Simulation of Growth and Yield of Rainfed Maize Under Varied Agronomic Management and Changing Climatic Scenario in Nawalparasi, Nepal

Correction: Figure 3 was corrupted and so the PDF was replaced on 29th December 2016 with the corrected Figure 3.A field experiment and simulation modeling study in combination for different maize cultivars planted at different sowing dates were accomplished at Kawasoti-5, Nawalparasi during spring season of 2013 to assess the impact of climate change scenario as predicted by IPCC in rainfed spring maize by using CSM-CERES-Maize model. Result showed that RML-4/RML-17 produced higher kernel rows/ ear (13.77), kernel per row (30.42) and test weight (244.9 g). Significantly higher grain yield was also found for RML-4/RML-17 (6.03 t/ha) compared to Poshilo makai-1 (4.73 t/ha), Arun-2 (3.55 t/ha) and Local (2.92 t/ha). Earlier sowing date (7th April) actually produced higher kernel/row (27.97), kernel rows/ear (12.89) and 1000 grain weight (230 g). Significantly higher grain yield (5.13t/ha) was obtained in earlier sowing date (7th April). The CSM-CERES-Maize model was calibrated and found well validated with days to anthesis (RMSE= 0.426 day and D-index= 0.998), days to physiological maturity (RMSE=0.674 day and D-index= 0.999), number of grain/m2 at maturity (RMSE= 85.287 grain /m2 and D-index= 0.993), unit weight at maturity (RMSE=0.012 g/kernel and D-index= 0.854) and grain yield (RMSE=54.94 kg/ha and D-index= 1.00). The model was found sensitive to climate change parameters. The sensitivity for various climate change parameter indicated that there was severely decreased trend in simulated rainfed spring maize yield with the increment of maximum and minimum temperature, decrease in solar radiation and decrease carbondioxide concentration. Even 2°C rise in temperature can decrease around 15-20% yield of spring maize and this negative effect was even more pronounced in hybrid than other cultivars.Journal of Maize Research and Development (2015) 1(1):123-133DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3428

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Livestock and Poultry Production in Nepal and Current Status of Vaccine Development

The livestock and poultry sectors are an integral part of Nepalese economy and lifestyle. Livestock and poultry populations have continuously been increasing in the last decade in Nepal and are likely to follow that trend as the interests in this field is growing. Infectious diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), hemorrhagic septicemia (HS), black quarter (BQ), swine fever, avian influenza, and Newcastle disease (ND) constitute one of the major health challenges to the Nepalese livestock and poultry industry. Vaccinations are an efficient means of preventing the occurrence and spread of several diseases in animals and birds. Considering this fact, the government of Nepal began the production of veterinary vaccines in the 1960s. Nepal is self-reliant in producing several vaccines for cattle and buffaloes, sheep and goats, pigs, and poultry. Despite these efforts, the demand for vaccines is not met, especially in the commercial poultry sector, as Nepal spends billions of rupees in vaccine imports each year. There is a need of strengthening laboratory facilities for the isolation and characterization of field strains of pathogens and capacity building for the production of different types of vaccines using the latest technologies to be self-reliant in veterinary vaccine production in the future in Nepal

The Therapeutic Potential of Blocking Galectin-3 Expression in Acute Myocardial Infarction and Mitigating Inflammation of Infarct Region: A Clinical Outcome-Based Translational Study

Introduction: Increased galectin-3 is associated with ischemic cardiomyopathy, although its role in early remodeling post-myocardial infarction (MI) has not been fully elucidated. There are no data demonstrating that blocking galectin-3 expression would have an impact on the heart and that its relationship to remodeling is not simply an epiphenomenon. The direct association between galectin-3 and myocardial inflammation, dysfunction, and adverse cardiovascular outcomes post-MI was examined using clinical and translational studies. Methods: We performed expression analysis of 9753 genes in murine model of acute MI. For galectin-3 loss of function studies, homozygous galectin-3 knock-out (KO) mice were subjected to coronary artery ligation procedure to induce acute MI (MI, N = 6; Sham, N = 6). For clinical validation, serum galectin-3 levels were measured in 96 patients with ST-elevation MI. Echocardiographic and angiographic parameters of myocardial dysfunction and 3-month composite outcome including mortality, recurrent MI, stroke, and heart failure hospitalization were measured. Results: In the infarct regions of murine models, galectin-3 was a robustly expressed gene. Elevated galectin-3 expression strongly correlated with macrophage-mediated genes. Galectin-3 KO mice showed reduced myocardial macrophage infiltration after acute MI. Galectin-3 levels were higher in patients with early systolic dysfunction, and predicted 3-month major adverse cardiovascular events (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.917 ± 0.063; P  = .001). Conclusions: Galectin-3 is directly associated with early myocardial inflammation post-MI and may represent a potential target for therapeutic inhibition

Supplementary_Material – Supplemental material for The Therapeutic Potential of Blocking Galectin-3 Expression in Acute Myocardial Infarction and Mitigating Inflammation of Infarct Region: A Clinical Outcome-Based Translational Study

<p>Supplemental material, Supplementary_Material for The Therapeutic Potential of Blocking Galectin-3 Expression in Acute Myocardial Infarction and Mitigating Inflammation of Infarct Region: A Clinical Outcome-Based Translational Study by Wassim Mosleh, Milind R Chaudhari, Swati Sonkawade, Supriya Mahajan, Charl Khalil, Kevin Frodey, Tanvi Shah, Suraj Dahal, Roshan Karki, Rujuta Katkar, W Matthijs Blankesteijn, Brian Page, Saraswati Pokharel, Minhyung Kim and Umesh C Sharma in Biomarker Insights</p