Modulation of cerebellar purkinje cell activity with low intensity electric and ultrasound stimulation

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques garner significant interest due to their potential to offer instantaneous and region-specific treatments to neurological disorders. The cerebellum is one of the target sites for NIBS methods due to its central role in motor and cognitive functions. Among several modulation techniques, transcranial electric stimulations (tEs), in particular, transcranial direct and alternating current stimulations (tDCs/tACs), and low intensity focused ultrasound stimulation (LIFUS) show encouraging outcomes in clinical applications. tDCs and tACs are favored due to their low cost and accessibility while LIFUS offers high spatial resolution and deeper penetration without affecting the surrounding structures. In order to better understand the underlying mechanism of these methods in the cerebellum, animal studies are needed since these experiments require invasive surgeries. The goal of this study is to investigate the response of cerebellar PCs to electric and ultrasound stimulation in an animal model. The first objective is to measure the electric field (e-field) distribution inside the brain parenchyma since e-field is the main parameter that determines the local effects of electrical stimulation. The results of this part show that e-field decays exponentially through horizontal and vertical directions from the stimulating electrode and scattered by the skin up to 80%. Then, tACS and tDCS are applied to the cerebellar cortex respectively while recording the extracellular spike activity from the cerebellar PCs. The activity of PCs is important because they generate the sole output from the cerebellar cortex, which in turn modifies the output of the deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN). The results of this part demonstrate that the direction of e-field is highly correlated with the level of modulation measured on the PCs. Applying the e-field parallel to the dendritic tree of the PCs generates the highest modulation level. Our data show that PCs have a characteristic response to both DC and AC fields, including entrainment of the simple spike activity at high frequencies. Our findings for the LIFUS also show that spike timing of PCs is strongly entrained with the pulsed ultrasound stimulation, and the level of the entrainment is inversely correlated with the pulse width. In summary, the low intensity electric and ultrasound stimulation are able to effectively modulate the PC activity in the cerebellar cortex. This warrants research to further look into the mechanism of tES and LIFUS acting on the cerebellar cortex at the cellular level

High-throughput identification of adapters in single-read sequencing data

publishedVersio

Impact of soil fertility characteristics on artificial fertility gradient approach developed using sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in Alfisols

In the advent of precision agriculture, applying fertilizer based on soil testing is a crucial tool to prescribe nutrient levels for crops, to increase nutrient use efficiency and production. A field experiment was conducted in a farmer's field in the Dindigul district, Southern agro-climatic zone of Tamil Nadu to ascertain the effect of artificial soil fertility gradient method on soil fertility, green fodder production of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) (var. CO 30) and nutrient absorption. A fertility gradient technique has been investigated to produce fertilizer recommendations for location-specific in red soils (Alfisols, Typic Rhodustalf).  The experimental field was separated into three equal strips: strip I, II, and III, which received applications of the three graded levels of ertilizer N0P0K0, N1P1K1, and N2P2K2, respectively. Urea, single super phosphate, and muriate of potash fertilizers, respectively, were used to apply NPK. As a gradient crop, S. bicolor  was raised. The N1 level was set based on the general fertilizer recommendation of feed sorghum, while the P1 and K1 values were set based on the soil’s ability to fix 100 kg ha-1 of phosphorus and 100 kg ha-1 of potassium, respectively. Plant samples were taken at harvest time, and their NPK content and nutrient uptake were determined. With addition of graded doses of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer in Strip I, II & III increased the soil's available N, P & K status substantially in the order of Strip I<II<III and minimize the heterogeneity in the soil population , management strategies employed, and prevailing climate conditions to induce fertility variations in the same field. The outcomes showed that sorghum crop yields for fodder (Strip III – 25.01 t ha-1) and NPK uptake were significantly impacted by the application of graded amounts of NPK fertilizers

High Exhaustion Sytem (HES) for leather process: Role of biocatalyst as an exhaustive aid for wet-end

Content: Application of biocatalyst becomes an imperative due to their eco-friendly advantages. Enzymes in pretanning for unhairing, fiber opening, defleshing and bating are well reported and practiced. However, the role of enzymes as a chemical aids is less explored and consider as a secondary applications. Leather enzymes are known for its hydrolytic behavior which makes it more suitable for pretanning operations. However, typical chemical exhaustive aids acts as a vehicle for the diffusion of chemicals, whereas enzymes aids in the splitting of fibers which facilitate the diffusion of chemicals and create more functional sites for the tanning and post tanning chemicals to interact. In this research, pickled pelts are treated with acid protease and subsequently tanned using chrome tanning agent. Enzymatic treated pelts resulted in better uptake of chromium as compared to conventionally processed leathers. Similarly, after neutralization, chrome tanned leathers are treated with alkaline protease to conventional post tanning has been carried out. Enzymatic treated wet blue leathers showed high uptake of post tanning chemical, uniform dyeing and reduction in the pollution load. From the preliminary research, an interesting finding has augmented that application of enzymes at an optimized concentration, temperature, pH and time would lead to better uptake of chrome which reduces the pollution and minimization pollution load in post tanning. This study, emphasize on the application of enzymes in tanning and post tanning for higher diffusion of chemicals. Take-Away: 1. Replacement of conventional exhaustive aids using biocatalyst 2. Higher exhaustion rate of tanning and post tanning chemicals 3. Futuristic technology for sustainable leather manufactur

Examining the Polymorphisms in the Hypoxia Pathway Genes in Relation to Outcome in Colorectal Cancer

Introduction Colorectal cancer is a common malignancy. Identification of genetic prognostic markers may help prognostic estimations in colorectal cancer. Genes that regulate response to hypoxia and other genes that are regulated under the hypoxic conditions have been shown to play roles in cancer progression. In this study, we hypothesized that genetic variations in the hypoxia pathway genes were associated with the risk of outcome in colorectal cancer patients. Methods This study was performed in two phases. In the first phase, 49 SNPs from six hypoxia pathway genes (HIF1A, HIF1B, HIF2A, LOX, MIF and CXCL12) in 272 colorectal cancer patients were analyzed. In the second phase, 77 SNPs from seven hypoxia pathway genes (HIF1A, HIF1B, HIF2A, HIF2B, HIF3A, LOX and CXCL12) were analyzed in an additional cohort of 535 patients. Kaplan Meier, Cox univariate and multivariable regression analyses were performed to analyze the relationship between the SNPs and overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS) or disease specific survival (DSS). Since this was a hypothesis-generating study, no correction for multiple testing was applied. Results In phase I, one SNP (HIF2A rs11125070) was found to be associated with DFS in multivariable analysis; yet association of a proxy polymorphism (HIF2A rs4953342) was not detected in the phase II patient cohort. In phase II, associations of two SNPs (HIF2A rs4953352 and HIF2B rs12593988) were significant in both OS and DFS multivariable analyses. However, association of HIF2A rs4953352 was not replicated in the phase I cohort using a proxy SNP (HIF2A rs6706003). Conclusion Overall, our study did not find a convincing evidence of association of the investigated polymorphisms with the disease outcomes in colorectal cance