EFFECT OF SOME CHEMICAL MUTAGENS ON MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS AND CORM PRODUCTIVITY OF SOME GLADIOLUS SP. CULTIVARS

Two pot experiments were carried out at the Nursery of Antoniades Botanical Garden, Hort. Res. Inst., Alexandria, Egyptduring the years of 2012 and 2013. The objectives of this study were to study the effect of soaking corms of three cultivars of Gladiolus sp., namely: Eurovision (Red), Nova Lux (Yellow) and Peter Pears (Peach) in the aqueous solution of either ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) at the rates of 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 % concentrations for 24 hrs. or colchicine at the rates of 0 and 0.1% concentrations for 24 or 48 hrs. on growth performance and corm production.The obtained results indicated that the different levels of EMS had a slight effect on sprouting date, but colchicine treatments induced a significant earliness in both seasons, with the dominance of soaking for 24 hrs. treatment. Cultivar factor had no pronounced effect on sprouting date. All treatments increased plant height over control, but the tallest plants were obtained from corms soaked in EMS at 0.1 or 0.2% concentrations. Plants of cv. Peter Pears were generally taller than those of Eurovision and Nova Lux cultivars. The greatest No. leaves/plant were recorded in the two seasons by soaking the corms in 0.1% colchicine solution for 24 hrs. Furthermore, soaking in 0.1% colchicine solution for 48 hrs. and in EMS one up to 0.3% level recorded also a higher No. leaves. Eurovision and Nova Lux cvs. gave higher No. Leaves than cv. Peter Pears in both seasons. However, the greatest No. Leaves/plant for the 3 used cultivars in both seasons werealso attributed to treating with 0.1% colchicine solution for 24 hrs. Colchicine at 0.1% for 24 hrs. resulted the widest diameter and heaviest fresh weight of the new formed corms, as well as the highest number of cormels/plant over control and other treatments in most cases of the two seasons. The highest No. cormels/plant in the two seasons were recorded for Eurovision and Nova Lux cvs. also by soaking in 0.1% colchicine solution for 24 hrs., but for cv. Peter Pears that was gained by soaking in 0.1% EMS solution for 24 hrs. Therefore the study recommended to soak the corms of the threestudied cultivars in 0.1% colchicine solution for 24 hrs. immediately before planting to get better growth performance and higher corm production

Proučavanje parametara rasprašivanja plazmom velike gustoće u koaksijalnom ubrzivaču plazme

Plasma accelerator was used for the deposition of a material powder placed at a breach. A capacitor bank of 46.26 µF charged to 3 kV (208.17 J) gave a peak current of 8.8 kA after 15 µs. Plasma inductance varied between 3 µH and 1.5 µH while the plasma resistance varied between 5 mΩ and 300 mΩ within one shot, while the electron temperature and plasma density near the substrate measured with a double electric probe was about 3 eV and 2.7 × 1013 cm−3 , respectively. Carbon plasma velocity at the muzzle was 6.0 cm/µs which agrees with calculations. The deposited graphite powder showed mostly a homogeneous distribution of clusters. The total efficiency of the system, considering both the internal and kinetic energy, was found to be 10.9 %.Rabili smo ubrzivač plazme za naparavanje praha postavljenog na otvoru za snop. Sklop kapacitora od 46.26 µF nabijen na 3 kV (208.2 J) davao je vršnu struju 8.8 kA nakon 15 µs. Indukcija plazme mijenjala se između 3 i 1.5 µH, a otpor plazme između 5 i 300 mΩ tijekom pojedinog palenja. Elektronska temperatura i gustoća plazme u blizini podloge, koje smo mjerili dvostrukom električnom sondom, iznose oko 3 eV odn. 2.7 × 1013 cm−3 . Brzina ugljične plazme kod otvora iznosi 6.0 cm/µs, u skladu s izračunatom vrijednošću. Naparen grafitni prah pokazuje većma jednoličnu raspodjelu nakupina. Ukupna učinkovitost sustava, ubrajajući unutarnju i kinetičku energiju, iznosi 10.9 %

Pilot study for assessment of prevalence of intrafamilial hepatitis C transmission in relation to salivary viral load among infected patients with and without chronic renal failure

HCV-RNA in saliva of HCV patients provides a biological basis for its potential transmission. HCV viremia is particularly high in HCV patients on hemodialysis. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of HCV in saliva of HCV patients with and without renal failure, and the possible role of intrafamilial transmission of the virus. Twenty HCV patients were enrolled in this study. They were divided into two groups: 10 HCV infected patients without renal failure (Group I) and 10 with renal failure (Group II).  Detection of HCV-RNA by quantitative RT-PCR in serum and saliva of both groups was done. Thirty-eight family members of both groups were included for the detection of serum HCV antibody. The percentage of the saliva-positive patients for HCV was significantly higher in the renal failure group (70%) than the other group (40%) (p<0.05). There was insignificant statistical difference between the two groups as regards infectivity to their family contacts. Also there was insignificant correlation between the level of viremia and the intra familial transmission with a mean + SD (9,33,250 +24,501) in negative relatives and a mean + SD(79,912+26,879) in positive relatives (p> 0.05). But a significant correlation was revealed between the level of viremia and saliva positivity, with a mean + SD(12,95,666 + 1792) in saliva-positive patients and a mean +SD (3,74,465 + 2150) in saliva-negative patients (p< 0.05). There was a highly significant difference between infectivity of HCV saliva-positive patients and saliva-negative patients to their family contacts (p< 0.001). Conclusion: Increased percentage of HCV detection in saliva of HCV patients with renal failure on HD may cause spreading of HCV in HD units among RF patients. Also there was increased percentage of interfamilial infectivity among the saliva-positive patients to their relatives and this suggests that saliva might have an infective role.Keywords: Salivary; HCV; HCV PCR; Intrafamilial transmissio

EFFECT OF K-FELDSPAR ROCK FERTILIZER ON GROWTH AND MINERAL CONTENT OF MORINGA SEEDLINGS (MORINGA OLEIFERA)

A field experiment was conducted at the Botanical Gardens Research Department Land, Hort. Res. Inst. Alex., Egypt,during 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons to study the effect of Kfeldspar rock fertilizer on growth and mineral content of Moringa seedlings. Feldspar grinded rock and potassium sulphate were used as fertilizer sources of K fertilizer to Moringa plants. Fertilizer treatments consisted of three rates of K-feldspar (0, 200, 400 g /tree) and three rates of K-sulphate (0, 100, 200 g /tree), besides six combinations prepared from K-feldspar and K-sulphate. These amounts were addedas a soil drench in two equal doses, the first one was applied immediately after planting (on April, 15th.), while the other after 3 months from the first (on July, 15th.). In addition, all Moringa seedlings received phosphate (50 g P2O5/ tree), organic manure (3kg/tree) and N (50 g / tree) at processing and preparing the soil to planting seedlings. Also, in the second season, Moringa seedlings were cultivated at the same age and height as well as the same agricultural practices as in the first one. The obtained results indicated that all treatments increased plant height and stem diameter with various significant differences compared to the control at the different determinations assessed in the two seasons. However, the superiority in the two seasons was for the combination of 200g K-F + 100g K-S, which gave the tallest plantsand widest stems, as well as K mineral content of either soil or plant. In general, connecting between K-F and K-S recorded better results than the individual application of each in most determinations registered in both seasons. Also, increasing the rate of either K-F or KS, individually or in combination caused an addition improvement in all previous characters measured in different stages of the two seasons. Moreover, treatments that involved K-feldspar gave better results in the second period of each season than that included K-sulphate alone, indicating its ability to provide plants with K+ ions for a long period. So, it can be recommended to fertilize Moringa seedlings with 200g K-feldspar grinded rock + 100g of K-sulphate for to obtain the best growth with the least cost

On a New Numerical Computation of the Steady State Solution for two Infinite Server parallel Queues

Abstract We consider a network of two M/M/∞ parallel queues having the same poisonnian arrival stream with rate λ. Upon his arrival to the system a customer heads to the shortest queue and stays until being served. If the two queues have the same length, an arriving customer choose one of the two queues with the same probability. Each duration of service in the two queues is an exponential random variable with rate μ and no jockeying is permitted between the two queues. We use a linear program for a numerical computation of the steady state solution of the system. Mathematics Subject Classification: 60J28, 60K25, 90C0