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Hypertension is a potential risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. With increasing age there is differential rise of systolic and diastolic blood pressure leading to development of various hypertension subtypes which have its own clinical implications. Present study assessed distribution and risk factors of hypertensive subtypes in the hill tribe of Mizoram.

Objective:The present study aims to find out the mutational prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter(Pfcrt) gene in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India. Methods:To fulfil the objective of the study, a total of 54 P. falciparummalaria positive samples were attempted for genotyping of Pfcrtgene using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct DNA sequencing method. Results:The K76T mutation was observed in 77.78% cases followed by M74I (61.11%), N75E (61.11%) and C72S (16.67%). Triple mutant allele M74I+N75E+K76T was found in 61.11% P. falciparumfield isolates. Double mutant allele C72S+K76T was seen among 16.67% samples. Mutation studies have shown existence of three different haplotypes of which two were associated with chloroquine resistance. The haplotype CVIET was found preponderance and circulated in all four districts. The other haplotype SVMNT was observed only in Karbi Anglong district of Assam. Maximum haplotype diversity was also recorded from Karbi Anglong district of Assam. Conclusion:Our study has confirmed high prevalence of mutant Pfcrtgenotypes associated with chloroquine resistance in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India.

AbstractA study was conducted in a Community Development Block area, a valley between the offshoots of the Chilarai Hills, situated at a distance of 45 Km from Guwahati city. Eight villages were selected in the block for the study and family members of every 4thfamily of each village was interviewed and clinically examined for goiter. Total numbers of individuals examined were 1424. Overall goiter prevalence (TGR=Total goiter rate) was 33.84% of which visible goiter rate was 5.82% (WHO 1979 and PAHO 1984 classification). Age prevalence of the goiter was highest in 14-<19years with female preponderance. Single case each of Cretinism, Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism showing correlation with the results of circulatory thyroid hormone was detected in the target population. 97.3% of the head of the families were not aware of salt iodisation. Majority (91.49%) of the head of the families did not consider goiter as a health problem. Mean urinary iodine excretion level was 48.03 microgram/g of Creatinine in the sampled population. Average water iodine level in the study area was 0.745 microgram/L of drinking water. Mean iodine content of soil in the study area was 1 ppm. Assessment of current iodine nutrition status of the population is essential to know the effective implementation of salt iodisation in the locality.

AbstractAn investigation of malaria outbreak was carried out in North Lakhimpur district, Assam, during the month of June, 1999. The affected areas are foothills bordering Arunachal Pradesh. Study population are mostly landless migrants newly settled from the adjoining districts of Assam. Apart from agriculture, the people also engage in forest related activities. A total of 342 subjects were clinically examined and peripheral blood samples were taken, out of which 131 were found positive for malaria showing SPR of 38.3. Plasmodiumfalciparum was the predominant infection forming SfR of 25.14. All the age groups and sex were found affected with malaria and the positivity was significantly high in the age group 0 to 10 yrs in comparison to other age groups. A comparison of malaria prevalence in foot-hill and non foot-hill area population depicts that prevalence of malaria is prominent in the foot-hill population. Among migrants, malaria cases are common as many of them involve in forest related activities and use to stay overnight in hutments which facilitates man vector contact immensely. In entomological survey, the recognized malaria vector, An minimuswas detected and per trap night density was recorded to be 15.5 in Bijuli Basti and 11.0 in Gomnadi area. This vector was found breeding in slow moving streams and irrigation channels. The retrospective data analysis of NAMP reveal that the two PHCs namely, Boginadi and Nowboicha which are under current epidemic have shown high API during the preceeding years (1994-98). An increasing trend of slide positivity rate has been demonstrated from January to April 1999. Due to inadequate rain fall in the previous months (March-May, 99), the streams flowing down from the Arunachal hills became very slow moving in the vicinity of the affected areas facilitating profuse breeding of vector mosquito, An minimuswhich is presumed to have compounded the factor.

AbstractA cross sectional study was done on 1014 (Male 511 and female 503) tea garden workers of Assam to assess their nutritional status in terms of Body Mass Index (BMI) and central obesity. Normal BMI was observed only in 33.63 percent workers (In males 42.27 percent and in females 24.85 percent). It was observed that BMI decreased with the increase in age in both the sexes which was statistically significant (male F=3.33, P=0.019 and female F=7.82, P=0.000). As per WHO classification grade-I thinness was detected in 31.31% males and 33.2% of females. 16.05% males and 17.69% females had grade-II thinness. Severe degree of malnutrition was observed in 16.96% of the study subjects (In males 9.98% and in females 24.06%). Though waist to hip ratio (WHR) was below normal in both the sexes yet in males it showed an increasing trend with the increase in age and the difference was statistically significant (F=5.57, P=0.001).

AbstractTwenty six villages, having 1904 households, in five Primary Health Centres of four districts covering seven tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland states of North-east India were surveyed and information on demography, sleeping habits, pattern and practices related to mosquito bed net use were elicited. Use of bed nets and washing frequency was more pronounced in ethnic tribes of Nagaland. Notes of Arunachal Pradesh were the lowest (65.6 % households) and Angamis of Nagaland were the highest (100 % households) users of bed nets amongst the surveyed communities. Women and children below 15 years of age were more regular users of bed nets in all the communities. Majority, ranging from 93.4 to 96.3%, in Nagaland perceived insecticide treated bed nets better than indoor residual spray. Since mosquito bed nets are, by and large, culturally acceptable in the northeastern region of India and one of the regional malaria mosquito vectors, Anopheles dirusis exophilic, the introduction of ITBNs in tribal areas of North-east India may prove as an useful strategy for malaria control.

To estimate the vectorial capacity of Anopheles dirus, the main vector of forest malaria in the northeastern region of India, in order to gain an understanding of entomological factors related to malaria transmission in forest-fringe areas of Assam, India, an isolated village in the tropical rain forest-fringed area in the district of Dibrugarh, Assam, under the influence of An. dirus alone was studied. Data on various entomological variables required for computation of the vectorial capacity were generated in each month from June 1999 to May 2000 in the field using standard techniques. Malaria prevalence was also studied during the same period in the study village and correlated with the estimated vectorial capacity of An. dirus. Vectorial capacity of An. dirus was highest, 0.779 for Plasmodium vivax (Pv) and 0.649 for Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), during the hot-monsoon season (June-September) and decreased to 0.08 (Pv) and 0.07(Pf) in the temperate postmonsoon season (October-November) before attaining zero values in the cool-dry season (December-February). With increasing temperature in the temperate premonsoon season (March-May), vectorial capacity recorded was 0.119 and 0.82 for Pv and Pf, respectively. Significant positive correlation was seen between the estimated vectorial capacity of An. dirus and the number of new Pf (r = 0.86, p < 0.001) and Pv (r = 0.69, p < 0.02) cases in the study village in different months. Thus, this study highlights the pattern of malaria transmission by An. dirus in a forest-fringe area of Assam that begins in March, peaks in July/August, subsides by November, and remains interrupted between December and February. Measures for controlling malaria in forest-fringe areas should be scheduled accordingly.

AbstractInvestigations on treatment seeking behaviour of the affected communities prior to / during malaria outbreak in Jorhat district of Assam, India revealed 63.7% people initially approached to unqualified village level practitioners as compared to only 25.1% reporting to qualified allopathic doctors (government or private medical practitioners) for the treatment of fever. Clinical recovery rate was nearly double (82.1%) in those who took treatment from qualified doctors than the other group (43.3%), The difference being highly significant (p <0.001). In blood smear examination of people, categorised according to source of treatment, up to 8 weeks after initial fever, slide positive rate (SPR) was highest (27.4%) in those who took treatment from unqualified village level practitioners followed by those remaining without any treatment (SPR 21.9%) and least in those seeking treatment from qualified doctors (SPR 18.6%). Treatment seeking pattern of the community, in general, and its implication on epidemic progression h3s been discussed.

AbstractThis study describes the prevalence and socio-environmental predictors of Ascaris lumbricoidesinfection in rural communities in Assam, India. Two sequential stool samples from 580 residents selected from three rural areas were examined for intestinal parasites. Information on many potential risk factors for infection was obtained by questionnaire from a respondent in each household studied. To control for confounding factors Cox’s proportional hazards analysis (assuming constant risk period) was used. In the overall multivariate model, open field defaecation was the only factor found independently associated with Ascarisinfection. There was no gender specific difference in overall prevalence of Ascarisinfection, however there was statistically significant declining trend in prevalence with increasing age in females. Implication of these results for the epidemiology and control of Ascarisinfection are briefly discussed.

AbstractTo study the effect of some socioeconomic factors on the number of living children, a random sample from rural areas of upper Assam were collected from eight villages of two Primary Health Centers. 150 mothers between 20 to 50 year age were interviewed to collect socioeconomic and demographic information. Total seven variables were included for analysis to determine its effect on number of living children of mother’s. Correlation among vari-ables shows that number of children was significantly correlated with mother’s age (0 418). mother’s education (-0.478), father’s education (-0.376), father’s occupation (-0.340) and mother’s occupation (-0.231). Step wise regression analysis of data indicates that mother’s age. her education and father’s and mother’s occupation arc significantly affecting the number of living children It in interesting to note that mother’s education makes its largest contribution to the fertility followed by her age where as father’s education plays lesser role than his occupation.

Abstract: Amphibian community structure in five tropical sites was studied using dominance, diversity, evenness indices, niche breadth and overlapping scores and association analysis. Ten species of amphibians with average density/ha varying from 8 to 49 in different sites were collected.Rana limnocharis andBufo melanostictus were respectively the dominant amphibia in paddy fields and other sites. Niche breadth scores indicatedRana limnocharis, Bufo melanostictus andRana cyanophlyctis as habitat generalists indicating wide tolerance to environmental gradients. Five frog speciesi.e. Rana tigerina, Microhyla ornata, Ramanella variegata, Uperedon systoma andPolypedates maculatus were considered habitat specialists indicating narrow tolerance to environmental gradients. Niche breadth scores were found to be a function of the cumulative relative abundance value of different species. The niches ofRana limnocharis andRana cyanophlyctis, Bufo melanostictus andBufo stomaticus showed maximum overlapping.Rana tigerina showed maximum niche overlapping withRana variegata in paddy fields and withMicrohyla ornata when all sites were taken together. The coefficient of community index was maximum between the paddy fields and minimum between the paddy fields and forest site.Rana tigerina occurred very sparsely and analysis of data indicates that its population are threatened and require conservation measure.

A total of 1316 strains of Salmonella belonging to 20 serotypes isolated at P.G.I. Chandigarh (India) were tested for drug resistance. Drug resistance was noticed in 494 (38.3%) of the strains; 194 (14.8%) of these strains were resistant to one drug, while 300 (23.5%) had multiple drug resistance. All isolated strains were sensitive to gentamicin, furazolidone and nalidixic acid.

AbstractThis study was conducted to assess the growth and nutritional status of school age children (6-14 years) of tea garden workers of Assam. Compared to NCHS standard and affluent Indian children, the mean height and weight of tea garden children was inferior at all ages. Assessment of nutritional status using WHO recommended anthropometric indicators revealed a high prevalence of malnutrition among tea garden school age children and malnutrition was both chronic and recent in nature. Prevalence of wasting, stunting and underweight was 21.2%, 47.4% and 51.7% respectively among the children in the age group of 6-8 years. Prevalence of stunting and thinness was 53.6% and 53.9% respectively among the children in the age group of 9-14 years age group.

AbstractDuring outbreak of diseases like malaria people have different perspective about health seeking behavior at community level due to increased consciousness and panic. A study was conducted among acute febrile patients attending the hospital to have an insight into knowledge and health seeking behavior of the subjects during an out break situation in Nagaon district of Assam with predesigned questionnaire and concurrent clinical and blood examination. A major fraction (95.7%) of the study subjects became aware about the occurrence of malaria. Out of them, 63.0% and 32.6% considered fever and fever with chill respectively as malaria symptoms. However, most of them did not know about the cause and transmission of the disease. About 60.3% of patients directly came to the public health facility, seeking remedy, 16.3% treated themselves by taking drugs from local pharmacy and 23.4% sought treatment from UVLP (untrained village level practitioner) and traditional practitioners. The overall SPR (slide positive rate) was 33.2% with higher percentage noticed in the age group of 10-15 years. Female subjects and tea garden workers community followed by tribal population had more SPR. Almost equal proportion of malaria positive cases (slide positive) visited the public health facility (32.4%) and other mode of health facility (34.3%) for their remedy. The study indicated the necessity of health education to the community regarding the transmission, preventive measures for malaria and about the symptom identification and self-reporting to the public health facility

This study reports a model of pulmonary paragonimiasis in outbred Wistar rats using the Indian strain of Paragonimus heterotremus isolated from the fresh water crab Barytelphusa lugubris collected from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Feeding metacercariae to the rats led to encapsulated adult worms in the lungs and pleural cavity. Some flukes migrated to the skeletal muscles of the hosts where they remained underdeveloped as immature flukes.

AbstractHuman ecology sometimes influences upon the abundance of some of the disease transmitting insect vectors. Studies conducted to know the prevalence of potential dengue vectors in the Northeastern part of India re veal that in urban, industrial and semiurban environment, the preponderance of the potential dengue vectors arc found to be considerably high. It is observed that the situations in which these Aedes mosquitoes survive or reproduce are created by man knowingly or unknowingly and as a result, human population residing in an around this environment are always at risk of acquiring dengue vims infection.

AbstractSystematic study was carried out on 733 children of 1 to 12 years age belonging lo tea garden worker of Assam for assessing their nutritional status in terms of anthropometric parameters. The anthropometric parameters are well comparable with that of National averages. Female children were found to be more well off in comparison to male There was slight retardation of growth upto 4 years in both male and female children in comparison to Indian standard, however they recoup or higher age.

AbstractFilariasis is endemic but mostly localized among the tea garden workers of Assam. To elucidate the cause of high transmission rate among tea garden labourer; with other parameters the socio-cultural habits were also studied A total of 281 families belonging to three tea gardens of Upper Assam were interviewed to know the demographic characteristics, social structure, knowledge about the disease and its vector, attitude towards treatment and prevention and willingness to participate in the control measures Less thin 505- heard about the name of filariasis but about 73.7% believe that it is some kind of disease Only 45.5% recognize the role of mosquitoes in transmission and 28 5% and 15.79c believe hydrocele and elephantiasis occur due to filariasis, respectively. Only 39-5% know that mosquito breed in stagnant water. 43% expects that only their employer or Government is responsible for decreasing the mosquito breeding source. Results of the study indicate that there is a big gap in the knowledge towards filariasis and its transmission The attitude and practice toward reducing man mosquito contact needs more employer and health education. Effort to enhance community participation and personal involvement also needs to be increased.

The article reports that during August 2011, the total quantum of mulberry raw silk transaction at silk exchanges of Karnataka indicated a decrease of 7.4 and 2.0% in quantity and a decrease of 5.9 in quantity compared to August 2010 and July 2011, respectively. It cites the silk exchange in Bangalore, India and the quantum of bivoltine silk transacted in Karnataka. The transaction of raw silk is also noted.

The article reports that the exports target of 988 million U.S. dollars has been set by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India for the year 2011-2012. The export of 189.16 million U.S. dollars has been achieved during April-July period for 2011-2012. A table showing the silk goods export earnings during April-July 2011-2012 compared to the same period in 2010-2011 is presented. The share of silk goods export in the overall textile exports and total exports is also noted.

The article reports on silk prices in India. An increase of 6.1 percent in quantity and 5.8 percent in value of mulberry raw silk transaction was recorded during July 2011. The prices of filature/cottage basin, charka, and dupion raw silks at the Bangalore Silk Exchange showed a decrease of 5.2, 3, and 18.3 percentages respectively. The average price for bivoltine reeling cocoons transacted at Ramanagaram Government Cocoon Market was at 202 Indian rupee per kilogram on July 2011.

The article provides a review of silk export and import in India. The Indian Ministry of Textiles has set a target of 988 million U.S. dollars in terms of silk goods exports. The U.S., France, and Germany are among the top importers of Indian silk goods. Export earnings through the major ports in India accounted to 122.31 million U.S. dollars against the total export earnings of 135.51 million U.S. dollars.

The article discusses news and developments in the silk industry in India in June 2011. An increase of 23.6 percent and a decrease of 7.8 percent in quantity were reported concerning mulberry raw silk transactions at silk exchanges of Karnataka in June 2011. An overview of prices of filiature/cottage basin, duplon ands charka raw silks at Bangalore Silk Exchange in June is provided. Also discussed is the average price for improved cross breed reeling cocoon.

The article provides an overview of the silk goods exports target of the Indian government for the year 2011-2012. It is projected that the value of silk goods exports for the period would reach 797 million U.S. dollars. Statistics are provided to illustrate the silk goods expert trends in India from April 2011 to May 2012. The leading importers of Indian silk goods are the U.S., Great Britain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), France and Germany.

The article examines issues and factors behind the fluctuation in prices of sericulture commodities. It explains the role of sericulture in the economic development of Indiais. Some factors affecting the sericulture activities are bad crop resulting in cocoon shortage and cheap Chinese imported silk. he article points out the close relation between prices of cocoon and raw silk.

The article analyzes the import and export of silk goods in India from 2009 to 2010. The silk and silk goods export earnings for the period reached 609.58 million U.S. dollars dipped by 9 percent in rupee terms. Exports to United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong elevated to 10.56 and 12.67 percent respectively. Exports of natural silk yarn from India decreased by 16.1 percent.

The article reports on an enlightenment programme and an awareness programme conducted by the Research Extension Centre and Department of Sericulture of Madakasira, India on March 9, 2012 and March 29, 2012 at H. M. Palli to motivate CB farmers to use bivoltine sericulture and to adopt new technologies. Smt. C. Aruna Kumari of Sericulture Anantapur explained the application of farm yard manure and recommended doses of chemical fertilizers to mulberry gardens during the enlightenment programme.

The article provides information on raw silk production from 2010 to 2011. Major producers of silk are reportedly in China and sericulture industries have been established in different countries, including Brazil, Bulgaria, and Egypt. The leading producers of silk in the world are China, India, Brazil, Thailand, and Uzbekistan. The overall product of all varieties of raw silk in India was 20,410 metric tons (MT) in the year 2010-2011.

The article reports on the progress of the sericulture industry worldwide, particularly India's raw silk production for 2009-2010. It mentions the country as being the second largest global raw silk producer with a 15.5 per cent share. It reports the consistent increase in the country's production for the last three years compared to the X Plan's first two years. The article also includes tables and graphs depicting the performance of India's Mulberry and Vanya silk production.

The article focuses on mulberry varieties for cultivation in India. It notes that mulberry breeders are seeking to improve leaf productivity and quality in order to raise cocoon productivity per unit area as the plant serves as the sole food plant of the silkworm Bombyx mori. The best mulberry varieties from several research institutes have been tested under the All India Coordinated Experiment for Mulberry (AICEM). One variety released by the Central Silk Board (CSB) is Victory-1 (V1).