SOCIAL MEDIA AND AWARENESS IN GLOBAL SOCIETY

Social media has been defined as “a group of internet- based applications that allow the creation and exchange the user-generated content, ‘Furthermore, social media depends on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platform through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. It introduces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities and individual’’.To appreciate the significance of those statement above one needs to take a quick look at a certain set of reasonably well-authenticated statistics relating to internet usage and penetration that pertain to June 2012. If one compares these numbers with a similar set of figures pertaining to the situation that prevailed twelve years earlier at the beginning of the new millennium, internet use globally has grown by over 560 per cent in this period. Still, the penetration of the internet in the total population of the world is just over 30 per cent; in other words, two out of three individuals on the planet still have not used the internet, leave alone benefit from it

Domestic Violence against Women during the Covid-19: A Case Study of Bihar (India)

The Covid-19 pandemic revealed that the socioeconomic challenges in developing countries intersect within and beyond the dynamics of caste, class, space, and most importantly, gender. The recent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic compelled the entire human population to survive on the brink of uncertainty. The subsequent lockdown witnessed an upsurge in domestic abuse cases across the globe, making us realize how the four walls of the familial space turned into a hotbed of the \u27shadow pandemic\u27 resulting from the socioeconomic disparities and individual frustration during difficult times. India also witnessed a sudden surge in domestic violence cases, often called a shadow pandemic. While some got reported, many went without being documented in any forum. In this regard, this research is a case study of Bihar (India), which encountered a higher rate of domestic violence during the pandemic than other states such as Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Himanchal Pradesh. This empirical study examines the economic, psychological, and social factors responsible for the surge in domestic abuse in Bihar during the Covid-19 pandemic

Comparing socio-economic inequalities in self-reported and undiagnosed hypertension among adults 45 years and over in India: what explains these inequalities?

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in developing countries. For India, the hidden burden of undiagnosed hypertension is a major concern. This study aims to assess and explain socio-economic inequalities among self-reported and undiagnosed hypertensives in India. Methods: The study utilized data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI), a nationally-representative survey of more than 72,000 older adults. The study used funnel plots, multivariable logistic regression, concentration indices, and decomposition analysis to explain the socio-economic gap in the prevalence of self-reported and undiagnosed hypertension between the richest and the poorest groups. Results: The prevalence of self-reported and undiagnosed hypertension was 27.4 and 17.8% respectively. Monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) quintile was positively associated with self-reported hypertension but negatively associated with undiagnosed hypertension. The concentration index for self-reported hypertension was 0.133 (p < 0.001), whereas it was − 0.047 (p < 0.001) for undiagnosed hypertension. Over 50% of the inequalities in self-reported hypertension were explained by the differences in the distribution of the characteristics whereas inequalities remained unexplained for undiagnosed hypertension. Obesity and diabetes were key contributors to pro-rich inequality. Conclusions: Results imply that self-reported measures underestimate the true prevalence of hypertension and disproportionately affect the poorer MPCE groups. The prevalence of self-reported HTN was higher in the richest group, whereas socio-economic inequality in undiagnosed hypertension was significantly concentrated in the poorest group. As majority of the inequalities remain unexplained in case of undiagnosed hypertension, broader health systems issues including barriers to access to health care may be contributing to inequalities

Haemorrhage in early pregnancy: unusual presentation of placenta increta as complete mole

We report a case of haemorrhage in early pregnancy following suction evacuation for a complete hydatidiform mole which later turned out to be case of placenta increta. Morbidly adherent placenta in early pregnancy a is rare event. There are few reported cases of obstetric hysterectomy in early pregnancy due to undiagnosed morbidly adherent placenta

A longitudinal study of incident hypertension and its determinants in Indian adults aged 45 years and over: evidence from nationally representative WHO-SAGE study (2007-2015) Running head Incident hypertension and its determinants

Objectives: Hypertension (HT) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in developing countries. This study aimed to estimate the incidence of HT among adults aged 45 years and older in India and its associated risk factors. Methods: This study used longitudinal data from the Indian sample of the first and second waves of the World Health Organization Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (WHO-SAGE). A bivariate analysis using Pearson's chi-square test was done to examine the associations of individual, lifestyle, and household characteristics with HT status reported in Wave 2. Incident HT changes were analyzed by adjusting for various covariates in the generalized estimating equation (logit link function) with an exchangeable correlation matrix and robust standard errors. Results: The study found that during the 8-year period from 2007 to 2015, the incidence of HT in individuals aged 45 years and over was 20.8%. Pre-hypertensive individuals had an overall incidence rate of 31.1 per 1,000 [95% confidence interval (CI): 26.20–35.9] and a 2.24 times higher odds ratio: 2.24 (95% CI: 1.65–3.03) of developing incident HT compared to those who were normotensive. Adults aged 45 years and older, overweight/obese individuals, and women were more at risk of incident HT. Conclusion: One in five individuals had developed HT over 8 years, with a greater risk of incident HT among women than men. Pre-hypertensive individuals were at a greater risk of developing incident HT compared to normotensive individuals. The study recommends comprehensive and effective management of pre-HT to tackle the burden of H

ANTIOVULATORY AND ESTROGENIC ACTIVITY OF LEAVES OF DATURA STRAMONIUM LINN. IN FEMALE ALBINO RATS

The effect of petroleum ether (60-8

Formulation and Evaluation of Sustained Release Matrix Tablets of Aceclofenac

This study aimed to improve the dissolution rate of aceclofenac and release the drug in a controlled manner over a period of 24 hours. Matrix tablets were prepared by direct compression method, using hydrophilic polymers (HPMC/guar gum). Matrix tablets were prepared by wet granulation method using different hydrophilic polymers (HPMC/guar gum). Tablets were evaluated for in vitro drug release profile in phosphate buffer with pH 6.8 (without enzymes). The thickness and hardness of prepared tablets were 3.23 ± 0.035 to 3.28 ± 0.008 mm and 3.26 ± 0.115 to 3.60 ± 0.200 kg/cm2, respectively. The friability was within the acceptable limits of pharmacopoeial specifications (0.31 to 0.71%), which indicates the good mechanical strength of the tablets. Drug release was retarded with an increase in polymer concentration due to the gelling property of polymers. The in vitro drug release from the proposed system was best explained by Higuchi’s model, indicating that drug release from tablets displayed a diffusion-controlled mechanism. The results clearly indicate that guar gum could be a potential hydrophilic carrier in developing oral controlled drug delivery systems. Based on the study results, formulations F8 was selected as the best formulation

Data augmentation enhanced speaker enrollment for text-dependent speaker verification

Data augmentation is commonly used for generating additional data from the available training data to achieve a robust estimation of the parameters of complex models like the one for speaker verification (SV), especially for under-resourced applications. SV involves training speaker-independent (SI) models and speaker-dependent models where speakers are represented by models derived from an SI model using the training data for the particular speaker during the enrollment phase. While data augmentation for training SI models is well studied, data augmentation for speaker enrollment is rarely explored. In this paper, we propose the use of data augmentation methods for generating extra data to empower speaker enrollment. Each data augmentation method generates a new data set. Two strategies of using the data sets are explored: the first one is to training separate systems and fuses them at the score level and the other is to conduct multi-conditional training. Furthermore, we study the effect of data augmentation under noisy conditions. Experiments are performed on RedDots challenge 2016 database, and the results validate the effectiveness of the proposed methods