Nutritive value of five Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass) genotypes (IG96-50, IG96-96, IG96-358, IG96-401 and IG96-403) weredetermined. Their sugar contents (>70 mg/g of dry matter) and ensiling ...potential were evaluated using in vitro batch culture and in vivo studies. Research indicated significant differences (P < 0.05) in the dry matter, organic matter, ether extract, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, cellulose and lignin contents of the C. ciliaris genotypes tested. Genotypes also differed (P < 0.05) in total carbohydrates, structural carbohydrates, non-structural carbohydrates and protein fractions. Genotype IG96-96 had the lowest total digestible nutrients, digestible energy and metabolizable energy contents (377.2 g/kg, 6.95 and 5.71 MJ/kg of dry matter, respectively), and net energy values for lactation, maintenance and growth. After 45 days of ensiling, C. ciliaris silages differed (P < 0.05) in dry matter, pH, and lactic acid contents, and their values ranged between 255-339, 4.06-5.17 g/kg of dry matter and 10.8-28.0 g/kg of dry matter, respectively. Maize silage had higher (P < 0.05) Organic Matter (919.5g/kg of dry matter), ether extract (20.4g/kg of dry matter) and hemi-cellulose (272.3 g/kg of dry matter) than IG96-401 and IG96-96 silages. The total carbohydrates and non-structural carbohydrates of maize silage were higher (P < 0.05), while structural carbohydrates were comparable (P < 0.05) with C. ciliaris silages. Sheep on maize silage had (P < 0.05) higher metabolizable energy, lower crude protein, and digestible crude protein intake (g/kg of dry matter) than those on C. ciliaris silage diets. Nitrogen intake and urinary-N excretion were higher (P < 0.05) on genotype IG96-96 silage diet. Overall, this study suggested that certain C. ciliaris genotypes, notably IG96-401 and IG96-96, exhibited nutritive values comparable to maize silage in sheep studies, offering a promising avenue for future exploration as potential alternatives in diversified and sustainable livestock nutrition programs.
Nutritive value of five Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass) genotypes (IG96-50, IG96-96, IG96-358, IG96-401 and IG96-403) weredetermined. Their sugar contents (>70 mg/g of dry matter) and ensiling ...potential were evaluated using in vitro batch culture and in vivo studies. Research indicated significant differences (P < 0.05) in the dry matter, organic matter, ether extract, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, cellulose and lignin contents of the C. ciliaris genotypes tested. Genotypes also differed (P < 0.05) in total carbohydrates, structural carbohydrates, non-structural carbohydrates and protein fractions. Genotype IG96-96 had the lowest total digestible nutrients, digestible energy and metabolizable energy contents (377.2 g/kg, 6.95 and 5.71 MJ/kg of dry matter, respectively), and net energy values for lactation, maintenance and growth. After 45 days of ensiling, C. ciliaris silages differed (P < 0.05) in dry matter, pH, and lactic acid contents, and their values ranged between 255-339, 4.06-5.17 g/kg of dry matter and 10.8-28.0 g/kg of dry matter, respectively. Maize silage had higher (P < 0.05) Organic Matter (919.5g/kg of dry matter), ether extract (20.4g/kg of dry matter) and hemi-cellulose (272.3 g/kg of dry matter) than IG96-401 and IG96-96 silages. The total carbohydrates and non-structural carbohydrates of maize silage were higher (P < 0.05), while structural carbohydrates were comparable (P < 0.05) with C. ciliaris silages. Sheep on maize silage had (P < 0.05) higher metabolizable energy, lower crude protein, and digestible crude protein intake (g/kg of dry matter) than those on C. ciliaris silage diets. Nitrogen intake and urinary-N excretion were higher (P < 0.05) on genotype IG96-96 silage diet. Overall, this study suggested that certain C. ciliaris genotypes, notably IG96-401 and IG96-96, exhibited nutritive values comparable to maize silage in sheep studies, offering a promising avenue for future exploration as potential alternatives in diversified and sustainable livestock nutrition programs.
The present study was conducted during rabi, 2019-20 and 2020-21 with 08 bread wheat diverse parents and their 28 F1s (half diallel, excluding reciprocals) to study gene effects and heterosis for ...grain yield, yield attributes and physiological traits. Days to heading and days to maturity had general mean values of 89.8 days and 130.4 days, respectively. The parent GW 322 showed early heading in 88 days, while the genotype DBW 110 exhibited early maturity in 128 days. The hybrid NW 5054×PBW 723 (13.45 cm) had the highest spike length, followed by HD 3086×NW 5054 (13.40 cm) and PBW 723×NIAW 34 (13.25 cm). The grain yield per plant ranged from 17.37 g to 21.85 g in parents and 14.99 g to 23.41 g among hybrids. The cross HD 3086×K 1006 (23.41 g) and the parent HD 3086 (21.85 g) depicted the highest grain yield per plant. The parent NIAW 34 and the hybrid HD 3086×NIAW 34 showed the highest chlorophyll fluorescence. All three key physiological traits showed significant and positive associations with grain yield and harvest index. All the seventeen characters showed high GCA effects than SCA effects and indicated for preponderance of additive gene effects for yield, its components and physiological traits. An appraisal of GCA effects found that HD 3086 was a good general combiner for the majority of characters, while the crosses, HI 1544×NIAW 34, HI 1544×GW 322 and NW5054×PBW723 with significant SCA effects were found promising under water limited conditions of Bundelkhand region.
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology has facilitated extraordinary advances in our ability to remotely sense precise details of both built and natural environments. The inherent complexity ...of urban landscapes and the massive data volumes produced by LiDAR require unique methodological considerations for big data remote sensing over large metropolitan regions. The heterogeneous landscapes of the rapidly urbanizing Charlotte Metropolitan Region of North Carolina provided an ideal testing ground for developing methods of analysis for urban ecosystems over large regional extents, including: (1) fusion of LiDAR digital surface models (DSMs) with Landsat TM imagery to balance spatial resolution, data volume, and mapping accuracy of urban land covers, (2) comparison of LiDAR-derived metrics to fine grain optical imagery – and their integration – for detecting forest understory plant invaders, and (3) data reduction techniques for computationally efficient estimation of aboveground woody biomass in urban forests. In Chapter 1, I examined tradeoffs between potential gains in mapping accuracy and computational costs by integrating DSMs (structural and intensity) extracted from LiDAR with TM imagery and evaluating the degree to which TM, LiDAR, and LiDAR-TM fusion data discriminated land covers. I used Maximum Likelihood and Classification Tree algorithms to classify TM data, LiDAR data, and LiDAR-TM fusions. I assessed the relative contributions of LiDAR DSMs to map classification accuracy and identified an optimal spatial resolution of LiDAR DSMs for large area assessments of urban land cover. In Chapter 2, I analyzed combinations of datasets developed from categorized LiDAR-derived variables (Overstory, Understory, Topography, and Overall Vegetation Characteristics) and IKONOS imagery ( Optical) to detect and map the understory plant invader, Ligustrum sinense, using Random Forest (RF) and logistic regression (LR) algorithms, and I assessed the relative contributions of sensors and forest landscape structures. I compared the top performing models developed using RF and LR and used the best overall model to map the distribution of L. sinense occurrence across the urbanizing forest landscapes of the region. In chapter 3, I examined the effects of LiDAR point density and landscape context on the estimation of biomass (of general Urban Forest and of three specific Forest Types) using multiple linear regression. I compared biomass estimation accuracies of the Urban Forest and Forest Type models and between the top-performing models of these two Forest categories. For the effect of landscape context, I quantified the degree to which the presence of built development influenced biomass estimation, and I analyzed the effect of canopy stratification on the estimation of biomass. A unifying theme of my dissertation is to advance LiDAR analytics for accurate and detailed estimation of urban landscape heterogeneity over large regional extents. The results of the three studies suggest that establishing optimal resolution and point density for LiDAR data is a highly effective method of pursuing large area studies of urban landscape heterogeneity, and the fusion of LiDAR-derived variables and multispectral data is beneficial in some applications such as improving class discrimination of spectrally similar land cover types. Finally, the direct measurement of forest understory and overstory structure through LiDAR has proven valuable for the study of complex and heterogeneous ecosystems like urban forests.
Polycrystalline CuO thin film is grown using pulse laser deposition method. Magnetic measurement shows reduction in transition temperature from 213 K in bulk to 175 K in thin film which is attributed ...to the reduction in dimensionality. Temperature dependent Raman study showed existence of strong spin-phonon coupling below 175 K. The spin-phonon coupling constant is deduced by subtracting the variation in Ag mode position from the anharmonic behaviour and is found to be 9.08 cm−1. On the other hand the spin-phonon coupling constant deduced from the shift of the 230 cm−1 mode, which is supposed to be activated due to zone folding and is observed only below 175 K, is found to be ~30 cm−1 against ~50 cm−1 reported in bulk compound using this method.
This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of dental caries, tobacco usage, and associated risk factors for dental caries in patients who visited a government hospital in Western, Nepal.
This ...analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from January to April 2022. Patients above 18 years visiting the dental OPD of a government hospital, and who had provided informed consent were enrolled in the study using a convenience sampling technique. As the study also involved an illiterate population, in that case, informed consent was obtained from their respective legal guardian as well. A pretested standardized, close-ended questionnaire was administered by researchers to gather information regarding the associated risk factors and oral hygiene practices. Clinical examination was done for dental caries according to the criteria by the World Health Organization (WHO) using the "DMFT" index (WHO modification 1987). Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was done and the odds ratio and p-value was calculated. For all tests, statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
A total of 219 participants completed the study with a mean age of 31.73 ± 12.46. The prevalence of dental caries and tobacco was found to be 80.36% and 5.02% respectively. Participants without health insurance had 2.35 times higher odds of dental caries (95% CI: 1.03-5.36). Not rinsing the mouth after eating sweets was associated with 3.07 times higher odds of dental caries (95% CI: 1.31-7.18). Those who hadn't visited a dentist in the past 12 months had lower odds (0.42; 95% CI: 0.18-0.94). Eating fresh fruit daily showed statistically higher odds (2.70; 95% CI: 1.04-6.99) of dental caries. Non-tobacco users had higher odds (14.19; 2.55-78.99) of dental caries.
Dental caries is highly prevalent, while tobacco usage is relatively low. Factors associated with dental caries included lack of health insurance coverage, consumption of fruits once daily, recent dental visits within the past year, not rinsing the mouth with water after consuming sweets, and non-tobacco users.
Antihypertensive drug supply is sometimes inadequate in public sector health facilities in India. One of the core strategies of the India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) is to improve the ...availability of antihypertensive drugs in primary and secondary care facilities. We quantified the availability of antihypertensive drugs in 2019-20 and described the practices in supply chain management in 22 districts across four states of India.
Twenty-two districts from 4 states (Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra) were studied. We described the practices and challenges in supply chain management. We collected data on drug procurement from 2018 to 2020 and drug availability from April 2019 to March 2020. Quantity procured, the proportion of facilities with stockout at the end of each quarter, and availability of drugs in patient days were tabulated.
All states selected drug- and dose-specific protocols with Amlodipine as the initial drug and shifted to morbidity-based forecasting. The total number of antihypertensive tablets procured for the 22 districts increased from 16 million in 2017-2018 to 160 million in 2019-2020. The proportion of facilities with Amlodipine stock-out was below 5% during the study period. Amlodipine stock was available for at least 60 patient days from the third quarter of 2019 onward in all districts.
This study demonstrates that including best practices can gradually strengthen the procurement and supply chain for antihypertensives in a low-resource setting. As the program was rapidly growing, there were still gaps in the procurement and distribution system which needed to be addressed to ensure the adequacy of drugs. We recommend that best practices, including choosing a single protocol, basing supply on projected patient load rather than an increment from historical levels, and using simple stock management tools, be replicated in other districts in India to increase and sustain coverage of hypertension treatment.
Abstract Introduction The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) emphasizes decentralized patient-centric care to boost hypertension control in public healthcare facilities. We documented the ...decentralization process, enrolment pattern by facility type, and treatment outcomes in nine districts of Punjab and Maharashtra states, India, from 2018–2022. Methods We detailed the shift in hypertension care from higher facilities to Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) using the World Health Organization (WHO) health system pillar framework. We reviewed hypertension treatment records in 4,045 public facilities from nine districts in the two states, focusing on indicators including registration numbers, the proportion of controlled, uncontrolled blood pressure (BP), and missed visits among those under care. Results The decentralization process involved training, treatment protocol provision, supervision, and monitoring. Among 394,038 individuals registered with hypertension from 2018–2021, 69% were under care in 2022. Nearly half of those under care (129,720/273,355) received treatment from HWCs in 2022. Care of hypertensive individuals from district hospitals (14%), community health centres (20%), and primary health centres (24%) were decentralized to HWCs. Overall BP control rose from 20% (4,004/20,347) in 2019 to 58% (157,595/273,355) in 2022, while missed visits decreased from 61% (12,394/20,347) in 2019 to 26% (70,894/273,355) in 2022. This trend was consistent in both states. HWCs exhibited the highest BP control and the lowest missed visits throughout the study period compared to other facility types. Conclusion We documented an increase in decentralized access to hypertension treatment and improved treatment outcomes over four years. We recommend operationalizing hypertension care at HWCs to other districts in India to improve BP control.
Abstract Induced magnetic order in a topological insulator (TI) can be realized either by depositing magnetic adatoms on the surface of a TI or engineering the interface with epitaxial thin film or ...stacked assembly of 2D van der Waals (vdW) materials. Herein, the observation of spin‐phonon coupling in the otherwise non‐magnetic TI Bi 2 Te 3 is reported, due to the proximity of FePS 3 (an antiferromagnet (AFM), T N ≈ 120 K), in a vdW heterostructure framework. Temperature‐dependent Raman spectroscopic studies reveal deviation from the usual phonon anharmonicity originated from spin‐lattice coupling at the Bi 2 Te 3 /FePS 3 interface at/below 60 K in the peak position (self‐energy) and linewidth (lifetime) of the characteristic phonon modes of Bi 2 Te 3 (106 and 138 cm −1 ) in the stacked heterostructure. The Ginzburg‐Landau (GL) formalism, where the respective phonon frequencies of Bi 2 Te 3 couple to phonons of similar frequencies of FePS 3 in the AFM phase, is adopted to understand the origin of the hybrid magneto‐elastic modes. At the same time, the reduction of characteristic T N of FePS 3 from 120 K in isolated flakes to 65 K in the heterostructure, possibly due to the interfacial strain, which leads to smaller Fe‐S‐Fe bond angles as corroborated by computational studies using density functional theory (DFT). Besides, inserting hexagonal boron nitride within Bi 2 Te 3 /FePS 3 stacking regains the anharmonicity in Bi 2 Te 3 . Controlling interfacial spin‐phonon coupling in stacked heterostructure can have potential application in surface code spin logic devices.
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