Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Assessment of Surface Water Quality of a Himalayan Wetland Deoria Tal, India

The Water Quality Index (WQI) is considered as an important method to assess the water quality of a water body for its users. This study was carried out to assess the water quality of a Himalayan wetland Deoria Tal. Deoria Tal is one of the most important wetlands of the Garhwal Himalaya, India. It is the major destination for tourists, trekkers and local inhabitants. The water samples were collected for a period of one year during April, 2014 to March, 2015. In order to develop the water quality index samples were subjected to a comprehensive physico-chemical analysis of 20 parameters which include air temperature, water temperature, pH, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, free CO2, biochemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solids, transparency, total alkalinity, hardness, chlorides, sulphates, phosphates, nitrates, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium and Sodium. The WQI was calculated and the value was obtained as 76.15. Most of the values of physico-chemical parameters are within the prescribed limits of WHO/BIS for drinking water. Water Quality Index (WQI) calculated based on the weight values of these parameters also revealed the ‘good’ quality of lake water. The α-diversity of microbes was found to be 18 in the water of Deoria Tal. The water of the lake is fit for human consumption. Keeping in view the importance of the lake and to provide the sustainable water quality for users its conservation and management is priority in the Himalayan region. Keywords: Himalayan wetland; Deoria Tal; Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand; water quality index; physico-chemical parameter

SUMO Sites Prediction in Human Transcription Factors Involved in Hypoxia induced Cardiac Illnesses

Protein SUMOylation is a reversible and well knownpost-translational modificationprocess of the cells. It may change a protein's cellular location, interactions, and possible structural shape before it develops to carry out its basic functions.Also, it decides the binding of transcription factors and DNA binding proteins tochromatin in addition to various cis and trans regulatory factors. Alterations in protein SUMOylation have been linked with a variety of disorders and developmental anomalies.Tentative approaches to identify SUMO binding sites are challenging due todynamic nature of the SUMOylation processand various critical lab experimentswhich are involved very high cost.Therefore, the computational methodologies may guide the experimental identification of SUMOylation sites and provide insights for improving comprehensionofSUMOylation mechanism in the cells.In this study, we identify the SUMO binding sites in transcription factors that are actively involved and have crucial roles in cardiac development andpathophysiology of the heart.A list of important transcription factors was preparedfrom thehuman transcription factor database.The GPS-SUMO, SUMO plot, and JASSA web serverswere used for the prediction of SUMO binding sites in cardiac transcription factors.We identified the SUMOylation of several novel, previously uncharacterized SUMO targetsthat are actively involved in thecardiovascular system.Thus, the present study may help to uncoverthe significance ofSUMO modificationin cardiac development and illnesses which creates a fresh avenue for future studies ontarget-specific SUMOylation for identification of novel therapeutic targets andmanagement strategies forhypoxia-induced cardiovascular disorders

Visual Fields at Presentation and after Trans-sphenoidal Resection of Pituitary Adenomas

Purpose: To evaluate visual field changes in patients with pituitary adenomas following trans-sphenoidal surgery. Methods: Eighteen patients with pituitary adenomas underwent a complete ophthalmic assessment and visual field analysis using the Humphrey Field Analyzer 30-2 program before and after trans-sphenoidal surgical resection at the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences over a one year period. Visual acuity, duration of symptoms, optic nerve head changes, pattern of visual field defects, and variables such as mean deviation and visual field index were compared. Results: Thirty-six eyes of 18 patients including 10 male and 8 female subjects with mean age of 35.1±9.9 years and histologically proven pituitary adenoma were included. Mean visual acuity at presentation was 0.29 logMAR which improved to 0.21 logMAR postoperatively (P = 0.305). Of 36 eyes, 24 (66.7%) had visual field defects including temporal defects in 12 eyes (33.3%), non-specific defects in 10 eyes (27.8%), and peripheral field constriction in 2 eyes (5.6%). Mean deviation of visual fields at presentation was -14.28 dB which improved to -11.32 dB postoperatively. The visual field index improved from 63.5% to 75% postoperatively. Favorable visual field outcomes were correlated with shorter duration of symptoms and absence of optic nerve head changes at presentation. Conclusion: Visual field defects were present in two thirds of patients at presentation. An overall improvement in vision and visual fields was noted after surgical resection. An inverse correlation was found between the duration of symptoms and postoperative visual field recovery, signifying the importance of early surgical intervention

Effect of CryIIa transgenic chickpeas to Helicoverpa armigera larval parasitoid, Campoletis chlorideae

The current experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of transgenic chickpea lines expressing CryIIa to C. chlorideae under laboratory conditions. There was a significant reduction in cocoon formation and adult emergence of C. chlorideae reared on H. armigera larvae fed on the leaves of transgenic chickpea before and after parasitisation. The larval period was prolonged and was a significant difference between the transgenic and nontransgenic chickpea lines was observed. Although the pupal period of the parasitoid was prolonged, there were no significant differences between the transgenic and nontransgenic chickpea lines. The adverse effects of transgenic chickpea lines on cocoon formation and adult emergence of C.chlorideae were largely due to the early mortality of H.armigera larvae, but there was no direct toxicity of Bt toxin protein to C. chlorideae. The amount of CryIIa protein transferred from leaves to the non-target insects and natural enemies were negligible

Evaluation of Cry IIa transgenic chickpea lines for resistance to Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) using detached leaf assay

Studies were conducted to evaluate transgenic chickpea lines encoding Cry IIa for resistance to Helicoverpa armigera. Significantly lower leaf damage was noticed in transgenic chickpea lines when compared to non-transgenic lines. Significant reduction in larval survival and weight gain were observed when H. armigera were fed on transgenic lines under laboratory conditions. Across the seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13), the transgenic chickpea lines BS5A.2(T2) 19-1P2 and BS5A.2(T2) 19-2P1 showed enhanced levels of resistance to H. armigera

DNA-based identification of Lentinula edodes strains with species-specific primers

Lentinula edodes is among the five globally cultivated edible mushrooms, which are wood decaying spore bearing Basidiomycetes possessing separate hyphae. Specific identification of this fungus from others in the division Basidiomycota using specific primers enables a fast and accurate detection through polymerase chain reaction (PCR). As a prelude to additional nutritional and sequence characterization research, we have developed a species specific PCR assay for this fungus after screening four primer-pairs and two universal primer pairs. The primer-pair LE1F/R was specific in amplifications of ATCC-defined L. edodes strains and did not amplify DNA from six medicinally and nutritionally important fungal reference strains, Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus), Maitake (Grifola frondosa), Enoki (Flammulina velutipes), Baby bella (Agaricus bisporus), Porcini (Boletus edulis), and Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius). However, amplifications using the universal primers were positive for all six strains. This assay will therefore serve to validate morphology-based identifications of L. edodes strains.Keywords: Lentinula edodes, LE1F/R, species-specific primer

Active power regulation of hydro dominating energy system using IDD optimized FPA

In this paper an attempt is made to propose the different models of control and design such as integral derivative (ID), proportional integral derivative (PID) and integral double derivative (IDD) effectively optimized through flower pollination algorithm (FPA) for active power regulation of modern energy system having hydro dominating areas. At first, the performance of FPA-ID, FPA-PID and FPA-IDD founded LFC are evaluated for standard load change in one control area and their performance for system model is judged on the basis of inverse time multiplied absolute error (ITAE). The results obtained show the advancement of FPA-IDD over other designs for hydro dominating energy system. The performance of the control lacks in minimizing system overshoot, oscillations and settling time due to large responding time of hydro turbines. Hence, the collective operation of unified power flow control (UPFC) in series with tie-line and active power support from redox flow battery is installed in the hydro dominating energy system. The significant improvement in system results are obtained by installing the UPFC and RFB in system model. Further enhancement in the system results are achieved by recalculating the gains of IDD with the help of FPA with positive support from RFB and UPFC. The application results are obtained for standard load change and results show the effectiveness of the proposed technique for the hydro dominating energy system.10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong, Chinahttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/procediaam2020Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin

Direct effect of CryIIa transgenic chickpea on coccinellid, Cheilomenes sexmaculatus (Fabricius)

The experiments were conducted during 2012-2014 at ICRISAT, Hyderabad to study the direct effects of transgenic chickpea lines on coccinellid beetle, Cheilomenes sexmaculatus (Fabricius). The direct effects on coccinellids were greater when fed on 0.1% Bt intoxicated diet, followed by diets with 0.05% and 0.02% Bt. The survival and development of coccinellid grubs were slightly affected when reared on aphids fed on diets with different concentrations (0.02%, 0.05% and 0.1%) of transgenic chickpea leaf powder. The coccinellids fed on diets with 0.05% BS5A.2(T2) 19-3P1 leaf powder showed a marginal reduction in survival and development as compared to that on other transgenic lines