Dynamics of Major Cereals Productivity in Nepal

Cereal crops have played major roles in addressing food security issues in Nepal. In recent years there have been fluctuations in crop production and demands situations due to various reasons. Thus, the present study aims to analyze the dynamics of major cereals productivity in Nepal from 1995 to 2014. Focus group discussions were done in mid-hills and tarai of Nepal in 2015. Percentage change, compound growth rate, annual rate of change, coefficient of variation, instability index were calculated to analyze results. The result shows that the area, production and productivity of major cereals had an increasing trend over the study period. The major factors contributing on productivity increase in cereal crops were irrigation facilities, use of improved and hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizer and better technical knowhow among the farmers. For effective adoption of research outputs to improve the productivity emphasis should also be given on promotion of public private partnership (PPP) in research and development

Prevalence of cricket-related musculoskeletal pain among Indian junior club cricketers

Background: Cricket is the most commonly played sport in India. The number of children playing cricket are increasing. There is growing evidence that injury rates in junior cricketers are higher than professional cricketers. In India at the community level, there are no standardized specific cricket injury prevention programmes (CIPP) which reduce injury risk. Minimal data is available from Asian countries, especially on junior cricketers. Our study is an attempt to focus on junior club cricketer injuries, plan safety precautions and emphasize role of CIPP.Methods: It was an observational study conducted on male junior club cricketers in the age group of 8-16 years. Based on a self-reported questionnaire, player’s physical status, training, injuries and their nature are assessed over a period of 12 months.Results: Over the study period 36 of 50 cricketers were symptomatic. The lower limb is the most frequently injured. Most common etiology is overuse. We found that the players are not following pre-training warm-up and post-training cool-down.Conclusions: CIPP should be implemented and strictly followed from the early stages of sports life. Pre-training warm-up and post-training cool-down should be included in their routine training. Overuse i.e. playing overtime and ignoring the pain during practice or match should be avoided. A supervised training and regular screening of players by orthopaedician or sports physician will keep them fit to play with full potential

INTEND AND INVESTIGATION OF FAN BLADE WITH COMPOSITE RESOURCES

With the growing power disaster within the present and destiny generations coping with in the society, there can be a want to reduce and optimize the power. Though an extensive fashion of researches is being executed inside the areas of alternate strength property, right manipulate of them available electricity sources will make contributions to controlling this electricity disaster, especially in populous worldwide locations. Because of superb use of electric energy, energy garage is the precept hassle at some level inside the arena. The recognition of this artwork is to layout the sandwich composite blade with the pinnacle of the road form of plies for the face sheet which will resist the combined stress and centrifugal masses at the equal time as the limitations are happy and the baseline aerodynamic and geometric parameters are maintained. To satisfy the necessities, a sandwich production for the blade is proposed with composite face sheets and an inclined middle crafted from honeycomb aluminium cloth

Genotypic capacity of post-anthesis stem reserve mobilization in wheat for yield sustainability under drought and heat stress in the subtropical region

Wheat productivity is severely affected by drought and heat stress conditions worldwide. Currently, stem reserve mobilization (SRM) is receiving increased attention as a trait that can sustain wheat yields under adverse environments. However, the significance of SRM in sustaining wheat yields under drought and heat stress conditions remains uncertain in the tropical climate of Indo-Gangetic Plain region. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate genotypic variations in SRM in wheat and their influence on yield sustainability under drought and heat stress environments. The experiment was designed in an alpha-lattice layout, accommodating 43 genotypes under four simulated environments [timely sown and well irrigated (non-stress); timely sown and water-deficit/drought stress; late-sown and well-irrigated crop facing terminally high temperature; and late-sown and water-deficit stress (both water-deficit and heat stress)]. The water-deficit stress significantly increased SRM (16%–68%, p < 0.01) compared to the non-stress environment, while the heat stress conditions reduced SRM (12%–18%). Both SRM and stem reserve mobilization efficiency exhibited positive correlations with grain weight (grain weight spike−1) under all three different stress treatments (p < 0.05). Strong positive correlations between stem weight (at 12 days after anthesis) and grain weight were observed across the environments (p < 0.001); however, a significant positive correlation between stem weight and SRM was observed only with stress treatments. Results revealed that the SRM trait could effectively alleviate the impacts of water-deficit stress on yields. However, the SRM-mediated yield protection was uncertain under heat stress and combined water-deficit and heat stress treatments, possibly due to sink inefficiencies caused by high temperature during the reproductive period. Defoliated plants exhibited higher SRM than non-defoliated plants, with the highest increment observed in the non-stress treatment compared to all the stress treatments. Results revealed that wider genetic variability exists for the SRM trait, which could be used to improve wheat yield under drought stress conditions

Intratracheal Instillation of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Induces Hepatic Toxicity in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats

Background: Cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles have been posited to have both beneficial and toxic effects on biological systems. Herein, we examine if a single intratracheal instillation of CeO2 nanoparticles is associated with systemic toxicity in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods and results: Compared with control animals, CeO2 nanoparticle exposure was associated with increased liver ceria levels, elevations in serum alanine transaminase levels, reduced albumin levels, a diminished sodium-potassium ratio, and decreased serum triglyceride levels (P \u3c 0.05). Consistent with these data, rats exposed to CeO2nanoparticles also exhibited reductions in liver weight (P \u3c 0.05) and dose-dependent hydropic degeneration, hepatocyte enlargement, sinusoidal dilatation, and accumulation of granular material. No histopathological alterations were observed in the kidney, spleen, and heart. Analysis of serum biomarkers suggested an elevation of acute phase reactants and markers of hepatocyte injury in the rats exposed to CeO2 nanoparticles. Conclusion: Taken together, these data suggest that intratracheal instillation of CeO2nanoparticles can result in liver damage

Improvement in hot corrosion resistance of dissimilar alloy 825 and AISI 321 CO2-laser weldment by HVOF coating in aggressive salt environment at 900°C

This study investigated the hot corrosion performance of a dissimilar weldment of Ni-based superalloy and stainless steel joined by CO2-laser welding and improved by high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) coating in a Na2SO4-60wt%V2O5 environment at 900°C. A dissimilar butt joint of AISI 321 and alloy 825 was fabricated by CO2-laser welding with low heat input after obtaining the optimum welding parameters by bead-on-plate trials. The metallurgical and mechanical properties of the laser weldment were evaluated. The tensile test results indicated the occurrence of fracture in the base metal AISI 321 side. The HVOF process was employed to coat Ni-20wt%Cr on the weldment. To evaluate the surface morphology of the corrosion products formed on the uncoated and Ni-20wt%Cr-coated weldments, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was performed. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was used to determine the different elements present on the surface scales. The existence of oxide phases on the weldments was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The cross sections of the weldments were characterized by SEM with EDS line mapping analysis. The results indicated that the Ni-20wt%Cr-coated weldment exhibited superior hot corrosion resistance due to the development of Cr2O3 and NiCr2O4 protective oxide scales

Preclinical Pharmacokinetic Evaluation to Facilitate Repurposing of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Nilotinib and Imatinib as Antiviral Agents

Background Several tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) developed as anti-cancer drugs, also have anti-viral activity due to their ability to disrupt productive replication and dissemination in infected cells. Consequently, such drugs are attractive candidates for “repurposing” as anti-viral agents. However, clinical evaluation of therapeutics against infectious agents associated with high mortality, but low or infrequent incidence, is often unfeasible. The United States Food and Drug Administration formulated the “Animal Rule” to facilitate use of validated animal models for conducting anti-viral efficacy studies. Methods To enable such efficacy studies of two clinically approved TKIs, nilotinib, and imatinib, we first conducted comprehensive pharmacokinetic (PK) studies in relevant rodent and non-rodent animal models. PK of these agents following intravenous and oral dosing were evaluated in C57BL/6 mice, prairie dogs, guinea pigs and Cynomolgus monkeys. Plasma samples were analyzed using an LC-MS/MS method. Secondarily, we evaluated the utility of allometry-based inter-species scaling derived from previously published data to predict the PK parameters, systemic clearance (CL) and the steady state volume of distribution (Vss) of these two drugs in prairie dogs, an animal model not tested thus far. Results Marked inter-species variability in PK parameters and resulting oral bioavailability was observed. In general, elimination half-lives of these agents in mice and guinea pigs were much shorter (1–3 h) relative to those in larger species such as prairie dogs and monkeys. The longer nilotinib elimination half-life in prairie dogs (i.v., 6.5 h and oral, 7.5 h), facilitated multiple dosing PK and safety assessment. The allometry-based predicted values of the Vss and CL were within 2.0 and 2.5-fold, respectively, of the observed values. Conclusions Our results suggest that prairie dogs and monkeys may be suitable rodent and non-rodent species to perform further efficacy testing of these TKIs against orthopoxvirus infections. The use of rodent models such as C57BL/6 mice and guinea pigs for assessing pre-clinical anti-viral efficacy of these two TKIs may be limited due to short elimination and/or low oral bioavailability. Allometry-based correlations, derived from existing literature data, may provide initial estimates, which may serve as a useful guide for pre-clinical PK studies in untested animal models

Me3Al-mediated domino nucleophilic addition/intramolecular cyclisation of 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines; a convenient approach for the synthesis of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines

A simple and efficient protocol for the construction of 1-aminoisoquinolines was achieved by treating 2-(2-oxo-2- phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines in the presence of Me 3 Al. The reaction proceeds via a domino nucleophilic addition with subsequent intramolecular cyclisation. This method provides a wide variety of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines with good func- tional group tolerance. Furthermore, the synthetic utility of this protocol was demonstrated in the successful synthesis of the anti- tumor agent CWJ-a-5 in gram scale

Genetic variability of drought-avoidance root traits in the mini-core germplasm collection of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).

Extensive and deep root systems have been recognized as one of the most important traits for improving chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) productivity under progressively receding soil moisture conditions. However, available information on the range of variation for root traits is still limited. Genetic variability for the root traits was investigated using a cylinder culture system during two consecutive growth seasons in the mini-core germplasm collection of ICRISAT plus several wild relatives of chickpea. The largest genetic variability was observed at 35 days after sowing for root length density (RLD) (heritability, h 2 = 0.51 and 0.54) across seasons, and followed by the ratio of plant dry weight to root length density with h 2 of 0.37 and 0.50 for first and second season, respectively. The root growth of chickpea wild relatives was relatively poor compared to C. arietinum, except in case of C. reticulatum. An outstanding genotype, ICC 8261, which had the largest RLD and one of the deepest root system, was identified in chickpea mini-core germplasm collection. The accession ICC 4958 which was previously characterized as a source for drought avoidance in chickpea was confirmed as one with the most prolific and deep root system, although many superior accessions were also identified. The chickpea landraces collected from the Mediterranean and the west Asian region showed a significantly larger RLD than those from the south Asian region. In addition, the landraces originating from central Asia (former Soviet Union), characterized by arid agro-climatic conditions, also showed relatively larger RLD. As these regions are under-represented in the chickpea collection, they might be interesting areas for further germplasm exploration to identify new landraces with large RLD. The information on the genetic variability of chickpea root traits provides valuable baseline knowledge for further progress on the selection and breeding for drought avoidance root traits in chickpea