The role of octadecanoids and functional mimics in soybean defense responses

Oxylipins of the jasmonate pathway and synthetic functional analogs have been analyzed for their elicitor like activities in an assay based on the induced accumulation of glyceollins, the phytoalexins of soybean (Glycine max L.), in cell suspension cultures of this plant. Jasmonic acid (JA) and its methyl ester showed weak phytoalexininducing activity when compared to an early jasmonate biosynthetic precursor, 12-oxophytodienoic acid (OPDA), as well as to the bacterial phytotoxin coronatine and certain 6-substituted indanoylLisoleucine methyl esters, which all were highly active. Interestingly, different octadecanoids and indanoyl conjugates induced the accumulation of transcripts of various defenserelated genes to different degrees, indicating distinct induction competencies. Therefore, these signaling compounds and mimics were further analyzed for their effects on signal transduction elements, such as the transient enhancement of the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and MAP kinase activation, which are known to be initiated by a soybean pathogenderived {[}beta]glucan elicitor. In contrast to the {[}beta]glucan elicitor, none of the other compounds tested triggered these early signaling elements. Moreover, endogenous levels of OPDA and JA in soybean cells were shown to be unaffected after treatment with {[}beta]glucans. Thus, OPDA and JA, which are functionally mimicked by coronatine and a variety of 6-substituted derivatives of indanoylLisoleucine methyl ester, represent highly efficient signaling compounds of a lipidbased pathway not deployed in the {[}beta]glucan elicitorinitiated signal transduction

Information Security in Health Care Centre Using Cryptography and Steganography

As the volume of medicinal information stored electronically increase, so do the need to enhance how it is secured. The inaccessibility to patient record at the ideal time can prompt death toll and also well degrade the level of health care services rendered by the medicinal professionals. Criminal assaults in social insurance have expanded by 125% since 2010 and are now the leading cause of medical data breaches. This study therefore presents the combination of 3DES and LSB to improve security measure applied on medical data. Java programming language was used to develop a simulation program for the experiment. The result shows medical data can be stored, shared, and managed in a reliable and secure manner using the combined model.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl

Evaluation of some trace elements (zinc, chromium, cadmium and manganese) in patients with active tuberculosis attending central hospital Benin city, Edo state

Throughout the world, tuberculosis (TB) infection is on the increase and it has remained one of the most important causes of death among adults in developing countries. This study evaluated the serum concentrations of some trace elements -Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn), Chromium (Cr) and Cadmium (Cd), in 100 blood samples; comprising sixty (60) active TB patients (test subjects) and forty (40) apparently healthy individuals (control). Serum concentrations of the elements were determined with an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, and the results showed significantly (P<0.05) lower concentrations of Zn, Mn and Cr, but significantly (P<0.05) higher levels of Cd in patients with TB than those of the control. In relation to sex, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in Zn and Mn concentrations in TB patients, but a significant difference (P<0.05) was observed for Cr and Cd in the male and female subjects studied. On age, there was no significant difference (p<0.05) in the concentrations of Mn and Cd across the age groups studied, but an age dependent decrease in Cr and increase in Cd, was observed in both gender. Our results suggest that Zn, Mn and Cr concentrations are reduced in TB patients, while serum Cd level is increased.Key words: Infectious disease, Serum concentration, Tuberculosis, Trace element

A Positive-Weight Next-to-Leading-Order Monte Carlo for Heavy Flavour Hadroproduction

We present a next-to-leading order calculation of heavy flavour production in hadronic collisions that can be interfaced to shower Monte Carlo programs. The calculation is performed in the context of the POWHEG method. It is suitable for the computation of charm, bottom and top hadroproduction. In the case of top production, spin correlations in the decay products are taken into account.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures. Few misprints corrected, references updated, final remarks adde

Evaluation of Physical and Chemical Properties of Maikunkele Stream for Irrigation Purpose Using Water Quality Index

Abstract- The study is aimed at using water quality index (WQI) as a standard for determining the suitability of the surface water for irrigation purpose within the Maikunkele Fadama area in Niger State, Nigeria by monitoring five sampling points for five months. The samples were analyzed for includes nitrate (NO3), phosphate (PO4), sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and iron (Fe), besides other general parameters (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, total hardness, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity). The WQI for the parameters under investigation were determined and values compared international standards. The mean temperature value ranged between 29.5 and 30.4oC, while pH values of 7.18 maximum and 5.95 minimum were observed for the study location. The electrical conductivity ranged between 174 and 274 μScm-1. The mean concentration of calcium ion ranged between 3.68 and 4.44 mgL-1. The concentration of Fe was 0.13 mgL-1 and 1.48 mgL-1. The minimum and maximum values of Zn are 0.01 mgL-1 and 0.17 mgL-1 respectively. The Maikunkele Fadama stream had WQI value ranging from 43.469 to 47.120 which fall under good water category, these also conforms to the results obtained from the analysis carried out. It is therefore concluded that the stream water feeding the Maikunkele Fadama farm is fit to be used as irrigation water for the study area as Fadama stream had WQI value ranging from 43.469 to 47.120 thus falling under good water category as far as water quality for irrigation purpose is concerned. Hence, the stream water feeding the Maikunkele fadama farm is fit to be used as irrigation water

NLO QCD corrections in Herwig++ with MC@NLO

We present the calculations necessary to obtain next-to-leading order QCD precision with the Herwig++ event generator using the MC@NLO approach, and implement them for all the processes that were previously available from Fortran HERWIG with MC@NLO. We show a range of results comparing the two implementations. With these calculations and recent developments in the automatic generation of NLO matrix elements, it will be possible to obtain NLO precision with Herwig++ for a much wider range of processesComment: 26 pages, 28 figure

Single-top Wt-channel production matched with parton showers using the POWHEG method

We present results for the next-to-leading order calculation of single-top Wt-channel production interfaced to Shower Monte Carlo programs, implemented according to the POWHEG method. A comparison with MC@NLO is carried out. Results obtained using the PYTHIA shower are also shown and the effect of typical cuts is briefly discussed.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure