NT pro BNP as a potential marker of left atrial dysfunction in rheumatic mitral stenosis and its correlation with improvement in left atrial functions post percutaneous balloon mitral volvotomy (PBMV) with intermediate term follow up of 1 year

Primer pla de la façana d'un edifici del s. XVIII. Consta de quatre pisos. Els baixos, s'obren a través del pas amb embigat de fusta al carrer del Civader

RELEASE: A High-level Paradigm for Reliable Large-scale Server Software

Erlang is a functional language with a much-emulated model for building reliable distributed systems. This paper outlines the RELEASE project, and describes the progress in the first six months. The project aim is to scale the Erlang’s radical concurrency-oriented programming paradigm to build reliable general-purpose software, such as server-based systems, on massively parallel machines. Currently Erlang has inherently scalable computation and reliability models, but in practice scalability is constrained by aspects of the language and virtual machine. We are working at three levels to address these challenges: evolving the Erlang virtual machine so that it can work effectively on large scale multicore systems; evolving the language to Scalable Distributed (SD) Erlang; developing a scalable Erlang infrastructure to integrate multiple, heterogeneous clusters. We are also developing state of the art tools that allow programmers to understand the behaviour of massively parallel SD Erlang programs. We will demonstrate the effectiveness of the RELEASE approach using demonstrators and two large case studies on a Blue Gene

ASSESSMENT OF FOOD AND NUTRIENT INTAKE OF COMMUNITIES ACROSS THREE AGRO-BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS IN INDIA

Balanced and adequate nutrition is important in improving the health of the community in general and of vulnerable groups in particular. Assessment of the nutritional status of a community is important for development of implementation strategies and suitable policies. Dietary assessment indicates whether intake of macro and micro nutrient are adequate. Anthropometric measurements and comparisons of nutrient intakes with reference values are easy and non-invasive, economical and sufficiently reliable methods for the determination of nutritional status. The present study uses micro-level data drawn from 24 hours recall diet survey to calculate the mean food and nutrient intake by communities in three agro-biodiversity hotspots. The 24 hours recall diet survey was carried out among households in three study locations during June to November 2013 among the project intervention and non-intervention groups. Information on age, sex, physiological status, physical activity of the household members who took meals during the previous 24 hours was collected for computing consumption unit. The result shows that cereals are the chief source of energy in the study locations contributing 70-80% of the daily energy intake. Mean intake of green leafy vegetable are negligible in the study locations. The intake of sugar and jaggery among the intervention group of Meenangadi is 48% higher than recommended dietary intake, while in the non-intervention group it is 28% higher; and 20% higher among the nonintervention group in the Kolli Hills. The intake of vitamin A is the lowest among other nutrients across the internvention and non-intervention groups in the study locations

Allelic richness and diversity in global composite collection and reference sets in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea is the fourth largest grain legume crop globally. A composite collection of 3000 accessions was formed and genotyped using 50 SSR markers. The accessions were also field evaluated for seven qualitative traits. Analysis of 48 SSR markers data on 2915 accessions detected 1683 alleles, of which 935 were rare and 748 common. Gene diversity varied from 0.533 to 0.975. Kabuli chickpea as a group were genetically more diverse than other seed types. Several group-specific unique alleles were detected: 104 in Kabuli, 297 in desi, and 69 in wild Cicer; 114 each in West Asia and Mediterranean, 117 in South and South East Asia, and 10 in African region accessions. A genotype-based reference set captured 1315 alleles compared to 1237 alleles in the reference set based on qualitative traits or 1354 alleles based on SSRs and qualitative traits data. The relative usefulness of these reference sets in chickpea breeding and genomics studies are being further investigated

Observations of TeV gamma-rays from Mrk 421 during Dec. 2005 to Apr. 2006 with the TACTIC telescope

The TACTIC $\gamma$-ray telescope has observed Mrk 421 on 66 clear nights from Dec. 07, 2005 to Apr. 30, 2006, totalling $\sim$ 202 hours of on-source observations. Here, we report the detection of flaring activity from the source at $\geq$ 1 TeV energy and the time-averaged differential $\gamma$-ray spectrum in the energy range 1-11 TeV for the data taken between Dec. 27, 2005 to Feb. 07, 2006 when the source was in a relatively higher state as compared to the rest of the observation period. Analysis of this data spell, comprising about $\sim$97h reveals the presence of a $\sim 12.0 \sigma$ $\gamma$-ray signal with daily flux of $>$ 1 Crab unit on several days. A pure power law spectrum with exponent $-3.11\pm0.11$ as well as a power law spectrum with an exponential cutoff $(\Gamma = -2.51\pm0.26$ and $E_0=(4.7\pm2.1) TeV)$ are found to provide reasonable fits to the inferred differential spectrum within statistical uncertainties. We believe that the TeV light curve presented here, for nearly 5 months of extensive coverage, as well as the spectral information at $\gamma$-ray energies of $>$ 5 TeV provide a useful input for other groups working in the field of $\gamma$-ray astronomy.Comment: 13pages,4figures; Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

A Comparison of Solar Cycle Variations in the Equatorial Rotation Rates of the Sun's Subsurface, Surface, Corona, and Sunspot Groups

Using the Solar Optical Observing Network (SOON) sunspot-group data for the period 1985-2010, the variations in the annual mean equatorial-rotation rates of the sunspot groups are determined and compared with the known variations in the solar equatorial-rotation rates determined from the following data: i) the plasma rotation rates at 0.94Rsun, 0.95Rsun,...,1.0Rsun measured by Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) during the period 1995-2010, ii) the data on the soft X-ray corona determined from Yohkoh/SXT full disk images for the years 1992-2001, iii) the data on small bright coronal structures (SBCS) which were traced in Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/EIT images during the period 1998-2006, and iv) the Mount Wilson Doppler-velocity measurements during the period 1986-2007. A large portion (up to approximate 30 deg latitude) of the mean differential-rotation profile of the sunspot groups lies between those of the internal differential-rotation rates at 0.94Rsun and 0.98Rsun.The variation in the yearly mean equatorial-rotation rate of the sunspot groups seems to be lagging that of the equatorial-rotation rate determined from the GONG measurements by one to two years.The amplitude of the latter is very small.The solar-cycle variation in the equatorial-rotation rate of the solar corona closely matches that determined from the sunspot-group data.The variation in the equatorial-rotation rate determined from the Mount Wilson Doppler-velocity data closely resembles the corresponding variation in the equatorial-rotation rate determined from the sunspot-group data that included the values of the abnormal angular motions (> 3 deg per day) of the sunspot groups. Implications of these results are pointed out.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Solar Physic

Laboratory Information Management Software for genotyping workflows: Applications in high throughput crop genotyping

Background With the advances in DNA sequencer-based technologies, it has become possible to automate several steps of the genotyping process leading to increased throughput. To efficiently handle the large amounts of genotypic data generated and help with quality control, there is a strong need for a software system that can help with the tracking of samples and capture and management of data at different steps of the process. Such systems, while serving to manage the workflow precisely, also encourage good laboratory practice by standardizing protocols, recording and annotating data from every step of the workflow. Results A laboratory information management system (LIMS) has been designed and implemented at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) that meets the requirements of a moderately high throughput molecular genotyping facility. The application is designed as modules and is simple to learn and use. The application leads the user through each step of the process from starting an experiment to the storing of output data from the genotype detection step with auto-binning of alleles; thus ensuring that every DNA sample is handled in an identical manner and all the necessary data are captured. The application keeps track of DNA samples and generated data. Data entry into the system is through the use of forms for file uploads. The LIMS provides functions to trace back to the electrophoresis gel files or sample source for any genotypic data and for repeating experiments. The LIMS is being presently used for the capture of high throughput SSR (simple-sequence repeat) genotyping data from the legume (chickpea, groundnut and pigeonpea) and cereal (sorghum and millets) crops of importance in the semi-arid tropics. Conclusion A laboratory information management system is available that has been found useful in the management of microsatellite genotype data in a moderately high throughput genotyping laboratory. The application with source code is freely available for academic users and can be downloaded from http://www.icrisat.org/gt-bt/lims/lims.asp