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"Mohanty, S."
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A Preliminary Study on the Impact of Household Air Pollution on Adult Respiratory Health in Urban and Rural Settings of Jaipur, India
Background:
This study aimed to investigate the association between household air pollution and chronic respiratory illness (CRI) in Jaipur, India.
Materials and Methods:
A total of 147 participants over 18 years of age from 45 households were randomly included in the study, and follow-up visits were conducted once every fortnight over a three-month period. Spirometry tests were conducted using a portable hand-held digital spirometer. A self-designed, pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was utilized to collect socio-demographic information from the participants. Statistical tests, such as t-tests were used to analyze the association between household air pollution and CRI.
Results:
The prevalence of COPD and bronchial asthma was 2% and 4%, respectively. Various risk factors for CRI were identified within households, and only 4 episodes of acute exacerbation of chronic respiratory illness were observed, resulting in no incidence density calculation. The mean values of forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) were significantly lower in females (P < 0.001) Also, the mean values of FVC and FEV1 were significantly lower in rural areas (P < 0.005) than urban areas.
Conclusion:
Our findings highlight the importance of government and stakeholder action to implement clean air policies and protect respiratory health. Further studies are needed to expand on these findings and delve deeper into understanding the complex interactions between various risk factors and respiratory health in this population.
Journal Article
PeV IceCube signals and Dark Matter relic abundance in modified cosmologies
The discovery by the IceCube experiment of a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux with energies of the order of PeV, has opened new scenarios in astroparticles physics. A possibility to explain this phenomenon is to consider the minimal models of Dark Matter (DM) decay, the 4-dimensional operator ∼yαχLLα¯Hχ, which is also able to generate the correct abundance of DM in the Universe. Assuming that the cosmological background evolves according to the standard cosmological model, it follows that the rate of DM decay Γχ∼|yαχ|2 needed to get the correct DM relic abundance (Γχ∼10-58) differs by many orders of magnitude with respect that one needed to explain the IceCube data (Γχ∼10-25), making the four-dimensional operator unsuitable. In this paper we show that assuming that the early Universe evolution is governed by a modified cosmology, the discrepancy between the two the DM decay rates can be reconciled, and both the IceCube neutrino rate and relic density can be explained in a minimal model.
Journal Article
Comparative analysis of contraceptive use in Punjab and Manipur: exploring beyond women’s education and empowerment
Background
Women’s education and empowerment are important predictors of contraceptive use across countries. However, two of the Indian states, namely, Punjab and Manipur, showed large variations in contraceptive use, despite the similar level of women’s educational attainment and empowerment. Therefore, this paper attempts to understand variation in contraceptive use between these states, despite having similar level of educational attainment and empowerment among the married women.
Methods
This study primarily used cross-sectional data of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015–16 and to some extent the District Level Household Survey (DLHS) 2012–13 data. The analytical sample includes 13,730 currently married women in Punjab and 8,872 in Manipur. Modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) is the key outcome variable of this study. Bivariate, multivariate, and multilevel regression analysis are applied to understand the differences in mCPR between these states and its determinants.
Results
Mean years of schooling was about 8 years among women of both the states, and about 34% of the women in Punjab and 27% of the women in Manipur have high level of autonomy. Despite this, use of modern method was 66% in Punjab and only 13% in Manipur. Coverage of family planning program indicators were significantly lower in Manipur than Punjab – frontline workers’ (FLWs) outreach for family planning was only 18% in Manipur compared to 52% in Punjab. Similarly, only 11% of the public health facilities in Manipur compared to 50% of the health facilities in Punjab were ready to provide at least one clinical method of family planning.
Conclusion
Despite the similar level of individual level characteristics across the two states, poor coverage of family planning programs – low outreach of FLWs, low level of facility readiness, as well as sociocultural norms discouraging contraceptive use – might be responsible for lower contraceptive use in Manipur than Punjab. This implies for strengthening the health system for family planning in Manipur to meet the contraception needs of women by addressing sociocultural barriers in the state.
Journal Article
Analysis of entropy on the peristaltic transport of micropolar nanofluid: a simulation obtained using approximate analytical technique
The peristaltic transport phenomenon is due to the alternative process of contraction and relaxation of the channel walls, and the pumping process is exhibited from the fluid with lower pressure region to higher within the wavy channel. A simulation is carried out for an electrically conducting micropolar nanofluid within a wavy channel for the interaction of radiative heat energy and the heat source/sink. The conducting fluid comprised of the Brownian and thermophoresis forms a Buongiorno model nanofluid. The crux of this investigation is to bring out the analysis of the irreversibility process due to heat transfer with entropy generation. The impact of Joule heating characterizes within the upper/lower zeta potentials is also affecting the flow phenomena. However, the exploration on these concerns will offer a profound perceptive of peristaltic rheology in more realistic circumstances. Approximate analytical technique, i.e., Differential Transformation Method (DTM) is used to get the desired solution of the set of transformed governing equations using the in-built MATLAB code bvp4c. Further, the analysis of characterizing parameters involved in the flow phenomena is obtained and deployed via graphs. The highlighted outcomes are: the non-Newtonian characteristics are dominated by the Newtonian fluid for irrespective of the appearance/non-appearance of the micropolar parameter however, Brinkman number enriches the entropy due to the irreversibility in the thermal processes.
Journal Article
Linkage disequilibrium mapping for grain Fe and Zn enhancing QTLs useful for nutrient dense rice breeding
Background
High yielding rice varieties are usually low in grain iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content. These two micronutrients are involved in many enzymatic activities, lack of which cause many disorders in human body. Bio-fortification is a cheaper and easier way to improve the content of these nutrients in rice grain.
Results
A population panel was prepared representing all the phenotypic classes for grain Fe-Zn content from 485 germplasm lines. The panel was studied for genetic diversity, population structure and association mapping of grain Fe-Zn content in the milled rice. The population showed linkage disequilibrium showing deviation of Hardy-Weinberg’s expectation for Fe-Zn content in rice. Population structure at K = 3 categorized the panel population into distinct sub-populations corroborating with their grain Fe-Zn content. STRUCTURE analysis revealed a common primary ancestor for each sub-population. Novel quantitative trait loci (QTLs) namely
qFe3.3
and
qFe7.3
for grain Fe and
qZn2.2
,
qZn8.3
and
qZn12.3
for Zn content were detected using association mapping. Four QTLs, namely
qFe3.3
,
qFe7.3
,
qFe8.1
and
qFe12.2
for grain Fe content were detected to be co-localized with
qZn3.1
,
qZn7
,
qZn8.3
and
qZn12.3
QTLs controlling grain Zn content, respectively. Additionally, some Fe-Zn controlling QTLs were co-localized with the yield component QTLs,
qTBGW
,
OsSPL14
and
qPN
. The QTLs
qFe1.1
,
qFe3.1
,
qFe5.1, qFe7.1, qFe8.1, qZn6, qZn7 and gRMm9–1
for grain Fe-Zn content reported in earlier studies were validated in this study.
Conclusion
Novel QTLs,
qFe3.3
and
qFe7.3
for grain Fe and
qZn2.2
,
qZn8.3
and
qZn12.3
for Zn content were detected for these two traits. Four Fe-Zn controlling QTLs and few yield component QTLs were detected to be co-localized. The QTLs,
qFe1.1
,
qFe3.1
,
qFe5.1, qFe7.1, qFe8.1, qFe3.3, qFe7.3, qZn6, qZn7, qZn2.2, qZn8.3
and
qZn12.3
will be useful for biofortification of the micronutrients. Simultaneous enhancement of Fe-Zn content may be possible with yield component traits in rice.
Journal Article
Galacturonosyltransferase (GAUT)1 and GAUT7 are the core of a plant cell wall pectin biosynthetic homogalacturonan:galacturonosyltransferase complex
Plant cell wall pectic polysaccharides are arguably the most complex carbohydrates in nature. Progress in understanding pectin synthesis has been slow due to its complex structure and difficulties in purifying and expressing the low-abundance, Golgi membrane-bound pectin biosynthetic enzymes. Arabidopsis galacturonosyltransferase (GAUT) 1 is an α-1,4-galacturonosyltransferase (GalAT) that synthesizes homogalacturonan (HG), the most abundant pectic polysaccharide. We now show that GAUT1 functions in a protein complex with the homologous GAUT7. Surprisingly, although both GAUT1 and GAUT7 are type II membrane proteins with single N-terminal transmembrane-spanning domains, the N-terminal region of GAUT1, including the transmembrane domain, is cleaved in vivo. This raises the question of how the processed GAUT1 is retained in the Golgi, the site of HG biosynthesis. We show that the anchoring of GAUT1 in the Golgi requires association with GAUT7 to form the GAUT1:GAUT7 complex. Proteomics analyses also identified 12 additional proteins that immunoprecipitate with the GAUT1:GAUT7 complex. This study provides conclusive evidence that the GAUT1:GAUT7 complex is the catalytic core of an HG:GalAT complex and that cell wall matrix polysaccharide biosynthesis occurs via protein complexes. The processing of GAUT1 to remove its N-terminal transmembrane domain and its anchoring in the Golgi by association with GAUT7 provides an example of how specific catalytic domains of plant cell wall biosynthetic glycosyltransferases could be assembled into protein complexes to enable the synthesis of the complex and developmentally and environmentally plastic plant cell wall.
Journal Article
Burden of sickle cell disease in tribal students in Maa-Baadi institutions in southern Rajasthan - A pilot study
Background & objectives:
Sickle cell disease (SCD), an inherited disorder of erythrocytes, is highly prevalent in the tribal population of India. The tribal population of India is approximately 100 million and it is necessary to identify the magnitude of this problem. Furthermore, the prevalence of the disease is unknown among the five million tribal people of southern provinces of Rajasthan. In this study, we intended to determine the prevalence and characteristics of sickle cell disorder among the tribal inhabitants of southern Rajasthan.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was conducted among the tribal students of the Maa-Baadis and hostels situated in the five tribal sub-plan districts of Rajasthan. Maa-Baadi centres are located in every village, whereas for every four to five villages, one hostel is allocated to accommodate the tribal students. The screening for SCD was done by solubility test and electrophoresis was used for confirmation.
Results:
A total of 36,752 tribal students were screened from 1,006 Maa-Baadi centres and 243 hostels. The prevalence of SCD among the tribal students was 5.8 per cent. The prevalence of heterozygous and homozygous conditions was 5.61 and 0.17 per cent, respectively. Among the five sub-plan districts, the highest prevalence was observed in Sirohi district (10.5%) followed by Banswara (7.42%), Udaipur (6.53%), Pratapgarh (5.51%) and Dungarpur (1.89%). Among the four major tribes belonging to these districts, the highest prevalence was recorded in Garasia tribes (13.81%). The history of leg ulcers and the mean pulse rate were significantly high in SCD individuals.
Interpretation & conclusions:
SCD is a significant problem among the tribes of southern Rajasthan, with the highest prevalence among the Garasia tribe. The present study recommends that a structured screening programme targeting the entire tribal population with appropriate counselling as well as providing treatment through the existing health system is the need of the hour.
Journal Article
Interpenetration of polymeric microgels at ultrahigh densities
Soft particles such as polymeric microgels can form ultra-dense phases, where the average center-to-center distance
a
s
can be smaller than the initial unperturbed particle diameter
σ
0
, due to their ability to interpenetrate and compress. However, despite of the effort devoted to microgels at ultrahigh densities, we know surprisingly little about their response to their environment at effective volume fractions
ϕ
eff
above close packing (
ϕ
cp
), and the existing information is often contradictory. Here we report direct measurements of the size and shape of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgels at concentrations below and above
ϕ
cp
using the zero average contrast method in small-angle neutron scattering. We complement these experiments with measurements of the average interparticle distances using small-angle x-ray scattering, and a determination of the glass transition using dynamic light scattering. This allows us to unambiguously decouple interaction effects from density-dependent variations of the particle size and shape at all values of
ϕ
eff
. We demonstrate that the microgels used in this study significantly interpenetrate and thus change their size and shape only marginally even for
ϕ
eff
≫
ϕ
cp
, a finding that may require changes in the interpretation of a number of previously published studies on the structural and dynamic properties of dense soft particle systems.
Journal Article
Status of pesticide residues in water, sediment, and fishes of Chilika Lake, India
Chilika Lake is the largest coastal lagoon in Asia and the second largest in the world covering an area of 1100 km
2
and spread over three districts of Odisha state of India. It is the first Indian wetland designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1981. The lake ecosystem sustains large and diversified resources of plants and animals including fisheries. Pollution of the ecosystem caused by residues of pesticides originating from different sources was assessed through multiple sampling from 2012 to 2016 from three potential sites of contamination, viz., Palur Bridge, Daya River Estuary, and Makara River. Incidence of organochlorinated (OC) pesticide residues was noticed in about 25% water samples. HCH (α, γ&δ), DDD (op
|
), DDE (op
|
&pp.
|
) and heptachlor were the OCs detected in concentration varying from 0.025 to 23.4 μg/l. None of the eight targeted synthetic pyrethroid (SP) pesticides was found in water, but among the organophosphates (OP), chlorpyrifos (0.019–2.73 μg/l), and dichlorvos (0.647 μg/l) were recorded. In sediment samples, residues of OC or OP pesticides were not present, but one SP pesticide was recorded. Fish samples were contaminated to the extent of 55%, mostly with residues of OCs and OPs and less with SPs. However, their concentrations were below the permissible limit, so there was no direct threat of health hazards to humans.
Journal Article