How Smartphones Can Bring About a Developmental Breakthrough in Agriculture

Modern smartphones come with high computing power, a variety of sensors and customization abilities that allow creation of a range of practical applications (apps). These features, coupled with the mobility and accessibility in terms of cost that smartphones offer, make them a potential game-changer for smallholder farmers in developing countries, particularly for these farmers’ information needs. Smartphones can also make accessing government benefits, land records and crop survey requirements etc. more convenient for farmers. This paper explores how smartphones can be used in different ways, right from production planning to eventual sale of crop. Advanced applications like IoTs, drone use in conjunction with smartphones and design and willingness to pay aspects have also been covered. We believe that given the contemporary trends of robust low-cost devices (e.g., the JioPhone Next etc.) coupled with competitive data tariffs, smartphone use in agriculture will be beneficial for Indian farmers. In fact, the Indian experience can boost similar developments in the developing world, particularly in Africa

Recent Approaches of Intranasal to Brain Drug Delivery System

While the intranasal administration of drugs to the brain has been gaining both research attention and regulatory success over the past several years, key fundamental and translational challenges remain to fully leveraging the promise of this drug delivery pathway for improving the treatment of various neurological and psychiatric illnesses. In response, this review highlights the current state of understanding of the nose-to-brain drug delivery pathway and how both biological and clinical barriers to drug transport using the pathway can been addressed, as illustrated by demonstrations of how currently approved intranasal sprays leverage these pathways to enable the design of successful therapies. Moving forward, aiming to better exploit the understanding of this fundamental pathway, we also outline the development of nanoparticle systems that show improvement in delivering approved drugs to the brain and how engineered nanoparticle formulations could aid in breakthroughs in terms of delivering emerging drugs and therapeutics while avoiding systemic adverse effects

The Elephant’s Tail of VAPP, VDPV in the Polio End Game

A lot have been achieved by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988 after World Health Assembly passed the resolution to eradicate polio. Today, we have decreased the global polio incidence by 99.9% since GPEIs started working. We still have to remove polio from the few leftover pockets and get rid of the final 0.1% of polio cases. We have gained in positive terms that an estimated 16 million people today are walking and more than 1.5 million are alive because of the stakeholders’ strong, strategic and cooperative action. The journey to the last mile has some different difficulties and this article tries to provide additional insights into the strategies to achieve our goal of Polio eradication

Intersectoral Convergence and ICTs: Integrated ICT Approaches to Rural Poverty Reduction

As reforms have paved the way for India’s rapid economic expansion in recent years, particularly in the service sector, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has assumed a dominant role as the underwriter of India’s growth. Outside of the commercial applications where ICT has been most extensively applied so far, ICT also holds great potential to drive human development, narrowing gaps between the rich and the poor as well as rural and urban areas. In many development-adjacent sectors, particularly education, agriculture, and health, platforms and initiatives have already demonstrated ICT’s promise as a transformational suite of technologies which democratize information and dramatically reduce transaction costs. However, even greater progress is possible if initiatives apply an intersectoral approach which applies best practices from other sectors, highlights synergies between sectors, and identifies pitfalls stemming from hidden competition of priorities between sectors that could otherwise derail a project. Intersectoral analysis also recognizes how advances in the sectors under study contribute to growth in the broader economy. By applying an intersectoral lens, individual programs can be strengthened, new opportunities can be identified, and ICT can be more thoroughly woven into a tapestry that benefits all aspects of people’s lives. ICT-driven development has not entirely ignored intersectorality, but opportunities abound for improving these initiatives by applying a more holistic lens. In particular, the field of nutrition is most sorely in need of mainstreaming within the many different siloed development objectives that touch upon it. Data, the foundation of ICT, provides great opportunities for refining programs of all types, but also carries great risks to privacy and potentially social equality. And untapped synergies exist between the cutting-edge advances in the Education sector and educational initiatives in other sectors which have not benefited from the same intentional pedagogical design

FPGA Cluster based high performance Cryptanalysis framework

In this paper a ‘FPGA cluster’ based framework for high performance Cryptanalysis has been proposed. The framework abstracts underlying networked FPGA cluster into a unified acceleration resource. It does so by implementing requested amount of computation kernels (cryptographic modules) and managing efficient distribution of the network band-width between the inter-FPGA and intra-FPGA computation kernels. Further agile methodology for developing such networked computation kernels with use of a high level language (Python) based HDL library and seamless integration with a user space crypt analysis application have been discussed. 40-bit partial key attack over AES256 has been demonstrated as a capability demonstration. Performance higher than clustered CPUs and GPUs at lower costs and power is reported

Clinical and etiological spectrum of prolonged fever and special reference to HIV patients at a tertiary care centre

Background: Prolonged fever is a diagnostic challenge and will tend to remain so in times to come because of the changing spectrum of etiologies and influence of technology, environmental changes, and many other ill-understood factors which influence the etiological spectrum. Prolonged fever is also undergoing change in its duration. The aim of the present was study to determine the etiologies of prolonged fever in patients in India and to evaluate the clinical and etiological relationship between the diagnosis and patient’s laboratory data.Methods: Patients aged more 13 years with fever >38.3ºC for more than three weeks without apparent source after preliminary investigations were included prospectively over a period of twenty two months. Fever duration, symptom, signs, laboratory investigations and final diagnosis were recorded. The distribution of etiologies and age, fever duration, laboratory examinations, and associated symptoms and signs were analyzed.Results: Out of total of 86 patients were enrolled, fifty one (59.3%) were men. The median age was 28 years (range, 13-65 yr). Among 86 patients, diagnosis could be made in only 69 (80.2%) patients. Infections, neoplasms, NIIDs, miscellaneous causes were responsible for prolonged fever in 42 (48.8%), 18 (20.9%), 6 (7%), and 3 (3.5%) patients respectively. Seveteen (19.8%) cases remained undiagnosed, even after relevant investigations, six of them recovered spontaneously. Tuberculosis (TB) was the cause of prolonged fever in 21 (24.4%) patients.Conclusions: Infections, amongst which tuberculosis, remain the major cause of prolonged fever and its subset: fever of unknown origin (FUO), in this country. The percent of undiagnosed cases appears to be identical worldwide

BCS Class II Drug & Its Solubility Enhancement: A Review

The objective of this review article is to summarize literature data pertinent to potential excipient effects on intestinal drug permeability and transit. Despite the use of excipients in drug products for decades, considerable research efforts have been directed towards evaluating their potential effects on drug bioavailability. Potential excipient concerns stem from drug formulation changes (e.g., scale-up and post-approval changes, development of a new generic product). Regulatory agencies have established in vivo bioequivalence standards and, as a result, may waive the in vivo requirement, known as a biowaiver, for some oral products. Biowaiver acceptance criteria are based on the in vitro characterization of the drug substance and drug product using the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS). Various regulatory guidance documents have been issued regarding BCS-based biowaivers, such that the current FDA guidance is more restrictive than prior guidance, specifically about excipient risk. In particular, sugar alcohols have been identified as potential absorption-modifying excipients. These biowaivers and excipient risks are discussed here

ICT-Driven Development in India and Africa

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has developed into one of the most significant tools at India’s disposal for confronting challenges of development and poverty alleviation. In particular, ICT has proven useful when applied to the fields of agriculture, education, health, governance, and urban development. In recent years, numerous African countries have likewise introduced ICT solutions to various development challenges. While these initiatives have made great contributions, African countries interested in improving their ICT for development programs would greatly benefit from strategic and technical cooperation with India. India faces similar development challenges in an environment of high geographical, social, and economic diversity, making it an ideal testbed for developing interventions which scale in the developing world. Programs which have proven themselves in this context could likely be smoothly adopted to the African context, accelerating the pace of development for African ICT solutions. Ideally, India and Africa could cooperate not just on developing individual platforms, but on formulating an ethical and strategic framework for ICT-driven development which encourages inclusion, respects privacy, and shapes both regions to meet the future demands of the global economy