From working in the wheat field to managing wheat: women innovators in Nepal

This article presents research conducted in Nepal’s Terai plains in 2014-15 showing that women are innovating in wheat to the extent that wheat farming is experiencing a shift from feminization of agricultural labor towards women taking control over decision making. Processes accounting for this include male out-migration, non-governmental organizations working on promoting women’s equality that has developed women’s confidence, individual support from extension agents, and strong cooperation between women to foster each other’s “innovation journeys.

For richer or poorer in sickness for wealth: what price consumerism?

Affluence and material goods of varying types are portents of a millennium age consumer culture that encourages the masses to voluntarily participate in the need to buy, buy and buy! This trend to spend creates a purchasing fervour that preoccupies many consumers with the ongoing yearning to shop until they drop. Clever marketing tactics such as enticing smells, catchy jingles, prize-draw entries, lucrative sales, discounts and the recruitment of celebrities to advertise a range of different wares are just some of the ploys adopted by vendors and retailers to maintain the sustainability of this cycle of consumer spending. This scenario promotes what could be perceived as a never-ending desire to procure yet more products and merchandise, which can create social dilemmas such as personal debt due to, for example, impulse buying, excessive spending and unnecessary borrowing. Retailers and manufacturers are driven by a quest to sell so constantly tout their goods to tempt consumers including those with a need for personal and social respect, to take the bait in order to encourage them to keep buying. This, coupled with the rapid advances in technology over recent decades, has made it easier for consumers to shop, order, obtain and pay for their goods from the comfort of an armchair or via handheld devices, and all at a tap of a button. In essence, technology has added to, or even exacerbated, the materialistic consumer trend as witnessed across many global societies today – from the east and the west to the north and the south. But what impact does consumerism have on the well-being of humankind and, in turn, the environment? This chapter adopts a comparative approach to answer this question by exploring the implications of consumerism as a means for broadening the topic’s framework and to contribute to debates regarding consumerism, well-being, social dilemma, sustainability and techno-economics

Association between topical corticosteroid use and type 2 diabetes in two European population-based adult cohorts

BackgroundTopical corticosteroids (CS) are commonly used to treat inflammatory skin conditions including eczema and psoriasis. While topical CS package inserts describe hyperglycaemia and glycosuria as adverse drug reactions, it is unclear whether topical CS use in real life is also associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D).MethodsTwo matched case-control studies and one cohort study were conducted using routinely collected healthcare data from Denmark the UK. A total of 115,218 and 54,944 adults were identified as cases with new onset T2D in the Danish and UK case-control study, respectively. For the Danish cohort study, 2,689,473 adults were included. The main exposure was topical CS and the outcome was incident T2D.ResultsTopical CS was significantly associated with T2D in the Danish (adjusted OR 1ꞏ35; 95% CI 1ꞏ33- 1ꞏ38) and UK (adjusted OR 1ꞏ23; 95% CI 1ꞏ19-1ꞏ27) case-control studies. Individuals who were exposed to topical CS had significantly increased risk of incident T2D (adjusted HR 1ꞏ27; 95% CI 1ꞏ26-1ꞏ29). We observed significant dose-response relationships between T2D and increasing potency of topical CS in the two Danish studies. The results were consistent across all sensitivity analyses.ConclusionsWe found a positive association between topical CS prescribing and incident T2D in Danish and UK adult populations. Clinicians should be cognizant of possible diabetogenic effects of potent topical CS

Broadband Laser Ranging for Explosive Experiments

Author Institution: National Security Technologies, LLC Special Technologies Laboratory; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Los Alamos National LaboratorySlides presented at the 2016 Photonic Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) unclassified program, Bankhead Theater, Livermore, California, June 7 - 9, 2016. Plenary Talk 3, June 9, 2016

Molecular cloning and characterization of drought stress responsive abscisic acid-stress-ripening (Asr 1) gene from wild jujube, Ziziphus nummularia (Burm.f.) Wight & Arn

Drought is a calamitous abiotic stress hampering agricultural productivity all over the world and its severity is likely to increase further. Abscisic acid-stress-ripening proteins (ASR), are a group of small hydrophilic proteins which are induced by abscisic acid, stress and ripening in many plants. In the present study, ZnAsr1 gene was fully characterized for the first time from Ziziphus nummularia, which is one of the most low water forbearing plant. Full length ZnAsr1 gene was characterised and in silico analysis of ZnASR1 protein was done for predicting its phylogeny and physiochemical properties. To validate transcriptional pattern of ZnAsr1 in response to drought stress, expression profiling in polyethylene glycol (PEG) induced Z. nummularia seedlings was studied by RT-qPCR analysis and heterologous expression of the recombinant ZnAsr1 in Escherichia coli. The nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the complete open reading frame of ZnAsr1 is 819 bp long encoding a protein of 273 amino acid residues, consisting of a histidine rich N terminus with an abscisic acid/water deficit stress domain and a nuclear targeting signal at the C terminus. In expression studies, ZnAsr1 gene was found to be highly upregulated under drought stress and recombinant clones of E. coli cells expressing ZnASR1 protein showed better survival in PEG containing media. ZnAsr1 was proven to enhance drought stress tolerance in the recombinant E.coli cells expressing ZnASR1. The cloned ZnAsr1 after proper validation in a plant system, can be used to develop drought tolerant transgenic crops

An Eco RI RFLP in the 5′ region of the human NF1 gene

Von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis or type l neurofibromatosis (NF1), is one of the most common autosomal dominant disorders. NF1 is characterized by neurofibromas, café-au-lait spots and Lisch nodules of the iris. The NF1 gene is located in 17q11.2. The restriction fragment length polymorphism reported here will be useful in linkage analysis in NF1 families.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47634/1/439_2004_Article_BF00420953.pd

biomArker-guided Duration of Antibiotic treatment in hospitalised Patients with suspecTed Sepsis (ADAPT-Sepsis): A protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial

AIM: To describe the protocol for a multi-centre randomised controlled trial to determine whether treatment protocols monitoring daily CRP (C-reactive protein) or PCT (procalcitonin) safely allow a reduction in duration of antibiotic therapy in hospitalised adult patients with sepsis. DESIGN: Multicentre three-arm randomised controlled trial. SETTING: UK NHS hospitals. TARGET POPULATION: Hospitalised critically ill adults who have been commenced on intravenous antibiotics for sepsis. HEALTH TECHNOLOGY: Three protocols for guiding antibiotic discontinuation will be compared: (a) standard care; (b) standard care + daily CRP monitoring; (c) standard care + daily PCT monitoring. Standard care will be based on routine sepsis management and antibiotic stewardship. Measurement of outcomes and costs. Outcomes will be assessed to 28 days. The primary outcomes are total duration of antibiotics and safety outcome of all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes include: escalation of care/re-admission; infection re-lapse/recurrence; antibiotic dose; length and level of critical care stay and length of hospital stay. Ninety-day all-cause mortality rates will also be collected. An assessment of cost effectiveness will be performed. CONCLUSION: In the setting of routine NHS care, if this trial finds that a treatment protocol based on monitoring CRP or PCT safely allows a reduction in duration of antibiotic therapy, and is cost effective, then this has the potential to change clinical practice for critically ill patients with sepsis. Moreover, if a biomarker-guided protocol is not found to be effective, then it will be important to avoid its use in sepsis and prevent ineffective technology becoming widely adopted in clinical practice