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Introduction Anaemia is a major problem which affects half of young Indian women, impacting their health, education, and offspring. Despite ongoing efforts, a comprehensive understanding of anaemia remains limited. This study aims to assess the prevalence of anaemia among young women in rural Haryana and explore its causes comprehensively, which would help in tailoring targeted interventions for anaemia at a primary health care level. Methods Young, non-pregnant women aged 15–24 years (n = 422) were assessed for socio-demographic details, menstrual/diet history, and anthropometry. Dietary diversity was assessed using Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women scale. Venous haemoglobin (Hb) was estimated using an auto-analyser. Serum ferritin, folate, and vitamin B12 were assessed for 260 participants. Anaemia was classified based on micronutrient deficiency. The morphology of anaemia was classified based on Red Blood Cell (RBC) indices. Multivariable analysis examined associations of anaemia with socio-demographic and clinical variables. Results The prevalence of anaemia was 60.7%. Among those participants tested for micronutrient deficiency (n = 260), 170 (65.4%), 48 (18.5%), and 124 (47.7%) participants had deficiency of ferritin, folate, and vitamin B12, respectively. Iron deficiency anaemia (39.1%) and dimorphic anaemia (38.5%) were the two most common types of anaemia. The mixed morphology of RBCs was the most common morphology (41.8%). Almost all participants (98.2%) had inadequate dietary diversity. Being overweight was associated with lesser odds of having anaemia [OR = 0.41; 95% CI: 0.24 – 0.71 (P = 0.01)]. Conclusion The high magnitude of anaemia is high, and there is a need for nutrition-based interventions for anaemia at a primary health care level among young women in rural India.

Abstract Robust verification protocols are crucial for maintaining the security and reliability of sensitive information due to the increasing complexity of cyber-attacks. This paper introduces a novel 5G Secure Handover Protocol aimed at addressing security and effectiveness issues encountered in existing systems. The proposed protocol is robust against various attacks, including de-synchronization, replay, man-in-the-middle (MITM), denial of services (DoS), and jamming, ensures perfect forward key secrecy, safeguarding communication confidentiality. The proposed protocol utilizes a combination of spiking neural network and fuzzy logic (SNN-FL) techniques that must choose the goal cell as carefully as possible before initiating the transfer process. By combining fuzzy logic and spiking neural networks to reduce handover latency and thwart several types of cyberattacks, the proposed 5G Secure Handover Protocol improves security. Extensive simulations show its efficacy and emphasize its potential for safe communication in large-scale cybersecurity applications. The paper presents a novel secure authentication protocol that significantly reduces handover delays and improves efficiency. Simulations show its resilience against common security threats, protecting sensitive information and maintaining secure communication channels. The protocol, with low communication expenses, complex spatial, and latency for changeover verification, is ideal for large-scale cybersecurity applications, contributing to the development of secure digital authentication mechanisms.

Abstract Background Plastic is widely utilized in packaging, frameworks, and as coverings material. Its overconsumption and slow degradation, pose threats to ecosystems due to its toxic effects. While polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) offer a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastics, their production costs present significant obstacles to global adoption. On the other side, a multitude of household and industrial activities generate substantial volumes of wastewater containing both organic and inorganic contaminants. This not only poses a threat to ecosystems but also presents opportunities to get benefits from the circular economy. Main body of abstract Production of bioplastics may be improved by using the nutrients and minerals in wastewater as a feedstock for microbial fermentation. Strategies like feast-famine culture, mixed-consortia culture, and integrated processes have been developed for PHA production from highly polluted wastewater with high organic loads. Various process parameters like organic loading rate, organic content (volatile fatty acids), dissolved oxygen, operating pH, and temperature also have critical roles in PHA accumulation in microbial biomass. Research advances are also going on in downstream and recovery of PHA utilizing a combination of physical and chemical (halogenated solvents, surfactants, green solvents) methods. This review highlights recent developments in upcycling wastewater resources into PHA, encompassing various production strategies, downstream processing methodologies, and techno-economic analyses. Short conclusion Organic carbon and nitrogen present in wastewater offer a promising, cost-effective source for producing bioplastic. Previous attempts have focused on enhancing productivity through optimizing culture systems and growth conditions. However, despite technological progress, significant challenges persist, such as low productivity, intricate downstream processing, scalability issues, and the properties of resulting PHA. Graphical abstract

Abstract Spacer performs a key function in the construction of nuclear rod assembly. It is utilized to ensure the appropriate spacing and firmness of the rods in assembly. In rod bundle structures, spacers are typically incorporated with vanes to promote turbulence and improve heat transfer. The aim of this work is to analyze the impacts of spacer-vane on the thermal–hydraulic performance of two-phase flow in an annular channel. CFD model of an upward flow annular channel with spacer-vane has been developed. In addition, an annular channel model with a spacer but without vane has been generated and modeled in order to examine the impact of the spacer-vane in a two-phase flow. Transient simulations were performed with flow considerations of mass flux 714.4 kg/m2s, liquid temperature 330 K, volume fraction 0.35, heat flux 197.2 kW/m2, and atmospheric pressure conditions. CFD results have been validated with experimental data. Results show that the core zone of the annulus gap exhibits the highest level of turbulent intensity, and the outer pipe wall temperature is lower for spacer-vane relative to spacer alone. It is observed that the majority of water vapor is concentrated at the center of the channel in the farthest downstream location.

This study investigates the institutionalization of the crypto-economy from an institutional theory perspective and also examines the role of existing institutional pillars in its development. The path analysis using global institutional indicators reveals that the development of the crypto-economy is significantly affected by regulatory, cognitive, and normative factors of a country. Further, the regulative pillar fully mediates the relationship between the social pillar and the crypto-economy. While we find convincing evidence that a country’s social pillar endorses crypto-economy, its indirect effect is more prominent and significant than the direct effect.

Abstract Succinic acid (SA) is one of the top platform chemicals with huge applications in diverse sectors. The presence of two carboxylic acid groups on the terminal carbon atoms makes SA a highly functional molecule that can be derivatized into a wide range of products. The biological route for SA production is a cleaner, greener, and promising technological option with huge potential to sequester the potent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. The recycling of renewable carbon of biomass (an indirect form of CO2), along with fixing CO2 in the form of SA, offers a carbon-negative SA manufacturing route to reduce atmospheric CO2 load. These attractive attributes compel a paradigm shift from fossil-based to microbial SA manufacturing, as evidenced by several commercial-scale bio-SA production in the last decade. The current review article scrutinizes the existing knowledge and covers SA production by the most efficient SA producers, including several bacteria and yeast strains. The review starts with the biochemistry of the major pathways accumulating SA as an end product. It discusses the SA production from a variety of pure and crude renewable sources by native as well as engineered strains with details of pathway/metabolic, evolutionary, and process engineering approaches for enhancing TYP (titer, yield, and productivity) metrics. The review is then extended to recent progress on separation technologies to recover SA from fermentation broth. Thereafter, SA derivatization opportunities via chemo-catalysis are discussed for various high-value products, which are only a few steps away. The last two sections are devoted to the current scenario of industrial production of bio-SA and associated challenges, along with the author's perspective.

In this article, we study nonconvex multiobjective fractional programming problems involving E-differentiable functions (MFPE). We establish the E-Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (E-KKT) sufficient E-optimality conditions for nonsmooth vector optimization problems under the assumption of E-B-invexity. To demonstrate the validity of the derived results, we provide an example where the involved functions exhibit E-B-invexity.

The present study presents an investigation into the utilization of artificial neural networks (ANN) and multiple linear regression model (MLR) for the prediction of traffic noise levels in various locations of Dhanbad city at varying intervals. Traffic noise indices measurements were carried out using sound pressure level meter (SLM). The prediction of equivalent A-weighted sound level (LAeq) and the sound level exceeding 10 percent of the time (L10) is carried out using various influencing factors such as number of cars, number of 2 wheelers, number of 3 wheelers, number of heavy vehicle, number of medium commercial vehicles, and traffic speed. The findings demonstrate the ANN model's proficiency in comparison of MLR model for providing precise prediction accuracy of traffic noise indices with a R2 of 0.94 for LAeq and 0.91 for L10. Furthermore, the frequency spectrum analysis reveals that high peaks were observed at lower frequencies ranging from 31.5 Hz to 50 Hz, middle frequencies from 500 to 800 Hz and higher frequencies from 3.5 kHz to 5 kHz. The noise maps at varying intervals revealed that most of the locations are having higher noise levels due to increase in vehicular movement. The study emphasizes on the potential significance of the proposed neural network-based prediction model in collaboration with noise mapping as a vital tool for the anticipation of traffic noise levels and the formulation of noise mitigation strategies in context of the mid-sized smart city like Dhanbad, India.

Microbial exopolysaccharides (EPS) are high molecular weight carbohydrate-based materials produced and secreted in response to external environmental stress to protect microbial cells. These molecules also contain non-carbohydrate moieties including acetate, pyruvate, phosphate, and succinate along with sugar molecules. EPS has been incorporated into industrial operations as a gelling, emulsifying, and stabilizing agent to increase viscosity. Besides, these molecules have also shown high biocompatibility, immunomodulatory, antitumor, anti-microbial, and anti-viral activity which suggest their possible applications in healthcare. However, these molecules are facing some commercial shortcomings due to low stability, bioactivity, and poor mechanical and tensile strength in comparison to the required standard. Hence use of composites of EPS with other polymers and moieties has been suggested for higher performance. Especially in the context of inorganic moieties like silver, gold nanomaterials, clay, salts, and minerals will add bioactivity and functional sites for the attachment of drug molecules and other compounds. The current review summarizes the higher physical and chemical characteristics of EPS composites with inorganic materials and their immense potential in the biomedical sector.

Technology has a significant impact on medical applications at the current moment. Contemporary computers are capable of processing a lot of patient medical records quickly. Due to recent advancements in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and medical applications, patient data may be dispersed over several places. Worldwide, the IoT connects numerous devices for e-healthcare systems. The medical data monitoring and tracking field, exercise programs, and remote medical help are expanding within the e-healthcare systems. IoT-based technologies are now being used in e-healthcare systems, which can relieve pressure on e-healthcare systems, lower medical expenses, and speed up computing and processing. In the IoT setting, cloud computing, which contains centralized data centers, was developed to manage more extensive and sophisticated e-healthcare data. The central server governs the data for all IoT devices. Problems with IoT and Cloud integration only include latency, bandwidth overuse, delays in real-time responses, security, privacy, integrity, etc. The ideas of fog computing and edge computing were developed to solve the above-mentioned problems. A thorough literature overview on Fog-based medical applications using IoT is provided in this article, i.e., Fog of Medical Things (FoMT), that explores the simulators that may be employed to create and assess new Fog-related theories as well as the key attributes of Fog computing frameworks. This review also emphasizes the difficulties in the field and some unanswered questions. This study can serve as a crucial road map for the future creation of Fog-based e-healthcare IoT applications.

Introduction: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a significant risk factor for tuberculosis (TB) treatment loss-to-follow-up (LTFU). This field-based study was undertaken to understand the role of AUD and TB treatment LTFU and the reasons behind this association in a rural area of Ballabgarh, Haryana. Material and Methods: TB patients who had completed their treatment and who had been LTFU were included in the study, along with the National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) staff, healthcare providers, family, and community members from Ballabgarh block of the north Indian state of Haryana. In-depth interviews (IDIs) and focused group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to gauge the perceptions of stakeholders regarding reasons for LTFU, especially in the context of alcohol use. Inductive analysis of the transcripts was done in keeping with the grounded theory, and themes with their sub-themes were identified. A conceptual framework of TB-AUD was constructed, and potential areas for intervention were determined. Results: Fifty-eight IDIs and four FGDs were conducted in mid-2018. Almost all key informants and many patient participants believed that alcohol use makes TB patients highly susceptible to treatment LTFU. Key themes identified were shared personality traits and attitudes, combined side effects of anti-tubercular drugs and alcohol use, lack of family support, and an adverse financial situation. Conclusion: These findings call for a change in NTEP's approach to AUD-TB. Interventions may include collecting alcohol use information at patient enrolment and closure, integrating brief interventions for alcohol cessation in NTEP, and linking patients to deaddiction centers with the provision of appropriate dietary and financial support.

Absorption heat pumps have emerged as a potential tool to address the energy crisis because of their ability to utilize low-grade heat. The performance of an absorption heat pump largely depends on the efficiency of the working pair to operate at the source temperature. The commercialized working pairs H2O/LiBr and NH3/H2O linger with operational and economic issues. Several binary/ternary combinations were tested among water, ammonia, salt, alcohols, hydrocarbons, and ionic liquids (ILs) in quest of the potential working pairs. The last decade has witnessed a stupendous surge in IL-based working pairs because of their several advantageous properties over the traditional solvents. The present review encompasses the research progress on various working pairs, in particular, their properties, modeling and correlation results, and coefficient of performance (COP) values.

Introduction: Adolescent female sex workers are at high risk of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) infection. There was paucity of information regarding their sexual practices. The main objective of this study was to study the sexual behavior, condom use practices, and physical and sexual violence experienced by adolescent female sex workers (FSWs). Materials and Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis of the data collected during the nationwide IBBS 2014–15 survey. All adolescent FSWs aged 15 to 19 years were included in the analysis. The primary outcome variable was HIV serostatus, and independent variables included sexual behavior and condom use practices and socio-demographic variables. Descriptive analyses were performed to estimate the prevalence of independent variables. Ethical approval of the original IBBS study was obtained by the Ethics Committee of National AIDS Control Organization. Results: A total of 948 adolescent FSWs were included in the final analysis. The prevalence of HIV in adolescent FSWs was 1.2% [95% confidence interval, 0.1–1.9%]. The mean age [standard deviation (SD)] of FSWs was 18.2 (0.9) years. The mean (SD) age at first sexual intercourse was 15.6 (1.7) years, and the mean (SD) age of starting sex work was 16.6 (1.5) years. The majority of the FSWs (94%) had used condom during the last sexual intercourse with a commercial partner, and about one-thirds (66%) had consistently used condom with a commercial partner. About a quarter (26%) of the FSWs had anal intercourse with a commercial partner in the last 1 month. About one in five FSWs (21%) had experienced physical violence in the last 1 year. Conclusion: Almost one-third of FSWs had high-risk sexual behavior like multiple clients, anal intercourse, inconsistent condom use, and so on. These behaviors in turn increase their vulnerability to HIV infection.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed a challenge for the public health system, as all the health facilities and manpower were diverted for the delivery of COVID-19-related services. This affected the provision of routine health services, including maternal healthcare services. There is a paucity of data from rural and primary healthcare settings, as the earlier studies were either modelling-based or from tertiary care centres. Materials and Methods: This record-based study was conducted in 12 subcentres in the district Faridabad of Haryana. Data of pregnant women registered during 1 April to 30 September in the years 2017–2020 were retrieved. The utilization of maternal healthcare services among women registered during 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2020 was compared with those registered in the same period during the preceding 3 years (2017–2019). Results: There was a significant decline in utilization of maternal healthcare services. Services like minimum four antenatal visits declined from 67.8% to 48.3% (P < 0.0001), at least 100 iron-folic acid tablets (45.4–20.9%; P < 0.001), and examination at each visit (90.8–72.3%; P < 0.001). The proportion of pregnant women who received full antenatal care decreased from 26.0% to 10.7% (P < 0.001). There was a significant increase in delivery in private health facilities (40.9–49.9%) and delivery by caesarean section (21.6–27.3%; P = 0.002). Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse effect on utilization of maternal healthcare services. Effective planning and coordination between different levels of government health facilities and primary care providers, including family physicians, can ensure uninterrupted provision of essential services during similar emergencies in future.

Abstract Background Bioplastics are attracting considerable attention, owing to the increase in non-degradable waste. Using microorganisms to degrade bioplastics is a promising strategy for reducing non-degradable plastic waste. However, maintaining bacterial viability and activity during culture and storage remains challenging. With the use of conventional methods, cell viability and activity was lost; therefore, these conditions need to be optimized for the practical application of microorganisms in bioplastic degradation. Therefore, we aimed to optimize the feasibility of the lyophilization method for convenient storage and direct use. In addition, we incoporated protective reagents to increase the viability and activity of lyophilized microorganisms. By selecting and applying the best protective reagents for the lyophilization process and the effects of additives on the growth and PHB-degrading activity of strains were analyzed after lyophilization. For developing the lyophilization method for protecting degradation activity, it may promote practical applications of bioplastic-degrading bacteria. Results In this study, the polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)-degrading strain, Bacillus sp. JY14 was lyophilized with the use of various sugars as protective reagents. Among the carbon sources tested, raffinose was associated with the highest cell survival rate (12.1%). Moreover, 7% of raffionose showed the highest PHB degradation yield (92.1%). Therefore, raffinose was selected as the most effective protective reagent. Also, bacterial activity was successfully maintained, with raffinose, under different storage temperatures and period. Conclusions This study highlights lyophilization as an efficient microorganism storage method to enhance the applicability of bioplastic-degrading bacterial strains. The approach developed herein can be further studied and used to promote the application of microorganisms in bioplastic degradation.

The concept of entrepreneurship is not unique in Islam, as observed from history, that the Prophet and His disciples engaged in it as a respectable profession. Islamic economic academics recently invented the term "Halal entrepreneurship" or "Halalpreneurship" to describe and separate business owners in the Halal market from those in other industries. Islamic ideas are incorporated into business owners in the Halal sector, reshaping them through certain traits that permit the usage of the phrases "Halalpreneurs" and "Halalpreneurship." But defining Halalpreneurship has only been addressed in a few number of scholarly papers. In this sense, this chapter aims to achieve two main objectives. To properly introduce Halal entrepreneurship (Halalpreneurship), it is first necessary to highlight the salient features that distinguish it from other forms of business. Researchers assessed RMSEA levels under 0.05 to be good, between 0.05 and 0.08 to be acceptable, between 0.08 and 0.1 to be marginal, and over 0.1 to be poor, all in accordance with some theoretical underpinnings. Here, all latent item covariance was greater than 0.70, indicating a good match. One will be able to recognize their position as a Halalpreneur in the Halal industry with the help of such understanding and knowledge. The impact of exposure on the outcome is the direct effect in the absence of the mediator. The effect of exposure on the outcome of mediation is the working indirect pathway.

AbstractThis cross-sectional study finds the relationship between interpersonal, problem-solving, and technical training skills and the performance of Ethiopia’s textile and clothing industries when mediated by their employee’s commitment and continuance. Through a survey conducted in 2023, 426 employees and HR managers of the textile and clothing industry provided cross-sectional data for the study. Co-variation matrix shows the outcome of hypothesis testing. To analyze the findings, structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized. It was determined whether the data were adequate using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and the discriminatory validity was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). With the aid of the SEM model and AMOS software, mediation analysis was carried out. Because normative commitment’s factor loading was under .40, it was amputated or deleted. Its purpose normative commitment as an observed item was unable to account for commitment as a latent variable. As a result, the empirical evidence in the research demonstrated that problem solving and technical expertise are important for the operation of the clothing industry. The results also demonstrate that continuance, normative and affective commitment of employees act as mediators for Interpersonal, problem-solving, and technical training based imparted skills. The research will pave way forward to the textile industries in this regard by highlighting the significance of problem-solving and technical expertise on the performance of the cloth industries in Ethiopia by taking resource-based view and social exchange theory as theoretical lens.

Background: Gaps exist between prevalence and treatment options for mental disorders in India. Limited awareness, poor help-seeking, scarcity of trained mental health professionals, limited mental health services and stigma are few examples of reasons contributing to treatment gap. Aims: This paper highlights findings from formative research of a primary mental healthcare model comprising of a preliminary feasibility testing of the Electronic Decision Support System (EDSS) to provide care using mobile based applications, perceptions of the community towards mental health and incorporating cultural adaptations for pre-existing anti-stigma campaign materials. Methods: A cross-sectional mixed methods approach tested the user acceptability of the electronic decision support system EDSS for accredited social health activists (ASHAs) and Primary Health Centre (PHC) doctors using tablets in two villages and two PHCs in rural Haryana (Northern India). Five focus groups and six in-depth interviews along with non-participant observations were used to ascertain community perceptions about various aspects related to mental health. Findings of the study were analyzed and interpreted against the key themes of Andersen's model. Results: Out of a total of 553 individuals screened for common mental disorders, 51 (9.2%) were screened positive and 32 visited PHC doctors for treatment. There was limited knowledge about common mental disorders amongst community; need to train primary health workers to identify and treat mental disorders; and incorporate cultural adaptation of anti-stigma awareness materials. Conclusions: The EDSS was found to be acceptable and feasible by primary and community health workers. The findings guided refining of the intervention prior to implementation of a large-scale cluster randomized controlled trial.

Abstract Background Urinary tract infection (UTI) in children is a common bacterial infection. The emergence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) poses a major challenge against the treatment of uropathogens. We aimed to characterize the E. coli isolates recovered from children with UTI for their resistance profile and circulating sequence types (ST). Methods Children (> 1.5–18 years of age) from different community health centres of India with symptoms of UTI were enrolled. Isolates causing significant bacteriuria were identified by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility by the automated system, VITEK-2 (Biomeriux, Durhum, US). Nineteen E. coli isolates (15 ESBL positive and 4 ESBL negative) were sequenced in Oxford Nanopore platform followed by core-genome phylogeny, accessory genome cluster analysis, identification of sequence types, mobile genetic elements, genetic antimicrobial resistance markers. The correlation between detection of antimicrobial resistance genes with phenotypic resistance profiles was also investigated. Results Eleven percent of children had significant bacteriuria [male:female—1:1, > 50% were 11–18 years of age group]. E. coli was predominant (86%) followed by K. pneumoniae (11%). Susceptibility of E. coli was highest against fosfomycin (100%) followed by carbapenems (90.7%) and nitrofurantoin (88.8%). ST131 (15.8%) and ST167 (10.5%) found as high-risk clones with the presence of plasmid [IncFIB (63.1%), IncFIA (52.6%)], and composite transposon [Tn2680 (46.6%)] in many isolates. Few isolates coharboured multiple beta-lactamases including bla NDM-5 (33.3%), bla OXA-1 (53.3%), bla CTX-M-15 (60%) and bla TEM-4 (60%). Conclusions This study highlights horizontal transmission of resistance genes and plasmids in paediatric patients at community centers across the nation harbouring multidrug-resistant genes such as bla NDM-5 and bla CTX-M-15 associated with high-risk clones ST131 and ST167. The data is alarming and emphasizes the need for rapid identification of resistance markers to reduce the spread in community. To our knowledge, this is the first multicentric study targeting paediatric UTI patients from the community setting of India.

Multimodal Learning Analytics (MMLA) solutions aim to provide a more holistic picture of a learning situation by processing multimodal educational data. Considering contextual information of a learning situation is known to help in providing more relevant outputs to educational stakeholders. However, most of the MMLA solutions are still in prototyping phase and dealing with different dimensions of an authentic MMLA situation that involve multiple cross-disciplinary stakeholders like teachers, researchers, and developers. One of the reasons behind still being in prototyping phase of the development lifecycle is related to the challenges that software developers face at different levels in developing context-aware MMLA solutions. In this paper, we identify the requirements and propose a data infrastructure called CIMLA. It includes different data processing components following a standard data processing pipeline and considers contextual information following a data structure. It has been evaluated in three authentic MMLA scenarios involving different cross-disciplinary stakeholders following the Software Architecture Analysis Method. Its fitness was analyzed in each of the three scenarios and developers were interviewed to assess whether it meets functional and non-functional requirements. Results showed that CIMLA supports modularity in developing context-aware MMLA solutions and each of its modules can be reused with required modifications in the development of other solutions. In the future, the current involvement of a developer in customizing the configuration file to consider contextual information can be investigated.

Abstract Integral inequalities with generalized convexity play an important role in both applied and theoretical mathematics. The theory of integral inequalities is currently one of the most rapidly developing areas of mathematics due to its wide range of applications. In this paper, we study the concept of higher-order strongly exponentially convex functions and establish a new Hermite–Hadamard inequality for the class of strongly exponentially convex functions of higher order. Further, we derive some new integral inequalities for Riemann–Liouville fractional integrals via higher-order strongly exponentially convex functions. These findings include several well-known results and newly obtained results as special cases. We believe that the results presented in this paper are novel and will be beneficial in encouraging future research in this field.

The lack of physiologically relevant in vitro models has hampered progress in understanding human lung development and disease. Here, we describe a protocol in which human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) undergo stepwise differentiation into definitive endoderm (>88% population) to three-dimensional (3D) lung organoids (LORGs), which contain both epithelial and mesenchymal cellular architecture and display proximal and distal airway patterning. These LORGs can maintained for more than 90 days by re-embedding in the Matrigel. We show the utility of LORGs for disease modeling and drug screening by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and treatment with antiviral drugs.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) and depression are major public health problems globally. Evidence of linkage of common mental disorders (CMDs) including depression and anxiety disorders with DM is sparsely reported from community-based settings. Objective: The present study aimed to study the association between CMDs and DM among adult population (>30 years) residing in a rural area of North India. Materials and Methods: A community-based case–control study was conducted in 28 villages of Ballabgarh block of Faridabad district of Haryana. Cases (diabetes) were recruited from the community with at least 1 year of diabetes. Age- and sex-matched two neighborhood controls were selected from the same community. Diabetic status was confirmed using glycated hemoglobin. CMDs such as depression and anxiety disorders were screened using PRIME-MD Hindi version. Conditional logistic regression was used to study the relationship between diabetes and CMDs. Results: Total 211 cases (diabetic) and 273 controls (nondiabetic) were approached for the study, of which 173 cases and 175 controls were analyzed. Cases and controls were comparable with respect to age, sex, and socioeconomic status. CMDs were found more among cases as compared to controls (67.5% vs. 37.5%) (P < 0.001). On conditional logistic regression analysis, CMDs were significantly higher among diabetes cases (adjusted odds ratio – 3.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.9–5.2). Conclusion: Strong evidence of coexistence of CMDs and DM from this population-based study necessitates the need of incorporation of management of CMDs into diabetes control program in India.

Introduction: The prevalence of overweight and obesity has been rapidly increasing along with the increasing number of elderly persons throughout the world. In developing countries like India, it is no different. At the same time, the prevalence of underweight along with its association with different socioeconomic variables cannot be neglected. The objective was to estimate the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity among the elderly in an urban resettlement colony of Delhi and to find their association with various sociodemographic variables. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted among 499 elderly persons (60 years and above) selected by Simple Random Sampling. A pretested questionnaire was used for sociodemographic variables and weight and arm-span were measured. Prevalence was calculated and the association using multivariate logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of underweight was 13.8% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 10.9–17.2%), overweight 18.2% (95% CI: 15.0%–21.9%), and obesity 27.3% (95% CI: 23.4–31.4%). Elderly persons having normal Body Mass Index was 40.6%. Underweight was significantly associated with illiteracy and not doing anything at present; obesity was more common among females, younger, and educated elderly persons. Conclusion: Three-fifths of elderly persons in the urban area were underweight or overweight or obese. Targeted community-based interventions are required to optimize their nutritional status. Focus areas should include appropriate and acceptable dietary advice, and an increase in physical activity to reduce complications.

Background: The lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the lives of vulnerable population, including the injecting drug users (IDUs). The objective of the study was to document the coping mechanism adopted by IDUs and suggest measures to mitigate the adverse effects, if similar situation were to arise in future. Materials and Methods: A qualitative study was conducted at the Targeted Intervention Non-Government Organizations catering to IDUs in Delhi and Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Four focus group discussions among 41 IDUs and 7 key informant interviews of the NGO staff were conducted in the study. The Hindi recordings were coded and the data analysis was performed manually using grounded theory approach. Results: We found that the lockdown affected the lives of most of the IDUs and they found it difficult to access the harm reduction services. To cope with this, many IDUs started following alternate methods to support the drug habits. There was an increase in reuse of needles and syringes. Conclusion: The lockdown during COVID-19 and the resulting challenges negatively impacted the physical and mental health of the IDUs. We recommend that in any similar future scenario, travel pass may be issued to the IDUs and the TI-NGO personnel.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional state between normal cognition and clinical dementia. MCI is associated with an increased risk of dementia and mortality. Progression of MCI to dementia can be prevented by cognitive and lifestyle interventions. There is limited evidence on the burden and risk factors associated with MCI in India. To estimate the prevalence of MCI among elderly persons, and to study the factors associated with MCI. Materials and Methods: This community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 365 persons aged 60 years or older, residing in an urban resettlement colony of Delhi. Participants with dementia (score

Background: It is well documented that the utilization of maternal healthcare services during pregnancy and childbirth plays a significant role in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. Disruptions in maternal healthcare services during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have been reported. However, there is a paucity of literature from rural areas, as most of the previous studies are either record-based or conducted in tertiary care centers. This study aimed to determine the proportion of women who received the recommended maternal healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic and to study various factors associated with the utilization of services. Material and Methods: In this community-based study, we assessed the utilization of maternal healthcare services among 520 women residing in the Ballabgarh Block of District Faridabad, Haryana, whose antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal period coincided with the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Domiciliary visits were made, and women were interviewed retrospectively regarding maternal healthcare services utilized by them. The antenatal care (ANC) cards were reviewed, and details were corroborated. Results: Full ANC was received by 15.3% of women, and 45% of women had less than four antenatal visits. 30.9% of participants had cesarean delivery. The proportion of cesarean delivery in private facilities was significantly higher than in government facilities [Odds Ratio (OR) (95% Confidence intervals (CI)) =10.04 (5.87–17.19); P < 0.001]. In multivariate logistic regression, gravidity was negatively associated with full ANC [OR (95% CI) =0.43 (0.25–0.74); P = 0.002]. Conclusion: Fewer women received the recommended maternal healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Detailed assessment of health systems and factors affecting routine healthcare services, during the pandemic, can help improve the readiness and response in the future.

According to the WHO, Cancer is a prominent cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for ~10 million fatalities at the end of 2020. The most common types of cancers include Lung, Breast, CNS, Leukemia, Colon, and Cervical Cancer. Early detection of cancer can decrease the death toll. According to the study, if the cancer is identified at its early stage, the death rate can be reduced to ~85%. In order to reduce the death toll, machine learning (ML) emerges as a significant solution. When it comes to cancer research with ML, biopsy and microarray data come into the front. The biopsy data is less useful as it excludes a patient’s genetic information. However, due to the genetic information, the microarray data emerges as a solution to detecting cancer disease. Dealing with microarray data also has some consequences, and high dimensionality is one of them. This article reports an ML-based ensemble model to tackle microarray data issues and provide an effective model for cancer detection. The reported model uses Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (MRMR) as the feature selection algorithm. The Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) is implemented for the featured dataset to select the optimistic number of features without affecting microarray data relevance. Then, four ML-based classification models, including Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Multilayer Perceptron, and Random Forest, are applied as the base learners to make initial predictions. Finally, the Voting ensemble technique is applied to the initial prediction to develop an ensemble model for cancer prediction. The proposed En-MinWhale model is evaluated over six different types of cancer microarray datasets, including Lung, Leukemia, Ovarian, CNS, Breast, and Colon Cancer. Finally, the performance of the proposed model is evaluated using 11 various evaluative parameters, including accuracy, precision, specificity, sensitivity, F- $\beta $ score, etc. The En-MinWhale model shows 94.09%, 95.83%, 94.86%, 95.00%, 94.85%, and 96.77% accuracy for Lung, Leukemia, Ovarian, CNS, Breast, and Colon Cancer datasets, respectively, that outperforms other considered hybrid models and can help out the physicians in Cancer diagnosis.

One of the main problems with WSNs is that most sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are motorized by energy-constrained, which significantly affects the system’s effectiveness, dependability, and lifespan. Numerous clustering strategies have been created to enhance the energy efficiency of WSNs in 5G and 6G transmission. To overcome these issues, we suggest a collaborative energy-efficient routing protocol (CEEPR) for sustainable communication in 5G/6G wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Initially, this study gathered and collected the data at the sink node. The network’s nodes are clustered using the reinforcement learning technique (R.L.). Cluster head selection is employed for better data transmission using residual energy (RE) based cluster head selection algorithm. A collaborative energy-efficient routing protocol (CEERP) is proposed. We use a multi-objective improved seagull algorithm (MOISA) as an optimization technique to enhance the system’s performance. Finally, the presentation of the system is analyzed. Compare with the existing methods, the primary metrics are throughput, energy consumption, network lifetime, packet transmission, routing overhead, and transmission speed. The proposed approach uses 50% less energy while improving network lifespan and energy efficiency compared to the current protocols.

Abstract Background Indiscriminate and widespread use of antibiotics has resulted in emergence of many antibiotic-resistant organisms. Antibiotic administration during pregnancy is mostly avoided, unless there is compelling medical condition. We hypothesized that the uropathogens isolated from pregnant women would be more susceptible to antibiotics compared to those isolated from nonpregnant women, thus will be helpful in formulating separate empiric guideline for pregnant women based on the resistance pattern. Methods This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted over a period of 2 years in which females with the clinical diagnosis of either cystitis or asymptomatic bacteriuria during pregnancy were included from the community settings. Uropathogen species and their antimicrobial resistance pattern were compared between the pregnant and nonpregnant groups. After accounting for centre-to-centre variation and adjusting for age and socio-economic status, the adjusted odds ratio for antibiotic resistance was calculated and compared between pregnant and nonpregnant women using logistic regression analysis. Results A total of 1758 women (pregnant: 43.3%; nonpregnant: 56.6%) were screened in the study over a period of 2 years, out of which 9.3% (163/1758) were having significant bacteriuria. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the two commonest uropathogen in both the groups; their prevalence being 83.6% in pregnant women and 85.2% in nonpregnant women, respectively. Resistance against ampicillin, cefixime, cefoxitin, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid were found significantly lower in the pregnant women compared to nonpregnant. After adjusting the age and socio-economic status accounting for centre-to-centre variation, the odds of resistance for cefixime, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid and co-trimoxazole were found lower and statistically significant among the pregnant women group. Conclusions The antimicrobial resistance was significantly higher among the community-dwelling nonpregnant women compared to pregnant women in case of few antibiotics. The study highlighted the need of building local antibiogram that could help to initiate the empirical treatment and thus prevent emergence of antimicrobial resistance.

Abstract Background Several methodological tests are available to detect SARS-CoV-2 antibody. Tests are mostly used in the aid of diagnosis or for serological assessment. No tests are fully confirmatory and have variable level of diagnostic ability. We aimed at assessing agreement with three serological tests: quantitative anti receptor binding domain ELISA (Q-RBD), qualitative ELISA (WANTAI SARS-CoV-2 Ab) and qualitative chemiluminescence assay (CLIA). Methods This study was a part of a large population based sero-epidemiological cohort study. Participants aged 1 year or older were included from 25 randomly selected clusters each in Delhi urban (urban resettlement colony of South Delhi district) and Delhi rural (villages in Faridabad district, Haryana). Three type of tests were applied to all the baseline blood samples. Result of the three tests were evaluated by estimating the total agreement and kappa value. Results Total 3491 blood samples collected from March to September, 2021, out of which 1700 (48.7%) from urban and 1791 (51.3%) from rural. Overall 44.1% of participants were male. The proportion of sero-positivity were 78.1%, 75.2% and 31.8% by Wantai, QRBD and CLIA tests respectively. The total agreement between Wantai and QRBD was 94.5%, 53.1% between Wantai and CLIA, and 56.8% between QRBD and CLIA. The kappa value between these three tests were 0.84 (95% CI 0.80–0.87), 0.22 (95% CI 0.19–0.24) and 0.26 (95% CI 0.23–0.28). Conclusions There was strong concordance between Wantai and QRBD test. Agreement between CLIA with other two tests was low. Wantai and QRBD tests measuring the antibody to same S protein can be used with high agreement based on the relevant scenario.

Objectives: India introduced BBV152/Covaxin and AZD1222/Covishield vaccines in January 2021. We estimated the effectiveness of these vaccines against severe COVID-19 among individuals aged ≥45 years. Methods: We did a multi-centric, hospital-based, case-control study between May and July 2021. Cases were severe COVID-19 patients, and controls were COVID-19 negative individuals from 11 hospitals. Vaccine effectiveness (VE) was estimated for complete (2 doses ≥ 14 days) and partial (1 dose ≥ 21 days) vaccination; interval between two vaccine doses and vaccination against the Delta variant. We used the random effects logistic regression model to calculate the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) after adjusting for relevant known confounders. Results: We enrolled 1143 cases and 2541 control patients. The VE of complete vaccination was 85% (95% CI: 79-89%) with AZD1222/Covishield and 71% (95% CI: 57-81%) with BBV152/Covaxin. The VE was highest for 6-8 weeks between two doses of AZD1222/Covishield (94%, 95% CI: 86-97%) and BBV152/Covaxin (93%, 95% CI: 34-99%). The VE estimates were similar against the Delta strain and sub-lineages. Conclusion: BBV152/Covaxin and AZD1222/Covishield were effective against severe COVID-19 among the Indian population during the period of dominance of the highly transmissible Delta variant in the second wave of the pandemic. An escalation of two-dose coverage with COVID-19 vaccines is critical to reduce severe COVID-19 and further mitigate the pandemic in the country.

Abstract The importance of human behavior in biodiversity conservation is widely recognized, but there is little published evidence about how conservation professionals make decisions when conservation values are at stake. We take a behavioral economics approach, administering simplified decision problems (“choice experiments”), questions about choice‐relevant preferences and views (“elicitation questions”), and a psychometric scale (the New Ecological Paradigm scale) to a difficult‐to‐recruit sample (n = 100) of Canadian professionals involved in managing Rangifer tarandus caribou (Woodland Caribou). Our choice experiments reveal the importance of several decision biases (risk aversion, commission bias, and a bias towards fairness) in this influential group of conservation stakeholders. We then examine in‐sample differences between categories of professional affiliation (e.g., resource industry, environmental nongovernmental organization, or federal/provincial government), finding significant variation in responses to one elicitation question (reference points) and in psychometric scores. We discuss the implications of our findings for choice in conservation practice and for multistakeholder conservation policy. Comparing our findings to prior work on choice under uncertainty in nonconservation contexts suggests a possible replication problem in applying behavioral science insights to conservation problems, pointing to the need for a systematic research program. Results from development testing with a convenience sample of university students are presented for comparison throughout the study.

Rapidlyincreasing population, the demand for food has increased substantially. To overcome food deficits, an increase in agricultural production is needed, and for sustainability, the qualities of crops as well as maintaining the fertility of the soil are challenging situations. Soil contains limited amount of macro, micronutrients and innumerable amounts of soil microflora, which helps in crop production. Since the mid-19th century, a plethora of chemical fertilizers have been extensively used to improve crop production, but over time, they have shown disastrous effects on the soil compositionand profile. In the current alarming scenario, a new technology arearising, namely nanotechnology, in the field of agriculture. Nano-chemicals can play a paramount role in sustainable agriculture. This reviewsummarizes a variety of nanomaterials as pesticide, fertilizers and control of attack of fungus and bacterial diseases. Here discussed a range of nanomaterials including Ag, Fe, Cu, Si, Se, Al, Zn, ZnO, TiO _2 and carbon nanotubes non-propitious effectsof biomagnification. This review alsodiscussesthe several mechanisms which show how nanomaterials does work as nanofertilizer, nano pesticides, and control bacterial and fungal diseases along with the advantages and disadvantages in the sustainable approach of agriculture. Furthermore, it discusses the synergistic effect of nanomaterials and conventional approach involved in agriculture practices. Nano-fertilizers and nano-biofertilizers are new tools that have evolved for the sustainableagricultural and food security.

Quantum computing is an emerging field that has had a significant impact on optimization. Among the diverse quantum algorithms, quantum gradient descent has become a prominent technique for solving unconstrained optimization (UO) problems. In this paper, we propose a quantum spectral Polak–Ribiére–Polyak (PRP) conjugate gradient (CG) approach. The technique is considered as a generalization of the spectral PRP method which employs a q-gradient that approximates the classical gradient with quadratically better dependence on the quantum variable q. Additionally, the proposed method reduces to the classical variant as the quantum variable q approaches closer to 1. The quantum search direction always satisfies the sufficient descent condition and does not depend on any line search (LS). This approach is globally convergent with the standard Wolfe conditions without any convexity assumption. Numerical experiments are conducted and compared with the existing approach to demonstrate the improvement of the proposed strategy.

The present study was designed to explore the applicability of dolomite dust (a waste from a dolomite quarry) as filler in polymer composites. Therefore, fixed carbon fiber reinforced vinyl ester composites with varying dolomite dust proportions (0, 5, 10 and 15 wt.%) are manufactured and subsequently evaluated for physicomechanical and sliding wear properties. Experimental results indicate that density, void content, impact energy, hardness, tensile modulus, and flexural modulus increase with dolomite content increase. On the other hand, a continuous decrease in tensile and flexural strength was observed with increased dolomite dust content. The sliding wear tests were performed using L16 orthogonal design, considering four parameters: dolomite dust, sliding distance, applied load, and sliding velocity according to the Taguchi method. It was found that dolomite dust was the most noteworthy parameter of wear rate, followed by applied load and sliding distance.

In this paper, we extend the concepts of Neutrosophy to Boolean function and define ClassicalBalanced, AntiBalanced and NeutroBalanced functions. We consider functions of the form f(x) = T r(x d ), where the exponent d may be Gold exponent, Kasami exponent, Welch exponent or any arbitrary positive integer. We, for different values of d, examine nature of these functions with respect to the above stated three categories.

Fortification of staple food items with iron is a potential strategy to address anemia for a larger population. We reviewed studies to assess the impact of iron-fortified rice (IFR) on hemoglobin levels of individuals more than six months of age. We included studies assessing the effectiveness of IFR (with or without other micronutrients) conducted in any part of the world available in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, clinicaltrials.gov, International database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care (PROSPERO), unicef.org, and who.int databases and published from January 1, 1990 to April 1, 2019 (PROSPERO registration number: RD42020139895). We extracted the changes in hemoglobin, serum ferritin, and serum transferrin levels among the participants. Finally, data from 15 trials and their 21 subsets were analyzed. Mean difference in hemoglobin was 0.53 g/dl (95% CI: 0.26, 0.80, P < 0.001, I2 = 84%) in the IFR group compared to the control group. In the subgroup analysis after removing studies with small sample size and high risk for bias, a mean difference of 0.44 g/dl (95% CI: 0.20, 0.69, P < 0.001, I2 = 82%) was observed. No significant effect on serum ferritin or transferrin levels was observed. From this review it can be concluded that fortification of rice with iron can be adopted as an intervention to improve hemoglobin levels, especially in countries where rice is the major part food of staple diet. Research is needed on an optimal iron compound for fortification and the acceptance of IFR.

Introduction: In elderly persons, due to physiological, anatomical, and functional changes, body mass index (BMI) may not be suitable for the assessment of nutritional status. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) can be a proxy indicator to identify underweight and overweight/obesity among elderly persons. This study aimed to estimate the correlation between MUAC and BMI, and the cutoffs for MUAC using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Material and Methods: This survey was carried out in a resettlement colony of Delhi. The participants were residents of the area who were aged 60 years or older, and selected by a simple random sampling technique. The arm span, weight, and MUAC of the participants were measured. The correlation between MUAC and BMI for gender and age group was calculated. The ROC curve was also constructed. Results: A total of 946 eligible participants were enrolled. The correlation between MUAC and BMI was 0.67 (P < 0.001) and 0.76 (P < 0.001) among men and women, respectively. The MUAC cutoff for underweight was

Background: Increased level of stress has a potential impact on physical, mental, and social well-being. It was seen aggravated during the global pandemic situation of COVID-19. Aim: The aim of this study was to find the effect of a community-based structured yoga program on the level of stress, anxiety, and depression. Materials and Methods: This was a community-based quasi-experimental study of pre–post in type involving 26 adult participants without any preexisting morbidity. All of them were provided 12 weeks of structured yoga program of 50 min/session, ≥2 sessions/week. Psychometric questionnaire, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), stress biomarker serum cortisol, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and rate pressure product were used to assess the primary and secondary outcome variables. Results: A total of 26 participants (male: 6 and female: 20) were enrolled and 18 participants completed the follow-up assessment. The median number of yoga sessions attended was 22. At the end of 12 weeks, there was a significant reduction of the stress component of DASS-21 (p: 0.0018) and the serum cortisol level (p: 0.032). Other variables had a reduction but it was not significant. No adverse effect was reported by the participants. Conclusions: This community-based yoga study showed beneficial effects among the participants. The stress level was found reduced significantly. However, the sustainable effect needed to be assessed further.

The decentralization feature of public and private blockchain-based applications is achieved by selecting different nodes as validators or Certificate Authority ( $CA$ ) for each transaction. Public blockchain uses Proof of Work ( $PoW$ ) to search for the validator. $PoW$ causes an enormous amount of energy. Therefore, Proof of Stake ( $PoS$ ), and Proof of Authority ( $PoA$ ) emerged as alternate solutions. Selection of a new $CA$ using $PoS$ or $PoA$ algorithms for each transaction may improve transaction security. However, a network may have a large number of transactions and participants. Selecting a $CA$ for each transaction using $PoS$ or $PoA$ may cause a significant amount of block propagation delay, which can reduce network efficiency drastically. This paper proposes a different approach to increase the efficiency of Blockchain-based Public Key Infrastructure ( $BC-PKI$ ). The proposed approach creates clusters of participant nodes based on their validation time, response time, and trust. This method selects a cluster based on the budget of response time and validation time given by the node that intends to start a transaction. Thereafter, the node which has the highest trust in that cluster is chosen as a $CA$ for the next transaction. Instead of searching on all participant nodes, our approach searches on the nodes of the chosen cluster which reduces the searching space of the $CA$ selection process. This research work adopts a trust evaluation approach where the trust factor is quantified based on its experience and reputation. The node trust is reevaluated after every successful and unsuccessful transaction. A node that performs more successful transactions has more trust value. The node that has a higher trust value has a higher probability to be selected as a $CA$ for a transaction. The trust reevaluation process is followed by the clustering process. The result shows the proposed approach can reduce ~38.5% response time and ~2.2% validation time as compared to infrastructure which does not implement clustering. Additionally, the proposed $CTB-PKI$ can be used in Blockchain 2.0 and Blockchain 3.0-related applications.

Background: More than 43 million cases and 5.2 lakhs death have occurred due to COVID-19 in India. Approximately 1 lakh people (cumulative) have been infected by COVID-19 in Faridabad district alone as of 4 April 2022. To understand the effects of COVID-19 on community practices this study was conducted. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Intensive Field Practice Area of Comprehensive Rural health Services Project (CRHSP), Ballabgarh, Haryana. Five hundred participants (≥18 years) were selected by using simple random sampling from Health Management Information System (HMIS) maintained at Centre for Community Medicine, AIIMS, New Delhi. Participants were informed regarding study and consent was taken. A semi-structured interview schedule was administered. Results: Study participants included 500 adults (52.2% Male). Mean age (S.D.) of participants were 39.1 (14.9) years. Almost all participants started practicing hand sanitisation (496, 99.2%), avoiding crowd (488, 97.6%), and covering face with cloth/handkerchief (459, 91.8%). More than 80% (428, 85.6%) started using mask, and following cough etiquettes (405, 81.0%). More than three-fourth (389, 77.8%) participants were very unsatisfied with lockdown. Majority faced financial difficulties (322, 64.4%), followed by difficulty in their entertainment/recreational activity (158, 31.6%), difficulty in acquiring ration/food items (87, 17.4%) and mental stress (46, 9.2%) during lockdown. Conclusions: Rural community of Ballabgarh showed positive practices with respect to prevention of COVID-19. Financial distress and job loss due to lockdown were widely reported from the rural community. Majority of the community was displeased with lockdown as intervention for COVID-19.

Context: Cobalamin and folate are essential for the synthesis of nucleic acids and in the maintenance of myelin. They are required during the period of the rapid growth of infancy and childhood. Their deficiency may result in nutritional anemia and neurological manifestations. There is paucity of literature regarding the prevalence of cobalamin and folate deficiency among North Indian children aged 6–59 months. Aim: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of serum cobalamin and folate deficiency among children aged 6–59 months, attending a secondary care hospital. Settings and Design: Children were recruited from pediatrics OPD of the sub-district hospital (SDH), Ballabgarh, Haryana, through systematic random sampling. Hemoglobin was measured by an automated analyzer. Serum cobalamin and serum folate were estimated using enhanced chemiluminescence based immunoassay. Results: A total of 420 children were recruited, of which 392 provided a blood specimen. Prevalence of cobalamin, folate deficiency, and anemia were 22.3% (95% CI: 18.3–26.7), 10.9% (95% CI: 8.2–14.6), and 81.9% (95% CI 77.7–85.4), respectively. The proportion of children with cobalamin deficiency who had anemia was 97.7% compared to 95.7% among those with no cobalamin deficiency (P = 0.396). Similarly, the proportion of children with folate deficiency who had anemia was 95.2% compared to 96.2% among those with no folate deficiency (P = 0.765). Conclusion: We found that almost one in five children aged 6–59 were deficient in cobalamin, and one in ten were deficient in folate.

Background: Estimating seroepidemiolgical prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibody is an essential public health strategy. There is insufficient evidence of prevalence among those belonging to young age population in India. Objective: To compare the SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity rate between children and adults in selected sites from India. Materials and Methods: This was a multicentric population-based seroepidemiological study conducted in selected urban and rural areas of five sites selected from four states (Delhi, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura) of India. Participants aged ≥1 year were included from different clusters of each area. Total serum antibody against SARS-CoV-2 virus was assessed qualitatively by using a standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit.Results: Data collection period was from 15 March 2021 to 10 June 2021. Total available data was of 4509 participants, of whom 700 were

Soil erosion is a major environmental problem that affects land and w ater resources. It has many negative implications that lead to deforestation, poor agricultural practices, loss of soil fertility, and siltation that hinder socio-economic development. In view of this, the present study was conducted with the aim of estimating soil loss in relation to long-term land use/land cover change (LULC) in the Dehar watershed, Himachal Himalaya, North India. The study was carried out using Landsat and Sentinel imageries for the years 1999, 2010, and 2020. A GIS-based Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model was applied to assess the potential soil risk. The parameters used as input for computing the spatiotemporal changes of soil loss were rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, topographic, crop management, and conservation support practice factors. The results showed a mean soil loss of 63.71, 60.99, and 66.71 t/ha/yr for the years 1999, 2010, and 2020, respectively. In the LULC class defined as Built-up Land, the mean soil loss decreased from 32.19 t/ha/yr in 1999 to 18.77 t/ha/yr in 2010, and in the year 2020 the mean soil loss slightly increased to 20.15 t/ha/yr. Moreover, the LULC class Barren Land registered a decrease in mean soil loss for the years 1999, 2010, and 2020 of 86.43, 74.60, and 73.19 t/ha/yr, respectively. Regarding the Agriculture Land class, the rate of mean soil loss slightly increased from 32.55 t/ha/yr in 1999 to 33.35 t/ha/yr in 2010, and the mean soil loss decreased to 25.43 t/ha/yr in the year 2020. Areas covered under Forest Land experienced an increase in mean soil loss from 65.30 t/ha/yr in 1999 to 65.87 in 2010 and 74.72 t/ha/yr in 2020. The study demonstrated that LULC changes apparently influenced the soil loss in the Dehar watershed. Therefore, urgent interventions are required with the involvement of scientists, policymakers, and the general public for conservation and management of soil resources.

Repeated serological testing tells about the change in the overall infection in a community. This study aimed to evaluate changes in antibody prevalence and kinetics in a closed cohort over six months in different sub-populations in India. The study included 10,000 participants from rural and urban areas in five states and measured SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in serum in three follow-up rounds. The overall seroprevalence increased from 73.9% in round one to 90.7% in round two and 92.9% in round three. Among seropositive rural participants in round one, 98.2% remained positive in round two, and this percentage remained stable in urban and tribal areas in round three. The results showed high antibody prevalence that increased over time and was not different based on area, age group, or sex. Vaccinated individuals had higher antibody prevalence, and nearly all participants had antibody positivity for up to six months.

BackgroundTransmissibility within closed settings, such as households, can provide a strategic way to characterize the virus transmission patterns because the denominator can be well defined. We aimed to characterize the household transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) and its associated risk factors.MethodsThis prospective case-ascertained study was conducted among the household contacts of laboratory-confirmed SARS CoV-2 cases residing in Ballabgarh, Haryana. We enrolled 148 index cases and their 645 household contacts between December 16, 2020 and June 24, 2021. We defined household contact as any person who had resided in the same household as a confirmed COVID-19 case. Baseline data collection and sample collection for real time- reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and IgM/IgG against SARS CoV-2 were done on day 1 visit, and followed for a period of 28 days. RT-PCR was repeated on day 14 or whenever the contact is symptomatic and blood sample for serology was repeated on day 28. We estimated household secondary infection rate (SIR) and other epidemiological indicators-median incubation period and serial interval. We employed binomial logistic regression to quantify risk factors associated with infection.ResultsThe household SIR was 30.5% (95% CI: 27.1-34.1%). The secondary clinical attack rate was 9.3% (95% CI: 7.2-11.8). The risk factors that showed higher susceptibility to infection were household contacts who were the primary care giver of the case, whose index cases were symptomatic, those with underlying medical conditions, those living in overcrowded households, who were sharing toilet with the index cases and also who were not wearing a mask when coming in contact with the case. The median (IQR) incubation period was 4 days (4, 5), mean (SD) serial interval 6.4 (±2.2) days, and median (IQR) serial interval 5 days (5, 7).ConclusionHouseholds favour secondary transmission of SARS CoV- 2, hence, index cases are recommended to self-isolate and wear masks; and household contacts to follow strict COVID infection control measures within households when a family member is infected.

Abstract Background Previous studies on sternocleidomastoid flaps, have defined the importance of preserving sternocleidomastoid (SCM) branch of superior thyroid artery (STA). This theory drew criticism, as this muscle is known to be a type II muscle, i.e., the muscle has one dominant pedicle (branches from the occipital artery at the superior pole) and smaller vascular pedicles entering the belly of muscle (branches from STA and thyrocervical trunk) at the middle and lower pole respectively. It was unlikely for the SCM branch of STA to supply the upper and lower thirds of the muscle. We undertook a cadaveric angiographic study to investigate distribution of STA supply to SCM muscle. Methods It is a cross-sectional descriptive study on 10 cadaveric SCM muscles along with ipsilateral STA which were evaluated with angiography using diatrizoate (urograffin) dye. Radiographic films were interpreted looking at the opacification of the muscle. Results were analyzed using frequency distribution and percentage. Results Out of ten specimens, near complete opacification was observed in eight SCM muscle specimens. While one showed poor uptake in the lower third of the muscle, the other showed poor uptake in the upper third segment of muscle. Conclusion Based on the above findings we suggest to further investigate sternocleidomastoid muscle as a type III flap, as the STA branch also supplies the whole muscle along with previously described pedicle from occipital artery. However, this needs to be further corroborated intra-operatively using scanning laser doppler. This also explains better survival rates of superior thyroid artery based sternomastoid flaps.