Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) is a high-throughput genotyping approach that is starting to be used in several crop species, including bread wheat. Anchoring GBS tags on chromosomes is an important ...step towards utilizing them for wheat genetic improvement. Here we use genetic linkage mapping to construct a consensus map containing 28644 GBS markers.
Three RIL populations, PBW343 × Kingbird, PBW343 × Kenya Swara and PBW343 × Muu, which share a common parent, were used to minimize the impact of potential structural genomic variation on consensus-map quality. The consensus map comprised 3757 unique positions, and the average marker distance was 0.88 cM, obtained by calculating the average distance between two adjacent unique positions. Significant variation of segregation distortion was observed across the three populations. The consensus map was validated by comparing positions of known rust resistance genes, and comparing them to wheat reference genome sequences recently published by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, Rye and Ae. tauschii genomes. Three well-characterized rust resistance genes (Sr58/Lr46/Yr29, Sr2/Yr30/Lr27, and Sr57/Lr34/Yr18) and 15 published QTLs for wheat rusts were validated with high resolution. Fifty-two per cent of GBS tags on the consensus map were successfully aligned through BLAST to the right chromosomes on the wheat reference genome sequence.
The consensus map should provide a useful basis for analyzing genome-wide variation of complex traits. The identified genes can then be explored as genetic markers to be used in genomic applications in wheat breeding.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Despite the universalization of immunization against the six vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), the coverage of full immunization among the children under age five has remained a challenge ...globally. The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) indicated large disparity in the coverage of different vaccination doses (BCG, Polio, DPT and Measles) including full immunization across the districts of India. The spatial distribution of poor performing districts in terms of vaccination and the district level spatial, contextual determinants contributing to the low coverage have been poorly studied. Using the recent household survey (NFHS, 2015-16), this study examined the spatial heterogeneity and the factors associated with low vaccination coverage among the children aged 12-23 months across India.
This study used the data from fourth round of National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015-16. District-level prevalence of each of the vaccination doses including full immunization, were analysed. Moran's I, Univariate and Bivariate LISA, Ordinary least square (OLS) and spatial models were employed to achieve the overall aim of the study.
At the national level, the prevalence of full immunization was 62 percent. Specific vaccination coverage for BCG, three doses of polio, three doses of DPT and measles were 92, 73, 78 and 81 percent, respectively. The value of the bivariate Moran's I statistics confirmed the spatial dependence between specific vaccination and the set of independent variables. District-level prevalence of the specific vaccine and full immunization showed significant spatial clustering across India. The adjusted coefficients from the spatial error model confirmed that district-level proportion of utilization of post-natal care, institutional births, neonatal tetanus protection of the last birth, women's education and coverage of health insurance showed statistically significant association with every doses of vaccination coverage.
The full and specific immunization coverage was considerably low in the geographical hotspots as compared to the national coverage. Maternal and child health care services utilization, financial assistance to the mothers through JSY scheme and mother's education were found to determine full immunization as well as the specific vaccination coverage. Appropriate intervention should be designed to reduce the geographical disparity in the coverage of specific and full immunization across India and thus safeguard child health protecting the children from the vaccine preventable diseases across the geography.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Acquired tumor resistance to cancer therapies poses major challenges in the treatment of cancers including melanoma. Among several signaling pathways or factors that affect neocarcinogenesis, cancer ...progression, and therapies, altered microRNAs (miRNAs) expression has been identified as a crucial player in modulating the key pathways governing these events. While studies in the miRNA field have grown exponentially in the last decade, much remains to be discovered, particularly with respect to their roles in cancer therapies. Since immune and nonimmune signaling cascades prevail in cancers, identification and evaluation of miRNAs, their molecular mechanisms and cellular targets involved in the underlying development of cancers, and acquired therapeutic resistance would help in devising new strategies for the prognosis, treatment, and an early detection of recurrence. Importantly, in-depth validation of miRNA-targeted molecular events could lead to the development of accurate progression-risk biomarkers, improved effectiveness, and improved patient responses to standard therapies. The current review focuses on the roles of miRNAs with recent updates on regulated cell cycle and proliferation, immune responses, oncogenic/epigenetic signaling pathways, invasion, metastasis, and apoptosis, with broader attention paid to melanomagenesis and melanoma therapies.
The problem of vehicle span maximization and path switchinghas been well studied. There exists number of approaches towards maximizing the span of electric vehicles. However, the methods suffer to ...achieve higher performance in maximizing the span of the vehicle. Towards this, an efficient Location centric power factor path switching model (LPPSM) is presented in this article. As the electric vehicles has the limited span which is being affected by various factors like speed, wind, traffic, number of junctions, distance and so on. It is necessary to perform path switching towards maximizing the span of the vehicle. The model fetches the location of the vehicle at all the time; it finds the routes and measures the traffic at each route. According to the factors like number of junctions, traffic, distance, speed of the vehicle, the method estimates the Span Maximization Support (SMS) for various routes. According to the value of SMS, the method selects the most optimal route to reach the destination. Also, the method focused on maximizing the span of the vehicle and performs efficient path switching. The proposed method improves the performance of span maximization and path switching.
•Annual soil loss rate was maximum in Tropical Thorn Forest and in Ganga River basin.•Maximum sediment control and SOC conservation against the soil erosion control service by India’ forests was due ...to Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest.•Total annual sedimentation control and SOC conservation by the India’s forests were 33,056,560 tonnes and 3,31,115.06 tonnes, respectively.•The conservative economic value of soil conservation service by the India’s forests was US$ 535.6 M.
Indian forests, having sixteen types of vegetation, provide various ecosystem services. Forests reduce water erosion of soil, reduce floods and conserve low river flow during dry seasons. Present study estimated annual sedimentation, texture, soil organic carbon control service of forests of India using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) approach through GIS technique along with identifying important drivers responsible for erosion in forests. The soil erosion control service was based on five factors viz., rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, slope, crop management, conservation practice factor and SDR across the various forest dominated river basins. Geo-detector modelling was performed to evaluate environmental drivers responsible for soil erosion. Valuation of soil control service of the India’s forests was estimated based on damage and replacement cost method. Annual soil loss rate was maximum in Tropical Thorn Forest and in Ganga River basin. Maximum sediment control and SOC conservation against the soil erosion control service by India’ forests were due to Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest with a total annual sedimentation control and SOC conservation of 33,056,560 tonnes and 3,31,115.06 tonnes, respectively. The conservative estimate of the economic value of soil conservation service by the forests of India was US$ 535.6 M with an average of 4.40 US$ ha−1 and a maximum share of value for Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest i.e. 294.18 million US$ and average maximum value for Littoral and Swamp Forest (28.91 US$ ha−1). The soil erosion in Tropical and Sub-tropical Forest was influenced by the interactive effects between NDVI and Bulk Density. In contrast, soil erosion in the temperate and alpine area was influenced by anthropogenic activity in combination with climatic factors. Present study accounts the role of India’s forests for the soil conservation service and may provide inputs to implement forest and reservoir management strategies besides providing information for Integrated Watershed management and Catchment Treatment Plans.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a serious neuropsychiatric complication of both acute and chronic liver disease. Symptoms of HE can include confusion, disorientation and poor coordination. A general ...consensus exists that the synergistic effects of excess ammonia and inflammation cause astrocyte swelling and cerebral edema; however, the precise molecular mechanisms that lead to these morphological changes in the brain are unclear. Cerebral edema occurs to some degree in all patients with HE, regardless of its grade, and could underlie the pathogenesis of this disorder. The different grades of HE can be diagnosed by a number of investigations, including neuropsychometric tests (such as the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score), brain imaging and clinical scales (such as the West Haven criteria). HE is best managed by excluding other possible causes of encephalopathy alongside identifying and the precipitating cause, and confirming the diagnosis by a positive response to empiric treatment. Empiric therapy for HE is largely based on the principle of reducing the production and absorption of ammonia in the gut through administration of pharmacological agents such as rifaximin and lactulose, which are approved by the FDA for the treatment of HE.
Pristine and doped polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) are actively investigated for a broad range of applications in pressure sensing, energy harvesting, transducers, porous membranes, etc. There have ...been numerous reports on the improved piezoelectric and electric performance of PVDF-doped reduced graphene oxide (rGO) structures. However, the common in situ doping methods have proven to be expensive and less desirable. Furthermore, there is a lack of explicit extraction of the compression mode piezoelectric coefficient (d33) in ex situ rGO doped PVDF composite films prepared using low-cost, solution-cast processes. In this work, we describe an optimal procedure for preparing high-quality pristine and nano-composite PVDF films using solution-casting and thermal poling. We then verify their electromechanical properties by rigorously characterizing β-phase concentration, crystallinity, piezoelectric coefficient, dielectric permittivity, and loss tangent. We also demonstrate a novel stationary atomic force microscope (AFM) technique designed to reduce non-piezoelectric influences on the extraction of d33 in PVDF films. We then discuss the benefits of our d33 measurements technique over commercially sourced piezometers and conventional piezoforce microscopy (PFM). Characterization outcomes from our in-house synthesized films demonstrate that the introduction of 0.3%w.t. rGO nanoparticles in a solution-cast only marginally changes the β-phase concentration from 83.7% to 81.7% and decreases the crystallinity from 42.4% to 37.3%, whereas doping increases the piezoelectric coefficient by 28% from d33 = 45 pm/V to d33 = 58 pm/V, while also improving the dielectric by 28%. The piezoelectric coefficients of our films were generally higher but comparable to other in situ prepared PVDF/rGO composite films, while the dielectric permittivity and β-phase concentrations were found to be lower.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the highly aggressive malignancies and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Despite recent advancements, the overall therapeutic responses in ...PDAC patients remained relatively low or short-lived. While KRAS is the most frequently mutated proto-oncogene and represents a critical driver, it remains challenging to target all mutant variants. Thus, strategies to target the downstream signaling cascades (RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK) in PDAC were associated with improved response rates. Nevertheless, the activation of other oncogenic cascades, such as PI3K/AKT/mTOR, has also been documented within the same context and implicated in the development of acquired tumor resistance mechanisms and/or reduced efficacy of therapeutic agents. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of overlapping and intersecting pathways is required to overcome the tumor resistance mechanisms to devise novel approaches to enhance the effectiveness of ongoing treatment options. The current review highlights the mechanistic insights from cellular and preclinical studies with particular emphasis on KRAS (i.e., MEK and ERK)-based approaches for PDAC treatment.
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