Responses of Vigna radiata to Foliar Application of 28-Homobrassinolide and Kinetin

Effects of 28-homobrassinolide (HBR) and kinetin (KIN) on photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism, and the seed yield were studied. The leaves of 25-d-old plants of Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek were sprayed with 0.01, 1.0 or 100 M aqueous solution of KIN, or 0.0001, 0.01 or 1.0 M that of HBR. KIN and especially HBR increased the activities of nitrate reductase and carbonic anhydrase, chlorophyll and total protein contents and net photosynthetic rate in the leaves, and pod number and seed yield, at harvest.     

Studies on the genera of the familySigniphoridae [Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea] recorded from India

An account of the Indian forms belonging to the familySigniphoridae is given. The family is represented by two genera namely,Thysanus Walker andChartocerus Motschulsky. The genusThysanus with the speciesT. ater Walker is reported for the first time from India, and is redescribed in greater detail. The subdivision of the genusChartocerus into three subgenera (Chartocerus s. str.,Xana Kurdjumov, andSigniphorina Nikol’skaja.) proposed byRosanov (1965) is accepted. In the subgenusXana two new species are described and two already known species are recorded. In the subgenusSigniphorina one new species is described. A new generic character in the subgenital plate of the genusThysanus is proposed. The generic character in the subgenital plate of the genusChartocerus described byMan Mohan (1963) is confirmed.

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Résumé La famille desSigniphoridae est représentée par deux genres:Thysanus Walker etChartocerus Motschulsky. Le genreThysanus avec l’espèceT. ater Walker est indiquée pour la première fois de l’Inde et est redécrite avec plus de détails. La subdivision du genreChartocerus en trois sous-genres (Chartocerus s. str.,Xana Kurdjumov etSigniphorina Nikol’skaja proposée parRosanov (1965) est acceptée. Dans le sous-genreXana deux nouvelles espèces (C. (X.) hyalipennis sp. n. etC. (X.) walkeri sp. n.) sont décrites et deux espèces déjà connues sont répertoriée. Parmi celles-ciC. (X.) kurdjumovi (Nikol’skaja) est mentionnée pour la première fois en Inde. Les males de l’espèceC. (X.) kerrichi sont décrits. Dans le sous-genreSigniphorina une nouvelle espèce est décrite.

     

Rapid fixation and embedding for electron microscopy

A method has been developed for rapid processing of animal tissues for electron microscopy. The whole process of fixation staining dehydration, infiltration and embedding including polymerization is completed in less than 4 hr. A variety of human and animal tissues such as liver, spleen, muscle, kidney and embryonic chick heart were processed by this method and the results were excellent. The rapid fixation and embedding method is strongly recommended when relatively soft tissues are to be studied. This method is especially useful for examining pathological tissues for rapid diagnostic purposes.     

EFFECTS OF INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID AND PARACHLOROPHENOXY-ISOBUTYRIC ACID ON ABSCISSION IN PETIOLES OF DEBLADED LEAVES OF PHASEOLUS VULGARIS

The effects of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and p-chlorophenoxyisobutyric acid (PCIB) on rates of abscission layer formation and abscission were investigated. The primary leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris were used as test material. Treatment at the distal end of one petiole of the pair from debladed primary leaves with 1% IAA inhibited the abscission of that petiole and accelerated the abscission of its opposite untreated partner. PCIB applied simultaneously with IAA counteracted the accelerating effect of IAA on the opposite untreated petiole. This influence increased with increasing concentrations of PCIB. Anatomical studies revealed that PCIB, although it counteracted the effect of IAA on the rate of abscission, had no effect on abscission layer formation. In other words abscission layer formation takes place under the influence of the auxin despite the presence of the antiauxin. The centripetal sequence of abscission layer formation was found in all cases.     

Isolation and evaluation of probiotic potential of lactic acid bacteria isolated from poultry intestine

The gut is a source of lactic acid bacteria with remarkable functional and technologies properties as well as a potential source of probiotics. In the present study, 13 strains of Lactobacillus were isolated from poultry intestine and identified according to their 16S rDNA sequences, as well as the evaluation of their probiotic potential. The probiotic properties were tested in aspects of antibiotic susceptibility, antimicrobial activity, exopolysaccharide production, lysozyme tolerance, gut condition tolerance (low pH, bile salt tolerance) and adhesion to human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line (Caco-2). Most isolates were resistance to streptomycin (10 μg/mL), gentamicin (10 μg/mL), kanamycin (30 μg/mL), penicillin (10 μg/mL) and chloramphenicol (30 μg/mL). Isolates shows strong abilities to adhere to Caco-2 cell in the range of (76 to 85%). Isolates SHA101 to SHA113 showed high survival rate under gastrointestinal tract condition (>80%), indicating their potential in application of probiotics. The results of these tests indicate that the lactic acid bacteria isolated from poultry intestine have potential use as probiotic in various products.     

Tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine quenching-based aptasensing platform for aflatoxin B1: Analytical performance comparison of two aptamers

In this study, a simple TAMRA (tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine) quenching-based aptasensing platform was designed for the detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). Here, we compared the analytical performance of two aptamer sequences: seqA and seqB. The AFB1 detection was based on the interactions of FAM (carboxyfluorescein)-labeled aptamer with TAMRA-labeled DNA complementary strand in the presence and absence of target analyte. Under optimized experimental conditions, TAMRA-labeled strand quenched the fluorescence response of FAM-labeled aptamer due to the noncovalent interaction between the two DNA strands. The binding of AFB1 induced the complex formation and weakened the interaction between FAM-labeled aptamer and TAMRA-labeled complementary strand, resulting in the fluorescence recovery. By using this principle concept, an assay was constructed for the detection of AFB1. The method exhibited good sensitivity, good selectivity with a limit of detection of 0.2 ng ml⁻¹, and a wide linear range from 0.25 to 32 ng ml⁻¹. For real sample application, the aptasensors were tested in beer and wine samples, with good recovery rates obtained for AFB1 detection.     

Modeling the biomechanics of fetal movements

Fetal movements in the uterus are a natural part of development and are known to play an important role in normal musculoskeletal development. However, very little is known about the biomechanical stimuli that arise during movements in utero, despite these stimuli being crucial to normal bone and joint formation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to create a series of computational steps by which the forces generated during a kick in utero could be predicted from clinically observed fetal movements using novel cine-MRI data of three fetuses, aged 20–22 weeks. A custom tracking software was designed to characterize the movements of joints in utero, and average uterus deflection of \(6.95 \pm 0.41\) mm due to kicking was calculated. These observed displacements provided boundary conditions for a finite element model of the uterine environment, predicting an average reaction force of \(0.52 \pm 0.15\) N generated by a kick against the uterine wall. Finally, these data were applied as inputs for a musculoskeletal model of a fetal kick, resulting in predicted maximum forces in the muscles surrounding the hip joint of approximately 8 N, while higher maximum forces of approximately 21 N were predicted for the muscles surrounding the knee joint. This study provides a novel insight into the closed mechanical environment of the uterus, with an innovative method allowing elucidation of the biomechanical interaction of the developing fetus with its surroundings.     

Polymorphism analysis of prion protein gene in 11 Pakistani goat breeds

The association between caprine PrP gene polymorphisms and its susceptibility to scrapie has been investigated in current years. As the ORF of the PrP gene is extremely erratic in different breeds of goats, we studied the PrP gene polymorphisms in 80 goats which belong to 11 Pakistani indigenous goat breeds from all provinces of Pakistan. A total of 6 distinct polymorphic sites (one novel) with amino acid substitutions were identified in the PrP gene which includes 126 (A -> G), 304 (G -> T), 379 (A -> G), 414 (C -> T), 428 (A -> G) and 718 (C -> T). The locus c.428 was found highly polymorphic in all breeds as compare to other loci. On the basis of these PrP variants NJ phylogenetic tree was constructed through MEGA6.1 which showed that all goat breeds along with domestic sheep and Mauflon sheep appeared as in one clade and sharing its most recent common ancestors (MRCA) with deer species while Protein analysis has shown that these polymorphisms can lead to varied primary, secondary and tertiary structure of protein. Based on these polymorphic variants, genetic distance, multidimensional scaling plot and principal component analyses revealed the clear picture regarding greater number of substitutions in cattle PrP regions as compared to the small ruminant species. In particular these findings may pinpoint the fundamental control over the scrapie in Capra hircus on genetic basis.     

Hydromagnetic Steady Flow of Maxwell Fluid over a Bidirectional Stretching Surface with Prescribed Surface Temperature and Prescribed Surface Heat Flux

This paper investigates the steady hydromagnetic three-dimensional boundary layer flow of Maxwell fluid over a bidirectional stretching surface. Both cases of prescribed surface temperature (PST) and prescribed surface heat flux (PHF) are considered. Computations are made for the velocities and temperatures. Results are plotted and analyzed for PST and PHF cases. Convergence analysis is presented for the velocities and temperatures. Comparison of PST and PHF cases is given and examined.     

A Watermarking Scheme for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC)

This paper presents a high payload watermarking scheme for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). HEVC is an emerging video compression standard that provides better compression performance as compared to its predecessor, i.e. H.264/AVC. Considering that HEVC may will be used in a variety of applications in the future, the proposed algorithm has a high potential of utilization in applications involving broadcast and hiding of metadata. The watermark is embedded into the Quantized Transform Coefficients (QTCs) during the encoding process. Later, during the decoding process, the embedded message can be detected and extracted completely. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm does not significantly affect the video quality, nor does it escalate the bitrate.