Strategic environmental assessment-A tool for sustainable development

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is the environmental assessment of policies, plans and programmes. It came in practice as an improvement over the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to assist in sound environmental decision-making. It integrates the socioeconomic values with the environmentally viable development for better decision making. The scope of SEA is pluralistic, diversified, multidisciplinary and inter-sectorial. Infrastructure development is the main activities of development for any nation. These days Highway infrastructure development is the concern of main focus in India. This paper describes the concept of SEA; the evolution of SEA; the relation between SEA and ElA; SEA and sustainability criteria; the benefits of SEA; and the general methodology to perform SEA, which can be adopted for the highway infrastructure projects for sustainable development. a�� -o؇F `oF margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:left;text-indent:0in;mso-char-indent-count:0'>Asso. Prof. & Head, Dept of Chemistry, RITEE, Raipur, India.&nbsp

Evaluation of analgesics use in orthopedic department at tertiary care hospital in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: Analgesics including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly prescribed group of drugs in clinical practice for the management of pain and inflammation. This study was carried out to evaluate the prescribing pattern of analgesics in orthopedic in-patient department of tertiary care teaching hospital at Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh).Methods: This hospital based cross-sectional study was carried out for 3 months from March to May 2015. Collected data included age, sex, diagnosis and line of management during the study. The generic name and the average cost of treatment per patient were evaluated using Indian Drug Review, 2014. The prescribed drugs were assessed with respective National Model List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2011 and the rationality of prescriptions was determined using the World Health Organization indicators of drug utilization. The patients' details were recorded in a data collection form and results were analysed by descriptive statistics.Results: Out of 400 patients, 246 were male and 154 were female. The average number of analgesic per prescription was 1.48. In this study, 52.5% of patients had received single analgesic. Diclofenac was the most commonly prescribed analgesic (45.39%). During hospitalization, majority of the patients have received parenteral preparation. Gastro protective agents and antimicrobials were frequently prescribed along with analgesics. Out of 584 analgesics prescribed, 356 (60.96%) were from the NLEM, India. Furthermore, 276 (47.26%) analgesics were prescribed by generic name. The average cost of treatment per patient was 2050.70 INR. Utilization of analgesic in terms of defined daily dose/100 bed-days was 102.06.Conclusions: The percentages of analgesics prescribing from NLEM and the use of analgesic by generic name were found satisfactory

GIS based modeling of socio-environmental impacts due to a highway development project- A case study

Infrastructure development is the basic need for economic development of a country. Highway is an important infrastructure for movement of goods and passenger traffic. In the recent years, the need for developing adequate road transportation infrastructure has been realized by Government of India and various state Governments.  Major road development projects have been formulated at national level in India. Analysis of socio-environmental impact is an essential component of environmental impact assessment (EIA) that is required for the planning of all major road projects. Most of the socio-environmental attributes are spatial in nature and for a rational assessment of these impacts it is necessary to quantify the impacts considering their spatial variations.In this paper a methodology is demonstrated with reference to a case study of highway development project in India, for the quantification of impact on individual socio-environmental attributes based on the perception of public in the influence area of the project, and the spatial variation of impacts is modeled using Geographic Information System (GIS). &nbsp

Physiological responses of the leaves of a high-altitude plant Picrorhiza kurroa to cold stress

Plants growing at high elevations experience different environmental stresses, such as drought, salt, and cold. Among them, cold stress is the most prevalent one that affects the plants differently. Plants undergo biochemical, metabolic, molecular, and physiological changes under cold stress; hence, they adopt various mechanisms to tolerate it. The antioxidant defence system, osmotic regulators, and photosynthetic pigments in the plant provide them with stress tolerance. The present study is conducted on a high-altitude plant, Picrorhiza kurroa, which grows in such environmental conditions, to study the physiological parameters that provide a coping mechanism against cold stress. For this study, the leaves were collected from Pothivasa (2200 m.a.s.l) and Tungnath (3600 m.a.s.l) in Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand, India. The photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoids), lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes, namely, superoxide dismutase, catalase, guaiacol peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and osmoprotectants (protein, soluble sugar, and proline) present in the leaves were determined to visualize the impact of cold stress. It was revealed that the concentration of photosynthetic pigments increased with elevation. The activity of enzymes was analyzed, and they were observed to decrease with altitude. The malondialdehyde concentration, an indicator of lipid peroxidation, is higher in Pothivasa and lower in Tungnath. There is a significant increase in the osmoprotectants’ content along the altitudinal gradient. Therefore, the leaves from both sampling locations revealed the physiological changes that occurred in them to adapt to the cold stress conditions

Survey Paper on IOT Enabled Technologies, Protocols and Smart Applications

This paper presents Internet of Things in a wider context with enabling key technologies, system architecture and the major application domains where the Internet of Things will play a vital role. IoT is enabled by the latest developments in (Radio Frequency Identification) RFID, Machine to Machine (M2M) communication, and Near Field Communication (NFC), sensors, actuators, mobile phones, etc. The current revolution in the communication field is the internet of things. In the world of new technologies RFID seemed to be necessary for the IoT. These technologies are used to implement the modern concept of IoT as explained in this paper. Including these technologies, IoT architecture and application of this existence technology, we have proposed an idea of unique identification. Using the Aadhaar card, the unique identification (UID) would be the solution of various fake schemes such as fake polling, fake identity etc. The Aadhaar card is a digital identity of unique 12 -16 digit alphanumeric number to provide more security digits which would not just help the government way down individuals, but also make life extreme easier for citizens. UID system helps to deal with people�s personal detail. This system would help to provide authenticated polling and makes our welfare system right for the every citizen of India using the IoT technology

Vision based UAV Navigation through Narrow Passages

This research paper presents a novel approach for navigating a micro UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) through narrow passages using only its onboard camera feed and a PID control system. The proposed method uses edge detection and homography techniques to extract the key features of the passage from the camera feed and then employs a tuned PID controller to guide the UAV through and out of the passage while avoiding collisions with the walls. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a series of experiments were conducted using a micro-UAV navigating in and out of a custom-built test environment (constrained rectangular box). The results demonstrate that the system is able to successfully guide the UAV through the passages while avoiding collisions with the walls.Comment: Currently under review in IEEE CASE 202

A cross sectional study to assess pharmacotherapeutic adherence among diabetes mellitus patients in tertiary care hospital

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) refers to a group of common metabolic disorders that associated with abnormalities in carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism which results in chronic complications. Attainment of optimal blood sugar level is generally based on appropriate usage and proper adherence to prescribed medications. The study was, therefore, aimed to assess adherence to oral antidiabetic drugs among diabetic patients attending outpatient clinic of L. L. R. Hospital, G.S.V.M. Medical College, Kanpur, U.P.Methods: Hospital based cross-sectional study design was conducted from April 2017 to June 2018. The data was collected by interviewing T2DM patients receiving antidiabetic medications using Morisky’s four item adherence assessment questionnaire. The collected data was processed and analyzed with SPSS version 20.Results: From the 126 patients of diabetes, when asked about adherence to their medications as per the Morisky's four item method, 114 (90.47%) of them did not forget to take the drugs, 108 (85.71%) of patients reported that they had been being careful in taking their medications, 90 (71.42%) patients did not stop medications when they felt better and the other 108 (85.71%) patients reported that they did not stop medications when they felt worse while taking medications. This study shows that 54 (42.86%) respondents were adherent to their medications.Conclusions: This study revealed a moderate level of adherence among the participants and statistically significantly depended upon their socioeconomic status. Efforts are needed to increase the medication adherence of these patients’, so they can realize the full advantage of prescribed therapies

Caesarean scar defect: a histopathological comparative study

Background: We have evaluated the validity of this syndrome in Indian patients and analysed the gynaecological indications for hysterectomy in women with history of caesarean sections. We have studied pathological changes in the scar area and compared the findings with matched cases without previous caesarean scar.Methods: A prospective observational case control study was done at tertiary care hospital (Seth GS Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital) over two years (December 2018 to December 2020) with universal sampling and enrolled all consenting eligible patients. After hysterectomy histopathological study of the specimens was done. Total cases: 16 hysterectomy samples with history of previous caesarean section. Total controls: 40 hysterectomy samples with history of no previous caesarean section. The difference between the two proportions was analysed using Chi square or Fisher exact test. All analysis was 2 tailed and the significance level was set at 0.05.Results: Women with history of previous caesarean scar had gynaecological symptoms related to the caesarean scar defect such as abnormal uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhea and chronic pelvic pain, post-menopausal bleeding and the most frequent clinical symptom related to the scar defect was abnormal uterine bleeding. The clinical symptoms were found to be associated with histopathological changes at scar site.Conclusions: This study compared caesarean cases and no caesarean controls and sheds light on the role of histopathology in detection of caesarean scar site changes. It helped in comparison of various factors affected due to the presence of caesarean scar and its long-term complications, leading to hysterectomy

Adverse events of albendazole due to mass drug administration

Background: Soil-transmitted helminths are mostly prevalent in developing countries due to poor sanitation and lack of adequate clean water. The present study examines adverse events (AEs) experienced following administration of albendazole to children (2-19 Years) at Uttarakhand on national de-worming day.Methods: Children were given single doses of albendazole on national de-worming day. Some of children experienced adverse events and were admitted in hospital of Govt Medical college Haldwani (Uttarakhand). Data were collected and analyzed.Results: Total twenty five children were admitted due to albendazole adverse events. Out of these 92% were female. Mean age of admitted children was 14.14 years with standard deviation 3.45. Mean onset of adverse events was 5.6 hours with standard deviation of 1.5 hours. All children were treated symptomatically and were discharged once they recovered. No fatality due to adverse events was observed. Average duration of stay in hospital was 3.4 days. Out of twenty five children 12% children reported four or more adverse events, 40% children reported three adverse events and 48% reported two adverse events. Out AEs, 33% AEs were mild, 19% AEs were moderate, 31% AEs were severe and 17% AEs were serious. Abdominal pain was reported by 76%, headache by 44%, loss of consciousness by 32%, vomiting by 28%, nausea by 16%, convulsions by 12%, rashes by 8%, fever by 8%, and breathlessness by 14% and vertigo by 4%.Conclusions: The adverse events were mild to serious but transient, but all of them recovered after hospitalization. Therefore, it is imperative that mass drug administration programmes put in place surveillance measures in order to ensure timely detection, management and reporting of potential life threatening AEs

Pattern of adverse drug reactions occurring at department of neurology of a tertiary care hospital in India

Background: The objective of the study was to study the pattern and trends of adverse effects of drugs used in department of neurology in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: A prospective, observational study was carried out for a duration of 12 months from November 2018 to October 2019 at Department of Neurology and Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, G.S.V.M. Medical College, Kanpur after getting an approval from institutional ethical committee. Data was collected by analyzing OPD prescription slip, treatment charts and investigation reports. All relevant information regarding adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were collected as per norms of Indian Pharmacopoeia commission (IPC).Results: During the study period, a total of 130 ADRs reported. Most of the ADRs were reported due to antiepileptic drugs followed by antiparkinsonian drugs. Dizziness was the most frequent ADR reported. Most of the ADRs were reported due to phenytoin. Other ADRs observed were drowsiness, nausea/vomiting, weakness, joint pain, dyskinesia.Conclusions: Most of the ADRs were due to anti-epileptic drugs. Most of the reactions were of mild severity