Guttation fluid as a physiological marker for selection of nitrogen efficient rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes

A field experiment was conducted during the rainy season of 2008 and 2009 to use guttation fluid as a physiological marker for the screening of more nitrogen efficient rice genotypes on the basis of relationship between Guttation Fluid (GF) oozed by leaf tip and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), grain yield (GY) and biological yield (BY) amongst five rice (KRH-2- hybrid, Kasturi- aromatic, Krishna Hamsa, Tulsi and Vasumati- high yielding) genotypes grown at four nitrogen levels (0, 50, 100 and 200 kg ha-1) in alluvial soil of Pantnagar (Uttarakhand), India. The nitrogen fertilizer (urea) was sprouted in the field. For this experiment, the field was made to keep with 5 cm standing water throughout active tillering and reproductive stage. Guttation fluid (GF) was collected during flowering stage whilst other traits after harvesting of the crops. The utmost and lowest GF was achieved by genotype KRH-2 and Kasturi respectably. All the rice genotypes showed the positive correlation between GF and NUE, GY, BY at different nitrogen levels vice-versa. The KRH-2 illustrated better response to secretion of guttation fluid and other traits. The experiment concluded that the amount of GF is directly associated with application of fertilizer as well as NUE, GY and BY. Further studies are good opportunities for rice researcher to improve rice yield through this way and mapping the genes controlling this trait and creating rice plant with increase guttation fluid at different nitrogen levels for selection of high nitrogen efficient rice genotypes.Key words: Biological yield, guttation fluid, nitrogen use efficiency, grain yield, rice genotypes

Optical Image Encryption Using Devil’s Vortex Toroidal Lens in the Fresnel Transform Domain

We have carried out a study of optical image encryption in the Fresnel transform (FrT) domain, using a random phase mask (RPM) in the input plane and a phase mask based on devil’s vortex toroidal lens (DVTL) in the frequency plane. The original images are recovered from their corresponding encrypted images by using the correct parameters of the FrT and the parameters of DVTL. The use of a DVTL-based structured mask enhances security by increasing the key space for encryption and also aids in overcoming the problem of axis alignment associated with an optical setup. The proposed encryption scheme is a lensless optical system and its digital implementation has been performed using MATLAB 7.6.0 (R2008a). The scheme has been validated for a grayscale and a binary image. The efficacy of the proposed scheme is verified by computing mean-squared-error (MSE) between the recovered and the original images. We have also investigated the scheme’s sensitivity to the encryption parameters and examined its robustness against occlusion and noise attacks

Growth and physiological potential of Terminalia arjuna under elevated CO2 levels in Open top chamber condition

Terminalia arjuna is native to India and occurs naturally along the banks of streams and rivers. The species is characterized to dry deciduous forests. The present study was carried out for the growth and physiological changes of T. arjuna in different elevated CO2 levels. Open top chambers were used to expose plants to ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations (400 and 800 ppm). The experiment was conducted in the month of March to August in 2019 for six months. The results showed that the growth parameters, i.e. plant height, collar diameter, the number of leaves, were found to be increased in elevated CO2 conditions. The percentage increase in physiological parameters like photosynthetic rate (28.82), mesophyll efficiency (60 % more in elevated CO2 condition), CO2 concentration (55 % more in elevated CO2), vapour pressure deficit (4.83 at 800 ppm) and water use efficiency (5.94 at ppm)  increased. In contrast, transpiration rate (5.38 at 800 ppm and 10.11 ppm at ambient condition) and stomatal conductance (30% less in 800 ppm) decreased under elevated CO2 compared to ambient conditions. The study concluded that changing climatic conditions and significantly elevated CO2 in future may profoundly influence plant growth and the physiological response of T. arjuna

Atypical presentation of cystic schwannoma of the sphenoid sinus: a nonsolitary mass with osseous, intracranial and cavernous sinus invasion

Although nearly half of all schwannomas involve the head and neck region, nasal and paranasal sinus presentations are quite rarely seen. Cystic schwannoma, characterized by cyst formation lined by S-100 protein positive membrane-like structures is very uncommonly seen in sphenoid sinus with only a single previously reported case. Here we report a young patient of cystic schwannoma of the paranasal sinuses having epicenter in the sphenoid sinus. The tumor had caused extensive erosion of the skull base and paranasal sinuses and extended intracranially that radiologically mimicked as infected mucocele causing loss of vision. This case denotes the aggressive behavior of such uncommon tumors

Comparative study of safety and efficacy of pregabalin, gabapentin and amitriptyline in management of neuropathic pain

Background: Neuropathic pain has a significant negative impact on the patients’ quality of life. Now a day’s anticonvulsants and antidepressants drugs are often used as first-line drugs for the treatment of neuropathic pain. The present study aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of gabapentin, amitriptyline, and pregabalin in patients of severe neuropathic pain not controlled by simple analgesics.Methods: A total of 360 patients diagnosed with cases of chronic lumbar radiculopathy based on symptoms, clinical examination, X-ray, and magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) scan of the lumbosacral spine, were randomized into three groups. Group A patients received pregabalin 75 mg, Group B patients received gabapentin 300 mg, and Group C patients received amitriptyline 10 mg, respectively. Pain intensity was measured at the baseline, after 1 month and after 2 months with the Numeric pain rating scale (NPRS). Adverse drug reaction reported by the patient or observed by the clinician during the study was reported using the adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting form.Results: At baseline, the mean±SD of NPRS score in Group A was 8.42±1.48, in Group B and Group C were 8.53±1.94 and 8.33±1.26 respectively with an F-value of 0.843 and p value of 0.584, which was not statistically significant. At 1 month, the mean±SD of NPRS score in Group A was 7.23±1.58, in Group B and Group C were 7.43±2.03 and 7.99±2.10 respectively with F-value of 1.58 and p value of 0.085 which was not statistically significant. At 2 months, the mean±SD of NPRS score in Group A was 4.38±2.72, in Group B and Group C were 4.74±2.86 and 6.32±2.31 respectively with F-value of 5.53 and p value of 0.002 which was statistically significant.Conclusions: Pregabalin has the advantages in terms of the NPRS score over gabapentin and amitriptyline. Gabapentin has fewer reported adverse effects and hence better patient compliance on long term use. Amitriptyline is more cost effective than pregabalin which is an important factor to keep in mind while treating patients

A Secure Asymmetric Optical Image Encryption Based on Phase Truncation and Singular Value Decomposition in Linear Canonical Transform Domain

A new asymmetric optical double image encryption algorithm is proposed, which combines phase truncation and singular value decomposition. The plain text is encrypted with two-stage phase keys to obtain a uniformly distributed cipher text and two new decryption keys. These keys are generated during the encryption process and are different from encryption keys. It realizes asymmetric encryption and improves the security of the system. The unscrambling keys in the encryption operation are mainly related to plain text. At the same time, the system is more resistant to selective plain text attacks; it also improves the sensitivity of decryption keys. With the application of phase truncation, the key space expanded and the security of the cryptographic system is enhanced. The efficacy of the system is calculated by evaluating the estimated error between the input and retrieved images. The proposed technique provides innumerable security keys and is robust against various potential attacks. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness and security of the proposed technique