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Not AvailableThe indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides disturbs the soil environment, thereby affecting flora and fauna including soil microflora, and also the physicochemical properties of the soil, viz. pH, salinity, alkalinity, leading to poor soil fertility. With the application of pesticides, possibilities exist that these chemicals may exert certain effects on non-target soil microorganisms. The soil microbial biomass plays an important role in the soil ecosystem, where they fulfill a crucial role in nutrient cycling and decomposition. A series of field experiments were conducted at farmer’s field at Sitapur, UP with different modules of integrated pest management (IPM) including use of safe formulations. The impact of application of these pesticides on the soil properties including soil microbial populations, microbial biomass carbon and enzymatic activity was assessed. It was observed that soil microbial biomass C content and dehydrogenase activity was influenced by IPM interventions.Not Availabl

An integrated process and management tools for ranking multiple emerging threats to animal health

The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs supports the use of systematic tools for the prioritisation of known and well defined animal diseases to facilitate long and medium term planning of surveillance and disease control activities. The recognition that emerging events were not covered by the existing disease-specific approaches led to the establishment of the Veterinary Risk Group (VRG), constituted of government officials, and supporting structures such as the Risk Management Cycle and the Emerging Threat Highlight Report (ETHiR), to facilitate the identification, reporting and assessment of emerging threats to UK's animal health. Since its inception in November 2009 to the end of February 2011, the VRG reviewed 111 threats and vulnerabilities (T&V) reported through ETHiR. In July 2010 a decision support system (DSS) based on multi-criteria-decision-analysis (MCDA) improved ETHiR to allow the systematic prioritisation of emerging T&V. The DSS allows the regular ranking of emerging T&V by calculating a set of measurement indices related to the actual impact, possible impact on public perception and level of available capabilities associated with every T&V. The systematic characterisation of the processes leading to the assessment of T&V by the VRG has led to a consistent, auditable and transparent approach to the identification and assessment of emerging risks. The regular use of MCDA to manage a portfolio of emerging risks represents a different and novel application of MCDA in a health related context

SCOPE: Surveillance of COVID-19 in pregnancy- results of a multicentric ambispective case-control study on clinical presentation and maternal outcomes in India between April to November 2020.

ObjectiveTo determine the clinical manifestations, risk factors, treatment modalities and maternal outcomes in pregnant women with lab-confirmed COVID-19 and compare it with COVID-19 negative pregnant women in same age group.DesignMulticentric case-control study.Data sourcesAmbispective primary data collection through paper-based forms from 20 tertiary care centres across India between April and November 2020.Study populationAll pregnant women reporting to the centres with a lab-confirmed COVID-19 positive result matched with controls.Data qualityDedicated research officers extracted hospital records, using modified WHO Case Record Forms (CRF) and verified for completeness and accuracy.Statistical analysisData converted to excel files and statistical analyses done using STATA 16 (StataCorp, TX, USA). Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) estimated using unconditional logistic regression.ResultsA total of 76,264 women delivered across 20 centres during the study period. Data of 3723 COVID positive pregnant women and 3744 age-matched controls was analyzed. Of the positive cases 56·9% were asymptomatic. Antenatal complications like preeclampsia and abruptio placentae were seen more among the cases. Induction and caesarean delivery rates were also higher among Covid positive women. Pre-existing maternal co-morbidities increased need for supportive care. There were 34 maternal deaths out of the 3723(0.9%) positive mothers, while covid negative deaths reported from all the centres were 449 of 72,541 (0·6%).ConclusionCovid-19 infection predisposed to adverse maternal outcomes in a large cohort of Covid positive pregnant women as compared to the negative controls