Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emission from the dairy production system - review.

Climate change is altering ecological systems and poses a serious threat to human life. Climate change also seriously influences on livestock production by interfering with growth, reproduction, and production. Livestock, on the other hand, is blamed for being a significant contributor to climate change, emitting 8.1 gigatonnes of CO2-eq per year and accounting for two-thirds of global ammonia emissions. Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2) are three major greenhouse gases (GHG) that are primarily produced by enteric fermentation, feed production, diet management, and total product output. Ruminants account for three-quarters of total CO2-equivalent (CO2-eq) emissions from the livestock sector. The global dairy sector alone emits 4.0% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Hence, dairy farming needs to engage in environmental impact assessment. Public concern for a sustainable and environmentally friendly farming system is growing, resulting in the significant importance of food-based life cycle assessment (LCA). Over the last decade, LCA has been used in agriculture to assess total GHG emissions associated with products such as milk and manure. It includes the production of farm inputs, farm emissions, milk processing, transportation, consumer use, and waste. LCA studies on milk production would assist us in identifying the specific production processes/areas that contribute to excessive greenhouse gas emissions when producing milk and recommending appropriate mitigation strategies to be implemented for a clean, green, and resilient environment.

Comprehensive assessment of holding urine as a behavioral risk factor for UTI in women and reasons for delayed voiding.

BACKGROUND: Women of reproductive age group have greater predilection to urinary tract infections (UTI). Various risk factors increase the prevalence in women. Emergence of multidrug resistant uropathogens make clinical management of UTI challenging. Here we assess holding of urine as risk factor of UTI in women and reasons for delayed voiding. We also investigate the relationship between frequency of UTIs and overall behavioural features, menstrual hygiene and attitude of women towards their own health issues. METHODS: A questionnaire based cross-sectional study was performed with 816 hostel residents with written consent. Self-reported data was statistically analysed using SPSS software. Urinalysis and urine culture were done for 50 women by random sampling to obtain the information on leading causative agents of UTI in the study population and their antimicrobial resistance profile. RESULTS: The prevalence of UTI among the participants without risk factors was found to be 27.5 (95% CI: 24.4-30.7). Attitude of women towards their own personal health issues and use of public toilets showed a correlation with prevalence of infection. Delay in urination on habitual basis was found to be associated with UTI. Uropathogens isolated by random sampling were resistant to multiple drugs that are generally used to treat UTI. CONCLUSIONS: Holding urine for long time had proven to be an important risk factor and amongst different reasons of holding urine, holding due to poor sanitary condition of public toilets was the most common. Higher frequency of self-reported UTIs is related to holding of urine, behavioural features and attitude of women.

Quetiapine Fumarate Loaded Nanostructured Lipid Carrier for Enhancing Oral Bioavailability: Design, Development and Pharmacokinetic Assessment.

AIMS: The study aimed at developing and characterizing Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLC) of Quetiapine Fumarate (QF) by Design of Experiment (DoE) for the enhancement of bioavailability. BACKGROUND: QF, an anti-psychotic drug, has an oral bioavailability of 9% due to hepatic first- pass metabolism necessitating the use of high doses. Its side effects are dose -related and enhancement in bioavailability would result in minimization of side effects. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was the enhancement of bioavailability of the NLC of QF by preferential lymphatic uptake. METHODS: Hot emulsification-ultrasonication was the method of formulation using PrecirolATO5 and Oleic acid as solid and liquid lipids respectively. Poloxamer188 and Phospholipon90G were used as surfactant and stabilizer respectively. Solid:liquid lipid ratio and Phospholipon90G amount were independent variables and percent Entrapment Efficiency (%EE), Particle Size (PS) dependent variables during optimization by Central Composite Design. RESULTS: The optimized formulation showed a %EE of 77.21%, PS of 140.2 nm and surface charge of - 19.9mV. Higuchi kinetic model was followed during the in-vitro release. TEM revealed spherical, smooth nanoparticles. A pharmacokinetic study in rats showed AUC0-∞ of QF-NLC to be 3.93 times that of QF in suspension, suggesting significant enhancement in bioavailability. An increase in AUC0-∞ in cycloheximide untreated rats' group of QF-NLC by 2.43 times as compared to cycloheximide treated group, confirmed lymphatic absorption of QF- NLC. CONCLUSION: The results validated DoE as an appropriate tool for developing QF loaded NLC and proved NLC to be a promising delivery system for the enhancement of oral bioavailability of QF.

HIV / AIDS control in Kerala: some reflections.

PIP: Worldwide, it has been shown that the spread of HIV/AIDS is influenced by sociopolitical factors. It is not clear, however, how such factors have influenced the spread in Kerala. Any health program developed and implemented without attention to key sociopolitical factors will likely fail to deliver the desired results. That has happened in Kerala where the state health department, through its state AIDS cell, has implemented the same National AIDS Control Organization program in many different sites without making allowance for the varying ethnic differences in the state. The issue of relative sensitivity, irrelevant data interpretation, high risk group versus high risk factor, nonexistent political will, neglect of nongovernmental organization experience, and the need for a policy revision are discussed.^ieng