ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: A substantial proportion of pregnant women in India are at the risk of serious obstetric complications and reliable information on obstetric morbidity is scanty, particularly in socio-economically disadvantaged society. We studied the association between the obstetric complications in women in their current pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes in previous pregnancies in Uttar Pradesh, India. Methods: Data from District Level Household Survey (2007-2008) were used for empirical assessment. Bivariate, trivariate and Cox proportional hazard regression model analyses were applied to examine the effect of obstetric complications and previous pregnancy outcome on current pregnancy outcome among currently married women (age group 15-49 yr) in Uttar Pradesh, India. Results: The results of this study showed that the obstetric complications in the current pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes in previous pregnancies were associated with the outcome of the current pregnancy. Cox proportional hazard regression model estimates revealed that the hazard ratio of having stillbirths were significantly higher among women with any obstetric complications compared to women with no obstetric complications. The adverse pregnancy outcome in a previous pregnancy was the largest risk factor for likelihood of developing similar type of adverse pregnancy outcome in the current pregnancy. Interpretation & conclusions: The findings provided key insights for health policy interventions in terms of prevention of obstetric complications to avoid the adverse pregnancy outcome in women.
ABSTRACT
Background: India’s Smoke-Free Law (SFL) was implemented in 2004 and reinforced on 2nd October 2008. This research attempts to understand the knowledge and opinion of hospitality venue (HV) managers about second-hand smoke (SHS) and SFL as well as self-reported compliance with SFL in two Indian states. Methods: A survey was conducted among 804 randomly sampled HVs from project STEPS (Strengthening of tobacco control efforts through innovative partnerships and strategies) in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, India. Four hundred and three HVs from two districts in Gujarat and 401 HVs from six districts in Andhra Pradesh were selected. The owner, manager or supervisor of each HV was interviewed using a pre-tested structured interview schedule. Association of opinion scales with respondents’ background characteristics was assessed through the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method. Results: Out of the 403 respondents in Gujarat and 401 in Andhra Pradesh, 56.1% and 84.3% had knowledge about SFL respectively. Compliance of HVs with SFL was 21.8% in Gujarat and 31.2% in Andhra Pradesh as reported by the managers. Knowledge about SHS was noted among 39.7% of respondents in Gujarat and 25.4% in Andhra Pradesh. Bivariate results indicated that more educated HV managers showed higher support for smoke-free public places (P < 0.001) and were more concerned about the health effects of SHS exposure (P = 0.002). Conclusion: Complete self-reported compliance with, and knowledge of SFL as well as SHS was not found in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The education level of HV managers is an important determinant to ensure compliance with SFL in public places.
ABSTRACT
Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) have emerged as a next-generation drug delivery system with potential applications in pharmaceutical field, cosmetics, research, clinical medicine and other allied sciences. Recently, increasing attention has been focused on these SLN as colloidal drug carriers for incorporating hydrophilic or lipophilic drugs. Proteins and antigens intended for therapeutic purposes may be incorporated or adsorbed onto SLN, and further administered by parenteral routes or be alternative routes such as oral, nasal and pulmonary. The obstacles associated with conventional chemotherapy may be partially overcome by encapsulating them as SLN. The present review focuses on the utility of SLN in terms of their advantages, production methodology, characterization and applications. If properly investigated, SLNs may open new vistas in therapy of complex diseases.
ABSTRACT
Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) have emerged as a next-generation drug delivery system with potential applications in pharmaceutical field, cosmetics, research, clinical medicine and other allied sciences. Recently, increasing attention has been focused on these SLN as colloidal drug carriers for incorporating hydrophilic or lipophilic drugs. Proteins and antigens intended for therapeutic purposes may be incorporated or adsorbed onto SLN, and further administered by parenteral routes or be alternative routes such as oral, nasal and pulmonary. The obstacles associated with conventional chemotherapy may be partially overcome by encapsulating them as SLN. The present review focuses on the utility of SLN in terms of their advantages, production methodology, characterization and applications. If properly investigated, SLNs may open new vistas in therapy of complex diseases.
ABSTRACT
The use of minimally invasive procedures and attention to patient comfort are of great importance, especially for dental treatment in young children. This has led to the development of chemomechanical methods for caries removal. Aim: To evaluate and compare the antimicrobial efficacy, efficacy in terms of time consumption and pain perception of chemomechanical caries removal agent Papacarie® and conventional method of caries removal. Methods: Subjects for this study were chosen from children admitted to dental clinic for restorative procedures. Forty children (age 4-8 years) with early childhood caries were included in this study. Two primary teeth with comparable degrees of carious destruction were chosen in each child for caries removal with either Papacarie® or rotary instruments. The time taken for caries removal was measured using stopwatch. Pain response during caries removal was evaluated using the Wong Baker Face Pain Scale. Dentin samples of both groups were taken prior to, and after caries removal for microbiological analysis. Results The time taken for caries removal in chemomechanical caries removal method was three times longer than the conventional method. Pain score during chemomechanical method of caries removal was 1.525 as compared with 6.65 when conventional method was used. The antimicrobial efficacy of chemomechanical caries removal was significantly similar to conventional method. Conclusions: Papacarie® can be an effective clinical alternative treatment for the removal of occlusal dentinal caries in cavitated primary molars.