ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Nutritional status is the sensitive indicator of a child's health, and they constitute the most vulnerable segment of any community. Undernutrition causes a great deal of physical, mental, and emotional suffering. Anganwadi is a part of the Integrated Child Development Services program started to combat child hunger and child malnutrition. This study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status of the children (6 months-6 years) in Anganwadis and determine the sociodemographic factors associated with malnutrition and to assess their dietary intake. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was undertaken among 580 children in Anganwadis in the urban field practice area of a Medical college in Tumkur. RESULTS: In this study, the overall prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting was found to be 34.14%, 45.52%, and 35.52%, respectively. Age, socioeconomic status, immunization status, religion, and mother's education was associated with undernutrition. The deficient intake of calorie and protein was seen in 90% and 64.8% of the study participants. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that there is still a high prevalence of undernutrition among the Anganwadi children aged 6-72 months. Socioeconomic factors have a significant role in child nutrition, which manifests itself as poor development.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The worldwide prevalence of diabetes mellitus has risen dramatically in the developing countries over the past two decades. Regular screening of adults is essential for early detection and care. There are limited studies on diabetes awareness and prevalence in rural communities. Hence this prevalence and knowledge assessment study was undertaken. Such data are extremely important to plan the public health policies with specific reference to implementation of National Diabetic Control Program. AIMS: To study the prevalence and awareness of diabetes mellitus in rural areas. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Cross-sectional, household study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A study on adults and elderly age group in Tamaka village was undertaken. Structured questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge of diabetes and capillary blood screening tests done to detect diabetes. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: SPSS - 11 software. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Ten per cent of the 311 adults screened had hyperglycemia. Half of the interviewed population had some awareness about diabetes and its symptoms. But more than half (75%) of them were not aware of the long term effects of diabetes and diabetic care. The common perception about diet in diabetes was to avoid sweets, rice and fruits and to consume more ragi, millet and wheat chapattis. Diabetes in young adults is common. Relevant knowledge about diabetes is poor in rural population. Hence community level awareness programs have to be organized. Healthcare providers must be aware of community perceptions and practices.
ABSTRACT
There is a great need for accurate and efficient computational approaches that can account for both the discrete and stochastic nature of chemical interactions as well as spatial inhomogeneities and diffusion. This is particularly true in biology and nanoscale materials science, where the common assumptions of deterministic dynamics and well-mixed reaction volumes often break down. In this article, we present a spatial version of the partitioned-leaping algorithm, a multiscale accelerated-stochastic simulation approach built upon the tau-leaping framework of Gillespie. We pay special attention to the details of the implementation, particularly as it pertains to the time step calculation procedure. We point out conceptual errors that have been made in this regard in prior implementations of spatial tau-leaping and illustrate the manifestation of these errors through practical examples. Finally, we discuss the fundamental difficulties associated with incorporating efficient exact-stochastic techniques, such as the next-subvolume method, into a spatial leaping framework and suggest possible solutions.