Effects of Visual Silhouette, Leaf Size and Host Species on Feeding Preference by Adult Emerald Ash Borer, \u3ci\u3eAgrilus Planipennis\u3c/i\u3e Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)

The emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is an invasive species recently established in North America. In large arena bioassays, when given a choice among live green ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh and artificial ash saplings that were hidden or exposed from view, beetles preferred live trees (either visible or hidden) compared to artificial trees that had similar visual silhouettes, confirming that olfactory cues are used to locate hosts. Examination of the effect of leaf size revealed that large leaves attracted more beetles than medium-sized leaves that in turn attracted more beetles than small leaves of the same age. Beetles also consumed more of the large leaves in terms of total leaf area than either medium or small leaves, but the proportion of foliage that beetles consumed relative to total available leaf area, did not differ. When newly emerged adults were fed on green and Manchurian ash, Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr., foliage in a no- choice assay, beetles that were given green ash consumed significantly more foliage compared to those that fed on Manchurian ash, but neither longevity nor beetle body weight differed. Our results suggest that while beetles might use olfactory cues to identify suitable hosts, visual cues also play a role in landing and feeding behavior. Manchurian ash might have greater nutritive value or resistance than green ash, necessitating lower consumption and therefore less damage in nature

Blood Transfusions: Are They Life Saving or Transfusing Infections?

Introduction: There is a risk of 1 - 2 per 1000 recipients receiving contaminated blood with viral, bacterial and parasitic agents.TTI’S are the most commonly encountered complications in transfusion medicine. The objective of the study was to determine the seroprevalence of TTI’s among blood donors, who represent healthy population at large. Materials & methods: A total of 33,658 blood units were received from voluntary and replacement donors over a period of 5 years. Surface antigen of HBV and antibodies to HIV and HCV were determined using ELISA. Syphilis was detected using TPHA test. Results: 947 (2.81%) blood units tested positive for HBV, HCV, HIV and / or syphilis. Overall prevalence was HBV – 1.77%, HCV – 0.13%, HIV – 0.63% and Syphilis – 0.28%. Nine (0.03%) donors had coinfections. Conclusion: The screening of blood donors is the corner stone in assuring the safety of blood transfusion

Zone-Features based Nearest Neighbor Classification of Images of Kannada Printed and Handwritten Vowel and Consonant Primitives

The characters of any languages having scripts are formed by basic units called primitives. It is necessary to practice writing the primitives and their appropriate combinations while writing different characters. In order to automate character generation, primitives201F; recognition becomes important. In this paper, we propose a zone-features based nearest neighbor classification of Kannada printed and handwritten vowel and consonant primitives. The normalized character image is divided into 49 zones, each of size 4x4 pixels. The classifier based on nearest neighbor using Euclidean distances is deployed. Experiments are performed on images of printed and handwritten primitives of Kannada vowels and consonants. We have considered 9120 images of printed and 3800 images of handwritten 38 primitives. A K-fold cross validation method is used for computation of results. We have observed average recognition accuracies are in the range [90%, 93%] and [93% to 94%] for printed and handwritten primitives respectively. The work is useful in multimedia teaching, animation; Robot based assistance in handwriting, etc

Interplay of antiferromagnetism, ferromagnetism and superconductivity in EuFe_2(As_1-xP_x)_2 single crystals

We report a systematic study on the influence of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic phases of Eu^2+ moments on the superconducting phase upon doping the As site by isovalent P, which acts as chemical pressure on EuFe_2As_2. Bulk superconductivity with transition temperatures of 22 K and 28 K are observed for x=0.16 and 0.20 samples respectively. The Eu ions order antiferromagnetically for x=0.22 whereupon the Eu ions order ferromagnetically. Density functional theory based calculations reproduce the observed experimental findings consistently. We discuss in detail the coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism in a tiny region of the phase space and comment on the competition of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in the title compound.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Implementing Policy Based Routing Technique and Providing Security In IPv6 Network

Many organizations are in a process to adopt IPv6 addressing scheme. In order to make the network more efficient Policy Based Routing technique is implemented and security is provided. Normally routing is done based on the destination address present in the routing table. While implementing PBR the packets are delivered to the destination in the path as specified by the network admin. Here, the PBR overwrites the normal routing procedures and these packets choose the path as directed by the network admin. The network can be made more efficient by providing security scheme to secure the packets from the hackers. This process will minimize the network collision and by implementing security schemes in IPv6 network, the IP packets are delivered securely and also take the path as desired by network administrator

Differential regulation of anti-inflammatory genes by p38 MAP kinase and MAP kinase kinase 6.

BackgroundConventional p38α inhibitors have limited efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis, possibly because p38 blockade suppresses the counter-regulatory mechanisms that limit inflammation. In contrast, targeting the upstream MAP kinase kinases, MKK3 and MKK6, partially maintains p38-mediated anti-inflammatory responses in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM). In this study, we explored the mechanisms that preserve anti-inflammatory gene expression by evaluating differential regulation of IL-10 and p38-dependent anti-inflammatory genes in MKK3-/-, MKK6-/-, and p38 inhibitor-treated wildtype cells.MethodsBMDM from wild type (WT), MKK3-/-, and MKK6-/- mice were pre-treated with p38 inhibitor SB203580 (SB), JNK inhibitor SP600125 (SP), and/or ERK inhibitor PD98059 (PD) and stimulated with LPS. Supernatant protein levels were measured by multiplex bead immunoassay. mRNA expression was determined by qPCR and protein expression by Western blot analysis. De novo IL-10 mRNA synthesis was quantified in cells treated with ethynyl-uridine and LPS followed by reverse transcription and qPCR. mRNA half-life was measured in LPS-treated cells that were then incubated with actinomycin D ± SB203580.ResultsPre-treatment of WT BMDM with p38 inhibitor significantly reduced IL-10 production in the three groups, while ERK and JNK inhibitors had minimal effects. IL-10 production was significantly decreased in MKK3-/- BMDM compared with either WT or MKK6-/- cells. IL-10 mRNA expression was modestly reduced in MKK3-/- BMDM but was preserved in MKK6-/- cells compared with WT. De novo IL-10 mRNA synthesis was inhibited in MKK3-/- and p38 inhibitor pre-treated cells, but not MKK6-/- cells compared with WT. IL-10 mRNA half-life was markedly reduced in p38 inhibitor-treated WT cells while MKK-deficiency had minimal effect. DUSP1 mRNA levels were preserved in MKK-deficient cells but not in p38 inhibitor-treated WT cells. Tristetraprolin mRNA and protein levels were reduced in p38 inhibitor-treated WT cells compared with MKK6-/- cells.ConclusionUnlike p38-inhibition, the absence of MKK6 mostly preserves IL-10 and TTP protein expression in BMDM. MKK6-deficiency also spares DUSP1 and IL-1RA, which are key negative regulators of the inflammatory response. Together, these data suggest that MKK6 is a potential therapeutic target in RA

Analysis of molecular conformations using relative planes

Ring substructures of a drug usually participate actively in binding to the receptor. It is necessary to study the spatial relationship of these molecular recognition features in order to determine the pharmacophore of the drug. This is a particularly difficult problem when the drug is a flexible molecule with many energetically accessible conformations. In this research an innovative approach to calculate the relative displacement and orientation of every possible pair of rings in a given molecule was designed, tested, and implemented in the Planes program. Planes were defined from each of the ring substructures and the displacement and rotation of one ring with respect to the other was calculated. This approach was derived from the guidelines of 3DNA, a robust program that calculates base-pair and base-step parameters of nucleic acids. The Planes program was subsequently utilized to analyze the conformations of DM324, a flexible analog of GBR 12909, a drug potentially useful in the treatment of cocaine abuse. The present work suggests that the Planes program could be potentially useful in the description of the relative orientation of pharmacophore features if the molecular conformations could first be classified by their orientation relative to the central piperazine ring