Effect of seed treatment, soil application and foliar spray of some insecticides on seed quality of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Studies were carried out to evaluate the efficacy of some insecticides as seed treatment, soil application and foliar sprays on seed quality characters of bell pepper (Capsicum annuumL.) cultivar Solan Bharpur during Kha-rif season 2013. The treatments comprised of seed application of imidacloprid (Gaucho 600FS) and thiamethox-am (Cruiser 70WS), soil application of neem cake@ 2 q/acre and carbofuran @ 6 kg/acre and foliar sprays of im-idacloprid (Confidor 200 SL), thiamethoxam (Actara 25 WS), indoxacarb14.5 SC @ 0.5ml/l, NSKE (neem seed ker-nel extract) @ 5%, Neem Raj 500ppm @ 2.5ml/l and control. The observations regarding quality parameters record-ed were germination percentage, seedling length, seeding dry weight, seed vigour index-I, seed vigour index-II and electrical conductivity. The results revealed that treatment combination viz., seed treatment and foliar spray with thiamethoxam (S2F2) recorded significantly higher germination percentage (96.33%), seed vigour index-I (934.10), seed vigour index-II (245.02) and minimum electrical conductivity (216.67dSm-1) at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, seed treatment and foliar spray of thiamethoxam may be recommended for quality seed production of bell pepper

Processing of citrus peel for the extraction of flavonoids for biotechnological applications

Flavonoids are extra nutritional constituents that naturally occur in small quantities in plants. They are a family of polyphenolic compounds that are widespread in nature and are consumed as part of the human diet in significant amounts. The diversity in their structure and bioactivity of flavonoids make these compounds an interesting candidate for biotechnology based research. Extraction of flavonoids from citrus employing the use of various techniques such as chemical and physical methods is attempted in this write up. The biotechnological potential of flavonoids is not currently exploited to its maximum since extraction procedures are in developing phase. The current knowledge on the sources of citrus flavonoids and their potential activities in alleviating human health is also discussed

An unusual clinical presentation of labial fusion in post pubertal period

Labial fusion is sealing of labia minora in midline, also known as labial adhesion or labial agglutination or synechia vulvae. This condition is common in pre-pubertal females usually asymptomatic when oestrogen levels are low and commonly resolves spontaneously post-puberty if unresolved medical treatment includes use of estrogen cream or betamethasone cream application, very rarely surgical treatment required, if not responding to medical treatment due to dense adhesions. This case report is unusual as it has presented in a post-pubertal female requiring surgical management

Association of metabolic syndrome and endometrial pathologies in postmenopausal women

Background: The menopausal state may predispose the women to the development of metabolic syndrome as its prevalence has been reported to increase after the attainment of menopause. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in post-menopausal women and to assess the association between metabolic syndrome and endometrial pathologies in post-menopausal women. Methods: An observational study conducted at gynecology OPD of GSVM Medical College, Kanpur and Total 80 post-menopausal women who had history of at least 1 year cessation of menses. Results: Endometrial pathology was present in 63.2% of patients with metabolic syndrome and in 38.1% of patients without metabolic syndrome. The association between endometrial pathology and metabolic syndrome was found to be statistically significant (p=0.025). The highest incidence was found for fasting glucose (86.8%) followed by blood pressure (81.5%), high triglycerides (81%), low HDL (60.5%), and waist circumference (23.6%). Waist circumference, triglyceride, HDL, diabetes, waist circumference had postulated to be predictors for endometrial pathology. Conclusions: Endometrial cancer is a type of metabolic syndrome-related tumor. Elucidating the specific roles and the possible mechanisms of metabolic syndrome in pathogenesis of endometrial cancer is expected to provide a new target for the early prevention and treatment of endometrial cancer

Surgically resected gall bladder: Is histopathology needed for all?

Background. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is considered to be gold standard for symptomatic gall stones. As a routine every specimen is sent for histopathological examination postoperatively. Incidentally finding gall bladder cancers in those specimens is around 0.5–1.1%. The aim of this study is to identify those preoperative and intraoperative factors in patients with incidental gall bladder cancer to reduce unnecessary work load on pathologist and cost of investigation particularly in a developing world. Methods. Retrospective records were analyzed from January 2005 to February 2015 in a surgical unit. Demographic data, preoperative imaging, peroperative findings, macroscopic appearance, and histopathological findings were noted. Gall bladder wall was considered to be thickened if ≥3 mm on preoperative imaging or surgeons comment (on operative findings) and histopathology report. AJCC TNM system was used to stage gall bladder cancer. Results. 973 patients underwent cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstone disease. Gallbladder carcinoma was incidentally found in 11 cases. Macroscopic abnormalities of the gallbladder were found in all those 11 patients. In patients with a macroscopically normal gallbladder, there were no cases of gallbladder carcinoma. Conclusion. Preoperative and operative findings play a pivotal role in determining incidental chances of gall bladder malignancy

Formal Verification for Blockchain-based Insurance Claims Processing

Insurance claims processing involves multi-domain entities and multi-source data, along with a number of human-agent interactions. Use of Blockchain technology-based platform can significantly improve scalability and response time for processing of claims which are otherwise manually-intensive and time-consuming. However, the chaincodes involved within the processes that issue claims, approve or deny them as required, need to be formally verified to ensure secure and reliable processing of transactions in Blockchain. In this paper, we use a formal modeling approach to verify various processes and their underlying chaincodes relating to different stages in insurance claims processing viz., issuance, approval, denial, and flagging for fraud investigation by using linear temporal logic (LTL). We simulate the formalism on the chaincodes and analyze the breach of chaincodes via model checking

Electrochemical hydrogen production: Sustainable hydrogen economy

The development of sustainable energy technologies has received considerable attention to meet increasing global energy demands and to realise organisational goals (e.g., United Nations, the Paris agreement) of carbon neutrality. Hydrogen is a promising alternative energy source to replace fossil fuels and mitigate corresponding environmental issues. An aspiring method to produce hydrogen is to direct energy from intermittent renewable energy sources for water electrolysis. However, a major obstacle to practically achieve hydrogen storage is the future investment costs of water electrolysis due the energy intensive nature of the reaction. In this study, we present an overview of current research interests that produce hydrogen, including different types of water electrolysis such as high temperature, low temperature, nuclear-driven, solar-powered, wind powered, and grid connected water electrolysis. Electrolysis using organic fuels and hydrogen production as a by-product of various electrolytic methods are also briefly discussed. At the end, we demonstrate economy, sustainability, and challenges of sustainable hydrogen production reporting since 2005 onwards

Detection of Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase Gene Re-Arrangement in Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma in the Indian Population: Comparison of Techniques and Immunohistochemistry Clones

Objective: Predictive and prognostic markers have revolutionized personalized therapy in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Crizotinib is now approved for locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC that is anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) positive by either Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) or immunohistochemistry (IHC). The current study aimed to detect the incidence of ALK gene re-arrangement in the Indian population, to compare the various IHC antibodies with FISH as a gold standard, and to analyze the morphology of cases with ALK phenotype. Material and Method: A case series of 614 cases of NSCLC were included. IHC for detection of ALK phenotype was compared with FISH using 5A4 clone (Labvision, USA), ALK-1(Dako, Denmark) and D5F3 clone (Ventana, USA). Results: ALK gene rearrangement was evident in 4.07% of the cases. Cases with ALK phenotype had unique histomorphology with presence of mucin or signet ring cells in association with necrosis, high tumour grade and poor differentiation. Comparison of various antibody clones used in IHC revealed that the sensitivity and specificity using the D5F3 clone (100%, 100%) and 5A4 clone (87.5%, 100%) were similar while the ALK-1 clone had the lowest sensitivity and specificity (50%, 95.5%). Conclusion: The incidence of ALK gene rearrangement in NSCLC in the current Indian study is within the worldwide reported range of 3-5%. This is the first study from the Indian subcontinent to compare various IHC antibodies used for detection of ALK phenotype. IHC using D5F3 clone and 5A4 clone may be considered as a rapid reliable and inexpensive method for detection of ALK gene rearrangement

Leprosy drug clofazimine activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ and synergizes with imatinib to inhibit chronic myeloid leukemia cells

Leukemia stem cells contribute to drug-resistance and relapse in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and BCR-ABL1 inhibitor monotherapy fails to eliminate these cells, thereby necessitating alternate therapeutic strategies for patients CML. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) agonist pioglitazone downregulates signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) and in combination with imatinib induces complete molecular response in imatinib-refractory patients by eroding leukemia stem cells. Thiazolidinediones such as pioglitazone are, however, associated with severe side effects. To identify alternate therapeutic strategies for CML we screened Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs in K562 cells and identified the leprosy drug clofazimine as an inhibitor of viability of these cells. Here we show that clofazimine induced apoptosis of blood mononuclear cells derived from patients with CML, with a particularly robust effect in imatinib-resistant cells. Clofazimine also induced apoptosis of CD34+38− progenitors and quiescent CD34+ cells from CML patients but not of hematopoietic progenitor cells from healthy donors. Mechanistic evaluation revealed that clofazimine, via physical interaction with PPARγ, induced nuclear factor kB-p65 proteasomal degradation, which led to sequential myeloblastoma oncoprotein and peroxiredoxin 1 downregulation and concomitant induction of reactive oxygen species-mediated apoptosis. Clofazimine also suppressed STAT5 expression and consequently downregulated stem cell maintenance factors hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and -2α and Cbp/P300 interacting transactivator with Glu/Asp-rich carboxy-terminal domain 2 (CITED2). Combining imatinib with clofazimine caused a far superior synergy than that with pioglitazone, with clofazimine reducing the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of imatinib by >4 logs and remarkably eroding quiescent CD34+ cells. In a K562 xenograft study clofazimine and imatinib co-treatment showed more robust efficacy than the individual treatments. We propose clinical evaluation of clofazimine in imatinib-refractory CML

Quantifying primaquine effectiveness and improving adherence: a round table discussion of the APMEN Vivax Working Group.

The goal to eliminate malaria from the Asia-Pacific by 2030 will require the safe and widespread delivery of effective radical cure of malaria. In October 2017, the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network Vivax Working Group met to discuss the impediments to primaquine (PQ) radical cure, how these can be overcome and the methodological difficulties in assessing clinical effectiveness of radical cure. The salient discussions of this meeting which involved 110 representatives from 18 partner countries and 21 institutional partner organizations are reported. Context specific strategies to improve adherence are needed to increase understanding and awareness of PQ within affected communities; these must include education and health promotion programs. Lessons learned from other disease programs highlight that a package of approaches has the greatest potential to change patient and prescriber habits, however optimizing the components of this approach and quantifying their effectiveness is challenging. In a trial setting, the reactivity of participants results in patients altering their behaviour and creates inherent bias. Although bias can be reduced by integrating data collection into the routine health care and surveillance systems, this comes at a cost of decreasing the detection of clinical outcomes. Measuring adherence and the factors that relate to it, also requires an in-depth understanding of the context and the underlying sociocultural logic that supports it. Reaching the elimination goal will require innovative approaches to improve radical cure for vivax malaria, as well as the methods to evaluate its effectiveness