'Slippage' : The Bane of Rural Drinking Water Sector (A Study of Extent and Causes in Andhra Pradesh)

Slippage is one of the main bottlenecks of achieving full coverage of water and sanitation services in India. Slippage is the term often used to reflect unsustainable service delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, especially in rural areas. Off late slippage is attracting attention at the policy level though slippage is as old as the coverage of water supply services. This paper makes an attempt to identify the causes of slippage in a systematic manner. The broad objectives of the paper include : i) assess the extent of slippage at the national and state level; ii) identify the causes of slippage at various levels; and iii) provide some pointers for policy based on the analysis. The extent of slippage is quite substantial even at the aggregate level. The situation is alarming in some of the states where the extent of slippage is as high as 60 percent. Our analysis at the national, state and habitation levels suggests strongly that policy makers should look beyond the often repeated supply sided strategies. As evident from the experience of Andhra Pradesh, the demand side and governance factors play an equally, if not more, important role in addressing the sustainability issues. So far the experiences are that large investments in water sector would not automatically lead to increase in coverage. The sector also needs a sound policy and capacity so that money is spent effectively and leads to increased water security. The policy should also address resource sustainability and behavioural change goals instead of relying upon a one-sided target driven approach. These aspects are highlighted in the proposed guidelines and their effective implementation needs to be ensured.slippage, India, supply side strategies, policy

CONTROLLED-POROSITY OSMOTIC PUMP TABLETS-AN OVERVIEW

Conventional drug delivery systems have little control over their drug release and almost no control over the effective concentration at the target site. This kind of dosing pattern may result in constantly changing, unpredictable plasma concentrations. Drugs can be delivered in a controlled pattern over a long period of time by the process of osmosis. Osmotic devices are the most promising strategy based systems for controlled drug delivery. They are the most reliable controlled drug delivery systems and could be employed as oral drug delivery systems. The present review is concerned with the study of drug release systems which are tablets coated with walls of controlled porosity. When these systems are exposed to water, low levels of water soluble additive is leached from polymeric material i.e. semipermeable membrane and drug releases in a controlled manner over an extended period of time. Drug delivery from this system is not influenced by the different physiological factors within the gut lumen and the release characteristics can be predicted easily from the known properties of the drug and the dosage form. In this paper, various types of osmotically controlled drug delivery systems and the basic components of controlled porosity osmotic pump tablets have been discussed briefly

NON-HEPATIC HYPERAMMONEMIC COMA: A CASE REPORT

ABSTRACTWhile the most common cause of hyperammonemic (HA) coma is hepatic disorder, other rare etiologies to be considered include congenital causes,drug induced states, portosystemic shunts, and urinary tract infections with urea-splitting organisms. HA usually results from one of the followingthree mechanisms: A relative excessive nitrogen load on a normal functioning liver via the portal circulation (e.g., parenteral nutrition in a patientwith urea cycle defect); ammonia bypassing liver (e.g., congenital vascular malformations, portal hypertension in cirrhotic patients); or from impairedammonia metabolism. Herein, we describe a case of HA coma secondary to an interplay of multiple psychiatric drugs mainly sodium valproate andprobably an added effect by the lithium-induced hypothyroidism/myxedema.Keywords: Drug-induced, Hyperammonemia, Lithium, Myxedema, Valproic acid

Bishop score and transvaginal ultrasound for preinduction cervical assessment: a randomized clinical trial

Background: The objective was to compare transvaginal ultrasound with the Bishop score for preinduction cervical assessment and for choice of induction agent. Methods: 150 women were randomized to have preinduction cervical assessment for choice of induction agent based on either Bishop score or transvaginal ultrasound. The primary outcome measure was the percentage of women who were administered prostaglandin as a preinduction agent. The criteria for considering the cervix as unripe and thus for using prostaglandin were either a Bishop score <6 or cervical wedging of <30% of the total cervical length. Secondary outcome measures included interval to active phase, interval to delivery and rate of Caesarean section and fetal outcome. Results: While 85% of women received prostaglandin in the Bishop score group, only 53% of them did in the transvaginal ultrasound group (p =0.001). The interval to active phase, interval to delivery, rate of Caesarean section for failed induction and fetal outcomes were similar in both groups.Conclusions: With the suggested cut-off values of a Bishop score <6 and wedging <30%, the use of transvaginal ultrasound instead of Bishop score for preinduction cervical assessment to choose induction agent significantly reduces the need for intracervical prostaglandin treatment without adversely affecting the success of induction

Ethnomedicinal plants used to cure jaundice in Kammam District of Andhra Pradesh, India

Twenty eight species included in 27 genera and 20 families are used to cure jaundice by the tribals of Khammam district, Andhra Pradesh. Half of the plants are herbs and one fourth trees. Euphorbiaceae and Cucurbitaceae are the dominant families. The ethnomedicinal practices involved plants ranging from one to five

Oxidative refolding of lysozyme in trifluoroethanol (TFE) and ethylene glycol: interfering role of preexisting α-helical structure and intermolecular hydrophobic interactions

The oxidative refolding of equilibrium intermediates of lysozyme stabilized in trifluoroethanol (TFE) and ethylene glycol was monitored. Equilibrium intermediates of disulfide reduced lysozyme in TFE are known to contain considerable amounts of &#945;-helical structure and resemble the early intermediate in the oxidative refolding of lysozyme. We find that the intermediates in TFE do not proceed to folding; they form aggregates. However, interestingly, intermediates in ethylene glycol refold to the native state with improved folding yield. Secondary structure of these intermediates was monitored by far-UV circular dichroism. Our results indicate that formation of &#945;-helical structure prior to oxidative refolding does not help the process in the case of lysozyme. Interfering with intermolecular hydrophobic interactions in the unfolded state is more productive

Data Hiding in Video Streaming by Code Word Substitution

Data hiding techniques can be used to embed a secret message and secret image into a video bit stream for copyright protection, access control and transaction tracking. They are some data hiding techniques to assess the quality of video in the absence of the original reference. To avoid the drawback of existing system such as lossless compression, gray scale mapping and noisy images forces higher bit plane when distortion are easily visible.Data hiding is also used for concealment in applications of video transmission, gray scale mapping and noisy image. Edge quality information and number of bits of a block are hidden in the bit streams processed in an encrypted format to maintain security and privacy. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15035

The Clinical Aspects of Saroglitazar and its Side Effects

The new substance element has been known as novel antidiabetic drug, eg: saroglitazar. saroglitazar is a medication used to treat type-2 diabetes. saroglitazar was known under the exchange name Lipaglyn, created by Zydus cadila. lipaglyn is the first drug approved to treat type-2diabetes mellitus by the drug controller general of India in june 2013. Lipaglyn is demonstrated for the patients experiencing diabetes dyslipidaemia. It is given once daily for treatment. Saroglitazar manages the lipid parameters just as glycemic control. [1] Keywords: Anti-diabetic, dual PPAR agonist, glitazar, hypertriglyceridemia, insulin sensitizer, Lipaglyn, AE’s (adverse effects)

Infections in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients in the Pre-Engraftment Period

Introduction: The recipients of the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are at increased risk of a variety of infections due to their immunocompromised state. The severity of the immunocompromise differs depending upon host, underlying disease, comorbidities, type of transplantation, conditioning regimen, and immunosuppressive drugs. Pre-engraftment period is attended by neutropenia, mucosal barrier disruption, broad spectrum antibiotic usage and invasive procedures like central lines. Aim: We sought to evaluate the type and frequency of the infections in the pre-engraftment period in our transplant center. Methods and Results: We reviewed 17 HSCT cases done in our center over 24 months from August, 2011 upto August, 2013 which included 11 autologous and 6 allogeneic HSCT cases. We found a total of 20 febrile neutropenic episodes with 12 bacterial and 6 fungal infections. Eighteen of the 73 cultures were positive (24.65%). Nine out of 17 patients (52.94%) had at least one culture positive. Eight out of 11 bacteria were ESBL producing (extended spectrum beta lactamase) and one organism was only sensitive to colistin. Only 2 of the 12 bacteria were gram positive (16.67%). Only one stool test was positive for Clostridium deficile. We had only one culture documented fungal infection (Aspergillus sinusitis) and 5 presumed Aspergillus infections. Conclusion: The incidence of febrile neutropenia is similar to other centers in India and Western world, though the organisms are different. Gram negative bacteria continue to be the major threat to hematopoietic cell transplant recipients especially in the early post-transplant period in India

Ceramic Materials (Phosphors) for Display Applications

Phosphors the ceramic materials should able to work in tough environment surrounded and bombarded by high energy Vacuum Ultra Violet (VUV), UV or electron beam radiations in any discharge tube. The plasma display panel (PDP) is increasingly gaining attention over conventional cathode ray tube (CRT)-based TVs as a medium of large format (60+”) television (TV), particularly high definition TVs (HDTVs). Improvements have been made not only in size but also in other areas such as resolution, luminescence efficiency, brightness, contrast ratio, power consumption, and cost reduction. The formation of a phosphor host and doping process by solid solution is critical and is highly dependent on the reaction temperature and conditions. Since the purity of starting chemicals is very important to the synthesis of phosphors, the starting chemicals are typically 99.9%, 99.999% in purity. Required amounts of starting ingredients are mixed in the presence of an appropriate flux (if necessary) and fired at high temperatures (1200 °C) in air or in a controlled atmosphere (N2, C, CO, or N2 with 2-5% of H2). The present paper reports the synthesis and luminescence characteristics of different ceramic materials (phosphors) for display applications