Intergovernmental transfers are made either to offset fiscal disadvantages of the States or to upgrade specified public services to normative standards in the deficient States. Yet, the transfers ...designed in the Indian context fail to satisfactorily take account of these objectives. An attempt is made to provide a design of intergovernmental transfer schemes to meet the above objectives. An important prerequisite for operationalising such transfer schemes is to estimate unit costs of public services and expenditure needs in the States. The paper provides a methodology to estimate these fiscal parameters based on the cost functions of five important pubic services.
Intergovernmental transfers are made either to offset fiscal disadvantages of the States or to upgrade specified public services to normative standards in the deficient States. Yet, the transfers ...designed in the Indian context fail to satisfactorily take account of these objectives. An attempt is made to provide a design of intergovernmental transfer schemes to meet the above objectives. An important prerequisite for operationalising such transfer schemes is to estimate unit costs of public services and expenditure needs in the States. The paper provides a methodology to estimate these fiscal parameters based on the cost functions of five important public services.
Childhood obesity is an important public health issue worldwide. Urbanization, sedentary lifestyle and change in food habits are the chief reasons behind this pandemic. In a small proportion of ...children, obesity is the result of endocrine, syndromic or monogenic causes. The present paper summarizes the methods, definitions and cut-offs for identification of obesity in children. We have briefly reviewed the various techniques used for estimation of body fat in children and the cut-offs for defining obesity based on body fat percentage, and the reference curves based on body mass index and waist circumference. The etiology of obesity in children, including individual behaviors, macro- and micro-environmental influences, and endocrine causes have been discussed, and an approach to etiological assessment of obese children has been presented. Special emphasis has been laid on clinical pointers that suggest the presence of syndromic, endocrine or monogenic forms of obesity, such as, short stature, dysmorphism, neurocognitive impairment and early age at onset.
Abstract Introduction: The success of a combined periodontal and endodontic lesion depends on the elimination of both these disease processes. In the case of a combined endo-perio lesion, endodontic ...therapy results in healing of the endodontic component of involvement, while the prognosis of teeth would finally depend on the healing of the periodontal structure. Treatment: This case report evaluates the efficacy of autologous fibrin glue and bone graft, that is, sticky bone in the management of bone defects associated with endo-perio lesion. The endo-perio lesion is first treated endodontically, followed by periodontal therapy. Conclusion: The patient was kept on follow-up for 9 months, and satisfactory results in terms of bone fill and reduction in pocket depth were obtained. Take-away Lessons: The sticky bone enhances regeneration in treatment of endo-perio lesions.
Purpose- The paper aims to develop and validate a scale measuring interpersonal relationships among employees of an organization, notably the service sector. Design/methodology/approach- A sample of ...250 employees in the first stage and 421 employees in the second stage were selected and purposive sampling was employed to validate the scale. The scale was refined using exploratory factor analysis in the first stage and in the second stage, it was refined through measurement model evaluation in PLS-SEM. Findings- The results reveal that the scale cleared all the psychometric properties required for confirming the application of the tool at second order in a remarkable manner, where Cronbach’s alpha value of the scale was 0.934 and composite reliability ranged between 0.893 to 0.937. Practical implications- Current literature is flooded with articles describing marital relations, social relations in general and the relationship between leader and member in an organization, but the relationship between employees within an organization has received scanty attention and particularly in the service sector. Originality/value- Current research contributes in a theoretical and practical manner in understanding interpersonal relationships and some of its attributes. It mainly contributes to developing and validating the scale at second order in the service sector, which evaluates interpersonal regard, mutual acceptance and upliftment, mutual trust and workplace harmony.
Background: Correct breastfeeding technique (BFT) has been shown to be important to establish breastfeeding, to ensure milk transfer and to prevent breastfeeding problems. Counselling is seen as an ...important pathway to address the problem of inappropriate BFT. This study was conducted to assess breastfeeding technique and its association with counselling.Methods: The study was community based cross sectional study. After taking permission from institutional ethical committee a cross-sectional study was undertaken among the mothers of children (0 to 23 months). A total of 360 mothers were interviewed and observed with the help of semi-structured interview schedule based on WHO breastfeeding observation checklist after taking written informed consent. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize all variables of interest in the study population. The data were analysed using Epi-Info.Results: Out of 360 mothers, only 1/5th of the mothers (21.4%) were found to be currently not practicing breastfeeding, 78.6% were doing breastfeeding, in 18.9% correct breastfeeding technique and in 59.7% incorrect breastfeeding technique was seen. ANC counselling significantly improves breastfeeding technique (p=0.000). PNC counselling was found to be significantly improving the current breastfeeding status (p=0.011).Conclusions: In the study area the proportion of ineffective breastfeeding was very high and was significantly associated with not receiving counselling during ANC and PNC.
Background & objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has so far affected over 41 million people globally. The limited supply of real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction ...(rRT-PCR) kits and reagents has made meeting the rising demand for increased testing incompetent, worldwide. A highly sensitive and specific antigen-based rapid diagnostic test (RDT) is the need of the hour. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a rapid chromatographic immunoassay-based test (index test) compared with a clinical reference standard (rRT-PCR).
Methods: A cross-sectional, single-blinded study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital in north India. Paired samples were taken for RDT and rRT-PCR (reference standard) from consecutive participants screened for COVID-19 to calculate the sensitivity and specificity of the RDT. Further subgroup analysis was done based on the duration of illness and cycle threshold values. Cohen's kappa coefficient was used to measure the level of agreement between the two tests.
Results: Of the 330 participants, 77 were rRT-PCR positive for SARS-CoV-2. Sixty four of these patients also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RDT. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 81.8 and 99.6 per cent, respectively. The sensitivity of RDT was higher (85.9%) in participants with a duration of illness ≤5 days.
Interpretation & conclusions: With an excellent specificity and moderate sensitivity, this RDT may be used to rule in COVID-19 in patients with a duration of illness ≤5 days. Large-scale testing based on this RDT across the country would result in quick detection, isolation and treatment of COVID-19 patients.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
eVIN is a technology system that digitizes vaccine stocks through a smartphone application and builds the capacity of program managers and cold chain handlers to integrate technology in their regular ...work. To effectively manage the vaccine logistics, in 2015, this technology was rolled-out in 12 states of India. This study assessed the programmatic usefulness of eVIN implementation in the areas of vaccine utilization, vaccine stock and distribution management and documentation across selected cold chain points. A pre-post study design was used, where cold chain points (CCPs) were selected using two-stage sampling technique in eVIN states. Pre-post comparative analysis was carried out on the identified indicators using both primary and secondary data sources. The vaccine utilization data reflects that the utilization had reduced from 305.3 million doses in pre-eVIN period to 215.0 million doses in post-eVIN period across 12 eVIN states, resulting into savings of approximately 90 million doses of vaccines. Number of facilities having stock-out of any vaccine showed a significant reduction by 30.4% in post-eVIN period (p<0.001). There was a 4.0% drop in facilities reporting minimum stock of any vaccine after implementation of eVIN. Facilities with maximum stock of any vaccine had increased from 37.4% in pre-eVIN to 39.2% in post-eVIN. During the pre-eVIN period, only 38.6% facilities updated vaccine stock on a daily basis, while in post-eVIN period, 53.5% facilities updated vaccine stock on daily basis. The completeness of records in the vaccine stock registers, indent form and temperature logbook have been substantially improved in the post-eVIN period (p<0.001). eVIN had helped in streamlining the vaccine flow network and ensured equity through better vaccine management practices. It is a powerful contribution to strengthen the vaccine supply chain and management. Upscaling eVIN in the remaining states of India will be crucial in improving the efficacy of vaccines and cold chain management.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Secondary bacterial infections during COVID-19 hospitalization have been reported in about 6-15% of patients.
To study the secondary bacterial infections that affected the COVID-19 patients during ...their hospitalisation and to unearth the bacteriological profile of samples obtained after their demise.
This prospective study was carried out at a COVID-19 dedicated, apex tertiary care centre in North India from July 2020 to April 2021.
Samples of 268 patients were considered for the study. Nasopharyngeal swab specimen, blood, and tissue (lung) were collected from the deceased body as early as possible and processed.
Statistical analyses were performed using STATA version 11.1 (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA).
A total of 170 samples were received from patients before their death, which included blood, urine, respiratory samples, pus, and cerebrospinal fluid. Forty-four pathogens were isolated, which consisted of Acinetobacter baumannii (43.1%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (36.3%), Escherichia coli (11.3%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.5%), Enterococcus faecium (4.5%). Two hundred fifty-eight samples were collected from the deceased bodies wherein the nasopharyngeal sample was highest, followed by tissue and blood. A total of 43 pathogens were isolated among them which included A. baumannii (44.1%), followed by K. pneumoniae (25.5%), E. coli (20.9%), P. aeruginosa (6.97%) and Enterobacter cloacae (2.3%). All these isolates were highly resistant to antimicrobials.
In our study, bacterial profiles in antemortem and postmortem samples were found to be similar, suggesting that resistant pathogens may be the cause of mortality in COVID-19 infected hospitalised patients.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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