Separation and phytotoxicity of solanapyrone compounds produced by Ascochyta rabiei (Pass.) Labr. and their metabolism by chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

An isolate of Ascochyta rabiei secreted the phytotoxins, solanapyrones A, B and C when grown on Czapek Dox nutrients supplemented with five cations. The toxins were identified and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection and isolated from culture filtrates by partitioning into ethyl acetate and flash chromatography on silica gel. Cells isolated from leaflets of 12 chickpea cultivars differed by up to five fold in their sensitivity to solanapyrone A and this compound was 2.6-12.6 times more toxic than solanapyrone B, depending on cultivar. When chickpea shoots were placed in solanapyrone A, the compound could not be recovered from the plant and symptoms developed consisting of turgor loss of stems and flame-shaped, chlorotic zones in the leaflets. In similar experiments with solanapyrone B, only 9.4% of the compound taken up was recovered and stems remained turgid but their leaflets became twisted and chlorotic. Glutathione reacted with solanapyrone A, rapidly reducing the amount of free toxin and forming a Sol.A-glutathione conjugate as well as reducing its activity when incorporated in the cell assay. Measurement of reduced glutathione concentration and GST activity among cultivars showed that the differences of their means were highly significant and both were negatively correlated with their relative sensitivity to solanapyrone A. Treatment of shoots with solanapyrone A enhanced total, reduced and oxidized glutathione content as well as GST activity 1.26, 1.23, 1.50 and 1.94 fold, respectively. Similarly, treatment of shoots with the safener, dichlormid, also raised total, oxidized and reduced glutathione levels and GST activity. Cells isolated from shoots treated with dichlormid at 150μg/shoot and 300μg/shoot were 2.45 times and 2.66 times less sensitive to solanapyrone A with LD50 values of 71.5 μg/ml and 77.8 μg/ml, respectively as compared to 29.2 μg/ml for controls. hi preliminary experiments designed to identify microbial genes capable of detoxifying the solanapyrones a basal mineral salts medium caused demethylation of solanapyrone A. Demethylated solanapyrone A was 16.4 fold less toxic than solanapyrone A in the cell assay, requiring 514.0 μg/ml to kill 50% of the cells compared with 31.3 μg/ml for Sol.A

Using Major Ion and Stables Isotopes to Characterize Groundwater Recharge and Hydrochemical Processes in a Mountain-Plain Area: A Case Study in High-Atlas of Marrakech, Morocco

Piedmont landscape is especially important as groundwater recharge zones. Determination groundwater recharge origin and qualitatively, evaluate their contribution on groundwater in piedmont area of Haouz plain was based on the use of geochemical and isotopic analysis of groundwater, surface water and springs of the contact zone between the High-Atlas Chain and the Haouz plain.  The correspondence in the space evolution of the various chemical elements of evaporitic origin (SO42-, Cl-, Sr2+) in groundwater, piedmont springs, and surface water reveals the existence of recharge water from the adjacent High-Atlas Chain. The various recharge modes of the different aquifers (High Atlas and Haouz plain) determined by isotopic analysis, shows that the source of groundwater both for the alluvial aquifer of Haouz and piedmont seems to be composite between a direct infiltration on the High-Atlas tributaries and a remote recharge from the bordering High Atlas aquifers. Remarkable mountain bloc recharge was observed in the piedmont area near the axis of syncline structures, which have layers of Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits and control groundwater mineralization both in piedmont and plain. Keywords: Groundwater recharge, Interaction groundwater-river, Mountain block recharge, Isotopic signature, Hydrochemical proces

Investigation of the laxative, spasmolytic and prokinetic properties of aqueous methanol extract of Buxus sempervirens Linn (Buxaceae)

Purpose: To investigate the spasmolytic and laxative properties of Buxus sempervirens Linn (Buxaceae) in rabbits and mice.Methods: Aqueous methanol extract (AqMeBS) as well as the dichloromethane (DCMF) and aqueous (AqF) fractions of Buxus sempervirens were investigated on isolated rabbit jejunum to explore its antispasmodic effect, relative to the standard drug, verapamil. Laxative and prokinetic potentials of 250 and 500 mg/kg doses of AqMeBS extract were evaluated in mice and compared to that of negative (normal saline) and positive (carbachol) control groups. The effects of AqMeBS and carbachol were also tested in mice pretreated with atropine (10 mg/kg). Single dose, acute oral toxicity study on AqMeBS was also executed in mice at 4000, 8000 and 12000 mg/kg doses.Results: AqMeBS, DCMF and AqF significantly inhibited the rhythmic contractility of jejunum with 0.961, 0.0327 and 0.242 mg/mL, respectively, as median effective concentrations (EC50). In addition, AqMeBS, DCMF and AqF significantly relaxed the contractions due to K+, with EC50 of 1.85, 0.05 and 1.07 mg/mL, respectively. Ca2+ concentration response curves (CCRCs) were shifted to the right by AqMeBS and DCMF, in the same manner as verapamil. In the in vivo experiments, AqMeBS produced significant (p < 0.0001) laxative and prokinetic effects at 250 and 500 mg/kg doses and was comparable to that of carbachol. The acute toxicity study showed that AqMeBS was associated with one mortality at the highest tested dose (12000 mg/kg).Conclusion: These results provide the pharmacological basis for the traditional use of B. sempervirens Linn as a laxative and prokinetic remedy in the management of constipation.Keywords: Buxus sempervirens, Calcium channel blocker, Prokinetic, Laxative, Spasmolyti

Complications and interventions associated with epidural analgesia for postoperative pain relief in a tertiary care hospital.

Introduction: Epidural analgesia is one of the commonly used methods of postoperative pain control despite its associated complications. Early recognition and intervention is required to minimize the effect of these complications. Present audit was conducted to find out the incidence of complications and type of interventions required to change the outcome. MethodOLOGY: The record of all the Patients who had epidural catheter placed for postoperative pain management reviewed from the departmental acute pain management register. Parameters included level of insertion, drugs used, number of days infusion continued and complications like nausea, vomiting, motor block, sedation, dural tap, catheter pull out, hypotension and itching. In addition, the intervention done to manage these complications was also recorded. Results: Total 1706 entries of epidurals were recorded in study period 2001 to 2007. The overall incidence of the complication was 26.6%. The common complications were motor block (13.4%), dural tap (1.2%), ineffective pain control (2.4%), accidental catheter pull outs (3.8%) and problems associated with the delivery system of drug (1.7%). The 12% of Patients required intervention for the particular complications. The regime was discontinued in 28%, drug concentration changed in 21.5% while the other modes of pain management were used in 19% of Patients. 0.9% of Patients required epidural blood patch while 2% of Patients required catheterization for urinary retention. Conclusion: This audit shows the importance of regular assessment and early intervention to manage epidural related complications in improving outcome

Incidence and pattern of thrombocytopenia in cardiac surgery patients

Objective: To observe the incidence and pattern of thrombocytopenia in cardiac surgery patients.Methods: This prospective, cohort study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from November 2014 to April 2015, and comprised adult cardiac patients. Patients with platelet count less than 150,000 x 109/L, history of malignancy, immune thrombocytopenic purpura and on chemo or radiotherapy were excluded. All information including demographics, platelet count, heparin doses, total cardiopulmonary bypass time, cross-clamp time, blood products transfused, any thromboembolic complication and the presence of infection were recorded on a pre-designed proforma. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis..Results: Of the 177 patients, 130(73.4%) were males and 47(26.6%) were females. The overall mean age was 59.21±10.99 years. Thrombocytopenia was observed in 167(94.4%) patients. Of them, platelet count dropped below 50% in 71(42.5%) patients, 30-50% in 68(40.7%) patients and 20-30% in 28(16.8%) from the baseline value. Regarding pattern of thrombocytopenia, maximum drop in platelet count was noticed on 2nd and 3rd day of surgery. Furthermore, 9(5.3%) patients developed severe thrombocytopenia (\u3c50,000 x 109/l).Conclusions: The incidence of thrombocytopeni

Dynamic Optimization of Network Routing Problem through Ant Colony Optimization (ACO)

Search Based Software Engineering (SBSE) is a new paradigm of Software engineering, which considers software engineering problems as search problems and emphasizes to find out optimal solution for the given set of available solutions using metaheuristic techniques like hill climbing simulated annealing, evolutionary programming and tabu search. On the other hand AI techniques like Swarm particle optimization and Ant colony optimization (ACO) are used to find out solutions for dynamic problems. SBSE is yet not used for dynamic problems. In this study ACO techniques are applied on SBSE problem by considering Network routing problem as case study, in which the nature of problem is dynamic. Keywords: SBSE, ACO, Metaheuristic search techniques, dynamic optimizatio

The use of planning in crisis management and its impact on the educational sector: An analytical exploratory study at the Dor Institute of the Northern Technical University

The educational system in universities has been exposed to several crises, the most recent of which is the Corona crisis, which affected the educational systems followed and the latest change in the education system, which turned to e-learning systems to prevent the spread of the epidemic and preserve the lives of students from infection, so the types and forms of crisis management systems differed in the diversity of planning methods and what it contains From (realistic, comprehensive, coordination, integration, timing, participation, provision of the necessary resources), so the educational administration followed the distance education strategy with the availability of places for social distancing and keeping the geographical space allocated to the university as it is. In order to overcome the problem of availability and wide spaces for study halls and laboratories, various planning methods must be used, as it is possible to use crisis management approaches, given that crises have become an integral part of the fabric of contemporary life, and that the occurrence of crises has become a fact of daily life, and the name of each crisis has become It is associated with a special type of disaster. One of the characteristics of the crisis is entering into a circle of future unknowns that are difficult to know or accurately calculate, given that the real danger of the crisis does not go away or relates to the past and the present only, but is strongly oriented towards what the crisis may lead to in the future, so it required intensive professional training for workers In the field of education, on how to face crises, develop their awareness of the characteristics and nature of the crisis, and develop their skills that must be available in those managing the educational process to enable them to deal effectively with various crises . The study dealt with the correlation and the impact of planning and crisis management on the educational sector by relying on an academic sample of (128) teachers and academic staff

Determination of some properties of used cooking oil using AAS, bomb calorimeter and GC-MS techniques

Most of the used cooking oil from households and catering premises in Malaysia will eventually ends up in wastewaters. It will be discharged to the surface of waters because no alternative steps were taken to overcome the waste from used cooking oil. As a component of wastewater, oil is classified together with fats and waxes as grease. This trend results in the generation of a vast waste stream that needs to be properly managed to avoid environmental damage. Thus, the information regarding on the waste cooking oil properties is needed to contribute knowledge for future research where the waste may reformed to value added product. Preliminary analysis of used cooking oil properties via GCMS using capillary column shows n-Hexadecanoic acid and Oleic acid as the major compounds present in the used frying oil. The analysis for determination of volatile and moisture content with 3 replicates show an average of 0.02% moisture and volatile content, which the experimental procedure was based on MPOB Test Methods

The impact of financial development on economic indicators: a dynamic panel data analysis

The study investigates the effect of financial development on major economic indicators, i.e., economic growth, inflation, and employment by applying System GMM estimation technique for a panel of 120 countries for the period 1997 to 2017. Four distinct proxies of financial development are used, i.e., private sector credit, liquid liabilities, money and quasi money, and bank credit. The results contradict the traditional supply-lending hypothesis and reveal negative impact of financial development on economic growth. Moreover, financial development is found to be positively associated with inflation and employment growth. It is suggested that there is need to reform and strengthen the supervision of financial intermediaries to ensure sound prudential lending practices. Furthermore, more credit needs to be allocated to highly productive firms

Rehabilitating Closed Schools: A Daunting Challenge for Pakistan

There are 6034 non-operational schools in Pakistan\u27s southern province of Sindh further complicating the work of the donor agencies; more than half of these non-operational schools (3843) only exist on papers. These shadow schools exist only to usurp international aid earmarked for education. Our research shows that proximity to the population; unavailability of teachers; and lack of infrastructure are some of the fundamental causes driving the closure of more than thirteen percent of schools. Our position is that a large number of these schools can be rehabilitated but that requires a three-phased plan. If implemented, proposed plan would enhance transparency for the international donors, augment direct involvement of local communities, and restore a substantial number of schools to provide primary education to more than 150,000 boys and girls