Improvement of drought tolerance in five different cultivars of Vicia faba with foliar application of ascorbic acid or silicon

Aim of study: To explore the role of ascorbic acid (AsA) or silicon (Si) in improving drought tolerance in five faba bean cultivars under irrigation water deficit (IWD).Area of study: The experimental farm; 30° 36′ N, 32° 16′ E, Egypt.Material and methods: Three drip irrigation regimes (WW, well-watered, 4000 m3 water ha-1; MD, moderate drought, 3000 m3 water ha-1; and SD, severe drought, 2000 m3 water ha-1) were applied to plants, which were sprayed 25, 40, and 55 days after sowing with 1.5 mM AsA or 2.0 mM Si vs distilled water as a control.Main results: Drought negatively affected physiological attributes (photosynthetic pigments, gas exchange parameters, relative water content, membrane stability index, electrolyte leakage (EL), and lipid peroxidation), which restricted plant growth and yields, and stimulated alterations in both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities. However, AsA or Si application mitigated drought effects on physiological attributes, improving growth, yields and water use efficiency by raising antioxidant activities and suppressing lipid peroxidation and EL in stressful cultivars. The mitigating effects of AsA and Si were more pronounced under MD.Research highlights: ‘Nubaria-2’, ‘Giza-843’, and ‘Sakha-3’ were more tolerant than ‘Giza-716’ and ‘Sakha-4’, suggesting the use of AsA or Si to ameliorate the IWD effects on stressful cultivars. Certain physiological traits exhibited positive association with growth and seed yield, demonstrating their importance in enhancing seed yield under irrigation treatments

Vertical Muscle Transposition with Augmentation for Treatment of Exotropia Caused by Iatrogenic Lost Medial Rectus Muscle

Purpose: To evaluate the results of vertical muscle transposition with augmentation in cases of exotropia caused by iatrogenic lost medial rectus muscle. Methods: This is a retrospective review of 5 cases of lost medial rectus with exotropia and marked limitation of adduction that underwent surgery. All cases had a history of strabismus surgery on the medial rectus and failed attempt at retrieval of the lost muscle. Results: Five patients fulfilled the criteria. Full tendon vertical muscle transposition with augmentation sutures was done for all cases. Surgery led to a significant reduction of the angle of exotropia 25.8±13.6 ?D (P=0.027) and improvement in adduction of 7.5±3.8 degrees (P=0.034). There were no complications. Conclusions: Isolated vertical muscle transposition with augmentation is a useful option to improve the exotropia and adduction deficit in patients with iatrogenic lost medial rectus muscle

Evaluation of two freshwater macrophytes, Ceratophyllum demersum and Potamogeton amplifoliusas feed ingredients for Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings

The present study was carried out to evaluate the potential of two common freshwater macrophytes (Ceratophyllum demersum and Potamogeton amplifolius) as feed ingredients for Nile tilapia fingerlings, in two consecutive experiments. The first experiment investigated the use of raw, dried C. demersum and P. amplifolius as sources of energy in the diets of fingerlings. The macrophytes were incorporated in 6 isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets at four levels as a replacement of dietary wheat bran. The test diets were fed to triplicate groups, stocked in 140 L culture aquaria in a recirculating system, three times a day to satiation, for 45 days. The results showed that control, macrophyte-free diet produced significantly improved growth rates and feed utilization efficiency than macrophytes-based diets. In Experiment 2, fermented C. demersum and P. amplifolius were incorporated into six isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets. The diets were fed to triplicate groups of fingerlings (35 g) for 45 days. Growth rates and feed utilization efficiency of fish fed with fermented P. amplifolius at 33 % and 66 % inclusion level were not significantly different from fish fed the control diet. At 100 % inclusion level, fish performance was significantly reduced. On the other hand, fermented C. demersum produced extremely poor performance, compared to raw ceratophyllum. In conclusion, the present results indicated that fermentation improved the quality of P. amplifolius; but not C. demersum

Influence of certain carbon and nitrogen sources on antagonistic potentiality of Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus subtillus against Botrytis allii the incitant of onion neck rot

Gliotoxin Fermentation Agar (GFA) Medium and Nutrient Glucose Agar   (NGA) medium with different carbon and nitrogen sources were used to study the impact of carbon and nitrogen sources on Trichoderma harzianum Rifai and Bacillus subtillus Cohn antagonistic efficiency against growth of Botrytis allii Munn. Results indicated that Trichoderma harzianum gave the highest inhibition % in growth of Botrytis allii when Sucrose was used as a carbon source while the lowest values of inhibition% were appeared by application of Mannitol as a carbon source. Trichoderma harzianum gave the highest inhibition% in growth of B.allii when use Potassium nitrate  as a nitrogen source while the lowest values of inhibition% in growth of B.allii were obtained by application of Beef extract as a nitrogen source. Results showed also that Bacillus subtillus gave the highest inhibition% in growth of B.allii when Mannitol was used as a carbon source while the lowest values of inhibition% in growth of B.allii were appeared by application of Sucrose as a carbon source. Bacillus subtillus gave the highest inhibition% in growth of B.allii when use Glutamic acid as a nitrogen source while the lowest values of inhibition% in growth of B.allii were appeared by application of Tryptophan as a nitrogen source.

On modeling two immune effectors two strain antigen interaction

In this paper we consider the fractional order model with two immune effectors interacting with two strain antigen. The systems may explain the recurrence of some diseases e.g. tuberculosis (TB). The stability of equilibrium points are studied. Numerical solutions of this model are given. Using integer order system the system oscillates. Using fractional order system the system converges to a stable internal equilibrium. Ulam-Hyers stability of the system has been studied

A nontraditional method for reducing thermoelastic stresses of variable thickness rotating discs

Funding Open access funding provided by The Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) in cooperation with The Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB). This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Role of hydrogen in volatile behaviour of defects in SiO2-based electronic devices

Charge capture and emission by point defects in gate oxides of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) strongly affect reliability and performance of electronic devices. Recent advances in experimental techniques used for probing defect properties have led to new insights into their characteristics. In particular, these experimental data show a repeated dis- and reappearance (the so-called volatility) of the defect-related signals. We use multiscale modelling to explain the charge capture and emission as well as defect volatility in amorphous SiO2 gate dielectrics. We first briefly discuss the recent experimental results and use a multiphonon charge capture model to describe the charge-trapping behaviour of defects in silicon-based MOSFETs. We then link this model to ab initio calculations that investigate the three most promising defect candidates. Statistical distributions of defect characteristics obtained from ab initio calculations in amorphous SiO2 are compared with the experimentally measured statistical properties of charge traps. This allows us to suggest an atomistic mechanism to explain the experimentally observed volatile behaviour of defects. We conclude that the hydroxyl-E′ centre is a promising candidate to explain all the observed features, including defect volatility

The improved giant magnetostrictive actuator oscillations via positive position feedback damper

This article contemplates the demeanor of the giant magnetostrictive actuator (GMA) when a positive position feedback (PPF) damper is used to enable tight control over its vibration. The methodology followed here mathematically searches for the approximate solution for the motion equations of the GMA with the PPF damper, which has been accomplished by using one of the most famous perturbation methods. The multiple scale perturbation technique (MSPT) of the second-order approximation is our strategy to obtain the analytical results. The stability of the system has also been investigated and observed by implementing frequency response equations to close the concurrent primary and internal resonance cases. By utilizing Matlab and Maple programs, all numerical discussions have been accomplished and explained. The resulting influence on the amplitude due to changes in the parameters' values has been studied by the frequency response curves. Finally, a comparison between both the analytical and numerical solutions using time history and response curves is made. In addition to the comparison between our PPF damper's effect on the GMA, previous works are presented. To get our target in this article, we have mentioned some important applications utilized in the GMA system just to imagine the importance of controlling the GMA vibration

The effect of serum angiotensin II and angiotensin II type 1 receptor gene polymorphism on pediatric lupus nephritis

Background: Angiotensin II (Ang II) is found to perpetuate inflammation and visceral damage in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It mediates most of its actions through Ang II receptor type I (AT1) whose gene polymorphism A1166C (CC genotype) seems to have pathogenic effects. Objective: To measure serum Ang II and the frequency of AT1 receptor CC genotype among a group of Egyptian patients with pediatric onset lupus nephritis (pLN). Methods: This is a case-control cross sectional study which included 24 patients with pLN and 24 age and sex-matched healthy subjects as controls. Clinical evaluation and routine laboratory markers for SLE patients were done. SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) and the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG)-2004 renal score were measured. Serum Ang II was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and detection of ATI receptor CC genotype by polymerase chain reaction were done for both patients and controls. Results: Patients had significantly higher serum Ang II than the controls (p=0.0001). The frequency of AT1 receptor CC genotype was significantly higher among patients as compared to the control group (p=0.008). Both serum Ang II and AT1 receptor CC genotype were comparable between patients with proliferative LN class III and IV and those with LN class II (p>0.05). Serum Ang II did not correlate significantly with SLEDAI or BILAG-renal score (p>0.05). Conclusion: Serum Ang II and AT1 receptor CC genotype seem to have pathogenic role in pLN but with no deleterious effects on the phenotype of LN for further assessment.Keywords: Lupus nephritis; Angiotensin II; Angiotensin II type 1 receptor; Polymorphism; Pediatrics