Adaptation of Direct Seeded Rice under Water Stress Conditions in Andhra Pradesh, Krishna Basin

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Honey Bee Gut Microbiome Is Altered by In-Hive Pesticide Exposures

Honey bees (Apismellifera) are the primary pollinators of major horticultural crops. Over the last few decades, a substantial decline in honey bees and their colonies have been reported. While a plethora of factors could contribute to the putative decline, pathogens, and pesticides are common concerns that draw attention. In addition to potential direct effects on honey bees, indirect pesticide effects could include alteration of essential gut microbial communities and symbionts that are important to honey bee health (e.g.,immunesystem). The primary objective of this study was to determine the microbiome associated with honey bees exposed to commonly used in-hive pesticides: coumaphos, tau-fluvalinate, and chlorothalonil. Treatments were replicated at three independent locations near Blacksburg Virginia, and included ano-pesticide amended control at each location. The microbiome was characterized through pyrosequencing of V2–V3 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS region. Pesticide exposure significantly affected the structure of bacterial but not fungal communities. The bee bacteriome, similar to other studies, was dominated by sequences derived from Bacilli, Actinobacteria, α-, β-, γ-proteobacteria. The fungal community sequences were dominated by Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. The Multi-response permutation procedures (MRPP) and subsequent Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) analysis indicated that chlorothalonil caused significant change to the structure and functional potential of the honey bee gut bacterial community relative to control. Putative genes for oxidative phosphorylation, for example, increased while sugar metabolism and peptidase potential declined in the microbiome of chlorothalonil exposed bees. The results of this field-based study suggest the potential for pesticide induced changes to the honey bee gut microbiome that warrant further investigation

Supercritical fluids in biomedical and tissue engineering applications : a review

Over the past several years, the definition of a scaffold for tissue engineering has changed dramatically, from a material that acts only as an inert structural support for cell attachment to serving as a more complex and dynamic environment for tissue development. This paper is a review on the existing and on the new emerging techniques based on supercritical fluid technology for the preparation of scaffolds and particles for tissue engineering applications. Supercritical fluid technology has already proven to be feasible for many pharmaceutical applications and is now emerging as an alternative to conventional materials’ processing methods for the preparation of three-dimensional structures and injectable particles suitable to be used in regenerative medicine. The basic principles underlying each technique are here presented as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each process. The state of the art is reviewed and the major conclusions of the studies reported in the literature are discussedAna Rita C. Duarte is grateful for financial support from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia through the grant no. SFRH/BPD/34994/2007

Mapping of household vulnerability and identification of adaptation strategies in dryland systems of South Asia, Research Report No. 67

Low amount and high variability of rainfall in South Asian dryland production system have affected the livelihood of small and marginal households. Therefore, a marginal change in the climate could challenge the livelihood resilience of millions of farmers and affect the healthy ecosystem function in South Asia. The CGIAR Consortium Research Program on Dryland Systems (DS) focuses on DS across the world in order to tackle these problems. The overall emphasis of the research involves understanding the problem, identifying and demonstrating technologies and searching for mechanisms to promote the adoption of promising technologies. In South Asia, the program selected six districts in Andhra Pradesh (Anantapur and Kurnool), Karnataka (Bijapur) and Western Rajasthan (Jaisalmer, Barmer, and Jodhpur) as action sites..

Empirical evaluation of sustainability of divergent farms in the dryland farming systems of India

The present study argues that there are heterogeneous farm systems within the drylands and each farm system is unique in terms of its livelihood asset and agricultural practice, and therefore in sustainability. Our method is based on household survey data collected from 500 farmers in Anantapur and Kurnool Districts, in Andhra Pradesh State of India, in 2013. We carried out principal component analysis (PCA) with subsequent hierarchical clustering methods to build farm typologies. To evaluate sustainability across these farm typologies, we adopted a framework consisting of economic, social and environmental sustainability pillars and associated indicators. We normalized values of target indicators and employed normative approach to assign different weights to these indicators. Composite sustainability indices (CSI) were then estimated by means of weighted sum of indicators, aggregated and integrated into farm typologies. The results suggested that there were five distinct farm typologies representing farming systems in the study area. The majority of farms (>70%) in the study area are small and extensive (typology 1); marginal and off farm based (typology 2). About 20% of the farms are irrigation based and intensive (typology 3); small and medium and off farm based (typology 4) and irrigation based semi-intensive (typology 5). There was apparent variability among farm typologies in terms of farm structure and functions and composite sustainability indices. Farm typologies 3 and 5 showed significantly higher performances for the social and economic indices, while typologies 2 and 4 had relatively stronger values for environment. These discrepancies support the relevance of integrated farm typology- and CSI approaches in assessing system sustainability and targeting technologies. Universally, for all farm typologies, composite sustainability indices for economic pillar was significantly lower than the social and environment pillars. More than 90% of farmers were in economically less-sustainable class. The correlations between sustainability indices for economic and environment were typology specific. It was strong and positive when aggregated for the whole study systems [all samples (r = 0.183; P < 0.001)] and for agriculture dependent farm typologies (e.g. typologies 1 and 3). This suggests the need to elevate farms economic performance and capacitate them to invest in the environment. These results provide information for policy makers to plan farm typology–context technological interventions and also create baseline information to evaluate sustainability performance in terms of progress made over time

Climate Change, Gender and Adaptation Strategies in Dryland Systems of South Asia : A Household Level Analysis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan States of India; Research Report No. 65

There is a blossoming literature on gender and climate change issues broadly focused on the adverse effects of climate condition. These studies are mostly focused on gender inequalities in agrarian communities of developing countries where the dependence on climatic conditions for living is more apparent. Frequently, the issues of climate change, poverty, gender and economic empowerment are addressed as the most prominent in developing regions. In some cases, the studies narrow down the focus to specific weather events like droughts, floods or natural disasters in rural communities. The agrarian communities of backward areas in South Asia are some of the representative examples which are frequently presented in climate change and gender studies..

Quantification of Risk Associated with Technology Adoption in Dryland Systems of South Asia : A Household Level Analysis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan States of India; Research Report No. 66

Climate change increasingly becomes a challenge for smallholder farmers. Strategies that will help farmers to cope with vulnerability are important. These strategies comprise a variety of interventions ranging from technical, institutional to policy. This study is an in-depth analysis of household level climate change shocks, farmers’ perception of vulnerability, adaptation strategies they followed and risk in technology adoption. A baseline survey was conducted in the dryland system action sites in three states of India: Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool and Anantapur districts); Karnataka (Bijapur district) and Rajasthan (Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur districts) in 2012-13 for 2011-12 production season. A total of 1019 farmers were surveyed..

Citrullination facilitates cross-reactivity of rheumatoid factor with non-IgG1 Fc epitopes in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) are the two most prevalent autoantibodies in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and are thought to have distinct autoantigen targets. Whilst RF targets the Fc region of antibodies, ACPAs target a far broader spectrum of citrullinated peptides. Here we demonstrate significant sequence and structural homology between proposed RF target epitopes in IgG1 Fc and the ACPA target fibrinogen. Two of the three homologous sequences were susceptible to citrullination, and this modification, which occurs extensively in RA, permitted significant cross-reactivity of RF+ patient sera with fibrinogen in both western blots and ELISAs. Crucially, this reactivity was specific to RF as it was absent in RF− patient and healthy control sera, and could be inhibited by pre-incubation with IgG1 Fc. These studies establish fibrinogen as a common target for both RF and ACPAs, and suggest a new mechanism in RF-mediated autoimmune diseases wherein RF may act as a precursor from which the ACPA response evolves