Ethnic differentials of the impact of Family Planning Program on contraceptive use in Nepal

There is wide variation of family planning services use among ethnic groups in Nepal. Despite three decades of implementation the need for family planning services is substantially unmet (25%), and there have been no systematic studies evaluating the impact of the family planning program. This study pooled data from nationally representative surveys conducted in 1996, 2001, and 2006. Multilevel logistic regression analysis of 23,381 married women of reproductive age nested within 764 clusters indicated that Muslims, Janjatis, and Dalits were significantly less likely to use contraceptives than Brahmins and Chhetries (OR=0.27, 0.88 and 0.82 respectively). The odds of using contraceptives by the Newar were higher than the odds for Brahmins and Chhetries, although it was not significant. Exposure of women to family planning messages through health facilities, family planning workers, radio, and television increased the odds of using modern contraceptives. However, the impact of family planning information on contraceptive use varied according to ethnicity. We also found that modern contraceptive use varied significantly across the clusters, and the cluster-level indicators, such as mean age at marriage, mean household asset score, percentage of women with secondary education, and percentage of women working away from home, were important in explaining this.ethnic differentials, family planning, family planning programs, Nepal

Privacy-Preserving Secret Shared Computations using MapReduce

Data outsourcing allows data owners to keep their data at \emph{untrusted} clouds that do not ensure the privacy of data and/or computations. One useful framework for fault-tolerant data processing in a distributed fashion is MapReduce, which was developed for \emph{trusted} private clouds. This paper presents algorithms for data outsourcing based on Shamir's secret-sharing scheme and for executing privacy-preserving SQL queries such as count, selection including range selection, projection, and join while using MapReduce as an underlying programming model. Our proposed algorithms prevent an adversary from knowing the database or the query while also preventing output-size and access-pattern attacks. Interestingly, our algorithms do not involve the database owner, which only creates and distributes secret-shares once, in answering any query, and hence, the database owner also cannot learn the query. Logically and experimentally, we evaluate the efficiency of the algorithms on the following parameters: (\textit{i}) the number of communication rounds (between a user and a server), (\textit{ii}) the total amount of bit flow (between a user and a server), and (\textit{iii}) the computational load at the user and the server.\BComment: IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, Accepted 01 Aug. 201

Catalytic Philanthropy In India

Catalytic Philanthropy is still in its infancy in India. Despite this, there are a surprising number of exemplary cases where Indian philanthropists are creating large-scale social change far beyond the resources invested. This report highlights these practices as well as the key issues that need to be addressed to accelerate its evolution

Production Optimization in Single Line Process by Simulation of Transfer Lines

Plant Simulation software permits the simulation and optimisation of production systems and processes. using Plant Simulation, you'll optimize material flow, resource utilization and supplying for all levels of plant designing from global production facilities, through native plants, to specific lines. Plant Simulation analysis tools allow simple interpretation of simulation results. statistical analysis, graphs and charts show the use of buffers, machines and personnel. you'll generate in depth statistics and charts to support dynamic analysis of performance parameters as well as line employment, breakdowns, idle and repair time and proprietary key performance factors. To optimize the performance of existing production systems by taking measures that are verified in a very simulation environment before implementation. The parameters of every method that affects the productivity and that is taken into account as focus of productivity improvement. Keywords- SIM, PLM, Transfer Line, Productio

Development, standardization of polyherbal formulation of analgesic ointment of plant Carum copticum, Mentha piperita, Cedrus deodara

Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest systems of medicine. It originated in India and has evolved there over thousands of years. The term “Ayurveda” combines then Sanskrit words ayur (life) andVeda (science or knowledge). Ayurveda means “the science of life. Medicinal plants and herbal drugs have played a key role in world health. According to world health organization (WHO), about 80% of the world population currently utilizes the herbal drugs. People are using herbal medicines from centuries for safety, efficacy, cultural acceptability, non-toxic, lesser side effects and easily available at affordable prices. In recent times, there has been a move in universal trend from synthetic to herbal medicine due to side effects of synthetic products. Herbal products may contain a single herb or combinations of several different herbs believed to have complementary and /synergistic effects. Some herbal products, including many traditional medicine formulations, also include animal products and minerals. Herbal products are sold as either raw plants or extracts of portions of the plant or in the form formulation i.e. tablet, capsule, syrup, cream and ointment etc. The different parts of plants with analgesic were taken up for the present study and investigated for the phytochemical screening and used for the formulation of analgesic ointment. Present study deals with formulation, Standardization, evaluation of ointment made from alcoholic extract and essential oil of different plants

Role of C- reactive proteins in cerebro-spinal fluid in differentiating pyogenic from nonpyogenic meningitis

Background:In developing countries like India meningitis is major cause of morbidity and mortility because of delay in proper diagnosis and consequently delay in proper treatment.  For the appropriate treatment of meningitis, differentiation of various types of meningitis is essential. The diagnosis of meningitis in a govt. hospitals is usually made by examination of CSF, Gram staining, AFB, CSF culture and associated clinical findings. All these laboratory techniques have their limitations. So we need a diagnostic test which is rapid, reliable and cost effective. In the present study we used CRP levels in CSF sample to differentiate pyogenic from non-pyogenic meningitis and to establish a cut off level for CRP.Methods: The study is a hospital based prospective study carried out in the setting of department of pathology, microbiology, casuality and various wards of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Medical College Jabalpur (M.P) India during November 2014 to October 2015. During study period we took samples (Blood and CSF) from 138 cases of suspected meningitis.Results: Value of CRP was 32.50645±2.032886 in PM cases, 1.543373±0.195181 in TBM cases and VM cases value were 2.420833±0.357502. Statistically significantly higher value was observed with pyogenic meningitis cases compared to TBM and VM cases. (p<0.001).  At 10 U/L cut off value, sensitivity and specificity of CSF- CRP was 93.5% and 94.4% respectively.Conclusions: On the basis of present study we concluded that CRP can be used as a rapid confirmatory test since elevated CRP are highly suggestive of pyogenic meningitis.