Organophosphorus (OP), the commonest agent for poisoning in India due to its easy availability, acts by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase at muscarinic and nicotinic receptors. Erythrocyte cholinesterase (EchE) and plasma cholinesterase (PchE) are reduced in OP poisoning, but their estimation is costly and not regularly performed. There are emerging options for new cheaper biochemical markers in relation to OP poisoning. Serum level of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) is often found to be elevated in OP poisoning. This study was conducted to see if CPK may be used as an alternative of cholinesterase levels in blood to assess the severity of OP poisoning. This was a prospective and observational study. Sixty-three patients of OP poisoning without any prior treatment, presenting within 6 hours, were selected and their clinical severity was categorized according to Peradeniya organophosphorus poisoning (POP) scale. Level of serum CPK, blood EchE and pH were measured following admission, and total dose of atropine (mg) until the final clinical outcome (complete recovery or death) was calculated. Student's t-test and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used for the assessment of statistical significance. According to POP scale, clinical severity was mild (score 0–3) in 17 (27%), moderate (score 4–7) in 32 (50.8%) and severe (score 8–11) in 14 (22.2%) patients. Serum CPK, EchE level, blood pH and total atropine dose strongly correlated with clinical severity. Our study recommends serum CPK as an alternative marker.

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In the face of global uncertainties and a growing reliance on third‐party indices to obtain a snapshot of a country's operational risks, we explore the related questions: How accurately do third‐party indices capture a country's operational risk, and how does the operational risk of the country, in turn, affect the volume of its import and export supply chains? We examine these questions by empirically investigating 81 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) using archival data collected from UN agencies, independent think tanks, the WTO, and the Economist Intelligence Unit. We use seven third‐party indices to gauge a country's internal environment and map those indices to corresponding country‐specific operational risks to further understand the consequent effects of those operational risks on trading volume. Results provide strong evidence for the use of certain third‐party indices in assessing operational risk. In addition, operational risks are found to negatively affect the volume of import and export supply chains, albeit in varying degrees.

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SUMMARYThe area under hybrid maize cultivation is increasing rapidly across South Asia. However, information regarding the proper nutrient management for modern stay-green maize hybrids in India is not adequate resulting in low productivity. Existing nutrient management practices are not able to capture the momentum change in the scenario of soil nutrient supply capacity and plant nutrient demand for achieving higher yield target. The present study aims at establishing the site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) package for an inceptisol (West Bengal, India). Soil indigenous nutrient supply capacity and nutrient use efficiency was also evaluated by using the nutrient omission plot technique. The experiment was laid out in strip-plot design, assigning three maize hybrids (P 3522, P 3396 and Rajkumar) in the vertical strip and nine fertilizer treatments [50% RDF/Recommended dose of fertilizer, 75% RDF, 100% RDF (200-60-60 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha−1), 125% RDF, 150% RDF, 100% PK, 100% NK, 100% NP and control (zero-NPK)] in the horizontal strip, with three replications. Results of the experiment revealed that the differences among cultivars were generally non-significant. The maize hybrids showed greater yield response to fertilization with N (4.14 Mg ha−1) during winter, followed by K (2.54 Mg ha−1) and P (1.58 Mg ha−1). Indigenous nutrient supply was estimated 107.2, 37.6 and 107.7 kg ha−1 for N, P and K, respectively. Both average agronomic efficiency (AE) and recovery efficiency (RE) were increased with 50% RDF and it decreased with further increase in NPK levels up to 150% RDF. The average internal efficiency (IE) was higher with 50% RDF closely followed by the treatment with absence of N. As grain yields and gross return over fertilizer (GRF) under 75 to 150% NPK treatments were similar, nutrient doses of 150 kg N, 45 kg P2O5 and 45 kg K2O ha−1 were recommended as optimum for maize hybrids.