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Climate warming is expected to induce treelines to advance to higher elevations. Empirical studies in diverse mountain ranges, however, give evidence of both advancing alpine treelines and rather insignificant responses. The inconsistency of findings suggests distinct differences in the sensitivity of global treelines to recent climate change. It is still unclear where Himalayan treeline ecotones are located along the response gradient from rapid dynamics to apparently complete inertia. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge regarding sensitivity and response of Himalayan treelines to climate warming, based on extensive field observations, published results in the widely scattered literature, and novel data from ongoing research of the present authors. Several sensitivity indicators such as treeline type, treeline form, seed-based regeneration, and growth patterns are evaluated. Since most Himalayan treelines are anthropogenically depressed, observed advances are largely the result of land use change. Near-natural treelines are usually krummholz treelines, which are relatively unresponsive to climate change. Nevertheless, intense recruitment of treeline trees suggests a great potential for future treeline advance. Competitive abilities of seedlings within krummholz thickets and dwarf scrub heaths will be a major source of variation in treeline dynamics. Tree growth–climate relationships show mature treeline trees to be responsive to temperature change, in particular in winter and pre-monsoon seasons. High pre-monsoon temperature trends will most likely drive tree growth performance in the western and central Himalaya. Ecological niche modelling suggests that bioclimatic conditions for a range expansion of treeline trees will be created during coming decades.

Abstract Land-use conversion affects soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics. Therefore, an in-depth study of change in SOC, SOC pool, fractions of SOC and enzymatic activities of soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) and dehydrogenase (DHA) with the conversion of forest land to jhum, fallow jhum and settle cultivation use has been undertaken on the hills of Arunachal Pradesh of India. Geo-referenced soil samples from eight different locations, each from different land uses were collected at three depth. One part of the soil sample had been used for the analysis of SOC and its carbon fraction. The second portion was kept in a deep freezer for determining SMBC and DHA. The third part was used for the analysis of bulk density. The result revealed that the highest loss of SOC pool was recorded in jhum land (41.8 to 13.4%), and the labile carbon was also found to decrease in jhum land. The highest SMBC was observed on the surface soil of the natural forest; the highest DHA was found in the natural forest; and the lowest DHA was recorded in jhum land. This study found that the converting natural forest to jhum reduces SOC storage, enzymatic activities and C fractions significantly whereas fallow jhum shows sign of recovery because all of these parameters improved when compared to the jhum land-use system. This study also confirms that the fallow period helps restore the initial situation.

The present study was conducted on six dogs, selected randomly irrespective of their age, sex and breed; diagnosed with tibial diaphyseal fracture. For the repair of fracture of tibia, Titanium elastic intramedullary nailing was performed in all the cases. Clinical, orthopaedic, radiographic and haemato- biochemical examinations were performed pre-operatively, just after the surgery, at 15th, 30th and 60th post-operative days. Gradual improvement in weight bearing on the operated limb was shown by all the cases starting from 4th to 7th post-operative day followed by complete weight bearing on 30th post-operative day in four cases and all the dogs had shown complete weight bearing without lameness while moving on 60th post-operative day. Satisfactory fracture alignment was shown in the post-operative radiograph at 15th, 30th and 60th days after the surgery. Slight migration of the nails at site of insertion in three cases were observed on clinical examination, which were easily managed by cutting the extra length of the nail outside the skin along with regular antiseptic dressing of the wound. The haemato-biochemical parameters were found within the normal clinical range at different time intervals of examination. On the basis of this study, it was found that the Titanium elastic stable intramedullary nailing has good efficacy for the repair of diaphyseal fracture of tibia without having any systemic adverse effects in dogs.

Adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) is very slow due to weed infestations. The application of herbicides is the only viable option to deal with problem of weed management to adhere with basic principles of CA. A field experiment was carried out for three years to evaluate the expediency of different herbicides and their sequential applications under CA. In this study, seven treatments comprised of either alone or sequential application of pre-emergence (PE) and post-emergence (PoE) herbicides, hand weeding and weedy check were tested in soybean. Result indicated that sequential application of glyphosate at 1 kg ai ha-1 + pendimethalin at 1 kg ai ha-1as PE followed by PoE application of imazethapyr at 100 g ai ha-1 at 30 days after sowing (DAS) proved to be the best economical option in terms of plant growth parameters, crop biomass, seed yield, weed index and carbon and nutrient recycling. Pearson's correlation coefficients matrix revealed that grain yield was significantly (P

Ruminants are poor subject for general anaesthesia. Diaphragmatic hernia (DH) is a common digestive disorder in buffaloes requiring balanced general anaesthesia for surgical repair. For premedication, initially, a combination of phenothiazine/chloralhydrate was used which was later replaced by alpha2 agonist like xylazine. Anticholinergics like atropine or glycopyrrolate were included in balanced anaesthetic protocols to reduce cardiac depression by alpha2 agonists. Thiobarbiturates historically were used for induction and maintenance but late recovery and cardiorepiratory depression lead to switch over to propofol. Maintenance of anaesthesia by top-up or continuous rate infusion (CRI) of propofol was not economical. The inclusion of opioids like butorphanol improved the analgesia as well as has dose sparing effect on induction and maintenance agent. The introduction of inhalants for maintenance significantly improved outcomes with the ease of change of depth of anaesthesia. It has also been observed that adrenocortical suppression by etomidate and mechanical intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) resulted in poor outcomes whereas maintaining the homeostasis and functional adreno-cortical axis of buffaloes under anaesthesia improves the success rate of DH surgeries. The balanced anaesthetic combination of Atropine/xylazine/ butorphanol/propofol/isoflurane has been found to be most satisfactory till date in buffaloes undergoing DH surgery. The studies on muscle relaxants, blood gas analysis and end tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO2) in buffaloes are scarce. Moreover, many drugs have been used in combinations in clinical cases on the basis of extrapolation from other species; but in buffaloes the effect of individual drug (like dose sparing effect of analgesics, minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of inhalants) has to be still studied.

This article investigates a compact band-pass filter using modified Ω-shaped resonator and source load coupling for transmission zero improvement. In this article, source load coupling has been used to improve the insertion loss response and a number of transmission zeros in the upper stop-band, so that the chance of interference from adjacent wireless bands can be reduced. In order to determine the metamaterial characteristics for the designed filter structure dispersion diagram and vectored electric-field with no phase variation has been illustrated. The simulated and measured 3dB fractional bandwidth for the designed filter structure is 26.05% and 26.12% at the center frequency of 2.38 and 2.33 GHz respectively. It offers compactness with an electrical footprint area of 0.245λg × 0.201λg, where λg is the guided wavelength at the center frequency of 2.33 GHz. The presented filter structure seems a potential candidate for different wireless applications such as Bluetooth (2.4-2.48 GHz), WLAN/Wi-Fi (2.4-2.49 GHz) and Wi-MAX (2.5-2.69 GHz).

The evaluation of climatic change impact on maize grain and biomass yield under different N management practices through a well-calibrated and validated APSIM model in Vertisol of central India has been made. Climate scenarios were derived from seven global climate models (GCM) for two representative concentration pathways (RCPs), i.e. RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, and two-time slices, i.e. 2050 and 2080. The five N scenarios, namely N0%, N50%, N100%, N150%, and 100% organic, were studied in different climatic scenarios. The probability of exceedance showed that N0%, N50%, N100%, N150%, and 100% organic treatments have a 50% chance of yield greater than 1.0, 3.40, 4.20, 4.45 and 3.84 t ha-1, respectively. The average reduction of maize yield was -44.4, -20, -19.7 - 17.9 and 22.5 per cent in N 0%, N 50%, N 100%, N 150%, 100% organic, respectively under RCP4.5 over the baseline period (1980-2010). For RCP8.5, the average reduction of maize yield in N 0%, N 50%, N 100%, N 150%, 100% organic was 41.2, 21.2, 20.8 20.6 and 23.1 per cent, respectively. Simulation results suggested that a higher decrease of maize yield in 100 per cent organic treatments than inorganic treatments is due to variability in N uptake.

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is not an uncommon clinical disorder and requires advanced, efficient immunohematological and transfusion support. Many AIHA patients have underlying disorder and therefore, it is incumbent upon the clinician to investigate these patients in detail, as the underlying condition can be of a serious nature such as lymphoproliferative disorder or connective tissue disorder. Despite advances in transfusion medicine, simple immunohematological test such as direct antiglobulin test (DAT) still remains the diagnostic hallmark of AIHA. The sensitive gel technology has enabled the immunohematologist not only to diagnose serologically such patients, but also to characterize red cell bound autoantibodies with regard to their class, subclass and titer in a rapid and simplified way. Detailed characterization of autoantibodies is important, as there is a relationship between in vivo hemolysis and strength of DAT; red cell bound multiple immunoglobulins, immunoglobulin G subclass and titer. Transfusing AIHA patient is a challenge to the immunohematologist as it is encountered with difficulties in ABO grouping and cross matching requiring specialized serological tests such as alloadsorption or autoadsorption. At times, it may be almost impossible to find a fully matched unit to transfuse these patients. However, transfusion should not be withheld in a critically ill patient even in the absence of compatible blood. The "best match" or "least incompatible units" can be transfused to such patients under close supervision without any serious side-effects. All blood banks should have the facilities to perform the necessary investigations required to issue "best match" packed red blood cells in AIHA. Specialized techniques such as elution and adsorption, which at times are helpful in enhancing blood safety in AIHA should be established in all transfusion services.

The study was conducted on 35 male buffalo calves suffering from obstructive urolithiasis. The common clinical signs recorded were anuria, dull anxious look, kicking at the ventral abdomen, persistent efforts for micturition, which may be accompanied by rectal prolapse and pulsating urethra with contraction and relaxation of preputial orifice in cases with intact urinary bladder whereas bilateral distension of abdomen with fluid thrill, sunken eyes and no effort for micturation in cases of ruptured urinary bladder. The heart rate and respiratory rate were mildly elevated. The haematological parameters showed no significant changes. There was a significant increase in blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine and plasma potassium which returned to near normal level in 48 h post-operatively. The pH of urine changed from alkaline to slightly acidic during the course of treatment. Ultrasonography was very effective tool for examining the status of urinary system in affected animals. Tube cystostomy had a high success rate in treating cases of obstructive urolithiasis in buffalo calves.

Soil compaction may restrict deep root growth and adversely affect plant access to sub-soil layer. Therefore it is important to study rooting behaviour of crops to soil compaction that are imparted on it naturally or artificially. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of soil compaction levels by varying the soil bulk density (BD) on rooting parameters and to model the root growth to understand the dynamics of rooting behaviour of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Compaction level treatments, i.e. BDs were (i) 1.2, (ii) 1.4, (iii) 1.5 and (iv) 1.6 Mg/m3. When BD was increased from 1.2 Mg/m3 to 1.6 Mg/m3, there was 58% and 44% reduction in plant height of JG 11 and JG 130, respectively. There was 59% and 45% reduction in root length of JG 11 and JG 130, with increase in BD from 1.2 Mg/m3 to 1.6 Mg/m3. On an average, an increase in BD by 0.1 unit resulted in 19.34 and 19.11% decrease in root main axis length of JG 11 and JG 130, respectively. There was a negative correlation between root penetration rate and soil BD (R2 = 0.88). The critical growth limiting BD for chickpea was found to be 1.89 Mg/m3 in our study. The logistic growth model was fitted well with the observed dataset obtained from study with R2 of 0.98** (P < 0.01). In this study, the chickpea variety JG 130 proved to be better than JG 11 while selecting chickpea cultivars for highly compacted soils.

The deterioration of soil quality/health is the combined result of soil fertility, biological degradation (decline of organic matter, biomass C, decrease in activity and diversity of soil fauna), increase in erodibility, acidity, and salinity, and exposure of compact subsoil of poor physicochemical properties. Northeast India is characterized by high soil acidity/Al+3 toxicity, heavy soil, and carbon loss, severe water scarcity during most parts of year though it is known as high rainfall area. The extent of soil and nutrient transfer, causing environmental degradation in North eastern India, has been estimated to be about 601 million tones of soil, and 685.8, 99.8, 511.1, 22.6, 14.0, 57.1, and 43.0 thousand tones of N, P, K, Mn, Zn, Ca, and Mg, respectively. Excessive deforestation coupled with shifting cultivation practices have resulted in tremendous soil loss (200 t/ha/yr), poor soil physical health in this region. Studies on soil erodibility characteristics under various land use systems in Northeastern Hill (NEH) Region depicted that shifting cultivation had the highest erosion ratio (12.46) and soil loss (30.2–170.2 t/ha/yr), followed by conventional agriculture system (10.42 and 5.10–68.20 t/ha/yr, resp.). The challenge before us is to maintain equilibrium between resources and their use to have a stable ecosystem. Agroforestry systems like agri-horti-silvi-pastoral system performed better over shifting cultivation in terms of improvement in soil organic carbon; SOC (44.8%), mean weight diameter; MWD (29.4%), dispersion ratio (52.9%), soil loss (99.3%), soil erosion ratio (45.9%), and in-situ soil moisture conservation (20.6%) under the high rainfall, moderate to steep slopes, and shallow soil depth conditions. Multipurpose trees (MPTs) also played an important role on soil rejuvenation. Michelia oblonga is reported to be a better choice as bioameliorant for these soils as continuous leaf litter and root exudates improved soil physical behaviour and SOC considerably. Considering the present level of resource degradation, some resource conservation techniques like zero tillage/minimum tillage, hedge crop, mulching, cover crop need due attention for building up of organic matter status for sustaining soil health.

Necrotizing pneumonia, rare complication of Communityacquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP), bear its own morbidity and mortality. Even though CABP generally respond well to the antibiotic treatment, but complications like empyema, necrotizing pneumonia with pneumatocoel formation (cavitary necrosis) supervene in mainly immune-compromised patient. Although cavitary necrosis is manifested as a severe disease, most children show complete recovery even without surgical treatment and have normal chest radiographs at long term. Some cases may required surgical intervention like tube thoracotomy or open thoracotomy. A case is presented of an infant that developed necrotizing pneumonia with pneumatocoel formation during treatment of bacterial pneumonia. Tube thoracotomy was performed due to conservative treatment failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Burn injuries are major health problems in developing countries leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Majority of pediatric burns are preventable and differ largely from adult burns anatomically, physiologically and psychosocially. Major causes are scald, flame and electrical injuries. Childhood burn is least explored in Nepal and devastating because of ongoing pain, cosmetic and physical disfigurement, multiple surgical procedures. Methods: This prospective study was conducted from July 2014 to June 2015 in Pediatric burn unit of Kanti Children's Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. A detailed history and examination was done. Patient characteristics including age, gender, causes and percentage of total body surface area (%TBSA) burnt, type of treatment, time period of hospital stay and mortality was recorded. Percentage of burn was determined using 'Lund and Browder chart '.Treatment was started based on these parameters. Statistical analysis was done and results expressed in numbers and percentages. Results: 314 children were included. Boys were 58.60% and girls were 41.40%. Children with burns, younger than 5 years of age were 82.8%, whichwas high in number. More number of children presented with old burn 164(52.23%) in relation to fresh burn 150(47.77%). Maximum number of children, 235(74.84%) presented with scald burn which is due to hot liquids in comparison to other burn injuries like flame burn which was 64(20.38%).148 (47.13%) of children had burn injuries with 10-30% of %TBSA, followed by 144(45.86%) children with < 10% TSBA.Total mortality was 4.78%, with 3.5% mortality in patients with TBSA more than 50%. Conclusion: Maximum number of burn injuries occurred in male children under five years of age. Scald injuries predominated and patients mainly presented with old burns. Significant numbers of children with burn injuries were treated conservatively. TBSA is one of the important indicators for deciding management and prognosis. Thus, childhood burn is a major cause of morbidity in Nepal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WAGR syndrome which includes Wilms' tumor, aniridia, genitourinary anomalies and mental retardation is a rare, sporadic, genetic disorder characterized by de nova deletion in the distal band of 11p13chromosome. Here, we report first case of WAGR from Nepal of a 5 year old male child with hypospadias, right Wilms' tumor and bilateral aniridia treated successfully by surgery and chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new singly-fed bidirectional wideband circularly polarized cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (CDRA) using modified J-shaped ground plane is investigated and presented in this paper. The designed antenna excited by a single microstrip feed line with the modified J-shaped ground plane, which supports the orthogonal mode generation i.e. HEM_11δ mode for realizing circular polarization (CP). Measured results show that proposed antenna achieved S11≤-10 dB, input impedance bandwidth of 41.44% (centered at 3.74 GHz) and 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth in broadside direction of 29.91% (centered at 3.61 GHz). The average measured gain and simulated radiation efficiency in broadside are 2.84 dBic and 94.69% respectively, throughout the working band. The proposed CPDRA is a bidirectional radiator, and the radiation patterns on both sides are nearly the same. The antenna radiates left-handed CP wave in +z-direction and right-handed CP wave in -z-direction for both the resonance frequencies, which has been confirmed by plotting CP radiation pattern. The presented design can be used for Wi-MAX (3.3-3.7 GHz) and LTE3400 (3400–3800 MHz) bands.

This paper represents the compact metamaterial inspired triple-band filter using two inverted S-shape resonator and two C-shape stub with via. Proposed filter is printed on FR-4 epoxy glass substrate with 1.6 mm thickness. The measured 3 dB fractional bandwidth of 40 % (1.6-2.4 GHz), 16.5 % (3.9-4.6 GHz) and 14.3 % (5.2-6.0 GHz) at centre frequencies 2.0 GHz, 4.25 GHz and 5.6 GHz respectively. This filter offers electrical circuit size of 0.22λg × 0.16λg, where given λg is the guided wavelength at centre frequency of first passband 2.0 GHz. The performance parameter of designed filter have characterized by fractional bandwidth, insertion loss, dielectric constant, return loss, circuit size and group delay. Both simulated and measured results are shown to validate the proposed filter. Finally, the MTM properties of proposed filter has been verified by extracting its dispersion diagram. It is suitable for GSM 1800, LTE 2300 and WiMAX (5.2-5.8 GHz) application.

Incorporation of Te and Gd were done based on the stoicheometric formula PbTi0.8−x Te0.2GdxO3 (PTTeG). TG characterization of green powder revealed the completion of solid state reaction at temperature 450∘ C. XRD of modified PTTeG powders milled for 10h was found most suitable as it gives pure single-phase tetragonal structure. Dielectric constant was found as 2543 at curie temperature of 480∘C in the case of 5wt.% of Gd in PTTeG. Piezoelectric Coefficient was found as 241 × 10 −12 C/N at 39Kv/cm of poling field. The results obtained were comparable and even better than so far reported in similar kind of materials.

We report annual snow accumulation rates from 1959 to 2004 along a 250 km segment of the Expéditions Glaciologiques Internationales au Groenland (EGIG) line across central Greenland using Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS) radar layers and high resolution neutron-probe (NP) density profiles. ASIRAS-NP-derived accumulation rates are not statistically different (95 % confidence interval) from in situ EGIG accumulation measurements from 1985 to 2004. ASIRAS-NP-derived accumulation increases by 20 % below 3000 m elevation, and increases by 13 % above 3000 m elevation for the period 1995 to 2004 compared to 1985 to 1994. Three Regional Climate Models (PolarMM5, RACMO2.3, MAR) underestimate snow accumulation below 3000 m by 16–20 % compared to ASIRAS-NP from 1985 to 2004. We test radar-derived accumulation rates sensitivity to density using modeled density profiles in place of NP densities. ASIRAS radar layers combined with Herron and Langway (1980) model density profiles (ASIRAS-HL) produce accumulation rates within 3.5 % of ASIRAS-NP estimates in the dry snow region. We suggest using Herron and Langway (1980) density profiles to calibrate radar layers detected in dry snow regions of ice sheets lacking detailed in situ density measurements, such as those observed by the Operation IceBridge campaign.

Background: Mental health problems account for 12% of global disease burden and non-psychiatrist medical practitioners deal with a large proportion of this burden. This study was planned to assess the knowledge, attitude and treatment practices of non-psychiatrist medical practitioners regarding mental health problems. Materials and Methods: One hundred Allopathic and 25 each of Homeopathic and Ayurvedic medical practitioners were interviewed and assessed using a semi-structured performa. Results: Majority (95%) of them were aware regarding etiology, increasing incidence and treatment facilities available for mental health problems. Treatment modalities include counseling and medication but 69.9% of them had not received any formal training in administering them. Conclusions: 98.5% practitioners providing mental health services at the primary level feel the need to be properly trained and oriented in the management of these patients to improve quality of healthcare.

The members of Anemone L. sect. Himalayicae (Ulbr.) Juz. (Ranunculaceae) are mainly distributed in the Himalaya of North India, Nepal and Bhutan and the neighbouring mountains of SW China at elevations between 1850 and 4800 m. Their taxonomy is re-evaluated on the basis of a critical morphological analysis of extensive herbarium material. The section is placed in Anemone subgen. Omalocarpus and differentiated into three new series: ser. Obtusilobae, ser. Trullifoliae and ser. Rupestres. A conspectus, keys to species, subspecies and varieties, descriptions of taxa, illustrations and distribution maps are presented. Eleven species with several infraspecific taxa are recognized and their synonymy, variability and relationships are discussed. In addition to the generally accepted species Anemone obtusiloba, A. trullifolia and A. rupestris, we recognize the following: A. polycarpa, A. rockii, A. geum and A. coelestina and four Chinese endemics, A. yulongshanica, A. patula, A. subpinnata and A. subindivisa. Anemone imbricata and A. fuscopurpurea are described but excluded from the section. The origins, morphological differentiations and eco-geographical radiations of Anemone sect. Himalayicae are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]