Behavior science led technology for financial wellness

Financial wellness is regarded as a significant constituent of the overall well-being of individuals. Financial wellbeing is defined as having financial security and freedom of choice, in the present and in the future. This has a direct correlation to overall wellbeing: including productivity experienced at work, quality of relationship, quality of health and hence quality of life. Financial wellness is also challenging as everyone desires to achieve a state of wellness while the pathways to its achievement are not straightforward and can be easily overwhelming to many. In the Indian context, recent reports point to the fact that financial wellness emerges as a top stressor for a majority of people which has also heightened due to the pandemic. A lack of financial wellness thus emerges as a major problem in the country. The prevalence of concerns on financial wellness in fact, is witnessed across the globe. An approach to ameliorating this is through the field of behavioral finance which has uncovered many behavioral biases and barriers which impact how financial decisions are taken. Examples include lack of awareness of financial needs or awareness of the right products, lack of self-control, confusion in making financial choices or being unable to save/invest at the right time. To address this, we present a holistic and hyper-personalized approach that combines technology and behavioral science to influence financial behavior. The solution aims at enhancing financial wellness of individuals using behavioral levers and nudges. This combines two aspects: (1) an engaging user interface at the front-end and (2) a customer insights/behavioral analytics and intervention recommendation system at the back end that suggests appropriate hyper-personalized actionable steps to the user. The solution helps users to visualize their financial needs, set financial goals and receive appropriate personalized nudges to help them in implementing financial plans as they go through various phases of career/life stages. We present our thoughts on how financial wellness can be extended to address financial inclusion in India.

Punica granatum as a salutiferous superfruit in the treatment of oral candidiasis - An in-vitro study

Context

The rise in the incidence of clinical resistance to antifungal therapy and failure to respond in recent years underscores the need for a time-honored approach to treat the disease using natural drugs instead of synthetic drugs, which have lesser adverse effects and good patient response. Punica granatum (pomegranate) is a fruit that has admirable medicinal value.

Aims

The study aimed to evaluate the in vitro antifungal efficacy of P. granatum peel extract against oral Candida compared with clotrimazole.

Settings and Design

The study design involves an in-vitro study.

Subjects and Methods

Saliva from candidiasis patients was inoculated and cultured on 60 separate Sabouraud dextrose agar plates and incubated at 37°C for 48 h from which Candida species were collected. Agar well-diffusion method was followed. Different concentrations of P. granatum peel extracts, ethanol solvent (control) and standard clotrimazole were added into the wells and allowed to diffuse at room temperature for 2 h. The plates were incubated at 37°C for 48 h. The antifungal potential of test compounds was determined based on the mean diameter of the zone of inhibition around the well in millimeters.

Statistical Analysis Used

Statistical analysis was performed using IBM software SPSS version 20 at one-way ANOVA.

Results

Antifungal efficacies of P. granatum peel extract and clotrimazole were statistically significant, and there was an increase in inhibitory efficacy with an increase in concentration. Minimum inhibitory concentration of P. granatum peel extract approximated with that of clotrimazole.

Conclusions

The results of this study indicate that P. granatum peel extract can be used as an effective natural substitute for synthetic antifungal agents.

Continuing care for cancer pain relief with oral morphine solution. One-year experience in a regional cancer center

This report is a prospective study of 223 patients with intractable cancer pain who were offered continuing care during the year 1988 at the Pain Relief Unit, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore, India, with a minimum follow-up of 4 months and a maximum follow-up of 16 months. A high percentage of pain relief was attained within a mean duration of 4 days, which on follow-up was maintained at a steady level in most patients (91.1%). Oral morphine could not be continued in three patients because of vomiting. The main side effects noticed were nausea and vomiting, itching, and constipation. At any time during the first 140 days, only 30% of patients had side effects and appropriate medication successfully managed these side effects. During the rest of the study period, the side effects were minimal. Oral morphine used with proper adjuncts offers the best pain palliation in most patients, with minimal side effects.