Promotion of Food and Nutrition Security Through Farm Technologies and Behavioural Change Communication, Targeting Women.

Dietary diversification through crop diversification in a farming community is a useful low-cost strategy for combating micronutrient (Mn) deficiencies (hidden hunger) in Indian diets. With advocacy and awareness, even farmers with small and marginal land holdings can be persuaded to divert small pieces of land from traditional crops, to MN-dense crops like vegetables, fruits, pulses, and millets. Backyard poultry with high egg-yielding birds is a good option to promote, since eggs are highly nutritious. To ensure that this farm produce is primarily consumed at home and only excess sold, there has to be a robust strategy of behavioural change communication. Educational intervention/technology transfer can be through a combination of centralised training programmes, hands-on training in farms, as well as through distribution of simple educational pamphlets. Since nutrition security goes beyond food security and includes safe environment, drinking water, and health care, the educational package should be a holistic one. Pregnant women and mothers with under 24-month-old children (the first 1000 days after conception) are the most effective group to target. Recent studies including the one reported here in a tribal community show that such a strategy can help crop diversification, as well as marked improvement in the mothers' understanding of health, food, and nutrition. Significant improvement in household vegetable consumption can also be achieved.

Nutritionally sensitive agriculture-an approach to reducing hidden hunger.

Cereal-based diets of the people in developing countries are qualitatively deficient in micronutrients-vitamins and minerals-due to low intake of vegetables, fruits, legumes and foods of animal origin. Consumption of nutritious millets has also come down in India. Calorie sufficiency may ensure protein sufficiency (though not protein quality), but it does not ensure adequacy of micronutrients. Studies in several countries in Asia, and India show that with education and advocacy even farmers with small and marginal land holdings can be persuaded to raise homestead vegetables and fruits gardens and increase household vegetables consumption. Backyard poultry also has good acceptance and impact on household egg consumption. For best results, the community, especially the mothers have to be educated about the importance of nutrition for health and wellbeing. Studies done by the authors in the villages of Medak district, of the South Indian state of Telangana, show remarkable improvement in the knowledge of food, nutrition, hygiene and health of mothers with children under 3 years of age, with education-behavioural change communication. Impact of nutrition gardens and backyard poultry with high egg-yielding breeds had positive impact on the household consumption of vegetables and eggs.

MHD Two-Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer between Two Inclined Parallel Plates in a Rotating System.

Two-phase magnetohydrodynamic convective flow of electrically conducting fluid through an inclined channel is studied under the action of a constant transverse magnetic field in a rotating system. The fluids in the two phases are steady, incompressible, laminar, immiscible, and electrically conducting, having different densities, viscosities, and thermal and electrical conductivities. The transport properties of both the fluids are assumed constant. The bounding infinite inclined parallel plates are maintained at different constant temperatures, making an angle ϕ with the horizontal. Approximate solutions for velocity and temperature distributions are obtained by using a straightforward regular perturbation technique. An in-depth study has been done on the effects of rotation parameter, Hartmann number, inclination angle, the ratio of electrical conductivities, and viscosities of two fluids on the flow. It is observed that the effect of increasing rotation is to decrease the primary velocity. Further it is noticed that as the rotation increases, the secondary velocity increases for smaller rotation, while for larger rotation it decreases. It is also found that the temperature distribution decreases as the rotation increases.

Foreign bodies in the upper aero-digestive tract.

Foreign bodies in the upper aero-digestive tract pose major challenges to the otolaryngologist in both diagnosis and management. Aspirated and ingested foreign bodies are often emergencies, leading to inadequate study and poorly prepared, improper attempts at removal. The authors share their experience in managing upper aero-digestive tract foreign bodies in Omani population at a district hospital, present a statistical review of 58 cases, and highlight certain critical scenarios as well as cultural variations specific to the region.

Reversible cardio-pulmonary changes due to adeno-tonsilar hypertrophy.

Adeno-tonsillar hypertrophy, with signs of upper airway obstruction is a common presentation in ENT clinics. Recently it is identified as a major cause of sleep apnea syndrome. Several isolated case reports of pulmonary hypertension and corpulmonale appeared in the literature. The authors report two such children aged less than 2 years with cardio-pulmonary changes occurring secondary to chronic adeno-tonsillar hypertrophy that were successfully treated with the surgical removal.

Treacher Collins syndrome with acute airway obstruction.

Treacher Collins syndrome presents with cranio-facial deformities of variable expressions and severity, but rarely is it associated with acute airway obstruction of such severity that it necessitates surgical intervention. The authors describe their experience with such a neonate, who presented with acute airway obstruction successfully managed with a tracheostomy. The relevant English literature is reviewed.

Thyroid hormone profile in peritransplant period in live donor kidney transplantation.

Chronic renal failure, characterised by two factors acting in opposite directions with respect to the serum thyroid homone levels was chosen for the study. Healthy controls, donors undergoing nephrectomy and renal transplant recipients were studied. In transplant recipients, presurgical levels of total thyroxine(TT4), free triiodothyronine(FT3) and free thyroxine(FT4) were lower than controls, and immediately after the release of arterial clamps, there was an upsurge of total triiodothyronine (TT3), TT4, FT3 and FT4 due to administered and/or endogeneously secreted catecholamines. The levels of the 7th day were comparable to the presurgical levels. The changes observed in donors and recipients were similar indicating that the hormonal changes observed are mostly due to surgical stress. Recovery in the hormonal status did not start in the first week of posttransplant period.

Endoscopic sphenopalatine ganglion block for pain relief.

The anaesthetic effect of the sphenopalatine (SPG) block has been well utilized for intranasal topical anaesthesia but the analgesic efficacy of (SPG) block, though well documented in literature, has not been put into practice. The methods available for SPG block till date were blind as they do not visualize the foramen. Nasal endoscopies have been used to visualize the foramen for an effective block. The authors present their experience with the endoscopic sphenopalatine ganglion block for pain relief in head and neck malignancies and neuralgias.

The indications and complications of pectoralis major myocutaneous flap reconstruction in head and neck surgery-our experience.

Most of the head and neck cancer patients in India present to the Otolaryngologist, Head and Neck surgeon in the advanced stages of their disease. Extensive resection followed by acceptable morphological & functional reconstruction is the goal for the surgeon. Use of the pectoralis major myocutaneous (PMMC) flap enables extensive ablative procedures to be carried out followed by immediate and reliable reconstruction. Thirty consecutive cases of biopsy proven squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region were studied. All underwent extensive resection of the tumour with pectoralis major myocutaneous flap reconstruction, with preor post-operative external irradiation. This study concentrates on the indications for and complications encountered with the use of the pectoralis major myocutaneous flap. Also included is an extensive review of the literature relating to the complications encountered with the use of this method of reconstruction.

Familial Treacher-Collins syndrome.

The major congenital malformations of the first and second branchial arch derivatives such as mandibulofacial dysostosis have a genetic basis. Treacher-Collins syndrome is transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait, although many cases occur as spontaneous mutations. The characteristics are hypoplasia of the malar, mandibular and maxillary bones, antimongoloid slanting of the palpebral fissures and a receding chin. The aural findings include malpositioning or maldevelopment of the pinna or external auditory meatus, an atretic bony plate instead of tympanic membrane, or ossicular malformations. Five members of a Hindu family affected by Treacher-Collins syndrome spanning three generations are examined in detail, with special reference to their hearing.

Socio-economic determinants of fertility in some countries of Asia.

PIP: An attempt is made in this analysis to determine the individual contribution of 6 factors--health variables, educational variables, variables showing status of women, economic variables, modernization variables, and family planning program performance variables--in determining the level of fertility on the basis of available data for 13 Asian countries. Path analysis and stepwise regression analysis were used. The pattern of the interrelationship between different categories of the variables which are affecting fertility and family planning performance are schematically represented in a chart. The model assumes that socioeconomic development of a country is a precondition for further mortality and fertility decline. The application of the model to any empirical situation calls for the determination of the indicators of the output variable (fertility) and other explanatory factors such as socioeconomic development, modernization, and health variables. For this study only 13 developing countries with 11 variables that are highly correlated with the fertility variables for the year 1975 were selected. 2 measures of fertility, i.e., total fertility rate (TFR) and crude birthrate (CBR) were taken for the purpose of the analysis and are denoted by Xo. The important background variables linked to fertility decline were literacy, urbanization, gross national product (GNP) per capita, and economically active female population in that order. Infant mortality and family planning were the most proximate variables to fertility. One of the reasons that fertility levels varied among the countries was that most of the countries have not as yet crossed the lower limits of the threshold zones with respect to most of the indicators. Except for 3 or 4 of the countries, none of the countries had entered the threshold zone for all the indicators. Particularly countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan were far below the lower limit of threshold zone in respect to all of the indicators, and in these countries the fertility declines were very low. Countries like Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore had already crossed the threshold zones for almost all of the indicators, and there has been a rapid decline in fertility in these countries. Countries like Sri Lanka and the Philippines have entered the threshold zone only for some of the indicators and hence experienced only moderate fertility decline. As the data used for the analysis are of limited reliability, the findings should be taken only as tentative.^ieng

Quantitative study of the reaction between quinones and iron(II) in phosphoric acid medium.

A simple method is described for the determination of some quinones with ammonium iron(II) sulphate, by titration potentiometrically or with cacotheline, Methylene Blue, Methylene Green, thionine, Toluidine Blue, Azure A, Azure C or Azure-2-eosin as redox indicators. The reverse titrations can be used for estimation of iron(II). Alternatively, excess of iron (II) can be added and the iron(III) produced determined colorimetrically with thiocyanate.