Land cover and forest health indicator datasets for central India using very-high resolution satellite data

Satellite imagery has been used to provide global and regional estimates of forest cover. Despite increased availability and accessibility of satellite data, approaches for detecting forest degradation have been limited. We produce a very-high resolution 3-meter (m) land cover dataset and develop a normalized index, the Bare Ground Index (BGI), to detect and map exposed bare ground within forests at 90 m resolution in central India. Tree cover and bare ground was identified from Planet Labs Very High-Resolution satellite data using a Random Forest classifier, resulting in a thematic land cover map with 83.00% overall accuracy (95% confidence interval: 61.25%–90.29%). The BGI is a ratio of bare ground to tree cover and was derived by aggregating the land cover. Results from field data indicate that the BGI serves as a proxy for intensity of forest use although open areas occur naturally. The BGI is an indicator of forest health and a baseline to monitor future changes to a tropical dry forest landscape at an unprecedented spatial scale

Unsolicited academic invitation to young Indian authors and a way to limit it: A prospective cohort study

Background: E-mail addresses of the corresponding author can be accessed from open-access online articles. These addresses are commonly collected by journal promoters and used to send invitations to authors with attractive publication offer to allure young authors. Aim: The aim of this study was to ascertain the quantity and type of unsolicited academic invitations and to find the effect of an intervention on the reduction of quantity of invitations. Materials and Methods: A total of seven young authors had participated in the study. In preintervention phase, each Sunday, the authors counted their unsolicited e-mails and reported it for consecutive 6 months. A list of commonly used words/phrases in those e-mails was made. That list was used to make e-mail filters to divert unsolicited e-mails to a different label (SPAM STUDY). In postintervention phase, the participants reported the number of unsolicited e-mails received in different labels for consecutive 3 months. Results: The authors received average 5.27 ± 0.93 (2.04 ± 0.28 in inbox and 3.23 ± 0.89 in spam label) academic invitations per day in the preintervention phase. Majority of the e-mails (98.97%) requested for submission of the manuscript. Postintervention total unsolicited academic e-mails (5.43 ± 1.25) remain unchanged (P = 0.67); however, e-mails to inbox (0.08 ± 0.02/day) were significantly (P < 0.0001) decreased. Conclusion: Young authors receive lots of unsolicited academic invitations; most of them request to submit manuscript. These unsolicited e-mails can be diverted to a different e-mail label by creating e-mail filters. This would help authors to reduce the burden of unsolicited mails in inbox

How to choose title and keywords for manuscript according to medical subject headings

Background: Title and keywords are the two most important parts of a manuscript. The words or phrases used in the title or keywords should be selected wisely for a wider dissemination of the article. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms are used to index article in MEDLINE/PubMed. Hence, choosing the title and keywords according to MeSH would be a better choice for authors. Aim: The aim of this article was to provide a technical guide for selecting words and phrases for title and keywords of an article according to MeSH terms. Methods: The most frequently used words in a manuscript can be identified by the help of word cloud technique. We showed an example of making a word cloud from the text of a manuscript. The method of searching MeSH terms in a manuscript text was shown with an example. Writing title and keywords with amalgamation of these two methods was described. Conclusion: This tutorial showed the use of two freely available tools on the World Wide Web (word cloud and MeSH on demand) for choosing title and keywords for a manuscript. This brief description would help authors in wider dissemination of research knowledge to the targeted audience

Validity and reliability of adapted Bengali version of self-assessment questionnaire to assess Prakriti

Background: The constitutional type of a human being, the&nbsp;Prakriti, depends on the relativity of three&nbsp;Doshas&nbsp;–&nbsp;Kapha, Pitta, and Vata. Assessment of&nbsp;Prakriti&nbsp;requires expertise in inspection, palpation, and interview. There are self-administered questionnaires in English that can assess the&nbsp;Prakriti. Aim: We aimed to adapt an English questionnaire - “self-assessment questionnaire to assess&nbsp;Prakriti” in Bangla and test its validity and reliability in the assessment of&nbsp;Prakriti. Methods: We adapted the questionnaire in Bangla by forward and backward translation. We conducted a pre-test and interview with 36 research participants. An Ayurveda physician assessed the&nbsp;Prakriti&nbsp;by the traditional method. The validity was tested by comparing the expert-assessed and questionnaire-assed&nbsp;Prakriti. The internal consistency was tested by Chronbach’s alpha and reliability by Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: A total of 36 (men 21, women 15) research participants of mean age 36.01± 3.44 participated in the pre-test, interview, and retest. Adapted Bangla “self-assessment questionnaire to assess&nbsp;Prakriti” is found to be valid for the assessment of&nbsp;Prakriti. It is reliable in terms of internal consistency (Chronbach’s alpha 0.64, 0.76, and 0.81 for Kapha, Pitta, and Vata, respectively) and repeatability (test-retest ICC 0.88, 0.91, and 0.79 for Kapha, Pitta, and Vata, respectively). Conclusion: A Bangla questionnaire for self-assessment of&nbsp;Prakriti&nbsp;has been adapted. The questionnaire was found to be valid and reliable. This questionnaire may be used for the assessment of&nbsp;Prakriti&nbsp;of Bangla-speaking people in any mass survey, research, or healthcare settings of Ayurveda for a quick assessment of Prakriti

Migration, assets, and forest degradation in a tropical deciduous forest of South Asia

Indian internal migration is among the highest in the world, with 30% of the population migrating, often for work. Such population movement can alleviate poverty and reduce forest degradation. However, estimates of this double dividend are scarce. We estimate the potential of internal migration to alleviate poverty by exploring migrant characteristics and their investments. We then evaluate whether there are short-term benefits for Central Indian forests by assessing the relationship between migration and changes in forest use over a 5-year timespan. Finally, we study the village-level association between forest degradation and the proportion of migrating households in the village. We show that internal migration has the potential to alleviate poverty. On the other hand, migration does not reduce forest degradation in such a short term

Improved household living standards can restore dry tropical forests

Despite multiple approaches over the last several decades to harmonize conservation and development goals in the tropics, forest-dependent households remain the poorest in the world. Durable housing and alternatives to fuelwood for cooking are critical needs to reduce multi-dimensional poverty. These improvements also potentially reduce pressure on forests and alleviate forest degradation. We test this possibility in dry tropical forests of the Central Indian Highlands where tribal and other marginalized populations rely on forests for energy, construction materials, and other livelihood needs. Based on a remotely sensed measure of forest degradation and a 5000 household survey of forest use, we use machine learning (causal forests) and other statistical methods to quantify treatment effects of two improved living standards—alternatives to fuelwood for cooking and non-forest-based housing material—on forest degradation in 1, 2, and 5 km buffers around 500 villages. Both improved living standards had significant treatment effects (−0.030 ± 0.078, −0.030 ± 0.023, 95% CI), respectively, with negative values indicating less forest degradation, within 1 km buffers around villages. Treatment effects were lower with increasing distance from villages. Results suggest that improved living standards can both reduce forest degradation and alleviate poverty. Forest restoration efforts can target improved living standards for local communities without conflicts over land tenure or taking land out of production to plant trees

Post-lockdown spread of COVID-19 from cities to vulnerable forest-fringe villages in central India

Background: Seasonal migration of young adult males to cities is a common livelihood strategy for forest-fringe households in central India. With poor health infrastructure, low nutritional status, and high proportions of Scheduled Tribe populations, these households and surrounding villages are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure as seasonal migrants return home. Objective: We identify patterns of seasonal migration in forest-fringe villages of central India, including proportions of households with migrants, their locations, and destination cities, to assess the vulnerability of village populations to COVID-19 exposure from returning migrants. We also compare effectiveness of varying physical distancing strategies to reduce the likelihood of spread between villages after the initial lockdown restrictions lift. Methods: We analyze origins and destinations of seasonal migrants over the last five years from a previously-collected, primary household survey of 5000 households across 500 forest-fringe villages in central India. Based on a median-sized village, we use an SEIR (susceptible, exposed, infectious, recovered) compartmental model to conceptually compare disease spread with varying leniency of movement restrictions within and between adjacent villages as restrictions ease after the lockdown. Results and implications: Villages with seasonal workers are widely dispersed across forest-fringe areas in central India, indicating the vulnerability of these populations to exposure and the need for widespread testing and health facilities. All 32 districts, approximately 75% of surveyed villages, and 18% of households had at least one seasonal migrant living in a city for part of the year during the last five years. 81% of the destination cities had reported COVID-19 cases at the beginning of the lockdown. As authorities ease movement restrictions after the lockdown period, lenient restrictions for people within a village combined with maximal restrictions between villages could be more effective in reducing the number of people exposed compared with moderate restrictions both within and between villages

Effect of integrated yoga practices on immune responses in examination stress – A preliminary study

Background: Stress is often associated with an increased occurrence of autonomic, cardiovascular, and immune system pathology. This study was done to evaluate the impact of stress on psychological, physiological parameters, and immune system during medical term -academic examination and the effect of yoga practices on the same. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on sixty first-year MBBS students randomly assigned to yoga group and control group (30 each). The yoga group underwent integrated yoga practices for 35 minutes daily in the presence of trained yoga teacher for 12 weeks. Control group did not undergo any kind of yoga practice or stress management. Physiological parameters like heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure were measured. Global Assessment of Recent Stress Scale and Spielbergers State Anxiety score were assessed at baseline and during the examination. Serum cortisol levels, IL-4, and IFN-γ levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Result: In the yoga group, no significant difference was observed in physiological parameters during the examination stress, whereas in the control group, a significant increase was observed. Likewise, the indicators of psychological stress showed highly significant difference in control group compared with significant difference in yoga group. During the examination, the increase in serum cortical and decrease in serum IFN-γ in yoga group was less significant (P<0.01) than in the control group (P<0.001). Both the groups demonstrated an increase in serum IL-4 levels, the changes being insignificant for the duration of the study. Conclusion: Yoga resists the autonomic changes and impairment of cellular immunity seen in examination stress