Descriptive Epidemiology of Occupational Injuries among urban construction workers – an observation from Eastern India

Introduction Bhubaneswar, Odisha, is seeing a boom in construction activities, with workers from remote areas coming for work. Poverty, and illiteracy, coupled with employment and regular payments make them oblivious to unsafe working conditions. Long hours of heavy work in bad postures affect their musculoskeletal system leading to work-related musculoskeletal injuries. This study aimed to understand the epidemiology of the above injuries among the construction workers in Bhubaneswar Methods It was a work-site-based multistage cross-sectional study, where the sites engaging >=15 workers were selected randomly. A total of 520 workers (consented, >=21 years of age, and in this profession for at least 3 years) were recruited randomly. Data was collected by interviewing the study participants with the help of a pre-tested questionnaire focusing on sociodemographic profiles and relevant epidemiological variables related to occupational injury of urban construction workers.  Data entry and analysis were done using SPSS version 20. Results Over 95% of the participants were heavy workers, 23.1% were laborers, 28.1% had < 10 years of experience, and 72.3% were satisfied with their job. A little more than 19% had work-related injuries in the last 3 months. Age, gender, alcohol abuse, better education, lesser work experience, skilled work and job dissatisfaction were found to be statistically significant when associated with workplace injuries. Multivariate analysis revealed only age and lesser duration of working experience in the construction industry were associated with an increase in occupational injuries. Conclusion This study found that younger age, less work experience, male gender, use of alcohol, nature of work and lack of job satisfaction, and a few other factors were associated with work-related injuries. Often their occupational health and injuries get overlooked. Employers should be primarily responsible for their health, safety, and well-being. Suitable legislation and proper implementation would probably facilitate this

Diode Laser and Er,Cr:YSGG Laser in the treatment of Oral Leukoplakia: A Comparative Study.

BACKGROUND: Soft tissue lasers and certain hard tissue laser have been used in the treatment of oral mucosal lesions. This study was an attempt to compare soft tissue laser and hard tissue laser in treating oral leukoplakia. AIM & OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of Diode Laser and Er,Cr:YSGG Laser in treating oral leukoplakia by assessing intraoperative pain and bleeding and postoperative pain on the following seven postoperative days as well as wound healing on the 7th, 14th and 21st postoperative days. METHODOLOGY: The study population included five patients, above the age of 18 years, provisionally diagnosed and histopathologically confirmed as having oral leukoplakia. In each patient part of the lesion was treated with Diode laser and the rest with Er,Cr:YSGG laser. Each patient was assessed individually during both laser procedures for intraoperative pain and bleeding during procedure, for postoperative pain on the following seven post-operative days and for wound healing on the 7th, 14th and 21st day after treatment. Pain was assessed using three different pain rating scales and wound healing using visual method. RESULTS: Using Diode laser caused minimal to no pain, excellent hemostasis and good wound healing with no postoperative complications and Er,Cr:YSGG laser caused minimal discomfort to patient, profuse bleeding during procedure and good healing outcome in treatment of oral leukoplakia. CONCLUSION: While comparing both the lasers, in this present study it has been concluded that Diode laser (940nm) is superior to that of Er,Cr:YSGG laser (2780nm) in treating oral leukoplakia

Factors affecting treatment outcome among Pulmonary Tuberculosis patients under RNTCP in urban Pondicherry, India

Background: Many factors associated with unsuccessful TB treatment outcome. Objective: To find out the factors affecting treatment outcome among Pulmonary Tuberculosis patients under RNTCP in urban Pondicherry, Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 265 PTB patients from 6 randomly selected urban PHCs of Pondicherry from Jan 2013 to March 2014. A Pre-tested questionnaire was used. Data were entered in Epi-data v3.1 and was analysed by SPSS v20. Chi-square test and multiple logistic regressions were used. Results: Out of 265 patients registered 235 (88.7%) patients were included. The Majority were males (79.6%), and Mean (SD) age was 44±14 years. The Majority (83.4%) were formally educated, 74% were employed, and 77% received Cat I treatment. Prevalence of alcohol drinkers, current smokers and smokeless users was 31.5%, 23.5%, 9.4% respectively. A total of 14.5% had bad treatment Outcome Univariate analysis showed that Current smoker and Category II PTB treatment had significantly associated with bad outcome (p value-<0.05). In Multivariate analysis, Category II PTB treatment [AOR = 3.5 (1.6-7.8)] had significantly associated with bad outcome (p value-<0.05) after adjusted with age group, gender, Smoking and alcohol status Conclusion: Current Smoking and Category II PTB Treatment were the major factors affecting the TB treatment outcom

Coping the arsenic toxicity in rice plant with magnesium addendum for alluvial soil of indo-gangetic Bengal, India

Arsenic (As3+) is a toxic metalloid found in the earth’s crust, its elevated concentration is a concern for human health because rice is the staple grain in eastern part of India and the waterlogged rice field environment provides opportunity for more As3+ uptake. Magnesium (Mg2+) is an important plant nutrient. Present work is a search for reducing As3+ toxicity in plants through Mg2+ application. The findings are quite impressive, the root to shoot biomass ratio showed more than 1.5 times increase compared to the control. Total protein content increased 2 folds. Carbohydrate and chlorophyll content increased two to three times compared to control. On the other hand, Malondialdehyde content showed a decline with the application of increased Mg2+ dose. The in-silico study shows a better interaction with As3+ in presence of Mg2+ but interestingly without stress symptoms. These findings from the research indicate that Mg2+ application can be effective in reducing As3+ induced stress in plants

Polaronic Correlations in Magnetic Behavior of Oxygen Deficient V2O5

The undoped V2O5 sample is synthesized by thermal decomposition resulting in oxygen deficient polycrystalline nature. It has a crystallite size of about 80 nm and a chemical stoichiometry of V2O4.65 with a significant V4+ states in addition to V5+ as seen from X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy respectively. The optical studies reveal a bandgap of 2.2 eV and a significant emission due to defects (1.8 eV) as well as Moss-Burstein effect(3.1 eV) which arises due to gap states and split in conduction band respectively. The temperature dependant electrical conductivity and thermopower measurements clearly demonstrate a polaronic conduction mechanism of small polaron hopping with hopping energy of 0.112 eV. The V2O5 sample is found to show a strong field as well as temperature dependent magnetic behaviour when measured using sensitive SQUID magnetometer. It shows a positive magnetic susceptibility at all temperatures (5-300 K) at low field (0.1 T). The observed behavior is found to be a mix of ferromagnetism (FM) and antiferromagnetism (AFM, {\theta}=-2.1 K in CW fit). On the other hand, for high field (1 T), it showed FM only at low temperatures and abruptly becomes diamagnetic at 31.2 K. This varied magnetic behavior has been attributed to small polaron hopping which arises because of oxygen vacancy defects compensated by charge defects of V4+ and transition from bound to free polarons seen from transport. This is further revealed as strong hybridization of V bonded to oxygen vacancy VO and neighboring V5+ ions, resulting in net magnetic moment per vacancy (3.959 {\mu}_B) as predicted from first principle calculations. The insignificantly low energy difference between FM and AFM interactions observed from calculations and their critical dependence on oxygen vacancy concentrations justify the varied magnetic behaviour of V2O5 reported in the literatur

Socioepidemiologic Profile and Treatment-seeking Behaviour of HIV/AIDS Patients in a Tertiary-care Hospital in South India

India has the third largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS. Provision of free antiretroviral therapy (ART) for eligible persons living with HIV (PLHA) has been scaled up significantly both in terms of facilities for treatment and number of beneficiaries. This study aimed at describing the profile of HIV/AIDS patients on ART from a tertiary-care hospital and to explore the factors associated with treatment-seeking behaviour, family support, and perceptions regarding HIV and ART. This is a descriptive study conducted at the ART centre in a tertiary-care hospital in Puducherry. Study population consisted of 130 HIV-positive patients aged more than 18 years on free firstline ART for at least 6 months. Data on sociodemographic details, clinical details, treatment-seeking behaviour, family support, and perceptions regarding HIV and ART were collected using a pretested questionnaire. Data are presented as percentages. In total, 130 patients on ART for at least 6 months were included in the study\u201461% were males (n=79), 39% were females (n=51); half of them belonged to the age-group of 36-50 years. Half of the participants were diagnosed to have HIV/AIDS between 1 and 3 year(s); two-thirds had one or more co-infection(s). The majority were aware of the side-effects of ART. After advice to start ART, there was a delay in starting treatment in one-fifth of the subjects due to depression, fear of stigma, disclosure to family, and side-effects. More than two-thirds of the patients travelled more than 30 km distance. Families of HIV-positive subjects were supportive in accompanying to the ART centre, collecting drugs, reminders to take medication, and motivation to complete the treatment. Alcohol (50%) and tobacco consumption (39%) was common among the subjects. Half of the respondents stated stigma, death, and pain as the main fears, and all of them stated high levels of trust and rapport with their doctors. This study reveals several positive aspects among ART beneficiaries. However, issues, like tobacco and alcohol consumption, travelling long distance for drug collection, fear of stigma and death, and concerns regarding the future, need to be addressed

Estimation of the cardiovascular risk using World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) risk prediction charts in a rural population of South India

Background: World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) charts have been employed to predict the risk of cardiovascular outcome in heterogeneous settings. The aim of this research is to assess the prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk factors and to estimate the cardiovascular risk among adults aged >40 years, utilizing the risk charts alone, and by the addition of other parameters. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in two of the villages availing health services of a medical college. Overall 570 subjects completed the assessment. The desired information was obtained using a pre- tested questionnaire and participants were also subjected to anthropometric measurements and laboratory investigations. The WHO/ISH risk prediction charts for the South-East Asian region was used to assess the cardiovascular risk among the study participants. Results: The study covered 570 adults aged above 40 years. The mean age of the subjects was 54.2 (±11.1) years and 53.3% subjects were women. Seventeen percent of the participants had moderate to high risk for the occurrence of cardiovascular events by using WHO/ISH risk prediction charts. In addition, CVD risk factors like smoking, alcohol, low High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were found in 32%, 53%, 56.3%, and 61.5% study participants, respectively. Conclusion: Categorizing people as low (20%) risk is one of the crucial steps to mitigate the magnitude of cardiovascular fatal/non-fatal outcome. This cross-sectional study indicates that there is a high burden of CVD risk in the rural Pondicherry as assessed by WHO/ISH risk prediction charts. Use of WHO/ISH charts is easy and inexpensive screening tool in predicting the cardiovascular event

Contact tracing for COVID-19 in a healthcare institution: Our experience and lessons learned

During the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic contact tracing was used to control spread of the disease. It played a key role in health care institute which continued to work even during lockdown. In this piece of work, we share the lessons learnt from the contact tracing activity done in the health care institution during April to July 2020. The training needs of persons involved in contact tracing, the follow of activities, use of technology, methods to fill the missing gaps were the key lessons learnt. Its documentation supports in setting up contact tracing activity for any emerging infectious disease outbreaks in future

Dynamics of Hot QCD Matter -- Current Status and Developments

The discovery and characterization of hot and dense QCD matter, known as Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), remains the most international collaborative effort and synergy between theorists and experimentalists in modern nuclear physics to date. The experimentalists around the world not only collect an unprecedented amount of data in heavy-ion collisions, at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in New York, USA, and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland but also analyze these data to unravel the mystery of this new phase of matter that filled a few microseconds old universe, just after the Big Bang. In the meantime, advancements in theoretical works and computing capability extend our wisdom about the hot-dense QCD matter and its dynamics through mathematical equations. The exchange of ideas between experimentalists and theoreticians is crucial for the progress of our knowledge. The motivation of this first conference named "HOT QCD Matter 2022" is to bring the community together to have a discourse on this topic. In this article, there are 36 sections discussing various topics in the field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions and related phenomena that cover a snapshot of the current experimental observations and theoretical progress. This article begins with the theoretical overview of relativistic spin-hydrodynamics in the presence of the external magnetic field, followed by the Lattice QCD results on heavy quarks in QGP, and finally, it ends with an overview of experiment results.Comment: Compilation of the contributions (148 pages) as presented in the `Hot QCD Matter 2022 conference', held from May 12 to 14, 2022, jointly organized by IIT Goa & Goa University, Goa, Indi