Prevalence of high-risk children and role of maternal factors on these children-findings of cross-sectional community-based study.

Background: Children, being the future of any nation, not only need special attention but also need a suiTable environment to have proper growth and development. They are also vulnerable to various diseases and disabilities. It is observed that certain maternal characteristics are helpful in the development and survival of such high-risk children. Methodology: A community-based, cross-sectional, analytic study was undertaken among children under 5 years of age in two slums. The population of both slums was 1550, out of which children under 5 years of age were 196 (12.64%), which constituted the study population. The "high-risk" children were identified based on pre-development criteria of "risk factors." Data was collected by interview technique, physical examination of the children, and checking of medical documents. The data regarding "high-risk" children were analyzed to determine the association of "high-risk" children with maternal factors like birth order, education, and occupation of the mother and child being looked after as the mother's substitute. The data obtained was subjected to standard statistical methods to achieve valid comparisons. Results: The present study revealed that out of 196 children under 5 years of age surveyed, 88 were "high-risk" children which constituted a prevalence rate of 44.89%. A significant association had been found between the prevalence of "high-risk" children and factors like birth order, education, and occupation of the mother and child being looked after by the mother's substitute. Conclusion: The study showed a significant association between various maternal factors and high-risk children. Thus maternal social and environmental factors along with enhancing pregnancy health go a long way in preventing high-risk children and betterment of child health.

Menstrual hygiene management and menstrual problems among adolescent girls in an urban area in north India: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Most adolescent women face many restrictions, which become much more severe during menstruation. In India, millions of adolescent girls drop out of school every year due to menstruation-related problems and restrictions. Despite extensive research, a paucity of literature was observed on the level of knowledge, attitude, and practices of adolescent girls regarding menstruation. Hence, we proceeded to undertake the present study, to have a deeper understanding of the menstrual hygiene management of adolescents. Aims: To describe the menstrual hygiene management among adolescent school girls. Objectives: (a) To examine the association, if any, between menstrual hygiene management and school absenteeism during menstruation in adolescent school girls. Materials And Methods: We conducted a school-based cross-sectional analytical study in an urban area in north India. The study population comprised adolescent school girls of all the high schools in the urban area. With a 95% confidence interval, and 5% margin of error, the sample size was calculated to be 369. However, an even larger sample size of 600 was actually studied. The probability proportional to size sampling approach was followed based on the number of adolescent girls in each school class/section. Participants were selected through a stratified proportionate sampling method. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical committee of the district director of education of the urban area where the study was conducted before the commencement of the study. Confidentiality of the information collected was ensured. The data collected was quantitative in nature, using a pretested self-administered questionnaire consisting of both open-ended and close-ended questions. Data was checked for its completeness, coded, and entered into Microsoft Excel 2021 Spreadsheet. Subsequently, the data was imported into IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. for data analysis. Standard statistical methods were utilized for data analysis. Results: The mean age (standard deviation [SD]) of the study participants was 13.68 (1.29). The mean age (SD) at menarche was 13.29 (0.96). Based on the overall menstrual hygiene management score, 377 (62.83%) of the study participants were engaged in good menstrual hygiene management, while 223 (37.17%) were engaged in poor menstrual hygiene management. The mean score (SD) was 7.80 (±0.43). Compared to those aged 17-19 years, those aged 10-13 years had a 0.36 (95% CI 0.17-0.75) decreased odds of good menstrual hygiene, while those aged 14-16 years had a 0.29 (95% CI 0.14-0.59) decreased odds of good menstrual hygiene. The adjusted odds ratios were 0.32 (95% CI 0.19-0.65) and 0.25 (95% CI 0.12-0.41) respectively. Out of 600 study participants, 229 (38.17%) reported school absenteeism at least once in the last 1 year because of menstruation. The mean (standard deviation) duration of school absenteeism was 2.4 (0.78) days per menstrual cycle. The commonest reason for menstruation-related school absenteeism was pain, wherein 105 (45.85%) study participants reported this reason. Conclusion: In our study, we observed that over two-thirds of the study participants were engaged in good menstrual hygiene practices, while ~40% of them reported menstrual-related school absenteeism. Our study also found evidence that the age of the school girls was associated with their menstrual hygiene management practices. We recommend further research on the impact of menstruation and its management on the academic performance of adolescent school girls. Efforts are also required to develop the capacity of teachers to teach menstrual hygiene education.

Dielectric probing of low-temperature degradation resistance of commercial zirconia bio-ceramics.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of the stability of oxygen vacancies on the low-temperature degradation (LTD) resistance of two kinds of commercial zirconia-based materials (3Y-TZP ceramics and Ce-TZP/Al2O3 composites) via the dielectric probing methods. METHODS: The commercial 3Y-TZP ceramics and Ce-TZP/Al2O3 composites were prepared via conventional solid-state methods. Density, phase content, microstructure, strain, and biaxial flexural strength (BFS) of two materials were investigated using Archimedes method, XRD, SEM, strain-electric field (S-E) loops and ball-on-ring methods, respectively. The concentration of oxygen vacancies before and after LTD of two materials were evaluated using dielectric probing and XPS methods. RESULTS: The XRD analysis revealed that compared to the 3Y-TZP ceramics, the Ce-TZP/Al2O3 composites showed better LTD resistance, without clear LTD. The greater LTD resistance for Ce-TZP/Al2O3 composites was associated with their stability of oxygen vacancies, by higher activation energy based on the dielectric measurements and XPS results. For the 3Y-TZP ceramics that underwent the tetragonal to the monoclinic phase transition during the LTD treatment, the concentration of their oxygen vacancies decreased after LTD. In addition, the Ce-TZP/Al2O3 composites exhibited higher flexural strength and potential fracture toughness based on the BFS testing and strain vs electric field measurement results, indicating a great potential for use in fixed restorative dental applications. SIGNIFICANCE: This work suggested the stability of oxygen vacancies played a key role in the resistance to LTD. Optimizing the stability of the oxygen vacancies is key to the development of more reliable zirconia- based dental biomaterials with greater resistance to LTD.

Identification of provenance of Basmati rice grown in different regions of Punjab through multivariate analysis.

High-priced Basmati rice is vulnerable to deliberate mislabeling to increase profits. This type of fraud may lower consumers' confidence as inferior products can affect brand reputation. To address this problem, there is a need to devise a method that can efficiently distinguish Basmati rice grown in regions that are famous versus the regions that are not suitable for their production. Therefore, in this investigation, thirty-six samples of Basmati rice were collected from two zones of Punjab province (one known for Basmati rice) of Pakistan which is the major producer of Basmati rice. The elemental composition of rice samples was assessed using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry and an organic elemental analyzer, whereas data on δ13C was acquired using isotopic ratio-mass spectrometry. Regional clustering of samples based on their respective cultivation zones was observed using multivariate data analysis techniques. Partial least squares-discriminant analysis was found to be effective in grouping rice samples from the different locations and identifying unknown samples belonging to these two regions. Further recommendations are presented to develop a better model for tracing the origin of unidentified rice samples.

A cross-sectional survey on fruit bat-human interaction in Pakistan; one health perspective.

OBJECTIVE: Several factors, such as residential area topography, population density, and lack of infrastructure, were hypothesized to contribute toward respondents' knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding disease transmission. The present study was designed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and perception of human-fruit bat interaction by student respondents located in ten districts within the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in Pakistan. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted by trained enumerators in academic institutions using a structured questionnaire among student respondents (n = 1466), living in two topographically distinct (Mountainous and Plain) residential regions of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provinces in Pakistan regarding their history of bat encounters. RESULTS: Our study revealed that 71.4% of the 1466 respondents had observed bats in their geographic region. 21% of our survey respondents reported bat bites incidents over their lifetime, but only 40% actively sought medical care for wound management despite reporting they had a close family member that had contracted rabies (27-35%). Our generalized linear models (GLMs) highlighted that a respondent residing in a residential region had a greater association with reporting a suspected bat bite over their lifetime and reported rabies victims in both near and extended family members (OR = -0,85, p-value = 0.03, 95% CI). This appeared to be due to delaying consulting a doctor or medical facility for treatment following a suspected bat bite in the topographic residential group as compared to the respondents in the provincial residential group (OR 1.12, p-value = 0.04, 95% CI). CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate the necessity of a One Health comprehensive surveillance system in Pakistan for emerging and re-emerging zoonotic pathogens in Pteropodidae.

Study of the prevalence of tobacco consumption among apparently healthy adult males in an urban area.

Background: Keeping in view the role of tobacco consumption as a modifiable risk factor in various diseases and gaps in scientific knowledge among the apparently healthy adult male population in India, the researchers chose to undertake this study. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among apparently healthy adult males employed in various government offices to determine the prevalence of tobacco consumption. The minimum sample size to estimate a 95% confidence interval for the prevalence of tobacco consumption with 5% absolute precision was calculated to be 340. However, 500 subjects were included in the study. The tool used for data collection was the "personal interview technique." Standard statistical methods were utilized for data analysis. Results: The overall mean age (standard deviation (SD)) of the study subjects was 30.96 yrs (4.32). Overall, the mean (SD) of number of years of tobacco use was 5.64 years (1.98). The mean (SD) of number of cigarettes smoked per day was 6.36 (3.09). The prevalence of current smokers showed a statistically significant increase from the age groups of 20-29 yrs to 50-59 yrs (P < 0.001). All subjects in the study were able to name at least three harmful effects of tobacco consumption. The overall mean amount spent on tobacco consumption per month was Rs 536.97 (1.44% of basic salary). Overall, the most common reason for smoking was peer pressure, where 40 (93.02%) gave this reason. Of forty-three tobacco users, 27 (62.79%) expressed a desire to quit tobacco consumption. The most common reason for expressing a desire to quit tobacco was the ill effects of tobacco consumption, where 23 (85.18%) tobacco users gave this reason. Conclusion: Our study on the prevalence of tobacco consumption among government employees provides an adequately clear picture of this public health epidemic in India. There is an immediate need for target group-specific policies for tobacco control, which should be integrated with the relevant national health programs at all levels.

Clinico-epidemiological study of an outbreak of typhoid in North India.

Introduction: Typhoid fever is endemic in India. There have been various outbreaks of typhoid fever reported from different parts of India. Considering the outbreak potential of typhoid, the present study was undertaken wherein an outbreak of typhoid occurred in a city in northern India. Methodology: The study design used was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Detailed information was obtained from each reported case. Active case finding surveys were conducted. Case definitions for suspect, probable, and confirmed case taken for our study, have already been validated by the World health organisation (WHO). All patients were subjected to requisite investigations. A sanitary survey was carried out to locate defects in water supply and sewage disposal. Record of bacteriological survey of water samples from the area was scrutinized. Descriptive epidemiology of cases was carried out. Results: Attack rate was 16.1% and 17.4% among men and women, respectively. Fever was present in 52 (69.3%) cases. The epidemic curve displayed a sudden peak and an abrupt fall of cases. This is suggestive of a common point source outbreak. There were no fatalities. Sanitary survey teams found a sewage leak in the locality where maximum cases were reported. Lab reports tested positive for salmonella species in water. The outbreak was promptly controlled after repair of the leaking sewage pipeline; and provision of alternative source of water supply. Conclusion: This study reemphasises the requirement of a basic public health measure and infrastructure, that is, water quality monitoring by concerned authorities to break the chain of transmission of typhoid fever.

Engineered resistance and risk assessment associated with insecticidal and weeds resistant transgenic cotton using wister rat model.

Stacking multiple genes into cotton crop to cop up multiple biotic stresses such as insects and weeds is a promising tool to save crop from losses. Transgenic cotton variety, VH-289, with double Bt and cp4EPSPS genes under the control of 35S promoter was used for the expression analyses and biosafety studies. The transgenic cotton plants were screened through PCR amplification of fragments, 1.7 kb for Cry1Ac, 582 bp for Cry2A and 250 bp for cp4EPSPS; which confirmed the presence of all genes transformed in transgenic cotton. The Cry1Ac + Cry2A and cp4EPSPS proteins were quantified through ELISA in transgenic cotton plants. The Glyphosate assay performed by spraying 1900 mL per acre of glyphosate Roundup further confirmed complete survival of transgenic cotton plants as compared to the non-transgenic cotton plants and all weeds. Similarly, insect infestation data determined that almost 99% insect mortality was observed in controlled field grown transgenic cotton plants as compared to the non-transgenic control plants. Evaluation of effect of temperature and soil nutrients availability on transgene expression in cotton plants was done at two different cotton growing regions, Multan and Lahore, Pakistan and results suggested that despite of higher temperature in Multan field, an increased level of Cry and cp4EPSPS proteins was recorded due to higher soil organic matter availability compared to Lahore field. Before commercialization of any transgenic variety its biosafety study is mandatory so, a 90 days biosafety study of the transgenic cotton plants with 40% transgenic cottonseeds in standard diet showed no harmful effect on wister rat model when studied for liver function, renal function and serum electrolyte.

Rising trend of dengue in urban areas: A challenge.

Context: Dengue, a mosquito-borne illness, is endemic over 100 countries around the world. Dengue cases have been on rise in India in the past decade. The present study was conducted to describe dengue cases of a ward in an urban area. Aims: To analyse the 5-year trend of cases of dengue fever, the 5-year trend of disease burden attributable to dengue as a proportion of all consultations, and the 5-year trend of mortality attributable to dengue as a proportion of all deaths in an urban area. Settings: The present study is a retrospective record-based study, carried out from January 2014 to December 2019. Material and Methods: Descriptive analysis was used to describe the cases. Standard statistical tools such as Chi square for linear trends were utilised for data analysis. Results: Except for a marginal dip in the year 2017, we observed that the trend of dengue significantly increased during the period of our study (Chi square for linear trend = 217.54; P = 0). We also observed a generally significantly increasing trend in burden of dengue as a disease, measured as a proportion of all consultations (Chi square for linear trend = 14302.72; P = 0). Mortality attributable to dengue measured as a ratio of deaths because of dengue and deaths because of all causes also shows a generally increasing trend with a slight decrease in 2018 (Chi square for linear trend = 371.24; P = 0). Conclusion: Dengue cases and the percentage of consultations attributable to dengue show an increasing trend over the past 5 years.

Stock market comovements among Asian emerging economies: A wavelet-based approach.

Stock market, is one of the most important financial market which has a close relationship with a country's economy, due to which it is often called the barometer of the economy. Over the past 25 years, the stock markets have been affected by different global economic shocks. Various researchers have analyzed different aspects of these effects one by one, however, this study is an assessment of stock market interrelationship of emeriging Asian economies which include most of the East Asian, and Southeast Asian emerging economies with special focus on China for past decades during which different crisis occurred. We used Morgan Stanley capital international (MSCI) daily indices data for each stock market and compared Chinese stock market with the stock markets of India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. We analyzed the data through the individual wavelet power spectrum, cross-wavelet transform and wavelet coherence, to determine the correlation and volatility among the selected stock markets. These model have the power to analyze co-movements among these countries with respect to both frequency and time spaces. Our findings show that there are co-movement patterns of higher frequencies during the crises periods of 1997, 2008 and 2015. The dependency strength among the considered economies is noted to increase in the crisis periods, which implies increased short- and long-term benefits for the investors. From a financial point of view, it has been determined that the co-movement strength among the emerging economies of Asia may have an effect on the VaR (Value at Risk) levels of a multi-country portfolio. Furthermore, the stock market of China shows a high correlation with the other six Asian stock emerging markets in both high and low-frequency spectrums. The association of the south and east Asian stock market with Chinese stock markets show the interconnection of these economies with the economy of China since past two decades. These findings are useful for investors, portfolio managers and the policymaker around the globe.

Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey of canine rabies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Province of Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the extent of knowledge and understanding of rabies disease in rural and urban communities of Pakistan. It also identified malpractices after suspected dog bite that might pose a risk for humans contracting rabies. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted (n = 1466) on people having different age groups and educational levels in four different geographic regions of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in Pakistan. Knowledge, attitude, and practices of people were assessed using a structured questionnaire. We used a bivariate and multivariate analysis to study the association between rabies related mortalities in near or extended family members and different risk behaviors. RESULTS: Our results demonstrate that the majority of the juvenile population (less than 18 years of age) were not aware of the clinical signs of rabies in animals. 75% of the total respondents were not vaccinated against rabies, 60% did not seek a doctor's advice after a suspected animal bite, and 55% had inadequate health care facilities for rabies patients in local hospitals. Respondents that had pets at home had not vaccinated (38%; p < 0.05; odds ratio 1.58) themselves against rabies due to lack of knowledge and awareness of pre-exposure prophylaxis for rabies (51%; p < 0.05; odds ratio 1.25). They also tend to not visit doctor after suspected bite (52%; p < 0.05; odds ratio 1.97), which may had resulted in more deaths (65%; p < 0.05; odds ratio 1.73) of someone in their near or extended family due to rabies. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of knowledge about the nature of rabies disease and prophylaxis has contributed to increase of rabies related deaths. Inadequate health care facilities and poor attitude of not seeking medical attention after suspected dog bite are the major reasons of rabies related deaths. These findings could help in devising a targeted management strategy and awareness program to control and reduce the incidence of human rabies related deaths in Pakistan.

Performance Evaluation of a Carbon Nanotube Sensor for Fatigue Crack Monitoring of Metal Structures.

This article describes research that investigated the ability of a carbon nanotube (CNT) sensor to detect and monitor fatigue crack initiation and propagation in metal structures. The sensor consists of a nonwoven carrier fabric with a thin film of CNT that is bonded to the surface of a structure using an epoxy adhesive. The carrier fabric enables the sensor to be easily applied over large areas with complex geometries. Furthermore, the distributed nature of the sensor improves the probability of detecting crack initiation and enables monitoring of crack propagation over time. Piezoresistivity of the sensor enables strains to be monitored in real time and the sensor, which is designed to fragment as fatigue cracks propagate, directly measures crack growth through permanent changes in resistance. The following laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the sensor: (1) continuous crack propagation monitoring, (2) potential false positive evaluation under near-threshold crack propagation conditions, and (3) crack re-initiation detection at a crack-stop hole, which is a commonly used technique to arrest fatigue cracks. Real-time sensor measurements and post-mortem fractography show that a distinguishable resistance change of the sensor occurs due to fatigue crack propagation that can be quantitatively related to crack length. The sensor does not show false positive responses when the crack does not propagate, which is a drawback of many other fatigue sensors. The sensor is also shown to be remarkably sensitive to detecting crack re-initiation.

Impact of Hajj on the S. pneumoniae carriage among Indian pilgrims during 2016- a longitudinal molecular surveillance study.

BACKGROUND: The population flow dynamics of Hajj increases the probability of pneumococcal acquisition and amplification among Hajis. This multi-site longitudinal molecular surveillance study was designed to assess the impact and potential variations of pneumococcal carriage in a single cohort of pre and post-Hajj pilgrims from India. METHOD: A total of 3228 pre and post-Hajj, nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs were collected from 807 pilgrims with an interval of 40 ±â€¯5 days. The carriage was detected by culture and qmPCR. Quellung test, mPCR-FAF, PCRseqTyping, and MLST was used for typing. Antibiogram was performed by MIC method. RESULTS: An increased incidence of pneumococcal carriage was detected in post Hajj cohort by qmPCR (19% vs 21.8%) (p-value = 0.0487) and culture (6.5% vs 8.2%) (p-value = 0.0645). Fragment analysis could identify multiple serotype carriage in 76 pilgrims. Increase in drug resistance was also observed in post-hajj cohort for Tetracycline (29% vs 51%), Erythromycin (26% vs 46%) and Levofloxacin (6% vs 17%). Multidrug resistant strains in post Hajj group was 32% compared to 11% in pre Hajj group (p-value = 0.0002). CONCLUSION: Our results confirm high acquisition rate of multidrug-resistant S. pneumoniae in Hajj pilgrims and highlight its potential spread to home countries upon their return. Surveillance studies are needed to evaluate modifiable factors associated with carriage.

Evaluation of two cotton varieties CRSP1 and CRSP2 for genetic transformation efficiency, expression of transgenes Cry1Ac + Cry2A, GT gene and insect mortality.

Expression of the transgene with a desirable character in crop plant is the ultimate goal of transgenic research. Transformation of two Bt genes namely Cry1Ac and Cry2A cloned as separate cassette under 35S promoter in pKHG4 plant expression vector was done by using shoot apex cut method of Agrobacterium. Molecular confirmation of putative transgenic cotton plants for Cry1Ac, Cry2A and GT gene was done through PCR and ELISA. Transformation efficiency of CRSP-1 and CRSP-2 was calculated to be 1.2 and 0.8% for Cry1Ac while 0.9 and 0.6% for Cry2A and 1.5 and 0.7% for GTG respectively. CRSP-1 was found to adopt natural environment (acclimatized) earlier than CRSP-2 when exposed to sunlight for one month. Expression of Cry1Ac, Cry2A and GTG was found to be 1.2, 1 and 1.3 ng/µl respectively for CRSP-1 as compared to CRSP-2 where expression was recorded to be 0.9, 0.5 and 0.9 ng/µl respectively. FISH analysis of the transgenic CRSP-1 and CRSP-2 demonstrated the presence of one and two copy numbers respectively. Similarly, the response of CRSP-1 against Glyphosate @1900 ml/acre was far better with almost negligible necrotic spot and efficient growth after spray as compared to CRSP-2 where some plants were found to have necrosis and negative control where the complete decay of plant was observed after seven days of spray assay. Similarly, almost 100% mortality of 2nd instar larvae of Heliothis armigera was recorded after three days in CRSP-1 as compared CRSP-2 where insect mortality was found to be less than 90%. Quantitatively speaking non transgenic plants were found with 23-90% leaf damage by insect, while CRSP-1 was with less than 5% and CRSP-2 with 17%. Taken together CRSP1 was found to have better insect control and weedicide resistance along with its natural ability of genetic modification and can be employed by the valuable farmers for better insect control and simultaneously for better production.