SUNLIGHT-INDUCED decontamination of water from emerging pharmaceutical pollutants using ZnO nanoparticles.

A new class of environmental pollutants that have become a significant concern for the entire world's population over the last few decades are pharmaceutical contaminants due to the potential risks they pose to the environment and human health. An investigation on the photocatalytic degradation of four different model pharmaceutical contaminants: Tetracycline (TCT), Sulfamethoxazole (SMX), Chloroquine (CLQ), and Diclofenac (DCF) has been carried out using ZnO nanoparticles as the photocatalyst, and sunlight as the source of energy in a batch photocatalytic reactor. This process resulted in the degradation of about 51% for TCT, 65% for SMX, 61% for CLQ, and 55% for DCF within 30 min of solar irradiation.

Land use change in rapidly developing economies-a case study on land use intensification and land fallowing in Kochi, Kerala, India.

The land use/land cover change is a local driver of environmental change having cascading impacts and implications at the global level, and therefore requires appreciable consideration when perceived from sustainability perspectives. Kerala, the southernmost state of India, has undergone a dramatic transition from a traditional agrarian economy to a modern thriving economy involving the irrational exploitation of natural resources, precisely, land and its components. The present study addresses how land is being changed along an urbanization gradient in the most agglomerative city in the state, Kochi, during the last one and half decades.

Solar Photocatalysis for the Decontamination Of Water from Emerging Pharmaceutical Pollutant Chloroquine Using Nano ZnO as the Catalyst.

Photo-driven advanced oxidation process (AOP) with pharmaceutical wastewater has been poorly investigated so far. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the photocatalytic degradation of emerging pharmaceutical contaminant chloroquine (CLQ) in water using zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles as the catalyst and solar light (SL) as the source of energy. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDAX), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

Assessing burden and its determinants in caregivers of chronic kidney disease patients undergoing haemodialysis.

Background: Caregivers face a lot of adversities while supporting their near ones undergoing haemodialysis, and their burden is often ignored by health professionals. The paucity of research in the Indian context has kept their needs out of sight.

Aim: To explore the level of burden in the caregivers of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) undergoing haemodialysis and to assess whether patient related variable affects the burden.

Mental health professionals as 'silent frontline healthcare workers': perspectives from three South Asian countries.

Mental health professionals across the globe foresaw the mental health impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. They have faced scarcity of trained professionals, rising morbidities, lack of protective gear, shortage of psychotropic drugs, and poor rapport building due to masking and social distancing. Amidst all, they have responded with approaches that focus on continuing mental health services to the patients already in care, education of the vulnerable people to help them cope with these stressors, and provide counselling services to patients and families affected by the pandemic.

Assessment of water quality in a tropical ramsar wetland of southern India in the wake of COVID-19.

The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus influenced the world severely in the first half of 2020 caused shut down of all kind of human activities. It is reported that a word-wide ecological improvement in terms of air quality and water quality during this lock down period. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the progression in water quality through examining suspended particulate matter using remote sensing data in a tropical Ramsar site viz, Asthamudi Lake in Southern India.

Cognitive Impairment and its Correlates in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Undergoing Haemodialysis.

Background: Cognitive Impairment (CI) has been found to be quite common amongst patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) undergoing haemodialysis (HD). The presence of these deficits could affect patient's adherence to diet regimens, treatment and also reduce their Quality of Life. The presence of depression in such patients can further lead to CI.

[Dyke Davidoff Masson Syndrome Presenting with Intellectual Disability with Behavioral Problems and Substance Use Disorder: A Case Report].

Dyke Davidoff Masson Syndrome (DDMS) is a rare condition with varied presentation. Characteristic features are cerebral hemiatrophy, enlargement of ipsilateral ventricle, enlargement of ipsilateral air sinuses and clinical finding of contralateral hemiparesis or hemiplegia and seizures. DDMS may have comorbid intellectual disability or speech disorder but presentation with psychiatric disorders is rare.

Habitat monitoring and conservation prioritisation of protected areas in Western Ghats, Kerala, India.

Spatially explicit approach is essential to prioritise the ecosystems for biodiversity conservation. In the present study, the conservation status of 20 protected areas of the Western Ghats of Kerala, India, was analysed based on long-term changes in forests (1975-1985-1995-2005-2013), landscape level changes in fragmentation and forest fires (2005-2015). This study has shown that a significant forest loss occurred in protected areas before declaration.

Advancing reference emission levels in subnational and national REDD+ initiatives: a CLASlite approach.

Conservation and monitoring of tropical forests requires accurate information on their extent and change dynamics. Cloud cover, sensor errors and technical barriers associated with satellite remote sensing data continue to prevent many national and sub-national REDD+ initiatives from developing their reference deforestation and forest degradation emission levels. Here we present a framework for large-scale historical forest cover change analysis using free multispectral satellite imagery in an extremely cloudy tropical forest region.

Consistent response of vegetation dynamics to recent climate change in tropical mountain regions.

Global climate change has emerged as a major driver of ecosystem change. Here, we present evidence for globally consistent responses in vegetation dynamics to recent climate change in the world's mountain ecosystems located in the pan-tropical belt (30°N-30°S). We analyzed decadal-scale trends and seasonal cycles of vegetation greenness using monthly time series of satellite greenness (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and climate data for the period 1982-2006 for 47 mountain protected areas in five biodiversity hotspots.

Monitoring conservation effectiveness in a global biodiversity hotspot: the contribution of land cover change assessment.

Tropical forests, which play critical roles in global biogeochemical cycles, radiation budgets and biodiversity, have undergone rapid changes in land cover in the last few decades. This study examines the complex process of land cover change in the biodiversity hotspot of Western Ghats, India, specifically investigating the effects of conservation measures within the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Current vegetation patterns were mapped using an IRS P6 LISS III image and this was used together with Landsat MSS data from 1973 to map land cover transitions.

Changes in structural attributes of plant communities along disturbance gradients in a dry deciduous forest of Western Ghats, India.

Changes in tree and understory plant diversity and community composition in two sites at different disturbance levels were studied on the Anaikatty hills, Western Ghats. Systematic sampling using small scale permanent quadrates (50 x 20 m for trees, 5 x 5 m for shrubs/saplings, 1 x 1 m for herbs/seedlings) enumerated 3,376 individuals of trees (106 species), 8,599 of individuals shrubs (122 species) and 16,659 individuals of herbs (145 species). Among the two sites, species richness and diversity were highest for low disturbed stand (98 and 3.