An Economic Assessment of the Potential Benefits of Breeding for Drought Tolerance in Crops: A Case of Groundnut in India

This report provides estimates of the potential benefits from the adoption of an improved drought-tolerant groundnut variety ICGV 91114 in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh (India), one of the most chronically drought-prone districts known for its groundnut production. Groundnut area in the district ranges between 0.8 and 1.0 milllion ha and variety TMV 2 , which was released 70 years ago, continues to dominate. A new drought-tolerant groundnut variety ICGV 91114, developed by ICRISAT, was found a suitable alternative to TMV 2 through farmer-participatory varietal selection trials. At the farm level, adoption of ICGV 91114 has a pod yield advantage of 23%, reduces yield variability by 30% and generates 36% higher net income compared to TMV 2. Its adoption in 35% of the 0.8 million ha under groundnut in Anantapur by 2020-21 is likely to generate a surplus of Rs 694 million a year; of which 65% would accrue due to higher yield and 35% due to reduction in yield variability. Despite a reduction in yield advantage (30%) and variance, the benefits remain huge. Small farmers being more risk averse than other farmers, they can benefit more from the adoption of improved drought-tolerant varieties. These benefits are illustrative and a widespread adoption of drought-tolerant varieties in the dryland tropics is likely to reduce farmers’ vulnerability to climatic shocks. The need is to reorient the research and extension agenda with adequate focus on generation and dissemination of climate-resilient crop varieties

Mineral and antinutrient content of high quality cassava-tigernut composite flour extruded snack

This study investigated the mineral and antinutrient composition of extruded snack produced from different blends of high quality cassava and tigernut flour. The extruded snacks were produced using a single-screw laboratory extruder at constant feed moisture (27%), screw speed (60 rpm) and barrel temperature (80C). It was observed that the extrudates had higher values for mineral composition (phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron) than the composite flour which showed that extrusion cooking improves the absorption of the minerals. The antinutrient (tannin, phytate, saponin, oxalate, alkaloids and total phenolic) contents of all the flour blends significantly (P < 0.05) increased with tigernut flour inclusion. Extrusion cooking resulted in significant (P < 0.05) reduction in the antinutrients of the extrudates. The study showed that extrusion cooking reduced the antinutritional factors thereby increasing the bioavailabilty of minerals. Also, the minerals were not affected by the extrusion cooking process probably because minerals are heat stable

Cocaine Use Prediction with Tensor-based Machine Learning on Multimodal MRI Connectome Data

This paper considers the use of machine learning algorithms for predicting cocaine use based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) connectomic data. The study utilized functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion MRI (dMRI) data collected from 275 individuals, which was then parcellated into 246 regions of interest (ROIs) using the Brainnetome atlas. After data preprocessing, the datasets were transformed into tensor form. We developed a tensor-based unsupervised machine learning algorithm to reduce the size of the data tensor from $275$ (individuals) $\times 2$ (fMRI and dMRI) $\times 246$ (ROIs) $\times 246$ (ROIs) to $275$ (individuals) $\times 2$ (fMRI and dMRI) $\times 6$ (clusters) $\times 6$ (clusters). This was achieved by applying the high-order Lloyd algorithm to group the ROI data into 6 clusters. Features were extracted from the reduced tensor and combined with demographic features (age, gender, race, and HIV status). The resulting dataset was used to train a Catboost model using subsampling and nested cross-validation techniques, which achieved a prediction accuracy of 0.857 for identifying cocaine users. The model was also compared with other models, and the feature importance of the model was presented. Overall, this study highlights the potential for using tensor-based machine learning algorithms to predict cocaine use based on MRI connectomic data and presents a promising approach for identifying individuals at risk of substance abuse

Antitumor effect of leaves of Ravenala madagascariensis Sonn., in PANC1 and SW1990 pancreatic cell lines

89-95Pancreatic cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer-related deaths in developed countries with an average survival rate of less than 9%. Up to 80% of the patients with pancreatic cancer are found to be diabetic at the time of diagnosis. Leaves of Ravenala madagascariensis Sonn., have been traditionally used in the treatment of diabetes and was scientifically proven to be effective as an antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, renoprotective and antioxidant agent. In the present study, the antitumor effect of successive ethanolic leaf extract over two human pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC1 and SW1990 was evaluated by MTT assay. The shade dried, powdered leaves of R. madagascariensis, was subjected to successive soxhlet extraction with n-hexane, ethyl acetate followed by ethanol, concentrated and evaporated to dryness. The extract was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening and was found to possess alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides, phenols and tannins. The thin layer chromatography and high performance thin layer chromatography of various extracts of R. madagascariensis, was established. Based on the free radical scavenging potential, the ethanol extract was selected for further cytotoxicity studies. The ethanolic extract exhibited excellent cytotoxic effect against PANC1 and SW1990 with an IC50 value of 12.58 µg/mL and 18.9 µg/mL respectively. Thus the results validate the antitumor potential of R. madagascariensis, leaf extract against pancreatic cancer and further studies were aimed at the identification of active components responsible for the activity

Perioperative donor bone marrow infusion augments chimerism in heart and lung transplant recipients

Background.: We and others have demonstrated that a low level of donor cell chimerism was present for years after transplantation in tissues and peripheral blood of heart and lung recipients; it was associated, in the latter, with a lower incidence of chronic rejection. To augment this phenomenon, we initiated a trial combining simultaneous infusion of donor bone marrow with heart or lung allotransplantation. Methods.: Between September 1993 and January 1995, 15 nonconditioned patients received either heart (n = 10) or lung (n = 5) allografts concurrently with an infusion of unmodified donor bone marrow (3.0 × 108 cells/kg), and were maintained on an immunosuppressive regimen consisting of tacrolimus and steroids. Results.: There was no complication associated with the infusion of donor bone marrow. Chimerism was detectable in 73% of bone marrow-augmented patients up to the last sample tested. Of the 5 control recipients who did not receive bone marrow infusion, only 1 had detectable chimerism by flow on postoperative day 15, which dwindled to an undetectable level by postoperative day 36. None of the patients had evidence of donor-specific immune modulation by mixed lymphocyte reaction. Conclusions.: The combined infusion of donor bone marrow and heart or lung transplantation, without preconditioning of the recipient, is safe and is associated with an augmentation of donor cell chimerism. © 1995 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Evidence for the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to tau leptons with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for H → τ τ decays are presented, based on the full set of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during 2011 and 2012. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 4.5 fb−1 and 20.3 fb−1 at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV respectively. All combinations of leptonic (τ → `νν¯ with ` = e, µ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν) tau decays are considered. An excess of events over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (3.4) standard deviations. This excess provides evidence for the direct coupling of the recently discovered Higgs boson to fermions. The measured signal strength, normalised to the Standard Model expectation, of µ = 1.43 +0.43 −0.37 is consistent with the predicted Yukawa coupling strength in the Standard Model

Measurement of the top pair production cross section in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions using kinematic information in the lepton plus jets final state with ATLAS

A measurement is presented of the $t\bar{t}$ inclusive production cross-section in $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement was performed in the lepton+jets final state using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. The cross-section was obtained using a likelihood discriminant fit and $b$-jet identification was used to improve the signal-to-background ratio. The inclusive $t\bar{t}$ production cross-section was measured to be $260\pm 1{\textrm{(stat.)}} ^{+22}_{-23} {\textrm{(syst.)}}\pm 8{\textrm{(lumi.)}}\pm 4{\mathrm{(beam)}}$ pb assuming a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV, in good agreement with the theoretical prediction of $253^{+13}_{-15}$ pb. The $t\bar{t}\to (e,\mu)+{\mathrm{jets}}$ production cross-section in the fiducial region determined by the detector acceptance is also reported.Comment: Published version, 19 pages plus author list (35 pages total), 3 figures, 2 tables, all figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/TOPQ-2013-06