Aboveground-belowground linkages and carbon allocation in pasture grasses during climate extremes

Predicted increases in climate extremes, such as an increase in the intensity and frequency of drought events and heatwaves, are expected to affect ecosystem functions and services. Pastures and rangelands are particularly sensitive to these changes in climate, with negative consequences for livestock production and associated food security. Knowledge of grass species’ responses to climate extremes in terms of their carbon allocation and trait plasticity associated with resource acquisition can inform management decisions for sustainable pasture production in the face of ongoing and projected changes in a global climate. For this, I employed field and growth chamber manipulation experiments and examined the partitioning of primary production to respiration and growth, as well as biomass allocation and root trait plasticity, in response to predicted changes in rainfall patterns (60% reduction in winter and spring rainfall) and atmospheric warming (ambient +3 ℃). I specifically tested the following overarching questions in this thesis: i) Are there differences in the root economic spectrum and resistance and resilience strategies between C3 and C4 pasture grasses in response to drought?; ii) Do belowground responses in a common pasture grass facilitate aboveground production during heat and drought?; iii) Does partitioning of primary products of photosynthesis between growth and respiration explain pasture production during heat and drought, and how does clipping influence these relationships? Overall, my research provides insight into several resource allocation and carbon uptake mechanisms behind pasture grasses’ responses to drought and warming, both above and belowground. In addition, this work highlights adaptation strategies of pasture species to maintain aboveground production both during exposure to climate stress and for post-stress recovery. In conclusion, this study, in line with ecosystem model projections, demonstrates the heat and drought sensitivity of pasture production and associated implications of declining pasture productivity for the meat, livestock and dairy industries in a future warmer and drier climate. However, findings from my study can also help inform a framework for selecting pasture species and cultivars with traits favoring climate resistance and resilience that will support sustained pasture production under future climates

Assessment of the Fingerprinting Method for Spent Fuel Verification in MACSTOR KN-400 CANDU Dry Storage

The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power has built a new modular type of dry storage facility, known as MACSTOR KN-400 at Wolsong reactor site. The building has the capacity to store up to 24000 CANDU spent fuel bundles in a 4 rows by 10 columns arrangement of silos. The MACSTOR KN-400 consists of 40 silos; each silo has 10 storage baskets, each of which can store 60 CANDU spent fuel bundles. The development of an effective method for spent fuel verification at the MACSTOR KN-400 storage facility is necessary in order for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to meet with safeguards regulations. The IAEA is interested in having a new effective method of re-verification of the nuclear material in the MACSTOR KN-400 dry storage facility in the event of any loss of continuity of knowledge, which occasionally happens when the installed seals fail. In the thesis work, MCNP models of central and corner structures of the MACSTOR KN-400 facility are developed, since both have different types of re-verification system. Both gamma and neutron simulations were carried out using the MCNP models developed for MACSTOR KN-400. The CANDU spent fuel bundle with discharge burnup of 7.5 GWD/t (burned at specific power of 28.39 MW/t) and 10 years cooled was considered for radiation source term estimation. For both the structures, MCNP simulations of gamma transport were done by including Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride (CZT) detector inside the re-verification tube. Gamma analyses for different spent fuel bundle diversion scenarios were carried out. It was observed that for diversion scenarios wherein the bundles are removed from the inner portions of the basket (opposite side of the collimator of the re-verification tube), it was difficult to conclude whether diversion has taken place based on the change in gamma radiation signals. Similar MCNP simulations of neutron transport were carried out by integrating helium-3 detector inside the re-verification tube and the results obtained for various diversion scenarios were encouraging and can be used to detect some spent fuel diversion cases. In the central structure, it was observed that addition of moderating material between the spent fuel and the detector increased the sensitivity of the detecting system for various diversion cases for neutron simulations. In the worst scenario, the diverting state could divert 14 spent fuel bundles from each of 10 baskets in a silo from the basket region opposite to the collimator of the re-verification tube. The non-detection probability for this scenario is close to 1. This diversion cannot be easily detected using the currently designed detection system. In order to increase the detection probability, either the design of the facility must be changed or other safeguard methods, such as containment and surveillance methods must be used for safeguarding the nuclear material at the facility

Phyto-constituents, Pharmacological Properties and Biotechnological Approaches for Conservation of the Anti-diabetic Functional Food Medicinal Plant Salacia: A Review Note

Background and Objective: Genus Salacia L. (Celastraceae) is a woody climbing medicinal plant consisting of about 200 species with many endangered species located throughout the world’s tropical areas. Various parts of the plant as food, functional food additive and tea have been extensively used to treat a variety of ailments like diabetes and obesity as well as inflammatory and skin diseases. The present work reviews the phytochemical properties, pharmacological activities, biotechnological strategy for conservation and safety evaluation of this valuable genus.Results and Conclusion: More efforts are needed to isolate new phytoconstituents from this important medicinal plant. The  echanism of anti-diabetic action has not been done at molecular and cellular levels, thus the fundamental biological understanding is required for future applications. Though the safety of plant species has been well documented and has been confirmed by many toxicological studies, further toxicity research and clinical trials arerecommended. In order to sustain harvest and conservation, agronomic practices for cultivation have to be developed. Establishment of more efficient protocols for in vitro propagation is necessary too. Approaches like genetic manipulation, hairy root culture, media standardization, and use of inducers/precursors for elevation of secondary metabolite levels could also be attractive.Conflict of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest

An alternative synthesis of Vandetanib (CaprelsaTM) via a microwave accelerated Dimroth rearrangement

YesVandetanib is an orally available tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of cancer. The current synthesis proceeds via an unstable 4-chloroquinazoline, using harsh reagents, in addition to requiring sequential protection and deprotection steps. In the present work, use of the Dimroth rearrangement in the key quinazoline forming step enabled the synthesis of Vandetanib in nine steps (compared to the previously reported 12–14).This work was supported by the Cancer Research UK-Cancer Imaging Centre (grant: C1060/ A16464), the Institute of Cancer Research and the University of Hull

A study of arrhythmias and its outcome in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Aim: To detect arrhythmia during hospitalization of patients with acute coronary syndrome and to correlate the association between arrhythmia and patient outcome. Introduction: Acute coronary syndrome represents a Global Pandemic, and is intimidating large as the new epidemic afflicting population worldwide, especially in the Indian sub-continent. Studies have shown that arrhythmias are important predictors of poor outcome in patients with ACS and are associated with higher in-hospital mortality. So, ECG is of great value in patients with acute MI and is essential for risk stratification and selection of optimal management. Methods: A Prospective clinical study consisting of 100 patients of acute coronary syndrome were admitted in ICCU of Mandya Institute of medical Sciences, Mandya who are aged between 18 –50yrs during the period of study (January 2018 to December 2018, a period of 12 months) were taken to determine the occurrence of arrhythmia, its predictors and outcome. Patients were assessed with Characteristic history, ECG criteria and Elevated cardiac enzymes. Results: A total of 100 patients are taken, on admission to the intensive coronary care unit at Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, Mandya. They included 56 males and 44 females (52%)

Neurophysiological Activity Related to Speech Production: An ERP Investigation

The event related potential (ERP) technique is enjoying widespread application in neurophysiological research due to its fine temporal resolution. Of relevance to this study are ERPs related to voluntary movements. The precision with which movement related processes could be recorded using the ERP technique was demonstrated by Gilden, Vaughan and Costa (1966) and Kutas and Donchin (1974, 1977, and 1980) who found that the readiness potential (RP) immediately preceding hand movement was larger over the hemisphere contralateral to the responding hand. Given that left hemisphere controls right hand movements and vice versa, their findings confirmed that the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) is an index of motor preparation. It has been well established that electrodes from the left precentral site (C3) and from the right precentral site (C4) can capture LRPs, and that the motor cortex is the major generator of this component. In the speech domain, researchers recording ERPs related to motor preparation have often considered pre-determined electrode sites (e.g., F3, F4, C3, C4, Cz) assuming that their proximity to motor areas on the cortex enables capturing of specific activity from those areas [F3 close to Broca’s area, Cz close to Supplementary motor area (SMA), C3 to left motor strip, C4 to right motor strip]. A consistent finding has been that the RP preceding speech is greatest at the central electrode sites, which has been attributed to SMA and motor cortex activity. Studying speech production related ERPs at predetermined set of electrodes might not suffice for two reasons: (1) unlike simple finger movement, speaking is a fine motor skill requiring coordination of multiple systems (e.g., respiratory system, phonatory system, articulatory system) and muscles, and (2) the far-field nature of the ERP recording technique often results in spatial and temporal overlap of components. To overcome these challenges, this study considered multichannel recordings and principal component analysis (PCA). Twenty three healthy participants completed a simple hand motor task (pressing a button with the right index finger and another button using the left index finger based on the color of a stimulus frame displayed on a computer screen), and a speech task (saying “pool” or withholding the response based on the color of the frame). The purpose of including a hand motor task was to verify that neural activity specific to motor preparation was detectable in participants when a well-established condition for the elicitation of LRPs was utilized. Both stimulus-locked and response-locked ERPs from 21 right handed participants (11 females and 10 males) were studied. Interhemispheric difference wave analysis and PCA revealed left hemisphere lateralization of the potential (i.e., the LRP) immediately preceding right hand movements, similar to previous studies. The LRP specific to left hand movements (non-dominant hand), however, showed bihemispheric distribution. Results from the speech motor task confirmed that overlapping components affect interpretation of ERPs related to speech production if just central electrode sites are considered. Two ERP components emerged from the multichannel PCA as distinguishing between the speaking and no speaking condition: a posterior negative component and a left lateralized positive component. The morphology of the posterior negative component and significant moderate correlation of its amplitude with the mean reaction time suggest that this component is a possible index of speech motor preparation. Further research is required to determine whether the left-lateralized component reflects a process mediated by the speech dominant hemisphere (left). In addition to demonstrating the usefulness of multichannel recordings and PCA in ERP investigations, the study provides several methodological guidelines for capturing ERPs related to speech production