Search

IntroductionResearch into various aspects of vulnerability and poverty has played a key role in shaping cash transfer systems. Cash-based direct benefit transfers (DBT) are frequently discussed, as they help reduce corruption and limit intermediary involvement, which often impedes policy implementation in countries like India. Small and marginal farmers (SMFs), constituting 86% of India’s farming population, are essential for sustainable agricultural growth and ensuring food and nutrition security. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme provides Rs.6000 annually to the farmer families via DBT mechanism. Despite reports and information from various government sources, significant concerns remain regarding the performance of PM-KISAN scheme in improving living conditions of SMFs.MethodsFor having the highest number of SMFs, a research study was conducted in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Two cluster of villages from each of these two states were chosen by simple random sampling (SRS) method. An ex post facto research design was used; data was gathered from 240 SMFs, with 120 beneficiaries and 120 non-beneficiaries, using a stratified disproportionate simple random sampling technique. The study used 18 indicators related to livelihood assets—human capital, social capital, natural capital, physical capital, and financial capital—to generate a Livelihood Index (LI) through Principal Component Analysis (PCA).ResultsThe beneficiaries of the scheme had an average LI score of 0.396, while non-beneficiaries had a score of 0.366. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was employed to compare the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in order to determine the impact of the scheme. In the Livelihood Index of beneficiaries, in comparison to non-beneficiaries, there was a significant improvement of 3.34 to 4.13 percentage points, according to the analysis, which utilized a variety of matching algorithms.DiscussionImplications from the study suggests that PM-KISAN should be integrated into a broader rural development strategy to maximize multiplier effects. By combining cash transfers with complementary initiatives like modern technology adoption and high-yield seeds, farmers can make productive investments that could enhance their livelihood status.

Access to information and effective delivery can be improved by using multimedia as a tool for advisory services. Various factors contribute to the development of an effective multimedia-based agro-advisory model. Stakeholders’ perception plays a major role to design and validate it properly. To measure stakeholders’ perception towards multimedia-based agro-advsiory (Pusa Samachar), a multi-dimensional perception scale was developed using Polychoric Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The data pertaining to this study were collected from 150 farmers using Google forms in 2021 and from 225 farmers in 2022. These farmers were sampled using stratified two-stage sampling from five districts each from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab states. The majority of the farmers (68.6%) reported watching full weekly episode of agro-advisory telecasted as Pusa Samachar. Notably, farmers of Uttar Pradesh (54.67%) and Haryana (60.0%) showed affirmative perception; while Punjab (50.83%) had neutral perception towards Pusa Samachar model. Analysis of average perception score of farmers revealed that technical factor ranked I followed by linguistic factor (II), content and design factor (III) and timeliness factor (IV). Audio-visual quality, graphics, time duration of content, language, accent, and style of presentation with quality content could be considered as prime parameters for developing multimedia-based content. Location-specific, farmers’ centric language-based, and farmer participatory multimedia-based content should be created for better information availability and acceptance among farming community.

The livelihood of Indian farmers is primarily shaped by agriculture and its allied components. The degree of intricacy and contributions of each agricultural activity, although, vary with different social-ecological systems. Migration is considered an approach to livelihood adaptation; however, the migrants face challenges in new social-ecological settings due to their limited access to resources. This research aimed to develop a predictive model for sustainable agricultural employment options in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (UP). In this study, states were selected purposively, while respondent farmers were chosen using a stratified multistage sampling design. A total of 480 resident and migrant farmers were selected to collect data. The machine learning algorithm, based on classification and regression tree (CART) analysis, was applied that could help to identify factors and prospects for migrant farmers in the agricultural sector. Results indicated that milk yield, operational land holding, and rabi crop yield were significant predictors. Further, milk yield, rabi crop yield, and kharif crop yield were observed to be the essential factors contributing to profitable ventures. The recommendations provided by Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s professionals led to the identification of key income-generating activities, such as livestock management, vegetable production, and organic farming. These prospects are tailored to the location-specific context where migrant farmers reside. Overall, this research shed light on viable employment opportunities, ultimately contributing to the well-being of migrant workers in northern India, in addition to the policy interventions focused on capacity building and providing an enabling environment to the migrants.

Farm women are often forced to work in extremely hazardous conditions due to their limited access to improved agricultural technologies. This circumstance makes agricultural work physically demanding, requiring significant physiological effort and the maintenance of good posture. It is also very exhausting, time-consuming, and stressful. The study was designed to evaluate and quantify the drudgery involved in the rice-wheat production system for rural women. Three replications of a 10-min work cycle without a break were used to assess the physiological and postural demands of various farm tasks on the female workers. Observations were recorded on farm women workers who were in normal health, without any major illness, and regularly involved in farm operations. In the attempt to obtain and analyze the prioritized drudgery experiences in crop production activities through drudgery assessment and reduction, various ergonomically sound farm tools and implements were provided for crop cultivation and intercultural operations. Data indicating musculoskeletal disorders were analyzed by ergonomics assessment of postural and biomechanical assessments using the Human Physical Drudgery Index (HPDI), resulting in the maximum drudgery reflecting very high risk in transplanting (48.4%), followed by threshing (47.2%), load carrying (46.00%), and harvesting (45.14%). For physiological ergonomics quantifications, the most drudgery-prone activities in the rice-wheat production system, i.e., transplanting, harvesting, threshing & post-harvest, and load carrying, were evaluated, and it was found that drudgery is caused by different activities with reflects working energy expenditure rate ranging from ~7.00 to 12.00 (kJ/min) and total cardiac cost of work (TCCW) ~ 331.00 to 524.00. Multivariate regression analysis was employed to drive relationships between energy expenditure rate (dependent variable) and other independent variables, such as age, body mass index (BMI), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), calf circumference (CC), skinfold measurements, body density (D), % body fat, fat mass, and fat-free mass (kg). It was found that energy expenditure rate during various crop production practices is positively correlated with independent variables (R = 0.721, R2 = 0.520, Adjusted R2 = 0.518, Standard Error of Estimate = 0.0324, Durbin-Watson = 1.531). It was found that with higher physiological parameters, the corresponding energy expenditure is maximized relating to the drudgery in respective agricultural activities. The present study addressed the magnitude of drudgery for women farmers in the rice-wheat production system and its mitigation strategy.

A study was undertaken to analyse farmers’ access to various agricultural extension service sources, their preferences and to delineate underlying determinants for their access. The study used NSSO 77th survey dataset of 14,782 households of IGP states (Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal). Farmers’ preferences varied, with private agencies—particularly input dealers—emerging as the top choice, followed by traditional mass media channels and the public extension system. Utility of Cooperative model, and farmer-based organizations have not yet been fully explored for information needs. The inputs (seeds, fertilizers, plant protection) were the most sought-after information. However, in an era of changing needs, farmers should strive to acquire additional information on aspects such as marketing, climate change, and post-harvest functions. The type of information sought by the farmers, influences their preferred sources of extension services. Irrespective of the source, the degree of access diminishes with the decreasing landholding. Among the five IGP states, Haryana emerged as the champion of information access for farmers, while Bihar lagged. Multivariate probit analysis reported that the likelihood of access to agricultural information sources was positively influenced by age, gender, education, size of operational landholding, irrigated area, and sale of produce at MSP. The study suggests making the extension services for small and socio-economically marginalized farmers more inclusive. Inclusiveness of extension services is essential for sustainability because it ensures that all farmers, regardless of their landholding, gender, age, caste, etc., have access to knowledge and resources they need to adopt improved agricultural practices and thus, secure prosperous livelihoods.

Paracentesis is a procedure routinely performed at the bedside in the evaluation and management of ascites. While point of care ultrasound (POCUS) assistance during paracentesis is known to reduce the risk of procedure-related complications, intraprocedural POCUS to overcome commonly occurring issues, such as obstructed flow through the centesis catheter, remain poorly described. In this report, we present two cases in which bowel adhered to the catheter during paracentesis. POCUS was used in an attempt to restore flow. Based on our literature review and procedural experience, we propose an algorithm to surmount this routinely encountered problem.

The migration patterns of farmers, rural women, and youth within agricultural households have a significant impact on rural communities and the agricultural sector. To gain a deeper understanding of research trends in migration behavior, a study was conducted using comprehensive bibliometric analysis and text mining. René Descartes’ Discourse framework was employed to analyze 504 research articles retrieved from the Dimension.ai database followed by further analysis with Microsoft Excel, R software and VOS viewer. The study revealed a growing interest of various stakeholders in this field, with an increasing number of publications focusing on various aspects from 1934 to 2023. In terms of the publication’s performance analysis, the study identified human society and the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) as the most significant research areas. These areas aim to address hunger and improve food security for migrants. Regarding migration studies, three influential journals—Sustainability, World Development, and Journal of Rural Studies—were identified, with the most influential author being J. Vernon Henderson from the United Kingdom. Citation analysis was conducted to determine the highest number of citations for the influential author (J. V. Hernderon), journal (World Development), organization (World Bank), and country (United States) based on scientific attribution. Additionally, a co-word analysis was performed to research article’s abstracts to map into key thematic clusters that include climate change, food insecurity, and the COVID-19 crisis. The study visualized the social network of authors, organizations, and countries involved in co-authorship analysis within the research field. Furthermore, a journal co-citation analysis was undertaken to reveal the intellectual structure of migration studies in the agricultural context. Text mining of the research documents uncovered both anticipated and unanticipated effects of migration on households. Consequently, these findings provide valuable insights into future research directions and evidence-based policy framing which will contribute to shielding agricultural households from unforeseen consequences of migration, benefiting researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in this arena.

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) has rapidly emerged as a therapeutic modality to eliminate previously undruggable proteins by repurposing the cell’s endogenous protein degradation machinery. However, the susceptibility of proteins for targeting by TPD approaches, termed “degradability”, is largely unknown. Here, we developed a machine learning model, model-free analysis of protein degradability (MAPD), to predict degradability from features intrinsic to protein targets. MAPD shows accurate performance in predicting kinases that are degradable by TPD compounds [with an area under the precision–recall curve (AUPRC) of 0.759 and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.775] and is likely generalizable to independent non-kinase proteins. We found five features with statistical significance to achieve optimal prediction, with ubiquitination potential being the most predictive. By structural modeling, we found that E2-accessible ubiquitination sites, but not lysine residues in general, are particularly associated with kinase degradability. Finally, we extended MAPD predictions to the entire proteome to find 964 disease-causing proteins (including proteins encoded by 278 cancer genes) that may be tractable to TPD drug development.

Summary: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) hijacks multiple human proteins during infection and viral replication. To examine whether any viral proteins employ human E3 ubiquitin ligases, we evaluated the stability of SARS-CoV-2 proteins with inhibition of the ubiquitin proteasome pathway. Using genetic screens to dissect the molecular machinery involved in the degradation of candidate viral proteins, we identified human E3 ligase RNF185 as a regulator of protein stability for the SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein. We found that RNF185 and the SARS-CoV-2 envelope co-localize to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Finally, we demonstrate that the depletion of RNF185 significantly increases SARS-CoV-2 viral titer in a cellular model. Modulation of this interaction could provide opportunities for novel antiviral therapies.

Computational methods are becoming an increasingly important part of biological research. Using the Rosetta framework as an example, the authors demonstrate how community-driven development of computational methods can be done in a reproducible and reliable fashion.

Model Villages can serve as miniature self-sufficient, sustainable and equitable units. One village can inspire other villages and if in this way, the developmental efforts cover whole of rural India, then India can set example of inclusive development in global charts. Not only food and nutritional security through scientific farming but also sustainable ecological balance, enhanced income and equitable distribution, modern infrastructure and along with social harmony and brotherhood can serve as a milestone in the pathway of achieving inclusive development and an Atmanirbhar Bharat. Extension professionals of State Departments and Frontline system of ICAR can work towards developing these sustainable micro-units and then replicating them at district and State levels. The 5 domains and their sub-domains should remain the crux of formulating Model Village Development Programs.

Abstract Nanomicelles are self‐assembling nanosized (usually with particle size within a range of 10 to 100 nm) colloidal dispersions with a hydrophobic core and hydrophilic shell. Owing to its size, solubility, customised surface or its exposure to the environment, nanomicelles show some unique or novel characteristics, which makes it multifunctional and thus makes its use indispensable in biomedical application and various other fields. This review presents the unique properties of nanomicelles that makes it different from other particles and paves its way to be used as drug delivery agent and many other biological uses or applications. It also emphasises on the drug encapsulation ability of the nanomicelles and different technique of drug loading and delivery along with its advantages and disadvantages.

Background and Objectives: The enigma COVID-19 pandemic already involved major parts of globe with toll of 2,074,529 victims and 139,378 deaths from 213 countries/territories as on April 14, 2020. It cripples nations by the loss of human resources, economic decline, hunger, unemployment insecurities giving way to mental morbidities, and still many others to be discovered. Till it completes its trajectory, a systematic investigation, a prerequisite of any epidemic control, is warranted. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey over 2 weeks (April 15, 2020–April 28, 2020) has been conducted at a teaching institution at Kolkata aiming to describe the magnitude, pattern, severity, and correlates of coronavirus pandemic 2020. Data pertaining to COVID-19 cases, deaths of affected countries, and their reported and or potential correlates were retrieved from various public domains, for example, https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports, worldpopulationreview.com, data.worldbank.org. Results: Multiple linear regression analysis revealed a maximum R2 of 32.3% (P = 0.013) with a significant model fit (P = 0.000) for COVID-19 incidence rate per million which is associated positively with the proportion of the urban population (b = 0.024) and the percentage of the population aged 65 years or higher (b = 0.112) and negatively with current universal Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination (b = −1.021) policy of countries. Conclusion: Against this viral catastrophe evidence-based classical public health measures are underway. Notwithstanding variations in testing and reporting policy, the findings of this research ignite further study.

It has become mandatory for all the domestic producers of urea to produce Neem Coated Urea (NCU) since 2015 to reduce overall input cost in farming and to ensure environmental sustainability through enhanced nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). The present study was carried out during 2017–19 with the aim to find out the awareness level of farmers about NCU and its impact on crop productivity. A total of 12,604 farmers across the country were interviewed by 458 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). The results of the study showed that 76% farmers were aware about NCU and its effectiveness in increasing crop yield. Farmers of Delhi NCR, Haryana and Rajasthan were found to have the highest awareness while those of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Jammu & Kashmir had the lowest level of awareness. Overall, 79% farmers were satisfied with its use. Use of N fertilizers decreased significantly in 2018 compared to 2017 in both the seasons (kharif and rabi), however, the existing rate of application was still significantly higher than recommended doses. The average yield enhancement due to use of NCU was 8.25%. The highest yield increase due to use of NCU was observed in Goa, Madhya Pradesh, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Results of the study implied that more emphasis is needed for dissemination of information about NCU through awareness, training and capacity building programmes for farmers and grassroots level extension functionaries.

A significant portion of total horticultural production is lost each year due to post-harvest losses. These losses vary significantly in different segments of the supply chain and these variations are primarily due to various farmlevel factors. Present study was carried out during 2019–20 to isolate the predictors of post-harvest losses in potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) in the purposively selected Khandoli block of Agra district, Uttar Pradesh. The total sample size was 160 included 120 farmers; 10 wholesalers; 15 retailers and 15 institutional stakeholders. The study used ordered logistic regression analysis and found that the knowledge level of the producers, training received, variety, timely labour availability, quantity harvested, and storage duration influenced the amount of losses in potatoes. The major constraints identified in the potato value chain were small operational size, absence of storage facilities, inadequate insurance coverage and poor market intelligence. The study suggested focusing more on capacity building, breeding & disseminating improved varieties; creating local-level storage infrastructure; ensuring financial risk coverage and price policy support; creating strong marketing intelligence network and farmer mobilization into farmers groups for effective post-harvest management.

Present study aims to find out how the technological interventions performed under the Farmer FIRST programme by assessing the peak adoption level and time taken to attain it. ADOPT tool was used to assess the impact of the technological interventions. Thirty farmers who have participated in the programme implemented at Haryana, India, were interviewed during 2021 to elicit data pertaining to the year 2016–21 and the modal value of their responses were used as input in the ADOPT model to estimate the parameters of interest. The results showed that the extent of peak adoption level is high for interventions related to cereal crops and animal components while the time taken to reach peak adoption level is also low indicating that the advisory system for these commodities have borne good results and this calls for streamlining the advisory system for horticultural crops to achieve the desired output from these enterprises as well.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic led to emergency measures to continue patient care and research at a comprehensive cancer center while protecting both employees and patients. Determining exposure and infection rates with SARS-CoV-2 were important to adjust workplace policies over time. Methods Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) has over 7,000 employees. Participation was voluntary. After consent, participants completed questionnaire of demographics, exposures and risk factors for COVID-19 illness at each time point (baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months) along with blood draws for SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing. Primary measure was determination of titers of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein IgG over time. Results In total, 745 employees enrolled from May 2020 to February 2021 (mean [SD] age, 40[14] years; 572[80%] women). From May to July 2020, 47 of 519 employees (9.2%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 6.7–12.0%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein IgG antibodies. Three months later, 40 of 428 employees had positive antibodies (8.5%, 95% CI 6.0–11.0%) with 17 newly positive. At month 6, 78.5% of participants reported having received at least one dose of vaccine and the positivity rate for those vaccinated was 98% (95% CI, 95–100%). Spike protein IgG titers for those vaccinated were 7.9 times higher than participants not vaccinated (median IgG titer = 0.28 for positive antibody but not vaccinated versus 2.2 for vaccinated) but demonstrate evidence of waning over time. Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 antibody positivity remained less than 10% at a single comprehensive cancer center prior to vaccination and there is evidence of waning IgG titers over time after vaccination.

High yielding varieties of cereal crops were the major contributors to India's Green Revolution in 1960s and till date these varieties have been largely contributing to India's bread basket. Uttarakhand is primarily an agricultural state although its share in the country's total area and production is negligible. In this paper the authors have attempted to measure the technical and economic efficiencies of improved varieties of paddy and wheat in lower Shivalik hills of Uttarakhand during 2017-20. Uttarakhand is primarily an agricultural state although its share in the country's total area and production is negligible. Economic efficiencies of the varieties were measured by benefit-cost ratio (BCR) andnet return (NR). Technical efficiencies were measured by Box plot technique in R software. Kernal density plot was used to represent yield variation among the varieties. The findings revealed that PB 1121 paddy and HD 2967 wheat respectively were the best varieties in terms of technical efficiency (productivity) and economic efficiency (BCR andNet Return). Estimates of t-test also show the significant differences in BCR and net return between improved and local varieties. Thus, study shows that the positive impacts of improved varieties of the major crops have significantly contributed to productivity, farm income and livelihood in the lower Shivalik hills of Uttarakhand which, in turn, mayprovide prospective implications towards country's total production and food security.

Rural development programs act as boon to millions of rural inhabitants globally. So, it becomes extremely important for policy makers to study the perception of grassroot beneficiaries for effective implementation of ongoing program as well as plan for similar programs in future. In this study, the authors have attempted to study an ambitious rural development program named as Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana launched by Government of India, through the lens of the beneficiaries. The program aims at adoption of villages and transforming them into Model Villages. The perception of the villagers was measured and perceived factors facilitating and inhibiting the program were identified through a multi-dimensional perception scale constructed through Principal Component Method. The study was carried out in four villages of Maharashtra and Telangana during 2018. The perception of 320 respondents when analysed, resulted in factors like Government-Public liaison (Y1=671.86), Infrastructure and Education (Y2=383.14), Local political environment (Y3=267.42), Collective power of villagers and youth (Y4=255.98), Equality (Y5=236.71) and Cultural and inherent values (Y6=143.03) facilitating the program while lack of separate funding (Y10= -12.88), bureaucratic hurdles (Y8=19.09), presence of village factions (Y9=25.05), lack of coordination among government departments (Y11=59.65) and faulty village adoption policy (Y7=130.85) hindering the progress of the program. Majority of villagers from Tikekarwadi (53.33%) of Maharashtra and from Dandepally (56.66%) of Telangana had favourable perception towards potential of the program while villagers from Inovolu (63.33%) of Telangana had neutral perception and from Malunja Budruk (80%) of Maharashtra had unfavourable perception. The classification was done on basis of Cumulative Cube Root Frequency Method (CCRF) and significant difference was found in perception scores of the respondents.

Labour migration and remittance influence resource use efficiency in agriculture. The present study evaluates the impact of labour migration on crop productivity and technical efficiency in the Bundelkhand region of central India. The study is based on a primary survey of 240 farm households, comprising 120 migrant and 120 non-migrant households during 2016-17.The average yield of selected crops was higher in non-migrant households than that of migrant households. However, there was no variation in the input use intensity between the two categories.Factors such as education, farming experience, and access to extension services significantly reduced technical inefficiency for migrant households.In addition to these factors, access to irrigation significantly reduced technical inefficiency for non-migrant households. Development of irrigation infrastructure and strengthening extension linkage can enhance crop productivity and check distress migration in the Bundelkhand region.

The study aimed at specifying the entrepreneurial behaviour and delineating the critical success factors of the farmer entrepreneurs for establishment of agribusiness ventures under ACABC scheme. There is need of a wellstructured training module which would not only inculcate the right entrepreneurial behaviour at training stage but can be used at later stages of enterprise expansion. Training about profitable enterprise selection, cognizance of loan procedure from institutional credit sources can be really helpful factors for successful enterprise creation. The study has been conducted with a sample of 30 trained farmer entrepreneurs, 15 each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra from randomly selected 13 and 15 blocks of respective states, who underwent training under ACABC scheme. The data was collected through semi-structured interview schedule consisting of two parts: Entrepreneurial behaviour of farmers and factors for successful establishment of agribusiness ventures. The entrepreneurial behaviour of farmer-entrepreneurs was measured with the help of a scale developed by Technonet Asia (1981) in terms of four dimensions namely, Risk taking behaviour, Hope of success, Manageability and Persuasive ability. Against each dimension, responses were obtained in terms of Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree and Strongly disagree in frequency and percentage. Three factors namely Motivational factors, Social factors and Economic factors were studied for their contribution in successful establishment of agribusiness ventures. Against each Critical success factor, responses were obtained as frequency and percentage in terms of Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree and Strongly disagree. It was found that the farmer entrepreneurs of Uttar Pradesh had medium risk taking behaviour while Maharashtra farmers had high risk taking behaviour because of the abundance of the resources that the state had which supported them to take risk beyond capacity. Similarly, both the states had medium hope of success, high manageability and high persuasive ability that made these two states entrepreneurial hub for agriculture. Farmer entrepreneurs of Uttar Pradesh considered motivational factors to be moderately affecting while social and economic factors to be highly affecting the success of the agri-enterprise while respondents of Maharashtra perceived all the factors to be equally and highly affecting the success of the agri-enterprises.

Hill agriculture is different from agriculture at plains, in respect to land type, altitude and climate, in addition to lack of infrastructure and fragmented land holding. Due to lack of employment opportunities hill farmers are leaving agriculture and migrating to plains. Lack of industries and marketing infrastructure has made it more difficult for farmers to excel in farm business. Farmers Producer Company (FPC) has emerged as a new agri-business model and is working in hilly areas it too. With an intention to find out the effectiveness of hill based FPC for enhancing livelihood wellbeing and empowering women farmers in hills the present study was conducted by selecting an women farmer based Organization, Mahila Umang Producer Company (MUPC) of a group of hill rural women. An ex-post facto research design was used. Difference in difference research design was used to calculate the actual impact of FPC. To measure the livelihood wellbeing an index were prepared by following the standard protocol. The study was conducted in Almora district of Uttarakhand from 37 randomly selected members of MUPC and 20 nonmember respondents from the same locale. The MUPC was found effective in enhancing income and empowering hill women. Joining the FPC has improved the hill women’s livelihood in terms of economic, human, and political dimensions.

Agricultural technologies are seen as an important means for alleviating poverty in most of the developing countries. However, the rate of adoption of farm technologies has remained at low level. Present study conducted during 2016-19 in lower Shivalik hills of Uttarakhand which aims at shedding some light on the driving forces that influence the intensity of technology adoption using econometric models like quantile regression (QR) model since it produces different effects along the distribution (quantile) of the dependent variable. Improved varieties of two major crops (Rice and Wheat) of lower Shivalik hills of Uttarakhand have been enlisted. Kendall Tau estimation has been used to measure the extent of association of explanatory variables with the adoption level. To estimate sustaining productivity (economic efficiency) of selected technologies (varieties) and to identify best suited available technology, Seeming Unrelated Regression (SUR) model was used as it estimates the parameters of all equations simultaneously. The estimates of quantile model show that operational land holding, extension contact, family type, house type and farm assets had significant influence on intensity of adoption. Besides, findings of SUR model identified PB-1121 of rice and HD-2967 of wheat the best suitable varieties. The paper also suggested some farm policy-related issues for the welfare of the farmers under study.

In a study involving large-scale farmer participatory field trials for evaluating the performance of a recently released improved wheat variety, HD 3086 (Pusa Gautami) in 300 farmers’ fields in three villages of Palwal district, significantly yielded higher grain and straw output compared to output of control group with the same existing resources. Adoption curves were generated to ascertain the rate of adoption and diffusion of HD 3086 among farmers of FFP villages and neighbouring villages. The rate of adoption of HD 3086 was more than 16 times on acreage basis in the span of three years.

Realizing the importance of farm mechanization in purview of shortage of farm labour and increasing demand from land for higher productivity, the Government of India implemented a subsidy scheme for promoting purchase and use of power tillers by farmers during 2007–2015. The present study aimed at assessing perception of the beneficiaries about the status of implementation of the scheme with a focus on power tiller purchase, use, and hindrances (if any). The study was conducted in randomly selected 23 districts from 5 purposively selected states of India with a total of 746 beneficiary farmers (n=746). Primary cross sectional data were collected with the help of a structured personal interview schedule. Variation was noticed among the states regarding cost and subsidy received to buy the power tillers. The average cost of power tillers including subsidy, was the highest for Tripura (`₹ 171577) followed by Assam (`₹ 169317). The average amount of subsidy was ` ₹ 70701 with the highest reported in Andhra Pradesh (` ₹ 90626). Overall, a majority (91.96%) of the respondents reported not to face difficulties in availing the subsidy. Overall 89.01% of the beneficiaries expressed satisfaction with the quality of power tillers supplied under the scheme. However, more than half of the beneficiaries were not satisfied with the overall services provided by the dealers including training and maintenance services. The findings of the study will be helpful for policy makers to evaluate the scheme and make improvements based on the lacuna investigated in the study.

Adoption research has a well-defined position in the development studies of all the scientific disciplines. In this study an attempt has been made for comparative visualisation of extent of adoption and economic impact of different NARS rice varieties among the adopters in Indo-Gangetic Plains. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal were selected purposively in the study. From each of the selected states, four districts and from each district two adopted and one non adopted village were selected randomly. Further from each village 30 respondents were selected. Total 1170 respondents were selected for the study. Extent of adoption and economic impact has been analysed for improved NARS rice varieties over the years with primary cross-sectional data collected (during 2016) for the previous five years (2010-11 to 2014-15).

Alteration of the epigenetic landscape has been implicated in several disease processes, where targeting histone modifiers may have therapeutic applications. Here the authors report a bifunctional small molecule inhibitor that simultaneously targets the deacetylase (HDAC1) and demethylase (LSD1) activities of the CoREST complex.

A Zika virus disease outbreak occurred in Roatán, Honduras, during September 2015–July 2016. Blood samples and clinical information were obtained from 183 patients given a clinical diagnosis of suspected dengue virus infection. A total of 79 patients were positive for Zika virus, 13 for chikungunya virus, and 6 for dengue virus.

Farmers Producer Company (FPC) has emerged as a new business model for the rural area. Like agriculture and horticulture, it is working in poultry sector too. With an intuition to find out the impact of poultry based Farmer Producer Company on upliftment of rural people, the present study was conducted by selecting Madhya Pradesh Women Poultry Producer Company Pvt. Limited (MPWPCL) founded by a team of poor rural women. An Ex-Post Facto research design was used. Difference in difference technique was utilized to estimate the actual impact of FPCs. To measure the effectiveness of MPWPCL and its impact, two indices, viz. effectiveness index and livelihood wellbeing index were prepared. Study was conducted in Orchha district of Madhya Pradesh from 37 randomly selected poultry growers' members and 15 nonmember respondents from the same locale. The MPWPCL was found highly effective with overall effectiveness score of 71.88. Joining the FPC has improved the poor rural women's human, social and political dimensions of livelihood empowerment in addition to a significant economic gain.

Rice is grown around the globe in 113 countries spread over 153 million hectares with estimated total production of 589 million tonnes. Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (EIGP) of India contributes major portion in food grain production most particularly in rice but with a low productivity as compared to Western Indo-Gangetic Plains (WIGP) of India. Therefore, field experiment on technological interventions that are fundamental to productivity growth of rice were successfully implemented through farmers’ field trials by 10 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) across different ecologies in Bihar (8 KVKs), Eastern UP (2 KVKs) during 2016–18. It was found that paddy yield remained same in a range of 5.1 to 5.2 for Long Duration Rice Varieties (LDRVs) and in a range of 5.0 to 5.1 tonnes/ha for Medium Duration Rice Varieties (MDRVs) or hybrids. The grain yield of wheat saw a significant advantage with rice equivalent wheat yields (3.2 tonnes/ha) under CTW and 3.8 tonnes/ha under ZTW. Work done by KVKs (Ara, Buxar and Rohtas) show that creation of rice nursery enterprise (RNEs) can be an alternate way to transplant rice on time. The RNEs created by three KVKs in Bihar, raised nursery on 27.86 acres which was transplanted on 983 acres. When DSR was practiced after pre-sowing irrigation and good field preparation, the paddy yields ranged from 6.2 to 6.4 tonnes/ha in the cluster of 5 KVKs from Agro-Climatic Zone III (Southern East and West), 5.4 to 5.8 tonnes/ha in the cluster of 3 KVKs fromAgro-Climatic Zones I(Northern West) and 5.1 to 5.2 in the eastern UP cluster of 2 KVKs.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the world’s most widely cultivated cereal crop. It is commonly eaten in both time meals in major wheat growing states. Field experiments were conducted at eight KVKs of Bihar during year 2016- 2018 based on different agro ecological situations. In the field experiment it was found that early wheat sowing has emerged as the most important variable for increasing the grain yield (5 t/ha) than late sown. Data shows that instead of skipping irrigation at grain filling stage, one irrigation applied at grain filling stage increased the wheat grain yield by 13% when the sowing was done with zero tillage and 16% when sowing was done by conventional method. With irrigation, the average grain yield of wheat with zero tillage was 5.30 t/ha compared to 4.54 t/ha under conventional tillage. To trace the impact of different herbicide application technologies, it was found multiple boom nozzle sfitted with flat fan nozzles and tractor mounted sprayer provided similar wheat grain yield (5.1-5.3 t/ha) than hollow cone nozzles with grain yield of 4.6 t/ha. It was referred that grain yield of wheat were 4.51, 4.60 and 4.38 t/ha following the application of glyphosate at 24, 48 h or 7-10 days before seeding wheat, respectively. Total 304 replications have been conducted to study the effect of ZT on the productivity of wheat sown at different times and was found that ZT wheat (HD-2967) planted from 1-15 November gives highest yield than other sowing date.

The present study aimed to evaluate impact of Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav (MGMG) programme by developing a quantitative framework. Five clusters of villages were randomly selected from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana and 15 respondents from each cluster were selected, making a total sample size of 150. One control village was selected against each experimental village using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) technique. Four components namely, farmer-scientist interface, farm output, institutional awareness and linkage were extracted in the index by applying Principal Component Method. The analyses revealed significant increase in frequency of farmer-scientist interaction, farmers’ meet and increase in yield of rice, wheat and mustard. An increase of 59.73% and 37.28% in gross return was noticed in UP and Haryana, respectively. Though significant difference in awareness level and institutional linkage was found in UP between experimental and control groups, no significant difference was noticed in Haryana. Respondents reported high and medium level (48% and 41.33%) of timeliness of services in UP and Haryana, respectively. Total 44% and 42.67% respondents in UP and Haryana respectively, reported high level of relevancy. Similarly, 54.67 % and 46.67 % respondents in UP and Haryana, respectively reported high level of satisfaction with the services. Total 41.33% respondents in UP and 42.67% in Haryana stated medium level of usefulness of the services. The mean index scores in case of UP and Haryana were 0.692 and 0.528, respectively. Strategies were proposed to enhance the performance of MGMG programme.

There is a growing optimism that the farmers' organizations can act as a potential driving force for enhancing farmers' income. India has witnessed a positive growth of producer organizations in terms of types of organization, numbers and members. The Producer Company is a special case of producer organization that is registered under Section IXA of the Companies Act, 1956. A need was felt at that time to have an independent farmers’ organization which enables incorporation of producers into such an institution like the companies which will be controlled by them, having welfare and business outlook at a time while not compromising the sustainability issues. That creates the milieu for the genesis of Farmers’ Producer Company (FPC) in India. The FPCs are fundamentally farmer-owned and farmer-governed micro-enterprises which can be considered as hybrids between cooperative societies and private companies. The way of participation, membership and organization is similar to that of a cooperative, while the incorporation into corporate law allows greater flexibility and professionalism in their business actions. Till date 1048 FPCs are registered in India. In this article attempt has been made to review the issues of FPC, current status and future prospects. Forecasting the growth of FPC has been done up to the year 2020 utilizing Grey Model. Emphasis has been given to critically analyse the status, prospects and potentials with future outlook of 2020 concluding with strategies and policy needs.

SUMMARY Regions in the 8q24 gene desert contribute significantly to the risk of prostate cancer and other adult cancers. This region contains several DNA regions with enhancer activity in cultured cells. One such segment, histone acetylation peak 10 (AcP10), contains a risk single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that is significantly associated with the pathogenesis of colorectal, prostate and other cancers. The mechanism by which AcP10 influences cancer risk remains unknown. Here we show that AcP10 contains a sequence that is highly conserved across terrestrial vertebrates and is capable in transgenic mice of directing reporter gene expression to a subset of prostate lumenal epithelial cells. These cells include a small population of Nkx3.1-positive cells that persist even after androgen ablation. Castration-resistant Nkx3.1-positive (CARN) cells were shown by others to function both as stem cells and cells of origin of prostate cancer. Our results thus provide a mechanism by which AcP10 could influence prostate cancer risk.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second-leading cause of cancer-related mortality, after lung cancer, in men from developed countries. In its early stages, primary tumor growth is dependent on androgens, thus generally can be controlled by androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Eventually however, the disease progresses to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), a lethal form in need of more effective treatments. G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) comprise a large clan of cell surface proteins that have been implicated as therapeutic targets in PCa growth and progression. The findings reported here provide intriguing evidence of a role for the newly characterized glutamate family member GPR158 in PCa growth and progression. We found that GPR158 promotes PCa cell proliferation independent of androgen receptor (AR) functionality and that this requires its localization in the nucleus of the cell. This suggests that GPR158 acts by mechanisms different from other GPCRs. GPR158 expression is stimulated by androgens and GPR158 stimulates AR expression, implying a potential to sensitize tumors to low androgen conditions during ADT via a positive feedback loop. Further, we found GPR158 expression correlates with a neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation phenotype and promotes anchorage-independent colony formation implying a role for GPR158 in therapeutic progression and tumor formation. GPR158 expression was increased at the invading front of prostate tumors that formed in the genetically defined conditional Pten knockout mouse model, and co-localized with elevated AR expression in the cell nucleus. Kaplan-Meier analysis on a dataset from the Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer genome portal showed that increased GPR158 expression in tumors is associated with lower disease-free survival. Our findings strongly suggest that pharmaceuticals targeting GPR158 activities could represent a novel and innovative approach to the prevention and management of CRPC.

Androgen receptor (AR) variants are associated with resistance to anti androgen therapy both in human prostate cancer cell lines and clinical samples. These observations support the hypothesis that AR isoform accumulation is a consequence of selective therapeutic pressure on the full length AR. The Pten deficient prostate cancer model proceeds with well-defined kinetics including progression to castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). While surgical castration and enzalutamide treatments yield an initial therapeutic response, Pten-/-epithelia continue to proliferate yielding locally invasive primary tumor pathology. That most epithelium remains AR positive, but ligand independent, suggests the presence of oncogenic AR variants. To address this hypothesis, we have used a panel of recently described Pten-/- tumor cell lines derived from both from hormone intact (E4, E8) and castrated Pten mutants (cE1, cE2) followed by RACE PCR to identify and characterize three novel truncated, amino terminus containing AR variants (mAR-Va, b, c). Variants appear not only conserved throughout progression but are correlated with nearly complete loss of full length AR (AR-FL) at castrate androgen levels. The overexpression of variants leads to enhanced transcriptional activity of AR while knock down studies show reduced transcriptional output. Collectively, the identification of truncated AR variants in the conditional PTEN deletion model supports a role for maintaining the CRPC phenotype and provides further therapeutic applications of this preclinical model.

The inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin is expressed in most cancers. Using the conditional PTEN deletion mouse model, we previously reported that survivin levels increase with prostate tumor growth. Here we evaluated the functional role of survivin in prostate tumor growth. First, we demonstrated that mice lacking the survivin gene in prostate epithelium were fertile and had normal prostate growth and development. We then serially, from about 10-56 weeks of age, evaluated histopathologic changes in the prostate of mice with PTEN deletion combined with survivin mono- or bi-allelic gene deletion. While within this time period most of the animals with wild-type or monoallelic survivin deletion developed adenocarcinomas, the most severe lesions in the biallelic survivin deleted mice were high-grade prostatic intra-epithelial neoplasia with distinct histopathology. Many atypical cells contained large hypertrophic cytoplasm and desmoplastic reaction in the prostatic intra-epithelial neoplasia lesions of this group was minimal until the late ages. A reduced proliferation index as well as apoptotic and senescent cells were detected in the lesions of mice with compound PTEN/survivin deficiency throughout the time points examined. Survivin deletion was also associated with reduced tumor expression of another inhibitor of apoptosis member, the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis. Our findings suggest that survivin participates in the progression of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia to adenocarcinoma, and that survivin interference at the prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia stages may be a potential therapeutic strategy to halt or delay further progression.

Despite its initial positive response to hormone ablation therapy, prostate cancers invariably recur in more aggressive, treatment resistant forms. The lack of our understanding of underlying genetic alterations for the transition from androgen-dependent (AD) to ADI prostate cancer growth hampers our ability to develop target-driven therapeutic strategies for the efficient treatment of ADI prostate cancer.By screening a library of activated human kinases, we have identified TPL2, encoding a serine/threonine kinase, as driving ADI prostate cancer growth. TPL2 activation by over-expressing either wild-type or a constitutively activated form of TPL2 induced ADI growth, whereas the suppression of TPL2 expression and its kinase activity in ADI prostate cancer cells inhibited cell proliferation under androgen-depleted conditions. Most importantly, TPL2 is upregulated in ADI prostate cancers of both the Pten deletion mouse model and the clinical prostate cancer specimens.Together these data suggest that TPL2 kinase plays a critical role in the promotion of ADI prostate cancer progression. Furthermore, the suppression of TPL2 diminishes ADI prostate cancer growth and a high frequency of TPL2 overexpression in human ADI prostate cancer samples validates TPL2 as a target for the treatment of this deadly disease.

Complete inactivation of the PTEN tumor suppressor gene is extremely common in advanced cancer, including prostate cancer (CaP). However, one PTEN allele is already lost in the vast majority of CaPs at presentation. To determine the consequence of PTEN dose variations on cancer progression, we have generated by homologous recombination a hypomorphic Pten mouse mutant series with decreasing Pten activity: Pten(hy/+) > Pten(+/-) > Pten(hy/-) (mutants in which we have rescued the embryonic lethality due to complete Pten inactivation) > Pten prostate conditional knockout (Pten(pc)) mutants. In addition, we have generated and comparatively analyzed two distinct Pten(pc) mutants in which Pten is inactivated focally or throughout the entire prostatic epithelium. We find that the extent of Pten inactivation dictate in an exquisite dose-dependent fashion CaP progression, its incidence, latency, and biology. The dose of Pten affects key downstream targets such as Akt, p27(Kip1), mTOR, and FOXO3. Our results provide conclusive genetic support for the notion that PTEN is haploinsufficient in tumor suppression and that its dose is a key determinant in cancer progression.