Monitoring and Assessment of Soil Quality near Kashlog Limestone mine at Darlaghat District Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

Limestone mining for an area is an economic activity but may lead to degradation of soil quality. Opencast mining operations involved displacement of large amount of overburden/rock mass materials to excavate the limestone for many purposes. In mining areas the soils are affected by various mining operations i.e blasting, drilling and storage of overburden dump materials, clearing of land, construction of ancillary facilities and movement of vehicles.  It is essential to determine the potential of soil in the area and identify the impacts of urbanization, industrialization and mining on soil quality. Present study is carried out to determine the soil characteristics, Impact of mining, industrialization and more importantly from agricultural point of view. Soil samples collected from ten locations were analyzed for physic- chemical characteristics. From the data it is observed that the concentration of total iron in 2 samples were above the permissible limit of 5.77%. Potassium levels were under the category very high whereas the levels of Phosphorus were reported to be in the category of less to medium. Higher potassium content of all the samples may be due to using fertilizers containing potassium. Cacium and magnesium levels are also higher than the prescribed safe limit in few samples. Key Words: Pollution, urbanization, industrialization, mining and fertilizer

Socio-economic impacts of Sorang hydroelectric power project in District Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Electricity is one of the key determinants for economic growth of a nation.  Over the past decade or so, hydropower projects (HEP) around the world have attracted much attention concerning the environmental and social impacts that have arisen from such developments. Construction and operations of dams have always been associated with changes in the physical and biological environment. No doubt electricity generation is the need of the hours for development, but the large projects do involve the submersion of forests and the displacement of people. Socio-economic and cultural impacts arising from project construction and environmental transformations are rooted in the complex interactivity between social and biophysical environments. Human communities are integral components of their environment as well as potential agents for environmental change. Hence environmental changes in settled areas are often profoundly interlinked with subsequent changes that occur within society. The interests of local must be listened to and taken care of during the planning and the policy makers must adopt a model or strategies so that the impacts and effects of such type developmental activities can be minimized and local people who are living in the vicinity as well as who have sacrificed their belongings. To maximize the positive impacts and mitigate the negative environmental, social and economic impacts sustainability of water resources projects is required.  This paper refers the perception of the public with regards to the impact of the Sorang HEP and other development activities and need for sustainable development to maintain balance with the environment of hilly and fragile area. Keywords: Hydropower Projects (HEP), Socio-economic, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Sustainability

Forensic tool for sex prediction- hand dimensions

Background: Determination of sex from mutilated body fragments can perform vital role for identification of departed soul.Forensic authority pacts with human identification from the hand measurements which is of prodigious assessment during tragedies, terror attacks and in criminality. Objective: Present study explored the analytical role of the anthropometric measurements of hand dimensions, find demarking points for male and female, check percentage exactitude of sex determination in Western Indian population. Methods: The study was piloted on a sample of 504 individuals. All the measurements were taken by standard procedure. Discriminant analysis and demarking points were created for all hand measurements. Results: Males have a significantly higher values of all measurements than females. The left-hand length measurement unveiled  noteworthy sexual dimorphism index (110.80). The higher value of the demarking point labelled as males. The best sexually dimorphic hand dimensions showed the utmost precision left hand length (95% in the male), followed by right hand length (76.1%). Conclusion: All hand measurements like length, breadth and index are displaying sexual dimorphism, hence they can be used for determination of sex when isolated hand is found.Keywords: Hand measurements; sexual dimorphism; demarking point; discriminant analysis

Emergency management of decompensated peripartum cardiomyopathy

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare life-threatening cardiomyopathy of unknown cause that occurs in the peripartum period in previously healthy women.[1] the symptomatic patients should receive standard therapy for heart failure, managed by a multidisciplinary team. The diagnosis of PPCM rests on the echocardiographic identification of new left ventricular systolic dysfunction during a limited period surrounding parturition. Diagnostic criteria include an ejection fraction of less than 45%, fractional shortening of less than 30%, or both, and end-diastolic dimension of greater than 2.7 cm/m2 body surface-area. This entity presents a diagnostic challenge because many women in the last month of a normal pregnancy experience dyspnea, fatigue, and pedal edema, symptoms identical to early congestive heart failure. There are no specific criteria for differentiating subtle symptoms of heart failure from normal late pregnancy. Therefore, it is important that a high index of suspicion be maintained to identify the rare case of PPCM as general examination showing symptoms of heart failure with pulmonary edema. PPCM remains a diagnosis of exclusion. No additional specific criteria have been identified to allow distinction between a peripartum patient with new onset heart failure and left ventricular systolic dysfunction as PPCM and another form of dilated cardiomyopathy. Therefore, all other causes of dilated cardiomyopathy with heart failure must be systematically excluded before accepting the designation of PPCM. Recent observations from Haiti[2] suggest that a latent form of PPCM without clinical symptoms might exist. The investigators identified four clinically normal postpartum women with asymptomatic systolic dysfunction on echocardiography, who subsequently either developed clinically detectable dilated cardiomyopathy or improved and completely recovered heart function

Quality characterization and pollution source identification of surface water using multivariate statistical techniques, Nalagarh Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract Sirsa River flows through the central part of the Nalagarh valley, belongs to the rapid industrial belt of Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh (BBN). The appraisal of surface water quality to ascertain its utility in such ecologically sensitive areas is need of the hour. The present study envisages the application of multivariate analysis, water utility class and conventional graphical representation to reveal the hidden factor responsible for deterioration of water quality and determine the hydrochemical facies and its evolution processes of water types in Nalagarh valley, India. The quality assessment is made by estimating pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, major ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3 −, Cl−, SO4 2−, NO3 − and PO4 3−), dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD) and total coliform (TC) to determine its suitability for drinking and domestic purposes. The parameters like pH, TDS, TH, Ca2+, HCO3 −, Cl−, SO4 2−, NO3 − are within the desirable limit as per Bureau of Indian Standards (Indian Standard Drinking Water Specification (Second Edition) IS:10500. Indian Standard Institute, New Delhi, pp 1–18, 2012). Mg2+, Na+ and K+ ions for pre monsoon and EC during pre and post monsoon at few sites and approx 40% samples of BOD and TC for both seasons exceeds the permissible limits indicate organic contamination from human activities. Water quality classification for designated use indicates that maximum surface water samples are not suitable for drinking water source without conventional treatment. The result of piper trillinear and Chadha’s diagram classified majority of surface water samples for both seasons fall in the fields of Ca2+–Mg2+–HCO3 − water type indicating temporary hardness. PCA and CA reveal that the surface water chemistry is influenced by natural factors such as weathering of minerals, ion exchange processes and anthropogenic factors. Thus, the present paper illustrates the importance of multivariate techniques for reliable quality characterization of surface water quality to develop effective pollution reduction strategies and maintain a fine balance between the industrialization and ecological integrity

Serum Uric Acid: A Novel Risk Factor for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: To analyze the relationship between first trimester uric acid levels and risk of development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Method: A total of 300 pregnant women up to 14 weeks of pregnancy were enrolled in this study. After obtaining their demographic data and clinical assessment blood sample for serum uric acid was taken. Women were subsequently followed till term. All women were subjected to blood sugar screening one hour after 50 gm glucose and glucose tolerance test if screening was < 200mg/dl. GDM was diagnosed by 3 hours glucose tolerance test using Carpenter and Coustan criteria or by one hour screening value > 200 mg /dl. Results: GDM complicated 2.66% (8/300) of the pregnancies. All the women with serum uric acid > 5 mg/dl (n=6) had deranged blood sugar screening and out of this 5 developed GDM. Conclusion: The study demonstrates a striking association between first trimester uric acid and risk of developing GDM. First trimester uric acid level may be used as predictor for development of GDM

Carriage of Class 1 integrons and molecular characterization of intI1 gene in multidrug-resistant Salmonella spp. isolates from broilers

Aim: The present study was conducted with the following aims: (i) To screen the Salmonella spp. isolates recovered from suspected cases of fowl typhoid for carriage of Class 1 integrons and analyze their association with antimicrobial resistance and (ii) to carry out molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of Class 1 integron-integrase (intI1) gene. Materials and Methods: A total of 43 Salmonella isolates were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to determine the presence of Class1 intI1. Differences between different serotypes in relation to their carriage of integrons and the differences between strains containing or not containing an integron and being resistant to different antimicrobials were analyzed by Fisher exact test using STATA™ (StataCorp, College Station, TX). Phylogenetic analysis was carried out using MEGA6 software. Results: Out of 43 isolates, 40 (93.02%) were found positive for Class 1 integrons. 35/40 (87.5%) intI1-positive isolates were multidrug resistance (MDR) (resistant to ≥4 antibiotics), which support the hypothesis of an association between the presence of Class 1 integrons and emerging MDR in Salmonella. There was no significant difference among isolates resistant to different antimicrobials in Class 1 integron carrying isolates and the Class 1 integron negative isolates (p<0.05). Further, there was no significant difference among different serotypes in respect of their carriage of Class 1 integrons. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the high prevalence of Class 1 integrons indicates a high potential of Salmonella isolates for horizontal transmission of antimicrobial genes, especially among Gram-negative organisms

Wintertime Variation in Carbonaceous Components of PM10 in the High Altitudes of Himalayas

Carbonaceous aerosols play a significant role in the Earth&rsquo;s atmospheric system by affecting visibility, the hydrological cycle, the climate, radiative forcing, and human health. The present study analyses PM10 samples that were collected at three distinct urban locations (Mohal-Kullu, Nainital, and Darjeeling) over the Himalayan region of India during winter 2019. The mass concentrations of PM10 were recorded as 51 &plusmn; 16 &mu;g m&minus;3, 38 &plusmn; 9 &mu;g m&minus;3, and 52 &plusmn; 18 &mu;g m&minus;3 for Mohal-Kullu, Nainital, and Darjeeling, respectively. Organic carbon (OC) dominated over elemental carbon (EC) and was found to be 50.2%, 42.8%, and 47% of total carbon (TC) at Mohal-Kullu, Nainital, and Darjeeling, respectively. The respective mass concentrations of carbonaceous species [OC, EC, water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), and total carbonaceous aerosol (TCA)] were higher at Mohal-Kullu (OC: 11.1 &plusmn; 5.3, EC: 4.2 &plusmn; 1.9, WSOC: 5.3 &plusmn; 1.3 &mu;g m&minus;3, and TCA: 22.1 &plusmn; 10.4 &mu;g m&minus;3) followed by Darjeeling (OC: 5.4 &plusmn; 2.0, EC: 2.7 &plusmn; 1.0, WSOC: 3.9 &plusmn; 1.3 &mu;g m&minus;3, and TCA: 22.1 &plusmn; 10.4 &mu;g m&minus;3) and Nainital (OC: 2.9 &plusmn; 1.0, EC: 1.3 &plusmn; 0.6, WSOC: 2.1 &plusmn; 0.6 &mu;g m&minus;3, and TCA: 6.7 &plusmn; 2.4 &mu;g m&minus;3). The OC/EC and WSOC/OC ratio at Mohal-Kullu (2.6 &plusmn; 0.3, 0.6 &plusmn; 0.2), Nainital (2.0 &plusmn; 0.4, 0.7 &plusmn; 0.2), and Darjeeling (2.3 &plusmn; 0.5, 0.7 &plusmn; 0.2), respectively, indicates the dominance of fossil fuel combustion (coal and vehicular exhaust), with signified additional contribution from secondary organic carbon (SOC)