Impact of planting density on wheat crop grown under different tree species in tarai agroforestry system of central himalaya, India

A field trial based Agroforestry system was established at Pantnagar during Rabi season 2012-13 for predicting the effect of spacing on growth and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Melia azedarach. The experiment was carried out in split-plot design consisting of two tree species in main plot, viz, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Melia azedarch and four spacing treatments in sub-plot viz, 3.0m×1.0m, 3.0m×1.5m, 3.0m×2.0m and 3.0m×2.5m with three replications. The wheat crop variety“UP-2338” was sown on December 06, 2012 and harvested on April 27, 2013. Among the tree species, the maximum (15.1 q /ha) and significantly higher grain yield with 21.8% increment was recorded under Melia as compare to Eucalyptus. Whereas, among the different spacings, the wheat growth in terms of dry biomass at 120 DAS (495.4/m2 ), yield attributes and yield in terms of grain (16.0 q/ha), straw (29.4 q/ha) and biological yield (45.4 q/ha) under Melia was significantly higher at 3 × 2.5 m spacing as compared to other planting density. The correlation coefficient (r) studies exhibited that wheat growth and yield attributing characteristics shows significantly (p<0.05) high degree (r=0.75 to 1) positive correlation with each other. The investigation was done to find out the proper planting density for intercropping of wheat with tree species without comprising the wheat growth and enhancing its sustainability

A perspective on SARS-CoV-2 and community transmission in the top COVID-19 affected nations

In most countries, during the initial months of the COVID-19 outbreak resources were directed to mitigation measures that prevented severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission from symptomatic individuals. The coverage of the pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals' testing required intensive clinical sampling along with rigorous symptom-based screening. Based on the SARS-CoV-2 transmission, the disease outbreak across nations was divided into four distinct stages: (i) epidemic, (ii) community transmission, (iii) local transmission, and (iv) imported cases. Here we discuss the COVID-19 community transmission stage for the top ten COVID-19 affected nations. Epidemic dynamics and policies implemented to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection varied globally. Further, the mitigation strategies and related health policies for dealing with the pandemic were based on the stages of transmission of the disease. We suggest that correctly identifying the transmission stage during a pandemic ensures the implementation of mitigation strategies. Thus prompt analysis of the status of COVID-19 transmission stage(s) in any nation seems crucial to direct health policies accordingly

Allosteric effects of E. coli SSB and RecR proteins on RecO protein binding to DNA

Escherichia coli single stranded (ss) DNA binding protein (SSB) plays essential roles in DNA maintenance. It binds ssDNA with high affinity through its N-terminal DNA binding core and recruits at least 17 different SSB interacting proteins (SIPs) that are involved in DNA replication, recombination, and repair via its nine amino acid acidic tip (SSB-Ct). E. coli RecO, a SIP, is an essential recombination mediator protein in the RecF pathway of DNA repair that binds ssDNA and forms a complex with E. coli RecR protein. Here, we report ssDNA binding studies of RecO and the effects of a 15 amino acid peptide containing the SSB-Ct monitored by light scattering, confocal microscope imaging, and analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC). We find that one RecO monomer can bind the oligodeoxythymidylate, (dT)15, while two RecO monomers can bind (dT)35 in the presence of the SSB-Ct peptide. When RecO is in molar excess over ssDNA, large RecO-ssDNA aggregates occur that form with higher propensity on ssDNA of increasing length. Binding of RecO to the SSB-Ct peptide inhibits RecO-ssDNA aggregation. RecOR complexes can bind ssDNA via RecO, but aggregation is suppressed even in the absence of the SSB-Ct peptide, demonstrating an allosteric effect of RecR on RecO binding to ssDNA. Under conditions where RecO binds ssDNA but does not form aggregates, SSB-Ct binding enhances the affinity of RecO for ssDNA. For RecOR complexes bound to ssDNA, we also observe a shift in RecOR complex equilibrium towards a RecR4O complex upon binding SSB-Ct. These results suggest a mechanism by which SSB recruits RecOR to facilitate loading of RecA onto ssDNA gaps

WEARS: Wearable Emotion AI with Real-time Sensor data

Emotion prediction is the field of study to understand human emotions. Existing methods focus on modalities like text, audio, facial expressions, etc., which could be private to the user. Emotion can be derived from the subject's psychological data as well. Various approaches that employ combinations of physiological sensors for emotion recognition have been proposed. Yet, not all sensors are simple to use and handy for individuals in their daily lives. Thus, we propose a system to predict user emotion using smartwatch sensors. We design a framework to collect ground truth in real-time utilizing a mix of English and regional language-based videos to invoke emotions in participants and collect the data. Further, we modeled the problem as binary classification due to the limited dataset size and experimented with multiple machine-learning models. We also did an ablation study to understand the impact of features including Heart Rate, Accelerometer, and Gyroscope sensor data on mood. From the experimental results, Multi-Layer Perceptron has shown a maximum accuracy of 93.75 percent for pleasant-unpleasant (high/low valence classification) moods

Efforts and strategies for alleviation of drought tolerance in chickpea in India

Among the various cool season pulses grown in India, chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) occupies an important position in rainfed agriculture. Chickpea is largely grown (>67% area) on conserved/ residual moisture, contributing about 45% to the total pulses production in India. Being a rainfed crop, it often faces terminal drought stress. When chickpea sowing is delayed in fields vacated by paddy in the presence of terminal heat, soil moisture stress further limits its productivity. This necessitates the adoption of suitable strategies to alleviate per se drought tolerance in chickpea. Two main strategies, integrated breeding and transgenic technology, have been adopted for developing drought-tolerant varieties. The third potential strategy is utilization of nanotechnology, which has not been tried under Indian NARES. Systematic breeding efforts resulted in development of varieties having per se drought tolerance (RSG 44, Vijay, RSG 888, JG 74, Pusa 2024), and escape (JG 11, JG 16, JSC 56, IPC 2006-77 etc.) exploiting earliness. QTLs responsible for drought tolerance have been identified in chickpea genotype ICC 4958, which have been transferred, and drought-tolerant elite breeding lines have been developed. MAGIC and NAM populations combining drought and heat tolerance are now becoming available for identification of elite breeding lines having combined tolerance to both stresses for their possible release. Exploitation of transgenic technology using DREB gene has also shown promise. The use of nano-particles in enhancing root development and growth vigour in chickpea has opened the doors for exploitation of nanotechnology for alleviation of per se drought tolerance

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: A pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

© The Author(s) 2018. Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probittransformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-16, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in South Asia and in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the highincome Asia Pacific and high-income Western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups