Menstrual hygiene practices among women aged 15-49 years attending a medical college hospital in Kolkata: A cross-sectional study.

Background And Aims: Menstruation is a normal physiological process and a key sign of reproductive health in women in the reproductive age group. Poor menstrual hygiene affects the educational activities as well as the day to day activities of women. The objective of this study is to assess the practices of menstrual hygiene among women aged 15-49 years attending a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata and to assess their knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene.

Direct Observation of Folding Energy Landscape of RNA Hairpin at Mechanical Loading Rates.

By applying a controlled mechanical load using optical tweezers, we measured the diffusive barrier crossing in a 49 nt long P5ab RNA hairpin. We find that in the free-energy landscape the barrier height (G) and transition distance (x) are dependent on the loading rate (r) along the pulling direction, x, as predicted by Bell. The barrier shifted toward the initial state, whereas ΔG reduced significantly from 50 to 5 kT, as r increased from 0 to 32 pN/s.