Search

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a significant public health concern in India, with one of the highest disability burdens worldwide. For the success of the disease prevention and control program that aims to reduce prevalence through health promotion and screening, the public's prior knowledge of the disease is important. Hence, this study was conducted to assess baseline knowledge of the disease and effects of health education and community mobilization program in the SCD endemic tribal community of Gujarat. This quasi-experimental study was conducted in three phases at Chhotaudepur district of Gujarat, India. Knowledge of the community was assessed through the administration of pretested quantitative questionnaire in 1646 and 1631 individuals respectively during formative and evaluation phases. Differences between the proportions of two phases were statistically assessed by chi-square tests. Despite 75.3% of respondents having heard of SCD before, only 20% could perceive the correct cause. It was improved by 42% post-intervention. During the evaluation, 83% respondents recognized the most common symptom of extreme pain, whereas 86.8% identified the correct diagnostic method. Seventy-seven percent respondents reported modern medicine as a treatment for SCD at endline. Knowledge and awareness about SCD were found inadequate in the community. However, health education intervention strategies effectively improved knowledge related to the disease and its causes, diagnosis, and treatment. Hence, urgent action is required to incorporate community mobilization and awareness generation strategies to mitigate the disease burden., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Pesticide deposits post-treatment and before diffusing inside the plants are exposed to sunlight. Many of them degrade into a variety of photoproducts that may be harmful to living beings through accidental ingestion. The addition of ultraviolet light absorbers to the pesticide formulations is an attractive strategy to prevent photodegradation of the pesticides. Water-soluble quaternary ammonium ultraviolet light absorbers (QAUVAs) were synthesized from 2,4-dihydroxy benzophenones (BP-1) and their structures were confirmed by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, UV, and FTIR. A cost-saving approach for the photoprotection of disulfoton insecticide using these QAUVAs is presented. All the four QAUVAs exhibit excellent UV screening effect. The insecticide disulfoton was recovered in much higher amounts (22.27 ~ 25.64% higher than control) when it was irradiated in the presence of QAUVAs in comparison with the amount of recovery of pesticide exposed in absence of them., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: We investigated the relationship of stress technetium 99m sestamibi lung uptake with rest thallium 201 lung uptake and with indices of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with known or suspected CAD undergoing stress testing and cardiac catheterization. Stress Tc-99m sestamibi lung uptake and both stress and rest Tl-201 lung uptake are associated with LV dysfunction and extent of CAD. Although the mechanism of lung uptake is thought to be similar for the two isotopes, their physiologic characteristics are different. No direct comparison of lung uptake for the two isotopes has been reported., Methods and Results: We evaluated 192 consecutive patients who underwent dual-isotope myocardial perfusion imaging and cardiac catheterization within 30 days. We examined the relationship of stress Tc-99m sestamibi lung-to-heart ratio (LHR) with rest Tl-201 LHR, with indices of myocardial perfusion, and with invasive measures of the severity of LV dysfunction and CAD. Stress Tc-99m sestamibi LHR correlated with rest Tl-201 LHR (r = 0.548, P <.001). Stress Tc-99m sestamibi LHR was positively associated with LV filling pressures and extent of CAD and negatively associated with LV ejection fraction and arterial systolic blood pressure. However, after adjustment for multiple comparisons, stress Tc-99m sestamibi LHR was significantly associated only with LV end-diastolic pressure (r = 0.287, P =.002) and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (r = 0.337, P <.001)., Conclusions: Increased stress Tc-99m sestamibi LHR correlates with rest Tl-201 LHR in patients with known or suspected CAD. Stress Tc-99m sestamibi lung uptake is also associated with invasively measured LV filling pressures.