Economics of production and marketing of natural rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) in Jhapa, Nepal

A study was carried to assess the production and marketing status of natural rubber in Jhapa district in 2019, from a random sample of 70 households and 5 traders. Results were drawn using descriptive and inferential statistics employing SPSS and MS-Excel. The average area under natural rubber cultivation was 2.2 bigha and the productive area was 1.21 bigha. The average rubber sheet produced per household was 1167.092 kg and average yield was found to be 958.77 kg/bigha in the study area. The average annual household income from natural rubber was found to be NRs. 233418.57 which contributes 58.54 percent in the total household income. Three marketing channels were identified and the price spread ranged from NRs. 20 to 40. The producers’ share in consumers’ price ranged from 81.82% to 90.91%. The major production problem identified was the lodging by wind (0.80) and the major marketing problem faced by producers and traders was the absence of grading facility (0.82). Rubber farms were found to be a profitable farm enterprise with a discounted benefit-cost ratio of 1.88. The calculated NPV was 410992.40, IRR was 22% and PBP was 8.52 years respectively denoting the sustainability of rubber cultivation. RRIM 600, RRII 105 and GT1 were the major growing varieties of rubber in the study area. The cost of establishment in the first year (48.702%) is highest compared to the following years. The selling price of latex and sheet was found higher in 2015 and 2016 with a reduction of price in 2017 due to the high import of Indonesian rubber sheet. This research tries to present the general idea on the overall production and marketing status in the study area

Effects of different fertilizers on the growth and yield of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) in summer season in Chitwan, Nepal

An experiment was conducted in the Horticulture Farm of Agriculture and Forestry University to demonstrate the effects of different fertilizers on the yield and yield parameters of okra (var. Arka Anamika). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) consisting of seven treatments and three replications. The various treatments used in the experiment were goat manure, sesame cake, mustard cake, synthetic fertilizer (NPK), poultry manure, vermicompost and untreated control. The required dose of nitrogen was fulfilled by the fertilizer itself whereas insufficient amount of phosphorous and potassium was fulfilled by addition of single super phosphate and muriate of potash respectively. The fertilizers were applied on the basis of recommendation given by the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC). The effect of poultry manure on number of open flowers and number of fruits at 40 DAS was found superior. The effect of poultry manure on plant height, number of leaves, plant diameter was found superior at 50 DAS. Goat manure produced the superior result on number of open flowers at 50 DAS. Poultry manure on the number of leaves and plant height produced the significant result at 60 DAS. Synthetic fertilizer responded well to number of fruits at 60 DAS. Sesame cake produced the superior results at 70 DAS on number of buds. Poultry manure responded well to all the parameters and produced the yield of 200 qt./ha with the BC ratio of 1.77. This experiment suggests the farmers to use the poultry manure to get the highest economic return. Vermicompost and mustard cake producing the superior and significant yield in this research are not recommended as they have low BC ratio unless effective measures are encouraged to reduce the cost of this fertilizers

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Determinants of Nepalese hog plum (Choerospondias axillaris Roxb.) production in Sindhupalchok, Nepal

AbstractNepali hog plum (Choerospondias axillaris Roxb.) is a multipurpose agroforestry fruit tree grown in hilly regions of Nepal for livelihood and income generation in rural households. The research was conducted in 2019 to assess the determinants of the Nepalese hog plum/Lapsi sub-sector in Sindhupalchok district. Three major lapsi-producing areas, namely, Chautara Municipality, Indrawati Rural Municipality and Melamchi Municipality were selected for research with a sample size of 150 producers. In addition, focused group discussions with producers/collectors and rapid market appraisal with traders were used as survey tools. Chi square test and one way ANOVA were used to analyze and compare mean among the geographical area. Indexing and multiple regression model were also used to analyse problems and factors affecting household income. The average variable cost involved in Lapsi production was 4.93 Nepalese Rupees (NRs.) (0.042 United States Dollar (USD)) per kilogram whereas the total cost for producing fresh Lapsi fruits was NRs. 5 (0.042 USD) per kilogram. Benefit-cost ratio was found 2.79 at the farm level. The major problems faced by producers were non-bearing trees followed by lack of improved production technology and low production. Likewise, the major marketing problem identified were low bargaining capacity followed by low selling price and lack of market and collection center. Significant factors affecting the income were gender of household, adoption of value addition practices, attitude towards this business, involvement of household members, literacy, gender-based decision, type of house and experience

Efficacy of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors for heart failure in black patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Black patients have a disproportionately high incidence of heart failure (HF). Black patients present at an earlier age with HF and have worse outcomes compared to non-black patients. Despite this, they are often underrepresented in clinical trials. Targeted trials in this high-risk population such as the African American Heart Failure (A-HeFT) trial have been infrequent. The disparate effects of established classes of HF therapeutics including beta-blockers, renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) according to race have been previously described. The efficacy of newer medical therapies in black patients with HF remains an important and unanswered question.</p

The association between anthropometric indicators of obesity and cardiac reverse remodelling with empagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease

Background: Obesity is an established risk factor for heart failure and is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease.1, 2 While body mass index (BMI) is a commonly utilized metric of obesity, other anthropometric measures such as waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio have been shown to be independent predictors of CV risk.3, 4 Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) offer CV benefits to people living with or without diabetes, irrespective of baseline BMI.5, 6 Although a recent meta-analysis of translational studies suggested that SGLT2i-associated left ventricular (LV) remodelling may be linked to the cardioprotective benefits of SGLT2i,7 whether SGLT2 inhibition uniformly promotes LV mass regression across baseline anthropometric variables is unknown. In the randomized, placebo-controlled Effects of Empagliflozin on Cardiac Structure in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes (EMPA-HEART) CardioLink-6 trial, empagliflozin assignment for 6 months resulted in significant regression in LV mass indexed to baseline body surface area (LVMi).8 This sub-analysis of the EMPA-HEART CardioLink-6 trial investigated the relationship between anthropometric indicators of obesity at baseline and empagliflozin-mediated LVMi regression over the 6-month treatment period.</p

The impact of statins on postdischarge atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery: secondary analysis from a randomized trial

Background Whether statins reliably reduce the risk of postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery remains controversial. We sought to determine the impact of statin use on new-onset postdischarge POAF in the Post-Surgical Enhanced Monitoring for Cardiac Arrhythmias and Atrial Fibrillation (SEARCH-AF) CardioLink-1 randomized controlled trial. Methods We randomized 336 patients with risk factors for stroke (CHA2DS2-VASc score ≥ 2) and no history of preoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) to 30-day continuous cardiac rhythm monitoring after discharge from cardiac surgery with a wearable, patched-based device or to usual care. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of cumulative AF and/or atrial flutter lasting for ≥ 6 minutes detected by continuous monitoring, or AF and/or atrial flutter documented by a 12-lead electrocardiogram within 30 days of randomization. Results The 260 patients (77.4%) discharged on statins were more likely to be male (P = 0.018) and to have lower CHA2DS2-VASc scores (P = 0.011). Patients treated with statins at discharge had a 2-fold lower rate of POAF than those who were not treated with statins in the entire cohort (18.4% vs 8.1%, log-rank P = 0.0076). On multivariable Cox regression including the CHA2DS2-VASc score adjustment, statin use was associated with a lower risk of POAF (hazard ratio 0.43, 95% confidence interval: 0.25-0.98, P = 0.043). Use of statins at a higher intensity was associated with lower risk of POAF, suggestive of a dose–response effect (log-rank Ptrend = 0.0082). Conclusions The use of statins was associated with a reduction in postdischarge POAF risk among patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The routine use of high-intensity statin to prevent subacute POAF after discharge deserves further study.</p

Abstracts of National Conference on Research and Developments in Material Processing, Modelling and Characterization 2020

This book presents the abstracts of the papers presented to the Online National Conference on Research and Developments in Material Processing, Modelling and Characterization 2020 (RDMPMC-2020) held on 26th and 27th August 2020 organized by the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Science in Association with the Department of Production and Industrial Engineering, National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India. Conference Title: National Conference on Research and Developments in Material Processing, Modelling and Characterization 2020Conference Acronym: RDMPMC-2020Conference Date: 26–27 August 2020Conference Location: Online (Virtual Mode)Conference Organizer: Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology JamshedpurCo-organizer: Department of Production and Industrial Engineering, National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, IndiaConference Sponsor: TEQIP-