Environmental outcomes can be shaped by underlying politics. This study investigates whether pre-determined election timings affect these outcomes by combining electoral data with remote sensing data on crop burning, forest fires, slash-and-burn activity, and tree cover for 28 major states (covering approximately 3800 assembly constituencies) in India from 2008 to 2019. Analysing 71 elections during this period reveals evidence of the presence of electoral cycles in environmental outcomes, with non-election years experiencing higher levels of environmentally harmful activities compared to election years. These cycles are more pronounced when the incumbent’s party wins without a supermajority in state elections. The study further shows that specific factors, such as high-yield crop varieties, poverty levels, and Scheduled Tribe population proportions, also shape these environmental outcomes across the electoral cycle.

The Indo-Gangetic plains of India have been experiencing erratic weather and unpredictable rainfall patterns for the past 5 years, the average annual rainfall being 1200–1500 mm in the cropping season. Millets are generally grown in this region during the rainy season but environmental fluctuations result in heavy yield penalties in proso millet. Proso millet is one of the preferred crops of this region; however, it is very prone to yield loss due to flooding. Stability studies were conducted to investigate growing proso millet as a catch crop during summer (February–May) as it is a short-duration crop and can fit well in the existing cropping system. This study aims to determine the effect of genotype, environment and their interaction on grain yield and to identify more stable proso millet genotypes suitable for cultivation in the summer season. In total, 63 genotypes were evaluated for various agro-morphological traits for two summer and one kharif seasons. Stability analysis using a GGE biplot revealed that the proso millet performed better in the summer season than in the kharif season. This study has identified summer season as the most ideal environment for multilocation testing of wining genotypes RAU PM- 17, RAU PM-22, RAU PM-35, RAU PM-54, BR-7, TNAU-202 and TNAU-164 which has high stability for the summer season and can be used in breeding programmes as donor parents for traits like grain yield, 1000 grain weight, panicle length and number of productive tillers.

We present the mineralogy and whole rock geochemistry of the lamproites dykes from the Kawardha area of the Western Bastar Craton. These dykes are characterized by phenocrysts and microphenocrysts of olivine, phlogopite, ulvo-spinel, Cr-spinel and magnetite within the chlorite and carbonate-rich groundmass with rutile and apatite as accessory phases. Mineral chemistry indicates that the lamproites in Kawardha are similar to olivine-phlogopite lamproites and are geochemically similar to other lamproites in the eastern Bastar craton. The Kawardha lamproites are characterized by higher concentrations of MgO (12–20.29 wt%), V (193–502 ppm), Ni (206–823 ppm), Cr (146–1130 ppm), Nb (101–260 ppm), Zr (301–635 ppm), Hf (6–13 ppm) and LREEs. Positive Nb-Ta anomalies and Th, Hf and Zr variations are comparable to other intra-cratonic rift-related lamproites. The geochemical variations (such as REE, HFSE and LILE) are consistent with an asthenospheric mantle source similar to the other lamproites in Bastar craton. Trace element modelling implies a low-degree partial melting (0.1–2%) of phlogopite-bearing garnet-lherzolite and/or phlogopite-bearing spinel-lherzolite mantle source. The widespread Proterozoic rifting events in the Bastar craton likely led to the melting and upwelling of the asthenospheric mantle and which further interacted with the metasomatized lithospheric mantle to form the parental melts of the lamproite dykes of the Kawardha area.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as stress cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome, is named for echocardiographic features that look like the “tako-tsubo” (octopus trap). While classically associated with older women after experiencing significant emotional distress, it can also occur in paediatrics. Our patient is an 11-year-old male with a complex medical history who developed Takotsubo cardiomyopathy after cardiac arrest during anaesthesia induction. He was successfully resuscitated, but this case highlights an example of an unusual drug interaction and the first of its description in paediatrics.

How do local officials in China initiate and sustain policy experiments within a bureaucratic system that often obstructs innovation? This article examines local policy experimentation through the lens of bureaucratic power networks, identifying three key challenges: agenda-setting challenges related to superiors, coordination challenges involving peers and implementation challenges concerning subordinates. When formal power networks fail, entrepreneurial officials develop informal interpersonal networks, positioning themselves as “uninvited advisors” to superiors, “rhetorical allies” to peers and “supportive mentors” to subordinates. Using the case of “police–business cooperation” in Shanghai, the study reveals how the committee on comprehensive management of public security mobilized property management companies to maintain social stability. This article contributes to research on policy experimentation by situating experiments within bureaucratic power dynamics and highlighting the role of informal networks in overcoming institutional barriers. It also reveals the mechanisms by which the Party assigns social control tasks to commercial entities.

This Research Communication describes a pilot study to validate a rumination sensor for pre-weaned dairy calves. There is increasing interest in precision livestock farming (PLF) tools to capture behaviours and health parameters in farm animals. However, much of the research has focused on devices suitable for adult animals, and few devices have been validated for young animals. The aim of our pilot study was to validate the rumination estimates from Nedap rumination sensors® (NRS) when worn by dairy calves less than 2 months of age. Eight Norwegian Red dairy calves were raised in a cow-directed cow-calf-contact system such that cows could visit their calves through a smartgate. At 21 days of age, an NRS was secured around the neck of each calf, to record the amount of time spent ruminating/24 h. Cameras were placed above the calf areas to record the calves for the entirety of the study. When the calves were 28 and 58 d old, four trained observers recorded rumination behaviour 24 h/d from the video recordings. The video data and the NRS data recorded over 24 h on the same days were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the Spearman’s rank correlation and concordance correlation. NRS estimates were moderately correlated with calf rumination behaviour as measured from video observations but underestimated the duration of time spent ruminating by approximately 76%. Perhaps the calves’ rumination movements were too subtle for the NRS to detect, or the NRS needed a different placement on the calf’s small neck to record the behaviour accurately. Although automatic recordings from PLF tools may save observation time, our results indicate that the NRS may not yet accurately detect rumination behaviour in pre-weaned dairy calves.

Thoracotomy-assisted arterial duct stenting is a palliative option for patent ductus arteriosus-dependent systemic circulation, typically reserved for infants at high risk for open-heart surgery, such as those with genetic syndromes or very low birth weight. We report the first documented case of thoracotomy-assisted arterial duct stenting in a patient with Kleefstra syndrome, resulting in systemic stabilisation and long-term survival.