Determination of economic threshold level for the timely management of cotton jassid Amrasca bigutulla (Ishida) on okra vegetable crop

A field study was carried out at Vegetable Research Farm PAU, Ludhiana to determine the economic threshold level for the timely management of cotton jassid Amrasca bigutulla (Ishida) on okra vegetable crop. It was observed that significantly lowest jassid nymphal count per leaf in the pooled data (0.96 nymphs/leaf) were registered in the treatment where spray against jassid were given at 2 nymphs/leaf stage and first injury grade that is curling and yellowing of leaf margin as compared to others spray stages (1.54-1.72 nymphs/leaf) and unsprayed control (1.75 nymphs/leaf) significantly lowest jassid injury grade was also observed when spray stared at 2 nymphs/ leaf (0.58) and second spray stage curling and yellowing of leaf margin (0.65 nymphs/leaf) as against other spray stages (1.13 – 1.60 nymphs/leaf) and unsprayed control (1.63 nymphs/leaf). Maximum plant (110.33-110.44 cm) was also recorded as against other treatment (90.80 – 108.46 cm) and control (90.13cm). Total highest fruit yield (120.40-120.75) quintal /ha was also registered in these two treatments. Economic threshold level estimated for the management of cotton jassid on okra crop will help to develop an ecologically safe pest management practices against this pest

Effect of milling speed on the quality and storage stability of maize flour

This work was undertaken to evaluate the effect of milling speed on the quality and shelf life of maize flour. Maize flour was prepared using low speed mini flour mill at 75 and 115 rpm and the results were compared with the flour prepared by commercial flour mill on the basis of recovery of flour, rise in temperature of flour, time taken, particle size distribution and changes in different quality parameters during storage. It was observed from the analysis that the recovery of flour was highest (95.26%) at 75 rpm speed although the time taken was more i.e. 27.27 minutes, but the rise in temperature during milling was very less (12.240C) as compared to commercial mill the temperature rose up to 31.120C. It was noted that the maize flour prepared at low speed was light yellow in color as compared to higher rpm which was dark yellow. The maize flour prepared at 75 rpm can be stored in low density polyethylene LDPE packaging material of (200 gauge) for two months without change in quality parameters. It was observed that the moisture content, protein content, fat content, alcoholic acidity and carbohydrates was significantly affected by storage time, packaging material and milling speed at P<0.05. Therefore, at low speed the storage stability as well as nutritional properties of the flour can be enhanced. The improved shelf life of flour can result in better marketability

X-ray and ion emission studies from subnanosecond laser-irradiated SiO2 aerogel foam targets

In this experiment, a comparative study of ion and X-ray emission from both a SiO2 aerogel foam and a quartz target is performed. The experiment is performed using Nd:glass laser system operated at laser energy up to 15 J with a pulse duration of 500 ps with focusable intensity of 1013–1014 W/cm2 on target. X-ray fluxes in different spectral ranges (soft and hard) are measured by using X-ray diodes covered with Al filters of thickness 5 µm (0.9–1.56 keV) and 20 µm (3.4–16 keV). A 2.5 times enhancement in soft X-ray flux (0.9–1.56 keV) and a decrease of 1.8 times in hard X rays (3.4–16 keV) for 50 mg/cc SiO2 aerogel foam is observed compared with the solid quartz. A decrease in the flux of the K-shell line emission spectrum of soft X rays is noticed in the case of the foam targets. The high-resolution K-shell spectra (He-like) of Si ions in both the cases are analyzed for the determination of plasma parameters by comparing with FLYCHK simulations. The estimated plasma temperature and density are T c = 180 eV, n e = 7 × 1020 cm−3 and T c = 190 eV, n e = 4 × 1020 cm−3 for quartz and SiO2 aerogel foam, respectively. To measure the evolution of the plasma moving away from the targets, four identical ion collectors are placed at different angles (22.5, 30, 45, and 67.5°) from target normal. The angular distribution of the thermal ions are scaled as cosnθ with respect to target normal, where n = 3.8 and 4.8 for the foam and quartz, respectively. The experimental plasma volume measured from the ion collectors and shadowgraphy images are verified by a two-dimensional Eulerian radiative–hydrodynamic simulation (POLLUX code

Aberrant promoter hypermethylation of selected apoptotic genes in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia among north indian population

Promoter hypermethylation mediates gene silencing in many neoplasms. Acute leukemia has been reported to harbor multiple genes aberrantly silenced by hypermethylation. Aim: In present study, we investigated the prevalence of hypermethylation of caspase-8 (CASP8), TMS1 and DAPK genes in correlation with clinicopathological factors in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Materials and Methods: A case-control study has been conducted based on bone marrow and peripheral blood samples from 125 ALL patients and 100 sex-age matched healthy controls. Methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and bisulfite sequencing PCR was performed to analyze the methylation status of these genes. Reverse transcription PCR and real time PCR was carried out to determine changes in the mRNA expression level of the genes due to hypermethylation. Results: Hypermethylation of the 5´CpG islands of the CASP8, TMS1 and DAPK gene promoters was found in 3.2, 6.4, and 13.6% of 125 childhood ALL samples from north Indian population, respectively. There were significant differences in pattern of hypermethylation of TMS1 (p = 0.045) and DAPK (p < 0.001) between patients and healthy controls. Down-regulation of mRNA expression was found in cases in which CASP8, TMS1 and DAPK were hypermethylated. Conclusions: The present study indicated the impact of hypermethylation-mediated inactivation of CASP8, TMS1 and DAPK genes, which is associated with risk of childhood ALL. This abnormality occurs in leukemogenesis and it may be used as a biomarker and for predicting the prognosis of ALL

The STAR Photon Multiplicity Detector

Details concerning the design, fabrication and performance of STAR Photon Multiplicity Detector (PMD) are presented. The PMD will cover the forward region, within the pseudorapidity range 2.3--3.5, behind the forward time projection chamber. It will measure the spatial distribution of photons in order to study collective flow, fluctuation and chiral symmetry restoration.Comment: 15 pages, including 11 figures; to appear in a special NIM volume dedicated to the accelerator and detectors at RHI

Pleiotropic effects of the vacuolar ABC transporter MLT1 of Candida albicans on cell function and virulence.

Among the several mechanisms that contribute to MDR (multidrug resistance), the overexpression of drug-efflux pumps belonging to the ABC (ATP-binding cassette) superfamily is the most frequent cause of resistance to antifungal agents. The multidrug transporter proteins Cdr1p and Cdr2p of the ABCG subfamily are major players in the development of MDR in Candida albicans Because several genes coding for ABC proteins exist in the genome of C. albicans, but only Cdr1p and Cdr2p have established roles in MDR, it is implicit that the other members of the ABC family also have alternative physiological roles. The present study focuses on an ABC transporter of C. albicans, Mlt1p, which is localized in the vacuolar membrane and specifically transports PC (phosphatidylcholine) into the vacuolar lumen. Transcriptional profiling of the mlt1∆/∆ mutant revealed a down-regulation of the genes involved in endocytosis, oxidoreductase activity, virulence and hyphal development. High-throughput MS-based lipidome analysis revealed that the Mlt1p levels affect lipid homoeostasis and thus lead to a plethora of physiological perturbations. These include a delay in endocytosis, inefficient sequestering of reactive oxygen species (ROS), defects in hyphal development and attenuated virulence. The present study is an emerging example where new and unconventional roles of an ABC transporter are being identified

K-shell X-ray spectroscopy of laser produced aluminum plasma

Optimization of a laser produced plasma (LPP) X-ray source has been performed by analyzing K-shell emission spectra of Al plasma at a laser intensity of 1013-1014 W/cm2. The effect of varying the laser intensity on the emissivity of the K-shell resonance lines is studied and found to follow a power law, E α I α with α=2.2, 2.3, 2.4 for Heβ, Heγ, Heδ respectively. The emission of these resonance lines has been found to be heavily anisotropic. A Python language based code has been developed to generate an intensity profile of K-shell spectral lines from the raw data. In theoretical calculations, the temperature is estimated by taking the ratio of the Li-like satellite (1s2 2p-1s2p3p) and the Heβ (1s2 -1s3p) resonance line and the ratio of the He-like satellite (1s2p-2p2 ) and the Lyα (1s-2p) resonance line. To determine the plasma density, stark broadening of the Lyβ spectral line is used. Simulation was carried out using the FLYCHK code to generate a synthetic emission spectrum. The results obtained by FLYCHK are Te=160 eV, Th=1 keV, f=0.008, ne=5 x 1020 cm-3 and the analytical model resulted Te=260-419 eV and ne=3x1020 cm-3

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters