32 research outputs found

    Demystifying agritourism development in Fiji: inclusive growth for smallholders

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    Agritourism has gained traction with a variety of stakeholders within the Pacific to supplement farm revenue, create linkages to tourism and ultimately contribute to sustainable economic development. This paper, with a focus on smallholders, examines the key constraints of agriculture, current agritourism products, policy development initiatives, and proposes an open framework for agritourism in Fiji. Among the key considerations are a careful examination of tourist preferences, the promotion of agritourism on working farms without displacing the key activity of food production, and redefining agritourism as a value for money experience rather than a niche market in the Pacific region

    Induction of labour in pregnancies with fetal demise: a randomised control trial

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    Background: The present study aims at comparing efficacy and safety of two different regimens of induction of labour (IOL) in pregnancies with fetal demise. Settings and Design: A randomised controlled trial was conducted on 100 eligible pregnant women diagnosed with intrauterine fetal demise who were admitted in the labour ward of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: All participants were randomly divided into two groups in group A and group B. In Group A, IOL was done with transcervical foley’s catheter and vaginal misoprostol while in group B, mifepristone with vaginal misoprostol were used for IOL. During intrapartum period the mode of delivery, induction-delivery interval, total dose of induction agent used and amount of total blood loss were noted. Any side effect if present was also noted. Results: Comparing both the groups, Induction delivery interval was less in group A as compared to group B. Conclusions: Use of mifepristone with misoprostol as well as Foley’s with misoprostol were found to be equally safe and effective methods

    Coinfections in Patients With Cancer and COVID-19: A COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) Study

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    Background: The frequency of coinfections and their association with outcomes have not been adequately studied among patients with cancer and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a high-risk group for coinfection. Methods: We included adult (≥18 years) patients with active or prior hematologic or invasive solid malignancies and laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection, using data from the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19, NCT04354701). We captured coinfections within ±2 weeks from diagnosis of COVID-19, identified factors cross-sectionally associated with risk of coinfection, and quantified the association of coinfections with 30-day mortality. Results: Among 8765 patients (hospitalized or not; median age, 65 years; 47.4% male), 16.6% developed coinfections: 12.1% bacterial, 2.1% viral, 0.9% fungal. An additional 6.4% only had clinical diagnosis of a coinfection. The adjusted risk of any coinfection was positively associated with age \u3e50 years, male sex, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and renal comorbidities, diabetes, hematologic malignancy, multiple malignancies, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status, progressing cancer, recent cytotoxic chemotherapy, and baseline corticosteroids; the adjusted risk of superinfection was positively associated with tocilizumab administration. Among hospitalized patients, high neutrophil count and C-reactive protein were positively associated with bacterial coinfection risk, and high or low neutrophil count with fungal coinfection risk. Adjusted mortality rates were significantly higher among patients with bacterial (odds ratio [OR], 1.61; 95% CI, 1.33-1.95) and fungal (OR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.28-3.76) coinfections. Conclusions: Viral and fungal coinfections are infrequent among patients with cancer and COVID-19, with the latter associated with very high mortality rates. Clinical and laboratory parameters can be used to guide early empiric antimicrobial therapy, which may improve clinical outcomes

    Land use change detection in Solan Forest Division, Himachal Pradesh, India

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    Background Monitoring the changing pattern of vegetation across diverse landscapes through remote sensing is instrumental in understanding the interactions of human activities and the ecological environment. Land use pattern in the state of Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Western Himalayas has been undergoing rapid modifications due to changing cropping patterns, rising anthropogenic pressure on forests and government policies. We studied land use change in Solan Forest Division of Himachal Pradesh to assess species wise area changes in the forests of the region. Methods The supervised classification (Maximum likelihood) on two dates of IRS (LISS III) satellite data was performed to assess land use change over the period 1998–2010. Results Seven land use categories were identified namely, chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) forest, broadleaved forest, bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) forest, ban oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) forest, khair (Acacia catechu) forest, culturable blank and cultivation. The area under chir pine, cultivation and khair forests increased by 191 ha (4.55 %), 129 ha (13.81 %) and 77 ha (23.40 %), whereas the area under ban oak, broadleaved, culturable blank and bamboo decreased by 181 ha (16.58 %), 152 ha (6.30 %), 71 ha (2.72 %) and 7 ha (0.47 %), respectively. Conclusions The study revealed a decrease in the area under forest and culturable blank categories and a simultaneous increase in the area under cultivation primarily due to the large scale introduction of horticultural cash crops in the state. The composition of forests also exhibited some major changes, with an increase in the area of commercially important monoculture plantation species such as pine and khair, and a decline in the area of oak, broadleaved and bamboo which are facing a high anthropogenic pressure in meeting the livelihood demands of forest dependent communities. In time deforestation, forest degradation and ecological imbalances due to the changing forest species composition may inflict irreversible damages upon unstable and fragile mountain zones such as the Indian Himalayas. The associated common property externalities involved at local, regional and global scales, necessitate the monitoring of land use dynamics across forested landscapes in developing future strategies and policies concerning agricultural diversification, natural forest conservation and monoculture tree plantations

    Exploring a market for agritourism in Fiji: tourists’ perspective

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    This research aimed to interpret motivations of tourists for agritourism in Fiji. Data was collected through a paper-based face to face survey. Structured questionnaires were administered to a convenience sample of tourists at the two international airports. Descriptive and factorial statistics reveal seven principal factors that motivate and influence visitor preferences for agritourism venues. Most tourists seemed interested in agritourism but presently were unaware of the existence of such venues in Fiji. Findings also suggest that tourists preferred a short stay at working farms offering value for money experience. In terms of importance, hospitality followed by entertainment, were the two main desired services for an agritourism venue. This research offers insights for dynamic product development for the Fijian and Pan-Pacific agritourism industry

    Coastal resource management and tourism development in Fiji Islands: a conservation challenge

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    The tourism sector has been a key driver of socioeconomic progress in Fiji Islands since the 1980s, in comparison with other industries such as agriculture, fisheries, and forestry. Fiji currently plans to further expand its tourism industry into a 2 billion FJD sector, which places great pressure on the coastal environment and resources that attract more than 500,000 tourists per year. Unplanned tourism development has adverse impacts on the environment and dependent communities, which is often attributed to weak governance and poorly enforced regulations. In Fiji, the industry has been recognized as responsible for mangrove clearance and coastal degradation, both of which aggravate problems such as coastline erosion, vulnerability to natural disasters, fish stock declines, poor water quality, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Though the country has national legislations in place, as well as regional and international collaborations to manage its ocean resources, it lacks the capacity and resources to implement environment policy, planning, and regulation. There is a need to strengthen governance and community capacity to address problems of effective enforcement of legislation and ensure the conservation, management, and sustainable utilization of marine and coastal resources

    A facile non-photocatalytic technique for hydrogen gas production by hydroelectric cell

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    Hydrogen gas is a zero-emission fuel for clean environment. In present work a novel environment friendly hydrogen producing technique based on nascently invented Hydroelectric cell has been reported. Hydroelectric cell is one of the unique non-polluting H-2 gas generation methods compared to photo-biosynthesis, photo-electro-catalysis and thermo-chemical etc. Spontaneous dissociation of water molecule by Hydroelectric cell (HEC) has led this study for effective production of hydrogen gas. Moreover, a nanoporous lithium substituted magnesium ferrite used in HEC dissociates water molecule to produce hydrogen without using any electrolyte and light. Ferrite pellet combined with zinc and silver electrodes known as hydroelectric cell produces zinc hydroxide and hydrogen gas as a result of redox reaction. Nanoporous and oxygen deficient ferrite pellet has been synthesised with optimized processing conditions. Maximum average nanopore size distribution has been obtained 3.8 nm by N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherm. Surface dangling bonds of unsaturated cations and oxygen vacancies in ferrite chemidissociate water molecule into hydroxide and hydronium ion. High purity hydrogen gas is produced continuously by applying different external voltage only on hydroelectric cell. Collected gas has been analysed by gas chromatography in comparison to pure reference hydrogen gas. This technique has produced hydrogen in large quantity 1.856 mmol/h compared to existing photocatalytic active ferrite methods. Hydrogen gas generation by HEC is an exclusively facile, low cost and novel technique
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