WebGeSTer DB-a transcription terminator database

We present WebGeSTer DB, the largest database of intrinsic transcription terminators (http://pallab .serc.iisc.ernet.in/gester). The database comprises of a million terminators identified in 1060 bacterial genome sequences and 798 plasmids. Users can obtain both graphic and tabular results on putative terminators based on default or user-defined parameters. The results are arranged in different tiers to facilitate retrieval, as per the specific requirements. An interactive map has been incorporated to visualize the distribution of terminators across the whole genome. Analysis of the results, both at the whole-genome level and with respect to terminators downstream of specific genes, offers insight into the prevalence of canonical and non-canonical terminators across different phyla. The data in the database reinforce the paradigm that intrinsic termination is a conserved and efficient regulatory mechanism in bacteria. Our database is freely accessible

Amino Acid Compositions of 27 Food Fishes and Their Importance in Clinical Nutrition

Proteins and amino acids are important biomolecules which regulate key metabolic pathways and serve as precursors for synthesis of biologically important substances; moreover, amino acids are building blocks of proteins. Fish is an important dietary source of quality animal proteins and amino acids and play important role in human nutrition. In the present investigation, crude protein content and amino acid compositions of important food fishes from different habitats have been studied. Crude protein content was determined by Kjeldahl method and amino acid composition was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography and information on 27 food fishes was generated. The analysis showed that the cold water species are rich in lysine and aspartic acid, marine fishes in leucine, small indigenous fishes in histidine, and the carps and catfishes in glutamic acid and glycine. The enriched nutrition knowledge base would enhance the utility of fish as a source of quality animal proteins and amino acids and aid in their inclusion in dietary counseling and patient guidance for specific nutritional needs

WebGeSTer DB-a transcription terminator database

We present WebGeSTer DB, the largest database of intrinsic transcription terminators (http://pallab.serc.iisc.ernet.in/gester). The database comprises of a million terminators identified in 1060 bacterial genome sequences and 798 plasmids. Users can obtain both graphic and tabular results on putative terminators based on default or user-defined parameters. The results are arranged in different tiers to facilitate retrieval, as per the specific requirements. An interactive map has been incorporated to visualize the distribution of terminators across the whole genome. Analysis of the results, both at the whole-genome level and with respect to terminators downstream of specific genes, offers insight into the prevalence of canonical and non-canonical terminators across different phyla. The data in the database reinforce the paradigm that intrinsic termination is a conserved and efficient regulatory mechanism in bacteria. Our database is freely accessible

PSMA-Targeting Imaging and Theranostic Agents—Current Status and Future Perspective

In the past two decades, extensive efforts have been made to develop agents targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) for prostate cancer imaging and therapy. To date, represented by two recent approvals of [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 and [18F]F-DCFPyL by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to identify suspected metastases or recurrence in patients with prostate cancer, PSMA-targeting imaging and theranostic agents derived from small molecule PSMA inhibitors have advanced to clinical practice and trials of prostate cancer. The focus of current development of new PSMA-targeting agents has thus shifted to the improvement of in vivo pharmacokinetics and higher specific binding affinity with the aims to further increase the detection sensitivity and specificity and minimize the toxicity to non-target tissues, particularly the kidneys. The main strategies involve systematic chemical modifications of the linkage between the targeting moiety and imaging/therapy payloads. In addition to a summary of the development history of PSMA-targeting agents, this review provides an overview of current advances and future promise of PSMA-targeted imaging and theranostics with focuses on the structural determinants of the chemical modification towards the next generation of PSMA-targeting agents

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Not AvailableAn experiment was conducted to evaluate the yield and physico-chemical performance of five kiwifruit cultivars viz., Monty, Hayward, Allison, Bruno and Abbott in the year 2016. The highest fruit yield (70.28 kg/tree), fruit length (71.73 mm), fruit weight (61.66 g) and fruit volume (60.41 cc) were recorded in cultivar Allison. The lowest fruit yield (25.12 kg/tree) and fruit length (52.20 mm) were recorded in Hayward, while lowest fruit weight (53.84 g) and fruit volume (52.70 cc) were estimated under Monty. The fruit firmness was found highest (7.53 lb/in2) in Hayward, while the lowest (2.37 lb/in2) in Monty. The highest T. S. S. (13.50 °B) was found in Allison, while lowest (11.67 °B) in Abbott, whereas highest acidity (2.39%) was recorded in Monty and lowest (1.89%) in Abbott. The highest ascorbic acid (110.47 mg/100 g), carotene content (354.33 µg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (37.04 mMTE/L) was recorded in Bruno, while lowest ascorbic acid (89.52 mg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (31.14 mMTE/L) were recorded in Hayward. The lowest carotene content (218.56 µg/100 g) was recorded in Monty. The highest reducing (7.04%) and total sugars (8.31%) were found in Monty, while lowest reducing (4.56%) and total sugars (5.10%) in Hayward. Therefore, Allison followed by Bruno cultivar of kiwifruit needs to be popularize in the region in view of yield and physicochemical performance.Not Availabl

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Yield and physico-chemical performance of different kiwifruit cultivars in Kumaon hills of UttarakhandAn experiment was conducted to evaluate the yield and physico-chemical performance of five kiwifruit cultivars viz., Monty, Hayward, Allison, Bruno and Abbott in the year 2016. The highest fruit yield (70.28 kg/tree), fruit length (71.73 mm), fruit weight (61.66 g) and fruit volume (60.41 cc) were recorded in cultivar Allison. The lowest fruit yield (25.12 kg/tree) and fruit length (52.20 mm) were recorded in Hayward, while lowest fruit weight (53.84 g) and fruit volume (52.70 cc) were estimated under Monty. The fruit firmness was found highest (7.53 lb/in2) in Hayward, while the lowest (2.37 lb/in2) in Monty. The highest T. S. S. (13.50 °B) was found in Allison, while lowest (11.67 °B) in Abbott, whereas highest acidity (2.39%) was recorded in Monty and lowest (1.89%) in Abbott. The highest ascorbic acid (110.47 mg/100 g), carotene content (354.33 μg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (37.04 mMTE/L) was recorded in Bruno, while lowest ascorbic acid (89.52 mg/100 g) and total anti-oxidant activity (31.14 mMTE/L) were recorded in Hayward. The lowest carotene content (218.56 μg/100 g) was recorded in Monty. The highest reducing (7.04%) and total sugars (8.31%) were found in Monty, while lowest reducing (4.56%) and total sugars (5.10%) in Hayward. Therefore, Allison followed by Bruno cultivar of kiwifruit needs to be popularize in the region in view of yield and physicochemical performance.Not Availabl

Palladium Nanoparticles Hosted in Poly(ethylenimine) and Poly(ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate) Anchored Membranes for Catalyzing Uranyl Ions Reduction and Mizoroki–Heck Coupling Reaction

The poly­(ethylenimine) (PEI) and poly­(ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate) (poly­(EGMP)) functionalized microporous poly­(propylene) membrane have been developed to host the palladium (Pd) nanoparticles (NPs) for catalyzing the inorganic and organic reactions. These functionalized membranes are characterized for their porosities and pore-size distributions. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-rays spectrometry (EDX) attached to FE-SEM, and small-angle X-rays scattering (SAXS) have been used to study the Pd NPs size distributions and homogeneous distributions in the membrane matrixes. The average size of Pd NPs has been found to be ≈2 nm in all the membranes by SAXS experiments, and elemental mappings by EDX suggest uniform distributions of Pd NPs. However, a very small number of bigger particles have been formed in the membrane having lowered pore-filling due to lower network elasticity in some region that allowed agglomeration to some extent. The in situ generated H₂ during the decomposition of formic acid on Pd surface is used for the reduction of UO₂²⁺ to U⁴⁺. It has been observed that the primary, secondary, and tertiary amine groups on PEI facilitate the formic acid decomposition preferentially to form H₂. However, the Pd NPs hosted in the poly­(EGMP) seem to be less efficient in reducing uranyl ions that bind strongly with the phosphate groups. The effect of physical structure of membrane matrix on catalyzing the uranyl ion reduction is also studied. The Pd²⁺ and Pd NP-loaded PEI and poly­(EGMP) membranes are also studied for their catalytic activities in the representative Mizoroki–Heck cross-coupling reaction of iodobenzene with ethyl acrylate in the presence of base at 100 °C without any solvent. In this case also, the Pd NPs embedded PEI-membrane has given better yield (76%) in comparison with the poly­(EGMP) membrane (65%) with the same amount of Pd NPs and under similar conditions. However, there have been also marginally higher catalytic activities of the Pd NP-loaded membranes as compared to Pd²⁺ ions loaded in the same host membrane. It has been observed from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) that Pd²⁺ ions are reduced to Pd⁰ that actually catalyze the Mizoroki–Heck cross-coupling reaction

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Not AvailableFeasibility of culturing pengba (Osteobrama belangeri) as a candidate species in polyculture along with other carps in net pen enclosure was studied in Takmu lake, Manipur. A net pen measuring 0.1 ha was constructed using nylon net supported by bamboo poles. The average length and weight of stocked fingerlings (@5 no. m-2) were as follows: pengba (9.4 cm, 10.6 g), Labeo catla (16.1 cm, 39.0 g), Labeo rohita (14.8 cm, 38.6 g), Cirrhinus mrigala (16.2 cm, 41.9 g), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (14.2 cm, 30.3 g), Ctenopharyngodon idella (22.4 cm, 115.2 g) and Cyprinus carpio (14.8 cm, 55.1 g). Fishes were fed pelleted feed (23.4% crude protein) @ 5% of body weight twice-a-day for 180 days. Highest growth (in terms of weight gain % and specific growth rate) was recorded in pengba followed by C. idella, L. catla, C. mrigala, L. rohita, C. carpio and H. molitrix. The pen aquaculture system was also found to be economically viable with a benefit-cost ratio of 1.37. In conclusion, net pen aquaculture of pengba along with other carps is economically viable and technically feasible in floodplain wetlands of Manipur.ICA

Boosting thermoelectric power factor of free-standing Poly (3,4ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrenesulphonate films by incorporation of bismuth antimony telluride nanostructures

We demonstrate that introduction of p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 nanostructures into the polymer matrix not only causes highly adherent drop-casted films of PEDOT:PSS (on Kapton sheets) to attain a free-standing nature but also brings a significant improvement in their thermoelectric properties. Hall and ESR measurements of these hybrid films clearly show that both the carrier concentration and mobility can be varied with Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 content. Whereas, results of X-ray diffraction, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirm the enhancement in chain alignment and better connectivity among PEDOT:PSS and Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 nanosheets; leading to remarkable enhancement of electrical conductivity. These hybrid films, due to energy filtering of charge carriers at the organic/inorganic interface, exhibit improvement in the Seebeck coefficient also. In fact, such a synergetic combination of improved electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient expertly tailors the power factor (from order of similar to 10(-4) to 8.3 mu W/mK(2)) over a vast range. The optimized films are tested for their power conversion ability and a single thermoelement based device exhibits an open circuit voltage similar to 536 mu V and current similar to 134 mu A for a temperature difference of 53 degrees C. Such an evolution of organic-inorganic hybrid films in a flexible, free-standing motif with enhanced thermoelectric properties exhibit good potential for recovering heat from the curved hot surfaces