Human development, poverty, health & nutrition situation in India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Human development index (HDI) is extensively used to measure the standard of living of a country. India made a study progress in the HDI value. Extreme poverty is concentrated in rural areas of northern States while income growth has been dynamic in southern States and urban areas. This study was undertaken to assess the trends in HDI, human poverty index (HPI) and incidence of poverty among Indian states, the socio-economic, health, and diet and nutritional indicators which determine the HDI, changes in protein and calorie adequacy status of rural population, and also trends in malnutrition among children in India. METHODS: The variations in socio-economic, demographic and dietary indicators by grades of HDI were studied. The trends in poverty and nutrition were also studied. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis were done to analyse data. RESULTS: While India's HDI value has improved over a time; our rank did not improve much compared to other developing countries. Human poverty has not reduced considerably as per the HPI values. The undernutrition among preschool children is still a major public health problem in India. The incidence of poverty at different levels of calorie requirement has not reduced in both rural and urban areas. The time trends in nutritional status of pre-school children showed that, even though, there is an improvement in stunting over the years, the trend in wasting and underweight has not improved much. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Proper nutrition and health awareness are important to tackle the health hazards of developmental transition. Despite several national nutrition programmes in operation, we could not make a significant dent in the area of health and nutrition. The changing dietary practices of the urban population, especially the middle class, are of concern. Further studies are needed to measure the human development and poverty situation of different sections of the population in India using an index, which includes both income indicators and non income indicators.

Phenotypic switching and its influence on expression of virulence factors by Candida albicans causing candidiasis in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to determine the degree of expression of virulence factors such as adherence, cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) and production of proteinase by different morphological forms of Candida albicans causing oral candidiasis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals. METHODS: C. albicans 3153A and two strains isolated from oral thrush in HIV infected individuals were induced to undergo phenotypic switching by exposure to UV light and the degree of expression of virulence factors by the different morphological forms was studied. RESULTS: Three different morphological forms of C. albicans were obtained namely, star (S), wrinkled (W) and ring (R) types from the original smooth (O) variety. It was found that proteinase production was greatest with the W type followed by the R type and O type. The S type produced the least proteinase. Expression of cell surface hydrophobicity and adherence was greatest in the O type followed by the R and then the W type and finally the S type. CONCLUSIONS: The differential expression of virulence factors occurs with different phenotypic forms of C. albicans and this may provide a particular morphological type with a distinct advantage over other types in causing candidiasis.

A serological survey of rickettsial infections in the Gazelle Peninsula, East New Britain and a review of the literature

Of the various rickettsial diseases, only scrub typhus has been well documented in Papua New Guinea. A review of the historical literature confirms this. A serological survey was conducted on 113 antenatal patients presenting to a district hospital in Kokopo, East New Britain. Results suggested that a spotted fever rickettsial infection is common in this area with a seroprevalence of about 17% in young women. There was no evidence of scrub typhus or murine (endemic) typhus in the population sampled. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Value of superficial cultures in diagnosing neonatal sepsis.

This study was conducted to determine the value of superficial cultures in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis in our hospital. Sixty three babies, younger than 2 weeks who were admitted with suspected sepsis were investigated. A total of 369 cultures were obtained from these babies--252 (68.29%) superficial and 171 (31.70%) deep cultures. External ear canal swab, umbilical cord swab and throat swab culture accounted for the superficial cultures. Blood culture, cerebrospinal fluid culture and i.v. catheter culture accounted for deep cultures. Of the 369 cultures, 225 (60.97%) were positive for pathogens, which included Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella sp, Escherichia coli, Group B streptococcus and Enterococcus fecalis. The yield of pathogenic organisms was higher for superficial cultures (53.84%). All superficial cultures obtained during the study on each patient were simultaneously compared with the deep cultures by antimicrobial sensitivity method. The overall comparison showed that the practice of superficial cultures could be useful to predict the pathogenic organisms causing invasive disease.