Recent hailstorm episodes and damaged to agricultural sectors.
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Barely three months into the new year and we are happy to announce a monumental milestone reached - 150 million downloads.
\n\nThis achievement solidifies IntechOpen’s place as a pioneer in Open Access publishing and the home to some of the most relevant scientific research available through Open Access.
\n\nWe are so proud to have worked with so many bright minds throughout the years who have helped us spread knowledge through the power of Open Access and we look forward to continuing to support some of the greatest thinkers of our day.
\n\nThank you for making IntechOpen your place of learning, sharing, and discovery, and here’s to 150 million more!
\n\n\n\n\n'}],latestNews:[{slug:"webinar-introduction-to-open-science-wednesday-18-may-1-pm-cest-20220518",title:"Webinar: Introduction to Open Science | Wednesday 18 May, 1 PM CEST"},{slug:"step-in-the-right-direction-intechopen-launches-a-portfolio-of-open-science-journals-20220414",title:"Step in the Right Direction: IntechOpen Launches a Portfolio of Open Science Journals"},{slug:"let-s-meet-at-london-book-fair-5-7-april-2022-olympia-london-20220321",title:"Let’s meet at London Book Fair, 5-7 April 2022, Olympia London"},{slug:"50-books-published-as-part-of-intechopen-and-knowledge-unlatched-ku-collaboration-20220316",title:"50 Books published as part of IntechOpen and Knowledge Unlatched (KU) Collaboration"},{slug:"intechopen-joins-the-united-nations-sustainable-development-goals-publishers-compact-20221702",title:"IntechOpen joins the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Publishers Compact"},{slug:"intechopen-signs-exclusive-representation-agreement-with-lsr-libros-servicios-y-representaciones-s-a-de-c-v-20211123",title:"IntechOpen Signs Exclusive Representation Agreement with LSR Libros Servicios y Representaciones S.A. de C.V"},{slug:"intechopen-expands-partnership-with-research4life-20211110",title:"IntechOpen Expands Partnership with Research4Life"},{slug:"introducing-intechopen-book-series-a-new-publishing-format-for-oa-books-20210915",title:"Introducing IntechOpen Book Series - A New Publishing Format for OA Books"}]},book:{item:{type:"book",id:"2260",leadTitle:null,fullTitle:"Ultra-Wideband Radio Technologies for Communications, Localization and Sensor Applications",title:"Ultra-Wideband Radio Technologies for Communications, Localization and Sensor Applications",subtitle:null,reviewType:"peer-reviewed",abstract:'Ultra-Wideband Radio (UWB) earmarks a new radio access philosophy and exploits several GHz of bandwidth. It promises high data rate communication over short distances as well as innovative radar sensing and localization applications with unprecedented resolution. Fields of application may be found, among others, in industry, civil engineering, surveillance and exploration, for security and safety measures, and even for medicine. \nThe book considers the basics and algorithms as well as hardware and application issues in the field of UWB radio technology for communications, localization and sensing based on the outcome of DFG\'s priority-funding program "Ultra-Wideband Radio Technologies for Communications, Localization and Sensor Applications (UKoLoS)".',isbn:null,printIsbn:"978-953-51-0936-5",pdfIsbn:"978-953-51-6311-4",doi:"10.5772/2648",price:159,priceEur:175,priceUsd:205,slug:"ultra-wideband-radio-technologies-for-communications-localization-and-sensor-applications",numberOfPages:512,isOpenForSubmission:!1,isInWos:null,isInBkci:!1,hash:"3f6f43759f341174a531a4dd3280e7ef",bookSignature:"Reiner Thomä, Reinhard H. Knöchel, Jürgen Sachs, Ingolf Willms and Thomas Zwick",publishedDate:"March 13th 2013",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/2260.jpg",numberOfDownloads:52923,numberOfWosCitations:39,numberOfCrossrefCitations:25,numberOfCrossrefCitationsByBook:8,numberOfDimensionsCitations:80,numberOfDimensionsCitationsByBook:8,hasAltmetrics:0,numberOfTotalCitations:144,isAvailableForWebshopOrdering:!0,dateEndFirstStepPublish:"August 26th 2011",dateEndSecondStepPublish:"December 15th 2011",dateEndThirdStepPublish:"May 30th 2012",dateEndFourthStepPublish:"July 1st 2012",dateEndFifthStepPublish:"September 15th 2012",currentStepOfPublishingProcess:5,indexedIn:"1,2,3,4,5,6,7",editedByType:"Edited by",kuFlag:!1,featuredMarkup:null,editors:[{id:"14632",title:"Prof.",name:"Reiner",middleName:null,surname:"Thomä",slug:"reiner-thoma",fullName:"Reiner Thomä",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/14632/images/system/14632.jpg",biography:"Reiner S. Thomä, received the Dipl.-Ing. (MSc), Dr.-Ing. (PhD) and the Dr.-Ing. habil. degrees, in electrical engineering (information technology) from Technische Hochschule Ilmenau, Germany, in 1975, 1983, and 1989, respectively. \r\nFrom 1975 to 1988 he was a research assistant in the fields of electronic circuits, measurement engineering, and digital signal processing at the same university. His research topics where in surface acoustic waves filter design and FFT spectral analysis. From 1988 to 1990 he was a research associate at the Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (Zentrum für Wissenschaftlichen Gerätebau). During this period he was working in the field of radio surveillance. In 1991 he spent a three month sabbatical at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Lehrstuhl für Nachrichtentechnik).\r\nSince 1992 he has been a Professor of Electrical Engineering (Electronic Measurement) at Technische Universität Ilmenau (Ilmenau University of Technology) and from 1999 until 2005 he was the director of the Institute of Communication and Measurement at the same university.",institutionString:null,position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"2",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"1",institution:{name:"Ilmenau University of Technology",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Germany"}}}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,coeditorOne:{id:"147400",title:"Prof.",name:"Reinhard",middleName:null,surname:"Knöchel",slug:"reinhard-knochel",fullName:"Reinhard Knöchel",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/147400/images/system/147400.jpg",biography:"Reinhard Knöchel received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering and the Dr.-Ing. degree from the Technical University, Braunschweig, Germany, in 1975 and 1980, respectively. From 1980 to 1986, he was a Principal Scientist with the Philips Research Laboratory, Hamburg, Germany. In 1986, he joined the Hamburg University of Technology, where he was a Full Professor of Microwave Electronics until 1993. Between 1993 and 2013, he held the Chair of Microwave Engineering, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany. His current research interests include magnetic field sensors, active and passive microwave components, ultra wideband technology, microwave measurement techniques, industrial microwave sensors and radar.",institutionString:null,position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"1",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:null},coeditorTwo:{id:"11436",title:"Dr.Ing.",name:"Juergen",middleName:null,surname:"Sachs",slug:"juergen-sachs",fullName:"Juergen Sachs",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/11436/images/system/11436.jpg",biography:'Jürgen Sachs earned a Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) in Electrical Engineering (surface acoustic wave devices) and a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering (semi-conductor technology and components). Since 1985, he is Senior Lecturer at TU Ilmenau, Germany. He teaches "Basics of Electrical Measurement Technology", "Methods of measurement for the information and communication technique", and "Eatellite navigation and radar". He is head of several research projects, and inter alia coordinator of European projects for humanitarian demining. His research areas cover RF-signal analysis and RF-system identification; Surface Penetrating Radar, Impulse Radiating Antennas; Ultra wideband (UWB) methods and their application in high resolution radar and impedance spectroscopy, digital processing of UWB-signals; UWB-Array-processing; and humanitarian anti-personal mine detection.',institutionString:null,position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"2",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:null},coeditorThree:{id:"23661",title:"Dr.",name:"Ingolf",middleName:null,surname:"Willms",slug:"ingolf-willms",fullName:"Ingolf Willms",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/23661/images/system/23661.jpg",biography:null,institutionString:null,position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"1",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:null},coeditorFour:{id:"148484",title:"Prof.",name:"Thomas",middleName:null,surname:"Zwick",slug:"thomas-zwick",fullName:"Thomas Zwick",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/148484/images/system/148484.jpg",biography:"Thomas Zwick received the Dipl.-Ing. (M.S.E.E.) and the Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.E.E.) degrees from the Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Germany, in 1994 and 1999, respectively. From 1994 to 2001 he was a research assistant at the Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik und Elektronik (IHE) at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Germany. In February 2001 he joined IBM as research staff member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA. From October 2004 to September 2007, Thomas Zwick was with Siemens AG, Lindau, Germany. During this period he managed the RF development team for automotive radars. In October 2007, he became a full professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany. He is the director of the Institut für Hochfrequenztechnik und Elektronik (IHE) at the KIT. \n\nThomas Zwick is author or co-author of over 400 technical papers and 20 patents. Together with his team he received over 20 best paper awards on international conferences. He served on the technical program committees (TPC) of several scientific conferences. In 2013 Dr. Zwick was general chair of the international Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT 2013) in Karlsruhe and in 2015 of the IEEE MTT-S International Conference on Microwaves for Intelligent Mobility (ICMIM) in Heidelberg. He also was TPC chair of the European Microwave Conference (EuMC) 2013. In 2017 he was General TPC Chair of European Microwave Week. From 2008 until 2015 he has been president of the Institute for Microwaves and Antennas (IMA). T. Zwick became selected as a distinguished microwave lecturer for the 2013 – 2015 period with his lecture on “QFN Based Packaging Concepts for Millimeter-Wave Transceivers”. Since 2017 he is member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. In 2018 Thomas Zwick became appointed IEEE Fellow.\n\nThomas Zwick has experiences in\n\nRadio Wave Propagation\nRadio Channel Modeling & Measurement Techniques\nMicrowave Techniques\nWireless Communications\nAntennas & Antenna Systems\nRadar Technology (Radar Architectures, Signal Processing, Automotive and Industrial Applications)",institutionString:null,position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"1",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:null},coeditorFive:null,topics:[{id:"762",title:"Wireless Communication System",slug:"electrical-and-electronic-engineering-wireless-communication-system"}],chapters:[{id:"43642",title:"MIRA – Physical Layer Optimisation for the Multiband Impulse Radio UWB Architecture",doi:"10.5772/55076",slug:"mira-physical-layer-optimisation-for-the-multiband-impulse-radio-uwb-architecture",totalDownloads:2820,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:null,signatures:"Rainer Moorfeld, Adolf Finger, Hanns-Ulrich Dehner, Holger Jäkel, Martin Braun and Friedrich K. 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\r\n\tIn mathematics, operator theory is the study of linear operators on function spaces, beginning with differential operators and integral operators. The operators may be presented abstractly by their characteristics, such as bounded linear operators or closed operators and consideration may be given to nonlinear operators. The study, which depends heavily on the topology of function spaces, is a branch of functional analysis. If a collection of operators forms an algebra over a field, then it is an operator algebra. The description of operator algebras is part of operator theory. Single operator theory deals with the properties and classification of operators, considered one at a time. For example, the classification of normal operators in terms of their spectra falls into this category.
\r\n\r\n\tThe theory of operator algebras brings algebras of operators such as C*-algebras to the fore. Many operators that are studied are operators on Hilbert spaces of holomorphic functions, and the study of the operator is intimately linked to questions in function theory. For example, Beurling's theorem describes the invariant subspaces of the unilateral shift in terms of inner functions, which are bounded holomorphic functions on the unit disk with unimodular boundary values almost everywhere on the circle. Beurling interpreted the unilateral shift as multiplication by the independent variable on the Hardy space. The success in studying multiplication operators, and more generally Toeplitz operators (which are multiplication, followed by projection onto the Hardy space) has inspired the study of similar questions in other spaces, such as the Bergman space. Hence, operator theory has a connection with complex analysis. Additionally, this book will be intended to be an illustration of the use of operator theory when applied to solve specific problems in pure and applied mathematics, engineering, physics, or science in general.
\r\n\t
The agricultural commodities include field crops, horticultural crops, livestock, poultry and fisheries. The basic principle of agriculture lies with how crop/livestock interacts with atmosphere and soil/food as a growing medium. The system acts as pathway which regulates the intake of water/feed, nutrients and gas exchanges. Thus, any change in the quality and quantity of atmospheric variables will certainly affect the pathway through changes in atmospheric and edaphic/feed factors. Besides these, climate change is also adding salt to the wound by aggravating the extreme weather events [1].
Agricultural production in India is becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate variability and change characterised by altered frequency, timing and magnitude of precipitation and temperature. High rates of snow and glacial melting, frequent floods and droughts, heat waves, hailstorms, heavy frost and increased incidences of the pests and diseases cause widespread damage and losses to agricultural sector in India. With warmer climate, frequency and severity of extreme weather events would increase as indicated by incidences of heat waves, extreme rains, hailstorm, etc. during recent years. India’s average annual economic loss due to natural disasters is estimated to be 10 billion dollars in which cyclone and flood accounts for 0.5 and 7.5%, respectively [2]. And other atmospheric stresses like hailstorm, heat wave, cold wave, frost, etc. cause huge losses to Indian agriculture. Since agriculture makes up roughly 14% of India’s GDP, a 4.5–9% negative impact on production implies a cost of climate change to be roughly up to 1.5% of GDP per year [3]. And the impact may be of direct (mechanical) or indirect (physiological) depending on the type of stress, type of crop, stage of crop and mode of action of the stress on the commodity. However, there have been extreme weather events in the recent past including extended dry periods, floods, hailstorms, cyclonic rains and winds etc., which caused damage to standing crops and ultimately poor yield of crops. While, 11 states (viz., Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand) had submitted memoranda reporting crop loss due to natural calamities like drought, hailstorm, pest attack and cold wave/frost [4].
Hail is a solid, frozen form of precipitation that causes extensive damage to properties and growing crops. Hot, humid afternoon hours during the summer are the most congenial for development of hailstorms. These usually form over a relatively small area and pass over within a very short period, however, causes havoc even from a few minutes spell. Though hailstorm can occur in any part of the world, temperate zones are the most vulnerable. Among the countries, hail related losses are most prevalent in USA [5]. The damage with hails is determined by the size ranges and the number of hailstones that fall per unit area during a hail fall, wind force during the event and the property of the target. The extent of crop-hail damages also varies depending on the stage of occurrence of hail during the crop growing season. Even a short episode of hail can cause severe injury to crops, fruit trees, both downgrading the quality and causing subsequent losses due to diseases like blight, mould, canker and fruit rots. The hailstorms in a region often follow a definite pattern. However, the recent events in the country have surprised farmers and fruit growers when hail moved in from unexpected directions. Widespread unseasonal rainy spells accompanied by hail occurred in several states of India during February–March, 2014. It caused a large scale destruction of crops in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka with central India (Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh) being the worst hit. The country did not witness such a severe weather aberration since a long time [6].
However, hailstorm is a most divisive climatic hazard to Indian agriculture and it may be a product of changing climate. Hail being a very short term and localised phenomena, its prediction well in advance to inform all stakeholders for adequate preventive measures is a major challenge for even the most technologically advanced and hail affected countries like as USA. India, being situated in the tropical and subtropical region, the frequency of hail events is less than mid latitude and temperate countries. However, with climate change, the instances of severe weather aberrations are increasing the demand for strong institutional arrangements to combat such challenges. While occurrence, losses and post disaster management have been discussed extensively for the other climatic hazards such as excess rainfall, drought and flood, little attention has been given to hailstorm. The following sections elaborate on various aspects of hails for better hail preparedness and post hail management measures [7].
Precipitation of small pieces of ice, with diameter ranging from 5 to 50 mm or something more, is known as hail, and hailstorm is the most dreaded and destructive form of precipitation produced during thunderstorms or from cumulonimbus clouds. These usually form over a relatively small area and pass over within a very short period, however, causes havoc even from a few minutes spell [8].
Hailstorms are the result of four atmospheric factors; strong convective instability creating strong updrafts, abundant moisture at low levels feeding into the updrafts, strong wind shear aloft, usually veering with height and enhancing updrafts. Some dynamical mechanisms that can assist the release of instability such as air flow over mountain ridges [8]. Hail is often associated with thunderstorm activity and changing weather fronts. Thunderstorm is a meso-scale system with space scale of few kilometres to a couple of 100 km and time scale of less than an hour to several hours. This is formed in huge cumulonimbus clouds, commonly known as thunderheads.
Hailstorms are the result of four atmospheric factors which are characterised as: (i) strong convective instability creating strong updrafts, (ii) abundant moisture at low levels feeding into the updrafts, (iii) strong wind shear aloft, usually veering with height, enhancing updrafts and (iv) some dynamical mechanisms that can assist the release of instability such as air flow over mountain ridges [8]. The worst hailstorms events have been reported in USA were mostly due to the squall lines and low pressure centres at the intersections of warm and cold fronts (41), cold fronts (21), warm fronts (14), stationary fronts (12) and unstable air mass (12) [9].
In India unseasonal rain and widespread hailstorm during February–March, 2014 was prevailed due to the shifting of polar jet stream from its regular trajectory. It has been observed that due to the melting of Arctic ice, polar jet is shifting southwards, triggering extreme weather events all across the globe. It has pushed down the cold westerlies in India that usually flow over 30 latitude to 15° latitude, causing unprecedented hailstorms and rainfall [10]. The extended hailstorms in the non-conventional areas were resulted due to collision of winds from Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea over Central India. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra (barring coastal districts) and also parts of interior peninsula such as north of Andhra Pradesh had witnessed such events during the aforesaid period. Clouds measuring up to 22 km in height and sub-freezing temperatures have been February–May 2014 and 2015 in northern, central and southern India was observed due to more convective activities following rise in temperature as the season progressed from winter to spring [11], and a agrometeorologist of the Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani (India) attributed the extreme events such as hailstorm instances experienced mainly due to conditional instability and such instabilities are commonly observed every year at isolated places in Maharashtra [12].
The agricultural production, allied agribusiness and small scale agricultural business is sensitive to changing weather. Changing climate impacts on agriculture production is complex to understand. However, there is high level of agreement across studies that the impact in all probability is going to be negative for most crop categories. It is well established that there has been an increase in extreme weather events. Only 20% of these are due to natural causes; 80% are human-induced changes. India being mainly an agricultural country the economy and further its growth purely depends on the vagaries of the weather and in particular the extreme weather events [13]. Climate change implies higher frequency of extreme weather events such as hail to name a few—causing reduced crop yields and plant production and threatening the provision of other ecosystem services [14]. While, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that in peninsular India, rainfall patterns will become more and more erratic, with a possible decrease in overall rainfall, but an increase in extreme weather events. What we are witnessing is certainly an extreme weather event [15]. While, at regional level, contradictory report was given by the Ministry of Earth Science, Government of India and in which clearly stated that there is no evidence of change in weather pattern over the country [4]. Extreme and unprecedented weather events have to be accepted as climate change phenomenon regardless of their frequency [16, 17]. However, such argument needs to be supported by more scientific evidences and a detailed analysis of past and recent events is the need of the hour.
Indian climatologist’s majority opine that the unprecedented and untimely weather events were yet another sequence in the chain of freak weather events India has been witnessing in the last few decades. But many shy away from attributing it to climate change. As per Climate Change Centre, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune (India) it is premature to attribute it to climate change. More samples are required for the attribution. Temperatures are rising in the world everywhere and every year, so it is a symptom of climate change. But the current event of 2014 was an isolated one and has not been witnessed in the last 25–30 years. So, it is difficult to link it to climate change. It may be a part of natural variability of weather conditions.
While, hails or thunderstorms are extreme forms of weather events and deserve special attention in view of climate change. However, the homogeneity of existing reporting and data quality in many instances are questionable [18]. And due to this there is low confidence in observed trends so far in small-scale, however, few studies indicate that a strong positive relation exists between hailstorm activity and global warming. Fifth assessment report (AR5) of IPCC highlighted some studies with regard to trends of hailstorm occurrence over the years in different parts of the world [19]. A strong positive relation exists between hailstorm activity and subsequent hailstorm damage which is likely to be aggravated by global warming. By 2050, the estimated annual hailstorm damage to unprotected farming could increase from 25 to 50% [20].
Radioactive Detection and Ranging (RADAR) technology in hail forecasting found most expedient and it is difficult to forecast all a hailstorm, since its occurrence is sporadic and confined to very limited areas in a thunderstorm. While hail formation continues to elude scientists, sophisticated RADAR has been developed that can detect the presence of hail before it falls to the ground. Eventually, warnings may be issued as about 15 minutes before hail strikes, thus allowing pilots to avoid threatening air space, people to seek shelter, and property to be protected [9].
While, artificial hail control is an important measure in disaster prevention and mitigation. With the development of atmospheric science and related science and techniques, the ability of hail cloud identification and subsequent hail suppression technique has been improving continuously. There are two techniques available for suppression or control of hail, but mercy is that no one can able to prove it confidently on ground of validation still today.
Cloud seeding: This process of seeding of condensation nuclei into the system on or before the start of hail formation process can be done using either specialised aircrafts or anti-hail rockets.
Creating shockwaves: The creation of shock waves can prevent the formation and growth of hail by melting altogether. Shockwaves are produced using hail guns/cannons.
The data on temporal and spatial distribution of hailstorms as well as size of hailstones with the consequent damage have to be documented systematically which facilitates identification of vulnerable areas more scientifically. The size and density of hailstones that fall per unit area are being measured. The hailstone size and intensity are measured by using hail-pads and hailstone size measured by different ways; vernier scale, metric scale ruler, metric scale tape or by comparing with different shapes (e.g., grain, pea, mango, ball, coin, etc.) [9, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25].
Usually, the extent of damage by hail is determined by the size and density of hailstones that fall per unit area and wind force during the hail fall event. There are three types of hail classified according to the occurrence and nature: (1) soft hail (less than 5 mm ice mixture when falling on the earth surface breaks into small pieces is called as soft hail), (2) small hail (small ice crystals falling on the earth along with rainfall but do not break down into small pieces is called as small hail) and (3) severe hail (hard hails having diameter of 5.5 μm commonly known as severe hail). Secondly, according to size, shape and nature, hailstones are classified into different classes with photographs and its damaging potential [9, 23, 24, 25]. However, in agriculture, hail is considered an extreme event of great destructive potential and a single hailstorm event in an orchard could result in the total loss of fruit production and would damage the trees [26]. The damage with hails is determined by the size ranges and the number of hailstones that fall per unit area during a hail fall, wind force during the event and the property of the target. The extent of crop-hail damages also varies depending on the stage of occurrence of hail during the crop growing season. Different crops are damaged in varying ways by hail. Tea, tobacco, broccoli, tomato, spinach and soybeans leaves are delicate and subject to serious damage even when 6.4 mm diameter hailstones fall. Fruit crops, such as apples and peaches, can be easily bruised by small- to moderate-sized hail and can lose great value because of reduced quality.
Hailstorm hazard is not new to the Indians and it was recorded from the British emperor; one of the deadliest hailstorms of all time killed at least 230 people, and over 1600 sheep’s and goats in Uttar Pradesh (India) on 30 April, 1888. The hailstones were reportedly as big as oranges, and in some places were as high as 600 gm. In 1898 Sir John Eliot first time in the Indian History complied hail storm record. Thereafter, Ramdas in 1938, hailstorm data of the period 1898–1935 analysed and published first time centimetres [9] and there after India Meteorological Department (IMD) as well as another all institutes and organisations were continued it through proper scientific planning with greater efforts till today. Regarding highest size of hail stones, the largest size hailstone occurred in association with a thunderstorm in April, 1888 at Moradabad a town near Delhi [13]. The hailstorm frequencies are highest in the Assam valley, followed by hills of Uttar Pradesh now known as Uttaranchal, South Bihar (now known as Jharkhand) and Vidarbha in the eastern parts of Maharashtra [27]. Whereas, the coconut size hailstones were recorded at Kondhwa in Pune, during 1908–1909. Further, during 1986, the hailstones of cricket ball size showered in Pune with observed mango size (750 gm) hails at Motala, Dist. Yevatmal (Maharashtra). The hailstone measured size of a pigeons egg in diameter (IMD 1888) [23, 28].
In some of the worst disasters associated with hailstorms, eight persons were killed in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) on 28 February 1992, and nine persons died near Nagpur (Maharashtra) in February 1979. Thunderstorm and squally winds killed 19 people in Patna on 29 May 1997, while in Kolkata nine people died on 26 March 1993 due to thunderstorm and lightning. Cataloguing of Disastrous Weather Events by the India Meteorological Department started in 1967. Prior to 1967, reports of deaths (loss of life) in association with thunderstorms are many [29].
The current history of hailstorm enlightens the devastative nature of hailstorm and which was clearly seen from last two decades; the affected area and losses of agriculture were documented by different workers and revealed that it was spreading on more no. of states increasing continuously in India from 1994–1995 to 1998–1999, 2014 and 2015 (0.46, 0.74, 1.2, 2.9, 1.8 and 6.3 m ha, respectively) [20, 22, 30].
In India, an unprecedented 20 days was prevailed in different states, during February 24 to March, 2014, has left millions of farmers in a state of shock; surprisingly in 2014, almost 28 out of 35 districts in Maharashtra were severely affected by unseasonal rains and heavy hailstorm causing widespread damage to the agriculture (Table 1). The heavy damage to agriculture sector due to hailstorm in most of the affected villages of Maharashtra was experienced first time by elder and older peoples in their life during last 60 years [27]. Usually, hailstorm activity occurs during the months of April and May [30]. But this time it has occurred during February–March which is a severe weather aberration. Over 1.24 lac hectare (l ha) of farmland spread over 1086 villages in Maharashtra have been adversely affected in the on-going spell of unseasonal rain and hailstorm (February 10–13, 2018) which started on 10 February and at most affect 4–5% of the crop. Eleven districts mainly in Marathwada and Vidharba regions have reported hailstorm. The districts of Buldhana, Amavati, Akola and Washim in Vidharba have also got light showers. Two deaths were reported from Buldhana where farmers had taken shelter under trees to avoid the hailstones [31]. The comprehensively recent worst affected area by hailstorm events in India were reported by different organisations, media and personals are presented in Table 1 [32, 33, 34].
Period of hailstorm aberration | Affected states of India | Damage to agricultural crops and losses |
---|---|---|
February 24–March 14 | Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, MP, Maharashtra, Karnataka and AP | Ready to harvest |
February 11–13, 2014 | Maharashtra | Over 3 lakh ha in Maharashtra were affected by thunderstorms and hailstorms. Overall, the crops of wheat, gram, sorghum, onion, grapes, oranges and cotton have been affected in 19 districts of the state. State Government, released nearly Rs. 313 crores from the state disaster response fund. |
End of February 2014 | Marathwada, Vidarbha, Northern Maharashtra and parts of Western Maharashtra | Absolutely destroying the farmer. Rabi crops like wheat, gram, cotton, sorghum, summer onion were lost, horticultural crops like papaya, sweet lime, grapes are battered and orchards which took years to grow are ridden to the ground. Turmeric was drying in the sun, grapes were waiting to be graded, and wheat was harvested and lying in the fields. A preliminary estimate and news reports, crops over 12 lakh ha thousands of livestock, animals and birds have succumbed to injuries and diseases, which threaten to spread. Around 21 people have lost their lives to the disaster. |
March 14–16, 2016 | Marathwada and Vidarbha region of Maharashtra State | Flattening rabi crops over 85,000 ha area. |
February 11, 2018 at 09:15 am | Wakod Village, Resod, Washim District, Maharashtra | The mostly damaged of crops the area was horticultural and Rabi crops (viz., sorghum, cotton, pigeon pea, sunflower, etc.) and allied agribusiness was also partially damaged intensively. |
Recent hailstorm episodes and damaged to agricultural sectors.
Considering the resent hailstorm events, few of the scientists kept their views without data and they believe on some part of the Maharashtra may convert into hail prone area. Therefore, hail storm data are reviewed that the average number of days with hail is about 6–7 per year over Himachal Pradesh and its neighbourhood, but it decreases sharply to 1 in 2 per years over the adjoining plains. Over Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and in central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra hailstorm occurs on an average once a year. In the interior parts of southern peninsula, only one hail event may be expected once in 5 years. Hailstorms are comparatively rare over the coastal tracts of the Peninsula [9, 17]. However, similar observations were reported by another worker that the total number of thunderstorm and hail storm events in India during the period of 1967–2006 observed 1123 and 934, respectively with increasing trend of 1.90 and 1.00 per year, respectively [6]. While, hail is an extreme event out of the 10 selected key climate extreme events and recent past spatio-temporal pattern over India showed that highly significant increasing trend in the total number of events was observed [3]. While, hailstorm data for 38 years have been used for frequency analysis (1972–2011; excluding 1977 and 1984, for which data are not available). More than 61% of districts have experienced at least one hail event in this 38-year period. The highest frequency was noticed over districts in the northern parts of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra adjoining the state of Madhya Pradesh. Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change is becoming increasingly apparent in recent years [29]. Regarding the frequency and trend of hailstorm in India, hailstorm data for 38 years have been used for frequency analysis (1972–2011; excluding 1977 and 1984, for which data are not available). More than 61% of districts have experienced at least one hail event in this 38-year period. The highest frequency was noticed over districts in the northern parts of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra adjoining the state of Madhya Pradesh [22, 35].
Optimal growth of the plant found under a certain quantity of each of the environmental factors, and any deviation from such optimal conditions adversely affects its productivity through plant growth and development. Effect of hailstorm on the plant depends on their intensity and duration of act. These stress factors hailstorm highly impacted on crop, thereafter on livestock and least on fisheries. Once hailstorm hazard prevailed, its impacts may be direct or indirect; due to direct impact causes mechanical damage or injuries, it may be total loss (e.g., death of human, animals and birds, lodging of plants, uprooted trees and crop, etc.) and partial loss (e.g., causality of human, animals and birds, heavy defoliation, shredding of leaf blades, breaking of branches and tender stems, peeling of bark, stem lesions, cracking of fruits, heavy flower and fruit drop in crops and plants, etc.). And due to indirect impact causes injuries or physiological disorder (depending on the type of stress, type of crop/animal/birds, stage of crop/animal/birds), it is based on stage of occurrence (damages in mature produce quickly become focal points for diseases like brown/grey rot smut); primary injuries (like dieback or wilting of damaged plant parts) and discoloration of damaged parts (like leaves and fruits affecting their quality and rotting of damaged fruits and/or tender stems and branches due to fungal and bacterial infections), etc.
Based on Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report of Food and Agriculture Origination (FAO), damage and loss in agriculture by agricultural sub-sector, percentage share of total (2006–2016) was highest 49% in crop and thereafter in decreasing order in livestock (36%), unspecified sectors (8%), forestry (4%) and fishery (3%) were observed. The type of the damages recorded during recently prevailed continues episodes of hailstorms (2013–2014–2017–2018) are given in Table 1 [9, 36].
Hailstorm causes primary injuries due to direct impact of hails which causes heavy defoliation, shredding of leaf blades, breaking of branches and tender stems, lodging of plants, peeling of bark, stem lesions, cracking of fruits, heavy flower and fruit drop, etc. This is followed by secondary injuries which are nothing but the manifestations of primary injuries like dieback or wilting of damaged plant parts, loss of plant height, staining, bruises, discoloration of damaged parts like leaves and fruits affecting their quality and rotting of damaged fruits and/or tender stems and branches due to fungal and bacterial infections [9, 37]. While, heavy rain, hail and strong wind affect crop yield in different ways, especially depending on the development stage. Whereas roots may lose their contact and anchorage in soil when heavy either rain, hailstorm or in combination of both, decreases soil strength and increases the load which the plant must bear.
For rice, mainly reduced translocation of mineral nutrients and carbon for grain filling, increased respiration, reduced carbon assimilation within the canopy, rapid chlorosis and greater susceptibility to pests and diseases are reported as main mechanisms. Lodging reduces the yield of rice by self-shading and reducing canopy photosynthesis. Additionally, lodging of cereals provides a favourable environment for leaf diseases and causes harvesting losses. Lodging also adversely affects grain quality, for example lodging inhibits grain drying due to reduced air circulation and increased humidity. In addition to the type of crop, stage of growth, weather conditions and susceptibility to disease also determine the impact. Prolonged hot and wet conditions after the storm enhance losses by increase in incidences of diseases, particularly those caused by bacteria [20, 38, 39, 40].
An overview on yield reductions due to lodging are 31–80% in wheat, 4–65% in barley, 37–40% in oats, 5–20% in maize, and 5–84% in rice [41]. While, the huge loss of winter, rabi and annual as well as perennial crops was generated in 2014 due to fallen hailstorm during the month of February and March in India and crop wise affected area in 1000 ha of gram, wheat, sorghum, maize, summer rice, vegetables, banana and other crops are 149, 119, 20, 10, 9.0 0.6, 0.2 and 357, respectively in 2014 due to hailstorm in India were [27]. Similarly, recorded damaged area and entity due to hailstorm episode or hailstone events during the year 2014–2018 [9, 21, 30, 31, 33, 42, 43] and which is given in Table 1.
Though variation was observed in between official and the media reports of hailstorm damage in the February and March, 2014, a divisive nature of hail storm in one report uttered, nearly 20 L ha crops was under risk, death of poultry birds and animals observed around 39,000 and 4096, respectively. Whereas, 30,000 villages were affected from 28 districts of Maharashtra and economical loss was estimated 250 crores. While, due this episode of hailstorm, destroyed 1.45 L ha grape crop (a dollar crop) at maturity stage in Maharashtra state and district wise distribution was 0.65, 0.50, 0.20 and 0.10 L ha of Nasik, Sangli, Solapur and Pune, respectively [43]. Since, 2013–2014, hailstorms are striking the state every year during spring (February, March, April) when the rabi crops are getting ready for harvest. In March 2015, hailstorm damaged in general 7.5 L ha area and out of which 6.1 L ha comes under agriculture crops and 1.4 L ha under horticulture crops [32]. Whereas, the intensity and divisive nature of hailstorm uttered that the 4.55 l ha area of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state was affected by prevailed hailstorm during March–April, 2016, Which was perished partially or completely rabi crops and vegetables, and horticultural crops [36].
The basic principle of agriculture lies with how livestock interacts with atmosphere. Thus, any deviation of external optimal atmospheric conditions affects the pathway through changes in atmospheric and feed factors for animal growth, development and/or productivity. The quantum of impact on livestock and poultry mainly depends on the type of stress and animal, its age and mode of action of the stress [22]. Hailstorms can cause seriously injury to livestock, poultry. Livestock, mostly cattle and sheep, grazing in the open become the first victim of the hail. Poultry sector was another allied sector that was badly hit birds housed in temporary or semi-temporary sheds were the first casualty [34]. While, 1075 cattle have perished and 38,512 houses have been damaged due to a hailstone event [21]. In the year 2014–2017, according to a preliminary estimate and news reports, thousands of livestock, animals and birds have succumbed to injuries and diseases, which threaten to spread due to severe hailstorm [33].
Hailstorms causes severe damage or mortality of people and wildlife and it is not a new phenomenon, though the incidence may be growing in new areas. The deaths of 460 parrots due to hailstorm at Tumsar in Bhandara district of Maharashtra state, on 13 February 2018 [34]. The hailstorm events occurred from the end of February into May 2014 which were caused mortality of roosting birds such as rosy starling (
Extreme weather events such as hailstorm in Cedar Rim in Fremont County, Wyoming, USA, was destroyed eggs and injure or kill juvenile and adult birds at the nest. Seventeen-percent of 128 nests failed due to the hailstorm; however, all failed nests were located where the hailstorm was most intense, and 45% of all nests on those plots failed due to hail. Mortality rates varied by species, nest architecture, and nest placement. Nests with more robust architecture and those more likely to survive the hailstorm, that natural history traits may modulate mortality risk due to hailstorms [45].
Hailstorms can cause severe damage to farm structures apart from seriously injuring to humans and mortality of people due to intense hailstorms is not a new phenomenon, though the incidence may be growing in new areas [34]. And in the year 2014–2017, according to a preliminary estimate and news reports around 21 people have lost their lives to the disaster [33]. While, it was estimated that more than 20 lakh farmers of Madhya Pradesh are badly affected due to hailstorm calamity prevailed in 2014. Whereas, the survey reports show that there has been a loss of eight human lives and 38,512 houses have been damaged [21]. The number of farmers has committed suicide on account of failure/damage of agricultural crops, vegetables and fruits due to natural calamities including unseasonal rains and hailstorms during the year 2014–2015. And the amount of compensation/relief sought by the affected States and the amount of assistance provided by the Union Government during the said period; Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana demanding Rs. 744.48 crores, Rs. 8252 crores and Rs. 1135.91 crores from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), respectively. Assistance from NDRF for Natural Calamities (Drought) in the States from 2013 to 2014 to 2015–2016 was provided (Rs. in cores) and Assistance sought by the State Government are 39,180.41 and central assistance approved under NDRF are 7108.06. Whereas, the reports of State Government of Maharashtra confirm three cases of farmers suicide due to untimely rains and hailstorm during the period January–March, 2015 [46].
The substantial impact of hailstorm is mainly depending on the type of stress and crop/animal/fish, its stage/age and way of action of the stress. Management strategies for mitigation and adaptation of these stresses require both application of current interdisciplinary knowledge, development of a range of technological innovations and timely interventions. Considering its divisive nature this is a high time to update our knowledge regarding existing. However, the increased frequency of hailstorm events, especially in vulnerable ecosystem of Deccan Plateau region of India demanded appropriate measures to minimise adverse impact on agricultural crops. Hence, some of the pre hail, during hail and post hail possible management and adaptations revived.
Make use of location specific recommendations given in Agromet Advisory Bulletin (AAB) during pre/post hail disaster to maximise advantages and minimise losses in agricultural production. AAB is a most useful weather smart agriculture technological tool that can minimise climatic risks and build a resilient agricultural production [47] and the Maharashtra State Agricultural Department were aware and warned to the farmers through AAB in the year 2014–2015 about the prevailed hailstorms. But little that can be done to save the standing crops from hailstorms because of ignorance regarding alert message given in AAB [12], and the farmers, who followed the AAB are able to reduce the livestock rearing cost and increasing the net profit as compared to the non AAB farmers [47].
It’s high time to update our knowledge regarding existing technologies and side by side explores new avenues for managing atmospheric stresses in agriculture. As hail is the sudden event, and highly unpredictable, it is always better to take some precautions to minimise the hail damage.
Dissemination of forecast of thunderstorm/hailstorm through multimedia, special AAB/regular AAB are essential and it was found useful during the worst hailstorm of 2014–2015 [12, 47]. While, the state of affairs with regard to forecasting by RADAR technology, vulnerability zonation tools have been included [48].
Prepare mind set of farmers for adaptation of hailstorm or fight against it and they need not be panic if the damage is less severe. Wait till the next sprout to decide whether totally abandon orchards or replacement of trees will suffer. While, plantations of tree shelterbelts can markedly reduce hail damage in their immediate vicinity since hails are usually associated with strong winds. Protective screens termed as anti-hail nets above the crop can be appropriately utilised especially for high value crops. These anti-hail nets are not effective against strong hail storms. While, shade nets can be a good option especially for high value crops in areas with higher probability of hailstorm occurrence. A range of anti-hail nets used to protect the apple orchards in Himachal Pradesh and similar suggestions are reported by [48], nylon nets intended for protection against birds actually gave good result towards protection against hail. Cropping pattern required to change of the hailstorm prone area and which are another way to abatement of hailstorm in regions with high frequency is to grow those crops that are less subject to hail damage. Some region-specific hailstorm resistance cropping pattern for Marathwada region are suggested [48]. Another approach to minimise the hail losses to the farmers is through insurance. Insurance is the most widely used adjustment tool on the economic front to crops and property damages due to hail and now it is supported by the government though it requires easier process to get relief [46].
Adaptations of farmer’s innovative interventions to fight against hailstorm in Maharashtra (cost effective technology to protect crop from hailstorm) viz., protecting young fruit seedlings and small horticultural tree by straw thatching/polythene tunnels, protecting grape fruits by silver coated hard board (Figure 1a and b), protecting banana fruits by using skirting’s bag, which is manufactured from polythene (Figure 2) were found useful up to some extent. However, it requires validation for auditing exact protection efficiency and monitory benefit; through systematic documentation and conformation based on research in view of wide adaptability [36].
(a and b) Protecting grape fruits by silver coated hard board.
Protecting banana fruits Skirting’s by polythene bags.
To avoid the casualty/damage/mortality, human being should be inside house or a covered shelter, avoid going outside unless absolutely necessary, listen to a local radio or television station or perceive authorised message from government institutes to see when it is safe to come out of cover, stay off of phones and other appliances during a hail storm, etc.
For the cash crop and horticultural farmer’s mitigation of hailstorm through weather modification science viz., cloud seeding by using aircraft (Figure 3) and anti-hail rocket (Figure 4); creating shock waves through anti hail canon/hail gun (Figure 5) is possible up to some extent though it is very costly, but its reliability till today is not widely accepted. Therefore, it may be possible to commercial crop growers either on co-operative base or government provides this technology on subsidy/free of cost through relief fund provision.
Cloud seeding aircraft. Source:
Anti-hail rocket. Source:
Anti-hail cannon or hail gun installed in apple garden. Source: file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/Hailstorm/Seminar_PRJ_2018_ROUGH/USED/improved%20hailgun/hagelkanon_en.pdf.
Hailstone creates abrupt high frequency sound; which have scaring birds and animals, such scaring condition are responsible to create depression of them. These depressions are caused damage to nervous system and finally its converted into death of such hazards birds and animals. To avoiding such disaster, if animal and poultry birds shed roof are of tin sheet, then which have covered by straw of sugar cane trash/rice/sorghum/Bajara/cotton/red gram/jute straw during the hailstone time. While, it was observed that the mortality and health problems of poultry birds and animals (especially kids of goat and sheep) reduced on large scale due adaptation of aforesaid technique at the time of hailstorm and post hailstorm disaster [36].
Take medical treatment/take care as per advice of veterinary doctors.
In fact, forewarning and preparedness for hailstorm is constrained mainly by the speed with which it occurs. Once damage occurs, specific management strategies are necessary in formulating the relief strategies for recovery, thus minimising the hailstorm impacts [49].
Though, little information is available on measures for hastening recovery in hail damaged crops. These studies indicate the potential of technological interventions to cope with hailstorms. Therefore, some of the post-hail measures including nutritional supplement, plant bio-regulators and canopy management were revealed. Among these, pruning of the hardy and indeterminate eggplant crop induced effective branches, which produced more flowers and fruits. Nitrogen supplemented with urea drenching and stress alleviating effects of salicylic acid promoted recovery in maize while drenching with humic acid along with spraying of potassium nitrate improved productivity of onion. While, little information is available on measures for faster recovery in hail-damaged plants, application of additional nitrogen encourages new growth [50, 51].
To control of secondary damage due to insect pests and diseases, remove the fallen fruit to reduce the spread of disease and pests during their decay. Large wounds on trunks and branches should be covered with a water-based paint to avoid desiccation and disease infection. Fruit thinning by removal of hail-damaged fruits improves yield and quality of remaining fruit. Bud-breaking chemicals and growth/bio regulators may be applied to induce the vegetative growth in orchard crop along with fertilisers [9, 52]. Proper drainage facilities are to be provided to avoid waterlogging and to avoid secondary infection of diseases; near-maturity bulb crops like onion and garlic may be harvested to avoid rotting. In horticultural crops provide support to the bent/damaged tress with bamboo sticks and earthling up Provide light irrigation to soften the fields that are hardened/compacted due to hailstorm [36]. Select the proper contingent crops to take the advantage of soil moisture and to recover part of losses and pruning may be necessary to retain young trees and optimise new growth [9, 36, 48].
Hailstorm app to assess crop damage developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is one of another technique, it is not useful direct mitigation of hailstorm but it provides help to proper assessment through scientific way of hailstorm nature of damage and intensity, which provides base for agro technically advice to the farmers for adaptation and help in relief provision implementing by government [53].
The certain crop specific management strategies that need to be followed for long term management of hailstorm damaged crops. In order to prevent further losses due to flower and fruit drop because of hailstorm, unseasonal rains and high winds, the mango orchards spraying with potassium nitrate (KNO3) 1.0% was found beneficial. While, incidence of powdery mildew and insect pests like mango hoppers, thrips are very high due to hailstorm created favourable microclimatic condition (i.e., persistence of cloudy weather, increased humidity and wet conditions on foliage). Hence, affected orchards sprayed with fipronil (5% EC) @ 1.5 ml/L or spinosad (45% SC) @ 0.3 ml/L for aforesaid pest control and with hexaconazole @ 1.0 ml/L for powdery mildew disease control [9].
After hailstorm, (i) the chemicals used for foliar spray/drenching on onion crop at bulb initiation stage, improved the bulb yield of the onion when compared to water spray. The maximum benefit of about 40% higher yield was observed in case of drenching with humic acid (HA; 2 ml/L) and spray of KNO3 (1.5%) where the bulb yields were 23.4 mg/ha against 16.3 mg/ha when the crop was raised as such. (ii) Application of salicylic acid (SA), KNO3 and urea drenching led to considerable improvement in grain weight of major cobs in maize especially when damage to cob was <20%. Recovery was not significant in case crop damage was more than 20%. Grain weight per cob was improved with application of plant bio-regulators (PBRs) compared to control plot in the range of 7–26.5% and 2.2–14.7% when damage of cob was <20% and > 20 (20–80)%, respectively, and among all treatments urea drenching and SA performed better. The yield improvement ranged between 14 and 26% with urea drenching being most effective. (iii) Pruning at 20 cm of two-month-old transplanted brinjal crop affected by hail had greater advantage than the same at 30 cm due to higher number of branches from basal nodes resulting in higher biomass/plant. It was noticed that deep pruning delayed flower bud formation only by 3–4 days in case of plants pruned at 20 cm height when compared to unpruned plants. It was also observed that timely removal of damaged fruits and dried twigs/branches from plants helped in faster recovery of the crop and also facilitated picking of fruits and other operations. Foliar spray of nitrogenous fertilisers such as urea (2%), KNO3 (2%) and thiourea (10 μM) also resulted in improved plant growth and development that was monitored in terms of plant height, branch and chlorophyll index [20].
After the hailstorm disaster, immediately needs rehabilitation and relief to the affected community. Therefore, at government level efforts has been made to post hailstorm disaster management and rehabilitation; and relief provided to the sufferers through NDRF and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and by some non-government originations (NGO’s) time to time. However, it was not sufficient and it is strongly supporting statements are available in public domain, which had discussed in both the both parliament of India [43]. In connection to this it is suggested that it is proposed to provide relief in the interest rate to be given on conversion of medium-term loans, exempted school and college fees to students from the affected families, another approach to minimise the hail losses to the farmers are through improvement in insurance rules, regulations and process. While, the households severely affected due to calamity should get the benefit of subsidised food grains, salt, sugar, gas and kerosene under Targeted Public Distribution System in the State under the National Food Security Act (NFSA)-2013 the Government of India, electricity bills for permanent agricultural pump consumers should be exempted, central government should make plain for start modified ‘Kanyadan Yojna’ to affected farmers and provide affordable amount of rupees for the marriage of the daughters of calamity affected farmers and conformity to this statement reports are mentioned in [46].
Climatic reason of hailstorm, its classification or characteristics and damage potential, control measures complemented with photographs are reviewed. It is concluded that the hailstorm events frequency increased in India and its cause is of climate change is not defined concretely. Causes of recent unseasonal hailstorm events have been discussed. The management techniques for recovery of different field and fruit crops have been reviewed. The crop specific management strategies discussed which should help in formulating the plans and strategies for minimising the impacts of such vagaries if these happen in future. Enlightened the need of research, relief and financial support to the hailstorm affected farming community.
Thus, greater efforts are needed to improve the forecast skill and use these better forecasts in disaster management [13]. There is a need for formulation a pilot project involving IMD, SAUs, AICRPAM and progressive farmers to undertake studies on suppression of hailstorms and to explore economically viable protection strategies to minimise the losses from hailstorms; there is a need for adequate RADAR network in the country to forecast the occurrence of hailstorms over larger area [36, 48]. Other essentialities are the data on temporal and spatial distribution of hailstorms as well as size of hailstones with the consequent damage have to be documented systematically which facilitates identification of vulnerable areas more scientifically. As a way forward, suggesting to have very targeted and well-designed experiments on the regionally specific crop impacts of a hailstorm at the level of SAU’s and ICAER institutes and usable recommendations make it available to the farmers for cope up hailstorm through adoption of agro techniques and mechanisms.
I am here taking opportunity to gratefully acknowledge the various publications and media sources (referred above) from which valuable materials were drawn for this topic.
Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), which is included in spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD), is a genetically heterogeneous group of autosomal dominantly inherited progressive disorders [1]. Cerebellar atrophy is the most prominent clinical feature of this condition and is accompanied by spinal cord and sequential brain stem and basal ganglion damage. Therefore, coordinated movement of the eyes, head, trunk, and extremities is impaired. Therefore, the activities of daily living (ADL) and participation in social activities are limited, and the quality of life (QOL) is undisputedly impaired in these patients [2].
The effects of medication and surgery in this clinical setting depend on the cause of ataxia and the extent of neuronal damage [3, 4]; however, there is no rational effective treatment for SCA and it is difficult to slow the progression of the disease. Rehabilitation [5, 6], including physical therapy [7, 8], aimed at improving/maintaining motor function, ADL, and QOL [5] is an important intervention for patients with SCA. Here we provide a narrative review of physical rehabilitation for SCA.
For the clinical diagnosis of cerebellar ataxia, specific blood studies and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been performed [9]. Furthermore, genetic techniques improve the diagnosis of degenerative cerebellar ataxia [10]. Although the details of the findings of these genetic and blood studies are beyond the scope of this review of rehabilitation, cerebellar atrophy and cerebellar motor deficits are traditionally common observations in patients with degenerative cerebellar ataxia [9]. Furthermore, recently, the absence of motor cerebellar symptoms has also been recognized as being important for rehabilitation [11].
The cerebellum is the motor-control system in humans [12]. Clinically, the oculomotor deficit, speech deficits, ataxia in the trunk and extremities, balance disorder, and gait disturbance are the targets of rehabilitation in SCA [9, 13]. The possible underlying pathogenetic mechanisms include distorted timing, abnormal sensory acquisition, impaired sensory motor synchronization, impaired triggering of corticomotor excitability, and abnormal visuokinesthetic cerebro-cerebellar interactions [13].
Oculomotor deficits cause deoptimized vision. The vestibulo-ocular reflex and smooth pursuit [14] partially depend on motor prediction in static and dynamic movement and contribute to dynamic gazing [15]; moreover, the cerebellum contributes to the trainability of eye-head coordinated movements [16].
Abnormal excitability and modulation in the motor cortex and corticospinal tract causes a voluntary contraction deficit in [17, 18]. Cerebellar stimulation modulates the motor-evoked potential induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary motor cortex [19, 20, 21]; however, this modulation is absent in patients with SCA [22, 23]. Furthermore, the cortical silent period, which reflects the excitability of the inhibitory GABAergic neural circuit in the primary motor cortex, is abnormal in these patients [24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29], and this cerebellar effect on the cortical silent period is characteristic of the healthy population [30]. Before muscle contraction for movement, the corticospinal excitability increases in healthy individuals; in contrast, this facilitation is insufficient in SCA [31]. In addition, in patients with SCA, muscle tones are decreased [11] and the spinal reflex excitability is facilitated by cerebellar stimulation [32, 33, 34]. The long latency spinal reflex, which is correlated with the cortical circuit, is disturbed in SCA [35]. Although this functional cerebellum-spine connection may contribute to the preparation for muscle contraction, there is insufficient evidence that these connections contribute to motor control in healthy and cerebellar ataxia populations.
In simple movements, such as extension of the elbow, coordinated activity of the biceps and triceps is needed. For ballistic elbow-extension movement practice, the triphasic muscle agonist and antagonist contraction patterns contribute to the smooth movement, but under/overshooting appears during the uncoordinated contraction pattern of patients with SCA [36, 37]. Furthermore, this contraction pattern may be obtained by temporal electrical stimulation in these individuals [37].
The cerebellar internal model contributes to predictable/online/offline motor control and motor learning/adaptation [38]. The symptoms associated with motor learning do not appear at the onset of the cerebral atrophy [39], because several brain areas, i.e., the prefrontal cortex, primary motor cortex, and basal ganglia, compensate for cerebellar function in early-stage SCA [5, 6, 39]. Recently, the motor learning deficit at the early stage of the disorder was reportedly detected using an adaptation task [40]. Therefore, the assessment of the capacity for motor learning may be important to strategize the interventions that are concretely described in the following sections.
Representative nonataxia symptoms include hyperreflexia, areflexia, extensor plantar, spasticity, paresis, muscle atrophy, fasciculations, myoclonus, rigidity, chorea/dyskinesia, dystonia, resting tremor, sensory symptoms, urinary dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and brain stem oculomotor signs [41]. The Inventory of NonAtaxia Symptoms (INAS) [41] is used to estimate these nonataxia symptoms. The appearance of these symptoms depends on the type of SCA [41].
We should conduct assessment to detect the degree of motor dysfunction and consider more effective intervention of physical rehabilitation. The first, the imaging technology such as MRI provides us with structural information about the atrophic areas of the brain associated with the disease. We described about neuroimaging technique in Section 3.1. The next, we can use some outcome measurement to estimate the motor dysfunction and verification in the physical rehabilitation. Then, we introduce the representable outcome measures for physical rehabilitation in SCA in Section 3.2. However, we had not established method to estimate the remaining of motor learning ability, which is one of the most important factors to predict the effect of physical rehabilitation. Therefore, we propose the possible assessment of motor learning ability in Section 3.3.
Neuroimaging is a technique that is used to visualize the structural and functional activities of the brain. MRI measurements, such as diffusion tensor imaging and surface-based morphometry, visualize the brain structures. Functional activity imaging is achieved using fMRI and NIRS, which are indicators of cerebral blood flow, and electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetoencephalography, which are indicators of electrical activity. Positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography with nuclear tracers are also used in this setting. The application of neuroimaging in the rehabilitation of cerebellar disorders includes voxel-based lesion symptom mapping in patients with stroke, to investigate the recovery of upper arm reach [42] and walking ability [43] depending on the lesion site.
Although conventional MRI [44] is widely used for the neuroimaging of spinocerebellar degeneration, to obtain diagnostic findings, few studies have used neuroimaging as a guideline or outcome of rehabilitation. The lack of reports in this context hampers the quantification of cerebellar degeneration in SCA and its correlation with motor dysfunctions. In terms of measurement techniques, the cerebellum exhibits a much tighter folding compared with the cerebral cortex, with individual cortical sheets with a thickness of 1–2 mm and a sheet area of 1500–2000 cm2, compared with a sheet area of 2200 cm2 with a thickness of 1.5–4 mm in the cerebral cortex. Therefore, the typical 2–4 mm3 spatial resolution of neuroimaging techniques is insufficient to capture local cerebellar changes. Patient factors include the difficulty in limiting the brain regions involved in movement disorders to the cerebellum, because the degenerative regions in SCD extend beyond this structure to multiple brain regions [45].
Among the neuroimaging modalities, the role of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) is notable in SCA rehabilitation. VBM is a statistical analysis of the entire brain in voxel units (1 mm3) that is used to identify the behavioral patterns and related brain morphological characteristics of patients [46]. Burciu et al. assessed the degree of cerebellar atrophy concerning motor and learning functions using VBM to evaluate brain structure changes after 2 weeks of balance training in patients with SCD; these authors reported the association between an increased volume of the dorsal premotor cortex and increased balance ability [47]. Matsgi et al. reported an association between VBM and neurophysiological markers in cerebellar brain inhibition (CBI), with atrophy of the dentate nucleus at VBM observed in cases of pure cerebellar ataxia that did not show CBI [48]. Bando et al. reported a correlation between adaptive learning ability and gray matter volume of the cerebellar IV-VII lobules and the supramarginal gyrus in a prismatic adaptation task in SCA [49]. Thus, VBM may be a biomarker to explain motor dysfunction in patients with SCA.
Conversely, VBM is not an ideal tool to show a causal relationship between brain structural changes and behavioral differences. As a solution to this problem, we can propose a combination of VBM and neurostimulation [50], as neurostimulation of the brain regions associated with the behavioral patterns obtained by VBM and the observation of behavioral changes before and after stimulation allow us to examine brain degeneration sites and behavior.
Gait disturbance is a major symptom of the cerebellar pathology in SCA [51]. The functional ambulation categories (FAC) is useful for the comprehensive assessment of walking ability; the FAC assesses gait for about 15 m and climbing stairs and classifies gait levels into 6 levels [52]. The FAC is also used in the exercise program created by Research Committee for Ataxia Disease (Research team under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan, http://ataxia.umin.ne.jp/rehabilitation/).
The quantitative assessment of cerebellar ataxia is very important in clinical practice. The International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS) has been used as a quantitative assessment of ataxia symptoms. However, it has been noted that the test reliability of the eye movement items is low [53]. The Scale for Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) is an 8-item performance-based scale that yields a total score of 0–40 (most severe ataxia). The minimal detectable change (MDC) for individual score difference from the baseline to the 1-year follow-up in SARA was <3.5 (n = 171; SCA1, n = 43; SCA2, n = 61; SCA3, n = 37; and SCA6, n = 30; mean age, 50.9 ± 13.5 years; mean disease duration, 11.8 ± 5.6 years) [54]. SARA does not include an eye movement section. Schmahmann et al. noted the importance of assessing oculomotor abnormalities and developed the Brief Ataxia Rating Scale, a modification of ICARS [55]. Each SCA genotype exhibits specific symptoms [56]. Therefore, these assessments should be used differently for different symptoms. However, one feature that is consistent among these assessments is that the scoring range is large and does not allow the assessment of minute symptom changes. Honda et al. developed a system to measure the evaluation of SARA using a depth sensor [57]. Using this system, the degree of ataxia can be measured numerically. In addition, because the system is inexpensive, it can be installed at the patient’s home, making it a useful tool for telemedicine.
The balance dysfunction in SCA has a significant impact on QOL [58]. The Berg Balance Scale and the Timed Up and Go test are widely used to assess balance dysfunction in SCA [59]. However, despite their widespread use, these assessments have not been examined for reliability and validity in SCA. Kondo et al. examined the test reliability of the Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BESTest) [60]. The BESTest is a multitask balance assessment tool that was developed to identify specific postural control problems (i.e., biomechanical constraints, stability limits, anticipatory postural adjustments, postural responses, sensory orientation, dynamic balance during gait, and cognitive effects) [61]. The MDC for an individual score difference from the baseline to the 4-week follow-up in BESTest was <8.7 (n = 20; SCA3, n = 4; SCA6, n = 9; SCA31, n = 7; mean age, 63.7 ± 10.1 years; age at onset, 53.9 ± 10.5 years; baseline SARA, 9.9 ± 3.5) [61]. Many types of balance function measures have been reported. However, BESTest is the only scale that is considered to have absolute reliability in SCA.
Gait speed is often used as an outcome of intervention studies in SCA [62, 63]. However, some changes in the gait pattern (e.g., base of support and gait speed) most likely reflect cerebellar-unspecific, compensatory strategies, and a high spatiotemporal gait variability appears to be a distinctive feature of ataxic gait [58, 64]. The Gait Variability Index (GVI) is a measure of gait variability that has been examined regarding reliability and validity [65]. The MDC for an individual score difference from day 1 to day 2 in GVI was <8.6 (Friedreich’s ataxia, n = 81; baseline ICARS, 70.4 ± 7.9) [65]. It has been suggested that gait instability in SCA are characterized by a stronger effect of balance-related impairments of cerebellar control during slow walking and a stronger effect of impaired intra-limb coordination during fast walking [58]. Therefore, in clinical practice, it is necessary to evaluate not only the optimal gait speed, but also slow walking and fast walking, to extract the characteristics of gait instability.
The cerebellum has the ability to compensate for tissue damage and loss of function. This is called the cerebellar reserve [6]. Mitoma et al. suggested that this is important for motor rehabilitation at a time when the cerebellar reserve is functioning [6]. Motor rehabilitation in the early stages may maintain and improve the cerebellar reserve [66, 67]. Therefore, it is important to assess this parameter.
Cerebellar ataxia is the main symptom of SCA. Ataxia symptoms may represent a compensation for predictive control using feedback control [6]. Predictive control requires a mechanism called internal model [38]. The internal model is constantly updated by motor learning [68]. In turn, motor learning is one of the most important functions of the cerebellum. Thus, a measure of motor learning ability may be useful as an assessment of the cerebellar reserve.
Prism adaptation (PA) is widely used as an assessment of motor learning ability in patients with SCA [40, 69]. The basic procedure of PA is shown in Figure 1. First, at the “baseline,” the task is performed without a prism lens. Subsequently, the prism lens is introduced and the task is performed. In the initial phase, the lens is set off to either the left or right side of the target, but the error is corrected as the number of repetitions increases. This period is called the “initial error correction phase.” Thereafter, a spatial realignment phase is performed under the prism lens. The purpose of this phase is to gather visuospatial information including the errors. Next, the prism is removed and an “after-effect phase” is performed. If the spatial information is being re-learned, errors are generated in the opposite direction to the initial error correction phase. Recently, Hashimoto et al. developed the Adaptability Index (AI), which is a composite index computed from several parameters measured PA (Figure 2). The clinical efficacy of the AI in discriminating patients with SCA from healthy individuals has been demonstrated [70]. Furthermore, Bando et al. found that a reduced AI was correlated with gray matter atrophy in the cerebellum in the SCA group [49]. In particular, the right lobule VI and the left Crus I showed the most robust correlation. These cerebellar regions are consistent with the correlates of PA detected in previous human and nonhuman primate studies [71, 72]. AI is considered as a motor learning index that reflects the cerebellar reserve (in this case, the degree of cerebellar atrophy).
Overview of prism adaptation. The ordinate shows the finger-touch error represented from the target to the touch point. Three phases are generally used: (1) absence of a prism lens (prism off), (2) presence of a prism lens (prism on), and (3) absence of a prism lens (prism off).
Calculation of the adaptability index (AI). The AI is calculated as follows: AI = a × b × c, where “a” is the adaptation index defined as the probability of correct touches in the last 10 trials of the spatial realignment phase 1, “b” is the retention index defined as the probability of incorrect touches in the initial 5 trials of the after-effect phase, and “c” is the extinction index designated as the probability of correct touches in the last 10 trials of the spatial realignment phase 2.
PA can be implemented using a simple system. In addition, it takes only 20 min to complete a PA. Reaching tasks can be performed even in the period during which the patient is unable to walk, and the fact that the PA can be assessed continuously over a long period is an advantage. However, only cross-sectional studies have been conducted in previous reports [40, 49, 69, 70, 73, 74]. Future studies need to be designed to examine long-term changes and intervention effects.
The targets of rehabilitation in cerebellar ataxia are mainly disability in ADL, gait, and motor dysfunction. Therefore, GAS, FIM, 10-m walking test, TCA, SARA, ICARS, and BESTest are used as important outcomes in rehabilitation. The most important strategies of rehabilitation for cerebellar ataxia including SCA consists in balance training (see Section 4.3), gait training (see Section 4.2), and muscle strengthening training using a high-intensity program (see Section 4.1). Further, optional possible interventions are using assistive technology (see Section 4.4) and neuromodulation technique (see Section 4.5).
Rehabilitation methods for cerebellar ataxia have been reported [75]. The most important strategy is the increase in the intensity of physical training, such as balancing, gait, and strength [76]. Several systematic reviews [77, 78, 79] and narrative reviews [3, 75, 80, 81] introduced and recommended intensive physical therapy for cerebellar ataxia in patients with SCA. Miyai et al. [62] reported that physical and occupational therapies of 2 h × 5 days +1 h × 2 days per week for 4 weeks were applied to inpatients and improved the SARA score and gait speed; however, the effect was carried over only up to 12 weeks after the training, and had disappeared at 24 weeks [62]. Conversely, Ilg et al. reported that intensive coordinative physiotherapy delivered over 4 weeks improved motor performance in degenerative cerebellar ataxia in a study with an intraindividual control design [63].
An outpatient rehabilitation program for 6 weeks applied to 19 participants with Friedreich’s ataxia improved the motor domain item in the FIM score and Friedreich’s Ataxia Impact Scale, but the posthome program could not maintain the effect [82]. Therefore, this finding indicates that continuous outpatient rehabilitation programs are important for maintaining the ADL in patients with Friedreich’s ataxia. Additional large-scale studies are needed to investigate the long-term effect of outpatient rehabilitation programs and identify the characteristics of patients who respond to treatment. Therefore, the development of optimal individual programs is important to obtain the effect of training, regardless of the inpatient, outpatient, or home-self-training setting [83]. The semi-order program of the Research Committee for Ataxia Disease (Research team under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan, http://ataxia.umin.ne.jp/rehabilitation/) can be used for this purpose.
Subsequently, the continuity of the intensive training is an important factor, because degradation in physical function was reported. Therefore, approaches aimed at upkeeping these programs in a way that suits the patients are needed. For example, exergames contribute to the practice of exercise at home. In the future, tele-rehabilitation systems [84] should be tested for the improvement (or maintenance) of the function and continuity of exercise.
Gait training has been reported to improve spatiotemporal gait parameters (cadence, step length/width, gait speed, etc.) [85, 86, 87], complex gait (Timed Up and Go test, Dynamic Gait Index) [85], independence (FAC) [86], ataxia (SARA) [88], and adaptive locomotor adjustments (ALA) [88]. Patients with SCA exhibit problems other than the gait disturbance itself, i.e., stiffening of the body in an attempt to avoid the occurrence of gait disturbances. Therefore, it is important to focus on gait disturbances and increasing the number of walking patterns when considering gait training in a person with SCA.
Disturbances of gait are the core features of SCA [89, 90, 91, 92], thus leading to a risk of falling down [93]. Patients with cerebellar ataxia walk with a reduced walking speed and cadence, as well as reduced step length, stride length, and swing phase; increased walking base width, stride time, step time, stance phase, and double limb support phase; and increased variability of step length, stride length, and stride time [94]. These items are affected by both balance-related impairments and deficits related to limb control and intra-limb coordination [95]. We believe that balance training and coordination training are key to the improvement of gait disturbances. Regarding the details of balance training, please refer to the Section 4.3.
In addition, stiffening of the body leads to a decrease in the number of walking patterns; as a result, ALA deteriorates [96, 97]. ALA implies that obstacle avoidance is achieved by modifying basic walking patterns in response to obstacle properties, e.g., a sloping road, stepping over an obstacle, or dynamically changing the spaces created by pedestrians in a hallway. In persons with SCA, feelings of anxiety as a result of the frequent experience of falls, as well as deficits related to limb control by ataxia, could negatively affect their ALA because of increased muscular co-contractions and reduced joint movements [98]. We will describe the approaches to improve ALA in the next paragraph.
The proposals for gait training are as follows: gait training without or with a treadmill. First, in gait training without a treadmill, we refer the reader to Section VI of the BESTest as gait adaptability training [61]. Section VI of the BESTest consists of a 7-item scale: (1) Gait Natural, (2) Change Speed, (3) Head Turns, (4) Pivot Turn, (5) Obstacles, (6) “Get Up & Go” Test, and (7) Cognitive Task “Get Up & Go” Test, aimed at evaluating the stability of the gait. These elements are important to improve ALA. As an example of gait training, persons with SCA are asked to walk while making an effort to change their walking speed according to therapist’s instructions to engage is “fast (or slow)” walking as fast (or slow) as possible. If patients need assistance when walking, you might want to change the walking speed with the support of a therapist.
Second, gait training using a treadmill has advantages in that patients can practice a relatively large amount of gait training over a short period and the therapists can control the speed and incline easily. Gait training using a treadmill has been reported as a potentially promising tool for improving ALA in a person with SCA [88], as well as gait disturbances in a person with Parkinson’s disease [99, 100]. It has been reported that variability was increased during slow and fast walking, but was normal during the preferred walking speed in a person with cerebellar ataxia [101]. Another study reported that, in ataxia, walking at the preferred speed minimizes the gait abnormalities, and the analysis of gait at a wide range of speeds is recommended [94]. For this reason, when using a treadmill in gait training, we suggest that walking be practiced at the speed at which the gait disturbance increases (i.e., slow or fast walking speed) for specific patients. When the fear of falling increases, the use of a harness is recommended, to provide a safe environment for gait without the fear of falling.
It is important to improve the balance ability and ALA during gait training in a person with SCA. Gait training is a relatively easy method; however, it is left to the therapist’s discretion and experience. By changing the task itself or adjusting the difficulty level of the task, gait training may be able to overcome the limited walking patterns of these patients.
All patients with SCA will develop balance difficulties during the course of the disease. Balance is essential for mobility, and is very important for QOL. Although there is no effective pharmacological treatment for decreasing the ataxia or slowing disease progression, physical therapy plays an important role in controlling ataxia and improving or maintaining function through training [76]. In general, the physical therapy programs for degenerative cerebellar ataxia are based on intensive static and dynamic balance and coordination training. There is some evidence that such therapeutic training programs alleviate the ataxic symptoms and improve functional activities in a person with cerebellar ataxia [63, 78, 102]. In these patients, the disease progressively damages the cerebellar structure that plays a crucial role in motor learning [103]; however, these studies have indicated that it is necessary for highly repetitive balance training for balance impairment in SCA. For this reason, highly repetitive balance training in patients with SCA should be the focus of future studies.
More concretely, balance training exercises in early stages of the disease, i.e., ambulation, include the following categories: (1) static balance training, (2) dynamic balance training, and (3) coordination training (Figure 3). In addition, combining a dual task with balance training improves balance and reduces the number of falls in individuals with cerebellar ataxia [104].
National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP) balance training program. This balance training program was devised through consultations with patients with SCA, medical doctors, and therapists at the NCNP in Japan. In the advanced stage of SCA, it is recommended to perform the programs indicated by an asterisk.
Moreover, it is important to provide support for these approaches and make them a habit of exercising. For instance, if the patients with SCA have no habit of exercising, they should start with a small number of exercises (i.e., the minimum necessary) to get used to exercising, followed by the gradual increase in the number of exercises. If the patients with SCA have a habit of exercising, the therapist should teach them to adjust the exercise load (e.g., exercise more slowly and/or provide a small base of support). It is also important to adopt balance training that can be enjoyed, e.g., video games [105] and Tai Chi [106], as a means of continuing balance training.
In advanced stages of the disease (i.e., no ambulation), it is necessary to perform balance training under safe conditions (e.g., prone, supine, crawl, and sitting positions), to prevent the decrease in physical activity. Even in advanced stages, it has been reported that a person with degenerative ataxia may benefit from balance training [107]. In addition, it is necessary to focus on ADL and living infrastructure at this stage. If a patient with SCA requires assistance during transfer, engaging in repetitive transfer training with assistance and/or modification of the living infrastructure (e.g., installation of handrails) are necessary.
Focusing on highly repetitive balance training in patients with SCA might preserve the balance function. There is no scientific basis for the number of balance training exercises that are necessary to achieve this goal; however, we would like to recommend engaging in 30 repetitions at least per balance training session. Furthermore, the balance training must be designed to provide a significant challenge to the person’s balance. If a person with SCA wants to preserve the balance function, they have to continue engaging in repetitive balance training, “use it or lose it.” However, few studies have reported the effect of gait and balance training in persons with SCA. Therefore, further studies are needed to clarify the clinical effectiveness of gait and/or balance training.
In recent years, various technologies have been used in the assessment of and treatment based on rehabilitation, as well as to support daily life in patients with SCD. Curara, a wearable robotic system, assists both hip and knee movements and supports the wearer’s rhythmic gait using a synchronization control based on a central pattern generator [108]. Gait support using the curara system has been reported to improve gait smoothness in patients with SCD [109]. In addition to these findings, a recent study addressed the effects of robotic gait training combined with noninvasive brain stimulation. This report showed that robot gait training using Lokomat-Pro in combination with cerebellar tDCS improved the functional scores on SARA, especially the scores on the subitems of gait, stance, sitting, and heel-shin slide compared with robot gait training alone [110]. Thus, hybrid training using robots and noninvasive brain stimulation will be applied to the rehabilitation treatment of patients with SCD in the future.
Accordingly, the use of walking aids is a complementary method for balance and gait impairment. In general, walking aids such as canes and walkers improve postural stability, but their improper use increases the risk of falling [111]. Because the manipulation of a cane requires coordinated upper limb movements [112], patients with SCD who have upper limb ataxia are likely to experience difficulty in using a cane. Conversely, because a walker does not require much coordinated movement of the upper limbs, technology-based walkers are being developed. Recently, a smart walker for mobility assistance and monitoring system aid, ASBGo, was developed and reported to improve gait parameters and postural stability in patients with SCA [113, 114]. In addition to technology, some studies on walking assistance using dogs and handkerchiefs have also been reported. Walking with a rehabilitation dog that has been specifically trained for goal-directed interventions or with an assistance dog that helps people with physical disability and mobility impairments has been reported to improve balance while walking in patients with SCD [115]. Furthermore, the handkerchief-guided gait, in which the patient with SCD walks along with the caregiver while maintaining light tension on a handkerchief by pulling lightly, has been shown to decrease body swaying and increase stride length and gait velocity during walking [116].
Moreover, technology is also being used as a tool to assess ataxia in patients with SCD living at home. Most of them represent attempts to evaluate SARA, which is a typical measure of ataxia, at home. In recent years, a technology aimed at objectively evaluating the speech, upper and lower limb, balance, and gait functions using wearable inertial sensors and a Kinect camera was developed, which makes it possible to discriminate between normal and abnormal functions and to detect ataxia at an early stage [117]. In addition, SaraHome has been developed to allow the remote evaluation of SARA items using Kinect and Leap Motion Controller [118]. Moreover, a spoon equipped with an inertial sensor, called Ataxia Instrumented Measurement-Spoon, has been developed, which allows the evaluation of upper limb function in ataxia while eating with a spoon [119, 120, 121]. Because SCD is an intractable neurological disease, it is difficult for many patients to leave their houses. Therefore, the contribution of technology to home-based rehabilitation is expected to increase in the future if a low-cost and easy method of assessing ataxia at home is established using the technologies and products of daily living described above.
Regarding the support of ADL, BMI studies have been reported. Patients with severe SCA often have difficulty in communicating because of language impairment. The application of BMI using event-related potentials and frequency bands of EEG is being investigated as a solution to this problem. The operational accuracy of BMI using P300 for event-related potentials was 82.9% in patients with SCA, which was similar to the accuracy observed in healthy subjects (83.2%) [122]. There are also reports of BMI manipulation in patients with SCD using the EEG frequency band associated with motor imagery [123]. BMI has a wide range of applications in diseases of the central nervous system, such as communication tools, transportation, and life support, and is expected to contribute to the QOL of patients with SCD.
Neuromodulation via noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is a potential method for the treatment of cerebellar ataxia [19, 124]. A previous systematic review [125] reported the effectiveness of cerebellar neuromodulation using the TMS technique of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The SARA and ICARS scores in patients with SCA3, multiple system atrophy, and postlesion ataxia, as assessed using real cerebellar rTMS (1 Hz), were significantly lower than those detected in the sham stimulation group [125]. Furthermore, no harmful side effects were noted [125]. Cerebellar rTMS can modulate the plasticity of the vestibular reflex [16, 126]; therefore, cerebellar rTMS has potential for application in balance training to enhance vestibular contributions.
A single session of anodal cerebellar tDCS (2 mA, 20 min) significantly improved SARA, ICARS, 9-hole-peg test, and 8-m walking test scores [127]. Furthermore, combined anodal cerebellar tDCS and cathodal spinal DCS (5 days/week, 2 weeks) improved SARA score, ICARS score, 9-peg test, and 8-m walking time in patients with degenerative cerebellar ataxia [128]. There is insufficient evidence regarding whether simultaneous stimulation is more effective than single stimulation [129]; however, it is possible that this intervention method will produce improvements. Based on these findings, which were gleaned from small-sample studies, we suggest that a neuromodulation montage will improve the ataxia, balance, and gait ability. Therefore, we should perform further studies using a larger population.
Individualized physical rehabilitation programs for patients with SCA may improve/maintain their motor function, balance, gait ability, and ADL. In particular, the intensity and continuity of gait and balance training need to be considered to achieve effectiveness. Furthermore, several technologies, such as depth sensors, robotics, and NIBS, have contributed to the development of methods for the assessment and treatment of motor dysfunction in individuals with SCA. We should continue to study populations suffering from dysfunction caused by SCA.
This work was supported by Shijonawate Gakuen University and JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number 20 K11298).
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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She has been a faculty member at the University of California, Riverside in the School of Education since 2016. Her research focuses on translational studies to explore the reward system in ASD, as well as how anxiety contributes to social challenges in ASD. She also investigates how behavioral interventions affect neural activity, behavior, and school performance in children with ASD. She is also involved in the diagnosis of children with ASD and is a licensed clinical psychologist in California. 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Thus proteomics, an area of research that detects all protein forms expressed in an organism, including splice isoforms and post-translational modifications, is more suitable than genomics for a comprehensive understanding of the biochemical processes that govern life. The most common proteomics applications are currently in the clinical field for the identification, in a variety of biological matrices, of biomarkers for diagnosis and therapeutic intervention of disorders. From the comparison of proteomic profiles of control and disease or different physiological states, which may emerge, changes in protein expression can provide new insights into the roles played by some proteins in human pathologies. Understanding how proteins function and interact with each other is another goal of proteomics that makes this approach even more intriguing. Specialized technology and expertise are required to assess the proteome of any biological sample. Currently, proteomics relies mainly on mass spectrometry (MS) combined with electrophoretic (1 or 2-DE-MS) and/or chromatographic techniques (LC-MS/MS). MS is an excellent tool that has gained popularity in proteomics because of its ability to gather a complex body of information such as cataloging protein expression, identifying protein modification sites, and defining protein interactions. 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