Studies on the Accumulation of Chromium in Fenugreek

Studying Cr uptake by Fenugreek, we note that the maximum concentration of Cr takes place in the shells of the pods followed by leaves, stems and seeds in that order. Interestingly, applied higher doses of Cr does not increase accumulation of Cr in the stems, rather Cr content in the stems levels off. However, the maximum dispersal/distribution of Cr taken up is in the leaves

Chromium uptake by Fenugreek

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum- graecum) is both herb (leaves) and a spice (seed) belonging to the family Fabaceae. Fenugreek leaves and seeds are used in the cuisine of India. Fenugreek also has medicinal value. Fenugreek seeds are known to reduce serum glucose and improve glucose tolerance and hence are prescribed to diabetic patients. In the recent past supplemental Chromium is being prescribed to diabetic patients to activate (increased- insulin binding, insulin receptor number, insulin receptor phosphorylation) insulin. Plants can uptake substantial quantities of toxic metals from contaminated soils if these soils are well ameliorated. 

It is then probable that the medicinal efficacy of Fenugreek in the case of diabetes could be enhanced if it takes up chromium from the soil. Preliminary studies are being conducted to note the chromium uptake by Fenugreek from soils which are applied with potassium dichromate

Low-Energy Effective Theory, Unitarity, and Non-Decoupling Behavior in a Model with Heavy Higgs-Triplet Fields

We discuss the properties of a model incorporating both a scalar electroweak Higgs doublet and an electroweak Higgs triplet. We construct the low-energy effective theory for the light Higgs-doublet in the limit of small (but nonzero) deviations in the rho parameter from one, a limit in which the triplet states become heavy. For small deviations in the rho parameter from one, perturbative unitarity of WW scattering breaks down at a scale inversely proportional to the renormalized vacuum expectation value of the triplet field (or, equivalently, inversely proportional to the square-root of the deviation of the rho parameter from one). This result imposes an upper limit on the mass-scale of the heavy triplet bosons in a perturbative theory; we show that this upper bound is consistent with dimensional analysis in the low-energy effective theory. Recent articles have shown that the triplet bosons do not decouple, in the sense that deviations in the rho parameter from one do not necessarily vanish at one-loop in the limit of large triplet mass. We clarify that, despite the non-decoupling behavior of the Higgs-triplet, this model does not violate the decoupling theorem since it incorporates a large dimensionful coupling. Nonetheless, we show that if the triplet-Higgs boson masses are of order the GUT scale, perturbative consistency of the theory requires the (properly renormalized) Higgs-triplet vacuum expectation value to be so small as to be irrelevant for electroweak phenomenology.Comment: Revtex, 11 pages, 7 eps figures included; references updated and three footnotes adde

Can somatic GATA2 mutation mimic germ line GATA2 mutation?

Somatic GATA2 mutation is associated with immunodeficiency and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis in a patient with myeloproliferative neoplasm

Unitarity and Bounds on the Scale of Fermion Mass Generation

The scale of fermion mass generation can, as shown by Appelquist and Chanowitz, be bounded from above by relating it to the scale of unitarity violation in the helicity nonconserving amplitude for fermion-anti-fermion pairs to scatter into pairs of longitudinally polarized electroweak gauge bosons. In this paper, we examine the process t tbar -> W_L W_L in a family of phenomenologically-viable deconstructed Higgsless models and we show that scale of unitarity violation depends on the mass of the additional vector-like fermion states that occur in these theories (the states that are the deconstructed analogs of Kaluza-Klein partners of the ordinary fermions in a five-dimensional theory). For sufficiently light vector fermions, and for a deconstructed theory with sufficiently many lattice sites (that is, sufficiently close to the continuum limit), the Appelquist-Chanowitz bound can be substantially weakened. More precisely, we find that, as one varies the mass of the vector-like fermion for fixed top-quark and gauge-boson masses, the bound on the scale of top-quark mass generation interpolates smoothly between the Appelquist-Chanowitz bound and one that can, potentially, be much higher. In these theories, therefore, the bound on the scale of fermion mass generation is independent of the bound on the scale of gauge-boson mass generation. While our analysis focuses on deconstructed Higgsless models, any theory in which top-quark mass generation proceeds via the mixing of chiral and vector fermions will give similar results.Comment: 12 pages, 11 eps figures included, revtex. Refrences added; wording modified slightly to emphasize focus on top-quar

Electronic structure of Pr0.67_{0.67}Ca0.33_{0.33}MnO3_3 near the Fermi level studied by ultraviolet photoelectron and x-ray absorption spectroscopy

We have investigated the temperature-dependent changes in the near-$E$$_F$ occupied and unoccupied states of Pr$_{0.67}$Ca$_{0.33}$MnO$_3$ which shows the presence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases. The temperature-dependent changes in the charge and orbital degrees of freedom and associated changes in the Mn 3$d$ - O 2$p$ hybridization result in varied O 2$p$ contributions to the valence band. A quantitative estimate of the charge transfer energy ($E$$_{CT}$) shows a larger value compared to the earlier reported estimates. The charge localization causing the large $E$$_{CT}$ is discussed in terms of different models including the electronic phase separation.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, To be published in Phy. Rev.

Dispersion of Resonant Raman Peaks of CO and OH in SnO2, Mo1-x FexO2 Thin Films and SiO2 bulk glass

Resonance Raman (RR) peaks of and stretching modes and their higher harmonics have been observed superimposed on photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of thin films. Commercial fluorine doped thin films deposited by sputtering on glass and thin films deposited on Si by laser ablation have been studied. The dispersions of CO and OH stretching RR modes are ~ 600 cm-1/eV and 800 cm-1 respectively. The dispersion of the third harmonic of CO stretching mode is ~ 2000 cm-1/eV. Similar dispersion of RR peak of stretching modes and higher harmonics superimposed on PL spectra has been observed in Mo1-xFexO2 thin films and SiO2 bulk glass. Large dispersion of RR peaks seems to be a common property of oxides with impurities of and .Comment: 13 pages including three figure

Constructing Gravitational Dimensions

It would be extremely useful to know whether a particular low energy effective theory might have come from a compactification of a higher dimensional space. Here, this problem is approached from the ground up by considering theories with multiple interacting massive gravitons. It is actually very difficult to construct discrete gravitational dimensions which have a local continuum limit. In fact, any model with only nearest neighbor interactions is doomed. If we could find a non-linear extension for the Fierz-Pauli Lagrangian for a graviton of mass mg which does not break down until the scale Lambda_2=(mg Mpl)^(1/2), this could be used to construct a large class of models whose continuum limit is local in the extra dimension. But this is shown to be impossible: a theory with a single graviton must break down by Lambda_3 = (mg^2 Mpl)^(1/3). Next, we look at how the discretization prescribed by the truncation of the KK tower of an honest extra diemsinon rasies the scale of strong coupling. It dictates an intricate set of interactions among various fields which conspire to soften the strongest scattering amplitudes and allow for a local continuum limit. A number of canditate symmetries associated with locality in the discretized dimension are also discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 6 diagrams, 1 figur

Are lead-free relaxor ferroelectric materials the most promising candidates for energy storage capacitors?

Dielectric capacitors offer high-power density and ultrafast discharging times as compared to electrochemical capacitors and batteries, making them potential candidates for pulsed power technologies (PPT). However, low energy density in different dielectric materials such as linear dielectrics (LDs), ferroelectrics (FEs), and anti-ferroelectric (AFEs) owing to their low polarization, large hysteresis loss and low breakdown strength, respectively, limits their real time applications. Thus, achieving a material with high dielectric constant, large dielectric breakdown strength and slim hysteresis is imperative to obtain superior energy performance. In this context, relaxor ferroelectrics (RFEs) emerged as the most promising solution for energy storage capacitors. This review starts with a brief introduction of different energy storage devices and current advances of dielectric capacitors in PPT. The latest developments on lead-free RFEs including bismuth alkali titanate based, barium titanate based, alkaline niobite based perovskites both in ceramics and thin films are comprehensively discussed. Further, we highlight the different strategies used to enhance their energy storage performance to meet the requirements of the energy storage world. We also provide future guidelines in this field and therefore, this article opens a window for the current advancement in the energy storage properties of RFEs in a systematic way.This study has been partially supported by (i) DST-SERB, Govt. of India through Grant ECR/2017/000068 (KCS), (ii) UGC through grant nos. F.4-5(59-FRP)/ 2014(BSR) and (iii) Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/FIS/04650/2020 (JPBS). The author A. R. Jayakrishnan acknowledges the Central University of Tamil Nadu, India for his Ph. D fellowship. The authors acknowledge the CERIC-ERIC Consortium for access to experimental facilities and financial support under proposal 20192055