Design and Development of Bamboo Information System

Bamboo with thousands of species in the world, growing in a wide variety of soil and climatic conditions, plays an important role in providing livelihood, and ecological and food securities to mankind. The fastest-growing capacity of bamboo makes it a valuable sink for carbon storage. It prevents soil erosion and creates an effective watershed by binding soil along fragile riverbanks, deforested areas and in places prone to landslides. Recognizing the immense potential of bamboo and its socio-economic values, a number of international and nation agencies worldwide have came forward to support bamboo research and development. For the success of such programmes, information is a vital input. The availability of the right type of information at right time can trigger new directions in research, development and managerial action. But data on prior research are now widely scattered in different systems, formats and languages. The coordination and integration of information sources and systems have become a priority for bamboo research and development. The present study attempts to evaluate the present status and to prepare a plan for developing an international bamboo information system to integrate research and development in the sector. A prototype of web based bamboo information system also is developed and tested as part of the study

Design and Development of Bamboo Information System

Bamboo with thousands of species in the world, growing in a wide variety of soil and climatic conditions, plays an important role in providing livelihood, and ecological and food securities to mankind. The fastest-growing capacity of bamboo makes it a valuable sink for carbon storage. It prevents soil erosion and creates an effective watershed by binding soil along fragile riverbanks, deforested areas and in places prone to landslides. Recognizing the immense potential of bamboo and its socio-economic values, a number of international and nation agencies worldwide have came forward to support bamboo research and development. For the success of such programmes, information is a vital input. The availability of the right type of information at right time can trigger new directions in research, development and managerial action. But data on prior research are now widely scattered in different systems, formats and languages. The coordination and integration of information sources and systems have become a priority for bamboo research and development. The present study attempts to evaluate the present status and to prepare a plan for developing an international bamboo information system to integrate research and development in the sector. A prototype of web based bamboo information system also is developed and tested as part of the study

Hypothermia for moderate or severe neonatal encephalopathy in low-income and middle-income countries (HELIX): a randomised controlled trial in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh

Background: Although therapeutic hypothermia reduces death or disability after neonatal encephalopathy in high-income countries, its safety and efficacy in low-income and middle-income countries is unclear. We aimed to examine whether therapeutic hypothermia alongside optimal supportive intensive care reduces death or moderate or severe disability after neonatal encephalopathy in south Asia. Methods: We did a multicountry open-label, randomised controlled trial in seven tertiary neonatal intensive care units in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. We enrolled infants born at or after 36 weeks of gestation with moderate or severe neonatal encephalopathy and a need for continued resuscitation at 5 min of age or an Apgar score of less than 6 at 5 min of age (for babies born in a hospital), or both, or an absence of crying by 5 min of age (for babies born at home). Using a web-based randomisation system, we allocated infants into a group receiving whole body hypothermia (33·5°C) for 72 h using a servo-controlled cooling device, or to usual care (control group), within 6 h of birth. All recruiting sites had facilities for invasive ventilation, cardiovascular support, and access to 3 Tesla MRI scanners and spectroscopy. Masking of the intervention was not possible, but those involved in the magnetic resonance biomarker analysis and neurodevelopmental outcome assessments were masked to the allocation. The primary outcome was a combined endpoint of death or moderate or severe disability at 18–22 months, assessed by the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (third edition) and a detailed neurological examination. Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02387385. Findings: We screened 2296 infants between Aug 15, 2015, and Feb 15, 2019, of whom 576 infants were eligible for inclusion. After exclusions, we recruited 408 eligible infants and we assigned 202 to the hypothermia group and 206 to the control group. Primary outcome data were available for 195 (97%) of the 202 infants in the hypothermia group and 199 (97%) of the 206 control group infants. 98 (50%) infants in the hypothermia group and 94 (47%) infants in the control group died or had a moderate or severe disability (risk ratio 1·06; 95% CI 0·87–1·30; p=0·55). 84 infants (42%) in the hypothermia group and 63 (31%; p=0·022) infants in the control group died, of whom 72 (36%) and 49 (24%; p=0·0087) died during neonatal hospitalisation. Five serious adverse events were reported: three in the hypothermia group (one hospital readmission relating to pneumonia, one septic arthritis, and one suspected venous thrombosis), and two in the control group (one related to desaturations during MRI and other because of endotracheal tube displacement during transport for MRI). No adverse events were considered causally related to the study intervention. Interpretation: Therapeutic hypothermia did not reduce the combined outcome of death or disability at 18 months after neonatal encephalopathy in low-income and middle-income countries, but significantly increased death alone. Therapeutic hypothermia should not be offered as treatment for neonatal encephalopathy in low-income and middle-income countries, even when tertiary neonatal intensive care facilities are available. Funding: National Institute for Health Research, Garfield Weston Foundation, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Translations: For the Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Singhalese, Tamil, Marathi and Bangla translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section

Conservation of the role of INNER NO OUTER in development of unitegmic ovules of the Solanaceae despite a divergence in protein function

The P-SlINO::SlINO-GFP transgene continues to be expressed after fertilization during the onset of fruit development. A-C: Ovules from P-SlINO::SlINO-GFP plants. D, E: Ovules from control plants. Images A (confocal) and B (DIC overlaid with GFP channel) show expression in the outer cell layer in an ovule post-anthesis. C-E are images of the surface cells of the integument of ovules taken from 3–4 mm fruits. C and D are images taken on an epifluorescence microscope (Axioplan) using a Chroma GFP filter set 41017 (Chroma, Bellows Falls, VT). E is a dark-field image of the same ovule in D. These images show expression is present in developing fruit. Scale bar in B represents 20 μm, scale bar in E represents 20 μm in C-E. (TIF 4435 kb

A Comprehensive Survey on the Terpene Synthase Gene Family Provides New Insight into Its Evolutionary Patterns

10.1093/gbe/evz142Genome Biology and Evolution1182078-209

Metabolic engineering of the native monoterpene pathway in spearmint for production of heterologous monoterpenes reveals complex metabolism and pathway interactions

10.3390/ijms21176164International Journal of Molecular Sciences2117Jan-1