Pratham

BackgroundThyroiditis encompasses a range of inflammatory conditions affecting the thyroid gland. Lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT) is a common form of thyroiditis, with acute suppuration of the thyroid, while tuberculous thyroiditis is relatively rare. Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) remains a safe and cost-effective tool for diagnosing thyroid-related diseases, especially when paired with ultrasound (US) and clinical examination.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study including 21 cases. The cases were reported as thyroiditis on US and FNAC, and the findings were correlated with patient clinical history, symptoms during presentation, and serological profiles.ResultsThe cases of thyroiditis encompassed the more common forms, LT and subacute granulomatous thyroiditis (SAT), as well as relatively rare forms like tuberculous thyroiditis and thyroid abscess. Cases of follicular neoplasms (FN) arising in the context of LT also are included in this study. The case of tuberculous thyroiditis presented as a bulky thyroid gland that appeared heterogeneous on US with extensive necrosis on FNAC. The cases of thyroid abscess and SAT presented with painful neck swellings, with granulomas in the latter cases. US features of LT showed an array of appearances ranging from pseudonodular to an atrophic thyroid gland. All cases of FN showed a lymphocytic background.ConclusionsThyroiditis is a commonly encountered condition that needs to be sub-categorized accurately into acute, subacute, and chronic types for appropriate clinical management, as they can sometimes show overlapping features. Though rare, acute suppurative and tuberculous thyroiditis are often encountered and warrant immediate care and treatment.

In this manuscript, we demonstrate a Context Aware Translation Suggestion system that assists humans in translating English stories to other languages by suggesting translations for words and phrases present in a sentence, in real-time. This system can also recommend two separate complexity levels of translation for the same meaning of a word or phrase in the target language, which lets the translator maintain the consistency of the storybooks with their level when translating from English into other languages. In addition to this, parallel corpora have been created for two Indian languages that map English words or phrases with translated words in Odia and Assamese. We have achieved a state-of-the-art accuracy for the suggestions. This system can be used as an assisted language translation for the translation of English stories to other underserved Indian languages.

A majority of children in India are enrolled in schools; but are they learning well? Building on Pratham’s ‘Learning to Read’ methodology interventions to do away with the disconnect between schooling and basic learning, the Hybrid Learning initiative encourages discovery based learning of children in grades 5 through 8. This intervention focuses on digitally-aided group based ‘Learning to Learn’ activities in partnership with 400 local communities in three Indian states, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. This chapter outlines the participatory nature of the experiment with 26,000 child participants. Following the Participatory Action Research (PAR) philosophy, the flexible design of the program facilitates the intimate interaction between researchers and children who are invested in the decision making process. The Hybrid Learning experiment enquires into scalable solutions to overcome two primary barriers of quality learning across rural parts of India—poor access to materials and the absence of a learner-centric learning environment.

Background:Nephrotic syndrome, a primarily paediatric disease, is associated with a high relapse rate. Studies have reported behavioral and psychological difficulties in children with nephrotic syndrome, their caregivers and siblings, a factor that is likely to influence the overall outcome of the disease in an adverse manner. In clinical practice, however, the psychosocial aspects of care may be overlooked in the pressure to treat the disease process, unless their importance is stressed by appropriate evidence.Objectives:The study aims to assess the prevalence of behavior abnormalities in children with nephrotic syndrome attending the renal clinic of a state medical college in eastern India and to compare this with the prevalence in a control group of school children without any detectable physical illness. It also aims to explore the relationship between sociodemographic, disease, and treatment related variables and behavioral abnormalities in the nephrotic syndrome group.Materials and Methods:We assessed the prevalence of behavior abnormalities in 50 consecutive children with nephrotic syndrome attending the renal clinic of a state medical college and 51 school children as controls using the Developmental Psychopathology Checklist (DPCL). We also assessed the statistical association between sociodemographic, disease and treatment related variables and behavior profile in the nephrotic children group.Results:Prevalence of behavior disturbance in children with nephrotic syndrome was 68%, significantly higher than that in the control group (21.6%). The behavior abnormalities found in the nephrotic syndrome group were hyperkinesis, obsessive compulsive neurosis, conduct disorder, and emotional disorder, in that order. Frequency of relapse and low socioeconomic status showed significant association with presence of behavior disturbance in the nephrotic syndrome group. This association persisted even after adjusting for other sociodemographic, disease, and treatment related variables, including steroid therapy.