An approach to hygiene education among rural Indian school going children

Objectives: To find out the prevalence of intestinal parasites and its epidemiological correlates among rural Indian school going (6-14 years) children and to study the effect of focused, need based child to child hygiene education on personal hygiene of school children. Materials and Methods: In September 2007, the present participatory action research was undertaken at a feasibly selected village Dhotra (Kasar) in Wardha district of central India. A triangulated research design of quantitative (survey) and qualitative (transect walk & pile sorting) methods was used for the needs assessment before initiating formal hygiene education. Out of enlisted 172 children, data of 118 children with complete information was used for final analysis. The quantitative and qualitative data was entered and analyzed using the Epi Info 6.04 software and Anthropac 4.98.1/X software package respectively. School based participatory life skills based child to child hygiene education was undertaken for message dissemination and behavior change. The effect of this hygiene education on identified key behaviors was assessed after one month Results: Out of the 118 (50 male and 68 female) subjects examined 21 (17.8%, 95%CI, 11.4 – 25.9%) had intestinal parasite infection. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was significantly high among children having dirty untrimmed nails (47.4%, 95%CI, 30.9 – 64.1%) followed by those having poor hand washing practices (37.2%, 95%CI, 22.9 – 53.2%). One month after hygiene education, the proportion of children having practice of hand washing with soap after defecation significantly improved from 63.6 % to 78%. The proportion of clean and cut nails also improved from 67.8% to 80 % (p<0.05). Conclusions: The need based, focused, life skills based child to child hygiene education was effective for behavior change. An integrated approach of drug treatment and focused participatory hygiene education is required to control parasite load among rural Indian school going children

Attosecond time delay in the photoionization of Mn in the region of the 3p→3d3p \rightarrow 3d giant resonance

The initial insight into time delay in Mn photoionization in the region of the $3p \to 3d$ giant autoionization resonance is gained in the framework of the "spin-polarized" random phase approximation with exchange. The dramatic effect of the giant autoionization resonance on time delay of photoemission from the $3d$ and $4s$ valence subshells of the Mn atom is unraveled. Strong sensitivity of the time delay of the $4s$ photoemission to the final-state term of the ion-remainder [${\rm Mn^{+}}(4s^{1},$$^{5}S)$ vs.~${\rm Mn^{+}}(4s^{1},$$^{7}S)$] is discovered. It is shown that photoionization time delay in the autoionizing resonance region is explicitly associated with the resonance lifetime, which can, thus, be directly measured in attosecond time delay experiments. Similar features are expected to emerge in photoionization time delays of other transition-metal and rare-earth atoms with half-filed subshells that possess giant autoionization resonances as well.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 49 reference

Potentially harmful advantage to athletes: a putative connection between UGT2B17 gene deletion polymorphism and renal disorders with prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: With prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), occasional incidents of renal disorders have been observed. Independently, it has also been established that there are considerable inter-individual and inter-ethnic differences, in particular with reference to the uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase 2B17 (UGT2B17) gene, in metabolising these compounds. This report postulates the association of deletion polymorphism in the UGT2B17 gene with the occurrence of renal disorders on chronic exposure to AAS. PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: The major deactivation and elimination pathway of AASs is through glucuronide conjugation, chiefly catalyzed by the UGT2B17 enzyme, followed by excretion in urine. Excretion of steroids is affected in individuals with a deletion mutation in the UGT2B17 gene. We hypothesize that UGT2B17 deficient individuals are more vulnerable to developing renal disorders with prolonged use of AAS owing to increases in body mass index and possible direct toxic effects of steroids on the kidneys. Elevated serum levels of biologically active steroids due to inadequate elimination can lead to prolonged muscle build up. An increase in body mass index may cause renal injuries due to sustained elevated glomerular pressure and flow rate. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS: In the absence of controlled clinical trials in humans, observational studies can be carried out. Real time PCR with allelic discrimination should be employed to examine the prevalence of different UGT2B17 genotypes in patients with impaired renal function and AAS abuse. In individuals with the UGT2B17 deletion polymorphism, blood tests, biofluid analyses, urinalysis, and hair analyses following the administration of an anabolic steroid can be used to determine the fate of the substance once in the body. IMPLICATIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS: If the hypothesis is upheld, anabolic steroid users with a deletion mutation in the UGT2B17 gene may be exposed to an increased risk of developing renal disorders. In the current detecting - sanctioning anti-doping system, athletes motivated by the potential to evade detection owing to their unique genetic make-up could subject themselves to a serious health consequence. More research on AAS metabolism in the presence of UGT2B17 gene deletion is required. Benefit - harm evaluations in therapeutic use of anabolic steroids should also consider this potential link between UGT2B17 gene deletion polymorphism and renal disorders

Design and Implementation of Position Estimator Algorithm on Voice Coil Motor

Voice Coil Motors (VCMs) have been an inevitable element in the mechanisms that have been used for precise positioning in the applications like 3D printing., micro-stereolithography., etc. These voice coil motors translate in a linear direction and require a high accuracy position sensor that amounts for a major part in the budget. In this research work., an effort has been made to design and implement an algorithm that would predict the displacement of VCM and eliminate the need of high cost sensors. VCM was integrated with dSPACE DS1104 R&D controller via linear current amplifier (LCAM) which acts as a driver circuit for VCM. Sine input was given to VCM with various amplitude and frequency and the corresponding displacement is measured by using linear variable differential transformer (LVDT). The position estimator algorithm is also implemented at the same time on VCM and its output is compared with that of LVDT. It is observed that there is 97.8 % accuracy in between algorithm output and LVDT output. Further., PID controller is used in integration with the novel algorithm to minimize the error. The estimator algorithm is tested for various amplitudes and frequencies and it is found that it has a very good agreement of 99.2% with the actual displacement measured with the help of LVDT