Genomic Dissection and Expression Profiling Revealed Functional Divergence in Triticum aestivum Leucine Rich Repeat Receptor Like Kinases (TaLRRKs)

The leucine rich repeat receptor like kinases (LRRK) constitute the largest subfamily of receptor like kinases (RLK), which play critical roles in plant development and stress responses. Herein, we identified 531 TaLRRK genes in Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), which were distributed throughout the A, B, and D sub-genomes and chromosomes. These were clustered into 233 homologous groups, which were mostly located on either homeologous chromosomes from various sub-genomes or in proximity on the same chromosome. A total of 255 paralogous genes were predicted which depicted the role of duplication events in expansion of this gene family. Majority of TaLRRKs consisted of trans-membrane region and localized on plasma-membrane. The TaLRRKs were further categorized into eight phylogenetic groups with numerous subgroups on the basis of sequence homology. The gene and protein structure in terms of exon/intron ratio, domains and motifs organization were found to be variably conserved across the different phylogenetic groups/subgroups, which indicated a potential divergence and neofunctionalization during evolution. High-throughput transcriptome data and quantitative real time PCR analyses in various developmental stages, and biotic and abiotic (heat, drought and salt) stresses provided insight into modus operandi of TaLRRKs during these conditions. Distinct expression of majority of stress responsive TaLRRKs homologous genes suggested their specified role in a particular condition. These results provided a comprehensive analysis of various characteristic features including functional divergence, which may provide the way for future functional characterization of this important gene family in bread wheat

OSMOTIC PUMP DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM: A NOVAL APPROACH

Conventional drug delivery systems have little control over their drug release and almost no control over the effective concentration at the target site. The major problem associated with conventional drug delivery system is unpredictable plasma concentrations. Controlled drug delivery systems offer spatial control over the drug release. Osmotic pumps are most promising systems for controlled drug delivery. These systems are used for both oral administration and implantation. The present review is concerned with the study of drug release systems which are tablets coated with walls of controlled porosity. . Osmotic pump uses the basic principle of osmosis for release of drug(s). Osmotic pumps consist of an inner core containing drug and osmogens, coated with a semi permeable membrane. As the core absorbs water, it expands in volume, which pushes the drug solution out through the delivery ports. Osmotic pumps release drug at a rate that is independent of the pH and hydrodynamics of the dissolution medium. Various patents available for osmotic drug delivery system like Rose-Nelson pump, Higuchi-leeper pump, higuchi-theeuwes pump and elementary osmotic pump. In this paper, various types of osmotic pump and the basic components of  osmotic system tablets have been discussed briefly. Keywords: Osmosis, component of osmotic system, Osmotic pum

Assessment of predictive models for chlorophyll-a concentration of a tropical lake

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study assesses four predictive ecological models; Fuzzy Logic (FL), Recurrent Artificial Neural Network (RANN), Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm (HEA) and multiple linear regressions (MLR) to forecast chlorophyll- a concentration using limnological data from 2001 through 2004 of unstratified shallow, oligotrophic to mesotrophic tropical Putrajaya Lake (Malaysia). Performances of the models are assessed using Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), correlation coefficient (r), and Area under the Receiving Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Chlorophyll-a have been used to estimate algal biomass in aquatic ecosystem as it is common in most algae. Algal biomass indicates of the trophic status of a water body. Chlorophyll- a therefore, is an effective indicator for monitoring eutrophication which is a common problem of lakes and reservoirs all over the world. Assessments of these predictive models are necessary towards developing a reliable algorithm to estimate chlorophyll- a concentration for eutrophication management of tropical lakes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Same data set was used for models development and the data was divided into two sets; training and testing to avoid biasness in results. FL and RANN models were developed using parameters selected through sensitivity analysis. The selected variables were water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and Secchi depth. Dissolved oxygen, selected through stepwise procedure, was used to develop the MLR model. HEA model used parameters selected using genetic algorithm (GA). The selected parameters were pH, Secchi depth, dissolved oxygen and nitrate nitrogen. RMSE, r, and AUC values for MLR model were (4.60, 0.5, and 0.76), FL model were (4.49, 0.6, and 0.84), RANN model were (4.28, 0.7, and 0.79) and HEA model were (4.27, 0.7, and 0.82) respectively. Performance inconsistencies between four models in terms of performance criteria in this study resulted from the methodology used in measuring the performance. RMSE is based on the level of error of prediction whereas AUC is based on binary classification task.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, HEA produced the best performance in terms of RMSE, r, and AUC values. This was followed by FL, RANN, and MLR.</p

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

A Study of Pressure Transient Propagation in Fuel-Gas Mixtures

This research covers the various stages of an investigation involving the measurement of transient propagation velocities in a pipeline carrying aviation kerosene of specification 2494, with and without the inclusion of free nitrogen gas. The numerical method of characteristics was used to solve the quasi-linear hyperbolic partial differential equations governing the propagation of pressure transients and gave good agreement with measured values, provided the effects of column separations were taken into account. It is further shown that if column separation was unrecognised the errors encountered in the measurements of wave velocity were considerable. In order to assess the influence of entrained gas on pressure transient propagation nitrogen was injected into the pipe carrying kerosene. The tests undertaken showed that by introducing free nitrogen gas a reduction of up to 70% in the wave velocity and hence the surge pressure at the valve was achieved when the gas/fuel ratio was as low as 1% by volume at NTP. The final stages of this research involved the description of mathematical models and experiments involving the measurements of wave velocity through gas bubble/liquid kerosene mixtures being transported in horizontal and vertical pipelines. A theoretical analysis is presented which takes into account the size of the gas bubble when calculating the celerity through gas/liquid mixtures. It was found experimentally that the size of the gas bubbles introduced into the liquid kerosene had a significant influence on the wave velocity. Results showed that, in a horizontal pipeline, for a large number of small sized gas bubbles present in the pipeline a higher celerity was obtained than with a small number of large sized gas bubbles for a constant mixture quality

A study of some of the factors affecting the measurement of soil resistivity for cathodic protection applications

Bibliography: p. 205-214

Tyrosinase-like activity of several Alzheimer\u27s disease related and model peptides and their inhibition by natural antioxidants

Neurodegenerative diseases are associated with loss of neurons ultimately leading to a decline in brain function. Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) is considered one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders that affects 16 million people worldwide. The cause of the disease remains unknown, although significant evidence proposes the amyloid Beta-peptide (A-Beta) as a potential culprit. The binding of Cu2+ by the soluble fragments of A-Beta have shown to form Type-3 copper centers and catalyze the oxidation of catechol-containing neurotransmitters. Furthermore, the use of flavonoids as antioxidants to slow or inhibit the neurotransmitter oxidation has suggested further health benefits with their consumption. A structure-function correlation is also made between the flavonoids and their reactively with Cu2+-A-Beta. Mechanistic insight into the binding of catechol and dioxygen within the tyrosinase-like mechanism are made using a metallopeptide modeling the active site of the metzinicins

Recent Advances in Molecular Diagnostics of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni: A Review

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, Asteraceae, is an herbaceous perennial plant native to Paraguay. Stevia is known to accumulate as high as 30% (w/w) of sweet steviol glycosides (SGs) in the leaf tissue. These glycosides are sweeter than common table sugar and are used as a non-calorific sweetener in many countries of the world. SGs have been reported to lower the postprandial blood glucose level of Type II diabetes patients and in reducing the blood pressure in mildly hypertensive patients. Due to these properties, S. rebaudiana has high socio-economic importance and biochemical and molecular research on this plant has gained pace. Based on the progressive research, this review summarizes the phytochemistry and pharmacological properties of S. rebaudiana, with special emphasis on molecular studies involving cloning of genes involved in SG biosynthesis, transgenic studies, RNAi experiments, and miRNA profiling of this plant. This will serve to learn more about the roles of miRNAs in stevia development and physiology but also to provide a framework for further designing RNAi (RNA interference) based experiments for regulation of gene expression in this species and with continued progress in genomics and database management, Stevia will soon become one of the model plants for further comparative studies