Georeferenced soil information system: assessment of database

Land-use planning is a decision-making process that facilitates the allocation of land to different uses that provide optimal and sustainable benefit. As land-use is shaped by society–nature interaction, in land-use planning different components/facets play a significant role involving soil, water, climate, animal (ruminant/ non-ruminant) and others, including forestry and the environment needed for survival of mankind. At times these components are moderated by human interference. Thus land-use planning being a dynamic phenomenon is not guided by a single factor, but by a complex system working simultaneously,which largely affects the sustainability. To address such issues a National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) on ‘Georeferenced soil information system for land-use planning and monitoring soil and land quality for agriculture’ was undertaken to develop threshold values of land quality parameters for land-use planning through quantitative land evaluation and crop modelling for dominant cropping systems in major agro-ecological sub-regions (AESRs) representing rice–wheat cropping system in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and deep-rooted crops in the black soil regions (BSR). To assess the impact of landuse change, threshold land quality indicator values are used. A modified AESR map for agricultural landuse planning is generated for effective land-use planning

Soil information system: use and potentials in humid and semi-arid tropics

The articles presented in this special section emanated from the researches of consortium members of the National Agricultural Innovative Project (NAIP, Component 4) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. These researches have helped develop a soil information system (SIS). In view of the changing scenario all over the world, the need of the hour is to get assistance from a host of researchers specialized in soils, crops, geology, geography and information technology to make proper use of the datasets. Equipped with the essential knowledge of data storage and retrieval for management recommendations, these experts should be able to address the issues of land degradation, biodiversity, food security, climate change and ultimately arrive at an appropriate agricultural land-use planning. Moreover, as the natural resource information is an essential prerequisite for monitoring and predicting global environmental change with special reference to climate and land use options, the SIS needs to be a dynamic exercise to accommodate temporal datasets, so that subsequently it should result in the evolution of the soil information technology. The database developed through this NAIP would serve as an example of the usefulness of the Consortium and the research initiative of ICAR involving experts from different fields to find out the potentials of the soils of humid and semi-arid bioclimatic systems of the country

Mortality of civilian patients with suspected traumatic haemorrhage receiving pre-hospital transfusion of packed red blood cells compared to pre-hospital crystalloid

Background Major haemorrhage is a leading cause of mortality following major trauma. Increasingly, Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) in the United Kingdom provide pre-hospital transfusion with blood products, although the evidence to support this is equivocal. This study compares mortality for patients with suspected traumatic haemorrhage transfused with pre-hospital packed red blood cells (PRBC) compared to crystalloid. Methods A single centre retrospective observational cohort study between 1 January 2010 and 1 February 2015. Patients triggering a pre-hospital Code Red activation were eligible. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 6 hours and 28 days, including a sub-analysis of patients receiving a major and massive transfusion. Multivariable regression models predicted mortality. Multiple Imputation (MI) was employed, and logistic regression models were constructed for all imputed datasets. Results The crystalloid (n= 103) and PRBC (n= 92) group were comparable for demographics, Injury Severity Score (p= 0.67) and mechanism of injury (p= 0.74). Observed 6 hour mortality was smaller in the PRBC group (n= 10, 10%) compared to crystalloid group (n= 19, 18%). Adjusted OR was not statistically significant (OR 0.48, CI 0.19-1.19, p= 0.11). Observed mortality at 28 days was smaller in the PRBC group (n= 21, 27%) compared to crystalloid group (n= 31, 40%), p= 0.09. Adjusted OR was not statistically significant (OR 0.66, CI 0.32-1.35, p= 0.26). A statistically significant greater proportion of the crystalloid group required a major transfusion (n= 62, 63%) compared to the PRBC group (n= 41, 46%), p= 0.02. For patients requiring a massive transfusion observed mortality was smaller in the PRBC group at 28 days (p= 0.07). Conclusion In a single centre UK HEMS study, in patients with suspected traumatic haemorrhage who received a PRBC transfusion there was an observed, but non-significant, reduction in mortality at 6 hours and 28 days, also reflected in a massive transfusion subgroup. Patients receiving pre-hospital PRBC were significantly less likely to require an in-hospital major transfusion. Further adequately powered multi-centre prospective research is required to establish the optimum strategy for pre-hospital volume replacement in patients with traumatic haemorrhage.</p

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Not AvailableIt has been found that soil organic carbon (SOC) is very easily oxidized in the oven during analysis through C/N analyzer. There is no literatures on the relative effects of CaCO3 in the determination of total C in soils. To avoid,effects, if any, we have developed separate methods for calcareous and non-calcareous soils. It is hoped that, with aprior knowledge of soil-site, a suitable method can be chosen for both these types of soils to determine C and N in soils.Not Availabl

A new butenolide cinnamate and other biological active chemical constituents from <i>Polygonum glabrum</i>

<div><p>Phytochemical investigation of the methanol extract of the aerial parts of <i>Polygonum glabrum</i> afforded one new natural product ( − )-2-methoxy-2-butenolide-3-cinnamate (<b>1</b>) along with six known compounds, β-hydroxyfriedalanol (<b>2</b>), 3-hydroxy-5-methoxystilbene (<b>3</b>), ( − ) pinocembrin (<b>4</b>), sitosterol-(6′-<i>O</i>-palmitoyl)-3-<i>O</i>-β-d-glucopyranoside (<b>5</b>), ( − ) pinocembrin-5-methyl ether (<b>6</b>) and sitosterol-3-<i>O</i>-β-d-glucopyranoside (<b>7</b>). Compound <b>1</b> showed promising <i>in vitro</i> anti-HIV-1 activity against primary isolates HIV-1_UG070 (X4, subtype D) and HIV-1_VB59 (R5, subtype C) assayed using TZM-bl cell line with IC₅₀ in the range of 15.68–22.43 μg/mL. The extract showed TI in the range of 19.19–27.37 with IC₅₀ in the range of 10.90–15.55 μg/mL. Compounds <b>1</b>, <b>3</b> and <b>4</b> exhibited <i>in vitro</i> anti-mycobacterium activity against <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> H37Ra with IC₅₀ values of 1.43, 3.33 and 1.11 μg/mL in dormant phase and 2.27, 3.33 and 1.21 μg/mL in active phase, respectively. Compound <b>4</b> was found to be the most active antiproliferative with IC₅₀ values of 1.88–11.00 μg/mL against THP-1, A549, Panc-1, HeLa and MCF7 cell lines.</p></div

Acetone and methanol fruit extracts of <i>Terminalia paniculata</i> inhibit HIV-1 infection <i>in vitro</i>

<p>In this study, we report the <i>in vitro</i> anti-HIV1 activity of acetone and methanol extracts of fruit of <i>Terminalia paniculata</i>. Cytotoxicity tests were conducted on TZM-bl cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), the CC₅₀ values of both the extracts were ≥260 μg/mL. Using TZM-bl cells, the extracts were tested for their ability to inhibit replication of two primary isolates HIV-1 (X4, Subtype D) and HIV-1 (R5, Subtype C). The activity against HIV-1 primary isolate (R5, Subtype C) was confirmed using activated PBMC and by quantification of HIV-1 p24 antigen. Both the extracts showed anti-HIV1 activity in a dose-dependent manner. The EC₅₀ values of the acetone and methanol extracts of <i>T. paniculata</i> were ≤10.3 μg/mL. The enzymatic assays were performed to determine the mechanism of action which indicated that the anti-HIV1 activity might be due to inhibition of reverse transcriptase (≥77.7% inhibition) and protease (≥69.9% inhibition) enzymes.</p

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Not AvailableIt has been found that soil organic carbon (SOC) is very easily oxidized in the oven during analysis through C/N analyzer. There is no literatures on the relative effects of CaCO3 in the determination of total C in soils. To avoid, effects, if any, we have developed separate methods for calcareous and non-calcareous soils. It is hoped that, with a prior knowledge of soil-site, a suitable method can be chosen for both these types of soils to determine C and N in soils.Not Availabl