Feature Article

The City of Delhi, with a human population of over 16 million has nearly 9 million vehicles on its roads running over 100 billion kilometers every year, spewing out nearly 4 million tonnes of fuel emissions into the atmosphere every year (9900 tonnes per day). About 2 to 5% of these emissions (about 200 to 500 tonnes per day) are in the form of highly toxic gases and particulate matter hazardous to human health and well being.

Agriculture has undergone profound changes, and farmers face a wide variety of stressors. Our aim was to study the levels of anxiety and depression symptoms among Norwegian farmers compared with other occupational groups. Working participants in the HUNT3 Survey (The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, 2006–2008), aged 19–66.9 years, were included in this cross-sectional study. We compared farmers (women, n = 317; men, n = 1,100) with HUNT3 participants working in other occupational groups (women, n = 13,429; men, n = 10,026), classified according to socioeconomic status.

Root and tuber crops play significant role in the food security of the local people. Especially, in South and Southwestern parts of Ethiopia, there is a long history of cultivation and use of the crops. Exploration and collection of root and tuber crops were undertaken in East Wollega and Ilu Ababora zones. A total of 76 root and tuber crops germplasm were collected in the present study.

Original Source

Indigenous Tribal Agricultural Practices (ITAPs) have facilitated intensive farming for a long period of time without significant deterioration of land or decline in crop production. The tribes of the Kolli hills of Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu possessed rich tradition, heritage and experience in agriculture. Their rich wisdom in ITAPs can effectively be utilized for sustainable agricultural development of tribal areas by appropriately blending the ITAPs with recommended production technological package.

Thallium (Tl) is a highly toxic heavy metal widely present in the environment. Case reports have suggested that maternal exposure to high levels of Tl during pregnancy is associated with low birth weight (LBW), but epidemiological data are limited. This study was designed to evaluate whether prenatal Tl exposure is associated with an increased risk of LBW.

Original Source

Long-term exposure to fine particles (particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm; PM2.5) has been consistently linked to heart and lung disease. Recently, there has been increased interest in examining the effects of air pollution on the nervous system, with evidence showing potentially harmful effects on neurodegeneration.

The researchers objective was to assess the potential impact of long-term PM2.5 exposure on event time, defined as time to first admission for dementia, Alzheimer’s (AD), or Parkinson’s (PD) diseases in an elderly population across the northeastern United States.

More than half the European passenger fleet is diesel-powered. Although the European Union has been progressively tightening vehicle emissions for decades, new diesel cars still produce on-road nitrogen oxide emissions that far exceed the current standard. Efforts to reduce diesel emissions would likely make the cars more costly, but experts say it can—and should—be done.

Original Source

Open defecation is practised by over 600 million people in India and there is a strong political drive to eliminate this through the provision of on-site sanitation in rural areas. However, there are concerns that the subsequent leaching of excreta from subsurface storage could be adversely impacting underlying groundwater resources upon which rural populations are almost completely dependent for domestic water supply. We investigated this link in four villages undergoing sanitary interventions in Bihar State, India.

An increase in the consumption of smokeless tobacco has been noticed among high school, college students, and adults. Despite the antiquity and popularity of chewing tobacco in India, its effects have not been investigated systematically in humans. The aim of this study was to investigate acute effects of gutkha chewing on heart rate variability (HRV) among healthy young adults.

Original Source

In remote areas, an absence of doctors and nurses leads to poor health outcomes for local populations. To increase access to health-care workers, the World Health Organization recommends interventions in four areas – education, regulatory, financial and professional/personal. To support retention, WHO and other organizations have called for bundled programmes that take into account health workers’ expectations. Retention programmes that enhance workers’ competence, responsiveness and productivity have also been recommended.