Background Although there has been significant improvement in maternal and newborn health, Nepal needs further acceleration in improving access to and coverage of services to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. In this context, we aimed to analyze availability and readiness for Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (BEmONC) services in Nepal using data from Nepal Health Facility Survey (NHFS), 2021. Methods We analyzed nationally representative NHFS, 2021 data to determine availability and readiness of HFs for BEmONC services based on the “Service Availability and Readiness” manual of World Health Organizations. We performed weighted descriptive and inferential analysis to account complex survey design of NHFS 2021. We summarized continuous variables with mean, standard deviation, median and interquartile range whereas categorical variables with percent and 95% confidence interval (CI). We applied simple, and multiple linear regression to determine factors associated with readiness of HFs for BEmONC services Results The proportion of facilities with all BEmONC signal function available was 2.49% at the national level with Madhesh having the highest (5.22%) while Gandaki having the lowest (1.22%) availability. BEmONC service availability was relatively lower in rural setting and peripheral facilities. The overall readiness score for BEmONC services is 54.14, with domains of guidelines/staff, equipment/supplies, and medicines/commodities having scores of 21.16, 76.76, and 64.50 respectively. In multivariable analysis, level of facilities, province, urban rural setting, ecological belt, presence of external supervision, 24-hour duty schedule and number of beds were found to have statistically significant association with BEmONC service readiness. Conclusion The readiness of HFs for BEmONC services in Nepal is relatively poor and can be improved by increasing service provision, expanding service hours to 24-hours a day, increasing availability of essential medicines and equipment, enhanced monitoring, and conducting periodic review of maternal and newborn deaths at HFs.

Agriculture contributes about one-third to the Gross Domestic Product and is the major source of employment in Nepal. Citrus fruits being cultivated in about 60 districts of the country contributes 22.37 % to total fruit production and share 3 % of total fruit export by volume. Considering the contribution of citrus fruits to food and nutritional security, and improved living standard of farmers, Government has implemented various programs to improve this sector. However, no studies were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs. This study was conducted to analyze the trend of production and trade of citrus fruits in Nepal useful to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented programs. Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope method were used for study these trends. The result showed the increasing trend of area, productive area, and production of citrus fruits under study i.e. Mandarins, Sweet orange and lime and their decreasing productivity during the study period from 1999/2000 to 2017/18. Furthermore, their import, both value and quantity showed significant and increased trend whereas the export was negligible and insignificant during the period from 2009 to 2018. This concludes that the increased production of citrus fruits is insufficient to meet the demand of the country and Nepal is losing a huge amount for import of these fruits.

In this modern era of chemicals, the haphazard use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and weedicide is becoming a great concern. Accumulation and magnification of those toxic materials in soil is degrading soil health and also affects the human health indirectly. Hence, Agriculture is concentrating more towards organic, sustainable and eco-friendly measures of production. Provision of healthy organic products is a great challenge for modern agriculturist (Farmers). Organic farming relies on judicious use of FYM, Compost, Vermicompost, Green manures and several other factors. Green manures are organic sources for amelioration of soil physical, chemical and biological properties. Furthermore, Green manure conserves the soil available nutrients and suppresses the losses incurred due to erosion, leaching etc. Not only that, Green manure inhibits the several disease, pests and weeds.

The efficacy of different management practices comprising cowpea/sorghum intercropping, microbial insecticide: Spinosad, neem-based botanical pesticide: neemix and synthetic insecticide: Chlorpyriphos 50 + Cypermethrin 5 were evaluated against pod borer and pod sucking bugs of cowpea. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized block design at Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Nepal. All the treatments except cowpea/sorghum intercropping significantly reduced the flower infestation of pod borer larvae. The lowest number of infected flower and number of larvae per flower was observed in Spinosad treated plot. Also, the highest percentage of reduction in flower infestation was observed in Spinosad treated plots. Similarly, Chlorpyriphos 50 + Cypermethrin 5 treated plots showed the least number of pod bug infestation followed by Spinosad. The highest yield and lowest weight of damaged pod was recorded in Spinosad treated plots along with the lowest percentage infestation of pods by weight. The highest net income per hectare of land was recorded in Spinosad followed by Chlorpyriphos 50 + Cypermethrin 5 treatment. The marginal benefit cost ratio showed that the highest profit per unit rupee spent over control was obtained in Chlorpyriphos 50 + Cypermethrin 5 treatment followed by Spinosad. Considering the results obtained, Spinosad an eco-friendly, safe and less hazardous bio-pesticide has been recommended as a good approach for the management of cowpea pod borer and pod sucking bug.

Introduction: Patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy have moderate post-operative pain in the early post-operative period. There are several modalities to manage pain in the postoperative period. Subcostal transversus abdominis plane block is one of the effective methods for pain management. The objective of our study was to compare the analgesic efficacy of subcostal transversus abdominis block versus local infiltration at the port site with bupivacaine in patients undergoing Laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia. Methodology: This is a prospective randomized study of 60 patients of age group 18 – 60 years of either gender, of ASA PS I and II scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia and were randomly divided into two groups. At the end of the surgery 20ml of 0.25% bupivacaine was administered with ultrasound guided subcostal transversus abdominis plane block bilaterally in group T and local infiltration at the port sites in group L. Visual analogue scale at 0, 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours at rest, time of rescue analgesia and opioids consumption were recorded. Results: Both the groups were comparable with each other to assess pain scores and analgesic requirements. Group T had less pain at rest (<0.001) on visual analogue scales and also less analgesic and opioids consumption compared to group L (<0.001), which were found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: Subcostal transversus abdominis plane block is beneficial, effective and reliable method in providing post-operative analgesia in patients after laparoscopic cholecystectomy compared to local infiltration at port sites.