PROFILE OF FIRST 100 IN-PATIENTS IN DE-ADDICTION WARD T.U. TEACHING HOSPITAL, NEPAL

ABSTRACT Men and women suffering from the problems of various psychoactive substance abuse were helped to come out of the problem by the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health since it’s establishment in 1986. Since the De-addiction ward started functioning under the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, T.U. Teaching Hospital (TUTH) from February, 2000 A.D., people suffering from various drugs related problems have received in-patient care. This study describes the profile of first 100 psychoactive substance abusers admitted in this ward. The first hundred patients were admitted in a period of 5 months and 2 weeks, in an average of 18 patients per month. Eighty eight males, the average age being 33.3+10.98 years. Seventy were married. The average years of education was 8.56+4.94 years. Alcohol (n=58) was the commonest initial substance, followed by cannabis (n=19) and cigarette (n=11). Currently 60 were predominantly alcohol users and 36 predominantly opiate users. The majority were multiple substance users: 79 used alcohol, 37 used opiates, 25 used cannabis and 18 used benzodiazepines. Age at first use was 19.57+5.54 years and duration of continuous use was 5.88+4.47 years. Eleven (8 males) were HIV ELISA reactive, all of whom were parenteral opiate abusers. Thirty-nine (35 males) had fatty changes in liver and 6 (all males) had cirrhotic changes in liver. Those 45 persons with liver abnormality were all alcohol users. Key Words: psychoactive substance, alcohol, opiates, HIV, liver changes

Agronomic, socio-economic, and environmental challenges and opportunities in Nepal's cereal-based farming systems

With economies heavily dependent on agriculture, South Asia is the world's most poverty-dense region. Nepal—a country of considerable geographic variability ranging from population-dense low-elevation Terai region to the sparsely inhabited, poorly accessible Himalayan hills and mountains—has enormous environmental and socio-economic challenges to agricultural development. Runoff from the hills and mountains feed networks of rivers that are crucial for supply of surface and groundwater for the Terai and northern India and Bangladesh, benefitting approximately one-fifth of the world's population. Nepal's farming systems are complex, with insufficient documentation of research evidence on the challenges and opportunities facing them. This review documents the key environmental, socio-economic and agronomic issues affecting cereal-based farming systems in Nepal. Evidences suggest farmers in the hills and mountains primarily practice integrated crop-livestock-tree based agroforestry systems with local varieties of crop and livestock species, and use farm-derived organic amendments and limited external inputs, resulting in low but stable yields. The Terai's cropping systems are predominantly rice-based, with wheat, maize and pulses grown in rotation with low to moderate use of inputs, although high yielding varieties are increasingly common. Major environmental challenges in the high and mid-hills include erosion and soil degradation, while in the Terai, reduced soil fertility and sub-optimal management of water resources are important constraints. Climate variability and extremes are cross-regional challenges. Socioeconomic issues include land use policy, labor out-migration and agricultural feminization. Large gaps between potential and farmers' yields are consistent concerns. While summarizing past and current agronomic research findings, this review suggests new research needs and agricultural development pathways that could address these environmental, socioeconomic and agronomic issues and challenge

Response and resilience of Asian agrifood systems to COVID-19: an assessment across twenty-five countries and four regional farming and food systems

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting health and economies across the world, although the nature of direct and indirect effects on Asian agrifood systems and food security has not yet been well understood. Objectives: This paper assesses the initial responses of major farming and food systems to COVID-19 in 25 Asian countries, and considers the implications for resilience, food and nutrition security and recovery policies by the governments. Methods: A conceptual systems model was specified including key pathways linking the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 to the resilience and performance of the four principal Asian farming and food systems, viz, lowland rice based; irrigated wheat based; hill mixed; and dryland mixed systems. Based on this framework, a systematic survey of 2504 key informants (4% policy makers, 6% researchers or University staff, 6% extension workers, 65% farmers, and 19% others) in 20 Asian countries was conducted and the results assessed and analysed. Results and conclusion: The principal Asian farming and food systems were moderately resilient to COVID-19, reinforced by government policies in many countries that prioritized food availability and affordability. Rural livelihoods and food security were affected primarily because of disruptions to local labour markets (especially for off-farm work), farm produce markets (notably for perishable foods) and input supply chains (i.e., seeds and fertilisers). The overall effects on system performance were most severe in the irrigated wheat based system and least severe in the hill mixed system, associated in the latter case with greater resilience and diversification and less dependence on external inputs and long market chains. Farming and food systems' resilience and sustain-ability are critical considerations for recovery policies and programmes, especially in relation to economic performance that initially recovered more slowly than productivity, natural resources status and social capital. Overall, the resilience of Asian farming and food systems was strong because of inherent systems characteristics reinforced by public policies that prioritized staple food production and distribution as well as complementary welfare programmes. With the substantial risks to plant- and animal-sourced food supplies from future zoonoses and the institutional vulnerabilities revealed by COVID-19, efforts to improve resilience should be central to recovery programmes. Significance: This study was the first Asia-wide systems assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on agriculture and food systems, differentiating the effects of the pandemic across the four principal regional farming and food systems in the region

Zinc nutrition in wheat-based cropping systems

Zinc (Zn) deficiency is one of the most important micronutrient disorders affecting human health. Wheat is the staple food for 35% of the world's population and is inherently low in Zn, which increases the incidence of Zn deficiency in humans. Major wheat-based cropping systems viz. rice-wheat, cotton-wheat and maize-wheat are prone to Zn deficiency due to the high Zn demand of these crops. This review highlights the role of Zn in plant biology and its effect on wheat-based cropping systems. Agronomic, breeding and molecular approaches to improve Zn nutrition and biofortification of wheat grain are discussed. Zinc is most often applied to crops through soil and foliar methods. The application of Zn through seed treatments has improved grain yield and grain Zn status in wheat. In cropping systems where legumes are cultivated in rotation with wheat, microorganisms can improve the available Zn pool in soil for the wheat crop. Breeding and molecular approaches have been used to develop wheat genotypes with high grain Zn density. Options for improving grain yield and grain Zn concentration in wheat include screening wheat genotypes for higher root Zn uptake and grain translocation efficiency, the inclusion of these Zn-efficient genotypes in breeding programs, and Zn fertilization through soil, foliar and seed treatments