Propagation of Himalayan maple (Acer caesium Wall.) through seed and softwood cuttings

Propagation of Himalayan maple (Acer caesium Wall.) through seed and softwood cuttings was investigated to standardize nursery techniques for mass production of the species. The seedlings were raised from viable seeds in different containers filled with different combinations of growing media. Vegetative propagation of softwoodcuttings was carried out by treating with different combinations of IBA and Willow leachate of different durations. The statistical analysis revealed the differential behaviour of various nursery stocks with respect to survival, growth and biomass. The growing media soil:sand:vermicompost (2:1:2) and container (root trainer 300 cc) showed maximum germination (61.00%), seedlings height (35.17 cm), collar diameter (5.07 cm), shoot:root ratio (1.24) and survival percentage (76.33%). Conversely, the cuttings treated with IBA @ 8000 ppm showed maximum sprouting (74.50%), rooting (66.75%), length of longest root (14.65 cm), no. of roots per cutting (33.00%), shoot length (13.90 cm) and survival percentage (41.50%). Hence, the seeds of the species should be grown in Rot trainer of 300 cc having soil:sand:vermicompost (2:1:2) to get good quality planting materials. However, the softwood cuttings should be given treatments with IBA @ 8000 ppm for mass production of plants vegetatively

Woodlot farming by smallholder farmers in Ganderbal district of Kashmir, India

Forest degradation and deforestation are serious threats to resource conservation, subsistence livelihoods and rural income diversification. Woodlot farming on farms has been established as a potential option to increase forest resources from agricultural landscapes and remove human pressure from forests. The study investigated the land-use and landholding pattern, woodlots types and species preference and extent of spatial distribution, land allocation and growing stock of woodlots in the Ganderbal district of Kashmir. Multistage random sampling technique was employed to select 349 farm woodlots from 12 sample villages. Secondary sources were used to collect village-level data on land-use and landholding pattern. Primary data concerning the trees were collected through farm woodlot inventories. The data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. Results revealed that the total land area in the sample villages is 888.60 ha; 521.60 ha (58.70%) is cultivated land, which is mostly (80.78%) occupied by 1244 marginal farmers. The prevalent woodlots established were plantations of Populus, Salix, Robinia or mixed species. The farm woodlots (61.59 ha) contributed 11.81% of cultivated land and 6.93% of the total geographical area. The average growing stocks of woodlots were estimated to be 204.05 m3/ha for Populus, 191.77 m3/ha for Salix, 109.51 m3/ha for Robinia and 62.31 m3/ha for Mixed. The findings suggested that woodlot farming is the key alternative for forest resource production, livelihood resilience and socioeconomic improvement; hence, the policy must be implicated towards the promotion of woodlot farming by re-orienting the land use through farmer’s motivation and technical, financial and farming input assistance

Phospholipid class-specific brain enrichment in response to lysophosphatidylcholine docosahexaenoic acid infusion

This project was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) [482597] and from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) [497215] to Dr. R.P. Bazinet and by a NSERC studentship to Dr. C.T. Chen.Peer reviewedPostprin

Perceptions, attitudes and preferences in agroforestry among rural societies of Kashmir, India

People’s perceptions, attitudes and preferences in agroforestry have become fundamental elements of sustainable agroforestry management. The study examined the multiplicities and dimensions of people’s perceptions about agroforestry values, attitudes towards agroforestry benefits and resources preferences in agroforestry and their socioeconomic determinants in rural societies of Kashmir. The data were collected from 142 households of 5 villages selected employing multi-stage random sampling. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used for the data analysis. Results indicated that the material values (rank 1st to 3rd) of agroforestry were perceived as the most important while the perception of the non-material values (rank 4th to 10th) were adjudged moderately important. People’s attitudes towards the tangible benefits (rank 1st to 3rd) of agroforestry were highly favourable whereas attitudes towards intangible benefits (rank 4th to 10th) were indifferent. The rural people expressed higher preferences for fuel wood, fodder, vegetable, fruit, and timber (rank 1st to 5th) while moderate or low preferences for medicine, cottage industry/ handicrafts, fiber/ floss, oilseeds and animals/ birds/ insects etc. (rank 6th to 10th). F statistics (p < 0.05) showed significant differences between the material and non-material values, tangible and non-tangible benefits and resources groups. Correlation co-efficients (r) confirmed the importance of socioeconomic attributes in influencing people’s perceptions, attitudes and preferences in agroforestry. The findings will help to refine and enrich the knowledge-base to provide an effective framework for decisions and policy making to sustain and maintain agroforestry health and services. The integration of people’s socio-psychological conditions in sustainable agroforestry management will be effective strategy commensurating the current development and future challenges

The sunburn response in human skin is characterized by sequential eicosanoid profiles that may mediate its early and late phases.

yesSunburn is a commonly occurring acute inflammatory process, with dermal vasodilatation and leukocyte infiltration as central features. Ultraviolet (UV) B-induced hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids releases polyunsaturated fatty acids and their subsequent metabolism by cyclooxygenases (COX) and lipoxygenases (LOX) may produce potent eicosanoid mediators modulating different stages of the inflammation. Our objective was to identify candidate eicosanoids formed during the sunburn reaction in relation to its clinical and histological course. We exposed skin of healthy humans (n=32) to UVB and for 72h examined (i) expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory eicosanoids using LC/ESI-MS/MS and (ii) immunohistochemical expression of COX-2, 12-LOX, 15-LOX and leucocyte markers, while (iii) quantifying clinical erythema. We show that vasodilatory prostaglandins (PG)E2, PGF2¿ and PGE3 accompany the erythema in the first 24-48h, associated with increased COX-2 expression at 24h. Novel, potent leukocyte chemoattractants 11-, 12- and 8-monohydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid (-HETE) are elevated from 4-72h, in association with peak dermal neutrophil influx at 24h, and increased dermal CD3+ lymphocytes and 12- and 15-LOX expression from 24-72h. Anti-inflammatory metabolite 15-HETE shows later expression, peaking at 72h. Sunburn is characterized by overlapping phases of increases in COX products followed by LOX products that may regulate subsequent events and ultimately its resolution.The Wellcome Trus

Prostaglandin profiling reveals a role for haematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase in adipose tissue macrophage polarisation in mice and humans.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Obesity has been associated with both changes in adipose tissue lipid metabolism and inflammation. A key class of lipid-derived signalling molecules involved in inflammation are the prostaglandins. In this study, we aimed to determine how obesity affects the levels of prostaglandins within white adipose tissue (WAT) and determine which cells within adipose tissue produce them. To avoid the effects of cellular stress on prostaglandin levels, we developed a multivariate statistical approach in which metabolite concentrations and transcriptomic data were integrated, allowing the assignment of metabolites to cell types. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Eicosanoids were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and mRNA levels using real-time PCR. Eicosanoid levels and transcriptomic data were combined using principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering in order to associate metabolites with cell types. Samples were obtained from C57Bl/6 mice aged 16 weeks. We studied the ob/ob genetically obese mouse model and diet-induced obesity model. We extended our results in mice to a cohort of morbidly obese humans undergoing bariatric surgery. RESULTS: Using our modelling approach, we determined that prostglandin D₂ (PGD₂) in adipose tissue was predominantly produced in macrophages by the haematopoietic isoform of prostaglandin D synthase (H-Pgds). Analysis of sub-fractionated WAT confirmed that H-Pgds was expressed in adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs). Furthermore, H-Pgds expression in ATMs isolated from lean and obese mice was consistent with it affecting macrophage polarisation. Functionally, we demonstrated that H-PGDS-produced PGD₂ polarised macrophages toward an M2, anti-inflammatory state. In line with a potential anti-inflammatory role, we found that H-PGDS expression in ATMs was positively correlated with both peripheral insulin and adipose tissue insulin sensitivity in humans. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we have developed a method to determine the cellular source of metabolites within an organ and used it to identify a new role for PGD₂ in the control of ATM polarisation.HQL-79 was a kind gift of Professor Yoshihiro Urade. Professor Vidal-Puig was funded by the BHF, MRC and BBSRC. Dr Virtue was funded by the BBSRC and the BHF. Dr Eiden, Dr Masoodi and Dr Griffin were funded by the MRC. Dr Mok was funded by the Wellcome Trust.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo201534a.htm

Charge separation relative to the reaction plane in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}= 2.76 TeV

Measurements of charge dependent azimuthal correlations with the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV. Two- and three-particle charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta| < 0.8$ are presented as a function of the collision centrality, particle separation in pseudo-rapidity, and transverse momentum. A clear signal compatible with a charge-dependent separation relative to the reaction plane is observed, which shows little or no collision energy dependence when compared to measurements at RHIC energies. This provides a new insight for understanding the nature of the charge dependent azimuthal correlations observed at RHIC and LHC energies.Comment: 12 pages, 3 captioned figures, authors from page 2 to 6, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/286

Transverse sphericity of primary charged particles in minimum bias proton-proton collisions at s=0.9\sqrt{s}=0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV

Measurements of the sphericity of primary charged particles in minimum bias proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76 and 7 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC are presented. The observable is linearized to be collinear safe and is measured in the plane perpendicular to the beam direction using primary charged tracks with $p_{\rm T}\geq0.5$ GeV/c in $|\eta|\leq0.8$. The mean sphericity as a function of the charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity ($N_{\rm ch}$) is reported for events with different $p_{\rm T}$ scales ("soft" and "hard") defined by the transverse momentum of the leading particle. In addition, the mean charged particle transverse momentum versus multiplicity is presented for the different event classes, and the sphericity distributions in bins of multiplicity are presented. The data are compared with calculations of standard Monte Carlo event generators. The transverse sphericity is found to grow with multiplicity at all collision energies, with a steeper rise at low $N_{\rm ch}$, whereas the event generators show the opposite tendency. The combined study of the sphericity and the mean $p_{\rm T}$ with multiplicity indicates that most of the tested event generators produce events with higher multiplicity by generating more back-to-back jets resulting in decreased sphericity (and isotropy). The PYTHIA6 generator with tune PERUGIA-2011 exhibits a noticeable improvement in describing the data, compared to the other tested generators.Comment: 21 pages, 9 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 16, published version, figures from http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/308

A note on comonotonicity and positivity of the control components of decoupled quadratic FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Vascular Dysfunction Induced in Offspring by Maternal Dietary Fat Involves Altered Arterial Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Biosynthesis

Nutrition during development affects risk of future cardiovascular disease. Relatively little is known about whether the amount and type of fat in the maternal diet affect vascular function in the offspring. To investigate this, pregnant and lactating rats were fed either 7%(w/w) or 21%(w/w) fat enriched in either18:2n-6, trans fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, or fish oil. Their offspring were fed 4%(w/w) soybean oil from weaning until day 77. Type and amount of maternal dietary fat altered acetylcholine (ACh)-mediated vaso-relaxation in offspring aortae and mesenteric arteries, contingent on sex. Amount, but not type, of maternal dietary fat altered phenylephrine (Pe)-induced vasoconstriction in these arteries. Maternal 21% fat diet decreased 20:4n-6 concentration in offspring aortae. We investigated the role of Δ6 and Δ5 desaturases, showing that their inhibition in aortae and mesenteric arteries reduced vasoconstriction, but not vaso-relaxation, and the synthesis of specific pro-constriction eicosanoids. Removal of the aortic endothelium did not alter the effect of inhibition of Δ6 and Δ5 desaturases on Pe-mediated vasoconstriction. Thus arterial smooth muscle 20:4n-6 biosynthesis de novo appears to be important for Pe-mediated vasoconstriction. Next we studied genes encoding these desaturases, finding that maternal 21% fat reduced Fads2 mRNA expression and increased Fads1 in offspring aortae, indicating dysregulation of 20:4n-6 biosynthesis. Methylation at CpG −394 bp 5′ to the Fads2 transcription start site predicted its expression. This locus was hypermethylated in offspring of dams fed 21% fat. Pe treatment of aortae for 10 minutes increased Fads2, but not Fads1, mRNA expression (76%; P<0.05). This suggests that Fads2 may be an immediate early gene in the response of aortae to Pe. Thus both amount and type of maternal dietary fat induce altered regulation of vascular tone in offspring though differential effects on vaso-relaxation, and persistent changes in vasoconstriction via epigenetic processes controlling arterial polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis