Eastern Part Of India Research Articles

A study of prescription pattern in the drug therapy of CSOM at a tertiary care hospital in eastern part of India

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is a perforated tympanic membrane with persistent drainage from the middle ear (i.e. lasting >6-12 weeks). A prospective study was undertaken to find out the baseline data on the prescribing pattern of drugs in the treatment of chronic suppurative otitis media. </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on 125 patients attending ENT OPD and microbiology laboratory of a tertiary care teaching hospital with ear discharge and other symptoms and signs of CSOM<span lang="EN-IN">. </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Unilateral infection is more common 82 (65.6%) than bilateral and mostly affects lower socio-economic conditions 90 (72 %). The single bacterial isolate was seen in 102 (81.6%) cases. The mixed growth (contamination) was observed in 12 (9.6%) cases, The 11 (8.8%) cases were found sterile. Higher sensitivity (75%- 95%) was observed with cefuroxime (76.6%), piperacillin/tazobactam (78.7%), doxycycline (85.1%), amikacin (89.4%), and moxifloxacin (93.6%). It showed 38.3% sensitivity with ampicillin, 55.3% with ciprofloxacin, and 61.7% with macrolides. Levofloxacin (85.1%) was more sensitive than ciprofloxacin<span lang="EN-IN">. </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Evaluation of microbiological pattern and their antibiotic sensitivity pattern in local area become helpful in prescribing empirical antibiotics for successful treatment of otitis media and thus minimizing its complications and emergence of resistant strains<span lang="EN-IN">.</span></p><p class="abstract" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><strong>Background:</strong> Nasal obstruction is a common cause of marked nasal septal deviation. It is related strongly with hypoxia. Hypoxic conditions increase mean platelet volume levels. Many studies in literature point out that inflammation related to nasal polyp is mostly dependent on eosinophils and their inflammatory products. Beside eosinophils, platelets may have a role in nasal polyp development. Platelets are involved in hemostasis, tissue repairing and inflammation. Recently, mean platelet volume (MPV) was recognized as a simple inflammatory marker in the inflammatory disease<span lang="EN-IN">. </span>This study investigated the relationship of nasal polyps with MPV (mean platelet volume), platelet count and NLR (neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio).</p><p class="abstract" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><strong>Methods:</strong> The cross-sectional observational study we investigated CBC (complete blood count) parameters of the patients that consulted ENT clinic in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Haldia because of nasal polyp. <span style="color: #101010;">About 76 patients and 42 controls were included in this study. In all groups, WBC (white blood cell count), RBC (red blood cell count), RDW (red cell distribution width), platelet count, MPV, PDW (platelet distribution width) and NLR parameters from CBC (complete blood count) were compared between patients and controls</span><span lang="EN-IN">. </span></p><p class="abstract" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><strong>Results:</strong> Mean WBC values were 6.89±1.33×103/μL in patients with NPs, vs. 7.11±2.32×103/μL in the control group. Mean haemoglobin (Hb) values were 13.19±1.34 g/dL in patients with NPs, vs. 14.1±1.67 g/dl in the control group. Mean MPV values were 9.11 ± 1.08 fL in patients with NPs, vs. 8.32±0.53 fL in the control group. Mean PLT values were 232.38 ± 39.97×103/μL in patients with NPs, vs. 271.44±45.14×103 in the control group. MPV was higher in nasal polyp patients, whereas platelet count was higher in controls. The difference was significant for the mean absolute neutrophil, platelet count, and lymphocyte counts, NLR, PDW and MPV values between the study group and the control group<span lang="EN-IN">. </span></p><strong><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;" lang="EN-IN">Conclusions:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;" lang="EN-IN">Platelet count and NLR were significantly lower in patients than the controls, whereas MPV was significantly higher in nasal polyp patients</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;" lang="EN-IN">. </span>

Environmental impact on diversity and distribution of tintinnid (Ciliata: Protozoa) along Hooghly Estuary, India: A multivariate approach

The spatiotemporal distribution, diversity and biomass of the choreotrich ciliate tintinnid, the ubiquitous planktonic protist, were analysed from nine sampling sites (n=252) of diverse environmental stresses along the Hooghly Estuary, eastern part of India during March 2012 to August 2014. Among 32 identified tintinnid species, the agglomerated genera Tintinnopsis (20 sp), dominated the community (∼62%) followed by Tintinnidium (2 sp), Leprotintinnus (2 sp), Codonellopsis, Stenosemella, Helicostomella, Favella, Eutintinnus, Metacylis, Dadayiellaand Wangiella (each comprising single species). A wide range of seasonal variations in tintinnid abundance was recorded maximum (2067±893 ind. l−1) for Tintinnopsis beroidea and minimum (11±4 ind. l−1) for Metacylis sp. during the investigation period. The biomass and daily production rate of tintinnid ranged from 0.004–2.764 μg C l−1 and 0.04–3.54 μg C l−1 day−1 respectively. An overall dominance and diversity of the small-sized tintinnid (lorica length <76 μm) belonging to the genera Tintinnopsis sp., Tintinnidium sp., Codonellopsis sp., Wangiella sp., Eutintinnus sp., Metacylis sp. and Helicostomella sp. was pronounced, accounting ∼66% of the total tintinnid abundance. K-dominance curves were plotted against log rank k, showed species dominance over the investigated sites. The multidimensional scaling (MDS) Canonical Analysis of Principal coordinates (CAP) highlighting a significantly different spatial distribution of tintinnid. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) map showed clustering of core species with chl a and nitrate and could be considered as the crucial factors controlling the distribution and seasonal patterns of tintinnid. Biota-environment (BIOENV) analyses also reveal that these two parameters were the significant causative factors, suggesting that tintinnid may be used as a bioindicator for discriminating water quality in this estuarine system. The study provided detailed information of microzooplankton which enhances our understanding regarding its crucial role in marine ecosystem and complex biotic interactions for maintaining the ecological and economic stability.

Morbidity pattern and outcome of children admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit of Eastern India

Background: In developing countries, there is scarce data on paediatric critical care. This makes modification of practices to improve outcome, difficult. The above study was done to highlight the lack of facilities and concept of pediatric critical in the eastern part of India so that modification of management can lead to better outcome of critically ill children.Methods: A retrospective study of the demography, clinical profile, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of children admitted to the PICU of Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences from January 2014 to December 2015 was done. Results: A total of 848 children were admitted to the PICU with male and female children being 61.3% and 38.7% respectively. Diagnoses included infectious diseases (20.7%), respiratory disease (19.1%), central nervous system diseases (14.3%), cardiovascular diseases (10.8%), gastrointestinal diseases (7%), surgical problems (4.7%) haematological (4%), renal (3.3%), poisonings (1.4%), and others (14.3%). Out of 848 admitted children, 4.1% died and (1.4%) left against medical advice (8.5%) children received mechanical ventilation, among which (62.5%) improved, 34.7% died and 2.8% children left against medical advice. Multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and co-morbidity were present in 25% and 22% respectively. The proportion of death among patients admitted to PICU was 4.1%.Conclusions: The leading cause of admission was infectious and respiratory diseases. Children with MODS and co-morbidity had higher mortality. The overall mortality rate in our PICU was low. We conclude, a well-equipped intensive care unit with modern and innovative facilities leads to a good outcome.

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD): An Update

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) also known as vesicular stomatitis with exanthema, first reported in New Zealand in 1957 is caused by Coxsackie virus A16 (CVA16), human enterovirus 71 (HEV71) and occasionally by other HEV-A serotypes, such as Coxsackie virus A6 and Coxsackie virus A10, are also associated with HFMD and herpangina. While all these viruses can cause mild disease in children, EV71 has been associated with neurological disease and mortality in large outbreaks in the Asia Pacific region over the last decade. It is highly contagious and is spread through direct contact with the mucus, saliva, or feces of an infected person. This is characterized by erythrematous papulo vesicular eruptions over hand, feet, perioral area, knee, buttocks and also intra-orally mostly in children, typically occurs in small epidemics usually during the summer and autumn months. HFMD symptoms are usually mild and resolve on their own in 7 to 10 days. Treatment is symptomatic but good hygiene during and after infection is very important in preventing the spread of the disease. Though only small scale outbreaks have been reported from United States, Europe, Australia Japan and Brazil for the first few decade, since 1997 the disease has conspicuously changed its behavior as noted in different Southeast Asian countries. There was sharp rise in incidence, severity, complications and even fatal outcomes that were almost unseen before that period. There are reports of disease activity in different corners of India since 2004, and the largest outbreak of HFMD occurred in eastern part of India in and around Kolkata in 2007and Bhubaneswar, Odisha in 2009. In recent years there are cases of HFMD have been seen in Bangladesh also. Although of milder degree, continuous progress to affect larger parts of the neighboring may indicate vulnerability of Bangladesh from possible future outbreaks.Bangladesh J Child Health 2016; VOL 40 (2) :115-119

National Conference on Processing and Characterization of Materials

This volume contains selected full length technical papers amongst fifty oral presentations made in the 6th National Conference on Processing and Characterization of Materials (NCPCM 2016), NIT Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha, India, December 9 – 10, 2016.The first conference of the NCPCM series was held at the same place in December 2011. Seeing the enthusiasm of the participants, it was decided to organize such conference in Rourkela every year. The basic idea was to establish a periodical national forum for multi–scale approaches in processing and characterization of materials in the eastern part of India. The conference NCPCM 2016 has successfully carried the tradition of previous conferences; more than fifty participants from twenty different organizations across India have registered. The conference was consisted of seven technical sessions of about fifty contributory talks along with four keynote lectures. Out of these, thirty four best peer – reviewed contributions are published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering.We would like to thank all the contributors, members of the organizing committee, session chairs as well as colleagues and students who helped with the preparation of the conference and, particularly, with the preparation of this volume. We convey our heartiest gratitude to the sponsors and advertisers for their contribution.January 2017Editorial Board, NCPCM 2016Our Sponsors• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India• Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), IndiaLIST OF COMMITTEESEditorial BoardProf. B. K. Mishra, IMMT Bhubaneswar, IndiaProf. Ashish Garg, IIT Kanpur, IndiaProf. Anindya Basu, NIT Rourkela, IndiaProf. Manojit Ghosh, IIEST Shibpur, IndiaProf. Partha Sarathi De, IIT Bhubaneswar, IndiaOrganizing Committee (NIT Rourkela, India)Patron: Prof. A. Biswas, Director, NIT RourkelaChairman: Prof. S. C. Mishra, Head of the Department, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, NIT RourkelaConvener: Prof. D. ChairaCo-convener: Prof. S. K. KarakTreasurer: Prof. A. BasuTechnical Committee (NIT Rourkela, India)Prof. S.N. AlamProf. D. NagarajanProf. A. PatraLocal Organizing Committee (NIT Rourkela, India)Prof. K. DuttaProf. S. K. SahooMr. S. PradhanMr. S. HemberamMr. R. Pattnaik

P1.01-058 Demographic Profile of Lung Cancer from Eastern India

The clinico-pathological profile of primary lung cancer has changed considerably over the last few decades in India. Available literature suggests that the features of lung cancer in India like prevalence, incidence, aetio-pathogenesis and presentation vary markedly from the west. We performed a prospective evaluation of the unique demographic features of lung cancer with specific emphasis on smoking and histopathological trends. We analyzed all pathologically proven lung cancer cases registered over a period of initial 30 months in the department of Pulmonary Medicine of this All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar. The patients were evaluated for their epidemiological, clinical and pathological profiles. The data were recorded in MS Excel spreadsheets and subjected to appropriate statistical analysis. Data was collected directly from patients’ paper and electronic medical records. All patients of histologically proven lung cancer were included. A total of 179 patients were included in the database of which 6 patients were excluded for significant missing data. There were 114 male and 59 women) average age 57.24 with a M:F ratio of 1.93 :1. Over half (56%) of the patients were active or past smokers, while 48% patients had not been exposed to active or passive smoking. Bidi (tobacco flake wrapped in tendu leaf) smoking was more common (37%) than cigarettes (19%) while 9% smoked both. Exclusive chewed tobacco use was seen in 12% while combined use of chewed and smoked tobacco was seen in 4% patients. The proportion of women never-smokers with lung cancer was significantly higher (89%) compared to men (28%). More than two-thirds patients (69.8%) presented with metastatic disease. Amongst patients with a definitive cytohistological diagnosis, the prevalence of adenocarcinomas was highest (56.3%) followed by squamous (30.8%), small cell (8%) and NSCLC NOS (4.9%). Adenocarcinoma is the commonest histological subtype in this region. Prevalence of lung cancer among non-smokers is also high in the eastern part of India. The demographic profile of patients with lung cancer in eastern India is unique with a much higher proportion of tobacco chewers and non-smoker especially in women. There is significant epidemiological trends towards a predominant adenocarcinoma histology. Most of the patients present at an advanced stage, probably due to lack of awareness and limited diagnostic resources in this part of the country. Although there are direct associations with smoking, there has been an increase in the non-smoking lung cancers worldwide.

Microbial Etiology of Bacteremia in Controlled and Uncontrolled Type-2 Diabetes in Eastern Part of India

Bacteremia in Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is the most serious public health issue. Very limited information is available in this aspect with reference to complications. We hypothesized that abnormal increase in blood sugar levels may result in different bacterial infection associated with different categories of complications. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate and investigate the possible causes of bacteremia in T2D patients and its related complications in eastern region of the country where the data is unavailable to the best of our knowledge. The study included a total of 244 established T2D patients and 20 healthy controls in and around Bhubaneswar region, Odisha. Staging of T2D was done as per standard criteria into controlled and uncontrolled T2D. Blood samples were collected from all subjects including healthy controls and culture was done for bacterial isolation, identification. Prevalence of bacteremia was more among the uncontrolled cases (70.1%) than the controlled ones (29.8%) compared to healthy controls with p<0.0001. Occurrence of both gram positive and gram negative bacteria were found which comprised of Staphylococcus sp., Streptococcus, Bacilli, E. coli, Klebsiella. These groups of bacteria were thought as the causes of T2D complications. Eastern region of India being called as sweet region have a great affinity towards food and entertainment. So, we expect a higher intensity of sugar level in their blood and culture which often remains undiagnosed and develop to complications. Therefore, in our results we evaluated a strong connection of hyperglycemia with bacteremia providing a key for good empiric treatment in such high risk population.

Celiac Disease in Children – A Profile from a Predominantly Rice Eating Population

India had entered into the global scenario of celiac disease with Northern India being the celiac belt. But prevalence studies are lacking from the Eastern part of India.

Sentiment analysis for Odia language using supervised classifier: an information retrieval in Indian language initiative

Odisha state is in the eastern part of India and its language, Odia (Open image in new window) is the mother tongue and used by more than 40 million people of Odisha for writting. It is the tenth largest language as scheduled in the constitution part-VIII of India. Odisha has very old history and rich culture; its heritages are present in form Odia language text. So to mine and extract useful information of this language sentiment analysis has been used. Sentiment analysis technique is used for identifying the emotions behind the given text to understand the attitude, opinion and emotions expressed in the language. This paper investigates Sentiment analysis of Odia text using supervised classification techniques. We applied simple Naive Bayes (NB), Logistic Regression and SVM on Odia text and evaluate its effect. This system takes the Odia movie reviews and gives you the unbiased sentiments of the people in positive and negative polarity. Three evaluation measure accuracy, precision and recall is used, on which system performance is computed and compared. The experimental result demonstrate the superiority of the logistic regression model.

Current Status of Ground Water Arsenic Contamination in India and Recent Advancements in Removal Techniques from Drinking Water

India is consisting of 29 states and 7 union territories, including a national capital, Delhi. Elevated concentrations (&gt;10 g l ) of arsenic (As) in ground water (GW)  -1 of many states of India have become a major concern in recent years. Up to now about 0.2 million GW samples have been analyzed for As contamination from all over India by various researchers and Government agencies. About 90% of these cover only the Eastern part of India while several states and UTs are still unexplored. However, from the available data, GW of eighteen Indian states and three union territories has been found to be As contaminated to different extents through natural or anthropogenic origin. Among these, As &gt;300 μg l has been reported from at least one locality from fourteen states. The -1 maximum level of As (7350 μg l ) in GW has been reported from a highly industrialized -1 area, Patancheru in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh. However, the gravity of problem is more in West Bengal followed by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Five out of eight North-Eastern states are also affected by As contamination. Manipur is ranked first and Assam as second followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Nagaland. The GW in these regions is naturally As enriched, and therefore wide spatial distribution of As has been found in these areas. In North India, Punjab and Haryana and in South India, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are suffering with GW As contamination. Low level of As (up to 17 μg l ) has also -1 been reported in Tamil Nadu from South India. Many of the states like Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Gujrat, Kerala, Telengana, Goa etc. are still unexplored for GW As contamination. Thus, according to current reports out of 640 districts in India, 141 are As affected (As &gt;10 g l-1), among them 120 are above 50 g l-1. Considering its severity, the issue of As contamination in drinking water has been taken up by the Government of India and mitigation efforts are being initiated. In order to provide safe drinking water, different agencies/ organizations have developed eco-friendly, cost effective devices/ filtration techniques having higher As removal capacity. Here we elucidated the current status of GWAs contamination in different states of India and the new developments of mitigation options.

Verification of dust forecast over the Indian region with satellite and ground based observations

ABSTRACTThis article presents the verification results of the dust forecast by a numerical model over India and neighbouring regions. National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Unified Model (NCUM) is a global numerical weather prediction (NWP) model with a prognostic dust scheme. Evaluation of the performance of dust forecast by NCUM is carried out in this study. Model forecast of dust optical depth (DOD) at 550 nm is validated against ground-based and satellite observations since optical depth measurements in mid-visible wavelength are easily available. Daily 5-day forecast based on 00 UTC initial condition during dust dominated pre-monsoon season (April–May) of 2014 is used in this study. Location specific and geographical distribution of dust forecast is validated against Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite retrieved DOD observation at 532 nm, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), aerosol index, and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) station data of total and coarse mode AOD. The verification results indicate that NCUM dust forecast generally gives good representation of large scale geographical distribution of dust over the western region of India. DOD forecasts show good correlation with co-located CALIPSO DOD over the western part (0.71) compared to central (0.58) and eastern (0.61) part of India in April while it show similar trend in May with slightly improved correlation (0.68) over the eastern part of India. Results also show that DOD forecasts are better correlated to AERONET coarse mode AOD observations over Jaipur in April and over Kanpur in May. Vertical distribution of dust concentrations in the forecast show reasonably good agreement with attenuated backscatter and depolarization ratio from CALIPSO observations. The model is also able to simulate spatiotemporal distribution of dust during a major dust event as observed by CALIPSO, MODIS, and OMI.

XXVII IUPAP Conference on Computational Physics (CCP2015)

The 27th IUPAP Conference on Computational Physics, CCP2015, was held in the heritage city Guwahati, in the eastern part of India, next to the mighty river Brahmaputra, during December 2-5, 2015. The Conference on Computational Physics is organized annually under the auspices of Commission 20 (C20) of the IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics). This is the first time it has been held in India. Almost 300 participants from 25 countries convened at the auditorium and lecture halls at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati for four days. Thirteen plenary speakers, fifty six invited speakers, three presnters from the computer industries and two hundred and eight contributory participants coverd a broad range of topics in computational physics and related areas. Thirty eight women participated in CCP2015 and seven of them presented invited talks. This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series contains the proceedings of the scientific contributions presented at the Conference.The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the progress, opportunities and challenges of common interest to physicists engaged in computational research. Computational physics has taken giant leaps during the lat few years, not only because of the enormous increases in computer power but especially because of the development of new methods and algorithms. Computational physics now represents a third leg of research alongside analytical theory and experiments. A meeting such as CCP, must have sufficient depth in different areas and at the same time should be broad and accessible. The topics covered in this conference were: Materials/Condensed Matter Theory and Nanoscience, Strongly Correlated Systems and Quantum Phase Transitions, Quantum Chemistry and Atomic Physics, Quantum Chromodynamics, Astrophysics, Plasma Physics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Complex Systems: Chaos and Statistical Physics, Macroscopic Transport and Mesoscopic Methods, Biological Physics and Soft Materials, Supercomputing and Computational Physics Teaching, Computational Physics and Sustainable Energy.As organizers and editors of these Proceedings, we are very pleased with the number and the quality of the papers provided by the participants. The papers cover a good cross-section of what was presented at the meeting. We are sure that these will represent the state of the computational physics today. The remainder of this Preface contains lists detailing the organizational structure of CCP2015, endorsers and sponsors of the meeting, plenary and invited talks, and a presentation of the 2015 IUPAP C20 Young Scientist Prize.Finally, we would like to express our sincere thanks to our sponsors and endorsers: C20 Commission of International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP); Division of Computational Physics, American Physical Society (APS); European Physicsl Society (EPS);Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAAPS), Intel Software; Nvidia; Fujitsu; Netweb Technologies; The Institute of Mathematical Sciences Chennai, and finally Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. We are grateful to the organizing committee, the International Advisory Board, the local organizing committee and participants who helped in making CCP2015 a success.

Prevalence study of common environmental allergens in children with asthma and allergic rhinitis in Kolkata: A hospital-based study

Background: Studies evaluating the role of skin prick testing (SPT) as the sole testing technique in children below 12 years of age involving a broader and more relevant group of aero- and food-allergens in this part of India are still lacking. Objectives: To identify the commonly prevalent environmental allergens by SPT in children with asthma as per British Thoracic Society and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network Criteria and allergic rhinitis (AR) as per British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology Criteria attending the OPD of a tertiary care pediatric unit in the eastern part of India. Methods: Testing of inhalant and food allergens by SPT in children from 4 to 12 years age group with asthma and AR satisfying the inclusion criteria. Results: Total 106 children (70 males and 36 females) were included in the study. Study of inhalant allergens in asthmatic patients revealed the highest positivity for house dust mite followed by male cockroach and among food allergens, highest positivity for egg/egg products, followed by milk/milk products. Study of inhalant allergens in asthmatic patients with coexistent AR revealed the highest positivity for house dust mite, cockroach male and female and among food allergens, highest for milk/milk products, egg/egg products, banana, and mustard. Conclusions: In Kolkata, in the eastern part of the country, among the asthmatic children of 4-12 years age group, the most common inhalant allergens were house dust mite and cockroach, whereas the common food allergens identified were milk and milk products, egg and egg products, and mustard.

PRECARIOUS CITIZENSHIP: SOCIAL ABSENCE VERSUS PERFORMATIVE PRESENCE OF NACHNI

“Nachni” women from the eastern part of India, are popularly known in parts of Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand as marginal performers who earn their living through a performing partnership with the Rasik (the male partner) while remaining in a fragile, yet domestic quasi- conjugal alliance with him. In research and popular writings, these women have been seen as the exploited, marginalised, and socially maligned practitioners. In the current research the signification of the social/cultural presence of the Nachni woman is sought in her performance and the communications that she creates through with her accompanists, audience and the larger society. This paper focuses on the social and the performative spaces that the Nachni inhabits, and the duality of the reception of her social self vis a vis her body. This duality of reception also brings to the fore, the need to theorise commoditisation of the woman’s body where the body, so long as it is seen as a product, and therefore a consumable, is not a threat, unlike the threatening polluting capability of a social presence of the owner of that very same body.

Consolidation and Drainage Characteristics of Expansive Soil Stabilized with Fly Ash and Dolochar

Expansive soils undergo alternate swelling and shrinkage due to cyclic wetting and drying when left to nature. This property of Expansive soil affects its strength and stiffness characteristics thereby causing damage and distress to structures built on them. Industrial wastes can be added scientifically to these soils in modifying and reducing their swelling and shrinkage behaviour and increasing their strength and stiffness. In this technical article, an attempt has been made to study the compressibility and drainage characteristics of these soils using economic and ecofriendly industrial wastes such as Fly Ash and Dolochar as stabilizers. This paper also focuses on many other improved engineering properties of base soil like liquid limit, plasticity index, differential free swell, compaction and consolidation characteristics of Expansive (BC) soil stabilized with Fly Ash and Dolochar in different proportions. The virgin Expansive soil has been collected from eastern part of India (Odisha) and different percentages of Fly Ash (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 %) and Dolochar (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 %) were added to it, to predict the influence of these additives on compaction and consolidation characteristics of Expansive soil. Addition of both Fly Ash and Dolochar were found to decrease the index properties such as liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, swelling index and enhancing the consolidation as well as drainage characteristics of Expansive soil. However, the maximum dry density of soil was found to decrease with addition of Fly Ash and increase with addition of Dolochar.

Chemical characterization of carbonaceous carbon from industrial and semi urban site of eastern India.

Rigorous campaign was carried out from July 2013 to June 2014 at the remote and industrial site (Adityapur and Seraikela Kharsawan) in the eastern India aiming to identify and quantify the changes of aerosol chemical composition in the presence of industrial and biomass burning influence. The 24-h PM10 filter samples were analyzed by mass, carbonaceous species, organic ions. The results suggested that the average PM10 concentrations were 165 ± 43.93, 141 ± 30.86 μg/m3 in industrial and remote site respectively. Secondary organic ions (SOC) were the dominant pollutants of PM10. Total carbon was a significant component explaining above 15 % of PM10. The annual average mass concentration of EC, OC, WSOC 26.39 ± 4.56, 5.11 ± 1.82, 18.56 ± 5.30 and 16.27 ± 5.75, 7.70 ± 2.1, 9.65 ± 1.92 µg/m3, OC/EC, WSOC/OC 5.29 ± 1.08, 0.71 ± 0.17 and 2.34 ± 0.75, 0.67 ± 0.16) of industrial and remote site were respectively; and OC/EC particularly in industrial site it reached the highest 5.29 ± 1.08 which demonstrated that SOC should be a significant composition of PM10. The mass fraction of the highlighted species varies seasonally, resulting the air mass trajectories and corresponding cause severe strength. Based on exact mass concentration ratios of EC/OC, WSOC/OC, we predicted that industries and biofuel/biomass burning are a major source of atmospheric aerosols in the eastern part of India. This study provides the scientific baseline data of carbonaceous aerosols for eastern Jharkhand, India.

Poly-γ-Glutamic Acid (PGA)-Producing Bacillus Species Isolated from Kinema, Indian Fermented Soybean Food.

Kinema, an ethnic fermented, non-salted and sticky soybean food is consumed in the eastern part of India. The stickiness is one of the best qualities of good kinema preferred by consumers, which is due to the production of poly-γ-glutamic acid (PGA). Average load of Bacillus in kinema was 107 cfu/g and of lactic acid bacteria was 103 cfu/g. Bacillus spp. were screened for PGA-production and isolates of lactic acid bacteria were also tested for degradation of PGA. Only Bacillus produced PGA, none of lactic acid bacteria produced PGA. PGA-producing Bacillus spp. were identified by phenotypic characterization and also by 16S rRNA gene sequencing as Bacillus subtilis, B. licheniformis and B. sonorensis.

Role of Optimism on Employee Performance and Job Satisfaction

The aim of this study was to examine the role of optimism in employee performance and job satisfaction. Optimism is a positive psychological construct popularized by Martin Seligman. An optimist person has positive expectations and follows a positive attribution style. An individual possessing the psychological resource of optimism tends to face life with a positive view. But on the other hand, those persons who are pessimistic in nature view life events negatively. This study was conducted on a sample of 346 employees from three large public sector banks situated in the Eastern part of India. Correlation, regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to test the hypotheses. Results depicted that optimism is positively related to employee performance and job satisfaction. This study also supported the external validity of optimism construct with relation to performance and job satisfaction in the Indian cultural context.

An anatomical study of wormian bones from the eastern part of India: is genetic influence a primary determinant of their morphogenesis?

Over the years a number of investigators have analysed the morphology of wormian bones in different population groups across the world. There have been significant variations between findings reported in these studies, and this has prompted researchers to focus on the influence of genetic factors on the morphology of these bones. In the light of the above observation, we considered it justified to conduct anatomical studies on wormian bones in different population groups; hence, we undertook the present study to look into the morphological details of these bones among a population in the eastern part of India. We observed a total of 120 adult dry human skulls of unknown age and sex, and noted the anatomical details of wormian bones when present. It was observed that wormian bones were present in 45% of skulls, and that 30% of skulls had more than one wormian bone. We also found that 2.5% of the skulls had ten or more wormian bones, which is considered as pathognomonic. Maximum incidence (53.33%) was observed at the lambdoid suture and minimum incidence at the bregma and metopic suture (0.61% in each case). We noted a high incidence (21.21%) of Inca bone/lambdoid ossicle, and bilaterally symmetrical wormian bones were present in 12.5% study skulls. There were statistically significant (P<0.05) variations between the findings of the present study and values reported in previous studies conducted in other regions of India and different parts of the world. Our observations favour the view that genetic influence primarily determines the morphology of wormian bones.

Dusky Warbler Phylloscopus fuscatus (Aves: Passeriformes: Sylviidae) in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra - a rare record for peninsular India

&lt;p&gt;Dusky Warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus) winters in certain Asian and European countries. It is commonly seen in the eastern parts of India but sporadically distributed in peninsular India. It was observed on few occasions at the site visited by authors. This report is for one of its rare sightings, in the peninsular region of India in Sanjay Gandhi National Park.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;