Assessment of Allelopathic Potential of an Obnoxious Weed-Hyptis Suaveolens (l.) Piot. on the Seed Germination of Crops-Triticum Aestivum L. and Eleusine Coracana Gaertn

The plant, Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit. commonly known as Wilayati tulsi belongs to the family Lamiaceae .The plant has been considered as an obnoxious weed, distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. It is naturalized in India and is considered as a potent invader. Although it has several medicinal properties and used in folklore remedies but its spread is so fast that in due course of its establishment it disrupts the recruitment pattern in the nearby occupied. Not only it restricts the area for other species but it increases livestock pressure on the native species because of its unpalatable nature due to presence of essential oils. However, no information is available in the literature on the allelopathic activity of this obnoxious weed on the germination of the crop plants like Triticum aestivum L., (wheat) and Eleusine coracana Gaertn., (Ragi). The allelopathy of Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Piot., was studied by extracting the crude aqueous extracts- leachates from the leaves of this plant and 3 different concentrations – 0.01%, 0.25% and 1% of these extracts were assessed on the germination of test crops - Triticum aestivum L and Eleusine coracana Gaertn. The linear growth - Root length and Shoot length and the Fresh and Dry matter accumulation were recorded. The Growth equations- Percent Germination of seeds, Percentage Seed mortality, Relative Growth Ratio, Relative Elongation of Shoot, Relative Elongation of Roots, Relative Biomass Ratio and Seed Vigour index of seeds were calculated for the above test crops. The results show that the 1% leachate showed inhibition on all the above mentioned parameters analyzed in Wheat while the same 1% concentration in case of Ragi showed inhibitory effect on Percent Germination of seeds, Percentage Seed mortality, Relative Growth Ratio, Relative Elongation of Shoot and Relative Biomass Ratio While, the Relative Elongation of Roots and Seed Vigour index of seeds were promoted by the sam

INLINE ELASTICITY MEASURE OF TEXTILE USING ANN

In this paper, we propose a technique to measure the Elasticity Modulus of the textile material using flex LVDT. Elasticity modulus is measured indirectly by measuring stiffness of the material first. The material whose stiffness is to be measured is subjected to a known force and the deflection caused in the material due to applied load is measured using the LVDT. Here the whole measurement is done dynamically without halting the manufacturing line of process. The output of LVDT is AC voltage. AC-DC converter is used to convert the AC output voltage of LVDT to DC output voltage. This is cascaded to the ANN block programmed on the LabVIEW platform. The results show that the proposed technique has achieved its proposed objectives

Microbial quality of retort processed traditional Kerala chicken curry

The present study was carried out at the Department of Livestock Products Technology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode and ICAR - Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Kochi to develop retort processed traditional Kerala chicken curry and to evaluate its microbial quality. Traditional Kerala chicken curry was prepared using boneless chicken breast pieces and with a gravy of roasted coconut, spices and condiments. The product was packed in multilayer laminated pouch, which was then hermetically sealed and processed in an over-pressure retort. Accurate time-temperature standardisation was done to maintain sterility. The pouches were checked for commercial sterility after processing. The product was stored at ambient temperature and microbiological evaluation was conducted on days 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 of storage. The curry showed no aerobic and anaerobic growth on different days of storage and did not spoil till day 120

Unraveling the genetic architecture of subtropical maize (Zea mays L.) lines to assess their utility in breeding programs

Background Maize is an increasingly important food crop in southeast Asia. The elucidation of its genetic architecture, accomplished by exploring quantitative trait loci and useful alleles in various lines across numerous breeding programs, is therefore of great interest. The present study aimed to characterize subtropical maize lines using high-quality SNPs distributed throughout the genome. Results We genotyped a panel of 240 subtropical elite maize inbred lines and carried out linkage disequilibrium, genetic diversity, population structure, and principal component analyses on the generated SNP data. The mean SNP distance across the genome was 70 Kb. The genome had both high and low linkage disequilibrium (LD) regions; the latter were dominant in areas near the gene-rich telomeric portions where recombination is frequent. A total of 252 haplotype blocks, ranging in size from 1 to 15.8 Mb, were identified. Slow LD decay (200-300 Kb) at r2 <= 0.1 across all chromosomes explained the selection of favorable traits around low LD regions in different breeding programs. The association mapping panel was characterized by strong population substructure. Genotypes were grouped into three distinct clusters with a mean genetic dissimilarity coefficient of 0.36. Conclusions The genotyped panel of subtropical maize lines characterized in this study should be useful for association mapping of agronomically important genes. The dissimilarity uncovered among genotypes provides an opportunity to exploit the heterotic potential of subtropical elite maize breeding lines

Elevated Expression of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen (SCCA) Is Associated with Human Breast Carcinoma

Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) belongs to the serine protease inhibitor (Serpin) family of proteins. Elevated expression of SCCA has been used as a biomarker for aggressive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in cancers of the cervix, lung, head and neck, and liver. However, SCCA expression in breast cancer has not been investigated. Immunohistochemical analysis of SCCA expression was performed on tissue microarrays containing breast tumor tissues (n = 1,360) and normal breast epithelium (n = 124). SCCA expression was scored on a tiered scale (0-3) independently by two evaluators blind to the patient's clinical status. SCCA expression was observed in Grade I (0.3%), Grade II (2.5%), and Grade III (9.4%) breast cancers (p<0.0001). Comparing tissues categorized into the three non-metastatic TNM stages, I-III, SCCA positivity was seen in 2.4% of Stage I cancers, 3.1% of Stage II cancers, and 8.6% of Stage III breast cancers (p = 0.0005). No positive staining was observed in normal/non-neoplastic breast tissue (0 out of 124). SCCA expression also correlated to estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor (ER/PR) double-negative tumors (p = 0.0009). Compared to SCCA-negative patients, SCCA-positive patients had both a worse overall survival and recurrence-free survival (p<0.0001 and p<0.0001, respectively). This study shows that SCCA is associated with both advanced stage and high grade human breast carcinoma, and suggests the necessity to further explore the role of SCCA in breast cancer development and treatment

Associations Between Discrimination and Cardiovascular Health Among Asian Indians in the United States

Asian Indians (AI) have a high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The study investigated associations between discrimination and (1) cardiovascular risk and (2) self-rated health among AI. Higher discrimination scores were hypothesized to relate to a higher cardiovascular risk score (CRS) and poorer self-rated health. Asian Indians (n = 757) recruited between 2010 and 2013 answered discrimination and self-reported health questions. The CRS (0–8 points) included body-mass index, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose levels of AI. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate relationships between discrimination and the CRS and discrimination and self-rated health, adjusting for psychosocial and clinical factors. There were no significant relationships between discrimination and the CRS (p ≥ .05). Discrimination was related to poorer self-reported health, B = −.41 (SE = .17), p = .02. Findings suggest perhaps there are important levels at which discrimination may harm health

Effect of storage on resistant starch content of processed ready-to-eat foods

In recent years, there has been an increased demand for processed convenient foods, particularly for the Armed Forces. Such foods should provide energy and other nutrients in the required proportions to promote health and nutrition of the army personnel. This study evaluated the effect of storage on the resistant starch (RS) content of selected ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, viz., vegetable kichidi, vegetable pulav, chicken pulav, mutton pulav, sooji halwa, upma, cauliflower peas curry and potato peas curry prepared by Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL). Resistant starch was quantified directly in the residues obtained after removing digested starch in simulated physiological conditions. Nutrient content and carbohydrate profile of the foods were also analysed. Nutrient content varied depending on the basic ingredients used in their preparation. Total starch ranged from 18–74 and dietary fibre 13–20, respectively. Storage of 4 months resulted in a significant increase (P<0.05) in the RS content of all foods except mutton pulav. It appeared that in addition to processing methods used, duration of storage could be an important factor, affecting RS formation in RTE foods

Digitization of project reports: An experience with GSDL

The explosion of interest in research and practice of digital libraries has spanned the boundaries of computing, networking and information science. A digital library has dissolved the barriers to 'information equity' and acting as an information highway for the knowledge to every citizen of the country. A digital library is "an organization that provides the resources, including the specialized staff, to select, structure, offer intellectual access to, interpret, distribute, preserve the integrity of, and ensure the persistence over time of collections of digital works so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities" (Digital library federation)