Prevalence of abnormal cervical cytology and HPV DNA positivity among HIV positive women

Background: The relationship among HIV, HPV, and development of CIN is complex and incompletely understood. Present study is undertaken to find out the prevalence and relationship of abnormal cervical cytology and HPV infection in HIV positive women.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, case control study conducted on 95 HIV seropositive and 95 seronegative women. Specimen was collected from the cervix for HPV DNA testing, subtyping and cytology.Results: HPV DNA positivity was higher in seropositive group (18.6% vs. 7.4%). Premalignant conditions were found only in seropositive group. At CD4 count 500 HPV DNA positivity was 19%.Conclusions: Prevalence of abnormal cytology and HPV DNA positivity is higher amongst HIV positive women and there is an association between HPV DNA positivity with lower CD4 counts.

RF Controlled Robotic Vehicle with Metal Detection Project

The project is intended to cultivate a robotic vehicle that can sense metals ahead of it on its path similar to detecting land mines. The robot is controlled by a remote using RF technology. It consists of a metal detector circuit interfaced to the control unit that alarms the user behind it about a doubted land mine ahead. An 8051 series of microcontroller is used for the preferred operation. For controlling the movement of robot either to forward, backward & right or left commands are sent to the receiver by using push buttons of the transmitter. At the receiving end two motors are interfaced to the microcontroller where they are used for the movement of the vehicle. The RF transmitter acts as a RF remote control that has the advantage of sufficient range (up to 200 meters) with proper antenna, while the receiver decodes before serving it to another microcontroller to drive DC motors via motor driver IC for necessary work. A metal detector circuit is attached on the robot body and its operation is carried out automatically on sensing any metal underneath. The instant the robot senses this metal it produces an alarm sound through buzzer. This is to aware the operator of a probable metal (eg: land mine) ahead on its path. Further the project can be enhanced by mounting a wireless camera on the robot so that the operator can govern the movement of the robot remotely by observing it on a screen

Statistically Designed Bioprocess for Enhanced Production of Alkaline Protease in Bacillus cereus HP_RZ17

491-498Alkaline protease is one of the bulk enzymes having wide commercial demand for various applications. It is commercially produced by a submerged fermentation process employing various bacteria, Bacillus sp. being the most widely used species. Statistical optimization of the process for the production of alkaline proteases from rhizospheric bacteria and its application in the biocontrol of plant pathogens has not been explored fully and needs to be studied for the development of efficient bioprocess. We report the enhanced production of alkaline protease in the minimal salt medium (MSM) optimized using statistical approaches such as Plackett Burman Design (PBD) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM). In the first step; PBD, among the total eight variables, three variables namely, yeast extract (pppBacillus cereus HP_RZ17. These three variables were further analyzed in the second step i.e. Central Composite Design (CCD) of RSM. The optimum yield of alkaline protease by B. cereus HP_RZ17 (130.72 UmL-1) was obtained under the optimal conditions such as yeast extract (0.899% w/v), fructose (0.873% w/v), and pH (11.25) of production media. The statistically optimized values of variables used for the scale-up of the process at 5 L capacity bioreactor enhanced the alkaline protease yield (132.48 UmL-1) by 1.09 fold vis-à-vis un-optimized protocol (121.96 UmL-1) in B. cereus HP_RZ17

A Genome-Wide Characterization of MicroRNA Genes in Maize

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that play essential roles in plant growth, development, and stress response. We conducted a genome-wide survey of maize miRNA genes, characterizing their structure, expression, and evolution. Computational approaches based on homology and secondary structure modeling identified 150 high-confidence genes within 26 miRNA families. For 25 families, expression was verified by deep-sequencing of small RNA libraries that were prepared from an assortment of maize tissues. PCR–RACE amplification of 68 miRNA transcript precursors, representing 18 families conserved across several plant species, showed that splice variation and the use of alternative transcriptional start and stop sites is common within this class of genes. Comparison of sequence variation data from diverse maize inbred lines versus teosinte accessions suggest that the mature miRNAs are under strong purifying selection while the flanking sequences evolve equivalently to other genes. Since maize is derived from an ancient tetraploid, the effect of whole-genome duplication on miRNA evolution was examined. We found that, like protein-coding genes, duplicated miRNA genes underwent extensive gene-loss, with ∼35% of ancestral sites retained as duplicate homoeologous miRNA genes. This number is higher than that observed with protein-coding genes. A search for putative miRNA targets indicated bias towards genes in regulatory and metabolic pathways. As maize is one of the principal models for plant growth and development, this study will serve as a foundation for future research into the functional roles of miRNA genes

Characterization of miRNAs in Response to Short-Term Waterlogging in Three Inbred Lines of Zea mays

Waterlogging of plants leads to low oxygen levels (hypoxia) in the roots and causes a metabolic switch from aerobic respiration to anaerobic fermentation that results in rapid changes in gene transcription and protein synthesis. Our research seeks to characterize the microRNA-mediated gene regulatory networks associated with short-term waterlogging. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate many genes involved in growth, development and various biotic and abiotic stress responses. To characterize the involvement of miRNAs and their targets in response to short-term hypoxia conditions, a quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay was used to quantify the expression of the 24 candidate mature miRNA signatures (22 known and 2 novel mature miRNAs, representing 66 miRNA loci) and their 92 predicted targets in three inbred Zea mays lines (waterlogging tolerant Hz32, mid-tolerant B73, and sensitive Mo17). Based on our studies, miR159, miR164, miR167, miR393, miR408 and miR528, which are mainly involved in root development and stress responses, were found to be key regulators in the post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms under short-term waterlogging conditions in three inbred lines. Further, computational approaches were used to predict the stress and development related cis-regulatory elements on the promoters of these miRNAs; and a probable miRNA-mediated gene regulatory network in response to short-term waterlogging stress was constructed. The differential expression patterns of miRNAs and their targets in these three inbred lines suggest that the miRNAs are active participants in the signal transduction at the early stage of hypoxia conditions via a gene regulatory network; and crosstalk occurs between different biochemical pathways

Functional annotation of the transcriptome of Sorghum bicolor in response to osmotic stress and abscisic acid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Higher plants exhibit remarkable phenotypic plasticity allowing them to adapt to an extensive range of environmental conditions. Sorghum is a cereal crop that exhibits exceptional tolerance to adverse conditions, in particular, water-limiting environments. This study utilized next generation sequencing (NGS) technology to examine the transcriptome of sorghum plants challenged with osmotic stress and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) in order to elucidate genes and gene networks that contribute to sorghum's tolerance to water-limiting environments with a long-term aim of developing strategies to improve plant productivity under drought.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RNA-Seq results revealed transcriptional activity of 28,335 unique genes from sorghum root and shoot tissues subjected to polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced osmotic stress or exogenous ABA. Differential gene expression analyses in response to osmotic stress and ABA revealed a strong interplay among various metabolic pathways including abscisic acid and 13-lipoxygenase, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, and plant defense pathways. Transcription factor analysis indicated that groups of genes may be co-regulated by similar regulatory sequences to which the expressed transcription factors bind. We successfully exploited the data presented here in conjunction with published transcriptome analyses for rice, maize, and Arabidopsis to discover more than 50 differentially expressed, drought-responsive gene orthologs for which no function had been previously ascribed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study provides an initial assemblage of sorghum genes and gene networks regulated by osmotic stress and hormonal treatment. We are providing an RNA-Seq data set and an initial collection of transcription factors, which offer a preliminary look into the cascade of global gene expression patterns that arise in a drought tolerant crop subjected to abiotic stress. These resources will allow scientists to query gene expression and functional annotation in response to drought.</p

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure