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

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)

Facile green reduction of graphene oxide using Ocimum sanctum hydroalcoholic extract and evaluation of its cellular toxicity

Currently, biological application of graphene family materials is widely explored from drug delivery to biosensing. In this study, we reduced graphene oxide (GO) using hydroalcoholic extract of Ocimum sanctum (holy basil) by refluxing with 5 extract solution. Total phenols and flavonoids present in extract were assayed using appropriate methods as these phytocompounds are known to influence reducing capacity. 2, 2-diphenyl 1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and IC 50 value determination was carried out to know the potency of plant extract as antioxidant. Total phenolic content in hydroalcoholic extract of O sanctum was found to be 20 and total flavonoid content was found to be 7.5. DPPH assay showed ∼90 inhibition of free radicals by extract at 10 μg/mL concentration and ∼42 inhibition at 0.75 μg/mL and IC 50 value of 1.3 μg/mL showing that the extract is a potential antioxidant. Characterization of GO and O sanctum reduced GO (ORGO) showed that PXRD of ORGO had a broad peak centred at 2θ = 25° as against 2θ = 10.69° of GO indicating efficient removal of oxygen containing group. SEM images of GO showed typical flake like morphology whereas ORGO appeared like overlapped folded curtains, typical of their respective morphologies. To assay the concentration dependent toxicology profile of GO and ORGO, efflux of haemoglobin from suspended red blood corpuscles was estimated spectroscopically at 541 nm. Viability of mouse fibroblast cells (Balb 3T3 cells) under the influence of different concentrations of GO/ORGO was examined with water soluble tetrazolium salt using cell counting kit assay (CCK-8). GO here showed higher haemolytic activity of 6.9 and higher inhibition of growth of 3T3 cells at all tested concentrations than ORGO, which is probably due to removal of oxygen functionalities by plant extract in the latter. From this study, we conclude that O sanctum hydroalcoholic extract has been efficiently employed as a reductant in removal of functionalities of GO and thus synthesized ORGO showed lesser hematologic and cellular toxicity and the material can be a good entrant for biological applications after further in vivo studies

Endophyte fungi, Cladosporium species-mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles possessing in vitro antioxidant, anti-diabetic and anti-Alzheimer activity

This research study is to develop an easy and eco-friendly method for the synthesis of AgNPs using aqueous extract of endophytic fungi, Cladosporium species (CsAgNPs) and investigated the effects of antioxidant, anti-diabetic and anti-acetylcholinesterase (AChE), anti-butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity. Cladosporium species-mediated silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV–Vis spectrophotometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The aqueous extract of Cladosporium species has shown the presence of carbohydrates, tannin, phenolic glycosides, terpenoids, alkaloids, phenol and anthraquinones. At 438 nm conformed the absorbance of AgNPs. The SEM result confirms that size, morphology and high density of the synthesized nanoparticles with huge disparity in the particle size distribution. The FTIR analysis confirmed the important biological compounds responsible for reduction of silver. Strong absorption property of AgNPs was studied by EDX. In antioxidant activity, CsAgNPs showed the involvement of NADPH-dependent reductase in the formation of AgNPs. The AgNPs has reduced the activity of α-amylase, α-glucosidase and dipeptidyl peptidase IV in vitro antidiabetic activity. The CsAgNPs showed significant glucose uptake in 3T3L1 cell line. The AgNPs have shown excellent inhibitory activity against AChE and BChE. To our best knowledge, this is the first on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using endophytic fungi, Cladosporium species isolated from healthy leaf of Loranthus micranthus. Hence, to validate our results the in vivo animal studies at molecular level are needed to develop an antioxidant, anti-diabetic and anti-cholinesterase agent

A healthy plant–based diet is favorably associated with cardiometabolic risk factors among participants of South Asian ancestry

BackgroundPlant-based diets are recommended for chronic disease prevention, yet there has been little focus on plant-based diet quality among participants of South Asian ancestry who consume a predominantly plant-based diet.ObjectivesWe evaluated cross-sectional and prospective associations between plant-based diet quality and cardiometabolic risks among participants of South Asian ancestry who are living in the United States.MethodsWe included 891 participants of South Asian ancestry who completed the baseline visit in the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) study. The prospective analysis included 735 participants who completed exam 2 (∼5 years after baseline). The plant-based diet quality was assessed using 3 indices: an overall plant-based diet index (PDI) that summarizes the consumption of plant foods, a healthy PDI (hPDI) that measures consumption of healthy plant foods, and an unhealthy PDI (uPDI) that reflects consumption of less healthy plant foods.ResultsAt baseline, the PDI score was inversely associated with fasting glucose. We observed inverse associations between PDI and hPDI scores and HOMA-IR, LDL cholesterol, weight, and BMI (all P values&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;0.05). Higher scores on the hPDI, but not PDI, were associated with lower glycated hemoglobin, higher adiponectin, a smaller visceral fat area, and a smaller pericardial fat volume. Each 5-unit higher hPDI score was associated with lower likelihoods of fatty liver (OR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.64, 0.90) and obesity (OR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.80, 0.97). There were no associations between uPDI scores and cardiometabolic risks. Prospectively, after covariate adjustment for baseline values, each 5-unit higher hPDI score was associated with an 18% lower risk of incident type 2 diabetes (OR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.67, 1.00).ConclusionsA higher intake of healthful plant-based foods was associated with a favorable cardiometabolic risk profile. Dietary recommendations to lower chronic disease risks among participants of South Asian ancestry should focus on the quality of plant-based foods