Quantitative Genetics of Drought Resistance in Early Maturing Maize (Zea Mays L)

Drought stress is paramount in limiting worldwide maize (Zea mays L.) production and productivity. In addition, drought has limited expansion of maize production to marginal conditions in areas including western North Dakota (ND) and eastern Montana (MT) where short-season drought tolerance is essential. The development of new cultivars in these dryer areas has been slow in part due to unavailability of reliable field phenotyping methods for breeding purposes and existing insufficient information on the genetic control of agronomic and grain quality attributes under drought stress. Our objectives were (1) to investigate root and stalk quantitative traits as novel field phenotyping methods for drought resistance, (2) to examine the variability and genetic control of agronomic and grain compositional attributes across soil moisture regimes, and (3) to discuss implications of findings for developing new maize cultivars under drought stress environments. Ninety-four partial diallel crosses including 47 diverse maize inbred parents and checks were tested in 12 water stress (WS), well-watered (WW) and random drought (RDT) environments in 2013 and 2014. A new high throughput non-destructive maize phenotyping method for drought tolerance is proposed, including the quantitative traits visible brace root number count and its spread width. Additive gene action was predominant in most of the agronomic and grain quality attributes, while non-additive gene action was important for grain yield, root lodging, stalk diameter, and grain oil content. Root and stalk lodging were negatively associated (P 0.40) was estimated for grain compositional attributes except for grain protein and amino acids. Stress environments were largely associated for grain oil and total and extractable starch contents (> 0.60). A reciprocal recurrent selection program can be vital to develop cultivars with high grain yield and quality in drought stress.North Dakota Corn Growers Association Minnesota Corn Growers Associatio

Secure and Proficient Cross Layer (SPCL) QoS Framework for Mobile Ad-hoc

A cross layer QoS framework is a complete system that provides required QoS services to each node present in the network. All components within it cooperate together for providing the required services. In existing QoS frameworks there is no security mechanism provided while Security is a critical aspect for QoS in the MANET environment. Cross layer QoS framework  tend to be vulnerable to a number of threats and attacks like, over/under-reporting of available bandwidth, over-reservation, state table starvation, QoS degradation,  information disclosure, theft of services timing attack, flooding attack, replay attack, and denial of service (DoS) attack,  attacks on information in transit and attacks against routing. So it is necessary when designing protocols for QoS framework, the harmony between security and QoS must be present as one impacts the others. In this work we proposed secure and proficient cross layer (SPCL) QoS frameworks which prevents from various types of threats and attacks.  The proposed SPCL QoS framework achieves better performance compared to existing QoS frameworks  in metrics of throughput, packet drop ratio, end-to-end delay, and average jitter in both condition when malicious node present in the network and when malicious node not present in the networ

Changing patterns of first medical contact management profile of corneal ulcers in a developing country: a hospital-based study

Background: Infectious keratitis is a major cause of corneal blindness throughout the world. There are guidelines and protocols for management of infectious keratitis, but these are rarely practiced by the treating physician. The aim of this study is to find the first medical contact management profile in a tertiary care Centre in north India and compare it to the previous studies to see the changing patterns of first contact management in our country.Methods: The data for the study was collected by retrospective data review of 100 consecutive patients with infectious keratitis. Various parameters were studied and statistical correlation established, where it was felt necessary. The parameters were age and sex distribution, first medical contact, initial treatment prescribed, time interval for first medical contact, inciting factors for corneal ulcer, bacterial and fungal culture spectrum, visual recovery after medical and surgical treatment.Results: Data review of 100 consecutive patients with infectious keratitis was done. More than 70% of patients were above 40 years of age. In 54% of patients, no inciting agent could be identified. The first medical contact for majority of patients was ophthalmologists in independent practice (48%). Time interval for first contact to any health professional varied from one day to 75 days with mean 4.63 days. Moxifloxacin hydrochloride   eye drops was the most commonly used drug.   Staphylococcus epidermidis was the commonest isolate grown in the culture (38.9%).Conclusions: Early diagnosis and appropriate management of infectious keratitis is important and role of first medical contact of patient is most crucial in final outcome

Role of Information Technology in Healthcare Services: Visitor's Perception

The ageing population, increasing pollution, and lethargic life style of human beings are some of the primary reasons for the growth of healthcare sector. Indian entrepreneurs have observed this growth opportunities and providing healthcare services in multiple ways. However, the literature emphasizes that without integrating information technology in existing healthcare facilities, quality service cannot be rendered to a large number of patients. With this backdrop, the present study is a novel endeavour to explore the role of information technology in Indian healthcare services. It aims to explain the relevance and dimensions of information technology in relation to healthcare services and examines the empirical relationship between identified dimensions and some demographical factors (age, educational qualification, income, and gender).The results of this study can be beneficial to healthcare professionals, service enablers, implementing agencies, and policy makers. Limitations, further research directions and conclusions have been discussed

To study the efficacy of digital and transvaginal ultrasonographic measurement of cervical length in asymptomatic high risk women at POG 16-24 weeks as a predictor of preterm delivery and progesterone and cerclage vs. progesterone alone for short cervical length in prevention of preterm labour

Background: Objectives of current study were (i) To correlate the Cervical Length (CL) measured digitally and by transvaginal sonography (TVS) at 16 to 24 weeks with outcome of pregnancy (ii) Estimate risk of spontaneous preterm labour (PTL) based on CL measurements and (iii) study intervention in short CL and their effect on maternal and neonatal outcome.Methods: Women with singleton pregnancy at POG 16-24 weeks with history of previous preterm birth or mid trimester abortions were included in the study and subjected to digital assessment of CL followed by TVS measurement. In patients with TVS CL ≤25 mm, intervention in the form of progesterone or cerclage with progesterone was done. The outcome of the pregnancy in the form of delivery before completed 37 weeks or at and after 37 weeks was noted.Results: Twenty two subjects out of total 153 subjects (14.4%) had preterm delivery. The incidence of preterm delivery in study was 14.4%. Using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) Curve, cut off value of digital CL was found to be 1.5 cm. The sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) and accuracy of digital CL ≤1.5 cm in prediction of PTL were 72.7 %, 37.4%, 16.3%, 89.1% and 42.5% respectively. Cut off value of TVS CL by ROC curve was found to be 2.85 cm. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of CL (TVS) of ≤2.85 cm in prediction of PTL is 81.8%, 68.7%, 30.5%, 95.7%, 70.6% respectively. The outcome in form of PTL in 30 subjects, who had TVS CL ≤2.5 cm in both the intervention groups (McDonald stitch with progesterone and progesterone alone) was comparable (P value 0.60 not significant).Conclusions: The CL, both digitally and by TVS, was inversely correlated with the probability of preterm delivery so that the shorter the cervix, the greater the likelihood of preterm delivery. TVS CL is more predictive of preterm delivery than digital CL when performed between 16-24 weeks in asymptomatic high risk women. Intervention in short CL in form of McDonald’s stitch application with progesterone and progesterone alone have similar efficacy for prevention of PTL

Transcriptional regulation of human osteopontin promoter by histone deacetylase inhibitor, trichostatin A in cervical cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Trichostatin A (TSA), a potent inhibitor of histone deacetylases exhibits strong anti-tumor and growth inhibitory activities, but its mechanism(s) of action is not completely understood. Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted glycoprotein which has long been associated with tumor metastasis. Elevated OPN expression in various metastatic cancer cells and the surrounding stromal cells often correlates with enhanced tumor formation and metastasis. To investigate the effects of TSA on OPN transcription, we analyzed a proximal segment of OPN promoter in cervical carcinoma cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper, we for the first time report that TSA suppresses PMA-induced OPN gene expression in human cervical carcinoma cells and previously unidentified AP-1 transcription factor is involved in this event. Deletion and mutagenesis analyses of OPN promoter led to the characterization of a proximal sequence (-127 to -70) that contain AP-1 binding site. This was further confirmed by gel shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays. Western blot and reverse transcription-PCR analyses revealed that TSA suppresses c-jun recruitment to the OPN promoter by inhibiting c-jun levels while c-fos expression was unaffected. Silencing HDAC1 followed by stimulation with PMA resulted in significant decrease in OPN promoter activity suggesting that HDAC1 but not HDAC3 or HDAC4 was required for AP-1-mediated OPN transcription. TSA reduces the PMA-induced hyperacetylation of histones H3 and H4 and recruitment of RNA pol II and TFIIB, components of preinitiation complex to the OPN promoter. The PMA-induced expression of other AP-1 regulated genes like cyclin D1 and uPA was also altered by TSA. Interestingly, PMA promoted cervical tumor growth in mice xenograft model was significantly suppressed by TSA.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In conclusion, these findings provide new insights into mechanisms underlying anticancer activity of TSA and blocking OPN expression at transcriptional level by TSA may act as novel therapeutic strategy for the management of cervical cancer.</p