indian council of medical research - Pondicherry University DSpace ...

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
"No man is an island, entire of itserf;.
every man is a piem of the continent,
apart of the main'!
(John Donne)
Any work, be it ever so humble, awes its completion to the unstinted help, advice and
cooperatiotr recerved from many persons throughout its gestation. I hereby wish to
acbowledge, with heartfelt gratitude and profound thanks, their contribution to the
preparation andsubmission of this manuscript and to the work that was its raison dItre.
Late Dr. Vjay Dan&, fotmer drrector of the VCRC, Pondicheny for redly accepting
me as a doctoral student in the VCRC and for his understandrng and bnhess in the
formative phases of the study and without whose help the project would not have bccn
initiated;
Dr. S.P. Pani, Deputy Director and Head, Division of Clinical Epidemrology VCRC, my
supervisor wrthout whose efforts nothing would have been possible. I have learnt a lot
regarding research methodology and the mtricacies of clinical epidemiolog~cal methoak
from him. His constant encouragement and well thought out comments have inspired me
towardr completion of the goal. It was a pleasure working with him. I will for ever
remember his patient and meticulous grndance;
Dr. P.K. Das, Director, VCRC for constant and continued encouragement,
ahrnrstrative and ir~stitutronal support;
Dr. P. Nalini, Professor of pedairics, JIPMER, my co-supervisor for her words of
adwce and encouragement during dg$jcult trmes;
Dr. M. Dhanabalan. Professor and Head, Department of Preventrve arrd Socral
Medicine atrd Dr. S. Srinivnsan, Professor and Head, Deparlmetrt of Pedratrrcs
JlPMm members ofthe Doctoral commrttee, for their critrcal comments;
Dr. Ajit Sahai and Dr. K.A. Narayanan, Professors of Preventive and Socral Medicore,
JIPMER, for their invaluable suggestions in designing the study;
Dr. K. D. Ramaiah atrd Mr. N. Ramu, VCRC, for their help m making me understartd
the rtrtncacies ofethtiographrc study and costing;
Mr. P. Vanamail and Ms. A. Srividya, VCRC, for help in choosing the appropale
statistical test for the analyses;