Why do British Indian children have an apparent mental health advantage?

BACKGROUND: Previous studies document a mental health advantage in British Indian children, particularly for externalising problems. The causes of this advantage are unknown. METHODS: Subjects were 13,836 White children and 361 Indian children aged 5-16 years from the English subsample of the British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Surveys. The primary mental health outcome was the parent Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Mental health was also assessed using the teacher and child SDQs; diagnostic interviews with parents, teachers and children; and multi-informant clinician-rated diagnoses. Multiple child, family, school and area factors were examined as possible mediators or confounders in explaining observed ethnic differences. RESULTS: Indian children had a large advantage for externalising problems and disorders, and little or no difference for internalising problems and disorders. This was observed across all mental health outcomes, including teacher-reported and diagnostic interview measures. Detailed psychometric analyses provided no suggestion of information bias. The Indian advantage for externalising problems was partly mediated by Indian children being more likely to live in two-parent families and less likely to have academic difficulties. Yet after adjusting for these and all other covariates, the unexplained Indian advantage only reduced by about a quarter (from 1.08 to .71 parent SDQ points) and remained highly significant (p < .001). This Indian advantage was largely confined to families of low socio-economic position. CONCLUSION: The Indian mental health advantage is real and is specific to externalising problems. Family type and academic abilities mediate part of the advantage, but most is not explained by major risk factors. Likewise unexplained is the absence in Indian children of a socio-economic gradient in mental health. Further investigation of the Indian advantage may yield insights into novel ways to promote child mental health and child mental health equity in all ethnic groups

Pseudo-prototyping of aerospace mechanical dynamic systems with a generalized computer program

The ADAMS computer program for automated analysis of mechanisms and machines is described. The program automatically formulates mathematical models for prototype or existing mechanisms with the minimum necessary physical and geometric data. The model can then be analyzed in various modes of analysis. The outputs (displacements, velocities, acceleration and forces) can be produced in tabular and graphical (plots, wire frame graphics) form. The application of this computer program to simulating satellite docking maneuvers is illustrated

Repeat-Accumulate Codes for Reconciliation in Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution

This paper investigates the design of low-complexity error correction codes for the verification step in continuous variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) systems. We design new coding schemes based on quasi-cyclic repeat-accumulate codes which demonstrate good performances for CVQKD reconciliation

Collapse of Double-Walled Carbon Nanotube Bundles under Hydrostatic Pressure

We use classical molecular dynamics simulations to study the collapse of single (SWNT) and double-walled (DWNT) carbon nanotube bundles under hydrostatic pressure. The collapse pressure (pc) varies as 1/R^3, where R is the SWNT radius or the DWNT effective radius. The bundles show ~ 30% hysteresis and the hexagonally close packed lattice is completely restored on decompression. The pc of DWNT is found to be close to the sum of its values for the inner and the outer tubes considered separately as SWNT, demonstrating that the inner tube supports the outer tube and that the effective bending stiffness of DWNT, D(DWNT) ~ 2D(SWNT) . We use an elastica formulation to derive the scaling and the collapse behavior of DWNT and multi-walled carbon nanotubes.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in Physical Review B. After publication, it will be available at http://prb.aps.org

Spin-String Interaction in QCD Strings

I consider the question of the interaction between a QCD string and the spin of a quark or an antiquark on whose worldline the string terminates. The problem is analysed from the point of view of a string representation for the expectation value of a Wilson loop for a spin-half particle. A string representation of the super Wilson loop is obtained starting from an effective string representation of a Wilson Loop. The action obtained in this manner is invariant under a worldline supersymmetry and has a boundary term which contains the spin-string interaction. For rectangular loops the spin-string interaction vanishes and there is no spin-spin term in the resulting heavy quark potential. On the other hand if an allowance is made for the finite intrinsic thickness of the flux-tube, by assuming that the spin-string interaction takes place not just at the boundary of the string world-sheet but extends to a distance of the order of the intrinsic thickness of the flux tube, then we do obtain a spin-spin interaction which falls as the fifth power of the distance. Such a term was previously suggested by Kogut and Parisi in the context of a flux-tube model of confinement.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure; Published version with added discussion and references in section

The separate neural control of hand movements and contact forces

To manipulate an object, we must simultaneously control the contact forces exerted on the object and the movements of our hand. Two alternative views for manipulation have been proposed: one in which motions and contact forces are represented and controlled by separate neural processes, and one in which motions and forces are controlled jointly, by a single process. To evaluate these alternatives, we designed three tasks in which subjects maintained a specified contact force while their hand was moved by a robotic manipulandum. The prescribed contact force and hand motions were selected in each task to induce the subject to attain one of three goals: (1) exerting a regulated contact force, (2) tracking the motion of the manipulandum, and (3) attaining both force and motion goals concurrently. By comparing subjects' performances in these three tasks, we found that behavior was captured by the summed actions of two independent control systems: one applying the desired force, and the other guiding the hand along the predicted path of the manipulandum. Furthermore, the application of transcranial magnetic stimulation impulses to the posterior parietal cortex selectively disrupted the control of motion but did not affect the regulation of static contact force. Together, these findings are consistent with the view that manipulation of objects is performed by independent brain control of hand motions and interaction forces

Cost comparisons of five leading brands of the Antiplatelet drug, Clopidogrel, available in an Indian town

Background: Antiplatelet drugs need to be prescribed lifelong, for most of the selected patients, once started. Price disparity can lead to large financial stress on the patients, especially when cost related aspects are not paid heed to by the prescribing physician. This study was conducted to compare the cost, to the patient, of five most commonly prescribed preparations of different brands of Clopidogrel seventy five milligram, in Kolhapur city.Methods: The present study was undertaken during February 2019 to June 2019. Authors purchased a strip of 10 tablets each of the five leading brands of Clopidogrel seventy five milligram. The prices of the strip of 10 tablets of each of the five chosen brands were compared. Finally, the yearly cost of each of these five different preparations, was compared directly as well as using percentages. The data was collected, analyzed and presented in tabular forms and figures.Results: The data of the cost of five different brands of a single antiplatelet drug, Clopidogrel seventy five milligram shows that the annual cost of the costliest among the five brands of this drug is almost three times that of the cheapest brand, or in other words almost 300 percent that of the cheapest brand.Conclusions: The cost differences between the five brands were not negligible. India, with a major part of the population being very sensitive to the cost of medications, the prescribing physician must select the preparation wisely. The most costly preparation of Clopidogrel can significantly add to the the financial stress on the patient’s yearly expenditure. Thus, Pharmaco economic considerations must take a front seat while making a decision to prescribe medicines, especially in a country like India