Philanthropy and Equity: The Case of India

This paper explores the potential role for philanthropy to promote greater equity in India. It also aims to stimulate further discussion and debate about how philanthropic resources can best contribute to a more just and equitable India, and encourage others engaged in philanthropy elsewhere in the world to reflect on India's experience

Effectiveness of a novel mobile health (Peek) and education intervention on spectacle wear amongst children in India: Results from a randomized superiority trial in India.

BACKGROUND: Uncorrected refractive errors can be corrected by spectacles which improve visual functioning, academic performance and quality of life. However, spectacle wear can be low due to teasing/bullying, parental disapproval and no perceived benefit.Hypothesis: higher proportion of children with uncorrected refractive errors in the schools allocated to the intervention will wear their spectacles 3-4 months after they are dispensed. METHODS: A superiority, cluster-randomised controlled trial was undertaken in 50 government schools in Hyderabad, India using a superiority margin of 20%. Schools were the unit of randomization. Schools were randomized to intervention or a standard school programme. The same clinical procedures were followed in both arms and free spectacles were delivered to schools. Children 11-15 years with a presenting Snellen visual acuity of <6/9.5 in one or both eyes whose binocular acuity improved by ≥2 lines were recruited.In the intervention arm, classroom health education was delivered before vision screening using printed images which mimic the visual blur of uncorrected refractive error (PeekSim). Children requiring spectacles selected one image to give their parents who were also sent automated voice messages in the local language through Peek. The primary outcome was spectacle wear at 3-4 months, assessed by masked field workers at unannounced school visits. www.controlled-trials.com ISRCTN78134921 Registered on 29 June 2016. FINDINGS: 701 children were prescribed spectacles (intervention arm: 376, control arm: 325). 535/701 (80%) were assessed at 3-4 months: intervention arm: 291/352 (82.7%); standard arm: 244/314 (77.7%). Spectacle wear was 156/291 (53.6%) in the intervention arm and 129/244 (52.9%) in the standard arm, a difference of 0.7% (95% confidence interval (CI), -0.08, 0.09). amongst the 291 (78%) parents contacted, only 13.9% had received the child delivered PeekSim image, 70.3% received the voice messages and 97.2% understood them. INTERPRETATION: Spectacle wear was similar in both arms of the trial, one explanation being that health education for parents was not fully received. Health education messages to create behaviour change need to be targeted at the recipient and influencers in an appropriate, acceptable and accessible medium. FUNDING: USAID (Childhood Blindness Programme), Seeing is Believing Innovation Fund and the Vision Impact Institute

Association between age at disease onset of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis and clinical presentation and short-term outcomes

Objectives: ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) can affect all age groups. We aimed to show that differences in disease presentation and 6 month outcome between younger- A nd older-onset patients are still incompletely understood. Methods: We included patients enrolled in the Diagnostic and Classification Criteria for Primary Systemic Vasculitis (DCVAS) study between October 2010 and January 2017 with a diagnosis of AAV. We divided the population according to age at diagnosis: &lt;65 years or ≥65 years. We adjusted associations for the type of AAV and the type of ANCA (anti-MPO, anti-PR3 or negative). Results: A total of 1338 patients with AAV were included: 66% had disease onset at &lt;65 years of age [female 50%; mean age 48.4 years (s.d. 12.6)] and 34% had disease onset at ≥65 years [female 54%; mean age 73.6 years (s.d. 6)]. ANCA (MPO) positivity was more frequent in the older group (48% vs 27%; P = 0.001). Younger patients had higher rates of musculoskeletal, cutaneous and ENT manifestations compared with older patients. Systemic, neurologic,cardiovascular involvement and worsening renal function were more frequent in the older-onset group. Damage accrual, measured with the Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI), was significantly higher in older patients, 12% of whom had a 6 month VDI ≥5, compared with 7% of younger patients (P = 0.01). Older age was an independent risk factor for early death within 6 months from diagnosis [hazard ratio 2.06 (95% CI 1.07, 3.97); P = 0.03]. Conclusion: Within 6 months of diagnosis of AAV, patients &gt;65 years of age display a different pattern of organ involvement and an increased risk of significant damage and mortality compared with younger patients

Decentralized Resource Management in a Spread Spectrum Network for Automated Highway Systems

Intelligent vehicle highway systems (IVHS) require various types of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-toroadside communication. This work shall focus on using minimum energy transmissions and routing as a decentralized, asynchronous solution for vehicle-to-vehicle communication to maximize capacity and minimize delay in the network. 2 Introduction The deployment of intelligent vehicle highway systems (IVHS) will rely on varying levels of communication from vehicles to other vehicles and to the roadside. When vehicles are fairly independent, their communication might be limited to periodic route guidance and advisory information from the roadside. At the other extreme, in a tightly controlled environment, such as an automated highway system (AHS), they will require frequent communication with neighboring vehicles and the roadside for safe operation. These varying IVHS schemes place vastly different requirements on the wireless network. One application with very stringent vehicle-to-vehicl..

Development of Polymer Cement Composites

Research in the field of polymer modified cement has been carried out for the last 70 years or more. Polymers are mostly used to enhance durability and sustainability of cement concrete and in combination with classical construction materials a synergistic effect is obtained. In this work different polymers were added to Portland cement in various proportions and the mechanical and chemical resistance properties of the resultant composites when exposed to chemical environments were studied. Microstructural studies were also carried out to investigate the morphology of the composite and analyse the nature of interactions taking place between the cement and polymer phases. Though most polymers did not improve the compressive strength of the cement paste, it was found that they enhanced the resistance of the virgin cement paste to external chemical environments. The polymers seal the pores in the cement matrix and bridge the microcracks within the composite. Some of the polymers underwent chemical interactions with the cement paste thereby interfering in the hydration of cement. Polymers also decreased the leachability of water soluble components of virgin cement resulting in composites having improved durability. An attempt to correlate the structure of the polymers with the properties of the resultant composites is also presented.Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology, Cochin University of Science and Technolog

Design, Verification and Failure Diagnosis of Wireless Communication Protocols for the AHS

The paper presents protocols for a design concerned with interplatoon and intraplatoon communications in an Automated Highway System (AHS) framework. The protocols model vehicle maneuvers in the form of communications, coordination and regulation environmental processes. An automatic verification tool, COSPAN, was used to verify the logical correctness of the discrete event system model as well as safety and liveness properties. The overall design is hybrid incorporating both discrete and continuous dynamics. The vehicles use a LAN for interplatoon communications and a WAN for intraplatoon communications. Consequently each vehicle is equipped with two RF radio modems. The automated vehicle operating on an AHS can develop various communication faults. The paper provides two examples illustrating a model-based failure diagnosis method which can be used for communication fault diagnosis

Pentraxins and immunity

Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) is a multifactorial protein involved in immunity and inflammation, which is rapidly produced and released by several cell types in response to inflammatory signals. It may be suggested that PTX3 is related to periodontal tissue inflammation. Its salivary concentrations may have a diagnostic potential. Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) is an ancient family of multifactorial proteins involved in immunity and inflammation. They are rapidly produced and released by various types of cells when there are indications of inflammation. PTX3 is related to inflammation in the periodontal tissue and it can be suggested that salivary concentrations may be used for diagnosing the same

Parental and family influences on dental treatment need among school children from north Bengaluru: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Very few studies have documented the relative significant factors that assess the parents and their family status that can have some impact towards dental treatment needs. Aim: To assess the burden of dental caries among children aged 8-14 years in relation to parental influence and family characteristics from North Bengaluru. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological survey was carried out on 1216 school children aged 8 years to 14 years. Children were examined in schools and data comprised information about dental caries status. Structured questionnaires were given to parents to collect information regarding their socioenvironmental and family characteristics. Student′s t-test on metric parameters and Chi-square/Fisher for study parameters between two or more groups were used. Results: In families where the average monthly income <6000/-, decayed, missing, and filled teeth was proportionately lower in comparison to decayed, missing, and filled surfaces which were higher. Conclusions: The socioeconomic status, which is primarily influenced by parental factors and family structure, have a definite role in dental needs of children from underprivileged background. Dental health program should aim to reduce the gross inequalities in the oral health status of these children and their families

Hearing Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease Is Associated with Altered Serum Lipidomic Biomarker Profiles

Recent data have found that aging-related hearing loss (ARHL) is associated with the development of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). However, the nature of the relationship between these two disorders is not clear. There are multiple potential factors that link ARHL and AD, and previous investigators have speculated that shared metabolic dysregulation may underlie the propensity to develop both disorders. Here, we investigate the distribution of serum lipidomic biomarkers in AD subjects with or without hearing loss in a publicly available dataset. Serum levels of 349 known lipids from 16 lipid classes were measured in 185 AD patients. Using previously defined co-regulated sets of lipids, both age- and sex-adjusted, we found that lipid sets enriched in phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine showed a strong inverse association with hearing loss. Examination of biochemical classes confirmed these relationships and revealed that serum phosphatidylcholine levels were significantly lower in AD subjects with hearing loss. A similar relationship was not found in normal subjects. These data suggest that a synergistic relationship may exist between AD, hearing loss and metabolic biomarkers, such that in the context of a pathological state such as AD, alterations in serum metabolic profiles are associated with hearing loss. These data also point to a potential role for phosphatidylcholine, a molecule with antioxidant properties, in the underlying pathophysiology of ARHL in the context of AD, which has implications for our understanding and potential treatment of both disorders

The effect of three desensitizing agents on dentin hypersensitivity: A randomized, split-mouth clinical trial

Objectives: This randomized clinical trial tested the effect of three different desensitizing agents on reduction of pain due to hypersensitive cervical dentin lesions. Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight individuals with 84 teeth diagnosed with cervical dentin hypersensitivity (DH) in at least one tooth in any three of the four quadrants were selected. Patients exhibiting pain scores of two or more on the visual analog scale (VAS) were included in the study. Each quadrant in an individual was randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups based on computer-generated random number. The desensitizing agents used were Profluorid Varnish (Voco: Cuxhaven Germany), Admira Protect (Voco: Cuxhaven Germany), and PRG-Barrier Coat (Shofu: japan). One operator recorded the baseline sensitivity scores after evaporative and tactile stimuli by visual analog score system. The second operator who was not aware of the baseline values applied the desensitizing agents and recorded the sensitivity scores. VAS scores for both the stimuli were noted immediately after application, 1 week, and after 1 month. The data were analyzed using repeated measure ANOVA and post hoc Tukey's multiple comparison tests (P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant). Results: There was a significant reduction in VAS scores from baseline in all the three groups at all the time intervals (P < 0.001). Admira Protect showed significant reduction of hypersensitivity scores at 1 month compared to other groups (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Admira Protect was proved to be better in reducing pain due to DH than PRG-Barrier Coat and Profluorid Varnish after 1 month of application