Blogs

Tool designed to comprehensively measure a country’s hunger situation
and to track hunger globally by region and country
It measures progress and failures in the global fight against hunger
It is calculated
each year and
For each country
by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
The Index ranks countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst
Hence lower the score, the better is the situation of hunger in the country

Gross National Income (GNI)
• Formerly k/a Gross National Product (GNP)
– Gross income generated within the country PLUS
– Net income received from abroad
• It is expressed as ‘at current prices’ (at prices prevailing during the period to which the figure refers)
– The figures are influenced by inflation but are more useful for international comparison for the same period
• or
• ‘At constant prices’ (at prices prevailing during a fixed base period in the past, irrespective of the period to which the figures refer )

• Definition: The application of scientific methods of investigation to the study of complex human organizations and services
– A mathematician working on atomic structure is pursuing pure research
– An engineer designing a new plant for an industry is pursuing applied research.
• In operational research there is a huge sociology component
– Here one is concerned with groups of people and
– the purpose is to develop and introduce beneficial changes in to the system

• ‘Security that society furnishes through appropriate organization, against certain risks to which its members are exposed’
• These risks are mostly
– Sickness, Invalidity, Maternity, Old age and Death
• ‘Social insurance’ and ‘social assistance’ are also types social security:
Social insurance:
• It is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:
1. The benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;

Acculturation = culture contact
When there is contact between two people with different types of culture, there is diffusion of culture both ways
There are various ways by which culture contact takes place
1. Trade and commerce
2. Industrialization
3. Propagation of religion
4. Education and
5. Conquest
Trade and commerce
• Ayurveda and Yoga have become very popular in Europe and North America.

• Due to inhalation of moldy hay or grain dust (hypersensitivity pneumonitis)
• Grain dust or hay with a moisture content of >30%,
– bacteria and fungi grow rapidly in the dust
– causing rise of temperature of 40 – 50⁰C
• This heat promotes growth of:
– Thermophilic actinomycetes esp. Micropolyspora faeni which causes Farmer’s lung
• Acute Illness
– General and respiratory symptoms and physical signs
• Repeated attacks of acute illness cause
– pulmonary fibrosis and inevitable pulmonary damage and
– Finally Corpulmonale

Asbestosis
• Asbestos consists of certain types of fibrous material made up of silicates
• Silica may be combined with:
– Magnesium
– Iron
– Calcium
– Aluminum
• Asbestos is of two types:
1. Serpentine or Chrysolite –
– Hydrated magnesium
– 90% of world’s asbestos production
2. Amphibole
– Contains little magnesium
– Fibers are straight and longer than chrysotile fibers
• Asbestos is used in the manufacture of:
– Asbestos cement
– Fire proof textiles
– Roof tiling
– Brake lining

• Occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of bagasse or sugarcane dust
• First reported in India in a cardboard manufacturing firm near Kolkata
• India has a large sugarcane industry
• Sugarcane fiber is utilized in manufacturing of paper, cardboard and rayon
• Bagassosis occurs due to a thermophilic actinomycete k/a Thermoactinomyces sacchari
• Symptoms:
– Breathlessness
– Cough
– Hemoptysis and
– Slight fever
• Acute diffuse bronchiolitis
• Skiagram:
– Mottling in lungs or shadow

Byssinosis
• Due to inhalation of cotton fiber dust over long periods of time
• Symptoms are:
– Chronic cough
– Progressive dyspnea
– Ending in chronic bronchitis and
– Emphysema
• Incidence 7 – 8% in surveys done in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi

References:
• Park’s Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine

Types of Pneumoconiosis: http://www.ihatepsm.com/blog/pneumoconioses

Anthracosis
Carbon dust (coal mine dust):
Coal miner’s pneumoconiosis
• Two phases in coal miners pneumoconiosis
1. Simple pneumoconiosis: little ventilatory impairment
– Around 12 yr. of exposure needed for this phase to appear
2. Progressive massive fibrosis (PMF): severe respiratory disability and frequently results in premature death
– Once a background of simple pneumoconiosis has been reached, a PMF may develop out of it even if the exposure is ceased