Objectives:To assess the relationship between psychological distress and resilience in rescue workers. Following hypothesis was formulated; there would be negative correlation between psychological distress and resilience in rescue workers.Method:A correlational study was conducted from June-August 2015 in Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, Pakistan. The sample of the present study consisted of 100 rescue workers. The age of the participants ranged from 23 to 40 year old with the mean age of 27.4±3.9 years. Demographic information form, Kessler psychological distress scale and adult resilience measure were administered on the participants to assess the level of psychological distress and resilience.Results:Pearson product moment coefficient of correlation was applied to analyze the relationship of psychological distress and resilience. Analysis of the result indicated that there is negative relationship between psychological distress and resilience (r= -0.203, p<0.01) in rescue workers. Further, contextual factors (r= -0.292, p<0.05) and its subcomponents including spiritual beliefs (r= -0.239, p<0.05) and cultural resources (r= -0.287, p<0.01) were also found to be inversely correlated with psychological distress.Conclusion:The research evidenced that rescue workers were experiencing psychological distress Resilience factors should be considered while designing trainings to preserve mental health and to enhance the psychological well-being of rescue workers.

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Cotton is an important cash crop, providing raw material for different industries and plays crucial role in the economy of several countries. It requires optimum temperature for economic production and causes reduced yield otherwise. Extreme temperature, more importantly, high temperature causes serious yield reduction in cotton by affecting its physiology, biochemistry and quality leading to poor agronomic produce. Freezing temperature also affect the germination percentage and seedling establishment. Several breeding and genomics based studies were conducted to improve the cotton production under high and low temperature stress in cotton. Here we overviewed several agronomic practices to mitigate the effect of extreme temperature, and multiple breeding and molecular approaches to enhance the genetic potential of cotton for temperature tolerance by Marker assisted selection or transgenic approach.

Genomic technologies have been used to improve cultivated crop species.

IntroductionRice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the oldest cultivated crops. It has been cultivated in India and China for several thousands of years (Poehlman and Sleper, 1995). The major cultivated species of rice, Oryza sativa (2n = 2x = 24), originated in southern and southwestern tropical Asia. The other species of cultivated rice, Oryza glaberrima (2n = 2x = 24), is indigenous to the upper valley of the Niger River and it is cultivated only in western tropical Africa. Twenty-three species and 10 recognized genome types (AA, BB, CC, BBCC, CCDD, EE, FF, GG, HHJJ, and HHKK; Gramene: http://www.gramene.org/species/ oryza/rice_taxonomy.html) of Oryza are recognized. Close relatives of O. sativa are the wild perennial species O. rufipogon and the wild annual species O. nivara. Both are diploid weedy species with the AA genome.Rice is an important food crop and it needs continuous improvement due to the continuous increase in population. The major objectives to improve rice crops using biotechnological techniques include: 1) high yield potential, 2) early maturity, 3) resistance to lodging and shattering, 4) resistance to stress environments, 5) disease resistance, 6) insect resistance, 7) grain quality, and 8) enhancement of nutritional components. Economic importance of riceRice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important crop of world. About 90% of the world's rice is grown in China, India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and other adjacent areas (USDA, 2014). Outside of Asia, Brazil and the United States produce the largest amounts of rice (Poehlman and Sleper, 1995). Rice is the staple food for over one-half of the world's people (FAO, 2008). In Pakistan, rice is a highly valued food crop and it is also a major export item. It accounts for 3.2% of the total value added in agriculture and 0.7% of the GDP. Area sown for rice is estimated at 2.891 × 10 6 ha and the production was 7.005 × 10 6 t in -2015 (Ministry of Finance, 2015. Rice is cultivated in diversified climatic conditions of Pakistan. Basmati rice (Indica) is grown in the traditional rice-growing belt of Punjab Province. In Swat, in high altitude alpine valleys, temperate Japonica rice is grown. In the south of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, IRRItype long-grain heat-tolerant tropical rice is mainly grown. Transformation of rice cropsThe world will need about 25% more rice by the year 2030 to meet the estimated demand of an increasing global population (Wani and Sah, 2014). One way to meet this challenge is to grow rice on more area, which is difficult due to increasing urbanization and escalating population in Abstract: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is among the most important food crops that provide a staple food for nearly half of the world's population. Rice crops are prone to various types of stresses, both biotic and abiotic. Biotic stresses include insect pests, fungus, bacteria, viruses, and herbicide toxicity. Among abiotic stresses, drought, cold, and salinity are also well studied in rice. Various genes have been identified,...