URBANIZATION IN KARNATAKA; A GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH

Urbanization is a world-wide process and it is a cause and effect of heightened economic progress in a region. It plays an enormous role in social transformation and economic mobility all over the world. In fact, the process and level of urbanization has been transforming the developing countries from 'countries of villages' to 'countries of towns and cities'. With 31.16 percent urbanites lived in 2011, India is at a low level of urbanization compared with the developed nations. There exists large inter-regional disparities in different parts of the nation as far as level of urbanization is concerned. The present paper is an attempt to study the trends, degrees and tempo of urbanization and urban morphology in Karnataka from 1901 to 2011. It is the 7th largest state in India with 38.67 percent of urbanites living in 347 towns and cities as of 2011, which is 7.51 points above the national average in terms of urbanization and plays a signicant role in the state's as well as country's economy and progress of IT and BT sector. The paper is an effort to analyses the regional disparity in the process and level of urbanization among the districts of the state from 1991 to 2011. Finally, the study also enlightens the socio-economic consequences of this inter-regional disparity in urbanization in Karnataka. Present study is mainly based on the secondary sources of data and is collected from Indian Census Handbooks of Karnataka and other related reports. After collecting data, these were analysed in a suitable manner by using appropriate statistical and cartographic techniques. Results show that the state exhibits a uctuating trend in level of urbanization with a high regional variation and a high disparity in the concentration of urbanities. Disparities exist at the levels of urbanization in state shown that, Bangalore is the most urbanized district with 90.94 percent followed by Dharwad (56.82 percent) district and on the other end of this scale Kodagu with 14.61 percent, was the least urbanized district in the state. 78.24 percent of urbanities lived in only 19 percent of urban centres and the remaining 81 percent of towns contained only 21.76 percent of the state's urbanities. Thus, urbanization in Karnataka is a by-product of the demographic explosion, poverty encouraged rural-urban migration and reclassication of towns and it also reects uneven economic progresses across the state and needs special attention.

Seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection in pregnancy in a tertiary care hospital.

BACKGROUND: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) /Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is increasing at an alarming rate globally. It has now become a major challenge & threat to public health. HIV infection in women occur primarily during their reproductive years, hence pregnancy provides a unique opportunity for implementing prevention strategies against HIV infection. If we estimate seroprevalence in pregnancy, the effective & timely intervention will reduce the transmission of infection to newborns. AIMS: To study the seroprevalence of HIV infection in pregnancy in a tertiary care hospital. SETTING: Antenatal Care Clinic of a Tertiary Care Hospital. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Blood samples of all the pregnant women with written consent were collected and tested for HIV antibodies as per National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) guidelines over a period from September 2002 to August 2004. However only those who were HIV sero-reactive were included in this study. Spouses of sero-reactive pregnant women were also counselled and tested. Statistical analysis was done using Chi-square test. RESULTS: Out of the total 10683 blood samples from pregnant women tested, 147 (1.38%) were found to be HIV sero-reactive. Sero-reactive cases when compiled year-wise, showed increase in the seroprevalence from 1.24% in September 2002 -- August 2003 to 1.45% in September 2003 -- August 2004. Majority 69 (46.94%) sero-reactive pregnant women were in the age group of 19--24 years followed by 25--29 years age group (31.29%). Out of 88 spouses of HIV sero-reactive pregnant women, 85 (96.59%) were found to be HIV sero-reactive. CONCLUSION: In the present study, seroprevalence of HIV infection was found to be 1.38% amongst pregnant women.

Coxsackie virus and rheumatic fever. A correlative study.

Twenty-one patients of whom 13 had acute rheumatic fever and 8 had recurrence of rheumatic fever were studied for the evidence of coxsackie B viral infection using neutralisation test. A significant rise was noted in 17 cases (81%) and two cases had very high initial titre of neutralising antibodies to coxsackie B viruses type 1 to 6. Mixed infection with more than one serotype was seen in 11 cases. Coxsackie B2 was the commonest type and 14 patients had antistreptolysin 'O' anti-bodies. The high incidence of coxsackie B viral infection in rheumatic fever and the coexistent streptococcal infection and their relationship are discussed.