Managing Climatic Risks to Combat Land Degradation and Enhance Food security: Key Information Needs

This paper discusses the key information needs to reduce the negative impacts of weather variability and climate change on land degradation and food security, and identifies the opportunities and barriers between the information and services needed. It suggests that vulnerability assessments based on a livelihood concept that includes climate information and key socio-economic variables can overcome the narrow focus of common one-dimensional vulnerability studies. Both current and future climatic risks can be managed better if there is appropriate policy and institutional support together with technological interventions to address the complexities of multiple risks that agriculture has to face. This would require effective partnerships among agencies dealing with meteorological and hydrological services, agricultural research, land degradation and food security issues. In addition a state-of-the-art infrastructure to measure, record, store and disseminate data on weather variables, and access to weather and seasonal climate forecasts at desired spatial and temporal scales would be needed

ANC with acute abdomen: a case report from secondary care hospital, Western Maharashtra

Female body undergoes numerous anatomical and physiological changes in pregnancy which make diagnosis and management of acute abdomen in pregnancy as a most challenging situation. This may lead to dilemma and delayed identification of spectrum of causes of acute abdomen in pregnancy ultimately resulting in maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality. This case was to identify the spectrum of causes, the clinical presentation and diagnostic dilemma of acute abdomen in pregnancy. We presented one of the unusual and rare cause of acute abdomen with hemoperitoneum. Patient underwent emergency laparotomy with peritoneal wash with no obvious bleeding cause but evidence pointing towards vascular tumour or sub-serosal fibroid. The diagnosis remained obscured. The dilemma was attributed to higher radiological imaging with possibility of Haemorrhagic corpus luteum and non-viable heterotopic pregnancy. The cause of bleeding could not be identified with higher imaging due to contraindicated use of contrast enhanced MRI/CT and other alternatives due to radiation exposure in pregnancy. Diagnosis and treatment of acute abdomen in pregnancy should be individualized for better prognosis. Good clinical acumen is essential for ordering early diagnosis and intervention in acute abdomen in pregnancy

Observational constrained F(R,G)F(R, \mathcal{G}) gravity cosmological model and the dynamical system analysis

In this paper, we have analyzed the geometrical and dynamical parameters of $\mathcal{F}(R, \mathcal{G})=\alpha R^2 \mathcal{G}^\beta$ cosmological model, ($R$, $\mathcal{G}$ being the Ricci scalar and Gauss-Bonnet invariant respectively), constraining the parameters through the cosmological data sets. It is exhibited that the model admits a viable radiation era, and early deceleration followed by late-time acceleration in the matter-dominated era. From the phase-space, portrait stability criterion has been analysed, restricting the parameter $\beta$, different from $\beta=-1$. Additionally, we have explored the stability of the model from the behavior of critical points and obtained the present value of the density parameter for matter-dominated and dark energy components, which are identical to those obtained through cosmological data sets.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Charge Delocalization in Self-Assembled Mixed-Valence Aromatic Cation Radicals

The spontaneous assembly of aromatic cation radicals (D+•) with their neutral counterpart (D) affords dimer cation radicals (D2+•). The intermolecular dimeric cation radicals are readily characterized by the appearance of an intervalence charge-resonance transition in the NIR region of their electronic spectra and by ESR spectroscopy. The X-ray crystal structure analysis and DFT calculations of a representative dimer cation radical (i.e., the octamethylbiphenylene dimer cation radical) have established that a hole (or single positive charge) is completely delocalized over both aromatic moieties. The energetics and the geometrical considerations for the formation of dimer cation radicals is deliberated with the aid of a series of cyclophane-like bichromophoric donors with drastically varied interplanar angles between the cofacially arranged aryl moieties. X-ray crystallography of a number of mixed-valence cation radicals derived from monochromophoric benzenoid donors established that they generally assemble in 1D stacks in the solid state. However, the use of polychromophoric intervalence cation radicals, where a single charge is effectively delocalized among all of the chromophores, can lead to higher-order assemblies with potential applications in long-range charge transport. As a proof of concept, we show that a single charge in the cation radical of a triptycene derivative is evenly distributed on all three benzenoid rings and this triptycene cation radical forms a 2D electronically coupled assembly, as established by X-ray crystallography

Retrospective study on efficacy and safety of nanoparticle paclitaxel and concurrent radiotherapy in patients with advanced head and neck cancer

Background: Advanced (Stage III and IV) Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN) produce severe functional impairment, considerable morbidity, and significant mortality. Over the past 2 decades, organ-sparing efforts using either induction chemotherapy or concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) have become popular and have demonstrated equivalent or superior survival rates compared with surgery and/or RT alone, with a survival rate of approximately 40% at 5 years. Although the addition of chemotherapy to RT enhances toxicity, randomized trials and meta analyses have documented improved survival clearly compared with the results from RT alone. Initially, most combinations included once-daily RT combined with cisplatin either alone or with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). There was number of toxicities of high grades associated with these drugs, and also difficulty in their administration. We have retrospectively studied nanoparticle paclitaxel with RT on concurrent setting as an alternative.Methods: We have retrospectively studied  data of patients of advanced SCCHN treated with nanoparticle paclitaxel along with RT. Nanoparticle paclitaxel was administered at a dose of 80 mg/m2 over one hour infusion once weekly along with RT, 60 Gray (Gy) in 30 fractions, five days per week, over 6 weeks.Results: Total numbers of patient in this study were 28 with median age of 49 years. 78.57% of patient had stage IV disease and 21.43% stage III. Overall response rate was 68% with complete response (CR) in 29% and partial response (PR) in 39%.Conclusions: The use of nanoparticle paclitaxel along with RT is safe, feasible, efficacious and cost effective. Intensive randomized studies with large sample size are required in this direction.

Addition of a Preoperative Educational Video for Enhanced Recovery After Breast Cancer Surgery

Introduction: Patients undergoing breast cancer surgery at an urban teaching hospital lacked uniform and comprehensive preoperative education regarding Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS). A retrospective chart review was conducted comparing one year of data prior to ERAS incorporation to one year after implementation to assess the impact on breast cancer surgery patient outcomes. Methods: In collaboration with stakeholders, an animated video was created to educate patients regarding the ERAS pathway and set perioperative expectations. A valid, reliable survey measuring the patient’s surgical care experience was adapted and distributed along with the video to breast cancer patients undergoing surgery as a result of their diagnosis. Results: 100% (n=15) of survey participants responded either “yes, definitely” or “yes, somewhat” that the video explained what to expect during the recovery period. 93% of survey participants (n=14) responded that they felt more calm and relaxed after this video intervention, either definitely or somewhat, with one participant responding “no.” Fisher’s exact test demonstrated no statistically significant associations between age or level of education regarding the two primary outcomes. There was a statistically significant association found between having more office visits before surgery and the video “yes, definitely” versus “yes somewhat” explaining what to expect during the recovery period (p=0.043). Conclusions: This quality improvement project successfully provided effective patient education regarding ERAS for breast cancer surgery patients through a video modality that set perioperative expectations and helped the patient feel more calm and relaxed

Role of Shrubs in Rangeland Based Livestock Production System in Western Rajasthan, India

Rangeland covers ~ 51% of the terrestrial surface of the Earth, and supports half of the world‟s livestock. More than 80 % of forage consumed by domestic livestock is supplied by rangelands in Africa and Asia. Hot arid regions of India cover an area of 31.7 million hectares and out of which Rajasthan state constitutes ~ 61.8 % of the entire area. The crop production in this area is low, unstable and risky. Livestock sustains arid farming systems by virtue of their potential to reduce risk, alleviate poverty, important providers of nutrients and traction for growing crops in smallholder systems and the imparting sustainability of household. The hot arid region of Rajasthan has about 29.08 million livestock. Pastures and grazing lands, residential area and wayside grazing lands, crop by-products and residues, fodder crops etc. are the major feed resources. For the small ruminants and camels, the rangelands are the major source of feed supply. Shrubs are vital component of rangeland vegetation and cover \u3e 70 % of desert landscapes from Aravalli to the international border of the Indian part of Thar desert. They are an important source of feed and assure feed availability in a drought situation. They have remarkable morpho-physiological adaptations to different land forms and survive under harsh edapho-climatic conditions. During recent past, a rapid decline population of browse shrubs is noticed due to their over exploitation, destruction of natural habitat, expending irrigation facilities, increasing agricultural mechanization and changes in land use pattern. In the present paper key species, fodder production and nutritive value of shrubs of hot arid rangelands are discussed

Effects of Carbohydrates on in vitro axillary shoot initiation and multiplication of Bambusa pallida Munro.

The purpose of the current study was to optimize the carbohydrate sources and sucrose concentrations for mass clonal propagation of B. pallida. Sucrose in MS liquid medium consisting additives (ascorbic acid, 50mg/l + citric acid, 25 mg/l + cysteine, 25 mg/l) was found to be the best carbohydrate source for shoot induction and shoot multiplication.  NAA 0.25mg/l in combination with TDZ 0.25mg/l in the medium exhibited high frequency shoot induction and NAA 0.25mg/l with BAP 1.0mg/l helped for further multiplication of quality shoots.  IBA pulse treated shoots were rooted in the MS half strength agar gelled medium fortified with sucrose (2%) and glucose (1%). Rooted plantlets were well established in the green house with more than 95% survivability within four weeks period.&nbsp

Estimating Color-Concept Associations from Image Statistics

To interpret the meanings of colors in visualizations of categorical information, people must determine how distinct colors correspond to different concepts. This process is easier when assignments between colors and concepts in visualizations match people's expectations, making color palettes semantically interpretable. Efforts have been underway to optimize color palette design for semantic interpretablity, but this requires having good estimates of human color-concept associations. Obtaining these data from humans is costly, which motivates the need for automated methods. We developed and evaluated a new method for automatically estimating color-concept associations in a way that strongly correlates with human ratings. Building on prior studies using Google Images, our approach operates directly on Google Image search results without the need for humans in the loop. Specifically, we evaluated several methods for extracting raw pixel content of the images in order to best estimate color-concept associations obtained from human ratings. The most effective method extracted colors using a combination of cylindrical sectors and color categories in color space. We demonstrate that our approach can accurately estimate average human color-concept associations for different fruits using only a small set of images. The approach also generalizes moderately well to more complicated recycling-related concepts of objects that can appear in any color.Comment: IEEE VIS InfoVis 2019 ACM 2012 CSS: 1) Human-centered computing, Human computer interaction (HCI), Empirical studies in HCI 2) Human-centered computing, Human computer interaction (HCI), HCI design and evaluation methods, Laboratory experiments 3) Human-centered computing, Visualization, Empirical studies in visualizatio