Search

This paper presents the finding of pollination effects of honey bees (Apis cerana) on productivity outcomes of the three crops of the Himalayan agro-ecosystem: mustard (Brassica campestris), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and plum (Prunus domestica). We used pollination exclusion on flowers of target crops to assess the contribution of pollinators on crop yield. The effect of pollination on various yield parameters under different treatments viz. Open pollination (OP) with supplementation of beehives and Control pollination (CP, pollinator exclusion) were quantified. The CP treatment negatively impacted crop yield variables in all the target crops contrary to the OP, where yield variables were significantly higher in all the target crops. Total yield of mustard increased by 27% (179 vs. 227 kg/ha), buckwheat by 73% (309 vs. 1141 kg/ha) and plum by 64% (0.92 vs. 2.52 kg fruits /branch) in OP than the CP. This is mainly due to higher pollinator density in the OP and supplementation of A. cerana bee hive. The maximum pollinator species diversity was recorded in buckwheat (16 spp.) followed by mustard (15 spp.) and plum (13 spp.). In all the target crops, honey bee (A. cerana) emerged as the most abundant visitor, with mean density of 24.38±0.92 in mustard, 18.56±2.00 in buckwheat and 39.45±1.45 in plum. The findings indicate that pollinators, especially honey bees can be suitably integrated with agro-ecosystems of this region for effective pollination management and to maximize the crop yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The household is a potentially important but understudied unit of analysis and intervention in chronic disease research. We sought to estimate the association between living with someone with a chronic condition and one's own chronic condition status. Methods and findings We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of population-based household- and individual-level data collected in 4 socioculturally and geographically diverse settings across rural and urban India in 2013 and 2014. Of 10,703 adults ages 18 years and older with coresiding household members surveyed, data from 7,522 adults (mean age 39 years) in 2,574 households with complete covariate information were analyzed. The main outcome measures were diabetes (fasting plasma glucose [greater than or equal to] 126 mg/dL or taking medication), common mental disorder (General Health Questionnaire score [greater than or equal to] 12), hypertension (blood pressure [greater than or equal to] 140/90 mmHg or taking medication), obesity (body mass index [greater than or equal to] 30 kg/m.sup.2 ), and high cholesterol (total blood cholesterol [greater than or equal to] 240 mg/dL or taking medication). Logistic regression with generalized estimating equations was used to model associations with adjustment for a participant's age, sex, education, marital status, religion, and study site. Inverse probability weighting was applied to account for missing data. We found that 44% of adults had 1 or more of the chronic conditions examined. Irrespective of familial relationship, adults who resided with another adult with any chronic condition had 29% higher adjusted relative odds of having 1 or more chronic conditions themselves (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.29; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.10-1.50). We also observed positive statistically significant associations of diabetes, common mental disorder, and hypertension with any chronic condition (aORs ranging from 1.19 to 1.61) in the analysis of all coresiding household members. Associations, however, were stronger for concordance of certain chronic conditions among coresiding household members. Specifically, we observed positive statistically significant associations between living with another adult with diabetes (aOR = 1.60; 95% CI 1.23-2.07), common mental disorder (aOR = 2.69; 95% CI 2.12-3.42), or obesity (aOR = 1.82; 95% CI 1.33-2.50) and having the same condition. Among separate analyses of dyads of parents and their adult children and dyads of spouses, the concordance between the chronic disease status was striking. The associations between common mental disorder, hypertension, obesity, and high cholesterol in parents and those same conditions in their adult children were aOR = 2.20 (95% CI 1.28-3.77), 1.58 (95% CI 1.15-2.16), 4.99 (95% CI 2.71-9.20), and 2.57 (95% CI 1.15-5.73), respectively. The associations between diabetes and common mental disorder in husbands and those same conditions in their wives were aORs = 2.28 (95% CI 1.52-3.42) and 3.01 (95% CI 2.01-4.52), respectively. Relative odds were raised even across different chronic condition phenotypes; specifically, we observed positive statistically significant associations between hypertension and obesity in the total sample of all coresiding adults (aOR = 1.24; 95% CI 1.02-1.52), high cholesterol and diabetes in the adult-parent sample (aOR = 2.02; 95% CI 1.08-3.78), and hypertension and diabetes in the spousal sample (aOR = 1.51; 95% CI 1.05-2.17). Of all associations examined, only the relationship between hypertension and diabetes in the adult-parent dyads was statistically significantly negative (aOR = 0.62; 95% CI 0.40-0.94). Relatively small samples in the dyadic analysis and site-specific analysis call for caution in interpreting qualitative differences between associations among different dyad types and geographical locations. Because of the cross-sectional nature of the analysis, the findings do not provide information on the etiology of incident chronic conditions among household members. Conclusions We observed strong concordance of chronic conditions within coresiding adults across diverse settings in India. These data provide early evidence that a household-based approach to chronic disease research may advance public health strategies to prevent and control chronic conditions. Trial registration Clinical Trials Registry India CTRI/2013/10/004049; http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php, Author(s): Shivani A. Patel 1,2,*, Preet K. Dhillon 3, Dimple Kondal 1,3, Panniyammakal Jeemon 3,11, Kashvi Kahol 3, Sathya Prakash Manimunda 4, Anil J. Purty 5, Ajit Deshpande 6, P. [...]

Fire is one of the major causes of forest degradation in India, and has wide ranging adverse ecological, economic and social impacts. In Uttarakhand, Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii) forests spread over appx. 16% of total forest area (between 1000 and 1800 m asl) are particularly prone to forest fire (FF) due to resin-rich leaf litter accumulation on the forest floor during summer. Year 2016 (April-early June), witnessed a major Forest fire in the Chir Pine forests of Uttarakhand registering a total of 2069 Forest fire incidents affecting 4423 ha forests. This outrage of forest fire in Uttarakhand concerned everyone across the country, and to save the forests large scale efforts were made. Even National Disaster Response Force and helicopters had to be engaged in putting out forest fire. This article is a follow-up of a visit of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests, Govt. of India to Uttarakhand (6-7 June, 2016) in the aftermath of Forest fire, and provides an overview of forest fire in Uttarakhand, its causes and consequences, and suggests some remedial measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aortopulmonary window (APW) is rare a congenital heart disease accounting for 0.1%-0.2% of all congenital heart defects. The 35% of the APW has been associated with wide variety of other structural heart diseases such as ventricular septal defect, persistent ductus arteriosus, arch anomalies and coronary artery anomalies. To the best of our knowledge, only six cases of APW with pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect has been described in the literature. It resembles the type 1 truncus arteriosus, and differentiation from this condition is important prior to surgical correction. We present a case of 14-year-old girl child; she was diagnosed with APW with pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect and D transposition of great arteries with the help of echocardiography, cardiac catheterisation and cardiac CT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out across eighteen forest stands dominated by Pinus roxburghii and Quercus leucotrichophora forests to understand vegetation patterns and physico-chemical properties of soils in Khulgad watershed (District Almora in Uttarakhand) with a particular focus on carbon stock in vegetation and soil pool. C-sequestration in vegetation pool was also estimated. Oak forests were found rich in species diversity as compared to Pine forests. The above ground biomass of Oak forests (189.8 Mg ha-1) was also computed significantly greater than the Pine forests (119.1 Mg ha-1), and consequently the more carbon stock in vegetation pool (91.1 vs 56.6 Mg ha-1). Also, C stock in soil of Oak forests was found more than twice as compared to Pine forests (171.8 vs 73.7 Mg ha-1). C input to forest floor through litter fall was computed 5.97 Mg ha-1 for Oak forests and 4.21 Mg ha-1 for Pine forests, and over 98% of this input was accounted for by leaf litter. Thus in terms of total C pool (vegetation + litter + soil), Oak forests (268.87 Mg ha-1) had two times greater C than the Pine forests (134.48 Mg ha-1). However, net primary productivity (NPP) computed for tree layer of Pine forests (9.04 Mg ha-1 yr-1) was markedly greater as compared to Oak forests (5.68 Mg ha-1 yr-1). Thus C-sequestration rate in Oak and Pine forests was recorded 2.64 Mg ha-1 yr-1 and 3.96 Mg ha-1 yr-1, respectively. Oak forests were also characterized by high SOM, soil moisture, WHC and soil fertility (N, P, K), and all the soil nutrients in these forests decreased with increasing soil depth (0-90 cm). Oak forests should therefore be conserved and maintained to mitigate the climatic change impacts through stocking more C in vegetation and soil pool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent discoveries indicate that when the materials are brought down to sizes in the range 1-100 nm, these exhibit unique electrical, optical, magnetic, chemical, and mechanical properties. Methods have now been established to obtain the monodisperse nanocrystals of various metallic and semiconducting materials, singlewalled and multi-walled nanotubes of carbon and other metallic and non-metallic materials together with organic nanomaterials such as supra-molecular nanostructures, dendrimers, hybrid composites with tailored functionalities. The high surface-to-volume ratio with an added element of porosity makes these highly potential candidates for chemical and biological sensor applications with higher degree of sensitivity and selectivity as compared to their bulk counterparts. The paper reviews the recent developments and applications of chemical and biological sensors based on nanomaterials of various structural forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details a study which analyzed the chemical contents and decomposition rate of Oak, Pine and Lantana in Dobh-Srikot village, Western Himalayas. Variation in the rate of decomposition between the plant species; Presence of potassium concentration in the decomposing leaf of the plant species; Relationship between nitrogen concentration in residual litter and litter weight.

A response from the authors of the article "Epidemiological Trends of RF/RHD in School Children of Shimla in North India" published in the journal in 2013 is presented.