Bandai Namco (Japan)

Background: Bhindi (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) is an important commercial vegetable crop cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warmer temperate regions. It is a highly nutritious crop used as vegetable in the human diet. However, despite its economic significance and wide adaptability, okra productivity in India remains relatively low due to the various limitations. Genetic variability is the foundation of any successful breeding program, as it determines the potential to select and improve desirable traits. Aim: The present study aims to assess the genetic variations for key quantitative traits over the environments. Methodology: The present investigation comprised of 49 okra genotypes. The experiments were conducted in RBD under two different environmental conditions during kharif 2024. Nine quantitative traits were recorded to assess the genetic variations. Results: The present experiment demonstrated the significant variability for the traits under study. The trait relationship study revealed that the traits like pod yield per plant and number of primary branches were positively correlated with number of pods per plant. Likewise, leaf length was positively correlated with leaf width and stem diameter. Petiole length was positively correlated with leaf width. The PCA analysis demonstrated that PC1 showed strong positive loadings for traits such as stem diameter, leaf length, leaf width, petiole length, and plant height. In PC2, stem diameter and plant height were positively associated. Conclusions: The sufficient variability was found in okra genotypes for all the traits under study. The grouping pattern of these genotypes demonstrated it potential to include in breeding programmes for crop improvement.

The biodiversity of agricultural pests and diseases has changed significantly due to climate change, posing an immense challenge to sustainable crop production. Finger millet, the third most important millet, is typically cultivated in arid, semi-arid, hilly and tribal provinces across Africa and Asia. However, its growth and yield are severely threatened by blast disease, a destructive condition caused by the filamentous ascomycete fungus Magnaporthe grisea. Because the pathogen produces rapidly evolving virulence genes, blast resistance frequently breaks down, leading to yield instability in all provinces where finger millet is cultivated. Blast disease is estimated to reduce yield by 28 %–36 % on average and in extreme cases, it can result in total crop loss. The disease affects the crop in three progressive stages: leaf blast, neck blast and finger blast. In comparison to leaf blast, the loss is higher in neck blast and finger blast, which drastically decrease grain size and number and in extreme cases, this results in total panicle sterility. In this current review, we emphasized the significance of finger millet and its susceptibility to blast disease, pathogen, field screening technique, genetic resources available at different research organizations involved in the advancement of finger millet in the world, genetic diversity of blast pathogen, conventional and molecular tools like transcriptome analysis and transgenesis that have been employed to increase finger millet's resistance to blast disease and explored prospective future paths for the creation of new blast-resistant finger millet cultivars.

Farmers’ perceptions of risks related to climate change significantly influence their adaptation behaviour and their responses to climatic stressors. The present study sought to develop and standardize a valid and reliable scale to quantify farmers’ risk perception of climate change. Using the Likert summated rating technique, an initial pool of 70 statements was generated based on a review of the literature and consultation with experts. After systematic editing and relevancy testing through expert judgment, 45 statements were screened, and 28 statements were subjected to item analysis using responses from 40 farmers in a non-sampled area. Based on discriminating power (‘t’ value > 1.75) and reliability criteria, 22 statements were finally selected for inclusion in the scale. The reliability of the scale was established using Cronbach’s alpha, which exceeded the acceptable threshold of 0.70, representing high internal consistency. Content validity was ensured through comprehensive coverage of climate-related risks affecting crop, livestock and livelihood systems. The final scale enables categorization of farmers into low, medium and high levels of climate change risk perception. The developed scale is a useful tool for researchers, extension professionals and policymakers to assess farmers’ risk perception and to design location-specific, evidence-based climate change adaptation and extension interventions.

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have assumed a prominent position of one of the most effective community-based programs in India where women are empowered and their rights to financial inclusion and self-employment are supported. Their success however is to a great extent subject to their functional strength and their challenges within the context. The Bundelkhand state of Uttar Pradesh, with droughtprone ecology, low agricultural productivity, economic marginalization, and strong socio-cultural norms, is a special environment which produces a considerable impact on SHG performance. This paper looks into the major constraints that affect the operations of SHGs in Bundelkhand and in particular, financial, socio-cultural, operational, and sustainability-based constraints. Primary data were collected using a cross-sectional research design and 160 members of the SHGs have been sampled purposely and were sampled across blocks where the SHGs are operational under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). The results show that SHGs are seriously constrained with regard to finances and consequently limited access to borrowing facilities, insufficient financial resources, delay in government grants, and poor credit guarantee facilities. The presence of socio-cultural obstacles including limiting gender norms and community pressures still limits the women involvement and decision making. Group functions are also impeded by operational inadequacies such as poor attendance, inconsistent meetings, poor communication and inadequate infrastructure. Moreover, there are issues of sustainability like poor market connection and lack of training that limits long term growth and diversification of livelihood. The research comes to a conclusion that institutional support, enhanced access to credit, capacity building, and restrictive social norms are vital in ensuring that the developmental potential of SHGs is achieved to the fullest in Bundelkhand. These lessons could be useful to policy makers, non-governmental organizations and rural development workers who want to enhance the performance of SHGs in marginalized areas.

Background: Pneumonia remains a major cause of under-five mortality, particularly in low-resource settings where early diagnosis is crucial. While chest X-ray (CXR) is the conventional imaging modality, it is limited by radiation exposure and accessibility. Bedside lung ultrasound (LUS) has emerged as a promising, radiation-free alternative, offering real-time pulmonary assessment.Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of bedside LUS compared to CXR in children under five presenting with clinical signs of pneumonia, and to analyze the sonographic features associated with pneumonia.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on 161 children aged one month to five years with clinical suspicion of pneumonia at a tertiary care hospital over 18 months. LUS was performed at the bedside using a standardized 10-zone protocol. Chest radiographs were interpreted by radiologists blinded to LUS findings. Statistical analysis included sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and logistic regression for significant predictors.Results: LUS showed significantly higher sensitivity (86.2%, n=139/161, p=0.0001) and specificity (94.4%, n=85/90, p=0.0001) than CXR (75.6%, n=122/161, and 85.4%, n=77/90, respectively). Key sonographic markers such as shred sign and air bronchograms demonstrated strong diagnostic value. Subpleural consolidations and pleural effusions were better detected with LUS. Shred sign (odds ratio (OR)=8.45) and CRP >20 mg/L (OR=3.50) emerged as strong independent predictors of pneumonia.Conclusion: Bedside LUS is a reliable and accurate diagnostic modality for pediatric pneumonia. It is especially valuable in early detection and in resource-limited settings, supporting its broader clinical integration.

Wheat is a most consumed staple grain worldwide. In India, it is grown largely in irrigated conditions under rice-wheat cropping system where temporal arrangements of crops are utmost important. The demand for recommended doses of fertilizers also needs to be revisit for harnessing production potential of high yielding varieties. Keeping these facts in mind, a field experiment was conducted in the rabi season of 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 at the agriculture research farm of Banda University of Agriculture & Technology in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, India. The experiment was carried out in split-split plot design where zero tillage and conventional tillage were split into two main plots which were further split into three sub plots for accommodating three high yielding wheat cultivars i.e. HD 3226, HD 3249 and DBW 187 along with three levels i.e. 100% NPK, 125% NPK and 150% NPK of recommended doses in sub-sub plots. All 18 treatment combinations were replicated thrice. The results revealed the higher grain yield of 5.06 t/ha in 2023-24 and 4.91t/ha in 2024-25 was recorded in zero tillage while in case of wheat cultivars, significant higher economic yield of 5.13 t/ha in 2023-24 and 4.93 t/ha in 2024-25 was received from DBW 187 over others. Amid nutrient management practices, considerably higher grain yield 5.21 t/ha in 2023-24 and 5.01 t/ha in 2024-25 was recorded from plots supplied 150% recommended doses of NPK over others. During both cropping seasons, the less cost of cultivation (5.24% and 5.13%), higher gross return (₹137127.00/ha and ₹141294.00/ha), higher net return (₹93177.00/ha and ₹96402.00/ha) and higher B:C ratio (2.12 and 2.14) were recorded in zero tillage. Among wheat cultivars, significantly higher gross return (₹139306.00 and ₹142111.00 / ha), higher net return (₹94140.00 and ₹96003.00 /ha) and higher B: C ratios (2.08 and 2.08) were reported with DBW 187 during both years of study. In nutrient management practices, 150% NPK levels attained significantly higher gross return (₹141603.00/ha and ₹144444.00/ha), net return (₹94592.00/ha and ₹96303.00/ha) and B: C ratio (2.02 and 2.01) during both seasons.

An electric vehicle (EV)-based multi-area deregulated power structure is proposed in this article to improve Power System Frequency Regulation (FR). Boiler dynamics, Governor Dead Band (GDB), and Generation Rate Constraint (GRC) are among the proven real-time nonlinearities that are coupled with the integration of three different energy sources (biogas, hydro, thermal, and EVs) in each control area. Poolco, bilateral transaction and contract violation-based transactions, as well as planned and unscheduled electricity under various contracts using different tie-lines, are all covered by the proposed cascade LADRC-TDN controller. A few existing controllers have been compared with a newly developed modified LADRC-TDN cascade controller. A new modified opposition based arithmetic optimization (OAOT) technique has been employed to maximize the gain of the proposed controller. The superiority of the OAOT is shown by comparing it with many popular meta-heuristic optimizations. ISE is taken as a performance index. This analysis has been used to confirm the suggested controller's resilience and adaptability under poolco-based transactions. The comprehensive study provides compelling proof of the suggested controller's and optimization's effectiveness.

A 73-year-old man who presented with nonspecific general symptoms and cognitive impairment was initially diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment due to dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) based on a reduced blood flow in the parietal and occipital lobes on single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. However, the patient later presented with hyponatremia and hypoglycemia, leading to impaired consciousness, and was diagnosed with isolated adrenocorticotropic hormone deficiency (IAD). Hydrocortisone treatment improved the blood test scores and general symptoms, including cognitive impairment. IAD may show a DLB-like presentation on cerebral blood flow SPECT; therefore, caution is required for the correct diagnosis of IAD.