Enhancing water use efficiency and grain yield of wheat by optimizing irrigation supply in arid and semi-arid regions of Pakistan

The lack of good irrigation practices and policy reforms in Pakistan triggers major threats to the water and food security of the country. In the future, irrigation will happen under the scarcity of water, as inadequate irrigation water becomes the requirement rather than the exception. The precise application of water with irrigation management is therefore needed. This research evaluated the wheat grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE) under limited irrigation practices in arid and semi-arid regions of Pakistan. DSSAT was used to simulate yield and assess alternative irrigation scheduling based on different levels of irrigation starting from the actual irrigation level up to 65% less irrigation. The findings demonstrated that different levels of irrigation had substantial effects on wheat grain yield and total water consumption. After comparing the different irrigation levels, the high amount of actual irrigation level in semi-arid sites decreased the WUE and wheat grain yield. However, the arid site (Site-1) showed the highest wheat grain yield 2394 kg ha(-1) and WUE 5.9 kg(-3) on actual irrigation (T-1), and with the reduction of water, wheat grain yield decreased continuously. The optimal irrigation level was attained on semiarid (site-2) with 50% (T-11) less water where the wheat grain yield and WUE were 1925 kg ha(-1) and 4.47 kg(-3) respectively. The best irrigation level was acquired with 40% less water (T-9) on semi-arid (site-3), where wheat grain yield and WUE were 1925 kg ha(-1) and 4.57 kg(-3), respectively. The results demonstrated that reducing the irrigation levels could promote the growth of wheat, resulting in an improved WUE. In crux, significant potential for further improving the efficiency of agricultural water usage in the region relies on effective soil moisture management and efficient use of water. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University

Catalogues of Efficient Minimal Weakly Balanced RMDs in Circular Periods of Three Different Sizes

In this article, efficient minimal circular weakly balanced RMDs are constructed for the situations where these designs cannot be constructed through generators. Catalogues of these efficient designs are compiled in periods of three different sizes. In the proposed designs, v/2 ordered pairs of distinct treatments do not appear as their preceded value while the remaining ones appear once, where v is number of treatments to be compared

A Generalized Class of Circular Designs Strongly Balanced for Neighbor Effects

Minimal strongly balanced neighbor designs are useful (i) to minimize the bias due to neighbor effects economically, and (ii) to estimate the direct effect and neighbor effects independently. Such designs can easily be obtained for v odd and are available in literature. In this article, A generalized class of minimal circular designs strongly balanced for neighbor effects in blocks of equal and two different sizes have been constructed in which only v/2 unordered pairs of treatments do not appear as neighbors, where v is the number of treatments

Some New Constructors of Circular Strongly Generalized Neighbor Designs

Minimal strongly balanced neighbor designs are well known designs to balance the neighbor effects at low cost as well as to estimate the direct effects and neighbor effects independently for v odd, where v is number of treatments to be compared. Minimal strongly generalized neighbor designs are used to minimize the bias due to neighbor effects for v even. In this article, constructors are developed to construct two useful classes of minimal circular strongly generalized neighbor designs

Analytical Review of Land Use Changes by Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques in District Gujrat, Pakistan

Assessment of changes in land use and land cover through remote sensing and GIS is very important and keyanalysis. Urbanization has been continued by the rapid growth in the world economy so; it is the key study withregards to agriculture and urbanization. The aim of this study is to determine the loss of agriculture land and effects ofincreasing urbanization on surface temperature. For urban temperature impact analysis, distinctive time series ofLandsat images have been chosen. Temporal analysis for different time series shows the decrease in agriculture landand increase in built up area. Urbanization increased the temperature up to 20C. Positive correlation is found betweenbuilt-up area and temperature and negative correlation is found between green spaces and temperature. Unplannedurban sprawl and lack of proper irrigation system according to population are major problems in study area. Recentstudy will be helpful for decision makers to develop the sustainable environment policy in future

Application of effluent reduction methods and treatment using advanced oxidation process at leather chemicals and tanning industries

The current study set out to assess and create long-term solutions for improving environmental performance concerning water use, wastewater production, and treatment at Syntan plant (glass-lined vessel unit) and application laboratory (small-scale leather retanning. Based on evaluations and analyses, best available techniques including water gauging, pressurized vessel washing, dedication of vessels to similar production, reuse techniques, developing commercial grade intermediate products from wash water, managing cooling water and developing reuse methods of reverse osmosis reject water were applied to reduce water consumption and effluent generation in process and non-process activities. Furthermore, the reduced effluent was subjected to treat using electrochemical processes, i.e., electrocoagulation and electro-Fenton, before it was drained to outside environment. As a result of the applications, 0%–100% change was measured in various process and non-process activities, whereas, 12.8%–100% reduction was measured in effluent. Soft cooling water consumption was reduced by 46.7%. The results of treated effluent parameters were compared and found the final removal efficiencies of total dissolved solids (51.4%), total suspended solids (99.2%), chemical oxygen demand (98.5%) and electric conductivity (67.7%). It is concluded that this study can be considered as a successful model to increased water efficiency in chemical industries, Furthermore, it could serve as a building block for the incorporation of cleaner and sustainable production approach into national agenda and to overcome stern issues of high-water and energy consumption and effluent management in different industries

Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Display Increased Carotid Intima Media: A Meta-Analysis

Background. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with coronary artery disease. Intermittent hypoxia associated with OSA increases sympathetic activity and may cause systemic inflammation, which may contribute to atherosclerosis leading to an increase in the size of carotid intima media thickness (CIMT). Methods. PubMed and Cochrane library were reviewed by utilizing different combinations of key words: sleep apnea, carotid disease, intima media thickness, and carotid atherosclerosis. Inclusion criteria were English articles; studies with adult population with OSA and without OSA; CIMT recorded by ultrasound in mean and standard deviation or median with 95% confidence interval; and OSA defined as apnea hypopnea index of ≥5/h. A total of 95 studies were reviewed for inclusion, with 16 studies being pooled for analysis. Results. Ninety-five studies were reviewed, while 16 studies were pooled for analysis; since some studies have more than one data set, there were 25 data sets with 1415 patients being pooled for meta-analysis. All studies used ultrasound to measure CIMT. CIMT standardized difference in means ranged from −0.883 to 8.01. The pooled standardized difference in means was 1.40 (lower limit 0.996 to upper limit 1.803, ( < 0.0001). Conclusion. Patients with OSA appear to have increased CIMT suggestive of an atherosclerotic process

Improved accessibility of emergency obstetrics and newborn care (EmONC) services for maternal and newborn health: a community based project

Background: Every year an estimated three million neonates die globally and two hundred thousand of these deaths occur in Pakistan. Majority of these neonates die in rural areas of underdeveloped countries from preventable causes (infections, complications related to low birth weight and prematurity). Similarly about three hundred thousand mother died in 2010 and Pakistan is among ten countries where sixty percent burden of these deaths is concentrated. Maternal and neonatal mortality remain to be unacceptably high in Pakistan especially in rural areas where more than half of births occur. Method/Design: This community based cluster randomized controlled trial will evaluate the impact of an Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) package in the intervention arm compared to standard of care in control arm. Perinatal and neonatal mortality are primary outcome measure for this trial. The trial will be implemented in 20 clusters (Union councils) of District Rahimyar Khan, Pakistan. The EmONC package consists of provision of maternal and neonatal health pack (clean delivery kit, emollient, chlorhexidine) for safe motherhood and newborn wellbeing and training of community level and facility based health care providers with emphasis on referral of complicated cases to nearest public health facilities and community mobilization. Discussion: Even though there is substantial evidence in support of effectiveness of various health interventions for improving maternal, neonatal and child health. Reduction in perinatal and neonatal mortality remains a big challenge in resource constrained and diverse countries like Pakistan and achieving MDG 4 and 5 appears to be a distant reality. A comprehensive package of community based low cost interventions along the continuum of care tailored according to the socio cultural environment coupled with existing health force capacity building may result in improving the maternal and neonatal outcomes. The findings of this proposed community based trial will provide sufficient evidence on feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness to the policy makers for replicating and scaling up the interventions within the health syste

Global burden of chronic respiratory diseases and risk factors, 1990–2019: an update from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Updated data on chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are vital in their prevention, control, and treatment in the path to achieving the third UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a one-third reduction in premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by 2030. We provided global, regional, and national estimates of the burden of CRDs and their attributable risks from 1990 to 2019. Methods: Using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, we estimated mortality, years lived with disability, years of life lost, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), prevalence, and incidence of CRDs, i.e. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, pneumoconiosis, interstitial lung disease and pulmonary sarcoidosis, and other CRDs, from 1990 to 2019 by sex, age, region, and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) in 204 countries and territories. Deaths and DALYs from CRDs attributable to each risk factor were estimated according to relative risks, risk exposure, and the theoretical minimum risk exposure level input. Findings: In 2019, CRDs were the third leading cause of death responsible for 4.0 million deaths (95% uncertainty interval 3.6–4.3) with a prevalence of 454.6 million cases (417.4–499.1) globally. While the total deaths and prevalence of CRDs have increased by 28.5% and 39.8%, the age-standardised rates have dropped by 41.7% and 16.9% from 1990 to 2019, respectively. COPD, with 212.3 million (200.4–225.1) prevalent cases, was the primary cause of deaths from CRDs, accounting for 3.3 million (2.9–3.6) deaths. With 262.4 million (224.1–309.5) prevalent cases, asthma had the highest prevalence among CRDs. The age-standardised rates of all burden measures of COPD, asthma, and pneumoconiosis have reduced globally from 1990 to 2019. Nevertheless, the age-standardised rates of incidence and prevalence of interstitial lung disease and pulmonary sarcoidosis have increased throughout this period. Low- and low-middle SDI countries had the highest age-standardised death and DALYs rates while the high SDI quintile had the highest prevalence rate of CRDs. The highest deaths and DALYs from CRDs were attributed to smoking globally, followed by air pollution and occupational risks. Non-optimal temperature and high body-mass index were additional risk factors for COPD and asthma, respectively. Interpretation: Albeit the age-standardised prevalence, death, and DALYs rates of CRDs have decreased, they still cause a substantial burden and deaths worldwide. The high death and DALYs rates in low and low-middle SDI countries highlights the urgent need for improved preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic measures. Global strategies for tobacco control, enhancing air quality, reducing occupational hazards, and fostering clean cooking fuels are crucial steps in reducing the burden of CRDs, especially in low- and lower-middle income countries