Research Notes : India : Induced parthenogenesis in soybean

A field of research currently gaining much interest is the irradiated-pollen-induced ovule transformation in plants. The interest lies mainly in the possibility of modifying the plant genome in a quicker and more economical way. The successful demonstration of such gene transfers have been achieved in Nicotiana (Pandey, 1975; Jinks et al., 1981), Brassica (Banga et al., 1983) and Lycopersicum (Zamir, 1983) for both qualitative and metric traits

Research Notes : India : Potential of an off-season soybean nursery

In India, soybean is generally sown during summer (June-October). However, due to tremendous variability in climatic conditions of the country, there is a scope for growing soybean in more than one season. The efficacy of yield improvement projects could be substantially enhanced by rapid genera-tion turnover

A clinical prediction rule to identify patients with tuberculosis at high risk for HIV co-infection

Background & Objective: Many patients presenting with tuberculosis (TB) have underlying human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection. Routine HIV testing, however, is not a component of the national TB control programme in India. We sought to derive and validate a clinical prediction rule, based on clinical and laboratory parameters, to identify patients at high risk for HIV co-infection among those treated for active TB. Methods: Case records of adult patients with active TB treated between 1997 and 2003 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, New Delhi were retrospectively reviewed. The data set was randomly split into a training set and a testing set. First a clinical prediction rule was derived by multivariable logistic regression on the training set and was subsequently validated on the testing set. Results: The study group comprised 1074 patients [training set 711 (66%), HIV co-infected 66 (9%); testing set 363 (34%), HIV co-infected 30 (8%)]. In the training set, male gender [odds ratio (95% CI) 5.31(1.52- 18.61)], axillary lymphadenopathy [9.71 (3.24-29.10)], anaemia [7.56 (2.48-23.05)], hypoalbuminaemia [3.67(1.31-10.26)], and reduced triceps skinfold thickness [2.91(0.95-8.89)] were independently associated with HIV co-infection. In the testing set, presence of any two of these five features was 94 per cent (95% CI 84-100%) sensitive and 54 per cent (49-60%) specific for predicting HIV co-infection; negative predictive value was 99 per cent (98-100%). Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.93 (0.86-1.0) in the testing set. Interpretation & Conclusion: A simple clinical prediction rule based on clinical and laboratory parameters could be used to identify a subgroup of patients, among those treated for active TB in a hospital setting, for targeted HIV testing

A candidate gene-based association study of introgressed pod shatter resistance in Brassica napus

267-276Yield losses at maturity due to unsynchronized pod shattering remain a major rapeseed breeding challenge. Variation for shatter resistance in the germplasm collections is inadequate for breeding manipulations. We have recently transferred resistance to pod shattering from Brassica carinata to Brassica napus. Introgression lines (ILs) were phenotyped for shatter resistance using the pendulum machine. Introgressive breeding was successful in enhancing rupture energy in the ILs, which varied from 1.8 to 7.2 milli Joules (mJ) for Environment 1 (E1) and 2.7 to 6.5 mJ for E2 while the corresponding values for natural B. napus ranged from 2.2-3.5 mJ (E1) and 2.2-4.3 mJ (E2), respectively. B. carinata had average rupture energy of 6.3 mJ (pooled over environments). On the basis of data averaged over two environments, I2 (6.3 mJ), I3 (5.2 mJ), I8 (5.6 mJ), I22 (5.1 mJ), I32 (5.2 mJ) and I41 (5.2 mJ) appeared very promising as germplasm resources for future breeding. Significant marker trait association between candidate gene NAC NAM (no apical meristem, Petunia), ATAF1/2 (Arabidopsis thaliana activating factor) and CUC2 (cup-shaped cotyledon, Arabidopsis) and rupture energy explained 19% of variation for the trait. IND3 (indehescent 3) also appeared to be associated with rupture energy under E1. These polymorphisms serve as encouraging candidates for developing molecular markers useful in marker-assisted deployment of introgressed shatter resistance

A candidate gene-based association study of introgressed pod shatter resistance in Brassica napus

Yield losses at maturity due to unsynchronized pod shattering remain a major rapeseed  breeding challenge. Variation for shatter resistance  in the germplasm collections is  inadequate for breeding manipulations. We have recently transferred resistance to pod shattering from Brassica carinata to Brassica napus. Introgression lines (ILs) were phenotyped for shatter resistance using the pendulum machine. Introgressive breeding was successful in enhancing rupture energy in the ILs, which varied from 1.8 to 7.2 mJ for E1 and 2.7 to 6.5 mJ for E2 while the corresponding values for natural B. napus ranged from 2.2 - 3.5 mJ (E1) and 2.2 - 4.3 mJ (E2) respectively. B. carinata had an average rupture energy of 6.3 mJ (pooled over environments).  On the basis of data averaged over two environments, I2 (6.3 mJ), I3 (5.2 mJ), I8 (5.6 mJ), I22 (5.1 mJ), I32 (5.2 mJ) and I41 (5.2 mJ) appeared very promising as germplasm resources for future breeding. Significant marker trait association between candidate gene NAC and rupture energy explained 19% of variation for the trait. NDEH 3 also appeared to be associated with rupture energy under E1. These polymorphisms represent promising candidates for the development of molecular markers for marker-assisted deployment of introgressed shatter resistance

Urban Cholera transmission hotspots and their implications for Reactive Vaccination: evidence from Bissau city, Guinea Bissau

Use of cholera vaccines in response to epidemics (reactive vaccination) may provide an effective supplement to traditional control measures. In Haiti, reactive vaccination was considered but, until recently, rejected in part due to limited global supply of vaccine. Using Bissau City, Guinea-Bissau as a case study, we explore neighborhood-level transmission dynamics to understand if, with limited vaccine and likely delays, reactive vaccination can significantly change the course of a cholera epidemic