Quality of information for quality of life: Healthcare big data analytics

Big data analysis in healthcare sector is still in its early stages when comparing with that of other business sectors due to numerous reasons. Accommodating the volume, velocity and variety of healthcare data Identifying platforms that examine data from multiple sources, such as clinical records, genomic data, financial systems, and administrative systems Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a key information resource for big data analysis and is also composed of varied co-created values. Successful integration and crossing of different subfields of healthcare data such as biomedical informatics and health informatics could lead to huge improvement for the end users of the health care system, i.e. the patients.

The prevalence, predictors and associations of hypertension in Sri Lanka: A cross-sectional population based national survey

We studied the community prevalence, patterns and predictors of hypertension in a large sub-population of South Asian adults with a view of identifying differential risk factors. Data were collected between years 2005-2006 and 5000 adults were invited for the study. The sample size was 4485, and about 39.5% were males. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were 127.1 ± 19.8 mmHg and 75.4 ± 11.3 mmHg, respectively. Age-adjusted prevalence in all adults, males and females was 23.7%, 23.4% and 23.8%, respectively. Urban adults had a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension than rural adults. In the binary logistic-regression analysis, male gender (OR: 1.2), increasing age, Sri Lankan Moor ethnicity (OR: 1.6), physical inactivity (OR: 1.7), presence of diabetes (OR: 2.2) and central obesity (OR: 2.3) all were significantly associated with hypertension. In conclusion, nearly one-third of the Sri Lankan adult population is hypertensive. Hence, public health initiatives should encourage healthier lifestyles with emphasis on preventing obesity and increasing physical activity.

Assessment of body composition in Sri Lankan children: Validation of a bioelectrical impedance prediction equation

Objective: To develop bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) equations to predict total body water (TBW) and fat-free mass (FFM) of Sri Lankan children. Subjects/Methods: Data were collected from 5- to 15-year-old healthy children. They were randomly assigned to validation (M/F: 105/83) and cross-validation (M/F: 53/41) groups. Height, weight and BIA were measured. TBW was assessed using isotope dilution method (D2 O). Multiple regression analysis was used to develop preliminary equations and cross-validated on an independent group. Final prediction equation was constructed combining the two groups and validated by PRESS (prediction of sum of squares) statistics. Impedance index (height2/impedance; cm2/Ω), weight and sex code (male = 1; female = 0) were used as variables. Results: Independent variables of the final prediction equation for TBW were able to predict 86.3% of variance with root means-squared error (RMSE) of 2.1l. PRESS statistics was 2.1l with press residuals of 1.2l. Independent variables were able to predict 86.9% of variance of FFM with RMSE of 2.7 kg. PRESS statistics was 2.8 kg with press residuals of 1.4 kg. Bland Altman technique showed that the majority of the residuals were within mean bias±1.96 s.d. Conclusions: Results of this study provide BIA equation for the prediction of TBW and FFM in Sri Lankan children. To the best of our knowledge there are no published BIA prediction equations validated on South Asian populations. Results of this study need to be affirmed by more studies on other closely related populations by using multi-component body composition assessment.

Warm pool thermodynamics from the Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment (ARMEX)

Before the onset of the south Asian summer monsoon, sea surface temperature (SST) of the north Indian Ocean warms to 30–32°C. Climatological mean mixed layer depth in spring (March–May) is 10–20 m, and net surface heat flux (Q net ) is 80–100 W m−2 into the ocean. Previous work suggests that observed spring SST warming is small mainly because of (1) penetrative flux of solar radiation through the base of the mixed layer (Q pen ) and (2) advective cooling by upper ocean currents. We estimate the role of these two processes in SST evolution from a two-week Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment process experiment in April–May 2005 in the southeastern Arabian Sea. The upper ocean is stratified by salinity and temperature, and mixed layer depth is shallow (6 to 12 m). Current speed at 2 m depth is high even under light winds. Currents within the mixed layer are quite distinct from those at 25 m. On subseasonal scales, SST warming is followed by rapid cooling, although the ocean gains heat at the surface: Q net is about 105 W m−2 in the warming phase and 25 W m−2 in the cooling phase; penetrative loss Q pen is 80 W m−2 and 70 W m−2. In the warming phase, SST rises mainly because of heat absorbed within the mixed layer, i.e., Q net minus Q pen ; Q pen reduces the rate of SST warming by a factor of 3. In the second phase, SST cools rapidly because (1) Q pen is larger than Q net and (2) advective cooling is ∼85 W m−2. A calculation using time-averaged heat fluxes and mixed layer depth suggests that diurnal variability of fluxes and upper ocean stratification tends to warm SST on subseasonal timescale. Buoy and satellite data suggest that a typical premonsoon intraseasonal cooling event occurs under clear skies when the ocean is gaining heat through the surface. In this respect, premonsoon SST cooling in the north Indian Ocean is different from that due to the Madden-Julian oscillation or monsoon intraseasonal oscillation.

Intraseasonal response of mixed layer temperature and salinity in the Bay of Bengal to heat and freshwater flux

Buoy and satellite data show pronounced subseasonal oscillations of sea surface temperature (SST) in the summertime Bay of Bengal. The SST oscillations are forced mainly by surface heat flux associated with the active break cycle of the south Asian summer monsoon. The input of freshwater (FW) from summer rain and rivers to the bay is large, but not much is known about subseasonal salinity variability. We use 2002-2007 observations from three Argo floats with 5 day repeat cycle to study the subseasonal response of temperature and salinity to surface heat and freshwater flux in the central Bay of Bengal. About 95% of Argo profiles show a shallow halocline, with substantial variability of mixed layer salinity. Estimates of surface heat and freshwater flux are based on daily satellite data sampled along the float trajectory. We find that intraseasonal variability of mixed layer temperature is mainly a response to net surface heat flux minus penetrative radiation during the summer monsoon season. In winter and spring, however, temperature variability appears to be mainly due to lateral advection rather than local heat flux. Variability of mixed layer freshwater content is generally independent of local surface flux (precipitation minus evaporation) in all seasons. There are occasions when intense monsoon rainfall leads to local freshening, but these are rare. Large fluctuations in FW appear to be due to advection, suggesting that freshwater from rivers and rain moves in eddies or filaments.

The Skill of ECMWF Medium-Range Forecasts during the Year of Tropical Convection 2008

This study uses the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model-generated high-resolution 10-day-long predictions for the Year of Tropical Convection (YOTC) 2008. Precipitation forecast skills of the model over the tropics are evaluated against the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) estimates. It has been shown that the model was able to capture the monthly to seasonal mean features of tropical convection reasonably. Northward propagation of convective bands over the Bay of Bengal was also forecasted realistically up to 5 days in advance, including the onset phase of the monsoon during the first half of June 2008. However, large errors exist in the daily datasets especially for longer lead times over smaller domains. For shorter lead times (less than 4-5 days), forecast errors are much smaller over the oceans than over land. Moreover, the rate of increase of errors with lead time is rapid over the oceans and is confined to the regions where observed precipitation shows large day-to-day variability. It has been shown that this rapid growth of errors over the oceans is related to the spatial pattern of near-surface air temperature. This is probably due to the one-way air-sea interaction in the atmosphere-only model used for forecasting. While the prescribed surface temperature over the oceans remain realistic at shorter lead times, the pattern and hence the gradient of the surface temperature is not altered with change in atmospheric parameters at longer lead times. It has also been shown that the ECMWF model had considerable difficulties in forecasting very low and very heavy intensity of precipitation over South Asia. The model has too few grids with ``zero'' precipitation and heavy (>40 mm day(-1)) precipitation. On the other hand, drizzle-like precipitation is too frequent in the model compared to that in the TRMM datasets. Further analysis shows that a major source of error in the ECMWF precipitation forecasts is the diurnal cycle over the South Asian monsoon region. The peak intensity of precipitation in the model forecasts over land (ocean) appear about 6 (9) h earlier than that in the observations. Moreover, the amplitude of the diurnal cycle is much higher in the model forecasts compared to that in the TRMM estimates. It has been seen that the phase error of the diurnal cycle increases with forecast lead time. The error in monthly mean 3-hourly precipitation forecasts is about 2-4 times of the error in the daily mean datasets. Thus, effort should be given to improve the phase and amplitude forecast of the diurnal cycle of precipitation from the model.

A study of vertical cloud structure of the Indian summer monsoon using CloudSat data

Precise specification of the vertical distribution of cloud optical properties is important to reduce the uncertainty in quantifying the radiative impacts of clouds. The new global observations of vertical profiles of clouds from the CloudSat mission provide opportunities to describe cloud structures and to improve parameterization of clouds in the weather and climate prediction models. In this study, four years (2007-2010) of observations of vertical structure of clouds from the CloudSat cloud profiling radar have been used to document the mean vertical structure of clouds associated with the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and its intra-seasonal variability. Active and break monsoon spells associated with the intra-seasonal variability of ISM have been identified by an objective criterion. For the present analysis, we considered CloudSat derived column integrated cloud liquid and ice water, and vertically profiles of cloud liquid and ice water content. Over the South Asian monsoon region, deep convective clouds with large vertical extent (up to 14 km) and large values of cloud water and ice content are observed over the north Bay of Bengal. Deep clouds with large ice water content are also observed over north Arabian Sea and adjoining northwest India, along the west coast of India and the south equatorial Indian Ocean. The active monsoon spells are characterized by enhanced deep convection over the Bay of Bengal, west coast of India and northeast Arabian Sea and suppressed convection over the equatorial Indian Ocean. Over the Bay of Bengal, cloud liquid water content and ice water content is enhanced by similar to 90 and similar to 200 % respectively during the active spells. An interesting feature associated with the active spell is the vertical tilting structure of positive CLWC and CIWC anomalies over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, which suggests a pre-conditioning process for the northward propagation of the boreal summer intra-seasonal variability. It is also observed that during the break spells, clouds are not completely suppressed over central India. Instead, clouds with smaller vertical extent (3-5 km) are observed due to the presence of a heat low type of circulation. The present results will be useful for validating the vertical structure of clouds in weather and climate prediction models.

Variation at Diabetes- and Obesity-Associated Loci May Mirror Neutral Patterns of Human Population Diversity and Diabetes Prevalence in India

South Asian populations harbor a high degree of genetic diversity, due in part to demographic history. Two studies on genome-wide variation in Indian populations have shown that most Indian populations show varying degrees of admixture between ancestral north Indian and ancestral south Indian components. As a result of this structure, genetic variation in India appears to follow a geographic cline. Similarly, Indian populations seem to show detectable differences in diabetes and obesity prevalence between different geographic regions of the country. We tested the hypothesis that genetic variation at diabetes-and obesity-associated loci may be potentially related to different genetic ancestries. We genotyped 2977 individuals from 61 populations across India for 18 SNPs in genes implicated in T2D and obesity. We examined patterns of variation in allele frequency across different geographical gradients and considered state of origin and language affiliation. Our results show that most of the 18 SNPs show no significant correlation with latitude, the geographic cline reported in previous studies, or by language family. Exceptions include KCNQ1 with latitude and THADA and JAK1 with language, which suggests that genetic variation at previously ascertained diabetes-associated loci may only partly mirror geographic patterns of genome-wide diversity in Indian populations.

Effects of large-scale deforestation on precipitation in the monsoon regions: Remote versus local effects

In this paper, using idealized climate model simulations, we investigate the biogeophysical effects of large-scale deforestation on monsoon regions. We find that the remote forcing from large-scale deforestation in the northern middle and high latitudes shifts the Intertropical Convergence Zone southward. This results in a significant decrease in precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere monsoon regions (East Asia, North America, North Africa, and South Asia) and moderate precipitation increases in the Southern Hemisphere monsoon regions (South Africa, South America, and Australia). The magnitude of the monsoonal precipitation changes depends on the location of deforestation, with remote effects showing a larger influence than local effects. The South Asian Monsoon region is affected the most, with 18% decline in precipitation over India. Our results indicate that any comprehensive assessment of afforestation/reforestation as climate change mitigation strategies should carefully evaluate the remote effects on monsoonal precipitation alongside the large local impacts on temperatures.

Inter-comparison and performance evaluation of chemistry transport models over Indian region

Aerosol loading over the South Asian region has the potential to affect the monsoon rainfall, Himalayan glaciers and regional air-quality, with implications for the billions in this region. While field campaigns and network observations provide primary data, they tend to be location/season specific. Numerical models are useful to regionalize such location-specific data. Studies have shown that numerical models underestimate the aerosol scenario over the Indian region, mainly due to shortcomings related to meteorology and the emission inventories used. In this context, we have evaluated the performance of two such chemistry-transport models: WRF-Chem and SPRINTARS over an India-centric domain. The models differ in many aspects including physical domain, horizontal resolution, meteorological forcing and so on etc. Despite these differences, both the models simulated similar spatial patterns of Black Carbon (BC) mass concentration, (with a spatial correlation of 0.9 with each other), and a reasonable estimates of its concentration, though both of them under-estimated vis-a-vis the observations. While the emissions are lower (higher) in SPRINTARS (WRF-Chem), overestimation of wind parameters in WRF-Chem caused the concentration to be similar in both models. Additionally, we quantified the under-estimations of anthropogenic BC emissions in the inventories used these two models and three other widely used emission inventories. Our analysis indicates that all these emission inventories underestimate the emissions of BC over India by a factor that ranges from 1.5 to 2.9. We have also studied the model simulations of aerosol optical depth over the Indian region. The models differ significantly in simulations of AOD, with WRF-Chem having a better agreement with satellite observations of AOD as far as the spatial pattern is concerned. It is important to note that in addition to BC, dust can also contribute significantly to AOD. The models differ in simulations of the spatial pattern of mineral dust over the Indian region. We find that both meteorological forcing and emission formulation contribute to these differences. Since AOD is column integrated parameter, description of vertical profiles in both models, especially since elevated aerosol layers are often observed over Indian region, could be also a contributing factor. Additionally, differences in the prescription of the optical properties of BC between the models appear to affect the AOD simulations. We also compared simulation of sea-salt concentration in the two models and found that WRF-Chem underestimated its concentration vis-a-vis SPRINTARS. The differences in near-surface oceanic wind speeds appear to be the main source of this difference. In-spite of these differences, we note that there are similarities in their simulation of spatial patterns of various aerosol species (with each other and with observations) and hence models could be valuable tools for aerosol-related studies over the Indian region. Better estimation of emission inventories could improve aerosol-related simulations. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Status of the biodiversity of St. Martin's Island, Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh

A total of 234 species of fish have been recorded from the St Martin Island. Of which, 98 species are coral associated. The total number of recorded mollusc and crab species stands at 187 and 7 species respectively. A total of 66 coral species were recorded, of which 19 are fossil corals, 36 living corals and the rest are under 6 families of subclass Octocorallia (soft corals). A total of 14 species of algae have been recorded from the St. Martin's Island. There is an estimated amount of 1500 MT red sea weed biomass available around the St. Martin's Island. The island contains some of the most unique, benthic community associations in Bangladesh, not found anywhere else in the South Asian region. The unique marine communities have very high scientific value for research and monitoring and there are only a few examples worldwide, where coral-algal communities dominate rocky reefs. The economy of the island is based on fishing. It is estimated that, about 1650 MT of fish are caught annually. Over-exploitation of renewable marine and coastal resources (e.g., rocky reef fisheries, coral and shell extraction; removal of coastal vegetation from inter-tidal and sub-tidal habitats) is a major threat to this ecosystem. Destructive fishing practices, mainly the use of rock-weighted gill nets over the inshore boulder reefs is of prime aggravates. Proper implementation of the rules and regulation for Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA's), alternative livelihood for the local people and further research should be immediately taken for sustainable utilization and to save the rich biodiversity of the only coral island in Bangladesh.

The study and production of fish sauce from Caspian Sea lam fish with traditional fermentation method and microbe and enzyme adding method and identification of important bacteria

Fish sauce is a popular fermented product used in south Asian countries which is made from different small fishes in this research work it was attempted to produce fish sauce from kilka of the Caspian sea, the fish sauce was made from three models of kilka ,such as whole kilka , cooked whole kilka and dressed kilka , each of these models treated it four different fashions of fermentation such as:1- Traditional method, 2- Enzymatic method 3- Microbial method, 4- Mixture of enzyme and microb The results of this investigation showed that time of fermentation for the traditional method was six month, enzymatic method one month, microbial method 3 month and the mixture of enzyme and microb 1 month. The rate of fermentation was least for dressed Kilka, microbial and biochemical changes of Kilka fish sauce were evaluated, total bacterial count was 2.1-6.15 log cfu/ml total volatile nitrogen (TVN) in samples recorded was 250 mg /100g, the amount of protein varied between 10-13 percent, the name of commercial enzymes added was Protamex and Flavourzyme, the bacteria added was L act ob acillus and Pediococous, fish sauce containers fish and 20% salt, temperature of keeping for fermentation was 37 degree c for 6 month.

Sikh Sabad Kirtan as a Musical Construction of Memory

The performance of devotional music in India has been an active, sonic conduit where spiritual identities are shaped and forged, and both history and mythology lived out and remembered daily. For the followers of Sikhism, congregational hymn singing has been the vehicle through which text, melody and ritual act as repositories of memory, elevating memory to a place where historical and social events can be reenacted and memorialized on levels of spiritual significance. This dissertation investigates the musical process of Shabad Kirtan, Sikh hymn singing, in a Sikh musical service as a powerful vehicle to forge a sense of identification between individual and the group. As an intimate part of Sikh life from birth to death, the repertoire of Shabad Kirtan draws from a rich mosaic of classical and folk genres as well as performance styles, acting as a musical and cognitive archive. Through a detailed analysis of the Asa Di Var service, Shabad Kirtan is explored as a phenomenological experience where time, place and occasion interact as a meaningful unit through which the congregation creates and recreates themselves, invoking deep memories and emotional experiences. Supported by explanatory tables, diagrams and musical transcriptions, the sonic movements of the service show how the Divine Word as Shabad is not only embodied through the Guru Granth Sahib, but also encountered through the human enactment of the service, aurally, viscerally and phenomenologically.

A test of the extended intergroup contact hypothesis: The mediating role of intergroup anxiety, perceived ingroup and outgroup norms, and inclusion of the outgroup in the self

S. C. Wright, A. Aron, T. McLaughlin-Volpe, and S. A. Ropp (1997) proposed that the benefits associated with cross-group friendship might also stem from vicarious experiences of friendship. Extended contact was proposed to reduce prejudice by reducing intergroup anxiety, by generating perceptions of positive ingroup and outgroup norms regarding the other group, and through inclusion of the outgroup in the self. This article documents the first test of Wright et al.'s model, which used structural equation modeling among two independent samples in the context of South Asian-White relations in the United Kingdom. Supporting the model, all four variables mediated the relationship between extended contact and outgroup attitude, controlling for the effect of direct contact. A number of alternative models were ruled out, indicating that the four mediators operate concurrently rather than predicting one another.