India's Firewood Crisis Re-examined

Households in rural India are highly dependent on firewood as their main source of energy, partly because non-biofuels tend to be expensive. The prevailing view is therefore that, when faced with shortages of firewood in the village commons, such households, and especially the women in them, have to spend more and more time searching for firewood and eventually settle for poorer-quality biomass such as twigs, branches and dry leaves. Using data from a random sample of rural households in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, we come to very different conclusions, however. We find that households in villages with degraded forests do not spend longer hours searching for firewood, but instead switch to either using firewood from private trees or to using agricultural waste for fuel. In the long run, moreover, households respond to the firewood shortage by altering the mix of private trees on their land in favor of firewood, as opposed to fruit, trees. We find also that, Joint Forest Management, a government program initiated in the 1990s, is having a positive impact on the firewood economy.firewood crisis, time allocation, fuel switching, JFM, India

Why helping the environment helps women : understanding the links between resource availability and gender equality in India

This policy brief is based on SANDEE working paper no. 23-07, "Who collects resources in degraded environments? : a case study from Jhabua District, India"In many developing countries, environmental degradation and the resulting loss of natural resources can have significant social and economic impacts, especially on disadvantaged groups such as poor, rural women. A SANDEE study looks at the impact of the availability of three key natural resources – water, forests and fodder – on villagers in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh in India. It aims to provide a better understanding of the link between the scarcity of such resources and gender inequality

Who collect resources in degraded environment? : a case study from Jhabua District, India

no. 23-07This paper examines the impact of the variation in stocks of three resources, namely, water, forests and fodder biomass, on resource collection time of rural households in India, especially women. Using household level data from 543 households across 60 villages in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, we estimate reduced form gender-specific time allocation equations derived from a household production model. An increase in groundwater scarcity makes women and children spend more time in water collection. An increase in the total iomass availability in the commons increases the time spent by men and women in grazing activity in addition to making men and women more likely to go for fuelwood collection. The results taken together indicate significant time impacts of natural resource scarcity. Our analysis has important implications for natural resource management initiatives such as community forestry and watershed development programmes, and these programmes have the potential to alleviate poverty by affecting the time allocation decisions of rural households, particularly women. This paper also tries to understand some of the trends emerging from the quantitative/econometric analysis using insights from social anthropology

Females with paired occurrence of cancers in the UADT and genital region have a higher frequency of either Glutathione S-transferase M1/T1 null genotype

Upper Aero digestive Tract (UADT) is the commonest site for the development of second cancer in females after primary cervical cancer. Glutathione S-transferase (GSTM1 and / or T1) null genotype modulates the risk of developing UADT cancer (primary as well as second cancer). The aim of this study was to evaluate the difference in GST null genotype frequencies in females with paired cancers in the UADT and genital region as compared to females with paired cancers in the UADT and non-genital region. Forty-nine females with a cancer in the UADT and another cancer (at all sites-genital and non-genital) were identified from a database of patients with multiple primary neoplasms and were analyzed for the GSTM1 and T1 genotype in addition to known factors such as age, tobacco habits, alcohol habits and family history of cancer. Frequencies of GSTM1 null, GSTT1 null, and either GSTM1/T1 null were higher in females with paired occurrence of cancer in the UADT and genital site (54%, 33% and 75% respectively) in comparison to females with paired occurrence of cancer in the UADT and non-genital sites (22%, 6% and 24% respectively). The significantly higher inherited frequency of either GSTM1/T1 null genotype in females with a paired occurrence of cancers in UADT and genital region (p = 0.01), suggests that these females are more susceptible to damage by carcinogens as compared to females who have UADT cancers in association with cancers at non-genital sites

Impact of lymphoceles on organ at risk doses in patients undergoing adjuvant pelvic radiation for carcinoma cervix

Purpose: Lymphoceles form part of target volume during adjuvant radiation for cervical cancer. The impact of lymphocele on doses to adjacent organs at risk (OAR) has not been studied. The present study was designed to investigate the same. Methods: From January 2011- December 2013 all patients were evaluated for presence of postoperative lymphocele. Planned target volume (PTV) was generated with and without lymphocele volume. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans were generated and dose to OARs was determined. The impact of lymphocele volume on OAR dose was determined by Spearman rank test and Wilcoxon sign rank sum test was performed to determine the impact of lymphocele on OAR dose. Results: A total of 11/93 patients had postoperative lymphoceles. Of these 63% were located in internal iliac region. The median lymphocele volume at simulation was 42.8 cc (range 6.4-105cc) and remained almost stable at 44 cc (range 3-100 cc) at fifth week of radiation. Negative correlation was observed between mean lymphocele volume and dose to bladder, rectum and bowel bag. Presence of lymphocele led to reduction in V30 and V40 of bladder (84 cc vs 77 cc, p = 0.004; 68 cc vs 63 cc; p = 0.01) and rectum (87 cc vs 80 cc, p = 0.0001; 73.5 cc vs 65 cc, p = 0.01) and V15 of bowel bag (843 cc vs 804 cc; p = 0.01). Conclusion: Presence of lymphoceles displaced OARs leading to reduction in high dose volumes of rectum and bladder

Tools for large-scale data analytics of an international multi-center study in radiation oncology for cervical cancer

PURPOSE: To develop and implement a software that enables centers, treating patients with state-of-the-art radiation oncology, to compare their patient, treatment, and outcome data to a reference cohort, and to assess the quality of their treatment approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive data dashboard was designed, which al- lowed holistic assessment of institutional treatment approaches. The software was tested in the ongoing EMBRACE-II study for locally advanced cervical cancer. The tool created individualized dashboards and automatic analysis scripts, verified pro- tocol compliance and checked data for inconsistencies. Identified quality assurance (QA) events were analysed. A survey among users was conducted to assess usability. RESULTS: The survey indicated favourable feedback to the prototype and highlighted its value for internal monitoring. Overall, 2302 QA events were identified (0.4% of all collected data). 54% were due to missing or incomplete data, and 46% originated from other causes. At least one QA event was found in 519/1001 (52%) of patients. QA events related to primary study endpoints were found in 16% of patients. Sta- tistical methods demonstrated good performance in detecting anomalies, with precisions ranging from 71% to 100%. Most frequent QA event categories were Treatment Technique (27%), Patient Characteristics (22%), Dose Reporting (17%), Outcome 156 (15%), Outliers (12%), and RT Structures (8%). CONCLUSION: A software tool was developed and tested within a clinical trial in radia- tion oncology. It enabled the quantitative and qualitative comparison of institutional patient and treatment parameters with a large multi-center reference cohort. We demonstrated the value of using statistical methods to automatically detect implau- sible data points and highlighted common pitfalls and uncertainties in radiotherapy for cervical cancer

Impact of sustainable development on economic growth : evidence from OECD countries

International audienceDuring the last few decades, the developing and emerging economies have shown noteworthy progress reflected in high levels of GDP growth rates. However, in that pace of ongoing growth, the natural resources were used thoughtlessly. One of the initial steps to promote the policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of the people around the world with considerate use of natural resources and limited environmental degradation was provided by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as an alternative economic growth model. The study aims at estimating and evaluating the relationship between Sustainable Development and Economic growth in the OECD countries. The study adopts the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis as a methodology to deal with the effect of Sustainable Development on Economic growth. In particular, we utilize a defined set of fifty three indicators of sustainability given by Global Reporting Initiative on the thirty five member countries of OECD. Among others, aspects like "materials", "energy", "biodiversity", "emissions, effluents and waste", "economic performance", "market presence", "labor practices and decent work performance indicators" are the indicators with utmost importance. The study aims at investigating the link between exhaustive list of sustainable indicators listed by Commission on Sustainable Development and the GDP growth of the member economies of OECD over a period of fifteen years. The study employs panel data regression analysis during 2000-2016 for the thirty-five member countries of OECD. Apart from a general strategic plan that is a requirement as per the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development guidelines at the international level proposed by Commission on Sustainable Development, the study focuses on the policies that may be applicable in the member OECD countries due to their distinctive characteristics of their Economic levels, initiatives to provide energy-efficient or renewable energy based products and services, reductions in energy requirements as a result of these initiatives, initiatives to reduce indirect energy consumption, constant monitoring of the water sources significantly affected by withdrawal of water, percentage and total volume of water recycled and reused, description of significant impacts of activities, products, & services on biodiversity in protected areas & areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas, habitats protected or restored, Strategies, current actions, and future plans for managing impacts on biodiversity, number of IUCN Red List species and national conservation list species with habitats in areas affected by operations, by level of extinction risk, total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight, initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reductions achieve, and other relevant indirect greenhouse gas emissions to name a few. In particular, the idea of sustainable development constitutes an exceptional opportunity for the countries that could lead to significant economic achievements

Defining the role of high-dose radiation in oligometastatic & oligorecurrent cervical cancer

Around 5-8 per cent of women diagnosed with cervical cancer present with metastatic disease at presentation and 16-25 per cent of patients fail at either within irradiated fields or at distant sites post-curative therapy in advanced cervical cancers. Conventionally, chemotherapy with palliative intent constituted the mainstay of treatment with modest survival outcomes and radiation therapy was reserved for symptomatic benefit only. While targeted therapies and immunotherapy have been added in therapeutic armamentarium, the impact on the outcomes is modest. In limited metastatic disease, radiation therapy to metastatic sites from different primary cancers has shown survival benefits; however, the data are scarce in cervical cancer. With a better understanding of the molecular biology of the metastases and recurrence pattern, emphasis is laid upon total eradication of the disease rather than offering relief from symptoms. This article summarizes the role of radiation therapy in limited metastatic disease and recurrent cervical cancer