Endoscopic Versus Open Radial Artery Harvesting Used in Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting, Our Experience at Queen Alia Heart Institute Endoscopic versus open radial artery harvesting used in coronary artery

Coronary artery stenosis bypass by using radial artery is good techniques which have longer outcomes. In coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) the radial artery has several advantages. The radial artery has a thick muscular wall which is more susceptibleto contraction from the competitive flow. As compared to the open harvesting technique endoscopic harvest of the radial artery has long lasting cosmetic results it also reduces the post-operative complications. The purpose of the study is to compare the two harvesting techniques and compare the short term and long term results related to intra-operative and post-operative outcomes Methods: This is retrospective study (In Queen Alia Heart Institute, Amman, Jordan) to compare endoscopic radial artery technique versus open technique by reviewing patients files through a period between June 2013 and June 2018. Total 50 patients of CABG surgery was selected they were divided into two groups. Group A includes endoscopic radial harvest (n= 10) and Group B includes open harvest (n=40). Data was collected on predesigned Performa. Data were entered and analyze through IBM SPSS 22.0 Results: There was insignificant dissimilarity between the pre-operative outcomes between groups. The Post-operative outcomes were almost same in both groups except hand numbness (P-value<0.005). The comparison of intraoperative outcomes like harvest time between both groups indicate that the mean harvest time in group A was shorter than group B (39.20 + 3.73 Vs 51.90 + 2.09, P-value=0.000). The operative time in group A was higher than the group B (306.0 + 11.6 Vs 278 + 4.25 p-value=0.00). The hospital stays in both groups were insignificantly different (p = 0.09) Conclusions: Endoscopic radial artery harvest is best suited technique for CABG surgery as it significantly decreases the harvest time as well as hospital stay. It is also proven that it is safer, less painful and better wound appearance technique with exceptional outcomes based on positive surgical experience.

Weed Population Dynamics and Wheat Productivity under Different Tillage Systems in Pothwar

Agriculture of Pothwar region is mainly rainfed and the small farmers of this area do not get sustainable income from the farmland due to inconsistent and erratic rainfall. Thereore, a two-year field study was carried out at University Research Farm of Pir Mehr Ali Shah-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi located at Mandra-Chakwal Road in district Rawalpindi of Pakistan, to investigate the effect of different tillage practices and sowing years on weed seed bank dynamics and above ground weed flora in rainfed wheat. This study was also aimed at to find out the most efficient tillage practice that conserves the soil moisture for longer period and is economically acceptable to the farming community of Pothwar Region. At the same time it was expected that this investigation would help us to meet the challenges of rainfed wheat of Pothwar Region. Moreover, the information collected based upon this study especially weed flora and soil weed seed bank could be utilized for planning better weed management strategies in rainfed crops in future. Different tillage combinations were included on: T1 = Conventional Tillage (1MB Plowing + 8 Cultivations), T2 = No-till + *Glyphosate, T3 = 1MB Plowing + *Glyphosate, T4 = 1MB Plowing + 4 Cultivations, T5 = Disc Harrowing + *Glyphosate, T6 = Disc Harrowing + 4 Cultivations, T7 = Chiseling + *Glyphosate. Soil samples were collected before sowing to define the soil. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. The effects of treatments were recorded on weed population density, weed population frequency, weed ground coverage, weed dry biomass, weed relative density, weed relative frequency, weed relative ground coverage, weed relative dry weight, weed relative abundance, summed dominance ratio and 29 importance value index of weeds. The data on yield and yield components of wheat viz. number of fertile tillers (m-2) at maturity, spike length (cm), number of spikelet spike-1, number of kernels spike-1,1000-kernel weight, aerial biological yield (t ha-1) and grain yield (t ha-1) were collected at harvest. Soil samples were collected and analysed accordingly to record data for soil parameters like soil moisture content, soil bulk density, soil porosity, organic matter, soil available nitrogen, soil available phosphorus and soil extractable potassium to evaluate the soil properties at pre and post experimentation. Data were analyzed by using MSTAT-C software on computer and treatment means were compared with least significance difference test (LSD) at 5% level of probability. The input and output data was collected for economic evaluation (partial budget, dominance analysis and marginal rate of return analysis) to identify the most affordable tillage combination. Results illustrated that the weed seed density was found maximum (29476) in zero tillage system. The study also revealed that there were small differences of weed seed density under different tillage systems, but the minimum number of seeds was found in reduced tillage systems i. e. T1 (21419) and T4 (22513). The vertical distribution of weed seeds indicated that the highest number of weed seeds (54.99 %) was observed at upper soil layer 0-10 cm, while the least (16.33 %) in lower soil layer 21-30 cm as compared to middle layer 11-20 cm having (28.54 %) seeds. Overall the higher seed density (28032) was observed at post-harvesting of wheat as compared to pre-sowing of wheat (21828) in all the tillage systems during both years of experimentation which could be the result of poor weed control during crop growth and development period. Chenopodium album, Asphodelus tenuifolius and Fumaria indica were considered as the dominant weed 30 community followed by Euphorbia helioscopia, Convolvulus arvensis and Melilotus indica in the overall soil weed seed bank. The weed flora population density, frequency, dry weight and ground coverage were found maximum under T6, T7, T5 and T4 treatments; whereas, these parameters were minimum under T1 which reflects the system’s controlling effect on weed flora and thus resulted in the higher yield. Soil properties were improved in reduced tillage systems i. e. T4 and T6 (conservation tillage systems), but the crop germination and establishment was best under conventional tillage and T3 (according to cluster analysis). The reason of low seedling emergence under conservation tillage systems was probably due to inadequate availability of soil moisture and nutrients well in time. The highest yield (3.5132), (3.1242) t ha-1 and net benefit (888.92), (839.35) $ ha-1 were obtained in case of conventional tillage (T1) followed by reduced tillage (T4) according to partial budget analysis. So, on the base of above mentioned facts further experimentation is recommended on integrated weed management under conservation tillage systems for controlling soil weed seed bank and above ground weed flora for obtaining higher yields, but conventional tillage is still recommended for obtaining higher net benefit. The management of weed flora through integrated weed management under conservation systems may decrease the weed crop competition and improve the moisture and nutrients availability to crop that may increase the crop yield.