A Brief Review on Diagnosis of Foot-and-Mouth Disease of Livestock: Conventional to Molecular Tools

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the highly contagious diseases of domestic animals. Effective control of this disease needs sensitive, specific, and quick diagnostic tools at each tier of control strategy. In this paper we have outlined various diagnostic approaches from old to new generation in a nutshell. Presently FMD diagnosis is being carried out using techniques such as Virus Isolation (VI), Sandwich-ELISA (S-ELISA), Liquid-Phase Blocking ELISA (LPBE), Multiplex-PCR (m-PCR), and indirect ELISA (DIVA), and real time-PCR can be used for detection of antibody against nonstructural proteins. Nucleotide sequencing for serotyping, microarray as well as recombinant antigen-based detection, biosensor, phage display, and nucleic-acid-based diagnostic are on the way for rapid and specific detection of FMDV. Various pen side tests, namely, lateral flow, RT-LAMP, Immunostrip tests, and so forth. are also developed for detection of the virus in field condition

Chickpea: Crop Improvement under Changing Environment Conditions

Chickpea, Cicer arietinum, is the second most important food legume in Asia after dry beans. Chickpea is an important source of protein, minerals, fiber, and vitamins in the diets of millions of people in Asia and Africa. Chickpea is also rich in essential amino acid lysine and deficient in sulfur-containing amino acids, methionine, and cysteine. Chickpea is mainly used for human consumption and only a small proportion is used as feed. It meets 80% of its N requirement from symbiotic nitrogen fixation and leaves substantial amount of residual nitrogen for the subsequent crops. It is a hardy crop well adapted to stress environments and a boon to the resource-poor marginal farmers in the tropics and subtropics. Average yields of chickpea are nearly 780 kg/ha, although farmers can harvest more than 2.5 tons/ha. The crop potential is nearly 5 tons/ha. Abiotic (drought, heat, and cold stress) and biotic (pod borers – Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera exigua, aphids – Aphis craccivora, leaf miner – Liriomyza cicerina, and bruchid – Callosobruchus chinensis) and diseases (Fusarium wilt, Ascochyta blight, Botrytis gray mold, and root rots) are the major stresses that constrain chickpea production in farmers fields. The major challenge is to reduce the losses due to biotic and abiotic constraints, and close the yield gap through crop improvement and crop management in future. A combination of productivity enhancement through varietal improvement, including biotechnological interventions, and integrated crop management is needed to realize the yield potential of this crop for improving food and nutritional security. Considerable progress has been made in developing high-yielding chickpea varieties to increase the productivity of this crop, while conventional breeding has been successfully used to breed disease-resistant varieties, little progress has been made in developing pod borer and drought-tolerant varieties, as the levels of resistance available in the cultivated germplasm are quite low. Wild relatives of chickpea have high levels of resistance to pod borer. Marker-assisted selection and genetic engineering of chickpea are being exploited to increase the levels of resistance/tolerance to these constraints and in future

ynthesis, characterisation and thermal studies of ruthenium(II) carbonyl complexes of functionalised tripodal phosphine chalcogen donor ligands, [CH3C(CH2P(X)Ph2)3], where X = Se, S, O

diphenylphosphinomethyl) ethane trichalcogenide ligands, [CH3C(CH2P(X)Ph2)3], where X= Se(a), S(b) and O(c) in 1:1 (metal:ligand) molar ratio to afford hexa-coordinated complexes of the type �2-(X,X)- [Ru(CO)2Cl2P3X3] (1a–c). The complexes 1a–c exhibit two equally intense �(CO) bands in the range 1979–2060cm−1 indicating cis-disposition of the two terminal carbonyl groups. The values of �(CO) frequencies containing different ligands, in general, follow the order: P3O3 >P3S3 >P3Se3 which may be explained in terms of ‘Soft–Hard’ (Ru(II)–O) and ‘Soft–Soft’ (Ru(II)–S/Se) interactions. The complexes have been characterized by elemental analyses, mass, 1H, 31P, 77Se and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The thermal stability of the complexes has also been studie

Dicarbonylrhodium(I) complexes of pyridine alcohol ligands and their catalytic carbonylation reaction

Reaction of dimeric complex [Rh(CO)2Cl]2 with two molar equivalent of pyridine alcohol ligands (L) like 2-hydroxymethylpyridine (a), 3-hydroxymethylpyridine (b) and 4-hydroxymethylpyridine (c) afford the rhodium(I) dicarbonyl complexes [Rh(CO)2ClL](1a–c). The ligands are coordinated to the metal center through N-donor site. The complexes 1 undergo oxidative addition (OA) reactions with various alkyl halides (RI) like CH3I, C2H5I to produce Rh(III)complexes of the type [Rh(CO)(COR)IClL], where R = –CH3(2), –C2H5(3). Kinetic data for the reaction of 1 with CH3I indicate a first order reaction. The catalytic activity of the complexes 1 in the carbonylation of methanol was higher than that of the well known species [Rh(CO)2I2]−

The potential of transgenic chickpeas for pest control and possible effects on non-target arthropods

Chickpea, Cicer arietinum, is the third most important grain legume crop in the world, with India being the largest producer. Insect pests are a major constraint to chickpea production. In India, the legume pod borer Helicoverpa armigera is the major insect pest of chickpeas. However, sap-sucking insects that act as vectors for viral diseases and bruchid beetles in storage are also considered important pests. Here we give an overview over the different management options to control these pests. There is a growing interest in the genetic modification of crops to enhance their resistance against insect pests. Here we present the state-of-the-art of chickpea transformation and give an overview on the available insecticidal genes that could be deployed to increase insect resistance in chickpea. Prior to commercialization, transgenic crops have to be assessed for their effects on the environment including the possible impact on non-target arthropods, many of which are important for biological pest control. Therefore, the arthropod-food web in the Indian chickpea system is described. Possible routes through which entomophagous insects could be exposed to insecticidal proteins expressed by genetically modified chickpeas are discussed, and species that could be selected for pre-release risk assessment are recommended

On searches for gravitational waves from mini creation event by laser interferometric detectors

As an alternative view to the standard big bang cosmology the quasi-steady state cosmology(QSSC) argues that the universe was not created in a single great explosion; it neither had a beginning nor will it ever come to an end. The creation of new matter in the universe is a regular feature occurring through finite explosive events. Each creation event is called a mini-bang or, a mini creation event(MCE). Gravitational waves are expected to be generated due to any anisotropy present in this process of creation. Mini creation event ejecting matter in two oppositely directed jets is thus a source of gravitational waves which can in principle be detected by laser interferometric detectors. In the present work we consider the gravitational waveforms propagated by linear jets and then estimate the response of laser interferometric detectors like LIGO and LISA

Effect of Freezing Rate on Quality of Cryopreserved Goat Spermatozoa Using a Programmable Freezer

Abstract: A total of 45 ejaculates from nine Beetal bucks collected by artificial vagina, washed and extended i