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The field experiment was carried out by using 101 germplasm accessions along with seven checks during Kharif 2018 in augmented design II to evaluate the association among grain yield and its component traits into direct and indirect effects of traits on the yield. The study was conducted for nine traits viz., plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, leaf width, panicle length, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, hundred seed weight and grain yield per plant. Association studies indicated that hundred grain weight (r = 0.294) showed a significant positive correlation with grain yield per plant. This indicates that a strong association of this trait with grain yield per plant that could be fruitfully exploited for enhancing the yield potential in sorghum. Partitioning of yield and yield components into direct and indirect effects revealed that the characters, hundred seed weight (0.2922), leaf width (0.074), panicle length (0.1294) and stem diameter (0.0034) showed a positive direct effect on grain yield per plant. Hence, these results revealed that the characters viz., leaf width, panicle length, and hundred seed weight are important traits for grain yield improvement.

The sorghum culture TNS 648 (APK 1 x M35-1) recorded an average grain yield of 2445 kg/ha and fodder yield of 6490 kg/ha with an increase of 10.30 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively over CO 30 under rainfed condition. It also excelled K 12 by recording a 9.17 per cent and 13 per cent increase for grain and fodder yield, respectively. In irrigated situation, TNS 648 recorded an average grain yield of 2911 Kg/ha and fodder yield of 11710 kg/ha with a yield increase of 12 per cent and 10, respectively overruling sorghum variety CO 30. TNS 648 also performed better over K12 by recording an 11.32 per cent and 14 per cent increase for grain and fodder yield, respectively. Under AICRP on Sorghum national level testing, TNS 648 recorded a mean yield of 3100 Kg/ha and fodder yield of 11453 Kg/ha and excelled CSV 17 by recording 6.11 and 29.99 per cent increase of grain and fodder yield, respectively. It matures in 105 - 110 days, Grains are highly acceptable, yellowish white in colour, borne on medium semi-compact ear heads. The sorghum culture TNS 648 is moderately resistant to important shoot pests viz., shoot fly and stem borer. It is moderately resistant to downy mildew and grain mold. It has high protein (11.31-14.66 %) and fiber content (5.8 %) along with better cooking quality traits. Hence, the promising culture TNS 648 has been proposed for new release during 2020 and released as sorghum CO 32 for general cultivation in Tamil Nadu for both under rainfed and irrigated condition.

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) F2 population of COS 28 x SPV 2308 and COS 28 x SPV 2307. These crosses were raised during Kharif’2018. Variability and path analysis was carried out for ten morphological traits viz., plant height, days to flowering, the number of leaves, flag leaf length, flag leaf width, panicle length, panicle weight, the number of primaries, 100 seed weight and grain yield per plant. The mean value was found to be higher in COS 28 x SPV 2307 for the traits namely plant height and the number of leaves per plant. The mean value was found to be higher in the cross COS 28 x SPV 2308 for the traits viz., flag leaf length, flag leaf width, panicle length, panicle weight, the number of primaries, 100 seed weight and grain yield per plant. Variability studies revealed that the high PCV was observed in both the crosses for all the traits thus showing high environmental influence except days to flowering and the number of leaves. High GCV, heritability and Genetic advance as percentage of mean was found to be high for the traits namely flag leaf length and flag leaf width in COS 28 x SPV 2308 and for the traits panicle length and the number of primaries in COS 28 x SPV 2307. The traits exhibit high GCV, heritability and GAM are additive in nature which could be used as the selection criteria for increasing the yield potential. Path analysis revealed that both the crosses showed high direct effect for grain yield per plant through the traits viz., flag leaf length, panicle length, panicle weight, the number of primaries and 100 grain weight. Flag leaf length, panicle length and the number of primaries exhibited high indirect effect through the trait panicle weight in both the crosses.

Water electrolysis using renewable energy is considered as a promising technique for sustainable and green hydrogen production. Conventional water electrolysis has two components - hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) occurring at the cathode and anode respectively. However, electrolysis of water suffers from high overpotential due to the slow kinetics of OER. To overcome this hybrid water electrolysis has been developed by replacing conventional anode oxidation producing oxygen with oxidation of cost-effective materials producing value-added chemicals. This review summarizes recent advances in organic oxidative reactions such as alcohols, urea, hydrazine, and biomass at the anode instead of OER. Furthermore, the review also highlights the use of membrane-free hybrid water electrolysis as a method to overcome the cost and complexity associated with conventional membrane-based electrolyzer thereby improving overall efficiency. This approach holds promise for scalable and cost-effective large-scale hydrogen production along with value-added products. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives are discussed for further development in membrane-free hybrid water electrolysis., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Study Objective: To compare the safety and efficacy of rabbit antithymocyte globulin (r-ATG) with basiliximab in renal transplant recipients for whom an early steroid withdrawal (ESW) regimen was planned., Design: Single-center, retrospective, cohort study., Setting: Tertiary care medical center, including inpatient hospital stays and outpatient nephrology clinics., Patients: Ninety-nine consecutive adult recipients of living- or deceased-donor renal transplants between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2007, in whom ESW was planned and who received either r-ATG or basiliximab; patients receiving an extended-criteria kidney donation or a donation after cardiac death were excluded., Measurements and Main Results: All patients received mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus as maintenance therapy with planned ESW. Induction therapy was either r-ATG 1.5 mg/kg/day for 4 days (68 patients) or basiliximab 20 mg on postoperative days 0 and 4 (31 patients). The primary composite end point of biopsy-proven acute rejection (BPAR), graft loss, and death occurred in 6 patients (9%) and 9 patients (29%) in the r-ATG and basiliximab groups at 1 year after transplantation, respectively (p=0.01), with rates of 7% (5/68 patients) and 26% (8/31 patients) for BPAR (p=0.02), 0% and 3% (1/31 patients) for graft loss (p=0.31), and 2% (1/68 patients) and 0% for patient death (p>0.99). Average time to first BPAR was significantly longer in the r-ATG group (mean ± SD 151.4 ± 82.9 vs 53.6 ± 68.4 days, p<0.01). Kidney function at 12 months was similar between the two groups., Conclusion: Rabbit-ATG was associated with a lower frequency and delayed onset of BPAR compared with basiliximab in renal transplant recipients who received an ESW regimen.

Background: Although there is ample evidence about the role of adaptive immunity in the development of chronic allograft dysfunction, little is known about the contribution of innate immunity to this process. Herein, we studied the relationship between inflammation, chronic biopsy scores, and anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) circulating alloantibodies in a cohort of 57 patients recruited at our center., Methods: Available biopsies (n=27) were graded for chronic lesion scores according to Banff criteria. The production of cytokines by peripheral blood mononuclear cells after 48 hr of culture under resting conditions was quantified by Luminex. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α secretion assay and depletion studies were used to identify the source of these cytokines., Results: There was a high correlation between the levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α (r>0.8, P<0.001 for all correlations). The levels of these cytokines were associated with transplant glomerulopathy (IL-1β, P=0.019; IL-6, P=0.015; and TNF-α, P=0.006) but not with other chronic lesions or anti-HLA circulating alloantibodies. TNF-α was predominantly secreted by monocytes (percent of TNF-α secreting cells: 20.4±4.8 vs. 1.2±0.5 vs. 1.4±0.6 vs. 1.7±0.5 for CD14, CD4, CD8, and CD19 cells, respectively; all P<0.01 vs. CD14). The levels of all three proinflammatory cytokines were significantly reduced after monocyte depletion. Intriguingly, cytokine levels increased after ex vivo depletion of regulatory T cells (all P<0.001)., Conclusions: Taken together, these data suggest that in vivo-activated monocytes in peripheral blood spontaneously secrete proinflammatory cytokines in renal allograft recipients with transplant glomerulopathy and seem to be under the regulation of functional regulatory T cells in this setting.

Background and Objectives: Nearly 30% of renal transplant recipients develops BK viremia, a prerequisite for BK nephropathy. Case reports have evaluated treatment options for BK virus, but no controlled studies have assessed prophylactic therapies. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics were studied for prevention of BK viremia after renal transplantation., Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: This retrospective analysis evaluated adult renal transplant recipients with at least one BK viral load (blood) between 90 and 400 days after transplantation. Six to 12 months of co-trimoxazole was used for Pneumocystis prophylaxis. In sulfa-allergic/-intolerant patients, 6 to 12 months of atovaquone with 1 month of a fluoroquinolone was used. Fluoroquinolones can inhibit BK DNA topoisomerase. The two groups studied were those that received 30 days of levofloxacin or ciprofloxacin after transplantation and those that did not. The primary endpoint was BK viremia rates at 1 year. Of note, of the 160 patients not receiving fluoroquinolone prophylaxis, 40 received a fluoroquinolone for treatment of a bacterial infection within 3 months after transplantation. Subgroup analysis evaluating these 40 patients against the 120 who had no exposure to fluoroquinolones was completed., Results: A 1-month fluoroquinolone course after transplantation was associated with significantly lower rates of BK viremia at 1 year compared with those with no fluoroquinolone. In the subgroup analysis, exposure to fluoroquinolone for treatment of bacterial infections within 3 months after transplantation was associated with significantly lower 1-year rates of BK viremia., Conclusions: This analysis demonstrates that fluoroquinolones are effective at preventing BK viremia after renal transplantation.

Background: Allograft vasculopathy is a major limiting factor in the long-term success of cardiac transplantation. T cells play a critical role in initiation of cardiac allograft rejection and allograft vasculopathy. The negative T-cell costimulatory pathway PD-1:PDL1/PDL2 (programmed death-1:programmed death ligand-1/2) plays an important role in regulating alloimmune responses. We investigated the role of recipient versus donor PD-1 ligands in the pathogenesis of allograft rejection with emphasis on the role of tissue expression in regulating this alloimmune response in vivo., Methods and Results: We used established major histocompatibility complex class II- and class I-mismatched models of vascularized cardiac allograft rejection, blocking anti-PDL1 and anti-PDL2 antibodies, and PDL1- and PDL2-deficient mice (as donors or recipients) to study the role of the PD-1:PDL1/PDL2 pathway in chronic rejection. We also used PDL1-deficient and wild-type mice and bone marrow transplantation to generate chimeric animals that express PDL1 exclusively on either hematopoietic or parenchymal cells. PDL1 but not PDL2 blockade significantly accelerated cardiac allograft rejection in the bm12-into-B6 and B6-into-bm12 models. Although wild-type cardiac allografts survived long term, PDL1-/- donor hearts transplanted into wild-type bm12 mice exhibited accelerated rejection and vasculopathy associated with enhanced recipient T-cell alloreactivity. Interestingly, PDL1-/- recipients did not exhibit an accelerated tempo of cardiac allograft rejection. Using chimeric animals as donors, we show that PDL1 expression on cardiac tissue alone significantly prolonged graft survival compared with full PDL1-/- donor grafts in transplanted wild-type recipients., Conclusions: This is the first report to demonstrate that expression of the negative costimulatory molecule PDL1 on donor cardiac tissue regulates recipient alloimmune responses, allograft rejection, and vasculopathy.

The PD-1-PDL1 pathway plays a critical role in regulating autoimmune diabetes as blockade or deficiency of PD-1 or PDL1 results in accelerated disease in NOD mice. We explored the cellular mechanisms involved in the regulation of these autoimmune responses by investigations involving various gene-deficient mice on the NOD background. Administration of blocking anti-PDL1 antibody to CD4+ T cell-deficient, CD8+ T cell-deficient and B cell-deficient mice demonstrated that PDL1-mediated regulation of autoreactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells is critical for diabetes development. This concept was confirmed by adoptive transfer studies utilizing lymphocytes from BDC2.5 and 4.1 (CD4+) TCR transgenic mice and 8.3 (CD8+) TCR transgenic mice; efforts showing increased proliferation of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells following PDL1 blockade in vivo. Furthermore, we observed that anti-PDL1-mediated acceleration is dependent upon events occurring in the pancreatic lymph nodes during early disease stages, but becomes independent of the pancreatic lymph nodes during later disease stages. These data provide strong evidence that PDL1 regulates autoimmune diabetes by limiting the expansion of CD4+ and CD8+ autoreactive T cells, and define the timing and locale of PDL1-mediated regulation of type 1 diabetes.

Chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) remains the Achilles heel of renal transplantation. In spite of the significant strides achieved in one-year renal allograft survival with newer immunosuppressant strategies, the fate of long-term renal allograft survival remains unchanged. The number of renal transplant recipients returning to dialysis has doubled in the past decade. This is especially important since these patients pose a significantly increased likelihood of dying while on the waiting list for retransplantation, due to increasing disparity between donor organ availability versus demand and longer waiting time secondary to heightened immunologic sensitization from their prior transplants. In this review we analyze the latest literature in detail and discuss the definition, natural history, pathophysiology, alloantigen dependent and independent factors that play a crucial role in CAN and the potential newer therapeutic targets on the horizon. This article highlights the importance of early identification and careful management of all the potential contributing factors with particular emphasis on prevention rather than cure of CAN as the core management strategy.

Achieving a tolerant state specific to the transplanted graft without subjecting patients to the risks of non-specific immunosuppression is the goal of transplant immunologists. In spite of the success achieved with currently available immunosuppresive therapies over acute rejection, an ongoing T cell mediated alloimmune response still poses a major challenge to the health of an allograft through chronic rejection. Modulating these destructive alloresponses through T cell costimulation blockade is a promising area of interest. In this article, we review our current knowledge about the role of various positive and negative costimulatory pathways during an alloimmune response. The ultimate nature of that response depends on the complex interaction between these positive and negative costimulatory pathways. We discuss the progress that has been achieved so far, through targeting these individual pathways, their interaction with other costimulatory pathways and the currently available immunosuppressive agents in various organ transplant models.

Background: BK nephropathy is a significant cause of renal dysfunction in renal allograft recipients. The question of whether BK viral infection plays a role in renal dysfunction in cardiac transplantation patients remains to be answered., Methods: We prospectively examined the prevalence of BK viral reactivation in the setting of cardiac transplantation and performed a cross-sectional analysis of 111 cardiac transplantation patients. We also assessed the prevalence of viremia in a cohort of 29 renal transplant recipients., Results: We found urinary decoy cells in 28 cardiac transplantation patients. Of these, 14 patients had evidence of BK viral DNA in the urine. None, however, had evidence of BK viremia. Mean age, gender, levels of pre- and post-transplant serum creatinine, cardiopulmonary bypass time, and ischemic time were not significantly different between the groups. We found that 7 of 29 renal transplant recipients studied had BK viral DNA in their urine., Conclusion: These findings are evidence of BK virus reactivation in the setting of cardiac transplantation at a percentage similar to that seen in renal allograft recipients. In contrast to renal allograft recipients, none had evidence of viremia. Thus, even in the setting of established BK virus reactivation, immunosuppression in combination with renal allograft dysfunction and renal ischemic injury is usually insufficient to cause BK viremia and nephropathy, and it appears that a second, organ-specific hit is necessary, such as kidney inflammation, kidney ischemia, or donor-recipient human leukocyte antigen mismatch.