Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the major causes of cardiovascular diseases in developing countries. CHD among neonates and young children is responsible for the largest proportion of mortality (30–50%) caused by birth defects . Though there is a significantly reducing trend observed in both overall and infant mortality resulting from CHD in developed countries like USA and Europe, CHD contributes 14% among 10.3 million total deaths in India, with 1931 disability adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000.

The origin of cities can be traced back to the river valley civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley and China. Initially these settlements were largely dependent upon agriculture; however, with the growth in population the city size increased and economic activity transformed to trading . The process of urbanization gained impetus with the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago and accelerated in the 1990s with globalization and consequent relaxation in market economy. (Guest Editorial)

Vertical farming can be considered as an extension of indoor farming that evolved in the 1700s with the advent of greenhouses, with the primary objective of harnessing the off-season crop cultivation potential during unfavourable seasons. Vertical farming facilitates year-round cultivation in multi-storied structures using artificial illumination.

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Active forest fire monitoring using satellite data has been carried out from 2006 as part of the Disaster Management Support Programme of ISRO. The activity provides timely information on fires to State Forest Departments across India for forest fire control and management activities.

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The South American tomato moth Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is a devastating pest of tomato. In the present study Tuta-adapted strains of Trichogramma were evaluated. Amongst the three species, Trichogramma achaeae Nagaraja and Nagarkatti, Trichogramma pretiosum Riley and Trichogrammatoidea bactrae Nagaraja could parasitise T. absoluta eggs and the parasitism rates were 5.0%, 51.1% and 68.2% respectively. Adults emerged from the parasitized T. absoluta eggs (4.8%, 97.5% and 90.0% adult emergence respectively). The F1 generation adults of T.

The catalytic conversion of waste cooking oil (WCO) with high acid value (120.37 mg KOH/g) to biodiesel has been studied in low-cost SO3H-functionalized quaternary ammonium ionic liquid as catalyst. The ionic liquid (IL) catalyst was efficient in catalysing the simultaneous esterification and transesterification reactions of WCO and methanol.

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The present study demonstrates the removal of three toxic heavy metals (lead, cadmium and nickel) by the bacterial strain Arthrobacter phenanthrenivorans from polluted water. The removal efficiency of heavy metals was recorded to be highest in case of lead (79.91%), followed by nickel (47.62%) and cadmium (34.05%). Furthermore, surfactant production by A. phenanthrenivorans was optimized, which is useful for different purposes like metal and oil removal from water.

With changing agricultural business environment, the conventional direct marketing method is becoming a less feasible option for small and marginal farmers due to emergence of supermarkets, increasing consumers’ preference for value-added food products, high production and marketing cost associated with small scale of operations and increasing consumers’ emphasis on quality, safety and appearance of the product. Hence farmers must enter into a value chain in order to adapt to the changing business environment.

This communication examines nutritional status and its impact on infant mortality rate (IMR) in Saiha district, Mizoram, India. We conducted a case study of 17 villages and 1650 mothers were surveyed, using random sampling method. The district has very high IMR (219.6), significantly higher than Mizoram (35). Meanwhile, per day per capita calorie intake is 1703, which is less than the recommended dietary intake (2400 kcal). All food items which people consume daily were collected and nutritional status was assessed.

The Indian summer monsoon rainfall had a threedecade long alternate dry and wet epochs during about 150 years from 1840 to 1989. The dry epochs resulted in frequent drought monsoons affecting agriculture, power generation and the overall economy of the country. A high percentage of severe cyclones in the Bay of Bengal moved northwards during the dry epochs causing disasters in Bangladesh, Myanmar and the Indian States of Odisha and West Bengal.

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