Mitashree Mitra

Dimensions and Causes of Child Malnutrition: A Study of Preschool Children of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract The aim of the paper is to assess child malnutrition and delineate the factors contributing to the observed pattern of malnutrition among preschool children from three specific population namely-Saryupari Brahmin, Teli and Rawat of Raipur district of Chattisgarh, India through nutritional anthropometric survey. The nutritional anthropometric data collected on 121 Saryupari Brahmin (57 boys and 64 girls), 93 Rawat (49 boys and 46 girls) and 97 Teli (46 boys and 51 girls) children ranging in age from 2+ to 5+ years. The pattern of protein- energy malnutrition observed is primarily of mild to moderate intensity in Brahmin and moderate to severe intensity in Rawat and Teli children. The findings clearly indicate towards various socio economic and micro-environmental factors as probable contributors towards poor nutritional status. All these observation suggest that preschool children need better nutrition and health care combat the problem of PEM.

Nutritional and Health Status of Gond and Kawar Tribal Pre-school Children of Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract Present cross sectional study was conducted to assess the nutritional and health status on 379 (180 Gond and 199 Kawar) tribal preschool children of Chhattisgarh, India. The studied children were compared with other tribal and caste preschool children of the same area. Nutrition and health assessment was done through diet survey, nutritional deficiency signs and also by nutritional anthropometric indices such as weight for age, height for age and weight for height. The study reveals that there were lower consumption in several macro and micro nutrients intake compared to Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) of India, which may be reflected through high prevalence of nutritional deficiency signs among them. According to nutritional anthropometric indices, both sexes of Gond and Kawar preschool children were suffered by different grades of malnutrition within which girls were suffered comparatively more than boys specifically among Gond tribe. Irrespective of sex, Gond preschool children were suffered more by malnutrition compared to Kawar preschool children. Whereas present Gond and Kawar children were suffered more by malnutrition compared to the Brahmin preschool children of Central India, specifically on the basis of height for age index. The amount of macro and micro nutrients consumption of both present as well as others tribal preschool children in Central India were more or less same. All the observations suggest that just like other tribal children of Central India, the studied children also have insufficient nutrition intake, which may be due to mother’s illiteracy, lack of awareness and other socioeconomic and cultural factors. Therefore, future studies should be undertaken to identify the factors responsible for the high prevalence of malnutrition among them.

Attitude towards Impotence and Barren among the Baiga Males of Chhattisgarh, India

Several conceptions and misconceptions prevail in human society about sexual impotency. In different human societies in different human cultures, opinions and criteria regarding impotence vary. Such opinions and criteria become perceptions in that particular society. Such perceptions were also traced in the Baiga community, which are presented in this paper. Objectives of the study are to explore notions about impotence and barren among the Baiga males of Chhattisgarh, India. The universe of our sample is 400 married Baiga males belonging to age 18-49 years. The Baiga tribe is one of seven Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) of Chhattisgarh state of India. In the present study multi-stage random sampling method were followed. Structured interview schedules, focused group discussions and non-participant observation were used for collection and cross validation of data. According to the findings 33.5% respondents regard those males impotent who in the course of his youthful age could not make his wife pregnant. 30% respondents have the conviction that witchcraft and sorcery are the main causes of suffering from impotency. Perception regarding impotence among the Baiga males is found to be very placid and positive influenced by their age with value of ?2 = 1.153 and value of p is 0.020 at 5% level of significance. More than of half of them (50.8%) agreed that if any woman was unable to conceive, she was castigated as “barren”. Perception about barrenness among the Baiga males is found to be moderate and positively depended on their educational status, with associated value of ?2 = 30.32 and value of p is 0.016 at 5% level of significance. From the observation of multi-nomial logistic regression test, the finding was: in order to, all the above causes were found responsible for the barrenness of any women, which were relative to result as deities, breach of taboos and magic and witchcraft held responsible for barrenness at value of s for predictors age at marriage of the respondents, i.e., < 18 years had been found to be -1.069 with associated value of p is 0.048 at 5% level of significance. From the extant study one thing that came to light was that those men who are younger in age hold such forces less responsible than their elderly counterparts who happen to be more credulous, even superstitions. The fact also emerged through the study that with the rise in educational status and income, the general attitude of the male Baiga towards barrenness of women have become realistic and scientific. Attitude. Impotence. Barren. The Baiga. Tribe. Chhattisgarh. India, Reproductive Health.

Haplotype and Allelic Variations at Dopamine Receptor Gene (DRD2) among six Austro-Asiatic Speaking Tribal Groups of Central India

Central India is mainly constituted by two states, namely; Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh that are homeland of several caste and tribal groups speaking diverse language belongs to Indo-European, Dravidian and Austro-Asiatic thus makes it an important place for testing several language-gene interaction models. Various archaeological evidences indicated that the Narmada region has played a significant role in initial peopling of the Asian subcontinent. There is a necessity to fill the big lacuna by inclusion of this region to reveal a continuous picture of the origin and genetic affinity of the Indian population. It is hypothesized that Austro-Asiatic speaking tribes are autochthonous to India. The present study was conducted to examine the haplotype variations at Dopamine Receptor Gene (DRD2) in the Austro-Asiatic Speaking Tribal Groups of Central India. Haplotypes provide information on evolutionary histories, beyond what can be learned from individual marker. A total of 327 unrelated samples belonging to Birhor, Gadaba, Kol, Hill korwa, Saora and Baiga were analyzed for three selected TaqI sites of DRD2 gene using Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). All the loci were found to be polymorphic among the studied populations. The frequency of ancestral allele B2 is less than 50% in all six populations (41.4-49.2%) while D2 allele exhibit frequency of 15.3-44.8%. A1 allele observed with a frequency ranging from 36.2-48.2%. The average heterozygosity ranged from 0.417 in Baiga to 0.501 in Kol. The ancestral haplotype (B2D2A1) in all six populations exhibit 0% frequency. LD values calculated for the three bi-allelic sites, TaqIB, TaqID, and TaqIA are low, i.e., below 0.8 with respect to all populations in each pair. Overall, allele frequency distribution patterns and high average heterozygosity values, suggest a genetic proximity among the studied populations. Low recurrence of genealogical alleles and nonattendance of familial haplotype in the examined populace bunches, demonstrating towards indigenous inception of Central Indian Austro-Asiatic talking tribes.

Investigation on Glutathione-S-transferase M1 and T1 gene polymorphisms as risk factor in Cervical Cancer

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTM1 and GSTT1) detoxify tobacco smoke constituents and polymorphisms within GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes, can result in a complete lack of enzyme activity. In this hospital based case-control study, 230 cervical cancer patients (cases) and 230 controls were studied to determine the risk of the disease due to polymorphisms at GSTM1 and GSTT1 locus. For GSTM1 null genotype (?² =8.97, df=1, p=0.003) and GSTT1 null genotype (?² =8.33, df=1, p=0.004), the association was found to have statistically significant between cases and controls. The GSTM1 null genotype had 2.5 times increased risk for cervical cancer (OR= 2.57 p<0.001, 95% CI = 1.36 to 4.85), whereas GSTT1 null genotype had 1.8 times higher risk of getting cervial cancer (OR = 1.83; 95% CI = 1.21 to 2.75). GSTM1 null genotype showed significant distribution for Gudakhu habit in case and control groups (?2=7.734, df=1, p=0.005). Tobacco chewing and alcohol drinking habit did not show any associations with the occurrence of cervical cancer.These findings indicate that GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms play crucial role in the development of cervical cancer.

Changes in Basic Amenities, Awareness, Socio-Economy and Child Morbidity: A Comparative Study from NFHS-2 and NFHS-3

The study presents the differentials and determinants of morbidity prevalence in India, Central India, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Chhattisgarh. The major objectives of the study are to assess the condition of basic amenities, awareness, socio-economy and 0–59 month childrens morbidity during two periods and its changes in India, Central India and two states of Central India-MP and Chhattisgarh, and also to assess the important factors which are responsible for changing the morbidity pattern among the children. For this study, national level data of two periods that is National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-2 and NFHS-3 have been used. The sample sizes used in NFHS-2 are 30, 970 for India, 6, 608 for Central India and 2, 631 for MP. In NFHS-3, the sample sizes are 48, 656 for India, 10, 750 for Central India, 2, 801 for MP and 1, 471 for Chhattisgarh. Morbidity status has been judged through diarrhoea, cough and fever. It is seen from our study that, at present, occurrences of morbidity is more or less same in India, Central India, MP and Chhattisgarh, and the changes are more or less in same magnitude from its previous time period. A very peculiar observation is that, in India, morbidity rate is high in rural areas than in urban areas, but in Central India, MP and Chhattisgarh, the picture is completely reverse that is in urban areas, morbidity is higher than in rural areas and among the illiterate persons, morbidity is the lowest. The probable reason of this may be that, the morbidity status has been judged from self-reporting method. If the reporter is not properly aware about the condition of illness, how can he or she will be able to judge the level of illness correctly; i.e. why, due to the differences in understanding, the reported morbidity differs. In general, it can be said that morbidity depends on socioeconomy, awareness and basic development strategies of the community and the individuals.

A Study of Genomic Diversity of Three Tribal Populations of Chhattisgarh, India

The diverse linguistic and ethnic tribal populations harboring state Chhattisgarh is a hotspot for human genomic diversity research. Genetic analysis of individual variation at the DNA level is widely used to investigate the extent of genetic diversity and to understand the population structure among different populations. The present study was conducted to find out the extent of affinities and diversities among three tribal populations of Chhattisgaarh, India namely Halba, Gadba and Oraon. They belong to different language families. Halba belongs to Indo-European, Gadba belongs to Austro-Asiatic while Oraon belongs to Dravidian language family. Analysis on seven widely distributed polymorphic insertion/deletion loci (Alu APO, Alu ACE, Alu D1, Alu PV92, Alu FXIIIB, Alu CD4 del and Alu PLAT) in 160 unrelated individuals of both sexes were done. All loci were highly polymorphic except Alu CD4 del locus. All the three tribes showed lowest heterozygosity for CD4 locus. GST value was recorded lowest for Alu PLAT locus (0.0004) while the highest was recorded for Alu PV92 locus (0.1029). The unrooted Neighbor-Joining (NJ) tree showed Gadba and Oraon form one cluster while Halba tribe differentiates from them.