An interactive nonrandom-mating two-sex model whose intrinsic growth rate lies between one-sex rates.

In a recent paper, the author has presented an interactive two-sex model and applied it to the U.S. population, 1940–1971. While the model has removed many inconsistencies in the one-sex models for males and females, it has two major limitations. First, the model assumes random mating of men and women within their reproductive ages. Second, it gives an intrinsic growth rate that is not necessarily intermediate between the male and the female intrinsic growth rates, as obtained from the one-sex models. A new two-sex model is provided in this paper that removes both these limitations. The new model is applied to the U.S. population for the years 1940–1974.     

Amino acid starvation in Escherichia coli K-12: characteristics of the translation process.

Some characteristics of the translation process during amino acid starvation in Escherichia coli have been examined. Once starvation has been established, premature termination of polypeptides is negligible and complete proteins are formed. There is some preference for the synthesis of shorter proteins. The number of ribosomes involved in protein synthesis appears to decline to about half during amino acid-starvation. The assembly time of proteins during amino acid starvation is increased to only about fourfold, though protein synthesis maintained by turnover is reduced to 10%. To explain these observations, a model has been proposed for the course of events that possibly take place from the onset of starvation.     

Pituitary cytology of the chimaeroid fish Hydrolagus colliei (Lay and Bennett).

The pituitary of Hydrolagus colliei is divided into the adenohypophysis, neurohypophysis and an oral Rachendachhypophyse. The adenohypophysis is further divided into rostral and proximal pars distalis and neurointermediate lobe. The neurohypophysis is restricted to the pars intermedia only. The rostral pars distalis is composed of acidophils, chromophobes, lightly PAS+ cells and amphiphils. The amphiphils were stained with Heidenhain's iron haematoxylin and lead haematoxylin also. The proximal pars distalis is formed of cyanophils where the granules are AF and PAS positive, acidophils, chromophobes and H.Pb+ cells. The pars intermedia has perviascular amphiphils which are H.Pb+, lightly PAS+ cells and chromophobes. Few AF+ cells were also identified. All the component parts of the adenohypophysis have follicular cavities which are probably developed from the hypophysial cavity, which is well seen in the young specimen as a single cavity extending antero-posteriorly throughout the adenohypophysis.     

Evidence of regulation of calcium uptake by phytochrome in maize protoplasts

Red light stimulated calcium uptake in maize leaf protoplasts upto 140% over the dark control. The stimulation was maximally noticed after 120 seconds of incubation and was reversed by far red light. 5-Hydroxytryptamine also enhanced calcium uptake in dark, upto the red level. A possible role of phosphoinositide for signal transduction in calcium uptake for phytochrome mediated responses in higher plants is suggested.     

Detection and identification of phytoplasma associated with witches’ broom and little leaf disease in Arundo donax: first report from India

During the survey of two successive years 2012–2013, in nearby places of Gorakhpur districts, Uttar Pradesh, India, Arundo donax plants were found to be exhibiting witches’ broom, excessive branching accompanied with little leaf symptoms with considerable disease incidence. Nested PCR carried out with universal primers pair R16F2n/R16R2 employing the PCR (P1/P7) product as a template DNA (1:20) resulted in expected size positive amplification ~1.2 kb in all symptom-bearing plants suggested the association of phytoplasma with witches’ broom disease of Narkat plants. BLASTn analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed the highest (99%) sequence identity with Candidatus phytoplasma asteris (16SrI group). In phylogenetic analysis, the sequence data showed close relationships with the members of 16SrI phytoplasma and clustered within a single clade of 16SrI group and closed to B subgroup representatives. This is a first report of 16Sr I-B group phytoplasma associated with witches’ broom accompanied with little leaf disease of Narkat in India.     

Genotoxicity of 'gudakhu', a tobacco preparation. I. In mice in vivo.

'Gudakhu' is a paste-like tobacco preparation used widely in Orissa and neighbouring states of India. During use it is rubbed over the teeth and gum with a finger tip. Besides tobacco, it contains molasses, lime, red soil and water. The genotoxic potential of acetone extract of gudakhu was evaluated in mice in vivo using the chromosome aberration assay, micronucleus test and SCE analysis following single as well as long-term repeated treatment. The animals received an aqueous suspension of the extract via the oral route. Gudakhu extract induced significantly high frequencies, compared to controls, of chromosome aberrations, micronuclei (MN) and SCEs. Single treatment with different doses clearly revealed a distinct dose-dependent increase of the effects in all the assays. Analysis of MN in regenerated hepatocytes also indicated a significant positive correlation between time-course of chronic treatment and frequencies of micronucleated cells. But incidences of chromosome aberrations, MN and SCEs in bone marrow cells following repeated treatment for different periods did not differ greatly from each other; and these repeated treatment data, particularly in the MNT in bone marrow cells and the SCE assay, also did not differ markedly from the respective single treatment data for the same dose. This was probably due to the proliferative nature of the bone marrow cells.     

Near- and Far-Field Plasmonic Properties of Different Types of Eccentric Core-Shell Nanodimers

Finite element method (FEM) simulations have been carried out on free-standing and finite dielectric substrate-supported eccentric (i) silica core-gold nanoshell dimers and (ii) gold core-silica nanoshell dimers for understanding their near- and far-field plasmonic properties. In the case of eccentric silica core-gold nanoshell dimers, multiple peaks are observed in the near- and far-field spectra due to the plasmon hybridization. The number of peaks is found to be sensitive to the core offset parameters of the nanoshells forming nanodimer. The wavelength locations of the peaks due to the constructive coupling of the lower order modes found relatively more sensitive to the dielectric substrate. The number of peaks in the near- and far-field spectra found the same presence and absence of the dielectric substrate. The values of full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the peaks observed in the near-field spectra are found larger as compared to those observed in the far-field spectra. In contrast, in the case of eccentric gold core-silica nanoshell dimers, multiple peaks have not been observed. The FWHM of the observed peak is found sensitive to the core offset parameters of the nanoshells, and the number of peaks in the near field- and far-field spectra found not same in the presence and absence of the dielectric substrate. Moreover, the differences in near- and far-field spectra of plasmonically coupled (i) concentric nanoshells, (ii) eccentric nanoshells, and (iii) concentric and eccentric nanoshells also investigated numerically.

     

Contemporary Updates on the Physiology of Glucagon like Peptide-1 and Its Agonist to Treat Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus involves scores of different factors, out of which Glucagon like factor-1 (GLP-1) plays a foremost role. GLP-1 is a pepti