Sinks as saviors: why flawed inference cannot assist tiger recovery

A recent study of tigers in Chitwan, Nepal (1) stirred controversy by challenging the “source-sink” approach that underlies current global tiger conservation strategies (2). The observed lack of difference in tiger density estimates inside the protected area compared with a multiple-use area outside is offered as evidence. Based on this result, the study questions the relevance of strictly protected tiger reserves involving regulation of extractive uses and relocation of human settlements. The study offers an alternate vision of sustainable, syntopic “coexistence” of tigers and humans as a solution to increasing human resource demands on tiger habitats

Development of resistance in insects to transgenic plants with bacillus thuringiensis Genes: Current status and management strategies

INTRODUCTION There is a continuing need to increase food production as the world population is expected to exceed 6 billion by 2050. In both the developed and undeveloped countries, the cost for achieving production has become too high because of the need to incur costs for controlling insect pests that cause an estimated loss of $10 billion annually...

Ovipositional and feeding preferences of Helicoverpa armigera towards putative transgenic and non-transgenic pigeonpeas

Helicoverpa armigera is the major constraint for pigeonpea production, and therefore, efforts are being made to develop transgenic pigeonpeas with Bt and SBTI genes to minimize the losses due to this pest. The oviposition behavior of H. armigera on transgenic and non-transgenic plants was studied under no-choice, dual-choice, and multi-choice conditions. No differences were observed in the number of eggs laid on the inflorescences of the transgenic pigeonpeas with cry1Ab or SBTI genes and with the non-transgenic plants. In dual-choice feeding tests, there were no differences in leaf damage, larval weights, and the number of larvae between transgenic and non-transgenic plants. The results suggested that transgenic plants have no influence on the oviposition and feeding preferences of H. armiger

Nationwide abundance and distribution of African forest elephants across Gabon using non-invasive SNP genotyping

Robust monitoring programs are essential for understanding changes in wildlife population dynamics and distribution over time, especially for species of conservation concern. In this study, we applied a rapid non-invasive sampling approach to the Critically Endangered African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), at nationwide scale in its principal remaining population strongholds in Gabon. We used a species-specific customized genetic panel and spatial capture-recapture (SCR) approach, which gave a snapshot of current abundance and density distribution of forest elephants across the country. We estimated mean forest elephant density at 0.38 (95% Confidence Interval 0.24–0.52) per km2 from 18 surveyed sites. We confirm that Gabon is the main forest elephant stronghold, both in terms of estimated population size: 95,110 (95% CI 58,872–131,349) and spatial distribution (250,782 km2). Predicted elephant densities were highest in relatively flat areas with a high proportion of suitable habitat not in proximity to the national border. Protected areas and human pressure were not strong predictors of elephant densities in this study. Our nationwide systematic survey of forest elephants of Gabon serves as a proof-of-concept of application of noninvasive genetic sampling for rigorous population monitoring at large spatial scales. To our knowledge, it is the first nationwide DNA-based assessment of a free-ranging large mammal in Africa. Our findings offer a useful national baseline and status update for forest elephants in Gabon. It will inform adaptive management and stewardship of elephants and forests in the most important national forest elephant stronghold in Africa

Impact of financial inclusion in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of reviews

Financial inclusion programmes seek to increase access to financial services such as credit, savings, insurance and money transfers and so allow poor and low-income households in low- and middle-income countries to enhance their welfare, grasp opportunities, mitigate shocks, and ultimately escape poverty. This systematic review of reviews assesses the evidence on economic, social, behavioural and gender-related outcomes from financial inclusion. It collects and appraises all of the existing meta-studies - that is systematic reviews and meta-analyses - of the impact of financial inclusion. The authors first analyse the strength of the methods used in those meta-studies, then synthesise the findings from those that are of a sufficient quality, and finally, report the implications for policy, programming, practice and further research arising from the evidence. Eleven studies are included in the analysis

Proteins with Complex Architecture as Potential Targets for Drug Design: A Case Study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Lengthy co-evolution of Homo sapiens and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the main causative agent of tuberculosis, resulted in a dramatically successful pathogen species that presents considerable challenge for modern medicine. The continuous and ever increasing appearance of multi-drug resistant mycobacteria necessitates the identification of novel drug targets and drugs with new mechanisms of action. However, further insights are needed to establish automated protocols for target selection based on the available complete genome sequences. In the present study, we perform complete proteome level comparisons between M. tuberculosis, mycobacteria, other prokaryotes and available eukaryotes based on protein domains, local sequence similarities and protein disorder. We show that the enrichment of certain domains in the genome can indicate an important function specific to M. tuberculosis. We identified two families, termed pkn and PE/PPE that stand out in this respect. The common property of these two protein families is a complex domain organization that combines species-specific regions, commonly occurring domains and disordered segments. Besides highlighting promising novel drug target candidates in M. tuberculosis, the presented analysis can also be viewed as a general protocol to identify proteins involved in species-specific functions in a given organism. We conclude that target selection protocols should be extended to include proteins with complex domain architectures instead of focusing on sequentially unique and essential proteins only

Production and characterisation of microbial cellulosic fibre from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Acetobacter xylinum</i>

93-96Bacterial cellulose (BC) has been produced by the Gram negative bacterium Acetobacter xylinum at the air liquid interface of sugary rich medium. The BC has been produced from Hestrin Shramn (HS) medium using the efficient cellulose-producing culture isolated from sugarcane juice under static batch fermentation condition. Results show that A. xylinum (sju-1) produces 11g/L BC after 14 days of fermentation period. The water holding capacity of bacterial cellulose is found to be 84.4 %. The tensile strength, Young’s modulus, viscosity and degree of polymerisation of bacterial cellulosic fibre are found to be 120 MPa, 4.9 GPa, 127.4 cP and 2074 respectively. The FTIR results reveal the presence of hydroxyl and CH2 stretching behaviour at the absorption wavelength of 3229 cm-1 and 2911cm-1. The banding patterns of bacterial cellulose closely resemble the structure of pure celluloses. A. xylinum (sju-1) isolate produces bacterial cellulose of type Iα in quantities of commercial interest. The findings of the research reveal that bacterial cellulose can be used in making absorbent pads and nonwoven textiles

Pigment analysis and ammonia excretion in herbicide tolerant cyanobacteria

934-940<span style="font-size: 15.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.5pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";="" color:black"="">Isolation of cyanobacteria was attempted from herbicide applied rice soils. The predominant genera were Westiellopsis followed by Anabaena, Nostoc and Oscillatoria. The herbicide tolerance was further tested by growing the cyanobacterial cultures in BG-11 medium supplemented with varying concentrations of the commonly used rice herbicide, viz butachlor under in vitro condition. The chlorophyll-a, phycobiliproteins and ammonia excretion were assessed at periodic intervals. <span style="font-size:15.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.5pt; line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";color:black"="">Westiellopsis <span style="font-size:15.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.5pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";color:black"="">showed the maximum tolerance followed by Anabaena, Nostoc and Oscillatoria. </span

A simple method for efficient extraction and purification of C-phycocyanin from <i>Spirulina platensis </i>Geitler

277-279Phycocyanin is a major light harvesting accessory pigment of red algae and cyanobacteria. In the light of its many commercial applications in food and pharmaceutical industry, purity of the pigment plays a major role. Pharmaceutical industry demands a highly pure phycocyanin with A620/280 ratio of 4 and food industry a ratio of 2. In the present study phycocyanin was extracted in sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7) after macerating in liquid nitrogen. The crude phycocyanin thus extracted was precipitated with 50% ammonium sulphate, purified by dialysis and finally by gel filtration chromatography. Pure phycocyanin was finally obtained with an A620/280  value of 4.98