QTL Analysis for Drought Tolerance Related to Root and Shoot Traits in Barley (<em>Hordeum vulgare </em>L.)

Enhancement of drought tolerance of cultivated barley via identifying the potential and beneficial QTL alleles of wild species (H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum C. Koch) is a great target in barley breeding. Therefore, the overall objectives of the proposed study were: 1) to assess variations in shoot, root and physiological traits of BC2DH lines under control and drought stress conditions. 2) to localize and characterize the QTLs underlying drought tolerance related to shoot, root and physiological traits. Mapping was conducted using a combination of phenotypic data of three investigated years and 371 DNA markers. This investigation was done under control and drought stress conditions. Components of variance revealed a wide range of variability for majority of the investigated traits. In total, 79 putative QTLs for 15 studied traits were detected among 5,565 marker by trait combinations in the population S42 under study. They can be divided into 55 QTLs for shoot traits, 15 QTLs for root traits and 9 QTLs for physiological traits. Overall 27 (34.1 %) QTLs showed favorable effects derived from the presence of exotic alleles. Most of putative QTLs were located on chromosomes 1H, 2H, 4H and 5H. For instance, two QTLs (QWS.S42.1H and QWS.S42.4H) had favorable effects due to the presence of the exotic alleles (Hsp) that were responsible for decreasing plant wilting score by 17%. The SSR markers GMS3 [2H], HvNAM2 [2H] and M1o [4H] were associated with QTLs are likely to be dominating number of tillers/plant and number of spikes/plant and the introgressions from wild barley may increase both traits in S42 population. Also for root length, the vernalisation gene VrnH1[5H] was associated significantly with the QTL (QRL.S42.5H). The presence of exotic alleles at this marker locus led to increase root length by 9.17 % under drought conditions. For proline accumulation, the superior performance of exotic allele at marker locus MGB338 on chromosome 5H suggests a transgression effect of the exotic alleles and led to increase proline content BC2DH lines carrying Hsp alleles by 53% under drought conditions. The majority of the digenic epistatic interaction pairs which were detected in current study had favorable effects in enrich the phenotypic values of the studied traits. Interesting, these exotic QTL alleles responded favorably under drought conditions only that indicates the possibility of underlying a novel drought inducible gene. This study has highlighted the role of the exotic alleles for the detection of favorable leads for drought tolerance. Subsequently, a combinatory approach for the selection of favorable exotics alleles can be employed to develop a better shield against the adverse effects of drought.QTL-Analyse für Trockentoleranz relevante Wurzel-und Sproßmerkmale bei Gerste (Hordeum vulgare L.) Die Verbesserung der Trockentoleranz von Kulturgerste durch die Identifizierung positiver QTL-Allele von Wildgersten (H. vulgare ssp. spontaneum C. Koch) ist ein großes Ziel in der Gerstenzüchtung. Daher waren die übergeordneten Ziele der geplanten Studie: 1) Variation in Sproß, Wurzel und physiologischen Eigenschaften von BC2DH-Linien unter kontrollierten und trockengestressten Bedingungen zu beurteilen. 2) Lokalisierung und Charakterisierung QTLs bezüglich Trockentoleranz . Die Kartierung wurde unter Verwendung von phänotypischen Daten aus drei Versuchsjahren und 371 DNA-Marker durchgeführt. Die phänotypischen Daten wurden unter kontrollierten und trockenstressbedingten Bedingungen durchgeführt. Die Varianzkomponentenanalyse zeigt ein breites Spektrum an Variabilität für die Mehrheit der untersuchten Merkmale. Insgesamt konnten 79 putative QTLs für 15 untersuchte Merkmale unter 5565 Marker x Merkmal Kombination in der Gerstenpopulation S42 nachgewiesen werden. Diese könne in 55 QTLs für Sproßlmerkmale, 15 QTLs für Wurzelmerkmale und 9 QTLS für physiologische Merkmale unterteilt werden. Insgesamt 27 QTLs zeigten positive Effekte aufgrund der Anwesenheit von exotischen Allelen. Die meisten der vermutlichen QTLs wurden auf den Chromosomen 1H, 2H, 4H und 5H lokalisiert. Zum Beispiel hatten zwei QTLs (QWS.S42.1H und QWS.S42.4H) positive Effekte durch exotische Allele bezüglich verminderte Welke um 17%. Die SSR-Marker GMS2 (2H), HvNAM2(2H) und M1o(4H) sind assoziiert mit QTls bezüglich Anzahl Triebe/Pflanze und Anzahl Ähren/Pflanze und die Introgression des Wildgerstenalleles ermöglicht die Erhöhung beider Merkmale in der S42 Population. Für das Merkmal Wurzellänge und das Vernalisationsgen VrnHi[5H] ergaben sich Signifikanzen mit dem QTL (QRL.S42.5H). Die Anwesenheit des exotischen Allels an diesem Markerlocus bewirkte eine Zunahme des Wurzelwachstums um 9,17% unter Trockenstress Die Anwesenheit des exotischen Allels für Marker MGB338 auf Chromosom 5H führte zu erhöhten Prolingehalten in den Hsp-tragenden BC2DH-Linien um 53%. Die Mehrheit der epistatischen Effekte, die in dieser Studie nachgewiesen wurden, hatten positive Auswirkungen auf den phänotypischen Wert. Interessanterweise reagierten die exotischen Allele nur positiv bei trockengestressten Bedingungen, welches auf Trockenstress induzierbare Gene schließen lässt. Die Studie unterstreicht die Bedeutung von exotischen Allelen im Zusammenhang mit Trockenstress. Anschließend kann ein kombinatorischer Ansatz für die Selektion auf exotische Allele für die negativen Auswirkungen des Trockenstresses angewendet werden

Proximate compositions, phytochemical constituents, antioxidant activities and phenolic contents of seed and leaves extracts of Egyptian leek (Allium ampeloprasum var. kurrat)

Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum var. kurrat.) are the most commercially produced vegetables in the world. The seed and leaves of this plant were analyzed for proximate composition and mineral content. Phytochemical screening, total polyphenols, total flavonoids, tannins, radical scavenging activity by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), total antioxidant activities and phenolic profile of various extracts of Egyptian leek were screened and investigated. The seed is good source of fat and protein, whereas the leaves are good source of crude fiber and ash. Both seed and leaves contain substantial quantities of potassium, calcium, and phosphorus. Methanolic and ethanolic extracts of seeds and leaves were found to contain alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids, tannins, saponines, reducing sugars, proteins and oil. The highest values of total phenolic, flavonoid, tannin, radical scavenging and antioxidant activities were observed for methanolic and ethanolic extracts of seed and leaves. HPLC analysis results showed that certain phenolic compounds; gallic, coumaric, caffeic, tannic, vanillic, chlorogenic, kaempferol, and quercetin exist in methanolic extracts of both seed and leaves at different levels. These results suggested that Allium ampeloprasum phenolic compounds could be used as a natural antioxidant

Cooperative Models of Particle Swarm Optimizers

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is one of the most effFective optimization tools, which emerged in the last decade. Although, the original aim was to simulate the behavior of a group of birds or a school of fish looking for food, it was quickly realized that it could be applied in optimization problems. Different directions have been taken to analyze the PSO behavior as well as improving its performance. One approach is the introduction of the concept of cooperation. This thesis focuses on studying this concept in PSO by investigating the different design decisions that influence the cooperative PSO models' performance and introducing new approaches for information exchange. Firstly, a comprehensive survey of all the cooperative PSO models proposed in the literature is compiled and a definition of what is meant by a cooperative PSO model is introduced. A taxonomy for classifying the different surveyed cooperative PSO models is given. This taxonomy classifies the cooperative models based on two different aspects: the approach the model uses for decomposing the problem search space and the method used for placing the particles into the different cooperating swarms. The taxonomy helps in gathering all the proposed models under one roof and understanding the similarities and differences between these models. Secondly, a number of parameters that control the performance of cooperative PSO models are identified. These parameters give answers to the four questions: Which information to share? When to share it? Whom to share it with? and What to do with it? A complete empirical study is conducted on one of the cooperative PSO models in order to understand how the performance changes under the influence of these parameters. Thirdly, a new heterogeneous cooperative PSO model is proposed, which is based on the exchange of probability models rather than the classical migration of particles. The model uses two swarms that combine the ideas of PSO and Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs) and is considered heterogeneous since the cooperating swarms use different approaches to sample the search space. The model is tested using different PSO models to ensure that the performance is robust against changing the underlying population topology. The experiments show that the model is able to produce better results than its components in many cases. The model also proves to be highly competitive when compared to a number of state-of-the-art cooperative PSO algorithms. Finally, two different versions of the PSO algorithm are applied in the FPGA placement problem. One version is applied entirely in the discrete domain, which is the first attempt to solve this problem in this domain using a discrete PSO (DPSO). Another version is implemented in the continuous domain. The PSO algorithms are applied to several well-known FPGA benchmark problems with increasing dimensionality. The results are compared to those obtained by the academic Versatile Place and Route (VPR) placement tool, which is based on Simulated Annealing (SA). The results show that these methods are competitive for small and medium-sized problems. For higher-sized problems, the methods provide very close results. The work also proposes the use of different cooperative PSO approaches using the two versions and their performances are compared to the single swarm performance

Comparative Analysis of Avian and Swine Influenza Viruses Infections of Well Differentiated Lung Epithelial Cells of Turkey

Influenza viruses initiate infection by binding of the viral hemagglutinin to the cellular sialic acid residues. The precision-cut lung slice, as a valuable cultural tool of differentiated respiratory epithelial cells, is characterized by its ability to be viable for at least six days in-vitro, mimic in-vivo original cells and simply monitored by an inverted microscope. The aims of the study were to analyse the distribution of different sialic acid types in bronchus and parabronchial tissues of Turkey Precision Lung Slices (TPCLS), investigate the infection susceptibility of TPCLS by avian influenza (H9N2 and H7N7) and swine influenza (H3N2) viruses and evaluate the infection expression of TPCLS by different influenza viruses in correlation to the cellular sialic acids distribution after infection. The lectin stains and monoclonal antibodies prepared against nucleoprotein of influenza virus were used for analysing sialic acids distributions and viral antigen detection of TPCLS by immunoflourescent technique. The viral infective particles released from infected TPCLS by different avian and swine influenza viruses were titrated at different time intervals after infection. Both α2,3-linked and α2,6-linked sialic acids were expressed in the bronchus of TPCLS, while only α2,6-linked sialic acid was expressed in the parabronchial tissues. The indirect immunoflourescent technique showed variation of infection susceptibility of TPCLS parts by avian and swine influenza viruses. Infection was expressed in the bronchial epithelium by H9N2, H7N7 and H3N2, while in the parabronchial tissue by H9N2 and H3N2. Titration of the released infective viruses in the supernatant of infected TPCLS revealed that H9N2 could replicate faster than the other influenza viruses. TPCLS is a promising in-vitro model for viral infection study of turkey

Biochemical Analysis of Synovial Fluid, Cerebrospinal Fluid and Vitreous Humor at Early Postmortem Intervals in Donkeys

Biochemical analysis of body fluids after death is a helpful tool in veterinary forensic medicine. Synovial fluid, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and vitreous humor are easily accessible and well preserved from contamination. Five donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) aged 1 - 2 years old were subjected to the study. Samples (Synovial fluid, CSF and vitreous humor) were collected before death (antimortem) and then at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 hours postmortem. Samples were analyzed for glucose, chloride, sodium, magnesium, potassium, enzymes and total protein. Synovial fluid analysis showed that glucose concentration started to decrease at 6 hours postmortem, while magnesium level increased with time. Other parameters were more stable. CSF analysis showed several changes related to time after death as the decrease in glucose and sodium levels, and the increased levels of potassium, magnesium, calcium and total protein. Vitreous analysis revealed a reduction in glucose level and increased potassium and magnesium concentrations. The present study concluded that biochemical analysis of synovial fluid, vitreous humor and CSF can help in determination of time since death in donkeys. This study recommend using CSF for determination of early post-mortem intervals

Doubling the Number of Connected Devices in Narrow-band Internet of Things while Maintaining System Performance: An STC-based Approach

Narrow-band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) method that was first launched by the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) Rel- 13 with the purpose of enabling low-cost, low-power and wide-area cellular connection for the Internet of Things (IoT). As the demand for over-the-air services grows and with the number of linked wireless devices reaching 100 billion, wireless spectrum is becoming scarce, necessitating creative techniques that can increase the number of connected devices within a restricted spectral resource in order to satisfy service needs. Consequently, it is vital that academics develop efficient solutions to fulfill the quality of service (QoS) criteria of the NB-IoT in the context of 5th generation (5G) and beyond. This study paves the way for 5G networks and beyond to have increased capacity and data rate for NB-IoT. Whereas, this article suggests a method for increasing the number of connected devices by using a technique known as symbol time compression (STC). The suggested method compresses the occupied bandwidth of each device without increasing complexity, losing data throughput or bit error rate (BER) performance. The STC approach is proposed in the literature to work with the conventional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to reduce bandwidth usage by 50% and improve the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). Specifically, An STC-based method is proposed that exploits the unused bandwidth to double the number of connected devices while keeping system performance and complexity. Furthermore, the {\mu}-law companding technique is leveraged to reduce the PAPR of the transmitted signals. The obtained simulation results reveal that the proposed approach using the {\mu}-law companding technique increases the transmitted data by twice and reduces the PAPR by 3.22 dB while maintaining the same complexity and BER

Ultrasound-Guided Erector Spinae Plane Block: A Comparative Study to Assess its Analgesic Efficacy in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Aortic Coarctation Repair

Background: Effective postoperative analgesia is an important aspect of both anesthetic practice and postoperative outcomes. Thoracotomy for the repair of coarctation of the aorta is a painful surgical procedure; inadequate postoperative analgesia may result in postoperative respiratory complications with the possible prolonged need for oxygen therapy. In addition, paradoxical hypertension is a well-recognized complication of repair. We hypothesize that erector spinae plane block (ESPB) by providing adequate analgesia and blocking sympathetic stimulation may reduce opioid consumption, accelerate weaning of oxygen therapy, and reduce the incidence of early postoperative paradoxical hypertension. Material and methods: Open-labeled randomized controlled trial carried out on 40 patients divided into two groups. Group (B) received ESPB before the skin incision and group (C), the control group received no block. Results:&nbsp;Patients who received ESPB had significantly less intraoperative fentanyl consumption than the control group (P-value&lt;0.001), and significantly less postoperative fentanyl consumption by 50% than the control group in the first 12 hours 2.025 ±0.273 μg/kg and 4.05 ±0.527 μg/kg respectively (P-value&lt;0.001). while there was no statistically significant difference between both groups regarding the incidence of postoperative vasodilator infusion for paradoxical hypertension (P-value=0.054), the pediatric anesthesia emergence delirium (PAED) (P-value=0.06) nor the time to wean oxygen supply (P-value=0.49). &nbsp;Conclusion: Erector spinae plane block effectively reduces postoperative pain in pediatric patients undergoing repair of coarctation of the aorta. However, it did not significantly accelerate weaning from oxygen therapy nor reduce the incidence of vasodilator use for postprocedural hypertension

Para-Veterinarians in Egypt

Para-veterinarians are professionals in having a liaise between veterinary doctors and livestock owners beside their ability to achieve some of the veterinarians activity such as Collecting information about sick animals, using thermometer, using needles and syringes, Calculating, diluting and using antiseptic, knowledge about live and inactive vaccines, oral treatment of animals, herbal medicine, rectal palpation for detection of pregnancy, hoof treatment, treatment of chronic inflammation by using old methods such as blister and intervention in some large surgical operations such as abomasal displacement. According to our knowledge, This is the first review that highlight on the role of para-veterinarians in the Egypt as a co-aid for veterinary doctors

Oxygen therapy and their risk in the premature neonates: Review article

Background: Neonatal respiratory care includes oxygen therapy, which is more common due to the improved survival rates of premature infants. Considering that most current studies demonstrate that preterm newborns benefit most from oxygen saturations (SpO2) of 91-95 percent, which reduces the risk of complications such as retinopathy of prematurity, we set out to study oxygen treatment and its risks in premature neonates.Objective: The reviews article highlight oxygen therapy and their risk in the premature neonates.Conclusion: There have been improvements in outcomes for babies with extremely low birth weight when using a larger goal range (85%-93%), but these ranges have not been thoroughly assessed in major clinical trials; additional data is required. High oxygen levels may be avoided with early use of a pulmonary vasodilator

Interactive effects of soil salinity and water table depth on soil properties and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) production

Soil salinity and water table are the most prevalent and widespread problems limiting crop productivity in irrigated agriculture. Our experiment aims to evaluate the effect of soil salinity and water table on some soil properties, growth, and yield of sorghum (variety Giza 15) grown along two successive seasons. Nine different sites were chosen, representing three levels of soil salinity (i.e. ECe &lt; 4, 4-8 and 8-16 dS m-1). For each salinity level three water table were selected (i.e. shallow ≈ 55 cm, medium ≈ 80 cm and deep ≈ 120 cm). Results revealed that there are main considerable effects of salinity and water table on some soil properties. Increasing of salinity caused significant decreases in plant growth, weight of 1000 grains (g), protein content% and&nbsp; seed yield (t/ha) which decreased by 36.98%, 32.27%, 20.45%, 29.95 % and 57.46% respectively, when salinity increased from S1&nbsp; to S3. On the other hand, decreasing of water table lead to improvement in all mentioned soil properties and plant growth. The results indicated that need to maintain low or moderate salinity and deep water table, which is essential for producing high sorghum grain yield with satisfactory quality