Expansion of HIV Laboratory Diagnostic Services in Chennai, India 2001–2006: Is the Growth Commensurate with the Need?

Objective: To describe the changes in HIV services provided and the patient population utilizing voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services at private testing laboratories in Chennai, India in 2001 and 2006. Methods: In 2001, a cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted to assess the services provided and client population of 1,031 private laboratories. A subset of labs (9%) that had been surveyed in 2001 were also studied in 2006. Results: In 2001, significantly more high volume labs (.10 HIV tests per month) offered HIV diagnostic tests than low volume labs (,10 HIV test per month) (p,0.001). More high volume labs (20.0%) provided pre-test counseling as part of HIV testing than low volume labs (11.1%) (p = 0.003). Between 2001 and 2006, the number of labs that provided HIV diagnostic tests significantly increased, including ELISA (87.8 % vs. 40.0%), Western Blot (84.4 % vs. 13.3%), and Tridot (98.9 % vs. 72.2%) (p,0.001). Also the number of labs that reported greater than 10 women seeking HIV testing per month significantly increased from 14.5 % to 79.0 % (p = 0.006). More labs provided pre-test counseling in 2006 (34.4%) than in 2001 (21.1%) (p = 0.046). Conclusions: Though HIV diagnostic testing services have increasingly become available, counseling services have not expanded commensurately. Further outreach and education is necessary to expand comprehensive HIV VCT services in bot

Comportamento de cultivares de pepino (Cucumis sativus L.) em duas épocas de semeadura

Plant development and fruit production of cucumber cultivars 'Marketer IAC- 2 2 0 5 ' , 'Palomar IAC- 3 0 5 0 ' , 'Santee IAC- 2 4 4 1 ' , 'Verde Paulistano IAC-1336' and 'Aodai 1 - 4 3 2 1 ' were compared under two sowing dates, 5 t n of May and 5 t n of December of 1970 in Campinas, SP, Brazil, in a Yellow Red Latossol. Air temperature ranged from 1 2 , 0°C to 26, 8°C in the first period of culture, and from 18,5°C to 30,2°C in the second period. Adequate cultural practices were provided. When the first female flower appeared in the field, insecticides and fungicides applications were interrupted. For all cultivars, yields were higher and fruit quality was better in the first period of culture. Both in May and December cultures, plants have concentrated their highest yields between the third and the penultima te harvesting dates. 'Santee' presented low yields and the quality of its fruits was poor. 'Aodai' showed the best results as to fruit yield and fruit quality. Yields of the other cultivars were similar. 'Verde Paulistano' presented the latest fruit production. 'Marketer' showed a relatively uniform behaviour in both periods of culture. There were found positive correlations between yield in each harvesting date and total yield, total yield and marketable yield, number of fruits and fruits weight, plant height and yield, and number of lateral branches and yield. The relation between marketable and total yield, and fruit average weight, decreased at the end of the plants cycle.O desenvolvimento e a produção de frutos para consumo in natura dos cultivares de pepino 'Marketer IAC-2205', 'Palomar IAC-3050', 'Santee IAC-2441', 'Verde Paulistano IAC-1386' e 'Aodai 1-4321' foram estudados em duas épocas de semeadura, 5 de maio e 5 de dezembro, em Campinas, SP. Para todos os cultivares, as plantas semeadas em dezembro cresceram mais e desenvolveram-se com maior rapidez que as plantas semeadas em maio; entretanto, as produções das plantas semeadas em maio foram maiores e a qualidade de seus frutos foi superior. Tanto para as plantas semeadas em maio como para as semeadas em dezembro, 'Santee' apresentou produções baixas e frutos de má qualidade. 'Aodai' foi o cultivar mais produtivo e seus frutos foram os de melhor qualidade. As produções dos demais cultivares foram equivalentes. 'Verde Paulistano' apresentou a produção mais tardia. 0 comportamento de 'Marketer' foi pouco afetado pelas variações ambientais. As maiores produções de todos os cultivares, nas duas é poças, foram obtidas entre a terceira e a penúltima colheitas. Foram encontradas correlações positivas entre a produção de cada colheita e a produção total, entre a produção total e a produção comerciável, entre o número de frutos e seu peso, entre produção e a altura da planta e entre produção e número de ramos laterais da planta. A relação entre produções comerciável e total e o peso médio dos frutos diminuíram no final do ciclo das plantas

Cassava research program at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in India

Cassava is cultivated in Tamil Nadu in an area of 85,983 ha with an annual production of about 2.5 million t of roots (1993-94). At the world level, Tamil Nadu ranks first in yield, with 28.7 t/ha, as compared to the Indian average of 22.8 and a world average of 9.6 t/ha. In Tamil Nadu cassava is grown mainly in Salem and Kanyakumari districts located in the dry western zone (60% irrigated and 40% rainfall) and the high rainfall southern zone (mostly rainfed), respectively. The area under cassava is increasing in other districts of Tamil Nadu as well. With respect to varieties, about 50% of the total area is grown with high-yielding varieties, like H-226 and MVD-1 in most areas of Salem district, and with Co-1, Co-2, Co-3 in different parts of Tamil Nadu. Locally adapted and traditional varieties, like Burma and Malabar, are still under cultivation, but they are low yielding and susceptible to cassava mosaic disease. The cassava germplasm collection has now increased to 480 accessions, including some CIAT clones. Two early maturing clones were identified, i.e., H-1 19 from CTCRI, Trivandrum, and Co-3 developed by Tamil Nadu Agr. Univ. in Coimbatore. The crop duration is 7 1/2 to 8 months with a high yield of 32 and 35 t/ha, respectively, and a starch content of about 30 % . For the high rainfall zone of Kanyakumari district, the local clone Adukkumuttan performs well, giving a 15 to 28% increase in yield compared to the released varieties. For coastal areas of South Arcot district, two clones, i.e. ME-46 and ME-10, were shown to be better, with a yield of 44 t/ha; these are now under further evaluation. Under the Asian cassava breeding network a total number of 85 hybrid progenies were received from CIAT/Colombia and the Thai-CIAT program. Preliminary evaluation has indicated that a few clones have high root yields of more than 5 kg/plant, high starch content of over 35%, field tolerance to mosaic virus and a shorter crop duration of 7 to 8 months. The optimum fertilizer rate for Co-3 cassava under irrigated conditions was found to be 60:60:120 kg N-P2O5-KO/ha, which increased the yields by 36% over the control. For the recently developed short-duration clones, like H-1 19, CI-590and S-856, under irrigated conditions the optimum spacing and fertilizer requirements are 75 x 75 cm and 75:25:75kg N-P2O5-K2O/ha, respectively. Application of Azospirillum inoculum at 2 kg/ha as basal dressing with recommended fertilizers, combined with three foliar sprays of zinc sulfate (0.5%) and iron sulfate (1.0%) at 60, 75 and 90 days after planting, increased the root yield and starch content of Co-1 and Co-2 varieties. Under abundant water supply, cassava intercropped with groundnut can be irrigated at 0.6 IW/CPE ratio with an interval of 12 days and the application at 10 t/ha of coconut husk waste. Under limited water supply, irrigation may be reduced to 0.45 IW/CPE ratio with an interval of 16 days

Cassava intercropping patterns and management practices in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India

In IDL-542

Parallel Contextual Hexagonal Array P Systems

We introduce new P system models, called as external and internal parallel contextual hexagonal array P systems, based on the external and internal parallel contextual hexagonal array grammars. We can generate hexagonal arrays using these P system models with the help of Z-direction, X-direction and Y-direction external or internal parallel contextual hexagonal array rules. We discuss some basic properties of these P systems and give some comparison results in terms of their generative powers

Community Participation and Barriers in Rural Tourism: A Case Study in Kiulu, Sabah

The paper presents an investigation on local community participation and barriers in rural tourism. It identifies two sides of community participation in tourism as identified by Timothy [5], which are; the benefits point of view and from the decision making process perspective. It also identifies the communities’ barriers in engaging in tourism and uses Tosun’s [18] approach in examining the barriers. A total of eighty-three questionnaire forms were completed by respondents from seven villages in Kiulu, Sabah, Malaysia. Respondents involved in tourism were mainly engaged as river guides, homestay operators and Tagal participants. Their involvement in the decision making process were limited to attending meetings and giving ideas and opinions only. The main barriers to participate in tourism were related to their limited knowledge about tourism, lack of capital, unable to communicate well in English, lack of information about tourism development in Kiulu, and limited incentives or support from the government for tourism development. The findings have significant implication to community participation in tourism especially in rural settings. More efforts should be made to ensure many more communities participate in tourism so as to share the benefits of tourism