1,305 research outputs found
Efficacy of iron-biofortified crops
Biofortification aims to increase the content of micronutrients in staple crops without sacrificing agronomic yield, making the new varieties attractive to farmers. Food staples that provide a major energy supply in low- and middle-income populations are the primary focus. The low genetic variability of iron in the germplasm of most cereal grains is a major obstacle on the path towards nutritional impact with these crops, which is solvable only by turning to transgenic approaches. However, biofortified varieties of common beans and pearl millet have been developed successfully and made available with iron contents as high as 100 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg, respectively, two to five times greater than the levels in the regular varieties. This brief review summarizes the research to date on the bioavailability and efficacy of iron-biofortified crops, highlights their potential and limitations, and discusses the way forward with multiple biofortified crop approaches suitable for diverse cultures and socio-economic milieu. Like post-harvest iron fortification, these biofortified combinations might provide enough iron to meet the additional iron needs of many iron deficient women and children that are not covered at present by their traditional diets.Keywords: Biofortification, Iron, Beans, Pearl millet, Rice, Polyphenols, Phytic acid, Anemia, Efficacy, Nutrition-Agriculture linkage
Promoting bioengineered tooth innervation using nanostructured and hybrid scaffolds
The innervation of teeth mediated by axons originating from the trigeminal ganglia is essential for their function and protection. Immunosuppressive therapy using Cyclosporine A (CsA) was found to accelerate the innervation of transplanted tissues and particularly that of bioengineered teeth. To avoid the CsA side effects, we report in this study the preparation of CsA loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles, their embedding on polycaprolactone (PCL)-based scaffolds and their possible use as templates for the innervation of bioengineered teeth. This PCL scaffold, approved by the FDA and capable of mimicking the extracellular matrix, was obtained by electrospinning and decorated with CsA-loaded PLGA nanoparticles to allow a local sustained action of this immunosuppressive drug. Dental re-associations were co-implanted with a trigeminal ganglion on functionalized scaffolds containing PLGA and PLGA/cyclosporine in adult ICR mice during 2 weeks. Histological analyses showed that the designed scaffolds did not alter the teeth development after in vivo implantation. The study of the innervation of the dental re-associations by indirect immunofluorescence and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), showed that 88.4% of the regenerated teeth were innervated when using the CsA-loaded PLGA scaffold. The development of active implants thus allows their potential use in the context of dental engineering. Statement of Significance Tooth innervation is essential for their function and protection and this can be promoted in vivo using polymeric scaffolds functionalized with immunosuppressive drug-loaded nanoparticles. Immunosuppressive therapy using biodegradable nanoparticles loaded with Cyclosporine A was found to accelerate the innervation of bioengineered teeth after two weeks of implantation
Observations of TeV gamma-rays from Mrk 421 during Dec. 2005 to Apr. 2006 with the TACTIC telescope
The TACTIC -ray telescope has observed Mrk 421 on 66 clear nights
from Dec. 07, 2005 to Apr. 30, 2006, totalling 202 hours of on-source
observations. Here, we report the detection of flaring activity from the source
at 1 TeV energy and the time-averaged differential -ray spectrum
in the energy range 1-11 TeV for the data taken between Dec. 27, 2005 to Feb.
07, 2006 when the source was in a relatively higher state as compared to the
rest of the observation period. Analysis of this data spell, comprising about
97h reveals the presence of a -ray signal with
daily flux of 1 Crab unit on several days. A pure power law spectrum with
exponent as well as a power law spectrum with an exponential
cutoff and are found to provide
reasonable fits to the inferred differential spectrum within statistical
uncertainties. We believe that the TeV light curve presented here, for nearly 5
months of extensive coverage, as well as the spectral information at
-ray energies of 5 TeV provide a useful input for other groups
working in the field of -ray astronomy.Comment: 13pages,4figures; Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic
An Upper Limit on the Infrared Background Density from HEGRA data on Mkn501
The energy spectrum of Mkn501 in the TeV energy regime, as measured by the
HEGRA (High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy) Cerenkov telescopes during its low
state in 1995/96 and during a fraction of the 1997 outburst in the TeV energy
regime, is shown to place stringent upper limits on the still unknown infrared
photon density in the energy region between 3 x 10**(-3) and 3 xt 10**(-1) eV.
Assuming two different shapes for the unknown infrared photon spectrum in this
energy range we calculate upper limits on the infrared photon density on the
basis of the power-law fit obtained for the observed spectrum up to the maximum
energy.Comment: 11 pages, 6 Postscript figures, Accepted for publication in
Astroparticle Physic
Anomalous relaxation and self-organization in non-equilibrium processes
We study thermal relaxation in ordered arrays of coupled nonlinear elements
with external driving. We find, that our model exhibits dynamic
self-organization manifested in a universal stretched-exponential form of
relaxation. We identify two types of self-organization, cooperative and
anti-cooperative, which lead to fast and slow relaxation, respectively. We give
a qualitative explanation for the behavior of the stretched exponent in
different parameter ranges. We emphasize that this is a system exhibiting
stretched-exponential relaxation without explicit disorder or frustration.Comment: submitted to PR
Simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of the TeV Blazar Mrk 421 during February - March 2003: X-ray and NIR correlated variability
In the present paper, we have reported the result of simultaneous
multi-wavelength observations of the TeV blazar Mrk 421 during February
March 2003. In this period, we have observed Mrk 421 using Pachmarhi Array of
\v{C}erenkov Telescopes (PACT) of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at
Pachmarhi, India. Other simultaneous data were taken from the published
literature and public data archives. We have analyzed the high quality X-ray
(2-20 keV) observations from the NASA Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). We
have seen a possible correlated variability between X-ray and J band (1.25
) near infrared (NIR) wavelength. This is the first case of X-ray and NIR
correlated variability in Mrk 421 or any high energy peaked (HBL) blazar. The
correlated variability reported here is indicating a similar origin for NIR and
X-ray emission. The emission is not affected much by the environment of the
surrounding medium around the central engine of the Mrk 421. The observations
are consistent with the shock-in-jet model for the emission of radiations.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for Publication in ChJA
INTEGRAL and Swift/XRT observations of the source PKS 0208-512
The active galaxy PKS 0208-512, detected at lower energies by COMPTEL, has
been claimed to be a MeV blazar from EGRET. We report on the most recent
INTEGRAL observations of the blazar PKS 0208-512, which are supplemented by
Swift ToO observations. The high energy X-ray and gamma-ray emission of PKS
0208-512 during August - December 2008 has been studied using 682 ks of
INTEGRAL guest observer time and ~ 56 ks of Swift/XRT observations. These data
were collected during the decay of a gamma-ray flare observed by Fermi/LAT. At
X-ray energies (0.2 - 10 keV) PKS 0208-512 is significantly detected by
Swift/XRT, showing a power-law spectrum with a photon index of ~ 1.64. Its
X-ray luminosity varied by roughly 30% during one month. At hard X-/soft
gamma-ray energies PKS 0208-512 shows a marginally significant (~ 3.2 sigma)
emission in the 0.5-1 MeV band when combining all INTEGRAL/SPI data.
Non-detections at energies below and above this band by INTEGRAL/SPI may
indicate intrinsic excess emission. If this possible excess is produced by the
blazar, one possible explanation could be that its jet consists of an abundant
electron-positron plasma, which may lead to the emission of an annihilation
radiation feature. Assuming this scenario, we estimate physical parameters of
the jet of PKS 0208-512.Comment: accepted for publication in A&
Cosmic Ray Protons and Magnetic Fields in Clusters of Galaxies and their Cosmological Consequences
The masses of clusters of galaxies estimated by gravitational lensing exceed
in many cases the mass estimates based on hydrostatic equilibrium. This may
suggest the existence of nonthermal pressure. We ask if radio galaxies can heat
and support the cluster gas with injected cosmic ray protons and magnetic field
densities, which are permitted by Faraday rotation and gamma ray observations
of clusters of galaxies. We conclude that they are powerful enough to do this
within a cluster radius of roughly 1 Mpc. If present, nonthermal pressures
could lead to a revised estimate of the ratio of baryonic mass to total mass,
and the apparent baryonic overdensity in clusters would disappear. In
consequence, , the clumping part of the cosmological density
, would be larger than .Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 16 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures, epsfig.sty, aaspp4.st
Thermal Stabilization of the HCP Phase in Titanium
We have used a tight-binding model that is fit to first-principles
electronic-structure calculations for titanium to calculate quasi-harmonic
phonons and the Gibbs free energy of the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and omega
crystal structures. We show that the true zero-temperature ground-state is the
omega structure, although this has never been observed experimentally at normal
pressure, and that it is the entropy from the thermal population of phonon
states which stabilizes the hcp structure at room temperature. We present the
first completely theoretical prediction of the temperature- and
pressure-dependence of the hcp-omega phase transformation and show that it is
in good agreement with experiment. The quasi-harmonic approximation fails to
adequately treat the bcc phase because the zero-temperature phonons of this
structure are not all stable
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