Environmental manipulations generate bidirectional shifts in both behavior and gene regulation in a crossbred mouse model of extremes in trait anxiety

Although gene-environment interactions are known to significantly influence psychopathology related disease states, only few animal models cover both the genetic background and environmental manipulations. Therefore, we have taken advantage of the bidirectionally inbred high (HAB) and low (LAB) anxiety-related behavior mouse lines to generate HAB x LAB F1 hybrids that intrinsically carry both lines' genetic characteristics, and subsequently raised them in three different environments standard, enriched (EE) and chronic mild stress (CMS). Assessing genetic correlates of trait anxiety, we focused on two genes already known to play a role in HAB vs. LAB mice, corticotropin releasing hormone receptor type 1 (Crhr1) and high mobility group nucleosomal binding domain 3 (Hmgn3). While EE F1 mice showed decreased anxiety related and increased explorative behaviors compared to controls, CMS sparked effects in the opposite direction. However, environmental treatments affected the expression of the two genes in distinct ways. Thus, while expression ratios of Hmgn3 between the HAB- and LAB-specific alleles remained equal, total expression resembled the one observed in HAB vs. LAB mice, i.e., decreased after EE and increased after CMS treatment. On the other hand, while total expression of Crhr1 remained unchanged between the groups, the relative expression of HAB- and LAB-specific alleles showed a clear effect following the environmental modifications. Thus, the environmentally driven bidirectional shift of trait anxiety in this F1 model strongly correlated with Hmgn3 expression, irrespective of allele-specific expression patterns that retained the proportions of basic differential HAB vs. LAB expression, making this gene a match for environment-induced modifications. An involvement of Crhr1 in the bidirectional behavioral shift could, however, rather be due to different effects of the HAB- and LAB specific alleles described here. Both candidate genes therefore deserve attention in the complex regulation of anxiety-related phenotypes including environment-mediated effects

Studies on Parental Synchronization in Flowering for Hybrid Seed Production in Onion (Allium cepa L.)

An experiment was conducted at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, in Rabi season during 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 to study the flowering of Cytoplasmic Male Sterile Lines CMS (A) and pollinator lines (C) of onion cv. Arka Lalima for working out effective synchrony in hybrid seed production. Results indicated that days to 100% flowering and days to complete flowering in a plant varied significantly in the parental lines and C line was found to be earlier than A line by 12 days and 25 days, respectively. The duration of flowering in a plant was also less in C line (23 days) than in A line (29 days). Due to lack of floral synchrony between parental lines, pollen availability becomes a limiting factor in hybrid seed production in cv. Arka Lalima. Delay in planting of C lines by a week after planting A lines resulted in synchronised flowering of parental lines at peak flowering stage. This also resulted in higher fruit set (80%) and hybrid seed yield (15g/plant) as against planting of A and C lines simultaneously (29.54% and 0.38g, respectively)

Rapid, multiplexed microfluidic phage display

The development of a method for high-throughput, automated proteomic screening could impact areas ranging from fundamental molecular interactions to the discovery of novel disease markers and therapeutic targets. Surface display techniques allow for efficient handling of large molecular libraries in small volumes. In particular, phage display has emerged as a powerful technology for selecting peptides and proteins with enhanced, target-specific binding affinities. Yet, the process becomes cumbersome and time-consuming when multiple targets are involved.Here we demonstrate for the first time a microfluidic chip capable of identifying high affinity phage displayed peptides for multiple targets in just a single round and without the need for bacterial infection. The chip is shown to be able to yield well-established control consensus sequences while simultaneously identifying new sequences for clinically important targets. Indeed, the confined parameters of the device allow not only for highly controlled assay conditions but also introduce a significant time-reduction to the phage display process. We anticipate that this easily-fabricated, disposable device has the potential to impact areas ranging from fundamental studies of protein, peptide, and molecular interactions, to applications such as fully automated proteomic screening

Efficient absolute aspect determination of a balloon borne far infrared telescope using a solid state optical photometer

The observational and operational efficiency of the TIFR 1 meter balloon borne far infrared telescope has been improved by incorporating a multielement solid state optical photometer (SSOP) at the Cassegrain focus of the telescope. The SSOP is based on a 1-D linear photo diode array (PDA). The online and offline processing schemes of the PDA signals which have been developed, lead to improvement in the determination of absolute telescope aspect ($\sim$ 0\farcm8), which is very crucial for carrying out the observations as well as offline analysis. The SSOP and its performance during a recent balloon flight are presented here.Comment: To appear in the February 2000 issue of the PAS

Experimental Investigation on Mechanical Properties of Hemp/E-Glass Fabric Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites

This research work has been focusing on Hemp fibers has an alternative reinforcement for fiber reinforced polymer composites due to its eco-friendly and biodegradable characteristics. This work has been carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties of hemp/E-glass fabrics reinforced polyester hybrid composites. Vacuum bagging method was used for the preparation of six different kinds of hemp/glass fabrics reinforced polyester composite laminates as per layering sequences. The tensile, flexural, impact and water absorption tests of these hybrid composites were carried out experimentally according to ASTM standards. It reveals that an addition of E-glass fabrics with hemp fabrics can increase the mechanical properties of composites and decrease the water absorption of the hybrid composites

Study, Survey and Analysis for Media Selection

This paper is a literature review on practical techniques and rules using PowerPoint, animation, and video effectively for instruction. Instruction may be teaching, training, coaching, tutoring, schooling etc. This paper must be of awareness to mentors and instructional technology staff who support faculty members in the development of instructional media. Main objective of this paper is to identify and select the proper technologies for enhancing a particular pedagogy or learning goal. Choose media that support instructor's activity

Spectral properties of the X-ray binary pulsar LMC X-4 during different intensity states

We present spectral variations of the binary X-ray pulsar LMC X-4 observed with the RXTE/PCA during different phases of its 30.5 day long third period. Only out of eclipse data were used for this study. The 3-25 keV spectrum, modeled with high energy cut-off power-law and iron line emission is found to show strong dependence on the intensity state. Correlations between the Fe line emission flux and different parameters of the continuum are presented here.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Nonparametric dynamical model of cardiorespiratory responses at the onset and offset of treadmill exercises

© 2018, International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering. This paper applies a nonparametric modelling method with kernel-based regularization to estimate the carbon dioxide production during jogging exercises. The kernel selection and regularization strategies have been discussed; several commonly used kernels are compared regarding the goodness-of-fit, sensitivity, and stability. Based on that, the most appropriate kernel is then selected for the construction of the regularization term. Both the onset and offset of the jogging exercises are investigated. We compare the identified nonparametric models, which include both impulse response models and step response models for the two periods, as well as the relationship between oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production. The result statistically indicates that the steady-state gain of the carbon dioxide production in the onset of exercise is bigger than that in the offset while the response time of both onset and offset are similar. Compared with oxygen consumption, the response speed of carbon dioxide production is slightly slower in both onset and offset period while its steady-state gains are similar for both periods. The effectiveness of the kernel-based method for the dynamic modelling of cardiorespiratory response to exercise is also well demonstrated. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]