Common Space of Spin and Spacetime

Given Lorentz invariance in Minkowski spacetime, we investigate a common space of spin and spacetime. To obtain a finite spinor representation of the non-compact homogeneous Lorentz group including Lorentz boosts, we introduce an indefinite inner product space (IIPS) with a normalized positive probability. In this IIPS, the common momentum and common variable of a massive fermion turn out to be ``doubly strict plus-operators''. Due to this nice property, it is straightforward to show an uncertainty relation between fermion mass and proper time. Also in IIPS, the newly-defined Lagrangian operators are self-adjoint, and the fermion field equations are derivable from the Lagrangians. Finally, the nonlinear QED equations and Lagrangians are presented as an example.Comment: 17 pages, a reference corrected, final version published on Foundations of Physics Letters in June of 2005, as a personal tribute to Einstein and Dira

Birthing practices of traditional birth attendants in South Asia in the context of training programmes

Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) training has been an important component of public health policy interventions to improve maternal and child health in developing countries since the 1970s. More recently, since the 1990s, the TBA training strategy has been increasingly seen as irrelevant, ineffective or, on the whole, a failure due to evidence that the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in developing countries had not reduced. Although, worldwide data show that, by choice or out of necessity, 47 percent of births in the developing world are assisted by TBAs and/or family members, funding for TBA training has been reduced and moved to providing skilled birth attendants for all births. Any shift in policy needs to be supported by appropriate evidence on TBA roles in providing maternal and infant health care service and effectiveness of the training programmes. This article reviews literature on the characteristics and role of TBAs in South Asia with an emphasis on India. The aim was to assess the contribution of TBAs in providing maternal and infant health care service at different stages of pregnancy and after-delivery and birthing practices adopted in home births. The review of role revealed that apart from TBAs, there are various other people in the community also involved in making decisions about the welfare and health of the birthing mother and new born baby. However, TBAs have changing, localised but nonetheless significant roles in delivery, postnatal and infant care in India. Certain traditional birthing practices such as bathing babies immediately after birth, not weighing babies after birth and not feeding with colostrum are adopted in home births as well as health institutions in India. There is therefore a thin precarious balance between the application of biomedical and traditional knowledge. Customary rituals and perceptions essentially affect practices in home and institutional births and hence training of TBAs need to be implemented in conjunction with community awareness programmes

Determinants of neonatal mortality in rural India, 2007-2008.

Background. Despite the growing share of neonatal mortality in under-5 mortality in the recent decades in India, most studies have focused on infant and child mortality putting neonatal mortality on the back seat. The development of focused and evidence-based health interventions to reduce neonatal mortality warrants an examination of factors affecting it. Therefore, this study attempt to examine individual, household, and community level factors affecting neonatal mortality in rural India.Data and methods. We analysed information on 171,529 singleton live births using the data from the most recent round of the District Level Household Survey conducted in 2007–08. Principal component analysis was used to create an asset index. Two-level logistic regression was performed to analyse the factors associated with neonatal deaths in rural India.Results. The odds of neonatal death were lower for neonates born to mothers with secondary level education (O R = 0.60, p = 0.01) compared to those born to illiterate mothers. A progressive reduction in the odds occurred as the level of fathers’ education increased. The odds of neonatal death were lower for infants born to unemployed mothers (O R = 0.89, p = 0.00) compared to those who worked as agricultural worker/farmer/laborer. The odds decreased if neonates belonged to Scheduled Tribes (O R = 0.72, p = 0.00) or ‘Others’ caste group (O R = 0.87, p = 0.04) and to the households with access to improved sanitation (O R = 0.87, p = 0.02), pucca house (O R = 0.87, p = 0.03) and electricity (O R = 0.84, p = 0.00). The odds were higher for male infants (O R = 1.21, p = 0.00) and whose mother experienced delivery complications (O R = 1.20, p = 0.00). Infants whose mothers received two tetanus toxoid injections (O R = 0.65, p = 0.00) were less likely to die in the neonatal period. Children of higher birth order were less likely to die compared to first birth order.Conclusion. Ensuring the consumption of an adequate quantity of Tetanus Toxoid (TT) injections by pregnant mothers, targeting vulnerable groups like young, first time and Scheduled Caste mothers, and improving overall household environment by increasing access to improved toilets, electricity, and pucca houses could also contribute to further reductions in neonatal mortality in rural India. Any public health interventions aimed at reducing neonatal death in rural India should consider these factors

Population stratification and genetic association studies in South Asia

Population stratification and its influence on genetic association studies is a controversial topic. Although it has been suggested that stratification is unlikely to bias the results of association studies conducted in developed countries, convincing contrary empirical evidence has been published. However, it is in populations where historical ethnic, religious and language barriers exist that community subdivisions will predictably exert greatest genetic effect, and influence the organization of association studies. In many of the populations of the Indian sub-continent, these basic population divisions are compounded by a strict tradition of intracommunity marriage and by marriage between close biological relatives. Data on the very significant levels of genetic diversity that characterize the populations of India and Pakistan, with some 50,000-60,000 caste and non-caste communities in India, and average first cousin marriage rates of 40%-50% in Pakistan, are presented and discussed. Under these circumstances, failure to explicitly control for caste/biraderi membership and the presence of consanguinity could seriously jeopardize, and may totally invalidate, the results of association/case control studies and clinical trials

Why Should 5000 Children Die in India Every Day? Major Causes and Managerial Challenges

Globally, more than 10 million children under 5 years of age, die every year (20 children per minute), most from preventable causes, and almost all in poor countries. Major causes of child death include neonatal disorders (death within 28 days of birth), diarrhea, pneumonia, and measles. Malnutrition accounts for almost 35 % of childhood diseases. India alone accounts for almost 5000 child deaths under 5 years old (U5) every day. India.s child heath indicators are poor even compared with our Asian neighbors, namely Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Nepal and Bangladesh. Within India, the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh account for almost 60 % of all child deaths India.s neonatal mortality, which accounts for almost 50 % of U5 deaths, is one of the highest in the world. India launched the Universal Immunization Program in 1985, but the status of full immunization in India has reached only 43.5 % by 2005-06. India started the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in 1975 to provide supplementary nutrition to children, but 50 % of our children are still malnourished; nearly double that of Sub-Saharan Africa. The WHO/UNICEF training program on Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses, known as IMNCI, started in India a few years ago, but the progress is very slow. What is unfortunate is the fact that most of these deaths are preventable through proven interventions: preventive interventions and/or treatment interventions, but the management of childhood illnesses is very poor. In this working paper, we bring out the nature and magnitude of child deaths in India (Chapter 1) and then share with you in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 our observations on the management of some of national programs of the government of India such as The Universal Immunization Program (UIP) The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) The Integrated Management of Neonatal and Child Illnesses (IMNCI) In the final chapter (Chapter 5), we highlight certain managerial challenges to satisfactorily address the child mortality and morbidity in our country.

State-wise pattern of gender bias in child health in India

Health being one of the most basic capabilities, the removal of gender bias in child health can go a long way in achieving gender parity in many other dimensions of human development. The present study examines the state-wise pattern of gender bias in child health in India. It uses 21 selected indicators of health outcome (e.g., post-neonatal death, child death and prevalence of malnutrition) and health-seeking behaviour (e.g., full immunisation, oral rehydration therapy, fever/ cough treatment and breast-feeding). Three rounds of unit level National Family Health Survey data are analysed using Borda Rule and Principal Component Analysis techniques. Children under age three years are the unit of the analysis. The study found that any consistently robust state-wise pattern of gender bias against girl children in child health is not present among all the 29 Indian states over the three rounds of NFHSs. Among the major 19 states, there is high gender bias in three Empowered Action Group of states (namely, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar) and in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Gujarat as well. However, there is a consistent state-wise pattern in girl children’s health achievement. With Rawlsian theory of justice, to reduce gender bias in child health we need to focus on the states with low health achievement by girls.Gender Bias; Child Health; National Family Health Survey; India

The distribution of charged amino acid residues and the Ca(2+) permeability of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors: a predictive model

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are cation-selective ligand-gated ion channels exhibiting variable Ca(2+) permeability depending on their subunit composition. The Ca(2+) permeability is a crucial functional parameter to understand the physiological role of nAChRs, in particular considering their ability to modulate Ca(2+)-dependent processes such as neurotransmitter release. The rings of extracellular and intracellular charged amino acid residues adjacent to the pore-lining TM2 transmembrane segment have been shown to play a key role in the cation selectivity of these receptor channels, but to date a quantitative relationship between these structural determinants and the Ca(2+) permeability of nAChRs is lacking. In the last years the Ca(2+) permeability of several nAChR subtypes has been experimentally evaluated, in terms of fractional Ca(2+) current (Pf, i.e., the percentage of the total current carried by Ca(2+) ions). In the present study, the available Pf-values of nAChRs are used to build a simplified modular model describing the contribution of the charged residues in defined regions flanking TM2 to the selectivity filter controlling Ca(2+) influx. This model allows to predict the currently unknown Pf-values of existing nAChRs, as well as the hypothetical Ca(2+) permeability of subunit combinations not able to assemble into functional receptors. In particular, basing on the amino acid sequences, a Pf > 50% would be associated with homomeric nAChRs composed by different α subunits, excluding α7, α9, and α10. Furthermore, according to the model, human α7β2 receptors should have Pf-values ranging from 3.6% (4:1 ratio) to 0.1% (1:4 ratio), much lower than the 11.4% of homomeric α7 nAChR. These results help to understand the evolution and the function of the large diversity of the nicotinic receptor family