Agricultural research for resource-poor farmers: the farmer-first-and-last model

Rural poverty is much less a problem of total food availability than of who produces the food and who has the income to buy it. A high priority is therefore to enable the tens of millions of resource-poor farm families to increase their production and improve its stability. The normal transfer-of- technology (TOT) model for agricultural research has built-in biases which favour resource-rich farmers whose conditions resemble those of research stations. TOT approaches have been modified through on-farm trials and demonstrations but the basic model and approach remain the same. A second emerging model is farmer-first-and-last (FFL). This starts and ends with the farm family and the farming system. It begins with holistic and interdisciplinary appraisal of farm families' resources, needs and problems, and continues with on-farm and with-farmer R and D, with scientists, experiment stations and laboratories in a consultancy and referral role. FFL fits the needs and opportunities of resource-poor farm families better than TOT, but there are obstacles to its development and introduction. These can be tackled step-by-step, through combinations of methodological innovation, interdisciplinarity, including the social sciences, and provision of suitable resources, rewards and training. FFL approaches promise a greater contribution from agricultural research to the eradication of rural poverty

Effects of Yogic Breathing Techniques on Respiratory Function and Breathing Patterns at High Altitude

Background: Practices involving resistive breathing have been shown to enhance endurance and performance in competitive athletes. However, there is still little research on how pranayama or yogic breathing techniques (YBP) might help professional athletes improve their respiratory endurance and performance. Aim: The objective of the current research was to assess how yoga breathing practices affected competitive athletes’ respiratory function. Methodology: A total of 60 (30 male and 30 female) athletes were included and were divided into two groups; control and experimental. 30 individuals were randomly assigned in both the groups. The experimental group received daily instruction in yogic breathing techniques for one hour for six months. The control group received the same daily schedule (normal exercise). Various anthropometric measurements and spirometry measurements such as FVC, FEV1, PEFR, and the FEV1/FVC ratio both before and after yoga intervention in both the groups were measured. Result: The result showed significant increase in FVC level in control (3.51L) and experimental group (3.64L) P<0.05). A significant increase in FEV1 (3.43L) and PEF (534.18L/s) levels were also observed post-test of experimental groups (P<0.05), whereas the increase was non-significant in control group (P>0.05). Non-significant results were also observed in FEV1/FVC ratio in both control and experimental group (P<0.05). Conclusions: At high altitudes, yoga practices may beneficial for athletes in bringing about favorable psychological changes among low landers athletes

Editorial:Viral interactions with the nucleus

Viruses cause numerous medically important diseases, affecting developing, developed, rich and poor alike. The diseases vary in severity, including chickenpox, smallpox, influenza, shingles, herpes, rabies, polio, Ebola, hanta fever, AIDS and the common cold, amongst others. Regardless of the type of tissue or organ affected, all viruses follow the same basic steps to infect host cells. Once in contact with host cells viruses release their genetic material into the cell followed by genome replication, production of viral proteins, assembly of the virus particle and egress from the infected cell. Viruses disrupt normal host cell processes in order to facilitate their own replication/assembly by re-directing cellular machinery for viral transcription, translation, assembly, release and by inhibiting antiviral responses. Regulated nuclear transport of macromolecules through the nuclear pore complex, the only means of transport across the nuclear membrane, is essential for normal cell function and an effective antiviral response. Many viruses disrupt or exploit the nucleocytoplasmic trafficking pathways in host cells. Cytoplasmic viruses exploit the host cell nucleocytoplasmic trafficking machinery to access nuclear functions and/or disrupt nuclear transport, while several DNA viruses use the trafficking pathways to enable export of their components into the cytoplasm; yet others complete their assembly within the nucleus and use nuclear export pathways to access the cytoplasm. Indeed, the many and varied interactions of viruses and viral proteins with nucleocytoplasmic trafficking components have been invaluable in pathway discovery. Importantly, mounting evidence suggests that these interactions play essential roles in virus replication/assembly and hence may be key to understanding pathophysiology of viral diseases. This Frontiers Research Topic is dedicated to the importance of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking to viral pathogenesis

Agroforestry: a complex system for resource-poor farmers

Paper for the Indian Society of Tree Scientists Satellite Session on Agroforestry, Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Bihar, 2 January 1984 and for the Ford FoundationAgroforestry has potential as a technology for resource-poor farmers. Like modern high-yield intercropping systems, agroforestry has several characteristics of interest: (1) complexity, .(2) productivity, (3) risk; and (4) investment. Each characteristic has potential advantages and disadvantages for the poor which can be manipulated and improved with applied research

Host cytoskeleton in respiratory syncytial virus assembly and budding

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the major pathogens responsible for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) in young children, the elderly, and the immunosuppressed. Currently, there are no antiviral drugs or vaccines available that effectively target RSV infections, proving a significant challenge in regards to prevention and treatment. An in-depth understanding of the host-virus interactions that underlie assembly and budding would inform new targets for antiviral development. Current research suggests that the polymerised form of actin, the filamentous or F-actin, plays a role in RSV assembly and budding. Treatment with cytochalasin D, which disrupts F-actin, has been shown to inhibit virus release. In addition, the actin cytoskeleton has been shown to interact with the RSV matrix (M) protein, which plays a central role in RSV assembly. For this reason, the interaction between these two components is hypothesised to facilitate the movement of viral components in the cytoplasm and to the budding site. Despite increases in our knowledge of RSV assembly and budding, M-actin interactions are not well understood. In this review, we discuss the current literature on the role of actin cytoskeleton during assembly and budding of RSV with the aim to integrate disparate studies to build a hypothetical model of the various molecular interactions between actin and RSV M protein that facilitate RSV assembly and budding

Interaction of Oscillatory Flow with a Non Uniformly Rotating Lamina

The problem of the boundary layer flow near the stagnation point of a lamina rotating unsteadily in the presence of a fluctuating free stream directed normally towards it, has been studies in this paper. The velocity distribution has been obtained for the two limiting cases of large and small values of the frequency of oscillation. The transitional frequencies for which the two approximate solutions overlap have been obtained and presented in a tabulated form

Optimization Of Command Execution Testing Procedures

Current Command Execution Testing (CET) procedures are conducted manually and can be arduous and impractical for frequent testing Inefficiency of an integral testing procedure can lead to delays within the other teams involved in the development of the cube satellit