Neurocysticercosis in patients with active epilepsy in the tea garden community of Assam, Northeast India

Neurocysticercosis is a significant cause of epilepsy in the tropics. The present cross-sectional survey was conducted in the socioeconomically backward tea garden community of Assam to gauge the prevalence of neurocysticercosis in patients with active epilepsy and to determine the associated risk factors. In a door to door survey, a total of 1028 individuals from every fifth household of the study Teagarden were enrolled to identify self-reported seizure cases, followed by a neurological examination to confirm the diagnosis of active epilepsy. Patients with active epilepsy underwent clinical, epidemiological, neuroimaging (contrast-enhanced computerized tomography) and immunological evaluations to establish the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis. Clinically confirmed 53 (5.16%) active epilepsy were identified; 45 agreed to further assessment for neurocysticercosis and 19 (42.2%) cases fulfilled either definitive or probable diagnostic criteria for neurocysticercosis. Patients with epilepsy due to neurocysticercosis were more likely to suffer from taeniasis (20.0% vs 0.0%), rear pigs (57.9% vs 15.4%) or have pigs in their neighbourhood (78.9% vs 53.8%) relative to epileptic patients without neurocysticercosis. Rearing pigs (aOR 14.35, 95% CI: 3.98–51.75) or having pigs in the neighbourhood (aOR 12.34, 95% CI: 2.53–60.31) were independent risk factors of neurocysticercosis. In this community, the prevalence of taeniasis (adult worm infection) was 6.6% based on microscopy. The study reports a high prevalence of active epilepsy in the tea garden community of Assam and neurocysticercosis as its primary cause. The high prevalence of taeniasis is also a significant concern.

MORBIDITY PATTERN OF GERIATRIC POPULATION AMONG TEA GARDEN COMMUNITY OF DIBRUGARH DISTRICT, ASSAM

Aging is a complex and inevitable process that begins prior to birth and continues throughout the life. As the age increases the burden of their health morbidity is on a rise. This paper attempts to assess the morbidity pattern and study the healthseeking behavior of geriatric population among tea garden community of Dibrugarh district, Assam. A cross-sectional, community based study was conducted among tea garden community of Dibrugarh district, Assam. A total of 130 geriatric people aged 60 years and above were selected from Maijan Tea Estate of Dibrugarh district, Assam by using simple random sampling. Data analysis was done by using Excel, IBM SPSS 20

Limits to growth? Why gardening has limited success growing inclusive communities

Community has been presented as central to urban gardens’ practices and outcomes. This chapter considers what kind of communities result and whether they can tackle inequality, questioning their potential as an inclusive basis for challenging injustice. Answering these questions requires attention to activities forming garden communities and their spatiality. Informed by relational geography, the chapter challenges simplistic treatments of links between garden, community and place. Case studies from the UK demonstrate how facets enabling gardens to form communities result in exclusivity, unintentionally limiting who can access their benefits. Communities formed through collective place-making are found to struggle to extend across space and time, limiting their potential to reduce social inequalities. Achieving wider change requires work to push spatial relations across time to imagine a better future, and across space towards neighbours, social justice movements and structural causes of injustice.

An overview of recent progress in the implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation - a global perspective

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) with its 16 outcome-orientated targets aimed at achieving a series of measurable goals was adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at its sixth meeting (COP-6) in 2002. In 2010, at COP-10, these targets were updated, taking into account progress at the time. To date, a number of countries have developed national responses to contribute to the GSPC, including several mega-diverse countries and other plant rich countries and regions. Additionally, a number of global initiatives have been established to promote the implementation of the GSPC. This paper provides an overview of progress at the global level towards the GSPC targets, highlighting actions that have taken place at a supra-national level, as well as providing examples of good practice in national implementation. The GSPC has been widely adopted, particularly by the botanic garden community, and while unlikely to achieve its ultimate goal of halting the loss of plant diversity by 2020, has achieved many successes, not least in allowing and facilitating many individuals and organisations from the botanical community to engage with the CBD and to contribute to the achievement of its objectives, targets and priorities.