Search

This article presents a fresh perspective on tea cultivation in Assam, negating the widely held belief that the British Empire's introduction to Assam tea symbolised societal advancement and economic growth. This article argues that the primary intention of the British was pure economic that catapulted the destruction of the thick forested areas, marginalised the native population and abolished their kingdoms. Despite this, colonial Assamese elites and mainstream industrialists have glorified the British tea venture. In this attempt of reviewing the history of Assam tea from an alternative point of view, efforts have also been made to analyse how the East India Company's desire to maintain its monopoly in the Chinese tea trade, the Calcutta Botanical Garden's desire to uphold the supremacy of the Chinese tea plant, and the military personnel's quest for new sources of tea played their roles in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Secondary fungal infection following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is a serious cause of concern as in majority of cases these are associated with devastating consequences. Invasive mucormycosis which was already prevalent in our country came back with a vengeance during the second wave of COVID-19. Methods: A 34-year-old male who had recovered from mild COVID disease developed invasive rhinosinusitis by two different fungi. The patient was followed up for clinical course, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. Results: This case illustrates a first of a kind of an invasive fungal rhinosinusitis caused by two different fungi: Schizophyllum commune (of phylum Basidiomycota) and Rhizopus arrhizus (of the Mucorales group) in a patient who had recovered from COVID-19. In this case, conventional methods of direct detection and culture only revealed S. commune. Sequencing after DNA extraction from the paraffin blocks was done due to strong clinical suspicion of invasive mucormycosis and R. arrhizus was detected in the tissue sections. Appropriate antifungals for extended duration ensued complete eradication of the infection. Conclusion: Host risk factors are to be taken into consideration while diagnosing fungal infection. One needs to look beyond the obvious when clinical diagnosis is not consistent with the etiological agent isolated and in this regard molecular tools are a great help in establishing the etiological agent conclusively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing state of health infrastructure and services, which is often poor in rural areas of the country is further faced with challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study attempts to provide some key insights on the impact of COVID-19 on utilisation of maternal healthcare services during the pandemic. The study used the mixed-method data, gathered through a cross-sectional study conducted in 2020 in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Currently, married women (n = 318) who were pregnant or had delivered a child were selected for the interview through a multi-stage sampling technique. Frequency distribution, bi-variate cross tabulation and logistic regression were performed. Of the eligible women during the pandemic, 86% have received regular antenatal care, 73% have delivered in a health facility even though the quality of service was poor; and only 37.6% received postnatal care within 42 days of delivery. 'Risk perception of women towards being infected with COVID-19' were found to be the most significant determinants of maternal healthcare utilisation. COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the quality and utilisation of maternal health services in rural West Bengal. The results suggest the need for better preparedness of healthcare facilities in terms of human resources and physical infrastructure; as well as educating the community through awareness (counter rumours) and through risk and behaviour change communication regarding COVID-19 protocols and community engagement to effectively manage utilisation of Maternal healthcare services during pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Iron-deficiency anemia among school-aged children is widespread in India. The efficacy of micronutrient and iron fortified school-served meals in reducing iron deficiency anemia has been demonstrated in randomized controlled trials in other parts of the globe. The current study evaluates its effectiveness in real-world Indian settings. Methods: Mid-day-Meal (MDM) programme provides free lunch to students of grades 1 to 8 in all public-funded Indian schools. An implementation research project fortified MDM of all public schools of 4 out of 8 sub-districts ("blocks") of Dhenkanal district of Odisha state with fortified rice kernel (FRK). All the schools of the other 4 blocks fortified with micronutrient powders (MNP)—both FRK and MNP containing equal amounts of supplementary iron and other micronutrients. Schools of 4 matched blocks of neighboring nonimplementing Angul district served as control. Cross-sectional representative samples of students were drawn from the 3 arms, before and after intervention (n = 1764 and n = 1640 respectively). Pre-post changes in anemia prevalence and hemoglobin levels were estimated in the sampled children using difference-in-difference analysis after controlling for inter-arm differences in socioeconomic status, and iron and deworming tablet consumptions. Results: Factoring in pre-post changes in control and adjusting for potential confounders, the proportion of children without anemia and mean hemoglobin improved by 1.93 (1.38, 2.24, P <.001) times and 0.24 (−0.03, 0.51, P =.083) g/dL in MNP; and 1.63 (1.18, 2.24, P =.002) times and 0.18 (−0.09, 0.45, P =.198) g/dL in FRK arms. Conclusions: Fortified MDM could effectively improve anemia status among Indian school-aged children under real-world conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Bleeding is the most dreadful and distressing complication of percutaneous nephrolithotomy, which can cause significant morbidity. Intravenous use of tranexamic acid to reduce bleeding complication is widely established. Our aim is to compare the result between the two groups using tranexamic acid intravenous and in irrigation solution. Materials and methods: A total of 160 patients were enrolled in this study. Patients were randomly allocated to two groups. Group 1 received 0.1% tranexamic acid solution (1000 mg in 1 L of irrigation solution (normal saline)). Group 2 received 1 g tranexamic acid intravenously in intraoperative period. Results: The mean estimated fall in haematocrit, mean estimated total blood loss and mean operative time in tranexamic acid irrigation group is significantly less compared to intravenous tranexamic acid group. No significant difference was found with regards to stone clearance. Conclusion: We found that tranexamic acid irrigation was safe and associated with reduced blood loss as compared to intravenous tranexamic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infection leads to two-layered pathology in time (a) immediate pathology and recovery or fatal ending and (b) long periods of remission followed by unexplained clinical expressions involving one or more systems with various clinical presentations, even leading to loss of lives. Among the common causative factors affecting nearly all organs and systems, oxygen radicals and oxygen-derived species (ROS) should rank conclusively on top. Objective: This clinical report, part of a community screening of unexplained clinical outcomes in post-COVID presentation, carries findings focusing on ROS production and possible ROS-induced damages. Materials and Methods: Flow cytometry was used to quantify the samples' total ROS, superoxide production, and apoptosis quantification. Results: Observations indicate unexplained nearly uniform enhanced ROS production in all these long COVID subjects, although clinical presentations varied from no complaints to the requirement of advanced interventions. Conclusion: Causative factors leading to raised oxygen-derived toxic intermediaries (ROS) in initiating these variable long COVID presentations are ill-understood yet possibly merit mass screenings and possible intense anti-oxidative therapy given that such antioxidant therapy through oral medications led to rapid lowering of ROS production and improvement of clinical presentations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of humans' health risk is an essential and most demanding aid in relevance to the process of decision-making. Accumulation of quality knowledge on the attributes of each and every available data, information and model parameters, involved in risk assessment, plays a crucial role in the process of evaluation. It is important to note that, most frequently, model parameters are imprecise due to the availability of limited data and knowledge. Under such circumstances, probability theory (PT) and the theory of fuzzy sets can be brought forth to deal with the emerging uncertainties. There is also a need to devise an amalgamate technique to perform health risk assessment under uncertainty. Although some different approaches are available in this regard, all approaches are situation or problem dependent and fail to address some specific issues. Therefore, this article presents a general amalgamate technique to address all the concerned issues, and, finally, health risk is carried out using this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SARS CoV2 virus is responsible for the pandemic of COVID-19 disease and has devastated the entire world. The COVID-19 disease has been responsible for huge number of morbidity and mortality in the world including India. Since there is no specific drug to cure this disease, research and development is going on to find a safe and effective vaccine to prevent the disease. According to the World Health Organization, there are 24 candidate vaccines which are in advance stages of development and 142 are in preclinical stages. There are various platforms in which this novel coronavirus vaccines are underdevelopment, for example, nonreplicating viral vector, RNA, DNA, inactivated, and subunit. In normal situation, it takes minimum 10-year time to develop a new vaccine from conception to first use in the market. In case of SARS CoV2 vaccine, all out efforts are made by all institutions and vaccine manufacturing companies with the help of respective regulatory authorities to reduce the time frame. In all probabilities, few vaccines would be developed in record time and expected to be in the market by the beginning of 2021. In India, there are six candidate vaccines which are in development and all are in various stages. There are several challenges during development and later once it becomes available for human use. This review is an attempt to briefly cover the present stages of development of various vaccines and the challenges that are likely to be encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coins are utility object mostly produced by the state for the use of day-do-day transactions, long-distance trade and sometimes as gifts. Hence, numismatic has mainly been used for the study of economic, political and administrative histories. But numismatic can also be used for the reconstruction of the material culture of our glorious past. By a minute study of our ancient and medieval coinage, we can get an impression about contemporary religious and cultural sensibilities of various ethnic societies. By examining the religious epithets and figures of gods and goddesses and other non-anthropogenic signs present on the coins, one can judge the religious affiliation of the state or the king. This article will address the issue of religious symbolism on medieval Northeast Indian dynastic coins like those of Tripura, Koch Behar and Ahom kingdoms and will try to ventilate how these kingdoms used coins to advocate their religio-cultural affinity as well as to maintain their sovereign stature for quite a long period in their respective domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on NSSO data sets, this study covers the period from 1993 to 2010 and focuses on a comparison of rural unemployment in Gujarat and West Bengal, chosen because of their contrasting characteristics. In the past few decades, Gujarat has emphasised growth through modern industrial production, while under a different ideological regime, West Bengal aimed to achieve agricultural growth, land reform and more egalitarian patterns of agricultural incomes. Recent evidence suggests that meanwhile Gujarat's agriculture has registered high growth in output during 2000–08, while West Bengal has failed to kick off industrialisation, despite making some pressing efforts. The article clearly identifies the limited scope for agriculture to provide full employment for all young rural people in India. However, given the important role of the agricultural sector in safeguarding national food security, it becomes obvious that apart from careful attention to agricultural developments, sustainable alternatives to traditional agricultural employment need to be activated. The concluding section therefore considers various policy options for tackling the risks of rural unemployment and underemployment in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Production of rice and wheat increased dramatically in India over the past decades, with reduced proportion of coarse cereals in the food supply.Objective: We assess impacts of changes in cereal consumption in India on intake of iron and other micronutrients and whether increased consumption of coarse cereals could help alleviate anemia prevalence.Methods: With consumption data from over 800 000 households, we calculate intake of iron and other micronutrients from 84 food items from 1983 to 2011. We use mixed-effect models to relate state-level anemia prevalence in women and children to micronutrient consumption and household characteristics.Results: Coarse cereals reduced from 23% to 6% of calories from cereals in rural households (10% to 3% in urban households) between 1983 and 2011, with wide variations across states. Loss of iron from coarse cereals was only partially compensated by increased iron from other cereals and food groups, with a 21% (rural) and 11% (urban) net loss of total iron intake. Models indicate negative association between iron from cereals and anemia prevalence in women. The benefit from increased iron from coarse cereals is partially offset by the adverse effects from antinutrients. For children, anemia was negatively associated with heme-iron consumption but not with iron from cereals.Conclusions: Loss of coarse cereals in the Indian diet has substantially reduced iron intake without compensation from other food groups, particularly in states where rice rather than wheat replaced coarse cereals. Increased consumption of coarse cereals could reduce anemia prevalence in Indian women along with other interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Civilian nonmissile penetrating brain injuries (CNPBIs) have specific characteristic features that are different from missile injuries. Our study presents our experiences on the characteristic features as well as management of such patients. Materials and Methods: We have retrospectively reviewed 11 consecutive patients with CNPBI, having only anterior skull base injury, managed in our institute during 4-year period. The mechanism of injury, clinical investigations, and complications were analyzed with more emphasis on diagnostic and treatment regimen. Results: The 11 cases included in our study comprised 10 males and 1 female. Majority (72.7%) of the patients were adults with a mean age of 27.5 years. The mechanisms of injury often include accidental fall, either onto a small-diameter sharp object (5 cases) or while carrying such an object in hand (2 cases). Other mechanisms were stabbing and accidental. Clinical manifestations included periorbital hematoma (10 cases, 45.5%) and cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea or orbitorrhea (4 cases, 18.2%) as well as signs of embedded foreign object (8 cases, 36.4%). We performed emergency craniotomy in 10 cases and skin debridement in 1 case. Postoperative complications were abscess (1 case), seizure (1 case), and traumatic carotid-cavernous fistula (1 case). Conclusion: Nonmissile civilian injuries are generally on the rise and therefore deserve more attention. We observed that clinical outcomes were excellent in 7 (Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) of 5) and good in the remaining 4 (GOS of 4) during 6 months–4 years (mean: 2.3 years) follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Haemophilia is an X-lined recessive disorder of coagulation that can affect any section of the society. Haemophilia is incurable and expensive lifelong disease; hence, the patient always brings in a financial crisis to manage its medication. In developing country like India the per capita health expenditure is 58 USD/year in 2012. The AHF therapy has been negligibly used in critical conditions of the disease. This study was undertaken to identify the social and economic dimensions that can influence the attitude of the medical practitioners for the choice of treatment therapy for a patient with haemophilia (PwH) in India. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional study was conducted by collecting the primary data from the randomly selected 50 medical practitioners who were having at least one PwH on weekly basis. The EFA method was applied to determine the major socioeconomic dimensions of the choice of therapy. Findings: Four major dimensions were explored in the study that have significant impact on the attitude of medical practitioners. The availability of the AHF therapy is the most important dimension for consideration of a therapy for PwH in India. Moreover, the patient safety profile, patient affordability profile, and the experience of medical practitioners are three more dimensions that established the positive impact on attitude. Research limitations/implications: The methodology has socioeconomic tools for analysis and applied instrument has only 15 items for factor analysis. Practical implications: Governing bodies to rectify the policies on rare diseases because of inadequate supply of medicines. Academics would also benefit greatly since it will add value to existing body of literature on haemophilia in Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of coinage and economy of any area has its own appeal. As they are not much affected by outline influence, so they often proceed along their own lines and thus can have significance for people trying to determine the general patterns of development. In precolonial phase of Indian history, the Ahom kingdom situated in the North-Eastern part demands special attention as it had its own glorious series of coinage. As a royal issue, the coins of Ahom kingdom were the emblems of royalty and symbolic majesty of the Ahom kings. The metals, the motifs as well as other accompanying details on the coins depict the details of faiths and customs adopted by the Ahom kingdom. In this write up, we will discuss the origin, growth, importance in contemporary economy and many other aspects of the Ahom coinage in a comprehensive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bismaleimide (BMI) resins are a new breed of thermosetting resins used mainly for high-temperature applications and have major usage in aerospace. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) studies have shown signatures of imide, C–N–C stretching, maleimide, and N–H stretching. These BMI polymer coatings were deposited on aluminum (Al) and mild steel substrates by sprinkling powers followed by baking. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetric studies showed the degradation temperature of these polymers around 370°C. Al coatings were deposited on BMI that is previously deposited on Al and mild steel to make a metal–BMI–metal trilayer. These trilayers can solve the problem charging of the aircraft bodies at high altitudes. Atomic force microscopy was done to determine the morphology of the surface. Roughness and thickness measurements of the BMI coatings were carried out by a surface profilometer. Vickers microhardness tests showed an increase in the hardness of the metal–BMI–metal trilayer. FTIR spectrum showed signatures of imides, C–N–C stretching, maleimide, and N–H stretching in BMI. Peak broadening indicates the release of the stress during thermal treatment of the coating. The coating is subject to variable Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet (APPJ) conditions, which improves the properties at high temperature. X-ray diffraction studies showed a hint of crystallinity on APPJ treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article necessarily explores the dissensions and differences arising from the British domination over the Tamil-speaking regions of the erstwhile Madras Presidency before and during the Great Uprising of 1857. It seeks to explore the role played by the Madras Army during this period. The narrative of events vindicates the fact that the situation in Tamil districts was by no means tranquil and there were instances of resistance, if not rebelliousness, on the part of the native inhabitants to the Company’s government. The discontent in the lower ranks of the Company’s army was also very much evident, which has seldom received attention in the mainstream South Asian historiography. The reasons behind these occasional bouts of discontent were not simply related to financial and pecuniary reasons. In this context, it becomes imperative to unearth the possible hidden links, if any, between the rebellious incidents of north India and the brewing discontent within the Madras Army. The most important issue that needs to be taken into consideration primarily relates to the different types of responses that were noticed among the indigenous social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociocultural factors in relation to the concept of entrepreneurship have been neglected in theories of economic development. While the growth of entrepreneurship often involves social and cultural issues, mainstream economists seem averse to discuss this. The present article emphasises the need for interdisciplinary enquiry to better understand various kinds of South Asian entrepreneurial activity and success from ethnographic and psycho-sociocultural perspectives. Existing research confirms that several non-economic factors can be identified as highly relevant for entrepreneurship and economic success. The article analyses those findings, places them in a wider context and calls for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The learner-centered paradigm of instruction differs in such fundamental ways from the teacher-centered paradigm that it requires technology to serve very different functions. In 2006, a research team at Indiana University began to work on identifying those functions and published their results in 2008. Subsequently, the team elaborated and refined those functional specifications, which are described herein as the Personalized Integrated Educational System (PIES), a technology system that has not yet been developed to support learner-centered education. The four major functions are recordkeeping for student learning, planning for student learning, instruction for student learning, and assessment for and of student learning. Secondary functions include communication and collaboration, PIES administration, and improvement of PIES. Each of these functions is described in detail, followed by specifications for the system architecture, including interoperability, modularity, and customizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings of a large-scale field survey related to various challenges faced by the Scheduled Castes while accessing drinking water in rural India. The study, undertaken in five states, shows that ideas of purity and pollution and discrimination play a decisive role in access to public water bodies and structures. Many villages still lack a communal well or hand pump. And, even if available, these sources of water are either defunct or their use is restricted to certain dominant castes. Being the most socially disadvantaged groups, the Scheduled Caste women suffer triple disadvantage, as they are poor, they are women and they are Scheduled Caste. They regularly face several problems while fetching water and are subjected to inhumane living conditions and human rights violations; they face segregation, discrimination and violence in their everyday struggles to access water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

West Bengal, a medium performing state in terms of health indicators of India, received a big push in health infrastructure and financing of health care delivery from 2004 onwards in the form of Health Sector Development Initiative from DFID, UK, and the National Rural Health Mission from Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, India. There is no denial that these reform policies have made a positive impact in the rural health care system of the state. However, the overall success notwithstanding, there still exist major challenges, mostly at the grassroots level. On the basis of a primary survey covering 47 Gram Panchayats in five districts of West Bengal, the paper observes that even after significant improvement in infrastructure creation and utilization of health care services at the macro level, supply side bottlenecks as well as demand side barriers to access health care services dominate at the micro level, resulting in a mismatch between supply and demand. The architectural correction in infrastructure remains incomplete and unequal, with services delivery and health seeking behaviour truncated at suboptimal. Most of the crucial correlates of under utilization in maternal and childcare are embedded in household, social, and parent characteristics. The supply side factors do not appear to have any strong linkage with health care utilization, though the availability of ANM and HA(M) do play some role. The study succinctly points out that the supply side intervention alone cannot change the health care pattern in a developing setting, where the pre-existing inequalities in terms of ethnicity, education, and demographic factors dominate. Unless the issues at the grassroots level are addressed properly, such an effort is bound to end up in further inequality in access to health care facility and inefficiency in the health care delivery system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Elizabethkingia meningoseptica is emerging as a cause of hospital acquired infection particularly in immunocompromised adults. The treatment of this bacterium is difficult since it is intrinsically resistant to a number of antibiotics. Here we report two cases of septicemia in patients who were critically ill and were successfully treated with appropriate antibiotics. Cotrimoxazole, quinolones, and rifampicin seem to be drugs effective against E. meningoseptica. Antibiotic susceptibility results are ineffective in guiding treatment. The bacterium particularly colonizes water pipelines and tap faucets and occurrence of infection by this bacterium should direct attention towards eradicating the source of this bacterium. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]