Management of Fusarium corm rot of gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus sect. Blandus cv. Aarti) by using leaves of allelopathic plants

Two pot experiments were conducted to investigate the potential of different plant materials to manage the corm rot disease of gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus sect. Blandus cv. Aarti) caused by Fusariumoxysporum f.sp. gladioli (Massey) Snyd. & Hans. In the first experiment, leaves of five allelopathic plant species viz. Eucalyptus citriodora Hook, Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels, Coronopus didymus (L.) Smith, Chenopodium album L. and Cyperus rotundus L. were incorporated in the soil at 2, 4 and 6 g 100 g-1 of soil. In the second experiment, leaves of five plant species namely Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br., Parthenium hysterophorus L., Ageratum conyzoides L. and Allium cepa L. were spread on the surface of the pot soil at 4 g 100 g-1 of soil. All the leaf incorporation and spreading treatments significantly reduced the disease incidence and number of infection lesions on corms. Incorporation of all the dosages of 2 – 4% of C. rotundus significantly enhanced shoot biomass. Similarly 2% E. citriodora and 4 – 6% C. album incorporation also enhance shoot biomass significantly over Fusarium control. All the leaf spreading treatments significantly enhanced shoot length and biomass. The present study concludes that corm rot disease of gladiolus can be effectively managed by using allelopathic plants

Screening of Gladiolus germplasm for agronomic performance and resistance against corm rot disease

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the agronomic performance and resistance of Gladiolus germplasm against corm rot disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. f. sp. gladioli (L. Masey) W.C. Snyder & H.N. Hans. Among the 23 Gladiolus varieties tested, Glad Red exhibited the highest spike length of 55 cm followed by Advanced Red (50.2 cm) and White Prosperity (49.5 cm). Highest number of flowers (13 per spike) was recorded in Rose Supreme, Jester Ruffled Yellow, Princess Margaret Rose and Chinon. Glad Red depicted highest field life of flowers (42.5 days), followed by Friendship (42.5 days), Peter Pears (38.7 days) and Chinon (37.3 days). Different varieties showed 6.6 – 56.6% disease incidence and 0 – 33.3% mortality. Advanced Red, White Prosperity, Violetta, San Remo and Yellow Glad were found comparatively more resistant to corm rot disease with disease incidence of 0 – 10%. Indian variety Aarti was found to be the most susceptible to corm rot disease with disease incidence of 56.6%. Disease incidence was significantly and positively correlated with corm size. The present study concludes that Advanced Red and White Prosperity are the most suitable Gladiolus varieties for cultivation under agro-climatic conditions of Pakistan, having best floral characteristics and resistance against corm rot disease.Key words: Corm rot disease, disease resistance, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli, germplasm screening, Gladiolus

IT controls in the public cloud : success factors for allocation of roles and responsibilities

The rapid adoption of cloud computing by organizations has resulted in the transformation of the roles and responsibilities of personnel in managing the information technology (IT) resources (via IT governance controls) that have migrated to the cloud. Hence, the objective of this research is to provide a set of success factors that can assist IT managers to allocate the roles and responsibilities of IT controls appropriately to personnel to manage the migrated IT resources. Accordingly, this study generated a set of success factors from behavioral and information systems (IS) literature. These success factors were validated using in-depth interviews of executives from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and ranked using Delphi technique. The empirical intervention suggests that the role allocation is driven predominantly by people’s skills, competencies, organizational strategy, structures, and policies. In addition, the research made clear that the most significant competency and skill for a person allocated to IT controls is to be able to evaluate and manage a cloud service provider, especially in terms of risks, compliance, and security issues related to public cloud technology. The findings of this study not only offer new insights for scholars and practitioners involved in assigning responsibilities but also provide extensions for IT governance framework authorities to align their guidelines to the emerging cloud technology

In Vitro Antioxidant and In Vivo Hepatoprotective Activity of Leave Extract of Raphanus Sativus in Rats Using CCL4 Model

Background: Raphanus sativus is reported to have a variety of biological activities. This work screened the hepato-protective and antioxidant activity of ethanol (ERS), and aqueous (ARS), extracts of leaves of Raphanus sativus in Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), model in rats.Material and Methods: The extracts were subjected to antioxidant tests (Total reducing power and Total phenolic content), and preliminary phytochemical screening. A pilot study was done on 100 and 300 mg/kg extracts, form which 300 mg was chosen for further experiments. The albino rats (200-250 grams), were divided into 5 groups of 6 animals each (n=6). There were three control groups comprising of normal control (normal saline -1ml/kg), negative control group (CCl4 1ml/kg in olive oil in a ratio of 1:1 v/v), and positive control group (Silymarin 50mg/kg). The Test drugs were given in a dose of 300 mg/kg for both ERS and ARS extract for 7 days. Biochemical parameters (AST, ALT, Alkaline phosphatase, Total Bilirubin), histo-pathological examination of liver and in vivo antioxidant tests [CAT, GSH and MDA] were done.Results: The phytochemical study showed the presence of flavanoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, saponins and sterols. A dose dependent increase in the oxidative potential was observed in both the extracts with total phenolic content 70.1 and 44.4 GAE/g extract for ERS and ARS respectively. ERS 300mg/kg showed a significant (p<0.001) increase in levels of AST, ALT and alkaline phosphatase as compared to negative control (percentage hepatoprotection =45.3%) while ARS 300 mg/kg (p<.01) group showed 30% hepatoprotection. The GSH (p<0.001) and CAT (p<0.05) in ERS and ARS were significantly increased while MDA levels were decreased (P< 0.01), as compared negative control. The findings were confirmed histo-pathological examination.Conclusion: The ethanol and aqueous extract of Raphanus sativus have partial hepatoprotection against CCl4 toxicity.Key words: Raphanus sativus, hepatoprotection, CCl4, antioxidant

Prevalence and detection of cytomegalovirus by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and simple ELISA in pregnant women

A total of 327 women were screened, amongst them, 7 (2.14%) were cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA positive by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Antibodies against toxoplasma were also detected in 106 (32.41%) women, while 54 (16.51%) were anti CMV positive. Eleven (3.36%) and thirteen (3.97%) women were anti HSV and anti Rubella virus positive, respectively. High prevalence was recorded in age group 21 to 30 years which was 2.53% (4/158), followed by the age group <20 years which was 2.27% (1/44), then in age group 31 to 40 years, 2.25% (2/89) CMV DNA were detected by PCR and 0% was recorded in age group of above 40 years. The overall prevalence of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in 16 to 45 year-old was 2.14% by PCR and the number of abortion noted was 0 to 5 times. Active infection of HCMV was observed in women with number of abortion. Force of infection was significantly higher among age group 21 to 30 and 31 to 40 years. PCR was a more sensitive, reliable and accurate method for the detection of HCMV infection in pregnant women during this study.Key words: Cytomegalovirus, PCR, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and ELIS

Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Karak, Pakistan: Report of an outbreak and comparison of diagnostic techniques

A total of 339 patients with clinically suspected cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) were studied from March to April, 2010 in three villages of Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan where an epidemic of the disease was in question. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 78.17% (265/339) were observed having CL. Microscopically, however, only 43.06% (146/339) were diagnosed with the disease. This study reports and confirms epidemic of CL in both gender of all ages in the area. Females (70.94%) were noted to be predominantly affected as compared to males (29%). Clinically, 12.38% of patients had more than three lesions, 29.20% had two lesions, while 58.40% had only single lesion. Most lesions were found on exposed surfaces of the body (predominantly hands, face and feet). The present study confirms that PCR was more sensitive than microscopic examination.Key words: Epidemic, cutaneous leishmaniasis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), microscopy, Pakistan

Clinical and cost-effectiveness analysis of an open label, single-centre, randomised trial of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) versus percutaneous myocardial laser revascularisation (PMR) in patients with refractory angina pectoris: The SPiRiT trial.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: Patients with refractory angina have significant morbidity. This study aimed to compare two of the treatment options, Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) and Percutaneous Myocardial Laser Revascularisation (PMR) in terms of clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness. METHODS: Eligible patients were randomised to PMR or SCS and followed up for exercise tolerance time (ETT), Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) classification and the quality of life measures SF-36, Seattle Angina Questionnaire and the EuroQoL at 3, 12 and 24 months. Utilities were calculated using the EQ-5D and these and costs were compared between groups. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) per QALY for SCS compared to PMR was also calculated. RESULTS: At 24 months post-randomisation, patients that had SCS and PMR had similar ETT (mean difference 0.05, 95% CI -2.08, 2.18, p = 0.96) and there was no difference in CCS classification or quality of life outcomes. The difference in overall mean costs when comparing SCS to PMR was GBP5,520 (95% CI GBP1,966 to GBP8,613; p < 0.01) and the ICER of using SCS was GBP46,000 per QALY. CONCLUSION: Outcomes after SCS did not differ appreciably from those after PMR, with the former procedure being less cost-effective as currently applied. Larger studies could clarify which patients would most benefit from SCS, potentially increasing cost-effectiveness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN09648950.Published versio

The Pragmatics Interpretation of The Indeterminacy of Legal Construction

面对既成的法律文本，如何在尽量不偏离“原意”的基础上权衡或者化解各种外部因素的碰撞，将一般正义与个别正义尽量统一起来，得出合法合理的判决结果，这是法律解释的重要使命——即使其不确定性是无法避免的。所以本文的研究目标就是：从语用学的角度对法律解释的不确定性进行解读，并在此基础上寻求规制这种不确定性的方法论。 文章的内容分三部分，按照问题的切入——问题的分析——问题的解决这样的研究进路展开。 第一部分：即导言，属于引论。主要内容包括本文的研究意旨、相关的研究现状，以及本研究的基本思路和研究进路。 第二部分：即第一章。任何专门性的课题研究首先要界定的就是研究对象的问题，以作为整篇文章的讨论范围...Facing with the existing legal text, one of the important mission of legal construction is to balance value collisions of various kinds of external elements, integrate individual justice with general justice and obtain legal and reasonable decision in the base of not deviation from the original intention as far as possible, even if the indeterminacy is inevitable. So this paper aims to interpret a...学位：法学硕士院系专业：法学院法律系_法学理论学号：1292007115034

Prediction of the Caspian Sea level using ECMWF seasonal forecasts and reanalysis

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.The hydrological budget of the Caspian Sea (CS) is investigated using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts interim reanalysis (ERAi) and seasonal forecast (FCST) data with the aim of predicting the Caspian Sea Level (CSL) some months ahead. Precipitation and evaporation are used. After precipitation events over the Volga River, the discharge (Volga River discharge (VRD)) follows with delays, which are parameterized. The components of the water budget from ERAi and FCSTs are integrated to obtain time series of the CSL. Observations of the CSL and the VRD are used for comparison and tuning. The quality of ERAi data is sufficiently good to calculate the time variability of the CSL with a satisfactory accuracy. Already the storage of water within the Volga Basin allows forecasts of the CSL a few months ahead, and using the FCSTs of precipitation improves the CSL forecasts. The evaporation in the seasonal forecasts is deficient due to unrealistic sea surface temperatures over the CS. Impacts of different water budget terms on the CSL variability are shown by a variety of validation tools. The importance of precipitation anomalies over the catchment of the Volga River is confirmed, but also impacts from the two southern rivers (Sefidrud and Kura River) and the evaporation over the CS become obvious for some periods. When pushing the FCSTs beyond the limits of the seasonal FCSTs to 1 year, considerable forecast skill can still be found. Validating only FCSTs by the present approach, which show the same trend as one based on a statistical method, significantly enhances the skill scores