Life at the Mughal court as revealed in contemporary paintings

Mughal history is a branch of Indian history which compels the full attention. In consequence of the Mughals' achievements, political, military, and artistic, their fabulous fame and wealth, 'Mughal' is not a mere name, but has grown into a concept, often and gladly quoted. Their history is never dull - from whatever angle it is examined and not just the military part of it - the empire-founding, the battles, the expansion and consolidation - but also its peacetime activities draw our full interest - its economic development - how it was built into a solid, mighty structure and especially its achievements in the field of fine arts and literature - reaching dizzying heights, from architecture and painting through to jewellery. But also of interest are the very personal activities of some of its rulers like Jahangir, the accounts of whose hunting parties vie with the best written adventure stories ever written. The accounts of Mughal court life with its magnificence, the dazzling colourfulness of its darbars, its receptions of famous visitors, and foreign ambassadors - even when it is most routine - are never boring; but there is the feeling that one has witnessed an unforgettable spectacular event

Epidemiology and management of flower diseases of pyrethrum

Pyrethrum (Tanacatum cinerariifolium) is cultivated worldwide and in southern Australia for the extraction of insecticidal esters or pyrethrins contained within the achenes of flowers. Producing a significant proportion of the worlds botanical pyrethrins, Australian crops may suffer reduced yields from annual flower disease epidemics caused by pathogenic fungi Botrytis cinerea and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Little is known regarding (i) the epidemiology of flower blights caused by B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum in pyrethrum, (ii) the efficacy of current control methods, (iii) whether there is evidence of fungicide resistance in the fungal population, (iv) whether alternative fungicides can provide improved control over those currently used, (v) whether other fungi could be involved in annual flower disease epidemics and, (vi) the loss in flower yield and pyrethrin assay from flower diseases. A survey of the incidence of B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum in flowers was undertaken in ten commercial pyrethrum crops in one year. Flowers from non-fungicide treated areas in commercial crops were periodically sampled throughout flowering prior to being surface sterilised and incubated under high humidity to encourage fungal growth. B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum were prevalent, with both occurring in flowers from all 10 crops. The mean incidence of B. cinerea in flowers sampled between 10-11 December across all crops was 56%, significantly higher (P = 0.024) than S. sclerotiorum (29.4%), while between 16-18 December mean incidence of B. cinerea was 75.7%, again significantly higher (P = 0.026) than incidence of S. sclerotiorum (51.8%) at this time. The main means of managing flower blights of pyrethrum is currently through a fungicide program over flowering involving tebuconazole and carbendazim. The efficacy of the flowering fungicide program for controlling B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum flower blights and promoting benefits in terms of increased yield was evaluated in nontreated and fungicide treated plots in 10, 10 and 17 commercial pyrethrum crops during the flowering period over three years, respectively. In each of two years, fungicide treatment resulted in a mean incidence of B. cinerea near to harvest which bordered on being significantly lower (0.05 1000 μg a.i./ml. All isolates of B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum were sensitive to tebuconazole at low concentrations with mean EC50 of 0.64 and 0.18 μg a.i./ml respectively. Alternative fungicides for flower disease control were evaluated in replicated field trials to determine suitability for inclusion into the flowering fungicide program as replacements for the potentially ineffective and now deregistered fungicide carbendazim. Boscalid and iprodione showed greater benefits in terms of yield from statistical analysis than other treatments, and significantly reduced fungal incidence of flowers equal to, or better than, commercial treatments. The mean incidence of B. cinerea from nontreated flowers sampled on 4 December of 30% was significantly (P = 0.007) higher than boscalid (8.5%) and iprodione (10%). Mean incidence of S. sclerotiorum of flowers from nontreated plots sampled on 4 December was 26.5%, and significantly (P <.001) higher than boscalid (7%) and iprodione (12%). In vitro fungicide sensitivity of 46 isolates of B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum to iprodione indicated no evidence of reduced sensitivity with mean EC50 (and maximum) values of 1.62 (8.48 μg a.i./ml) and 0.19 (0.61 μg a.i./ml) respectively. Sclerotinia minor, a previously undocumented pathogen of pyrethrum flowers, was consistently isolated from diseased, surface-sterilised pyrethrum flowers over multiple years. Fungal identity was confirmed with morphological, genetic and phylogenetic evaluation. Occurrence in-field of mature, sporulating, apothecia of S. minor were documented; while sclerotia of 8 of 10 isolates conditioned in the laboratory successfully underwent carpogenic germination in vitro demonstrating the ability of endemic isolates of S. minor to produce air borne inoculum necessary to achieve flower infection in pyrethrum and other crops. The relative sensitivity of isolates of S. minor to the fungicides carbendazim, tebuconazole and iprodione was evaluated. Mean (and maximum) EC50 values of S. minor were 1.92 (2.62 μg a.i/ml) for carbendazim, 0.1 (0.13 μg a.i./ml) for tebuconazole and 0.3 (1.23 μg a.i/ml) for iprodione. The effect of B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum flower inoculation on measured yield attributes and pyrethrum flower development were evaluated with glasshouse studies. Inoculation of immature flowers with Botrytis cinerea resulted in highly significant reductions in dry weight (P <.001) and pyrethrin yield (P <.001) of mature flowers compared to non inoculated. Inoculation with S. sclerotiorum in two of four varieties resulted in significantly higher flower development stages after 21 days (P = 0.021; P <.001) and significantly faster flower senescence (P = 0.001; P = 0.008) in comparison to non inoculated. Inoculation of flowers with ascospores of S. minor led to symptoms of flower disease indistinguishable from those of S. sclerotiorum flower blight, significantly lower fresh flower weights in replicated experiments (P = <.001; 0.032) and significantly higher developmental stage of flowers (P = <.001) after only two weeks in comparison to non inoculated. These studies indicated that flower infection with B. cinerea and S. minor could significantly reduce flower yield and pyrethrin yields. Furthermore, significantly faster flower development; senescence and desiccation may result from flower infection with S. sclerotiorum and S. minor. The completion of Koch’s postulates additionally confirmed pathogenicity toward pyrethrum flowers and demonstrated pure cultures of S. minor could be reisolated from flowers inoculated on living host plants. The study has provided new knowledge in the epidemiology of known flower blights of pyrethrum caused by B. cinerea and S. sclerotiorum. Furthermore the study has described for the first time S. minor as a pathogen of pyrethrum flowers and documented a rare example of carpogenic germination of sclerotia being involved in the epidemiology of a disease caused by S. minor. The study has also provided insights into the effect of flower blights on pyrethrum yield and into improving the management of flower diseases by fungicides

Determination of the individual rate constants of α-chymotrypsin-catalyzed hydrolysis with the added nucleophilic agent, 1,4-butanediol

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Location-specific immunodetection of cocaine on banknotes

A novel in-gel bioanalytical immunodetection method has been developed to determine both the presence and the location of cocaine on the surface of banknotes. The cocaine was ‘fixed’ to the surface of the banknote via a coating of a polyacrylamide gel matrix. Immunostaining of the immobilised cocaine on the banknote surface was performed using an anti-cocaine primary antibody, either pre-labelled with horse radish peroxidase (HRP) or in conjunction with a HRP-labelled secondary antibody. Visualisation of the location of the cocaine was achieved through chemiluminescence imaging of the banknote following application of a chemiluminescent substrate. The novel method was applied to the detection of cocaine on partial and whole banknote samples obtained from general circulation. Newly minted banknotes, with or without spiked cocaine, were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. The results obtained, for the first time, demonstrate the successful location-specific immunostaining of cocaine on banknotes. A preliminary analysis of six UK banknotes, obtained from general circulation, suggests that cocaine can be present at variable locations across the whole of the banknote

Drosophila Lipophorin Receptors Mediate the Uptake of Neutral Lipids in Oocytes and Imaginal Disc Cells by an Endocytosis-Independent Mechanism

Lipids are constantly shuttled through the body to redistribute energy and metabolites between sites of absorption, storage, and catabolism in a complex homeostatic equilibrium. In Drosophila, lipids are transported through the hemolymph in the form of lipoprotein particles, known as lipophorins. The mechanisms by which cells interact with circulating lipophorins and acquire their lipidic cargo are poorly understood. We have found that lipophorin receptor 1 and 2 (lpr1 and lpr2), two partially redundant genes belonging to the Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor (LDLR) family, are essential for the efficient uptake and accumulation of neutral lipids by oocytes and cells of the imaginal discs. Females lacking the lpr2 gene lay eggs with low lipid content and have reduced fertility, revealing a central role for lpr2 in mediating Drosophila vitellogenesis. lpr1 and lpr2 are transcribed into multiple isoforms. Interestingly, only a subset of these isoforms containing a particular LDLR type A module mediate neutral lipid uptake. Expression of these isoforms induces the extracellular stabilization of lipophorins. Furthermore, our data indicate that endocytosis of the lipophorin receptors is not required to mediate the uptake of neutral lipids. These findings suggest a model where lipophorin receptors promote the extracellular lipolysis of lipophorins. This model is reminiscent of the lipolytic processing of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins that occurs at the mammalian capillary endothelium, suggesting an ancient role for LDLR–like proteins in this process

M6 Membrane Protein Plays an Essential Role in Drosophila Oogenesis

We had previously shown that the transmembrane glycoprotein M6a, a member of the proteolipid protein (PLP) family, regulates neurite/filopodium outgrowth, hence, M6a might be involved in neuronal remodeling and differentiation. In this work we focused on M6, the only PLP family member present in Drosophila, and ortholog to M6a. Unexpectedly, we found that decreased expression of M6 leads to female sterility. M6 is expressed in the membrane of the follicular epithelium in ovarioles throughout oogenesis. Phenotypes triggered by M6 downregulation in hypomorphic mutants included egg collapse and egg permeability, thus suggesting M6 involvement in eggshell biosynthesis. In addition, RNAi-mediated M6 knockdown targeted specifically to follicle cells induced an arrest of egg chamber development, revealing that M6 is essential in oogenesis. Interestingly, M6-associated phenotypes evidenced abnormal changes of the follicle cell shape and disrupted follicular epithelium in mid- and late-stage egg chambers. Therefore, we propose that M6 plays a role in follicular epithelium maintenance involving membrane cell remodeling during oogenesis in Drosophila

Serrano (Sano) Functions with the Planar Cell Polarity Genes to Control Tracheal Tube Length

Epithelial tubes are the functional units of many organs, and proper tube geometry is crucial for organ function. Here, we characterize serrano (sano), a novel cytoplasmic protein that is apically enriched in several tube-forming epithelia in Drosophila, including the tracheal system. Loss of sano results in elongated tracheae, whereas Sano overexpression causes shortened tracheae with reduced apical boundaries. Sano overexpression during larval and pupal stages causes planar cell polarity (PCP) defects in several adult tissues. In Sano-overexpressing pupal wing cells, core PCP proteins are mislocalized and prehairs are misoriented; sano loss or overexpression in the eye disrupts ommatidial polarity and rotation. Importantly, Sano binds the PCP regulator Dishevelled (Dsh), and loss or ectopic expression of many known PCP proteins in the trachea gives rise to similar defects observed with loss or gain of sano, revealing a previously unrecognized role for PCP pathway components in tube size control