A study to evaluate and compare the expulsion and continuation rates of post placental insertion of Cu 375 and CuT 380A in Indian women at a premier hospital in New Delhi, India

Background: The Study was planned to evaluate and compare the expulsion and continuation rates of post placental insertion of Cu 375 and CuT380A in Indian women at Safdarjung Hospital New Delhi, after approval was obtained from Institutional Ethical committee.Methods: Study group consisted of 300 women, divided into two groups: Group A and Group B. The data was analysed by using ‘student “t” test/ non-parametric ‘Wilcoxon Mann Whitney’ for quantitative variables to evaluate the safety, efficacy and acceptability.Results: Mean age was 24.99 years (range: 19-35years), All women were married (off which 64% literate) and Mean parity in group A was 1.97 and 2.06 in group B. Mean pain score during intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) insertion on visual analogue scale was 2.93 in group A and 3 in group B and was not statistically different. 84% women completed 12 months follow up in group A and 83.33% women in group B. Strings were visible in 74% women in group A and in 34% women in group B at 1 month of IUCD insertion. Visibility of strings increased in successive follow up visits and was visible in >80% of women at the end of one year in the both groups. String visibility after intra-Caesarean insertion was delayed. Fifty one percent (n=77) subjects in group A and 54% (n=81) in group B experienced amenorrhea up to six months. Menorrhagia was reported in 7.33% in group A and women 8.66% in group B at the end of 1 year of follow up. Pain was complained by 26 out of 150 (17.3%) women in group A as compared to 36 out of 150 (24%) women in group B after 1 month of insertion. There was no case of PID in group A whereas there were 3 cases of PID in group B. There was no perforation/trauma and pregnancy in either group.Conclusions: Overall expulsion rate was 13% and removal rate was 5% in our study. Continuation rate was 83.3% in Cu 375 and 80.6% in CuT380A at 12 months. There was no significant difference between the IUCDs regarding the safety, efficacy and complications such as expulsion, bleeding etc

Solar Photovoltaic panels utilization to extract clean and green energy for utility application using PVsyst software: A Bibliometric Review

This paper presents a survey on educational documents in the field of solar photovoltaic (PV) utilization to extract clean and green energy. The main purpose of this bibliometric analysis is to understand the size of the available documents for the research of PV solar panel utilization using PVsyst. This detailed review was conducted in the PV research, literature considering all subjects from the Scopus database. The pattern for the specific arrangement of keywords was separated with the recovered results from the Scopus database, publication type, year of publication, distribution conveyance by nations, subject classes, association, authors, and financing organizations. It was discovered from the close examination that mainly conferences, articles, and review papers from the United States of America, India, and Spain have significant contributions in publication. The time series dataset started in 1999 till date. Major contributions are from the branches of Engineering and Energy, Material Science, Physics, and Astronomy

Organizational Midline Study: Bagerhat, Bangladesh

This report summarizes the findings from the Organizational Midline Study (OMS) carried out in August-September of 2019 in Bagerhat, Bangladesh. The interviews were conducted with the same 10 organizations interviewed during the Organizational Baseline Study (OBS). The organizations are all still working directly with farmers in Bagerhat, Bangladesh

Midline Household Survey Results: Bagerhat, Bangladesh

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, with the collaboration of WorldFish Bangladesh, carried out the household midline surveys in 2019 in the Morrelganj Upazila area of the Bagherhat district, Khulna division. A total of 140 household surveys were administered in 7 villages, namely Gabgachhia, Chak Vatkhali, Uttar Sutalori, Chak Putikhali, Dharadoha, Gazalia and Borshibaoa. The survey was conducted using the open data kit (ODK) on Android devices, in this case smartphones and tablets. The household questionnaire was translated into the local language, Bangla, and the field enumerators were trained for a week in July 2019. The questionnaires were then field- tested to assess the adequacy of the language used and to further develop the capacities of the enumerators. The regional team leader and the on-site team leader monitored the field survey activities and checked the quality of data regularly. The midline survey gathered information at the household-level on agricultural practices, changes made on those over time and in particular since the baseline, sources of weather, climate and agriculture related information, livelihood/agriculture/natural resource management strategies pursued and the current risk management, mitigation and adaptation practices adopted. The survey also collected information on each household’s demography and characteristics, including asset ownership and livelihood type

Village Midline Study: Khulna, Morrelganj, Bangladesh

The Gabgachhia village is located in the coastal region of Bangladesh’s Khulna district. It is one of the seven villages selected for the CCAFS midline household survey. The village was also selected for the village midline study (VMS). The community has witnessed multiple changes in resources, institutional setting, infrastructure and organizational activities, especially surrounding natural resources management as well as on food security issues, farming systems development and management. These changes might be attributable to a combination of factors among which population increase, different resource utilization and mobilization patterns, adoption of new varieties and as responses to climate change impacts. Although forests have been depleted, there are some initiatives to support roadside plantation and social forestry. The low productivity in farmlands due to rising salinity, flooding and the cultivation of inappropriate crop varieties has improved since the baseline with soil salinity problems lessening with time. The farmlands are usually rain-fed but initiatives for better irrigation with sluice-gate operations improved the situation and farmers reported adopting improved varieties. The drinking water situation is reported to have improved. However, in order to meet higher demands for water, the community has to collect significant amounts of water from around the area and from more distant communities. Initiatives to harvest rainwater and conserve water for the winter season are reported to have gained in popularity. Infrastructure is also reported to have improved but to not be enough to withstand population and environment pressures. Subsistence farming of rice, ‘gher’-farming, as well as some fruit and vegetables production, aquaculture and limited poultry and livestock production are reported to be the main sources of food in Gabgachhia village. Improvement in available income generating opportunities, farming practices, agricultural production and in access to drinking water, as well as the setting up of a mother care centre, better education facilities for future generations, and finally, fully functioning canals and a greener environment were core aspects of the village’s vision for the future. Many organizations are working in and around the village and beyond, representing the government, NGOs, private sector and international entities as well as community organizations. The organizations identified in the village focused on religion, education, health, income generation, loans, local governance, agriculture, fisheries, water and disasters response. The local government is central in providing and coordinating development activities and services. The community’s organizations strongly support mosques and schools among others. Several organizations were reported to target food security related issues and improved nutrition, access to finance, capacity building for income generation, and water management. Some organizations were reported to shift their focus and provide assistance when a disaster or crisis occurred by providing food, clothing, drinking water, medicine and financial support to construct houses. The community also identified a handful of organizations addressing natural resource management, with a focus on water management infrastructure, biodiversity conservation, aquaculture and agroforestry training, and the provision of tree saplings. The analysis of linkages within and between organizations pointed out high levels of vertical linkages within organizations but limited horizontal linkages due to a lack of coordination between organizations. The organizations were noted to focus on their own efforts and to not engage with other institutions beyond the local government. Organizational support is provided on a regular basis and is especially active in times of needs. Yet, the lack of coordination and limited resources remain important constraints. The participants in the village midline study also reported on their means of access to information and provided details on their sources of information for weather, agriculture, livestock/poultry, aquaculture and disasters and other crisis related issues. Both formal and informal sources were noted to be popular in the community with the majority of information being shared between neighbours or acquired through the radio and television and through the government and local administration

Heterologous production of curcuminoids

Curcuminoids, components of the rhizome of turmeric, show several beneficial biological activities, including anticarcinogenic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activities. Despite their numerous pharmaceutically important properties, the low natural abundance of curcuminoids represents a major drawback for their use as therapeutic agents. Therefore, they represent attractive targets for heterologous production and metabolic engineering. The understanding of biosynthesis of curcuminoids in turmeric made remarkable advances in the last decade, and as a result, several efforts to produce them in heterologous organisms have been reported. The artificial biosynthetic pathway (e.g., in Escherichia coli) can start with the supplementation of the amino acid tyrosine or phenylalanine or of carboxylic acids and lead to the production of several natural curcuminoids. Unnatural carboxylic acids can also be supplemented as precursors and lead to the production of unnatural compounds with possibly novel therapeutic properties. In this paper, we review the natural conversion of curcuminoids in turmeric and their production by E. coli using an artificial biosynthetic pathway. We also explore the potential of other enzymes discovered recently or already used in other similar biosynthetic pathways, such as flavonoids and stilbenoids, to increase curcuminoid yield and activity.We acknowledge financial support from the Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013, project reference RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (project number FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), project SYNBIOBACTHER (PTDC/EBB-BIO/102863/2008), and a doctoral grant (SFRH/BD/51187/ 2010) to J. L. Rodrigues, funded by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia. We thank the MIT-Portugal Program for support given to J. L. Rodrigues

Redirecting research efforts on the diversification-performance linkage: The search for synergy

We review the literature on the diversification-performance (D-P) relationship to a) propose that the time is ripe for a renewed attack on understanding the relationship between diversification and firm performance, and b) outline a new approach to attacking the question. Our paper makes four main contributions. First, through a review of the literature we establish the inherent complexities in the D-P relationship and the methodological challenges confronted by the literature in reaching its current conclusion of a non-linear relationship between diversification and performance. Second, we argue that to better guide managers the literature needs to develop along a complementary path – whereas past research has often focused on answering the big question of does diversification affect firm performance, this second path would focus more on identifying the precise micro-mechanisms through which diversification adds or subtracts value. Third, we outline a new approach to the investigation of this topic, based on (a) identifying the precise underlying mechanisms through which diversification affects performance; (b) identifying performance outcomes that are “proximate” to the mechanism that the researcher is studying, and (c) identifying an appropriate research design that can enable a causal claim. Finally, we outline a set of directions for future research