INFLUENCE OF ORGANIC MANURES AND GIBBERELLIC ACID ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF STRAWBERRY (Fragaria X ananassa DUCH.)

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of organic manures and growth regulators on the growth and yield of two varieties of strawberry namely ‘Sweet Charlie’ and ‘Winter Dawn’. Six treatments were taken combining three organic manures viz. Vermicompost @ 3.0 t/ha, Mustard oil cake @ 1.0 t/ha and Neem cake @ 1.0 t/ha and two concentrations of gibberellic acid (GA3) viz. 75 ppm and 100 ppm along with a control. Foliar application of GA3 was carried out at 40 and 60 days after planting whereas organic manures were applied as basal dose. Results of the study suggested that higher doses i.e. 100 ppm of GA3 along with vermicompost exhibited more vegetative growth whereas 75 ppm GA3 resulted in higher fruit set and yield in both the varieties. It was found that vermicompost @ 3.0 t/ha combined with 100 ppm GA3 recorded the highest plant height (24.7 cm and 21.4 cm) and numbers of leaves per plant (46.0 and 68.7) in both Sweet Charlie and Winter Dawn varieties, respectively. Whereas, highest fruit diameter (3.3cm and 3.4cm), fruit length (4.6cm and 4.8cm), fruit weight (18.2 g and 17.9 g), number of fruits per plant (24.6 and 32.0), yield per plant (447.8 g and 572.1 g) and yield per hectare (18.80 t and 24.03 t) were recorded under vermicompost @ 3.0 t/ha in combination with 75 ppm GA3 in both Sweet Charlie and Winter Dawn varieties, respectively. It was observed that Winter Dawn variety produced a 28.0% higher yield as compared to Sweet Charlie under the best treatment i.e. vermicompost @ 3.0 t/ha in combination with 75 ppm GA3

The Use of Advanced Spectral Imaging to Reveal Nanoparticle Identity in Biological Samples

Nanoparticles (NPs) have been used in drug delivery therapies, medical diagnostic strategies, and as current Covid-19 vaccine carriers. Many microscope-based imaging systems have been introduced to facilitate detection and visualization of NPs. Unfortunately, none can differentiate the core and the shell of NPs. Spectral imaging has been used to distinguish a drug molecule and its metabolite. We have recently integrated this technology to a resolution of 9 nm by using artificial intelligence-driven analyses. Such a resolution allowed us to collect many robust datapoints for each pixel of an image. Our analyses could recognize 45 spectral points within a pixel to detect unlabeled Ag-NPs and Au-NPs in single live cells and tissues (liver, heart, spleen and kidneys). The improved resolution and software provided a more specific fingerprinting for each single molecule, allowing simultaneous analyses of 990 complex interactions from the 45 points for each molecule within a pixel of an image. This in turn allowed us to detect surface-functionalization of Ag-NPs to distinguish the core from the shell of Ag-NPs for the first time. Our studies were validated using various laborious and time-consuming conventional techniques. We propose that spectral imaging has tremendous potential to study NP localization and identification in biological samples at a high temporal and spatial resolution, based primarily on spectral identity information

BOVINE PLASMA FIBRINOGEN AS MARKER IN CLINICAL AND SUB-CLINICAL MASTITIS

Plasma samples were collected from healthy as well as clinical and sub-clinical mastitis affected cows from Barasat, West Bengal, India. Plasma samples, after ammonium sulphate precipitation, were dialyzed against several changes of PBS (pH 7.2) to remove the excess ammonium sulphate. Then plasma fibrinogens were purified by gel filtration chromatography on Sephacryl S-200 HR. SDS-PAGE (10%) of purified fibrinogen from plasma of healthy cow revealed polypeptide bands of 74, 67 and 57 kDa which represent the α (alpha), β (beta) and γ (gamma)- chains respectively. On the other hand, purified fibrinogen from plasma of sub-clinical and clinical mastitis affected cow revealed polypeptide bands of 73 (α-chain), 68 kDa (β-chain) and 72 (γ-chain), 68 kDa (β-chain) respectively. The SDS-PAGE analysis showed the absence of gamma (γ)- chain of fibrinogen in both the samples of sub-clinical and clinical mastitis positive cow. Single precipitin line was observed in double immunodiffusion test when purified fibrinogen from healthy, clinical and subclinical mastitis positive cows reacted with hyper immune sera raised in rabbit. No precipitin line was found against the normal control serum. These purified fibrinogens also showed cross reactivity against antibody raised in rabbit when analyzed by western blot technique

Size-dependent apoptotic activity of gold nanoparticles on osteosarcoma cells correlated with SERS signal

In the last decade, gold nanoparticles have emerged as promising agents for in vitro bio-sensing and in vivo cancer theranostics. However, different investigations have reported widely varying cytotoxicity and uptake efficiency of gold nanoparticles depending upon their size. Therefore, more extensive studies are needed to standardize these biological effects as a function of size on a particular cell line. In addition, to obtain robust confirmation on the correlation of a size to biological effect, thorough mechanistic study must also be performed. In this study, the size dependent biological activities of gold nanoparticles on osteosarcoma cells is investigated towards exploring their potential theranostic application in bone cancer, for which very scarce literature reports are available. Tris-assisted citrate based method was optimized to synthesize stable gold naoparticles of 40–60 nm sizes. Nanoparticles were characterized through UV–Vis spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Increasing concentrations of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of 46 nm size, enhanced the rate of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced apoptosis in MG63 cells by disrupting their mitochondrial membrane potential. Considerably higher cell death was observed for 46 and 60 nm AuNPs compared to 38 nm at all concentrations of 200, 400 and 800 ng/mL. Further, molecular signatures of cellular apoptosis under nanoparticle treatment were optically assessed through surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). A significant Raman enhancement in cancer cells under treatment of larger gold nanoparticles (46 and 60 nm) at fixed wavelength of 785 nm and laser power of 8.0 mW was evident. In corroboration with molecular biology techniques, SERS observation confirmed the size-dependent apoptotic phenomena in osteosarcoma cells under treatment of gold nanoparticles. Study demonstrates a facile, non-active targeting approach for detection of size-dependent AuNP-induced apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells through label-free SERS method

Essential steps in bioprinting: From pre- to post-bioprinting

PubMedID: 29909085An increasing demand for directed assembly of biomaterials has inspired the development of bioprinting, which facilitates the assembling of both cellular and acellular inks into well-arranged three-dimensional (3D) structures for tissue fabrication. Although great advances have been achieved in the recent decade, there still exist issues to be addressed. Herein, a review has been systematically performed to discuss the considerations in the entire procedure of bioprinting. Though bioprinting is advancing at a rapid pace, it is seen that the whole process of obtaining tissue constructs from this technique involves multiple-stages, cutting across various technology domains. These stages can be divided into three broad categories: pre-bioprinting, bioprinting and post-bioprinting. Each stage can influence others and has a bearing on the performance of fabricated constructs. For example, in pre-bioprinting, tissue biopsy and cell expansion techniques are essential to ensure a large number of cells are available for mass organ production. Similarly, medical imaging is needed to provide high resolution designs, which can be faithfully bioprinted. In the bioprinting stage, compatibility of biomaterials is needed to be matched with solidification kinetics to ensure constructs with high cell viability and fidelity are obtained. On the other hand, there is a need to develop bioprinters, which have high degrees of freedom of movement, perform without failure concerns for several hours and are compact, and affordable. Finally, maturation of bioprinted cells are governed by conditions provided during the post-bioprinting process. This review, for the first time, puts all the bioprinting stages in perspective of the whole process of bioprinting, and analyzes their current state-of-the art. It is concluded that bioprinting community will recognize the relative importance and optimize the parameter of each stage to obtain the desired outcomes. © 2018 Elsevier Inc.National Science Foundation: 1600118, BIDEP 2219This work has been supported by National Science Foundation Award # 1600118 awarded to I.T.O. The authors also acknowledge Department of Science and Technology , Government of India, INSPIRE Faculty Award to P.D. The authors are grateful to International Postdoctoral Research Scholarship Program ( BIDEP 2219 ) of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey for providing scholarship to V. O and the support from the Turkish Ministry of National Education for providing graduate scholarship to B. A. The authors confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome

Characteristic feature studies of integrated field intensity of sferics at North-East India

397-403Some studies on the variations of integrated field intensity of sferics (IFIS) at 9 kHz are carried out at Mirik (lat 26.9°N, long 88.2°E), a hilly place of North-East India, under different seasonal conditions during January - December 2011. The recorded data are analyzed and interpreted. During locally clear days and nights, IFIS provides a regular behaviour, i.e. field strength remains constant but decreases gradually after the onset of rain. During short period showers, IFIS exhibits a sudden rise and gradual fall. An irregular variation in IFIS is observed with the coverage of roof height cloud mass

Cyclic-RGDfK-directed docetaxel loaded nanomicelles for angiogenic tumor targeting

Targeting angiogenesis is a strategy to better control tumor growth and metastasis. αvβ3 is an integrin, involved in the regulation of angiogenesis and overexpressed in angiogenic endothelial cells and various cancers including breast, prostate, pancreatic, and brain cancers. cRGDfK peptide has high specificity towards αvβ3 integrin receptors. Docetaxel (DTX) is a broad spectrum anticancer drug, widely used to treat breast, ovarian, prostate, non-small-cell lung, gastric, and neck cancers. Its clinical application is limited owing to its poor aqueous solubility, low oral bioavailability, and nonspecific cytotoxicity. The nanocarriers help to overcome these limitations and further can be surface-modified to conjugate ligand to achieve selective delivery to tumor. d-α-Tocopheryl polyethylene glycol succinate (TPGS) is a water soluble derivative of natural d-α-tocopherol (Vit E). TPGS-based engineered nanocarrier systems have been shown to transport and deliver anticancer drugs more efficiently than the pristine drugs. Herein, we attempt to improve the therapeutic potential of DTX and to target the integrin receptor overexpressing angiogenic tumors, by encapsulating the DTX in nanomicelles and conjugating to cRGDfK peptide for tumor targeting. These nanomicelles are characterized by various analytical techniques and their potential of selective targeting is also evaluated. In the present chapter, we provide the general procedure used in this study: (1) synthesis and characterization of succinoyl-TPGS, (2) preparation and characterization of docetaxel loaded TPSA nanomicelles (DNM), (3) bioconjugation, quantification, and characterization of cRGDfK peptide to DNM (PDNM), (4) in vitro evaluation of cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles, (5) antiangiogenic activity, and (6) stability studies