Impact of Climate Change on the Production of Major Food and Commercial Crops in India: A Five Decadal Study

Climate change is posing a great threat to agriculture and food security, especially in the agriculture oriented and developing countries like India. The present study was carried out to critically study the impact of climate change on productivity of major cereal and commercial crops by statistically analyzing the time series data. The analysis inferred that crop production of both food and commercial crops in India has increased since 1960-61. It was observed that major food crops (rice & wheat) were adversely affected by increase in maximum temperature and decrease in rainfall. The alternative measures such as area under cultivation, irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide consumption were observed to be nullifying that negative impact of climate change by enhancing the overall production. However, the commercial crops were observed to be positively affected by the increasing temperature. The study suggested that although the agriculture sector is able to withstand the adverse impact of climate change till now, but in near future this situation can become reversed. This necessitates the implementation of appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures to deal with the problems of climate change and to ensure the food security and food safety along in long run.

Point of sale tobacco advertisements in India.

BACKGROUND: The effect of any legislation depends on its implementation. Limited studies indicate that tobacco companies may tend to use such provision for surrogate advertising. The point of sale advertisement provision has been placed in the Indian Tobacco Control legislation. The study was undertaken to assess the Indian scenario in this regard. OBJECTIVE: To assess if there are any violations related to provision of point of tobacco sale advertisements under India's comprehensive tobacco Control legislation in different parts of India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Boards over various shops showing advertisements of tobacco products were observed in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Trivandrum and Jaipur, between September 2005 and March 2006. RESULTS: The point of sale advertisements mushroomed after the implementation of 2004 tobacco control legislation. Tobacco advertisement boards fully satisfying the point of sale provision were practically non-existent. The most common violation of point of sale advertisements was the larger size of the board but with tobacco advertisement equal to the size indicated in the legislation and remaining area often showing a picture. Invariably two boards were placed together to provide the impression of a large single repetitive advertisement. More than two boards was not common. Tobacco advertisement boards were also observed on closed shops/ warehouses, shops not selling tobacco products and on several adjacent shops. CONCLUSION: The purpose of the point of sale advertisements seems to be surrogate advertisement of tobacco products, mainly cigarettes.

Ileo-ileo-colic intussusception secondary to an ileal lipoma.

Adult intussusception is extremely uncommon and constitutes approximately 5-16% of all intussusceptions. We describe a case of ileo-ileo-colic intussusception secondary to an ileal lipoma occurring in a 22 year old man who in addition had autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. CT scan played a pivotal role in not only demonstrating the cause of intestinal obstruction (intussusception) but also showed that a lipoma was the lead point precipitating the intussusception.

Lipoma: a rare tumour of nasopharynx.

Lipoma of nasopharynx is a rare tumour. A lipoma situated at the junction of roof and posterior wall of nasopharynx is reported. Only four cases of lipoma of nasopharynx in adults have been previously reported. Use of cytology in making a pre-operative diagnosis of lipoma at this location is discussed.

Multiple choledochal cysts with stones (a case report with review of literature).

This is a case report of a 35 year old female with multiple choledochal cysts diagnosed on ERCP and treated by hepaticojejunostomy Roux-Y.

Effect of denervation on loss of ions in chick skeletal muscle.

Leaching behaviour of chick gastrocnemius muscle has been studied with respect to the loss of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ ions in a donor-solvent (muscle-water) system under normal as well as denervated conditions. An attempt has been made to explain the alterations in the rate of electrolytic loss in terms of membrane dysfunctions induced as a result of loss of neural control.

Changes in leaching properties of chick skeletal muscles on denervation.

The leaching of electrolytes in normal and denervated chick gastrocnemius muscle has been studied by recording electroconductivity changes in donor-solvent (muscle-water) system at 11 intervals leading to a total immersion of 5 hr 15 min, at days 1,5,10,21 and 28, post-hatching. The results show age related changes in the permeability properties of normal muscle membrane system. The loss of neural control induces a blocking of electrolytes 10 days post-denervation. The possible nature of blocking mechanism has been related to the non-availability of neuro-trophic factors in the tissue.