Impact of cataract surgery in quality of life of patients

Background: Loss of vision invariably leads to loss of quality of life (QOL), which represents the general well-being of individuals and societies. Researchers have tended to indicate that visual acuity (VA) alone is an inadequate measure of visual impairment. Studies on QOL after cataract surgery are scarce in this part of India and there our present study holds potential to be really useful.Methods: This study was a prospective study consisting of 300 patients aged 50 years and above, who were operated for cataract in the Department of ophthalmology, GMC Jammu from May 2017-February 2018, a period of 10 months. Visual acuity was measured by logMaR method and generic health related quality of life (HRQoL) was measured using EuroQol (EQ-5D).Results: Only 182 turned up for the follow up after six months, mainly belonging to the age group: 60 to 70. 66.48% of the people studied upon belong to the lower strata of the society. Substantial improvement in visual acuity was observed with only 3.84% of patients showing less than 6/60 visual acuity during follow up after 6 months. All domains related to the generic health related QOL showed improvement. There was clear and marked improvement for performance of usual activities by the patients after surgery.Conclusions: In conclusion this study has provided valuable information about the change in vision related quality of life after cataract surgery there is statistically significant improvement in QOL of all patients enrolled in our study after the cataract surgery

Search Term-Intention Congruency in Brand-Ubiquitous Categories and Private Label Receptiveness on the Digital Shelf

This paper explains and examines online consumer behavior in brand-ubiquitous categories – categories where brand names are so well-known within the category to the point of becoming synonymous with the generic product name in consumers’ minds. The study tries to discern a relationship between consumer search behavior and the likelihood of private label purchase within these categories through a survey (n = 402) simulating an online purchasing environment and analyzing what search terms consumers used, what they were interested in purchasing, and what they ultimately purchased when given a choice between branded and private label products in three categories: bandages, cotton swabs, and dental floss. While much research exists on the factors influencing private label purchase propensity, there has been little to no research conducted within the brand-ubiquitous category space, which alters consumer search behavior significantly, as shown by this study. The study shows support for search-term intention incongruency in these categories (where consumers are using the brand name to search for the generic product in these categories). It also shows significant evidence to support a relationship between this incongruency and propensity to consider private label but does not adequately support a similar relationship between incongruency and private label purchase. Implications of these results are discussed, particularly considering search engine relevancy and brand loyalty.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167742/1/Riya Gupta.pd

Harnessing Wisdom for Managing Watersheds: Honey Bee Perspective on Innovations, Institutions and Policies for Marginal Environments

Participatory approaches for watershed management are now considered essential for sustainable natural resources management and yet there is very little opportunity for intellectual participation by the people. This requires understanding of the local knowledge systems and their institutional context. In this paper, we provide an overview of the conceptual framework which can facilitate such participation. The full report being published separately includes case studies of farmers’ innovations in natural resources management.

Emergency contraception: knowledge, attitude and practices among recently married females in a rural area of North India

Background: Emergency contraception (EC) is indicated after unprotected sexual intercourse to prevent unintended pregnancy and its harmful consequences. Its optimum use can avoid unintended child birth or unsafe abortion which can in turn lower maternal mortality. So, the present study aimed to study the knowledge, attitude and practices of recently married females towards EC in a rural area of Jammu.Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among recently married females visiting the OPD in CHC RS Pura during the course of the three months and were willing to participate. Information was obtained using a questionnaire and results were presented as proportions.Results: 90% respondents had ever heard of EC with media being the main source of information. 91% knew oral pills being used as EC and 81% had correct knowledge of time regarding its usage. 85% would recommend it to friend/relative if required and 73% were willing to use EC themselves in case of unprotected sex. 70% of the respondents had ever used EC.Conclusions: High awareness, positive attitude and adequate usage of EC among currently married females is a good sign which is probably due to high literacy among them. But it should not make the authorities complacent, rather interventions intended to combat maternal mortality through use of regular contraceptives besides EC need to be promoted among the target groups

Determination of ELISA reactive mumps IgG antibodies in MMR vaccine recipients in comparison with MMR vaccine naïve children: a cross sectional study

Background: Mumps is a vaccine preventable infectious disease characterized by parotitis. In India mumps vaccines are not currently used under NIP. Waning of vaccine-induced immunity is considered to play a central role in the reemergence of mumps. The comprehensive data on the seroepidemiology of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) as well as studies which compare the antibody titer among mumps vaccine naïve with mumps vaccinated children are lacking. The aim of our study is to estimate and compare Mumps specific antibody titer in children with and without MMR vaccine. Current study is a cross sectional observational study.Methods: In 2019/2020, blood samples were collected from 100 healthy children attending immunization clinic in government medical college Kota and associated J. K. Lon maternal and child care hospital Kota. The samples were investigated for MMR IgG antibodies using ELISA.Results: Out of total 100 children included in the study 32.27% vaccinated and 4.83% Non-vaccinated were positive for Mumps IgG antibody in the age group of 6m to 6 year. While in the age group of 6year to 12 year there was 31.57% and 26.57% positivity respectively. The seroprevalence of measles, mumps and rubella antibodies among 50 MMR vaccinated children was 94%, 64%, and 96% respectively. A high measles and rubella seroprevalence was observed among all children age groups, suggesting an effective control program, while the mumps seroprevalence decreased significantly with age.Conclusions: The maximum vaccine effectiveness against mumps for 2 doses of MMR vaccine is≈96% therefore the herd immunity threshold to block mumps virus transmission is ≥86%. As per our study only 64% of the vaccinated children were found to have IgG Mumps Ab. In view of morbidity following mumps infection there is a need to incorporate mumps vaccine along with measles and rubella vaccine in the NIP instead of MR

Direct Robot Configuration Space Construction using Convolutional Encoder-Decoders

Intelligent robots must be able to perform safe and efficient motion planning in their environments. Central to modern motion planning is the configuration space. Configuration spaces define the set of configurations of a robot that result in collisions with obstacles in the workspace, C-clsn, and the set of configurations that do not, C-free. Modern approaches to motion planning first compute the configuration space and then perform motion planning using the calculated configuration space. Real-time motion planning requires accurate and efficient construction of configuration spaces. We are the first to apply a convolutional encoder-decoder framework for calculating highly accurate approximations to configuration spaces. Our model achieves an average 97.5% F1-score for predicting C-free and C-clsn for 2-D robotic workspaces with a dual-arm robot. Our method limits undetected collisions to less than 2.5% on robotic workspaces that involve translation, rotation, and removal of obstacles. Our model learns highly transferable features between robotic workspaces, requiring little to no fine-tuning to adapt to new transformations of obstacles in the workspace.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, 4 table

Prevalence of respiratory morbidity among brick kiln workers: a cross sectional study from rural north India

Background: Fired clay bricks, an important construction material, are manufactured in non-mechanized, labour intensive brick kilns which mostly employ unskilled men and women. The workers, as an occupational hazard, are exposed to dust and air pollution leading to respiratory diseases.Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted among brick kiln workers in RS Pura block of Jammu district. The workers were assessed regarding respiratory symptoms and illnesses using translated version of American Thoracic Society Division of Lung Disease questionnaire (ATS-DLD-78A).Results: 692 brick kiln workers were interviewed during the course of survey and 58.8%of them were males. 45% of the respondents were working since last less than three years. Among the respiratory symptoms chronic cough, was present in 23.55% and phlegm in 22.83% of the respondents. Chronic bronchitis was present in 20.52% of the respondents. Association of respiratory symptoms in relation to sex of the respondents was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05).Conclusions: Respiratory symptoms and illness were found to be quite prevalent in the brick kiln workers. More research needs to be conducted to assess other health risks besides respiratory morbidity. Health planners need to plan for their basic sanitation facilities and periodic check ups

Gender based perspectives about organ donation among students in a medical school in North India

Background: Deaths due to organ failure are reaching alarming numbers mainly due to paucity of organ donation. The medical students who are the future doctors hold promise to alleviate this paucity by willing to register as a donor themselves as well as facilitating cadaver organ donation process. Objective was to assess the perspectives (awareness and attitudes) of medical students regarding organ donation.Methods: The present cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among 280 undergraduates’ students of Government Medical College Jammu, J and K, India. A pretested and self administered 22 item questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics (5), to assess awareness (11) and attitude (6) about organ donation.Results: Higher proportion of female students were aware about transplantation of human organ act (p<0.05). Awareness about organ donation card was very poor among both the sexes. Only 77.50% of the respondents were aware of the legal age for organ donation. Higher proportion of male students considered themselves to be future organ donor (p<0.05) although both the sexes wanted to be informed more on organ donation. Organ could be wasted (47.14%) was the main barrier among respondents for organ donation.Conclusions: The awareness and attitude among the respondents were found to be non-desirable on many parameters. Authors suggest introduction of a teaching module which should include all aspects of organ donation in medical schools starting from first profession onwards

Cost of Conservation of Agrobiodiversity

The cost of conservation of germplasm stored in gene banks i.e., ex-situ collections has been studied in other parts of the world to estimate direct and indirect contributions by various actors involved in conservation. This is the first study of its kind in India done in collaboration with National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. This was part of a sponsored research by Centre for Development Research, Germany. The limitations of this study are also listed so that future research in this regard can be pursued better. One of the costs not included is the cost of sharing data with local communities for enabling them to access germplasm in times of need. This is an important component of conservation and would require translation of gene bank and associated database in local language, making them available through public kiosks. This cost has not been included in any study on the subject so far. Separately, studies are underway to look at the conservation of germplasm under in-situ conditions.