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The article focuses on the Polio Eradication Program (PEP) and the poor environmental sanitation and public health system in India. Several quotes regarding sanitation and the eradication of polio are presented. It argues that a good environmental sanitation is the biggest help in eradication of the disease. It stresses the need for the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) to focus on intensive efforts in the field of enhancing environmental sanitation and public health system.

Snow is a major source of water in the western US and has been observed showing variability posed by climate change. The snow variability of the region has been associated with the droughts affecting the societies relying on snow driven rivers. The current study evaluates the spatiotemporal variability of western US snow water equivalent (SWE) over 58 years (1961–2018) as a trend and a shift. The current study tests whether the SWE is consistent during El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases utilizing the Kolmogorov – Smirnov (KS) test. Trend analysis was performed on the SWE data of each ENSO phase. Shift analysis was performed in the entire time series of 58 years. Additionally, the trend in the SWE data was evaluated before and after shift years. Mann-Kendal and Pettit's tests were utilized for the detection of trend and shift respectively. The serial correlation was taken into account during the trend evaluation, while Thiel-Sen approach was used for the evaluation of the trend magnitude. The serial correlation in time series which is the potential cause of overestimation and underestimation of the trend evaluation was found to be absent in the SWE data. The results suggested a negative trend and a shift during the study period. The negative trend was absent during neutral years and present during El Niño and La Niña years. The trend magnitudes were maximum during La Niña years followed by those during El Niño years and the entire length of the data. It was also observed that if the presence of negative shift in the SWE was considered, then most of the stations did not show a significant trend before and after the occurrence of a shift. The current study can be utilized by water managers to develop future water management policies, plans, and strategies in the western United States. • SWE variability is analyzed during ENSO phases. • Trends are not impacted by both STP and LTP. • ENSO phases are associated with negative SWE trends over the recent years • Majority of SWE changes are attributed to abrupt shifts compared to gradual trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate flood prediction models and effective flood preparedness rely on thoroughly understanding rainfall–runoff dynamics. Similarly, effective rainfall–runoff models account for multiple interrelated parameters for robust runoff prediction. Process-based physical models offer valuable insights into hydrological processes, but their effectiveness can be hindered by data limitations or difficulties in acquiring specific data. Motivated by the frequent flooding events and limited data availability in the East Branch DuPage watershed, Illinois, this study addresses a critical gap in research by investigating effective discharge prediction methods. In this study, two significant machine learning (ML) models, artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM), were employed for discharge prediction. Historical data spanning from 2006 to 2021 were utilized to assess the performance of the models. Hyperparameter tuning was performed on the models to optimize their performance, and root mean square error (RMSE), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), percent bias (PBIAS), coefficient of determination (R2), and the normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE) were used as evaluation metrics. Although both machine learning models demonstrated strong performance, the analysis revealed that the ANN model emerged as the more reliable option for predicting discharge in the watershed. Crucially, the ANN model surpassed the SVM model's performance, achieving superior accuracy in predicting peak discharge events within the study area. Our findings have the potential to assist decision-makers and communities in implementing more dependable flood mitigation strategies, particularly in regions where hydrology data are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the challenges faced by human resource department in the life insurance industry.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to two articles on typhoid vaccination published in the February 2009 issue of "Indian Pediatrics."

A response by Vipin M. Vashishtha and Ajay Kalra to a letter to the editor about their article "Recommendations of 2nd National Consultative Meeting of Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) on Polio Eradication and Improvement of Routine Immunization," published in the 2009 issue, is presented.

The complex interactions between soil moisture and precipitation are difficult to observe, and consequently there is a lack of consensus as to the sign, strength, and location of these interactions. Inconsistency between soil moisture-precipitation interaction studies can be attributed to a multitude of factors, including the difficulty of demonstrating causal relationships, dataset differences, and precipitation autocorrelation. The purpose of this study is to explore these potential confounding factors and determine which are most important for consideration when assessing statistical coupling between soil moisture and precipitation. Soil moisture is assessed via three remote sensing datasets: the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EarthObserving System, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager, and the Essential Climate Variable Soil Moisture. Estimates of soil moisture are coupled with afternoon thunderstorm events identified by the Thunderstorm Observation by Radar (ThOR) algorithm, and dry soil or wet soil preferences for convection initiation are determined for over 16 000 thunderstorm events between 2005 and 2007. Differences in soil moisture datasets were found to have the largest impact with regard to determining wet or dry soil preferences. Precipitation autocorrelation is prevalent in the data; however, precipitation autocorrelation did not influence the results with regard to dry or wet soil preferences. Consideration of the convective environment (i.e., weakly or synoptically forced) did result in significant differences in wet/dry soil preference, but only for certain soil moisture datasets. The results suggest that observation-driven soil moisture-precipitation interaction studies should both consider the convective environment and implement multiple soil moisture datasets to assure robust results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing populations and industrialized agriculture practices have eradicated much of the United States wetlands along river floodplains. One program available for the restoration of floodplains is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The current research explores the effects CRP land change has on flooding zones, utilizing Flood Modeller and HEC-RAS. Flood Modeller is proven a viable tool for flood modeling within the United States when compared to HEC-RAS. Application of the software is used in the Nodaway River system located in the western halves of Iowa and Missouri to model effects of introducing new forest areas within the region. Flood stage during the conversion first decreases in the early years, before rising to produce greater heights. Flow velocities where CRP land is present are reduced for long-term scopes. Velocity reduction occurs as the Manning's roughness increases due to tree diameter and brush density. Flood zones become more widespread with the implementation of CRP. Future model implementations are recommended to witness the effects of smaller flood recurrence intervals., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Justification: There is a need to review/revise recommendations about existing vaccines in light of recent developments in the field of vaccinology., Process: Following an IAP ACVIP meeting on April 19 and 20, 2014, a draft of revised recommendations for the year 2014 and updates on certain vaccine formulations was prepared and circulated among the meeting participants to arrive at a consensus., Objectives: To review and revise recommendations for 2014 Immunization timetable for pediatricians in office practice and issue statements on certain new and existing vaccine formulations., Recommendations: The major changes in the 2014 Immunization Timetable include two doses of MMR vaccine at 9 and 15 months of age, single dose recommendation for administration of live attenuated H2 strain hepatitis A vaccine, inclusion of two new situations in high-risk category of children in context with pre-exposure prophylaxis of rabies, creation of a new slot at 9-12 months of age for typhoid conjugate vaccine for primary immunization, and recommendation of two doses of human papilloma virus vaccines with a minimum interval of 6 months between doses for primary schedule of adolescent/preadolescent girls aged 9-14 years. There would not be any change to the committee's last year's (2013) recommendations on pertussis vaccination and administration schedule of monovalent human rotavirus vaccine. There is no need of providing additional doses of whole-cell pertussis vaccine to children who have earlier completed their primary schedule with acellular pertussis vaccine-containing products. A brief update on the new Indian Rotavirus vaccine, 116E is also provided. The committee has reviewed and offered its recommendations on the currently available pentavalent vaccine (DTwP+Hib+Hepatitis-B) combinations in Indian market. The comments and footnotes for several vaccines are also updated and revised.

Justification: Persistence of intense wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission, particularly type 3 in northern India necessitated the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) to convene a National Consultative Meeting to review its earlier recommendations on polio eradication and improvement of routine immunization., Process: More than thirty experts were invited and intense deliberations were held over two days to draw consensus statements on various issues related with polio eradication., Objectives: To review the ongoing strategy, identify the existing challenges, and suggest modifications to the current strategy for eradication of poliomyelitis in India., Recommendations: IAP reiterates its support to ongoing efforts on polio eradication but demand some flexibility in the strategy. The immediate challenges identified include persistent WPV type 1 transmission in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, intense type 3 transmission also in UP and Bihar, and maintaining polio-free status of all other states. Circulating vaccine derived poliovirus (cVDPV), particularly type 2, was identified as a great future threat. Neglect of routine immunization (RI), poor efficacy of oral polio vaccine (OPV), operational issues, and inadequate uptake of OPV in the 2 endemic states are the main reasons of failure to interrupt transmission of WPV 1 and 3. However, for the first time in history the intensity of WPV 1 circulation is very low in western UP. IAP suggests that high-quality, uniform and consistent performance of supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) in all districts of western UP, particularly using mOPV1(monovalent OPV1) should be maintained to avoid reestablishment of circulation of type 1 poliovirus. A judicious mix of mOPV1 and mOPV3, given sequentially or even simultaneously (after validating the efficacies) will be necessary to address the upsurge of WPV3. Re-establishing routine immunization should be the foremost priority. IAP strongly recommends to Government of India (GOI) to take urgent measures to attain coverage of a minimum of 90% against all UIP antigens in all the states by the end of 2008. In view of the need to simultaneously raise immunity levels to protect against WPVs 1, 3 and cVDPV2, IPV may be given immediate consideration as an additional tool. IPV will be essential in the postWPVeradication phase; it can play a useful role even in the current WPV eradication phase. IAP urges the GOI to urgently sort out various issues associated with implementation of the proposal to use IPV. More transparency is needed on cases of vaccine associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP). Further improvement in stool collection rates is also warranted to minimize the tally of compatible cases. IAP urges the social mobilization network to address the issues of waning interest and shifting focus and negative media coverage. Alternate tactics like reduced numbers of SIAs applied in the low transmission season, along with IPVDTP combination vaccine in RI can also be considered. IAP believes it will be risky to stop vaccination against poliomyelitis in postWPV eradication phase. The best option is to gradually introduce IPV starting now, so that a switch to IPV following high-performance national immunization days (NIDs) can be made to ensure sustained high immunity against all polioviruses, wild and vaccine derived. IAP requests the global polio eradication initiative (GPEI) to continue relevant research to inform on various aspects related to polio eradication, defined as zero incidence of any poliovirus infection. IAP also urges GOI to take immediate measures for improvement of environmental sanitation.

The present study was aimed to assess the cell-mediated immune response under PHA stimulus in leprosy patients and healthy contacts. Twenty-one cases suffering from leprosy were included in the study. They were diagnosed clinically by skin biopsy,. smear examination and lepromin reaction. Five cases had lepromatous, 7 borderlines and 9 tuberculoid leprosy. Eleven were healthy contacts. Lepromin reaction was negative in 5 patients in lepromatous group while it was positive in the other patients and healthy contacts. Blastogenic transformation was depressed only in patients with lepromatous leprosy. In tuberculoid and borderline cases, lymphocytes exhibited similar reactivity with PHA as was shown by the controls. Healthy contacts of lepromatous leprosy patients were leprom'm positive and did not show any C M I depression. it is suggested that depression of PHA response may develop after the on set of leprosy infection.