Building Organic Institutions in Nepal: Transformational Organic Leadership Perspectives

It is really challenging to transform the conventional trends of farming and consumption trends in Nepal. On the other hand, there is an opportunity to make use of the traditional ecological knowledge of the indigenous farmers for augmenting newly emerged organic farming practices. In this scenario, transformational organic leadership is needed to build organic institutions in Nepal

Family as an autonomous institution for local agricultural resources governance: discourse on organic agriculture development in the mountains of Nepal

This paper focuses on the institutional dynamics of family-led organic farms in the mountains of Nepal. It is based on continuous observations and experiences of local farmers who have dedicated themselves to organic agriculture for a significant period of time. It is found that family-led organic farming can contribute significantly to the sustainable use of local agricultural resources. The family, as an autonomous institution, is found to be effective for governance of local agricultural resources by transferring indigenous knowledge systems and traditional farming technologies to successive generations. We realised that it is most important to recognise local processes that govern the use of agricultural resources and local innovations that augment the practices of organic farming. It is concluded that family farms in mountainous regions of Nepal should be developed as an important sector of agriculture by enacting sound policies for local agricultural resources governance, empowering regional development bodies, and strengthening local market

Everest tourism: forging links to sustainable mountain development. A critical discourse on politics of places and peoples

This paper explores the relationships between tourism interventions and the changes in socioeconomic power relations of stakeholders of Everest tourism. The consequences of tourism intervention have been analyzed and interpreted through dialectical phenomenology. Political ecology framework is used as an analytical model for inductive logic generation from the observations of social interactions on Everest tourism. Impacts of tourism interventions on local environment, culture, livelihood of the indigenous people and overall socioeconomic power relations of the people in this region have been interpreted and discussed with the theoretical perspectives of political economy and bio-environmental relationships. Through critical realism on political ecology it is concluded that the interventions of Everest tourism cannot assure the sustainability of the indigenous society, environment and economy of the region. The findings are interpreted in the line of rhetoric on Ecological Modernization Theory

Identification and validation of a key genomic region on chromosome 6 for resistance to Fusarium stalk rot in tropical maize

Fusarium stalk rot (FSR) of maize is an economically important post-flowering stalk rot (PFSR) disease caused by Fusarium verticillioides. The pathogen invades the plant individually, or in combination with other stalk rot pathogens or secondary colonizers, thereby making it difficult to make accurate selection for resistance. For identification and validation of genomic regions associated with FSR resistance, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted with 342 maize lines. The panel was screened for FSR in three environments using standard artificial inoculation methodology. GWAS using the mixed linear model corrected for population structure and kinship was done, in which 290,626 SNPs from genotyping-by-sequencing were used. A total of 7 SNPs, five on chromosome 6 showing strong LD at 168 Mb, were identified to be associated with FSR. Haplotype regression analysis identified 32 haplotypes with a significant effect on the trait. In a QTL mapping experiment in two populations for validating the identified variants, QTLs were identified with confidence intervals having overlapped physical coordinates in both the populations on chromosome 6, which was closely located to the GWAS-identified variants on chromosome 6. It makes this genomic region a crucial one to further investigate the possibility of developing trait markers for deployment in breeding pipelines. It was noted that previously reported QTLs for other stalk rots in maize mapped within the same physical intervals of several haplotypes identified for FSR resistance in this study. The possibility of QTLs controlling broad-spectrum resistance for PFSR in general requires further investigation

Effect of Alectra Parasitica Var. Chirakutensis on Aspirin Induced Ulceration in Rats

ABSTRACT The effect of 50 % ethanolic extract of Alectra parasitica var. Chirakutensis was assessed in different acute gastric ulcer models in rats. Alectra parasitica administered orally at dose levels of 50 -200 mg/kg, twice daily for 3 days showed dose dependent ulcer protective effect 48.89 -82.22% protection on aspirin -induced acute ulcers. Besides, Alectra parasitica reduced the ulcer index with significant (P < 0.01 and <0.001) protection of lipid peroxidation and superoxide dismutase and increased in catalase activity, respectively. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the Alectra parasitica gave the positive test for steroids, alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins and tannins. The results indicate that Alectra parasitica possesses antiulcer activity

Abortion Law awareness and Abortion Services Utilization among reproductive age women of Inarwa municipality of Eastern Nepal

Introduction: Globally, reproductive health and quality of life among female population has been found to be unsatisfactory in developing world. Until 1963, Nepal’s 1854 legal code known as MulukiAin was revised numerous times that banned abortion exempting risk of women’s life. Enactment of New Abortion Policy from 2003 brought landmark reforms to the women’s choice in family planning methods and ended the sufferings of lengthy prison sentences for abortion crimes. This study was conducted to explore the level of awareness about abortion law with regard to health care utilization among women of reproductive age group along with its association with socio-demographic characteristics. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2014, in Inarwa Municipality among women of reproductive age group (16 to 49 years). Convenient sampling was done to collect data from households. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS 11.5 and presented in tabular form. Chi-square test was used to show association of awareness of abortion law and socio-demographic variables. Results: education, age at first marriage and age at 1st pregnancy was found to be significant (p value: <0.005). Conclusion: As media was the most used source of information, more education on awareness of abortion law and health care utilization should be disseminated through this medium

Живопись викторианской эпохи в Англии. История создания прерафаэлитского братства

В статье рассматривается история возникновения и развития братства Прерафаэлитов. Анализируется творчество художников: Данте Россетти, Холмана Ханта, Джона Миллеса.У статті розглядається історія виникнення та розвитку братства Прерафаелітів. Аналізується творчість митців: Данте Россетті, Холмана Ханта, Джона Міллеса.The foundation and development of the Pre-Raphaelites Brotherhood is observed in the article. The life and main works of the following artists are analyzed: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais

Longlasting insecticidal nets for prevention of Leishmania donovani infection in India and Nepal: paired cluster randomised trial

Objective To test the effectiveness of large scale distribution of longlasting nets treated with insecticide in reducing the incidence of visceral leishmaniasis in India and Nepal

Of cattle, sand flies and men : a systematic review of risk factor analyses for South Asian visceral leishmaniasis and implications for elimination

Background: Studies performed over the past decade have identified fairly consistent epidemiological patterns of risk factors for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in the Indian subcontinent. Methods and Principal Findings: To inform the current regional VL elimination effort and identify key gaps in knowledge, we performed a systematic review of the literature, with a special emphasis on data regarding the role of cattle because primary risk factor studies have yielded apparently contradictory results. Because humans form the sole infection reservoir, clustering of kala-azar cases is a prominent epidemiological feature, both at the household level and on a larger scale. Subclinical infection also tends to show clustering around kala-azar cases. Within villages, areas become saturated over a period of several years; kala-azar incidence then decreases while neighboring areas see increases. More recently, post kalaazar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) cases have followed kala-azar peaks. Mud walls, palpable dampness in houses, and peridomestic vegetation may increase infection risk through enhanced density and prolonged survival of the sand fly vector. Bed net use, sleeping on a cot and indoor residual spraying are generally associated with decreased risk. Poor micronutrient status increases the risk of progression to kala-azar. The presence of cattle is associated with increased risk in some studies and decreased risk in others, reflecting the complexity of the effect of bovines on sand fly abundance, aggregation, feeding behavior and leishmanial infection rates. Poverty is an overarching theme, interacting with individual risk factors on multiple levels. Conclusions: Carefully designed demonstration projects, taking into account the complex web of interconnected risk factors, are needed to provide direct proof of principle for elimination and to identify the most effective maintenance activities to prevent a rapid resurgence when interventions are scaled back. More effective, short-course treatment regimens for PKDL are urgently needed to enable the elimination initiative to succeed

Identification of a major QTL, Parth6.1 associated with parthenocarpic fruit development in slicing cucumber genotype, Pusa Parthenocarpic Cucumber-6

Parthenocarpy is an extremely important trait that revolutionized the worldwide cultivation of cucumber under protected conditions. Pusa Parthenocarpic Cucumber-6 (PPC-6) is one of the important commercially cultivated varieties under protected conditions in India. Understanding the genetics of parthenocarpy, molecular mapping and the development of molecular markers closely associated with the trait will facilitate the introgression of parthenocarpic traits into non-conventional germplasm and elite varieties. The F1, F2 and back-crosses progenies with a non-parthenocarpic genotype, Pusa Uday indicated a single incomplete dominant gene controlling parthenocarpy in PPC-6. QTL-seq comprising of the early parthenocarpy and non-parthenocarpic bulks along with the parental lines identified two major genomic regions, one each in chromosome 3 and chromosome 6 spanning over a region of 2.7 Mb and 7.8 Mb, respectively. Conventional mapping using F2:3 population also identified two QTLs, Parth6.1 and Parth6.2 in chromosome 6 which indicated the presence of a major effect QTL in chromosome 6 determining parthenocarpy in PPC-6. The flanking markers, SSR01148 and SSR 01012 for Parth6.1 locus and SSR10476 and SSR 19174 for Parth6.2 locus were identified and can be used for introgression of parthenocarpy through the marker-assisted back-crossing programme. Functional annotation of the QTL-region identified two major genes, Csa_6G396640 and Csa_6G405890 designated as probable indole-3-pyruvate monooxygenase YUCCA11 and Auxin response factor 16, respectively associated with auxin biosynthesis as potential candidate genes. Csa_6G396640 showed only one insertion at position 2179 in the non-parthenocarpic parent. In the case of Csa_6G405890, more variations were observed between the two parents in the form of SNPs and InDels. The study provides insight about genomic regions, closely associated markers and possible candidate genes associated with parthenocarpy in PPC-6 which will be instrumental for functional genomics study and better understanding of parthenocarpy in cucumber