Performance assessment of evapotranspiration estimated from different data sources over agricultural landscape in Northern India

Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration is generally constrained due to lack of required hydro-meteorological datasets. This study addresses the performance analysis of Reference Evapotranspiration (ETo) estimated from NASA/POWER, National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global reanalysis data before and after dynamical downscaling through the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The state of the art Hamon’s and Penman-Monteith methods were utilized for the ETo estimation in the Northern India. The performances indices such as Bias, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and correlation(r) were calculated, which showed the values 0.242, 0.422 and 0.959 for NCEP data (without downscaling) and 0.230, 0.402,0.969 for the downscaled data respectively. The results indicated that after WRF downscaling, there was some marginal improvement found in the ETo as compared to the without downscaling datasets. However, a better performance was found in the case of NASA/POWER datasets with Bias, RMSE and correlation values of 0.154 0.348 and 0.960 respectively. In overall, the results indicated that the NASA/POWER and WRF downscaled data can be used for ETo estimation, especially in the ungauged areas. However, NASA/POWER is recommended as the ETo calculations are less complicated than those required with NASA/POWER and WRF

Effect of early tranexamic acid administration on mortality, hysterectomy, and other morbidities in women with post-partum haemorrhage (WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Post-partum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide. Early administration of tranexamic acid reduces deaths due to bleeding in trauma patients. We aimed to assess the effects of early administration of tranexamic acid on death, hysterectomy, and other relevant outcomes in women with post-partum haemorrhage. Methods In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we recruited women aged 16 years and older with a clinical diagnosis of post-partum haemorrhage after a vaginal birth or caesarean section from 193 hospitals in 21 countries. We randomly assigned women to receive either 1 g intravenous tranexamic acid or matching placebo in addition to usual care. If bleeding continued after 30 min, or stopped and restarted within 24 h of the first dose, a second dose of 1 g of tranexamic acid or placebo could be given. Patients were assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight numbered packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Participants, care givers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. We originally planned to enrol 15 000 women with a composite primary endpoint of death from all-causes or hysterectomy within 42 days of giving birth. However, during the trial it became apparent that the decision to conduct a hysterectomy was often made at the same time as randomisation. Although tranexamic acid could influence the risk of death in these cases, it could not affect the risk of hysterectomy. We therefore increased the sample size from 15 000 to 20 000 women in order to estimate the effect of tranexamic acid on the risk of death from post-partum haemorrhage. All analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This trial is registered with ISRCTN76912190 (Dec 8, 2008); ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00872469; and PACTR201007000192283. Findings Between March, 2010, and April, 2016, 20 060 women were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive tranexamic acid (n=10 051) or placebo (n=10 009), of whom 10 036 and 9985, respectively, were included in the analysis. Death due to bleeding was significantly reduced in women given tranexamic acid (155 [1·5%] of 10 036 patients vs 191 [1·9%] of 9985 in the placebo group, risk ratio [RR] 0·81, 95% CI 0·65–1·00; p=0·045), especially in women given treatment within 3 h of giving birth (89 [1·2%] in the tranexamic acid group vs 127 [1·7%] in the placebo group, RR 0·69, 95% CI 0·52–0·91; p=0·008). All other causes of death did not differ significantly by group. Hysterectomy was not reduced with tranexamic acid (358 [3·6%] patients in the tranexamic acid group vs 351 [3·5%] in the placebo group, RR 1·02, 95% CI 0·88–1·07; p=0·84). The composite primary endpoint of death from all causes or hysterectomy was not reduced with tranexamic acid (534 [5·3%] deaths or hysterectomies in the tranexamic acid group vs 546 [5·5%] in the placebo group, RR 0·97, 95% CI 0·87-1·09; p=0·65). Adverse events (including thromboembolic events) did not differ significantly in the tranexamic acid versus placebo group. Interpretation Tranexamic acid reduces death due to bleeding in women with post-partum haemorrhage with no adverse effects. When used as a treatment for postpartum haemorrhage, tranexamic acid should be given as soon as possible after bleeding onset. Funding London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Pfizer, UK Department of Health, Wellcome Trust, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Reproductive Disorders in Cattle due to Nutritional Status <Review>

This review presents a brief overview on nutrition and incidences of reproductive problems in cattle. Overfeeding and underfeeding are equally detrimental to normal reproductive function. The exact mechanism of nutrition on reproduction is still not clear, but it is clear that the primary target area for sensing and reacting to nutritional status is the hypothalamus. Nutrition or perhaps more specifically certain food nutrients can influence the hormonal status of animals at several levels. Generally, energy and protein are the major nutritional factors which affect reproductive process. Inadequate amount of energy develops sexual maturity in heifer cows with a low body condition score at parturition which have poor reproductive performance, possibly due to delay in onset of cyclicity. Cows overconditioned at calving will exhibit decreased appetite and develop severe negative energy balance which causes a linear decrease in the maximum diameter of successive dominant follicle, eventually resulting in anoestrus due to suppressed luteinizing hormone pulse frequency in the final oestrus cycle before anovulation. Dietary increase in protein intake can increase milk production, but can reduce fertility. It is due to the alterations in the oviduct environment or deleterious changes in the follicle. Besides these, deficiency of minerals and vitamins are also equally important from the viewpoint of infertility. However, the specific action of vitamins and minerals in reproduction needs further study. A multitude factors must be considered to understand the complex coordination of the nutrition-reproduction interface

Integrated framework for soil and water conservation in Kosi River Basin

Soil loss through erosion and its subsequent deposition is considered as an important challenge for watersheds. In this paper, attempt has been made to integrate the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, rainfall climatology from merged IMD gauge-TRMM (1998–2015) and soil hydraulic parameters to delineate the highly susceptible zones of the Kosi River Basin (KRB), Bihar, India for soil erosion assessment and watershed prioritization. The soil hydraulic parameters are calculated by using the ROSETTA model. Afterwards, the analytical hierarchy process based on multi-criteria evaluation method (AHP-MCE) was employed to assign the weighting to each factor (Soil erosion, Compound Factor, Field Capacity) depending on their erosion potential. Weighted overlay analysis is then performed to generate the watershed prioritization map for soil and water conservation. The overall findings suggest that the sub-watersheds 5, 8 and 7 required utmost attention and conservative measures because of their high erodibility characteristics

Not Available

Not AvailableNot AvailableNot Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableNot AvailableNot Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableNot AvailableNot Availabl