Dynamics of Working Conditions among Women Agricultural Workers

This paper examined the dynamics of wages, payment schedules, work availability, types of work, job satisfaction and problems faced by women agricultural workers in the rural areas of Puducherry, India. A mixed-method approach was employed and data from a random sample of 5,044 women agricultural workers across all 98 revenue villages in the rural areas of Union Territory of Puducherry were collected and analysed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the prevailing conditions and challenges. The findings indicated that almost half of the respondents earned the wages below 150 rupees per day, highlighting the prevalence of low wages. A majority of respondents faced lack of daily work availability. The study also explored the types of work performed by them, identified factors that contribute to people choosing to work in agriculture, such as the need to meet basic family needs, low family income, and issues including wage discrimination, low wages, hard work, lack of transport facilities and overworking hours

District level baseline survey of family planning program in Uttar Pradesh: Lalitpur

Baseline surveys in 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh were conducted as part of the USAID-assisted State lnnovations in Family Planning Services project. This effort helps create databases at the district level, an essential prerequisite for decentralized planning and strategy development. The Baseline Surveys in Uttar Pradesh (BSUP) were undertaken as part of the innovations in Family Planning Services Project, which aimed to reduce the fertility rate in Uttar Pradesh. The specific objectives of the project were to increase access to family planning (FP) services, improve quality of FP services, and promote contraceptive use. The Population Council has been designated as the nodal organization to coordinate various activities and to provide necessary technical assistance for the consulting organizations involved in BSUP. The Centre for Population and Development Studies, Hyderabad, was the selected consulting organization for the BSUP in Lalitpur District. As stated in this report, general objectives are to provide a baseline against which the effectiveness and success of district-level project activities can be assessed in the future and provide background data at the district level that will assist in the design of appropriate and innovative service-delivery strategies

District level baseline survey of family planning program in Uttar Pradesh: Jhansi

Baseline surveys in 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh were conducted as part of the USAID-assisted State Innovations in Family Planning Services project. This effort helps create databases at the district level, an essential prerequisite for decentralized planning and strategy development. The Baseline Surveys in Uttar Pradesh (BSUP) were undertaken as part of the Innovations in Family Planning Services Project to reduce the fertility rate in Uttar Pradesh. The project’s objectives were to increase access to family planning (FP) services, improve quality of FP services, and promote contraceptive use. The Population Council was designated as the nodal organization to coordinate various activities and provide technical assistance for the consulting organizations involved in BSUP. The Centre for Population and Development Studies, Hyderabad, was the selected consulting organization for the BSUP in Jhansi district. As stated in this report, general objectives are to provide a baseline against which the effectiveness and success of district-level project activities can be assessed in the future and provide background data at the district level that will assist in the design of appropriate and innovative service-delivery strategies

Understanding Helicoverpa armigera pest population dynamics related to chickpea crop using neural networks

Insect pests are a major cause of crop loss globally. Pest management will be effective and efficient if we can predict the occurrence of peak activities of a given pest. Research efforts are going on to understand the pest dynamics by applying analytical and other techniques on pest surveillance data sets. We make an effort to understand pest population dynamics using neural networks by analyzing pest surveillance data set of Helicoverpa armigera or Pod borer on chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) crop. The results show that neural network method successfully predicts the pest attack incidences for one week in advance

Downy Mildew of Sorghum. Information Bulletin no. 51

Downy mildew of sorghum (Peronosclerospora sorghi) is one of the most important diseases of sorghum and maize. It is distributed widely in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, where serious epidemics occur. Systemic infection causes complete or partial sterility of the panicle, resulting in yield loss roughly proportional to the disease incidence. The seriousness of the problem has resulted in significant investment to increase knowledge of the pathogen and to investigate various disease control measures. Several alternatives for the control of sorghum downy mildew are now available including cultural and chemical control, and the deployment of resistant varieties. The current state of knowledge of the pathogen's biology, epidemiology, variability, and control are described in this bulletin, together with practical aspects of disease management

Clinical presentation and predictors of outcome in patients with severe acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requiring admission to intensive care unit

BACKGROUND: Severe acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AE-COPD) is a common reason for emergency room (ER) visit about which little has been documented from India. METHODS: Prospective study of the clinical presentation and predictors of outcome in 116 patients presenting with severe AE-COPD requiring admission to the medical intensive care unit between January 2000 and December 2004. RESULTS: Their mean age was 62.1 ± 9.8 years. There were 102 males. Mean duration of COPD was 7.2 ± 5.8 years. All males were smokers (22.3 ± 11.2 pack years); 35.2% smoked cigarettes and 64.8% smoked bidis. All women were exposed to domestic fuel. Associated co-morbid illnesses were present in 81 patients (69.8%); 53(45.7%) had one co-morbid illness and the remaining 28 (54.3%) had two or more co-morbid illnesses. Evidence of past pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) was present in 28.4% patients; 5 patients who also had type II diabetes mellitus had active PTB. Arterial blood gas analysis revealed respiratory failure in 40 (33.8%) patients (type I 17.5% and type II 82.5%). Invasive mechanical ventilation was required in 18 patients. Sixteen (13.7%) patients died. Stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed need for invasive ventilation (OR 45.809, 95%CI 607.46 to 3.009;p < 0.001); presence of co-morbid illness (OR 0.126, 95%CI 0.428 to 0.037;p < 0.01) and hypercapnia (OR 0.114, 95%CI 1.324 to 0.010;p < 0.05) were predictors of death. CONCLUSION: Co-morbid conditions and metabolic abnormalities render the diagnosis of AE-COPD difficult and also contribute to mortality. High prevalence of past PTB and active PTB in patients with AE-COPD suggests an intriguing relationship between smoking, PTB and COPD which merits further study

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors 2017 includes a comprehensive assessment of incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) for 354 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Previous GBD studies have shown how the decline of mortality rates from 1990 to 2016 has led to an increase in life expectancy, an ageing global population, and an expansion of the non-fatal burden of disease and injury. These studies have also shown how a substantial portion of the world's population experiences non-fatal health loss with considerable heterogeneity among different causes, locations, ages, and sexes. Ongoing objectives of the GBD study include increasing the level of estimation detail, improving analytical strategies, and increasing the amount of high-quality data. METHODS: We estimated incidence and prevalence for 354 diseases and injuries and 3484 sequelae. We used an updated and extensive body of literature studies, survey data, surveillance data, inpatient admission records, outpatient visit records, and health insurance claims, and additionally used results from cause of death models to inform estimates using a total of 68 781 data sources. Newly available clinical data from India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, China, Brazil, Norway, and Italy were incorporated, as well as updated claims data from the USA and new claims data from Taiwan (province of China) and Singapore. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, as the main method of estimation, ensuring consistency between rates of incidence, prevalence, remission, and cause of death for each condition. YLDs were estimated as the product of a prevalence estimate and a disability weight for health states of each mutually exclusive sequela, adjusted for comorbidity. We updated the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary development indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Additionally, we calculated differences between male and female YLDs to identify divergent trends across sexes. GBD 2017 complies with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting