Land-use Dynamics in Jammu and Kashmir

The dynamics of shift among different land-use classes has been studied in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. A significant decline has been observed in the total reported area, which necessitates a proper land-use survey through remote sensing. A declining trend has also been observed in the area under forests. The unfavourable increasing trends in the area put to non-agricultural uses and barren and unculturable land are likely to have serious implications on ecological balance. Inter-sectoral land budgeting analysis has revealed that shifts in area are occurring from desirable ecological towards undesirable ecological sector. The estimates of regression analysis have revealed that the net irrigated area, literacy and area not available for cultivation have significantly improved the cropping intensity in the state agriculture, whereas agricultural density and area under rice are significant determinants of current fallow lands. The study has emphasized on the evolution of suitable institutional mechanism for scientific management, conservation and development of land resources in the state.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Marketed Surplus and Price Spread of Vegetables in Kashmir Valley

The paper has reported the growth of vegetable sector in relation with technology mission, extent and determinants of marketed surplus and price spread of vegetables in the Kashmir valley. A substantial increase in the area and production of vegetables has been observed under Mini-Mission-II scheme of Technology Mission. At the farm level, vegetables have been observed to occupy an important place in the cropping pattern. The intensity of cropping in the study area has become more than 250 per cent due to multiple cropping of vegetable crops. On an average, producers’ marketed surplus has been found more than 92 per cent of the total production of selected vegetables. The estimates of regression function have revealed that the production, area under improved varieties, net price received by producers and education level are the significant and positive determinants of marketed surplus, while spoilage at farm level and consumption have shown a negative contribution. The price spread of vegetables with respect to various marketing channels has indicated that the producers’ share has an inverse relationship with the number of intermediaries. The net price received by the producers is relatively higher in the channels in which the produce is directly sold to the consumers or retailers. Across different vegetables, producers could receive higher absolute net returns in tomato, followed by brinjal and cauliflower in all the channels. The study has suggested that the coverage of technology mission should be expanded to other niche areas of vegetable cultivation. The study has also highlighted the needed effective measures to reduce marketing losses at various stages. Study has emphasized on the strengthening of institutions, establishment of processing units and development of market infrastructure in the area.Agricultural and Food Policy,

The protective effect of exercise on diabetic nephropathy : the role of histidine-containing dipeptides

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Carnosinase-1 overexpression, but not aerobic exercise training, affects the development of diabetic nephropathy in BTBR ob/ob mice

Manipulation of circulating histidine-containing dipeptides (HCD) has been shown to affect the development of diabetes and early-stage diabetic nephropathy (DN). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether such interventions, which potentially alter levels of circulating HCD, also affect the development of advanced-stage DN. Two interventions, aerobic exercise training and overexpression of the human carnosinase-1 (hCN1) enzyme, were tested. BTBR ob/ob mice were either subjected to aerobic exercise training (20 wk) or genetically manipulated to overexpress hCN1, and different diabetes- and DN-related markers were compared with control ob/ob and healthy (wild-type) mice. An acute exercise study was performed to elucidate the effect of obesity, acute running, and hCN1 overexpression on plasma HCD levels. Chronic aerobic exercise training did not affect the development of diabetes or DN, but hCN1 overexpression accelerated hyperlipidemia and aggravated the development of albuminuria, mesangial matrix expansion, and glomerular hypertrophy of ob/ob mice. In line, plasma, kidney, and muscle HCD were markedly lower in ob/ob versus wild-type mice, and plasma and kidney HCD in particular were lower in ob/ob hCN1 versus ob/ob mice but were unaffected by aerobic exercise. In conclusion, advanced glomerular damage is accelerated in mice overexpressing the hCN1 enzyme but not protected by chronic exercise training. Interestingly, we showed, for the first time, that the development of DN is closely linked to renal HCD availability. Further research will have to elucidate whether the stimulation of renal HCD levels can be a therapeutic strategy to reduce the risk for developing DN

Implications of risk conferred by 5p15.33 loci genetic variants; human telomerase reverse transcriptase rs2736098 and rs2736100 in predisposition of bladder cancer

Background: The polymorphic variations of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene play an important role in predisposition to carcinogenesis. The current study aimed to elucidate the genetic predisposition to bladder cancer in two important variants, rs2736098 and rs2736100 of hTERT gene. Materials and methods: Confirmed 130 patients of bladder cancer and 200 healthy controls were genotyped by PCR-RFLP to determine different variants of hTERT rs2736098 and rs2736100. Results: hTERT rs2736098 homozygous variant AA genotype frequency was observed to significantly differ 2-fold between cases and controls (26.15% vs. 13.5%) (p = 0.02). In addition, rare ‘A’ allele significantly differed among two groups (cases: 47% versus controls: 39%: p = 0.03). hTERT rs2736098 was observed to be presented significantly more in high stage tumors (p = 0.02). hTERT rs2736100 genotype AA or variant allele A showed no significant difference between cases and controls. Haplotype CA displayed significantly different pattern of frequency as 0.5 in cases as compared to 0.16 in controls (p < 0.0001). Combination of variant A/G haplotype frequency implicated more in cases than in controls (0.34 vs. 0.16, p = 0.001). Conclusions: It is concluded that hTERT rs2736098 polymorphic variant has a vital role to confer a strong risk to bladder cancer in our population. Further, hTERT haplotypes CA and AG inhTERT could prove to be a promising tool to screen the risk for bladder cancer

A new strain collection for improved expression of outer membrane proteins

Almost all integral membrane proteins found in the outer membranes of Gram-negative bacteria belong to the transmembrane β-barrel family. These proteins are not only important for nutrient uptake and homeostasis, but are also involved in such processes as adhesion, protein secretion, biofilm formation, and virulence. As surface exposed molecules, outer membrane β-barrel proteins are also potential drug and vaccine targets. High production levels of heterologously expressed proteins are desirable for biochemical and especially structural studies, but over-expression and subsequent purification of membrane proteins, including outer membrane proteins, can be challenging. Here, we present a set of deletion mutants derived from E. coli BL21(DE3) designed for the over-expression of recombinant outer membrane proteins. These strains harbor deletions of four genes encoding abundant β-barrel proteins in the outer membrane (OmpA, OmpC, OmpF, and LamB), both single and in all combinations of double, triple, and quadruple knock-outs. The sequences encoding these outer membrane proteins were deleted completely, leaving only a minimal scar sequence, thus preventing the possibility of genetic reversion. Expression tests in the quadruple mutant strain with four test proteins, including a small outer membrane β-barrel protein and variants thereof as well as two virulence-related autotransporters, showed significantly improved expression and better quality of the produced proteins over the parent strain. Differences in growth behavior and aggregation in the presence of high salt were observed, but these phenomena did not negatively influence the expression in the quadruple mutant strain when handled as we recommend. The strains produced in this study can be used for outer membrane protein production and purification, but are also uniquely useful for labeling experiments for biophysical measurements in the native membrane environment

Land-use Dynamics in Jammu and Kashmir

The dynamics of shift among different land-use classes has been studied in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. A significant decline has been observed in the total reported area, which necessitates a proper land-use survey through remote sensing. A declining trend has also been observed in the area under forests. The unfavourable increasing trends in the area put to non-agricultural uses and barren and unculturable land are likely to have serious implications on ecological balance. Inter-sectoral land budgeting analysis has revealed that shifts in area are occurring from desirable ecological towards undesirable ecological sector. The estimates of regression analysis have revealed that the net irrigated area, literacy and area not available for cultivation have significantly improved the cropping intensity in the state agriculture, whereas agricultural density and area under rice are significant determinants of current fallow lands. The study has emphasized on the evolution of suitable institutional mechanism for scientific management, conservation and development of land resources in the state