Variación en la morfología de semillas y parámetros de aceites seleccionados de lilas india (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) de diferentes zonas agroclimáticas de Tamil Nadu, India

Tamil Nadu, in southern India, has the second-largest number of neem trees in the country. The oil from the seeds has high economic significance for cottage industries in the region. This paper examines 28 Candidate Plus Trees (CPTs) selected from six agroclimatic zones in Tamil Nadu which exhibit exceptional traits such as superior growth and other desirable characteristics. We aimed to understand seed morphology variations and physicochemical properties in the oil across different regions. Significant differences were observed for morphometric traits. Fruit production correlated negatively with rainfall. 100-seed kernel weight and seed length correlated with oil percentage. Rainfall influenced seed breadth and pericarp weight. Clustering using morphological characters did not group genotypes from the same region; while soil type could distinguish them. Correlation helped us determine the prominent features which influence the traits of interest, which can be useful for breeding programs, cultivation practices, and the development of neem-based products in Tamil Nadu and beyond.Tamil Nadu, en el sur de la India, tiene el segundo mayor número de árboles de lilas india del país. El aceite de las semillas tiene una gran importancia económica para las industrias artesanales de la región. En este trabajo se examinan 28 árboles Candidate Plus (CPT) seleccionados de seis zonas agroclimáticas en Tamil Nadu, que exhiben rasgos excepcionales como un crecimiento superior y otras características deseables. Nuestro objetivo era comprender las variaciones de la morfología de las semillas y las propiedades fisicoquímicas del aceite en diferentes regiones. Se observaron diferencias significativas para los rasgos morfométricos. La producción de frutos se correlacionó negativamente con las precipitaciones. El peso de 100 semillas y granos y la longitud de la semilla se correlacionaron con el porcentaje de aceite. Las lluvias influyeron en el ancho de la semilla y el peso del pericarpio. El agrupamiento utilizando caracteres morfológicos no agrupó genotipos de una misma región, mientras que el tipo de suelo pudo distinguirlos. La correlación nos ayudó a diseccionar las características prominentes que influyen en las características de interés, que pueden informar los programas de reproducción, las prácticas de cultivo y el desarrollo de productos a base de neem en Tamil Nadu y más allá

Global burden and strength of evidence for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Understanding the health consequences associated with exposure to risk factors is necessary to inform public health policy and practice. To systematically quantify the contributions of risk factor exposures to specific health outcomes, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 aims to provide comprehensive estimates of exposure levels, relative health risks, and attributable burden of disease for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, from 1990 to 2021. Methods: The GBD 2021 risk factor analysis used data from 54 561 total distinct sources to produce epidemiological estimates for 88 risk factors and their associated health outcomes for a total of 631 risk–outcome pairs. Pairs were included on the basis of data-driven determination of a risk–outcome association. Age-sex-location-year-specific estimates were generated at global, regional, and national levels. Our approach followed the comparative risk assessment framework predicated on a causal web of hierarchically organised, potentially combinative, modifiable risks. Relative risks (RRs) of a given outcome occurring as a function of risk factor exposure were estimated separately for each risk–outcome pair, and summary exposure values (SEVs), representing risk-weighted exposure prevalence, and theoretical minimum risk exposure levels (TMRELs) were estimated for each risk factor. These estimates were used to calculate the population attributable fraction (PAF; ie, the proportional change in health risk that would occur if exposure to a risk factor were reduced to the TMREL). The product of PAFs and disease burden associated with a given outcome, measured in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), yielded measures of attributable burden (ie, the proportion of total disease burden attributable to a particular risk factor or combination of risk factors). Adjustments for mediation were applied to account for relationships involving risk factors that act indirectly on outcomes via intermediate risks. Attributable burden estimates were stratified by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile and presented as counts, age-standardised rates, and rankings. To complement estimates of RR and attributable burden, newly developed burden of proof risk function (BPRF) methods were applied to yield supplementary, conservative interpretations of risk–outcome associations based on the consistency of underlying evidence, accounting for unexplained heterogeneity between input data from different studies. Estimates reported represent the mean value across 500 draws from the estimate's distribution, with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) calculated as the 2·5th and 97·5th percentile values across the draws. Findings: Among the specific risk factors analysed for this study, particulate matter air pollution was the leading contributor to the global disease burden in 2021, contributing 8·0% (95% UI 6·7–9·4) of total DALYs, followed by high systolic blood pressure (SBP; 7·8% [6·4–9·2]), smoking (5·7% [4·7–6·8]), low birthweight and short gestation (5·6% [4·8–6·3]), and high fasting plasma glucose (FPG; 5·4% [4·8–6·0]). For younger demographics (ie, those aged 0–4 years and 5–14 years), risks such as low birthweight and short gestation and unsafe water, sanitation, and handwashing (WaSH) were among the leading risk factors, while for older age groups, metabolic risks such as high SBP, high body-mass index (BMI), high FPG, and high LDL cholesterol had a greater impact. From 2000 to 2021, there was an observable shift in global health challenges, marked by a decline in the number of all-age DALYs broadly attributable to behavioural risks (decrease of 20·7% [13·9–27·7]) and environmental and occupational risks (decrease of 22·0% [15·5–28·8]), coupled with a 49·4% (42·3–56·9) increase in DALYs attributable to metabolic risks, all reflecting ageing populations and changing lifestyles on a global scale. Age-standardised global DALY rates attributable to high BMI and high FPG rose considerably (15·7% [9·9–21·7] for high BMI and 7·9% [3·3–12·9] for high FPG) over this period, with exposure to these risks increasing annually at rates of 1·8% (1·6–1·9) for high BMI and 1·3% (1·1–1·5) for high FPG. By contrast, the global risk-attributable burden and exposure to many other risk factors declined, notably for risks such as child growth failure and unsafe water source, with age-standardised attributable DALYs decreasing by 71·5% (64·4–78·8) for child growth failure and 66·3% (60·2–72·0) for unsafe water source. We separated risk factors into three groups according to trajectory over time: those with a decreasing attributable burden, due largely to declining risk exposure (eg, diet high in trans-fat and household air pollution) but also to proportionally smaller child and youth populations (eg, child and maternal malnutrition); those for which the burden increased moderately in spite of declining risk exposure, due largely to population ageing (eg, smoking); and those for which the burden increased considerably due to both increasing risk exposure and population ageing (eg, ambient particulate matter air pollution, high BMI, high FPG, and high SBP). Interpretation: Substantial progress has been made in reducing the global disease burden attributable to a range of risk factors, particularly those related to maternal and child health, WaSH, and household air pollution. Maintaining efforts to minimise the impact of these risk factors, especially in low SDI locations, is necessary to sustain progress. Successes in moderating the smoking-related burden by reducing risk exposure highlight the need to advance policies that reduce exposure to other leading risk factors such as ambient particulate matter air pollution and high SBP. Troubling increases in high FPG, high BMI, and other risk factors related to obesity and metabolic syndrome indicate an urgent need to identify and implement interventions. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Academic medicine: Vision to reality

Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore4212-4AAMS

Hierarchical temporal processing deficit model of reality distortion and psychoses

10.1038/mp.2010.63Molecular Psychiatry162129-144MOPS

Amygdala volume in late-life depression: Relationship with age of onset

10.1097/JGP.0b013e318211069aAmerican Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry199771-776AJGP

Molecular and morphological diversity in Rhizoctonia bataticola isolates causing dry root rot of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in India

Dry root rot caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) Butler. [Pycnidial stage: Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid] is emerging as a serious biotic constraint for chickpea production. To find out the diversity in R. bataticola populations in India, a total of 94 isolates collected from R. bataticola infected chickpea plants from different agro climatic regions of India were analyzed with amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and different morphological properties. R. bataticola populations collected from different agro-ecological zones were very diverse in respect to their different cultural and morphological parameters like colony color, growth pattern, growth rate, mycelial characters, sclerotial initiation time, sclerotial intensity and morphology of the sclerotia. Five AFLP primer combinations provided a total 121 fragments. All fragments were found polymorphic with an average polymorphic information content value of 0.213. The dendrogram based on AFLP analysis showed that the maximum number of R. bataticola isolates were very diverse and did not depend on geographical origin. Both morphological and molecular data correlated each other and supported that the R. bataticola present in India were diverse and independent to their origin

Molecular and morphological diversity in Rhizoctonia bataticola isolates causing dry root rot of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in India

Dry root rot caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) Butler. [Pycnidial stage: Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid] is emerging as a serious biotic constraint for chickpea production. To find out the diversity in R. bataticola populations in India, a total of 94 isolates collected from R. bataticola infected chickpea plants from different agro climatic regions of India were analyzed with amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and different morphological properties. R. bataticola populations collected from different agro-ecological zones were very diverse in respect to their different cultural and morphological parameters like colony color, growth pattern, growth rate, mycelial characters, sclerotial initiation time, sclerotial intensity and morphology of the sclerotia. Five AFLP primer combinations provided a total 121 fragments. All fragments were found polymorphic with an average polymorphic information content value of 0.213. The dendrogram based on AFLP analysis showed that the maximum number of R. bataticola isolates were very diverse and did not depend on geographical origin. Both morphological and molecular data correlated each other and supported that the R. bataticola present in India were diverse and independent to their origin