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ABSTRACT: Background: The postpartum period is critically important for comprehensive obstetric care; however, most women are neglected during this important period. Objective: This study was carried out to determine the burden of postpartum morbidities and associated factors among the urban vulnerable population in Gautam Buddha district, Uttar Pradesh. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 postpartum women in urban slums of Gautam Buddha district. A semi-structured questionnaire was used along with a physical examination and assessment of anemia by Sahli's hemoglobinometer. Results: A total of 106 (70.7%) mothers reported at least one of the postpartum morbidities (PPMs). The most frequently reported morbidity was anemia (55.3%) followed by backache (29.3%). Almost a third (39, 36.8%) of all women, who suffered from PPM, did not seek any treatment for the same. Univariate analysis revealed that morbidities were higher among women with low literacy (Odds Ratio, OR: 5.63, 95% CI: 2.508–13.54, p = 0.000), low socioeconomic status (OR: 0.317, 95% CI: 0.151–0.657, p = 0.002), and inadequate antenatal care (OR: 0.108, 95% CI: 0.044–0.246, p = 0.0001). Similarly, young mothers (OR: 2.599, 95% CI: 1.332–5.14), less educated (OR = 3.603, 95% CI: 1.838–7.203, p = 0.000), those from lower economic status (OR: 0.247, 95% CI: 0.119–0.497, p = 0.001), with inadequate antenatal care (OR: 0.112, 95% CI: 0.052–0.232, p = 0.005), and low iron folic acid intake (OR: 0.371, 95% CI: 0.184–0.732, p = 0.004) showed higher prevalence of anemia. Conclusion: The role of education and adequate antenatal care are highlighted in the study. Antenatal visits should be utilized as opportunities to increase awareness regarding various aspects of care during the postnatal period. Maintaining more comprehensive support and involvement between health care providers and the mothers is needed to prevent many of these postpartum morbidities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Substance abuse is an important problem in today's world as it causes considerable physical and mental suffering. In India, adolescents are considered as a pillar of the nation as they are responsible for its future progress. Therefore, substance abuse control among this age group becomes even more important. Objectives: To find the prevalence, patterns and gender association of substance abuse among adolescents in urban areas of district Ghaziabad. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the schools of urban areas of district Ghaziabad. 750 adolescents including equal number of boys and girls were selected randomly from the co-education schools. A questionnaire was administered to assess the baseline information. MS Excel 2020 and SPSS were used to arrive at statistical conclusions. Results: Addicting substance was abused by 64.8% males and 33.9% females and this difference in proportions was statistically significant (p-value =0.001). The maximum number of study participants got encouragement to start the usage of addictive substances from their peers (33.0%). Four-fifths (80.3%), of the substance abusers had the desire to quit. Conclusion: In the present study, 33% of the participants started abusing addictive substances under peer pressure. School-based awareness, health education and motivation among the adolescents is the need of the hour. Role of student counsellors may prove fruitful and bring about the desired behavioural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A novel coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The pandemic brought all people closer to internet to access information about the disease and its prevention. However, this intention of gaining knowledge is a spinal reaction to an adverse situation and once that has passed, the same knowledge and practices decline. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the apprehension regarding COVID-19 along with its demographic correlates in the post-pandemic era. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in district Ghaziabad using a predesigned, pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire regarding the awareness and knowledge levels of COVID-19. Regression analysis was performed to determine the factors significantly associated with the knowledge of the study participants. Results: In this study, 277 (69.25%) were males and 123(30.75%) were females. The mean knowledge score was 25.09 ± 6.85 (range 4-41). Knowledge regarding various aspects of COVID-19 was better among the study participants with higher education levels. Conclusion: Even after the pandemic had passed, good knowledge levels were retained. Participants had a huge disparity in the individual levels of information. Overall higher levels of education, younger age group and nuclear family were associated with better knowledge regarding the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The internet of things (IoT) has recently become extremely important in our lives. With the advancement in IoT, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have gained much importance. In WSNs, the routing of clusters has gained more interest. However, there is still a problem with the hotspot. One way to address this issue is uneven clustering. In these, nodes closer to the base station have the smallest cluster size. It decreases the relay pressure of the nodes which are close to the base station. In this paper, the unequal clustering routing based on fuzzy logic and bat algorithm is proposed, that is, FUCBR. Relative intra‐cluster costs and relative inter‐cluster costs are used in a very innovative manner. Fuzzy logic is used to create unequal clusters while the bat algorithm is used for multi‐hop routing. Unequal clustering minimizes the energy utilization for the member of the clusters. A novel probability technique is implemented in the cluster‐forming process to allow cluster members to determine which cluster they wish to join. The bat algorithm's objective function is carefully chosen to optimize the cluster heads' energy usage. After simulation, it was discovered that the proposed algorithm utilizes less energy and extends the network lifespan. The simulation results show that FUCBR's performance is 30% more improved than fuzzy‐based unequal clustering algorithm, genetic algorithm based unequal clustering and routing protocol, and grey wolf optimizer‐C algorithms. It is suitable for networks that require a long life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated mucormycosis (CAM) has emerged as a formidable infection in patients with COVID-19. The aggressive management of CAM affects quality of life (QOL); thus, this study was designed to assess the QOL in patients with CAM at a tertiary healthcare institution. Methods: This cross-sectional study of 57 patients with CAM was conducted over 6 months using a semi-structured standard questionnaire (the abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire [WHO-BREF]) and a self-rated improvement (SRI) scale ranging from 0 to 9. Cut-off values of =52 and <7 were considered to indicate poor QOL and poor improvement, respectively. The correlations of QOL and SRI scores were evaluated using Spearman rho values. Results: In total, 27 patients (47.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 34.9%-60.1%) and 26 patients (45.6%; 95% CI, 33.4%-58.4%) had poor QOL and poor SRI scores, respectively. The overall median (interquartile range) QOL score was 52 (41-63). Headache (adjusted B, -12.3), localized facial puffiness (adjusted B, -16.4), facial discoloration (adjusted B, -23.4), loosening of teeth (adjusted B, -18.7), and facial palsy (adjusted B, -38.5) wer e significantly associated with the QOL score in patients with CAM. Conclusion: Approximately 1 in 2 patients with CAM had poor QOL and poor improvement. Various CAM symptoms were associated with QOL in these patients. Early recognition is the key to optimal treatment, improved outcomes, and improved QOL in patients with CAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 pandemic started in India on 30th January 2020. A nationwide lockdown was enforced from 24th March onwards, and most citizens were confined to their homes causing many psychosocial problems. Objective: To find the prevalence of depression and its associated factors during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A community based crosssectional study, conducted among the adult population of urban Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Information was collected using a predesigned questionnaire with a sample size of 396 consenting individuals. Results: Of the 396 participants, 99 (25%) had depression; with mild, moderate, and severe depression found in 20.45%, 3.53% and 1% individuals, respectively. Females were affected more than males (32.1% vs 18.2%). Prevalence of depression was 50% among individuals living alone, 34.7% among unemployed people, and 30% among individuals whose income was reduced during the lockdown period. Individuals who were quarantined due to positive/suspected COVID-19 infection had a 45.5% prevalence of depression. Individuals who were divorced or separated, had an increased prevalence of depression [OR 9.2, (95% CI 1.2-73.7)]. People who practiced meditation during the lockdown period had lesser prevalence of depression [OR 2.87, (95% CI 1.1- 7.7)] than those who did not. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major psycho-social impact on people. The findings from this study can help identify vulnerable individuals and prevent and/or reduce the morbidity of depression in future, both in India and other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of polypharmacy has become significantly more common over the past two decades, increasing the risk of drug–drug interactions and adverse drug reactions. Pharmacogenomic (PGx) assays have the purported benefit of being able to predict an individual's response to a specific medication based on genetic markers, which may facilitate the development of optimized medication regimens for patients prescribed polypharmacy. This 12‐week pilot study examined the impact of the PGx results on the clinical management of Veterans who were prescribed psychiatric polypharmacy. Psychiatric medication providers were given access to the PGx assay results, including notification of drug–drug–gene interactions computed from an algorithm decision tool, to assist with medication management decisions. Veteran outpatients (N = 53) prescribed polypharmacy (mean = 13.15 medications) were enrolled into the study. In 92.4% of cases, providers changed medications at baseline, with 83% of providers indicating that they changed their original medication plan based on the PGx results. Clinical improvement over the 12‐week treatment phase was seen in depression (F(1.63, 45) = 5.45, P =.01, η2 =.11) and mental health quality of life (F(2.00, 45) = 4.16, P <.05, η2 =.16). Adverse drug effects were unchanged or improved over time. Rates of polypharmacy remained unchanged. The results suggest that medication changes based on the PGx assay may be beneficial in a complex patient population prescribed polypharmacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Prevalence statistics of postmenopausal osteoporosis and knowledge regarding its independent predictors are lacking, especially in India, where every third woman and every eighth man is suffering from it. Aim: This study aims to investigate the prevalence of osteoporosis and associated risk factors among postmenopausal women. Study Settings and Design: This was a hospital-based prospective cross-sectional study. Methods: This study was carried out among postmenopausal women, who attended orthopaedics outpatient department from August 2020 to July 2021 and 587 women ranging in age between 50 and 80 years who had confirmed menopause were enrolled for the study. Finally, 539 women were recommended for bone mineral density testing, using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Statistical Analysis: To analyze the differences between the groups, a Chi-square and Student's t-test were used for the categorical and continuous variables, respectively. P < 0.05 was considered to show significant associations. Results: In our study, 54.7% of subjects belonged to <60 years of age group. Half of the subjects (51.9%) were illiterate. 37.7% of subjects were having 6 or more children. 14.5% of subjects were currently smoking or chewing tobacco. Age of menopause among 38.0% of subjects was after 50 years of age and duration of menopause at the time of enrolment in the study was more than 10 years in 48.8% of subjects. The prevalence of osteoporosis increased with the increase in the parity and increased number of abortions. Subjects with family history of symptoms related to osteoporosis, and fragility fracture; and self-history of fragility fracture had higher prevalence of osteoporosis (P < 0.05). Conclusion: In our study, the overall prevalence of osteoporotic fractures among postmenopausal females was 82.2% (osteoporosis: 37.5% and osteopenia: 44.7%). The findings of current study and previous studies clearly indicate the urgent need of collective efforts towards the growing problem of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the benefits of the combination of bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and mitomycin C (MMC) in comparison to BCG alone in the treatment of patients with non-muscle invasive (NMI) bladder cancer. Materials and Methods: The randomized comparative study was conducted on 54 patients with NMI bladder cancer. Following the transurethral resection, patients were randomly grouped into two: Group A (n=27) included patients who received postoperative MMC at 40 mg diluted in 50 mL of normal saline on postoperative day 1, followed by intravesical BCG at 60 mg per week for 6 weeks and BCG monthly for 1 year, and group B (n=27) included patients who received intravesical BCG at 60 mg postoperatively per week for 6 weeks followed by BCG monthly for 1 year. The outcome measures were time to recurrence, progression of the disease to muscles or other organs, overall survival, and treatment-related side effects. Results: Compared to BCG alone, perioperative MMC in combination with BCG had comparable disease-free survival (85.18% vs. 66.66%, p=0.202), recurrence of disease (14.81% vs. 33.33%, p=0.202), and progression rate (11.1% vs. 25.9%, p=0.293). Side effects were minor and comparable between the study groups, which included dysuria, bacterial cystitis drug-induced cystitis, macroscopic hematuria prostatitis epididymitis fever, influenza-like symptoms, and fatigue. Conclusion: Overall, both protocols were found comparable in safety and efficacy in reducing the progression and recurrence of NMI bladder cancers without any significant superiority of MMC in combination with BCG in comparison to BCG alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Wireless sensor networks (WSN) encompasses millions of nodes that work jointly, senses environmental information, and transmits to the Base Station (BS). "Energy hole" or "hot‐spot" is a problem in which sensor nodes near to the BS deceasetoo early which creates the partitioning of the network. This is due to the reason of the difference in the consumption of energy by the nodes in WSN which reduces the lifespan of the sensor network. The distribution of the cluster heads and the load balancing are the major pitfalls. In this paper to deal with the statedpitfalls, a hybrid of fuzzy logic technique and harmony search algorithm is proposed to lengthen the lifetime of the network. Unequal clustering is a technique proposed by the researchers to handle the hot‐spot issue, hence it is also included. The proposed algorithm forms unequal clusters. To prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, some well‐known unequal clustering algorithms and harmony search based algorithmare used to compare the proposed algorithm under different network settings. In all the settings, better performance is achieved by the proposed protocol. It prolongs the lifespan of the network as compared to the different algorithms proposed so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The dietary habits and food preferences in the adolescent age group can influence their physical growth. The importance of healthy eating habits cannot be ignored. Faulty eating habits among adolescents contribute towards undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiency. Aim: To evaluate the dietary habits and nutritional status of school-going, urban adolescents. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire based crosssectional study was conducted among 1600 adolescents from 10 government schools in Delhi between April 2018 and March 2019. The socio-demographic profile, anthropometric measurements and dietary habits using simplified dietary gap assessment tool was recorded. The nutritional status of the participants was categorised as per World Health Organisation-Body Mass Index (WHO-BMI) Z-score for adolescents. The data collected was analysed using the statistical analysis software Graph Pad version 5. Chi-square test was applied to assess the association between dietary habits and BMI status. Results: A total of 855 males (mean age 13±2 years) and 745 females (mean age 13.4±2 years) with age range between 10 and 19 years participated in the study. A total of 955 (59%) adolescents consumed milk or milk products, 655 (41%) consumed fruits, and 838 (52%) consumed green leafy vegetables in their daily dietary habits along with their staple diets. 1089 (68%) of adolescents were undernourished, out of which 328 (30%) skipped their regular meals. The Chi-square analysis revealed that consuming junk food (p=0.005) and buying eatables from street shops (p=0.0025) were significantly associated in adoloscents from the age group of 15-19 years. It was observed that male participants consumed milk and milk products more often than female participants (p<0.0001). Faulty dietary habits of skipping meals or eating junk food or buying eatables from street shop was associated with more number of participants under the obese/overweight category (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The poor choice of dietary habits significantly affects the physical development among school-going adolescents. Study participants who belonged to the late adolescent age group had more tendencies to develop faulty dietary habits. The study will help to plan for nutritional supplementation and create awareness to develop healthy food choices among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cooking smoke is a known risk factor for a number of respiratory diseases. It is essential to delineate the role of these environmental factors in the etiology and epidemiology of Tuberculosis (TB). Aim and Objectives: The present study was conducted with an aim to assess the association of TB among the study subjects using biomass fuels for cooking or exposed to Second Hand Smoke (SHS). Material and Methods: The present case control study was conducted in the Department of Chest and TB for a duration of one-year and included 100 cases (new pulmonary TB) subjects and 300 controls as non-TB subjects who attended outpatient clinic. Data were collected as a structured questionnaire. Categorical data were presented as percentages (%) and bivariable logistic regression analysis was done to find out the strength of association between dependent variable and independent variables and an association was considered significant if the p value was less than 0.05. Results: There was more representation of male participants (53.6%) compared to females and (63.9%) of participants were residing in the rural area. On comparative analysis for occurrence of TB among cases and controls, the statistically significant difference was observed for the variables such as age, overcrowding, biomass as cooking fuel, second hand smoke, socioeconomic status, and previous history of TB (p<0.05). Conclusion: Improvement in the standard of living brought about by economic development will lead to more people using cleaner fuels for cooking than biomass fuel which in turn will lead to a reduction in the occurrence of pulmonary TB in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India has the highest burden of Tuberculosis in the world, having about one-fourth of the total global incident cases of the disease in 2017. The RNTCP program started many newer initiatives in 2015 to improve compliance and treatment outcomes, reduce the incidence of resistance and control the TB-HIV co-infection. Objectives: To assess the improvement in patient compliance, to find out and compare the improvement in nutritional status of the patients after initiation of treatment and Direct Benefit Transfer and to compare the treatment outcomes of the enrolled subjects in the two areas. Material and Method: Data was collected from the DOTS centers under CHC, Muradnagar and TB and Chest Hospital Karawal Nagar, between January 2019 to September 2019. Details of the enrolled patients were taken from the centers and these patients were contacted individually. Of the registered patients, 59 patients from Muradnagar, Ghaziabad and 70 from Karawal Nagar, Delhi had completed treatment at the time of data collection and they were further evaluated for different parameters. Results: 62% of the registered patients at DOTS centre, Muradnagar, had completed treatment, 35.1% were cured, 1.7% died during treatment while only 1.2% of the patients did not show good compliance. 54% of the registered patients at DOTS centre of Karawalnagar, East Delhi, had completed treatment, 25.5% were cured, 2.7% of the patients had died during treatment while only 2.7% of the total patients did not show good compliance. More number of patients registered at Ghaziabad had either completed the treatment or were cured (97.1%) as compared to Delhi (79.5%). The mean gain in weight was 5.39 kg and 5.04 kg for Ghaziabad and Delhi respectively. This gain in weight had no relationship with Direct Benefit Transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is among the most prevalent cancers in India and improving breast cancer awareness among women has shown to overcome the barriers related to diagnosis and treatment. Although breast self-examination (BSE) being quite easy and fast procedure, it a matter of debate that in limited-resource settings, it could be implemented or not, and hence, the present study was conducted to assess the acceptability and effectiveness of a breast health awareness program among rural women. METHODS: The present prospective interventional study was conducted for a duration of 12 months among 270 rural women in the age group of 30-59 years. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect data. The activity of the study was divided into three parts, i.e., pretest, intervention and posttest. McNemar's Chi-square was used to examine the association between each dependent variable at pretest and posttest and an association was statistically significant if the P < 0.05. RESULTS: Only 17.2% were aware of BSE and among them, not even single has ever practiced BSE. The pretest and posttest median awareness scores were 3 and 5, respectively, whereas the mean awareness score pretest and posttest were 2.76 ± 1.525 and 5.07 ± 1.598, respectively. Awareness regarding risk factors for breast cancer before training (11.1%) was increased significantly after training (35.2%) but to a little extent only (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The present study highlights the levels of baseline awareness of breast cancer in rural women, which is unacceptably low, but educational intervention by field health workers having significantly improved their level of awareness, including the BSE practices. The study also found various barriers for not performing BSE among participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless Sensor Networks is a complex network with millions of small-scale sensor nodes, working together to detect certain physical phenomena. Sensor nodes are operated by battery therefore the major concern is energy efficiency. Clustering is an effective technique to decrease the energy depletion in the network. However, choosing the optimum Cluster Heads is an NP-Hard problem. This paper proposes an unequal clustering technique that selects probationary Cluster Heads through fuzzy logic and the optimization of this probationary Cluster Heads is done through Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA). The proposed algorithm exhibits the dynamic capability of fuzzy logic and high search efficiency of HSA that extends the network lifespan. The findings are simulated against traditional clustering protocols and compared. The findings obtained show that the protocol proposed is performing superior in terms of network lifespan prolongation and other metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a prominent technology that could assist in the fourth industrial revolution. Sensor nodes present in the WSNs are functioned by a battery. It is impossible to recharge or replace the battery, hence energy is the most important resource of WSNs. Many techniques have been devised and used over the years to conserve this scarce resource of WSNs. Clustering has turned out to be one of the most efficient methods for this purpose. This paper intends to propose an efficient technique for election of cluster heads in WSNs to increase the network lifespan. For the achievement of this task, grey wolf optimizer (GWO) has been employed. In this paper, the general GWO has been modified to cater to the specific purpose of cluster head selection in WSNs. The objective function for the proposed formulation considers average intra‐cluster distance, sink distance, residual energy, and CH balancing factor. The simulations are carried out in diverse conditions. On comparison of the proposed protocol, ie, GWO‐C protocol with some well‐known clustering protocols, the obtained results prove that the proposed protocol outperforms with respect to the consumption of the energy, throughput, and the lifespan of the network. The proposed protocol forms energy‐efficient and scalable clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fundamental unit of the Internet of Things (IoT) is wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Due to their low cost and prospective use, WSNs have drawn interest in various applications over the last years. Since sensor nodes are equipped with limited battery, it is vital energy consumption be carefully monitored. Therefore, minimizing the node energy consumption is clearly essential to extend the network lifetime. In this paper, a fuzzy‐based unequal clustering protocol is proposed. Not only does the proposed protocol prolong the network lifetime, but it also balances the load among nodes. Former protocols do not consider load balancing. Fuzzy logic is employed considering four inputs: residual energy, distance to a base station, node degree and centrality. To validate its efficiency, the novel protocol is compared with other relevant protocols. The obtained results prove that the protocol here proposed outperforms other state‐of‐the‐art protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper deals with the approximation properties of generalization of Lupaş–Păltănea's operators preserving exponential functions. We obtain moments using the concept of moment generating functions and establish a Voronovskaya type theorem, uniform convergence estimate and also an asymptotic formula in quantitative sense. In the end we present comparative study through graphical representation and propose an open problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India has 8.6% elderly population which is going to increase to 12% by 2025. Government of India is providing for the elderly through various social security and welfare schemes as well as legislations. But various studies, mostly in rural areas have shown that the awareness regarding these schemes was poor and incomplete. Utilization of schemes by the beneficiaries was even poorer. Very few studies have assessed the same in urban areas. Aims & Objectives: To assess the awareness and utilization of geriatric welfare schemes and factors associated with them among urban elderly. Material & Methods: The study was conducted in urban field practice area of Dept of Community Medicine, SMS&R, Greater Noida. 402 elderly living in slums of Bhangel, Noida, were interviewed using semi structured questionnaire assuming 50% awareness levels in the urban area with 10% relative precision and 95% confidence interval. Results: Awareness regarding any one scheme was 31.6%, of whom only one fourth subjects knew about more than one scheme. Among those who knew about the schemes, only 40% were utilizing them. The awareness as well as utilization was found to be significantly associated with religion, caste and educational status of the subject. Conclusion: The study shows poor awareness and even poorer utilization of geriatric welfare schemes among elderly people of urban slums. Further studies are required for judging the influencing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present article we propose genuine Lupas-Beta operators of integral type. We establish quantitative asymptotic formula and a direct estimate in terms of second order modulus of continuity. Finally we consider the Bézier variant and obtain the rate of convergence for functions having derivatives of BV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless sensor network comprises billions of nodes that work collaboratively, gather data, and transmit to the sink. 'Energy hole' or 'hotspot' problem is a phenomenon in which nodes near to the sink die prematurely, which causes the network partition. This is because of the imbalance of the consumption of energy by the nodes in wireless sensor networks. This decreases the network's lifetime. Unequal clustering is a technique to cope up with this issue. In this paper, an algorithm, 'fuzzy-based unequal clustering algorithm,' is proposed to prolong the lifetime of the network. This protocol forms unequal clusters. This is to balance the energy consumption. Cluster head selection is done through fuzzy logic approach. Input variables are the distance to base station, residual energy, and density. Competition radius and rank are the two output fuzzy variables. Mamdani method is employed for fuzzy inference. The protocol is compared with well-known algorithms, like low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy, energy-aware unequal clustering fuzzy, multi-objective fuzzy clustering algorithm, and fuzzy-based unequal clustering under different network scenarios. In all the scenarios, the proposed protocol performs better. It extends the lifetime of the network as compared with its counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Iodine deficiency is the world’s single greatest cause of preventable mental retardation. In developing countries, only 69% of households are consuming iodized salt. Objective: To assess knowledge and practices with respect to the current use of iodized salt, and to estimate its uptake at the household level. Materials and Methods: This cross‑sectional survey was conducted in six villages under Rural Health Training Center. A total number of households surveyed were 253. The data collectors obtained verbal consent from the Family, and Pretested Standardized Questionnaire was administered in every selected household. The respondents were asked questions regarding salt purchasing and consumption habits, salt storage, awareness of iodized salt, and iodine deficiency diseases. Rapid iodized salt test kit (MBI kit) was used in the survey to assess iodine content in salt used in households. Results: In this study, 93.7% households were using packet salt. The most common source of information was a television (31.1%). More than half (53.8%) of the households were unaware of the benefits of iodine. About 62.5% of households were consuming adequately iodized salt. Significant association was found between the practice of storing salt in closed containers and use of packaged iodized salt (Chi‑square value −37.6, P < 0.001), awareness about the benefits of iodine and type of salt used (P = 0.02) while no association was observed between the socioeconomic status and type of salt used in the household. Conclusions: Though the use of packet salt was more than 90%, adequately iodized salt was consumed only in 62.5%, and more than half of the subjects lacked the knowledge about iodine deficiency diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tobacco smoke has adverse health effects on women of the reproductive age group with serious health implications for the next generation. Objectives: This study assessed the prevalence of current active smoking, second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure and the factors influencing smoke exposure in females of the reproductive age group. Materials and Methods: Data from the nationally representative Global Adult Tobacco Survey-India (GATS 2009) was analyzed for socio demographic variables, tobacco-related variables and knowledge variables. Results: 50.4% of the women in the reproductive age group had been exposed to SHS at home, though only 2.6% of the women were current active smokers. This was more than the SHS exposure at work (21.7%) and elsewhere (32.6%). SHS exposure of the women at home did not vary significantly with knowledge of adverse effects of smoking but was affected by the place of dwelling as the smoke exposure was found to be more among rural women. Conclusion: SHS exposure is more prevalent than current active smoking in women of the reproductive age group and that too at home. Thus, policies need to be framed in order to curb this menace which is a vicious one as women don't really have an alternative as far as this exposure is concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background : The importance of breast feeding has been immortalized in the ancient Indian Literature. According to an analysis, breast feeding was identified as the single most effective preventive intervention which could prevent 13-16% of all childhood deaths in India. According to WHO, exclusive breast feeding for first six months provides continuing protection against diarrhea and respiratory tract infection. Objectives: to find the proportion of mothers practicing exclusive breast feeding for 6 months, prevailing breast feeding practices and influence of socio-cultural factors on breast feeding practices. Method: Taking 51% as prevalence (NFHS 3), sample size was calculated as 400 with 10% relative precision. Cluster sampling technique was used in the study. 10 subjects each were interviewed from 14 urban and 26 rural clusters to cover a sample size of 400. Their responses were recorded on a pretested questionnaire and results drawn. Data were analysed using Epi-info and SPSS and chi- square test applied. Results: 68.6% of mothers had started breast feeding within 4 hours of delivery (only 31.9% within the first hour). 30%of mothers had practiced exclusive breast feeding for atleast 6 months. 75% of mothers had fed colostrum to the babies and 48.2% had given prelacteal feeds. Breast feeding practices were significantly influenced by socio-economic status, literacy status, number of ANC visits and place of delivery. Conclusion: Early initiation of and exclusive breast feeding is still low in the area with a large proportion of mothers giving prelacteal feeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The trend of ocular diseases in urban areas is changing. Eye diseases due to chronic medical problems are being detected more in urban population. Therefore, there is a need to check for ocular diseases in each age group. Objectives: To find the prevalence and causes of ocular morbidity and blindness and their associated factors in urban population. Methods: This study was done in an urban area of Meerut. All the age groups covering 1613 subjects were interviewed and simple torchlight examination of the eyes, followed by testing of vision was done. Results: Prevalence of ocular morbidity was 53.0% and blindness 3.4%. The most common ocular morbidity was refractive error (86.4%), followed by cataract (22.5%) and conjunctivitis (6.0%). The causes of blindness were cataract (72.7%), posterior segment pathologies (20.0%), ocular injury (5.5%) and corneal opacities (1.8%). Both ocular morbidity and blindness were significantly higher in smokers, hypertensives and diabetics. Blindness was more prevalent in alcoholics and in those with history of ocular injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Road accidents are associated with numerous problems each of which needs to be addressed separately [1]. Accidents, therefore, can be studied in terms of agent, host and environmental factors and epidemiologically classified into time, place and person distribution [2]. Objectives: 1.To assess the prevalence of RTAs coming to hospital and 2.To know the epidemiological factors related to RTAs and associated prevalence in hospital based study. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at SMSR, Gr Noida, in 2012. The study group consisted of all the RTA victims reporting to casualty in the last one year. The victims of the accidents were interviewed on a pretested semi structured performa. Results: In that one year period total number of reported accident cases was 144. The age groups of the study subjects were between 13-65 years. Out of total study subjects, only 16 were female. Again out of the total accident cases 45% were attended by police and of all injured, 45.8% were driver by occupation (7% without driving license). Among these drivers, 11% were not attentive during driving because of various reasons. Ambulance services had reached in 46.5% cases. Fracture was the most common type (60%) of injury among all types of injuries. Among the applicable population only 33% wore helmet or seat belts. Conclusions: Only half of the total accident cases were attended by police and again only half of them received ambulance services. One third injuries were because of not wearing seat belt and helmets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urban slums in India are a neglected community as far as public facilities are concerned. There is no health infrastructure since such areas are largely illegal and unauthorised to start with and therefore, the community cannot utilize the social security schemes as well, that are meant for the economically weaker sections of the country. Objectives: To generate health awareness among the slum adolescents and make them economically independent. Methodology: summer workshop was conducted for a period of one week by the MBBS students in the urban slum of Bhangel. Two groups of slum adolescents were recognised. Health awareness sessions were conducted for these children everyday on one or the other relevant health topic along with teaching them some vocational skills. Results: on comparing the pre and post workshop assessment, the results were encouraging. Conclusion: Marked improvement was observed in the knowledge levels and livelihood promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of immunization programs is critically dependent on robust supply chain management, a complex challenge exacerbated by expanding program scopes and evolving vaccine technologies. This comprehensive review underscores the pivotal role of Resource Centers in fortifying the immunization supply chain, presenting a paradigm shift toward enhanced national and global health outcomes. Through a detailed examination of their key activities, the article elucidates how these centers catalyze improvements across various facets of supply chain management - from the integration of suitable technology technologies and specialized training programs to the development of sustainable models and advocacy for policy prioritization. This further explores the multifaceted challenges these centers confront, including funding constraints, capacity building, and infrastructural gaps, alongside the burgeoning opportunities presented by new vaccine introductions, donor interest in health system strengthening, and the potential for broadened scope beyond immunization. By weaving together examples of existing centers worldwide, the review highlights their contributions towards optimizing vaccine logistics, enhancing data management, and ultimately achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3. The insights provided offer valuable guidance for planning and sustaining resource centers, positioning them as indispensable allies in the global pursuit of universal immunization coverage., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Singh et al.)

Introduction: Menstruation is a natural phenomenon among women who experience shedding of blood for 1-7 days every month which usually starts between age 11 and 14 years and continues until menopause at about 51 years of age. It is important to maintain menstrual hygiene, as poor practices increase vulnerability to reproductive and urinary tract infections. The present study was conducted with an aim to investigate the impact of focused group discussion (FGD) compared to didactic lectures (DLs) on the menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices., Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 649 school girls during January to August 2019 using a convenience sampling technique. After collecting baseline information using a pretested, predesigned, standardized questionnaire, the participants in the control and intervention groups were exposed for the DLs and FGD, respectively, and 1 month after such intervention, the same questionnaire was again self-administered by participants. All tests were performed at a 5% level of significance using SPSS (version 22.0)., Results: The baseline characteristics of both the groups such as participants' mean age, mean age of menarche, mother's literacy status, religion, type of family, and socioeconomic status were comparable. There was a difference in the knowledge and practice mean score of participants in the control group for pre- and postintervention, which was highly statistically significant ( P < 0.001)., Conclusions: This study reveals that menstrual hygiene is far from satisfactory among most of the school girls. The DLs and FGD have improved the menstrual hygiene knowledge and practices among school girls., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2020 Journal of Education and Health Promotion.)

Monitoring pathology/regeneration in experimental models of de-/remyelination requires an accurate measure not only of functional changes but also of the amount of myelin. We tested whether X-ray diffraction (XRD), which measures periodicity in unfixed myelin, can assess the structural integrity of myelin in fixed tissue. From laboratories involved in spinal cord injury research and in studying the aging primate brain, we solicited "blind" samples and used an electronic detector to record rapidly the diffraction patterns (30 min each pattern) from them. We assessed myelin integrity by measuring its periodicity and relative amount. Fixation of tissue itself introduced +/-10% variation in periodicity and +/-40% variation in relative amount of myelin. For samples having the most native-like periods, the relative amounts of myelin detected allowed distinctions to be made between normal and demyelinating segments, between motor and sensory tracts within the spinal cord, and between aged and young primate CNS. Different periodicities also allowed distinctions to be made between samples from spinal cord and nerve roots and between well-fixed and poorly fixed samples. Our findings suggest that, in addition to evaluating the effectiveness of different fixatives, XRD could also be used as a robust and rapid technique for quantitating the relative amount of myelin among spinal cords and other CNS tissue samples from experimental models of de- and remyelination.