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Background: The three most commonly occurring cancers in India are those of the breast, uterine cervix, and lip or oral cavity, together accounting for approximately 34% of all cancers. All the three cancers are amenable to prevention, early detection, and treatment through which the morbidity and mortality due to these cancers can be reduced. This pilot study was conducted to assess the operational feasibility of the national cancer screening guidelines. Method: This study was conducted in the Dibrugarh district of Assam in seven tea garden hospitals which serve as the primary health centers for the tea estate population in the Northeast region of India. The study intervention was a three-day training package designed to train primary care physicians in population-based screening for oral, breast, and cervical cancers. Knowledge evaluation and skill assessment were performed with a validated questionnaire and checklist, respectively. Results: Pre and posttraining knowledge assessment showed significant gain in the knowledge levels of the participants in all topics. The greatest knowledge increase was seen in breast cancer (96.3%), followed by cervical cancer (57.5%), oral cancer (35.5%) and general cancer-related information (16.7%). The skill assessment done for each participant individually at the end of the training indicated a need for retraining all participants in breast cancer screening. Conclusion: The learnings from this study will be of great help in scaling up the capacity building programme for cancer screening when the nation-wide population-based cancer screening programme will be rolled out in the country.

Objective: High salt diet increases blood pressure. Tea garden workers (TGW) of Assam, India have high (60.8%) prevalence of hypertension (HTN), which may be due to consumption of extra salt (salt as side dish) and salted tea at work place and home. The present study evaluated an information, education and communication (IEC) module to reduce salt intake and blood pressure among TGW. Methods: Two tea gardens (usual care and intervention) were selected at random covering a total population of 13,458. The IEC module consisting of poster display, leaflets, health rally, documentary show, individual and group discussion was introduced in the intervention garden targeting study participants, health care providers, key stake holders, school children and teachers. IEC intervention was continued for one year. Participants from usual care and intervention were followed at three monthly intervals and BP and other information were compared after one year. Results: A total of 393 study participants (Non intervention: 194; intervention: 199) were included. After one year of follow up, consumption of extra salt was reduced significantly in the intervention participants (66.3 vs. 45.5%, p = 0.000). Intention to treat analysis revealed significant reduction in systolic [−6.4 (−8.6 to −4.2)] and diastolic [−6.9 (−8.1 to −5.7)] blood pressure after one year. Prevalence of HTN was reduced significantly (52.5 vs. 40.0%, p = 0.02) among them. Conclusions: Our IEC module created awareness about risk of hypertension associated with high salt intake and could reduce dietary salt intake and BP. Keywords: Blood pressure, Dietary salt, Hypertension, Tea garden worker

Introduction: Fundamental infection control practices in India revolve around biomedical waste management and disposal of sharps; while Airborne Infection Control (AIC) measures are mostly absent from the protocol of health care facilities. Aim: To assess infection control practices that a health care personnel follows to prevent transmission of Tuberculosis (TB) and to evaluate the resources and facilities available in the area and also to identify the factors which helps to improve the practices. Materials and Methods: A mixed methodological study was carried out to assess the infection control practices for prevention of pulmonary TB. This study was conducted among 82 health care personnel between 2nd January 2017 and 4th February 2017. Health care personnel (20-35 years) and people who worked in TB units were recruited from a multi-specialty tertiary care hospital. An observation checklist on infection control practices was developed to assess the preventive practices followed by acknowledge questionnaire. Complete enumerated sampling was used for observing the practices. A focus group discussion was conducted after analysing the Survey findings among health care personnel by purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and identify the emerging themes. Results: The mean age of the participants was 25.76±5.968 years. Non-compliance was found in infection control practices among health care personnel in preventing TB transmission. A total of 58.5% of the participants have good knowledge, 74.1% had answered correctly in the area of personal protective equipment. Intermittent interruption of supply (e.g., N95 masks), lack of knowledge, lack of adherence to infection control practices and lack of awareness by the patients were found to be the factors for non-compliance. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the challenges faced in infection control preventive practices in a resource limited countries and how collective efforts may change and strengthen the practices using available resources.

The study was carried out at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, experimental fields (28° N, 77° E) during 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 rabi season to observe response of wheat and chickpea cultivars to reduced levels of solar irradiance. In the present study two wheat ( Triticum aestivum; HD 2643 and PBW 343) and two chickpea (Cicer arienitum L. ; BG 1105 and BGD 72) cultivars were subjected to 20 per cent and 35 per cent less levels of solar irradiance than the control that received 100 per cent natural sunlight during entire crop growth period. The results show that the height and leaf area index (LAI) of both the crops cultivars under reduced solar irradiance were more than natural light. Under reduced solar irradiance, height of wheat cultivar HD 2643 was more than PBW 343 and that of chickpea cultivar BG 1105 was more than BGD 72. Reduction in solar irradiance affected the photosynthesis and stomatal conductance process in both the crops. About 4-29 per cent reduction in rate of photosynthesis in wheat and chickpea varieties was observed under reduced levels of solar irradiance. Reduction in stomatal conductance under reduced levels of solar irradiance in wheat varieties was 6-28 per cent and in chickpea varieties it was 1-14 per cent. Biological yield of wheat and chickpea varieties was decreased by about 37-45 per cent and 13-53 per cent respectively, under reduced levels of solar irradiance. Observations show that among wheat cultivars PBW 343 was less affected by reduced levels of solar irradiance than HD 2643. Among chickpea cultivars BGD 72 was less affected by reduced levels of solar irradiance than BG 1105. The PBW 343 and BGD 72 cultivars of wheat and chickpea may be used by breeders to develop new varieties to increase agricultural production in climatic condition subjected to low irradiance.

The aim of the study was to assess and compare laryngoscopic view of Truview evo2 laryngoscope with that of Macintosh laryngoscope in patients with one or more predictors of difficult intubation (PDI). Moreover ease of intubation with Truview evo2 in terms of absolute time requirement was also aimed at. Patients for elective surgery requiring endotracheal intubation were initially assessed for three PDI parameters - modified Mallampati test, thyro-mental distance& Atlanto-occipital (AO) joint extension. Patients with cumulative PDI scores of 2 to 5 (in a scale of 0 to 8) were evaluated for Cormack& Lehane (CL) grading by Macintosh blade after standard induction. Cases with CL grade of two or more were further evaluated by Truview evo2 laryngoscope and corresponding CL grades were assigned. Intubation attempted under Truview evo2 vision and time required for each successful tracheal intubation (i.e. tracheal intubation completed within one minute) was noted. Total fifty cases were studied. The CL grades assigned by Macintosh blade correlated well with the cumulative PDI scores assigned preoperatively, confirming there predictability. Truview evo2 improved laryngeal view in 92 % cases by one or more CL grade. Intubation with Truview evo2 was possible in 88% cases within stipulated time of one minute and mean time of 28.6 seconds with SD of 11.23 was reasonably quick. No significant complication like oro- pharyngeal trauma or extreme pressor response to laryngoscopy was noticed. To conclude, Truview evo2 proved to be a better tool than conventional laryngoscope in anticipated difficult situations.

Background:Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. It is estimated that around 300 million people in the world currently have asthma In Asthmatics dysfunctional breathing pattern is common. Breathing pattern is the basis of abnormal patterns in asthma. The purpose of this study was to find out the effectiveness of Buteyko breathing technique versus diaphragmatic breathing in asthmatics. Methods: 46 patients with asthma aged 20-65 years were taken. The duration of the study was 2 weeks & data was collected on day zero and at the end of 2nd week. The subjects were divided into two groups A & B 23 patients of asthma in each group were distributed by convenient sampling. Each subject was assessed according to FEV1, FEV1/FVC and PEFR Statistics were applied by using SPSS 11. Results: Results were calculated by using 0.05 level of significance. On the basis of above statistical analysis the p value for group A is less than 0.05. So the intervention on group A is effective than intervention on group B. Conclusion: So Buteyko breathing technique proves to be more effective than diaphragmatic breathing technique in asthmatics.

Laparoscopic surgery is an essential component of modern gynaecology. It has rapidly evolved from a simple diagnostic technique to a complex therapeutic surgical option for many gynaecological problems, both in emergency and elective settings. A sound knowledge of pelvic anatomy, equipment, entry methods and operative techniques is essential for safe and effective laparoscopy. Patient selection, pre-operative evaluation and counselling are important with good communication between surgeons, patients, anaesthetists and theatre staff. Application of optimal laparoscopic ergonomics will reduce risks to the surgeon. Prompt recognition and management of complications is vital with involvement of other surgical specialities when required. Regular training in minimal access surgery is essential to ensure safe and efficient laparoscopic surgery. A combination of operative experience in theatre and simulation learning is ideal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion recognition from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is one of the most challenging tasks. Bispectral analysis offers a way of gaining phase information by detecting phase relationships between frequency components and characterizing the non- Gaussian information contained in the EEG signals. In this paper, we explore derived features of bispectrum for quantification of emotions using a Valence-Arousal emotion model; and arrive at a feature vector through backward sequential search. Cross- validated accuracies of 64.84% for Low/High Arousal classification and 61.17% for Low/High Valence were obtained on the DEAP data set based on the proposed features; comparable to classification accuracies reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study where the lapinized strain of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) was adapted to PK-15 cell line and the immunogenicity of the cell culture propagated virus was studied in pigs. The vaccine virus was confirmed by reversing transcription polymerized chain reaction (RT-PCR) targeting the E2 genes of CSFV. It suggests that culture adapted CSFV vaccine evinced comparable serum Ab to that of lapinized CSFV and retained similar immunogenicity as that of lapinized vaccine.

Dibrugarh Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Dibrugarh-HDSS), was started in the year 2019 with the objective to create the health and demographic database of a population from a defined geographical area and a surveillance system for providing technical assistance for the implementation of programmes and formulating intervention strategies for reducing disease morbidities and mortalities in the population. Dibrugarh-HDSS adopted a panel design and covered 60 contiguous villages and 20 tea gardens. Line listing of all the households was conducted and a unique identification number detailing State, district, village/tea garden and serial number was provided along with geotagging. Detailed sociodemographic variables, anthropometric measurements (subjects ≥five years) and blood pressure data (subjects ≥18 yr), disease morbidity and mortality were collected. All data were collected in pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaires using a mobile application package developed for this purpose. Dibrugarh-HDSS included a total of 106,769 individuals (rural: 46,762, tea garden: 60,007) with 52,934 males (49.6%) and 53,835 females (50.4%). The number of females per thousand males were significantly higher (1042 in tea garden vs. 985 in rural populations) in the tea-garden community as compared to the village population. More than one-third (35.1%) of tea populations were illiterate compared to the rural population (17.1%). Villagers had significantly higher body mass index than the tea-garden community. The overall prevalence of hypertension (adjusted for age) was 29.4 vs. 28.2 per cent, respectively, for the village and tea-garden population. For both these communities, males (village=30.8%, tea garden=31.1%) showed a higher prevalence of hypertension (adjusted for age) than females (village=28.2%, tea garden=25.8%). The findings of the present study give an insight into the profile of the native rural and tea-garden populations that will help to identify risk factors of different health problems, review the effectiveness of different ongoing programmes, implement intervention strategies for reducing morbidity and mortality and assist the State health authorities in prioritizing their resource allocation and implementation strategies.

Background: The three most commonly occurring cancers in India are those of the breast, uterine cervix, and lip or oral cavity, together accounting for approximately 34% of all cancers. All the three cancers are amenable to prevention, early detection, and treatment through which the morbidity and mortality due to these cancers can be reduced. This pilot study was conducted to assess the operational feasibility of the national cancer screening guidelines., Method: This study was conducted in the Dibrugarh district of Assam in seven tea garden hospitals which serve as the primary health centers for the tea estate population in the Northeast region of India. The study intervention was a three-day training package designed to train primary care physicians in population-based screening for oral, breast, and cervical cancers. Knowledge evaluation and skill assessment were performed with a validated questionnaire and checklist, respectively., Results: Pre and posttraining knowledge assessment showed significant gain in the knowledge levels of the participants in all topics. The greatest knowledge increase was seen in breast cancer (96.3%), followed by cervical cancer (57.5%), oral cancer (35.5%) and general cancer-related information (16.7%). The skill assessment done for each participant individually at the end of the training indicated a need for retraining all participants in breast cancer screening., Conclusion: The learnings from this study will be of great help in scaling up the capacity building programme for cancer screening when the nation-wide population-based cancer screening programme will be rolled out in the country., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2020 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.)

The biodiversity rich state of Meghalaya, India located in the realms of mega-biodiversity hotspots, is home to numerous species of wild edible macrofungi that are used extensively by the mycophillic ethnic population, as a part of their traditional cuisine and medicine systems. However, habitat loss, due to deforestation and climate change, is destroying the natural population of these mushrooms, depleting their availability to the local communities. In the present investigation, a GIS guided habitat search, using Lentinula edodes as a representative species, was used in mapping the habitats of wild edible macrofungi of the study region. Sampling of around 4 000 specimens per distinct morphological type available in the traditional markets and “sacred grove” forests indicated presence of ten common genera, belonging to nine different families of wild edible mushrooms. Nutritional profiling of the representative species Lentinula edodes was carried out by evaluation of its moisture, total fat, crude protein and carbohydrates contents by standard methods. Similarly, bioactive components determination was performed by estimation of total phenols, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, β-carotene and lycopenes. Bioactivity of the mushrooms extracts was studied using the DPPH radical scavenging and Human Red Blood Cell (HRBC) membrane stabilization assays. The present investigation successfully attempted to explore remote sensing technologies and GIS (Geographic Information System) based system to predict the natural habitats of wild edible mushrooms of Meghalaya, India which we believe will lead to the generation of a mushroom specific non-wood forest resource mapping system in the near future. Results of nutritional profiling and biological activity studies on the representative species of wild edible mushrooms from the studied region revealed that it is a rich source of essential nutrients and antioxidants.

Wild edible mushrooms occupy an important place in the traditional food habits of the ethnic tribes of India. Specimens collected from the forests and local markets of Meghalaya, India were affiliated to ten different species. The mushroom extracts were analyzed for nutrient and mineral compositions along with phenolics, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, β-carotene, and lycopene. These extracts were also investigated for antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. Fungal extracts were found to be rich in nutrients and minerals, and exhibited potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities under assay conditions. The nutrient profiles generated for each of these ten species revealed them to be rich sources of functional nutraceuticals.

Wild edible mushrooms are consumed by the tribes of Meghalaya in the North-Eastern region of India, as part of their ethnic cuisine because of their favored organoleptic characteristics and traditionally known health benefits. Majority of these mushrooms have not yet been characterized in detail and are slowly shrinking in their natural habitats owing to anthropogenic factors and climate change. In the present study, representative specimens of ten morphologically distinct groups of wild edible mushrooms available in the traditional markets and their respective forest habitats, were subjected to multi-loci molecular characterization using SSU, ITS, RPB1 and RPB2 markers. The species identities inferred for the ten mushroom types using the SSU marker matched their morphological description in the case of four morphological groups only whereas the ITS marker successfully resolved the species identity for nine out of the ten mushroom groups under study. Both the protein coding gene markers RPB1 and RPB2 successfully resolved the species identity for three out of the ten morphologically distinct groups. Finally the most likely identity of the wild edible mushrooms under study has been suggested by matching their unique morphological characteristics with the generated DNA barcoding data. The present molecular characterization reveals the ten widely consumed wild mushroom types of Meghalaya, India to be Gomphus floccosus, Lactarius deliciosus, Lactarius volemus, Cantharellus cibarius, Tricholoma viridiolivaceum, Inocybe aff. sphaerospora, Laccaria vinaceoavellanea, Albatrellus ellisii, Ramaria maculatipes and Clavulina cristata. The final species identity generated by the ITS marker matched more accurately with the morphological characteristics/appearance of the specimens indicating the ITS region as a reliable barcode for identifying wild edible mushrooms., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)