiated transcripts from both constructs but a primer which hybridizes distal to +85 is able to do so only from the latter. Our results suggest that the &#963; S-controlled proU P1 promoter in S. typhimurium may be rendered cryptic because of factor-dependent transcription attenuation within a short distance downstream of the promoter start site

Interaction of 3-Hydroxypicolinamide with TbIII and its Sensitizing Effect on Terbium Luminescence as a Function of pH and Medium

Coordination behaviour of 3-hydroxypicolinamide (HPA) towards TbIII is studied in aqueous and micellar media. The complex formed exists asML2 species in which HPA behaves as anO,O,N,N-chelating ligand. The solid complex is isolated from aqueous medium and characterized employing elemental analysis, TG/DTA, magnetic, IR, ESR and mass spectral data. Stability constant and other accompanying thermodynamic parameters of the TbIII complex have been determined pHmetrically. The complexation reaction is  spontaneous and exothermic. Effect of micelles andpHon the luminescence of TbIII were also studied. The emission peaks of TbIII are highly sensitized on complexation with HPA and the optimum luminescence  efficiency is obtained in slightly acidic to neutral solutions (pH 6–8). The complex decays biexponentially and the presence of ethanol and surfactants causes a large increase in the luminescence intensity protecting the complex fromradiationless deactivation processes.KEYWORDS: 3-Hydroxypicolinamide, stability constant, micelles, terbium luminescence, sensitization