Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) in community tourism planning: a case study in the Nyishang and Nar-phu regions of the Manang District, Nepal

Third World countries are continually being promoted as important tourist destinations due to their cultural and biological diversity. However, in the rush for tourist development, many culturally unique and physically fragile rural areas are opened for tourism without a proper assessment of the existing problems of these areas or of the concerns of the people living there. These problems arise not only due to the lack of experts but also due to the lack of a framework that is appropriate to the problems of Third World rural areas. Central to such an assessment are the impacts that tourism might have on the destination community's resources (social, cultural, economic, and environmental), which nurture and sustain tourism. It is, therefore, essential to have community participation and input to integrate overall community objectives into the mainstream of tourism development. In order to achieve these goals in Third World rural areas, an appropriate framework suitable for both the assessment of tourism impacts on host societies and to facilitate community participation measures is required. To fulfil these requirements, a modified Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach is proposed and evaluated in the Manang District of Nepal. This study has two major objectives. It has first adopted, tested, and evaluated Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques for their potential in encouraging community participation in tourism planning within a Third World rural setting. Second, specific tourism development strategies for the study area, as articulated by its residents, are presented, interpreted, and elaborated. Four major techniques of PRA were adapted and used for this research. They are: a review of secondary data; followed by semi-structured interviews of key informants and other individuals; group interviews and discussions; and finally a community workshop. Residents of two regions, Nyishang and Nar-Phu of the Manang District of Nepal comprised the study audience. The former is a popular tourist destination on the Annapurna circuit, and the latter is a potential tourist destination which has not yet been opened to foreign visitors. The above PRA techniques and their sequential introduction have been vital in allowing research participants an analysis of their common problems and concerns, and to move systematically towards defining acceptable styles of development and desirable future tourism opportunities. Interviewees of both Nyishang and Nar-Phu see tourism as one option to supplement agropastoralism in meeting basic community needs. Knowledge of tourists, tourism, its impacts and planning was very poor, particularly among the residents of Nar-Phu who are not exposed to tourism. Therefore, Nar-phu has much to learn form its adjacent neighbour Nyishang. Despite this, most of the interviewees were able to identify the existing tourism product of the research area. Given the poor tourism knowledge base, residents may need a high level of an external agency's assistance in the planning process, at least in the initial phase. However, the formation of a tourism management committee representing all groups of people living in the area, emerged as an appealing institutional arrangement. This can build locals' confidence and accumulate experience. Meaningful participation, however, will depend on tourism education and awareness for both the general residents and the industry sector and their balanced inputs into planning and implementation. Although the adapted PRA process has facilitated community participation for this case study, future design should include evaluation and monitoring aspects, so as to be iterative in meeting community needs at different stages of tourism development

Astrocytes and diffusive spread of substances in brain extracellular space

Brain function is based on communication between individual cells, neurons and glia. From a traditional point of view, neurons play a central role in the fast transfer of information in the central nervous system while astrocytes, major type of glia, serve as housekeeping elements maintaining homeostasis of the extracellular microenvironment. This view has dramatically changed in recent years as many findings ascribe new roles to astrocytes. It is becoming evident that astrocytes communicate with neurons via chemical signals released to the extracellular space (ECS). Astrocytes also have communication systems of their own, such as calcium waves that use gap junctions in combination with purinergic signaling through the ECS. Here we discuss yet another important role for astrocytes: that they regulate diffusion of signaling molecules and therapeutic agents in the extracellular microenvironment by contributing to the structural properties of ECS. There is a wealth of morphological data showing that each astrocyte is an exclusive occupant of a small volume of brain tissue, and that many fine astrocytic processes ensheathe neuronal processes and bodies. The functional significance of these unique morphological features is largely unknown with the exception of astrocytic coverage of synaptic formations. At the synapses, astrocytic processes play an active role by restricting neurotransmitter diffusion to the synaptic cleft and its immediate vicinity. Recent work suggests that astrocytic processes work in a similar fashion throughout the ECS and thus control the diffusive spread of substances over both short and long distances

Depicting community perspectives: repeat photography and participatory research as tools for assessing environmental services in Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal

Efforts have been made to provide a scientific basis for using environmental services as a conceptual tool to enhance conservation and improve livelihoods in protected mountain areas (MtPAS). Little attention has been paid to participatory research or locals’ concerns as environmental service (ES) users and providers. Such perspectives can illuminate the complex interplay between mountain ecosystems, environmental services and the determinants of human well-being. Repeat photography, long used in geographical fieldwork, is new as a qualitative research tool. This study uses a novel application of repeat photography as a diachronic photo-diary to examine local perceptions of change in ES in Sagarmatha National Park. Results show a consensus among locals on adverse changes to ES, particularly protection against natural hazards, such as landslides and floods, in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. We argue that our methodology could complement biophysical ecosystem assessments in MtPAS, especially since assessing ES, and acting on that, requires integrating diverse stakeholders’ knowledge, recognizing power imbalances and grappling with complex social-ecological systems

Real-Time Monitoring and Analysis of Zebrafish Electrocardiogram with Anomaly Detection.

Heart disease is the leading cause of mortality in the U.S. with approximately 610,000 people dying every year. Effective therapies for many cardiac diseases are lacking, largely due to an incomplete understanding of their genetic basis and underlying molecular mechanisms. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are an excellent model system for studying heart disease as they enable a forward genetic approach to tackle this unmet medical need. In recent years, our team has been employing electrocardiogram (ECG) as an efficient tool to study the zebrafish heart along with conventional approaches, such as immunohistochemistry, DNA and protein analyses. We have overcome various challenges in the small size and aquatic environment of zebrafish in order to obtain ECG signals with favorable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and high spatial and temporal resolution. In this paper, we highlight our recent efforts in zebrafish ECG acquisition with a cost-effective simplified microelectrode array (MEA) membrane providing multi-channel recording, a novel multi-chamber apparatus for simultaneous screening, and a LabVIEW program to facilitate recording and processing. We also demonstrate the use of machine learning-based programs to recognize specific ECG patterns, yielding promising results with our current limited amount of zebrafish data. Our solutions hold promise to carry out numerous studies of heart diseases, drug screening, stem cell-based therapy validation, and regenerative medicine

Hepatitis C virus seroprevalence in the general female population of 9 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa

Abstract BACKGROUND: New oral treatments with very high cure rates have the potential to revolutionize global management of hepatitis C virus (HCV), but population-based data on HCV infection are missing in many low and middle-income countries (LMIC). METHODS: Between 2004 and 2009, dried blood spots were collected from age-stratified female population samples of 9 countries: China, Mongolia, Poland, Guinea, Nepal, Pakistan, Algeria, Georgia and Iran. HCV antibodies were detected by a multiplex serology assay using bead-based technology. RESULTS: Crude HCV prevalence ranged from 17.4% in Mongolia to 0.0% in Iran. In a pooled model adjusted by age and country, in which associations with risk factors were not statistically heterogeneous across countries, the only significant determinants of HCV positivity were age (prevalence ratio for ≥45 versus \u3c35 years = 2.84, 95%CI 2.18-3.71) and parity (parous versus nulliparous = 1.73, 95%CI 1.02-2.93). Statistically significant increases in HCV positivity by age, but not parity, were seen in each of the three countries with the highest number of HCV infections: Mongolia, Pakistan, China. There were no associations with sexual partners nor HPV infection. HCV prevalence in women aged ≥45 years correlated well with recent estimates of female HCV-related liver cancer incidence, with the slight exception of Pakistan, which showed a higher HCV prevalence (5.2%) than expected. CONCLUSIONS: HCV prevalence varies enormously in women worldwide. Medical interventions/hospitalizations linked to childbirth may have represented a route of HCV transmission, but not sexual intercourse. Combining dried blood spot collection with high-throughput HCV assays can facilitate seroepidemiological studies in LMIC where data is otherwise scarc

Improved trapping and handling of an arboreal, montane mammal: Red Panda Ailurus fulgens

It is sometimes essential to have an animal in the hand to study some of their ecological and biological characteristics. However, capturing a solitary, cryptic, elusive arboreal species such as the red panda in the wild is challenging. We developed and successfully tested a protocol for tracking, trapping, immobilization, and handling of red pandas in the wild in eastern Nepal. We established a red panda sighting rate of 0.89 panda/day with a capture success rate of 0.6. We trapped and collared one animal in 3.7 days. On average, we took nearly 136 (range 50–317) min to capture an animal after spotting it. Further processing was completed in 38.5 (21–70) min. Before capture, we found it difficult to recognize the sex of the red panda and to differentiate sub-adults above six months from adults. However, body weight, body length, tail length, shoulder height, and chest girth can be used for diagnosis, as these attributes are smaller in sub-adults. Our method is a welfare-friendly way of trapping and handling wild red pandas. We report new morphometric data that could serve as a guide for field identification