Site Specific Nutrient Management of an Intensively Cultivated Farm Using Geostatistical Approach

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences - Spatial variability and site specific fertility management of six soil parameters viz. soil pH, soil organic...     

Genetic Diversity in Corchorus olitorius Genotypes Using Jute SSRs

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences - Tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) is an important lingo-cellulosic bast fibre-crop. It provides...     

Assessing the robustness of sisVIVE in a Mendelian randomization study to estimate the causal effect of body mass index on income using multiple SNPs from understanding society

The “some invalid, some valid instrumental variable estimator” (sisVIVE) is a lasso-based method for instrumental variables (IVs) regression of outcome on an exposure. In principle, sisVIVE is robust to some of the IVs in the analysis being invalid, in the sense of being related to the outcome variable through pathways not mediated by the exposure. In this paper, we consider the application of sisVIVE to a Mendelian randomization study in which multiple genetic variants are used as IVs to estimate the causal effect of body mass index on personal income in the presence of unobserved confounding. In addition to analyzing data from the large-scale longitudinal household survey Understanding Society, we conduct a simulation study to (a) assess the performance of sisVIVE in relation to that of competing robust methods like “MR-Egger” and “MR-Median” and (b) identify scenarios under which its absolute performance is poor. We find that sisVIVE outperforms alternative robust methods, in terms of mean-square error, across a wide range of scenarios, but that its performance is poor in absolute terms when the presence of indirect pleiotropy leads to failure of the “InSIDE” condition, which is not explicitly required for identification. We argue that this is because the consistency criterion for sisVIVE does not identify the true causal effect when InSIDE fails.     

Diabetes care in Qatar: a survey of pharmacists’ activities,attitudes and knowledge

Background Diabetes mellitus is recognized as a major public health issue and is one of the top ten causes of death in Qatar. Objective To describe the activities, and attitudes of Qatar pharmacists toward diabetes, to measure their diabetes knowledge and to assess their perceived barriers for diabetes care. Setting Community and ambulatory pharmacies in Qatar. Method Study objectives were addressed in a cross sectional survey of community and ambulatory pharmacists in Qatar. A phone call explaining the study was made to all community and ambulatory pharmacists in Qatar. Consenting pharmacists anonymously completed the survey either online or as paper. Main outcome measure Diabetes related activities, knowledge, attitudes and perceived barriers. Results Over 7 months, 126 surveys were collected (28% response rate). The majority of pharmacists always or often counselled patients on the appropriate time to take each medication and on medication side effects (90%, n = 100/111 and 73%, n = 81/111 respectively). Yet around 50% always or often provided education on the importance of screening for nephropathy (n = 59/112) and retinopathy (n = 58/109). In addition, 41% always or often provided education about the importance of immunization (n = 45/111) and 45% always or often provided therapy recommendations to physicians (n = 49/111). Using Diabetes Attitude Scale-3, most respondents had positive attitudes toward the need for special training, psychosocial impact of diabetes, and patient autonomy. Around 25% (n = 32/126) scored less than 6 out of 10 on the diabetes related knowledge test. The top three barriers for providing diabetes services were lack of time (53%, n = 67/126) shortage of personnel (42%, n = 53/126) and lack of private counseling area (42%, n = 53/126). Conclusion Qatar pharmacists mainly provide basic services for diabetic patients. They have an average diabetes related knowledge. Yet overall, they have positive attitudes toward diabetes, which is a vital component of any successful diabetes care service.

     

Comparative study of three different mycobacterial antigens with a novel lipopolysaccharide antigen for the serodiagnosis of tuberculosis

Demonstration of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a smear or culture is the most reliable method for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB). In the last 10 years, several enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) based on mycobacterial antigens (such as antigen 60, 38 kDa antigen, and antigen Kp90) have been used for the rapid diagnosis of TB. In this study, we report the isolation of an immunodominant lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigen from M. tuberculosis H(37)Rv, which can be used for the serodiagnosis of TB. The LPS antigen was compared with three commercially available mycobacterium-specific antigens for the detection of TB. The antigens were evaluated using serum samples obtained from 59 Indian patients (19 patients with active pulmonary TB, 20 with extrapulmonary TB, and 20 with nontuberculous pulmonary disease) and 20 healthy adults. Antigen 60 IgG (sensitivity 89%, specificity 97%) and LPS (sensitivity 84%, specificity 97%) were more sensitive and specific than 38 kDa antigen IgG (sensitivity 79%, specificity 97%) and Kp90 IgA (sensitivity 82%, specificity 40%). These results indicate that the LPS antigen can be used as a sensitive tool for the serodiagnosis of TB and could be utilized to develop an ELISA for the screening of patients for TB.     

Immune activation caused by vascular oxidation promotes fibrosis and hypertension

Vascular oxidative injury accompanies many common conditions associated with hypertension. In the present study, we employed mouse models with excessive vascular production of ROS (tg^sm/p22phox mice, which overexpress the NADPH oxidase subunit p22^phox in smooth muscle, and mice with vascular-specific deletion of extracellular SOD) and have shown that these animals develop vascular collagen deposition, aortic stiffening, renal dysfunction, and hypertension with age. T cells from tg^sm/p22phox mice produced high levels of IL-17A and IFN-γ. Crossing tg^sm/p22phox mice with lymphocyte-deficient Rag1^–/– mice eliminated vascular inflammation, aortic stiffening, renal dysfunction, and hypertension; however, adoptive transfer of T cells restored these processes. Isoketal-protein adducts, which are immunogenic, were increased in aortas, DCs, and macrophages of tg^sm/p22phox mice. Autologous pulsing with tg^sm/p22phox aortic homogenates promoted DCs of tg^sm/p22phox mice to stimulate T cell proliferation and production of IFN-γ, IL-17A, and TNF-α. Treatment with the superoxide scavenger tempol or the isoketal scavenger 2-hydroxybenzylamine (2-HOBA) normalized blood pressure; prevented vascular inflammation, aortic stiffening, and hypertension; and prevented DC and T cell activation. Moreover, in human aortas, the aortic content of isoketal adducts correlated with fibrosis and inflammation severity. Together, these results define a pathway linking vascular oxidant stress to immune activation and aortic stiffening and provide insight into the systemic inflammation encountered in common vascular diseases.     

Effect of Organic Sources of Nutrients on Tuber Bulking Rate,Grades and Specific Gravity of Potato Tubers

A field experiment was conducted during 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 to investigate the effect of organic sources of nutrients on tuber bulking rate, grades and specific gravity of potato tubers. The experiment consisted 24 treatment combinations with 8 treatment in popcorn [control, recommended dose of fertilizers (N₁₂₀P₂₅K₃₅ kg ha^?1), farmyard manure equivalent to 120 kg N ha^?1, leaf compost equivalent to 120 kg N ha^?1, vermicompost equivalent to 120 kg N ha^?1, farmyard manure equivalent to 90 kg N ha^?1, leaf compost equivalent to 90 kg N ha^?1 vermicompost equivalent to 90 kg N ha^?1 in succeeding crop of potato, three treatments [control, farmyard manure equivalent to 60 kg N ha^?1 and farmyard manure equivalent to 90 kg N ha^?1] were superimposed on the different treatments of pop corn. It was found that the application of farmyard manure equivalent to120 kg N ha^?1 to pop corn and farmyard manure equivalent in 90 kg N ha^?1 in potato gave the highest values of tuber bulking rate, specific gravity, number of large–sized (A–grade) and medium–sized tubers (B–grade) and total tuber yield followed by vermicompost equivalent to to 120 kg N ha^?1. Farmyard manure equivalent to 90 kg N ha^?1 to potato also recorded the higher bulking rate, tuber yield, specific gravity and a number of large sized tubers (A– grade and B–grade) as compared to the farmyard manure equivalent to 60 kg N ha^?1. The available N, P, and K in soil also improved with the application of organic manures.     

Activation of caspase-6 in aging and mild cognitive impairment

Active caspase-6 (Csp6) and Tau cleaved by Csp6 (TauDeltaCsp6) are abundant in neuritic plaques (NPs), neuropil threads (NPTs), and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in end-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) (Guo H, Albrecht S, Bourdeau M, Petzke T, Bergeron C, LeBlanc AC: Active caspase-6 and caspase-6 cleaved Tau in neuropil threads, neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer's disease. Am J Pathol 2004, 165:523-531). The goal of this study was to determine whether active Csp6 is present in young and aged noncognitively impaired (NCI); aged mild cognitively impaired (MCI); and aged mild, moderate, severe, and very severe AD individuals. Csp6 activity was assessed with anti-p20Csp6 and TauDeltaCsp6 immunoreactivity. Active Csp6 is present in NFTs, NPTs, and NPs at all stages of AD. Active Csp6 is present in NFTs of all MCI cases and present in NPTs and NPs of some MCI cases. Active Csp6 is present in NFTs and NPTs of all NCI cases but is absent in younger cases. The level of TauDeltaCsp6-positive NFTs and NPTs correlates inversely with global cognitive scores in NCI individuals. Therefore, Csp6 activity can occur with aging in the absence of AD and is always associated with clinical and pathological features of confirmed AD cases. Given the ability of active Csp6 to increase amyloid-beta peptide production and cleave Tau and several synaptic proteins (LeBlanc AC, Liu H, Goodyer C, Bergeron C, Hammond J: Caspase-6 role in apoptosis of human neurons, amyloidogenesis and Alzheimer's disease. J Biol Chem 1999, 274:23426-23436; Petzke TL, Rousselet E, Goodyer C, LeBlanc AC: Substrates of caspase-6 in human primary neurons: a proteomic study. Program No. 80.9. 2005 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience. Online), we suggest that active Csp6 could be an early instigator of neuronal dysfunction.