Real-time early infectious outbreak detection systems using emerging technologies

The use of emerging technologies ( such as RFID - Radio Frequency Identification and remote sensing) can be employed to reduce health care costs and also to facilitate the automatic streamlining of infectious disease outbreak detection and monitoring processes in local health departments. It can assist medical practitioners with fast and accurate diagnosis and treatments. In this paper we outline the design and application of a real-time RFID and sensor-base Early Infectious (e.g., cholera) Outbreak Detection and Monitoring (IODM) system for health care.<br /

Distribution of Various Mycotoxins in Compound Feed, Total Mix Ration and Silage

Present study was planned to assess the spectrum of natural occurrence of aflatoxins, zearalenone, ochratoxin A and A-B trichothecenes in dairy feed, silage and total mixed rations. One hundred and seventy one samples were analyzed by chromatographic technique. In cattle compound feed, there was a high incidence of aflatoxin B1 (97.3%) followed by aflatoxin B2 (50.3%), aflatoxin G1 (10.7%), aflatoxin G2 (1.5%), zearalenone (39.3%), ochratoxin A (37.5%) and deoxynivalenol (2.9%) with average values of 29, 8, 21, 10, 862, 64 and 813 ng/g respectively. Nine samples were found tainted with T-2 toxin (282ng/g), nivalenol (285ng/g) and fusarenon-x (1625ng/g) respectively. However, frequency distribution showed that positive seventy-seven (51.6%)samples found to be contaminated with aflatoxin B1 levels higher than permissible level of European Commission (<20ng/g). For zearalenone, forty-four (32.5%) samples were tainted with levels ranging from ≥500 to 3750ng/gi.e. higher than recommendations by European commission (<500ng/g). In contrast to compound feed, mycotoxin analysis in silage samples demonstrated the high prevalence of ochratoxin A (77.8 %) followed by AFB1 (25%) with mean of 53 and 8.71ng/g respectively. A scrutiny of mycotoxin for total mixed ration depicted that all samples were contaminated with aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A with an average of 30 and 48.5ng/g respectively. As far as multi-mycotoxin co-existence is concerned, compound feed was concurrently contaminated with two, three and four types of mycotoxins

Reaching the Unreachable: Barriers of the Poorest to Accessing NGO Healthcare Services in Bangladesh

The NGO Service Delivery Program (NSDP), a USAID-funded programme, is the largest NGO programme in Bangladesh. Its strategic flagship activity is the essential services package through which healthcare services are administered by NGOs in Bangladesh. The overall goal of the NSDP is to increase access to essential healthcare services by communities, especially the poor. Recognizing that the poorest in the community often have no access to essential healthcare services due to various barriers, a study was conducted to identify what the real barriers to access by the poor are. This included investigations to further understand the perceptions of the poor of real or imagined barriers to accessing healthcare; ways for healthcare centres to maximize services to the poor; how healthcare providers can maximize service-use; inter-personal communication between healthcare providers and those seeking healthcare among the poor; and ways to improve the capacity of service providers to reach the poorest segment of the community. The study, carried out in two phases, included 24 static and satellite clinics within the catchment areas of eight NGOs under the NSDP in Bangladesh, during June-September 2003. Participatory urban and rural appraisal techniques, focus-group discussions, and in-depth interviews were employed as research methods in the study. The target populations in the study included males and females, service-users and non-users, and special groups, such as fishermen, sex workers, potters, Bedes (river gypsies), and lower-caste people—all combined representing a heterogeneous community. The following four major categories of barriers emerged as roadblocks to accessing quality healthcare for the poor: (a) low income to be able to afford healthcare, (b) lack of awareness of the kind of healthcare services available, (c) deficiencies and inconsistencies in the quality of services, and (d) lack of close proximity to the healthcare facility. Those interviewed perceived their access problems to be: (a) a limited range of NGO services available as they felt what are available do not meet their demands; (b) a high service-charge for the healthcare services they sought; (c) higher prices of drugs at the facility compared to the market place; (d) a belief that the NGO clinics are primarily to serve the rich people, (e) lack of experienced doctors at the centres; and (f) the perception that the facility and its services were more oriented to women and children, but not to males. Others responded that they should be allowed to get treatment with credit and, if needed, payment should be waived for some due to their poverty level. While the results of the study revealed many perceptions of barriers to healthcare services by the poor, the feedback provided by the study indicates how important it is to learn from the poorest segment of society. This will assist healthcare providers and the healthcare system itself to become more sensitized to the needs and problems faced by this segment of the society and to make recommendations to remove barriers and improvement of access. Treatment with credit and waived payment for the poorest were also recommended as affordable alternative private healthcare services for the poor

Acceptability of and Adherence to Dispersible Zinc Tablet in the Treatment of Acute Childhood Diarrhoea

Zinc treatment is now recommended by the World Health Organization as part of the routine management of acute childhood diarrhoea. A dispersible zinc tablet formulation was developed taking into account the taste, cost, and feasibility to distribute and store. Only limited information is available on the acceptability of and adherence to dispersible zinc tablet. No study has formally assessed whether the formulation is acceptable to children and if caretakers can adhere to the instructions regarding preparation, dosage, and duration of treatment. This community-based study aimed at determining the acceptability of and adherence to a dispersible zinc tablet formulation in a cohort of children (n=320) aged less than five years. Caretakers of children with acute childhood diarrhoea were prescribed zinc tablet treatment and followed up after 2-3 weeks. The formulation was acceptable to children; 90.1% of 303 caretakers perceived that the tablets were equally or even more acceptable to their children com-pared to other medicines. Ninety-eight percent of the children received the standard dose of one tablet per day, and 55.8% completed the full 10-day course of zinc treatment. Adherence rates did not vary by age or gender of the child. These findings indicate that the tablet formulation is acceptable, but further efforts are required to enhance adherence

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Practices Exposing Humans to Avian Influenza Viruses, Their Prevalence, and Rationale

Almost all human infections by avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are transmitted from poultry. A systematic review was conducted to identify practices associated with human infections, their prevalence, and rationale. Observational studies were identified through database searches. Meta-analysis produced combined odds ratio estimates. The prevalence of practices and rationales for their adoptions were reported. Of the 48,217 records initially identified, 65 articles were included. Direct and indirect exposures to poultry were associated with infection for all investigated viral subtypes and settings. For the most frequently reported practices, association with infection seemed stronger in markets than households, for sick and dead than healthy poultry, and for H7N9 than H5N1. Practices were often described in general terms and their frequency and intensity of contact were not provided. The prevalence of practices was highly variable across studies, and no studies comprehensively explored reasons behind the adoption of practices. Combining epidemiological and targeted anthropological studies would increase the spectrum and detail of practices that could be investigated and should aim to provide insights into the rationale(s) for their existence. A better understanding of these rationales may help to design more realistic and acceptable preventive public health measures and messages

Breeding for abiotic stresses in pigeonpea

Pigeonpea, often considered as a drought tolerant crop, has the distinct advantage of having a large range of variation for maturity, leading to its adaptation to a wide range of environments and cropping systems. It encounters a number of abiotic stresses during its life cycle. The most important are extremes of moisture and temperature, photoperiod and mineral related stresses. While waterlogging affects plant growth by reducing oxygen diffusion rate between soil and atmosphere and by changing physical and chemical properties of soil, drought and high temperature mostly influence long duration pigeonpea, resulting in its forced maturity. Similarly, low temperature leads to conversion of intracellular water into ice and consequently shrinking of cells and wilting and death of plants. Soil salinity affects pigeonpea plants through osmotic stress and interference with uptake of mineral nutrients. Aluminium toxicity also reduces nutrient uptake efficiency of this crop. Though these stresses have a drastic impact on reducing productivity of pigeonpea, only limited efforts have been made towards screening and development of pigeonpea genotypes having tolerance to these abiotic stresses. Further, even these limited accomplishments are not well-documented. The present review provides comprehensive information vis-a-vis the work done on abiotic stress tolerance in pigeonpea

K-shell dielectronic resonances in photoabsorption: differential oscillator strengths for Li-like C IV, O VI, and Fe XXIV

Recently X-ray photoabsorption in KLL resonances of O VI was predicted [Pradhan, Astrophys.J. Lett. 545, L165 (2000)], and detected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory [Lee et al, Astrophys. J. {\it Lett.}, submitted]. The required resonance oscillator strengths f_r, are evaluated in terms of the differential oscillator strength df/de that relates bound and continuum absorption. We present the f_r values from radiatively damped and undamped photoionization cross sections for Li-like C,O, and Fe calculated using relativistic close coupling Breit-Pauli R-matrix method. The KLL resonances of interest here are: 1s2p (^3P^o) 2s [^4P^o_{1/2,3/2}, ^2P^o_{1/2,3/2}] and 1s2p (^1P^o) 2s [^2P^o_{1/2,3/2}]. The KLL photoabsorption resonances in Fe XXIV are fully resolved up to natural autoionization profiles for the first time. It is demonstrated that the undamped f_r independently yield the resonance radiative decay rates, and thereby provide a precise check on the resolution of photoionization calculations in general. The predicted photoabsorption features should be detectable by the X-ray space observatories and enable column densities in highly ionized astrophysical plasmas to be determined from the calculated f_r. The dielectronic satellites may appear as redward broadening of resonances lines in emission and absorption.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figurs, Phys. Rev. A, Rapid Communication (submitted

Profitability and production cost of hybrid pigeonpea seed

Hybrid pigeonpea technology, based on cytoplasmic nuclear male-sterility and natural out-crossing, was developed at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the first commercial hybrid ‘ICPH 2671’ performed well in farmers’ fields with 30-35% yield advantage. The commercial viability of this hybrid, however, depends on the availability of seeds at an affordable cost so that even a small pigeonpea farmer could reap the benefits of this technology. So far no information is available on this aspect hence, the present investigation was undertaken at Agriculture College Research Farm, Indore (M.P.). In this large-scale experiment, one kilogram of hybrid (A x R) seed was produced at the cost of Rs 18.85. Further, the estimated profit from growing one hectare of seed production plot of this hybrid was Rs. 70,005. It was concluded that the seed production technology is easy and it can be adopted by seed producers; however, the presence of pollinating insects in the production area is essentia

Application of microneedle arrays for enhancement of transdermal permeation of Insulin: in vitro experiments, scaling analyses and numerical simulations

The aim of this investigation is to study the effect of donor concentration and microneedle (MN) length on permeation of insulin and further evaluating the data using scaling analyses and numerical simulations. Histological evaluation of skin sections was carried to evaluate the skin disruption and depth of penetration by MNs. Scaling analyses was done using dimensionless parameters like concentration of drug (Ct/Cs), thickness (h/L) and surface area of the skin (Sa/L2). Simulation studies were carried out using MATLAB and COMSOL software to simulate the insulin permeation using histological sections of MN treated skin and experimental parameters like passive diffusion coefficient. A 1.6 fold increase in transdermal flux and 1.9 fold decrease in lag time values were observed with 1.5mm MN when compared with passive studies. Good correlation (R2>0.99) was observed between different parameters using scaling analyses. Also, the in vitro and simulated permeations profiles were found to be similar (f2≥50). Insulin permeation significantly increased with increase in donor concentration and MN length (p<0.05). The developed scaling correlations and numerical simulations were found to be accurate and would help researchers to predict the permeation of insulin with new dimensions of MN in optimizing insulin delivery. Overall, it can be inferred that the application of MNs can significantly enhance insulin permeation and may be an efficient alternative for injectable insulin therapy in humans

Regulation of voltage and frequency in solid oxide fuel cell-based autonomous microgrids using the Whales optimisation algorithm

This study explores the Whales Optimization Algorithm (WOA)-based PI controller for regulating the voltage and frequency of an inverter-based autonomous microgrid (MG). The MG comprises two 50 kW DGs (solid oxide fuel cells, SOFCs) interfaced using a power electronics-based voltage source inverter (VSI) with a 120-kV conventional grid. Four PI controller schemes for the MG are implemented: (i) stationary PI controller with fixed gain values (Kp and Ki), (ii) PSO tuned PI controller, (iii) GWO tuned PI controller, and (iv) WOA tuned PI controller. The performance of these controllers is evaluated by monitoring the system voltage and frequency during the transition of MG operation mode and changes in the load. The MATLAB/SIMULINK tool is utilised to design the proposed model of grid-tied MG alongside the MATLAB m-file to apply an optimisation technique. The simulation results show that the WOA-based PI controller which optimises the control parameters, achieve 62.7% and 59% better results for voltage and frequency regulation, respectively. The eigenvalue analysis is also provided to check the stability of the proposed controller. Furthermore, the proposed system also satisfies the limits specified in IEEE-1547-2003 for voltage and frequency