IN VITRO SULFORHODAMINE B ASSAY EVALUATION OF NOVEL 2-PHENYL BENZOFURANONE DERIVATIVES ON HUMAN SKIN CANCER CELL LINE G361.

The newly synthesized compounds are being tested for in vitro anticancer activity. The method used for In Vitro testing is Sulforhodamine B assay also known SRB assay. Cell lines were prepared and homogenized and disassociated with the help of trypsin. Then trypsin was inactivated with fetal bovine serum. Then cell concentration was determined. Synthesized molecules were prepared into four different dilutions and exposed to cell lines. The procedure was also compared with standard drug doxorubicin. All the cell medium were incubated 37 degrees centigrade in a humidified incubator with 5 percentage CO. The plates were stained and fixed with trichloroacetic acid. Finally, the plates were incubated in orbital shaker incubator and absorbance was measured in a microplate reader at 510nm. All compounds (1-30) showed the similar anticancer activity of compounds (IA, IB, ID, IE, IF, IIB, IIC, IIIA, IVB, IVF, VA, VC, VD, VE.) were more potent when compared to the rest of the compounds synthesized

Desalination of Water

Water is very essential for all living beings. It covers nearly 70% of earth’s surface. Even though the major portion of earth is covered by water, there is severe shortage of drinking water in most of the countries across the world. Safe drinking water is vital for all forms of life though it does not provide any calories. Desalination of sea water appears as a solution for this problem. Advanced desalination technologies that are applied to seawater and brackish water prove to be effective alternatives in a variety of situations. This study mainly focuses on upcoming trends in modern desalination technologies and emphasizing the options offered by them. Desalination is a technique where the excess salts are removed from sea water or brackish water converting it into safe potable or usable water. Desalination methods are categorized into thermal processes and membrane processes. In this chapter we discuss about different thermal processes like multistage flash distillation, multiple effect distillation, vapour compression evaporation, cogeneration and solar water desalination. We also discuss about various categories of membrane processes like reverse osmosis, electro dialysis and membrane distillation methods. This chapter also concentrates on advantages and disadvantages and economical parameters involved in each of these methods

Causes and Pathophysiology of Nephrotic Syndrome in Childhood

Nephrotic syndrome is a general type of kidney disease seen in children. In the past, Roelans is credited with the first clinical description of nephrotic syndrome in the late fifteenth century. Nephrotic syndrome is appropriate to excessive hypoalbuminemia, edema, and proteinuria may be hyperlipidemia also present in some cases. Periorbital swelling with or without edema of the body is observed in first starting little period of life, frequently show in children with this condition. Nephrotic syndrome starts develops due functional and structural changes in the GFB, consequential difficulty to control protein in the urine. Nephrotic syndrome possibly causes due to some of glomerular diseases and systemic diseases, but significantly the mostly in childhood is unknown nephrotic syndrome. The first significant improvement with introduction of sulfonamides and then penicillin was seen in 1939. The beginning of adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisone greater decrease in mortality (to 9%), in the 1950s it was noted to happen in association with spectacular declaration of proteinuria. Etiology of nephrotic syndrome is also age reliant. Most cases reported in the first 3 months of life are referred to as congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNS) and are due to genetic diseases

Adapting African Agriculture to Climate Change: Transforming Rural Livelihoods

This book summarizes the evidence from different African countries about the local impacts of climate change, and how farmers are coping with current climate risks. The different contributors show how agricultural systems in developing countries are affected by climate changes and how communities prepare and adapt to these changes

Local Food Systems in Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines: Perspective from the Local Communities

Food systems must provide adequate, healthy, and sustainable diets to the growing and changing population whilst responding to shocks and stressors related to climate variability, urbanization, globalization, conflicts, and economic change. This study examined the national food systems of Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines and the local food systems of complementary Climate-Smart Villages: Chhouk, Htee Pu, and Himbubulo Weste. Among several food system drivers, climate change is the external stressor perceived strongly in agricultural communities and as shown by the data on national climate variability. Income and gender inequality, political instability, and socioeconomic circumstances undermine multi-level interventions to deliver necessary food system outcomes. While national policies to achieve an equitable and resilient food system are critical, local-level initiatives such as implementing climate-smart agriculture strategies, recognizing landlessness issues, and addressing fragmented market infrastructure are vital for the local food systems to thrive and deliver on health, economic and environmental goals. This could also guide in establishing standards, collective goals, and policy formulation directions for robust national food systems

COVID-19 impact on local agri-food system in Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines: Findings from a rapid assessment

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent enforcement of mobility restrictions have created bottlenecks in the agri-food system. When the food supply chain is disrupted, economic loss occurs, putting rural households, already in poverty, into severe food insecurity. A survey was conducted to assess the impacts of restrictions brought by COVID-19 on local food systems operations of Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) in Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. The rural and traditional food systems of agriculture-based villages continued to operate with minimal adjustments during the course of COVID-19 restrictions. Our findings showed high mean household dietary diversity scores in Chhouk CSV (6.4), Htee Pu CSV (8.2), and Himbubulo Weste CSV (7.2) despite significant perceived changes in the availability and prices of certain food groups. Complementary and diverse food production and access to informal food outlets were essential parts of the local food systems and played critical roles in supplying food commodities to the population during the pandemic

Financial and environmental benefits from fruit trees in Myanmar’s central dry zone: Case Study from Htee Pu Climate Smart Village

The village of Htee Pu in the Township of Nyaung-U, Mandalay Region suffers from drought, water scarcity, infertile soil, and high ambient temperature being part of Myanmar’s central rry zone area. One of the Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices introduced by the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Southeast Asia, International Development Research Center (IDRC) and the Community Development Association in the village was fruit tree-based agroforestry. This study estimated the potential financial and environmental benefits that can be derived from the CSA option. The study revealed that the potential market value of the fruits harvested would amount to USD 1.07 Million from 2021 to 2035 or an average of USD 71,072/year. The production of fruits represents the provisioning ecosystem service of the fruit trees. Per household, the average financial benefit could amount to USD 47,398 over the 15-year period or USD 3,160 per year. In addition, the fruit trees would be able to provide a regulating ecosystem service by being able to potentially sequester 5,682 tCO2 per year with an estimated value of USD 47,725. Fruit production and carbon sequestration have a combined economic value of USD 118,797 per year. There is an upsurge in global interest in ecosystem restoration and the rehabilitation of degraded landscapes. The findings of this study are relevant to environmental agencies working to stabilize the central Dry Zone of Myanmar as including dryland horticulture and small farm agroforestry will benefit not only the local environment but also the people living in the area by making fruits available for their nourishment and livelihood. Development and agricultural agencies, on the other hand, can include CSA as a pathway for addressing degradation on small farms and associated landscapes

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Native Pigs as a Climate-Smart Agriculture Option in the Philippines

The Climate-Smart Village (CSV) approach is one of the initiatives that was developed to address the impact of climate change on marginalized rural households, and one of the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) options implemented in the Philippines was raising native pigs. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) was conducted to assess the financial benefits of raising native pigs by determining the net income generated by the village households. A total of 52 households from Guinyangan, Quezon and Ivisan, Capiz were interviewed as survey participants while, village and municipal officials acted as key informants. Our findings showed that majority of the households surveyed generated positive net income in raising native pigs. However, 2020 profits decreased possibly due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also revealed the reliance of producers in commercial feeds instead of maximizing the available forage; keeping of livestock as inventories resulting to additional costs; and the lack of record keeping practices and absence of a price monitoring system causing the producers to be dependent on the prices offered by the buyers. Thus, providing education and training support on monitoring and assessing costs of raising pigs, and marketing assistance would be valuable to the households

Simulating the impacts of extreme climate events on crop productivity in current and future climates in India

We need to understand the impacts of climate variability and change at a regional level on crop productivity in order to develop response strategies to the changing climate. This thesis seeks to investigate the impacts of extreme climate events on crops in current and future climates in India. The response of observed yield to present day climate variability was examined. Paddy rice and groundnut yields had a significant positive correlation with rainfall (r = 0.40, p < 0.05), while maximum temperature showed a strong negative relationship (-0.45); no such relationship was found for maize. The EPIC crop model simulated yields over regions of India were evaluated by forcing with observed climate data. Simulated yields were within ±20% of observed yields, significant positive correlations were noted between the EPIC simulated and detrended observed crop yields (paddy rice 0.38; groundnut 0.40 and maize 0.29). Significant negative relationships were found between yield and extreme precipitation (above 50 mm/day) and maximum temperature (above 33°C). Global coupled climate models (HadCM3, GFDL 2.1 and ECHAM5) were used to assess impacts of the SRES A2 projected future emission scenario on yield. Yields were 40% lower compared with IMD-forced values due to poor representation of the current climate. The PRECIS Regional Climate Model was used to examine the impact of the SRES A2 scenario in more detail at the regional scale. Groundnut and maize yield decreased by 40%, while paddy rice yield decreased by 35%.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Rainwater harvesting in Modjo watershed, upper Awash River Basin, Ethiopia through remote sensing and fuzzy AHP

All human activities and overall development of this world centre on the essential life substance water. Water supply at many places is augmented mainly through rainwater harvesting (RWH). The study area needs lot of water for agriculture, livestock and human needs especially during the yearly dry season. Although several techniques are in vogue to detect apt RWH sites, their improvement especially for RWH in large sub-catchment regions is much desired. Therefore, RS and GIS techniques already in use are integrated with fuzzy logic to identify and classify sites suitable for RWH in Modjo watershed in central Ethiopia. As a result, potentially acceptable sites in the study area were discerned and categorized as very highly suitable, highly suitable, moderately suitable, low suitable, very low suitable and constraints with 18.1%, 20.9%, 20.3%, 10.6%, 3.1% and 26.9% area, respectively. Thus, the model with geospatial and analytic hierarchy process combination has proved very successful in detecting RWH sites