Optimizing Growth and Morphological attributes of Henckelia Royal Queen through Pinching and Paclobutrazol application

The developing floriculture industry seeks domestic pot ornamental plants as it is not further being luxury in effort. Several endemic flowering plants have the potential to introduce as pot ornamental. But creeping growth attributes of this endemic plants should be tested with growth retardants and physical manipulations before introduce those plants into the floriculture market. A shade house factorial experiment was arranged in eight treatment combinations of pinching/non-pinching and various Paclobutrazol concentrations (0 ppm, 15 ppm, 30 ppm and 60 ppm) with eight replicates for each treatment. Paclobutrazol was applied in twice, two weeks intervals while, soil drenching and pinching was done. Results of the experiment disclosed that the plants showed better performances in growth retardation and other characters measured with the pinching and Paclobutrazol concentrations increasing, but degree of leaf deformation was increased when increase the concentration of Paclobutrazol. It was observed that 15 ppm Paclobutrazol applied plants showed balanced growth retardation and acceptable plant characters. Application of Paclobutrazol in concentration of 15 ppm along with pinching caused considerable suppression of height that makes increased floricultural value for the Henckelia plants

SARS-CoV-2 human challenge reveals biomarkers that discriminate early and late phases of respiratory viral infections

Blood transcriptional biomarkers of acute viral infections typically reflect type 1 interferon (IFN) signalling, but it is not known whether there are biological differences in their regulation that can be leveraged for distinct translational applications. We use high frequency sampling in the SARS-CoV-2 human challenge model to show induction of IFN-stimulated gene (ISG) expression with different temporal and cellular profiles. MX1 gene expression correlates with a rapid and transient wave of ISG expression across all cell types, which may precede PCR detection of replicative infection. Another ISG, IFI27, shows a delayed but sustained response restricted to myeloid cells, attributable to gene and cell-specific epigenetic regulation. These findings are reproducible in experimental and naturally acquired infections with influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and rhinovirus. Blood MX1 expression is superior to IFI27 expression for diagnosis of early infection, as a correlate of viral load and for discrimination of virus culture positivity. Therefore, MX1 expression offers potential to stratify patients for antiviral therapy or infection control interventions. Blood IFI27 expression is superior to MX1 expression for diagnostic accuracy across the time course of symptomatic infection and thereby, offers higher diagnostic yield for respiratory virus infections that incur a delay between transmission and testing

The SuperCam Instrument Suite on the Mars 2020 Rover: Science Objectives and Mast-Unit Description

On the NASA 2020 rover mission to Jezero crater, the remote determination of the texture, mineralogy and chemistry of rocks is essential to quickly and thoroughly characterize an area and to optimize the selection of samples for return to Earth. As part of the Perseverance payload, SuperCam is a suite of five techniques that provide critical and complementary observations via Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Time-Resolved Raman and Luminescence (TRR/L), visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (VISIR), high-resolution color imaging (RMI), and acoustic recording (MIC). SuperCam operates at remote distances, primarily 2-7 m, while providing data at sub-mm to mm scales. We report on SuperCam's science objectives in the context of the Mars 2020 mission goals and ways the different techniques can address these questions. The instrument is made up of three separate subsystems: the Mast Unit is designed and built in France; the Body Unit is provided by the United States; the calibration target holder is contributed by Spain, and the targets themselves by the entire science team. This publication focuses on the design, development, and tests of the Mast Unit; companion papers describe the other units. The goal of this work is to provide an understanding of the technical choices made, the constraints that were imposed, and ultimately the validated performance of the flight model as it leaves Earth, and it will serve as the foundation for Mars operations and future processing of the data.In France was provided by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Human resources were provided in part by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and universities. Funding was provided in the US by NASA's Mars Exploration Program. Some funding of data analyses at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was provided by laboratory-directed research and development funds

Birth and Life of Auroral Arcs Embedded in the Evening Auroral Oval

International audienceWe report on all-sky camera observations at Ft. Simpson during the crossing of the FAST spacecraft on 09 March 2008 at about 19:00 MLT. FAST registered eight auroral arcs with the associated upward currents and two periods of downward currents during the crossing time of five minutes. All arcs were moving equatorward with speeds near 300 m/s. Some of them exhibited local broadening and subsequent unfolding. Most remarkable was the appearance of new arcs at the poleward border of the auroral oval, clearly marked by an Alfvénic arc. The FAST data on energy and energy flux of the precipitating electrons and the jumps of the transverse magnetic perturbation field through the arcs were evaluated for five of the arcs following the formalism of Haerendel [2007]. This led to very consistent values for the integral wave impedance, field-parallel conductance, Alfvénic transit time, arc width, proper motion, and total energy release including the ionospheric dissipation. The most significant result is that all equatorward motions of the arcs were consistent with being proper motions in the rest frame of the ambient plasma. This is observational evidence for the arcs feeding on the magnetic energy liberated by the release of shear stresses in a region of dominantly upward field-aligned currents