Soy protein supplementation does not cause lymphocytopenia in postmenopausal women

BACKGROUND: The health benefits of soy isoflavones have been widely investigated; however, there are some concerns as to whether soy isoflavones, similar to ipriflavone, a synthetic isoflavone, cause lymphocytopenia in postmenopausal women. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which 12-month supplementation of 25 g soy protein containing 60 mg isoflavones alters lymphocyte counts or other hematological parameters in postmenopausal women who were not on hormone replacement therapy. METHODS: Eighty-seven postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to receive either soy protein or an equivalent amount of control protein devoid of isoflavones. Fasting venous blood was collected at baseline and at the end of twelve month study period for complete blood count analyses. RESULTS: Between the two treatment groups, the percent changes in hematological parameters, including lymphocytes, were not different. While women consuming the soy supplement had an increase in mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width index (RDW; a marker of reticulocytes), women consuming the control diet had higher percentage of only MCHC. CONCLUSION: Overall, the results of the present study indicate that consumption of 25 g soy protein containing 60 mg isoflavones daily for one year does not cause lymphocytopenia

Spin polarised tunnelling in granular polycrystalline colossal magnetoresistive manganites

We have measured the resistance and magnetoresistance of several bulk polycrystalline colossal magnetoresistive materials and epitaxial thin films. In all the polycrystalline materials we observed a much larger magnetoresistance compared to single crystals and epitaxial thin films at temperatures below the ferromagnetic transition temperature. We also observed a field dependent increase in resistance at low temperatures in all the polycrystalline samples. The significance of these results with respect to spin polarised tunnelling is discussed

Seed Reserve Utilization and Seedling Growth of Treated Seeds of Mountain Rye (Secale Montanum) as Affected by Drought Stress

ABSTRACT. The environmental stress such as, drought are serious obstacles for field crops in further areas of the world, especially in arid and semiarid regions. In order to investigate drought stress on seed reserve utilization and seedling growth of treated seeds of mountain rye (Secale montanum), an experiment was carried out. Factorial experiment was carried out in completely randomized design with three replications. The first factor was the seed treatments (unpriming, hydropriming and osmopriming) and the second factor was drought stress. To create drought stress, polyetylenglycol 6000 (PEG 6000) in osmotic levels at 0 (as control),-0.4,-0.8,-1.2 and-1.6 MPa were used. The results indicated that for these traits: germination percentage (GP), timson index (TI), energy of germination (EG), weight of utilized (mobilized) seed (WMSR), seed reserve utilization efficiency (SRUE), seedling dry weight (SLDW), and seed reserve depletion percentage (SRDP), was a significant treatment × drought interaction. Thus hydropriming and osmopriming improvement study traits in Secale montanum under drought stress. While in higher osmotic pressure the highest seed reserve utilization were obtained from osmopriming

Spectral width of premonsoon and monsoon clouds over Indo-Gangetic valley

The combined effect of humidity and aerosol on cloud droplet spectral width (σ) in continental monsoon clouds is a topic of significant relevance for precipitation and radiation budgets over monsoon regions. The droplet spectral width in polluted, dry premonsoon conditions and moist monsoon conditions observed near the Himalayan Foothills region during Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement EXperiment (CAIPEEX) is the focus of this study. Here σis small in premonsoon clouds developing from dry boundary layers. This is attributed to numerous aerosol particles and the absence/suppression of collision-coalescence during premonsoon. For polluted and dry premonsoon clouds,σ is constant with height. In contrast to premonsoon clouds, σ in monsoon clouds increases with height irrespective of whether they are polluted or clean. The mean radius of polluted monsoon clouds is half that of clean monsoon clouds. In monsoon clouds, both mean radius and σ decreased with total cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC). The spectral widths of premonsoon clouds were independent of total droplet number concentrations, but both σ and mean radius decreased with small droplet (diameter < 20 μm) number concentrations in the diluted part of the cloud. Observational evidence is provided for the formation of large droplets in the adiabatic regions of monsoon clouds. The number concentration of small droplets is found to decrease in the diluted cloud volumes that may be characterized by various spectral widths or mean droplet radi