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Environmental temperature is one of the important abiotic factors that influence the normal physiological function and productive performance of dairy cattle. Temperature stress evokes complex responses that are essential for safeguarding of cellular integrity and animal health. Post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by miRNA plays a key role cellular stress responses. The present study investigated the differential expression of miRNA in Frieswal (Holstein Friesian × Sahiwal) crossbred dairy cattle that are distinctly adapted to environmental temperature stress as they were evolved by using the temperate dairy breed Holstein Friesian. The results indicated that there was a significant variation in the physiological and biochemical indicators estimated under summer stress. The differential expression of miRNA was observed under heat stress when compared to the normal winter season. Out of the total 420 miRNAs, 65 were differentially expressed during peak summer temperatures. Most of these miRNAs were found to target heat shock responsive genes especially members of heat shock protein (HSP) family, and network analysis revealed most of them having stress-mediated effects on signaling mechanisms. Being greater in their expression profile during peak summer, bta-miR-2898 was chosen for reporter assay to identify its effect on the target HSPB8 (heat shock protein 22) gene in stressed bovine PBMC cell cultured model. Comprehensive understanding of the biological regulation of stress responsive mechanism is critical for developing approaches to reduce the production losses due to environmental heat stress in dairy cattle.

Impact of decentralization on public service delivery is mixed. A meta-analysis of the studies suggests that impact of decentralization on public service delivery is contingent on factors such as the design of the decentralization policy; implementation bottlenecks and diluting the model of decentralization for accommodating the dissenting segments of stakeholders including employees; and participatory governance. In particular decentralization has resulted in improvements in delivery of local services where devolution as a mode of decentralization is accompanied by sound financial resource base of local governments, full autonomy to local governments in HRM matters, regular capacity building of local officials, performance based incentive structures, and participatory governance. In contrast where either truncated model of decentralization is adopted or the original model is diluted in favour of centralisation particularly in the form of imposition of central personnel policies, thus burdening local governments financially and in the process delivery of public services suffered. Rampant corruption and elite capture in the decentralized bodies have also hampered the equitable delivery of services.

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ITGB6 is known to be one of the major receptor components involved in host tropism of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus in cattle. A competitive PCR technique called ARMS PCR was adapted to identify a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), G29A, db SNP Id: rs109075046, in the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR) of the bovine ITGB6 gene. Genotype profiling identified three kinds of genetic variation within the targeted SNP among Frieswal crossbred cattle. The occurrence of FMD in the three genotypes was further evaluated, revealing a clear role in the incidence of FMD in the studied population.