Exploitation of Phenotypic Variations Among some Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Genotypes for grain yield Under Irrigated Conditions of Sudan

Barley in Sudan is grown in limited areas for grain and forage, although the barley is a well adapted crop to Sudan environment, it has a very small number of genotypes. Therefore, this study aims at the exploitation of  phenotypic variations among the barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) genotypes in Sudan for possible utilization in breeding programmes and to identify the top yielding genotypes. A set of twenty barley genotypes were tested at three sites representing different environments of Sudan. The experiments were executed over two consecutive seasons (2010/2011 and 2011/2012) in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The results of the growth habit demonstrated that all the genotypes were resistant to lodging except the genotype 20 (local genotype) was susceptible to lodging. The results of the combined analysis showed very highly significant differences among the barley genotypes at three sites. Across the three sites, the common genotypes out-yielded the check were G3, G8 and G9. At Gezira, the genotypes G3, G8 and G9 out yielding the check by 31, 24 and 40%, respectively, at Hudeiba high terrace soil by 34, 9 and 31%, respectively, while at Hudeiba karu soil by 61, 21 and 20%, respectively. According to the ASV (AMMI Stability Value) concept, the most stable genotype was the check Beladi having an ASV of 4.5 with the lowest mean seed yield (1970 kg/ha). In contrast, the most unstable genotype was G3 with an ASV of 37.7, however, it had the highest grain yield (2810 kg/ha). Among the six environments, when the genotypes were arranged according to AMMI estimate, genotype G3 ranked first in four environments (Gezira in season 2011, karu in two seasons and high terrace soil in season 2011), genotype G9 ranked first in one environment (Gezira in season 2010) and ranked third in the other five environments, while genotype G8 ranked second in the high terrace soil in season 2010 and fourth in two environments (Gezira in two seasons). The check Beladi did not appear in the first four ranking genotypes. Therefore, the genotypes G3, G8 and G9 could provide a good option for barley seed yield under Sudan conditions.   يزرع الشعير في السودان في مناطق محدودة بغرض إنتاج الحبوب والأعلاف، على الرغم من أن الشعير محصول جيد التأقلم  في البيئات المناخية المختلفة  للسودان، إلا أن هنالك عددا قليلا جدًا من الطرز الوراثية التي تزرع فيه. لذلك، تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى إستغلال الاختلافات المظهرية بين بعض الطرز الوراثية للشعير (Hordeum vulgare L.) في السودان لإمكانية استخدامها في برامج التربية ولتحديد الطرز الوراثية الاعلي إنتاجية. تم اختبار عدد عشرين من الطرز الوراثية للشعير في ثلاثة مواقع تمثل بيئات مختلفة في السودان. تم تنفيذ التجارب على مدار موسمين متتاليين (2010/2011 و 2011/2012) باستخدام تصميم القطاعات العشوائية الكاملة (RCBD) بثلاثة مكررات. أظهرت نتائج التحليل المشترك تباين كبير للغاية بين الطرز الوراثية للشعير من حيث الإنتاجية في الثلاثة مواقع، حيث كانت الطرز الوراثية الشائعة التي فاقت إنتاجيتها الصنف المحلي هي G3 و G8 و G9 . في الجزيرة، الطرز الوراثية G3 و G8 و G9 فاقت إنتاجيتها الصنف المحلي بنسبة 31 و 24 و 40٪ على التوالي، أما في أراضي التروس العليا (الحديبة)  بنسبة 34 و 9 و 31٪ على التوالي، بينما في أراضي الكرو (الحديبة) بنسبة 61 و 21 و 20٪، على التوالي. وفقًا لمفهوم قيمة الثبات (ASV) كان الطراز الوراثي الأكثر ثباتًا هو الصنف المحلي بقيمة ثبات4.5  وبأقل متوسط ​​إنتاجية للبذور (1970 كجم / هكتار). في المقابل، كان الطراز الوراثي الأقل ثباتًا هو       G3 بقيمة ثبات  37.7، ومع ذلك، فقد حقق أعلى إنتاجية للحبوب (2810 كجم / هكتار). عند ترتيب الطرز الوراثية وفقًا لتقدير  AMMI في البيئات الست، احتل الطراز الوراثي G3 المرتبة الأولى في أربع بيئات (الجزيرة في موسم 2011 ، اراضي الكرو (الحديبة) في موسمين وفي اراضي التروس العليا (الحديبة) في موسم 2011) ، بينما احتل الطراز الوراثي G3  المرتبة الأولى في بيئة واحدة (الجزيرة) في موسم 2010) واحتل المرتبة الثالثة في البيئات الخمسة الأخرى، في حين احتل الطراز الوراثي G8 المركز الثاني في اراضي التروس العليا (الحديبة) في موسم 2010 والرابع في بيئتين (الجزيرة في موسمين). لم يظهر الصنف المحلي ضمن الطرز الوراثية الأربعة الأولى. أوضحت هذه النتائج أن الطرز الوراثية  G3 و G8 و G9 يمكن أن تكون خيارًا جيدًا لإنتاج بذور الشعير تحت ظروف السودا

What is Emotional Pain? - A Review of Pathophysiology and Treatment Options

Pain is a dynamic process that involves multiple physiological systems for the perception and its outcomes. The basic pain process involves a complex neurological process. and biochemical changes. Emotional pain is an extended form of the already known pain where the stimuli are emotional of nature that involves abstract feelings, for example, losing a loved one. Like the pain, now there is a growing evidence that emotional pain also involves inflammatory process and the behavioral approach is directly linked with them. This association can help us modify the emotional pain by modulating the inflammatory processes that already known to us.   Other than therapeutic and known interventions, mindfulness, writing therapy, exposure based intervention and other actions can help us in just not treating the condition but can serve as exploration of other avenues of the pain physiology. Emotional Pain has always been the part of human history but one of the least discussed form of pain. Multiple neuropsychiatric studies can help further in evaluation of this process

Scaling of the B and D meson spectrum in lattice QCD

We give results for the $B$ and the $D$ meson spectrum using NRQCD on the lattice in the quenched approximation. The masses of radially and orbitally excited states are calculated as well as $S$-wave hyperfine and $P$-wave fine structure. Radially excited $P$-states are observed for the first time. Radial and orbital excitation energies match well to experiment, as does the strange-non-strange $S$-wave splitting. We compare the light and heavy quark mass dependence of various splittings to experiment. Our $B$-results cover a range in lattice spacings of more than a factor of two. Our $D$-results are from a single lattice spacing and we compare them to numbers in the literature from finer lattices using other methods. We see no significant dependence of physical results on the lattice spacing. PACS: 11.15.Ha 12.38.Gc 14.40.Lb 14.40.NdComment: 78 pages, 29 tables, 30 figures Revised version. Minor corrections to spelling and wordin

Anticancer Molecules from Catharanthus roseus

Catharanthus roseus is an important medicinal plant found in various parts of the world and the bioactive compound has been extracted and used as anti-cancer agent to treat the cancer over decades. However, the extraction of bioactive compound also results in the generation of large quantities of pollution with wasted solvents. Toxic pollution occurs when synthetic chemicals are discharged or natural chemicals accumulate to toxic levels in the environment, causing reductions in wildlife numbers, degrading ecosystem functions and threatening human health. This review covers the extraction and phytochemical obtained leading to chemical compounds related to anti-cancer property of C. roseus. Additionally, recent advances of using biological cell cultures were also addressed. Thus, this work can be used for further investigation of C. roseus to be undertaken in future for its anti-cancer property further development and efficient production in drug industr

Modulation of steroidogenesis by Actaea racemosa and vitamin C combination, in letrozole induced polycystic ovarian syndrome rat model : promising activity without the risk of hepatic adverse effect

Background: Complementary remedies such as the Chinese herb 'Sheng Ma' (Black cohosh; Actaea racemosa 'AR') are being sought to overcome the shortcomings of conventional hormonal and surgical therapies developed for the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). However, AR-induced hepatotoxicity necessitates a cautionary warning to be labeled on its products as recommended by the United States Pharmacopeia, where four out of seven hepatotoxic cases in Sweden were possibly associated with black cohosh products. Methods: We investigated the effects, safety, and molecular targets of black cohosh ethanolic extract and/or vitamin C on ovarian functionality and oxidative response in hyperandrogenism-induced PCOS rats. A well-established rat model using oral letrozole, daily, for 21 days was employed. The rats then received the AR extract with and without vitamin C for 28 days. The hormonal evaluation, antioxidant status, histopathological examination, immunohistochemical analysis, cell proliferation, and the expression ratio of the aromatase (Cyp19α1) gene were evaluated. Additionally, holistic profiling of the AR arsenal of secondary metabolites was performed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with quadrupole high-resolution time of flight mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS). Results: Beneficial effects were exerted by AR in PCOS rats as antioxidant status, hormonal profile, lipid profile, glucose level, liver functions, and the induced Ki-67 expression in the granulosa, theca cell layers and interstitial stromal cells were all improved. Notably, the combination of AR with vitamin C was not only more effective in reversing the dysregulated levels of testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and mRNA level of Cyp19α1 gene in the PCOS rat, but also safer. The combination regulated both ovarian and hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels with histological improvement observed in the liver and ovaries. In addition, the untargeted metabolomic profiling enabled the identification of 61 metabolites allocated in five major chemical classes. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the benefit of the combinatorial effects of AR and vitamin C in mitigating the reproductive and metabolic disorders associated with PCOS with the elimination of AR hepatotoxic risk

A database of microRNA expression patterns in Xenopus laevis

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, non-coding RNAs around 22 nucleotides long. They inhibit gene expression either by translational repression or by causing the degradation of the mRNAs they bind to. Many are highly conserved amongst diverse organisms and have restricted spatio-temporal expression patterns during embryonic development where they are thought to be involved in generating accuracy of developmental timing and in supporting cell fate decisions and tissue identity. We determined the expression patterns of 180 miRNAs in Xenopus laevis embryos using LNA oligonucleotides. In addition we carried out small RNA-seq on different stages of early Xenopus development, identified 44 miRNAs belonging to 29 new families and characterized the expression of 5 of these. Our analyses identified miRNA expression in many organs of the developing embryo. In particular a large number were expressed in neural tissue and in the somites. Surprisingly none of the miRNAs we have looked at show expression in the heart. Our results have been made freely available as a resource in both XenMARK and Xenbase

Extreme ultraviolet detection using AlGaN-on-Si inverted Schottky photodiodes

We report on the fabrication of aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) Schottky diodes for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) detection. AlGaN layers were grown on silicon wafers by molecular beam epitaxy with the conventional and inverted Schottky structure, where the undoped, active layer was grown before or after the n-doped layer, respectively. Different current mechanisms were observed in the two structures. The inverted Schottky diode was designed for the optimized backside sensitivity in the hybrid imagers. A cut-off wavelength of 280 nm was observed with three orders of magnitude intrinsic rejection ratio of the visible radiation. Furthermore, the inverted structure was characterized using a EUV source based on helium discharge and an open electrode design was used to improve the sensitivity. The characteristic He I and He II emission lines were observed at the wavelengths of 58.4 nm and 30.4 nm, respectively, proving the feasibility of using the inverted layer stack for EUV detectio

PPARG dysregulation as a potential molecular target in adrenal Cushing's syndrome

BACKGROUND We performed a transcriptomic analysis of adrenal signaling pathways in various forms of endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) to define areas of dysregulated and druggable targets. METHODOLOGY Next-generation sequencing was performed on adrenal samples of patients with primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (PBMAH, n=10) and control adrenal samples (n=8). The validation groups included cortisol-producing adenoma (CPA, n=9) and samples from patients undergoing bilateral adrenalectomy for Cushing's disease (BADX-CD, n=8). In vivo findings were further characterized using three adrenocortical cell-lines (NCI-H295R, CU-ACC2, MUC1). RESULTS Pathway mapping based on significant expression patterns identified PPARG (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma) pathway as the top hit. Quantitative PCR (QPCR) confirmed that PPARG (l2fc<-1.5) and related genes - FABP4 (l2fc<-5.5), PLIN1 (l2fc<-4.1) and ADIPOQ (l2fc<-3.3) - were significantly downregulated (p<0.005) in PBMAH. Significant downregulation of PPARG was also found in BADX-CD (l2fc<-1.9, p<0.0001) and CPA (l2fc<-1.4, p<0.0001). In vitro studies demonstrated that the PPARG activator rosiglitazone resulted in decreased cell viability in MUC1 and NCI-H295R (p<0.0001). There was also a significant reduction in the production of aldosterone, cortisol, and cortisone in NCI-H295R and in Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in MUC1 (p<0.05), respectively. OUTCOME This therapeutic effect was independent of the actions of ACTH, postulating a promising application of PPARG activation in endogenous hypercortisolism