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Smokeless tobacco (SLT) consumption has several adverse impacts on pregnancy and child health outcomes, particularly among women in low-income settings. SLT use during pregnancy heightens the risks, like preterm births, stillbirth, babies with low birth weight, and small for gestational age. The present qualitative study explored the patterns and contributing factors associated with SLT use behavior among pregnant and lactating mothers in slum settings. We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews among pregnant and lactating women aged 18–49 years in the slums of Bhubaneswar. All participants were current users of smokeless tobacco (SLT) with a history of more than one year of consumption. The interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Participants primarily consumed SLT products such as Paan, Khaini, Areca Nut, Gundi, Dukta, Gudakhu, and Gutkha, with consumption patterns varying based on personal preference, cravings, and affordability. 45% of pregnant women and 55% of lactating women reported consuming SLT immediately after waking up. Economic constraints influenced product preferences and consumption frequency. Key factors influencing SLT use included peer and family influence, stress relief, pregnancy-induced craving, curiosity, individual attitude and beliefs, to remaining engaged in work. Also, the study finding shows long-term effects of SLT use among pregnant and lactating women. Notably, 52.5% (n = 21) of participants started SLT use during their adolescence and 57.5% (n = 23) had no formal education. For the enrolled pregnant women and lactating mothers, the mean age of SLT initiation was 14.95 years and 12.58 years, respectively, indicating a significantly longer history of tobacco consumption. The present study provides a detailed qualitative understanding of the use of smokeless tobacco among pregnant and lactating mothers living in low-income settings like slums. The findings of this study have strong explanations to support healthcare professionals and policymakers in undertaking interventions and promoting anti-tobacco campaigns and awareness programmes addressing the health hazards for maternal and neonatal health.

PurposeThe goal of this research is to analyse the obstacles to the implementation of mobile health (mHealth) in India and to gain an understanding of the contextual inter-relationships that exist amongst those obstacles.Design/methodology/approachPotential barriers and their interrelationships in their respective contexts have been uncovered. Using MICMAC analysis, the categorization of these barriers was done based on their degree of reliance and driving power (DP). Furthermore, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) framework for the barriers to mHealth activities in India has been proposed.FindingsThe study explores a total of 15 factors that reduce the efficiency of mHealth adoption in India. The findings of the Matrix Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification (MICMAC) investigation show that the economic situation of the government, concerns regarding the safety of intellectual technologies and privacy issues are the primary obstacles because of the significant driving power they have in mHealth applications.Practical implicationsPromoters of mHealth practices may be able to make better plans if they understand the social barriers and how they affect each other; this leads to easier adoption of these practices. The findings of this study might be helpful for governments of developing nations to produce standards relating to the deployment of mHealth; this will increase the efficiency with which it is adopted.Originality/valueAt this time, there is no comprehensive analysis of the factors that influence the adoption of mobile health care with social cognitive theory in developing nations like India. In addition, there is a lack of research in investigating how each of these elements affects the success of mHealth activities and how the others interact with them. Because developed nations learnt the value of mHealth practices during the recent pandemic, this study, by investigating the obstacles to the adoption of mHealth and their inter-relationships, makes an important addition to both theory and practice.

A new stability-indicating liquid chromatographic method was developed and validated for the estimation of glycopyrrolate in pharmaceutical formulations. A contemporary approach to analytical life-cycle management was followed to develop a robust and reliable chromatographic method. Scouted method variables such as % methanol, the strength of tetra butyl ammonium hydrogen sulfate and mobile phase flow rate were optimized using the design of experiment approach and their effect on critical quality attributes was studied. The critical quality attributes viz. retention time, theoretical plate count and symmetry factor were highly influenced by the three critical method variables. Optimum chromatography was attained on a C-18 column with a mobile phase methanol: 10 mM tetra butyl ammonium hydrogen sulfate (80:20, v/v) flowing at 1.0 mL.min-1. Chromatographic method specificity was ensured by degrading the drug forcefully. Validation studies postulated method acceptability and suitability for estimating glycopyrrolate in both bulk as well as injection formulation. Results for parameters viz. linearity (5-250 µg.mL-1), accuracy (>99%) and precision (<2%) advocated method reliability. Overall the method was reliable and of optimum quality and, possess the potential of application in routine and bio-analytical purposes.

Recent years witnessed lots of advancements in internet of medical things (IoMT), innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, and fog computing-based healthcare practices. Adoption of these intelligent technology-based solutions could help healthcare establishments to improve their sustainable operational performance. However, success of implementation of smart technology-enabled Health 4.0 practices depends upon the coordinated efforts from all the stakeholders including patients, physicians, healthcare workers, healthcare administrators, policy makers, and technology service providers towards its adoption. In this regard, this research has been conducted to investigate the current status of Health 4.0 implementation in India and readiness of the Indian healthcare sector towards its adoption. This paper further employs the SWOT analysis to identify the current areas that need immediate improvement to facilitate Health 4.0 adoption.

The socio-environmental hazards of poor waste management practices in health care sector have been explored in the recent years. It has also been observed that through effective waste management practices, health care units(HCU) not only could reduce their contribution to social and ecological hazards but also can save significant amount of money. Hence, a lot of researchers and practitioners are focusing on developing innovative techniques and policies that will help HCUs operate in a socio-environmental responsible manner. In this regard this research has attempted to explore the waste treatment options available in Papua New Guinean health care sector and identify the best alternative for them. This research employed primary data collection through questionnaire survey, secondary data collection through review of published reports and research papers and analysis of the responses of respondents through Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The results revealed that open burning practices of HCWM has been judged as the worst alternative.

Recent years witnessed lots of advancements in Internet of Medical Things, Innovations in Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics based health care practices. Further, recent pandemic has compelled health care institutions to adopt remote patient care practices throughout the world and India is not an exception. Growth in mobile infrastructure and cheap mobile data packages also encouraged adoption of telemedicine and m-health care practices in India which eventually supports attempts of health care policy makers for transition of traditional health care systems to Health 4.0 in the lines of industry4.0. However, success of Health 4.0 depends upon the coordinated efforts from all the stakeholders. In this regard this research has been conducted to investigate the current status of Health 4.0 implementation in India and readiness of Indian health care sector towards its adoption. This paper further employs the SWOT-AHP analysis to identify the current areas that need immediate improvement to facilitate Health 4.0 adoption.

With 75 percent of diseases in humans having origin in animals or animal products, zoonotic diseases have an enormous impact on the global disease burden. A significant portion of this can be attributed to bacterial zoonotic enteric pathogens. This study was designed to locate clusters of bacterial zoonotic enteric outbreaks in the State of Minnesota and study the seasonality of these outbreaks. In addition to identifying hot spots for zoonotic enteric outbreaks in Minnesota, the study also aimed to design a causal model to improve understanding of risk factors. This thesis considered only the bacterial zoonotic pathogens with significant disease burden. Foodborne and non-foodborne zoonotic enteric outbreaks reported by Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) during the period 2000 to 2010 were analyzed in the study. A recent rise in trend of zoonotic enteric disease (ZED) outbreaks were confirmed through empirical analyses. The study also revealed increased bacterial ZED outbreaks in the summer months as compared to other months of the year. Hot spot analysis results indicated twin cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) as the vulnerable area for ZED outbreaks. The study is especially important for health educators as it shines light on the right places and right time for tailoring interventions to reduce the disease burden.

Micronutrients are essential for plants. Their growth, productivity and reproduction are directly influenced by the supply of micronutrients. Currently, there are eight trace elements considered to be essential for higher plants: Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, B, Mo, and Cl. Possibly, other essential elements could be discovered because of recent advances in nutrient solution culture techniques and in the commercial availability of highly sensitive analytical instrumentation for elemental analysis. Much remains to be learned about the physiology of micronutrient absorption, translocation and deposition in plants, and about the functions they perform in plant growth and development. With the recent advancements in the proteomic and molecular biology tools, researchers have attempted to explore and address some of these questions. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of micronutrients in plants and the proteomic/genomic approaches used to study plant nutrient deficiency and toxicity.

The polycrystalline samples of (Tb x Bi 1−x ) 0.5 Na 0.5 TiO 3 (x = 0.0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) were prepared using a solid-state reaction technique. The formation of the desired materials and their structural properties were carried out by using the X-ray diffractions. Scanning electron microscope confirms the polycrystalline nature of the samples contain uniform grain distribution of unequal size. Temperature–frequency dependence of dielectric studies shows a dielectric anomaly or phase transition in the materials in the studied temperature range. Analysis of complex impedance data has provided the amount of contributions of grain/grain boundary in the materials resistance. This analysis also shows that that the system has negative temperature coefficient of resistance type behavior. The presence of functional group was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The dominant bands in the Raman spectra are analyzed by observing the changes in their respective peak position, width and intensities as the x increases.

The exchange of CO2 between the air–water interfaces of estuaries is crucial from the perspective of the global carbon cycle and climate change feedback. In this regard, we evaluated the air–water CO2 exchanges in two major estuaries—the Mahanadi estuary (ME) and the Dhamra estuary (DE) in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal, India. Biogeochemical properties of these estuarine waters were quantified in three distinct seasons, namely, pre-monsoon (March to May), monsoon (June to October), and post-monsoon (November to February). The significant properties of water, such as the water temperature, pH, salinity, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a (chl a), and photosynthetic pigment fluorescence of phytoplankton, were estimated and correlated with CO2 fluxes. We found that the ME acted as a source of CO2 fluxes in the monsoon and post-monsoon, while DE acted as a sink during the monsoon. The stepwise regression model showed that the fluxes were primarily driven by water temperature, pH, and salinity, and they correlated well with the phytoplankton characteristics. The chl a content, fluorescence yield, and phycobilisomes-to-photosystem II fluorescence ratios were major drivers of the fluxes. Therefore, for predicting air–water CO2 exchanges precisely in a large area over a seasonal and annual scale in the estuaries of the Bay of Bengal, India, critical key parameters such as water temperature, pH, salinity, chl a, and fluorescence yield of phytoplankton should be taken into consideration. However, the responses of phytoplankton, both in terms of production and CO2 capture, are critical research areas for a better understanding of air–water CO2 exchanges in coastal ecology under climate change scenarios.