The need for a gender responsive economy in the aftermath of COVID-19 in India

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the distributive inequality and unequal access to resources as economies across the globe are severely hit and businesses and supply chains are disrupted. The resultant economic crisis will have a disproportionate effect on men and women. Neha Sinha details here why the recovery strategies must allow for the particular needs and circumstances of women and their contribution to India’s economy

Abiotic Stress Management in Vegetable Crops

Vegetables are highly sensitive in nature thus affected by various biotic and abiotic stress. Any adverse effect of non-living elements on living things in a particular habitat is known as abiotic stress. The production and productivity of vegetable crops got highly effected by the extreme event of climate change i.e, heat stress, water stress, drought, heavy rainfall, salinity etc. Vegetables are full of various nutrients which help in lowering the risk of various diseases such as cancer, heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes etc. Most of the vegetables contain more than 90% of water thus highly sensitive to climate change. Sudden change in climatic factors like in temperature affects all stages of plant growth, pollination, flowering and fruiting which directly reduces the yields and quality of major vegetables. Vegetable crops like beans or tomatoes may lose some of their blossoms at such high temperatures, especially in dry or windy conditions, which will lead to a poor fruit set. High temperatures may harm sweet corn pollination and result in inadequately filled ears of corn. Few fruits are produced because cucurbits (the family that includes pumpkins and squash) typically develop mostly male flowers when temperatures are high

Media portrayals of the Indian community in the UK

DEMO: India-EU MaP - Developing Evidence based Management and Operations in India-EU Migration and PartnershipThrough an analysis of 300 news articles, this report is an attempt at measuring and understanding the portrayal of the Indian community in the UK through a media content analysis of the articles published in the UK press. It contains an overview of the media themes ranging from business and investments to the education and labour market integration of Indian immigrants. Other issues addressed are integration, cultural aspects, crime reporting and religion. This analysis of the UK media's portrayal of the Indian community shows that media has mostly focused on culture, religion,integration and business issues. Furthermore, on some topics, there is definitely a divide in treatment between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, ranging from positive potrayal of the Indian community to extremely biased reportage related to some specific issues

Family’s sufferings from asymptomatic COVID: Clinicians’ perspective

Anticipating dire consequences, in 2020 the world braced itself for the unparalleled pandemic by resorting to unprecedented measures including stringent lockdowns, unforeseen social isolations, spotlight focus, resource diversions besides reorganized healthcare systems to name the quintessential few. Such unifocal convergence enhanced the vulnerabilities of patients dependent on non-COVID healthcare assistance. For a nation with a meagre allocation of 0.7 hospital beds per 1000 people and a lopsided doctor-population ratio of 1:1800, COVID-centric measures created unintended complications. Ironically, many succumbed in myriad ways, not due to the pandemic but due to the attributes of the survival measures. While such consequences cannot be reversed, we need to be able to draw learnings from all such experiences. Particularly, as healthcare advances into the 21st century and we evolve towards an individualized care model, the contrasting “blanket treatment approach,” while an understandable contingency measure for pandemic emergencies, warrants serious attention. With this narrative, we would like to highlight the anguish and frustration faced by the parents and the doctors as multifarious elements complexly entangled to delay a crucial surgery in a two-year-old child with prolonged RT-PCR positivity. Knowing that mankind is likely to face such pandemics again, future responses require us to visualize the whole picture from a zoomed-out perspective to be able to roll out a synchronized holistic strategy. One needs to introspect on the mutilations incurred, to help redesign our disaster management responses, in order to address “all cause” damage and not just the pandemic ones. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework (https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework). Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

Hormonal profile and haematological parameters of male wistar albino rats treated with methanloic extract of Parthenium hysterophorus L.

Changes in hormonal and haematological level were assessed in male wistar albino rats treated with methanolic extract of Parthenium hysterophorus L. The result showed that methanolic extract treatment caused a significant (p < 0.01) reduction of 20 % and 40% in total RBC count (6.25 ± 0.025 to 5 ± 0.5 x 106/µL) and haemoglobin (17.1 ± 0.1892 to 10.2 ± 0.79 g / dL) respectively in treated rats over control. Unlike haematological parameters, hormonal profile showed a significant increase of 40% (p < 0.05), 200% (p < 0.01), 100% (p < 0.01) and 45.08% (p < 0.001) in follicle stimulating hormone, leutinizing hormone, prolactin and testosterone respectively. The reduction of blood parameters is due to less haemopoiesis or induction of anemia. The increase in hormone level may be a cause of prostate cancer in wistar albino rats