Identification of a Novel Calotropis procera Protein That Can Suppress Tumor Growth in Breast Cancer through the Suppression of NF-κB Pathway

10.1371/journal.pone.0048514PLoS ONE712

Estimating food production in an urban landscape

There is increasing interest in urban food production for reasons of food security, environmental sustainability, social and health benefits. In developed nations urban food growing is largely informal and localised, in gardens, allotments and public spaces, but we know little about the magnitude of this production. Here we couple own-grown crop yield data with garden and allotment areal surveys and urban fruit tree occurrence to provide one of the first estimates for current and potential food production in a UK urban setting. Current production is estimated to be sufficient to supply the urban population with fruit and vegetables for about 30 days per year, while the most optimistic model results suggest that existing land cultivated for food could supply over half of the annual demand. Our findings provide a baseline for current production whilst highlighting the potential for change under the scaling up of cultivation on existing land

Predicting youth participation in urban agriculture in Malaysia: insights from the theory of planned behavior and the functional approach to volunteer motivation

This study examines factors associated with the decision of Malaysian youth to participate in a voluntary urban agriculture program. Urban agriculture has generated significant interest in developing countries to address concerns over food security, growing urbanization and employment. While an abundance of data shows attracting the participation of young people in traditional agriculture has become a challenge for many countries, few empirical studies have been conducted on youth motivation to participate in urban agriculture programs, particularly in non-Western settings. Drawing on the theories of planned behavior and the functional approach to volunteer motivation, we surveyed 890 students from a public university in Malaysia about their intention to join a new urban agriculture program. Hierarchical regression findings indicated that the strongest predictor of participation was students’ attitude toward urban agriculture, followed by subjective norms, career motives and perceived barriers to participation. The findings from this study may provide useful information to the university program planners in Malaysia in identifying mechanisms for future students’ involvement in the program

Chickpea

The narrow genetic base of cultivated chickpea warrants systematic collection, documentation and evaluation of chickpea germplasm and particularly wild Cicer species for effective and efficient use in chickpea breeding programmes. Limiting factors to crop production, possible solutions and ways to overcome them, importance of wild relatives and barriers to alien gene introgression and strategies to overcome them and traits for base broadening have been discussed. It has been clearly demonstrated that resistance to major biotic and abiotic stresses can be successfully introgressed from the primary gene pool comprising progenitor species. However, many desirable traits including high degree of resistance to multiple stresses that are present in the species belonging to secondary and tertiary gene pools can also be introgressed by using special techniques to overcome pre- and post-fertilization barriers. Besides resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses, the yield QTLs have also been introgressed from wild Cicer species to cultivated varieties. Status and importance of molecular markers, genome mapping and genomic tools for chickpea improvement are elaborated. Because of major genes for various biotic and abiotic stresses, the transfer of agronomically important traits into elite cultivars has been made easy and practical through marker-assisted selection and marker-assisted backcross. The usefulness of molecular markers such as SSR and SNP for the construction of high-density genetic maps of chickpea and for the identification of genes/QTLs for stress resistance, quality and yield contributing traits has also been discussed

The dimensional stability of lightly-loaded epoxy joints

The use of adhesives to bond metal mounting structures to optical components can significantly simplify the design of an optical system. In precision applications, dimensional instability of the adhesive must be included as a component of the overall error budget. This paper describes the qualification testing of a balanced heterodyne interferometer system in a carefully controlled environment for the purpose of measuring joint stability. Results of this qualification test are reported

Dampak Perbedaan Salinitas Terhadap Viabilitas Bakteri Vibrio Fluvialis [the Impact of Salinity Difference on Bacteria Viability Vibrio Fluvialis]

Rumput laut sulit dibedakan antara akar, daun dan batangnya. Kondisi air laut yang fluktuatif dan ekstream dapat menyebabkan rumput laut Kappaphycus alvarezii rentan terkena penyakit ice-ice. Muncul bercak putih di thallus rumput laut yang terinfeksi. Diduga penyakit ice-ice disebabkan oleh bakteri pattogen yaitu Vibrio fluvialis. V. fluvialis adalah bakteri patogen yang menyebabkan penyakit ice-ice pada rumput laut, bakteri gram negatif yang memiliki bentuk tubuh seperti batang dan bengkok. Bakteri ini dapat tumbuh di ekosistem perairan yang dipengaruhi oleh banyaknya ketersediaan nutrisi, pH, suhu, keasaman, dan salinitas. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui viabilitas bakteri Vibrio pada perbedaan salinitas. Penelitian ini dimulai dengan mengidentifikasi bakteri hingga tingkat spesies melalui uji biokimia dengan referensi SNI 01-2332-4-2006 dan buku identifikasi Cowan. Viabilitas diamati tiga kali pengulangan pada media TCBS plate dengan salinitas 30, 32, dan 34 ppt, dan uji konfirmasi. Bakteri inokulasi pada media TSA miring dengan kadar salinitas 0 ppt, 20 ppt, 40 ppt, 60 ppt, 80 ppt dan 100 ppt. hasil yang diperoleh menunjukkan bahwa bakteri tumbuh normal di semua media uji kecuali pada 100 ppt. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa bakteri Vibrio fluvialis adalah bakteri yang dapat tumbuh dengan baik pada kadar salinitas tinggi (halofilik

Efektivitas Isolat-Isolat Bacillus sebagai Pengendali Penyakit Bulai dan Pemacu Pertumbuhan Tanaman Jagung pada Kondisi Terkontrol

The main disease in maize is downy mildew caused by the fungus Peronosclerospora spp.. This pathogen can cause yield losses of up to 100%. Therefore, efforts to control this disease are continuously carried out, including technical culture, assembly of resistant plants, and use of synthetic fungicides. At the farm level, the use of metalaxyl, synthetic fungicides is the most common practice. On the other hand, it has been reported that some Peronosclerospora groups are starting to become resistant to metalaxyl. These problems lead to the need for alternative controls, for example with biological agents. Biological agents from bacterial groups have been developed to control plant disease, but for downy mildew is still limited. The purpose of this study is to screen and test Bacillus spp. ability to suppress downy mildew and promote the growth of maize. The assay was carried out on seeds by invitro to investigate growth-promoting reactions and also testing under controlled conditions in greenhouses to investigate the suppression ability of downy mildew disease development. The results showed B. polymyxa strain BP18, Bacillus subtilis strain BS41, Bacillus sp. strain BT1, and Bacillus sp. strains can stimulate the growth of corn seedlings and suppress downy mildew. The best isolate in suppressing downy mildew was Bacillus sp. strain BT1 with the smallest AUDPC value (3.94) and the highest protection index (82.71%). It is hoped that these results will find potential isolates and have the potential to be developed into biopesticides and biofertilizers