Community health and medical provision: impact on neonates (the CHAMPION trial)

BACKGROUND: The trial aims to evaluate whether neonatal mortality can be reduced through systemic changes to the provision and promotion of healthcare. Neonatal mortality rates in India are high compared to other low income countries, and there is a wide variation of rates across regions. There is evidence that relatively inexpensive interventions may be able to prevent up to 75% of these deaths. One area with a particularly high rate is Mahabubnagar District in Andhra Pradesh, where neonatal mortality is estimated to be in the region of 4-9%. The area suffers from a vicious cycle of both poor supply of and small demand for health care services. The trial will assess whether a package of interventions to facilitate systemic changes to the provision and promotion of healthcare may be able to substantially reduce neonatal mortality in this area and be cost-effective. If successful, the trial is designed so that it should be possible to substantially scale up the project in regions with similarly high neonatal mortality throughout Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. METHODS/DESIGN: This trial will be a cluster-randomised controlled trial involving 464 villages in Mahabubnagar District. The package of interventions will first be introduced in half of the villages with the others serving as controls. The trial will run for a period of three years. The intervention in the trial has two key elements: a community health promotion campaign and a system to contract out healthcare to non-public institutions. The health promotion campaign will include a health education campaign, participatory discussion groups, training of village health workers and midwives, and improved coordination of antenatal services. The intervention group will also have subsidized access to pregnancy-related healthcare services at non-public lth centres (NPHCs). The primary outcome of the trial will be neonatal mortality. Secondary outcomes will include age at and cause of neonatal death, neonatal morbidity, maternal mortality and morbidity, health service usage, costs and several process and knowledge outcomes. DISCUSSION: The trial will be run by independent research and service delivery arms and supervised by a trial steering committee. A data monitoring committee will be put in place to monitor the trial and recommend stopping/continuation according to a Peto-Haybittle rule. The primary publication for the trial will follow CONSORT guidelines for cluster randomised controlled trials. Criteria for authorship of all papers, presentations and reports resulting from the study will conform to ICMJE standards

Spontaneous resolution through helical assembly of a conformationally chiral molecule with an unusual zwitterionic structure

A conformationally chiral zwitterionic molecule forms mutually orthogonal helical superstructures in the crystal. This is achieved through a network of hydrogen bond pathways, and electrostatic interactions in crystals formed with and without water of crystallization. A systematic protocol for the computation of charge distribution on the 'molecule-in-the-crystal' is presented; the computed charges provide an insight into the origin of the intermolecular electrostatic interactions. The coexisting orthogonal helical formations lead to the homochiral assembly, and spontaneous resolution observed in the crystals. This material facilitates an appraisal of the molecular level interactions, which form the basis for the persistent spontaneous resolution of a conformationally chiral molecule in the solid state

Enhanced fluorescence of remote functionalized diaminodicyanoquinodimethanes in the solid state and fluorescence switching in a doped polymer by solvent vapors

Remote functionalized zwitterionic diaminodicyanoquinodimethanes are found to exhibit a dramatic enhancement of light emission in the solid state and when doped in polymer films, as compared to the solution state. Crystal structure analysis of prototypical molecules reveals the role of the remote functionality in the solid state molecular organization. Semiempirical quantum chemical computations provide a viable model to explain the interesting phenomenon of fluorescence enhancement as arising from the inhibition of geometry relaxation of the vertical excited state to a nonemitting state. The reversible switching of a doped polymer film fluorescence triggered by solvent vapors is demonstrated

Solid-state charge transfer promoted by an anchoring agent: a two-component analogue of kofler's ternary complex

Charge-transfer complex formation between the push-pull zwitterionic molecule 7,7-bis(piperazino)-8,8-dicyanoquinodimethane and picric acid is observed in the solid state. The critical role of proton transfer and intermolecular H bonding in facilitating the charge-transfer interaction is established through control experiments and single-crystal X-ray investigation of the complex. The details of the π -π interaction are analyzed using computed atomic charges

Steering molecular dipoles from centrosymmetric to a noncentrosymmetric and SHG active assembly using remote functionality and complexation

Utilization of flexible pendant groups bearing a remote functionality and complexation with an appropriate partner leading to the fabrication of a noncentrosymmetric molecular crystal lattice of interest in quadratic nonlinear optical applications is explored. 7,7-Diamino-8,8-dicyanoquinodimethane, which possesses a large molecular hyperpolarizability but shows an overriding tendency towards centrosymmetric crystal lattice formation, is chosen as a critical test case of a nonlinear optical chromophore. N,N-Dimethylaminoethylene moieties attached to the amino groups of diaminodicyanoquinodimethane serve as the pendant groups and terephthalic acid as the complexing partner. Parallel investigation of the crystal structures of the pure chromophore and its complex demonstrates the crucial role of the pendant group and the complexing partner in the formation of the noncentrosymmetric lattice of the complex with concomitant induction of optical second harmonic generation capability. This study suggests the possibility of developing a simple chemical approach towards the fabrication of acentric crystals for quadratic nonlinear optical applications

Segmentation of Potato Consumers Based on Sensory and Attitudinal Aspects

Consumer hedonic scores for potatoes were linked to sensory characteristics to understand the underlying consumer segments, flavor and texture preferences and attitudinal associations regarding potatoes. Consumers were asked to evaluate liking on a 9-point hedonic scale for 12 cultivars of potatoes. Sensory findings were collected by using a consensus-based descriptive analysis approach for the same cultivars. Segmentation analysis procedure identified three subgroups of consumers with different overall liking patterns, indicating variability in the acceptance of different potato cultivars. Drivers of liking were identified for respective segments by using preference mapping. Dissimilar features were found important in determining potato liking patterns. Purple Majesty, Masquerade and Rio Colorado cultivars were found most liked by respondents, while Russian Banana were found to be liked the least. Tuber color, price, variety name on package, color of peel, and being locally produced were found to be important factors in purchasing decisions