Delivering climate risk information to farmers at scale: the Intelligent agricultural Systems Advisory Tool (ISAT)

One of the strategies for helping smallholder farmers cope with climate variability and change is the provision of climate services that better decision making around the planning and management of agricultural systems. However, providing such services with location specific timely and actionable information to millions of farmers operating across diverse conditions requires innovative solutions. ICRISAT and its partners have developed and piloted one such system called “Intelligent agricultural Systems Advisory Tool – ISAT” capable of generating and disseminating data driven location specific advisories that assist farmers in anticipating and responding to the emerging conditions through the season. Using a decision tree approach, a structured and systematic approach to decision making was devised that considers the insights obtained from the analysis of historical climatic conditions, climate and weather forecasts and prevailing environmental conditions. Microsoft India developed a platform to access real time data from various ‘public’ sources, perform the data analytics, implement the decision tree and generate and disseminate messages to farmers and associated actors. The ISAT generated advisories are designed to support both pre-season planning and in-season management. During the 2017 monsoon, ISAT was piloted with 417 farmers across four different locations. The messaging system worked extremely well in picking appropriate location specific message from the database and delivering the same to the mobiles of the registered farmers. Mid and end season surveys revealed that more than 80% of the farmers from all villages were satisfied with the frequency, relevance and understandability of the messages delivered. About 58% of the farmers rated the messages are reliable by being correct more than 75% of the times and helped them in managing their farms better by conducting farm operations timely with reduced risk. Compared to farmers in the control villages, groundnut yields of farmers in 5 treatment villages are higher by ~ 16% but this results varied between -7.7 to 56.2%. This study has demonstrated the opportunities available to harness the untapped power of digital technologies to provide actionable advisories timely to smallholder farmers using appropriate data analytics and information dissemination systems

Comparative evaluation of the hemodynamic effects of inclusion versus exclusion of dexmedetomidine to pregabalin and fentanyl premedication regimen during airway instrumentation in laparoscopic abdominal surgeries

Background: Airway instrumentation leads to an aggravated hemodynamic response due to increased sympathetic activity, imposing a risk of myocardial ischemia. A premedication regimen using fentanyl and pregabalin blunts the pressure response but not the rate response. Objective: To compare the effects of pregabalin and fentanyl regimen versus pregabalin, fentanyl, and dexmedetomidine regimen on the hemodynamic pressor response during airway instrumentation in laparoscopic abdominal surgery (LAS). Methods: Sixty patients (ASA I and II), undergoing elective LASunder general anesthesia, were randomly divided into 2 groups - Group A (n=30) premedicated with oral pregabalin (150mg) and IV fentanyl (2μg/kg) and Group B (n=30) premedicated with IV dexmedetomidine (0.25μg/kg) in addition to pregabalin-fentanyl regimen. Both groups were managed with the same anesthetic protocol. The preoperative sedation level was assessed before induction. The heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic BP (SBP, DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded at baseline as well as preoperatively, prior to intubation and at 1, 3, 5, 10, and 15 min after intubation. Results: Both groups had similar distribution of age, weight, gender, physical status, sedation level as well as intra-operative fentanyl and postoperative analgesic requirements.&nbsp

Comparative Evaluation of the Hemodynamic Effects of Inclusion Versus Exclusion of Dexmedetomidine to Pregabalin and Fentanyl Premedication Regimen During Airway Instrumentation in Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgeries

Background: Airway instrumentation leads to an aggravated hemodynamic response due to increased sympathetic activity, imposing a risk of myocardial ischemia. A premedication regimen using fentanyl and pregabalin blunts the pressure response but not the rate response. Objective: To compare the effects of pregabalin and fentanyl regimen versus pregabalin, fentanyl, and dexmedetomidine regimen on the hemodynamic pressor response during airway instrumentation in laparoscopic abdominal surgery (LAS). Methods: Sixty patients (ASA I and II), undergoing elective LASunder general anesthesia, were randomly divided into 2 groups - Group A (n=30) premedicated with oral pregabalin (150mg) and IV fentanyl (2μg/kg) and Group B (n=30) premedicated with IV dexmedetomidine (0.25μg/kg) in addition to pregabalin-fentanyl regimen. Both groups were managed with the same anesthetic protocol. The preoperative sedation level was assessed before induction. The heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic BP (SBP, DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded at baseline as well as preoperatively, prior to intubation and at 1, 3, 5, 10, and 15 min after intubation. Results: Both groups had similar distribution of age, weight, gender, physical status, sedation level as well as intra-operative fentanyl and postoperative analgesic requirements.&nbsp

Persistence of hexachlorocyclohexane isomers and carbofuran applied to surface and sub-surface layers of a flooded soil

The persistence of carbofuran (2, 3-dihydro-2, 2-dimethylbenzofuran-7-yl methylcarbamate) and the β- and γ-isomers of HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) applied to surface (oxidised) and sub-surface (reduced) layers of a flooded soil was studied using radiolabelled insecticides. In one experiment, these compounds were placed in the surface (2-5 mm) and sub-surface (10-15 cm) layers of 10-day flooded soil columns. HCH isomers were unstable under flooded soil conditions irrespective of their placement, but disappeared slightly faster when applied to the sub-surface layer, possibly due to the more reduced conditions prevailing. In contrast, sub-surface-applied carbofuran was more stable than surface-applied carbofuran. The decreased stability of surface-applied carbofuran may be due to a relatively higher pH in the surface layer and in the flood water which was in immediate contact with the surface layer. In another experiment, surface and sub-surface soil samples were collected from a rice field which had been flooded for 30 days. These soils were then again flooded under laboratory conditions prior to addition of carbofuran and β-HCH. Upon submergence, both surface and sub-surface soil samples attained almost equally reduced conditions. In flooded surface soil samples, more rapid degradation not only of carbofuran but also of β-HCH occurred, compared with similarly incubated sub-surface soil samples