Tourist Flow and Tourism Potential Regions of Gulmarg in Kashmir Himalayas

Gulmarg has a rich and diverse touristic product that holds the potential to be one of the most attractive tourist destinations for both leisure and sports tourism across the whole Kashmir Himalayan region The place owes its importance mainly to its beautiful geo-environmental setup and unique climate The destination has a history of tourism activities for more than five centuries The resort has been a great attraction for several British officials posted in India and their families made Gulmarg their home for the summer months This his to-geographical personality of the place has resulted in the development of tourist regions of interest to a range of tastes especially for holiday makers and sports and adventure tourists Therefore present study aims at identification and delineation of the different tourist potential regions of the place which would help in proper marketing of the tourist product management of tourist flow optimization of economic returns and management of the environmental health of the destination for sustainable tourism development in the regio

Watershed Based Drainage Morphometric Analysis of Lidder Catchment in Kashmir Valley Using Geographical Information System

The quantitative analysis of drainage system is an important aspect of characterization of watersheds. Using watershed as a basic unit in morphometric analysis is the most logical choice because all hydrologic and geomorphic processes occur within the watershed. Lidder catchment which constitutes a segment of the western Himalayas with an area of 1159.38 km2 (10% of the river Jhelum catchment) has been selected as the study area. Various linear and areal aspects of the catchment were computed at watershed level. This was achieved using GIS to provide digital data that can be manipulated for different calculations. The analysis has revealed that the total number as well as total length of stream segments is maximum in first order streams and decreases as the stream order increases. Horton’s laws of stream numbers and stream lengths also hold good. The bifurcation ratio between different successive orders is almost constant. The drainage density values of the different watersheds exhibit high degree of positive correlation (0.97) with the stream frequency suggesting that there is an increase in stream population with respect to increasing drainage density and vice versa

Chemokine-cytokine networks in the head and neck tumor microenvironment

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are aggressive diseases with a dismal patient prognosis. Despite significant advances in treatment modalities, the five-year survival rate in patients with HNSCC has improved marginally and therefore warrants a comprehensive understanding of the HNSCC biology. Alterations in the cellular and non-cellular components of the HNSCC tumor micro-environment (TME) play a critical role in regulating many hallmarks of cancer development including evasion of apoptosis, activation of invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, response to therapy, immune escape mechanisms, deregulation of energetics, and therefore the development of an overall aggressive HNSCC phenotype. Cytokines and chemokines are small secretory proteins produced by neoplastic or stromal cells, controlling complex and dynamic cell–cell interactions in the TME to regulate many cancer hallmarks. This review summarizes the current understanding of the complex cytokine/chemokine networks in the HNSCC TME, their role in activating diverse signaling pathways and promoting tumor progression, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance development.This study was supported by Ramalingaswami Fellowship (Grant number: D.O.NO.BT/HRD/35/02/2006) from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, New Delhi to Muzafar A. Macha. Sidra Medicine Precision Program funded this research to Mohammad Haris (5081012001, 5081012001) and Ajaz A. Bhat (5081012003)

Long-term Farming System Comparison Trial in India

Background: Developing sustainable farming system on large scale is very important for sustainable development of global agriculture. Scientific information about organic vs. conventional agriculture in the tropics is sparse

Tumor Microenvironment: An Evil Nexus Promoting Aggressive Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Avenue for Targeted Therapy

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a very aggressive disease with a poor prognosis for advanced-stage tumors. Recent clinical, genomic, and cellular studies have revealed the highly heterogeneous and immunosuppressive nature of HNSCC. Despite significant advances in multimodal therapeutic interventions, failure to cure and recurrence are common and account for most deaths. It is becoming increasingly apparent that tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a critical role in HNSCC tumorigenesis, promotes the evolution of aggressive tumors and resistance to therapy, and thereby adversely affects the prognosis. A complete understanding of the TME factors, together with the highly complex tumor-stromal interactions, can lead to new therapeutic interventions in HNSCC. Interestingly, different molecular and immune landscapes between HPV+ve and HPV-ve (human papillomavirus) HNSCC tumors offer new opportunities for developing individualized, targeted chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) regimen. This review highlights the current understanding of the complexity between HPV+ve and HPV-ve HNSCC TME and various tumor-stromal cross-talk modulating processes, including epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), anoikis resistance, angiogenesis, immune surveillance, metastatic niche, therapeutic resistance, and development of an aggressive tumor phenotype. Furthermore, we summarize the recent developments and the rationale behind CIT strategies and their clinical applications in HPV+ve and HPV-ve HNSCC

Genetic enhancement of okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] germplasm through wide hybridization

IntroductionThe introgression of genetic material from one species to another through wide hybridization and repeated back-crossing, plays an important role in genetic modification and enriching the cultivated gene-pool with novel genetic variations. Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus [(L.) Moench)] is a popular vegetable crop with high dietary fibre and protein, rich in essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophan. The wild Abelmoschus genepool has many desirable traits like ornamental value, short internodal length, more number of productive branches, extended bearing, perennation tendency, reduced fruit length (more consumer preferred trait), high mucilage content (medicinal value), abiotic stress tolerances such as drought, high temperature and biotic stress resistances such as okra Yellow Vein Mosaic Virus (YVMV) and Enation Leaf Curl Virus (ELCV) diseases. The repeated use of elite breeding lines led to narrowing of the genetic base of the okra crop, one of the major factors attributed to breakdown of resistance/ tolerance to biotic stresses. YVMV and ELCV are the two major diseases, causing significant yield loss in okra. Hence, wide hybridization was attempted to transfer tolerance genes from wild species to the cultivated genepool to widen the genetic base.Material and methodsThe screening of germplasm of wild Abelmoschus species at hotspots led to the identification of tolerant species (Abelmoschus pungens var. mizoramensis, A. enbeepeegeearensis, A. caillei, A. tetraphyllus and A. angulosus var. grandiflorus), which were further used in a wide-hybridization programme to generate interspecific hybrids with the cultivated okra. Presence of pre- and post-zygotic barriers to interspecific geneflow, differences in ploidy levels and genotype specific variations in chromosome numbers led to varying degrees of sterility in F1 plants of interspecific crosses. This was overcome by doubling the chromosome number of interspecific hybrids by applying Colchicine at the seedling stage. The 113 cross derivatives generated comprising amphidiploids in the F1 generation (30), F3 (14), one each in F2 and F4 generations, back cross generation in BC1F2 (03), BC1F3 (25), and BC2F3 (02), crosses between amphidiploids (27), multi-cross combinations (07) and inter-specific cross (between A. sagittifolius × A. moschatus subsp. moschatus) selfed derivatives at F8 generation (03) were characterized in the present study. Besides they were advanced through selfing and backcrossing.Results and DiscussionThe amphidiploids were found to possess many desirable genes with a considerable magnitude of linkage drag. Majority of the wide cross derivatives had an intermediate fruit morphology and dominance of wild characters viz., hispid fruits, stem, leaves, tough fruit fibre, vigorous perennial growth habit and prolonged flowering and fruiting. The fruit morphology of three BC progenies exhibited a high morphological resemblance to the cultivated okra, confirming successful transfer of useful genes to the cultivated okra genepool. The detailed morphological characteristics of the various combinations of Abelmoschus amphidiploids and the genetic enhancement of the genepool achieved in this process is reported here

Cytokine-chemokine network driven metastasis in esophageal cancer; promising avenue for targeted therapy

Esophageal cancer (EC) is a disease often marked by aggressive growth and poor prognosis. Lack of targeted therapies, resistance to chemoradiation therapy, and distant metastases among patients with advanced disease account for the high mortality rate. The tumor microenvironment (TME) contains several cell types, including fibroblasts, immune cells, adipocytes, stromal proteins, and growth factors, which play a significant role in supporting the growth and aggressive behavior of cancer cells. The complex and dynamic interactions of the secreted cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and their receptors mediate chronic inflammation and immunosuppressive TME favoring tumor progression, metastasis, and decreased response to therapy. The molecular changes in the TME are used as biological markers for diagnosis, prognosis, and response to treatment in patients. This review highlighted the novel insights into the understanding and functional impact of deregulated cytokines and chemokines in imparting aggressive EC, stressing the nature and therapeutic consequences of the cytokine-chemokine network. We also discuss cytokine-chemokine oncogenic potential by contributing to the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), angiogenesis, immunosuppression, metastatic niche, and therapeutic resistance development. In addition, it discusses the wide range of changes and intracellular signaling pathways that occur in the TME. Overall, this is a relatively unexplored field that could provide crucial insights into tumor immunology and encourage the effective application of modulatory cytokine-chemokine therapy to EC.This study was supported by a PI grant from Sidra Medicine (5071012001) to Mohammad Haris. Ajaz A. Bhat is supported by Sidra Medicine internal grant (5011041002) and Ramalinga swami (Grant number: D.O.NO.BT/HRD/35/02/2006) Fellowship to Muzafar A. Macha and Nissar A. Wani by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India, New Delhi. Shahab Uddin is supported by Medical Research Centre grants (grant# 16102/6, #16354/16)

Measuring urban sprawl of Srinagar city, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Urbanization, as such, is not perceived as a threat to the environment and development but it is unplanned urban sprawl that affects the accessibility to amenities and land-use of any region. It is thus imperative to study and bring out the intricacies and implications associated with the problem of unplanned urban growth ensuing into sprawl. The methods used to measure the sprawl of Srinagar City are modified versions of SCATTER (The Sprawling Cities And Transport: from Evaluation to Recommendations) and Cost of Sprawl: 2000 TRB (Transport Research Bureau, US). The analysis reveals that the largest urban center in the fragile ecology of Himalayas has haphazardly grown during the last forty years which has resulted in disproportionate distribution of various civic amenities, socio economic and environmental variables. This phenomenon of urban sprawl in Srinagar City has been observed as a threat to achieving sustainable urbanization

Association of IL1 beta gene polymorphism and allograft functions in renal transplant recipients :a case control study from Kashmir Valley

Abstract Background Cytokines have been found to be the important mediators during renal graft outcome. Therefore, we designed this study to investigate the role of recipients’ IL-1 β promoter (−511) and IL-1 β exon-5 (+3954) polymorphisms with the risk of graft outcome. Methodology We enrolled one hundred recipients of living-related renal transplants together with the age and sex matched controls from the healthy population not having any renal abnormality for this study. Genotype frequencies of the IL-1 β promoter (−511) and IL-1 β exon-5 (+3954) were analyzed using PCR-RFLP technique. Results Our results revealed significant differences in the healthy control group and patient group in IL 1β +3954 (p < 0.001). The frequency of variant type TT genotype was higher in RE group as compared to SGF and showed 4 fold risk of rejection (OR = 4.54, p < 0.069) although p value was not significant. The frequency of wild type CC genotype and CT was not significant (p value 0.89 and 0.74 respectively). Conclusion Our findings suggest that there is a prevalence of mutated allele of IL-1 gene cluster in our population, which may be responsible for renal dysfunction

Performance of Different Maize Varieties under Front Line Demonstrations in District Kupwara

To improve the seed replacement rate and adoption rate of maize technologies front line demonstration on different high yielding region specific maize varieties were carried out in Kupwara. 120 Front Line Demonstrations on Maize Varieties were conducted at Farmers Field in District Kupwara in the current investigation to show the impact of high yielding varieties of Maize viz. Shalimar Composite-4, Shalimar Maize Composite-3, KG-2, Shalimar QPMH-1 and LQMH-1 with recommended Package of Practices and compared with local check during the Kharif seasons of 2020 and 2021.The improved high yielding varieties Shalimar omposite-4 , Shalimar Maize Composite-3,KG-2, Shalimar QPMH-1 and LQMH-1&nbsp; recorded&nbsp;&nbsp; yield of 48, 58 &nbsp;45&nbsp; 68 and 85 qs/ha respectively as compared to local&nbsp; varieties with yield of 16.00, 18.00, 13.00, 25.00 and 25.00q /ha. Respectively. The technology gap of, SMC-4, SMC-3, KG-2, Shalimar QPMH-1 and LQMH-1 was recorded as 2,8,5,2 and 5 q/ha respectively and extension gap was recorded as 40,31,32,43,60q/ha respectively. The technology index with respect to, SMC-4, SMC-3, KG-2 Shalimar QPMH-1 and LQMH-1 was recorded as 3.3,14.54,10.00,2.85 and 5.55-% respectively