India, Japan, and the Indo-Pacific : breaking out of the middle power status

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/Nidhi Prasad, Researcher at Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan, explains that “India and Japan refuse to be caught in binary choices and are gradually creating room within which other Asian countries can maneuver.

Assessment of online teaching as teaching learning method among the university students in the COVID pandemic

Background: The urgent need to educate during COVID times has led to stresses and needs for reimagining the education system, and now the system is evolving and has led to organising and designing in the current scenario to reap the benefits. Method: A total of 600 electronic students in Bihar, India participated in the study conducted to assess the barrier and facilitator of online learning. Participants in the study were post-secondary students graduating in electronics stream. Access to the online platform was through mobile and mobile data was used for connecting to online platform like google classroom. Majority of them (42%) preferred traditional teaching and complained of health issues, eye strain and loss of concentration. Results: The study showed most commonly used gadget for online teaching was mobile (98.8%) and google meet was the most common connecting platform (66.8%). The most common challenge faced was network issue (68.3%). Average screen time spent was 4.5 hours, that leads to eye strain and mental fatigueness as most common symptom reported. Conclusions: The reflection on how teaching learning process evolved during pandemic and incorporating ideas to deal with challenges help us build education system that is resilient and help us embrace an evolving teaching learning format now and in future

Mucormycosis of oral cavity: a descriptive case report from a tertiary care hospital

We presented an interesting case report of mucormycosis (Rhizopus Oryzae) in a recovered COVID-19 patient, its diagnosis and identification. The patient in past visited our institute with symptoms of COVID-19, she was a known case of tuberculosis and was taking ATT and diabetic (DM-2) patient. She was diagnosed COVID positive and successfully treated at our institution and discharged after recovering from the complications. After approximately two months of getting discharged from the hospital she again visited the post COVID clinic with symptoms of fever and numbness around face and on routine examination a blackish tissue like growth seen involving the hard palate and post nasal area. Mucormycosis (phycomycosis, zygomycosis) is an acute opportunistic infection generally develops secondary to debilitating diseases. But increased incidence was noticed in COVID-19 affected individuals. In head, neck and oral cavity the mold usually gains entry through respiratory route involving maxillary sinuses and oral cavity. The fungus causes great damage to the anatomical structures leading its necrosis. Hence an early diagnosis and surgical interventions is must for a good prognosis, decreasing morbidity and mortality. Extensive Research needs to be carried out in COVID patient specially treatment to prevent and reduce the cases of opportunistic infection in order to reduce its incidence and morbidity/mortality

Post prandial glucose can be a substitute for HbA1c in low resource setting: answering the diagnostic dilemma

Achieving a strict glycaemic control is the key factor in diabetes management and associated complications. Although A1C is the best indicator of overall glycaemic control during the previous 2-3 months and remains the gold standard for assessing glycaemic control in patients with diabetes. But in low resource setting areas where HbA1c is a costlier affair, postprandial plasma glucose estimation can be a good alternative in estimating glycaemic control. By analyzing the results from many previous papers on glycaemic profiles, we conclude that contribution of postprandial plasma glucose was relatively high in patients with fairly good control of diabetes (HbA1c 10.2%). Whereas the contribution of fasting plasma glucose showed a consistent contribution with increasing levels of HbA1c. So, we can understand that post-meal glycemia was a better predictor of good or satisfactory control of diabetes (HbA1c <7.5%) than was fasting glucose. Postprandial plasma glucose is the prominent contributor in patients with satisfactory to good control of diabetes, whereas the contribution of fasting plasma glucose increases with worsening diabetes. Hence, PPG is better in predicting overall glycaemic control in the absence of HbA1c

Sero-prevalence of unvaccinated adolescent girls susceptible to rubella virus infection seen in a tertiary care hospital of Patna, Bihar, India

Background: Rubella infection occurring during early pregnancy results in congenital rubella syndrome (CRS).  WHO estimates that worldwide more than 100,000 children are born with CRS each year and most of them are in the developing countries. For assessing population immunity against rubella, sero-surveys are generally recommended among adolescent girls and reproductive age female. In India, sero-surveys conducted by different authors have indicated that about 10-30% of adolescent females are susceptible to rubella infection. Adolescent girls are selected because they are at a critical stage of child bearing age and their immunity against Rubella infection is the particular area of interest. objective of this study was to estimate the sero-prevalence of unvaccinated adolescent girls susceptible to Rubella virus infection attending a tertiary care hospital of Patna and then accordingly counsel for vaccination.Methods: A total 150 adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years who had not received MMR vaccine were included in the study. Serum IgG antibody titer for rubella was estimated by the ELISA method.Results: A total 65.33% of the adolescent girls were found to be rubella seropositive and (34.67%) were seronegative. The urban adolescent girls had a higher seropositivity of 85.2% as compared to rural adolescent girls.Conclusions: The study indicates that a substantial number of adolescents (34.67%) are seronegative and hence susceptible to rubella infection

Exploring the key behavioural, functional and strategic competencies in Indian management education

Purpose: The study’s primary purpose is to identify the critical sustainable competencies and their importance in Indian management education perceived by the stakeholders. Research Methodology: The study adopted an explanatory research design and a standardised questionnaire to gather data from stakeholder groups. Results: The results suggest that the competency clusters considered necessary by the main stakeholder groups are behavioural, functional and strategic. Limitations: Broader perspective with more samples at various locations will add more value to the idea. Contribution: This paper aims to support both business and academia by recommending a positive collaborative process and building a workforce ready for work

Clinical profile of recurrent headache in rural children of Rajasthan: A cross-sectional study

Context: Recurrent headache is a commonly encountered clinical entity in rural children. Aims: This study aims to record the clinical profile of recurrent headache in rural children of Rajasthan. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional, observational study in a pediatric outpatient department of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Methods and Materials: A total of 164 children of either sex, between 5 and 17 years of age, presenting with complaints of a recurrent headache were included in the study. All relevant clinical details collected from patients and their relatives were recorded in a structured pro forma. A detailed examination was performed to rule out underlying problems associated with a headache. Headache subtypes were classified according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition beta, 2013. Pediatric migraine disability assessment test score and Faces pain rating scale were utilized to assess the disability and severity, respectively. Statistical analysis involved summarizing the continuous variables as mean and standard deviation while nominal/categorical variables were expressed as percentages. Results: The mean age was 11.5 years and the M:F ratio was 1:1.1. Adolescents in 13–17 years age group constituted 61.5% (n=101) of the study sample with 58.4% (n=59) female subjects. Primary headaches - tension-type headache (n=77, 46.9%), migraine (n=43, 26.2%), and new daily persistent headache (n=5, 3%) were observed in 125 (76.1%) cases. Common causes of secondary headache were somatization disorder (n=27, 16.5%), ophthalmic problems (n=7, 4.3%), medication overuse (n=3, 1.9%), intracranial tumor (n=1, 0.6), and postictal (n=1, 0.6). Conclusions: Recurrent headache in rural children has distinct etiological profile which mandates a meticulous evaluation for initiating appropriate management

Overview of Network Slicing: Business and Standards Perspective for Beyond 5G Networks

The deployment of fifth-generation wireless communications (5G) networks brought a significant difference in the data rate and throughput to the wireless systems. It ensures ultra-low latency and high reliability. In particular, Network Slicing (NS), one of the enablers for the 5G phase-II and beyond, has opened enormous opportunities for the Communications Service Provider (CSPs). NS allows CSPs to create independent virtual networks in the same physical network to guarantee high service levels. This paper provides an overview of the advances in NS from the perspective of the business opportunities and associated standardization activities. Standardization is critical in research as it intends to maintain interoperability among multi-vendor scenarios in telcos. We emphasize highlighting the technical facets of slicing within the business implementation and industry standardization process. Additionally, we address the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to NS-enabled future networks deployments. A set of use cases and the underlying specific requirements challenges are discussed as well. Finally, future research directions are addressed in detail.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

A case report of primary intraabdominal rhabdomyosarcoma presenting as metastasis

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a rare and in adult accounts for only 1-3% of all malignant soft tissue tumors. The most frequent sites of origin is within head and neck area. One of the least common sites is the retrorectal-presacral space. This case of 61 years old female is probably the fifth well-documented case of primary abdominopelvic RMS. She presented with abdominal distensions, obstipation, vomiting for 5 days. Excision of the gut wall along with soft tissue mass was done and sent to our department for histopathological examination. On microscopic examination, a diagnosis of malignant mesenchymal tumor with closest resemblance to RMS was made. It is a rare case and needs to bring in notice as there is very few information regarding intraabdominal RMS. This case initially thought to be metastasis from gynecologic malignancy.  It is important for pathologists, gynecologists and radiologists to recognize RMS as differential diagnosis of masses arising in abdomen and pelvis

Trends in Standardization Towards 6G

Mobile networks have always been an indispensable part of a fully connected digital society. The industry and academia have joined hands to develop technologies for the anticipated future wireless communication. The predicted Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and use cases for the 6G networks have raised the bar high. 6G networks are developing to provide the required infrastructure for many new devices and services. The 6G networks are conceptualized to partially inherit 5G technologies and standards but they will open the ground for innovations. This study provides the vision and requirements for beyond 5G (B5G) networks and emphasizes our vision on the required standards to reach a fully functional and interoperable 6G era in general. We highlight various KPIs and enabling technologies for the B5G networks. In addition, standardization activities and initiatives concerning challenges in the se of spectrum are diuscussed in detail.This work was supported by FCT/MCTES through national funds and when applicable cofounded EU funds under the project UIDB/50008/2020, ORCIP (22141-01/SAICT/2016) and TeamUp5G. TeamUp5G has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie ETN TeamUp5G, grant agreement No. 813391.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio