Electrophoretic characterization of crude leaf proteins in Lycopersicon and Trichosanthes cultivars

Young leaves of three cultivars of Lycopersicon esculentum (Mill) and a cultivar of Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina (Haines) were freshly collected at 50% flowering. Crude leaf proteins were extracted from them and characterized using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Intercultivar qualitative as well as quantitative protein bands depict some degree of relationship among the Lycopersicon cultivars studied. The degree of variation in protein bands as a measure of genetic divergence between L. esculentum cultivars and T. cucumerina was discussed. Key Words: Electrophoresis, protein, Lycopersicon, Trichosanthes. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(11) 2004: 585-58

Running away experience and psychoactive substance use among adolescents in Taiwan: multi-city street outreach survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study aimed to examine: 1) the relationship between being a runaway and the time since the first absconding event and adolescent substance use; 2) whether different kinds of psychoactive substances have a different temporal relationship to the first absconding event; and 3) whether the various reasons for the first absconding event are associated with different risks of substance use.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Participants were drawn from the 2004-2006 nationwide outreach programs across 26 cities/towns in Taiwan. A total of 17,133 participants, age 12-18 years, who completed an anonymous questionnaire on their experience of running away and substances use and who were now living with their families, were included in the analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The lifetime risk of tobacco, alcohol, betel nut, and illegal drug/inhalant use increased steadily from adolescents who had experienced a trial runaway episode (one time lasting ≤ 1 day), to those with extended runaway experience (≥ 2 times or lasting > 1 day), when compared to those who had never ran away. Adolescents who had their first running away experience > 6 months previously had a greater risk of betel nut or illegal drug/inhalant use over the past 6-months than those with a similar experience within the last 6 months. Both alcohol and tobacco use were most frequently initiated before the first running away, whereas both betel nut and illegal drug/inhalant use were most frequently initiated after this event. When adolescents who were fleeing an unsatisfactory home life were compared to those who ran away for excitement, the risk of alcohol use was similar but the former tended to have a higher risk of tobacco, betel nut, and illegal drug/inhalant use.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>More significant running away and a longer time since the first absconding experience were associated with more advanced substance involvement among adolescents now living in a family setting. Once adolescents had left home, they developed additional psychoactive substance problems, regardless of their reasons for running away. These findings have implications for caregivers, teachers, and healthcare workers when trying to prevent and/or intervening in adolescent substance use.</p

Selective AKR1C3 inhibitors do not recapitulate the anti-leukaemic activities of the pan-AKR1C inhibitor medroxyprogesterone acetate

Background: We and others have identified the aldo-keto reductase AKR1C3 as a potential drug target in prostate cancer, breast cancer and leukaemia. As a consequence, significant effort is being invested in the development of AKR1C3-selective inhibitors. Methods: We report the screening of an in-house drug library to identify known drugs that selectively inhibit AKR1C3 over the closely related isoforms AKR1C1, 1C2 and 1C4. This screen initially identified tetracycline as a potential AKR1C3-selective inhibitor. However, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance studies identified that the active agent was a novel breakdown product (4-methyl(de-dimethylamine)-tetracycline (4-MDDT)). Results: We demonstrate that, although 4-MDDT enters AML cells and inhibits their AKR1C3 activity, it does not recapitulate the anti-leukaemic actions of the pan-AKR1C inhibitor medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA). Screens of the NCI diversity set and an independently curated small-molecule library identified several additional AKR1C3-selective inhibitors, none of which had the expected anti-leukaemic activity. However, a pan AKR1C, also identified in the NCI diversity set faithfully recapitulated the actions of MPA. Conclusions: In summary, we have identified a novel tetracycline-derived product that provides an excellent lead structure with proven drug-like qualities for the development of AKR1C3 inhibitors. However, our findings suggest that, at least in leukaemia, selective inhibition of AKR1C3 is insufficient to elicit an anticancer effect and that multiple AKR1C inhibition may be required

Stochastic upscaling of hydrodynamic dispersion and retardation factor in a physically and chemically heterogeneous tropical soil

[EN] Stochastic upscaling of flow and reactive solute transport in a tropical soil is performed using real data collected in the laboratory. Upscaling of hydraulic conductivity, longitudinal hydrodynamic dispersion, and retardation factor were done using three different approaches of varying complexity. How uncertainty propagates after upscaling was also studied. The results show that upscaling must be taken into account if a good reproduction of the flow and transport behavior of a given soil is to be attained when modeled at larger than laboratory scales. The results also show that arrival time uncertainty was well reproduced after solute transport upscaling. This work represents a first demonstration of flow and reactive transport upscaling in a soil based on laboratory data. It also shows how simple upscaling methods can be incorporated into daily modeling practice using commercial flow and transport codes.The authors thank the financial support by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (Project 401441/2014-8). The doctoral fellowship award to the first author by the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES) is acknowledged. The first author also thanks the international mobility grant awarded by CNPq, through the Sciences Without Borders program (Grant Number: 200597/2015-9). The international mobility grant awarded by Santander Mobility in cooperation with the University of Sao Paulo is also acknowledged. DHI-WASI is gratefully thanked for providing a FEFLOW license.Almeida De-Godoy, V.; Zuquette, L.; Gómez-Hernández, JJ. (2019). Stochastic upscaling of hydrodynamic dispersion and retardation factor in a physically and chemically heterogeneous tropical soil. 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Intra and interspecific hybridization in the genus "capsicum"

No Abstract

Characterization of Digitaria exilis (Kipp) StapF and D. iburua Stapf Accessions

No Abstract.Nigerian Journal of Genetics Vol. 16&17 2002: pp. 10-2

Assessment of the effects of gamma irradiation on the growth and yield of Digitaria exilis [Haller]

Objective: Mutagenesis has been used in several crop improvement programmes but only on a very limited scale for Digitaria improvement and in order to further strengthen the existing conventional improvement methods, we report enrichment of Digitaria exilis variability by exploiting the effects of gamma radiation of different doses on yield and growth of the crop.Methodology and Results: Digitaria exilis seeds were exposed to gamma irradiation (20Gy, 40Gy, 80Gy, and 100Gy) from 60Co source and irradiated seeds were sown for evaluation. The effects of the irradiation doses were studied on germination, seedling characters, growth, and yield parameters at maturity. Days to emergence and percentage germination were enhanced at low irradiation doses with 80Gy producing optimally. Plant height, tillering and number of leaves were significantly affected by gamma irradiation and analysis of obtained data showed irradiation significantly affects percentage seed-set, number of spikes/tiller and number of spikelets/spike. Also, early maturity was achieved among irradiated plants and 100-grain weight was highest at 80Gy.Conclusion: Plant from 80Gy irradiation dose performed optimally for all the characters evaluated in this study. Hence, 80Gy or slightly low dosage form of gamma irradiation using cobalt (60) could be utilised to increase variability and yield in Digitaria exilis. The new or modified traits so created could be screened for the possibility of isolating and selection of mutants that are promising for further improvement breeding programmes.Keywords: Characters, Irradiation, Improved, Agronomical, Yiel