Primary Adenosquamous Carcinoma of Ascending Colon – A Rare Entity

Colorectal cancers (CRC) are on the rise globally with increased incidence rate 5.7/100000 cases in developing countries like India. 1 Majority (90%) of CRC are adenocarcinoma. The primary adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) of the colon is exceedingly rare variant of adenocarcinoma with incidence of 0.025% and accounts for 0.1% of colonic epithelial malignancies. 2 The squamous differentiation accounts for its aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Here we report a rare case of primary ASC in 80year old male who presented with large bowel obstruction and peritonitis. A 80-year-old male brought to causality with history of fever, vomiting, pain in abdomen, altered sensorium since three days. The clinical examination revealed intestinal obstruction and peritonitis. Patient was immediately subjected for radiological and hematology investigations which showed signs of bowel obstruction and perforation. On emergency exploratory laparotomy, colonic perforation was identified along with an ulcer proliferative mass in ascending colon. Gross examination of right hemicolectomy revealed 9x6x3cm ulcero proliferative mass in ascending colon. The microscopic examination showed an infiltrating tumor composed of adenocarcinoma component and areas of squamous differentiation (60%) noted. Tumor was invading through muscularis propria and serosa. Final diagnosis of primary ASC was made. Colonic ASC is rare and associated with poorer prognosis. The squamous cell differentiation has greater metastatic potential than adenocarcinoma. Compared to adenocarcinoma, ASC is more likely to manifest with advanced disease and complications. Keywords: Adenosquamous, Carcinoma, Colo

The AgMIP Coordinated Climate-Crop Modeling Project (C3MP): Methods and Protocols

Climate change is expected to alter a multitude of factors important to agricultural systems, including pests, diseases, weeds, extreme climate events, water resources, soil degradation, and socio-economic pressures. Changes to carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]), temperature, andwater (CTW) will be the primary drivers of change in crop growth and agricultural systems. Therefore, establishing the CTW-change sensitivity of crop yields is an urgent research need and warrants diverse methods of investigation. Crop models provide a biophysical, process-based tool to investigate crop responses across varying environmental conditions and farm management techniques, and have been applied in climate impact assessment by using a variety of methods (White et al., 2011, and references therein). However, there is a significant amount of divergence between various crop models’ responses to CTW changes (R¨otter et al., 2011). While the application of a site-based crop model is relatively simple, the coordination of such agricultural impact assessments on larger scales requires consistent and timely contributions from a large number of crop modelers, each time a new global climate model (GCM) scenario or downscaling technique is created. A coordinated, global effort to rapidly examine CTW sensitivity across multiple crops, crop models, and sites is needed to aid model development and enhance the assessment of climate impacts (Deser et al., 2012)..

Analysis and Implementation of a High Boost Ratio DC-DC Converter for Minimizing Commutation Torque Ripple in Brushless DC Motor

Brushless dc motor still suffers from commutation torque ripple, which primarily depends on transient line current in the commutation interval. In order to control the incoming and outgoing phase currents to change at the same rate during commutation, this paper presents a novel high boost ratio DC-DC circuit topology in the front end of the inverter. With a suitable closed loop control scheme, the proposed high boost ratio DC-DC converter is operated with two different duty ratios one during commutation period and the other during non commutation period. The cause of commutation ripple is analyzed, and the way to adjust the duty ratio for obtaining the desired dc link voltage is introduced in detail. Finally, simulation and experimental results show that, compared with the existing dc–dc converter topologies, the proposed method can obtain the desired voltage much faster and minimize commutation torque ripple more efficientl

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Not AvailableRice–prawn farming in Asian countries is a sustainable practice using less fertilizers. Organic farming of rice and giant river prawns in rotational crops was tested in the waterlogged paddy fields of Kuttanad, Kerala as part of the Indian Organic Aquaculture Project. Rice was cultivated during November to February, followed by a crop of freshwater prawns in the same field from March to September. Here, we study the production of four certified farms growing organic rice and organic prawns compared with four conventional farms growing rice and prawns in rotational crops. We evaluate the economic viability by cost-return and partial budgeting analysis. Our results show that farming rice organically reduced yields by 23 %, from 5,690 kg/ha in conventional farming compared to 4,376 kg/ha in organic farming. However, the organic prawn crop yield of 396 kg/ha was 10 % higher than the yield of the conventional system, of 360 kg/ha, although the differences were not significant. Furthermore, total investment for organic rice was approximately 20 % greater than for the non-organic rice crop. Total investment for organic prawns was 17 % greater than for the non-organic prawn crop. Net revenue was 11 % lower for organic rice than for conventional rice. Organic prawns realized 117 % higher net revenue than conventional prawns. Although organic rice farming realized lower returns than conventional, its combination with organic prawn farming enhanced net revenue by 20 % over conventional rice/conventional prawn production.Not Availabl

Standardized Precipitation Index Based Drought Assessment over the North Western Zone of Tamil Nadu, India

Drought is a natural disaster that tremendously affect the agriculture production and livelihood. Though the Tamil Nadu state is located at peninsular region of India and contributed from both the monsoons, the frequency of drought is high due to vagaries of monsoonal pattern. A study was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University to assess the drought characteristics across the north western Agro Climatic Zone (ACZ) of Tamil Nadu using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) during the past 30 years (1991-2020). The study clearly indicated that the Salem district had high vulnerability to drought followed by Dharmapuri and Namakkal districts during the South West Monsoon (SWM), whereas the Namakkal had high vulnerability followed by Salem and Dharmapuri during North East Monsoon (NEM)