e17526 Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in India, with rural women disproportionately affected due to limited awareness and healthcare access. The current mainstay of screening in India is visual inspection of the cervix using acetic acid by a healthcare provider in a hospital setting. This study proposes to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a door-to-door cervical cancer screening approach using self-collected vaginal swabs for HPV DNA testing, facilitated by trained non-physician health workers (NPHWs) in a rural community. Methods: This ongoing study is based in Medchal, a rural area in south India, with a cohort of 50,000 individuals registered in a geo-coded database. The project commenced on January6,2025 and we intend to screen 2000 women aged between 25 to 65 years over a period of 6 months, culminating by June, 2025. NPHWs, trained by a gynaecologist, educate women aged 25-65 (non-pregnant, non-menstruating, with an intact uterus) on cervical cancer, the importance of screening, and the self-sampling procedure. The NPHWs possess masters in social work degree. NPHWs conduct one-on-one interactions and use a mobile video clip for additional education. Participants self-collect vaginal swabs, which are analysed for HPV genotypes 16, 18, 31, and 45 using point-of-care testing. Positive results lead to colposcopy and treatment for suspicious lesions. A pilot study conducted in the first two weeks of the program screened 76 eligible women from the cohort. Results: Of the 76 women, 2 refused participation, and 16 were ineligible due to hysterectomy. Swabs were collected from 58 of 60 eligible women (96.67%), all of whom tested negative for HPV DNA. The majority of participants were aged 36-45, and only 5.17% had previously undergone cervical screening. Conclusions: Door-to-door screening by trained NPHWs has the potential to elicit high participation among rural women in India, demonstrating the feasibility of task-shifting in low-resource settings.
Pregnancy-related mental health issues are more common in low and middle‐income countries (LMICs). Common mental health disorders are more prevalent among women than men. In LMIC countries, the prevalence of mental health disorders is higher, estimated at 15.6% among pregnant women and 19.8% among postpartum women. According to the studies, Antenatal depression prevalence in India ranged from 9.8% to 36.7%, while antenatal anxiety prevalence was 55.7%. This study performed bibliometric profiling to shed light on maternal mental health research conducted in India since 1979 and to present the research output in the field of maternal mental health in India. SCOPUS databases have been chosen for data retrieval due to their extensive coverage, high-impact journal inclusion and ease of access to quality publications. In total, 146 publications were found in the field. Maternal mental health research increased significantly in 2022. The peak number of publications occurred in 2022.There has been a lot of focus on maternal mental health. This is evidenced by the fact that there has been a significant increase in the number of scientific publications in India since 1979. The bibliometric indicators provided important information on the research contributions from different institutes and authors. The results of this study can serve as a reference for researchers and policymakers to plan future research.
Antisense technology is emerging as potential therapeutics against lethal infections. Basically, Antisense-mRNA complex inhibits the protein translation of pathogens and thus it is used for treatment. Based on previous online tools and literatures and difficulties for designing antisense template, finding high conserved regions from large number of long sequences, by taking all those factors in consideration, we proposed new innovative offline target simulation methods i.e. Deletion of unwanted region from viral sequence alignment (DURVA) and Most frequent region (MFR) for designing and developing antisense template from large number of long sequence or genomic data. Based on current pandemic crisis and long genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, we chose coronavirus for simulation. Initially, we hypothesized that DURVA-MFR would find stable region from large annotated sequencing data. As per Chan et.al. guidelines for antisense designing and development, we designed couple of algorithms and python scripts to process the data of approximately 30kbp sequence length and 1Gb file size in short turnaround time. The steps involved were as: 1) Simplifying whole genome sequence in single line; 2) Deletion of unwanted region from Virus sequence alignment(DURVA); 3)Most frequent antisense target region(MFR) and 4)Designing and development of antisense template. This simulation method is identifying most frequent regions between 20-30bp long, GC count≥10. Our study concluded that targets were highly identical with large population and similar with high number of remaining sequences. In addition, designed antisense sequences were stable and each sequence is having tighter binding with targets. After studying each parameter, here we suggested that our proposed method would be helpful for finding best antisense against all present and upcoming lethal infection.The initial design of this logic was published in Indian Patent Office Journal No.08/2021withApplication number202121005964A. Simple summary The antisense development is state of the art for modern therapeutics. There are number of online soft-wares and open sources for designing of antisense template. But all other tools did not consider frequency as major factor for designing antisense. Also; all sources excepting our simulation approach does not process large file or long sequences. Therefore; we designed an offline innovative simulation method which deletes the unwanted region from sequences and stores the data which are fulfilled antisense criteria. Further; the calculation of frequency from these short listed target regions; the most frequent region is desire antisense target and further antisense template will be designed according to Watson-Crick model. This article explained all information about how our new approach is best for designing antisense template against SARS-CoV-2 and many lethal infectious viruses etc.
Background Since its re-emergence in 2005, chikungunya virus (CHIKV) transmission has been documented in most Indian states. Information is scarce regarding the seroprevalence of CHIKV in India. We aimed to estimate the age-specific seroprevalence, force of infection (FOI), and proportion of the population susceptible to CHIKV infection. Methods We did a nationally representative, cross-sectional serosurvey, in which we randomly selected individuals in three age groups (5-8, 9-17, and 18-45 years), covering 240 clusters from 60 selected districts of 15 Indian states spread across all five geographical regions of India (north, northeast, east, south, and west). Age was the only inclusion criterion. We tested serum samples for IgG antibodies against CHIKV. We estimated the weighted age-group-specific seroprevalence of CHIKV infection for each region using the design weight (ie, the inverse of the overall probability of selection of state, district, village or ward, census enumeration block, and individual), adjusting for non-response. We constructed catalytic models to estimate the FOI and the proportion of the population susceptible to CHIKV in each region. Findings From June 19, 2017, to April 12, 2018, we enumerated 117 675 individuals, of whom 77 640 were in the age group of 5-45 years. Of 17 930 randomly selected individuals, 12 300 individuals participated and their samples were used for estimation of CHIKV seroprevalence. The overall prevalence of IgG antibodies against CHIKV in the study population was 18.1% (95% CI 14.2-22.6). The overall seroprevalence was 9.2% (5.4-15.1) among individuals aged 5-8 years, 14.0% (8.8-21.4) among individuals aged 9-17 years, and 21.6% (15.9-28.5) among individuals aged 18-45 years. The seroprevalence was lowest in the northeast region (0.3% [95% CI 0.1-0.8]) and highest in the southern region (43.1% [34.3-52.3]). There was a significant difference in seroprevalence between rural (11.5% [8.8-15.0]) and urban (40.2% [31.7-49.3]) areas (p<0.0001). The seroprevalence did not differ by sex (male 18.8% [95% CI 15.2-23.0] vs female 17.6% [13.2-23.1]; p=0.50). Heterogeneous FOI models suggested that the FOI was higher during 2003-07 in the southern and western region and 2013-17 in the northern region. FOI was lowest in the eastern and northeastern regions. The estimated proportion of the population susceptible to CHIKV in 2017 was lowest in the southern region (56.3%) and highest in the northeastern region (98.0%). Interpretation CHIKV transmission was higher in the southern, western, and northern regions of India than in the eastern and northeastern regions. However, a higher proportion of the population susceptible to CHIKV in the eastern and northeastern regions suggests a susceptibility of these regions to outbreaks in the future. Our survey findings will be useful in identifying appropriate target age groups and sites for setting up surveillance and for future CHIKV vaccine trials. Copyright (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Background Diphtheria is re-emerging as a public health problem in several Indian states. Most diphtheria cases are among children older than 5 years. In this study, we aimed to estimate age-specific immunity against diphtheria in children aged 5-17 years in India. Methods We used residual serum samples from a cross-sectional, population-based serosurvey for dengue infection done between June 19, 2017, and April 12, 2018, to estimate the age-group-specific seroprevalence of antibodies to diphtheria in children aged 5-17 years in India. 8309 serum samples collected from 240 clusters (122 urban and 118 rural) in 60 selected districts of 15 Indian states spread across all five geographical regions (north, northeast, east, west, and south) of India were tested for the presence of IgG antibodies against diphtheria toxoid using an ELISA. We considered children with antibody concentrations of 0 center dot 1 IU/mL or greater as immune, those with levels less than 0 center dot 01 IU/mL as non-immune (and hence susceptible to diphtheria), and those with levels in the range of 0 center dot 01 to less than 0 center dot 1 IU/mL as partially immune. We calculated the weighted proportion of children who were immune, partially immune, and non-immune, with 95% CIs, for each geographical region by age group, sex, and area of residence (urban vs rural). Findings 29 center dot 7% (95% CI 26 center dot 3-33 center dot 4) of 8309 children aged 5-17 years were immune to diphtheria, 10 center dot 5% (8 center dot 6-12 center dot 8) were non-immune, and 59 center dot 8% (56 center dot 3-63 center dot 1) were partially immune. The proportion of children aged 5-17 years who were non-immune to diphtheria ranged from 6 center dot 0% (4 center dot 2-8 center dot 3) in the south to 16 center dot 8% (11 center dot 2-24 center dot 4) in the northeast. Overall, 9 center dot 9% (7 center dot 7-12 center dot 5) of children residing in rural areas and 13 center dot 1% (10 center dot 2-16 center dot 6) residing in urban areas were nonimmune to diphtheria. A higher proportion of girls than boys were non-immune to diphtheria in the northern (17 center dot 7% [12 center dot 6-24 center dot 2] vs 7 center dot 1% [4 center dot 1-11 center dot 9]; p=0 center dot 0007) and northeastern regions (20 center dot 0% [12 center dot 9-29 center dot 8] vs 12 center dot 9% [8 center dot 6-19 center dot 0]; p=0 center dot 0035). Interpretation The findings of our serosurvey indicate that a substantial proportion of children aged 5-17 years were non-immune or partially immune to diphtheria. Transmission of diphtheria is likely to continue in India until the immunity gap is bridged through adequate coverage of primary and booster doses of diphtheria vaccine. Funding Indian Council of Medical Research. Copyright (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
