A Logarithmic Formula to Describe the Relationship between the Increased Radiosensitivity at Low Doses and the Survival at 2 Gray

Objectives: Intrinsic radiosensitivity at doses used in radiotherapy is linked to hypersensitivity (HRS) and increased radio resistance (IRR) at low doses. The aim of this study was to explore this relationship. Methods: Survival curves for 18 human tumour cell lines were analysed, using two models to fit the data points in order to extract the necessary parameters relevant for this study. Results: The IRR ratio αs/αr versus the survival at 2 gray (Gy) can be described by a logarithmic relation which leads to a series of straight lines. Conclusion: The relationship obtained implies that there is a direct link between HRS/IRR and survival at clinically relevant doses of 2 Gy

Seed Number and 100-Seed Weight of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) Respond Differently to Low Soil Moisture in Genotypes Contrasting for Drought Tolerance

Water stress after flowering, one of the major factors limiting yields of pearl millet, affects both seed setting and grain filling and is a consequence of more/less water used prior to anthesis. However, whether genotypes have different sensitivities for seed setting and filling under drought, if exposed to similar stress intensity, is unclear. Experiments were conducted in two pairs of pearl millet genotypes, that is, PRLT2/89-33 and H77/833-2, 863B and 841B, contrasting for terminal drought tolerance, and two genotypes, ICMR 01046 and ICMR 01029 (IL-QTLs), introgressed with a terminal drought tolerance QTL from PRLT2/89- 33 into H77/833-2. Total seed weight, panicle number, 100-seed weight, seed number and stover biomass were measured at different soil moistures and throughout grain filling. Sensitive H77/833-2 had higher seed number and yield under well-watered (WW) conditions than in PRLT2/89-33 and IL-QTLs. Upon increases in water stress intensity, H77/833-2 suffered losses mostly in stover biomass (45 %) and seed number (60 %) at 0.3 FTSW whereas the biomass and seed number of PRLT2/89-33 decreased little (20 % and 25 %). The 100-seed weight of H77/833-2 decreased only 20 % under stress. Tolerant 863B also maintained a higher seed number and biomass under water stress than 841B. Grain filling duration in PRLT2/89-33 and IL-QTLs was similar to that of H77/833-2 under WW conditions but lasted longer than in H77833-2 under water stress (WS). Similarly, seed growth of 863B was longer than 841B under WS. It is concluded that the higher seed yield of tolerant parents PRLT2/89-33 and 863B, and of ILQTLs under WS was explained by the retention of a higher number of seeds than in sensitive lines, while the decrease in the 100-seed weight was proportionally less than the decrease in seed number. Phenotype with lesser number and larger size of panicles and larger grain size, like genotypes PRLT2/89-33 and 863B, withstood post-anthesis water stress better. IL-QTL inherited part of these characteristics, indicating a role for the terminal drought QTL in maintaining larger seed number and higher 100-seed weight. The continuous stover biomass increase under WW in H77/833-2, due to tillering, might indicate that tiller growth and grains are in competition for resources after anthesis, and this may relate to the relatively shorter grain-filling period

Identification of polymorphic SSR markers in elite genotypes of pearl millet and diversity analysis

Pearl millet is a climate-resilient crop of marginal agro-ecologies and semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. With substantial nutritional qualities crop requires low inputs and is capable of giving economic returns. Development of high-yielding hybrids is an important breeding objective for pearl millet worldwide. The knowledge of genetic diversity is a prerequisite for developing superior hybrids. In the current study, attempts were made to evaluate the diversity of 17 important Indian pearl millet inbred genotypes and one popular hybrid 9444 using fluorescent labeled SSR markers. A total of 342 polymorphic alleles with an average of 4.62 alleles per primer were produced from 74 SSR markers. Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.10 to 0.89 with an average of 0.55. A very low level of heterozygosity was detected in genotypes. The average genetic dissimilarity detected between pairs of inbred lines was 0.66. Genetic dissimilarity estimates calculated among the inbred lines varied from 0.108 (AIMP-03 and AIMP-08) to a maximum of 0.851(AIMP-03/AIMP-08 and 81B). The results indicated that sufficient genetic variability is available in studied genotypes which can be exploited through heterosis breeding to develop hybrids. The study also presents a suit of SSR markers that could be effectively used for genetic diversity analysis in pearl millet

Increased emergency department use by adolescents and young adults with eating disorders

Objective: This study describes patterns of emergency department (ED) utilization by patients who screen positive for eating disorders. Method: ED patients aged 14–20 years ( n = 1,920) completed a computerized questionnaire. The analyses compared the rates of ED use between patients who screened positive for an eating disorder and those who did not and examined the reasons for ED use amongst patients with eating disorders. Results: ED patients who screened positive for eating disorders were significantly more likely to have previously visited the ED and, on average, utilized the ED at a rate 1.6 times higher than patients who screen negative for eating disorders. The most common chief complaints among patients who screen positive for eating disorders were abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal‐related problems. Discussion: Patients with eating disorders utilize the ED more frequently than those without and commonly present for complaints seemingly unrelated to their eating disorder. © 2012 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2013)Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97531/1/22070_ftp.pd

Frequency of color blindness in pre-employment screening in a tertiary health care center in Pakistan

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To describe the frequency of color vision deficiency among Pakistani adults presenting for pre-employment health screening in a tertiary care hospital. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was carried out at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and the data was collected for color vision deficiency, age, gender, and job applied for from pre-employment examination during 2013-2014. IBM SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Three thousand four hundred and thirty seven persons underwent pre-employment screening during 2013 and 2014; 1837 (53.44%) were males and 1600 (46.65%) females. The mean age was 29.01 (±6.53) years. A total of 0.9% (32/3437) persons had color vision deficiency with male being 1.4% and female 0.4%. CONCLUSION: Color vision deficiency was observed in 0.9% of candidates screened for pre-employment health check up in a tertiary care hospital. The color vision deficiency was predominantly present in male individuals

Fertility Restoration in Male Sterile X Maintainer Hybrids of Pearl Millet

Effects of environment and parental nuclear genotype may cause considerable difficulties in the identification of maintainer lines (Blines) and in the classification of different sources of cytoplasmic male-sterility (cms) in pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]. We studied the pollen shedding pattern as a measure of fertility restoration in A ✕ B hybrids of pearl millet by crossing seven cytoplasmic male-sterile lines (A-lines) with the B-lines of each of the A-lines at the ICRISAT Center in the dry and rainy seasons for 2 yr. Five of the A, system A-lines (i.e. A ✕ B parental crosses) were stable for male-sterility, whereas one was sterile in the dry season but produced a low frequency of pollen shedders in the rainy season. The non-Al system A-line (PT 732A) produced a low frequency of pollen shedders in both dry and rainy seasons. In comparison, almost all the non parental A ✕ B hybrids were uniformly or predominantly fertile across all the tests. The seed set data under selfing were generally supportive of the pollen fertility pattern. These results indicate that isonuclear lines or hybrids should be used for the reliable classification of cms sources in pearl millet. Fertility restoration pattern of hybrids in our study does not provide adequate evidence for differentiating the cytoplasm of PT 732A from that of Tift 23A1. A higher proportion of B-lines produced sterile hybrids on 81A than on other A-lines, indicating that 81A is a more efficient tester than other A-lines used in this study for identifying B-line sources

Biochemical Constituents Related to Odor Generation in Some ICRISAT Pearl Millet Materials

The hydrolytic breakdown of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) meal lipids and enzymatic degradation of meal phenolics are thought to cause the development of a "mousy" odour in stored meal. Some 29 ICRISAT genotypes with green, brown or white seeds were analysed for fats and phenolics and polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase (POD) activities. Three genotypes with low POD activity were identified and are currently used as mapping populations to identify quantitative trait loci associated with this trait

Construction of genetic linkage map and QTL analysis of sinksize traits in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum)

A linkage map, primarily based on SSCP-SNP markers, was constructed using 188 F2:3 (F2-derived F3) mapping population progenies derived from a cross between two pearl millet inbred lines having diverse pedigrees. The parents had large differences for two sink size traits (grain size and panicle diameter), and also differed for panicle length. The skeleton linkage map covered 1019 cM and it comprised of 44 loci (detected with 24 SSCP-SNP, 10 genomic SSR, 6 EST-SSR and 4 STS primer pairs) distributed across the seven linkage groups. Average adjacent-marker intervals ranged from 14 cM on LG1 to 38 cM on LG6, with an overall mean of 23 cM. Using the F2 linkage map and phenotypic data collected from the F2 and F2:3 generations of the mapping population, a total of 18 putative QTLs were detected for the three sink-size components. Eight QTLs explained 42.7% of observed phenotypic variation for panicle length, with individual QTLs explaining 6.1 to 18.2% using the F2:3 data set. For panicle diameter, 5 QTLs explained 45.8% of observed phenotypic variation with individual QTLs accounting for 6.3 to 30.2%. Similarly for grain size, 5 QTLs explained 29.6% of phenotypic variation with individual QTLs accounting for 6.1 to 8.9%. Genomic regions associated with panicle length, panicle diameter and grain size co-mapped on LG6 between Xpsms88 and Xpsms2270, indicating the existence of a gene or gene cluster with major effects involved in the control of significant proportions of the phenotypic variation for all three sink-size traits. The QTLs for panicle length on LG2 and LG6 (LOD>3 in both F2 and F2:3 data sets), for panicle diameter on LG2 and LG3 (LOD>14 in the F2:3 data set) and for grain size on LG3 and LG6 (LOD>3 in both F2 and F2:3 data sets) were identified as promising candidates for validation prior to possible application in marker-assisted breeding