Cholinergic Modulation of Synaptic Plasticity in VAChT-Modified Mice

The hippocampus is a region of the brain known for its role in learning and memory. The neural correlate of memory formation is believed to be changes in synaptic efficacy through processes broadly termed “synaptic plasticity”. Synaptic plasticity includes long term changes that increases (potentiation, LTP) or decreases (depression) synaptic strength. The hippocampus receives modulatory cholinergic afferents originating in the basal forebrain. This project investigates changes in bidirectional synaptic plasticity in gene-modified vesicular acetylcholine transporter protein-knockdown (VAChT-KD) mice, which express decreased acetylcholine secretion. Extracellular field recordings were performed on hippocampal slices to characterize synaptic physiology in the CA1- region glutamatergic synapses. VAChT-KD mice expressed reduced basal transmission and activity-dependent LTP, though depression was not changed. Furthermore, acute application of the cholinergic agonist carbachol rescued the LTP deficit. This project demonstrates that decreased cholinergic tone can affect hippocampal synaptic processes and suggests mechanisms by which cholinergic pathways may act on synapse physiology

Investigation on Electric Discharge Machine for optimization of Surface Roughness using Response Surface Methodology approach

In this project, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is used to investigate the effect of three important EDM parameters those are namely: discharge current(Ip), pulse-on-time(Ton) and gap voltage(V) on Surface Roughness (Ra) of on Electrical Discharge Machined surface. In this study a second-order polynomial model is used and taken help of and using the central composite design (CCD) which estimates the model coecients of the three factors that infuences surface roughness of work-piece in EDM process.A experiment was well designed and it was used to reduce the total number of experiments.Experiment was done on mild steel and copper was used as tool.The response is modeled using RSM on experimental values obtained.It was found that discharge current(Ip) and pulse-on-time(Ton) have signicant eect on surface roughness whereas gap voltage(V) is less signicant

Alkali treatment of Ti6Al4V alloy and it’s effect on bio-activity

The purpose of this work was to investigate the bone-like apatite inducement ability of alkali and heat treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy in the HANK solution, with variation of concentration of NaOH solution and heat treatment temperature. The characterization techniques such as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), were selected for the evaluation of chemical composition, morphological and crystallinity properties of alkali and subsequent heat treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy. From the XRD analysis it was found that the hydroxyapatite inducement ability increased with the increments of treating temperature, while reduced with increments of concentration

Role of Gender in Contraceptive Use among Currently Married Women in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

In India there is noticeable regional variation in gender preference and contraceptive use. Preference for son is often assumed to be a significant barrier to fertility reduction. Thus in this context present study tries to explore the association between gender preference and contraceptive use among currently married women in states Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar of India using dataset of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-III), 2005-06 and Family Welfare Year Book 2001. The study reveals about 83 percent women having no sons have desire for more children in UP whereas this value goes up to 87 percent for Bihar. Study also reflects that only 18 and 6 percent women with no living son in UP and Bihar respectively are using any contraception indicating high preference for male child. Therefore it is concluded that the son preference have significant and strong impact on acceptance of any family planning method. Key words: Son preference, contraceptive use, family planning

Establishing Role of Cheiloscopy in Person Identification and Sex Determination

Background: The study of lip prints (LP) is known as Cheiloscopy. Every individual has a unique lip print pattern. Thus it can act as an important tool for person identification in civil and criminal cases. Objective: The aim of this study is to ascertain whether the uniqueness of LP can help in identifying a person, to evaluate the varied lip patterns among males and females and its usefulness in gender discrimination. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 80 undergraduate students (40 males and 40 females) of Hazaribagh Dental College aged between 18 to 24years. The lipstick was applied evenly on both the lips and then the LP was collected. Later these lip patterns were analyzed and interpreted. Results: 35 out of 40 LP of females and 36 out of 40 LP of males were correctly matched. Type I and I’ were predominantly seen in females while type IV and V patterns were more common among males. A total of 73 of 80 subjects were identified correctly by this method. Conclusion: The result suggests that the uniqueness of LP in forensic dentistry can be explored for law implementation by determining gender and person’s identity

Distribution of Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidative Activities of Rice Kernel and Their Relationships with Agronomic Practice

The phenolic and antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of two Japonica rice cultivars, Taikeng no. 16 (medium and slender grain) and Kaohsiung no. 139 (short and round grain), grown under organic and conventional farming were examined. Analyses shows that Kaohsiung no. 139 contains the highest amount of secondary metabolites and continuous farming can increase its production. Results also suggest that phenolic content under different agronomic practices, has not shown significant differences but organically grown rice has proven to be better in higher accumulation of other secondary metabolites (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), flavonoid content, and ferrous chelating capacity). In nutshell, genetic traits and environment have significant effect on phenolic compounds and the least variation reported under agronomic practices

WebGeSTer DB-a transcription terminator database

We present WebGeSTer DB, the largest database of intrinsic transcription terminators (http://pallab .serc.iisc.ernet.in/gester). The database comprises of a million terminators identified in 1060 bacterial genome sequences and 798 plasmids. Users can obtain both graphic and tabular results on putative terminators based on default or user-defined parameters. The results are arranged in different tiers to facilitate retrieval, as per the specific requirements. An interactive map has been incorporated to visualize the distribution of terminators across the whole genome. Analysis of the results, both at the whole-genome level and with respect to terminators downstream of specific genes, offers insight into the prevalence of canonical and non-canonical terminators across different phyla. The data in the database reinforce the paradigm that intrinsic termination is a conserved and efficient regulatory mechanism in bacteria. Our database is freely accessible