Determinants of anaemia among adolescent girls in rural Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Background: India is home to 253 million adolescents 10-19 years of age, among the largest cohorts globally. This age group comprises of individuals in a transient phase of life requiring nutrition, education, counselling and guidance to ensure their development into healthy adults. Adolescent girls are the most vulnerable group of population due to different reasons especially anaemia. Anaemia is a major public health problem worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of anaemia and associated factors among adolescent girls (10-19 years) in rural Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Methods: The present study was a community-based cross-sectional study conducted among 369 adolescent girls in rural Varanasi with a semi-structured and pretested questionnaire. Results: Study shows that the overall prevalence of anaemia among adolescent girls was 67.8% out of which 41.5% and 24.4% were mild and moderately anaemic respectively. Anaemia was significantly associated with age groups, birth order, menarche status, no. of days of menstruation, gap between two cycles, use of clothes/sanitary pads and no. of pads used during menstrual cycle. Conclusions: Study found some preliminary factors significantly associated with anaemia like low socio-economic status, higher birth order, and knowledge about menstrual hygiene practices. Anaemia continues to be a major public health problem in India despite multiple initiatives to address it among adolescent girls

Computational Approach to Generalized Ratio Type Estimator of Population Mean Under Two Phase Sampling

In the present draft, we propose the computational approach to generalized ratio type estimator of population mean of the main variable under study using auxiliary information. The expressions for the bias and mean square errors (MSE) have been obtained up to the first order of approximation. The minimum value of the MSE of the proposed estimator is also obtained for the optimum value of the characterizing scalar. A comparison has been made with the existing estimators of population mean in two phase sampling. A computing based on numerical example also carried out which shows improvement of proposed estimator over other estimators in two phase sampling as the proposed estimator has lesser mean squared error

Exploring the Relational Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfication

Customer Satisfaction has been a psychological attribute inviting attention of the customers and requiring decipher their contribution in overall business performance.Banking has been no exception to this phenomenon.Many Literatures have found a strong relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction In service sector in general and banking industry in particular. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. The study assesses the level of customers’ satisfaction and service quality performance of the select banks. Further the study compares the satisfaction and service quality in select public and private sector banks.The study also identifies the area where the banks need to focus. The research design is descriptive as the research is intended to conclude and suggest measures to zero down on the service quality gaps in select public and private sector banks. The result shows a positive relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. Service quality dimensions (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) show wide service quality gaps. The comparative study of public sector banks and private sector banks show superiority of private sector banks over public sector banks in customer satisfaction and performance of service delivery. &nbsp

A framework to assess the challenges to food safety initiatives in an emerging economy

Emerging economies, e.g. India, China and Brazil etc., face challenges to adopt food safety (FS) practices in their food supply chains. Considering food industry’s operations and processes, this study identifies 25 challenges to the FS initiatives involving the opinions of practitioners from six major Indian food producers and academic experts. The challenges are grouped into five categories, viz. organisational, government and policy, global, knowledge and financial. We identify the best and worst challenges to the FS initiatives along with causality among them using combined Best Worst Method (BWM) and ‘Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory’ (DEMATEL) approaches. BWM prioritises these challenges, while DEMATEL identifies causal relationship maps for the prioritised challenges. The BWM results demonstrate that the government and policy related challenges are the key challenges followed by the organisational, global, knowledge and financial related challenges. The DEMATEL results exhibit the organisational, government and policy, and global related challenges as the cause group challenges. The knowledge and financial related challenges represent the effect group challenges. Mitigation of these challenges inherently necessitates stakeholders’ involvement in the food supply chains. We identify constructs for food safety initiatives policy in the emerging economies to raise public awareness while encouraging greater collaboration and efficiency in food supply chains to help achieve the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for securing food for everyone. The results of the study offer guidance and deeper insights to supply chain managers about synergy requirements between the government policymakers and key players of the industry in the emerging economies

Secondary metabolite induced tolerance to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense TR4 in banana cv. Grand Naine through in vitro bio-immunization: a prospective research translation from induction to field tolerance

An innovative tissue culture mediated incorporation of metabolite-based biomolecule (Bio-immune) at in vitro stage itself in banana cv. Grand Naine was developed and validated for the production of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense TR4 tolerant plantlets. The novel bio-immune formulation developed by us, exhibited a significant antifungal potency against Foc TR4 with a high percent inhibition (100%) at a 2.5% concentration of bio-immune on the 5th, 7th, and 9th DAI. Bio-immune integrated during in vitro shoot proliferation stage in banana cv. Grand Naine recorded significant enhancement in the growth of roots and shoots. Bio-immune (0.5%) fortified media produced 12.67 shoots per clump whereas control registered only 9.67 shoots per clump. Similarly, maximum root numbers (7.67) were observed in bio-immune plants which were significantly higher over control (5.0). The bio-immunized banana transplants recorded a higher survival rate (97.57%) during acclimatization as compared to the control (94.53%). Furthermore, evaluation of the bio-immunized plants in pot experiments revealed that unimmunized plants treated with FocTR4 (TF) exhibited mortality between 60 and 90 days. On the 90th day after planting, a high mean disease severity index (DSI) of 3.45 was observed with unimmunized plantlets while the bio-immunized plants (TFBI) and ICAR-FUSICONT treated plants (TFTR) showed substantially reduced DSI (0.20 and 1.00) compared to FocTR4 treated control (TF). Significant increases in polyphenol oxidase (PPO), peroxidase (POD), β-1,3-glucanase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), chitinase activities, and enhanced phenol contents were recorded in bio-immunized plants compared to unimmunized plants. Field experiments at two different locations in Bihar, India revealed that bunch weight, no. of hands/bunch, and no. of fingers/hand of bio-immune treated plants were significantly higher compared to the control

Tumor reversion: a dream or a reality.

Reversion of tumor to a normal differentiated cell once considered a dream is now at the brink of becoming a reality. Different layers of molecules/events such as microRNAs, transcription factors, alternative RNA splicing, post-transcriptional, post-translational modifications, availability of proteomics, genomics editing tools, and chemical biology approaches gave hope to manipulation of cancer cells reversion to a normal cell phenotype as evidences are subtle but definitive. Regardless of the advancement, there is a long way to go, as customized techniques are required to be fine-tuned with precision to attain more insights into tumor reversion. Tumor regression models using available genome-editing methods, followed by in vitro and in vivo proteomics profiling techniques show early evidence. This review summarizes tumor reversion developments, present issues, and unaddressed challenges that remained in the uncharted territory to modulate cellular machinery for tumor reversion towards therapeutic purposes successfully. Ongoing research reaffirms the potential promises of understanding the mechanism of tumor reversion and required refinement that is warranted in vitro and in vivo models of tumor reversion, and the potential translation of these into cancer therapy. Furthermore, therapeutic compounds were reported to induce phenotypic changes in cancer cells into normal cells, which will contribute in understanding the mechanism of tumor reversion. Altogether, the efforts collectively suggest that tumor reversion will likely reveal a new wave of therapeutic discoveries that will significantly impact clinical practice in cancer therapy

Global, regional, and national burden of stroke and its risk factors, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Regularly updated data on stroke and its pathological types, including data on their incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability, risk factors, and epidemiological trends, are important for evidence-based stroke care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) aims to provide a standardised and comprehensive measurement of these metrics at global, regional, and national levels. Methods We applied GBD 2019 analytical tools to calculate stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and the population attributable fraction (PAF) of DALYs (with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals [UIs]) associated with 19 risk factors, for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019. These estimates were provided for ischaemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and all strokes combined, and stratified by sex, age group, and World Bank country income level. Findings In 2019, there were 12·2 million (95% UI 11·0–13·6) incident cases of stroke, 101 million (93·2–111) prevalent cases of stroke, 143 million (133–153) DALYs due to stroke, and 6·55 million (6·00–7·02) deaths from stroke. Globally, stroke remained the second-leading cause of death (11·6% [10·8–12·2] of total deaths) and the third-leading cause of death and disability combined (5·7% [5·1–6·2] of total DALYs) in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the absolute number of incident strokes increased by 70·0% (67·0–73·0), prevalent strokes increased by 85·0% (83·0–88·0), deaths from stroke increased by 43·0% (31·0–55·0), and DALYs due to stroke increased by 32·0% (22·0–42·0). During the same period, age-standardised rates of stroke incidence decreased by 17·0% (15·0–18·0), mortality decreased by 36·0% (31·0–42·0), prevalence decreased by 6·0% (5·0–7·0), and DALYs decreased by 36·0% (31·0–42·0). However, among people younger than 70 years, prevalence rates increased by 22·0% (21·0–24·0) and incidence rates increased by 15·0% (12·0–18·0). In 2019, the age-standardised stroke-related mortality rate was 3·6 (3·5–3·8) times higher in the World Bank low-income group than in the World Bank high-income group, and the age-standardised stroke-related DALY rate was 3·7 (3·5–3·9) times higher in the low-income group than the high-income group. Ischaemic stroke constituted 62·4% of all incident strokes in 2019 (7·63 million [6·57–8·96]), while intracerebral haemorrhage constituted 27·9% (3·41 million [2·97–3·91]) and subarachnoid haemorrhage constituted 9·7% (1·18 million [1·01–1·39]). In 2019, the five leading risk factors for stroke were high systolic blood pressure (contributing to 79·6 million [67·7–90·8] DALYs or 55·5% [48·2–62·0] of total stroke DALYs), high body-mass index (34·9 million [22·3–48·6] DALYs or 24·3% [15·7–33·2]), high fasting plasma glucose (28·9 million [19·8–41·5] DALYs or 20·2% [13·8–29·1]), ambient particulate matter pollution (28·7 million [23·4–33·4] DALYs or 20·1% [16·6–23·0]), and smoking (25·3 million [22·6–28·2] DALYs or 17·6% [16·4–19·0]). Interpretation The annual number of strokes and deaths due to stroke increased substantially from 1990 to 2019, despite substantial reductions in age-standardised rates, particularly among people older than 70 years. The highest age-standardised stroke-related mortality and DALY rates were in the World Bank low-income group. The fastest-growing risk factor for stroke between 1990 and 2019 was high body-mass index. Without urgent implementation of effective primary prevention strategies, the stroke burden will probably continue to grow across the world, particularly in low-income countries.publishedVersio