Nutrition and health education through I.C.D.S

Summary results and discussion were provided for an Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) survey of 52 anganwadi community workers (AWWs) and 156 mothers of ICDS beneficiary children. The project was implemented in Nelamangala, Bangalore, India, in order to ascertain the practices of mothers in managing diarrhea and respiratory infections and nutrition. The results would be applied to improving health education and developing appropriate and effective communication about nutrition and health between the AWW and the mother. The results of the AWWs survey showed that the 96.16% of AWWs had education up to the high school level and 2 graduated from high school. 69.2% weighed children correctly and 53.84% plotted growth charts satisfactorily. 53.50% of the 2507 growth charts were satisfactorily graphed. 94% reported weighing all children every month, however, the work load made this activity very difficult. Only 5.7% plotted the growth chart immediately after weighing. 38.46% found the visual record of growth good tool of health and nutrition education. 86.92% correctly identified a flattened curve as an indicator of growth failure. 71.15% were aware that additional feeding was needed. 17.30% suggested treatment with tonics and 3.84% suggested treatment for worm infestations. The responses from the mothers indicated that 51.92% were illiterate, agricultural laborers. 92% of mothers had a per capita income of less than Rs. 300/month. 86.53% were aware of the growth monitoring of the AWWS and 61% knew it was conducted monthly. 20.53% had participated in weighing sessions and 42% reported that AWWs explained the meaning of growth monitoring and the importance of weighing procedures. 28.84% reported that AWWs showed comparisons of present and previous weights and explained the significance. 38.64% considered the information meaningful, but only 3.84% could correctly interpret a flattened curve. 63.43% were misinformed about diarrhea causes and treatment. The recommendation was for use of arm circumference tapes for measuring malnutrition, for better training of AWWs in promoting extra feeding for malnutrition, for promoting continued breast feeding during diarrhea bouts, and discouraging use of over-the-counter drugs for treatment of respiratory infections.     

Juvenile angiofibroma: review of a case series and role of embolization

Here 15 cases of advanced Juvenile angiofibroma are presented. Advantages of wide tumour exposure and preoperative embolization are discussed.     

Rhinocerebral invasive aspergillosis

Here we present 10 cases of rhinocerebral aspergillosis. In this study we included only invasive type of cases. In 4 of these disease had extended into the brain parenchyma and in remaining cases diseases had extended intracranially but dura was not invaded. Details about the operative procedure and followup is presented. Till date only 3 of these cases are surviving.     

Problems Associated with Studying Spatial Distribution of Plants Through Herbarium Anthology: A Case Study of Family Berberidaceae in North West Himalaya

Estimation of spatial plant distribution of a large area is very tedious and time consuming assignment. In this regard, herbaria of the world are supposed to be the excellent repositories of the plant collections for reference purpose. But many repositories of the world do not have the associated information of the collections and thus it becomes a muddle for future studies. The aim of this study is to know the extent of this mess. Therefore, spatial distribution of Berberidaceae members in NW Himalaya was studied through available herbarium data in three herbaria at Department of Botany, University of Jammu, Janaki Ammal Herbarium, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine and Herbarium, Department of Botany, Punjabi University. It is observed that the collected specimens in aforesaid herbaria are correctly identified; but simultaneously, proper collection sites and collection dates are not mentioned for some specimens. Therefore, it is difficult to recollect the species. This is also revealed that India harbours 04 genera (Berberis, Epimedium, Mahonia and Nandina) and 22 species of the Berberidaceae, out of which 02 (Berberis and Mahonia) are reported from the NW Himalaya.