Factors associated With the development of motor proficiency in school children of Kolkata: A cross-sectional study to assess the role of chronic nutritional and socio-economic status.

BACKGROUND: Development of coordinated movements is determined among others by individual growth and environmental factors, but the dynamic relationship between motor proficiency and potential contributing factors such as chronic nutritional status and socio-economic status (SES) is not known in school children of Kolkata. AIM: To characterize the motor proficiency in school children of Kolkata and to investigate association of chronic nutritional and SES on motor proficiency. METHODS: Motor proficiency in 843 school children of Kolkata aged 5-12 years was assessed by the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor-Proficiency-Second Edition-Short Form (BOT-2 SF). Chronic nutritional status was determined from height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) using WHO reference and SES was measured using the updated Kuppuswamy's scale. RESULTS: Children's motor proficiency was poor compared with the reference values. Children classified as severely undernourished and children of lower SES were found to be "below average" and "well-below average" in motor proficiency categories compared with normal nourished groups and children of upper SES. Children's BOT-2 SF standardized scores decreased incrementally with the severity of chronic undernutrition and lower grades of SES. CONCLUSION: Chronic undernutrition and lower SES are associated with poorer motor proficiency in children. Understanding the complex interrelationships that shape childen's motor skills can help inform the development of health promotion programs and tailored interventions to help children reach their full potential. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 58:734-744, 2016.

Flexibility of oral cholera vaccine dosing-a randomized controlled trial measuring immune responses following alternative vaccination schedules in a cholera hyper-endemic zone.

BACKGROUND: A bivalent killed whole cell oral cholera vaccine has been found to be safe and efficacious for five years in the cholera endemic setting of Kolkata, India, when given in a two dose schedule, two weeks apart. A randomized controlled trial revealed that the immune response was not significantly increased following the second dose compared to that after the first dose. We aimed to evaluate the impact of an extended four week dosing schedule on vibriocidal response. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this double blind randomized controlled non-inferiority trial, 356 Indian, non-pregnant residents aged 1 year or older were randomized to receive two doses of oral cholera vaccine at 14 and 28 day intervals. We compared vibriocidal immune responses between these schedules. Among adults, no significant differences were noted when comparing the rates of seroconversion for V. cholerae O1 Inaba following two dose regimens administered at a 14 day interval (55%) vs the 28 day interval (58%). Similarly, no differences in seroconversion were demonstrated in children comparing the 14 (80%) and 28 day intervals (77%). Following 14 and 28 day dosing intervals, vibriocidal response rates against V. cholerae O1 Ogawa were 45% and 49% in adults and 73% and 72% in children respectively. Responses were lower for V. cholerae O139, but similar between dosing schedules for adults (20%, 20%) and children (28%, 20%). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Comparable immune responses and safety profiles between the two dosing schedules support the option for increased flexibility of current OCV dosing. Further operational research using a longer dosing regimen will provide answers to improve implementation and delivery of cholera vaccination in endemic and epidemic outbreak scenarios.

Grades of undernutrition and socioeconomic status influence cognitive development in school children of Kolkata.

Cognitive development of children is influenced by different environmental factors like nutritional and socio-economic status. The objectives of the present study were to determine the influence of grades of undernutrition and socio-economic status (SES) on the cognitive development of school children of Kolkata. Five hundred sixty six (566) school children having 5-12 years of age were selected from different schools of Kolkata. The cognitive development was measured by the scores of Raven's colored progressive matrices (RCPM). The chronic and acute nutritional statuses were measured from height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ) Z scores respectively with reference to the values of WHO. SES was determined by updated Kuppuswamy scale. The prevalences of undernutrition in the observed children were 57.95% (according to HAZ) and 52.82% (according to WAZ). The age dependent growth curve of RCPM scores of the observed children remains in between the 10th and 25th centile of British children. The children belonging to superior and intellectual deficit IQ classes were 21.55 and 36.40%, respectively of the total subjects. Most of the subjects belong to lower middle (39.93%) and upper middle (36.40%) class of SES. RCPM scores of school children were gradually decreased with the grades of undernutrition and SES. RCPM scores were significantly correlated with HAZ, WAZ, SES, age, and sex (P < 0.001) and strongly associated with HAZ, SES, age, and sex (P < 0.001, P < 0.05). Present study indicates that cognitive development of school children of Kolkata is influenced by the grade of undernutrition and SES.

Evaluation of the working posture and prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among medical laboratory technicians.

BACKGROUND: Technological advancement in the medical laboratories has exposed the laboratory technicians to various ergonomic hazards due to nature of their work. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to analyze the working postures, to find out the prevalence of work related musculoskeletal disorders and to investigate the relationship between musculoskeletal disorders with individual factors, work characteristics and the working postures. METHODS: The study was conducted among 60 medical laboratory technicians. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and RULA were used for this study. RESULTS: Mean and SD of age, BMI and work experience of the technicians were 28.6 ± 9.04 years, 22.07 ± 4.5 and 7.1 ± 8.2 years respectively. The overall prevalence of musculoskeletal problems experienced by the technicians was 73.3% and the major affected areas were trunk, knees, neck and ankles/feet. Statistical analysis shows significant associations between musculoskeletal symptoms and VAS scores. Also a significant difference was found between the means of pre and post work shift scores of neck, low back and knee pain. Postural analysis showed that the subject's mean Score A, B and Grand Score were found to be 3.98 ± 0.8, 4.95 ± 1.6 and 6 ± 1.02 respectively. The final RULA score 6 ± 1.02 emphasizes on poor workstation design which resulted in unnatural posture. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlighted the prevalence of postural and musculoskeletal problems among medical laboratory technicians. Intervention of administrative and engineering controls can significantly reduce ergonomic hazards.

Protective effect of aqueous garlic extract against lead-induced hepatic injury in rats.

Effect of aqueous extract of garlic on hepatic injury due to lead-induced oxidative stress in experimental rats has been investigated. Lead acetate (LA) at a dose of 15 mg/kg body wt was administered ip to rats for 7 consecutive days to induce hepatic injury. Freshly prepared aqueous garlic extract (AGE) at a dose of 50 mg/kg body wt was fed orally to rats 1 h before LA treatment for similar period. LA treatment caused hepatic injury as evident from increased activities of serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), increased serum bilirubin level and damage in the tissue morphology. Lead-induced oxidative stress in liver was evident from increased levels of lipid peroxidation and reduced glutathione. The decreased activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and an increased activity of catalase as well as an increased activity of xanthine oxidase (XO) indicate generation and possible accumulation of reactive oxygen intermediates. Furthermore, altered activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH), alpha-keto glutarate dehydrogenase (alpha-KGDH) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) also indicate an impaired substrate utilization and generation of oxidative stress. All these changes were found to be mitigated when the rats were pre-treated with the AGE. Results indicate that AGE has the potential to ameliorate lead-induced hepatic injury due to oxidative stress in rats. The protective effects may be due to the antioxidant properties of AGE and may have future therapeutic relevance.

An ergonomic study on musculoskeletal health hazards among sawmill workers of West Bengal, India.

The study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort among the sawmill workers of Kolkata and to identify the causative factors behind the development of such discomfort. For this study 110 male workers were randomly selected. For the symptom survey, modified Nordic questionnaire on detail discomfort feelings was performed. Analysis of working posture, repetitiveness of work, measurement of handgrip strength, measurement of pre and post working heart rate, measurement of lower back muscle flexibility were performed on the selected sawmill workers suffering from musculoskeletal discomfort. The results revealed that musculoskeletal discomfort was a major problem among the sawmill workers, primarily involving the lower back (100%), neck (95.96%), wrist (87.78%), and shoulder (84.44%). Their activities were highly repetitive and the handgrip strength of these workers was significantly lower than that of the comparison group. The results also revealed that musculoskeletal discomfort was high among the sawmill workers who were doing the job for a longer period of time than those who are doing the same job for a shorter period of time. Based on these findings, it appears that repetitiveness in work, handling heavy load, sustained work activity, strenuous job, and uncomfortable posture might be the causative factors for the development of their discomfort feelings. Thus to ensure good health, safety and productivity of these workers, some ergonomic measures have to be taken as early as possible.

Effect of exercise and heat-load on simple reaction time of university students.

Visual and auditory simple reaction times for both right and left hands of young university male students were recorded with a simple reaction timer, before and after an exercise schedule without and with elevated temperatures in a climatic chamber. The results indicated a decrease in both visual and auditory reaction times after the exercise, but a marked increase in them was noticed when exercise was performed at elevated temperatures. The difference in reaction times in preferred and nonpreferred hands was negligible at rest, i.e., without any exercise and elevated temperature. However, the difference was significant when exercise was performed at elevated temperatures. Visual reaction time was longer than auditory reaction time in all conditions. The results suggest that in hot industries, increased temperature has a specific rather than general effect on cognitive processes, perception and attentiveness, leading to increased chances of human errors, fatal accidents and loss of productivity.