A comparison of morphometric traits of sheep breeds of Karnataka in the farmers' flocks

The study revealed that the 4 sheep breeds of Karnataka differed significantly with respect to body weight and other physical traits. Kenguri and Bellary breeds of sheep were larger and heavier than Hassan and Mandya sheep breeds. Amongst them Kenguri rams were heaviest followed by Bellary, Mandya and Hassan but in ewes the above order was reversed in breeds of southern Karnataka. The overall difference in body weights of Kenguri and Bellary rams was 9.66 kg whereas in Hassan and Mandya rams it was 4.37 kg. The corresponding values in ewes were 4.06 kg and 1.5 kg. In ewes, the increase in magnitude of a morphometric trait from a lower age group to next higher age group was marginal. All the sheep breeds of Karnataka attained maximum weight at 8-tooth age

Ore petrology of the V-Ti magnetite (lodestone) layers of the Kurihundi area of Sargur schist belt, Dharwar craton

The V-Ti magnetite layers (lodestone) occur within the layered gabbro-anorthosites-ultramafic rocks emplaced into the migmatitic gneisses close to the high grade Archeaen Sargur supracrustal rocks in the Kurihundi area. The ore petrographic studies of the lodestone reveal the presence of primary Ti-magnetite, ilmenite, ulvospinel, pleonaste, hematite and pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and secondary Ti-maghemite, martite and goethite as well as secondary covellite. These layers contain Ti-magnetite (60%) and ilmenite (30%) with silicates (< 5%) exhibiting granular mosaic texture with well-defined triple junctions and are classified as adcumulus rocks. The grain-boundary relationships in the ores indicate considerable postcumulus growth and readjustment due to combined effects of sintering and adcumulus growth. Intergrowth textures (ulvospinel, ilmenite and pleonaste in Ti-magnetite and hematite in ilmenite) reflects exsolution features crystallized from solid-solutions compositions under different conditions of oxygen fugacities. Larger bodies of pleonaste and ilmenite in Ti-magnetite become lensoid or rounded in outline and these morphological modifications took place during the regional upper amphibolite to lower granulite facies metamorphism at 2.6 Ga ago. The lodestone contains high TiO(2) (20 to 22.59 wt%), with V(2)O(5) (0.85 to 1.15%) and Fe(2)O(3) (t) (72.03 to 74.25%). Ti-magnetite shows alteration to Ti-maghemite, martite and goethite due to low temperature oxidation and hydration during weathering

Reentrant lyotropic nematic phase in a ternary mixture

We report the results of our studies on optical and thermal properties of ternary mixture of three compounds viz., 4′-n-octyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (8CB), didodecyl dimethyl ammonium bromide, and glacial acetic acid. Higher concentrations of the given mixture show a very interesting reentrant nematic phase, sequentially when the specimen is cooled from its isotropic melt at different temperatures. The temperature variations of optical anisotropy, optical textures, and electrical conductivity have also been discussed. Nanoaggregated size of the molecules has been confirmed by X-ray studies

Biomarker discovery and authentication of cold-slaughtered chicken through classical analytical procedures and mass spectrometry based proteomic approaches

1. This study evaluated the suitability of routine analytical procedures and used mass spectrometry based proteomic approaches to distinguish meat from dead chicken/ cold slaughtered birds (CS), electrically stunned and slaughtered birds, as per standard protocols (ES), and birds slaughtered according to halal guidelines (HS). 2. Meat from CS birds had lower (P P  3. The results demonstrated the presence of unique protein bands on SDS-PAGE only in CS meat that can be used for routine screening. 4. Protein analysis using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry has identified haemoglobin subunit alpha-A and alpha-D; Adenylate kinase isoenzyme 1 as reliable and stable marker proteins for authentication of dead chicken meat under raw and cooked conditions and halal slaughtered chicken, respectively. 5. The methods used may be employed by the food safety and regulatory agencies for regular screening of meat quality and to authenticate CS or HS chicken.</p

Patch Clamp Electrophysiology and Capillary Electrophoresis–Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics for Single Cell Characterization

The visual selection of specific cells within an <i>ex vivo</i> brain slice, combined with whole-cell patch clamp recording and capillary electrophoresis (CE)–mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics, yields high chemical information on the selected cells. By providing access to a cell’s intracellular environment, the whole-cell patch clamp technique allows one to record the cell’s physiological activity. A patch clamp pipet is used to withdraw ∼3 pL of cytoplasm for metabolomic analysis using CE–MS. Sampling the cytoplasm, rather than an intact isolated neuron, ensures that the sample arises from the cell of interest and that structures such as presynaptic terminals from surrounding, nontargeted neurons are not sampled. We sampled the rat thalamus, a well-defined system containing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic and glutamatergic neurons. The approach was validated by recording and sampling from glutamatergic thalamocortical neurons, which receive major synaptic input from GABAergic thalamic reticular nucleus neurons, as well as neurons and astrocytes from the ventral basal nucleus and the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. From the analysis of the cytoplasm of glutamatergic cells, approximately 60 metabolites were detected, none of which corresponded to the compound GABA. However, GABA was successfully detected when sampling the cytoplasm of GABAergic neurons, demonstrating the exclusive nature of our cytoplasmic sampling approach. The combination of whole-cell patch clamp with single cell cytoplasm metabolomics provides the ability to link the physiological activity of neurons and astrocytes with their neurochemical state. The observed differences in the metabolome of these neurons underscore the striking cell to cell heterogeneity in the brain