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Bilingual code-mixed (hybrid) languages have become very popular in India as a result of the spread of technology in the form of television, the Internet, and social media. Due to this increase in the use of code-mixed languages in day-to-day communication, the need for maintaining the integrity of the Indian languages has arisen. As a result of this, a tool named Hinglish to Pure Hindi and English Translator was developed. The tool is capable of translating in three ways; namely, Hinglish into pure Hindi and English, pure Hindi into pure English, and vice versa. The tool has achieved an accuracy of 91% in giving Hindi sentences and of 84% in giving English sentences as output when the input sentences were in Hinglish. The tool has also been compared with another similar tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the distribution of Jerdon's Baza Aviceda jerdoni in Andhra Pradesh, India. It presents a map which depicts the distribution range of A. jerdoni in India and site records from Andhra Pradesh. It indicates that sighting records of A. jerdoni in the recent past indicates that the species could be widely distributed in general range.

Abstract: Short-term prediction of wind variations as a function of height using the PSU/NCAR MM5 model with an optimum horizontal resolution of 3km, and assimilation of meso-network measurements of PRWONAM, has been carried out for the southern peninsular region of India. The studies were made within the framework of the PRWONAM programme. The observed wind data used here are from the MST radar at Gadanki and GP Sondes at a few locations (SHAR, Bangalore, Gadanki, Chennai, Arakkonam, Cochin) in the peninsular region. During the southwest monsoon season, the wind fields showed coherent pattern in the vertical unlike during the spring season. Comparisons in wind variations between predictions and observations for Gadanki revealed an average bias of 3.84ms−1 in the predicted mean wind above 8km during the spring season, with 75% (63%) of instantaneous predictions falling in ±5ms−1 error bounds with (without) bias correction. The percentage within these limits below 8km altitude is 90%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Little is known about the burden or causes of injury in rural villages in India. Objective: To examine injury-related mortality and morbidity in villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Methods: A verbal-autopsy-based mortality surveillance study was used to collect mortality data on all ages from residents in 45 villages in 2003-2004. In early 2005, a morbidity survey in adults was carried out using stratified random sampling in 20 villages. Participants were asked about injuries sustained in the preceding 12 months. Both fatal and non-fatal injuries were coded using classification methods derived from lCD-10. Results: Response rates for the mortality surveillance and morbidity survey were 98% and 81%, respectively. Injury was the second leading cause of death for all ages, responsible for 13% (95% Cl 11% to 15%) of all deaths. The leading causes of fatal injury were self-harm (36%), falls (20%), and road traffic crashes (13%). Non-fatal injury was reported by 6.7% of survey participants, with the leading causes of injury being faIls (38%), road traffic crashes (25%), and mechanical forces (16.1%). Falls were more common in women, with most (72.3%) attributable to slipping and tripping. Road traffic injuries were sustained mainly by men and were primarily the result of motorcycle crashes (48.8%). Discussion: Injury is an important contributor to disease burden in rural India. The leading causes of injury—falls, road traffic crashes, and suicides—are all preventable. It is important that effective interventions are developed and implemented to minimize the impact of injury in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the increasing popularity of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), only about 10,000 TAVR cases have been performed in Asia to date. The procedure is still in a nascent stage in India with very few centers offering this state-of-art technique. Here, we present the early results of TAVR experience at our center., Methods: Forty-nine patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS) were referred to our center for TAVR from November 2015 to February 2018. Twenty-five patients underwent TAVR at our conventional cardiac catheterization laboratory under local or general anesthesia, with standby surgical team support., Results: The mean age of the patients was 72.0 ± 8.1 years. The mean Society of Thoracic Surgeons score was 13.8 ± 10.2. Baseline mean ejection fraction was 50.3 ± 14.8%. Baseline mean aortic valve gradient was 55.8 ± 24.7 mmHg. There was one procedural-related death. Two of the patients required urgent surgery: one for contained annular rupture and one underwent vascular repair for femoral artery occlusion. Mild and moderate paravalvular leak was seen in 11 and 3 patients, respectively. Four patients (16%) required permanent pacemaker. Eighty percent were in New York Heart Association class I-II at discharge. One-year all-cause mortality was 8%, with no hospitalizations or major adverse cardiac event during the 1-year follow-up., Conclusion: Our early data clearly shows that in our country, TAVR is a good alternative for symptomatic severe AS for high surgical risk cases. Large-scale multicenter studies are required to study the real impact of TAVR in the Indian scenario. During initial years of implementation of a nationwide TAVR program, it may be prudent to focus on creating TAVR Centers of Excellence by developing an ideal hub and spokes model., (Copyright © 2018 Cardiological Society of India. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We found a large number of false-positive readings by visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) in a study of cervical cancer screening strategies (VIA, human papillomavirus HPV DNA testing, and Pap cytology) in a periurban community in Andhra Pradesh, India. We evaluated whether these false-positive readings might be occurring as a result of infections with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) or cytomegalovirus (CMV), prevalent latent herpesviruses known to be shed from the female genital tract. While we found that there was no association between VIA results and the presence of EBV or CMV in the cervix, we did find a high prevalence of both viruses: 20% for EBV and 26% for CMV. In multivariate analyses, CMV prevalence was associated with younger age, lack of running water in the home, and visually apparent cervical inflammation. EBV prevalence was associated with older age and a diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 or greater. The biological and clinical implications of these viruses at the cervix remain to be determined. The strong association between the presence of EBV and cervical disease warrants future exploration to determine whether EBV plays a causal role in disease development or if it is merely a bystander in the process.

Background: While many studies have compared the efficacy of Pap cytology, visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA assays for the detection cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cancer, few have evaluated the program effectiveness., Methods and Findings: A population-based sample of 5603 women from Medchal Mandal in Andhra Pradesh, India were invited to participate in a study comparing Pap cytology, VIA, and HPV DNA screening for the detection of CIN3+. Participation in primary screening and all subsequent follow-up visits was rigorously tracked. A 20% random sample of all women screened, in addition to all women with a positive screening test result underwent colposcopy with directed biopsy for final diagnosis. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were adjusted for verification bias. HPV testing had a higher sensitivity (100%) and specificity (90.6%) compared to Pap cytology (sensitivity  =  78.2%; specificity = 86.0%) and VIA (sensitivity = 31.6%; specificity = 87.5%). Since 58% of the sample refused involvement and another 28% refused colposcopy or biopsy, we estimated that potentially 87.6% of the total underlying cases of CIN3 and cancer may have been missed due to program failures., Conclusions: We conclude that despite our use of available resources, infrastructure, and guidelines for cervical cancer screening implementation in resource limited areas, community participation and non-compliance remain the major obstacles to successful reduction in cervical cancer mortality in this Indian population. HPV DNA testing was both more sensitive and specific than Pap cytology and VIA. The use of a less invasive and more user-friendly primary screening strategy (such as self-collected swabs for HPV DNA testing) may be required to achieve the coverage necessary for effective reduction in cervical cancer mortality.

Objectives: Visual inspection of the cervix after acetic acid application (VIA) is widely recommended as the method of choice in cervical cancer screening programs in resource-limited settings because of its simplicity and ability to link with immediate treatment. In testing the effectiveness of VIA, human papillomavirus DNA testing, and Pap cytology in a population-based study in a peri-urban area in Andhra Pradesh, India, we found the sensitivity of VIA for detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 and worse (CIN2+) to be 26.3%, much lower than the 60% to 90% reported in the literature. We therefore investigated the determinants of VIA positivity in our study population., Methods: We evaluated VIA positivity by demographics and reproductive history, results of clinical examination, and results from the other screening methods., Results: Of the 19 women diagnosed with CIN2+, only 5 were positive by VIA (positive predictive value, 3.1%). In multivariate analysis, VIA positivity (12.74%) was associated with older age, positive Pap smear, visually apparent cervical inflammation, and interobserver variation. Cervical inflammation of unknown cause was present in 21.62% of women. In disease-negative women, cervical inflammation was associated with an increase in VIA positivity from 6.1% to 15.5% (P<0.001). Among the six gynecologists who performed VIA, the positivity rate varied from 4% to 31%., Conclusions: The interpretation of VIA is subjective and its performance cannot be readily evaluated against objective standards., Impact: VIA is not a robust screening test and we caution against its use as the primary screening test in resource-limited regions., (Copyright (c) 2010 AACR)

Objectives: Our aim was to determine if (1) Hybrid Capture 2 and a PCR-based method were comparable for detection of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) clinician-collected and self-collected samples were equally efficient to detect HPV and cervical cancer precursor lesions, and (3) if participation rates improved with home-based versus clinic-based self collection., Methods: Samples were selected from women participating in a cervical cancer screening study according to HPV, visual inspection with acetic acid, or Pap smear screening results. From 432 of 892 selected women, split sample aliquots were tested for HPV DNA using both the Hybrid Capture 2 assay and the Roche prototype line blot assay. Women from a subset of villages were recruited at two separate time points for clinic-based self-collection and home-based self-collection, and participation rates were compared., Results: Pairwise agreement between self- and clinician-collected samples was high by both Hybrid Capture 2 (90.8% agreement, kappa = 0.7) and PCR (92.6% agreement, kappa = 0.8), with significantly increased high-risk HPV detection in clinician-collected specimens (McNemar's P < 0.01). Ability to detect precursor lesions was highest by PCR testing of clinician-collected samples and lowest by Hybrid Capture 2 testing of self-collected samples (11 of 11 and 9 of 11 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2/3 and cancer detected, respectively). Participation in home-based screening was significantly higher than clinic-based screening (71.5% and 53.8%, respectively; P < 0.001) among women ages 30 to 45 years., Conclusion: The combination of improved screening coverage and a high single test sensitivity afforded by HPV DNA testing of home-based self-collected swabs may have a greater programmatic effect on cervical cancer mortality reduction compared with programs requiring a pelvic exam.

Background: Little is known about the burden or causes of injury in rural villages in India., Objective: To examine injury-related mortality and morbidity in villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India., Methods: A verbal-autopsy-based mortality surveillance study was used to collect mortality data on all ages from residents in 45 villages in 2003-2004. In early 2005, a morbidity survey in adults was carried out using stratified random sampling in 20 villages. Participants were asked about injuries sustained in the preceding 12 months. Both fatal and non-fatal injuries were coded using classification methods derived from ICD-10., Results: Response rates for the mortality surveillance and morbidity survey were 98% and 81%, respectively. Injury was the second leading cause of death for all ages, responsible for 13% (95% CI 11% to 15%) of all deaths. The leading causes of fatal injury were self-harm (36%), falls (20%), and road traffic crashes (13%). Non-fatal injury was reported by 6.7% of survey participants, with the leading causes of injury being falls (38%), road traffic crashes (25%), and mechanical forces (16.1%). Falls were more common in women, with most (72.3%) attributable to slipping and tripping. Road traffic injuries were sustained mainly by men and were primarily the result of motorcycle crashes (48.8%)., Discussion: Injury is an important contributor to disease burden in rural India. The leading causes of injury-falls, road traffic crashes, and suicides-are all preventable. It is important that effective interventions are developed and implemented to minimize the impact of injury in this region.

Background: Despite the high incidence of cervical cancer reported from India, large scale population based studies on the HPV prevalence and genotype distribution are very few from this region. In view of the clinical trials for HPV vaccine taking place in India, it is of utmost importance to understand the prevalence of HPV genotypes in various geographical regions of India. We investigated the genotype distribution of high-risk HPV types in squamous cell carcinomas and the prevalence of high-risk HPV in cervicovaginal samples in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh (AP), India., Methods: HPV genotyping was done in cervical cancer specimens (n = 41) obtained from women attending a regional cancer hospital in Hyderabad. HPV-DNA testing was also done in cervicovaginal samples (n = 185) collected from women enrolled in the cervical cancer screening pilot study conducted in the rural community, of Medchal Mandal, twenty kilometers away from Hyderabad., Results: High-risk HPV types were found in 87.8% (n = 36/41) of the squamous cell carcinomas using a PCR-based line blot assay. Among the HPV positive cancers, the overall type distribution of the major high-risk HPV types was as follows: HPV 16 (66.7%), HPV 18 (19.4%), HPV 33 (5.6%), HPV 35 (5.6%), HPV 45 (5.6%), HPV 52 (2.8%), HPV 58(2.8%), HPV 59(2.8%) and HPV 73 (2.8%). Women participating in the community screening programme provided both a self-collected vaginal swab and a clinician-collected cervical swab for HPV DNA testing. Primary screening for high risk HPV was performed using the Digene Hybrid Capture 2 (hc2) assay. All hc2 positive samples by any one method of collection were further analyzed using the Roche PCR-based line blot for genotype determination. The prevalence of high risk HPV infection in this community-based screening population was 10.3% (19/185) using the clinician-collected and 7.0% (13/185) using the self-collected samples. The overall agreement between self-collected and clinician-collected samples was 92%; however among HPV-positive specimens, the HPV agreement was only moderate (39.1%). The most frequently detected HPV types in the Medchal community are HPV 52 and 16., Conclusion: Our results suggest that the HPV type distribution in both cervical cancer tissues and in a general screening population from Andhra Pradesh is similar to that reported in India and other parts of the world. We also conclude that an effective vaccine targeting HPV 16 will reduce the cervical cancer burden in AP.

Background: Tobacco use is the most important cause of preventable morbidity, disability and premature mortality. There is a lack of adequate and reliable data on tobacco use among medical students and their perceived role as future doctors in tobacco control. We aimed to find out factors associated with tobacco use among medical students and their perceived role in tobacco control as future doctors., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1189 undergraduate medical students (68.5% men, median age: 21 years, age range: 17-27 years) in all 3 medical colleges of Orissa. Information on tobacco use, associated factors and their perceived role in tobacco control as future doctors was collected using a pre-tested anonymous questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were done among the men respondents to find out associations between current tobacco use and predictor variables., Results: The prevalence of current tobacco use was 8.7% (95% CI: 7.1-10.3); men: 12.4%, women: 0.8%. Among 286 ever users, 34% started using tobacco after joining medical college. Students with a higher personal monthly expenditure and with a family history of tobacco use were more likely to be current users. Third-year students were 3.2-times more likely to be currenttobacco users (OR: 3.21; CI: 1.43-7.19) compared to first-year students. Students who reported own tobacco use as not very harmful were 4.7-times more likely to be current users compared with those who reported otherwise (OR: 4.7; CI: 2.64-8.37). Compared to non-users, current tobacco users were less likely (p = 0.026) to assess tobacco use in their patients and were less likely (p = 0.012) to advise patients against tobacco use., Conclusion: Steps should be initiated early in medical colleges to prevent tobacco use, particularly among men students and those with a family history of tobacco use.