Improving plant growth and yield of jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) through apical bud pinching

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of the time of apical pinching and genotype on plant growth, flowering time, and yield of Jatropha curcas L. at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia during 2008–2009. Three pinching treatments were used: no pinching or control (P0), pinching during transplanting (P1), and pinching at 30 days after transplanting (P2). Highly significant effect of time of pinching and genotype on plant growth and seed yield was observed. The plant height was significantly reduced by pinching the plant at 30 days after transplanting (72.4 cm) compared to pinching during transplanting (80.0 cm) and no pinching (95.5 cm). The maximum number of primary branches per plant (3.1) with more leaves per plant (113.2) and less plant height (72.2 cm) at first flowering was recorded with pinching at 30 days after transplanting. Among the treatments, unpinched plants produced flowers earlier than the pinched one. The highest number of fruits and seeds per plant along with higher seed yield was recorded in plants pinching at 30 days after transplanting. The maximum number of flowering branches was produced by genotype JC-14 followed by JC-18. The genotypes JC-13, JC-14, JC-17, JC-18, and JC-20 were found to be suitable in respect of reduced plant height; larger number of primary branches per plant; early flowering; and number of fruits, seeds, and seed yield per plant upon pinching

Clinical presentation of hypothyroidism: a study of 50 cases

Background: When the thyroid gland does not produce and release enough thyroid hormone into your circulation, it is known as hypothyroidism. Your metabolism becomes slower as a result. Hypothyroidism, also known as an underactive thyroid, can make you feel exhausted, put-on weight, and have trouble with cold weather. In utero, throughout infancy, during youth, or even during maturity, it may begin to develop. The frequency of unanticipated overt hypothyroidism varies from 1 to 18 cases per thousand persons when accompanied by biochemical and clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism. The aim of the study was to observe the various clinical presentations of hypothyroidismMethods: This cross-sectional observational case-based study was conducted at the institute of nuclear medicine, Dhaka medical college hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The study duration was 6 months, from January 2005 to July 2005. A total of 50 patients attended at the study place during the study period who were biochemically hypothyroid were included in the study.Results: The age range of the patients was 13 months to 54 years with a mean age of 29.5 years in this series. The majority of the patients were between 20 to 49 years of age. Female comprises 80.0% in comparison to 20.0% of male cases of hypothyroidism. Spontaneous primary (idiopathic) hypothyroidism (90.0%), post-radioiodine therapy, and post-ablative hypothyroidism were the most important causes of hypothyroidism in this series. Most typical symptoms and signs of hypothyroidism were found in this study. The most common symptoms were generalized weakness, lethargy, slowness of activities, impairment of memory, loss of scalp hair, somnolence, dry skin, puffiness of the face, constipation, weight gain, hoarseness of voice, swelling of the body, decreased sweating and paraesthesia. Cases of idiopathic hypothyroidism and other types had similar symptoms. The mean duration of symptoms before medical consultation was 2.9 years. Dry and coarse skin topped the list of physical findings and was present in 60.0% of the cases. Other findings in order of frequency include goiter (56.0%), puffiness of the face (38.0%), cold and thick skin (44.0%), thick tongue (24.0%), peripheral edema (24.0%), Anemia (20.0%), pallor of the face (12.0%), bradycardia (08.0%), thick lips (4.0%), ascites (2.0%) and pericardial effusion (2.0%).Conclusions: Although in the present series a limited number of patients were included, it encompassed varieties of cases. Moreover, an attempt was made to evaluate the common presentation, age incidence, sex distribution, and laboratory status of hypothyroidism in our country, giving more emphasis on clinical findings

Transcriptome Modifications in Porcine Adipocytes via Toll-Like Receptors Activation

Adipocytes are the most important cell type in adipose tissue playing key roles in immunometabolism. We previously reported that nine members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family are expressed in an originally established porcine intramuscular pre-adipocyte (PPI) cell line. However, the ability of TLR ligands to modulate immunometabolic transcriptome modifications in porcine adipocytes has not been elucidated. Herein, we characterized the global transcriptome modifications in porcine intramuscular mature adipocytes (pMA), differentiated from PPI, following stimulation with Pam3csk4, Poly(I:C) or LPS which are ligands for TLR2, TLR3, and TLR4, respectively. Analysis of microarray data identified 530 (218 up, 312 down), 520 (245 up, 275 down), and 525 (239 up, 286 down) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pMA following the stimulation with Pam3csk4, Poly(I:C), and LPS, respectively. Gene ontology classification revealed that DEGs are involved in several biological processes including those belonging to immune response and lipid metabolism pathways. Functionally annotated genes were organized into two groups for downstream analysis: immune response related genes (cytokines, chemokines, complement factors, adhesion molecules, and signal transduction), and genes involved with metabolic and endocrine functions (hormones and receptors, growth factors, and lipid biosynthesis). Differential expression analysis revealed that EGR1, NOTCH1, NOS2, TNFAIP3, TRAF3IP1, INSR, CXCR4, PPARA, MAPK10, and C3 are the top 10 commonly altered genes of TLRs induced transcriptional modification of pMA. However, the protein-protein interaction network of DEGs identified EPOR, C3, STAR, CCL2, and SAA2 as the major hub genes, which were also exhibited higher centrality estimates in the Gene-Transcription factor interaction network. Our results provide new insights of transcriptome modifications associated with TLRs activation in porcine adipocytes and identified key regulatory genes that could be used as biomarkers for the evaluation of treatments having immunomodularoty and/or metabolic functional beneficial effects in porcine adipocytes

Selection Criteria for Improving Yield in Chili (Capsicum annuum)

The present investigation was carried out to estimate the genetic variability and character association. Significant differences were observed among the genotypes for all the 15 traits for 20 chili genotypes. The highest genotypic coefficient of variation and phenotypic coefficient of variation were found for ten edible fruit weight, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plant, ten dry fruit weight, fruit length, fruit width, and weight of seeds per fruit. High heritability coupled with very high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed for ten edible fruit weight, ten dry fruit weight, fruit length, number of fruits per plant, and fruit yield per plant. Phenotypic correlation coefficient among different traits indicated that fruit yield per plant at green stage had significant and positive association with ten edible green fruit weight, number of primary branches, harvest duration, and first fruit maturity and significant negative correlation with days to first picking. The path coefficient analysis revealed that days to first picking had the maximum positive direct effect on fruit yield per plant followed by harvest duration, ten edible fruit weight, ten dry fruit weight, hundred-seed weight, number of fruits per plant, first fruit maturity, and number of primary branches. Days to first picking had the maximum positive direct effect but significant negative effect with fruit yield per plant which indicated that the trait should be selected to expunge the undesirable indirect effect in order to make use of the direct effect. Therefore, selection should be practiced for ten edible fruit weight, ten dry fruit weight, number of fruits per plant, harvest duration, and hundred-seed weight for direct improvement of fruit yield per plant

Synthesis of a new bicyclic guanidine heterocycle as a potential anti HIV agent

Synthesis of a new and potential anti-HIV bicyclic guanidine heterocycle has been described by a novel and versatile protocol

Propagation potentials of genotypes and different physiological ages of stem cuttings in Jatropha curcas L.

Propagation potentials of stem cuttings of different physiological ages and genotypes of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) were studied at UKM, Malaysia. Stem cuttings of the different physiological ages (hardwood, semi hardwood and soft wood) taken from five selected genotypes of Jatropha were planted in soil media (top soil). Data were collected on the attributes of the stem cuttings and then analyzed using computer based software, SAS, version 9.01, (2008). The study showed significant variability in shoot and root development and growth of shoots of the three physiological ages of cuttings and five genotypes. Semi hardwood stem cuttings had lower days to opening of new bud and shooting (4.8 and 11.7 d, respectively) as well as higher percentage of sprouted and rooted cuttings of 100% and 98.5%, respectively. Soft wood cuttings took more days to opening of new bud and shoot development in all five genotypes. Soft wood cuttings also showed lower percentage of rooted cuttings. Semi hard wood cuttings proved to be more suitable for the vegetative propagation of Jatropha curcas through stem cutting, which gave more than 98% success. Genotypic differences were observed in shooting and rooting of Jatropha. Genotype JC 14 performed better in all three types of cutting compared to other four genotypes

Heterosis for seed yield and its components in jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.)

Heterosis was determined in a population obtained from a 6 × 6 half diallel cross of jatropha genotypes for seed yield per plant and its components traits at the experimental station of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia during February 2010 to April, 2011. Results showed that variations for days to flowering, days to fruit maturity, number of primary branches per plant, seed yield per plant and its component characters was significant. Both positive and negative heterosis was found for seed yield per plant. High mid-parent heterosis (254.13%) and better parent heterosis (202.36%) were found for seed yield per plant in the cross P2 × P5 and P1 × P3, respectively. Small heterosis over mid-parent was also found for days to flowering and days to fruit maturity. The parents P1, P2, P3 and P5 were found to be superior for seed yield and its components when used in crosses. Considering earliness and seed yield per plant the hybrid combinations P1 × P2, P1 × P3, P2 × P5 and P4 × P6 were promising. These combinations could be selected for the development of hybrid varieties in Jatropha curcas