Demand and Supply of Forest Products in Bandevi Buffer Zone Community Forest, Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Buffer Zone Community Forestry (BZCF) in the Chitwan National Park (CNP) started with an objective to engage locals and fulfill their resource needs without jeopardizing conservation. This study estimates the forest product demand and supply of fuelwood, fodder, and timber in Bandevi BZCF user group. Data was collected using stratified random sampling and forest inventory using the quadrate method. Results indicated Bandevi BZCF conditions improved since its handover to the community. However, the study estimated a deficit of 26173 cubic meters per year of timber, 3.21 million tonnes per year (Mt/yr) of fodder, and 0.12 Mt/yr of fuelwood. Deficits were fulfilled from agricultural lands outside BZCF and illegal collection from the Bharandavar corridor forest and CNP. BZCF program is a success in improving forest conditions and needs continuation. Policy and programs must focus primarily on livelihood improvement and income generations to reduce the dependency of local people on the forest

A Study of Climate Variability and Socioeconomic Impact on Tourism Industry of Nepal

In Nepal, tourism is the second largest industry after agriculture. Furthermore, Nepal offers numerous opportunities for adventurous outdoor recreation, especially in the Himalayas, and attracts touristsfrom all over the World. However, future prosperity of Nepal’s tourism industry might be affected by a changing climate and a socioeconomic environment. A log-level regression model is employed to estimate the impact of climatic and socioeconomic factors on the number of international tourists visiting Nepal. Climatic estimates indicated that an increase in temperature did not have a significant impact on the numbers of international tourist arrival. Results show that the number of international tourists visiting Nepal was positively associated with GDP and population growth, inflation rate, and an exchange rate. These results help policy makers for facilitating growth of tourism industry and its adaptability to climate change in Nepal

The Effect of Phototherapy on Various Biochemical Parameters in Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia

Phototherapy (PT) is the current modality of choice for treatment of unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia. The effects of PT onvarious biochemical parameters including serum calcium, bilirubin profile, serum total protein, albumin, urea, creatinine,serum electrolytes in neonates are a concern in current times. Like any other treatment, PT also has its own side effects.This hospital-based, prospective, comparative observational study was conducted with the objective to assess the level ofvarious biochemical parameters like serum calcium, serum sodium, serum potassium, serum chloride, serum urea and serumcreatinine, serum total protein and serum albumin in addition to serum bilirubin before PT and after completion of 48 hoursof PT in full-term neonates with unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia at a tertiary care center. On comparing biochemicalparameters, a statistically significant difference in parameters such as bilirubin, urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium, chloride,calcium, total protein and albumin was observed after PT. On the other hand, there was a statistically nonsignificant differencein corrected calcium (p = 0.945)

Plastic/packaging waste separation from MSW and its conversion and used as value-added products in different applications: An eco-sustainable approach

193-208Rapid urbanization and economic growth are affecting an exceptional increase in the production of municipal solid waste (MSW), including packaging waste globally. Nations have a comparatively higher GDP incline to generate vast quantities of MSW. Forecasts appearance that the production of MSW through main metropolitan will increase from 1.3 and 2.2 billion tons, respectively in the year 2012 and 20251. The recycling of plastic/packaging waste materials to produced value-added material is an essential aspect for scientific research worldwide because the attenuation natural resources make a risk in future. Waste of MSW is frequently a high source of many essential materials for recycling such as plastic, glass, metal and paper. Active management of MSW can allow reclamation of essential materials of recycling and decreases of harmful impact on the environment. The waste categorization is a crucial step in MSW or many kinds of wastes, such as packaging/plastic waste management for materials recycling. Worldwide researchers have been vigorously discovering automatic categorization methods for efficiently handling of growing amounts of MSW. This review article summarizes growths in separation techniques, conversion for plastic/packaging waste in value-added products and its uses that have taken place in the area of source segregated MSW recycling, including plastic/packaging waste in the last decade

Clinical Outcomes of Slow versus Rapid Enteral Feeding Advancement in Very Low Birth Weight Neonates at a Tertiary Care Center

In India, every year around 3.5 million babies are born premature, accounting for almost 13% of total livebirths in the country as compared to 5% to 7% incidence in the West. Preterm is defined as babies born before 37 weeks ofpregnancy. The rapidity of feed volume increments involves controversies like faster weight gain, shorter hospital stays, therisk of necrotizing enterocolitis and vice versa. Methods: The present study was a randomized controlled trial conducted fromJune 1, 2018 to October 31, 2019. All infants in the study were randomized to slow and rapid feeding protocols by a stratifiedblock randomization sequence of 2, 4, 6 blocks. Group 1 or the slow advancement group included 64 newborns babies andGroup 2 or the rapid advancement group included 69 newborns babies. Results: The average weight gain in Group 1 was4.41 ± 0.9 g and in Group 2 it was 6.33 ± 1.3 g, the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.02). Sixty out of 64 newbornsregained birth weight within 16.87 ± 0.9 days in Group 1, while 64 out of 69 newborns regained birth weight within 13.63 ±0.9 days in Group 2. The difference was statistically significant. Increment in the mean occipitofrontal circumference perweek was 0.29 ± 0.27 cm Group 1, while in Group 2 it was 0.42 ± 0.05 cm; the difference was statistically significant. Meanaverage length increment per week was found to be 0.55 ± 0.04 cm and 0.69 ± 0.05 cm in Group 1 and Group 2, respectively,the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.005). The mean duration of hospital stay was 27.47 ± 3.33 days in Group 1while in Group 2, the duration of stay was 23.15 ± 2.22 days, the difference was statistically significant. Conclusion: Ourstudy supports enteral nutrition by rapid enteral feeding regimen in stable preterm neonates with very low birth weigh

Photostabilization of polyvinyl chloride by some new thiadiazole derivatives

(5-Amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl)phenol and it derivatives have been synthesized and characterized by spectral methods lik (FT-IR, UV-Vis, and 1H NMR) and elemental analysis beside the measurements of their physical properties. All the prepared compounds were used as photo stabilizer with polyvinyl chloride. The rate of photo degradation and photo stabilization for PVC films were monitored with irradiation time by measuring the carbonyl (Ico) index values. In addition, the effect of concentrations additives on the rate of photo degradation and photo stabilization process was also studied. We found that the rates were increased with increasing of additives concentrations. Besides, the effect of film thickness is studied and the results showed that the increasing of film thickness will decrease the rate of photo degradation as the following sequences: [5] > [2] > [1] > [3] > [4] > PVC. Degree of deterioration (α), average number of cuts per single polymer chain (s), were calculated for PVC films as a control and that which contains the additives. According to the experimental results obtained several mechanisms were suggested depending on the structure of the additive. Among then UV absorption and radical scavenger for photo stabilizer additive mechanisms were suggested

Temporal transcriptome of tomato elucidates the signaling pathways of induced systemic resistance and systemic acquired resistance activated by Chaetomium globosum

C. globosum is an endophytic fungus, which is recorded effective against several fungal and bacterial diseases in plants. The exclusively induce defense as mechanism of biocontrol for C. globosum against phyto-pathogens is reported. Our pervious study states the effectiveness of induced defense by C. globosum (Cg), in tomato against Alternaria solani. In this study the temporal transcriptome analysis of tomato plants after treatment with C. globosum was performed for time points at 0 hpCi, 12 hpCi, 24 hpCi and 96 phCi. The temporal expression analysis of genes belonging to defense signaling pathways indicates the maximum expression of genes at 12 h post Cg inoculation. The sequential progression in JA signaling pathway is marked by upregulation of downstream genes (Solyc10g011660, Solyc01g005440) of JA signaling at 24 hpCi and continued to express at same level upto 96 hpCi. However, the NPR1 (Solyc07g040690), the key regulator of SA signaling is activated at 12 h and repressed in later stages. The sequential expression of phenylpropanoid pathway genes (Solyc09g007920, Solyc12g011330, Solyc05g047530) marks the activation of pathway with course of time after Cg treatment that results in lignin formation. The plant defense signaling progresses in sequential manner with time course after Cg treatment. The results revealed the involvement of signaling pathways of ISR and SAR in systemic resistance induced by Cg in tomato, but with temporal variation

Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders during 1990-2015 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background Comparable data on the global and country-specific burden of neurological disorders and their trends are crucial for health-care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study provides such information but does not routinely aggregate results that are of interest to clinicians specialising in neurological conditions. In this systematic analysis, we quantified the global disease burden due to neurological disorders in 2015 and its relationship with country development level. Methods We estimated global and country-specific prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLLs), and years lived with disability (YLDs) for various neurological disorders that in the GBD classification have been previously spread across multiple disease groupings. The more inclusive grouping of neurological disorders included stroke, meningitis, encephalitis, tetanus, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, migraine, tension-type headache, medication overuse headache, brain and nervous system cancers, and a residual category of other neurological disorders. We also analysed results based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a compound measure of income per capita, education, and fertility, to identify patterns associated with development and how countries fare against expected outcomes relative to their level of development. Findings Neurological disorders ranked as the leading cause group of DALYs in 2015 (250.7 [95% uncertainty interval (UI) 229.1 to 274.7] million, comprising 10.2% of global DALYs) and the second-leading cause group of deaths (9.4 [9.1 to 9.7] million], comprising 16.8% of global deaths). The most prevalent neurological disorders were tensiontype headache (1505 9 [UI 1337.3 to 1681.6 million cases]), migraine (958.8 [872.1 to 1055.6] million), medication overuse headache (58.5 [50.8 to 67.4 million]), and Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (46.0 [40.2 to 52.7 million]). Between 1990 and 2015, the number of deaths from neurological disorders increased by 36.7%, and the number of DALYs by 7.4%. These increases occurred despite decreases in age-standardised rates of death and DALYs of 26.1% and 29.7%, respectively; stroke and communicable neurological disorders were responsible for most of these decreases. Communicable neurological disorders were the largest cause of DALYs in countries with low SDI. Stroke rates were highest at middle levels of SDI and lowest at the highest SDI. Most of the changes in DALY rates of neurological disorders with development were driven by changes in YLLs. Interpretation Neurological disorders are an important cause of disability and death worldwide. Globally, the burden of neurological disorders has increased substantially over the past 25 years because of expanding population numbers and ageing, despite substantial decreases in mortality rates from stroke and communicable neurological disorders. The number of patients who will need care by clinicians with expertise in neurological conditions will continue to grow in coming decades. Policy makers and health-care providers should be aware of these trends to provide adequate services.Peer reviewe

Global, regional, and national burden of traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) are increasingly recognised as global health priorities in view of the preventability of most injuries and the complex and expensive medical care they necessitate. We aimed to measure the incidence, prevalence, and years of life lived with disability (YLDs) for TBI and SCI from all causes of injury in every country, to describe how these measures have changed between 1990 and 2016, and to estimate the proportion of TBI and SCI cases caused by different types of injury. METHODS: We used results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study 2016 to measure the global, regional, and national burden of TBI and SCI by age and sex. We measured the incidence and prevalence of all causes of injury requiring medical care in inpatient and outpatient records, literature studies, and survey data. By use of clinical record data, we estimated the proportion of each cause of injury that required medical care that would result in TBI or SCI being considered as the nature of injury. We used literature studies to establish standardised mortality ratios and applied differential equations to convert incidence to prevalence of long-term disability. Finally, we applied GBD disability weights to calculate YLDs. We used a Bayesian meta-regression tool for epidemiological modelling, used cause-specific mortality rates for non-fatal estimation, and adjusted our results for disability experienced with comorbid conditions. We also analysed results on the basis of the Socio-demographic Index, a compound measure of income per capita, education, and fertility. FINDINGS: In 2016, there were 27·08 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 24·30-30·30 million) new cases of TBI and 0·93 million (0·78-1·16 million) new cases of SCI, with age-standardised incidence rates of 369 (331-412) per 100 000 population for TBI and 13 (11-16) per 100 000 for SCI. In 2016, the number of prevalent cases of TBI was 55·50 million (53·40-57·62 million) and of SCI was 27·04 million (24·98-30·15 million). From 1990 to 2016, the age-standardised prevalence of TBI increased by 8·4% (95% UI 7·7 to 9·2), whereas that of SCI did not change significantly (-0·2% [-2·1 to 2·7]). Age-standardised incidence rates increased by 3·6% (1·8 to 5·5) for TBI, but did not change significantly for SCI (-3·6% [-7·4 to 4·0]). TBI caused 8·1 million (95% UI 6·0-10·4 million) YLDs and SCI caused 9·5 million (6·7-12·4 million) YLDs in 2016, corresponding to age-standardised rates of 111 (82-141) per 100 000 for TBI and 130 (90-170) per 100 000 for SCI. Falls and road injuries were the leading causes of new cases of TBI and SCI in most regions. INTERPRETATION: TBI and SCI constitute a considerable portion of the global injury burden and are caused primarily by falls and road injuries. The increase in incidence of TBI over time might continue in view of increases in population density, population ageing, and increasing use of motor vehicles, motorcycles, and bicycles. The number of individuals living with SCI is expected to increase in view of population growth, which is concerning because of the specialised care that people with SCI can require. Our study was limited by data sparsity in some regions, and it will be important to invest greater resources in collection of data for TBI and SCI to improve the accuracy of future assessments