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Purpose: Mobile-based payment is increasing exponentially but in the developing country like India, consumers' perception is highly positive in daily cash transaction. The purpose of this research is to identify and examine the important challenges for mobile wallet (m-wallet) implementation in India. In the wake of COVID-19, one of the transmission mechanisms of this virus has been the coins and paper money passed between a buyer and a seller. As such m-wallet considered as a convenience of payment has become a necessity in light of the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The authors explored 19 unique sets of challenges selected from the literature and collected data from 14 experts from private sector, multinational corporations and mixed private and public partnership who have significant knowledge and experience of mobile payment implementation and use in their respective organisations. Also, the authors have used Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) methodology in developing a hierarchal model for the identified challenges. The authors implemented Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) analysis to classify the identified challenges. Findings: The ISM-based framework is divided into nine different hierarchical levels. "Lack of strong regulatory compliance (Ch6)" has been recognised as the most important challenge, which inhibited the mobile wallet implementation, whereas "Perception of customers about the value of using mobile wallets (Ch11)" is the most dependent critical challenge. There are seven hierarchical layers in between the top and the bottom level with the varied number of challenges based on their driving and dependence power. Originality/value: This is the first research to the best of our knowledge that has not only comprehensively reviewed the m-wallet literature but also employed a unique ISM-MICMAC-based approach to develop a framework of challenges for the m-wallet implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As there have been incorporated fundamental duties in Indian Constitution even though they were incorporated at a later stage after the passage of the Indian Constitution. The present paper is to make a critical analysis to measure the legal dimensions of the Fundamental Duties enshrined in Part IV-A of the Constitution of India. It is to know whether the incorporation of fundamental duties in the Indian Constitution is merely a formality or a serious work. It is also to know to what extent the Fundamental Duties are enforceable by Indian laws and whether there is enough instrumentality or machinery in the form of laws or other ways (extra-legal disciplines) to make them abided by the people. As these duties belong to citizens of India so this research work is to know why some of these duties or all cannot be followed by foreigners and by the State as well. It is to know whether merely legislations for the enforcement of fundamental duties are enough or some other ways like necessary public opinion and social climate which will give space for implementation of fundamental duties are also required. It is also to be acquainted with whether any other new duties can be added to Indian Constitution and what are the methods to get them enforced among the people of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses that PRRT2 Gene Mutations in Indian Paroxysmal Kinesigenic Dyskinesia Patients. Topics discussed include Paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) is an involuntary movement disorder belonging to the category of Paroxysmal Dyskinesias(PDs); and PKD is one of the rare movement disorders characterized by brief, episodic hyperkinetic movement abnormalities like dystonia, chorea, hemiballismus, or with the combination.

Mobile payment services hold the potential for financial inclusion in developing economies. Low-income countries are characterized by distinctive conditions like price sensitivity, low digital penetration, high risk of failure, and competitive emerging markets, which further influence mobile payment usage. We develop a research model to identify the contextual facilitators (like price benefit, network externalities, trust, and habit) and barriers (like risk, lack of facilitating conditions, and operational constraints) driving mobile payment usage intention. We test the model using data from 298 survey respondents from India who had adopted and were currently using mobile payment services. The factors that facilitate or constrain users' intention to continue using mobile payments are essential in understanding the technology's sustenance and its future in enabling financial inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Digital financial services (DFS) have substantial prospect to offer a number of reasonable, appropriate and secure banking services to the underprivileged in developing countries through pioneering technologies such as mobile phone based solutions, digital platforms and electronic money models. DFS allow unbanked people to obtain access to financial services through digital technologies. However, DFS face tough challenges of adoption. Realising this, the purpose of this paper is to identify such challenges and develop a framework. Design/methodology/approach: The authors developed a framework of challenges by utilising interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC approach. The authors explored 18 such unique set of challenges culled from the literature and further gathered data from two sets of expert professionals. In the first phase, the authors gathered data from 29 professionals followed by 18 professionals in the second phase. All were pursuing Executive MBA programme from a metropolitan city in South India. The implementation of ISM and fuzzy MICMAC provided a precise set of driving, linkage and dependent variables that were used to derive a framework. Findings: ISM model is split in eight different levels. The bottom level consists of a key driving challenge V11 (i.e. high cost and low return related problem), whereas the topmost level consists of two highly dependent challenges namely V1 (i.e. risk of using digital services) and V14 (i.e. lack of trust). The prescribed ISM model shows the involvement of "high cost and low return related problem (V11)", which triggers further challenges of DFS. Originality/value: None of the existing research has explored key challenges to DFS in detail nor formulated a framework for such challenges. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper on DFS that attempts to collate its challenges and incorporate them in a hierarchical model using ISM and further divide them into four categories of factors using fuzzy MICMAC analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deformation rates derived from GPS measurements made at two continuously operating stations at Leh (34.1°N, 77.6°E) and Hanle (32.7°N, 78.9°E), and eight campaign sites in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh spanning 11 years (1997-2008), provide a clear picture of the kinematics of this region as well as the convergence rate across northwestern Himalaya. All the Ladakh sites move 32-34 mm/year NE in the ITRF2005 reference frame, and their relative velocities are 13-16 mm/year SW in the Indian reference frame and ~19 mm/year W with reference to the Lhasa IGS station in southeastern Tibet. The results indicate that there is no statistically significant deformation in the 200-km stretch between the continuous sites Leh and Hanle as well as between Leh and Nubra valley sites along the Karakoram fault, whereas the sites in and around the splayed Karakoram fault region indicate surface deformation of 2.5 mm/year. Campaign sites along the Karakoram fault zone indicate a fault parallel surface motion of 1.4-2.5 mm/year in the Tangste and western Panamik segment of the Karakoram fault, which quantifies the best possible GPS-derived dextral slip rate of 3 mm/year along this fault during this 11-year period. Baselines of Ladakh sites show convergence rates of 15-18 mm/year with respect to south India and 12-15 mm/year with respect to Delhi in north India and Almora in the Himalaya ~400 km north-northeast of Delhi. These constitute an arc normal convergence of 12-15 mm/year across the western Himalaya, which is consistent with arc normal convergence all along the Himalayan arc from west to east. Baseline extension rates of 14-16 mm/year between Lhasa and Ladakh sites are consistent with the east-west extension rate of Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the role of situational information as an antecedent of terrorists' opportunistic decision making in the volatile and extreme environment of the Mumbai terrorist attack. We especially focus on how Mumbai terrorists monitored and utilized situational information to mount attacks against civilians. Situational information which was broadcast through live media and Twitter contributed to the terrorists' decision making process and, as a result, increased the effectiveness of hand-held weapons to accomplish their terrorist goal. By utilizing a framework drawn from Situation Awareness (SA) theory, this paper aims to (1) analyze the content of Twitter postings of the Mumbai terror incident, (2) expose the vulnerabilities of Twitter as a participatory emergency reporting system in the terrorism context, and (3), based on the content analysis of Twitter postings, we suggest a conceptual framework for analyzing information control in the context of terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To correlate blood lead levels and clinical manifestations. Participants : Battery workers and painters (occupationally exposed to lead in and around Mangalore, India) and occupationally unexposed controls. Main outcome measures: We measured the blood lead levels by anodic stripping voltammetry, and a clinical examination was carried out on all participants. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the lead-exposed group and controls with respect to clinical manifestations. The prominent findings among the lead-exposed group were fatigue, abdominal colic, abdominal discomfort, backache, muscular exhaustability, myalgia and paresthesia, at a blood lead level ranging from 0.4 to 116.6 μg/dL. Conclusions : Such a study on battery workers and painters has not been reported in India. Several attempts have been made over the years to relate blood lead levels to adverse health effects. It was not possible to determine a precise blood lead level below which symptoms never occur or a blood lead level at which symptoms are always reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the abstract of the disserrarion "Working of the Andhra Pradesh State Co-operative Bank--An Evaluation," by H. Srinivasrao.

Background To study the clinical profile and outcome of adult patients presenting with Scrub typhus ARDS in emergency at our institute. Methods Prospective observational study which included 126 adult patients presenting to emergency department at, PGIMER Chandigarh, a tertiary care referral institute in northwestern India with acute febrile illness with ARDS (acute onset respiratory distress within one week of fever or new/worsening respiratory symptoms with PaO2/FiO2 ratio less than 300 with PEEP or CPAP more than 5 cm H2O from January 2016 to December 2017.All the patients consenting for the study underwent detailed clinical evaluation and investigated for the etiology as per standard protocol followed at our institute with special emphasis to rule out tropical illnesses like scrub typhus, malaria, leptospirosis, dengue and H1N1 influenza. Patients were followed till discharge. Results Out of 126 patients eligible for the study, 45.2% were males and 54.8% were females. 47.6% were admitted in the monsoon/post-monsoon period. In addition to fever and dyspnea, cough (75.8%), hepatomegaly (56%), myalgia (63%), splenomegaly (31.3%), pedal edema (34.2%), pallor (40.4%), and vomiting (48.4%) were the common symptoms observed. Scrub typhus in 33.3%, followed by H1N1 influenza in 15.8%, co-infections in 12.6%, leptospirosis in (4.76%), dengue in (3.96%) and malaria in 3.17% of the patients, were the most common etiologies encountered. In 26.9% patients, no definite infective etiology could be found. Among the scrub typhus patients, 16 required ventilation. SOFA score of more than 6 was noted in 24 (57.14%) patients with scrub typhus as compared 9 (47.3%) patients with H1N1 infection. 12.1% of patients with scrub typhus succumbed to their illness when compared with 36.8% of patients with H1N1 infection. At admission in emergency female sex (P = 0.048), age less than 45 years, (P = 0.020), abdominal pain (P = 0.011), presence of hepatosplenomegaly (P = 0.001/0.010), thrombocytopenia <150,000 (P = 0.001), transaminitis (P = 0.00) were significant predictors of a diagnosis of scrub typhus when compared with a non-scrub typhus etiology of patients with fever and ARDS. Conclusion Scrub typhus is an important, treatable tropical infection causing ARDS especially in monsoon/post-monsoon seasons in Northwestern India. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To meet global cervical cancer elimination efforts, a wider range of affordable and accessible vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) are needed. We aimed to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of a quadrivalent HPV vaccine (targeting HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18), developed and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SIIPL). Here we report outcomes in the 9-14 years cohort., Methods: This randomised, active-controlled, phase 2/3 trial was conducted at 12 tertiary care hospitals across India. Healthy participants aged 9-14 years or 15-26 years with no history of HPV vaccination were eligible for enrolment. Female participants were randomly assigned (1:1) with an interactive web response system, by use of a central computer-generated schedule and block randomisation (block sizes of 2, 4, 6, and 8), to receive the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine (Cervavac; SIIPL, Pune, India) or the comparator quadrivalent HPV vaccine (Gardasil; Merck Sharp & Dohme, Harleem, the Netherlands). Participants, investigators, laboratory technicians, and sponsors were masked to treatment allocation of female participants. Male participants were given the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine in an open-label manner. Study vaccines were administered intramuscularly with a two-dose schedule (at day 0 and 6 months) in the cohort aged 9-14 years, and with a three-dose schedule (at day 0, month 2, and month 6) in the cohort aged 15-26-years. Immunogenicity was assessed 30 days after the last dose by use of multiplexed ELISA. The primary outcome was the non-inferiority of immune response in terms of the geometric mean titre (GMT) of antibodies against HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 generated by the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine in girls and boys (aged 9-14 years) compared with the GMT generated by the comparator quadrivalent HPV vaccine in women aged 15-26 years at month 7 in the modified per-protocol population (ie, all participants who received all doses of study vaccines per assigned treatment group and had both day 0 and 1-month immunogenicity measurements after the last dose following protocol-defined window periods with no major protocol deviations). Non-inferiority was established if the lower bound of the 98·75% CI of the GMT ratio was 0·67 or higher. The co-primary outcome of occurrence of solicited adverse events (within 7 days of each dose) and unsolicited adverse events (up to 30 days after the last dose) was assessed in all participants who were enrolled and received at least one dose of study vaccine. The trial is registered with the Clinical Trials Registry - India (CTRI/2018/06/014601), and long-term follow-up is ongoing., Findings: Between Sept 20, 2018, and Feb 9, 2021, 2341 individuals were screened, of whom 2307 eligible individuals were enrolled and vaccinated: 1107 (738 girls and 369 boys) in the cohort aged 9-14 years and 1200 (819 women and 381 men) in the cohort aged 15-26 years. No race or ethnicity data were collected. 350 girls and 349 boys in the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine group and 338 women in the comparator vaccine group were included in the modified per-protocol population for the primary endpoint analysis. The median follow-up for the analyses was 221 days (IQR 215-231) for girls and 222 days (217-230) for boys in the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine group, 223 days (216-232) for girls in the comparator vaccine group, and 222 days (216-230) for women in the comparator vaccine group. GMT ratios were non-inferior in girls and boys receiving the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine compared with women receiving the comparator vaccine: GMT ratios for girls were 1·97 (98·75% CI 1·67-2·32) for HPV type 6, 1·63 (1·38-1·91) for HPV type 11, 1·90 (1·60-2·25) for HPV type 16, and 2·16 (1·79-2·61) for HPV type 18. For boys the GMT ratios were 1·86 (1·57-2·21) for HPV type 6, 1·46 (1·23-1·73) for HPV type 11, 1·62 (1·36-1·94) for HPV type 16, and 1·80 (1·48-2·18) for HPV type 18. The safety population comprised all 1107 participants (369 girls and 369 boys in the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine group, and 369 girls in the comparator group). Solicited adverse events occurred in 176 (48%) of 369 girls and 124 (34%) of 369 boys in the SIIPL vaccine group and 179 (49%) of 369 girls in the comparator vaccine group. No grade 3-4 solicited adverse events occurred within 7 days of each dose. Unsolicited adverse events occurred in 143 (39%) girls and 147 (40%) boys in the SIIPL vaccine group, and 143 (39%) girls in the comparator vaccine group. The most common grade 3 unsolicited adverse event was dengue fever, in one (<1%) girl in the SIIPL vaccine group and three (1%) girls in the comparator group. There were no grade 4 or 5 adverse events. Serious adverse events occurred in three (1%) girls and three (1%) boys in the SIIPL vaccine group, and five (1%) girls in the comparator vaccine group. No vaccine-related serious adverse events were reported. There were no treatment-related deaths., Interpretation: We observed a non-inferior immune response with the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine in girls and boys aged 9-14 years and an acceptable safety profile compared with the comparator vaccine. These findings support extrapolation of efficacy from the comparator vaccine to the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine in the younger population. The availability of the SIIPL quadrivalent HPV vaccine could help meet the global demand for HPV vaccines, and boost coverage for both girls and boys globally., Funding: Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, and Serum Institute of India., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests HS, SPa, PP, SS, SD, HR, VD, SG, and US are employees of SIIPL. SJ received funding support from SIIPL for research projects including the current study and cervical cancer prevention programme. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: This first in human study was designed as an open label clinical trial to assess the safety and tolerability of Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. (SIIPL) Tdap vaccine in healthy adult volunteers, aged 18-45 years., Methods: A total of 24 healthy adults were administered a 0.5 ml single dose of SIIPL Tdap vaccine intramuscularly, and were followed for one month for safety outcomes viz., immediate, solicited, unsolicited and serious adverse events., Results: 23 subjects completed the study in compliance with the study protocol. None of the participants experienced any immediate adverse events or any local or systemic solicited adverse events., Conclusion: Tdap vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. is safe and well tolerable in adults. It was concluded that further clinical development of this vaccine should continue to assess its safety and immunogenicity, in the target population. Clinical Trial Registration - CTRI/2017/03/008003., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objective: This is a prospective study of patients with LVEF ≤40%, with the objective of correlating CV events to LGE detected and quantified by CMRI., Methods: Heart Failure (HF) patients with LVEF <40% who underwent CMRI were included. LGE volume of ≥6% of the myocardial volume was considered significant. Data of appropriate ICD shocks, CV hospitalizations and mortality were recorded., Results: There were 133 HF (72 ICM & 62 NIDCM) patients with a mean age of 54 ± 12 years, mean LVEF of 34 ± 6% and a follow up of 24 ± 3 months. Totally 46 CV events were recorded in 30 patients, 44 in LGE +ve & 2 in LGE -ve groups (HR 17.8, 95% CI-8.03-39.3, P = 0.000095). All the 7 deaths were in LGE +ve group. CV events were 22 (30.5%) in ICM group and 8 (13.1%) in NIDCM group (p = 0.03). All the 22 ICM patients and 6 of the 8 NIDCM with CV events were LGE +ve. The distribution of CV events amongst LGE +ve and LGE -ve were 35 vs 0 (ICM) and 9 vs 2 (NIDCM); p < 0.005.CV events in LVEF ≤ 30% group, were seen in 19 (47.5%) vs 1 (5.8%) in LGE +ve vs LGE -ve and no of events were 29 vs 1 (p = 0.003). In those with LVEF >30% the corresponding figures were 9 (22.5%) vs 1 (2.8%) and 15 vs 1 respectively (p = 0.02)., Conclusion: Demonstration of significant LGE by CMRI indicates high risk occurrence of CV events (CV hospitalization, appropriate shocks and total mortality) in NIDCM & ICM patients with LVEF < 40%., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2020 Cardiological Society of India. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

AG129 mice are known to be permissive to infection by multiple serotypes of Dengue virus (DENV). There exists a concern that mouse passaged strains of the virus may induce neurological complications rather than increased vascular permeability in these mice, hence the use of human clinical isolates of the virus to develop the AG129 mouse model of Dengue disease with increased vascular permeability. The present study evaluated four mouse brain passaged DENV strains, each belonging to a different serotype and three of them having an original isolation history in India, for their suitability to serve as candidates to induce rapid lethal disease in AG129 mice. While all the viruses were able to establish a productive infection in the spleen, none of them induced paralysis despite their mouse brain passage history. Only the type-2 virus acquired the ability to induce a lethal disease after a single round of spleen to spleen passage, and became highly virulent after five more rounds. This apparently non-neurological lethal disease was characterized by high viral burden, elevated vascular permeability, serum TNF-α surge immediately before moribund stage, transient leukocytosis followed by severe leukopenia, lymphopenia throughout the course of the infection, and transient thrombocytopenia. The disease was also characterized by inflammatory splenic collapse during moribund stage, reminiscent of spontaneous splenic rupture reported in rare cases of severe Dengue in humans., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To compare the diagnostic abilities of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and macular inner retina (MIR) measurements by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in Indian eyes early glaucoma., Methods: In an observational, cross-sectional study, 125 eyes of 64 normal subjects and 91 eyes of 59 early glaucoma patients underwent RNFL and MIR imaging with SD-OCT. Glaucomatous eyes had characteristic optic nerve and RNFL abnormalities and correlating visual field defects and a mean deviation of better than or equal to -6 dB on standard automated perimetry. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC), sensitivities at a fixed specificity and likelihood ratios (LRs) were estimated for all RNFL and MIR parameters., Results: The AUCs for the RNFL parameters ranged from 0.537 for the temporal quadrant thickness to 0.821 for the inferior quadrant RNFL thickness. AUCs for the MIR parameters ranged from 0.603 for the superior minus inferior MIR thickness average to 0.908 for ganglion cell complex focal loss volume (GCC-FLV). AUC for the best MIR parameter (GCC-FLV) was significantly better (P<0.001) than that of the best RNFL parameter (inferior quadrant thickness). The sensitivities of these parameters at high specificity of 95%, however, were comparable (52.7% vs58.2%). Evaluation of the LRs showed that outside normal limits results of most of the RNFL and MIR parameters were associated with large effects on the post-test probability of disease., Conclusion: MIR parameters with RTVue SD-OCT were as good as the RNFL parameters to detect early glaucoma.

The temporal variation in the Specific Growth Rate (SGR) of natural population of heterotrophic bacterioplankton of the river Cauvery and its four down stream tributaries in Karnataka State was monitored over a period of two years from February 2000 to January 2002. The SGR was calculated by taking into account only the abundance of bacterioplankton at the beginning (0 h) and at the end (48 h) incubation period, at room or river temperature. The mean SGR was less and significantly different in the surface waters of river Kapila, Shimsha, Suvarnavathy and Arkavathy. But it was more and significantly different in river Cauvery when compared to other tributaries. This suggests that the river Cauvery was more favorable habitat for SGR of bacterioplankton than the other four watercourses studied. Investigation of interrelationship between SGR and other bacterial variables showed presence of only one correlation with direct counts of particle bound bacteria in river Arkavathy. Further, the relationship between SGR of bacterioplankton and other environmental variables showed the presence of six correlations in river Shimsha, five in river Suvarnavathy, three in river Cauvery, and two each in river Kapila and river Arkavathy. Negative SGR were recorded on thirteen occasions in river Cauvery followed by eleven in river Shimsha, nine in river Suvarnavathy, seven in river Arkavathy and five in river Kapila, out of fifty SGR determinations. This negative SGR were a result of decrease in the observed bacterial cell counts after 48 h incubation from that of 0 h count. The probable reason for such negative growth rate and dependency of SGR of bacterioplankton and environmental variables has been discussed.

The in vitro activity of root-tuber-peel extract of Flemingia vestita, an indigenous plant consumed by the natives in Northeast India, was tested against helminth parasites. Live parasites (nematode: Ascaris suum from pigs, A. lumbricoides from humans, Ascaridia galli and Heterakis gallinarum from domestic fowl; cestode: Raillietina echinobothrida from domestic fowl; trematode: Paramphistomum sp. from cattle) were collected in 0.9 % physiological buffered saline (PBS) and maintained at 37 +/- 1 degrees C. In vitro treatment of the parasites with the crude extract (50 mg/ml) in PBS revealed complete immobilization of the trematode and cestode in about 43 and 20 min, respectively. However, the cuticle-covered nematodes did not show any change in physical activity and remained viable even after a long period of exposure to the extract. Exposure of R. echinobothrida to genistein (0.5 mg/ml), an active principle isolated from the root-tuber peel, caused spontaneous loss of movement (paralysis) in 4.5 h, which was slower than the time required for praziquantel, the reference flukicide and cestodicide. The treated parasites showed structural alteration in their tegumental architecture. This study suggests the vermifugal activity of this plant extract against trematodes and cestodes.