Surface plasmon coupled emission enhancement with nanoparticles in the metal layer

We show that it is possible to enhance surface plasmon coupled emission (SPCE) intensity by ∼55% using two dimensional periodic nanoparticle arrays in the glass-metal layer interface of an SPCE structure. The nanoparticles act as coupled nanoantennas. With optimized dimensions and periodicity, the nanoparticle arrays resonate and re-emit intensified SPCE. In this work, two types of nanoparticles such as cuboids and hemispheres are used in the arrays. The optimized dimensions and periodicity of the nanoparticle arrays that lead to enhanced intensity are calculated using the particle swarm algorithm. The increased SPCE intensity will be helpful for using SPCE as a biomolecule detection scheme

Bioefficacy of Plant Extracts to Control Cercospora Leaf Spot of Mungbean (Vigna radiata)

The experiment was conducted at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute farm, Joydebpur, Gazipur during March to July 2007 to evaluate the bioefficacy of some plant extracts in controlling Cercospora leaf spot of mungbean. Six indigenous plant species i.e. Neem leaves extract (1:4 w/v), Garlic cloves extract (1:5 w/v), Biskatali leaves extract (1:4 w/v), Alamanda leaves extract (1:6 w/v), Arjun leaves extract (1:4 w/v) and Debdaru leaves extract (1:5 w/v) were used in this experiment. The experiment was laid out in RCBD with seven treatments and four replications. Data on disease incidence, severity, yield contributing characters and yield of mungbean were recorded. Naturally, infection of the disease was considered in this experiment. The lowest disease incidence (7.33%) at 60 DAS was found in T1. Lowest and similar disease severity (PDI= 4.55) was found in T2 and T3 at the same DAS. Neem extract treated plots gave better response in yield (1.26 t ha-1) and all the yield contributing parameters like inflorescences plant-1 (13.45), tallest plant (51.44 cm), the maximum number of pods plant-1 (26.81), length of pod (8.56 cm), number of seeds pod-1 (12.64) and 1000 seeds weight (27.33 g) followed by T2 and T3. The highest disease incidence (26.50%) and disease index (13.65%) were recorded in treatment T7 at 60 DAS. Yield and all yield contributing factors were lowest in same treatment. The results of the experiment suggested that the use of neem leaves extracts are effective for minimizing Cercospora leaf spot incidence, severity and increasing yield of mungbean. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 3 (1): 60-65, June, 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v3i1.1609

Control of Phomopsis Blight of Egg Plant through Fertilizer and Fungicide Management

The experiments were conducted at Laboratory of the Department of Plant Pathology and in the farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh during Rabi season of the year 2007-2008. Four fungicides viz. Bavistin 50 WP (Carbendazim), Tilt 250 EC (Propiconazole), Cupravit 50 WP (Copperoxychloride) and Dithane M-45 (Mancozeb) and micronutrients (Gypsum, ZnO and Boric acid) were evaluated against Phomopsis vexans causing Phomopsis blight and fruit rot of eggplant. The fungicides and micronutrients either applied individually or in combination showed significant effect in terms of per cent leaf infection, fruit infection, leaf area diseased and fruit area diseased in comparison to control. Effect of each fungicide applied in combination with micronutrients always showed better performance in reducing disease incidence and disease severity than the fungicides applied alone. Among the fungicides, Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) proved to be effective arresting the spore germination and mycelia growth of Phomopsis vexans assayed in in vitro test. Reduction of leaf area diseased caused by Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) in combination with micronutrients were 58.17, 67.37, 78.41 and 85.25%, respectively at preflowering, post-flowering, fruiting and fruit ripening stages while Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) alone reduced by 52.22, 58.67, 74.19 and 83.09%, respectively at those stages. Similarly reduction of fruit area diseased caused by Bavistin 50 WP (0.1%) in combination with micronutrients were 57.93 and 79.79%, respectively at fruiting and fruit ripening stages while Bavistin 50WP (0.1%) alone reduced by 56.93 and 76.14%, respectively at those stages. Micronutrients had little effect against the disease but significantly better than control.Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 3 (1): 66-72, June, 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v3i1.1609

Growth response of eight tropical turfgrass species to salinity

Irrigation seawater of different salinity levels (0, 24, 48 and 72 dSm-1) were applied to experimental plants grown in a plastic pots filled with a mixture of sand and peat (9:1). The results were analyzedusing SAS and treatment means were compared using LSD Test. The results indicated that Paspalum vaginatum (seashore paspalum) (SP), Zoysia matrella (manilagrass) (MG), Pasplaum vaginatum local(SPL), Cynodon dactylon (common bermuda) (CB), Cynodon dactylon (bermuda greenless park) (GLP), Eremochloa ophiuroides (centipede) (CP), Axonopus compressus (cow grass) (CG) and Axonopusaffinis (narrowleaf carpet grass) (NCG) experienced a 50% shoot growth reduction at the EC of 39.8, 36.5, 26.1, 25.9, 21.7, 22.4, 17.0 and 18.3 dSm-1, respectively, and a 50% root growth reduction at the ECof 49.4, 42.1, 29.9, 29.7, 26.0 24.8, 18.8 and 20.0 dSm-1, respectively. The ranking for salinity tolerance of selected grasses was  SP>MG>SPL>CB>GLP>CP>NCG>CG. The results indicate the importance of the selection of turfgrass varieties according to the soil salinity and seawater salinity levels to be used for irrigation

Allelopathic potential of mustard crop residues on weed management and performance of transplant Aman rice

Crop allelopathy may be useful to minimize serious problems in the present agricultural production such as environmental pollution, unsafe production, human health concerns, depletion of crop diversity, soil sickness and reduction of crop productivity. In this phenomenon an experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to evaluate the effect of crop residues of mustard on weed management and crop performance of T. aman rice. The experiment consisted of three cultivars of T. aman rice viz., BR11, BR23 and BRRI dhan49 and five different level of mustard crop residues such as no crop residues, mustard crop residues @ 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 t ha–1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Five weed species belonging to three families infested the experimental plots. Weed population, weed dry weight and percent inhibition of weed were significantly influenced by mustard crop residues and cultivar. The maximum weed growth was noticed with the cultivar BR23 and the minimum was found in the cultivar BR11. The grain yield as well as the other yield contributing characters produced by BR11 was the highest among the studied varieties. The highest percent inhibition of 71.17, 69.19, 80.88, 70.48 and 86.97 was in Shama (Echinochlo acrusgalli), Panishapla (Nymphaea nouchali), Panichaise (Scirpus juncoides), Panikachu (Monochoria vaginalis) and Susnishak (Marsilea quadrifolia), respectively which was caused by the application of mustard crop residues @ 2 t ha–1. The highest loss of grain yield was obtained where no crop residues were incorporated. The highest numbers of tillers hill-1, numbers of grains panicle–1, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, straw yield were observed where mustard crop residues were incorporated @ 2.0 t ha–1. BR11 cultivar with all treatments produced the highest grain and straw yield among the treatment combination. The results of this study indicate that different amount of mustard crop residues showed potential activity to suppress weed growth

Studies on some morphological characters and yield attributes of synthetic Brassica hexaploids and their parents

Allopolyploidy plays an important role in plant evolution and confers better advantages on crop growth and breeding compared to low ploidy levels. The present investigation aimed to study the synthetic hexaploid Brassica (AABBCC genome) developed from Brassica cainata (BBCC genome) and Brassica rapa (AA genome) compared to their parental genotypes considering some morphological characters, yield attributes and yield. Increased vegetative growth in hexaploids over their parents was observed. Hexaploids exhibited wider ranges with higher coefficients of variations compared to the parents for all characters studied. Hexaploids had taller plants, higher number of siliqua and larger flowers than those of both parents. Though average pollen fertility in the hexaploids was lower than both parents but out of 420 hexaploids, seventeen had comparatively higher percentages of pollen fertility as well as siliqua setting. Number of seeds per siliqua and siliqua length were found to be lower than their parents. Mean seed weight per plant in the hexaploids was lower than the parents though the hexaploids had higher number of siliquae along with higher seed weight. Days to flowering and maturity in the hexaploids were in between the parents and closer to the B. carinata parent. Five hexaploid plants from BARIBatishak-1 × Carinata-1 and two from each of Carinata-1 × BARIBatishak-1 and Agrani × Carinata-1 were found to be promising because they have higher seed yield per plant than their parents. Those nine selected high yielding hexaploid plants could be evaluated in the subsequent generations to select the stable and desirable Brassica hexaploids.Keywords: Brassica hexaploid, morphological characters, yield attribute

Emerging Promise of Computational Techniques in Anti-Cancer Research: At a Glance

Research on the immune system and cancer has led to the development of new medicines that enable the former to attack cancer cells. Drugs that specifically target and destroy cancer cells are on the horizon; there are also drugs that use specific signals to stop cancer cells multiplying. Machine learning algorithms can significantly support and increase the rate of research on complicated diseases to help find new remedies. One area of medical study that could greatly benefit from machine learning algorithms is the exploration of cancer genomes and the discovery of the best treatment protocols for different subtypes of the disease. However, developing a new drug is time-consuming, complicated, dangerous, and costly. Traditional drug production can take up to 15 years, costing over USD 1 billion. Therefore, computer-aided drug design (CADD) has emerged as a powerful and promising technology to develop quicker, cheaper, and more efficient designs. Many new technologies and methods have been introduced to enhance drug development productivity and analytical methodologies, and they have become a crucial part of many drug discovery programs; many scanning programs, for example, use ligand screening and structural virtual screening techniques from hit detection to optimization. In this review, we examined various types of computational methods focusing on anticancer drugs. Machine-based learning in basic and translational cancer research that could reach new levels of personalized medicine marked by speedy and advanced data analysis is still beyond reach. Ending cancer as we know it means ensuring that every patient has access to safe and effective therapies. Recent developments in computational drug discovery technologies have had a large and remarkable impact on the design of anticancer drugs and have also yielded useful insights into the field of cancer therapy. With an emphasis on anticancer medications, we covered the various components of computer-aided drug development in this paper. Transcriptomics, toxicogenomics, functional genomics, and biological networks are only a few examples of the bioinformatics techniques used to forecast anticancer medications and treatment combinations based on multi-omics data. We believe that a general review of the databases that are now available and the computational techniques used today will be beneficial for the creation of new cancer treatment approaches.</jats:p

I Feel what You Feel if You Are Similar to Me

Social interactions are influenced by the perception of others as similar or dissimilar to the self. Such judgements could depend on physical and semantic characteristics, such as membership in an ethnic or political group. In the present study we tested whether social representations of the self and of others could affect the perception of touch. To this aim, we assessed tactile perception on the face when subjects observed a face being touched by fingers. In different conditions we manipulated the identity of the shown face. In a first experiment, Caucasian and Maghrebian participants viewed a face belonging either to their own or to a different ethnic group; in a second experiment, Liberal and Conservative politically active participants viewed faces of politicians belonging to their own or to the opposite political party. The results showed that viewing a touched face most strongly enhanced the perception of touch on the observer's face when the observed face belonged to his/her own ethnic or political group

Blockade of Fatty Acid Synthase Triggers Significant Apoptosis in Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Fatty acid synthase (FASN), a key player in the de novo synthetic pathway of long-chain fatty acids, has been shown to contribute to the tumorigenesis in various types of solid tumors. We here report that FASN is highly and consistently expressed in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), an aggressive form of B-cell lymphoid malignancy. Specifically, the expression of FASN was detectable in all four MCL cell lines and 15 tumors examined. In contrast, benign lymphoid tissues and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal donors were negative. Treatment of MCL cell lines with orlistat, a FASN inhibitor, resulted in significant apoptosis. Knockdown of FASN expression using siRNA, which also significantly decreased the growth of MCL cells, led to a dramatic decrease in the cyclin D1 level. β-catenin, which has been previously reported to be upregulated in a subset of MCL tumors, contributed to the high level of FASN in MCL cells, Interesting, siRNA knock-down of FASN in turn down-regulated β-catenin. In conclusion, our data supports the concept that FASN contributes to the pathogenesis of MCL, by collaborating with β-catenin. In view of its high and consistent expression in MCL, FASN inhibitors may hold promises for treating MCL