Molecular Characterization of Nepali Potato Cultivars Using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (Rapd) Markers

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to study the genetic diversity of four local cultivars of potato. Amplification with ten arbitrary decamer primers produced 29 different marker bands of which 69.0% were polymorphic. The size range of the amplified DNAs ranged between 370 bp and 2500 bp. On average, 17.5 alleles per genotype were amplified using the RAPD primers. With the selected primers sufficient polymorphism could be detected to allow identification of individual genotypes. A dendrogram displaying the relative genetic similarities between the genotypes showed a range of 55.2-69.0% similarity

Cognitive group therapy for depressive students: The case study

The aims of this study were to assess whether a course of cognitive group therapy could help depressed students and to assess whether assimilation analysis offers a useful way of analysing students' progress through therapy. “Johanna” was a patient in a group that was designed for depressive students who had difficulties with their studies. The assimilation of Johanna's problematic experience progressed as the meetings continued from level one (unpleasant thoughts) to level six (solving the problem). Johanna's problematic experience manifested itself as severe and excessive criticism towards herself and her study performance. As the group meetings progressed, Johanna found a new kind of tolerance that increased her determination and assertiveness regarding the studies. The dialogical structure of Johanna's problematic experience changed: she found hope and she was more assertive after the process. The results indicated that this kind of psycho-educational group therapy was an effective method for treating depression. The assimilation analysis offered a useful way of analysing the therapy process

Time-resolved angiography with stochastic trajectories for dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in head and neck cancer: Are pharmacokinetic parameters affected?

Purpose To investigate the effects of different time-resolved angiography with stochastic trajectories (TWIST) k-space undersampling schemes on calculated pharmacokinetic dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) vascular parameters.Methods A digital perfusion phantom was employed to simulate effects of TWIST on characteristics of signal changes in DCE. Furthermore, DCE-MRI was acquired without undersampling in a group of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and used to simulate a range of TWIST schemes. Errors were calculated as differences between reference and TWIST-simulated DCE parameters. Parametrical error maps were used to display the averaged results from all tumors.Results For a relatively wide range of undersampling schemes, errors in pharmacokinetic parameters due to TWIST were under 10% for the volume transfer constant, Ktrans, and total extracellular extravascular space volume, Ve. TWIST induced errors in the total blood plasma volume, Vp, were the largest observed, and these were inversely dependent on the area of the fully sampled k-space. The magnitudes of errors were not correlated with Ktrans, Vp and weakly correlated with Ve.Conclusions The authors demonstrated methods to validate and optimize k-space view-sharing techniques for pharmacokinetic DCE studies using a range of clinically relevant spatial and temporal patient derived data. The authors found a range of undersampling patterns for which the TWIST sequence can be reliably used in pharmacokinetic DCE-MRI. The parameter maps created in the study can help to make a decision between temporal and spatial resolution demands and the quality of enhancement curve characterization

When Environmental Contexts Do Not Match: A Strategy of Preinstatement for Improve Recall

Negative effects of a change in environmental context effects are common memory research (Smith & Vela, 2001). However, they may be overcome if the context in which the event occurred can be mentally reinstated, and the authors propose that one may at the time an event occurs “preinstate” the context in which one anticipates that one may need to remember the event. In this experiment, one group of participants imagined the test environment while studying a list of words, and another group did not. Memory was tested either in the same or a different environment in which study occurred. Free recalled was compared between the same and different context conditions. The results suggest that a strategy of preinstatement offers a pragmatic alternative for scholastic study, and may be a generalizable strategy for other applications, such as in the treatment of phobias and other behavioral modification treatments

Basin impacts of irrigation water conservation policy

Climate change, uncertain future water supplies, growing population, and increased water demands continue to raise the importance of finding cost-effective water conservation measures. Irrigated agriculture is the world's largest water user, so governments, donor organizations, water suppliers, and farmers continue to look for measures that would produce more crop per drop. Despite the importance of promoting water conservation in agriculture, little work has been done that integrates hydrologic, economic, institutional, and policy dimensions of water conservation. This paper presents an integrated basin scale analysis of water conservation subsidies for irrigated agriculture. A dynamic, nonlinear programming model is developed and applied for the Upper Rio Grande Basin of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, USA. Several potential public subsidies of drip irrigation are analyzed for their economic and hydrologic impacts at both the farm and basin levels. Results indicate that water conservation subsidies for drip irrigation produce several effects. These include greater on-farm implementation of water-conserving technology, less water applied to crops, more water consumed by crops, increased farm income, greater crop production, more land irrigated, and increased total water-related economic benefits for the basin. Findings provide a framework for designing and implementing water conservation policies for irrigated agriculture.