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The F(1) and F(2) progenies of a ten-parent diallel cross (excluding reciprocals) of hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell) were analyzed for combining ability for quantitative and quality traits. The results indicated significant differences among the parents for general combining ability (gca) and crosses for specific combining ability (sca) for all the characters studied. The gca and sca components of variance were significant for all the traits. However, the gca component of variance was predominant indicating the predominance of additive gene effects for the traits studied. Among the parents Durgapura 65, HD 2285, Lok-1, Raj 1972 and HD 2329 were the best general combiners for grain yield and average to high combiners for tillers per plant, grain yield per spike, grains per spike and 1000-grain weight. The best specific crosses for grain yield were Sonalika x WH 157, HD 2428 x Durgapura 65, Durgapura 65 x Sonalika, HD 2428 x Lok-1 and CPAN 3004 x Raj 1972. The parent Raj 1972, Lok-1 and HD 2285 were the best general combiners for grain yield and protein content, however, Raj 3077 was the best general combiner for protein content. The most suitable specific crosses for protein content were HD 2329 x HD 2285, HD 2428 x Raj 1972 and CPAN 3004 x WH 157. Most of the specific crosses for grain yield as well as protein content involved high x average, average x average and average x poor general combiners. To ensure further increase in grain yield along with high protein, combinations of desirable yield components is advocated. Inclusion of F(1) hybrids showing high sca and having parents with good gca, into multiple crosses and/or bi-parental mating, or diallel selective mating could prove a worthwhile approach for further improvement of grain yield in bread wheat.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small and elusive subpopulation of self-renewing cancer cells with remarkable ability to initiate, propagate, and spread the malignant disease. In addition, they exhibit increased resistance to anticancer therapies, thereby contributing to disease relapse. CSCs are reported to be present in many tumor types such as melanoma, sarcoma, mammary tumors, colon cancer and other solid tumors. These cells from different tumors show unique energetic and metabolic pathways. For example, CSCs from one type of tumor may predominantly use aerobic glycolysis, while from another tumor type may utilize oxidative phosphorylation. Most commonly these cells use fatty acid oxidation and ketone bodies as the main source of energy production. CSCs have a remarkable ability to reprogram their metabolism in order to survive under adverse conditions such as hypoxia, acidosis, and starvation. There is increasing interest to identify molecular targets that can be utilized to kill CSCs and to control their growth. In this review, we discuss how an understanding of the unique metabolism of CSCs from different tumors can offer promising strategies for targeting CSCs and hence to prevent disease relapse and to treat the metastatic disease.

self-pollinated and BC 2 self-pollinated generations of three crosses involving six cultivars of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum var. durum) were studied for flag leaf length under normal and late sown environments to analyse the nature of gene effects. For most crosses the 10-parameter model was the best descriptor of the data to account for the variability in generation means of this trait but in cross HI 8062rJNK-4W-128 the 6-parameter model was the best (normal sown) while in cross Raj 911rDWL 5002 the 3-parameter model was the best (late sown). Of the epistatic interactions, dominancerdominance (l) and dominancer dominancerdominance (z) played significantly greater roles in controlling the inheritance of this trait. Absolute totals of non-fixable gene effects were much higher than the fixable gene effects in all the crosses in both the environments, indicating the greater roles of non-additive effects in controlling the inheritance of flag leaf length in durum wheat cultivars. Significant partial dominance was observed frequently in most of the crosses. Significant heterosis was attributed to combined effects of dominancerdominance (l), additiveradditiverdominance (x) and dominancerdominancer dominance (z) epistatic interactions in the cross Cocorit 71rA-9-30-1 under late sown environment. Biparental mating and/or diallel selective mating, which exploit both fixable and non-fixable components, have been suggested for the improvement of this trait in durum wheat cultivars.

High temperature stress is major constraint to bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Em. Thell) production. Generation of information on the effect of high temperature stress on various traits may be helpful for developing thermotolerance bread wheat variety. An experiment was conducted on a set of 10 diverse genotypes, their 45 F1s and F2s for identification of high temperature stress genotype. The experiment was conducted under normal and late sown condition. The parent HD 2851, P8W 520, and HS 448, and the crosses HS 448 × PBW 520, UP 2614 × K 209 and PBW 520 × HD 2851 for grain yield per plant were least affected under late sown conditions. Heat stress intensity (Dvalue) clearly indicated that grain yield per pant biological yield per plant and grain yield per spike suffered revively under late sown conditions. Keywords: Bread wheat; heat susceptibility index; tolerant genotypes. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v36i3.9270 BJAR 2011; 36(3): 415-426

Background. We field tested and validated a newly developed monitoring and evaluation (M&E) toolkit for indoor residual spraying to be used by the supervisors at different levels of the national kala-azar elimination programs in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Methods. Methods included document analysis, in-depth interviews, direct observation of spraying squads, and entomological-chemical assessments (bioassay, susceptibility test, chemical analysis of insecticide residues on sprayed surfaces, vector density measurements at baseline, and three follow-up surveys). Results. We found that the documentation at district offices was fairly complete; important shortcomings included insufficient training of spraying squads and supervisors, deficient spray equipment, poor spraying performance, lack of protective clothing, limited coverage of houses resulting in low bioavailability of the insecticide on sprayed surfaces, and reduced vector susceptibility to DDT in India, which limited the impact on vector densities. Conclusion. The M&E toolkit is a useful instrument for detecting constraints in IRS operations and to trigger timely response.

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