Geriatric social security and welfare services in Gwalior, India: a cross sectional study of awareness, utilization, concerns and solutions

Background: Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years will nearly double from 12% to 22%. In 2050, 80% of older people will be living in low and middle income countries. All countries face major challenges to ensure that their health and social systems are ready to make the most of this demographic shift.Methods: The present Study was a cross-sectional study done for 1 year in 2016 in which 600 households were selected by simple random sampling in Gwalior city in which the knowledge and awareness of various Government health scheme and policies and their day to day utilization in their life were assessed. A predesigned and pretested interview based structured questionnaire was used for data collection. They were analysed and interpreted by appropriate software and various statistical tests were applied.Results: The maximum no. of participants 112 (54.9%) knew about railways/road transport/air travel concessions provided to Senior citizens, 23.04% knew about telephone and postal services, 13.24% were aware of tax exemptions while 9.8% knew about banking and insurance schemes regarding elderly. Males were generally more aware than females. The maximum utilization (59.82%) was found in railways/road transport/air travel concessions while minimum utilization (25.00%) was in Indira Gandhi National old age pension scheme.Conclusions: The system for comprehensive geriatric care to the community was well in place with regular development and growth but there is dearth of awareness and utilization of these services

The type 1 diabetes gene TYK2 regulates beta-cell development and its responses to interferon-alpha

The TYK2 gene is associated with development of type 1 diabetes. Here the authors show that TYK2 regulates beta-cell development, but at the same time TYK2 inhibition in the islets prevents IFN alpha responses and enhances their survival against CD8(+) T-cell cytotoxicity; representing a potent therapeutic target to halt T1D progression. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease that results in the destruction of insulin producing pancreatic beta-cells. One of the genes associated with T1D is TYK2, which encodes a Janus kinase with critical roles in type-Iota interferon (IFN-Iota) mediated intracellular signalling. To study the role of TYK2 in beta-cell development and response to IFN alpha, we generated TYK2 knockout human iPSCs and directed them into the pancreatic endocrine lineage. Here we show that loss of TYK2 compromises the emergence of endocrine precursors by regulating KRAS expression, while mature stem cell-islets (SC-islets) function is not affected. In the SC-islets, the loss or inhibition of TYK2 prevents IFN alpha-induced antigen processing and presentation, including MHC Class Iota and Class Iota Iota expression, enhancing their survival against CD8(+) T-cell cytotoxicity. These results identify an unsuspected role for TYK2 in beta-cell development and support TYK2 inhibition in adult beta-cells as a potent therapeutic target to halt T1D progression.Peer reviewe

Profile of patients attending Anti Rabies Clinic at Madhav Dispensary, JA Group of Hospitals, Gwalior

Background: Rabies in humans is 100% preventable through prompt appropriate medical care. 20,000 people are estimated to die every year from rabies in India primarily because of stray dogs. Rabies continues to be a public health problem in India as there is no organised system of surveillance of rabies cases and there is hence a lack of reliable data. The aim of present study was to assess the profile of patients attending anti rabies clinic so as to make some contribution in data generation. Methodology: It was a cross sectional study conducted for the duration of six months in Anti-rabies clinic of Madhav Dispensary at J.A. group of hospitals Gwalior. All newly registered patients who consented to participate were included in the study. The sample size calculated was 1200 and the tool for collecting information was a semi structured questionnaire. Results: 73.91% cases had class II bite while 20.33% cases had class III bite while only 05.76% cases had class I bite. 65.17% bites were unprovoked while 34.13% bites were provoked. Dog bite was seen in 1033 cases while monkey bite was seen in 10.42% cases. Conclusion: The findings of present study clearly indicate that most of the animal bite cases require proper medical advice and adequate treatment. Health education to stimulate awareness and proper vaccination of pets can help in reducing the morbidity and mortality due to animal bites

Effect of Zr/Ti ratio on structural, vibrational, magnetic and dielectric properties of (0.95)PbZrxTi1-xO3-(0.05)BiFeO3 ceramics

We have investigated the structural, vibrational, ferroelectric, magnetic and dielectric properties of (0.95)PbZrxTi1-xO3-(0.05)BiFeO3 (x = 0.51, 0.53 and 0.55) ceramics, prepared by the sol-gel route. Rietveld refined X-ray powder diffraction patterns of these samples confirm the single phase formation with a tetragonal structure (P4mm) symmetry at room temperature. The Williamson-Hall analysis was used to study the contributions of crystallite size and lattice strain on the peak broadening in the different patterns. Reduction in c/a ratio with x indicates poor ferroelectric behaviour for x = 0.55. Infrared spectroscopy revealed the slight shift of phonon modes towards the lower wave number side and increase in the bond length with increasing x which is in good agreement with the Rietveld analysis. Room temperature dielectric measurements of these samples show dispersion in epsilon(r) which is associated with a peak in tan delta versus logf plots. M-H hysteresis loops exhibit weak ferromagnetism for x = 0.51 and almost anti-ferromagnetic behaviour for x = 0.55

Comparative studies of pure BiFeO3 prepared by sol-gel versus conventional solid-state-reaction method

In this article, we studied the effect of synthesis route on the multifunctional properties of multiferroic BiFeO3. BiFeO3 powders were prepared by conventional solid-state-reaction and sol-gel route. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns for these samples were collected at different stages of synthesis to analyze the phase purity of the formation. The XRD patterns reveal that sample prepared by sol-gel route attains the low temperature phase formation as compared to the solid state route. Rietveld refinement has been performed for these samples and lattice parameters, cell volume bond length etc. have been calculated from XRD patterns. Phonon modes were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements and bond length calculated from XRD shows the good agreement with the bond length calculated from IR spectra. UV-visible spectra showed that BFO nanoparticles exhibit absorption peak at wavelength similar to 521 nm and band gap is more for the sample prepared by sol-gel route than solid state. The room temperature (RT) magnetic hysteresis (M-H) curve shows the large value magnetization in the sample prepared by sol-gel route in comparison to the sample prepared by solid state route. Similar behaviour is seen in the P-E hysteresis curve. Room temperature dielectric properties of these samples revealed that there is dispersion in the low frequency range that shows normal dielectric characteristic

A Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) program in three districts of Madhya Pradesh (India)

Introduction: Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is the world's second leading cause of long-term disability. According to the World Health Organization, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Bangladesh alone contribute about 70% of the infection worldwide. Mass drug administration of one annual dose of diethylcarbamazine citrate and albendazole is currently advocated by WHO for control of lymphatic filariasis. The state of Madhya Pradesh (MP), India adopted MDA for elimination of LF in 2004. The aim of this study was to assess the effective coverage of MDA and to determine the causes of coverage compliance gap. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional survey in which both quantitative and qualitative data was collected from the study clusters by house-to-house surveys. Multistage random sampling method was used to select the clusters. 30 household were covered in each cluster, covering 4 clusters per district; so in each district 120 households were surveyed. Results: The present study was conducted in three filariasis endemic districts of Madhya Pradesh. The study covered a target population of 1863 from twelve clusters of which 94.09% (1753) were eligible for drug consumption. The overall drug distribution rate (coverage) was 84.59% and the coverage compliance gap was 16.82%. Overall drug ingestion compliance was 80.10%. The overall effective coverage was 67.77% (Z Score=3.6338, p=0.00014). The drug distribution rate (coverage) was much better in urban areas (92.55%) as compared to rural areas (82.45%) and therefore the effective coverage was much better in urban areas (75.53%) as against 65.65% in the rural areas. The most important reason of noncompliance was lack of awareness about the disease (47.45%). Understaffing was also reported in all the districts and impact assessment data was not collected in any of the three districts. Conclusion: There is need of intensive health education campaigns to increase the level of scientific information about the disease. The coverage activities should be prioritized equally with Behavior Change Communication (BCC) activities. The timings of drug distribution should be properly thought out

Co-existence of tetragonal and monoclinic phases and multiferroic properties for x <= 0.30 in the (1-x)Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3-(x)BiFeO3 system

Compositions with x <= 0.30 in the system (1- x)Pb(Zro(0.52)Ti(0.48))O-3-(x)BiFeO3 were synthesized by sol-gel method. Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction data reveals tetragonal structure (P4mm) for x <= 0.05 and monoclinic (Cm) phase along with the existence of tetragonal phase for 0.10 <= x <= 0.25 and monoclinic phase for x = 0.30. Transformation of E(2TO) and E + B1 vibrational modes in the range 210-250 cm(-1) (present for x <= 0.25) into A' + A `' modes at similar to 236 cm(-1) for x = 0.30, and occurrence of new vibrational modes A' and A `' in Raman spectra for x >= 0.10 unambiguously support the presence of monoclinic phase. Occurrence of remnant polarisation and enhanced magnetization with concentration of BiFeO3 indicates superior multiferroic properties. Variation of magneto-capacitance with applied magnetic field is a strong evidence of magneto-electric multiferroic coupling in these materials. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Structural transition, magnetic and optical properties of Pr and Ti co-doped BiFeO3 ceramics

Bi1-xPrxFe1-xTixO3 ceramics with x=0.00, 010 and 0.20 were synthesized by a solid state reaction method. Rietveld fitting of the diffraction data reveals structural transition from rhombohedral phase (R3c) for x <= 0.10 to orthorhombic phase (Pnma) for x=0.20. Room temperature M-H hysteresis measurements reveal that magnetization increases due to the structural distortion and partial destruction of spin cycloid caused by co-doping in BiFeO3 ceramics. FT-IR spectra exhibit broad absorption bands, which may be due to the overlapping of Fe-O and Bi-O vibrations in FeO6 octahedra of these ceramics. UV-visible spectroscopy results show strong absorption of light in the spectral range of 480-640 nm, indicating optical band gap in the visible region for these samples

Co-existence of tetragonal and monoclinic phases and multiferroic properties for x <= 0.30 in the (1-x)Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3-(x)BiFeO3 system

Compositions with x = 0.10 unambiguously support the presence of monoclinic phase. Occurrence of remnant polarisation and enhanced magnetization with concentration of BiFeO3 indicates superior multiferroic properties. Variation of magneto-capacitance with applied magnetic field is a strong evidence of magneto-electric multiferroic coupling in these materials