Improving Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Rainfed Agriculture in Asia: An Overview

Limiting natural resources, erratic rainfall, land degradation, soil erosion, poverty, and burgeoning population characterize the dry regions in Asia. Over-exploitation of natural resources in these areas to meet the ever-increasing demand for food and fuel of rapidly growing population has led to environmental degradation and calls for initiation of immediate steps for optimal utilization of natural resources based on the potential and limitations. To develop sustainable natural resource management options for increasing the agricultural productivity and income of rural poor in these dry regions, a new integrated farmer participatory watershed management model was developed by ICRISAT along with NARS partners. This holistic approach includes new science tools, linking on-station research to on-farm watersheds, technical backstopping through consortium of institutions with convergence of livelihood-based activities. This new model was applied at selected benchmark locations in Asia by ICRISAT in partnership with NARS through execution of the project “Improving Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Rainfed Agriculture in Asia”. The broad objectives of the project were to enhance and sustain the productivity of medium and high water-holding capacity soils in the intermediate rainfall ecoregions of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and to develop environment-friendly soil and water resource management practices. Onstation benchmark locations served as sites for strategic research and on-farm benchmark watersheds served as farmer-managed sites for farmer participatory refinement and evaluation of sustainable natural resource management options under varying socioeconomic and bio-physical situations. The on-farm watersheds were provided with technical backstopping from ICRISAT and other consortium institutions. The monitoring and impact assessment in these locations reflected a higher technology adoption of improved soil and water conservation practices, and nutrient and pest management with increased productivity and income

Improving management of natural resources for sustainable rainfed agriculture in asia: an overview

Limiting natural resources, erratic rainfall, land degradation, soil erosion, poverty, and burgeoning population characterize the dry regions in Asia. Over-exploitation of natural resources in these areas to meet the ever-increasing demand for food and fuel of rapidly growing population has led to environmental degradation and calls for initiation of immediate steps for optimal utilization of natural resources based on the potential and limitations. To develop sustainable natural resource management options for increasing the agricultural productivity and income of rural poor in these dry regions, a new integrated farmer participatory watershed management model was developed by ICRISAT along with NARS partners. This holistic approach includes new science tools, linking on-station research to on-farm watersheds, technical backstopping through consortium of institutions with convergence of livelihood-based activities. This new model was applied at selected benchmark locations in Asia by ICRISAT in partnership with NARS through execution of the project “Improving Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Rainfed Agriculture in Asia”. The broad objectives of the project were to enhance and sustain the productivity of medium and high water-holding capacity soils in the intermediate rainfall ecoregions of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and to develop environment-friendly soil and water resource management practices. Onstation benchmark locations served as sites for strategic research and on-farm benchmark watersheds served as farmer-managed sites for farmer participatory refinement and evaluation of sustainable natural resource management options under varying socioeconomic and bio-physical situations. The on-farm watersheds were provided with technical backstopping from ICRISAT and other consortium institutions. The monitoring and impact assessment in these locations reflected a higher technology adoption of improved soil and water conservation practices, and nutrient and pest management with increased productivity and incomes

Plasma Alpha Synuclein as a Potent Biomarker of Diseases with Synucleinopathies

Objective: We explored whether plasma α-syn be used as a potential biomarker for synucleinopathies. Materials and Methods: α-syn levels in plasma from 54 Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) patents, 31 Alzheimer’s disease dementia (AD), and 29 controls were measured by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The mean age of the synucleinopathies group, the AD group, and the normal controls was 72.70, 74.26, and 62 years old. The median plasma α-syn levels in the synucleinopathies group, AD group and controls were 9.72 (4.41-25.30), 16.78 (7.68-51.41) and 16.65 (10.37-32.72) ng/ml, respectively (Independent-Samples Kruskal-Wallis test, p = 0.026). The α-syn levels in the synucleinopathies group were lower than those of AD and controls. There was a fair correlation between plasma α-syn levels and the sum of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) part 3 (spearman correlation coefficient r = -0.261, p = 0.021) but not with cognition measured by Thai Mental Status Examination (TMSE). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was 0.710 between the PDD and DLB vs non synucleinopathies group (AD and normal controls) (SE = 0.052, p ≤ 0.001). At the cut-off levels of 11.4 ng/ml indicated a sensitivity of 58% (95% CI 43.21-71.81%), specificity of 84.78% (95% CI 71.13-93.66%), positive predictive value (PPV) of 80.56%, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 65% and a precision of 70.83%. Conclusion: The present results suggest that plasma α-syn could be a potential biomarker to differentiate synucleinopathies from Alzheimer’s disease and the elderly with normal cognition

Quantitative gait analysis in mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and cognitively intact individuals: a cross-sectional case–control study

Background: Cognitive age-related decline is linked to dementia development and gait has been proposed to measure the change in brain function. This study aimed to investigate if spatiotemporal gait variables could be used to differentiate between the three cognitive status groups. Methods: Ninety-three older adults were screened and classified into three groups; mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 32), dementia (n = 31), and a cognitively intact (n = 30). Spatiotemporal gait variables were assessed under single- and dual-tasks using an objective platform system. Effects of cognitive status and walking task were analyzed using a two-way ANCOVA. Sub-comparisons for between- and within-group were performed by one-way ANCOVA and Paired t-tests. Area Under the Curve (AUC) of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) was used to discriminate between three groups on gait variables. Results: There were significant effects (P <0.05) of cognitive status during both single and dual-task walking in several variables between the MCI and dementia and between dementia and cognitively intact groups, while no difference was seen between the MCI and cognitively intact groups. A large differentiation effect between the groups was found for step length, stride length, and gait speed during both conditions of walking. Conclusions: Spatiotemporal gait variables showed discriminative ability between dementia and cognitively intact groups in both single and dual-tasks. This suggests that gait could potentially be used as a clinical differentiation marker for individuals with cognitive problems

Improving Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Rainfed Agriculture in Northeastern Thailand

Lands of northeastern Thailand are sloping and fragile. A large proportion of these soils are degraded due to soil erosion. Degraded soils are one of the major constraints for agricultural production in this region. ICRISAT in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Land Development Department, and Khon Kaen University, Thailand started a project in 1999 with the financial support from the Asian Development Bank to improve the management of natural resources for sustainable rainfed agriculture through integrated watershed approach. This paper summarizes all the research work carried out for three years during the project period. This includes selection of benchmark site in the ecoregion, baseline surveys, establishment of monitoring devices and various interventions in cropping systems, land and water management and fertility management areas, and human resource development. The initial results of research indicate a reduction in soil erosion and improvement of crop yields due to various interventions. There is sufficient scope to scale up this work in the ecoregion. The details of various activities undertaken and the outputs are presented in the pape

The effectiveness of psychosocial and behavioral interventions for informal dementia caregivers:Meta-analyses and meta-regressions

Background:  Many psychosocial and behavioral interventions have been developed for informal dementia caregivers. Because existing meta-analyses only focused on a limited number of interventions and outcomes, how effective these interventions are overall and which interventions components are associated with larger effects has yet to be explored. Objective:  To provide a comprehensive meta-analysis of the effectiveness of psychosocial and behavioral interventions on burden, depression, anxiety, quality of life, stress, and sense of competence in informal dementia caregivers. In addition, we examined if interventions which utilized more sessions and/or were delivered personally (face-to-face) had larger effect sizes. In exploratory meta-regressions, we examined seven additional moderators. Methods:  The protocol was registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42017062555. We systematically searched the literature to identify controlled trials assessing the effect of psychosocial and behavioral interventions on the six outcome measures, for informal dementia caregivers. We performed six random effects meta-analyses, to assess the pooled effect sizes of the interventions. In addition, we performed separate meta-regressions, for each outcome, for each moderator. Results:  The sample consisted of 60 studies. For all outcomes except anxiety, the pooled effects were small and in favor of the intervention group. No moderator was found to systematically predict these effects. There were no indications for publication bias or selection bias based on significance. Conclusion:  Overall, the interventions yield significant (small) effects, independent of intervention characteristics. Future research should explore options to enhance the effectiveness of interventions aimed at assisting informal caregivers

Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) for the early diagnosis of dementia across a variety of healthcare settings

Background: The Informant Questionnaire for Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) is a structured interview based on informant responses that is used to assess for possible dementia. IQCODE has been used for retrospective or contemporaneous assessment of cognitive decline. There is considerable interest in tests that may identify those at future risk of developing dementia. Assessing a population free of dementia for the prospective development of dementia is an approach often used in studies of dementia biomarkers. In theory, questionnaire-based assessments, such as IQCODE, could be used in a similar way, assessing for dementia that is diagnosed on a later (delayed) assessment. Objectives: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of IQCODE in a population free from dementia for the delayed diagnosis of dementia (test accuracy with delayed verification study design). Search methods: We searched these sources on 16 January 2016: ALOIS (Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group), MEDLINE Ovid SP, Embase Ovid SP, PsycINFO Ovid SP, BIOSIS Previews on Thomson Reuters Web of Science, Web of Science Core Collection (includes Conference Proceedings Citation Index) on Thomson Reuters Web of Science, CINAHL EBSCOhost, and LILACS BIREME. We also searched sources specific to diagnostic test accuracy: MEDION (Universities of Maastricht and Leuven); DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, in the Cochrane Library); HTA Database (Health Technology Assessment Database, in the Cochrane Library), and ARIF (Birmingham University). We checked reference lists of included studies and reviews, used searches of included studies in PubMed to track related articles, and contacted research groups conducting work on IQCODE for dementia diagnosis to try to find additional studies. We developed a sensitive search strategy; search terms were designed to cover key concepts using several different approaches run in parallel, and included terms relating to cognitive tests, cognitive screening, and dementia. We used standardised database subject headings, such as MeSH terms (in MEDLINE) and other standardised headings (controlled vocabulary) in other databases, as appropriate. Selection criteria: We selected studies that included a population free from dementia at baseline, who were assessed with the IQCODE and subsequently assessed for the development of dementia over time. The implication was that at the time of testing, the individual had a cognitive problem sufficient to result in an abnormal IQCODE score (defined by the study authors), but not yet meeting dementia diagnostic criteria. Data collection and analysis: We screened all titles generated by the electronic database searches, and reviewed abstracts of all potentially relevant studies. Two assessors independently checked the full papers for eligibility and extracted data. We determined quality assessment (risk of bias and applicability) using the QUADAS-2 tool, and reported quality using the STARDdem tool. Main results: From 85 papers describing IQCODE, we included three papers, representing data from 626 individuals. Of this total, 22% (N = 135/626) were excluded because of prevalent dementia. There was substantial attrition; 47% (N = 295) of the study population received reference standard assessment at first follow-up (three to six months) and 28% (N = 174) received reference standard assessment at final follow-up (one to three years). Prevalence of dementia ranged from 12% to 26% at first follow-up and 16% to 35% at final follow-up. The three studies were considered to be too heterogenous to combine, so we did not perform meta-analyses to describe summary estimates of interest. Included patients were poststroke (two papers) and hip fracture (one paper). The IQCODE was used at three thresholds of positivity (higher than 3.0, higher than 3.12 and higher than 3.3) to predict those at risk of a future diagnosis of dementia. Using a cut-off of 3.0, IQCODE had a sensitivity of 0.75 (95%CI 0.51 to 0.91) and a specificity of 0.46 (95%CI 0.34 to 0.59) at one year following stroke. Using a cut-off of 3.12, the IQCODE had a sensitivity of 0.80 (95%CI 0.44 to 0.97) and specificity of 0.53 (95C%CI 0.41 to 0.65) for the clinical diagnosis of dementia at six months after hip fracture. Using a cut-off of 3.3, the IQCODE had a sensitivity of 0.84 (95%CI 0.68 to 0.94) and a specificity of 0.87 (95%CI 0.76 to 0.94) for the clinical diagnosis of dementia at one year after stroke. In generaI, the IQCODE was sensitive for identification of those who would develop dementia, but lacked specificity. Methods for both excluding prevalent dementia at baseline and assessing for the development of dementia were varied, and had the potential to introduce bias. Authors' conclusions: Included studies were heterogenous, recruited from specialist settings, and had potential biases. The studies identified did not allow us to make specific recommendations on the use of the IQCODE for the future diagnosis of dementia in clinical practice. The included studies highlighted the challenges of delayed verification dementia research, with issues around prevalent dementia assessment, loss to follow-up over time, and test non-completion potentially limiting the studies. Future research should recognise these issues and have explicit protocols for dealing with them