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Not AvailableThe cucurbitaceous family has comprised with diverse economically important cucurbits. It primarily comprised of 118 genera and 825 species which being consumed as food worldwide since the domestication of the plants. In India, cucurbits are being grown throughout regions of the country including hot semi-arid and arid zones. With the advent of genomic breakthrough, a large number of genomic and biotechnological interventions have been developed in cucurbitaceous crops. The plenty of molecular markers are available in cucurbits and these markers were deployed to assess the genetic diversity and mapping of the QTLS/genes of interest. The success in development of genomic tools may happens by genome sequencing of mostly important cucurbitaceous crops such as watermelon, cucumber, muskmelon, bottle gourd, pumpkins. Transgenic and non-transgenic plants were developed in various cucurbitaceous crops by employing of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and CRISPR/CAS9 approach, respectively. Thus cucurbitaceous crops have been considerably exploited at molecular level and biotechnological interventions were developed for crop improvement. However, a comprehensive report in cucurbitaceous crops regarding genomic and biotechnological developments is not available in public domain. Therefore, in the present review, we have collected the information related to genomics and biotechnology in cucurbits and emphasized on some successful interventions.Not Availabl

Platelet activating factor stimulates arachidonic acid release in differentiated keratinocytes via arachidonyl non-selective phospholipase A2

Platelet activating factor (PAF, 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) is known to be present in excess in psoriatic skin, but its exact role is uncertain. In the present study we demonstrate for the first time the role of group VI PLA2 in PAF-induced arachidonic acid release in highly differentiated human keratinocytes. The group IVα PLA2 also participates in the release, while secretory PLA2s play a minor role. Two anti-inflammatory synthetic fatty acids, tetradecylthioacetic acid and tetradecylselenoacetic acid, are shown to interfere with signalling events upstream of group IVα PLA2 activation. In summary, our major novel finding is the involvement of the arachidonyl non-selective group VI PLA2 in PAF-induced inflammatory responses

Forecasting drug utilization and expenditure in a metropolitan health region

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>New pharmacological therapies are challenging the healthcare systems, and there is an increasing need to assess their therapeutic value in relation to existing alternatives as well as their potential budget impact. Consequently, new models to introduce drugs in healthcare are urgently needed. In the metropolitan health region of Stockholm, Sweden, a model has been developed including early warning (horizon scanning), forecasting of drug utilization and expenditure, critical drug evaluation as well as structured programs for the introduction and follow-up of new drugs. The aim of this paper is to present the forecasting model and the predicted growth in all therapeutic areas in 2010 and 2011.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Linear regression analysis was applied to aggregate sales data on hospital sales and dispensed drugs in ambulatory care, including both reimbursed expenditure and patient co-payment. The linear regression was applied on each pharmacological group based on four observations 2006-2009, and the crude predictions estimated for the coming two years 2010-2011. The crude predictions were then adjusted for factors likely to increase or decrease future utilization and expenditure, such as patent expiries, new drugs to be launched or new guidelines from national bodies or the regional Drug and Therapeutics Committee. The assessment included a close collaboration with clinical, clinical pharmacological and pharmaceutical experts from the regional Drug and Therapeutics Committee.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The annual increase in total expenditure for prescription and hospital drugs was predicted to be 2.0% in 2010 and 4.0% in 2011. Expenditures will increase in most therapeutic areas, but most predominantly for antineoplastic and immune modulating agents as well as drugs for the nervous system, infectious diseases, and blood and blood-forming organs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The utilisation and expenditure of drugs is difficult to forecast due to uncertainties about the rate of adoption of new medicines and various ongoing healthcare reforms and activities to improve the quality and efficiency of prescribing. Nevertheless, we believe our model will be valuable as an early warning system to start developing guidance for new drugs including systems to monitor their effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness in clinical practice.</p

Position paper: The potential role of optical biopsy in the study and diagnosis of environmental enteric dysfunction

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is a disease of the small intestine affecting children and adults in low and middle income countries. Arising as a consequence of repeated infections, gut inflammation results in impaired intestinal absorptive and barrier function, leading to poor nutrient uptake and ultimately to stunting and other developmental limitations. Progress towards new biomarkers and interventions for EED is hampered by the practical and ethical difficulties of cross-validation with the gold standard of biopsy and histology. Optical biopsy techniques — which can provide minimally invasive or noninvasive alternatives to biopsy — could offer other routes to validation and could potentially be used as point-of-care tests among the general population. This Consensus Statement identifies and reviews the most promising candidate optical biopsy technologies for applications in EED, critically assesses them against criteria identified for successful deployment in developing world settings, and proposes further lines of enquiry. Importantly, many of the techniques discussed could also be adapted to monitor the impaired intestinal barrier in other settings such as IBD, autoimmune enteropathies, coeliac disease, graft-versus-host disease, small intestinal transplantation or critical care

Bioefficacy of paclobutrazol on growth, flowering, fruiting and yield attributes of mango cv. Dashehari under Pantnagar agro-climatic condition

The investigation was carried out to find out the bioefficacy of paclobutrazol on regular bearing of mango cv. Dashehari. Paclobutrazol was applied as soil drench around the tree trunk @ 15ml, 20ml, 25ml, 30ml, 35ml, 60ml and 30ml (ES)/ tree along with control. There was significant variations observed in growth, flowering, fruiting, yield and quality attributes due to different doses of paclobutrazol. Treatment T4 (paclobutrazol 30ml/tree) was found superior with respect to yield and quality parameters. It was found to reduce vegetative growth and increase flowering, fruit set, fruit retention, yield attributes, TSS, sugars, ascorbic acid and β carotene content. Therefore, it is finally recommended that paclobutrazol @ 30 ml/ tree should be applied for getting maximum fruit yield without affecting the fruit qualit

Plant-insect interactions in different genotypes of ber (Ziziphus mauritiana L) against fruit borer (Meridarchis scyrodes Meyrick)

Differences in genotypes of ber plant characters may affect insect-plant herbivore interactions, and variation in genotype traits is responsible for modifying the bottom-up effects. We evaluated the performance of different genotypes of Z. mauritiana against fruit borer, Meridarchis scyrodes Meyrick, under field conditions in the semi-arid region of India. We found that: (i) four genotypes were resistant; 5 genotypes were moderately resistant; 7 genotypes were susceptible, and seven genotypes were highly susceptible to fruit borers infestation; (ii) per cent fruit infestation was highest in Sanur-5 (75.09 %) and lowest in Safeda (13.27 %) followed by Tikadi (14.01 %); (iii) phenols (0.96), Tannins (0.95), flavonoid (0.95) contents and pericarp thickness (0.88) had significant negative correlations with per cent fruit infestation of fruit borer, M. scyrodes; (iv) fruit length (0.50) and pulp: stone ratio (0.77) showed significant positive correlations with per cent fruit infestation of fruit borer, M. scyrodes and (v) flavonoid contents explained 91.40% of the total variation in fruit borer, M. scyrodes infestation. Two principal components (PCs) were extracted, explaining the cumulative variation of 88.48 %. PC1 explained 64.34 % of the variation, while PC2 explained 24.14 n. In conclusion, growers can adopt the potential resistant genotype (Safeda) of Z. mauritiana with minimal financial investment to obtain higher yields

Polyploid rootstocks in citrus for mitigation of biotic and abiotic stresses: A review

Citrus is growing commercially worldwide for its nutritious value and economical aspects. By 2030, citrus fruit demand will be more around 50 percent as human diet. However, the environmental stresses are badly affected citrus production and productivity as well as fruit quality. These factors are reduced citrus production by 30-60 per cent in traditional citrus growing area in the world due to the lack of suitable rootstocks. The polyploidy rootstocks can play pivotal role to mitigate the environmental impacts and sustainability in citriculture for vigor and fruit quality. Polyploid citrus rootstocks have great importance in crop improvement programmes due to their attributes to the higher vigor, dwarfism, resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses when compared to their diploid counterparts. They exhibit deep and thick root system with less number of secondary roots, more ABA synthesis, leathery and thick leaves, bigger sized stomata with less density, high antioxidant system etc. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to elucidate and discuss the importance of polyploidy rootstocks developed so far for various horticultural traits in citrus.</jats:p

Biochemical basis of plant-insect interaction in arid horticulture crops: a scientific review

Plants are persistently confronted to both abiotic and biotic stresses that drastically reduce their productivity. Plant responses to these stresses are multifaceted and involve copious Biochemical, physiological, molecular, molecular and cellular adaptations. Recent evidence shows that simultaneous occurrence of abiotic and biotic stress can have a positive effect on plant performance by reducing the susceptibility to biotic stress which is a positive sign for arid horticulture crops. Some of these adaptations specifically biochemical adaptations become the source of plant defense mechanisms against biotic stresses like insect’s pest and diseases. These biochemical adaptations/mechanisms includes production of secondary metabolites of plant defense against the biotic stresses especially against insects are wide spread and highly dynamic, and are mediated the response directly or indirectly in arid horticultural crops. Production of secondary metabolites viz. terpenes, phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, N &amp; S containing compounds is constitutive as well as inducible through mild stress caused by insect damage to plants which leads to affect the feeding, growth and survival of the insect. Quality and quantity of constitutive secondary metabolites production is species as well as cultivar specific and can be expressed as signature of particular plant or species and leads to the phenomenon of host-plant interaction or host-plant resistance. This phenomenon of host plant resistance to insect can be exploited for development of crop cultivars which readily produce the inducible response upon mild infestation and can perform as one of the of integrated pest management for sustainable arid horticulture crop production. This review presents overviews about these constitutive and inducible responses towards biochemical adaptations in arid horticulture crops to protect themselves against insects