Chemurgic studies on some diploid and tetraploid grain amaranths

Analytical data on four important species of grain amaranths show that polyploidy, apart from increasing significantly the grain size and weight without much loss of fertility, has generally maintained the nutritive value found at the diploid level. Lysine content is enhanced in polyploid A. edulis and A. caudatus so also the threonine content in the former

Adaptive framing based similarity measurement between time warped speech signals using Kalman filter

Similarity measurement between speech signals aims at calculating the degree of similarity using acoustic features that has been receiving much interest due to the processing of large volume of multimedia information. However, dynamic properties of speech signals such as varying silence segments and time warping factor make it more challenging to measure the similarity between speech signals. This manuscript entails further extension of our research towards the adaptive framing based similarity measurement between speech signals using a Kalman filter. Silence removal is enhanced by integrating multiple features for voiced and unvoiced speech segments detection. The adaptive frame size measurement is improved by using the acceleration/deceleration phenomenon of object linear motion. A dominate feature set is used to represent the speech signals along with the pre-calculated model parameters that are set by the offline tuning of a Kalman filter. Performance is evaluated using additional datasets to evaluate the impact of the proposed model and silence removal approach on the time warped speech similarity measurement. Detailed statistical results are achieved indicating the overall accuracy improvement from 91 to 98% that proves the superiority of the extended approach on our previous research work towards the time warped continuous speech similarity measurement

Dissemination and persistence of extended-spectrum cephalosporin- resistance encoding IncI1-blaCTXM-1 plasmid among Escherichia coli in pigs

This study investigated the ecology, epidemiology and plasmid characteristics of extended-spectrum cephalosporin (ESC)-resistant E. coli in healthy pigs over a period of 4 years (2013–2016) following the withdrawal of ESCs. High carriage rates of ESC-resistant E. coli were demonstrated in 2013 (86.6%) and 2014 (83.3%), compared to 2015 (22%) and 2016 (8.5%). ESC resistance identified among E. coli isolates was attributed to the carriage of an IncI1 ST-3 plasmid (pCTXM1-MU2) encoding blaCTXM-1. Genomic characterisation of selected E. coli isolates (n = 61) identified plasmid movement into multiple commensal E. coli (n = 22 STs). Major STs included ST10, ST5440, ST453, ST2514 and ST23. A subset of the isolates belong to the atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC) pathotype that harboured multiple LEE pathogenic islands. pCTXM1-MU2 was similar (99% nt identity) to IncI1-ST3 plasmids reported from Europe, encoded resistance to aminoglycosides, sulphonamides and trimethoprim, and carried colicin Ib. pCTXM1-MU2 appears to be highly stable and readily transferable. This study demonstrates that ESC resistance may persist for a protracted period following removal of direct selection pressure, resulting in the emergence of ESC-resistance in both commensal E. coli and aEPEC isolates of potential significance to human and animal health.This study was funded by the DVM clinical research programme, University of Adelaide and Small Grant Scheme of School of Veterinary Life Sciences, Murdoch University

Evolution and improvement of cultivated amaranths. IV. Variation in pollen mitosis in the F1 amaranthus spinosus x A. Dubius

While the two parents of the hybrid have 17 and 32 chromosomes respectively, the hybrid commensurate with its meiosis, has a variety of chromosome numbers in pollen grains. On the basis of their size, the grains may be grouped in two categories: macropollen (21-26μ; 77%) and micropollen (8-14μ; 23%). These contain 19-27 and 1-4 chromosomes respectively. Among the latter, 44% contain just one, 39% 2, 11% 4 and 6% 3 chromosomes. The micropollen grains are the result of laggards at anaphase I and II in the hybrid. The exine development in micro- and macropollen appears to be normal. None of the grains is effective in fertilization. However, a distinct difference in the rate of development in the two types of pollen has been seen from metaphase onwards, because in the absence of a directive influence of spindle, micropollen does not proceed beyond this stage. The strong developmental difference vanishes almost altogether when due to cold shocks, walls either fail to develop or are feebly developed among the constituents of a tetrad ensuing from a single pollen mother cell. The intertetrad synchrony between micro- and macropollen in such cases, is understandable because the loss in one component compensates the gain in the other and thus deficient nuclei can develop at the same rate as others because of the exchange of metabolites. The intratetrad synchrony or developmental coordination within an anther sac may be the result of feeble wall formation and/or cytomictic channels. The present case with n=1 is deficient to the extent of 94%. Evidently a single chromosome survives independently for some time, internally completes DNA synthesis and finally proceeds to metaphase. Associated with these changes there is external development of apparently normal exine

Propagation of Lamb waves in transversely isotropic piezoelectric elastic plate

371-380The propagation of Lamb waves in a homogeneous, transversely isotropic, piezoelectric plate subjected to charge free and electrically shorted, stress free boundary conditions is investigated. Secular equations for the plate in closed form and isolated mathematical conditions for symmetric and anti symmetric wave mode propagation in completely separate terms are derived. It is shown that motion of purely transverse (SH) mode gets decoupled from rest of the motion and remains unaffected due to piezoelectric effects. At short wavelength limits the secular equation for symmetric and skew-symmetric waves in both charge free and electrically shorted, stress free plate reduce to Rayleigh surface wave frequency equations because a finite plate in such situation behave like a semi-infinite medium. The amplitudes of displacement and electrical potential have also been computed in case of symmetric and skew-symmetric motions of the plate. Finally, numerical solution is carried out for cadmium-selenide (6 mm class) material. The dispersion curves and amplitudes of displacements and electrical potential for symmetric and antisymmetric wave modes are presented graphically in order to illustrate and compare the analytical results. The theory and numerical computations is found to be in close agreement. The various wave characteristics are found to be more stable and realistic in the presence of piezoelectric effects than in the absence of such a effect thereby making such materials more viable for practical importance and use

Evolution and improvement of cultivated amaranths

This group of amaranths was studied using four domesticated species (A. hypochondriacus, A. cruentus, A. caudatus, A. caudatus var. atropurpureus and A. edulis), two ancestral weedy species (A. hybridus, A. powellii) and eight hybrids, namely A. edulis A. hypochondriacus, A. edulis X A. caudatus, A. edulis X A. caudatus var. atropurpureus, A. caudatus X A. hybridus, A. edulis X A. hybridus, A. caudatus X A. hypochondriacus, A. hybridus X A. hypochondriacus and A. powellii X A. hypochondriacus. The parents have perfectly normal meiosis and pollen and seed fertility. Except for A. powellii and A. cruentus (n = 17), the species have n = 16. However, the hybrids may be divided into three groups. The first group contains A. edulis X A. cruentus, involving parents with n = 16 and 17, which failed totally, although, under the same conditions, crosses between A. powellii (x = 17) and A hypochondriacus (n = 16) and those between species with n = 16 succeeded with ease. The second group is made up of A. edulis X A. hypochondriacus, A. caudatus X A. hypochondriacus, A. caudatus X A. hybridus, A. edulis X A. hybridus and probably also A. powellii X A. hypochondriacus. Of these, the two combinations, A. caudatus X A. hybridus and A. edulis X A. hybridus, did not proceed beyond the two-leaf stage. At pachytene, the other hybrids showed unmistakable evidence of structural hybridity, with deletions, long or short differentiated segments and inversions. Although bivalents were formed, they possessed a chiasma frequency lower than that of either parent. There was total pollen and seed sterility. The third group comprises A. edulis X A. caudatus, A. edulis X A. caudatus var. atropurpureus and A. hybridus X A. hypochondriacus, which did not show serious developmental defects, the F1 being vigorous, with good meiotic pairing associated with a reasonable amount of differentiation in the chromosomes leading to 25- 55% fertile pollen and 49 to 66% threshable seed. In the F2 there were 11-18% unthrifty plants, which disturb the ratios of gene combinations controlling the different characters in the two parents. Plants very near one or both parental phenotypes were recovered, and also those showing different degrees of recombination of characters. Amphidiploids from the F1 hybrids showed the typical autoploid or segmental alloploid type of meiosis indicating that the parental chromosomes are quite homologous. In view of the present experimental evidence and possible parallel mutations in different grains and weed amaranths, it is not certain whether the cases of natural hybridization and, in particular, of introgression can be taken as evidence for or against the two hypotheses proposed by Sauer (1967) on the basis of his brilliant ecogeographical, morphological, ethnobotanical and archaeological studies of this group of amaranths. The only point that can be stated categorically is that A. caudatus has given rise to A. edulis. The dominance of the characters of A. caudatus over those of A. edulis strengthens such a view, but the latter is sufficiently differentiated morphologically and genetically to deserve independent status. A. caudatus var. atropurpureus is a fertile but unstabilized hybrid segregate between A. caudatus and A. edulis. This is borne out by its morphological, cytogenetic and breeding behaviour, and its hybrids with A. edulis, and, above all, by the recovery of plants identical with this variety from the F2 progeny of A. edulis X A. caudatus. Whatever the origin of grain types, at present they exist only in cultivation and appear to have a long history, having been selected for large plant body, huge compound inflorescences, large number of female flowers per glomerule, small and soft bracts and pale coloured seed in a dehiscent utricle. At the same time, there has also been inadvertent selection for higher and correctly balanced amounts of protein, carbohydrate and fat

Prognostic Value of Hospital Frailty Risk Score and Clinical Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Revascularization for Critical Limb–Threatening Ischemia

Background The impact of medical record‐based frailty assessment on clinical outcomes in patients undergoing revascularization for critical limb‐threatening ischemia (CLTI) is unknown. Methods and Results This study included patients with CLTI aged ≥18 years from the nationwide readmissions database 2016 to 2018 who underwent endovascular revascularization (ER) or surgical revascularization (SR). The hospital frailty risk score, a previously validated International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition, Clinical Modification (ICD‐10‐CM) claims‐based score, was used to categorize patients into low‐ (15) frailty categories. Primary outcomes were in‐hospital mortality and major amputation at 6 months. A total of 64 338 patients were identified who underwent ER (82.3%) or SR (17.7%) for CLTI. The mean (SD) age of the cohort was 69.3 (11.8) years, and 63% of patients were male. This study found a nonlinear association between hospital frailty risk score and in‐hospital mortality and 6‐month major amputation. In both ER and SR cohorts, the intermediate‐ and high‐risk groups were associated with a significantly higher risk of in‐hospital mortality (high‐risk group: ER: odds ratio [OR], 7.2 [95% CI, 4.4–11.6], P<0.001; SR: OR, 28.6 [95% CI, 3.4–237.6], P=0.002) and major amputation at 6 months (high‐risk group: ER: hazard ratio [HR], 1.6 [95% CI, 1.5–1.7], P<0.001; SR: HR, 1.7 [95% CI, 1.4–2.2], P<0.001) compared with the low‐risk group. Conclusions The hospital frailty risk score, generated from the medical record, can identify frailty and predict in‐hospital mortality and 6‐month major amputation in patients undergoing ER or SR for CLTI. Further studies are needed to assess if this score can be incorporated into clinical decision‐making in patients undergoing revascularization for CLTI