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Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) have non-defined and non-descriptive breed of buffaloes. Andaman local buffaloes (ALB) are distributed in Andaman group of Islands and few numbers are available in Campbell Bay and Nicobar group of Islands. Andaman local buffaloes represent an admixture of different Indian breeds that had been brought to these islands in different phases of inhabitation and rehabilitation of migrated people. It is believed that the ALBs have the inheritance from Murrah, Nagpuri, Bhadawari and Marathwada. It is unique buffalo, well adapted to special type of tropical humid island climatic and environmental condition. The present study was designed to standardise the normal reference haematological and biochemical ranges in different stages of reproduction of Andaman local buffaloes which were maintained in the Andaman Districts of ANI, India from April 2019 to March 2020. In this study, haematological parameters, biochemical indices and antioxidant and oxidative stress profiles were estimated in healthy, normal physiological ALBs in different reproductive stages. The present study results clearly indicated that the values of haematological, biochemical and antioxidant profiles fell under the normal physiological ranges. The results of this study may serve as the reference values in which alterations due to metabolic, nutrient deficiency, physiological and health status can be compared for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes for ALBs in ANI and its neighboring countries or other parts of the country with similar environmental and climatic conditions.

Introduction: Telemedicine is a growing arena that may increase access to care for patients with diabetes. It has more relevance for rural populations or those with limited physical access to health care, for improving diabetes care. Telemedicine can also be used to offer diabetes self-education and transportation barriers for patients living in under-resourced areas or with disabilities. Method "This review explores the landscape of telemedicine approaches and evidence for incorporation into general practice. Results & Discussion: Telehealth platforms have been shown to be both feasible and effective for health care delivery in diabetes, although there are many caveats that require tailoring to the institution, clinician, and patient population. Research in diabetes telehealth should focus next on how to increase access to patients who are known to be marginalized from traditional models of health care.

The present study aimed to measure and comparealkaline phosphatase (ALP) enzyme activity in the bull’ssemen with varying freezability. Based on the post-thawmotility percentages, the bulls of similar age groups weregrouped into good and low freezable semen groups (Freezegroups).A total of 450 ejaculates from 21 bulls, with anaverage of 22 ejaculates per bull, were initially screened.Bulls (14) with similar initial motility and qualifyingminimum standard semen volume and sperm concentrationvalues were inducted in the final study. Consecutively twoto three ejaculates collected from each bull were processedfor alkaline phosphatase activity. Association of alkalinephosphatase activity with freezability was carried out usingan independent t-test. Correlations of alkaline phosphatasewith semen volume and sperm concentrations were assessedusing Pearson correlations. Alkaline phosphatase activityshowed an insignificant variation between freeze-groups.Further, no correlation of enzyme activity with the semenvolume and sperm concentration was observed. Besides,seminal plasma alkaline phosphatase activity assessed onconsecutive days of ejaculates showed no variation. Thepreliminary finding of this study indicates that alkalinephosphatase may not be involved in bull semen freezability.Hence, it may not be a reliable biochemical marker orindicator in bull cryopreservability studies.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands have two different genetic groups of cattle namely Andaman local cattle and Trinket cattle. Andaman local cattle are distributed in Andaman group of Islands and Campbell Bay of Nicobar group of Islands. Andaman local cattle are non-descriptive and represent an admixture of different Indian breeds that had been brought to these islands in different phases of inhabitation and rehabilitation of migrated people. It is believed that the Andaman local cattle have the inheritance from Red Sindhi, Sahiwal and Hariana. It is unique cattle, well adapted to special type of tropical humid island climatic and environmental condition. The present study was designed to standardise the normal reference haematological and biochemical range for different age groups of Andaman local cattle which were maintained in the South Andaman and North and Middle Andaman district, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. In this study, haematological parameters, biochemical indices and antioxidant and oxidative stress profiles were estimated in healthy, normal physiological Andaman local cattle for different age groups. The present study results clearly indicated that the values of haematological, biochemical and antioxidant profiles were under the normal physiological range. These results of this study may serve as the reference values in which alterations due to metabolic, nutrient deficiency, physiological and health status can be compared for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes for Andaman local cattle in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and its neighbouring countries or other parts of the country with similar environmental and climatic conditions.

We study accretion disk-corona connection in Seyfert 1 galaxies using simultaneous UV/X-ray observations of NGC 4593 (July 14-18, 2016) and NGC 7469 (October 15-19, 2017) performed with AstroSat. We use the X-ray (0.5-7.0 keV) data acquired with the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) and the UV (FUV: 130-180 nm, NUV: 200-300 nm) data obtained with the Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT). We also use the contemporaneous Swift observations of NGC 4593 and demonstrate AstroSat's capability for X-ray/UV correlation studies. We performed UV/X-ray cross-correlation analysis using the Interpolated and the Discrete Cross-Correlation Functions and found similar results. In the case of NGC 4593, we found that the variations in the X-rays lead to those in the FUV and NUV bands by ~ 38 ks and ~ 44 ks, respectively. These UV lags favour the disk reprocessing model, they are consistent with the previous results within uncertainties. In contrast, we found an opposite trend in NGC 7469 where the soft X-ray variations lag those in the FUV and NUV bands by ~ 41 ks and ~ 49 ks, respectively. The hard lags in NGC 7469 favour the Thermal Comptonization model. Our results may provide direct observational evidence for the variable intrinsic UV emission from the accretion disk which acts as the seed for thermal Comptonization in a hot corona in a lamp-post like geometry. The non-detection of disk reverberation photons in NGC 7469, using AstroSat data, is most likely due to a high accretion rate resulting in a hot accretion disk and large intrinsic emission., 14 pages, 20 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

This communication reports an outbreak of immature paramphistomiosis in Andaman local goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) along with report of mortality and gross as well as histopathological changes. During the month of September, 2021 there was report of 38.57% mortality in goats which was investigated in depth. Outbreak occurred at South Andaman district where goats were reared under semi intensive managerial system and allowed to graze in the morning in surrounding marshy land. The affected animals showed the symptoms of immature amphistomiasis; it was further confirmed on necropsy and identification of causative organism as Paramphistomum cervi based on its typical morphological features. Histopathological examination showed damaged structure of rumen with typical degenerative changes and initiation of necrotic changes of cells with infiltration of inflammatory cells. We report the outbreak of immature amphistomiasis for the first time from Andaman and Nicobar archipelago along with the causative agent.

This paper concentrates in studying the disparity among the districts growing potato by analyzing potato production data of 1991-92 to 2020-21 for the districts of West Bengal. On the basis thirty years of potato production data the districts have been classified into three classes (states), namely, highly developed (HD), developed (D) and under developed (UD) by using classifier. Next, observing the frequency in the states the transition probability matrix and initial probability vectors are obtained. The steady state probability and expected return time to a particular state are also obtained. Stationary probabilities for different states of each district under study have been used to predict the future movement of the district from one classification to other in terms of potato production. The model developed for disparity study of a crop is quite general and can be applied to any other related studies.

Introduction Despite significant efforts to increase deprescribing (1), marginal progress has been achieved (2). Deprescribing is a complex process involving multiple steps and activities, of which some may be routinely undertaken whilst others require interventions to support behaviour-change. Aim We aimed to develop an internationally derived specification validated by practitioners from multiple health systems that stipulates both the steps and activities required to deliver those steps of safe deprescribing. We also aimed to estimate the extent to which the required activities are currently undertaken and identify the barriers and enablers that need addressing to deliver safe deprescribing. Methods We formulated an electronic survey comprising literature reported deprescribing activities. Relevant networks in 25 countries e.g., British Geriatrics Society and Australian deprescribing network, emailed the survey link to all of their member practitioners. Respondents reported the frequency with which they thought each deprescribing activity was undertaken in practice within their peer group on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always) and whether it was important. We invited extended responses regarding the barriers and enablers to deprescribing and analysed these using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Results From 263 respondents 77.9% were prescribers; 110 (41.8%) were doctors, 85 (32.3%) were pharmacists, 44 (16.7%) were nurses and 24 (9.1%) were other healthcare professionals. Eighteen activities were combined into four deprescribing steps summarised in table 1. All were considered important and clinical activities were ‘often’ or ‘always’ undertaken. Patient orientated activities were only ‘sometimes’ undertaken. The barriers and enablers requiring addressing are in the TDF domains of ‘social influence’ to support practitioners to undertake patient orientated activities and ‘environmental context and resources’ to ensure they have sufficient capacity. Conclusion An internationally derived literature and practice informed process for safe deprescribing has been established. Social desirability bias may have inflated reported frequency of activities being undertaken. We therefore chose reporting on the collective rather than own behaviour, to ameliorate these effects. Organisations should prioritise the inadequate collaboration with patients through addressing practitioners’ behavioural determinants. References 1. Scott S, Clark A, Farrow C, May H, Patel M, Twigg MJ, et al. Deprescribing admission medication at a UK teaching hospital; a report on quantity and nature of activity. International journal of clinical pharmacy. 2018;40(5):991–6. 2. O’Mahony D, Gudmundsson A, Soiza RL, Petrovic M, Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Cherubini A, et al. Prevention of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized older patients with multi-morbidity and polypharmacy: the SENATOR* randomized controlled clinical trial. Age and Ageing. 2020;49(4):605–14.

Introduction Half of older people are prescribed unnecessary or harmful medication that are not routinely deprescribed in hospital. There is a need for trials of deprescribing interventions, and for these to adopt consistent measurement and reporting of outcomes(1). Aim To develop a Core Outcome Set (COS) for use in hospital deprescribing trials for older people under the care of a geriatrician. Methods We developed a list of potentially relevant outcomes from the literature. We sought representation from four stakeholder groups: older people and carers, hospital clinicians, hospital managers, and ageing/deprescribing researchers. A gatekeeper at 15 hospitals in England identified and provided study information to hospital staff by email; and older people taking ≥5 medicines, and their carers received printed study information. Academics were recruited worldwide. The number approached was not captured. Using a two-round Delphi survey of participants from all four stakeholder groups scored , each outcome according to Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)(2). This was followed by two consensus workshops to finalise the COS by discussing the importance, feasibility and acceptability of outcomes. Results In the Delphi survey, 200 people completed Round 1 and 114 completed Round 2. Representing all stakeholder groups, 10 people participated in Workshop 1 and 10 people in Workshop 2. Six outcomes were identified as most important, feasible and acceptable to collect in a trial and were included in the COS for hospital deprescribing trials with older people under the care of a geriatrician. These outcomes were: number of prescribed medicines stopped; number of prescribed medicines with dosage reduced; quality of life; mortality; adverse drug events and number of hospital stays. Three other outcomes were identified as important, but not currently feasible to collect: number of potentially inappropriate medicines prescribed; burden to the patient from their medication; and medication-related admissions to hospital. Conclusion The COS provides the minimum outcomes that should be collected and reported in all hospital deprescribing trials for older people under the care of a geriatrician. This COS builds on three existing COS for: medication reviews in older people with polypharmacy; addressing polypharmacy in older people in primary care; and optimising prescribing in older people in nursing homes. However, it is important when developing a COS to involve all relevant stakeholders that will be affected by a COS, which in this case was older people under the care of a geriatrician and relevant hospital staff. The six outcomes in the COS were agreed as being the most important to be implemented in all hospital deprescribing trials for older people under the care of a geriatrician. The value of considering the feasibility of outcome data collection is demonstrated by the removal of three outcomes that may have compromised COS uptake. Adoption of the COS by hospital deprescribing trials for older people under the care of a geriatrician will enable results from trials to be compared and also allow future aggregation of trial data. References 1. Lundby C, Pottegård A. Considerations regarding choice of primary outcome in clinical trials in deprescribing. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2022;88(7):3032–4. 2. Williamson PR, Altman DG, Blazeby JM, Clarke M, Devane D, Gargon E, et al. Developing core outcome sets for clinical trials: issues to consider. Trials. 2012;13(1):1–8.

Introduction 50% of older adults are prescribed a medicine that is unnecessary or harmful that should be deprescribed (1). CompreHensive geriAtRician-led MEdication Review (CHARMER) is a behaviour change intervention to equip geriatricians and pharmacists to proactively deprescribe. Five determinants of deprescribing have been prioritised and the following six Behaviour Change Techniques (BCTs) selected that now require designing (2): 1&2. Pros and cons and salience of consequences to address misconceptions that deprescribing is risky, 3. Restructuring pharmacists working to facilitate contribution to deprescribing 4. Social comparison to address misconceptions that patients/carers are resistant to deprescribing 5. Action planning to prioritise deprescribing and 6. Incentivising deprescribing. Aim We aimed to co-design the content, mode of delivery and intensity of BCTs to develop a hospital deprescribing behaviour change intervention. Methods We maximum variation sampled three hospitals to represent contextual factors likely to influence CHARMER implementation: diversity of patient population, geography, IT infrastructure maturity and include a combination of larger teaching and smaller district general hospitals. We recruited geriatricians, pharmacists and staff likely to be involved in implementation to join one co-design panel per hospital. We convened two rounds of workshops with each hospital to design BCT prototypes following the five iterative steps of design thinking: empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test. We introduced geriatrician and pharmacist personas in round 1 and panels discussed how barriers and enabler influence practice through a journey mapping exercise, followed by brainstorming ideas for how BCT(s) to address them could be operationalised. Round 2 aimed to reach consensus about which of the Round 1 BCT operationalisation ideas were most promising, and then refine their content, mode of delivery and duration/intensity. Behavioural scientist and practitioner members of the research team prepared prototypes for feedback at a final workshop attended by the three hospital panels. Results The six BCTs were operationalised into an intervention comprising: (1 & 2) 2-hour workshop with pros and cons activities and videos of salient patient cases (3) Weekly short face-to-face pharmacist:geriatrician deprescribing discussions (4) 5-minute videos of geriatricians navigating challenging deprescribing consultations (5) Hospital deprescribing action plan template (6)Dashboard updated weekly to benchmark deprescribing activity with other hospitals Automated prompts to flag high-risk patients for deprescribing and a primary and secondary care deprescribing forum were proposed as additional BCTs. These were later excluded as they address ‘memory, attention and decision processes’ and a ‘primary care social influence’ respectively which does not align with the determinants of deprescribing (1). Conclusion This study illustrates the integration of theory and co-design methodology for a hospital deprescribing behaviour change intervention. The development of an intervention that remains faithful to the underpinning mechanisms of action of behaviour change is a strength of this approach. Maximum variation sampling for hospital permitted representation of the ‘extremes’ of contextual factors but may result in an intervention that is not optimised for the majority. The intervention is undergoing feasibility testing across four English hospitals and will proceed to a definitive trial across 42 hospitals in Spring 2023 to determine effectiveness and cost effectiveness. References 1. Gallagher P, Lang PO, Cherubini A, Topinková E, Cruz-Jentoft A, Montero Errasquín B, et al. Prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing in an acutely ill population of older patients admitted to six European hospitals. European journal of clinical pharmacology. 2011;67(11):1175–88. 2. Scott S, May H, Patel M, Wright DJ, Bhattacharya D. A practitioner behaviour change intervention for deprescribing in the hospital setting. Age and ageing. 2021;50(2):581–6.

The present study assessed the physiological antioxidant status of goats reared under the humid tropical island ecosystem of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI). From 2019 to 2020, 25 multiparous non-pregnant does with three to six kidding records maintained in the organized farm of Central Island Agricultural Institute (CIARI) and farmer’s field flocks from South Andaman district were selected for the study. Antioxidant markers such as total antioxidant capacity (TAC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), TG (Total glutathione) and catalase (CAT) were analyzed in blood serum with respect to rearing systems, breeds and level of fecundity. Correlation analyses of all dependent variables were performed using Pearson’s correlation. The endogenous antioxidant systems, viz. CAT, TG and SOD was non-significant with respect to rearing systems, breeds and fecundity. Similarly, TAC was non-significant among the breeds and with fecundity; however, semi-intensively managed goats showed significantly higher values than goats under the extensive condition. Correlation analysis showed that CAT was positively correlated with SOD and negatively correlated with TAC. TG showed no correlation with any of the studied antioxidants. Regression analysis of CAT as dependent variable and SOD and TAC as independent variables showed significance. It is concluded that values of antioxidant in the study can be considered as a baseline data for the ALG and other goat breeds of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and other islands or topographies with similar ecosystems for further studies.

COVID-19 has emerged as the latest worrisome pandemic, which is reported to have its outbreak in Wuhan, China. The infection spreads by means of human contact, as a result, it has caused massive infections across 200 countries around the world. Artificial intelligence has likewise contributed to managing the COVID-19 pandemic in various aspects within a short span of time. Deep Neural Networks that are explored in this paper have contributed to the detection of COVID-19 from imaging sources. The datasets, pre-processing, segmentation, feature extraction, classification and test results which can be useful for discovering future directions in the domain of automatic diagnosis of the disease, utilizing artificial intelligence-based frameworks, have been investigated in this paper.

A study was carried out to assess the effect of postpartum anestrus (PPA) on haematological, antioxidant and endocrinological profiles in crossbred cows under tropical island ecosystem of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Based on the records, the cows that had shown anestrous for more than 120 days were selected in PPA group while cows coming in estrous before 65 days of postpartum for more than three successive lactations involving present lactation were selected in normal cyclic group (control group). Blood samples were collected, analysed for haematological profile, antioxidant profile such as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and free radical such as malondialdehyde (MDA), and hormone profiles such as follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol 17β (E2), progesterone (P4), cortisol (CORT) and thyroxin (T4). Crossbred cows of ANI with PPA had suffered severe anaemia. PPA affected cows showed significantly low level of antioxidant profiles and higher MDA level than the unaffected animals. Similarly, endocrinological profiles revealed the PPA affected cows had significantly higher level of CORT and lower level of E2, P4, FSH, LH and T4 than the unaffected crossbred cows. PPA was due to anaemia, lack of antioxidants, over production of free radicals and disturbances of endocrinological profiles. A balanced, limited ration with good quality and quantity of antioxidants, sufficient daily exercise and sufficiently large, clean drinking water can minimize the PPA in crossbred cows.

The present study was carried out to assess the effect of endometritis on hematological, physiological, antioxidant, oxidative and endocrinological profiles in crossbred cows under tropical island ecosystem of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Each 12 number of cows affected with clinical endometritis was selected as group 2 and without endometritis as group 1. These cows were in same parity in same locality with similar type management. Physiological profiles, hematological profiles, antioxidant profiles and hormone profiles were estimated. The result revealed that the crossbred cows with endometritis were suffering severe anaemia. The endometritis affected animals were shown significantly low level of antioxidant profiles and higher MDA level than the unaffected animal groups. Similarly endocrinological profiles revealed that the endometritis affected animals have significantly higher level of CORT and lower level of E2, P4, FSH, LH and T4 than the unaffected crossbred cows. It was concluded that the endometritis was due to anaemia, lack of antioxidants, over production of free radicals and disturbances of endocrinological profiles in crossbred cows of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

A study was carried out to assess the effect of retention of placenta (ROP) on hamatological, physiological, antioxidant and endocrinological profiles in crossbred cows under tropical island ecosystem of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Each six number of cows was selected which were affected with ROP as group 2 and without ROP as group 1. These cows were in same parity in same locality with similar type management. Both the group of cows delivered healthy live calves normally and the cases were diagnosed as ROP when it failed to expel after 24 h of parturition. The ROP was removed manually as per standard procedure with aseptic measures. These affected cows were treated successfully and allowed to nurse the calves. Physiological profiles such as rectal temperature (RT), pulse rate (PR), respiratory rate (RR) and skin temperature (ST) were measured. Blood samples were collected, analysed for hematological profiles and serum separated, analysed the antioxidant profiles such as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and free radical such as malondialdehyde (MDA) and hormone profiles such as estradiol 17β (E2), progesterone (P4) and cortisol (CORT) were estimated. The result revealed that the crossbred cows of ANI with ROP suffered severe anaemia. The ROP affected animals were shown significantly low level of antioxidant profiles and higher MDA level than the unaffected animal groups. Similarly endocrinological profiles revealed the affected animals were having significantly higher level of CORT, P4 and lower level of E2 than unaffected crossbred cows. It was concluded that the ROP in the present study was due to anaemia, lack of antioxidants, over production of free radicals and disturbances of endocrinological profiles.

Trinket cattle is a highly endangered feral cattle of Trinket Island, linked with the colonial history of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Danish people during their colonial time introduced these cattle in Trinket Island. Great Sumatra earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 has forced these cattle to become feral in nature. Due to negligence, the cattle is at the brink of extinction and only around 150 of descendants of the cattle are reported. In the present study, the haematology, serum biochemistry and mineral profiles of Trinket cattle were evaluated. Study indicated that all the values were under the normal physiological range. These findings of this study may serve as reference values in which alterations due to metabolic, nutrient deficiency, physiological and health status can be compared for diagnostic and therapeutic purpose.

Benefiting from the advantages of low cost, light weight and mechanical flexibility, piezoelectric nanogenerators have the potential for application in renewable energy harvesting from various unexplored sources. Here, we report the demonstration of the record efficiency of flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENG) using composites of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and chemically exfoliated tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanosheets, which are found to be strongly photosensitive, making them attractive for self-powered optical devices. The presence of two-dimensional (2D) WS2 nanosheets in the PVDF matrix plays a dual role in enhancing the nucleation of the electroactive β-phase as well as inducing strong photosensitivity in the nanocomposite. The PVDF-WS2 composed flexible device is able to produce an enormously high output voltage of ∼116 V (for an impact of 105 kPa) and a piezoelectric energy conversion efficiency of ∼25.6%, which is the highest among the reported values for PVDF-2D material based self-poled piezoelectric nanogenerators. This self-poled piezo-phototronic device exhibits strain-dependent photocurrent at zero bias and exhibits a responsivity of 6.98 × 10−3 A W−1 at 0.75% strain under the illumination of 410 nm. The fabricated PENG is also able to harvest energy from routine human activities (finger tapping, writing on paper, mouse clicking, etc.) and movement of human body parts. These results open up a new horizon in piezo-phototronic materials through the realization of photosensitive multifunctional PENGs, which can be scaled up for fabricating compact, high performance, portable and self-powered wearable electronic devices for smart sensor applications.