Snowbound Areas Research Articles

Exploring Dimensions of Financial Inclusion from Stakeholders' Perspectives: Evidence from Rural Areas of Jammu District

Reserve Bank of India devised initiatives to provide affordable and easy financial services to not only the privileged ones but also to the ignored and neglected sections of our society. Regardless of their personal net worth or the size of their organization, all individuals and organizations should be able to access and afford financial products and services according to the determinants of financial inclusion. Financial penetration is a relative small term which is used to represent the share of one credit agency relative to that of others in the credit market. In other words we can say that financial penetration is expressed in terms of loans availed by the household from different sources of credit institutions and non-institutional financial sources. As the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir comprises of different topographic and demographic regions, which include the plains, mountainous and snow-bound areas, the financial facilities are not evenly distributed all over the geographical areas of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This study is confined to territorial areas of district Jammu. Many isolated villages struggle to meet their basic financial demands as a result of the lack of banking facilities. Following this scenario, to ascertain financial inclusion level of the region, a study was done using three different perspectives, including credit penetration, deposit penetration and branch penetration in remote regions of all blocks of district Jammu in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Heparin-Encapsulated Metered-Dose Topical "Nano-Spray Gel" Liposomal Formulation Ensures Rapid On-Site Management of Frostbite Injury by Inflammatory Cytokines Scavenging.

The critical time window between the incidence of frostbite injury and the initiation of treatment in remote snowbound areas is a determining factor for an effective therapeutic response. It is an emergency condition and challenging to treat due to the poor vascularity of affected body parts, and it requires immediate action. In addition to cold trauma-induced tissue damage, the inflammatory mediators majorly contribute to pathologic aggravations. We have designed and evaluated a topical "nano-spray gel (NSG)" formulation, which is based on a combination of liposomal heparin sodium (Hp) and ibuprofen (Ibu) for rapid relief of frostbite injury in extremely low temperatures. The scientific literature suggests that heparin is associated with rapid endothelial cell repair, normalizing blood circulation in capillaries, and has a potential role in wound healing. Hp-containing liposomes were prepared by the extruder method, which suitably formulated an ibuprofen-containing gel to obtain a nano-Spray formulation (HLp-Ibu-NSG) applicable for topical delivery. A single spray puff of the formulation delivers ∼154 mg of the gel, which corresponds to ∼205 U of heparin. In this study, heparin liposomes exhibited significant healing of wound in vitro (scratch assay, fibroblast cells) and in vivo (wound healing in Sprague Dawley rats) at a low dose. In the rat model of frostbite injury, the HLp-Ibu-NSG formulation demonstrated significant reduction in the wound area (up to ∼96%) and improvement of histopathology in 14 days as compared to the control groups. No edema and erythema were detected post-treatment of HLp-Ibu-NSG in the affected area. The underlying mechanism was delineated as a modulation of the inflammatory cytokine (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10, IL-4) mediators at the wound site and blood circulation to foster frostbite healing. Future clinical studies on the nano-spray gel are required to evaluate its efficacy for the treatment of frostbite symptoms. The instant on-site application of this formulation might be helpful in saving extremities of soldiers, mountaineers, and pilgrims having frostbite.

Системный анализ факторов, влияющих на проходимость пожарного аварийно-спасательного автомобиля

Проанализированы причины задержек движения пожарных подразделений к месту вызова. Установлено, что задержки движения, связанные с преодолением участков с неусовершенствованным дорожным покрытием и сложными погодными условиями, составляют до 40 % от общего количества. Задачей исследований было обеспечение достаточной проходимости пожарных аварийно-спасательных автомобилей с целью быстрого прибытия к месту чрезвычайной ситуации при изменяющихся условиях движения, состоянии опорной поверхности, характеристиках автомобиля и колесных движителей. Выполнен системный анализ факторов, влияющих на опорную проходимость пожарных аварийно-спасательных автомобилей. Они разделены на три группы: характеристики автомобиля и движителя, свойства дорожного покрытия, режим движения. Обоснована разработка устройства повышения проходимости полуавтоматического действия, что позволит предотвратить буксование и повысит проходимость автомобиля за счет изменения конфигурации пятна контакта колеса с опорной поверхностью.

MiniSipper: A new in situ water sampler for high-resolution, long-duration acid mine drainage monitoring

Abandoned hard-rock mines can be a significant source of acid mine drainage (AMD) and toxic metal pollution to watersheds. In Colorado, USA, abandoned mines are often located in remote, high elevation areas that are snowbound for 7–8months of the year. The difficulty in accessing these remote sites, especially during winter, creates challenging water sampling problems and major hydrologic and toxic metal loading events are often under sampled. Currently available automated water samplers are not well suited for sampling remote snowbound areas so the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a new water sampler, the MiniSipper, to provide long-duration, high-resolution water sampling in remote areas. The MiniSipper is a small, portable sampler that uses gas bubbles to separate up to 250 five milliliter acidified samples in a long tubing coil. The MiniSipper operates for over 8months unattended in water under snow/ice, reduces field work costs, and greatly increases sampling resolution, especially during inaccessible times.MiniSippers were deployed in support of an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) project evaluating acid mine drainage inputs from the Pennsylvania Mine to the Snake River watershed in Summit County, CO, USA. MiniSipper metal results agree within 10% of EPA-USGS hand collected grab sample results. Our high-resolution results reveal very strong correlations (R2>0.9) between potentially toxic metals (Cd, Cu, and Zn) and specific conductivity at the Pennsylvania Mine site. The large number of samples collected by the MiniSipper over the entire water year provides a detailed look at the effects of major hydrologic events such as snowmelt runoff and rainstorms on metal loading from the Pennsylvania Mine. MiniSipper results will help guide EPA sampling strategy and remediation efforts in the Snake River watershed.

Approach to Trauma Care in the Armed Forces

Approach to Trauma Care in the Armed Forces

Soldier at High Altitude: Problem & Preventive Measures

Due to military and j trategic reasons, a large body of troops is being regularly dcployed in the snowbound areas through ut the Himalayan regions to guard Ihe Ironliers. Thc mountain environment at high 'allitude (HA) consisls of several faclors alien lo plain dwellers, which evoke a series of physiological responses in human system. Some of the sea' level residents on induction to suffer from several unloward symploms of HA ailmenls varying from mild-lo-severe degrees. Suddenexposure to is detrimental to physical and mental performance of the low landers and certain cases, may even lead to dreaded condition like high altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPO). These may make a man Jisturbed physically and mentally. So, there is a need lo prevent such hazards v(hich ispossible if the individual is aware of the problems and prevenlive measures ofHA ailments in advance, before going to for a safe and happy living there. Hence, a noble effort has been made to provide guidelines to create awareness about physical and physiological problems of life at and themethods of protection against its ill-effects for the soldiers, mountaineers and sojourners conducting scientific trials it HA. In th.:s revieJ, an attempt has been made to describe vital aspects of in a popular way, st~ing with its concept and various environmental factors which exert considerableettects on human body functions, heallh and performance on exposure to such environment, on the b¥is of a series of studies coitlucted at Ithe Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences, Delhi, oVer the years. The most important featurelof (3,000 m and above) is hypoxia or deficiency ofoxygej1 in the body. Olher cnvironmental tactors are: scverc cold, high velocity wind, low rclalivc humidily, high solar radiatior, increased ultraviolet radialion and difficult terrain. These faclors are responsible for various cWtdc old syndromes, viz., acute mountain sickness, HAPO, dehydration,4unburn, snow-blilidness, CO-poisoning, hypothermia and cold injury of the extremities.

Frostbite - susceptibility, Prevention and Immediate Treatment

Frostbite, the severest form of cold injury, is a major health hazard and a serious medical problem for theArmed Forces operating in snow-bound areas at high altitudes. Detailed experiments on susceptibility, preventionand treatment were conducted to find out suitable measures to prevent, treat and ameliorate wld injuries.Experiments conducted on monkeys have shown that animals with higher peripheral vascular response me betterprotected against cold injury. Measurements of cold-induced vasodilatation (CIVD), heat output and peripheralblood flow under local cold stress can be used to screen out highly prone individuals to frostbite. Coldacclimatisation was effective in raising the peripheral vascular response and thereby lessening the degree ofinjury. Frostbite having occurred, its treatment is not very satisfactory. This is primarily due to the time lagbetween occurrence of frostbite and initiation of therapy, which plays a vital role in its curative action. Keepingthis in view, many experiments have been wnductedon this treatment. Pilot studies were carriedoutusing variousdrugs and vitamins, and also procedures like rapid rewarming in warm water, tea decoction, turnip (shalgum)decoction, etc., singly as well as in combination, for treatment. The most encouraging result was obtained by theprocedure of rapid rewarming in tea decoction maintained at 37-39 immediately after cold exposure, followedby combined therapy of aspirin (5 mgtkg) and pentoxifylline (40 mgkg) along with vitamin C (50 mglkg) twicedaily for 7 days.

An Outfit for Improving Potability of Water in Snow-Bound Areas

A water sterilising outfit has been developed for improving potability of water in snow-bound areas by converting snow-melted water into safe drinking water. The outfit(wt.50g) contains a rectangular tin box and two types of tablets-white sterilising tablets and pink thio-mineral tablets-stored in pharmaceutical packings and provides 35 litres of wholesome drinking water as per World Health Organisation and Indian Council of Medical Research standards. The sterilised and mineralised water obtained from this outfit is not only free from turbidity, colour and bad taste, but also supplements the deficiency of iodine which has been found as a primary cause of goiter in high altitude areas by health authorities. Minerlised water containing 0.04 mg/I of iodine provides a daily dose of about 0.08 to 0.12 mg of iodine to a person consuming 2 to 3 litres of water in snow-bound areas. The item has been introduced in Armed Forces for the regular use.