Unequal lives: a sociodemographic analysis of COVID-19 transmission and mortality in India.

OBJECTIVES: Existing socio-economic inequalities shape, in very particular and measurable ways, the differential impact that a disease has on different sections of the same society. This is particularly true of COVID-19, which has rapidly exhausted the public health system in India, and magnified the gradient of vulnerability in an underserved populace. Using publicly available data, we have aimed to deconstruct this gradient into individual variables of inequality and quantify their impact on the transmission and mortality outcomes of COVID-19 in India. STUDY DESIGN: Sociodemographic analysis. METHODS: We quantify doubling times and case fatality ratios for all districts in India, then correlate them to 20 variables of socio-economic vulnerability and demographic structure. Variables that exhibit persistent correlation are then analysed using multivariate beta regression models to validate their impact on COVID-19 outcomes in India. RESULTS: The transmission of COVID-19 in India is enhanced by the lack of access to indoor latrines, drainage facilities, electricity, and proximate sources of drinking water. Transmission is slowed by the presence of an elderly population. Fatality rates relate negatively to an area's medical infrastructure and the presence of a college-educated populace. CONCLUSIONS: An interactive matrix of social inequalities, cultural practices, and behavioural patterns determines the path of COVID-19 through a community. Specific variables exhibit patterns of persistent vulnerability; others indicate a resistance to infection and mortality. This body of evidence, when incorporated into policy design, may lead to localised, need-sensitive models of intervention, both for preventive measures and medical care.

Electronic structure and optical properties of CuAlO2 under biaxial strain.

An ab initio calculation has been carried out to investigate the biaxial strain ( - 10.71% < ε < 9.13%) effect on elastic, electronic and optical properties of CuAlO(2). All the elastic constants (c(11), c(12), c(13), c(33)) except c(44) decrease (increase) during tensile (compressive) strain. The band gap is found to decrease in the presence of tensile as well as compressive strain. The relative decrease of the band gap is asymmetric with respect to the sign of the strain. Significant differences between the parallel and perpendicular components of the dielectric constant and the optical properties have been observed due to anisotropic crystal structure. It is further noticed that these properties are easily tunable by strain. Importantly, the collective oscillation of the valence electrons has been identified for light polarized perpendicular to the c-axis. From calculations, it is clear that the tensile strain can enhance the hole mobility as well as the transparency of CuAlO(2).

Fluorinated diamond like carbon as an electron field emission material.

Fluorinated DLC films were deposited via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique on glass and silicon substrates. The precursor gas used was acetylene and for fluorine incorporation hydrofluoric acid dissolved in methanol was used. The at.% of fluorine in the films was varied from 0% to 15.3% as measured from energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The chemical binding was investigated by XPS studies. AFM studies showed that the increase of surface roughness with fluorine percentage. We have studied electron field emission from F:DLC thin films for a fixed anode-sample separation of 100 microm for different F at.% in the films. The threshold field was found to vary from 8.5 to 2.9 V/microm with a variation of fluorine at.% in the films 0% to 15.3%. The threshold field and field enhancement factor are calculated and we have tried to explain the emission mechanism there from. It was found that the threshold field and effective emission barrier were reduced by F doping than undoped DLC.

Sliding wear behavior of submicron-grained alumina in biological environment.

Sliding wear behavior of sintered alumina with grain sizes between 0.45 and 4 microm was studied in bovine serum environment with unidirectional pin-on-disc wear testing machine. Submicron grained alumina of average grain size of G=0.45 microm exhibits lowest wear factor among the others. It was found that grain pull out or localized grain dislodgement caused by coalescence of grain boundary microcracks is the basic wear mechanism of submicron grained alumina though the extent of cracking and pull-out was substantially less than that with higher grained material. However, in few cases, some areas where substantial volume of material was removed following pull-out of cluster of grains have also been observed.

Physical intimate partner violence in Chile, Egypt, India and the Philippines.

BACKGROUND: Violence against women is recognized by globally as a serious health and social problem that impedes development. OBJECTIVES: To determine the magnitude of physical intimate partner violence against women in six selected communities from Chile, Egypt, India and the Philippines. DESIGN: Population-based household surveys. SETTINGS: Selected urban communities in Temuco, Chile; Ismailia, Egypt; Lucknow, Trivandrum, and Vellore non-slum areas of India; and in Manila, the Philippines. PARTICIPANTS: Women aged 15-49 years who cared for at least one child younger than 18 years old. The number of participants per community was 442 (Santa Rosa, Chile), 631 (El-Sheik Zayed, Egypt), 506 (Lucknow, India), 700 (Trivandrum, India), 716 (Vellore, India) and 1000 (Paco, the Philippines). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Lifetime and Current physical intimate partner violence (IPV) was measured using standard definitions and four behaviors of actions--namely slap, hit, kick and beat. Three derived variables for severity included: disabling IPV, IPV-related injury requiring health care and multiple severe IPV (presence of hit and kick and beat). RESULTS: Percentages of lifetime and current physical intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in our sample of 3975 were as follows: 24.9 and 3.6 (Santa Rosa), 11.1 and 10.5 (El-Sheik Zayed), 34.6 and 25.3 (Lucknow), 43.1 and 19.6 (Trivandrum) 31.0 and 16.2 (Vellore), and 21.2 and 6.2 (Paco). Multiple severe physical IPV was more common in the three communities within India (9.0%, 5.9% and 8.0% in Trivandrum, Lucknow and Vellore) than the other three communities (Santa Rosa 2.1%; El-Sheik Zayed 2.9% and Paco 1.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Physical IPV was found to be a common phenomenon in all six communities. Overall, patterns of IPV behaviors were similar among the six communities.

Platelet serotonergic mechanisms and glomerulonephritis.

Proven cases (28) of glomerulonephritis (GN) were evaluated for clinico-biochemical profile, bleeding time, platelet count, platelet aggregation and platelet serotonergic mechanisms. Inordinate increase in platelet aggregation and altered platelet serotonergic mechanisms (reduced 5-HT, uptake, reduced intraplatelet 5-HT and increased plasma 5-HT) were demonstrated in some histopathological types of GN. The mechanisms and importance of these alterations have been discussed.

T lymphocytes and anticardiac antibodies in patients with ischemic heart diseases.

85 patients with a variety of ischemic heart diseases were examined for the proportion of T cells and the presence of anticardiac antibodies. Patients with acute myocardial infarction during the 2nd and 3rd week of initial acute episode had a higher proportion of T lymphocytes and a higher proportion of patients developed anticardiac antibody. Similar was the case with patients with angina. The extent of infarction and accompanying complications did not change the immune parameters studied. The relationship of anticardiac antibodies and T lymphocytes in context of ischemic heart diseases is discussed.