Browsing by Author "Abhishek Chauhan"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Assessment of Heavy Metal Distribution and Health Risk of Vegetable Crops Grown on Soils Amended with Municipal Solid Waste Compost for Sustainable Urban Agriculture
(MDPI, 2023) Pallavi Bhardwaj; Rajesh Kumar Sharma; Abhishek Chauhan; Anuj Ranjan; Vishnu D. Rajput; Tatiana Minkina; Saglara S. Mandzhieva; Usha Mina; Shikha Wadhwa; Prakash Bobde; Ashutosh Tripathi
Rapid urbanization is one of the key factors that leads to defragmentation and the shrinking of agricultural land. It further leads to the generation of an ample amount of municipal waste. Several technologies have emerged in the past for its utilization, and in this regard, composting is one of the conventional approaches gaining popularity in modern agriculture. To overcome the possible criticality of intense urbanization, the concept of urban agriculture is taking shape. Municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) has been popularly explored for the soil amendments and nutritional requirements of crops. With this, the assessment of soil pollution (due to the heavy metals presently found in MSWC) is a required step for its safe application in agriculture. The present study aims at assessing the utilization of MSWC (in different ratios) to amend the soil and its impact on the growth and yield of brinjal (Solanum melongena), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus). The study also explored the uptake of heavy metals by plants and their risk to human consumption. The findings suggested that MSWC amendments upgraded the physio-chemical properties of soil, including organic matter (OM) and micronutrients, and increased the heavy metal concentrations in soil. Heavy metal analysis underlined the presence of several heavy metals both in soil and crops. Total metal concentration in soil increased with increased MSWC dosage. Concerning metal uptake by crop plants, 25% of MSWC was found to impart metal concentrations within permissible values in edible parts of crops. On the contrary, 50%, 75%, and 100% compost showed higher metal concentrations in the crops. A Health Risk Index (HRI) of less than 1 was found to be associated with soil amended with 25% MSWC. Our study implies that MSWC significantly improved the growth and yield of crops, and it can be considered an alternative to chemical fertilizer but only in a safer ratio (≤25%). However, further studies are required, especially on field conditions to validate the findings regarding metal accumulation. © 2023 by the authors.
Chest radiograph findings in children aged 2-59 months hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia, prior to the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in India: a prospective multisite observational study
(NLM (Medline), 2020) Shally Awasthi; Tuhina Rastogi; Neha Mishra; Abhishek Chauhan; Namita Mohindra; Ram Chandra Shukla; Monika Agarwal; Chandra Mani Pandey; Neera Kohli; Cap Study Group
OBJECTIVES: The current study was a hospital-based surveillance of cases hospitalised with WHO-defined community-acquired pneumonia in children aged 2-59 months, to assess the radiological abnormalities in chest X-rays and to identify the demographic and clinical correlates of specific radiological abnormalities, in residents of prespecified districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. DESIGN: Prospective, active, hospital-based surveillance. SETTING: Multisite study conducted in a network of 117 secondary/tertiary care hospitals in four districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. PARTICIPANTS: Included were children aged 2-59 months, hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia, residing in the project district, with duration of illness <14 days and who had not been hospitalised elsewhere for this episode nor had been recruited previously. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Concordant radiological abnormalities in the chest X-rays. RESULTS: From January 2015 to April 2017, 3214 cases were recruited and in 99.40% (3195/3214) chest X-rays were available, among which 88.54% (2829/3195) were interpretable. Relevant radiological abnormalities were found in 34.53% (977/2829, 95% CI 32.78 to 36.28). These were primary end point pneumonia alone or with other infiltrates in 22.44% (635/2829, 95% CI 20.90% to 23.98%) and other infiltrates in 12.09% (342/2829; 95% CI 10.88% to 13.29%). There was a statistically significant interdistrict variation in radiological abnormalities. Statistically significantly higher proportion of abnormal chest X-rays were found in girls, those with weight-for-age z-score ≤-3SD, longer duration of fever, pallor and with exposure to biomass fuel. CONCLUSIONS: Among hospitalised cases of community-acquired pneumonia, almost one-third children had abnormal chest radiographs, which were higher in females, malnourished children and those with longer illnesses; and an intra-district variation was observed. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.
Effectiveness of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on radiological primary end-point pneumonia among cases of severe community acquired pneumonia in children: A prospective multi-site hospital-based test-negative study in Northern India
(Public Library of Science, 2022) Shally Awasthi; Neera Kohli; Monika Agarwal; Chandra Mani Pandey; Tuhina Rastogi; Anuj Kumar Pandey; Chittaranjan Roy; Kripanath Mishra; Neelam Verma; Chandra Bhushan Kumar; Pankaj Kumar Jain; Rajesh Yadav; Puneet Dhasmana; Abhishek Chauhan; Namita Mohindra; Ram Chandra Shukla
Introduction Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of under-five mortality in India and Streptococcus pneumoniae is the main bacterial pathogen for it. Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine 13 (PCV13) has been introduced in a phased manner, in the national immunization program of India since 2017/2018. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of PCV13 on chest radiograph (CXR)-confirmed pneumonia, in children hospitalized with WHO-defined severe CAP. Methods This prospective, multi-site test-negative study was conducted in a hospital-network situated in three districts of Northern India where PCV13 had been introduced. Children aged 2–23 months, hospitalized with severe CAP and with interpretable CXR were included after parental consent. Clinical data was extracted from hospital records. CXRs were interpreted by a panel of three independent blinded trained radiologists. Exposure to PCV13 was defined as >2 doses of PCV13 in children aged < 12 months and > 1 dose(s) in children > 12 months of age. Our outcome measures were CXR finding of primary endpoint pneumonia with or without other infiltrates (PEP±OI); vaccine effectiveness (VE) and hospital mortality. Results From 1st June 2017-30th April 2021, among 2711 children included, 678 (25.0%) were exposed to PCV1. CXR positive for PEP±OI on CXR was found in 579 (21.4%), of which 103 (17.8%) were exposed to PCV. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for PEP±OI among the exposed group was 0.69 (95% CI, 0.54–0.89, p = 0.004). Adjusted VE was 31.0% (95% CI: 11.0–44.0) for PEP±OI. AOR for hospital mortality with PEP±OI was 2.65 (95% CI: 1.27–5.53, p = 0.01). Conclusion In severe CAP, children exposed to PCV13 had significantly reduced odds of having PEP ±OI. Since PEP±OI had increased odds of hospital mortality due to CAP, countrywide coverage with PCV13 is an essential priority. © 2022 Public Library of Science. All rights reserved.
Epidemiology of Hypoxic Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Children Under 5 Years of Age: An Observational Study in Northern India
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2022) Shally Awasthi; Tuhina Rastogi; Anuj Kumar Pandey; Chittaranjan Roy; Kripanath Mishra; Neelam Verma; Chandra Bhushan Kumar; Pankaj Kumar Jain; Rajesh Yadav; Abhishek Chauhan; Namita Mohindra; Ram Chandra Shukla; Monika Agarwal; Chandra Mani Pandey; Neera Kohli
Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the leading cause of under-five mortality in India. An increased risk of mortality has been reported in cases of hypoxic pneumonia. Methods: The primary objective of this study was to assess the proportion of children aged 2–59 months, hospitalized with hypoxic CAP, as well as socio-demographic, clinical, and radiological features associated with it. The secondary objective was to determine the risk of mortality among hospitalized cases of hypoxic CAP. This prospective, observational study was conducted in four districts of Northern India, between January 2015 and April 2021. A hospital-based surveillance network was established. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (a) child between 2 and 59 months, (b) hospitalization with symptoms of WHO-defined CAP, (c) resident of project district, (d) illness of <14 days, and (e) child had neither been hospitalized for this illness nor recruited previously. Children whose chest x-rays (CXRs) were either unavailable/un-interpretable and those that received any dose of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine-13 were excluded. Hypoxic pneumonia was defined as oxygen saturation <90% on pulse oximetry or requiring oxygen supplementation during hospital stay. Results: During the study period, 71.9% (7,196/10,006) children of severe pneumonia were eligible for inclusion, of whom 35.9% (2,580/7,196) were having hypoxic pneumonia. Female gender and use of biomass fuel for cooking increased the odds of hypoxic CAP. Clinical factors like wheezing, pallor, tachypnea, low pulse volume, presence of comorbidity, general danger signs, severe malnutrition, and radiological finding of primary end-point pneumonia ± other infiltrates (PEP±OI) also increased the odds of hypoxic CAP in a conditional logistic regression model. Adjusted odds ratio for mortality with hypoxia was 2.36 (95% CI: 1.42–3.92). Conclusion: Almost one-third of cases hospitalized with severe CAP had hypoxia, which increased chances of mortality. Besides known danger signs, certain newer clinical signs such as pallor and wheezing as well as PEP+OI were associated with hypoxic CAP. Therefore, objective assessment of oxygen saturation must be done by pulse oximetry in all cases of CAP at the time of diagnosis. Copyright © 2022 Awasthi, Rastogi, Pandey, Roy, Mishra, Verma, Kumar, Jain, Yadav, Chauhan, Mohindra, Shukla, Agarwal, Pandey and Kohli.