Influence of Nitrogen Supply and Water Stress on Growth and Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and Calcium Contents in Pearl Millet

Influence of supra-optimal concentrations of N on growth and accumulation of N, K, P and Ca in the shoots and roots in Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br. under water stress was assessed in a pot experiment under glasshouse conditions. Thirty four-day-old plants of two lines, ICMV94133 and WCA-78, were subjected to 224, 336, or 448 mg(N) kg^–1(soil) and soil moisture 100 or 30 % of field capacity for 30 d. Increasing soil N supply decreased growth of both lines under water deficit. Nitrogen content in the shoots of both lines was not affected by supra-optimal levels of N or different watering regimes, but in contrast, the root N content was increased consistently in WCA-78 with increase in soil N content. Shoot P content increased considerably in WCA-78 at the two higher N contents, but it was significantly lower at drought stress than at well-watered treatment. In contrast, shoot or root P content in ICMV94133 did not differ under both watering regimes. Potassium content in the shoots of WCA-78 was considerably increased at the two higher N contents under drought conditions. Root K content was increased in WCA-78 at the highest N content under well-watered conditions, whereas the reverse was true in ICMV94133. Calcium content in the shoots of ICMV94133 was higher under drought stress compared with that at well-watered conditions, but such pattern was not observed in WCA-78. However, root Ca content increased in both lines with increase in N supply.     

Biochemical and molecular characterization of tetracycline-resistant Aeromonas veronii isolates from catfish

Eighty-one tetracycline-resistant Aeromonas sp. strains were isolated from farm-raised catfish. Morphological and biochemical characteristics indicated that 23 of the 81 aeromonads were Aeromonas hydrophila, 7 isolates were Aeromonas trota, 6 isolates were Aeromonas caviae, 42 isolates were Aeromonas veronii, and 3 isolates were Aeromonas jandaei. However, the AluI and MboI restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns of the PCR-amplified 1.4-kb 16S rRNA gene from all 81 tetracycline-resistant aeromonads from catfish were identical to the RFLP banding patterns of A. veronii ATCC 35626, indicating that all 81 isolates were strains of A. veronii. A multiplex PCR assay successfully amplified the 5 tetracycline-resistant genes (tetA to E) from the genomic DNA of all 81 isolates. The assay determined that tetE was the dominant gene occurring in 73/81 (90.0%) of the aeromonads. Plasmids (2.0 to 20 kb) were isolated from 33 of the 81 isolates. Dendrogram analysis of the SpeI pulsed-field gel electrophoresis identified 15 distinct macrorestriction patterns among the isolates. Our results indicate the need for use of 16S rRNA in the identification of Aeromonas spp. and the prevalence of catfish as a reservoir of tet genes.     

A Hybrid Color Space for Skin Detection Using Genetic Algorithm Heuristic Search and Principal Component Analysis Technique

Color is one of the most prominent features of an image and used in many skin and face detection applications. Color space transformation is widely used by researchers to improve face and skin detection performance. Despite the substantial research efforts in this area, choosing a proper color space in terms of skin and face classification performance which can address issues like illumination variations, various camera characteristics and diversity in skin color tones has remained an open issue. This research proposes a new three-dimensional hybrid color space termed SKN by employing the Genetic Algorithm heuristic and Principal Component Analysis to find the optimal representation of human skin color in over seventeen existing color spaces. Genetic Algorithm heuristic is used to find the optimal color component combination setup in terms of skin detection accuracy while the Principal Component Analysis projects the optimal Genetic Algorithm solution to a less complex dimension. Pixel wise skin detection was used to evaluate the performance of the proposed color space. We have employed four classifiers including Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine and Multilayer Perceptron in order to generate the human skin color predictive model. The proposed color space was compared to some existing color spaces and shows superior results in terms of pixel-wise skin detection accuracy. Experimental results show that by using Random Forest classifier, the proposed SKN color space obtained an average F-score and True Positive Rate of 0.953 and False Positive Rate of 0.0482 which outperformed the existing color spaces in terms of pixel wise skin detection accuracy. The results also indicate that among the classifiers used in this study, Random Forest is the most suitable classifier for pixel wise skin detection applications.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of 3'-carboranyl thymidine analogues

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a chemoradio-therapeutic method for the treatment of cancer. It depends on the selective targeting of tumor cells by boron-containing compounds. One category of BNCT agents with potential to selectively target tumor cells may be thymidine derivatives substituted at the 3'-position with appropriate boron moieties. Thus, several thymidine analogues were synthesized with a carborane cluster bound to the 3'-position either through an ether or a carbon linkage. The latter are the first reported carborane-containing nucleosides in which the carboranyl entity is directly linked to the carbohydrate portion of the nucleoside by a carbon-carbon bond. Low but significant phosphorylation rates in the range of 0.18% that of thymidine were observed for the carbon-linked 3'-carboranyl thymidine analogues in phosphoryl transfer assays using recombinant preparations of thymidine kinases 1 (TK1) and thymidine kinases 2 (TK2). Some of the ether-linked 3'-carboranyl thymidine analogues appeared to be slightly unstable under acidic as well as phosphoryl transfer assay conditions and were, if at all, poor substrates for TK1.     

Enzymatic pre‐treatment of microalgae cells for enhanced extraction of proteins

Crude proteins and pigments were extracted from different microalgae strains, both marine and freshwater. The effectiveness of enzymatic pre‐treatment prior to protein extraction was evaluated and compared to conventional techniques, including ultrasonication and high‐pressure water extraction. Enzymatic pre‐treatment was chosen as it could be carried out at mild shear conditions and does not subject the proteins to high temperatures, as with the ultrasonication approach. Using enzymatic pre‐treatment, the extracted proteins yields of all tested microalgae strains were approximately 0.7 mg per mg of dry cell weight. These values were comparable to those achieved using a commercial lytic kit. Ultrasonication was not very effective for proteins extraction from Chlorella sp., and the extracted proteins yields did not exceed 0.4 mg per mg of dry cell weight. For other strains, similar yields were achieved by both treatment methods. The time‐course effect of enzymatic incubation on the proteins extraction efficiency was more evident using laccase compared to lysozyme, which suggested that the former enzyme has a slower rate of cell disruption. The crude extracted proteins were fractionated using an ion exchange resin and were analyzed by the electrophoresis technique. They were further tested for their antioxidant activity, the highest of which was about 60% from Nannochloropsis sp. The total phenolic contents in the selected strains were also determined, with Chlorella sp. showing the highest content reaching 17 mg/g. Lysozyme was also found to enhance the extraction of pigments, with Chlorella sp. showing the highest pigments contents of 16.02, 4.59 and 5.22 mg/g of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total carotenoids, respectively.     

Unsteady Boundary Layer Flow and Heat Transfer of a Casson Fluid past an Oscillating Vertical Plate with Newtonian Heating

In this paper, the heat transfer effect on the unsteady boundary layer flow of a Casson fluid past an infinite oscillating vertical plate with Newtonian heating is investigated. The governing equations are transformed to a systems of linear partial differential equations using appropriate non-dimensional variables. The resulting equations are solved analytically by using the Laplace transform method and the expressions for velocity and temperature are obtained. They satisfy all imposed initial and boundary conditions and reduce to some well-known solutions for Newtonian fluids. Numerical results for velocity, temperature, skin friction and Nusselt number are shown in various graphs and discussed for embedded flow parameters. It is found that velocity decreases as Casson parameters increases and thermal boundary layer thickness increases with increasing Newtonian heating parameter.     

Body image disturbance and surgical decision making in egyptian post menopausal breast cancer patients

Background

Proximal major limb amputations due to malignant tumors have become rare but are still a valuable treatment option in palliation and in some cases can even cure. The aim of this retrospective study was to analyse outcome in those patients, including the postoperative course, survival, pain, quality of life, and prosthesis usage.

Methods

Data of 45 consecutive patients was acquired from patient's charts and contact to patients, and general practitioners. Patients with interscapulothoracic amputation (n = 14), shoulder disarticulation (n = 13), hemipelvectomy (n = 3) or hip disarticulation (n = 15) were included.

Results

The rate of proximal major limb amputations in patients treated for sarcoma was 2.3% (37 out of 1597). Survival for all patients was 42.9% after one year and 12.7% after five years. Survival was significantly better in patients with complete tumor resections. Postoperative chemotherapy and radiation did not prolong survival. Eighteen percent of the patients with malignant disease developed local recurrence. In 44%, postoperative complications were observed. Different modalities of postoperative pain management and the site of the amputation had no significant influence on long-term pain assessment and quality of life. Eighty-seven percent suffered from phantom pain, 15.6% considered their quality of life worse than before the operation. Thirty-two percent of the patients who received a prosthesis used it regularly.

Conclusion

Proximal major limb amputations severely interfere with patients' body function and are the last, albeit valuable, option within the treatment concept of extremity malignancies or severe infections. Besides short survival, high complication rates, and postoperative pain, patients' quality of life can be improved for the time they have remaining.     

Antioxidative responses to mercury in the cell cultures of Sesbania drummondii.

The effect of mercury (Hg) on the growth and the response of antioxidative systems have been investigated in Sesbania cell cultures to determine the tolerance limits and the mechanisms of metal (Hg) tolerance in plant cells. Cell cultures of Sesbania were developed in different concentrations (0-50 microM) of mercury. Cultures tolerated Hg up to a concentration of 40 microM and showed an increase in the fresh weight growth by 620% in 3 weeks. The levels of antioxidants: glutathione (GSH) and non-protein thiols (NPSH) and the activities of antioxidative enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), ascorbate peroxidase (APX, EC 1.11.1.11) and glutathione reductase (GR, EC 1.6.4.2) were influenced by Hg treatments. The contents of GSH, NPSH and GSH/GSSG ratio increased up to a concentration of 40 muM Hg and then severely declined at 50 microM Hg. The activities of antioxidative enzymes, SOD, APX and GR followed the same trends as antioxidants, first increased up to a concentration of 40 muM Hg and then declined in the presence of 50 microM Hg.