B4U India

Punjab Agricultural UniversityÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s nutrient management raises rice yields

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:37:00 -0500

Researchers at Punjab Agricultural University have attained a significant success in increasing average rice yields in Punjab with the help of site-specific nutrient management strategies.

The researchers made this advance by working with collaborators from the International Rice Research Institute, and Virginia Tech.

Punjab, which accounts for 10 percent of the Indian rice production, has been witnessing a slower rice grain yield growth rate as compared to the yield growth rate during the green revolution phase (1960-1986).

The researchers hypothesized that decreased nutrient supply capacity of soil and improper nutrient management approaches were key factors in the slower growth rate.

They analysed the existing soil nutrient composition, and applied site-specific nutrient management (SSNM). This enabled them to increase average rice grain yields by 17 percent compared with current farmers' fertilizer practice.

The site-specific nutrient management also helped raise profits by about 14 per cent.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of SSNM, the researchers applied calculated amounts of nutrients at 56 sites in six key irrigated rice-wheat regions for two years.

Using the 'Quantitative Evaluation of the Fertility of Tropical Soils (QUEFTS)' model, which predicts crop yields from chemical soil characteristics, the scientists refined their nutrient applications and schedules on a site-specific basis.

Besides increasing yield and profits, improved timing of fertilizer applications also raised accumulations of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in the crop by about 13 to 15 per cent.

The authors of the study say that the agronomic and economic successes of SSNM are due to its site-specific and dynamic nature, which take soil variability into account.

They suggest that the major challenges for SSNM will be to reduce the complexity of the technology as it is disseminated to farmers, and to combat environmental pollution stemming from nutrient leaching and runoff from rice fields.

"Site-specific nutrient management, as defined in our study, has potential for improving yields, profit, and nitrogen use efficiency in irrigated, transplanted rice," said the study's author Harmandeep Singh Khurana.

"Future research needs to build on the present SSNM approach to develop a more practical approach for achieving similar benefits across large areas without farm-specific modelling and with minimum crop monitoring," Khurana added.

The study has been reported in Agronomy Journal. (ANI)

Human evolution is speeding up, indicates new genomic research

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:37:00 -0500

A new research has indicated that human evolution is speeding up instead of slowing down or halting, indicating that humans on different continents are becoming increasingly different.

The research was conducted by a team led by John Hawks, an anthropologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"We used a new genomic technology to show that humans are evolving rapidly, and that the pace of change has accelerated a lot in the last 40,000 years, especially since the end of the Ice Age roughly 10,000 years ago," says research team leader Henry Harpending, professor of anthropology at the University of Utah.

The researchers built a case that human evolution has accelerated by comparing genetic data with what the data should look like if human evolution had been constant:

If evolution had been fast and constant for a long time, there should be many recently evolved genes that have spread to everyone. Yet, the study revealed many genes still becoming more frequent in the population, indicating a recent evolutionary speedup.

Next, the researchers examined the history of human population size on each continent. They found that mutation patterns seen in the genome data were consistent with the hypothesis that evolution is faster in larger populations.

"Rapid population growth has been coupled with vast changes in cultures and ecology, creating new opportunities for adaptation," the study says. "The past 10,000 years have seen rapid skeletal and dental evolution in human populations, as well as the appearance of many new genetic responses to diet and disease," it adds.

The research estimates that positive selection just in the past 5,000 years alone - around the period of the Stone Age - has occurred at a rate roughly 100 times higher than any other period of human evolution. Many of the new genetic adjustments are occurring around changes in the human diet brought on by the advent of agriculture, and resistance to epidemic diseases that became major killers after the growth of human civilizations.

"In evolutionary terms, cultures that grow slowly are at a disadvantage, but the massive growth of human populations has led to far more genetic mutations," said Hawks. "And every mutation that is advantageous to people has a chance of being selected and driven toward fixation. What we are catching is an exceptional time," he added.

The research team analyzed data from the International HapMap Project, short for haplotype mapping. This project is working to catalog genetic similarities and differences in human beings by studying genes from distinct sample populations around the globe.

"Because human population grew from several million at the end of the Ice Age to 6 billion now, more favored new genes have emerged and evolution has speeded up, both globally and among continental groups of people," said Harpending. "We have to understand genetic change in order to understand history," he added.

But according to Harpending, the speedup in human evolution is more or less a temporary state of affairs.

"That's because of our new environments since the dispersal of modern humans 40,000 years ago and especially since the invention of agriculture 12,000 years ago. That changed our diet and changed our social systems," said Harpending. "If you suddenly take hunter-gatherers and give them a diet of corn, they frequently get diabetes. We're still adapting to that. Several new genes we see spreading through the population are involved with helping us prosper with high-carbohydrate diet," he added. (ANI)

Animals age faster when competition for food is fiercer

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:12:00 -0500

A new study by biologists has linked food supply to animal ageing by stating that animals may age faster depending on how much competition there is for food in their early life.

The main assertion of the study is that animals, which are born when competition for food is intense, tend to age quickly.

Carried out by researchers from the Edinburgh and Cambridge University, the study focused on the red deer on the Isle of Rum, finding that they reproduce less and die sooner.

Because the birth weight of the deer had no effect on ageing, the research suggests that it may be linked to food intake.

According to the research, as the deer age, the chances of reproducing and surviving the winter can decline with each year that passes.

A startling discovery of the study on the animals was that those born when competition for food was strong, have an even slimmer chance of reproducing and surviving each year compared with those born in plentiful times.

"Our results suggest that the deer experiencing environmental stress just before and after birth do poorly as adults and age faster,” said Dan Nussey, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences.

"Under natural conditions, it may be that harsh early environments are somehow constraining development and ultimately exacerbating the ageing process," Nussey told BBC News.

These findings contradict similar studies on humans, which suggest that those experiencing an unfavourable environment during development may become more resilient as adults. (ANI)

Soon, socks and bulletproof vests made from spider silk

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:05:00 -0500

Thought spider’s web’s use was just confined to giving you goosebumps in scary films, think again because scientists in Japan have found a way to use spider’s webs to make anything from tights and fishing nets to bulletproof vests.

Researchers at Shinshu University have been successful in injecting spider genes into silkworms to create a thread that is stronger, softer and more durable than conventional silk.

The team, based in the city of Nagano and led by Masao Nakagaki, a professor of insect genetics, have devised a way of mass-producing spider silk, reports Times Online.

Nakagaki’s employed the silkworm in the production of the silk, whose shimmering fibres have been used to create cloth for more than 5,000 years.

In the technique, silkworm eggs are injected with the genes of Nephila clavata, the golden orb spider, known in Japanese as the courtesan spider.

The silkworm caterpillars that emerge from the eggs weave cocoons, of which 10 per cent consist of spider proteins. These are spun into silk.

“Dragline silk”, which spiders use to raise and lower themselves and to construct the spokes of their webs, has one of the highest tensile strengths of any natural substance - five times that of a thread of steel of the same thickness. In terms of its ability to absorb impact, it is superior to Kevlar, the plastic fibre used for antistab vests and body armour.

Other applications of the spider thread include tennis rackets and fishing line and nets.

It can be also used by microsurgeons as sutures after operations.

The only company developing commercial applications for the spider silk is Okamoto, a business based in Nara, central Japan, which plans to release extra-thin and durable spider socks by about 2010.

A Japanese manufacturer is also experimenting with the thread, and spider socks, stockings and even fishing lines are expected to appear on the market within a few years. (ANI)

Now, an Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ intelligent braÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ with sensors

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:05:00 -0500

Women who are sick and tired of their ill-fitting bras can now breathe a sigh of relief, for scientists in Australia have developed an ‘intelligent bra’ with sensors.

It is thought that as many as 80 per cent of women wear the wrong bra, which increases the risk of pain and nerve damage caused by bra straps, particularly during exercise.

Experts had found that even the minority in the right size bras could still be at risk of long-term injury because much of the support is given by the straps that bear down on their shoulders.

The researchers from the University of Wollongong used a special fabric with in-built sensors to detect movement as women walk and jog, which was used to design the revolutionary bra.

The fabric was tested on two women, aged 30 and 39, with size 36D and 38DD bra sizes respectively, as they walked on a treadmill at 4mph and jogged at 6mph.

Movement of the chest during walking ranged from 0.4 inches to almost one inch.

But the study found that as they ran, the larger their chest moved by up to 2.7 inches compared to the smaller woman's which moved up to 2.1 inch.

"A consequence of current bra design is that the brassiere straps bear much of the load generated by breast momentum during physical activity,” Telegraph quoted the researchers, as saying.

"As breast mass increases, breast bounce momentum also increases, placing large loads on the straps and, in turn, excessive pressure on the wearer's shoulders.

"Apart from strap-related pain, many females, particularly large-breasted women are restricted from participating in physical activity due to exercise-induced breast pain associated with excessive vertical breast displacement,” the researchers added.

The researchers said that the new fabric could help manufacturers produce more comfortable bras.

"Our results show that the fabric sensors are suitable to monitor breast motion and brassiere function,” the study’s authors said.

"Brassiere designers will have the ability directly to assess the effects of changes to each brassiere component,” they added.

The study will be published in the Journal of Biomechanics. (ANI)

Researchers find role of mini-molecules in leukaemia progression

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:05:00 -0500

US researchers have found that mini-molecules, called micro-RNA, might play a critical role in the progression of Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) from its treatable chronic phase to a life-threatening phase called as ‘blast crisis’.

The study, led by Danilo Perrotti, assistant professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics and a researcher with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Centre, also found an entirely new function for the mini-molecules.

With the study, the researchers showed that microRNAs could sometimes directly control a protein’s function, not just whether or not the cell makes the protein, as has been believed.

The study, in which cells from CML patients in blast crisis were used, suggests that certain progenitor white blood cells are kept from maturing when levels of one microRNA, called miR-328, fall abnormally low.

Then immature white cells build up in the blood and bone marrow, a telltale sign that the patient has entered the therapy-resistant blast-crisis phase.

“If verified, our study suggests that altering microRNA levels might represent a potentially new therapeutic strategy for CML patients who do not benefit from effective targeted agents such as imatinib (Gleevec) and dasatinib (Sprycel),” said Perrotti.

“The findings also reveal a new function for microRNAs, which should further our understanding of their role in cancer development and progression, and in normal cells,” Perrotti added.

This study shows that the microRNA molecules sometimes bind directly with proteins themselves and affect their function.

In this case, a microRNA called miR-328 binds with a protein that, in blast phase CML, prevents immature blood cells from maturing.

“These findings are important because they help us understand the biology of blast-crisis CML, and they may help unravel novel pathways responsible for the initiation and progression of leukaemia generally,” Perrotti said.

The findings were presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Society of Haematology. (ANI)

Life could have evolved 500 million years earlier but for UV radiation

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:56:00 -0500

A new research has suggested that life could have started in the universe 500 million years earlier than it did, but UV (Ultra Violet) radiation suppressed its formation.

Conducted by researchers at the University of Texas in Austin, US, the study indicates that the earliest galaxies probably consisted only of dark matter haloes, primordial hydrogen and helium gas. In fact, they could have supported the building blocks of life, such as carbon, oxygen, silicon and iron.

But a primary reason for the delay in the creation of life in the universe was the massive amounts of UV radiation at the time, which might have suppressed the formation of the very first stars.

This meant that the main elements that formulate life’s building blocks, could not be dispersed via stellar supernova explosions until much later.

Computer simulations made by the researchers also support the new theory.

According to these simulations, the earliest galaxies might have contained “Population III” stars, which were hundred times the mass of our Sun. These stars could have polluted galaxies with life-supporting supernova debris at least 500 million years earlier than current models predict.

"There is definitely a connection between star formation in the early universe and astrobiology," Volker Bromm, one of the authors, told New Scientist magazine.

The team has submitted the paper to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. (ANI)

New research may bring about better climate models for global warming

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:56:00 -0500

A new research known as VOCALS may be helpful in the development of better climate models for global warming.

One hundred fifty scientists from more than 40 universities in nine countries are starting a coordinated program which is targeted as gaining new insights about the Earth's climate and the complex, interconnected system involving the oceans, the atmosphere and the land.

The program, called VOCALS (VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study), is chaired by UCLA professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences C. Roberto Mechoso.

This program will be studying the southeastern Pacific Ocean, the marine area off South America's west coast.

This region is the place where the interplay among low clouds, strong low-level winds, coastal ocean currents, surfacing of deep water, the Andes Mountains, aerosols and other factors shaping the regional climate and affect global weather in ways that have not been properly understood.

"Our research should produce a better understanding of the southeast Pacific Ocean system and improve our global computer climate models, which would lead to more confidence in climate forecasts, including predictions about global warming," said Mechoso.

He added: "Models currently used for climate change studies have systematic errors concerning the southeastern Pacific Ocean, and because the models are not accurate for such an extensive area, the El Niños they produce in the Pacific are questionable as well. We hope our research will get rid of, or at least greatly decrease, these uncertainties."

Rainfall and temperature worldwide is affected directly or indirectly by variations in the southeast Pacific climate.

According to Mechoso, how the system works is not well understood and therefore cannot be modeled or predicted accurately.

"Despite its great importance to the Earth's climate system, the ocean-cloud-atmosphere-land system in the southeast Pacific has been sparsely observed. With VOCALS, that will change drastically,”said Mechoso.

VOCALS has a scientific modeling program, headed by Mechoso, which aims to improve model reproductions of key climate processes, and an experimental field component, headed by Robert Wood, assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington.

This intensive experimental field program will measure — using four aircraft and two research ships containing scientific instruments — how thick and deep the clouds are, where and why they open, and a variety of other elements to answer key scientific questions related to the climate system of the southeast Pacific region.

One ship is from the United States, the other is from Peru; the scientists expect another ship from either Chile or Ecuador.

"There is tremendous analysis and modeling work that will go along with the field project," Mechoso said.

VOCALS, with a budget of more than $16 million, will continue for three to five years, beginning in January 2008. The field program will begin in October 2008 off the coasts of Chile and Peru.

"I believe we have the right questions and the right hypotheses to guide our work. We will learn how the southeastern Pacific Ocean system works and find out ways to improve the performance of our climate models,” said Mechoso.

Mechoso's own research project within VOCALS, in collaboration with the National Center for Environmental Prediction, aims to improve the model that is used by the United States for seasonal climate prediction.

Mechoso was the first chair of this panel of the World Climate Research Program, which identified the eastern Pacific as an area where improvement in climate models is essential.

The scientists in VOCALS are also trying to find out more about the role of aerosol in cloud behavior and climate.

"The role of aerosol in climate is very complex and we are working very hard to capture aerosol effects in climate models," Mechoso said.

Radiation from the sun can be directly influenced by the particles in the atmosphere, but they can also have indirect influences on solar radiation by affecting cloud formation.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore) has emphasized the need to reduce the overall uncertainty in the calculation of climate-forcing by aerosol. (ANI)