Background and Aims:Confirmation of correct endotracheal tube placement is essential immediately after intubation for general anaesthesia. In this study, we have compared upper airway ultrasonography (USG) with reference to capnography for rapid confirmation of endotracheal tube placement after general anaesthesia.Methods:A prospective, single centre, observational study was conducted on 100 patients requiring tracheal intubation for general anaesthesia. Both capnography and upper airway USG were performed immediately after intubation to confirm the endotracheal tube (ETT) placement. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of upper airway USG were determined against capnography as the reference method. Agreement between the methods and time required to determine ETT placement by the two methods were assessed with kappa statistics and Student's t-test.Results:Upper airway USG detected all five cases of oesophageal intubation, but could not detect five patients with correct tracheal intubation. Upper airway USG had a sensitivity of 96.84% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 94.25%–96.84%), specificity of 100% (95% CI: 50.6%–100%), positive predictive value of 100% (95% CI: 97.3%–100%) and negative predictive value of 62.5% (95% CI: 31.6%–62.5%). Kappa value was found to be 0.76, indicating a good agreement between upper airway USG and capnography for confirmation of ETT placement. Time taken for confirmation of ETT by capnography was 8.989 ± 1.043 s vs. 12.0 ± 1.318 s for upper airway USG (P < 0.001).Conclusion:Both capnography and upper airway USG may be used as primary procedures for the confirmation of ETT placement.

No abstract

during two consecutive kharif (rainy) seasons of 2018 and 2019. The experiment was laid in a randomized block design different weed control methods viz., pre emergence (PE) atrazine at 0.5 kg a.i. ha -1 fb hand weeding (HW) at 20 DAS, PE atrazine at 0.5 kg a.i. ha -1 fb power weeder (PW) at 20 DAS, PE atrazine at 0.5 kg a.i. ha -1 + pendimethalin at 1 kg a.i. ha -1 (Tank mix), PE atrazine at 0.5 kg a.i. ha -1 + pendimethalin at 1 kg a.i. ha -1 fb HW at 20 DAS, early post emergence (EPOE) topramezone at 25.2 g a.i. ha -1 , PE atrazine at 0.5 kg a.i. ha -1 fb EPOE topramezone at 25.2 g a.i. ha -1 , EPOE tembotrione at 122 g a.i. ha -1 , PE atrazine 0.5 kg a.i. ha -1 fb EPOE tembotrione 122 g a.i. ha -1 , hand weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS and control (weedy check) with 3 replications for each treatment. The results revealed that the experimental field was infested with all categories of weeds including grasses, broad-leaved weeds and sedges. Among them the most predominant weeds were Cynodon dactylon, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Echinochloa colona, Amaranthus viridis, Digera arvensis and Trianthema portulacastrum. Among the chemical weed control methods PE atrazine at 0.5 kg a.i. ha -1 fb EPOE topramezone at 25.2 g a.i. ha -1 and PE atrazine 0.5 kg a.i. ha -1 fb EPOE tembotrione 122 g a.i. ha -1 recorded significantly lower weed density as well as weed dry weight of BLW, grasses, sedges and total weed at 90 DAS during 2018 and 2019, respectively. As a consequence of effective weed control, the above treatments recorded significantly higher weed control efficiency (WCE) and lower weed index (WI) during 2018 and 2019, at 90 DAS. These treatments were statistically comparable with hand weeding twice at 20 and 45 DAS. Uncontrolled weed growth in control (weedy check) recorded higher weed density and weed dry matter in maize crop during both the years of experimentation.

An experiment was conducted to characterize 31 pearl millet genotypes with 28 morphological traits using DUS descriptors at the Department of Millets, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, during Kharif 2019. The landrace Kizikuppam local was found to have a very long leaf length and a medium leaf width, indicating a high leaf area index, an important physiological trait that could be employed in future breeding programmes. The genotypes PT 6067, PT 6707, PT 6710, Cumbu 1, Uthangarai local and Shoolagiri local had compact panicle, an important ordinal trait for yield improvement. Small, yellow-brown color and elliptical shaped seeds were noted in Kuttu Cumbu 1, Kuttu Cumbu 2, Kuttu Cumbu 3, and Pothu Cumbu, which could be used to promote the variation in the base population. The early flowering nature of these genotypes might incorporate drought resistance. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster (AHC) analysis showed PT 6582, Kizikuppam local, Uthangarai local, and Dhanashakti were placed under cluster VI with maximum cluster mean for single plant yield. Superior classification of these genotypes for plant growth habit, leaf sheath length, leaf blade length, leaf blade width, panicle exertion, panicle length, panicle girth, number of productive tillers, plant height, panicle density and thousand seed weight indicated the importance of these ordinal traits in yield improvement by using the genotypes of this cluster. The Shannon-Wiener index was high for the time of spike emergence, thousand seed weight, leaf blade length, panicle shape, panicle density and seed color.

No abstract