Economic Implications of Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) Disease in Sheep and Goats: A Sample Analysis of District Pune, Maharastra

The paper has reported a cross-sectional sample survey conducted across six villages severely affected by peste des petits ruminants disease to assess the nature and extent of loss in small ruminants. The study is based on the data pertaining to disease incidence, production losses, costs incurred and impact on farm productivity collected though personal interview method. The incidence and mortality rate have been found slightly higher in sheep than goats. The total losses due to disease have been found to range between Rs 918 in sheep to Rs 945 in goats. Reduction in the market value of animals has been recorded as the major loss component as appearance of the animal changes drastically after the illness, costing Rs. 404 (44%) in sheep and Rs 408 (43%) in goat. It is followed by losses in production yield. Expenditure on medicine and infertility has been found to cause more than 80 per cent of the total cost, followed by veterinary and labour services. The study has suggested that timely vaccination could be the best and low-cost preventive measure to control such deadly disease outbreaks.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Multipion decays of omega(782) and phi(1020)

Using the chiral model of pseudoscalar, vector, and axial vector mesons based on the hidden local symmetry added with the terms induced by the Wess-Zumino anomaly, the results of calculations of the branching fractions of the decays omega(782) and phi(1020) mesons to the 2pi+ 2pi- pi0, pi+ pi -3pi0 multipion states are presented.Comment: 4 pages. Talk presented by A.A. Kozhevnikov at the International Workshop "e+e- Collisions from Phi to Psi", February 27-March 2, 2006, BINP, Novosibirsk, Russian Federatio

The decays omega(782), phi(1020) to 5 pi in the hidden local symmetry approach

The decays omega -> 2pi^+ 2pi^- pi^0 and omega -> pi^+ pi^- 3pi^0 are reconsidered in the hidden local symmetry approach (HLS) added with the anomalous terms. The decay amplitudes are analyzed in detail, paying the special attention to the Adler condition of vanishing the whole amplitude at vanishing momentum of any final pion. Combining the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule applied to the five pion final state, with the Adler condition, we calculate also the phi -> 2pi^+ 2pi^-pi^0 and phi -> pi^+ pi^- 3pi^0 decay amplitudes. The partial widths of the above decays are evaluated, and the excitation curves in e^+e^- annihilation are obtained, assuming reasonable particular relations among the parameters characterizing the anomalous terms of the HLS Lagrangian. The evaluated branching ratios B(phi -> pi^+ pi^- 3pi^0)~2x10^{-7} and B(phi -> 2pi^+ 2pi^- pi^0)~7x10^{-7} are such that with the luminosity L=500 pb^{-1} attained at DAFNE phi factory, one may already possess about 1685 events of the decays phi -> 5pi.Comment: 15 pages text, 12 pages of figures. Typos corrected, clarifying remarks added. Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Building operational research capacity in the Pacific

Operational research (OR) in public health aims to investigate strategies, interventions, tools or knowledge that can enhance the quality, coverage, effectiveness or performance of health systems. Attention has recently been drawn to the lack of OR capacity in public health programmes throughout the Pacific Islands, despite considerable investment in implementation. This lack of ongoing and critical reflection may prevent health programme staff from understanding why programme objectives are not being fully achieved, and hinder long-term gains in public health. The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) has been collaborating with Pacific agencies to conduct OR courses based on the training model developed by The Union and Médecins Sans Frontières Brussels-Luxembourg in 2009. The first of these commenced in 2011 in collaboration with the Fiji National University, the Fiji Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and other partners. The Union and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community organised a second course for participants from other Pacific Island countries and territories in 2012, and an additional course for Fijian participants commenced in 2013. Twelve participants enrolled in each of the three courses. Of the two courses completed by end 2013, 18 of 24 participants completed their OR and submitted papers by the course deadline, and 17 papers have been published to date. This article describes the context, process and outputs of the Pacific courses, as well as innovations, adaptations and challenges

Twenty-six years of HIV science: an overview of anti-HIV drugs metabolism

From the identification of HIV as the agent causing AIDS, to the development of effective antiretroviral drugs, the scientific achievements in HIV research over the past twenty-six years have been formidable. Currently, there are twenty-five anti-HIV compounds which have been formally approved for clinical use in the treatment of AIDS. These compounds fall into six categories: nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NtRTIs), non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), protease inhibitors (PIs), cell entry inhibitors or fusion inhibitors (FIs), co-receptor inhibitors (CRIs), and integrase inhibitors (INIs). Metabolism by the host organism is one of the most important determinants of the pharmacokinetic profile of a drug. Formation of active or toxic metabolites will also have an impact on the pharmacological and toxicological outcomes. Therefore, it is widely recognized that metabolism studies of a new chemical entity need to be addressed early in the drug discovery process. This paper describes an overview of the metabolism of currently available anti-HIV drugs.Da identificação do HIV como o agente causador da AIDS, ao desenvolvimento de fármacos antirretrovirais eficazes, os avanços científicos na pesquisa sobre o HIV nos últimos vinte e seis anos foram marcantes. Atualmente, existem vinte e cinco fármacos anti-HIV formalmente aprovados pelo FDA para utilização clínica no tratamento da AIDS. Estes compostos são divididos em seis classes: inibidores nucleosídeos de transcriptase reversa (INTR), inibidores nucleotídeos de transcriptase reversa (INtTR), inibidores não-nucleosídeos de transcriptase reversa (INNTR), inibidores de protease (IP), inibidores da entrada celular ou inibidores de fusão (IF), inibidores de co-receptores (ICR) e inibidores de integrase (INI). O metabolismo consiste em um dos maiores determinantes do perfil farmacocinético de um fármaco. A formação de metabólitos ativos ou tóxicos terá impacto nas respostas farmacológicas ou toxicológicas do fármaco. Portanto, é amplamente reconhecido que estudos do metabolismo de uma nova entidade química devem ser realizados durante as fases iniciais do processo de desenvolvimento de fármacos. Este artigo descreve uma abordagem do metabolismo dos fármacos anti-HIV atualmente disponíveis na terapêutica

Climate change and agricultural adaptation in Sri Lanka: a review

Climate change is inevitable and will continue into the next century. Since the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka is one of the most vulnerable to climate change, a thorough understanding of climate transition is critical for formulating effective adaptation strategies. This paper provides an overview of the status of climate change and adaptation in the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka. The review clearly indicates that climate change is taking place in Sri Lanka in terms of rainfall variability and an increase in climate extremes and warming. A number of planned and reactive adaptation responses stemming from policy and farm-level decisions are reported. These adaptation efforts were fragmented and lacked a coherent connection to the national development policies and strategies. Research efforts are needed to develop and identify adaptation approaches and practices that are feasible for smallholder farmers, particularly in the dry zone where paddy and other food crops are predominately cultivated. To achieve the envisaged growth in the agricultural sector, rigorous efforts are necessary to mainstream climate change adaptation into national development policies and ensure that they are implemented at national, regional and local levels

CURATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE THROUGH LIBRARIES

Libraries, museums and archives hold valuable collections in a variety of media, presenting a vast body of knowledge rooted in the history of human civilisation. These form the repository of the wisdom of great works by thinkers of past and the present. The holdings of these institutions are priceless heritage of the mankind as they preserve documents, ideas, and the oral and written records. To value the cultural heritage and to care for it as a treasure bequeathed to us by our ancestors is the major responsibility of libraries. The past records constitute a natural resource and are indispensable to the present generation as well as to the generations to come. Libraries preserve the documentary heritage resources for which they are primarily responsible. Any loss of such materials is simply irreplaceable. Therefore, preserving this intellectual, cultural heritage becomes not only the academic commitment but also the moral responsibility of the librarians/information scientists, who are in charge of these repositories. The high quality of the papers and the discussion represent the thinking and experience of experts in their particular fields. The contributed papers also relate to the methodology used in libraries in Asia to provide access to manuscripts and cultural heritage. The volume discusses best practices in Knowledge preservation and how to collaborate and preserve the culture. The book also deals with manuscript and archives issues in the digital era. The approach of this book is concise, comprehensively, covering all major aspects of preservation and conservation through libraries. The readership of the book is not just limited to library and information science professionals, but also for those involved in conservation, preservation, restoration or other related disciplines. The book will be useful for librarians, archivists and conservators. We thank the Sunan Kalijaga University, Special Libraries Association- Asian Chapter for their trust and their constant support, all the contributors for their submissions, the members of the Local and International Committee for their reviewing effort for making this publication possible

Cotton in the new millennium: advances, economics, perceptions and problems

Cotton is the most significant natural fibre and has been a preferred choice of the textile industry and consumers since the industrial revolution began. The share of man-made fibres, both regenerated and synthetic fibres, has grown considerably in recent times but cotton production has also been on the rise and accounts for about half of the fibres used for apparel and textile goods. To cotton’s advantage, the premium attached to the presence of cotton fibre and the general positive consumer perception is well established, however, compared to commodity man-made fibres and high performance fibres, cotton has limitations in terms of its mechanical properties but can help to overcome moisture management issues that arise with performance apparel during active wear. This issue of Textile Progress aims to: i. Report on advances in cotton cultivation and processing as well as improvements to conventional cotton cultivation and ginning. The processing of cotton in the textile industry from fibre to finished fabric, cotton and its blends, and their applications in technical textiles are also covered. ii. Explore the economic impact of cotton in different parts of the world including an overview of global cotton trade. iii. Examine the environmental perception of cotton fibre and efforts in organic and genetically-modified (GM) cotton production. The topic of naturally-coloured cotton, post-consumer waste is covered and the environmental impacts of cotton cultivation and processing are discussed. Hazardous effects of cultivation, such as the extensive use of pesticides, insecticides and irrigation with fresh water, and consequences of the use of GM cotton and cotton fibres in general on the climate are summarised and the effects of cotton processing on workers are addressed. The potential hazards during cotton cultivation, processing and use are also included. iv. Examine how the properties of cotton textiles can be enhanced, for example, by improving wrinkle recovery and reducing the flammability of cotton fibre