• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제49권4호
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• pp.240-248
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• 2016

Objectives: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) adversely impacts food security in households of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Little research has focused on food insecurity among PLWHA in India. The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of and factors relating to food security in households of PLWHA in the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was carried out among 173 PLWHA residing in Siliguri and registered at the Anti-retroviral Therapy Centre of North Bengal Medical College & Hospital. Data was collected at the household level with interviews of PLWHA using a food security survey instrument. We analyzed the associations using logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of household food security among the participants was 50.9% (88/173). Five years or more of schooling, higher socioeconomic class and males were found to be significantly associated with a higher likelihood of food security. A later stage of the disease and the presence of other family members with HIV/AIDS were significantly associated with a lower likelihood of food security. The major coping strategies to deal with food insecurity in the acute phase HIV infection included borrowing money (56.1%), followed by spousal support, loans from microfinance institutions, banks, or money lenders, borrowing food, or selling agricultural products. Conclusions: The present study revealed that only about half of households with PLWHA were food secure. Prior interventions relating to periods of food and economic crisis as well as strategies for sustaining food security and economic status are needed in this area.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• 제2권5호
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• pp.266-276
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• 2013

LSB-based steganography is a simple and well known information hiding technique. In most LSB based techniques, a secret message is embedded into a specific position of LSB in the cover pixels. On the other hand, the main threat of LSB-based steganography is steganalysis. This paper proposes an asynchronous-cellular-automata(ACA)-based steganographic method, where secret bits are embedded into the selected position inside the cover pixel by ACA rule 51 and a secret key. As a result, it is very difficult for malicious users to retrieve a secret message from a cover image without knowing the secret key, even if the extraction algorithm is known. In addition, another layer of security is provided by almost random (rule-based) selection of a cover pixel for embedding using ACA and a different secret key. Finally, the experimental results show that the proposed method can be secured against the well-known steganalysis RS-attack.

• 셀메드
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.14.1-14.4
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• 2013

The paper provides a brief account of 11 plant species used by the tribal people of the district Purulia, West Bengal, India. Most of the plant species are common in this district and some have not been reported earlier for abortive purposes, pharmacology for preparation of medicines for antifertility. All these data were obtained from the tribal medicine men (ojha). At least 10 interview reports of various tribal medicine men were recorded. Parts of various medicinal plants were observed personally, collected and preserved as herbarium specimens for proper identification. The reports of various indigenous methods may help to give some clue in searching the potent contraceptives.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.239-243
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• 2011

Thirty five bivoltine breeds were acclimatized under controlled condition for three years during two seasons to evaluate their efficiency in Seri industry of tropical region. Out of thirty five ten breeds had been short listed based on ranking for individual trait. Three breeds out of those ten selected breeds viz. SK6, NB18 and B.Con.4 ranked top in respect of overall performance. The ten breeds based on average Evaluation Index value > 50 considering twelve economically important traits are the resource material for future course of breeding program in West Bengal.

• Kyungpook Mathematical Journal
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• 제52권2호
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• pp.155-165
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• 2012

In this paper, we have studied some fixed point theorems on complete G-metric spaces.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제24권7호
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• pp.1001-1006
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• 2011

To determine the efficiency of copper (Cu) supplementation, a feeding experiment was carried out with 240 day old broiler chicks (vencobb-100). Birds were divided into four dietary treatments: i) C - no additives, ii) $T_1$-75 mg inclusion of Cu/kg diet, iii) $T_2$-150 mg inclusion of Cu/kg diet, iv) $T_3$-250 mg inclusion of Cu/kg diet. The present study was carried out in the Department of Animal Physiology, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Kolkata, India for a period of 42 days (6 weeks). Growth performance was measured in terms of live weight gain, cumulative feed intake and feed conversion ratio at the end of $21^{st}$ and $42^{nd}$ day of the experiment and the result was found to be encouraging for commercial enterprises when the chickens were fed at 150 mg Cu/kg ($T_2$) of their diet. Excess dietary copper more than 150 mg/kg reduced the haemoglobin (Hb) concentration in blood and resulted in the accumulation of copper in the liver with decreased blood Hb concentration and packed cell volumes (PCV). Copper supplementation increased the total erythrocyte count (TEC) as copper is involved in erythropoiesis. But, from the result it is indicated that the dietary copper concentration could not alter the total leukocyte count (TLC). In case of different leucocytes count (DLC), there were no significant differences observed among the different treated groups. Statistical analysis showed significant (p<0.01) difference in plasma concentration of copper, zinc, ferrous and cholesterol among the different copper treated groups. The result indicates that supplementation of copper is an effective way of improving the production performance and haematological parameters in broiler chicken.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제49권5호
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• pp.323-328
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• 2016

Objectives: A clean India is the responsibility of all Indians. One of the objectives of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Initiative) is to bring about behavioural changes regarding healthy sanitation practices. While large-scale programs in India have increased latrine coverage, they have to some extent failed to bring behavioural changes ensuring optimal latrine use, including the safe disposal of child faeces, which is a significant source of exposure to faecal pathogens. Hence, this study was done to explore child faeces disposal practices in rural West Bengal and to elicit the determinants of unhygienic faeces disposal. Methods: Data collection was done using an interview method among the mothers of 502 under-5 children, following a pre-designed, semi-structured schedule during house-to-house visits in a set of villages in the Hooghly district of West Bengal. Results: The prevalence of unsafe disposal of child faeces was 72.4%, and maternal education, per capita income, and water source were found to be significantly associated with unsafe child faeces disposal. Conclusions: This study draws attention to the unsafe disposal of child faeces in this area of India and raises questions about the efficiency of sanitation campaigns in rural India that focus on expanding coverage rather than emphasizing behavioural changes, which are crucial to ensure the safe disposal of child faeces. Thus, it is urgently necessary to strengthen efforts focusing on behavioural changes regarding the safe disposal of child faeces in order to minimise adverse health outcomes.

• Mycobiology
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• 제46권1호
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• pp.79-83
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• 2018

Azo dyes containing effluents from different industries pose threats to the environment. Though there are physico-chemical methods to treat such effluents, bioremediation is considered to be the best eco-compatible technique. In this communication, we discuss the decolorization potentiality of five azo dyes by Podoscypha elegans (G. Mey.) Pat., a macro-fungus, found growing on the leaf-litter layer of Bethuadahari Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal, India. The fungus exhibited high laccase and very low manganese peroxidase activities under different culture conditions. Decolorization of five high-molecular weight azo dyes, viz., Orange G, Congo Red, Direct Blue 15, Rose Bengal and Direct Yellow 27 by the fungus was found to be positive in all cases. Maximum and minimum mean decolorization percentages were recorded in Rose Bengal (70.41%) and Direct Blue 15 (24.8%), respectively. This is the first record of lignolytic study and dye decolorization by P. elegans.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

In the present exploration we identified perception of forest dependent communities in relation to impact of climate change on forest ecosystem in and around Chilapatta reserve forest in northern part of West Bengal, India. Purposive sampling method was used for selection of area and random sampling method was used for selection of respondent. The data collection in this study was through questionnaire based personal in-depth interviews. Almost all the respondents (94%) were farmers and rest had occupation other than farming. Almost all the respondents perceived negative impact of climate change on forest though the level of perception varies from very low to medium (0.23-0.52) based on average perception score after assigning score to individual statements. The level of perception on impact of climate change on forest ecology and forest flora of the community is low and very low as the average perception score is 0.39 and 0.23, respectively while, it is medium (0.52) for forest fauna. Alternately their perception on decreased stream/river flow and quick drying of seasonal streams or water bodies is based on their livelihood experience as they depend on these for their domestic and irrigation water use and fish catch for family diet.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권9호
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• pp.4477-4479
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• 2012

Background: The high incidence and relatively good prognosis of breast cancer has made it the most prevalent cancer in the world today. A large number of distinct mutations and polymorphisms in the p53 gene have been reported worldwide, but there is no report regarding the role of this inherited susceptibility gene in breast cancer risk among the Bengalee Hindu Caste females of West Bengal, India. Aim of the Study: We investigated the distribution and the nature of p53 gene mutations and polymorphisms in exons 5-7 in a cohort of 110 Bengalee Hindu breast cancer patients and 127 age, sex and caste matched controls by direct sequencing. Results: We did not observe any mutations and polymorphisms in our studied individuals. Conclusion: We therefore conclude that mutations in exons 5-7 of p53 gene are rare causes of breast cancer among Bengalee Hindu caste females, and therefore of little help for genetic counseling and diagnostic purposes.