Accelerating the commercialization of home-grown genetically engineered crops

Transgenic crops offer the state-of-the-art, and yet simple-to-use technologies for sustainable enhancement of agricultural productivity. During the last 20 years, several research groups in India have developed capabilities in genetic engineering of crop plant species and some of them have isolated promising genes and promoters, with potential for commercialization. However, isolated growth of researchers, limited R&D infrastructure and knowledge base available in the seed industry, and the regulatory processes involved in the release of transgenic cultivars pose serious challenges to accelerating the conversion of such leads into field crops. There is an urgent need to evolve efficient managerial approaches for developing and advancing genetically engineered cultivars into Indian agriculture. This article emphasizes the need to identify the most promising transgenics and genes available in the country, evaluate the related intellectual property issues and provide unstinted support to accelerate the process of their commercialization. An approach that would synergize public-public and public-private partnerships needs to be evolved. Initially, it may be driven by public sector through crop- and trait-specific consortia, comprising researchers and the seed industry. A few of such examples should be taken to the stage of clearance by GEAC for unregulated release of indigenously developed transgenic cultivars. These would then serve as role models and catalyse the formation of need-based teams and lasting partnerships, needed to usher Indian agriculture into a globally competitive phase of sustainable productivity

Change in ventricular size and effect of ventricular catheter placement in pediatric patients with shunted hydrocephalus

Journal ArticleOBJECTIVE: The multicenter, randomized pediatric cerebrospinal fluid shunt valve design trial found no difference in the rate of shunt failure between a standard valve, a siphon-reducing valve (Delta; Medtronic PS Medical, Goleta, CA), and a flow-limiting valve (Orbis Sigma; Cordis, Miami, FL); however, the valves were expected to have different effects on ultimate ventricular size. Also, the catheter position or local environment of the ventricular catheter tip might have affected shunt failure. Therefore, we performed a post hoc analysis to understand what factors, other than valve design, affected shunt failure and to identify strategies that might be developed to reduce shunt failure. METHODS: Ventricular size was measured at as many as six different intervals, using a modified Evans' ratio (with incorporation of the frontal and occipital dimensions), in 344 patients. Ventricular catheter location was defined as being in the frontal horn, occipital horn, body of the lateral ventricle, third ventricle, embedded in brain, or unknown. The ventricular catheter tip was described as surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid, touching brain, or surrounded by brain parenchyma within the ventricle (slit ventricle). Repeated measures analysis of variance for unbalanced data was used to analyze ventricular size, A Cox model (with incorporation of time-dependent covariates) was used to evaluate the contribution of age, etiology, shunt design, yentricular size, ventricular catheter location,and environment among the cases. RESULTS: Ventricular volume decreased in an exponential fashion, forming a plateau at 14 months, and was similar for the three valves (P= 0.4). Frontal and occipital ventricular catheter tip locations were associated with a reduced risk of shunt failure (hazard ratios, 0,60 [P=0.02] and 0.45 [P= 0.001], respectively). Ventricular catheter tips surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid or touching the brain were associated with a reduced risk of failure (hazard ratios, 0.21 and 0.33, respectively;P= 0.0001). Patients with myelomeningocele or large yentricles had increased risk of malfunction (hazard ratios, 1.78 [P= 0.006] and 2.33 [P=0.03], respectively)

Studi Metodologis Fikih Zakat Profesi dalam Perspektif Yusuf Al-Qardhawi

The purpose of this study was to determine the method, foundation and reasoning of Yusuf al-Qardhawi's law on professional zakat. This research is a library research with data collection methods in the form of quoting, adapting and analyzing using content analysis. The results showed that according to Yusuf al-Qardhawi, ijtihad is a serious effort by exerting all abilities by those who have the authority in order to find answers to religious law through istinbât both done hourly (collective) or fardi (individual) by involving other experts . The results of the ijtihad are based on the maqâsid al-syarî‘ah using the qiyas method. On the basis of this principle Yusuf al-Qardhawi stipulates that in determining the obligatory zakat from the profession does not wait a year. The determination of the law does not stand alone, but is supported by the Qur'anic texts, hadith, and analogies. The aspect of justice in determining the obligation of professional zakat for every Muslim is because zakat is essentially worship related to property. A person who has fulfilled his requirements is required to fulfill it, not solely on the basis of his generosity, but if necessary even under pressure from the authorities

Pengaruh Pengendalian Internal Dan Tunjangan Kinerja Terhadap Kinerja Pegawai Pada Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah Provinsi Gorontalo

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui Pengaruh Pengendalian Internal Terhadap Kinerja Pegawai Pada Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah Provinsi Gorontalo. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode Penelitian Kuantitatif. Sumber data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yakni menggunakan data primer yang diperoleh dari kuesioner yang disebarkan kepada Aparatur Sipil Negara (ASN) yang berada di Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah Provinsi Gorontalo. Teknik analisis data dalam penelitian ini adalah analisis linier regresi berganda. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa secara persial variael pengendalian internal dan tunjangan kinerja berpengaruh terhadap kinerja pegawai sebesar 64% sedangkan sisanya sebesar 36% disebabkan oleh variabel-variabel lain yang tidak dijelaskan dalam penelitian ini