Performance of sequential herbicides to control weeds in direct seeded rice

Direct seeded rice is an emerging production technology in India due to less requirement of water, labour and capital input initially. But direct seeded rice face severe infestation of weeds. A field experiment was conducted during the kharif 2012 at Students’ Farm of College of Agriculture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University; Kaul campus (Kaithal) to study the performance of sequential application of herbicides on weed flora in direct seeded rice. The herbicidal treatments included two pre emergence herbicides i.e. pendimethalin 1000 g/ha and oxadiargyl 100 g/ ha and four post emergence herbicides (bispyribac sodium 25 g/ha, fenoxaprop 67 g/ha, ethoxysulfuron 18.75 g/ha and metsulfuron methyl 10% + chlorimuron ethyl 10% WP ready mix (Almix) 4 g/ha). Weed free and weedy check were also included. The results showed that grasses were the dominant weed flora (49 %) followed by sedges (34%) and broad leaf weeds (17%).Sequential application of pendimethalin 1000 g/ha fb bispyribac sodium 25 g/ha and metsulfuron methyl + chlorimuron ethyl RM (Almix) 4 g/ha gave significantly lower weed density (p=0.05) and higher weed control efficiency which resulted in more number of effective tillers (209.3), filled grains/panicle (83.7) and grain yield (3.97 t/ha)

Integrated weed management in direct seeded rice in Trans Indo-Gangetic plains of India- A review

In the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India, rice (Oryza sativa L.) is taken by conventional tilled puddled transplanted (CT-PTR) method. CT-PTR requires a lot of water (2000-2500 mm) which comes mainly from groundwater. Due to declining water table and changing climate, the sustainability of CT-PTR rice is under immense pressure. The alternative to CT-PTR could be direct seeded rice (DSR) which requires less water, labor, initial cost and energy than CT-PTR. But direct seeded rice is heavily infested with weeds which cause severe loss to the grain yield. Thus, the success of aerobic rice depends on effective and timely weed control. As a single weed control method may not be successful on a long term basis, weed problem in direct seeded rice needs to be solved by integrated approach. Integrating cultural, mechanical and chemical methods along with highly competitive cultivars with effective allelopathic properties, effective weed management on long term sustainable basis can be achieved

DNA barcoding Indian marine fishes

DNA barcoding has been adopted as a global bio-identification system for animals in recent years. A major national programme on DNA barcoding of fish and marine life was initiated in India by the authors during 2006 and 115 species of marine fish covering Carangids, Clupeids, Scombrids, Groupers, Sciaenids, Silverbellies, Mullids, Polynemids and Silurids representing 79 Genera and 37 Families from the Indian Ocean have been barcoded for the first time using cytochrome c oxidase I gene (COI) of the mtDNA. The species were represented by multiple specimens and a total of 397 sequences were generated. After amplification and sequencing of 707 base pair fragment of COI, primers were trimmed which invariably generated a 655 base pair barcode sequence. The average Kimura two parameter (K2P) distances within species, genera, families, orders were 0.30%, 6.60%, 9.91%, 16.00%, respectively. In addition to barcode-based species identification system, phylogenetic relationships among the species have also been attempted. The neighbour-joining tree revealed distinct clusters in concurrence with the taxonomic status of the species

Daily steps and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts.

BACKGROUND: Although 10 000 steps per day is widely promoted to have health benefits, there is little evidence to support this recommendation. We aimed to determine the association between number of steps per day and stepping rate with all-cause mortality. METHODS: In this meta-analysis, we identified studies investigating the effect of daily step count on all-cause mortality in adults (aged ≥18 years), via a previously published systematic review and expert knowledge of the field. We asked participating study investigators to process their participant-level data following a standardised protocol. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality collected from death certificates and country registries. We analysed the dose-response association of steps per day and stepping rate with all-cause mortality. We did Cox proportional hazards regression analyses using study-specific quartiles of steps per day and calculated hazard ratios (HRs) with inverse-variance weighted random effects models. FINDINGS: We identified 15 studies, of which seven were published and eight were unpublished, with study start dates between 1999 and 2018. The total sample included 47 471 adults, among whom there were 3013 deaths (10·1 per 1000 participant-years) over a median follow-up of 7·1 years ([IQR 4·3-9·9]; total sum of follow-up across studies was 297 837 person-years). Quartile median steps per day were 3553 for quartile 1, 5801 for quartile 2, 7842 for quartile 3, and 10 901 for quartile 4. Compared with the lowest quartile, the adjusted HR for all-cause mortality was 0·60 (95% CI 0·51-0·71) for quartile 2, 0·55 (0·49-0·62) for quartile 3, and 0·47 (0·39-0·57) for quartile 4. Restricted cubic splines showed progressively decreasing risk of mortality among adults aged 60 years and older with increasing number of steps per day until 6000-8000 steps per day and among adults younger than 60 years until 8000-10 000 steps per day. Adjusting for number of steps per day, comparing quartile 1 with quartile 4, the association between higher stepping rates and mortality was attenuated but remained significant for a peak of 30 min (HR 0·67 [95% CI 0·56-0·83]) and a peak of 60 min (0·67 [0·50-0·90]), but not significant for time (min per day) spent walking at 40 steps per min or faster (1·12 [0·96-1·32]) and 100 steps per min or faster (0·86 [0·58-1·28]). INTERPRETATION: Taking more steps per day was associated with a progressively lower risk of all-cause mortality, up to a level that varied by age. The findings from this meta-analysis can be used to inform step guidelines for public health promotion of physical activity. FUNDING: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Physical activity, sedentary time and breast cancer risk: a Mendelian randomisation study

Objectives: Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour are associated with higher breast cancer risk in observational studies, but ascribing causality is difficult. Mendelian randomisation (MR) assesses causality by simulating randomised trial groups using genotype. We assessed whether lifelong physical activity or sedentary time, assessed using genotype, may be causally associated with breast cancer risk overall, pre/post-menopause, and by case-groups defined by tumour characteristics. Methods: We performed two-sample inverse-variance-weighted MR using individual-level Breast Cancer Association Consortium case-control data from 130 957 European-ancestry women (69 838 invasive cases), and published UK Biobank data (n=91 105–377 234). Genetic instruments were single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated in UK Biobank with wrist-worn accelerometer-measured overall physical activity (nsnps=5) or sedentary time (nsnps=6), or accelerometer-measured (nsnps=1) or self-reported (nsnps=5) vigorous physical activity. Results: Greater genetically-predicted overall activity was associated with lower breast cancer overall risk (OR=0.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.42 to 0.83 per-standard deviation (SD;~8 milligravities acceleration)) and for most case-groups. Genetically-predicted vigorous activity was associated with lower risk of pre/perimenopausal breast cancer (OR=0.62; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.87,≥3 vs. 0 self-reported days/week), with consistent estimates for most case-groups. Greater genetically-predicted sedentary time was associated with higher hormone-receptor-negative tumour risk (OR=1.77; 95% CI 1.07 to 2.92 per-SD (~7% time spent sedentary)), with elevated estimates for most case-groups. Results were robust to sensitivity analyses examining pleiotropy (including weighted-median-MR, MR-Egger). Conclusion: Our study provides strong evidence that greater overall physical activity, greater vigorous activity, and lower sedentary time are likely to reduce breast cancer risk. More widespread adoption of active lifestyles may reduce the burden from the most common cancer in women

A genome-wide gene-environment interaction study of breast cancer risk for women of European ancestry

Background Genome-wide studies of gene–environment interactions (G×E) may identify variants associated with disease risk in conjunction with lifestyle/environmental exposures. We conducted a genome-wide G×E analysis of ~ 7.6 million common variants and seven lifestyle/environmental risk factors for breast cancer risk overall and for estrogen receptor positive (ER +) breast cancer. Methods Analyses were conducted using 72,285 breast cancer cases and 80,354 controls of European ancestry from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Gene–environment interactions were evaluated using standard unconditional logistic regression models and likelihood ratio tests for breast cancer risk overall and for ER + breast cancer. Bayesian False Discovery Probability was employed to assess the noteworthiness of each SNP-risk factor pairs. Results Assuming a 1 × 10–5 prior probability of a true association for each SNP-risk factor pairs and a Bayesian False Discovery Probability < 15%, we identified two independent SNP-risk factor pairs: rs80018847(9p13)-LINGO2 and adult height in association with overall breast cancer risk (ORint = 0.94, 95% CI 0.92–0.96), and rs4770552(13q12)-SPATA13 and age at menarche for ER + breast cancer risk (ORint = 0.91, 95% CI 0.88–0.94). Conclusions Overall, the contribution of G×E interactions to the heritability of breast cancer is very small. At the population level, multiplicative G×E interactions do not make an important contribution to risk prediction in breast cancer

Clinico-pathological study of glomerular diseases in patients with significant proteinuria in North India

Proteinuria is a common manifestation of renal disease. The present study was carried out to analyze the clinic-pathological correlation, assess the value of histopathology and immunofluorescence (IF) as well as note the spectrum of renal diseases in patients with significant proteinuria. Fifty consecutive patients having proteinuria >1 g/24 h underwent ultrasound-guided percutaneous renal biopsy. Clinical information was correlated with the pathological findings and the results were analyzed. The patients were in the age range of 12-79 years. Males (60%) outnumbered females (40%) in all the disease categories except lupus nephritis and IgA nephropathy. The most common clinical presentation was the nephrotic syndrome, seen in 31 cases (62%). Primary glomerular diseases (72%) were more common than secondary glomerular diseases (24%) and tubulointerstitial diseases (4%). Overall, the most common pathological diag-nosis was focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) (20%), followed by membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) (18%). In young patients (age 60 years) it was FSGS (60%). IF modified the diagnosis in 12% of the cases. The concordance between clinical diagnosis and pathological diagnosis was 66%. The difference between clinical diagnosis and final diagnosis was statistically significant. Our study further reinforces the knowledge that renal biopsy helps in accurate diagnosis and, thus, helps in appropriate management of the patients. IF provides additional information that can make the morphologic diagnosis considerably more precise

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Not AvailableLabeo dero specimens, from four different rivers (n= 60), were analysed for allozyme variations. The eighteen enzyme systems screened provided twenty five scorable loci. Seven loci were polymorphic. The significant genotype heterogeneity was observed, between the sample sets. The identified loci exhibited significant potential, to determine population structure of L. dero, across its natural range of distribution.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableAllozyme and RAPD profiles reveal markers that discriminate Chitala chitala and Notopterus notopterus. Thirty-five allozyme loci were scored from 23 allozyme systems. Species-specific differences were found at 16 loci. Fifteen RAPD markers with 77 size fragments, 244–2902 bp, were identified. The number of fragments specific to C. chitala and N. notopterus was found to be 20 and 31, respectively. Theta estimates of 0.9798 (allozymes) and 0.9471 (RAPD) indicated a large genetic divergence between C. chitala and N. notopterus. The observed genetic heterogeneity clearly demonstrated that the two genera, Chitala and Notopterus, are distinct from each other.Not Availabl