Commentary and Rejoinder

地誌学とエリアスタディ : 現状と課

Emergence of Self-innovative Community and Its Impacts on Diverse Paths in Rural Development

Authors have tried to follow up a recent trends in people's self development efforts and its impacts on rural dynamics in drought prone areas by taking up sample village, Dahiwadi, Shirur district, in Maharashtra state, which is situated outside the reach of command area on large scale irrigation project. Unlike flourishing regions within the reach of well irrigated suburbanized front, the sample village is located at the valley head of small stream, connected by jeepable kacha road with adjacent major traffic network. Poorly maintained unpaved road has long kept village isolated and lagged behind in terms of socioeconomic conditions. This small-sized village with population of 997, and households of 134 (1990) has suffered severely from unevenly distributed scanty rainfalls up to present time. Mainstay of economic activities have naturally tended to extensive rain-fed dry farming. Dahiwadi is basically categorized as multi jati village, composing of 13 Hindu-castes and Muslim. However, before peopling by newly settled migrants, Maratha communities of 9 households in 1920, this village was nothing but poverty-stricken hamlet traditionally ruled by handful Brahmins, mainly depending on dry farming and shepherd. Incoming of the self-innovative peoples, within which group has been internally tied up with the feeling of togetherness and mutual cooperation, have set spurt on intensive use of slope and upland by introducing various kind of commercial cash crops as onion and perennial tree crops as orange. A series of land reforms in 1950's and electrification of this village in 1980's accelerated acquisition of piecemeal land and enabled them to introduce technical innovations such as electric/diesel pumps and pipeline along with new farming practices, causing far reaching repercussive echoes among the native settlers. This suggests one of possible alternatives of self-development paths just less-favored isolated village as Dahiwadi in drought prone areas. インド干ばつ常習地域の村落変

Babhulgaon - Maratha's Village Developing by Irrigation Rush and Sugarcane Cultivation

In this paper authors tried to elucidate a salient features of imbalanced regional growth in drought-prone area of central part: of Maharashtra, where peoples have long been suffering from persistent severe droughts. Babhulgaon selected by authors as a sample survey village is classified agroclimatically into semi-arid zone with annual rainfalls less than 500mm. Babhulgaon comes under the jurisdiction of Malshiras taluku, with population of 1331 and household of 183, out of which 130 households belong to Maratha community. Although almost of all parts of this taluka are being well irrigated by Nira canal system, constructed in 1885 at the time of British rules, Babhulgaon has long been less favored with locational conditions and could not keep pace with developmental processes in these flourishing sugar producing areas before mid- 1970's, not only because village was not covered by command areas of Nira canal system, but also because village is situated at the upland with 20-40m high above Bima river bed, thus the villagers could not use its abundant water resources. Before 1974, most prevalent mode of agriculture was dry farming with few cases of well irrigation, producing meagre amount of jowar, baira, beans and other anti-drought crops. Epoch-making new era in Babhulgaon with irrigation project in 1974. Lift up with height of 20m was installed beside Bima river. Irrigation water is firstly pumped up to the terrace on which main settlement is located, then it flows down. By doing so, 60 ha of land on terrace was brought under irrigation. In 1984 irrigation water was bifurcated from Ujjni canal system. From these sources, water is pumped up by pipeline to dryland on the higher terrace and private wells were also dugged for increasing acreage of sugarcane alongside the distributary channels. It means that substantial amount of water is filled indirectly by distributary channels. For it runs above the wells, ground water level in each well is to naturally heighted. Maharashtra government supplies limited amount o インド干ばつ常習地域の村落変

<Symposium> Regional Geography and Area Studies Reconsidered Discussion

地誌学とエリアスタディ : 現状と課

Crustose Coralline Algae and a Cnidarian Neuropeptide Trigger Larval Settlement in Two Coral Reef Sponges

In sessile marine invertebrates, larval settlement is fundamental to population maintenance and persistence. Cues contributing to the settlement choices and metamorphosis of larvae have important implications for the success of individuals and populations, but cues mediating larval settlement for many marine invertebrates are largely unknown. This study assessed larval settlement in two common Great Barrier Reef sponges, Coscinoderma matthewsi and Rhopaloeides odorabile, to cues that enhance settlement and metamorphosis in various species of scleractinian coral larvae. Methanol extracts of the crustose coralline algae (CCA), Porolithon onkodes, corresponding to a range of concentrations, were used to determine the settlement responses of sponge larvae. Cnidarian neuropeptides (GLW-amide neuropeptides) were also tested as a settlement cue. Settlement in both sponge species was approximately two-fold higher in response to live chips of CCA and optimum concentrations of CCA extract compared to 0.2 µm filtered sea water controls. Metamorphosis also increased when larvae were exposed to GLW-amide neuropeptides; R. odorabile mean metamorphosis reached 42.0±5.8% compared to 16.0±2.4% in seawater controls and in C. matthewsi mean metamorphosis reached 68.3±5.4% compared to 36.7±3.3% in seawater controls. These results demonstrate the contributing role chemosensory communication plays in the ability of sponge larvae to identify suitable habitat for successful recruitment. It also raises the possibility that larvae from distinct phyla may share signal transduction pathways involved in metamorphosis

Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)

Background: This study provides a global overview of the management of patients with acute cholecystitis during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: CHOLECOVID is an international, multicentre, observational comparative study of patients admitted to hospital with acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on management were collected for a 2-month study interval coincident with the WHO declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and compared with an equivalent pre-pandemic time interval. Mediation analysis examined the influence of SARS-COV-2 infection on 30-day mortality. Results: This study collected data on 9783 patients with acute cholecystitis admitted to 247 hospitals across the world. The pandemic was associated with reduced availability of surgical workforce and operating facilities globally, a significant shift to worse severity of disease, and increased use of conservative management. There was a reduction (both absolute and proportionate) in the number of patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 3095 patients (56.2 per cent) pre-pandemic to 1998 patients (46.2 per cent) during the pandemic but there was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality after cholecystectomy comparing the pre-pandemic interval with the pandemic (13 patients (0.4 per cent) pre-pandemic to 13 patients (0.6 per cent) pandemic; P = 0.355). In mediation analysis, an admission with acute cholecystitis during the pandemic was associated with a non-significant increased risk of death (OR 1.29, 95 per cent c.i. 0.93 to 1.79, P = 0.121). Conclusion: CHOLECOVID provides a unique overview of the treatment of patients with cholecystitis across the globe during the first months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The study highlights the need for system resilience in retention of elective surgical activity. Cholecystectomy was associated with a low risk of mortality and deferral of treatment results in an increase in avoidable morbidity that represents the non-COVID cost of this pandemic