In defence of children

The Convention on the rights of the child has not made much of a difference to the existing conditions of children in India. Moral energy and a socio‐political vision is required by not only the government, but all concerned to improve the status of the child in India. There is a need to focus on child rights issues related to creating public awareness, attitudinal change, political commitment, mass sensitisation and reaching the unreached. An appropriate action strategy is suggested for the restoration of the rights of children in India.     

Writing to learn ecology: a study of three populations of college students

Being an ecologically literate citizen involves making decisions that are based on ecological knowledge and accepting responsibility for personal actions. Using writing-to-learn activities in college science courses, we asked students to consider personal dilemmas that they or others might have in response to how human choices can impact coastal dead zones around the world. We explored how undergraduate students (42 biology and 47 elementary education majors at a 4-year college and eight Native studies majors at a tribal college in the United States) identified their ecological dilemmas after reading about aquatic hypoxia. About 30% of the 4-year college students’s essays demonstrated a more ecologically literate understanding of hypoxia by the end of the study. The tribal college students improved their ecological literacy by 50%, albeit with a small sample size. Biology majors made more human-centered comments than the education majors. The Native American students often discussed trade-offs between quality of life and ecological consequences, and were classified as both human-centered and ecosystem-centered.     

Portal to the Public: Museum Educators Collaborating with Scientists to Engage Museum Visitors with Current Science

Science museums play a role in creating visitor experiences that relate to contemporary issues in science, and in linking audiences to the scientific enterprise and the community of scientists. In the Portal to the Public approach, science researchers are trained by museum educators with experience in inquiry‐based learning, and are then given opportunities to translate their current research for museum audiences. Portal to the Public offers one solution to museums seeking to sustain a commitment to delivering experiences that reflect the dynamic pace of research, and the need to connect local communities to scientific research occurring in their midst.     

An IAD type framework for Blockchain enabled smart tourism ecosystem

The concept of smart tourism remains fuzzy when it comes to practice because of the lack of clarity on the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in addition to complex institutional ecosystem that exist within the tourism industry. Further, trust and safety of the data generated due to the advancement of smart tourism in varied institutional arrangements pose huge challenges. Extant literature proposes that the application of decentralized ledger promises possible solutions to most of these problems due to the inherent features of the Blockchain technology. This suggestion raises two practical questions. First, does the sophisticated additional layer adds complexity to its practical application? Second, will the suggested solutions really lead to a win-win for all the stakeholders involved? In this study, we use Ostrom's action arena to examine the exchanges (information, contractual and monetary) between various stakeholders in a BCT enabled smart tourism of a Blockchain enabled tourism industry to answer these two questions.     

Combined Analysis of Anti SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM Responses in COVID19 Patients in India

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global health problem, India being the second most affected country. The kinetics of antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 in Indian population is not studied yet. To understand serological response in relation to age, gender, time period and severity of disease, Roche Elecsys anti-SARS-CoV-2 test was used which analysed both IgM and IgG. One hundred and three COVID-19 patients were enrolled. Seropositivity was seen in 64% of patients, with 33% at ≤ 7 days, 62% between 8 and 15 days and 81% at ≥ 16 days from the time of admission. Men (65%) showed higher antibody response than women (59%), whereas no difference was observed in seropositivity with respect to age of the patients. Dynamics of antibody responses revealed individual variations. Patients in ICU had higher antibody reactivity with 67% positivity as compared to 60% positivity in non-ICU patients. Kinetics of antibody response during COVID-19 disease varied in relation to gender, age, time period and severity and these factors might play an important role in treatment and control of COVID-19.     

PCT as a Prognostic Marker in Cardiac Patients with Neutropenic Sepsis: Two Case Reports

Procalcitonin (PCT) is an innovative and highly specific marker for diagnosis of clinically relevant bacterial infection and sepsis. PCT supports early diagnosis and Clinical decision making. A retrospective study of two classical cases of neutropenic sepsis with elevated PCT levels in cardiac ICU was done. PCT was analyzed using Elecsys Brahms PCT kit. Serum PCT levels <0.5 ng/ml and ANC <1,000/mm³ was taken as cutoff. The first patient had initial high levels of PCT 100 ng/ml, TLC 13,600/mm³ and ANC 12,250/mm³. It was followed by drop with subsequent rise in PCT levels and drop in TLC 1,000/mm³ and ANC 70/mm³. The second patient had normal PCT 0.116 ng/ml, TLC 5,600/mm³ and ANC 4,420/mm³ levels followed with sharp increase in all the values with subsequent drop in TLC 2,000/mm³ and ANC 880 cells/mm³. Both the patients died of neutropenic sepsis with multiorgan failure. The case reports showed the correlation of PCT with TLC and ANC levels in predicting the mortality of patients with neutropenic sepsis in cardiac ICU.     

Effect of Lipid Profile Upon Prognosis in Ischemic and Haemorrhagic Cerebrovascular Stroke

Stroke is the third major cause of death worldwide. Elevated plasma concentration of low density lipoproteins and low plasma concentration of high density lipoprotein concentration are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease but the relation between serum lipids, and cerebrovascular disease is less clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and accuracy of serum lipid profile in assessing the prognosis/neurological worsening in patients with ischemic and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular stroke. The subjects in the present study comprised of 101 healthy controls and 150 cerebrovascular stroke patients (including 90 with ischemic stroke and 60 with intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke). In both the groups fasting lipid profile was determined within 72 h of the stroke. A statistically significant association was observed (p < 0.001) between the parameters of lipid profile of cases and healthy controls, and also with the prognosis of the stroke.