Nutritive Value and the Quality of Ensiled Napier Grass (Pennisetum Purpureum Schum.) and Banana (Musa Acuminata) Peelings

This paper aimed to evaluate the nutritive value and the quality of ensiled Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum) and banana (Musa acuminate) peelings. Different levels of banana peeling and Napier grass were used in this study. The levels of Napier grass and banana peeling compared as treatments with four replications were as follows: 100% Napier Grass (NG), 75% (NG) + 25% Banana Peeling (BP), 50%NG + 50%BP, 25%NG + 75% BP and 100%BP. Napier grass and banana peeling were mixed based on the percentage combination as treatments, weighed and placed into empty jam bottle with weights ranging from 64.4 grams to 509.2 grams as a simulated laboratory silo. Samples were stored in eight weeks at the Dairy Training Research Institute. Proximate analyses were done at Animal Nutrition Laboratory Institute of Animal Science while ADF, NDF, IVDMD, and IVOMD were done at the Animal Nutrition Division Laboratory at Dairy Training and Research Institute, UP Los Baños. Physically, the color of silage were light yellow with a little greenish color for 100% napier grass, light to moderately yellow for the three combinations of napier and banana peel and yellow for 100% banana peel. Texture ranged from dry and coarse for napier grass, relatively dry for the combinations and moderately wet for the banana peel. The napier grass had a slightly acidic smell, the combinations had slightly sweet, acidic smell while the 100% banana peel had a sweeter, acidic smell. Likewise, pH before ensiling had ranged from 5.7 (25%NG + 75%BP) to 7.5 ( 100% BP) while after ensiling the pH changed from 4.575 ( 100% napier grass) to 5.75 ( 100% banana peel ). There were significant differences on DM, Moisture, CP, EE, CF, and Ash before ensiling. Similar trend was observed after ensiling except the ash content of all the treatments. ADF and NDF did not show significant variations in all treatments. IVDMD and IVOMD before ensiling varied significantly, but after ensiling only IVDMD of the treatments differed significantly. In terms of physical attributes, nutritive value and digestibility, banana peel can be used as silage material. All treatments generated comparable acceptability when fed to the animal. It is suggested that further study, specifically in vivo trial, will be conducted to validate the feeding and nutritional value of banana peel as alternative silage for ruminants

Callus induction from various explants of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Callus cultures were studied in white seed induced mutant obtained from Phaseolus vulgarisL., cv. varunto help establish a suitable protocol for a prospective in vitro program. Callus cultures were initiated from the axillary leaves, axillary shoots, node, internode, and root segments.The initiation and growth of callus were evaluated on MS medium with 3% sucrose, 0.4% agar, 1.5 mg.l-1BAP, and three levels of IAA. The highest callus relative growth was obtained on medium with 0.5 mg.l-1IAA and 1.5 mg.l-1BAP

Role of Host Immune Response and Viral Load in the Differential Outcome of Pandemic H1N1 (2009) Influenza Virus Infection in Indian Patients

BACKGROUND: An unusually high number of severe pneumonia cases with considerable mortality is being observed with the pandemic H1N1 2009 virus infections globally. In India, all mild as well as critically ill cases were admitted and treated in the government hospitals during the initial phase of the pandemic. The present study was undertaken during this early phase of the pandemic. METHODOLOGY: The role of viral load and host factors in the pathogenesis were assessed by examining 26 mild (MP), 15 critically ill patients (CIP) and 20 healthy controls from Pune, India. Sequential blood and lung aspirate samples were collected from CIP. Viral load and cytokines/chemokine levels were determined from the plasma and lung aspirates of the patients. TLR levels were determined by staining and FACS analysis. Gene profiling was done for both cells in the lung aspirates and PBMCs using TaqMan Low Density arrays. Antibody titres and isotyping was done using HA protein based ELISAs. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 13/15 critically ill patients expired. All plasma samples were negative for the virus irrespective of the patient's category. Sequential lung samples from CIP showed lower viral loads questioning association of viral replication with the severity. Anti-rpH1N1-09-HA-IgG titres were significantly higher in critically ill patients and both categories circulated exclusively IgG1 isotype. Critically ill patients exhibited increase in TLR-3, 4, 7 and decrease in TLR-2 expressions. The disease severity correlated with increased plasma levels of IL1RA, IL2, IL6, CCL3, CCL4 and IL10. Majority of the immune-function genes were down-regulated in the PBMCs and up-regulated in the cells from lung aspirates of critically ill patients. No distinct pattern differentiating fatal and surviving patients was observed when sequential samples were examined for various parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Disease severity was associated with pronounced impairment of host immune response

Retrospective analysis of necropsy findings in patients of H1N1 and their correlation to clinical features

India reported its first case of H1N1 in July 2009 in Pune and since then, the number of reported cases and deaths exploded in India. Since very little data is available about histopathological findings in patients of H1N1 fatal cases in India, a retrospective chart analysis of necropsy findings of 15 cases of 2009 H1N1 fatal cases was performed. Common clinical features were fever, cough , and breathlessness followed by sore throat and rhinorrhea. Common lung findings were mononuclear cell infiltration, thick alveolar septae, intraalveolar hemorrhage . The other findings were congested pulmonary blood vessels, pulmonary edema, cytomegaly, fibrin accumulation and formation of eosinophilic membrane. These findings are suggestive of diffuse alveolar damage ( DAD) and DAD with hemorrhage. All patients who underwent necropsy had radiographic findings suggestive of unilobar or multilobar pneumonia. This clinical finding can be correlated pathologically in these patients as all of them had either polymorphonuclear or mononuclear infiltrate. Furthermore, necrotizing pneumonitis pattern seen on these patients is the likely cause of mortality in these patients. Although clinical ARDS pattern was noted in all these patients, it was well correlated in lung pathology in all these cases

Structure and Thermoelectric Properties of Bi2−xSbxTe3 Nanowires Grown in Flexible Nanoporous Polycarbonate Templates

We report the room-temperature growth of vertically aligned ternary Bi$_{2-x}$Sb$_x$Te$_3$ nanowires of diameter ~200 nm and length ~12 μm, within flexible track-etched nanoporous polycarbonate (PC) templates via a one-step electrodeposition process. Bi$_{2-x}$Sb$_x$Te$_3$ nanowires with compositions spanning the entire range from pure Bi$_2$Te$_3$ ($x$ = 0) to pure Sb$_2$Te$_3$ ($x$ = 2) were systematically grown within the nanoporous channels of PC templates from a tartaric-nitric acid based electrolyte, at the end of which highly crystalline nanowires of uniform composition were obtained. Compositional analysis showed that the Sb concentration could be tuned by simply varying the electrolyte composition without any need for further annealing of the samples. Thermoelectric properties of the Bi$_{2-x}$Sb$_x$Te$_3$ nanowires were measured using a standardized bespoke setup while they were still embedded within the flexible PC templates.We acknowledge funding from the European Research Council through an ERC Starting Grant (Grant no. ERC-2014-STG-639526, NANOGEN), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK and the Isaac Newton Trust, University of Cambridge

Application of the ANP to the prioritization of project stakeholders in the context of responsible research and innovation

[EN] This paper presents a methodology to assess the stakeholders¿ influence in a research project within the context of responsible research and innovation. The methodology is based on a combination of the multicriteria decision making technique analytic network process and the key areas of responsible research. The method allows ranking and ordering the project¿s stakeholders based on their influence upon its responsibility. The purpose of such an assessment is to help research teams to more efficiently devote their limited resources to stakeholder management. The procedure is applied to a case study of the Information and Communication Technology business sector. It is an ongoing project at an early phase of development. Influential stakeholders have been identified first, and have been further classified into groups based on their relative importance. The assessment of their influence has been based on up to 16 different criteria, mainly belonging to the framework of responsible research and innovation. In the case study, the most influential criterion was the Capability to promote public engagement, while Developers were found to be the stakeholders most contributing to the research project responsibility. However, as explained, this is a temporary situation, valid for the current project development situation. It may vary over time as criteria vary in weight and stakeholders vary in influence.The authors would like to thank to our anonymous referees for their constructive comments and suggestions that helped us to improve the quality of the paper. Also, to the “Bolívar Gana con Ciencia” program from the Gobernación de Bolívar (Colombia) for the financial support. For the same reason, the authors are grateful to the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación for its support of the project Propuesta de Indicadores para Impulsar el Diseño de Una Política Orientada al Desarrollo de Investigación e Innovación Responsable en España (CSO2016-76828-R)Ligardo-Herrera, I.; Gómez-Navarro, T.; Gonzalez-Urango, H. (2018). Application of the ANP to the prioritization of project stakeholders in the context of responsible research and innovation. Central European Journal of Operations Research. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-018-0573-4S123Akbari N, Irawan CA, Jones DF, Menachof D (2017) A multi-criteria port suitability assessment for developments in the offshore wind industry. Renew Energy 102:118–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.10.035Aragonés-Beltrán P, García-Melón M, Montesinos-Valera J (2017) How to assess stakeholders’ influence in project management? A proposal based on the analytic network process. 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A proteinuria cut-off level of 0.7 g /day after 12 months of treatment best predicts long-term renal outcome in lupus nephritis: Data from the MAINTAIN Nephritis Trial

Background: Although an early decrease in proteinuria has been correlated with good long-term renal outcome in lupus nephritis (LN), studies aimed at defining a cut-off proteinuria value are missing, except a recent analysis performed on patients randomised in the Euro-Lupus Nephritis Trial, demonstrating that a target value of 0.8 g/day at month 12 optimised sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of good renal outcome. The objective of the current work is to validate this target in another LN study, namely the MAINTAIN Nephritis Trial (MNT). Methods: Long-term (at least 7 years) renal function data were available for 90 patients randomised in the MNT. Receiver operating characteristic curves were built to test the performance of proteinuria measured within the 1st year as short-term predictor of long-term renal outcome. We calculated the positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV). Results: After 12 months of treatment, achievement of a proteinuria <0.7 g/day best predicted good renal outcome, with a sensitivity and a specificity of 71% and 75%, respectively. The PPV was high (94%) but the NPV low (29%). Addition of the requirement of urine red blood cells 645/hpf as response criteria at month 12 reduced sensitivity from 71% to 41%. Conclusions: In this cohort of mainly Caucasian patients suffering from a first episode of LN in most cases, achievement of a proteinuria <0.7 g/day at month 12 best predicts good outcome at 7 years and inclusion of haematuria in the set of criteria at month 12 undermines the sensitivity of early proteinuria decrease for the prediction of good outcome. The robustness of these conclusions stems from the very similar results obtained in two distinct LN cohorts