Health Informatics, Sustainable Health Care Development and Malnutrition in India

Health informatics aims at studying the principal computer applications related to technology in developing human health care and solving the existing problems to facilitate efficient management. It helps in decision making process, hospital administration and system management and in catering the needs of clients/patients and doctors. However, the inadequacy of skilled manpower, resources and economy are the major hurdles to exploit the full potential of the technology and medical health facilities. Malnutrition and related causes are adversely affecting the nation from several angles. An integral approach would be able to mitigate the human sufferings

Genetic Disease Burden, Nutrition and Determinants of Tribal Health Care in Chhattisgarh State of Central-East India: A Status Paper

Tribal health is an important aspect of development and progress of the people. This study pertaining to genetic disease burden, nutritional status and biomedical anthropological assessment with particular reference to determinants of tribal health care has been carried out among the four tribes, namely, Bhatra, Gond, Kondh and Paraja of Orissa residing adjacent to the bordering districts of Chhattisgarh The population genetic structure of a tribe is the outcome of socio-cultural practices, bio-psychological behavior, genetic constitution, and eco-environmental conditions. Tribal communities in India, in general and of Chhattisgarh state in particular, are highly vulnerable to various genetic diseases, nutritional deficiencies and unrealistic practices and lack of access to basic health facilities. A total of 815 blood samples comprising of 166 Bhatra, 219 Gond, 254 Kondh and 176 Paraja tribes were collected randomly under aseptic conditions. The frequency of sickle cell hemoglobinopathy (3.2-22.5%), β-thalassemia trait (0.5-8.5%), and G6PD enzyme deficiency (6-16%) is very high among the tribes of Chhattisgarh. However, the prevalence of Rhesus negative blood group is very low (0-0.6%). The frequency of hereditary hemolytic anemia is also high among the tribals of Chhattisgarh. Both communicable and non-communicable diseases harbor the tribal population. The nutritional deficiencies are rampant. Tribal people are engrossed with superstitions and have faith in traditional healers who practice magico-religious rites along with indigenous herbal treatment for the common ailments. Traditional folk medicine and health culture play a significant role in shaping tribal life. These health practices differ from one tribe to another. Unless locality specific, tribe specific and need-based health care system is evolved which should be appropriate, acceptable, accessible, and affordable, the true goal of health for all cannot be achieved in India

Inherited hemolytic disorders with high occurrence of b-thalassemia in Sindhi community of Jabalpur town in Madhya Pradesh, India

Hereditary hemolytic disorders such as hemoglobin disorders, β-thalassemia syndrome, G6PD deficiency, and ABO and Rhesus blood groups are the most common public health problems in India. Community genetic screening provides multifaceted information for finding prevalence, level of health education, preventive strategies such as genetic/marriage counseling to relieve the burden of vulnerable communities. However, such genetic screening studies are scanty in India. This study aims to find the prevalence of inherited hemolytic disorders in Sindhi community, identify the persons for genetic/marriage counseling and to suggest the relevant strategies for prevention and control to the affected families. A cross-sectional random study of 508 persons of Sindhi community belonging to all ages and both sexes was conducted for screening of hemoglobin disorders, G6PD deficiency and ABO and Rhesus (D) blood groups following the standard procedures and techniques from Jabalpur town in Central India. High frequency of β-thalassemia trait (20.5%), Hb D trait (2.2%) and hemoglobin D/β-thalassemia (0.2%), G6PD deficiency (0.8%), and a low prevalence of Rhesus negative (3.0%) blood group was observed in Sindhi community of Jabalpur town in Madhya Pradesh. A case of β-thalassemia major and Hb D-thalassemia were also encountered. Double heterozygosity of Hb D/β-thalassemia showed hypochromic and microcytic red cell morphology with mild anemia. Inherited hemolytic disorders are an important public health challenge in Sindhi community. Preventive genetics program needs to be vigorously taken up to ameliorate the sufferings of at risk communities in India

Design Features And Stress Analysis Of A 0.686-Scale Standard Dynamics Model

A 0 .686-Scale Standard Dynamics Model Incorporating Some Tpecial Features Was Designed And Built At NAL .A Brief . Description Of The Various Design And Construction Features, Load Estimations And A Detailed Stress Analysis Of The Model Are Presented In The Report To Provide An Idea Of The Current Practice Adopted At NAL For The Design And Construction Of Wind Tunnel Models For Dynamic Stability Testing . The Model Was Successfully Employed For Check-Out And Validation Of A Forced-Oscillation Rig At Mach Numbers Up to 1.3 And Angles Of Attack Up to 20 Deg In The NAL 1.2m Blowdown Tunne

Parton distributions for LO generators

We present a study of the results obtained combining LO partonic matrix elements with either LO or NLO partons distributions. These are compared to the best prediction using NLO for both matrix elements and parton distributions. The aim is to determine which parton distributions are most appropriate to use in those cases where only LO matrix elements are available, e.g. as in many Monte Carlo generators. Both LO and NLO parton distributions have flaws, sometimes serious, for some processes, so a modified optimal LO set is suggested. We investigate a wide variety of process, and the LO* pdf works at least as well as, and often better than, both LO and NLO pdfs in nearly all cases.The LO* pdf set is now available in the LHAPDF package

Uncertain Flow Visualization using LIC

In this paper we look at the Line Integral Convolution method for flow visualization and ways in which this can be applied to the visualization of two dimensional, steady flow fields in the presence of uncertainty. To achieve this, we start by studying the method and reviewing the history of modifications other authors have made to it in order to improve its efficiency or capabilities, and using these as a base for the visualization of uncertain flow fields. Finally, we apply our methodology to a case study from the field of oceanography

Phenotypic evidence for local adaptation to heat stress in the marine snail Chlorostoma (formerly Tegula) funebralis

Southern California (USA) populations of the intertidal marine snail Chlorostoma (formerly Tegula) funebralis generally occupy warmer climates and are exposed to high air temperatures during low tides more often than northern California populations. Available genetic data suggest there is extensive gene flow across a broad range of C. funebralis populations, so it is unclear if populations can adapt to differences in local environments. To test for population-specific responses to heat stress, three phenotypic assays were performed on three northern and on three southern populations of C. funebralis, after acclimation to common-garden conditions in the laboratory. Thermal drop-down, heat stress mortality, and heat stress reattachment assays were designed to evaluate ecologically relevant phenotypic responses to heat stress; these assays assessed tolerance during, mortality following, and speed of recovery following heat stress. The latter two tests indicate that southern populations consistently suffer significantly lower mortality and recover significantly more quickly following heat stress compared to northern populations. Hierarchical cluster analysis of stress response data clearly identified northern California and southern California regional groupings of populations. Thus, these results indicate that southern populations have higher tolerance to heat stress than northern populations and suggest that adaptation to local environmental differences can evolve despite moderate potential for larval dispersal in this species. Accounting for intraspecific population variation in thermal tolerance may provide important insights for predicting how species distributions will respond to global warming. © 2013 Elsevier B.V

Critical constraints on chiral hierarchies.

Critical dynamics constrains models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking in which the scale of high-energy physics is far above 1 TeV. A big hierarchy requires the high-energy theory to have a second-order chiral phase transition, near which the theory is described by a low-energy effective Lagrangian with composite Higgs scalars. As scalar theories with more than one 4 coupling can have a Coleman-Weinberg instability and a first-order transition, such dynamical EWSB models cannot always support a large hierarchy. If the large-Nc Nambu Jona-Lasinio model is a good approximation to the top-condensate and strong extended technicolor models, they will not produce acceptable EWSB. © 1993 The American Physical Society