An unusual case of bilateral hydroureter: solved by a gynaecologist

A 26-year unmarried girl presented with severe dysmenorrhoea and hesitancy of micturition during menses since, 2 years. She had history of regular menstruation. On IVP and ultrasound there was presence bilateral hydroureter and hydronephrosis. She had previous history of cystoscopy with bilateral ureteroscopy done for the same. Bilateral ureteric stenting for a period of 3 months was done 1 year earlier, however it failed to resolve the hydroureter. A MRI was done, which showed hydroureter with surrounding endometriotic nodule. Laparoscopy was done, and ureteral shaving was performed. Postoperative IVP showed normal ureteral and renal pelvic anatomy. Patient is presently on Dienogest and is asymptomatic

Roberts uterus: a rare congenital anomaly

A 23-year-old girl presented with severe cyclical lower abdominal pain during menstruation since menarche, which had increased since the last 4 years. Transabdominal ultrasound showed adnexal mass with no internal vascularity; MRI reported it as bicornuate uterus with one non-communicating right uterine horn with haematometra. On hysteroscopy there was evidence of septate uterus communicating only to the left ostia. Ultrasonography-guided hysteroscopic resection of septa with drainage of haematometra was done. Patient is presently asymptomatic

Foraging for fruits: natural resource use and its conservation potential in urban environments

Wild edible fruits (WEFs) are a type of natural resource that humans across the world collect from diverse natural landscapes. They are among the most used non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and wild foods, and often serve more than a nutritional purpose for humans, in the form of fibre, fuel, medicine, and other products. The use of WEFs may augment household dietary diversity, food security, and income in some contexts. The prevalence of WEF species across the spectrum of natural to modified ecosystems presents the potential for integrated landscape-level conservation efforts centred on these species. The first half of this thesis investigates the state of knowledge about this versatile and ubiquitous resource in the wider context of other wild foods and NTFPs, and compares the patterns of use of WEFs with those of other wild foods and NTFPs. Through these studies, I find that WEFs are indeed a widely occurring, resilient, and useful resource along the rural-urban gradient. They are unique in that their use transcends the geographical and socio-economic criteria that influence the use of other wild foods and NTFPs. Based on these findings, in the second half of the thesis, I propose the use-based conservation of WEF species in urban landscapes through the practice of urban foraging. Through interviews with urban land managers and foragers, I describe the state of urban green space management and urban foraging, and identify synergies between the two. Green space management is increasingly devolved and well-defined in developed cities, and relatively diffused in smaller towns, but nevertheless supportive of use-based biodiversity conservation. Planting and foraging for WEFs in urban green spaces ties in with local and national objectives of urban land use management policy. However, the lack of information on species, spaces, and sustainability related to foraging are a hindrance to addressing this activity and harnessing its conservation potential. Foragers use a variety of WEF species collected from natural as well as highly used and urbanised areas in their cities. Although most foragers consider foraging as a cultural and recreational activity, many of them agreed with the prospect of commercialising or popularising it to protect and promote the biodiversity and culture associated with their foraging spaces. The synthesis of this study presents four possible pathways to conserve the diversity of WEF species, and to extend the benefits of WEF use to landscape stewardship. It identifies key stakeholders in implementing these pathways and possible collaborations between these stakeholders; the multiple conservation objectives and policies these pathways respond to; and context-specific considerations for policy and implementation related to planting and foraging of WEFs

Urban foraging: land management policy, perspectives, and potential

Gathering of uncultivated food from green spaces, also known as foraging, is observed in urban areas across the world, but the literature focuses predominantly on the global north. Our study examines the existing urban land management structure and its approach to urban foraging in the eastern coastal region of South Africa. Through interviews with municipal officials in nine cities, we identified different stakeholders and their roles in urban green space management. We then used network analysis to represent interactions and influence of these stakeholders, and environmental worldviews to determine organisational and perceptual barriers to and enablers of foraging in urban green spaces. The policy on urban green space management, as well as land managers themselves are amenable to the concept of foraging in public spaces. Lack of knowledge on wild indigenous species and sustainable offtake, ambiguous, coarse, or lacking policy, and normative views of pristine nature may hinder foraging. We recommend pathways for policy and stakeholder partnerships to incorporate sustainable foraging in their biodiversity conservation and land stewardship strategies

India synthesis report 2024

This is the final version. Available from SHEFS via the link in this recordThis report presents a food systems perspective on the production, distribution, and consumption of food in India. The report is a result of five years of research conducted under the Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems (SHEFS) programme. The SHEFS programme consists of a consortium of institutions in India, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, that conduct research on food systems, with the aim of providing policymakers and practitioners with current and novel evidence. This report presents five insights from SHEFS research, and five policy actions to address the social and environmental sustainability of food systems. The insights are oriented to answering two urgent questions that face policymakers, namely: 1 How to ensure equitable nutrition and health in the face of rapid urbanisation? 2 How to meet food demands in the face of climate change and limited land and water? Research under the SHEFS programme was conducted by various collaborating institutes across different sites in India, using different methodological approaches, from economics to ecology. The five insights include: i. socioeconomic inequality is limiting people’s access to healthy and nutritious foods; ii. urbanising lifestyles are changing people’s aspirations and choice of food to purchase and consume; iii. producing and consuming locally adapted crops, can improve farm sustainability and the health of farmers; iv. educating consumers on food footprints, safety, and wastage can curb negative impacts and inequity of food systems; and v. empowering localised food systems and sharing best practice across regions can accelerate innovation in food systems. Based on the research insights above, the current report recommends that: i. environmental sustainability is more explicitly and synergistically tied to policy objectives across all food policy areas: from agricultural production to nutritional health and social welfare; ii. nutrition awareness and education is mainstreamed to reduce food and nutritional inequalities across socioeconomic gradients and gender; iii. farmers are supported by extension services to develop capacity to produce food sustainably; iv. fiscal and market instruments are used to incentivise sustainable food production and reduce a reliance on unsustainable agricultural inputs; and v. land use policies are adapted to enable sustainable food production and protect livelihoods. Throughout this report ongoing policies and programmes have been highlighted that can channel these recommended actions to promote sustainable and healthy food systems in India

Sea turtles support sustainable livelihoods at Ostional, Costa Rica

Ostional in Costa Rica is the second largest nesting site of the olive ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys olivacea, which is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. In Ostional the local community helps maintain the nesting site and collects olive ridley eggs for consumption and trade within Costa Rica. Since its inception in 1987 the egg harvesting project has integrated sea turtle conservation with community development. We assessed the current status of this project in terms of community awareness, dependency, involvement and perceptions, using a household survey and semi-structured interviews with key informants. We also compared some of our findings with those of previous studies at the site, finding that the project has fewer dependents, primary livelihood activities have shifted towards tourism and hospitality, and respondents are more aware about environmental conservation and stewardship. We map outcomes of the project with the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, and suggest that further capacity building for research and tourism could contribute towards sustaining the turtle population, local livelihoods, and the community-based conservation institution

Revolutionizing Healthcare: The Role of AI-Based Medical Expert Systems in Building a Better Future

Modern society has an increasing need for better architecture and medical care. However, this difficulty is not sufficiently addressed by present medical architecture. The Medicinal Expert technique can be used to help persons in need in order to address this issue. A tremendous amount of medical data, including patient medical histories, records, and new medications, can be managed and maintained using this technology. It can help with decision-making and fill in for specialists when they are not present. The Medicinal Expert approach is a complex computer software system that generates forecasts using empirical data and expert knowledge. Based on the available training data and knowledge base, these systems function intelligently. Additionally, there are numerous Medical Expert System tools that support clinicians, help with diagnosis, and are crucial for instructing medical students. In this study, we introduce an AI-based Medical Expert System, its features, and its potential to help patients and medical students. We also go through some key findings from recent and prior research on expert systems, as well as how these systems can make the world a better place

Challenging Predictions of Inflationary Models with CMB Data

Cosmic inflation offers the best known explanations for many of the observed features of the Universe, such as its flatness. An imprint of the qualities of this mechanism is left in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which can be instrumental to confirm inflation. Unfortunately, there is a plethora of inflationary models, which are a priori in the same footing. It is conceivable that contrasting the predictions of the various models with the measured values of the parameters of CMB data and other cosmological observables shall allow one to single out the successful theory of inflation. In this work we provide a first contribution to this endeavor, by computing the degree of agreement between Planck data and the values of the scalar spectral tilt and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, predicted by different inflationary models. We observe that inflationary models based on power-law potentials and axion monodromy are disfavored

How People Foraging in Urban Greenspace Can Mobilize Social–Ecological Resilience During Covid-19 and Beyond

Informal foraging for food and other natural materials in urban greenspaces is an activity undertaken by many across the world. For some, foraging is a necessary means of survival and livelihood, while for others, it provides cultural and recreational opportunities. In the socioeconomic crises induced by Covid-19, foraging can help communities, especially (but not exclusively) vulnerable people, cope with the impacts of lockdowns, and associated economic decline. In the long run, foraging can help improve social–ecological resilience in urban systems, particularly in response to climate, economic, and disease disruptions. First, we elaborate the ways in which urban foraging can provide immediate relief from the shocks to natural, human, social, physical, and financial capital. We then describe how over time, the livelihood, food, and income diversification brought about by foraging can contribute to preparedness for future uncertainties and gradual change. Cities are increasingly becoming home to the majority of humanity, and urban foraging can be one of the pathways that makes cities more liveable, for humans as well as other species we coexist with. Through the capitals framework, we explore the role foraging could play in addressing issues of biodiversity conservation, culture, and education, good governance and social justice, multifunctional greenspace, and sustainable nature-based livelihoods in urban areas

Exergy analysis of a four pan jaggery making process

open access articleJaggery is a non-traditional sweetener that is produced from boiling sugarcane juice. Due to the energy intensive nature of the combustion process in jaggery making, previous studies in literature have presented various process and equipment modifications to affect its energy efficiency. This study adds to the understanding of the resource transformations and consumptions in the jaggery process by presenting its exergy analysis. The baseline process was operationally modified for which the exergy efficiency and exergy destruction are calculated. Through the modifications, the exergy efficiency and exergy destruction increased by 11.2% and 0.8% respectively. A significant amount of exergy was wasted as surplus heat in the form of flue gas, which reduced by 11.5% due to process modifications. The results show that while the most evident form of resource waste was due to flue gas released into the environment, the largest form of resource consumption was actually due to exergy destruction arising from irreversibilities in combustion, a result not clearly evident through energy analysis alone. Through modelling process flows in terms of exergy, the analysis presented in this paper increases the visibility of the resource consumptions and losses in the jaggery making process. This study should aid the efforts of researchers and practitioners aiming to reduce resource consumption in the jaggery making process