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Purpose: The present study provides evidence on export advantages of horticultural commodities based on competitiveness, trade balance and seasonality dimensions. Design/methodology/approach: The study delineated horticultural commodities in terms of comparative advantage, examined temporal shifts in export advantages (mapping) and estimated seasonality. Product mapping was carried out using the Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) and Trade Balance Index (TBI). Seasonal advantages were examined through a graphical approach along with the objective tests, namely, modified QS-test (QS), Friedman-test (FT) and using a seasonal dummy. Findings: Cucumbers/gherkins, onions, preserved vegetables, fresh grapes, shelled cashew nuts, guavas, mangoes, and spices emerged as the most favorable horticultural products. India has a strong seasonal advantage in dried onions, cucumber/gherkins, shelled cashew nut, dried capsicum, coriander, cumin, and turmeric. The untapped potential in horticulture can be addressed by handling the trade barriers effectively, particularly the sanitary and phytosanitary issues, affecting the exports. Proper policies must be enacted to facilitate the investment in advanced agricultural technologies and logistics to ensure the desired quality and cost effectiveness. Research limitations/implications: Commodity-specific studies on value chain analysis would provide valuable insights into the issues hindering exports and realizing the untapped export potential. Originality/value: There is no holistic and recent study illustrating the horticulture export advantages covering a large number of commodities in the Indian context. The study would be helpful to the stakeholders for drawing useful policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pharmaceutical sector in India currently holds a dominant position in the market for generic pharmaceuticals around the world. The industry is characterized by a one-of-a-kind mixture of both opportunities and limitations. It has achieved the global excellence standards in the mass manufacture of high-quality branded generics, which was driven by its capabilities in formulations that are of world-class standard. This achievement was driven by the fact that it has attained the mass manufacturing of branded generics. These are the result of prolonged expenditures in infrastructure and research & development on the part of industry leaders, who were also responsible for their creation. In addition, there are a huge number of small and medium-sized firms, which contributes to the industry's highly fragmented nature. The purpose of this study are to investigate the factors that contribute to employee turnover in the Indian context generally and in the pharmaceutical industry and to outline a deeper understanding of the strategies that are used for talent management and employee retention in the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry in India has the greatest employee turnover rate, and each industrial unit within the sector uses a unique combination of criteria and procedures to choose its talent, deliver its training, and take its various capacity-building steps. There is also a significant financial reward connected with work performance in the form of salaries and other benefits. Even with all of the necessary efforts, the retention of highly skilled employees to grass root functionaries continues to be a repeated pattern; nevertheless, the causes and impact of this phenomenon are not disclosed to aid the companies. As a consequence of this, the collecting of primary material became obligatory in order to investigate the subject in depth and evaluate the impact of the attrition problem. The secondary sources of information that were utilised in the research study have been appropriately acknowledged, and the primary data that the research scholar gathered, organized, and assessed on their own have been appropriately analyzed. The pharmaceutical sector relies on an extensive network of medical representatives, each of whom is individually tasked with driving sales of their company's wares in the marketplace. The grass-roots functionaries encompass a vast number of individuals in this category. The suggestions for lowering the rate of employee turnover are, for the most part, based on the field response from the respondents as well as management from the firms. The study was conducted in Chennai city during the month of January 2022. The primary data was collected using Google forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks is an important disease that causes yield losses of up to 40% in susceptible varieties. Tetraploid emmer wheat (T. turgidum ssp. Dicoccum), commonly called Khapli wheat in India, is known to have evolved from wild emmer (Triticum turgidum var. dicoccoides), and harbors a good number of leaf rust resistance genes. In the present study, we are reporting on the screening of one hundred and twenty-three dicoccum wheat germplasm accessions against the leaf rust pathotype 77-5. Among these, an average of 45.50% of the germplasms were resistant, 46.74% were susceptible, and 8.53% had mesothetic reactions. Further, selected germplasm lines with accession numbers IC138898, IC47022, IC535116, IC535133, IC535139, IC551396, and IC534144 showed high level of resistance against the eighteen prevalent pathotypes. The infection type varied from ";", ";N", ";N1" to ";NC". PCR-based analysis of the resistant dicoccum lines with SSR marker gwm508 linked to the Lr53 gene, a leaf rust resistance gene effective against all the prevalent pathotypes of leaf rust in India and identified from a T. turgidum var. dicoccoides germplasm, indicated that Lr53 is not present in the selected accessions. Moreover, we have also generated 35K SNP genotyping data of seven lines and the susceptible control, Mandsaur Local, to study their relationships. The GDIRT tool based on homozygous genotypic differences revealed that the seven genotypes are unique to each other and may carry different resistance genes for leaf rust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvement of grain protein content (GPC), loaf volume, and resistance to rusts was achieved in 11 Indian wheat cultivars that are widely grown in four different agro-climatic zones of India. This involved use of marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB) for introgression and pyramiding of the following genes: (i) the high GPC gene Gpc-B1; (ii) HMW glutenin subunits 5 + 10 at Glu-D1 loci, and (iii) rust resistance genes, Yr36, Yr15, Lr24, and Sr24. GPC increased by 0.8 to 3.3%, although high GPC was generally associated with yield penalty. Further selection among high GPC lines allowed identification of progenies with higher GPC associated with improvement in 1000-grain weight and grain yield in the backgrounds of the following four cultivars: NI5439, UP2338, UP2382, and HUW468. The high GPC progenies (derived from NI5439) were also improved for grain quality using HMW glutenin subunits 5 + 10 at Glu-D1 loci. Similarly, progenies combining high GPC and rust resistance were obtained in the backgrounds of following five cultivars: Lok1, HD2967, PBW550, PBW621, and DBW1. The improved pre-bred lines developed following multi-institutional effort should prove a valuable source for the development of cultivars with improved nutritional quality and rust resistance in the ongoing wheat breeding programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in children still remains a challenge in developing countries. We analyze the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF assay for the diagnosis of pediatric TB under programmatic conditions. We retrospectively analyzed the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF assay from February 2016 to March 2018. A total 2678 samples from TB suspects below 14 years were received in the laboratory and were frontline tested by Xpert MTB/RIF assay according to the manufacturer's instructions. If sample was sufficient, the smear microscopy and culture were performed as per standard World Health Organization's guidelines. The smears and cultures were performed in 2178 and 588 samples, respectively. Among 2678 samples, 68 were rejected, Xpert MTB/RIF assay was positive in 357/2610 (13.6%) cases, while the smear was positive in 81/2178 (3.3%) cases. The sensitivity of smear and Xpert MTB/RIF when compared with culture was 24.6% (14.1–37.8%) and 81% (68.6–90.1%), respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of Xpert MTB/RIF and smear was 97.1% and 92.2%, respectively. Thirty samples (8.5%) were detected as rifampicin resistance by Xpert MTB/RIF assay. The Xpert MTB/RIF increased the detection rate up to fourfold when compared with smear microscopy. Xpert MTB/RIF assay is the most rapid, sensitive, and specific method for microbiological confirmation and rifampicin resistance detection in pediatric tuberculosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid detection of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is important for the successful treatment of tuberculosis. Fluoroquinolone and aminoglycoside resistance detection by molecular methods becomes more complex due to cross resistance among them. Thus, we aimed to determine cross-resistance and mutations in resistance genes for these drugs. A total of 336 multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases received in Mycobacteriology laboratory were screened for phenotypic drug sensitivity testing for second-line drugs, i.e., ofloxacin, amikacin, kanamycin, and capreomycin. Molecular characterization of resistance was done by DNA sequencing of gyrA gene for fuoroquinolones (FQ), and multiplex allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of rrs gene for aminoglycosides. Of 336 MDR-TB isolates, 12 were extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis and 219 were sensitive to all the drugs tested. Ofoxacin, amikacin, kanamycin, and capreomycin resistance was detected in 101 (30.1%), 23 (6.8%), 27 (8.1%), and 19 (5.6%) cases, respectively. Eight different mutations were detected in gyrA gene in ofloxacin-resistant isolates and A1401G nucleotide change in rrs gene were seen in 55.6% (15/27), 65.2% (15/23), and 68.4% (13/29) for kanamycin-, amikacin-, and capreomycin-resistant isolates, respectively. Information on second-line drug resistance-associated mutations could potentially be used for development of newer rapid diagnostic tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing global water shortage emphasizes the need for demand-side water management policies, especially in the agriculture sector, being the largest consumer of freshwater. Such policies are relevant in India, where groundwater depletion may have severe implications at various socio-economic levels. In this study, using mathematical modelling, we assess the feasibility of two alternative irrigation water pricing policies -- (i) uniform water pricing policy and (ii) differentiated water pricing policy, wherein farmers growing less water-requiring crops (<4488 m3/ha) get an incentive for saving water, while those growing water-intensive crops pay for it. Using a case study of Punjab, the breadbasket and one of the fastest groundwater-depleting states in India, alternative cropping patterns are also suggested. The findings reveal that the current rate of groundwater withdrawal could not sustain agricultural intensification in the state. Although optimization of resource allocation has the potential to save water by 8%, this alone is unlikely to break the rice--wheat mono-cropping pattern in Punjab. The analysis of two different volumetric irrigation water pricing policies shows that differentiated water pricing would be more effective in halting groundwater depletion in the state. However, adequate investment in irrigation water supply infrastructure, mainly for installing water meters, is required to implement the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a main hurdle for national programs due to increase in drug resistance to antitubercular drugs. World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed Line Probe Assay, Genotype MTBDRsl Ver 2.0, gives opportunity for rapid diagnosis and molecular characterization of different mutations in drug targets of fluoroquinolone (FQ) and second-line injectable drugs (SLID). We, retrospectively, analyzed the data of Genotype MTBDRsl Ver 2.0 from January 2018 to June 2018. A total of 863 isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , 687 rifampicin resistant and 176 isoniazid resistant only, were screened for drug resistance in FQ and SLID. All the isolates were tested for Genotype MTBDRsl Ver 2.0 according to the manufacturer's instructions. The FQ and SLID resistance were detected in 295 (34.2%) and 70 (8.1%) isolates, respectively. Among newly diagnosed and follow-up rifampicin-resistant TB (RR TB) patients, the FQ resistance was 25.8% and 44.5%, respectively. The most common mutation (42.7%) in FQ-resistant isolates was MUT3C in gyrA gene. Both SLID and FQ resistance were detected in 59 (6.8%) RR TB isolates. The mono SLID resistance was detected in 12 (1.7%) isolates of RR TB. Genotype MTBDRsl Ver 2.0 assay is a rapid and important tool for the diagnosis and molecular characterization of second-line drug resistance under programmatic conditions., Competing Interests: The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest., (© 2020 Atlantis Press International B.V.)

Medical college faculty, who are academicians are seldom directly involved in the implementation of national public health programmes. More than a decade ago for the first time in the global history of tuberculosis (TB) control, medical colleges of India were involved in the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) of Government of India (GOI). This report documents the unique and extraordinary course of events that led to the involvement of medical colleges in the RNTCP of GOI. It also reports the contributions made by the medical colleges to TB control in India. For more than a decade, medical colleges have been providing diagnostic services (Designated Microscopy Centres), treatment [Directly Observed Treatment (DOT) Centres] referral for treatment, recording and reporting data, carrying out advocacy for RNTCP and conducting operational research relevant to RNTCP. Medical colleges are contributing to diagnosis and treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-TB co-infection and development of laboratory infrastructure for early diagnosis of multidrug-resistant and/or extensively drug-resistant TB (M/XDR-TB) and DOTS-Plus sites for treatment of MDR-TB cases. Overall, at a national level, medical colleges have contributed to 25 per cent of TB suspects referred for diagnosis; 23 per cent of 'new smear-positives' diagnosed; 7 per cent of DOT provision within medical college; and 86 per cent treatment success rate among new smear-positive patients. As the Programme widens its scope, future challenges include sustenance of this contribution and facilitating universal access to quality TB care; greater involvement in operational research relevant to the Programme needs; and better co-ordination mechanisms between district, state, zonal and national level to encourage their involvement.