Monitoring early-season agricultural drought using temporal Sentinel-1 SAR-based combined drought index.

Early-season agricultural drought is frequent over South Asian region due to delayed or deficient monsoon rainfall. These drought events often cause delay in sowing and can even result in crop failure. The present study focuses on monitoring early-season agricultural drought in a semi-arid region of India over 5-year period (2016-2020).

Nekam's disease.

Keratosis lichenoides chronica also known as Nekam's disease is a rare mucocutaneous disorder, characterized clinically by asymptomatic violaceous keratotic papules arranged in linear, reticular, or plaque form usually on the trunk and extremities and histologically by interface dermatitis. The disease is considered rare with only 128 cases being reported in the literature till date and very few from India. We report a case of a 40-year-old man who presented with constellation of features of lichen planus, seborrheic dermatitis, and apthous ulcers, which upon workup was found to be Nekam's disease.

Initial default among diagnosed sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Background: Under the Indian Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients not confirmed as starting treatment are reported as 'initial defaulters'.

Setting: Twenty districts of Andhra Pradesh State, India.

Objective: To evaluate reasons for treatment non-initiation in smear-positive PTB patients diagnosed and reported as initial defaulters by the NTP.