Variation in phytoliths morphology of Erianthus arundinaceus

Five improved Erianthus arundinaceus clones were studied for variations in phytoliths present in leaves. Phytoliths were extracted by acid digestion and the morphology was studied by light microscopy. Phytoliths belonging to three classes viz., Eupanicoid, Festucoid and Chloridoid were identified in the samples. Variations in type and shape were observed among the clones studied. The results indicate that phytolith characteristics may be an important and reliable trait for clonal characterization in improved Erianthus clones and also there is a possibility of using this trait as a tool for the identification of species, hybrids and their parentage in sugarcane and their related genera

Value added products from clarified sugarcane juice

Sugarcane juice (SCJ) is a valuable base product obtained from sugarcane to prepare wide range of products of interest with increased nutritional quality. SCJ contains variety of non sugar impurities which are to be removed prior to preparation of the products including the SCJ beverage. These non sugar components interfere in the stability, colour and texture of the products. They mainly constitute fibre, wax, fat, dirt, soil, albuminoids, gums, starch, organic acids, etc. As long as they are present, they change the constituents of SCJ, chemically alter the original components and pH, which adversely affect the quality and shelf life of the final products. Hence the importance of the components present in sugarcane juice and their removal has been discussed in this paper. From the clarified SCJ, four products viz. SCJ beverage, badam jaggery (BJ), grape juice jaggery (GJ) and SCJ rich drink have been prepared to show the potential and versatility of SCJ to prepare such products. Nutritional quality of these products is due to the minerals, vitamins originally present in SCJ and they are having various health benefits. Shelf life of badam and grape juice jaggery was found to be six months. SCJ beverage and SCJ rich drink were found stable for three months without mold formation under ambient conditions

Improved method of liquid jaggery preparation

Liquid jaggery (LJ) is an important intermediate product obtained during the preparation of jaggery from sugarcane juice (SCJ). Unlike the white sugar, LJ is having additional nutritional components which are having wide spectrum of medicinal properties and hence, it is a good nutraceutical. LJ is incorporated in many traditional foods and ayurvedic medicinal compositions. In the present study, five products of LJ were prepared from SCJ with different experimental methods, 1. Filtration, 2. pH neutralisation, 3. Citric acid addition, 4. Without filtration and 5. Control (without filtration and scum removal) to compare their quality and acceptability. pH neutralisation resulted in clear product but showed sucrose crystallization. Citric acid addition, preparation without filtration and control gave turbid LJ products. Organoleptic examination was done using a nine-point Hedonic scale to evaluate the LJ samples for appearance, colour, flavour, taste and overall acceptability. The filtration gave LJ product of good appearance, colour, taste and acceptability with highest score. Product from filtration method was validated by 1H NMR spectrum for major ingredients with prominent characteristic signals of glucose, fructose and sucrose units with the relevant δ values. The best product was obtained with filtration method at the striking temperature of 106°C involving simples steps without incorporation of any harmful chemicals. Hence, filtration method of preparation of LJ is suggested for obtaining good quality LJ

Renaissance in Fisheries: Outlook and Strategies - Book of Abstracts 9th Indian Fisheries Forum, December 19-23, 2011, Chennai, India

The Asian Fisheries Society – Indian Branch (AFSIB) since its inception in 1986, has been providing a platform for discussion at the national level on issues related to research, development, education and policies by organizing Indian Fisheries Forum (IFF) every three years in different parts of the country. The 9th Indian Fisheries Forum (9th iff) will be hosted by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), at Chennai during 19-23 December 2011. The main theme of the 9th iff is “Renaissance in Fisheries: Outlook & Strategies”. It would have a comprehensive look for the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, for achieving greater synergy among the stakeholders and planning strategies for capture fisheries and aquafarming to build higher levels of sustainability and profitability. The forum would also address the issues of impact of climate change and its mitigation, resource constraint and species diversification for the expansion of fish production activity; and encourage young scientists to undertake need-based and resource specific research. An international symposium sponsored by the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BoBLME) is scheduled to be held during the forum on 21 December, 2011 with theme: Bay of Bengal–Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management

Toe clearance and velocity profiles of young and elderly during walking on sloped surfaces

Background Most falls in older adults are reported during locomotion and tripping has been identified as a major cause of falls. Challenging environments (e.g., walking on slopes) are potential interventions for maintaining balance and gait skills. The aims of this study were: 1) to investigate whether or not distributions of two important gait variables [minimum toe clearance (MTC) and foot velocity at MTC (VelMTC)] and locomotor control strategies are altered during walking on sloped surfaces, and 2) if altered, are they maintained at two groups (young and elderly female groups). Methods MTC and VelMTC data during walking on a treadmill at sloped surfaces (+3°, 0° and -3°) were analysed for 9 young (Y) and 8 elderly (E) female subjects. Results MTC distributions were found to be positively skewed whereas VelMTC distributions were negatively skewed for both groups on all slopes. Median MTC values increased (Y = 33%, E = 7%) at negative slope but decreased (Y = 25%, E = 15%) while walking on the positive slope surface compared to their MTC values at the flat surface (0°). Analysis of VelMTC distributions also indicated significantly (p < 0.05) lower minimum and 25th percentile (Q1) values in the elderly at all slopes. Conclusion The young displayed a strong positive correlation between MTC median changes and IQR (interquartile range) changes due to walking on both slopes; however, such correlation was weak in the older adults suggesting differences in control strategies being employed to minimize the risk of tripping

Establishment and maintenance of decentralized sweet sorghum crushing-cumsyrup making unit.

In the light of environmental concerns associated with fossil fuel use and the increased demand for energy in different counties, bio-fuels research and development has come to center stage. Sweet sorghum is a SMART crop with triple product benefit - food, feed and fuel. It is a good candidate for commercial ethanol production with potential opportunities for benefiting the dryland farmers from the emerging bio-fuel markets. The commercial ethanol production from sweet sorghum requires feedstock supplies for longer periods in a year. ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Crops) and DSR (Directorate of Sorghum Research, Rajendranagar, AP, India) and other partners are working on supply chain management and addressing other issues in the sweet sorghum ethanol value chain. Principally, sweet sorghum supply chain involves centralized and decentralized models. Under centralized model farmers supply the sweet sorghum stalks directly to the distillery where as in decentralized model farmers supply stalks to Decentralized Crushing-Syrup Making Unit (DCU) located in the village it self. These stalks are crushed at the DCU and the sweet juice is boiled to produce concentrated syrup that can be stored for more than 9 months and used for ethanol production, particularly in the off-season augmenting the feedstock supply to the distillery. Use of DCU for crushing and syrup production at village is a new idea and there is no publication available on the requirements for establishment of a DCU and its maintenance. In this bulletin, attempts have been made to briefly describe the experiences of ICRISAT and partners in establishment and maintenance of DCU covering all the aspects of DCU, from selection of site for its establishment, logistical requirements, plant and machinery, operation and maintenance of DCU and its role in sweet sorghum supply chain management

Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease

Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. RESULTS: At 48 months, the median reduction from baseline in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was 26 percentage points greater in the group that received the 50-mg dose of canakinumab, 37 percentage points greater in the 150-mg group, and 41 percentage points greater in the 300-mg group than in the placebo group. Canakinumab did not reduce lipid levels from baseline. At a median follow-up of 3.7 years, the incidence rate for the primary end point was 4.50 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group, 4.11 events per 100 person-years in the 50-mg group, 3.86 events per 100 person-years in the 150-mg group, and 3.90 events per 100 person-years in the 300-mg group. The hazard ratios as compared with placebo were as follows: in the 50-mg group, 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.07; P = 0.30); in the 150-mg group, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98; P = 0.021); and in the 300-mg group, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P = 0.031). The 150-mg dose, but not the other doses, met the prespecified multiplicity-adjusted threshold for statistical significance for the primary end point and the secondary end point that additionally included hospitalization for unstable angina that led to urgent revascularization (hazard ratio vs. placebo, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005). Canakinumab was associated with a higher incidence of fatal infection than was placebo. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio for all canakinumab doses vs. placebo, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.06; P = 0.31). Conclusions: Antiinflammatory therapy targeting the interleukin-1β innate immunity pathway with canakinumab at a dose of 150 mg every 3 months led to a significantly lower rate of recurrent cardiovascular events than placebo, independent of lipid-level lowering. (Funded by Novartis; CANTOS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01327846.

Adaptive support vector machines for regression

Support Vector Machines are a general formulation for machine learning. It has been shown to perform extremely well for a number of problems in classification and regression. However, in many difficult problems, the system dynamics may change with time and the resulting new information arriving incrementally will provide additional data. At present, there is limited work to cope with the computational demands of modeling time varying systems. Therefore, we develop the concept of adaptive support vector machines that can learn from incremental data. In this paper, results are provided to demonstrate the applicability of the adaptive support vector machines techniques for pattern classification and regression problems.Nov. 18-22, 200