Research Notes : China : Inheritance of bloom on seed coat in soybean

Woodworth (1932, 1933) reported that three dominant genes (B1 B2 BJ) were necessary for the development of bloom on seed coat. Tang and Tai (1962) and Tang and Li (1964) pointed out that, in interspecific cross, Glycine max x G. formosana, complementary genes for bloom on seed coat existed, and the genetic constitutions for G. max were B1 B1 b2 b2 bJ bJ, those for G. formo-sana were B1 B1 B2 B2 BJ BJ. The purpose of this experiment was to give a further study on this character with more and new parental materials

A transfer principle and applications to eigenvalue estimates for graphs

In this paper, we prove a variant of the Burger-Brooks transfer principle which, combined with recent eigenvalue bounds for surfaces, allows to obtain upper bounds on the eigenvalues of graphs as a function of their genus. More precisely, we show the existence of a universal constants $C$ such that the $k$-th eigenvalue $\lambda_k^{nr}$ of the normalized Laplacian of a graph $G$ of (geometric) genus $g$ on $n$ vertices satisfies $$\lambda_k^{nr}(G) \leq C \frac{d_{\max}(g+k)}{n},$$ where $d_{\max}$ denotes the maximum valence of vertices of the graph. This result is tight up to a change in the value of the constant $C$, and improves recent results of Kelner, Lee, Price and Teng on bounded genus graphs. To show that the transfer theorem might be of independent interest, we relate eigenvalues of the Laplacian on a metric graph to the eigenvalues of its simple graph models, and discuss an application to the mesh partitioning problem, extending pioneering results of Miller-Teng-Thurston-Vavasis and Spielman-Tang to arbitrary meshes.Comment: Major revision, 16 page

Kajian Panjang Tunas Dan Bobot Umbi Bibit Terhadap Produksi Tanaman Kentang (Solanum Tuberosum L.) Varietas Granola

Produksi tanaman kentang di Indonesia dapat meningkat dengan didukung peng-gunaan bibit yang baik. Dalam hal ini dengan penggunaan umbi yang memiliki panjang tunas yang dijadikan sebagai kriteria viabilitas benih untuk mengetahui cepat lambatnya pertumbuhan awal ken-tang, serta penggunaan bobot umbi bibit yang tepat dalam mendukung produksi ken-tang. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk men-dapatkan panjang tunas dan bobot umbi bibit yang tepat dalam meningkatkan pro-duksi kentang (Solanum tuberosum L.) Varietas Granola. Penelitian dilaksanakan pada bulan Agustus - November 2013, di Dusun Junggo, Desa Tulungrejo, Kec. Bumiaji, Kota Batu. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah Rancangan Acak Kelompok Faktorial dengan 9 perlakuan dan 3 ulangan yang meliputi 2 faktor. Faktor pertama, panjang tunas umbi bibit dan faktor kedua, bobot umbi bibit. Hasil pe-nelitian menunjukkan bahwa tanaman ken-tang dengan penggunaan berbagai variasi ukuran panjang tunas 0,3-0,7 cm, 1-1,4 cm, dan 1,7-2 cm tidak mempengaruhi kom-ponen pertumbuhan vegetatif tinggi tanam-an, jumlah batang, jumlah daun dan luas daun. Panjang tunas umbi bibit pada ber-bagai variasi ukuran 0,3-2 cm memiliki kemampuan yang sama terhadap produksi tanaman kentang yaitu 37,12-38,88 ton ha-1. Penggunaan berbagai variasi ukuran umbi bibit 35-50 g/umbi dan 55-70 g/umbi mem-pengaruhi komponen pertumbuhan vegetatif tinggi tanaman, jumlah batang, jumlah daun dan luas daun yang sama dan lebih tinggi daripada penggunaan umbi bibit 15-30 g/umbi. Penggunaan bobot umbi bibit 35-50 g/umbi memiliki potensi produksi yang sama dengan umbi bibit 55-70 g/umbi, sebesar 40,98 ton ha-1 dan 43,30 ton ha-1, lebih tinggi dibanding penggunaan umbi bibit 15-30 g/umbi dengan produksi 29,50 ton ha-1

Antidiabetic effect of Tibetan medicine Tang-Kang-Fu-San on high-fat diet and streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the antidiabetic effects of a Tibetan medicine, Tang-Kang-Fu-San (TKFS), on experimental type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats and to explore its underlying mechanisms. Firstly two major chemical compositions of TKFS, gallic acid and curcumin, were characterized by HPLC fingerprint analysis. Next T2DM in rats was induced by high-fat diet and a low-dose streptozotocin (STZ 35 mg/kg). Then oral gavage administration of three different doses of TKFS (0.3 g/kg, 0.6 g/kg, and 1.2 g/kg) was given to T2DM rats. Experimental results showed that TKFS dramatically reduced the levels of fasting blood glucose, fasting blood insulin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol, even though it did not alter the animal body weight. The downregulation of phosphorylation-AKT (p-AKT) and glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4) in skeletal muscle of T2DM rats was restored and abnormal pathological changes in pancreas tissues were also improved. Our work showed that TKFS could alleviate diabetic syndromes, maintain the glucose homeostasis, and protect against insulin resistance in T2DM rats, and the improvement of AKT phosphorylation and GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscle would be one of its possible underlying mechanisms

Comparison of various methods to delineate blood vessels in retinal images

The blood vessels in the human retina are easily visualisable via digital fundus photography and provide an excellent window to the health of a patient affected by diseases of blood circulation such as diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy is identifiable through lesions of the vessels such as narrowing of the arteriole walls, beading of venules into sausage like structures and new vessel growth as an attempt to reperfuse ischaemic regions. Automated quantification of these lesions would be beneficial to diabetes research and to clinical practice, particularly for eye-screening programmes for the detection of eye-disease amongst diabetic persons