Reaching remote Amazonian communities to eliminate trachoma

Worldwide, many indigenous peoples are at risk of developing trachoma, a bacterial eye disease that disproportionately affects the world’s poorest communities. In Colombia’s remote Amazonian districts, trachoma is still endemic amongst many of the indigenous communities that live there

The New Method Developed for Evaluation of Anthelmintic Activity by Housefly Worms and Compared with Conventional Earthworm Method

Evaluation of anthelmintic activity of any drug when carried out in laboratory conditions by using the isolated worms from nature cannot be adaptable with artificial laboratory conditions. Therefore, the present study aims at developing a new adaptable method for evaluation of anthelmintic activity. The present anthelmintic activity study reveals a new methodology with housefly worms cultured in laboratory conditions that resemble parasitic pinworms found in human being. We studied the anthelmintic activities of various drugs on housefly worms and earthworms. The results showed that the housefly worms had taken more time for paralysis and death. Even after paralysis the time taken for death is more in housefly worms in spite of smaller size and lesser weight of the worms compared to earthworms. The study concluded that the earthworms have not adapted to the artificial laboratory conditions leading to erratic results. Therefore, culturing of housefly worms was carried out to evaluate the anthelmintic activity and found an easy, prominent, eco-friendly, and reproducible method in all aspects such as equal age, size, and weight of worms used for the experiment

Assessing village-level carbon balance due to greenhouse gas mitigation interventions using EX-ACT model

Under National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project, a range of climate smart agricultural practices were evaluated with on-farm demonstrations during 2011–2013 in eight climatically vulnerable villages of Andhra Pradesh, India. Proven climate smart practices viz residue recycling, soil, water and nutrient management, afforestation and feeding + breeding practices in livestock were implemented in annual and perennial crops, irrigated rice, horticulture, fodder, forestry and livestock. An EX-ante carbon-balance tool (EX-ACT) developed by the FAO was used with a combination of various climate smart interventions to know the mitigation potentials in eight climatically vulnerable villages of Andhra Pradesh, India. Based on our observations, EX-ACT model had shown that these practices were effective to mitigate CO2 emissions apart from enhancing soil productivity. In Nacharam, Yagantipalli, Sirusuwada and Matsyapuri villages, climate smart practices implemented in annual crops along with crop residue recycling, crop and water management practices resulted in negative carbon (C) balance by −16,410, −8851, −7271 and −6125 t CO2 e, respectively. The EX-ACT model predicted positive carbon balance with irrigated module in the rice-growing villages of Sirusuwada and Matsyapuri villages. The negative values suggest a sink, and positive values a source for CO2 emissions. In Chamaluru village, although there were CO2 emissions (source) due to livestock and non-forest and land use changes, there was a carbon sink due to other activities as predicted by the model. The results suggested that various climatic smart practices at the village level were successful in creating net sink of CO2 emissions (t CO2 e)

Dynamics of Hot QCD Matter -- Current Status and Developments

The discovery and characterization of hot and dense QCD matter, known as Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), remains the most international collaborative effort and synergy between theorists and experimentalists in modern nuclear physics to date. The experimentalists around the world not only collect an unprecedented amount of data in heavy-ion collisions, at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in New York, USA, and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland but also analyze these data to unravel the mystery of this new phase of matter that filled a few microseconds old universe, just after the Big Bang. In the meantime, advancements in theoretical works and computing capability extend our wisdom about the hot-dense QCD matter and its dynamics through mathematical equations. The exchange of ideas between experimentalists and theoreticians is crucial for the progress of our knowledge. The motivation of this first conference named "HOT QCD Matter 2022" is to bring the community together to have a discourse on this topic. In this article, there are 36 sections discussing various topics in the field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions and related phenomena that cover a snapshot of the current experimental observations and theoretical progress. This article begins with the theoretical overview of relativistic spin-hydrodynamics in the presence of the external magnetic field, followed by the Lattice QCD results on heavy quarks in QGP, and finally, it ends with an overview of experiment results.Comment: Compilation of the contributions (148 pages) as presented in the `Hot QCD Matter 2022 conference', held from May 12 to 14, 2022, jointly organized by IIT Goa & Goa University, Goa, Indi

The East Africa Trachoma/NTD Cross-border Partnership

Eastern Africa, which comprises Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, has the highest burden of trachoma in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are 1,274 districts known to be endemic for trachoma (i.e., the incidence of trachomatous inflammation – follicular (TF) is > 5%). Of these, 769 are found within the seven Eastern African countries, which represents over 60% of the trachoma endemic districts and 50% of the at-risk population in sub-Saharan Africa

Hadron gas in the presence of a magnetic field using non-extensive statistics: A transition from diamagnetic to paramagnetic system

Non-central heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies are unique in producing magnetic fields of the largest strength in the laboratory. Such fields being produced at the early stages of the collision could affect the properties of Quantum Chromodynamics matter formed in the relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The transient magnetic field leaves its reminiscence, which in principle, can affect the thermodynamic and transport properties of the final state dynamics of the system. In this work, we study the thermodynamic properties of a hadron gas in the presence of an external static magnetic field using a thermodynamically consistent non-extensive Tsallis distribution function. Various thermodynamical observables such as energy density (ϵ), entropy density (s), pressure (P) and speed of sound (c$_{s}$) are studied. Investigation of magnetization (M) is also performed and this analysis reveals an interplay of diamagnetic and paramagnetic nature of the system in the presence of a magnetic field of varying strength. Further, to understand the system dynamics under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions, the effect of the non-extensive parameter (q) on the above observables is also studied.Non-central heavy-ion collisions at ultra-relativistic energies are unique in producing magnetic fields of the largest strength in the laboratory. Such fields being produced at the early stages of the collision could affect the properties of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) matter formed in the relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The transient magnetic field leaves its reminiscence, which in principle, can affect the thermodynamic and transport properties of the final state dynamics of the system. In this work, we study the thermodynamic properties of a hadron gas in the presence of an external static magnetic field using a thermodynamically consistent non-extensive Tsallis distribution function. Various thermodynamical observables such as energy density ($\epsilon$), entropy density ($s$), pressure ($P$) and speed of sound ($c_{\rm s}$) are studied. Investigation of magnetization ($M$) is also performed and this analysis reveals an interplay of diamagnetic and paramagnetic nature of the system in the presence of a magnetic field of varying strength. Further, to understand the system dynamics under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions, the effect of the non-extensive parameter ($q$) on the above observables is also studied

Multifunctional P and Mn co-doped titania nanoparticles as efficient visible light driven photocatalyst

1384-1390Phosphorus and manganese co-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized by XRD, UV-visible DRS, XPS, SEM, TEM and BET. XRD data show the anatase phase in all the samples, while XPS analysis shows the dopant phosphorus in the P5+ state and manganese in the Mn4+/Mn3+ states. The co-doped catalysts show a particle size of 7 nm, with strong absorption in the visible region. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared catalysts has been tested by degradation of the azodye, acid orange 7 under artificial light as well as under direct sunlight. Photoluminiscence studies with the co-doped catalysts show enhanced generation of hydroxyl radicals, the key oxidative species in photocatalytic reactions. In addition, the antibacterial activity of the nanoparticles against <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Escherichia coli has also been investigated<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">. The results indicate that the as co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles can be used not only as an efficient photocatalyst for potential applications in the fields of pollution abatement process but also as an excellent antibacterial agent