Consumption of Organic Fruits and Vegetables in Chennai, India

India’s booming population and the high amount of pesticide produced and used in agriculture to meet the demands of the growing population, has led to the contamination of the air, water, and soil. Organic food products help to preserve land and water resources and have led to a steady increase in the organic food consumption in India, especially in the urban centres of the country. Although there has been a steady increase in the sale of organic food products in India, the growth is slow. The research on the consumption of organic food in the Indian domestic market is inadequate, and more information with regard to the preferences and motivation to purchase organic food is required. Food consumption is a daily activity in everybody’s life causing environmental impact and buying organic food products is one of the effective ways to improve the sustainability of food consumption. Organic fruits and vegetables have the highest demand in the organic food category and at present dominate the Indian domestic market. Previous research suggests that attributes, consequences and values influence people’s purchase decisions. Attributes are the inherent characteristic of a product, consequences are the benefits obtained from consuming the product, and values are principles and standards that guide behaviour. The motivation of Indian consumers to consume organic fruits and vegetables can be explored with the help of attributes, consequences, and values. Consumers organize product information in their memory at various levels of abstraction ranging from product attributes to personal values. The method that aids in understanding the cognitive structure of consumers is the Means-End Chain (MEC) approach. The means are the attributes, the ends are the values, and in between them are consequences. The MEC approach aids in understanding why consumers opt for certain products as it links the product attributes to their consequences and the consequences are in turn linked to values. The interview technique that assists in obtaining the information pertaining to attributes, consequences, and values is Laddering. Laddering techniques use a series of direct and indirect probes, which enable a consumer to think critically and bring out in-depth information that shows the associations between attributes, consequences, and values. An analysis of these laddering probes revealed the motivational aspect behind a purchase or the underlying reasons for a purchase. Organic was found to be a central attribute as organic enabled people to distinguish between organic and inorganic fruits and vegetables. Other attributes like chemical free, farming method, taste, fresh, nutrition, and quality were also found to be important. Health was found to be the main motivation to purchase organic fruits and vegetables

Bessel-Maitland Function of Several Variables and its Properties Related to Integral Transforms and Fractional Calculus

In the recent years, various generalizations of Bessel function were introduced and its various properties were investigated by many authors. Bessel-Maitland function is one of the generalizations of Bessel function. The objective of this paper is to establish a new generalization of Bessel-Maitland function using the extension of beta function involving Appell series and Lauricella functions. Some of its properties including recurrence relation, integral representation and differentiation formula are investigated. Moreover, some properties of Riemann-Liouville fractional operator associated with the new generalization of Bessel-Maitland function are also discussed

Studies on genetic variability for some metric traits in slender grain rice genotypes

An experiment was conducted to study genetic variability in forty-nine elite slender grain rice genotypes for thirteen component characters including grain yield.The experimental materials possessed a considerable amount of variability for all the traits. Majority of the traits showed the smaller difference between phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). Both PCV and GCV were high for grain yield (gm) (PCV:27.14%, GCV:26.27%), and fertile grains per panicles(PCV:20.61%, GCV:20.52%), indicating less effect of environment on these characters. PCV and GCV were moderate for characters like harvest index (PCV:16.99%, GCV: 14.18%), 100 seed weight (gm) (PCV:14.57%, GCV:13.82%), fertility percentage (PCV:15.72%, GCV:15.05%), flag leaf area (cm2 ) (PCV:17.83%, GCV: 17.74%) and days to 50 % flowering (PCV:11.20%, GCV:11.17%) indicating that there is considerable amount of environmental effect on such characters. Moderate to a high degree of heritability estimates were observed for the majority of the traits under study except for a number of effective tillers/plant indicating the low or negligible influence of environment in the expression of these traits and may respond to selection for their improvement. High heritability (H2 )estimates were associated with moderate to high genetic gain over mean (GAM) for days to 50% flowering (H2 : 99.35%,GAM: 19.52%), plant height (H2 :93.89%,GAM:14.01%), panicle length (H2 :94.06%,GAM:14.04%), flag leaf area(H2 : 98.93%,GAM: 31.05%), fertile grains/panicle (H2 :99.20%,GAM: 35.98%), fertility percentage (H2 :91.57%,GAM:25.34%),100 seed weight (H2 :89.90%,GAM:23.06%)and grain yield per plant (H2 :93.71%,GAM:44.76%) indicating the presence of additive gene effect and hence selection based on phenotypic performance for these traits would be effective

A Class of Differentiator-Based Multifunction Biquad Filters Using OTRAs

This paper presents Signal Flow Graph (SFG) approach-based realization of Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) filter topologies. A differentiator is placed as basic building block. A total of sixteen variants are derived from the proposed differentiator-based SFG. The Operational Trans-Resistance Amplifier (OTRA), an active block having low parasitics at input terminals, is used to validate the proposed methodology. All the derived filter structures use three OTRAs, six resistors and two capacitors. The filter performance parameters can be adjusted independently. The functional verification of the proposed method is done via SPICE simulations using 0.18 μm CMOS technology parameters from MOSIS

PRODUCTION OF INDUSTRIALLY IMPORTANT ENZYMES BY THERMOBACILLI ISOLATED FROM HOT SPRINGS OF INDIA

Enzymes from thermophilic bacteria have received great attention for their potential applications in various industrial sectors. The present study deals with the production of five thermozymes (amylase, lipase, xylanase, protease and cellulase) from 10 thermophilic bacterial species, originally isolated from two hot springs namely Soldhar and Ringigad in Uttarakhand Himalaya, India. The bacterial isolate GBPI_25 produced maximum amylase (1217.86 U/ml) at 45 °C and 5 pH, GBPI 3 produced maximum lipase (22.59 U/ml) at 65 °C and 9 pH, GBPI_25 produced maximum xylanase (98.07 U/ml) at45 °C and 9 pH, GBPI_35 produced maximum protease (16.66 U/ml) at 55 °C and 9 pH, and GBPI 4 produced maximum cellulose (108.68 U/ml) at 45 °C and 5 pH. Crude enzyme preparations showed thermal and pH activities at broad temperature and pH range between 10-100 °C and 3-11 pH, respectively, with different temperature and pH optima. Amylase, xylanase and cellulase showed maximum activity at 50 °C while lipase and protease showed higher activity at 40 and 60 °C, respectively. Enzyme activity at wide temperature range-cellulase and protease from 10-100 °C, amylase and xylanasefrom10-90 °C, and lipase activity from 10-80 °C were the remarkable records from this study. Similarly, pH range for amylase and lipase activity was recorded from 4-11, for xylanase from 3-9, and for protease and cellulase from 3-10. All the thermozymes showed maximum stability at 40 °C and pH 5 except cellulase that showed higher stability at40 °C and neutral pH

Evaluation of 18F-nifene binding to α4β2 nicotinic receptors in the rat brain using microPET imaging

MicroPET imaging studies using 18F-nifene, a new positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer for nicotinic acetylcholinergic receptors (nAChR) α4β2 receptors in rats, have been carried out. Rats were imaged for 90 min after intravenous injection of 18F-nifene (0.8 to 1 mCi), and binding potential (BPND) was measured. 18F-Nifene binding to thalamic and extrathalamic brain regions was consistent with the α4β2 nAChR distribution in the rat brain. Using the cerebellum as a reference, the values for the thalamus varied less than 5% (BPND = 1.30, n = 3), confirming reproducibility of 18F-nifene binding. 18F-Nifene microPET imaging was also used to evaluate effects of nicotine in a group of Sprague-Dawley rats under isoflurane anesthesia. Nicotine challenge postadministration of 18F-nifene demonstrated reversibility of 18F-nifene binding in vivo. For α4β2 nAChR receptor occupancy (nAChROCC), various doses of nicotine (0, 0.02, 0.1, 0.25, and 0.50 mg/kg nicotine free base) 15 min prior to 18F-nifene were administered. Low-dose nicotine (0.02 mg) reached > 80% nAChROCC while at higher doses (0.25 mg) > 90% nAChROCC was measured. The small amount of 18F-nifene binding with reference to the cerebellum affects an accurate evaluation of nAChROCC. Efforts are underway to identify alternate reference regions for 18F-nifene microPET studies in rodents

miR-22 regulates expression of oncogenic neuro-epithelial transforming gene 1, NET1

MicroRNAs control cellular processes by regulating expression of their target genes. Here we report that neuro-epithelial transforming gene 1 (NET1) is a target of tumor suppressor microRNA 22 (miR-22). miR-22 is downregulated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells derived from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients and in CML cell line K562. NET1 was identified as one of the targets of miR-22 using both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Either mutations or naturally occurring single-nucleotide polymorphisms in NET1 3′-UTR that map at the miR-22 binding site were found to affect binding of miR-22 to NET1 mRNA. Over expression of NET1 in K562 cells resulted in increased proliferation. However decreased proliferation and alteration in cell cycle were observed on either overexpression of miR-22 or knockdown of NET1 expression respectively. We also found that overexpression of miR-22 or NET1 knockdown inhibits actin fiber formation, probably by downregulation of NET1 as NET1 knockdown also resulted in depletion of actin fiber formation. We suggest that the oncogenic properties of CML cells are probably due to deregulated expression of NET1 as a result of altered expression of miR-22

Penetration of the Stigma and Style Elicits a Novel Transcriptome in Pollen Tubes, Pointing to Genes Critical for Growth in a Pistil

Pollen tubes extend through pistil tissues and are guided to ovules where they release sperm for fertilization. Although pollen tubes can germinate and elongate in a synthetic medium, their trajectory is random and their growth rates are slower compared to growth in pistil tissues. Furthermore, interaction with the pistil renders pollen tubes competent to respond to guidance cues secreted by specialized cells within the ovule. The molecular basis for this potentiation of the pollen tube by the pistil remains uncharacterized. Using microarray analysis in Arabidopsis, we show that pollen tubes that have grown through stigma and style tissues of a pistil have a distinct gene expression profile and express a substantially larger fraction of the Arabidopsis genome than pollen grains or pollen tubes grown in vitro. Genes involved in signal transduction, transcription, and pollen tube growth are overrepresented in the subset of the Arabidopsis genome that is enriched in pistil-interacted pollen tubes, suggesting the possibility of a regulatory network that orchestrates gene expression as pollen tubes migrate through the pistil. Reverse genetic analysis of genes induced during pollen tube growth identified seven that had not previously been implicated in pollen tube growth. Two genes are required for pollen tube navigation through the pistil, and five genes are required for optimal pollen tube elongation in vitro. Our studies form the foundation for functional genomic analysis of the interactions between the pollen tube and the pistil, which is an excellent system for elucidation of novel modes of cell–cell interaction

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020