Power of Millets- Critical for addressing Ecological, Agrarian, and Emerging health crisis in Punjab

The state of Punjab is facing a major threat of ecological, agrarian as well as emerging health crisis. Continuously depleting water tables due to unregulated use of irrigation water and increased cultivation of water-thirsty, varieties of rice are posing major threat to water availability in the state. Indiscriminate use of chemicals in farming leading to soil infertility, polluted surface waters and air pollution are contributing to ecological catastrophe and eventually leading to many health problems in the population. Hence there is need to focus on environmentally friendly, economically viable and health benefitting solutions. Millets as climate change compliant crops score highly over other grains in terms of marginal growing conditions and high nutritional value are proposed as a solution for emerging challenges in Punjab

Disease Control and Plant Growth Promotion of \u3cem\u3e Miscanthus \u3c/em\u3e × \u3cem\u3e giganteus \u3c/em\u3e with \u3cem\u3e Trichoderma \u3c/em\u3e Bio-Inoculants

The second-generation bioenergy crop Miscanthus (Miscanthus × giganteus) is being assessed in New Zealand for its potential to provide shelter on irrigated dairy farms. Miscanthus is a perennial sterile hybrid vegetatively propagated rhizomatous C4 grass and the young rhizomes and roots are prone to infection by soil-borne fungal pathogens (Glynn et al., 2015) which can cause deleterious effects on plant establishment and growth. In Europe, several species of Fusarium such as F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. moniliforme and F. oxysporum have been implicated as causal agents of root and rhizome rot (Thinggaard, 1997; Covarelli et al., 2012) leading to poor field establishment of in-vitro propagated Miscanthus plants. When tested for their ability to cause disease of Miscanthus, Rhizoctonia solani (Kuhn) was reported as the most aggressive species among nineteen fungal pathogens of cereal crops (Glynn et al. 2015). In New Zealand, R. solani reduces seedling emergence and plant establishment of several herbage species and the problem may be alleviated through biocontrol using Trichoderma fungi (Kandula et al., 2015). In a glass-house study, the effect of four T. atroviride isolates on growth of tissue culture propagated Miscanthus plants in a soil naturally infested with R. solani was investigated

Impact of educational intervention on knowledge, attitude and awareness of good clinical practice among health care providers

Background: Clinical trials play an important role in the generation of evidence-based data in health care practices. To ensure the credibility of data and the safety and well-being of the patients Good clinical practice (GCP) guidelines play an important role. At present, we have little knowledge about awareness of GCP guidelines among health care providers in India. Aim: To assess the level of awareness, and perception of the health care providers toward GCP and subsequent change in these after a dayer training session on GCP guidelines. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional descriptive questionnaire-based study was conducted amongst health care providers, that is, doctors, dentists, nurses of a Tertiary Health Care and Teaching Institute. Materials and Methods: Participants were given descriptive questionnaire; they completed the questionnaire before and after undergoing a day training program in GCP guidelines. Statistical Analysis Used: The impact of the effectiveness of educational intervention among healthcare professionals was evaluated by two-tailed Z-test. Results: Out of 120 participants, 80 were medical doctors, 20 dental doctors, and 20 nurses. A dayse training program on GCP guidelines was found to increase positive attitudes toward various aspects of clinical trials. Conclusion: A day's training program on GCP guidelines may help to increase the knowledge as well as awareness about principles and techniques of clinical research, which will increase the credibility of clinical research in the country