Diabetes mellitus, one of the fastest spreading chronic diseases in the world and is related to anomalous, undeniably escalated levels of glucose in the blood. The primary step towards controlling and minimising the risk factor of diabetes is the early detection of diabetes. The adoption of machine learning algorithms in conjunction with the analysis of acquired data facilitates the early detection and prognostication of diseases. The aim of this study is to propose a reliable and efficient novel machine learning model for predicting diabetes mellitus with better accuracy. For experimental evaluation, the Pima India diabetes dataset (PIDD) and diabetes dataset are used. During the analysis, it was observed that the novel machine learning model outperformed other classifiers with 99.6% accuracy on the PIDD and 99.8% accuracy on the diabetes dataset. The findings reveal the newly developed machine learning model in prediction of diabetes mellitus more accurately.

Probiotic is derived from the Greek word meaning 'life', probiotics are live microorganisms, which have various pharmacological actions and are useful in the treatment of various gastrointestinal, mental, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases and disorders. The present work analyses all possible beneficial effects of probiotics and prebiotics by concluding various journals in the field of probiotics and prebiotics medication and reviewing the pharmacological effects of prebiotics and probiotics for the treatment of various diseases and disorders. The paper is helpful to make aware everyone of the beneficial effects of probiotics and prebiotics as well as helpful to provoke the use of probiotics and prebiotic as medication for the treatment of various diseases. Moreover, the actions could differ depending on the individual and the type of food containing the prebiotics or probiotics. They are supposed to be safe for oral routes due to their comparatively low adverse effects.

This study investigates the impact of GM corn adoption on yield and price for the US corn belt from 2014 to 2020. In addition, the study investigates the interaction effects of GM corn and yield on price and analyses the impact of both temporary and permanent shocks of growing GM corn on yield and price. The results indicated that the GM corn adoption had a positive impact on yield and a negative and statistically significant impact on price. Also, the interaction effect of GM corn and yield impacted positively on the price, suggesting that the adoption of GM corn should increase the negative effect of yield on price. The temporary shock of growing GM corn positively impacted yield and price while the permanent shock negatively affected yield and price. The study suggested that the adoption of GM corn has implications for improving producer and consumer welfare and global food security.

The use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize gene was commercialised by the South African Government in 1998. This gene makes the maize resistant to maize stem borer thereby improving production. However, despite the efficiency of any given technology, there are always factors which encourage or discourage farmers to adopt and these need to be identified. This study was therefore carried out to determine the factors that influence adoption of Bt maize among 121 developing maize farmers in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Using a logistic regression model, the findings show that a set of socio-economic factors influence farmers' decision to adopt Bt maize technology from 2011 to 2014 maize production season. Policymakers should pay closer attention to such factors to stimulate the scaling up in adoption of Bt maize technology and ensure its sustainability. This will help improve productivity and curb maize shortages currently facing the country and the world over.

The Holy Grail of public attitude research towards agricultural biotechnology is too often to try and find a simple single statistic that will capture public support or rejection of GM foods and crops, often to suit political or media needs. Public attitude research, however, shows that opinions are too complex and variable to be captured by a single statistic and, indeed, more complex forms of analyses are needed to better capture these complexities and variabilities. The Australian Department of Innovation sought to capture such complexities through a large-scale multiple-methodology study that included: longitudinal data, measuring attitudes across a broad scale of support or rejection, seeking relative comparisons of attitudes to other food types, analysing what would change attitudes and, vitally, examining the values that influence attitudes. Taken together the findings allowed for a values segmentation of the public, into four key segments, with distinct homogenous attitudes and values that demonstrate there is not a single 'Holy Grail figure' that defines public support for agricultural biotechnology. A deeper understanding of the distinct values segments, however, allows for not just a better understanding of the diversity of views that exist, but a better understanding of what messages will most aligned with those segments to best reach them.

A few studies have reported some of the costs associated with bringing to market genetically-modified (GM) crops but no comprehensive studies exist on the real cost of the entire process of developing and releasing one GM variety by a not-for-profit institution in a developing country for sustainable agriculture. Despite the lack of documented studies, it is commonly assumed that such an undertaking is cost prohibitive, based on mere hearsay, and on two private sector cost assessments. The present study assesses the costs and the time expenditures to two not-for-profit programs, one lead by CIP and the other by Cornell University, of developing a late blight resistant (LBr) potato variety for release in one developing country. CIP's costs run to $1.6 million over eight years, while Cornell's costs amount to $1.4 million over nine years. Exogenous disturbances might result in insignificant increases in cost, but can increase time expenditure significantly. A sensitivity analysis revealed that the total cost is markedly influenced by technical parameters determining the production and identification of the pre-commercial LBr transgenic event.

In the last two decades, university-industry relationships have played an outstanding role in shaping innovation activities in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, there still is an intensive and open debate concerning their short and long term effects on the research system in life sciences. This work introduces a new way to analyse university-industry relationships (UIRs) which makes use of an agent-based simulation model. We analyse knowledge interactions among heterogeneous actors and we show that: 1) universities tend to shift from a basic to an applied research orientation as a consequence of relationships with industry; 2) universities’ innovative capabilities benefit from industry financial resources but not so much from cognitive resources of the companies; 3) biotech companies’ innovative capabilities largely benefit from knowledge interaction with universities; 4) adequate policies in terms of public basic research funding can counteract the negative effects of UIRs on university re...

The present paper has the objective of understanding the disappearance of biotechnology firms. To accomplish this objective, a sample was built from 552 firms operating in Canada between 1996 and 2010. The results reveal that disappearance is not only due to filing for bankruptcy, but also due to change in firms’ names, as well as mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Statistical tests further show that the survival of dedicated biotechnology firms (DBFs) depends mainly on two factors: having a qualified management team, and receiving the support of the venture capital firms. In addition, the results demonstrate that firms which mainly operate in the human health sector and have already received support from VC opt for M&A to exit the industry. This study has some practical lessons for different stakeholders concerning the survival and the exit of new enterprise biotechnology firms.

This paper describes Scottish Enterprise (SE) 'Framework for Action' in life sciences and examines its effectiveness through the lenses of cluster theory and selected concepts from the literature on market and systemic failure. The focus is on the framework's capability to improve the competitive performances of biotechnology firms and strengthen networks. The empirical study gathers the views of the managers and technical directors of 18 Scottish biotechnology companies and provides insights as regards firms' locational choices, collaborative and commercial strategy and the materialisation of a local socio-institutional infrastructure. Easy access to finance, infrastructure, Intellectual Property (IP) and skilled people remain crucial for the achievement of strategic goals. Simultaneously, local and distant networks are beginning to emerge and to have a positive impact on firms' capability to expand research and, to a lesser extent, reach global markets. Scottish companies seem to benefit from mechanisms that reduce cognitive distance locally and the impact of geographical distance from foreign partners.

A random utility approach is used to estimate the logit equations which indicate what factors affect the likelihood of consumption of non-Genetically Modified (GM) and GM foods and whether or not consumers are willing to pay a premium for non-GM/GM foods. Ceteris paribus, as the price difference between non-GM and GM foods rises, people are more likely to consume GM foods. The likelihood of GM food consumption is higher in the middle income brackets. Consumers are willing to pay an expected premium of 19.5% and 16.12% for golden rice and GM edible oil, respectively. In the case of chicken, consumers seem to pay a very negligible premium for non-GM-fed chicken. Overall, it appears that GM foods may be acceptable in the Indian market. However, basic awareness about GM foods may have to be created among the consumers through government ministries, consumer interest groups and biotechnology food crop companies.