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To analyze the hesitancy and motivational factors related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination among patients visiting for eye care.A telephonic survey was conducted using validated questionnaires consisting of 36 questions in five sections from July 1 to July 31, 2021. Patients visiting six tertiary centers and one secondary center of our eye hospitals were interviewed over their phones, and their responses were entered onto the Google forms. The responses were recorded as demographics, health status, awareness about vaccination, factors contributing to hesitancy or acceptance to vaccinate, and general perception about the vaccine.A total of 5033 patients were surveyed. The mean age was 49.0 ± 14.2 years. A total of 563 (11.2%) patients gave a history of symptoms or were tested positive for COVID-19; 2225 (44.2%) patients were already COVID-19 vaccinated. Around 2883 (56%) patients were aware of getting infection despite vaccination, and 4092 (81.3%) perceived vaccination should be compulsory. The main reason for vaccination hesitancy was the fear of side effects (n = 487, 17.3%). The fear of getting infected was the most common reason for vaccination (n = 911, 40.9%). Factors associated with a lower proportion of vaccinated individuals included younger age (P0.001), female gender (P0.001), lower education (P0.001), lower income (P0.001), and rural residence (P = 0.33).Creating awareness about the minor side effects and reassurance can allay an individual's fears. The fear associated with the rapid spread of infection and associated mortality needs to be utilized to increase vaccination acceptance. A targeted approach toward groups with poor uptake of vaccination is necessary.

Introductionand Aim: Etiopathogenesis of Pulmonary tuberculosis(PTB), is well established. Yet, the mechanisms by which a treatment regimen brings about remodelling of the pulmonary tissue during recovery phase is not well understood. The involvement of matrix metalloproteinase in this regard is debated, due to its dual role, either in disseminating the disease due to lung cavitation or reducing the inflammation due to recruitment of macrophages to the lung granulomas. PTB is a disease also driven by undernourishment.This study focuses on the association of nutritional status of PTB patients in restoring healthy lung tissue, monitored by blood levels of albumin, iron and MMP9, during the course of intensive treatment. Materials and Methods: Serum levels of MMP9, iron, Total protein and albumin were estimated in 30 PTB patients who visited the Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) Centre at Government Wenlock Hospital, Mangalore, Karnataka,India. Twenty controls were enrolled for comparative statistics. Samples were collected at baseline and after two months of DOTS treatment in case of patients.Pre-treatment and post treatment values were compared by paired t test.Student’s ‘t’ test was used for comparing parameters in controls and patients. Correlation between parameters was done by Pearson’s correlation test. Results: A significant increase was observed in serum iron (P=0.002) and total protein(P=0.01) levels post treatment but there was no significance in the levels of MMP9. Further, serum MMP9 correlatednegatively with body weight, BMI and serum total protein levels, post treatment, which was statistically significant. No other correlations were significant. Conclusion: We conclude that MMP9 neither seems to be a diagnostic marker nor a therapeutic target in the treatment of tuberculosis. Although serum iron appears to be a predictor of improved nutritional status post treatment, it probably may have a role in tissue remodelling independent of MMP-9.

Introduction and Aim: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in females worldwide. Almost 1.4 million new cases have been diagnosed with breast cancer every year. This aims to study the clinicopathological profile and molecular subtypes of invasive breast carcinoma in resected mastectomy specimens over a period of 5 years. Materials and Methods:A retrospective study of 90 mastectomy and wide local resection specimens received during the period of January 2012 to June 2017 were analyzed. The clinical data of patients including age, gender, and stage of the diseasewere obtained from the medical records section. Immunohistochemical staining for Estrogen Receptor [ER], Progesterone Receptor[PR] and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2HER2neu were done.The cases were classified according to the molecular classification based on the ER, PR and HER2 receptor status. Results: The peak incidence of breast carcinoma was in the age group 50 to 60 years. Invasive ductal carcinoma,Not otherwise specified[NOS] accounted for the most common histologic type. There was higher incidence of pT2 tumors in our study. The most common molecular subtype was luminal A, followed by triple negative tumors. These molecular subtypes associated well with Tumor grade and HGDCIS with a statistically significant p value of 0.001 and 0.015 respectively. An increased proportion of Grade 3 tumors were Triple Negative tumors. Conclusion:In breast carcinomas the routine histopathological features provide inexpensive method for understanding tumour biology and prognosis. It`s essential in areas with poor resources. ER, PR and HER2 assessment helps in identifying hormonal status and enables for hormone therapy and anti HER2 therapy.

An ambulance is one of saving many lives by taking the people who need health emergencies. Saving the life of the person is one of the challenging and precious ones. Our key idea is to deliver a patient’s health condition before the victim reaches the hospital in this project. Here we use some biomedical sensors like a heartbeat sensor, temperature sensor, and a respiratory sensor to check the patient health status. There will be a continuous update to the hospital about the patient’s condition through the cloud with the help of the internet of things. The hospitals can also track the ambulance’s live location through the GPS placed in the ambulance where it arrives, and they can know at what time the patient reaches the hospital. With this information, if the patient is in critical condition, the hospital staff can make all the earlier arrangements before the patient arrives at the hospital and saves their lives as soon as possible. Here we use the biometric sensor to know the patient’s information by scanning the patient’s fingerprint. The stored database obtains this information. In cases of accident situations, to avoid legal problems, the patient’s information is sent to the cops through the GSM, and it is also intimated to the patient’s relatives as soon as possible. The parameters which are measured by using biomedical sensors are viewed by doctors using the Blynk app.

Introduction: Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is over expressed in a variety of malignant tumours and their expression and activity are often associated with tumour aggressiveness and a poor prognosis. It serves as a prognostic marker in breast carcinoma regardless of patient age, disease stage, malignancy grade, or hormone receptor status and modulation of MMP-2 expression and activation provides a new mechanism for breast cancer treatment. Aim: To evaluate the expression of MMP-2 in breast carcinoma tumour cells and peritumoural stroma and also to analyse the findings with the existing other prognostic markers of mammary carcinoma. Materials and Methods: The present study was a retrospective study conducted on paraffin blocks of 90 cases of invasive breast carcinoma specimens received in the Department of Pathology, Sri Raamachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research a tertiary care centre in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, from January 2012 to June 2017. Immunohistochemical staining for MMP-2, Oestrogen Receptor (ER), Progesterone Receptor (PR) and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) was done. Statistical analysis was done on the data collected by using the software GNU-PSPP version 0.10.1. Pearson Chi-square test was used to determine significant clinicopathological differences between MMP-2 expression in positive and negative tumours. Differences were considered statistically significant when p-value was

Aim The aim of this present study was to investigate the antifungal mechanism of sertraline against Candida auris (C. auris) and its effect on biofilm formation. Methods and results Sertraline, a repurposing drug with a history of human use for the treatment of depression was screened against three different isolates of C. auris, and was found to possess efficient antifungal activity. The antifungal activity of sertraline was further confirmed by killing kinetics assay and post-antifungal effect (PAFE). Sertraline inhibited C. auris yeast to hyphae conversion and further the inhibition of biofilm formation showed 71% inhibition upon treatment. Cell damage caused due to C. auris after treatment with sertraline was observed using SEM and cell membrane damage was ascertained using flow cytometry by Propidium Iodide (PI) uptake assay. The results of sorbitol protection assay and ergosterol effect assay suggested that sertraline did not affect the cell wall and did not act by binding to membrane ergosterol. The mechanism of action of sertraline against C. auris was understood through in silico docking studies that revealed the binding nature of sertraline to the sterol 14 alpha demethylase which is involved in ergosterol biosynthesis. Ergosterol that was quantified from treated cells showed a 5·5-fold decrease in ergosterol production. Conclusion Sertraline displayed promising antifungal activity against C. auris involved in candidiasis infection and the mechanism of action was predicted. Significance and impact of this study The results of this study can encourage for the development of new antifungal agents and can be promising antifungal agent against C. auris infection.

Ionospheric scintillations of radio waves at low latitudes are associated with electron density irregularities. It has been discussed earlier (Sinha et al., 2001) that these irregularities are field aligned and can drive oscillations of local field lines. In the current studies, our observations examine the possibility if local field line oscillations can provide seeding for the development of ionospheric irregularities at low and equatorial latitudes. During local evening, low and equatorial latitudes are manifested with spread-F which causes scintillations of radio waves observed at the ground. It is during this local time that the maximum in Pc3 geomagnetic pulsations, which are associated with hydromagnetic oscillations excited on the geomagnetic field lines, is observed in the subtropical regions. The estimated eigen periods of toroidal field line oscillations by using dipolar magnetic field, and the signal strength of radio waves recorded, exhibit periodicities of the same range. The occurrence pattern of simultaneously observed scintillations and geomagnetic pulsations shows that significant number of pulsation events precede the scintillation events by more than half an hour, though in many cases either the scintillation precede the pulsation or they are triggered together. Simultaneous oscillations in the magnetic field and scintillation in the Pc3 range raises the possibility of one process driving the other. In the current study, we have made an attempt to bring out the cause and effect relationship between these two simultaneously observed phenomena.

Context: No single factor can predict the occurrence of post total thyroidectomy (TT) hypocalcemia. Aims: This study was conducted to look at various factors usually implicated in post TT clinically significant hypocalcemia (CSH) and to develop a scoring system using a combination of these factors to predict CSH. Settings and Design: Prospective study, tertiary care center. Materials and Methods: 145 patients, who underwent total thyroidectomy for benign goiters and early carcinoma thyroid ( < T2/N0/M0), were included. Age of the patient, presence, or absence of hyperthyroidism, pre-operative levels of serum calcium and 25 OH vitamin D, post-operative iPTH at 8 hours and calcium at 12 hours, intra-operative parathyroid preservation status, and nodule size were studied. CSH prediction score (0 to 8) was designed based on these 8 factors. Statistical Analysis: SPSS 13 software was used. For comparison between groups′ independent samples T-test and Chi-square test was used. Statistical significance was set at P 3 had 91% sensitivity, 84% specificity with a PPV of 71% and NPV of 95%, whereas score of ≥ 4 had 100% specificity and PPV in predicting CSH. Conclusions: CSH after TT is multi-factorial, and a combination of factors (Hypocalcemia prediction score > 3) can be used to predict it so as to discharge patients within 24 hours after surgery.

Morbidity after thyroidectomy is related to injuries to the parathyroids, recurrent laryngeal (RLN) and external branch of superior laryngeal nerves (EBSLN). Mostly these are due to variations in the surgical anatomy. In this study we analyse the surgical anatomy of the laryngeal nerves in Indian patients undergoing thyroidectomy. Materials and Methods. Retrospective study (February 2008 to February 2010). Patients undergoing surgery for benign goitres, T1, T2 thyroid cancers without lymph node involvement were included. Data on EBSLN types, RLN course and its relation to the TZ & LOB were recorded. Results. 404 thyroid surgeries (180 total & 224 hemithyroidectomy) were performed. Data related to 584 EBSLN and RLN were included (324 right sided & 260 left sided). EBSLN patterns were Type 1 in 71.4%, Type IIA in 12.3%, and Type IIB in 7.36%. The nerve was not seen in 4.3% cases. RLN had one branch in 69.34%, two branches in 29.11% and three branches in 1.36%. 25% of the RLN was superficial to the inferior thyroid artery, 65% deep to it and 8.2% between the branches. TZ was Grade 1 in 65.2%, Grade II in 25.1% and Grade III in 9.5%. 31.16% of the RLN passes through the LOB. Conclusions. A thorough knowledge of the laryngeal nerves and anatomical variations is necessary for safe thyroid surgery.

Malnutrition and hidden hunger are among the most pressing development concerns in the world today. The United Nations (UN) estimates that over 795 million people in the world are undernourished. The number is higher if we consider the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that two billion people suffer from ‘hidden hunger’ or lack of vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients.

Crop genome sequencing projects generate massive amounts of genomic sequence information, and the utilization of this information in applied crop improvement programs has been augmented by the availability of sophisticated bioinformatics tools. Here, we present the possible direct utilization of sequence data from a sorghum genome sequencing project in applied crop breeding programs. Based on sequence homology, we aligned all publicly available simple sequence repeat markers on a sequence-based physical map for sorghum. Linking this physical map with already existing linkage map(s) provides better options for applied molecular breeding programs. When a new set of markers is made available, the new markers can be first aligned on a sequence-based physical map, and those located near the quantitative trait locus (QTL) can be identified from this map, thereby reducing the number of markers to be tested in order to identify polymorphic flanking markers for the QTL for any given donor × recurrent parent combination. Polymorphic markers that are expected (on the basis of their position on the sequence-based physical map) to be closely linked to the target can be used for foreground selection in marker-assisted breeding. This map facilitates the identification of a set of markers representing the entire genome, which would provide better resolution in diversity analyses and further linkage disequilibrium mapping. Filling the gaps in existing linkage maps and fine mapping can be achieved more efficiently by targeting the specific genomic regions of interest. It also opens up new exciting opportunities for comparative mapping and for the development of new genomic resources in related crops, both of which are lagging behind in the current genomic revolution. This paper also presents a number of examples of potential applications of sequence-based physical map for sorghum.

Scientists use popular media to share views or facilitate greater understanding of their work. Social media also offers scientists the opportunity to build public opinion. Hailed as one of three most influential Indians of the 20th century by Time Magazine1, renowned agriculture scientist M. S. Swaminathan has written prolifically in scientific and mainstream media. From March 2015, for a period of one year, his use of social media platform Twitter is being taken up as a case study of social media communication by scientists. This article analyses themes articulated by a scientist on social media and finds that this provides an entry for discussions on science and development. Through this study, it is suggested that scientists, especially in India, can intervene more actively, for greater authenticity, accuracy and understanding among social media users on scientific subjects.

Pigeonpea is a major legume of the semi-arid tropics that has been neglected in terms of molecular breeding. The objectives of this study were to develop microsatellite markers and evaluate their potential for use in pigeonpea genetics and breeding. Two hundred and eight microsatellite loci were isolated by screening a non-enriched partial genomic library. Primers were designed for 39 microsatellite loci, 20 of which amplified polymerase chain reaction products of the expected size. Nineteen of the primer pairs were polymorphic amongst 15 cultivated and nine wild pigeonpea accessions providing evidence for cross-species transferability within the genus Cajanus. A total of 98 alleles were detected at the 19 polymorphic loci with an average of 4.9 alleles per locus. The observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.17 to 0.80 with a mean of 0.42 per locus. Less allelic variation (31 alleles) was observed within the cultivated species than across the wild species (92 alleles). The diversity analysis readily distinguished all wild relatives from each other and from the cultivated germplasm. Development of more microsatellites is recommended for future genomic studies in pigeonpea.

Space-grade Si and GaAs solar cells were irradiated with 15 & 40 MeV Li ions. Illuminated (AM0 condition) and unilluminated I-V curves reveal that the effect of high-energy Li ion irradiation has produced similar effects to that of proton irradiation. However, an additional, and different, defect mechanism is suggested to dominate in the heavier-ion results. Comparison is made with proton-irradiated solar-cell work and with non-ionizing energy-loss (NIEL) radiation-damage models., 8 pages, 12 figures, Data presented at 2006 NSREC, Final Version to be published in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 53, NO. 6, December 2006. Index Terms: GaAs, Ion-irradiation, Lithium, NIEL, Photovoltaic cells, Radiation effects, Silicon

Chickpea, a lesser-studied grain legume, is being investigated due to its taxonomic proximity with the model legume genome Medicago truncatula and its ability to endure and grow in relatively low soil water contents making it a model legume crop for the study of agronomic response to drought stress. Public databases currently contain very few sequences from chickpea associated with expression in root tissues. However, root traits are likely to be one of the most important components of drought tolerance in chickpea. Thus, we have generated a set of over 2800 chickpea expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a library constructed after subtractive suppressive hybridization (SSH) of root tissue from two closely related chickpea genotypes possessing different sources of drought avoidance and tolerance (ICC4958 and Annigeri respectively). This database provides researchers in legume genomics with a major new resource for data mining associated with root traits and drought tolerance. This report describes the development and utilization of the database and provides the tools we have developed to facilitate the bioinformatics pipeline used for analysis of the ESTs in this database. We also discuss applications that have already been achieved using this resource.

This is the first report of targeted development of B genome microsatellite markers in Musa. A total of 44 sequences with microsatellites were isolated from an enriched library of Musa balbisiana cv. 'Tani' (BB genome). Of these, 25 were polymorphic when screened on 14 diverse diploid and triploid Musa accessions. The number of alleles detected by each marker ranged between one and seven. All 25 microsatellite markers generated amplification products in all species and genome complements. These new microsatellite markers fill an important gap for diversity assessment and linkage mapping studies in plantain (AAB) and cooking banana (ABB)

The impact of 30MeV boron 4+ and 60MeV oxygen8+ ion irradiation on electrical characteristics of 2N3773 Si NPN Bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) is reported in the present study. The transistors were decapped and irradiated at room temperature. Gummel characteristics, DC current gain and Capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics were studied before and after irradiation at different fluences. DC current gain has decreased significantly in both boron and oxygen ion irradiation. Also the value of capacitance decreased 3-4 times with increase in fluence. Both 30MeV boron ion and 60MeV oxygen ion induced similar extent of degradation in electrical characteristics of the transistor.

The influence of 100 MeV Silicon (Si) ion irradiation on electrical characteristics of Si photo detectors has been analyzed using in-situ current-voltage characterization (I-V) in dark condition. The irradiation was performed over a wide range of fluences from 1×1011 ions/cm2 to 1×1013 ions/cm2. Key electrical parameters such as ideality factor (n), series resistance (Rs) and reverse bias leakage current (IR) for each irradiation fluence have been extracted from the I-V characteristics. The ideality factor of the unirradiated detector is found to be 1.48 and it gradually increased up to the fluence of 5×1011 ions/cm2, then it saturates around 3.4-3.5 for higher fluences. The I-V characteristics showed significant increase in forward bias and drastic increase in reverse leakage current. The value of IR is 7.23 nA for unirradiated detector and it increases about four orders of magnitude up to 5×1011 ions/cm2. Further there is no observable change in the value of IR. However the value of Rs increases initially and slightly decrease at higher fluences. The observed results are interpreted in terms of energy loss mechanisms of swift heavy ion as it passes through the different layers of the detector. The radiation induced defects in the bulk region and activation of multiple current transport mechanisms have attributed to the observed deviations in the electrical behaviour of the device. SRIM (Stopping power and Range of Ion in Matter) and TRIM (Transport and Range of Ion in Matter) simulation results of damage induced in the device have been reported in the present study. Linear energy transfer (LET), non ionizing energy loss (NIEL) damage contributions, total ionization dose (TID) and displacement damage dose (Dd) has been correlated with the observed degradation. Quantitative estimation of radiation hardness of the Si photo detector is done by comparing with the equivalent damage created by the proton at similar penetration depth in the present device structure.

Emerging data indicate that gut-derived endotoxin (metabolic endotoxemia) may contribute to low-grade systemic inflammation in insulin-resistant states. Specific gut bacteria seem to serve as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) sources and several reports claim a role for increased intestinal permeability in the genesis of metabolic disorders. Therefore, we investigated the serum levels of LPS and zonulin (ZO-1, a marker of gut permeability) along with systemic levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) compared to control subjects. Study subjects were recruited from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study [CURES], Chennai, India. Study group (n = 45 each) comprised of a) subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and (b) patients with T2DM. LPS, ZO-1, TNF-α, and IL-6 levels were measured by ELISA. Serum levels of LPS [p

Harlequin syndrome (HS) is known to be associated with conditions like brain stem infarcts and superior mediastinal neurinoma. However, it has not been reported in association with autoimmune hyperthyroidism. We report a case of exacerbation of unilateral sweating in a patient with HS following the onset of toxic goitre. Previous reports have suggested that a tortuous inferior thyroid artery can produce neurovascular compression of the sympathetic chain which was not observed in our patient. Autoimmune aetiology for HS needs to be explored. Increased sweating in hyperthyroid patients needs to be assessed properly so as to prognosticate appropriately.

The availability of complete, annotated genomic sequence information in model organisms is a rich resource that can be extended to understudied orphan crops through comparative genomic approaches. We report here a software tool (cisprimertool) for the identification of conserved intron scanning regions using expressed sequence tag alignments to a completely sequenced model crop genome. The method used is based on earlier studies reporting the assessment of conserved intron scanning primers (called CISP) within relatively conserved exons located near exon-intron boundaries from onion, banana, sorghum and pearl millet alignments with rice. The tool is freely available to academic users at http://www.icrisat.org/gt-bt/CISPTool.htm.

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) has become an asymptomatic disease in the Western world with the introduction of routine calcium screening. However, the same phenomenon is not observed in India. We have now systematically reviewed the status of PHPT in India. While there is a paucity of literature on PHPT from India when compared to Western countries, some information can be gleaned upon. Most patients present with symptomatic disease whereas very few are screen-detected cases (bone disease 77%, renal disease 36%, and 5.6% asymptomatic). Mean calcium, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and alkaline phosphate levels are high while Vitamin D levels are low. The average parathyroid gland weight is large and the majority being parathyroid adenomas (89.1%). Hungry bone syndrome (HBS) is common in the postoperative period. The disease-related mortality rate is 7.4%, recurrence 4.16%, and persistent disease 2.17%. We suggest that dedicated efforts are needed to pick up asymptomatic disease in India by methods like incorporating calcium estimation in the routine health check-up programs.

Crop improvement has always been, but will be even more so in the twenty-first century, an information intensive process. For effective and efficient improvement, a range of activities from molecular biology to genetics to indirect selection must now be involved. The rate of progress made by any breeding programme depends as much on the efficient integration of information from these activities as it does on the activities themselves. Plant breeders are now realizing the importance of innovative approaches that include the use of a range of molecular methods and their outputs, and the possibilities of transferring this information from model species to cultivated crops. The use of these high throughput methods in model crops has already generated a large amount of public resources such as databases containing genetic resource, genomic and genetic information; tools for the effective analysis, data mining and visualization of such information; and semantic web resources for data integration. In this chapter, we highlight the role and contributions of bioinformatics to crop research and breeding by focusing on the bioinformatics resources that are available for crop science research and breeding, and indicating gaps that need to be bridged that will allow scientists to access, transfer and integrate data with ease.

60 MeV boron ion energy transfer in Si power BJT's for the interface charge state density is studied. LET, total ionizing dose and total displacement damage dose are correlated with the observed post-irradiated electrical characteristics.

The sequencing and detailed comparative functional analysis of genomes of a number of select botanical models open new doors into comparative genomics among the angiosperms, with potential benefits for improvement of many orphan crops that feed large populations. In this study, a set of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers was developed by mining the expressed sequence tag (EST) database of sorghum. Among the SSR-containing sequences, only those sharing considerable homology with rice genomic sequences across the lengths of the 12 rice chromosomes were selected. Thus, 600 SSR-containing sorghum EST sequences (50 homologous sequences on each of the 12 rice chromosomes) were selected, with the intention of providing coverage for corresponding homologous regions of the sorghum genome. Primer pairs were designed and polymorphism detection ability was assessed using parental pairs of two existing sorghum mapping populations. About 28% of these new markers detected polymorphism in this 4-entry panel. A subset of 55 polymorphic EST-derived SSR markers were mapped onto the existing skeleton map of a recombinant inbred population derived from cross N13 × E 36-1, which is segregating for Striga resistance and the stay-green component of terminal drought tolerance. These new EST-derived SSR markers mapped across all 10 sorghum linkage groups, mostly to regions expected based on prior knowledge of rice-sorghum synteny. The ESTs from which these markers were derived were then mapped in silico onto the aligned sorghum genome sequence, and 88% of the best hits corresponded to linkage-based positions. This study demonstrates the utility of comparative genomic information in targeted development of markers to fill gaps in linkage maps of related crop species for which sufficient genomic tools are not available.

Background Pigeonpea is a nutritious tropical legume with several desirable characteristics but has been relatively neglected in terms of research. More efficient improvement can be achieved in this crop through molecular breeding but adequate molecular markers are lacking and no linkage map has been developed so far. Microsatellites remain the markers of choice due to their high polymorphism and their transferability from closely related genera. The overall objective of this study was to develop microsatellite markers from an enriched library of pigeonpea as well as testing the transferability of soybean microsatellites in pigeonpea. Results Primers were designed for 113 pigeonpea genomic SSRs, 73 of which amplified interpretable bands. Thirty-five of the primers revealed polymorphism among 24 pigeonpea breeding lines. The number of alleles detected ranged from 2 to 6 with a total of 110 alleles and an average of 3.1 alleles per locus. GT/CA and GAA class of repeats were the most abundant di-nucleotide and tri-nucleotide repeats respectively. Additionally, 220 soybean primers were tested in pigeonpea, 39 of which amplified interpretable bands. Conclusion Despite the observed morphological diversity, there is little genetic diversity within cultivated pigeonpea as revealed by the developed microsatellites. Although some of the tested soybean microsatellites may be transferable to pigeonpea, lack of useful polymorphism may hinder their full use. A robust set of markers will still have to be developed for pigeonpea genome if molecular breeding is to be achieved.

The performance of the southwest monsoon is crucial for India's economy and food security. Every year, monsoon-related reportage in mainstream newspapers focuses on predictions or actual impact with the help of data provided by the Indian Meteorological Department. The monsoon however, has an impact on everyday lives and on the country, beyond data and predictions making discussions on the monsoon relevant for different communities, especially those involved in agriculture. A modern media option for discussion and information sharing across communities and regions is social media. With two-way communication online becoming a reality, social media sites are engaging with a number of users, at a personal level and also for systematic corporate, development and issue-based campaigns. The hazards of misleading information as well as domination of a few voices on social media are becoming a subject of research and concern. With over 500 million users worldwide, social media platform Twitter's brevity, immediacy and ability to connect opinion leaders and people directly has made the influential and common people equally patronize this micro-blogging site. Twitter conversations relate to issues and events that affect users or make an impression on them, providing a platform for discussions, with people from all walks of life who access social media. This paper analyzes qualitative and quantitative information on Twitter related to the southwest monsoon in India during 2015, with specific reference to the profile of people who are able to articulate their point of view on the subject. It studies how representative and equitable these messages are, in the context of agriculture, food security and those who are affected most by the monsoon and its impact. It finds that just over 7% of information in connection with the topic of the monsoon in India, is associated with agriculture-related concerns on the social networking site Twitter.

The large amounts of EST sequence data available from a single species of an organism as well as for several species within a genus provide an easy source of identification of intra- and interspecies single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In the case of model organisms, the data available are numerous, given the degree of redundancy in the deposited EST data. There are several available bioinformatics tools that can be used to mine this data; however, using them requires a certain level of expertise: the tools have to be used sequentially with accompanying format conversion and steps like clustering and assembly of sequences become time-intensive jobs even for moderately sized datasets. We report here a pipeline of open source software extended to run on multiple CPU architectures that can be used to mine large EST datasets for SNPs and identify restriction sites for assaying the SNPs so that cost-effective CAPS assays can be developed for SNP genotyping in genetics and breeding applications. At the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the pipeline has been implemented to run on a Paracel high-performance system consisting of four dual AMD Opteron processors running Linux with MPICH. The pipeline can be accessed through user-friendly web interfaces at http://hpc.icrisat.cgiar.org/PBSWeb and is available on request for academic use. We have validated the developed pipeline by mining chickpea ESTs for interspecies SNPs, development of CAPS assays for SNP genotyping, and confirmation of restriction digestion pattern at the sequence level.

Electrical parameters were extracted from the analysis of dark and illuminated I-V curves from Si cells irradiated with 40 & 50 MeV Li ions. Non-penetrating radiation (including 25-Mev backside-Li ions) was compared with penetrating-radiation effects.

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites are an important class of molecular markers for genome analysis and plant breeding applications. In this paper, the SSR distributions within ESTs from the legumes soybean (Glycine max, representing 135.86 Mb), medicago (Medicago truncatula, 121.1 Mb) and lotus (Lotus japonicus, 45.4 Mb) have been studied relative to the distributions in cereals such as sorghum (Sorghum bicolor, 98.9 Mb), rice (Oryza sativa, 143.9 Mb) and maize (Zea mays, 183.7 Mb). The relative abundance, density, composition and putative annotations of di-, tri-, tetra- and penta-nucleotide repeats have been compared and SSR containing ESTs (SSR-ESTs) have been clustered to give a non-redundant set of EST-SSRs, available in a database. Further, a subset of such candidate EST-SSRs from sorghum have been tested for their ability to detect polymorphism between Striga-susceptible, stay-green drought tolerant mapping population parent 'E 36-1' and its Striga-resistant, non-stay-green counterpart 'N13'. Primer sets for 64% of the EST-SSRs tested produced a clear and specific PCR product band and 34% of these detected scorable polymorphism between the N13 and E 36-1 parental lines. Over half of these markers have been genotyped on 94 RILs from the (N13 x E 36-1)-based mapping population, with 42 markers mapping onto the ten sorghum linkage groups. This establishes the value of this database as a resource of molecular markers for practical applications in cereal and legume genetics and breeding. The primer pairs for non-redundant EST-SSRs have been designed and are freely available through the database (http://intranet.icrisat.org/gt1/ssr/ssrdatabase.html).

Background With the advances in DNA sequencer-based technologies, it has become possible to automate several steps of the genotyping process leading to increased throughput. To efficiently handle the large amounts of genotypic data generated and help with quality control, there is a strong need for a software system that can help with the tracking of samples and capture and management of data at different steps of the process. Such systems, while serving to manage the workflow precisely, also encourage good laboratory practice by standardizing protocols, recording and annotating data from every step of the workflow. Results A laboratory information management system (LIMS) has been designed and implemented at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) that meets the requirements of a moderately high throughput molecular genotyping facility. The application is designed as modules and is simple to learn and use. The application leads the user through each step of the process from starting an experiment to the storing of output data from the genotype detection step with auto-binning of alleles; thus ensuring that every DNA sample is handled in an identical manner and all the necessary data are captured. The application keeps track of DNA samples and generated data. Data entry into the system is through the use of forms for file uploads. The LIMS provides functions to trace back to the electrophoresis gel files or sample source for any genotypic data and for repeating experiments. The LIMS is being presently used for the capture of high throughput SSR (simple-sequence repeat) genotyping data from the legume (chickpea, groundnut and pigeonpea) and cereal (sorghum and millets) crops of importance in the semi-arid tropics. Conclusion A laboratory information management system is available that has been found useful in the management of microsatellite genotype data in a moderately high throughput genotyping laboratory. The application with source code is freely available for academic users and can be downloaded from http://www.icrisat.org/gt-bt/lims/lims.asp.

Background Chickpea is a major crop in many drier regions of the world where it is an important protein-rich food and an increasingly valuable traded commodity. The wild annual Cicer species are known to possess unique sources of resistance to pests and diseases, and tolerance to environmental stresses. However, there has been limited utilization of these wild species by chickpea breeding programs due to interspecific crossing barriers and deleterious linkage drag. Molecular genetic diversity analysis may help predict which accessions are most likely to produce fertile progeny when crossed with chickpea cultivars. While, trait-markers may provide an effective tool for breaking linkage drag. Although SSR markers are the assay of choice for marker-assisted selection of specific traits in conventional breeding populations, they may not provide reliable estimates of interspecific diversity, and may lose selective power in backcross programs based on interspecific introgressions. Thus, we have pursued the development of gene-based markers to resolve these problems and to provide candidate gene markers for QTL mapping of important agronomic traits. Results An EST library was constructed after subtractive suppressive hybridization (SSH) of root tissue from two very closely related chickpea genotypes (Cicer arietinum). A total of 106 EST-based markers were designed from 477 sequences with functional annotations and these were tested on C. arietinum. Forty-four EST markers were polymorphic when screened across nine Cicer species (including the cultigen). Parsimony and PCoA analysis of the resultant EST-marker dataset indicated that most accessions cluster in accordance with the previously defined classification of primary (C. arietinum, C. echinospermum and C. reticulatum), secondary (C. pinnatifidum, C. bijugum and C. judaicum), and tertiary (C. yamashitae, C. chrossanicum and C. cuneatum) gene-pools. A large proportion of EST alleles (45%) were only present in one or two of the accessions tested whilst the others were represented in up to twelve of the accessions tested. Conclusion Gene-based markers have proven to be effective tools for diversity analysis in Cicer and EST diversity analysis may be useful in identifying promising candidates for interspecific hybridization programs. The EST markers generated in this study have detected high levels of polymorphism amongst both common and rare alleles. This suggests that they would be useful for allele-mining of germplasm collections for identification of candidate accessions in the search for new sources of resistance to pests / diseases, and tolerance to abiotic stresses.