HnRNP-like proteins as post-transcriptional regulators

Plant cells contain a diverse repertoire of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that coordinate a network of post-transcriptional regulation. RBPs govern diverse developmental processes by modulating the gene expression of specific transcripts. Recent gene annotation and RNA sequencing clearly showed that heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP)-like proteins which form a family of RBPs, are also expressed in higher plants and serve specific plant functions. In addition to their involvement in post-transcriptional regulation from mRNA capping to translation, they are also involved in telomere regulation, gene silencing and regulation in chloroplast. Here, we review the involvement of plant hnRNP-like proteins in post-transcription regulation of RNA processes and their functional roles in control of plant developmental processes especially plant-specific functions including flowering, chloroplastic-specific mRNA regulation, long-distance phloem transportation and plant responses to environmental stresses

Energy Poverty Impact on the Economics of Indonesia Using ARDL Approach

Energy poverty is a global threat to human development path. This study is about the cointegration relationship between energy poverty and the economy of Indonesia for the period of 1995 to 2014. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and vector error correction model (VECM) were used in this study to study the cointegration and causality analysis. Unit root test and stability test were adopted to increase the reliability and accuracy of the model. The analysis shows that parity purchase power (PPP) has a positive relationship with inflation (INF) in both long-run and short-run. Result shows in long-run, the increment of 1% for both energy consumption (EC) and PPP will result -1.12% and 0.032% effect respectively towards inflation in Indonesia. While for 1% increase in energy consumption is expected to give 1.5297% increment on inflation in short-run cases. Granger causality test shows only unidirectional causality between parity purchase power and inflation in both the long-run and short-run. Energy consumption only shows unidirectional causality toward inflation in the long-run. Overall mean increase of PPP or EC has a single direction influence on the inflation rate. The study can aid policy planning in eradication energy poverty

An overview of out-of-step protection in power systems

Power system is subjected to an extensive variety of little or bigger disturbance to the system during the operation. The power system that designed as one of the main requirement is to survive from the larger type of disturbances like faults. The power swing in certain system is the variation in three phase power flow in the power system. This paper mainly discussed the power swing and distance relay and the effect of the power swing on the distance relay and demonstrate about the basic power system stability and power swing phenomena. Moreover, out of step protection and detection applications are revised as well. At the end, the paper also demonstrated the past study of out of step application of TNB 275 KV network

Cloning of a novel phytase from an anaerobic rumen bacterium, Mitsuokella jalaludinii, and its expression in Escherichia coli

The full length phytase gene of Mitsuokella jalaludinii was successfully cloned and was found to be 1047 bp in length, with 348 amino acids, and was designated as PHY7 phytase gene. A comparison of the sequence of PHY7 phytase gene of M. jalaludinii with various microbial phytase gene sequences showed that it was not similar to those from other bacteria except Selenomonas ruminatium, thus suggesting that they may both express a new class of phytase. The PHY7 phytase gene was subsequently subcloned into bacterial expression vector, pET32a, for expression in Escherichia coli strain Rosetta-gami. Expression of the recombinant phytase gene was optimized and characterized. The recombinant phytase was estimated to be approximately 55 kDa by SDS-PAGE analysis. The recombinant phytase exhibited optimum activity at 55°C, pH 4.5 and showed good pH stability from pH 3.5 to 5.5 (>78% relative activity). Metal ions such as Ca2+, Mg2+, and K+ were found to exert significant stimulatory effect on the recombinant phytase activity while Cu2+, Fe3+, and Zn2+ greatly inhibited the enzyme activity. The recombinant phytase showed moderate resistance to trypsin proteolysis, but susceptible to pepsin proteolysis. The results of the study showed that several characteristics of recombinant phytase were slightly different from the native enzyme. Unfavourable characteristics such as reduced pH stability and metal ion effects should be taken into consideration during feed enzyme formulation

Effect of blender and blending time on color and aroma characteristics of juice and its freeze-dried powder of Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. leaves (pandan)

The color and aroma properties of Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. leaves (pandan) were studied by mechanical extraction using normal and turbo blade blenders under different blending times (60–180 s). The extracted juice was freeze-dried into powders and its aroma components were measured in a solid-phase microextraction using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS) analysis. The turbo blade blender provided maximum color pigment of greenness and yellowness at blending time of 90 s as compared to the normal blender that required 180 s. In GC-MS analysis, the major component, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, was found to be one time higher in the freeze-dried pandan juice samples obtained from turbo blade blender than normal blender. Other components including the cis-3-hexanal, 2-methylene-4-pentenenitrile and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene were also detected in the samples. In conclusion, the turbo blade blender is more effective than normal laboratory blender in terms of color extraction, particle size reduction and the aroma retention

Harmonic Reduction of a Single-Phase Multilevel Inverter Using Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization

Power inverter play an important role in power system especially with its capability on reducing system size and increase efficiently. The recent research trends of power electronic system are focusing on multilevel inverter topics in optimization on voltage output, reducing the total harmonics distortion, modulation technique, and switching configuration. The research emphasizes the optimization with a fundamental switching frequency method that is the optimized harmonic stepped waveform (OHSW) modulation method. The selective harmonic elimination (SHE) calculation has adapted with genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) in order to speed up the calculation. Both bioinspired algorithms are compared in terms of total harmonic distortion (THD) and selective harmonic elimination for both equal and unequal sources. The overall result showed that both algorithms have high accuracy in solving the nonlinear equation. However, the genetic algorithm showed better output quality in terms of selective harmonic elimination which overall no exceeding 0.4%. Particle swarm optimization shows strength in finding the best total harmonic distortion where in seven-level cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter (m=0.8) shows 6.8% only as compared to genetic algorithm. Simulation for three-level, five-level, and seven-level for each multilevel inverter at different circumferences had been done in this research. The result draws out a conclusion where the possibility of having a filterless high-efficient inverter can be achieved

Evaluation of Ertapenem use with Impact Assessment on Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBL) Production and Gram-Negative resistance in Singapore General Hospital (SGH)

BACKGROUND: Ertapenem (preferred choice for ESBL-producing organisms) use exhibited an increasing trend from 2006 to 2008. As extensive use of ertapenem might induce the mutation of resistant bacteria strains to ertapenem, we aimed to assess the appropriateness and impact of ertapenem-use, on ESBL production, the trends of gram-negative bacterial resistance and on the utilization of other antibiotics in our institution. METHODS: Inpatients who received a dose of ertapenem during 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2008, were reviewed. Pertinent patient clinical data was extracted from the pharmacy databases and assessed for appropriateness based on dose and indication. Relevant data from Network for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (Singapore) (NARSS) was extracted, to cross-correlate with ertapenem via time series to assess its impact on hospital epidemiology, trends of gram-negative resistance and consumption of other antibiotics from 2006 to mid-2010. RESULTS: 906 cases were reviewed. Ertapenem therapy was appropriate in 72.4% (93.7% success rate). CNS adverse events were noted in 3.2%. Readmission rate (30-day) due to re-infection (same pathogen) was 5.5%. Fifty cases had cultures growing Pseudomonas aeruginosa within 30 days of ertapenem initiation, with 25 cases growing carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Ertapenem use increased from 0.45 DDD/100 patient days in 2006 to 1.2 DDD/100 patient days in mid-2010. Overall, the increasing trend of ertapenem consumption correlated with 1) increasing incidence-densities of ciprofloxacin-resistant/cephalosporin-resistant E. coli at zero time lag; 2) increasing incidence-densities of ertapenem-resistant Escherichia. coli and Klebsiella spp. at zero time lag; 3) increasing incidence-density of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, at zero time lag. Increasing ertapenem consumption was significantly correlated with decreasing consumption of cefepime (R(2) = 0.37344) 3 months later. It was significantly correlated with a decrease in imipenem consumption (R(2) = 0.31081), with no time lag but was correlated with subsequent increasing consumption of meropenem (R(2) = 0.4092) 6 months later. CONCLUSION: Ertapenem use was appropriate. Increasing Ertapenem consumption did not result in a decreasing trend of ESBL producing enterobacteriaceae and could result in the selection for multi-drug resistant bacteria

Effect of using agro-fertilizers and N-fixing Azotobacter enhanced biofertilizers on the growth and yield of corn

Corn is an important crop and is grown widely around the world. Corn is a food source for human as well as animal and processed into industrial product such as ethanol. Corn is one of the important productions of Malaysia as the climate is suitable for corn growth. In this study, organic fertilizers such as biofertilizer, N-fixing Azotobacter enhanced biofertilizers and compost were added to the soil to determine best practice in using organic fertilizers for higher corn yield and growth. The study was conducted in plot experiment with five replications based on randomized block design in the summer of 2012. All plots were manually harvested and yield was adjusted to 15% moisture. Grain yield (total corn harvested) at maturity was determined by harvesting the two central rows of each plot. Statistical analysis was performed on the effect of fertilizer treatments on plant growth, corn yield and nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium contents of plant materials. The means were compared according to Duncan multiple range test. The results showed that organic fertilizers in the form of N-fixing Azotobacter enhanced biofertilizer increased yield with positive effects on measured plant height, weight and leaf index. Given the significant enhancement in growth and yield of corn taking place mainly with N-fixing Azotobacter fertilizers under organic condition, the mechanism for this beneficial effect could be due to the more balanced nutrition and improved absorption of nitrogen and other mineral nutrients by the corn

Potential of condensed tannins from Leucaena leucocephala hybrid on methane mitigation in ruminants

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and climate change. It has a heat trapping potential 23 times that of carbon dioxide. Globally, ruminant livestock produce about 80 million metric tonnes of enteric methane annually, accounting to about 30% of global anthropogenic methane production. Methane produced during enteric fermentation also contributes to a loss of energy of up to 15% for the animal. Thus, mitigation of methane production by ruminants not only reduces greenhouse gas emission but also improves feed efficiency and reduces production cost. There has been considerable interest in use of plant extracts to mitigate enteric ruminal methane emissions. Condensed tannins are secondary plant metabolites that have been considered for mitigating methane production in ruminants, but they may also decrease digestibility of feed in ruminants. Leucaena leucocephala is a tree legume that has been used as a feed supplement for ruminants because of its high protein content. However, it also contains condensed tannins. The L. leucocephala hybrids in Malaysia have been found to have higher condensed tannin contents than the parent L. leucocephala. The effectiveness of condensed tannins from these L. leucocephala hybrids on reduction of methane has not been studied. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of pure condensed tannins, extracted from young leaves and shoots of L. leucocephala hybrid-Rendang on methane mitigation, rumen fermentation parameters such as pH, dry matter (DM) digestibility, nitrogen degradability and volatile fatty acids production, as well as populations of methanogens and protozoa. The “in vitro gas production test” was used in the investigation as it provides data on fermentation parameters of feed with a high correlation to its in vivo base. The results showed that the condensed tannin extract, at a low level of 30 mg/g DM could reduce methane production by 39% as compared to the control, without negatively affecting DM digestibility, nitrogen degradability, rumen pH and total volatile fatty acids production. Total populations of methanogens and protozoa were also reduced by about 55 and 38%, respectively. Populations of methanogens in the orders Methanomicrobiales and Methanobacteriales were reduced by 22 and 7%, respectively. The findings of the study indicated that condensed tannins at 30 mg/g DM has the potential to be used as a feed supplement to reduce methane production in ruminants, without adversely affecting rumen fermentation parameters