Extent of heterosis in CMS based hybrids of Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.]

Endowed with several unique characteristics, pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] holds a prominent position in farm households of semi-arid and arid regions of the world. With the advent of hybrid pigeonpea technology, pigeonpea, once designated as orphan crop, has grown in importance as a commercial crop. Thus, development of more number of quality hybrid varieties has become imperative to meet the future demand. The present study was taken up to elicit the information on magnitude of the genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance as percent of mean, extent of fertility restoration and heterosis in newly developed CMS based pigeonpea hybrids. Twenty four pigeonpea hybrids along with four checks viz., Asha, Maruti, LRG 41 and BDN 711, were evaluated in kharif 2015 at ICRISAT, Patancheru. Analysis of variance showed significant differences among the hybrids for all the characters studied. High genetic variability coupled with high heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean were recorded for number of primary branches, number of secondary branches and pollen fertility percent. Fertility restoration studies showed that 15 out of 24 hybrids recorded high (>80 %) pollen fertility and exhibited better fertility restoration. High levels of heterosis i.e. over 50% in traits like number of pods per plant, pod weight per plant and grain yield per plant. were also recorded. ICPH 3762 and ICPH 4502, with high per se performance and high standard heterosis for grain yield per plant and for majority of yield attributes, were identified as promising hybrids

Stereodifferentiation in the formation and decay of the encounter complex in bimolecular electron transfer with photoactivated acceptors

Experimental evidence has been obtained for the involvement of encounter complexes between both enantiomers of a π,π* triplet excited ketone and a chiral phenol or indole. Determination of the pre-equilibrium constants (KEC) and the intrinsic decay rate constants (kd) indicates a significant stereodifferentiation in both steps of the quenching process.Perez Prieto, Julia, [email protected] ; Galian, Raquel Eugenia, [email protected] ; Morant Miñana, Maria Carmen, [email protected]

Decreased rotational flow and circumferential wall shear stress as early markers of descending aorta dilation in Marfan syndrome : a 4D flow CMR study

Diseases of the descending aorta have emerged as a clinical issue in Marfan syndrome following improvements in proximal aorta surgical treatment and the consequent increase in life expectancy. Although a role for hemodynamic alterations in the etiology of descending aorta disease in Marfan patients has been suggested, whether flow characteristics may be useful as early markers remains to be determined. Seventy-five Marfan patients and 48 healthy subjects were prospectively enrolled. In- and through-plane vortexes were computed by 4D flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in the thoracic aorta through the quantification of in-plane rotational flow and systolic flow reversal ratio, respectively. Regional pulse wave velocity and axial and circumferential wall shear stress maps were also computed. In-plane rotational flow and circumferential wall shear stress were reduced in Marfan patients in the distal ascending aorta and in proximal descending aorta, even in the 20 patients free of aortic dilation. Multivariate analysis showed reduced in-plane rotational flow to be independently related to descending aorta pulse wave velocity. Conversely, systolic flow reversal ratio and axial wall shear stress were altered in unselected Marfan patients but not in the subgroup without dilation. In multivariate regression analysis proximal descending aorta axial (p = 0.014) and circumferential (p = 0.034) wall shear stress were independently related to local diameter. Reduced rotational flow is present in the aorta of Marfan patients even in the absence of dilation, is related to aortic stiffness and drives abnormal circumferential wall shear stress. Axial and circumferential wall shear stress are independently related to proximal descending aorta dilation beyond clinical factors. In-plane rotational flow and circumferential wall shear stress may be considered as an early marker of descending aorta dilation in Marfan patients. The online version of this article (10.1186/s12968-019-0572-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Triplet exciplexes as energy transfer photosensitisers

Experimental evidence is provided for the occurrence of triplet–triplet energy transfer from benzoylthiophene–indole exciplexes to naphthalenes with a remarkable stereodifferentiation; chiral recognition is also observed in the decay of the generated naphthalene triplets.Perez Prieto, Julia, [email protected] ; Galian, Raquel Eugenia, [email protected] ; Morant Miñana, Maria Carmen, [email protected]

The use of nanocrystal quantum dot as fluorophore reporters in molecular beacon-based assays

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45S rDNA external transcribed spacer organization reveals new phylogenetic relationships in Avena genus

Research ArticleThe genus Avena comprises four distinct genomes organized in diploid (AA or CC), tetraploid (AABB or AACC) and hexaploid species (AACCDD), constituting an interesting model for phylogenetic analysis. The aim of this work was to characterize 45S rDNA intergenic spacer (IGS) variability in distinct species representative of Avena genome diversity±A. strigosa (AA), A. ventricosa (CvCv), A. eriantha (CpCp), A. barbata (AABB), A. murphyi (AACC), A. sativa (AACCDD) and A. sterilis (AACCDD) through the assessment of the 5' external transcribed spacer (5'-ETS), a promising IGS region for phylogenetic studies poorly studied in Avena genus. In this work, IGS length polymorphisms were detected mainly due to distinct 5'-ETS sequence types resulting from major differences in the number and organization of repeated motifs. Although species with A genome revealed a 5'-ETS organization (A-organization) similar to the one previously described in A. sativa, a distinct organization was unraveled in C genome diploid species (C-organization). Interestingly, such new organization presents a higher similarity with other Poaceae species than A-genome sequences, supporting the hypothesis of C-genome being the ancestral Avena genome. Additionally, polyploid species with both genomes mainly retain the A-genome 5'-ETS organization, confirming the preferential elimination of C-genome sequences in Avena polyploid species. Moreover, 5'-ETS sequences phylogenetic analysis consistently clustered the species studied according to ploidy and genomic constitution supporting the use of ribosomal genes to highlight Avena species evolutive pathways.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence of socioeconomic factors on pregnancy outcome in women with structural heart disease

OBJECTIVE: Cardiac disease is the leading cause of indirect maternal mortality. The aim of this study was to analyse to what extent socioeconomic factors influence the outcome of pregnancy in women with heart disease.  METHODS: The Registry of Pregnancy and Cardiac disease is a global prospective registry. For this analysis, countries that enrolled ≥10 patients were included. A combined cardiac endpoint included maternal cardiac death, arrhythmia requiring treatment, heart failure, thromboembolic event, aortic dissection, endocarditis, acute coronary syndrome, hospitalisation for cardiac reason or intervention. Associations between patient characteristics, country characteristics (income inequality expressed as Gini coefficient, health expenditure, schooling, gross domestic product, birth rate and hospital beds) and cardiac endpoints were checked in a three-level model (patient-centre-country).  RESULTS: A total of 30 countries enrolled 2924 patients from 89 centres. At least one endpoint occurred in 645 women (22.1%). Maternal age, New York Heart Association classification and modified WHO risk classification were associated with the combined endpoint and explained 37% of variance in outcome. Gini coefficient and country-specific birth rate explained an additional 4%. There were large differences between the individual countries, but the need for multilevel modelling to account for these differences disappeared after adjustment for patient characteristics, Gini and country-specific birth rate.  CONCLUSION: While there are definite interregional differences in pregnancy outcome in women with cardiac disease, these differences seem to be mainly driven by individual patient characteristics. Adjustment for country characteristics refined the results to a limited extent, but maternal condition seems to be the main determinant of outcome