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Background: The disheartening reality sheds light on the tragic consequences that can arise from inaction and inefficiencies in maternal healthcare systems, often leading to devastating outcomes for mothers and their families. Among the multifaceted causes of maternal deaths, one deeply concerning aspect is the phenomenon of "maternal deaths due to delays". Objective: To explore the pervasive issue of maternal deaths due to delays, distance, different referrals highlighting the discrepancies in the system. Materials and Methods: It was a descriptive cross sectional study done in selected district (Jabalpur, Mandla, Narsinghpur, Katni) of Jabalpur division of Madhya Pradesh, India for a period of 1 year from April 2021 to March 2022. A total of 68 maternal deaths were reviewed out of 324 total maternal deaths in Jabalpur division in 2019-2020. Results: Pathway analysis of the maternal deaths were drawn to illustrate the Referrals of the maternal deaths in various health care facilities. About 42(61%) of the deceased mothers were referred to two facilities. 17(25 %) and 3 (5%) of the deceased mothers were referred to third and fourth health facilities respectively. Major causes of the delays were identified was the No birth preparedness by the family/deceased mother, inadequate referral system and shortage of staff in the facilities, Lack of encouragement from relatives & community members to seek care. Conclusion: The delays require a multi-faceted approach involving improved healthcare infrastructure, increased access to skilled healthcare professionals, community education, removing financial barriers, promoting respectful and patient-centred care, and addressing cultural and societal norms that discourage timely care-seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to lay a framework for evaluating flood vulnerabilities. Specifically, it applies the proposed methodology to evaluate flood vulnerability index (FVI) across 21 districts comprising a significantly large part (drainage area of 85 859 km2) of Narmada River basin in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The study assesses sensitivity, adaptive capacity indices, and the exposure risk over a chosen set of 22 climatic, demographic, social and economic parameters, and applies principal component analysis to evolve a composite FVI. The results rank various districts for their vulnerabilities to floods. The analysis indicates that, in the study area, around a third of the vulnerability is accounted by two factors: a lack of adaptive capacity of the community and heightened sensitivity to floods. There exists significant scope to modify these two factors by appropriate policy interventions at the social and economic levels. It is expected that the framework would be of use to stakeholders such as planners, policymakers, flood management authorities, field engineers, district administration and local non-governmental organisations who strive to make the community less vulnerable to floods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed the impact of socio-economic factors on age at menarche among the adolescent female population from the state of Madhya Pradesh, Central India. Records such as date of birth, chronological age, caste affiliation, size of place of residence, parents' level of education and occupation, number of siblings, body height and weight, and age at menarche were collected for 330 students of A Central University, Sagar. The impact of socio-economic factors on age at menarche was analysed using analysis of variance. To establish the probability of menarche occurrence at a given age, time-to-event analysis was carried out using Kaplan-Meier curves and the log-rank test for curve comparison. The association between probability of attaining menarche and the independent variables was investigated using Cox proportional-hazard model. ANOVA and the Kaplan-Meier curves showed statistically significant differences in age at menarche according to size of the place of residence, number of siblings, parental level of education, father's occupation and females' BMI. The Cox proportional hazard model revealed that father's occupation was the strongest factor affecting age at menarche among all SES characteristics under study. Irrespective of rapid economic progress over the past few decades, Indian society is still patriarchal with societal male dominance. This translates into participation of fewer women in the paid workforce and labour market, their lower wage rates and smaller contribution to the household budget compared to their male counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are chronic conditions that progress slowly and are rarely completely curable .These diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, pose an increasing public health challenge in India, especially due to changes in lifestyles, behaviors and the physical and social environments in cities. They are mainly caused by preventable behavioral risk factors, such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, and insufficient physical exercise. It is well known that a lot of diseases can be prevented by altering the life style and habits of people. This study was undertaken with the objective of studying the prevalence of risk factors for NCDs in the Anna Nagar slum locality of Bhopal city, Madhya Pradesh. Material & Methods: The study was conducted on the population of Anna nagar slums. The sample size was 180 (calculated using the prevalence data of ICMR on NCDs) but 260 was covered. The household were selected using systematic random sampling and individuals from the houses were selected using KISH method as used in WHO STEPS approach. WHO STEPS questionnaire was used to collect data. Physical measurements were taken as per standard WHO protocol. Data were entered in MS-EXCEL and analysis was done using EPI INFO. Results: In the population, male members were 53% and females were 47% respectively. Mean age was 43.67±11.3 yrs.80% had not received any formal education.31% people had history of alcohol consumption and 16% of tobacco consumption. Only 36.2% participants had normal BMI. 35.8% were obese, 17.3% were overweight and 10.8% were underweight. Obesity was more in females as compared to males. Blood pressure was found to be elevated in 18.1% participants, HTN1 in 10.4% and HTN2 in 31.5% participants. 40% participants had normal blood pressure. Conclusion: The major population was illiterate. The risk factors like alcohol consumption and smoking was very prevalent and is largely attributed to the low awareness of people regarding risk factors [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimated densities of Golden Jackals and five ungulate species in Van Vihar National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is an enclosed area of about 4.45km², out of which 3.5km² is available for free ranging animals. Twenty-six transects with a combined length of 22.6km and an effort of 50.2km were walked. A total of 1079 animal detections belonging to six different species were made. The density of jackals was (17±3.8SE)/km². Among the ungulates, chital had the highest density (118±18.8SE)/km² followed by Sambar (34.1±6.9 SE)/km², Nilgai (13.1±2.8SE)/km², Blackbuck (6.6±1.5 SE)/km² and Wild Pig (3.7±0.8 SE)/km². The ungulate biomass was found to be (12979.2±2463.26 SE)kg/km². Chital biomass was the highest at (5574.2±886.58 SE)kg/km², followed by Sambar biomass of (4569.4±913.75 SE)kg/km², Nilgai (2358±523.24 SE)kg/km², Blackbuck (211.2±66.18 SE)kg/km² and Wild Pig (118.4±28.37 SE)kg/km². The sex ratio was calculated and most ungulates had female-biased adult sex ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tiger (Panthera tigris) population in India has undergone a sharp decline during the last few years. Of the number of factors attributed to this decline, habitat fragmentation has been the most worrisome. Wildlife corridors have long been a subject of discussion amongst wildlife biologists and conservationists with contrasting schools of thought arguing their merits and demerits. However, it is largely believed that wildlife corridors can help minimize genetic isolation, offset fragmentation problems, improve animal dispersal, restore ecological processes and reduce man animal conflict. This study attempted to evaluate the possibilities of identifying a suitable wildlife corridor between two very important wildlife areas of central India - the Kanha National Park and the Pench National Park - with tiger as the focal species. Geographic Information System (GIS) centric Least Cost Path modeling was used to identify likely routes for movement of tigers. Habitat suitability, perennial water bodies, road density, railway tracks, human settlement density and total forest edge were considered as key variables influencing tiger movement across the Kanha-Pench landscape. Each of these variables was weighted in terms of relative importance through an expert consultation process. Using different importance scenarios, three alternate corridor routes were generated of which one was identified as the most promising for tiger dispersal. Weak links - where cover and habitat conditions are currently sub-optimal - were flagged on the corridor route. Interventions aimed at augmenting the identified corridor route have been suggested using accepted wildlife corridor design principles. The involvement of local communities through initiatives such as ecotourism has been stressed as a crucial long term strategy for conservation of the Kanha-Pench wildlife corridor. The results of the study indicate that restoration of the identified wildlife corridors between the two protected areas is technically feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Genotypic polymorphism studies at 15 highly polymorphic short tandem repeat (STR) loci were carried out in two populations belonging to one caste and one tribal group of Madhya Pradesh, in central region of India. These include 110 individuals from Brahmin caste (Kanyakubj) and 89 from Gond tribe (Ojha). The 15 loci studied are: 13 CODIS STR core markers, i.e., D8S1179, D3S1358, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, vWA, TPOX, D18S51, THO1, D13S317, D16S539, D5S818, FGA and 2 other loci D19S433 and D2S1338. The results show departure from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium with respect to two loci, viz., D3S1358 and FGA in Gond tribe and at seven loci, viz., D21S11, D19S433, TPOX, D18S51, THO1, D5S818, and FGA in Brahmin caste. Population differentiation tests between the two studied populations and with seven neighboring populations (4 tribes and 3 castes – two middle castes and one Deshasth Brahmin) revealed significant differences at several loci. The power of discrimination of the microsatellite markers used was found to be high for both the populations. The data thereof is of immense significance for forensic result interpretation and is an addition to the existing autosomal STR database on Indian population. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study which investigated the chemical compositions of the stems of the shrub Tinospora cordifolia which were collected from Pousara Katna, Madhya Pradesh, India in 2008. Tests for alkaloid and triterpenoid contents of the stems are performed. The chemicals found are berberine, magnofluorine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, columbamine, palmatrubine, cycloeuphordenol, 1-cyclohexyl-11-heneicosanone and 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde.